May I Present Jesus (Part 1)

Take your Bible and turn with me, if you would, to the Gospel of John. And as you're turning there, as we begin to embark on the first few verses of John's Gospel, I want you to turn with me to John chapter 12. John chapter 12.

When you come to the 12th chapter of John, you are at the very end of Christ's public ministry. When you come to chapter 13, he enters his private ministry with his men. But in John chapter 12, you have the triumphal entry, where everyone is praising his name and taking off their garments and putting them down on the ground, saying to him, Hosanna, glory to God in the highest.

There is a whole bunch of people following the Christ. After all, it's Passover and everyone's moving in that direction anyway, except for the fact that Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. So that would include all kinds of curious people to understand who this Jesus is.

And so they would be among the thousands, maybe even millions, following Christ into Jerusalem. And as he goes into Jerusalem, of course, there are those in the city who are coming out to greet him during that entry time into Jerusalem, which would cause the Pharisees to say these words in verse number 19 of John 12. So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good.

Look, the whole world has gone after him. They began to accuse one another of not doing their job. Look what's happened. The whole world has gone after him.

Now, please note, that doesn't mean everybody in the world, because nobody in Egypt was going after him. Nobody in Rome was going after him. Nobody in Syria was going after him. Nobody in Macedonia or Achaia were going after him. The Pharisees are speaking in terms of generalities.

All kinds of men from the world, all kinds of people from the world have gone after him. It doesn't mean that every person in the world was going after Jesus. That's like saying when John the Baptist was baptized in the Jordan, when it says that all of Jerusalem came down to be baptized by John in the Jordan.

That doesn't mean that every single person in the city of Jerusalem was coming down to be baptized by John in the Jordan. It's a statement that talks about distinction. And so the Pharisees are speaking in hyperbole.

Look at all these people following him. John knows that and uses a particular illustration to speak of some of the Greeks, some of the Gentiles, those who had converted to Judaism, and therefore they were following the Christ. John uses this illustration.

He's the only one who does. It says in verse 20, now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These then came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and began to ask him saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Now stop right there. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Now there is no record of the fact that they ever saw Jesus.

There's no record that they ever spoke to Jesus. But John is helping you to understand the desire of people to see the true Jesus Christ. These people had a passion.

They had a drive to come face to face with the living God. And you got to stop right there and you got to ask yourself the question, is that us? Did you come this morning to see Jesus? Most people go to church to see other people. Some people go to church to be seen by other people.

But do you come to church to truly see the true and living God? Do you come to see the Christ in all of his glory? John's whole gospel is about that somehow you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. That's the whole purpose of his writing. The whole doctrine of Christology is wrapped up in John's gospel.

It's a study of the Christ. Who is he? And these Greeks had come from who knows where to just get a glimpse of Jesus, to somehow get a conversation with Jesus, to somehow be introduced to Jesus, which always makes us wonder why we are here. Thus, the title for today's sermon, may I present to you Jesus, John 1, verses 1 to 5. Because when you come, I want you to see only Jesus.

That's all that matters. That's the only motive for going to church. Every other motive is a wrong motive.

The right motive is, I want to see Jesus. I want to hear about the Lord. I want to come to know about the Lord.

So, at the outset, I must warn you that there are many churches, not just in America, but all around the world, that introduce to people the wrong Jesus. Just because you go to a church doesn't mean they're going to introduce you to the right Jesus. That is very important for us to understand.

I'm afraid that people don't really take into consideration where they go to church. But you should. Because if you go to the wrong church, you're going to be introduced to the wrong Jesus.

And if you get Jesus wrong, you'll get your destiny wrong. You must know the right Jesus. That's why John says, we write these things, that you may know that Jesus is the Messiah.

Can you go to heaven and not believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Answer, no. Because you got a wrong Jesus. He is the Messiah that was prophesied in the Old Testament.

Can you go to heaven and not believe that Jesus is the Son of God? No. You can't. You must believe in the true identity of the Jesus that John explains to us in his gospel.

This is absolutely crucial. So much so that Jesus would say these words in Matthew's gospel in his very first sermon, Matthew 7, verse number 15: beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. At the very beginning of the ministry of Christ, and he preaches this sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, he gives a warning about false prophets.

It was so clear that the Apostle Paul would say these words in Acts chapter 20, verse 28, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one of you with tears.

Paul knew that there will be many who will rise up from within the church after his departure that will draw people away from the true gospel. So Peter would say these words in his second epistle, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 1, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned, and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. So Peter, even with more fervency, would talk about people who would deny the true master, the king of kings. So Jude would say these words in verse 3 of his epistle, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ warns about false prophets and false teachers. Paul recognizes that after his departure they're going to come from within, and they did in the church of Ephesus.

And Peter would warn about these false teachers. Jude would say the warning's over, they're here, they've already risen among you, and they deny truly the only master, our Lord Jesus. John, who wrote three epistles after the gospel, these epistles written some 50 years after the resurrection of our Lord, said these words.

John, second, excuse me, second John, verse number 7, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. And the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

See, John knows that there are people who are deceivers. They're called antichrists. They are those who are against the Christ.

He would say in his first epistle, in first John, chapter 2, verse number 18, children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One. And you all know, I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. Again, the warning, because the New Testament is replete with the same warning.

Satan is a master of disguise. In fact, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, he says these words in verse 14, no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

And then he says earlier in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world, who is Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Satan's whole purpose is to blind the minds of people so they do not recognize that Jesus is God. He denies the deity of Christ, and every false gospel denies the deity of Christ.

That's why the question, who is Jesus, is the most important question. You need to get that part right. If you miss that one, you've missed the whole thing, because the gospel is the center of the good news about the Christ.

So you must get Jesus right. John would say this in 1 John 4, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now think about this, this is 50 years after the resurrection of the Christ.

We're 2,000 years down the road from that, and John is saying there are many antichrists, there are many false teachers in his day. Think about how many there are in this day, so many of them. So he says, test the spirits, test the message and the messenger, examine them closely, listen with a critical ear, look at them with a critical eye, make sure that you examine the genuineness of their message, the genuineness of the man in which they present.

For is it the true Jesus? Because if it's a different Jesus, it's a different gospel. If it's a different gospel, it's satanic and it's damning. So you need to get Jesus right.

So he says this, by this you know the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus is not from God, this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming and now it is already in the world. It's already here, it's everywhere.

And you know what the unfortunate thing is, is that there are countless people, millions of them, all around the world going to churches that deny the true identity of Jesus. Let me give you a few examples. There is this movement in Pentecostalism called the Oneness Pentecostals.

There are 25 million that claim to be a part of that denomination, 25 million that are a part of the Oneness Pentecostal movement. One of their greatest proponents is a man who just retired from his ministry, his name is T.D. Jakes. I'm sure you've heard of him.

The Oneness Pentecostal movement believes in what was old called the Sabellianism, modern day term is modalism. It denies the triune nature of the living God. It denies that God is three in one.

It denies that God is co-eternal, co-existent as one supreme God. Modalism says that God is one, but He takes on various forms at different times. So if He wants to be the Father, He can be the Father.

If He wants to be the Son, He can be the Son. If He wants to be the Spirit, He can be the Spirit. But it denies the true nature of the living God.

And so if you're a part of the Oneness Pentecostal movement, you are hearing a gospel about the wrong Jesus. You got 25 million people on their way to hell, and they don't even know it because they got Jesus wrong. It's so important to hear this, to know this.

The word of faith movement, 90% of everyone in the Charismatic Pentecostal denomination, 90% of them are of the word faith movement. The word faith movement is all about signs and wonders and miracles and healings and all of those extracurricular things. They're really into all that.

And their leaders, the most prominent leaders, deny the deity of Christ. People like Creflo Dollar and people like Benny Hinn, people like Kenneth Copeland, all those men deny the deity of Christ. So you have 90% of the people in this movement who hear about a different Jesus.

That is very, very alarming. In fact, listen to what Creflo Dollar says. MacArthur, in his book, Strange Fire, quotes these men. This is where I got the quotes from.

Creflo Dollar says that if Jesus came as God, so he's already denying that Jesus is God. If Jesus came as God, then why did God have to anoint him? Jesus came as a man. That's why it was legal to anoint him. God doesn't need anointing. He is anointing.

Jesus came as man at age 30, and God is now getting ready to demonstrate to us and give us an example of what a man with the anointing can do. So he denies the deity of Jesus, that Jesus in all reality is God in the flesh. It was Kenneth Copeland who said, why didn't Jesus openly proclaim himself as God during his 33 years on earth? For one single reason, he hadn't come to earth as God, he came as man.

Again, denying the deity of Christ, which by the way, he's wrong because we will see in John's gospel that Jesus Christ claims to be God over and over and over again. It had been a hymn who says that Jesus who was righteous by choice said, the only way I can stop sin is by me becoming sin. I can't just stop it by letting it touch me. I and it must become one. Hear this, he says, he who is the nature of God became the nature of Satan.

Ninety percent, this is not my statistic, this is their very own statistic. Ninety percent of those in the charismatic Pentecostal arena are of the word faith movement. And this is what they're being taught, that Jesus came as a man, but Jesus wasn't God in the flesh. You have Kenneth Copeland who says these words, the righteousness of God was made to be sin.

He accepted the sin nature of Satan in his own spirit. What blasphemy is that? He says, and at the moment that he did so, he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You don't know what happened at the cross. Why do you think Moses upon instruction of God raised the serpent upon the pole instead of a lamb? That used to bug me, I said.

Why in the world would you want to put a snake up there, the son of Satan? Why didn't you put a lamb on that pole? And the Lord said to me, because it was a sign of Satan that was hanging on the cross, he said, I accepted it in my own spirit, spiritual death, and the light was turned off. How sad is that? Denying the deed of Christ by claiming that he adopted the nature of Satan. If you have family or friends in that denomination, you need to grab them as quick as possible.

Drag them away from that kind of church because they're hearing about the wrong Jesus. Christology is important. It's crucial to understanding salvation.

One man who's called America's pastor, who boasts 40,000 strong every Sunday, denies the supremacy and exclusivity of Christ, and most people don't even know it. His name is Joel Osteen. When asked if he thought people who refuse to accept Jesus Christ are wrong, this is how he responded.

Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe, here's what the Bible teaches, and from the Christian faith, this is what I believe, but I just think that only God would judge a person's heart. He doesn't know.

He's a pastor. He boasts 40,000 strong. So what does he do? He pontificates his ignorance every Sunday.

So 40,000 people become ignorant of the gospel of who Jesus is. He says this, I just think that only God would judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father.

I don't know all about their religion, but I know they love God, and I don't know. I've seen their sincerity, so I don't know. I mean, he doesn't know anything.

I mean, come on, people. He says, I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus. Well, you can't have a relationship with Jesus if you don't know who he is, right? Another occasion, he was asked, are Mormons true Christians? How would you answer that? Listen to what he says.

Well, in my mind, they are. Who cares what's going on in your mind? In my mind, they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it, so I believe they are.

So here's this pastor of 40,000 strong on Sunday morning telling everybody that Mormons are Christians, that the Jesus that Mormons believe is the same Jesus that Christians believe, and he's not. That's why there are many antichrists that have gone out into the world. John would speak of it.

Jude would speak of it. Peter, Paul, Christ warned about it. They're everywhere.

So I don't know where your friends go to church. I don't know where your family goes to church, but if it was me, I would grab them and snatch them out of the fire, because if they believe in that kind of Jesus, they're not going to heaven. They're going to hell.

Will you ever tell them that? Will you ever be as so bold as to say you're not believing in the right Jesus of the Bible? Who will tell them if you don't tell them? We are responsible as parents to warn our children, not just when they're young, but no matter how old they are. We are responsible as Christians to warn people of impending judgment if they don't believe in the true Jesus. This is so incredibly important.

So when Christ said, who do men say that I am? Most people got it right. Most people got it wrong, excuse me. Well, some say you're Jeremiah, and some say you're Elijah, and some say you're one of the prophets.

Everybody's saying that you're great, but nobody's saying that you're God. Well, that's all that matters. So Christ says, well, who do you say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ.

You're the Messiah. You're the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

In other words, no man can ever convince you that Jesus is God. Christ says, my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You see, it's a divine enablement.

It's divine sight. Only God can do that. God the Father opens blind eyes so people will see the glorious light of the gospel.

So as we go to John chapter 1, oh, by the way, you can turn to verse 1 if you want to. We need to at least begin that this morning. You turn to John 1.

I want to present to you Jesus. I want to present to you the true Jesus as John proclaims him and declares him to be. We must understand this because it's absolutely crucial to your eternal destiny.

So John 1, verse 1 says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him. And apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life.

And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness. And the darkness did not overpower it.

This week, next week, and probably the week after, I want you to see five aspects of the Christ. I want you to first of all see his eternality. And then I want you to be able to see his deity.

Then I want you to see his personality. And then I want you to see his activity or his creativity. And then you need to see his invincibility.

Those five things will scream out at you as you begin to break down verses 1 to 5. But it all begins with his eternality. That Christ existed before the world began.

In the beginning, it says, in the beginning was the Word. This is his eternality. In the beginning was the Word.

And the tense of the Word was explains to us that he didn't come into being at the beginning, but existed before the beginning ever came about. In the beginning, the Word already existed. It was already there.

We know from verse 14 that that Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we'll talk to you more about the Word as time goes on to help you understand why John uses Logos as an explanation of who Christ is. But you need to understand his eternality.

Everything about the Christ existed before time began. He has no beginning. He is the eternal God.

So let me show you. Very familiar to all of us is Isaiah 9, verse number 6. For unto us, we understand, a child will be born.

And unto us a son is given. Note the son is not born, the son is given. The child is born. Speaking of his humanity and his deity.

And his name will be called Wonderful. Some will say, well, he's called Wonderful Counselor. No, he's called Wonderful. It doesn't mean that he's not a Wonderful Counselor because he is. But his name is Wonderful.

How do we know that? Book of Judges, 13th chapter, Manoah, the father of Samson. When he encountered the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, he says, tell me what is your name? And the angel of the Lord says, why do you ask my name? Knowing it is Wonderful. So when Isaiah says his name will be called Wonderful, he's echoing what the angel of the Lord said to Manoah way back in the Book of Judges.

That's his name. He is Wonderful. He is Counselor.

He is Mighty God. And then it says, he is Everlasting Father. What does that mean? I thought you said the son wasn't the father, and the father's not the son.

That's correct. So how can it be the Eternal Father? How can it be the Everlasting Father? Well, you must understand father in the Jewish sense. So it means that he is the Everlasting Author, the Eternal Originator.

That's what father means in the Jewish context. So he's not the father, but he is the Everlasting Author, the Eternal Originator of everything from eternity. Speaking of the fact that the son given is the child who was born, but he existed in eternity past.

Micah 5 says the same thing. Micah 5, verse number 2, the great prophecy about the arrival of the Messiah, quoted in Matthew chapter 2 when the Magi came right into Jerusalem asking where is he who was born King of the Jews? And Herod asked the scribes, and they quote Micah 5, verse number 2, it says, but as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth from me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. Speaking of the fact that the one born in Bethlehem is from the days of eternity, speaking to the eternality of the son. This is so crucial to understand that Christ existed before time ever began because he is the eternal God.

So John begins by explaining to you the eternality of the word, the eternality of the son, that he's always existed. He never came into being. So important.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1, it says this in verse 5, for to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you, and again I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, and let all the angels of God worship him. Now stop right there.

This is very important because the cults will tell you that Jesus is the firstborn, trying to prove to you that Jesus was a created being. That's not true. Because the word for firstborn is the word prototokos.

It is used nine times in the New Testament. Prototokos is a word that speaks not of origin, but one who is preeminent, one who has the right to the inheritance. He is the one who is the ruler.

So it's a word that speaks to the fact that there is one who rules, there is one who is preeminent. That's what prototokos means. Same thing said in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15, that he is the firstborn of all creation.

We know that he wasn't the first one born in creation, that was Adam. But the firstborn of all creation is like the firstborn of all those who have been raised from the dead. Of all those raised from the dead, he is the preeminent ruler of them all.

Of all those ever born, he is the preeminent one of them all because he is the prototokos. Very important to understand the deity of Christ. Let me give you one more hint.

It says, verse 8, but of the son, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The father speaking to the son calls him God. Your throne is forever.

And then it says, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.

And you, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you remain and they all will become old like a garment and like a mantle, you will roll them up like a garment. They will also be changed, but you are the same and your years will not come to an end.

Why? Because he is the eternal God. That's why. So John says in John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the word, indicating that before time began, before everything started up, the word had already existed.

And you jump down to verse 14, it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory as of, listen carefully, the only begotten of the father. Only begotten, circle that word.

The word is monogenēs. It's only used five times in the New Testament. And John uses it four times.

God gave his only begotten son, John 3, you know that verse. And the only other time it's used helps us understand the definition of monogenēs, the only begotten. Again, you will have to use this when you talk to the JWs who come to your door.

I recall a conversation I had when I lived in Covina and the JWs came to my door and they knocked on the door. I was outside doing some kind of yard work and they came to me. And I love that because I was already sweaty and I wanted to make them sweat.

So I kept them there as long as I could. And I kept them facing the sun so they could see the heat rising in them. And I would ask them words like, well, you say that Jesus is the firstborn.

Well, that's the word prototokos. You know what that means, right? They have no idea what it means. So you explained it to them.

And then they say, well, he is the only begotten of the father. I said, yeah, but you know what monogenēs means? They have no idea what it means. They have no idea.

They are so ignorant of what it is they believe because they don't believe the truth. And so the only other time it's used outside John's gospel is Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, specifically verse number 17.

It says, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was offering up his monogenēs, his only begotten son. Let me ask you a question.

How many sons did Abraham have at this point? Two. Was Isaac the only son of Abraham? No. Ishmael was.

Ishmael was the firstborn son, but he was not the prototokos, the right to the inheritance son. He also wasn't the monogenēs, the only begotten son. That is Isaac.

Because he is the unique son or the son of choice. That's what monogenēs means. So when John says we beheld this glory, the glory is that of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

He is the unique son of the father. He is the son of choice of the father. He is the son who is the rightful heir to the inheritance of the father.

Has nothing to do with birth order. Has everything to do with his preeminence and uniqueness as the son of God. May I present to you Jesus, the eternality of the son.

He has always existed. He never came into being. He is the originator of eternity.

Well, to be the originator of something, you have to be what that is. And he is the eternal God of the universe, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. We are embarking on a journey that is the most crucial journey you will ever be on.

Because it's a journey about the identity of the Christ. And what you believe about Christ is everything. Everything.

If you get Christ wrong, you'll get Christianity completely wrong. So you need to begin at the very beginning. Who is Jesus? Because who he is, is all that matters.

So let me ask you, who do you say Jesus is? Who do you say the Christ child is? It's not what do you think, or who do you think he is? It's what does the Bible say he is? That's why you must always keep your finger in the text. That's why you test every spirit, every message, every messenger, always. Just because they say they're Christians, doesn't mean they are.

You must examine what they believe about the Christ. Because that would tell you everything you need to know about what it is they believe about life and death. My prayer for you and me as we embark on this journey, and we just introduced to you the first phrase of John chapter 1, verse number 1.

It's going to take us a while, but there's no hurry. Because it's imperative that you get Jesus absolutely correct as John presents him. He is the Christ.

He is the Messiah. He is a son of the living God. Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for this opportunity you've given us to spend time in your word. We are grateful. Our prayer, Lord, is that you would embed your word deep into our hearts.

That there be no confusion among us about who you are. That truly we would believe that Jesus is exactly who he says he is in the scriptures. And that, Lord, we would not be led astray by those who are truly antichrist.

They deny that you came in the flesh. They tell us that you have taken Satan's nature. All those things are completely and totally wrong, but you, Lord, are the Christ.

You are the Messiah. You're the sinless God-man, 100% God, 100% man, who came to die for our sins, that we might be called the children of the living God. And so, Lord, until you come again, may we proclaim the true Jesus to those who are lost in their sin.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.