greatly feeling to need the Lord's gracious help, I would direct your attention to the first chapter of John's gospel and we will read verse 14 for the text. First chapter of the gospel according to John, verse 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And the Word was made flesh. This term, the Word, refers to the divine nature of the eternal Son of the Father, In the first five verses of this chapter, there is a beautiful opening up by John of the wonderful glory of his person. And as we have it here in the text, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And so we read, in the beginning was the Word. the eternal word. From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And that refers to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Ghost. These three are one. One blessed, infinite, eternal Lord Jehovah, who always has been, who always will be. in that unique name, often spoken of as the incommunicable name, Jehovah, translated in the authorized version in capital letters. And it's given to us in paraphrase in the New Testament. Perhaps one of the most well-known of them is that one in the Epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 13, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. In other words, Jehovah Jesus, from everlasting, and it says yesterday, it means from all eternity, the present, he fills the present, and tomorrow, all eternity to come. From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. The self-existent God, contained in the name Jehovah, are various things. One is His eternity. You know, it's hard to convey, but when we speak of the past and the present and the future, in actual fact and reality, the Holy Spirit is coming down to our level of understanding. Because with God, there is neither past, present, nor future. He lives in one eternal now. He is just as intimately acquainted with eternity that is past and equally with eternity that is to come. He knows all things. And here it says, in the beginning was the Word. My mind always goes back to those sublime opening words of holy scripture, in the beginning God. That doesn't mean a beginning in that sense, it's speaking of his eternity and here it's speaking of the eternity of the word, in the beginning God. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God And the word was God that speaks of the essential divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The same was in the beginning with God. When I was very young in the way, not long after I was baptized, I was very tempted of the devil at that time. And I was very naive. I didn't even realize it was a temptation of the devil. I've certainly no since, but I came home from my work one evening and that temptation was that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God. And that temptation brought me into such terrible bondage and darkness in my spirit and so troubled me. And this particular evening I was so burdened with it and so troubled with it and it didn't seem to matter where I looked in Holy Scripture, I couldn't find anything to do with the eternity of Jesus Christ. And the devil kept saying to me, he's not the son of God, he's just a man, he's a good man, he's a righteous man, but he's not the son of God. And you know I sat up reading till the early hours of the morning, I was single then, And I came to these words in Proverbs 8, and as I read them, the scales fell off my eyes. I had such a sacred revelation of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the words are these, the Lord possessed me in the beginning. You see that same word again, in the beginning of his way, before his works of old, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning. wherever the earth was. And so we have here, and we compare spiritual things with spiritual, scripture with scripture. All things were made by him. How beautifully it speaks of the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything made. That was me. I think it was J.C. Ryle that said that if you change a full stop or a comma in the first five verses of the Gospel of John, you will introduce some awful heresy into the church of God. And I believe he's absolutely right on that point. In him was life. He is the life of the church. He is the life of his people. He says here in John chapter 14, I am the way, the truth and the life. In him was life and the life was the light of men. Look how the Holy Spirit changes the light and life. They go together. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is the life of the world. Christ is the light of his people. Christ is the life of his people. and the light shineth in darkness. In this dark, benighted world, darkened by sin and Satan's power, and yet there is a glorious light that now shines. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts. The light of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus says here in this gospel in the 8th chapter, I am the light of the world and the light shineth in darkness. And the darkness comprehended it not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. This glorious divine person. And yet there were those to whom he was revealed. And that is the sacred, glorious office of the Holy Ghost. It's to reveal the things of Jesus. He will testify of Christ, the Lamb. He will take of the things of Jesus and reveal them unto you. You think of Simeon, my mind just goes to Simeon, when he came and that holy babe was brought by his parents to be done according to the law. And Simeon was brought by the Spirit in that instant into the temple. And he took that little child. Now that little child didn't look any different to any other child. There was no form nor comeliness in him that we should desire him. He wasn't distinct in his human nature to any other with the exception that he was holy and pure and righteous. Simeon took that little child into his arms And he had that sacred revelation by the Spirit as he took that child in his arms. Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. This glorious salvation that is revealed in the incarnation of the Son of God. And the Word was made flesh. He was made flesh. Now, there is a profound mystery in the person of Jesus Christ. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The eternal Word became flesh. The Holy Spirit overshadowed the womb of the Virgin Mary. That holy thing that shall be born of the... that seed of the woman. not by natural generation, otherwise he would have been stained by the sin of Adam. He was born by a supernatural generation, a real true human nature, body and soul, that he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. that profound mystery, my beloved friends, that we see in Christ. It is a mystery. You can't explain it. It's like the sacred mystery of the Trinity. You can't explain the sacred mystery of the Trinity. How can three be one and one be three, and yet revealed to us in God's holy word is this precious truth, the doctrine of the Trinity and revealed to us in this Holy Word is this deep mystery of godliness that God was manifest in the flesh, in the glorious person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the Son of God. We see one person, it would be utter confusion if there were two persons, we see one person, the Son of God, assuming human nature, The Word was made flesh, he became a real man. Now in that glorious person, that one glorious person, the Son of God manifest in the flesh, two natures. One person, but two natures. A human nature, perfect, holy, pure human nature. There's a wonderful word, when I look at it in Psalm 37, verse 37, I always, and I cannot feel that it belongs to anyone, but Jesus Christ. Mark the perfect man. He's the only perfect man that has ever lived on this earth, is Jesus Christ. He did no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright. For the end of that man, Jesus Christ, is peace. The end of that man is peace. That glorious, holy God-man came to this sinful world, and the Word was made flesh. Now, again, in that profound mystery of godliness, the Word made flesh. The divine never became human. The human never became divine. A clear distinction in that one glorious person the divine and human nature, one glorious. What a profound mystery, isn't it? God, the eternal, the infinite, the almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth was made flesh. You know, the apostle in that beautiful epistle to the Colossians in the first chapter, Again, such sublime, sacred, beautiful language that he speaks there concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now listen to how he opens so beautifully the person of Christ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is the head, and this is really what so drew me to this, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning. He is the beginning. That's a name that is given to Christ in Holy Scripture, the beginning, the eternal one. You know, I always think it's such a beautiful, in the epistle to Timothy, when the Apostle Paul writing to his son in the faith, and he speaks of his own call by grace. and how the Lord found him. He persecuted the church, he wasn't worthy to be an apostle. You know, as he relates to Timothy how the Lord worked in his heart, suddenly there springs out from his heart, out of a deep feeling sense, he says, now, unto the King eternal, immortal, the only true God, be honour and glory everlasting. Amen. Oh, it so thrilled his heart. the sacred realization of that wonderful, infinite, eternal grace that reached his heart through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The foundation of all our hope is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is lay, which is Christ Jesus and the glory of this sacred person. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In Galatians 4, Paul, he says, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that are under the law. The Son of God was made of a woman, made under the law. we're very clearly instructed in holy scripture that the law was made for man and that is the meaning of that expression made of a woman made under the law the law was made for man it was man that was to be redeemed so the eternal son of the father he took our flesh he became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh under the law he lived as a man under the law. There are some texts in Holy Scripture, what I call beacons, they're beacon texts. They stand out. And you know we should interpret Scripture from the beacon texts. They are so clear and they are so emphatic and we should always interpret according to what those clear, emphatic texts say. And the one that I'm thinking of I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." We must ever remember that, friends. There are some that would say the law has been abrogated, it's completely finished with, we have nothing whatsoever to do with it, and in Jesus Christ it's completely gone. That's absolutely wrong. I come to fulfill the law. That's what he came to do. And that's what he did do. He lived as a man under the law. He lived a perfect, sinless, spotless, holy, undefiled life. And he lived it as a substitute. You know, we often speak of the vicarious nature of the sacrifice of Christ. And by the word vicarious, it's a theological term which means substitutionary, in the room and in the place of. And the sacrifice of Christ, it was vicarious, it was substitutionary, but so was the life of Christ. From the cradle to the grave, that was all for his people. As he lived as a man here below, as he fulfilled the sacred holy precepts of the law, and as he says, I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. That's exactly what he did for his people. Christ is the end of the law. for righteousness. The only way that a poor, sinful son of Adam, sinful son or daughter of Adam, the only way that you or I can ever be made righteous is in and through the glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that glorious righteousness is His perfect obedience for His people. It's vicarious. Again, that's a very precious word to me and it's again one of those very beautiful sacred words that thrill one's heart when we read it. In the last verse of 2 Corinthians 5, for he hath made him who his only begotten son manifest in the flesh for he who is he the father our gracious heavenly father for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Christ knew no sin. He fulfilled the law perfectly, and yet the Eternal Father, He laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. That's the iniquity of the whole church, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And He took the sin of the church, again, this sacred doctrine of substitution, vicarious, He took the sin off the church, he lifted it off the church, and he imputed it to his Son, manifest in the flesh, Jesus Christ. He laid upon him the iniquity of us all. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, the holy, innocent, spotless Son of the Father. I remember on occasion, friends, when the Lord so wonderfully delivered me, I'd sinned. It was a time of sweet blessing in my soul, and one morning I sinned very willfully in my heart. And it was just as if there was a shutter came down between my soul and God, separation. And I was so distressed. I went about my daily work so distressed, begging of the Lord to deliver me. 11 o'clock that morning, as I was about my work, Those words dropped into my soul like a heavenly balm. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. It absolutely melted me to nothing. This poor, wretched, filthy, undone sinner and this holy, innocent, spotless Saviour. You know, friends, oh, my heart was so full of love to that precious Redeemer. I wept and I wept under such a sense of His dying love to me. But I tell you something, in my early spiritual days I knew conviction of sin. I knew what it was, what we call to be under the law and to know the darkness and the terror and the bondage under the law. But I tell you something, that sacred sight of my crucified Redeemer, I knew more of the awful nature of sin then than ever I knew under the law. When I saw how he suffered, he bled, he died for me, for my sins. It was my sins that nailed him to that cross. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. in him. That glorious name that is given to our Lord Jesus Christ in Jeremiah chapter 23. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. And then further on I think it's in Jeremiah chapter 32 and it speaks of the church and it says she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Why? Because she's clothed in that glorious everlasting road of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And now this, my beloved friends, these are the reasons why the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. He became a real man. He came to live. He came to suffer. He came to bleed. He came to die. He came to rise again, and he came that he might ascend into heaven and make a new and living way into the holy place. The foundation of the Christian's hope is absolutely, entirely, and completely in one place. That is in the finished work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man. Christ Jesus. To me there's such a sacred emphasis there. The man, Christ Jesus. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The sacred glory in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's a sacred glory in the holy life that he lived. Have you ever seen a loveliness? You know, the spouse, she says in Solomon's Song, chapter five, yea, he is altogether lovely. Have you seen a loveliness, a glory, a beauty in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that holy God man, in that holy sinless life that he lived, in that perfect obedience, in that glorious righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ? Have you seen the loveliness and the glory in that Savior? In the Judgment Hall? In the Garden of Gethsemane? You know, that is where that transaction took place, what we've just referred to, the Eternal Father, He took the sin of the church, He imputed it unto His Son, Jesus Christ, He laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, there in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's where that was done. The Eternal Father took the sin of the Church and He laid it on His Son. And that's why we read in Luke chapter 22, and He being in an agony. Why? He had upon Him the weight of the sin of the whole Church of God. It says just before his sufferings, to this end was I born, for this cause came I into the world. To what end? To suffer, to bleed, and to die. I often remind my friends at home when we celebrate Christmas time and come together for divine worship to consider the wonderful glory of the incarnation of the Son of God. Just remember the words of our precious Redeemer. To this end was I born. For this cause came I into the world, to suffer, to bleed, and to die for my people, to take away their sins, to satisfy all the demands of divine justice. Divine justice demanded a perfect, holy sacrifice. It had to be. Hence, the need of the virgin birth. Hence, the need of a perfect, sinless, holy life. And then, a sinless, holy, perfect sacrifice. And the Lord, the Eternal Father, he smelled a sweet savour in that glorious sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nailed to the cross, the Apostle and the Colossians, he brings that out. He nailed our sins to His cross. Nailed, He was wounded for our transgressions. And you know, you get a feeling, sense of that. You really do begin to understand in an experimental way in your own soul. Never, we can't really enter into the great depths of it, but we get just a little sight by faith of the glory of Christ, our substitute. Our righteousness, our suffering Saviour, our sins put away, God and sinners reconciled, where? In this glorious suffering Saviour, who suffered the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full. Something very beautiful in that, isn't it? Full of grace and truth. You know, all the glory, all the dignity of the holy life of Jesus Christ, of the sufferings of Jesus Christ as the the sacrifice on the cross of Jesus Christ, the precious blood that was shed, the resurrection, the ascension into glory, all the dignity and worth of that life, that sacrifice is this, he is a son of God. And that's what gives the glory, dignity to that glorious, precious sacrifice. full of grace and truth. You see we read again and again the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and that's where grace flows from and that is the foundation of grace and that is the fullness of grace. It's in this that this is the eternal person of the Son of God and that sacred sacrifice is of eternal infinite worth. That's where the infinite worth of the sacrifice of Christ dwells, it's in that He is the Son of God, and that's the everlasting righteousness of Christ, it's because He is the Son of God. The Son of God manifest in the flesh, and that righteousness is an eternal righteousness, and it clothes this people forever. They are made perfect. That lovely word that we have, we read in the, uh, Ezekiel chapter 16 of the wretched infant in the open field. And I passed by and said, leave, but you know, in the last verse of that short patches passage in the 14th verse, he says concerning that wretched infant, because in its course, Israel, what does he say calmly in my company? in a beautiful revelation of the glorious righteousness of our precious Redeemer. Come ye in my company. What grace, what grace, what wonderful grace, what a fullness of grace that the eternal Son of the Father should humble himself, should come to this sinful, wicked, corrupt, ruined world and come to save sinful, wicked, corrupt man. And what grace of our heavenly Father God so loved the world, he sent his only begotten son. He sent him to suffer. He sent him to bleed. He sent him to die. He sent him to redeem that people that he'd formed for his praise. He sent him to suffer for them, to die for them. He sent him to shed his precious blood. We read in Leviticus that the blood is the life thereof. poured out His life, He poured out His soul unto death. I love the way it's put in Holy Scripture. You see, death had no claim whatsoever on the person of Jesus Christ. None whatsoever. He did no sin. The wages of sin is death. He did no sin. Death had no claim on this glorious holy man. He laid down His life. It was a voluntary act of the Son of God. I have power. I see such a beauty in that. I have power to lay my life down. What life is He speaking of? He's speaking of that holy human life that He assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. I have power to lay my life down. You know the Apostle Paul in the epistle to the Hebrews, he brings out so beautifully and so clearly the connection between suffering, temptation, and death, and the human nature of the Son of God. You see, as the Son of God, that glorious divine person, we read in Scripture, God who cannot die. As the Son of God, he could not die. We read in Holy Scripture, God cannot be tempted of evil. As the Son of God, He could not be tempted of evil. But in that sacred, glorious mystery of the Word made flesh, the Son of God, assuming a human nature, He could suffer. He could bleed. He could die. He could be tempted. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. In that sacred human nature that was his, it was his own personal human nature. And in that, in that sacred, holy human nature, which he assumed and took into union with his divine, he could suffer. He could bleed. He could die. And he humbled himself. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now, what we read in the second chapter of the Hebrews, and the apostle, he opens up to the Hebrews about human nature and man being made a little lower than the angels. He's quoting, of course, from the book of Psalms. But just listen to what he says, but we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. That's why. For the suffering of death. We see him crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. He by the grace of God, that wonderful grace of our eternal God, treasured, the very source, the very center, the very substance, the very foundation of grace is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Do you see a glory, a wonderful glory, a sacred fullness in our Lord Jesus Christ, a fullness of salvation, a fullness of redemption? Now, he goes on here in the Hebrews, and he says, for it became him, for whom are all things, this is speaking of his divine nature, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Often that word perfect is translated complete, to make him complete through suffering. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee. And then he goes on in verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. that through death, notice the connection, partakers of flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For truly he took not upon him the nature of angels, I seriously wonder if in the early church there were some confused thoughts that Christ was an angel. Because the apostle, he lays a great emphasis here in the Hebrews. He didn't take the nature of angels. He took our nature. He became bone of our bone. He became flesh of our flesh. He became a real man, a true man. He had a human body and soul. He had a true human nature. And he offered that sacred human nature as a substitute on the behalf, in the room, in the place, and in the stead of his people. Wherefore, in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, that precious blood that Jesus shed on the cross of Calvary. We read of that blood in John 1, rather 1 John chapter 1. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. The dignity, the worth of that precious blood is the blood of the Son of God. That's the dignity and worth of it. And it's of infinite worth. It cleanses from all sin how often I've been thankful for that all it cleanses from all sin and you know my beloved friends when he rises from the grave he died he died for the sins of his people he was made a curse he paid the price he gave his life a ransom for all to be testified in due time but he rose again for our justification if one sin had not been atoned for One sin left behind, he would have never risen from the dead. The wonderful glory of that empty tomb. How often I felt my heart thrilled when I read that verse, come, see the place where the Lord lay. He's not here, he's risen. Oh, my beloved friend, he has destroyed death and him that had the power of death, that is the devil. See, he rose again for our justification. I see the time is gone. I haven't really got very far into the subject. It is a profound subject, a deep subject. Just before we close, just for a few moments, it was much on my spirit in meditating for this service, and that is in the opening verse of the first epistle of John, that which was from the beginning, again, Christ. which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. The word of life. That's Christ. He is our life. But what seems to rest so much with me is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. There are many, many Christians in this world that go under the name of Christians. And they have a very intellectual knowledge of the truth. They understand the scriptures, they're well versed in it. That's a good thing, I'm not criticizing that. And they have a very clear intellectual understanding of the catechisms, of the various creeds, et cetera. But what have we tasted? What have we handled of the word of life? What do we know in personal experience? Has Christ been made precious to you? Do you enter into something of the beauty and loveliness of Solomon's Song? When I was under conviction of sin, I remember in my work, and I could get on my own at one time, and I opened Solomon's Song at that time. I was under a concern, a burden. Christ hadn't been revealed. I read right through the whole of the book. I closed it, and I thought I did not understand a sibilance, anything in that book. Didn't understand anything about it. I closed the book. I thought I don't know anything about this book. But you know, it was nearly two years after that when Christ was revealed to me, so wonderfully revealed to me. Then I opened Solomon's Psalms. And all the loveliness I saw in Solomon's son, my beloved, the beauty and glory of his person, the wonder of his grace. And what I saw in those very early spiritual days was the prayers in Solomon's son. Let him kiss me. They were the prayers of my heart. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou dwellest, where thou feedest, where thou causest thy flock to rest at noon. It was the language of my heart. It was so sweet to my soul. And surely that's what John means here when he says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. The time's gone, friends. We could continue for a long time, but may the Lord add his blessing. of our good friend for that gracious exposition of that very precious chapter and the word of God may make it a blessing to us. Following the benediction, the close of this service, there is food provided which we are very thankful to the ladies for making provision for and in the benediction we will give thanks also for that.