Chapter 1. And let's read from the opening verse. Our reading is from John chapter 1, verse number 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, The life was the light of man. And the light that shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. To see him came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came on to his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them give ye power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I speak, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Amen, we'll conclude at verse 18. Let's briefly just engage in prayer. Our gracious Father, we come now to preach the word. We pray for the help of thy Holy Spirit. We pray for divine enabling. We pray for the infilling of God. Bless our hearts. Open our understanding. We thank thee, O God, that thou hast hidden many things from the wise and from the prudent. but thou hast revealed them on to babes. Lord, reveal such to us, we who are babes, infants. Lord, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And Lord, if we have heard it all before, Lord, may it come with freshness, may it come with great impact as we consider all that Christ has done for us. We offer prayer and through the Savior's holy name. Amen. When any traveler embarks upon a journey, most, if not all, will have a final destination in their mind. However, in order to reach that final destination, the journey, if it is of any considerable distance, will have numerous planned and unplanned stops along the way. I'm sure if you are like us, when you go on holidays, you maybe take yourself off to Scotland or maybe to England, you'll find yourself stopping along the journey. A cry will go up from the back seat or maybe the front seat. We need to stop. We'll often stop, maybe if we're heading down to the bottom of England, we'll stop at Gretna Green Outlet Centre. That's always a famous place. And then we'll maybe go in to Ambleside and to Windermere. Maybe we stop off down there around the middle of England, Warrington, stay the night, and then continue to make our way down. And really all of those stops on the journey, though necessary, they do really add to the experience of the journey. They're not just stops, but they really add to the journey itself. When we consider the record of Scripture regarding the journey that the Son of God took And the journey that he is still to take, that journey has its many intervening stops. At this time of the year, we obviously come to focus on one of those necessary stops. The time whenever the Son of God came into the world, when he was born in Bethlehem, we stop at the incarnation. We stand there and we marvel at it all. However, brethren and sisters, I must remind you that Bethlehem was only part of the journey. It was only one of the steps, one of the stops of our Savior's journey. And to overemphasize that part of His journey is only going to be detrimental to the other key moments of the journey that He has embarked upon and that He is still to embark upon as the Son of God. And so today in this service, I want to Consider with you today the complete journey of Christ, the complete journey of Christ, in the hope that as we do so that it will give to us the entire picture regarding the one who's coming into the world we come to remember at this season of the year. Now, every journey has to begin somewhere, but for the Son of God, we really Cannot say that I speak in terms of time. I don't mean in terms of location, but I am speaking of time There was never a time that the savior's journey began because he is the eternal son of god And so I want us to, as it were, transport ourselves out of time and away back into eternity past. And there we come to see the Son of God as He begins the journey, we could put it like that, as the eternal Son in the Father's bosom. That's where it begins for the Son of God. He is the eternal Son in the bosom of the Father. Now John begins his gospel with profound and mysterious words. He says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word. Who is this? Well, he comes to be identified later on in this opening paragraph of John chapter 1. If you look at the verse 14, we read, and the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. And then there is this phrase, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. If you go down then to the verse 18, you'll find this only begotten spoken of again. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son. which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." And so John is unfolding who the Word is. He speaks initially of him simply as the Word, and then in verse 14 he speaks about the only begotten of the Father, and then he comes to identify, in case we are confused whether it be someone else in the Godhead, he now stipulates that it is the only begotten Son. can therefore be in no doubt that who he is speaking of here is none other than the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. We must ever remember that the Saviour's beginning, the Son of God's beginning, did not begin in Bethlehem. John will say something about this. If you look at the verse number 15, it says, Now, if you think about it, you must remember that Zacharias and Elizabeth, John's parents, Elizabeth was pregnant before Mary. Mary comes to Elizabeth while she's in her sixth month of pregnancy to declare that she herself has become pregnant. And so we find that John here says that he was before me, but we would say, but that's not the case. John knew where before the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. But John understands that the eternal Son existed before he ever came into this world. His existence predated his incarnation. This speaks to us of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, every heresy that faced the church of Jesus Christ in the early four centuries of church history really attacked the deity of Jesus Christ, attacked his eternal existence and his deity. Why was that important? Well, it's important because to have eternal life, you must believe in the true Christ, the true Christ. When John comes to close out his gospel, he will write these words, but these are written. that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. You see, for you, for you to have eternal life today, you must believe in the true Christ. Not the false Christ, not a misrepresentation of Christ, not the Christ of human imagination, not the Christ of false religion, but you must believe in the true Christ, the Christ of the Word of God, the Scriptures, the One who is, the One who continues to be, and the One who will forever be God. Let me pause there and ask the question, is this the Christ you know? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. It was on the confession that he had believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that Philip the evangelist will administer the ordinance of baptism on the Ethiopian eunuch there in the book of Acts. That was the stipulation. Do you believe? What do you believe concerning the Christ? He says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, do you believe that? Do you believe that He is the Son of God? Maybe you think all He is, was a good man, a moral teacher, good example, kind and miraculous worker. No, but you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. For any man or woman to be saved, you must confess that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. Because the person who does that, John will tell us in his epistle, that God dwells in such a man. and he in God," 1 John 4 verse 15. Prior to his coming into the world, the Son of God already existed. This is what John is affirming in the words. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. Or face to face with God. That's the literal translation. And the Word was God. God the Son existed before everything else ever existed in this world. He didn't begin with a beginning. He's a part of the creation. He was in the beginning with God. That's what John tells us. Now, as time-constrained human beings, that's hard for us to grasp, and yet grasp it we must. The Word as God was with God. That sounds like a riddle. The Word as God was with God. How can God be with God? That's what people will ask us. That's what the Mormons will say. How can God be with God? Well, it can only be explained by the Trinity. Trinity. God the Son was with God the Father who was with God the Holy Spirit before time ever began. And so the Son of God's journey does not begin in Bethlehem. It begins in eternity past, always existing, always with the Father and with the Spirit. This great journey that the Savior, He commences, that's the beginning of it. That's the location, the locality of the beginning. But let's chart the journey of the Savior. Let's go a little further and let's move from thinking about the eternal Son in the Father's bosom and let's come to Bethlehem and view the babe in the manger. The babe in the manger. While Matthew and Luke major on the incarnation and their early chapters of their gospels. You'll find that. You'll find that Matthew and Luke, they give over the first number of chapters in their gospels to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark doesn't do that. And John simply speaks of the incarnation in six simple words here in John chapter 1. And you'll find them in the verse number 14. Look there where it says, and the word was made flesh. That's really an indication. That's a pointer. That's a reference to this most momentous event. John simply sums it up in six words. The Word and the Word was made flesh. It's hard to fathom all that is contained within that statement. The Word was made flesh. Without giving up any of his deity, God the Son took on a true human nature. God becomes man and yet does not cease to be God. In the incarnation, the Eternal One now comes to step into time. The invisible God now becomes visible. He manifests himself. Charles Wesley. We'll write about this most pivotal event in Redemption's history in his hymn, Let Heaven and Earth Combine. It's not one that is sung by ourselves, it's not in our hymn books, but this is how Charles Wesley puts it. Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. Mr. Spurgeon summed it up so beautifully when he comes to speak about God becoming man, the infinite God, he said, who filleth all things, who was, who is, and who is to come, the almighty, the omniscient, the omnipresent, actually condescended to veil himself in the garments of our inferior clay. In the eternal purposes of God, in the incarnation, the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity takes to himself humanity, human nature, joining that with his divine nature for the purpose of redemption. The Puritan Stephen Charnock so eloquently testified, what a wonder that the two natures infinitely distant. should be intimately united than anything in the world, that the same person should have both a glory and a grief, an infinite joy in the deity and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity, that a God upon a throne should become an infant in a cradle, the thundering creator, be a weeping babe and a suffering man, The incarnation astonishes men upon earth and angels in heaven. What a descent it was for the Son of God, a condescension like no other, a stoop like none other. The journey that he takes In Galatians chapter 4, John kind of joins the dots of the Savior's life. I'm sure you all know what it is to join the dots. The full picture is seen whenever all of the joints are joined together and aligned together. Well, in Galatians chapter 4, Paul, he joins the dots between the two key moments in the Savior's life, his birth and his resurrection, or his death. And this is what he states, but when the fullness of the time has come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And so He marries these two great events together. He doesn't divorce them, but He brings them together. He joins the dots together. Yes, thank God for the incarnation, Him becoming a man, made of a woman, made under the law. But don't forget redemption, for which purpose He came. to redeem men that were under the law. He becomes man in order to redeem men. Without the one, we cannot have the other. The incarnation is essential if there is to be a redemption. As you gaze today, my faith, the infant in the manger, remember the great descent Remember the great condescension that has taken place and the purpose of that condescension in order that he might deliver, in order that he might redeem us from sin and hell. He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all. What a marvel, what a mystery. May we not lose the wonder of it all. But the journey doesn't end at the manger for the Savior. Because beyond Bethlehem's squalor, we now come to track His journey for the next 33 or so years and His Gospels, the Gospels as He ministers in Israel. doing good, and raising the dead, and touching the blind eyes, and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're charting the journey of the Savior, and we're finding ourselves at our next location. And we find ourselves at Golgotha's Brough, a craggy hill outside the perimeter walls of Jerusalem. And there we do not view Him as the eternal Son in the Father's bosom, we do not view Him as the babe in the manger, but there we view Him as the Redeemer on the cross. Always keep in the forefront of your mind that the coming of the Son of God into the world can never, never, I say never, never be divorced from the purpose for which He came in order to redeem us. You see, the glory of the baby Jesus lying in the manger is that it led to the blessed Jesus hanging on the cross. One hymn writer put it like this, worship Christ the newborn baby, born to die upon the tree. Thorns and nails will one day pierce him, buried wrath to set us free. The direction of travel for the Savior from the moment that he came. was always towards the cross. The predetermined pathway agreed within the Godhead and the council of eternity had its terminus at the hill called Calvary. It was part of the journey. It was one of those stops. It was planned. It wasn't an unplanned stop. It wasn't some thing that took God by surprise. This had been purposed and planned by God within the Godhead. And one of the stops that he had to make, it was a place that he couldn't miss. He had to get to Jerusalem. He had to go to the cross. He had to be nailed to the tree. There, the just one. would die for us, the unjust ones, in order that he might bring us to God. He was born to die. The child in the feeding trough was to become the Christ on the felon's tree. The shadow of the cross undoubtedly cast itself even at the manger in Bethlehem, the swaddling bands, the bands of death. The myrrh that was brought as a gift from the kings whenever Christ was a little grown and now he's found in the house, yet around his coming into the world, there is this sense that he's going to die. You know, admittedly, too many stop at the manger when they come to this time of the year. Others, they'll go a little further. They'll go into his ministry, into his life. They'll admire his teaching. They'll admire his preaching ministry. But few, few ever get to the very heart of the gospel. Few ever reach the cross where the Redeemer died for our sins. They see no reason for such a death, no significance in such a tragic end to the Savior's life. And yet the person, the person whose eyes have been enlightened by the Spirit of God, they come to see the purpose of the Savior's birth. He came to die for their sin. Beloved, if we are to be biblical in our thinking, then our meditations on the cradle must always find their way to the cross. God sent his Son into the world to be more than a good example, to be more than a wise teacher, God sent him to perfectly fulfill the law. And then as the righteous substitute to satisfy God's justice on Calvary's cross for all who would trust in him, you might well admire, you might well admire, you might well admire and adore the baby Jesus in the manger. But what about the man on the cross? What do you think about him? Has His sufferings brought your salvation? Has His death brought you life? Has His blood brought cleansing from your sins? You see, what the world likes to do is that the world likes to keep Him in the manger. Let's keep Him in the manger. Sure, what is it but a helpless child? But folks, He's not in the manger. And Rome, they want to keep Him on the cross. They'll have their crucifixes and they'll keep the Savior there in His greatest weakness and yet in His greatest strength. The paradox of it all. Christ in His greatest weakness comes to find Himself in His greatest strength and they'll keep Him on the cross. But folks, He's not on the cross. Do you know where He is today? He's on the throne. That's where He is. And you don't want Him on the throne. You want to keep Him in the manger. And you certainly don't want Him on the throne of your heart, do you? Oh, I can have him as a baby in the manger, but to have him as the king on the throne to tell me how I am to live my life and that he is to have absolute sway in my life? No, no, I'll have him as the child, but I'll not have him as the king. The scriptures teach us that Christ left the manger and he journeyed to the cross. And it is that cross that reminds you, sinner, of your sin. And the sinner doesn't like that. When they view Him on the cross, they come to understand that He's dying there for the sins of His people. And so you want Him to lie in the manger, but He's the Redeemer on the cross. Before the Savior, the journey does not end at the cross, neither does it end at the garden tomb. Three days after being taken down from the cross, he rises again, and soon he ascends back into heaven. And so I want you now to see him as now the king on the throne. The king on the throne. The Apostle Paul, he charts the various stages of the journey of the Savior, that journey that he took from heaven to earth and then back to heaven again. He does so there in those words, Philippians chapter 2. I read it with quite a number of our seniors over the last number of weeks, reminding us of that great journey. And this is how Paul puts it. This is how the theologian of the church puts it in Philippians chapter 2, verses 6 through to the verse number 9. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal of God? made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. There's the incarnation. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. There he marries it again. Do you see it? Paul marries the two together. He can't put it asunder. He can't just look at the Christ in the incarnation and not see him in redemption at the cross. He marries it together and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. chart that downward descent of Christ and see it as it reaches its lowest point, even the death of the cross, even the death of the cross. However, we then come to read in Paul's words his ascension, and how the Father exalts His well-beloved Son. And part of the Savior's exaltation involved the Savior's enthronement. His ascension will lead to His enthronement. He comes to take a position in glory. And what is that position? When Christ is received up into glory, He takes His rightful place at the Father's right hand. God has set His priest king on His holy hill, Zion. The right hand of God is where Mark positions Him. When He ascends into heaven over there in Mark 16 verse 19, So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. This is where Stephen comes to see the Son of God, just before he dies a martyr's death as stones rain down upon Stephen. Acts 7 verse 55 tells us, but he being full of the Holy Ghost looked steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. The writer to the Hebrews places him at the Father's, the Son of God, at the right hand of God. Hebrews 1 verse 3, who being in the brightness of glory and the expressed image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. to glorify His dear Son, to set Him down in His own right hand in keenly majesty, was the eternal purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. And today, today, this day, the 24th of December, 2023, Christ reigns and Christ rose from His eternal throne at the right hand of God. That's where He is today. Christian, lift up your eyes. Because above the battle strife, and above the storms of life, and above all that perplexes you, is the King Eternal, who is governing and controlling and directing all things after His eternal purpose. And so despairing one, and so depressed one, and so disheartened one, and so despondent one, and so disconsolate one, look to heaven today, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and is ever living to make intercession for you. He's the king on the throne. But that's not the end of his journey. There's other parts in the journey that he's still yet to take. And as we draw out this meeting to a conclusion, let me point you to them. He's no longer the eternal Son in the bosom, as we thought about in our first point. He's not the babe in the manger. He's not the Redeemer on the cross. He's not, we're thinking now, He's not the King on the throne. He is presently, but I'm taking you now to the end of time, and I want you to see Him in this light. He's the Lord in the clouds. The Lord in the clouds. The Apostle John looked forward to The end of time. And he will write, and has written in the book of the Revelation, speaking of Jesus Christ, John writes in Revelation, the Revelation 1, verse 7, What a day that will be when he comes back to earth. The journey of the Savior, when He comes back to earth again, He's coming back in clouds, as He said in the book of Matthew. He's coming back in clouds with great power and great glory. And He's not coming as an infant this time, but rather He's coming as the Lord of glory. What's written on His vesture? King of kings and Lord of lords. When he returns, John is very specific in who's going to see him. He says in Revelation 1-7, every eye, your eye will see him. Your eye. Every eye will see him. Every eye. The entirety of humanity will be present The dead having been raised to life to witness the return of Jesus Christ to this world. And while the righteous on that day will be glad to see Him, of course they will. Here He comes, our Redeemer. Redemption is now drawing nigh. Our Redeemer has come. Our King is coming for us. We'll see Him in glory and we'll be satisfied for that. I say for you, the sinner, I say to see Him on that day will cause you great terror. as you see Him come, because it will dawn on you on that occasion that He is not your Redeemer and He's not your Savior. Such will be the terror of His coming as the Lord in the clouds, that you will run to the mountains and you will ask for the rocks to fall on you. hide you from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. I tell you, sinner, before the eastern skies break and the Lord descends in clouds, you would need to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ himself would say it, therefore be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. I tell you, it's counsel that you would do well to heed today." But the journey continues. The Lord in the clouds, what about the justice on the judgment seat? The Son of God Himself will draw or attention to this point of his journey. There in Matthew chapter 25, the verses 31 through to 33, When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate the one from the other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and their goats on the left. These words, they simply bring us to the day of judgment, the day of reckoning, the day of accountability, sinner. The final day. Upon the judgment seat, the Son of God will sit, judging every man according to their works, equitable justice will be executed and performed on that day by the judge of all the earth. I tell you sinner, it's a day that needs to be thought about by you. It needs to be a day thought about you if you're to be found gathered among the sheep and not among the goats, among the righteous and not among the unrighteous, because Christ is going to say to his sheep on that day, come, come, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared you before the foundation of the world but he's going to say these words to the goats to you depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels he's going to be the justice on the throne on on the judgment seat but having executed his judgment I bring you to the final destination we've got there, the final destination of the Savior's journey. It is obviously heaven itself, where we will find the Son of God accompanied by all for whom He died, closed in to heaven and to home. And there, what do we see Him and what role do we see Him? We see him now as the Lamb in glory, the Lamb in glory. Revelation 7 verse 17, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. Those who were redeemed, those who had come out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's what precedes these words. It says, for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, only them, only the redeemed, and shall lead them onto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There in that better land, the lamb who once for sinners was slain is all the glory. in Emmanuel's land throughout eternity, the eons of it. The Lamb will lead the redeemed from fountainhead to fountainhead, and we will tirelessly pursue after Him, getting to know Him in ways that we could never get to know Him here on earth. It will be simply a revelation of who God is. He's the Lamb in glory. He's Emmanuel's Lamb. He's my Lamb. Is He your Lamb? What a journey! From eternity past, To eternity future, could we put it, could we use those terms? Maybe not. There really is no past, no future in eternity. But what will employ those terms, our understanding is limited. But from eternity past to eternity future, we have followed the journey of our Savior. And as we gather with our family and friends over the next number of days, let's remember the entire journey that was undertaken by him for us. Not just his descent to be born in Bethlehem, because the journey doesn't begin in Bethlehem, and folks, it certainly doesn't end in Bethlehem. I trust that you're ready for the next stages of his journey. Because someday he's going to rise from that throne. He's going to come in clouds. He's going to set up his judgment seat. And he's only going to take the redeemed into heaven. And they will follow after the Lamb. The journey will be an eternal one for us all as we follow after the Lamb. Are you ready for those stages of His journey? Be ye also ready. Make Christmas Eve, make it the day of your salvation. Not that there's some kind of sentimentality or mystique about it, but just because you've got today, you'll maybe not see tomorrow. So make this day the day of your salvation. May God bring you to himself as we consider these matters in our hearts. Let's bow our heads in prayer. If I can help in any way, could you make that known to us? We'll be glad to speak to you about these matters. May God, in his mercy, bring you to the Christ, even this day. We thank God that he's full of grace and truth. He will be gracious in her. I trust that you'll come to know his grace and salvation this day. Loving Father, gracious God, rejoice in our Savior, great journey that he's taken already, the great parts of the journey that he is yet to take. We pray, O God, that thou wilt hasten thy coming. Oh, how the Christian can say that. Even so come Lord Jesus. But for the sinner, that causes them fear and terror, for well they know that they know not Jesus Christ as their Savior. We pray that such a thought and such a truth will lay hold of them until they find peace in believing through faith in Jesus Christ. And so answer prayer, and may we know the blessing of the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and bring us again to the house of prayer and praise this evening as we worship our Savior. We offer prayer in our Savior's precious name. Amen. you