Turn with me, if you will, to John chapter seventeen this morning. John chapter seventeen. I just want to read a few verses as we get started this morning. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your father, glorify your son, that your son also may glorify you. Going down to verse four, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Our Father, we thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thine only begotten Son, the beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased, who has also pleased us as well. Thank you, our Father, for the word of God that teaches us about him. As we think about some of the aspects, Father, of the person and work of the Lord Jesus, how important it is, we praise the Spirit of God, the divine teacher, who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us, we pray that he might indeed do that this morning. Take the things of Christ, show them unto us, who might indeed our Father even honor him more and glorify him more by our actions. We pray, Father, for those perhaps with us that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, who need him, perhaps we will see something this morning in thy word that will draw them to himself. And they'll be saved for Jesus' sake. Thank you now for what you're going to do in advance in Jesus' name. Amen. And sometime before, as we've been studying the Word of God, we've gone through a number of studies. We took up dispensations some time ago in the seven churches. Then we got into the bloodline, if you remember, and we talked about the precious blood of Christ and how important it is. the land slain from for the foundation of the world. And having gone through some of these wonderful things, there was something that has always been a blessing to me. I've never actually taken a study of it and looked at it and used it as a series. And I thought, well, perhaps this would be something we could at least get started with. And so I thought, well, the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ You've heard of some of these things. They're not much written on. I have a little book by Harold Sengean that talks about the glories of the Lord Jesus, his eternal glory. And I want to suggest to you, that's what we want to do this morning, because when you think about the Lord Jesus and his prayer here in John chapter seventeen, he is talking about something that was his before the world began, a glory that he had with the Father. And he prayed that the Father would glorify him with that glory which he had before the world was, that he had with him. The glory of the Father, the glory of the Son. Now, you know, there's several ways to look at it. I was in Greenwood Hills last week ago. It's been a week now. not last week, but the week before. And there I had a great time talking with some. And there was one brother there. Some of you may know his name was Tom Wilson. His father was T. Ernest Wilson. And what a blessing it was to just to converse with him. And I asked him some questions along these lines. And some of the things we came up with, of course, the eternal glories of the Lord Jesus. You have his creatorial glories. You have his moral glories, the glories of his suffering, his redemptive glories. You have his acquired glories, what he has acquired, that even though it's this morning at the Lord's table, as we sat and listened, as we heard the Word of God minister to us, you know, it occurred to me, here again, here's something wonderful, the Lord Jesus, who was perfect, had everything he needed. Nothing could be added to him, and yet, And yet because of his obedience to the Father, learning obedience to the things which he suffered, he acquired something. He was enriched. And so was the Father. So they needed nothing in eternity fast. And yet they both acquired a glory there, which we're not going to look at this morning. But then there's his mediatorial glories as he as the great high priest he mediates between us and God and the things that well just a number of things future glories well this morning what I want us to do is to look at the aspect of his eternal glories in other words the glories of the pre-existent Christ you know he he did pre-exist you know he didn't become the son of God when he was born in the manger he didn't become the son of God when he was anointed by, or rather baptized by John the Baptist. He didn't become the Son of God when he died on the cross. No, he always was. He always is. And all the time, the eternal Son of God was the eternal Son of God. And I want us to look at some thoughts this morning as you look at the Word of God. First of all, if you will turn with me to the, we're still in John, we'll probably stay in John, the chapter one. Chapter one of John. In chapter one, we're going to talk about the word of the Lord Jesus. And there are several passages. We can certainly take up Colossians chapter one, Hebrews chapter one, Philippians chapter two. All these go together with this passage as well, you see, when it comes to his eternal sonship. But there are a lot of other things, too, to think about. But before we move on into that area, before we read these verses, let's just think about the significance of the word glory, the meaning of it. It comes from the word doxa. We find it in the English word doxology. It's a word that has to do with a formula of praise to God. And it's something that we worship, we honor, We adore, we love Him. And the word glory itself from the passage of Scripture we'll read especially here in chapter one, we see the manifestations of the characteristics or the character and the power of the Son of God. For instance, in John chapter two, verse eleven, when the Lord Jesus started and John says, this beginning of miracles are signs. did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and unveiled his glory. Well, what did he unveil? He revealed his kindly act at the wedding feast. He was compassionate. He was kind. And he showed his power and his character as he unveiled his glory. And by the way, there's some, I don't know how they get it. I don't agree with them. Some think that when the Lord Jesus came to this world, that he laid aside his glory. I don't believe that. I believe that the Lord Jesus always retained his glory as God, as the eternal God. Now, he veiled it. As he put on the body of flesh and blood and lived among men, the glory of the Son of God was unveiled every time he did a miracle. Every time he did something kind. All of a sudden, there it is. There he is. And, you know, the idea, of course, and it was brought out, I thought about the young brother just said this morning about the word fear. The word fear. Every time the Lord Jesus appeared and did something that unveiled his glory, they were afraid. So they couldn't really, the glory of the Lord Jesus had to be veiled, else no one ever would have approached him. He's unapproachable as it is, the eternal Son of God. Yet, He veiled himself in a body of flesh and blood so that he could tabernacle, as we see here in this chapter, among his people, and they could see him. They could see God in Christ if they chose to, of course, and believe on him, but the glory had to be veiled else they died. I mean, that was true on the Mount, you know, Mount Sinai. God had to veil his glory. Moses couldn't see the glory of God. He would have died. And then even what he saw was so much that he had to veil in his own face because the people couldn't stand to look at his face. But it wasn't just the brightness of it, the fact that they would be disappointed when the glory would vanish. That'll never happen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad of that. But anyway, the glory of the Son of God unveiled for us. And by the way, I was asking Mr. Wilson talking about this business of the Lord laying aside his glory. I said, where do people get that? He said, I think they get it in the hymns. Some of our hymns, which points out a great truth. Hymnology is not theology. Hymnology can be very good and very enjoyable. Remember, it is not theology, and you don't want to put your beliefs according to what you sing sometimes. That's why I appreciate the black books and the red books. In particular, over the years, I've looked at a lot of books, songbooks. And when Vernon Schlieff and many others, I'm trying to think that brother's name years ago that started the progress of having songbooks like this, they were very careful, very careful to choose hymns that were scriptural. Choose hymns that would reflect. the word of God properly, the work of the Holy Spirit properly. In fact, some of them really don't belong in there either. But anyway, reflect the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's very important. A law song which don't do that. So enough of that. But getting back now, let's read some here in John chapter one. We read, of course, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. We'll not read verse three. and four and five as to his creatorial glory. We'll just leave that just now. But when you come down now to verse fourteen and the word became 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. Verse eighteen, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. I'm going back to the verse one just for a minute. There are three statements that are made here. The first statement declares His pre-existence. And whatever way it says, it says in the beginning, it has to be understood. It has to probably refer to either The creation of the universe before Adam and Eve, before the world that was then standing, you know, like it was and then brought out the creation of the universe. The word of God was always there. It was pre-existent. And when you think about the word of God, always eternal, because God is eternal, then that person who is described as having become flesh, which is the Lord Jesus, would have to also be pre-existent because the Word of God always existed. It could never be non-existent. And so the Lord Jesus, you see, is pre-existent. He, the Word, was pre-existent to the creation. Whenever creation had a beginning, it doesn't matter. He was always there. There was no beginning to His being. The second statement is a very interesting word. It declares the distinctiveness of his person. He was with God. Now, this word with God is a very important word. As far as I'm concerned, the word was with God. I mean, it literally means face to face, not meta, which suggests accompaniment with mutual interest. not son soon, which signifies accompaniment being alongside of, but it means face to face. It's the expressive of a personal attitude toward an occupation with the one whose presence is being experienced. If the idea, someone has put it this way, God is the lover because God is love. The Lord Jesus is the object of love, the Word, because you see, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, the Lord God said. Well, the Spirit is called the Spirit of Love. And what you have right here in John chapter one is the Spirit of God bringing the Father and the Son together in a relationship that is totally beyond our comprehension. But do you know what? In the future, one of these days, we're going to enjoy that relationship. because we're going to be with him. Now we're going to be there and we're going to enjoy that fellowship. We can't enjoy it right now because we live in sinful bodies, bodies of death. We'd have to die before we could actually enjoy that fellowship. But it's coming. In fact, that's what the Lord Jesus had in mind. I'll believe when he said, Father, I will that those whom God has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. The glory of the pre-existent Christ. The glory of the eternal Son from heaven. Now the third statement also speaks of his deity, his oneness with God, with whom the second statement spoke of as God. See, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Personal nature of him who is the Word. This is the Lord Jesus. And it's very important. Because the implication you see here is that you have the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, of course, is not mentioned, but still it's assumed because you couldn't have either one without the Spirit of God. They all go together. But sometimes there is, and this is what some false cults have dredged up, just mean not being saved and not being able to understand the Word of God because the Word of God is a spiritual book. It has to be interpreted by the Spirit, to you and me, not by some outside source. But if you're not saved, you don't have the interpreter. It can't be interpreted to you if you're not saved. You can read it and come to a point where you get saved. But those who are calloused and hardened in blind deceit, they would say, well, this means there are two gods. And that's refuted by this very gospel because it declares... that the Father and the Son are one. And there are other scriptures too that tell us there's only one God. But what's wonderful here is the highest of all Christ himself is the glory of God. He is the excellence of the invisible God. He's made visible in the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse fourteen, I know we're not getting very far in some of them, but we'll I think it'll hopefully be helpful. But in verse fourteen it says, this word, the Lord Jesus, the word I should say, not this, but the word became flesh and dwell among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Now there's another term we need to kind of look at in a moment, but it's full of grace and truth. Now this may well refer to the transfiguration. You remember? And again, was mentioned that the word fear comes in here where Peter James and John came and he saw the Lord Jesus and all his glory. They're speaking to John, I'd rather to Elijah, and to Moses about his decease. And there, of course, after having spoken to those things, they wanted to build a tabernacle for each one of them. And God let them know in no uncertain terms. No, this is my beloved son. You don't You don't, He will not share His glory with anyone. God has already said that in the Old Testament. I will not share my glory with anyone. And so you see, the glory of the Son of God is very special. We beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Well, again, the only begotten that is the only person born of a woman whose human nature never came by the ordinary way of generation. Just, it's not just a mere creation in the womb of the Virgin, but the creation, the womb of the Virgin by the energy of the Holy Spirit. No man had anything to do with it. The only begotten of the Father. Now, Mr. Vine says this, that though the word begotten is used to the Son's relationship to the Father, it does not imply any beginnings. It doesn't mean that this is where it began, that Jesus had a beginning. He never had a beginning. It does suggest relationship, but it must be distinguished from generation as applied to man. We use human terms to try to explain things, and this is totally unexplainable anyway. And he says, to endeavor to establish our ideas of divine relationship in accordance with our knowledge of human relationships is simply to betray God. our ignorance. The finite mind cannot understand that which is infinite. Our limitations of time and sense preclude our full apprehension of the eternal. But what God has done though, He's relayed to us the ability to understand certain things in the language of the phraseology which we have, men, boys, women, children, you know, humanly speaking, we understand these things, father, son. So he uses these terms to explain himself. But still, remembering the Lord Jesus is the son, the son, the eternal son from heaven. Again, when we think about it, go with me to First John one, first John one, period. First John chapter one, verse one. Now you may think, well now, Why should I know these things? It builds foundation. It builds... It builds... It's a doctrinal teaching that builds confidence in the Word of God, builds confidence in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's very important. The practical application, of course, is that if this is true, then he certainly did come. He did die on the cross. He did shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins. And every sinner within hearing... must put their trust in the eternal Son of God. They must believe. For instance, when Paul is preaching in Romans, in Romans ten, he says, if you will believe, if you will confess, right? He says, if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Of course, it says in the King James, the Lord Jesus. But Jesus is Lord is acknowledging he's God. And when you do that, and you believe God raised him from the dead, of course you believe he died for you. And that's the gospel. You see, it gives confidence. I remember some years ago, you wouldn't believe people who don't believe that. You wouldn't believe certain people in certain groups of Christians who have sat where you're sitting and listening, not here, but other places. And when you come and say, if you don't believe, I did this once, I did this once Sunday morning, I remember... This lady got something out of me. I said, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ is God, you can't be saved. She said, I never heard of him. I was true. She didn't want to believe that. I said, that's what it says. But Jesus Christ is God's Son, God the Son. If you don't believe that and believe God raised him from the dead, I mean, God couldn't raise him from the dead if he wasn't the Son of God because he was an avir man and he died for his sins and gone to hell. Don't you see it? That's why how important this doctrine is. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. She got over it, by the way. I think she really was saved just startled because it's not taught. See, these truths are not taught ordinarily, if ever, in a lot of groups that Jesus Christ is God the Son. that you've got to believe that and believe he died for you on the cross in order to be saved. Now, I don't mean that you have to understand it. Mr. Darby said, something about these things are darkness to my intellect, but the sun shines to my soul. I don't understand everything, but I believe it. I believe it. God said it. Jesus did it. I believe it. That's settled. But that's important. for the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus. Now this is here in first John. I've already lost my place. Why'd I do that? John, as John writes, he talks, he says, he says to the children, his people, he says, I'm writing these things, that which was from the beginning. Now some say this is the beginning of fellowship. Some say this is the beginning in Genesis. is the beginning of creation. The beginning in John chapter one is the eternal beginning, going way back to the beginning of the beginning, and that this is the third beginning, the beginning of fellowship. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hand have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifested. We have seen it. And bear witness and declare it to you, That eternal life. They're talking about Jesus Christ. That eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested or unveiled to us. That which we have seen and heard. That we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. These things are so you'll have joy in verse four. So you see he says. the life was manifested we've seen we bear witness we declare to you this eternal life now John does not say that he who was the life was with God but that he was with the father because the terms father and son go together and that of father implies the existence of a son there is no hint in the scriptures as to when God began to be a father there's no scripture that makes it clear at all, but yet it is clear that his fatherhood in relation to Christ was pre-existent to the incarnation. Was the fatherhood of the one eternal? Sure. So the sonship of the other must also likewise be eternal. In fact, again in the same epistle, chapter four, verse fourteen, turn there. The father has sent the son to be the savior of the world. How can he do that? If the son already wasn't pre-existent, he was. He couldn't send a son that wasn't there. It was a father who sent and a son who came. And so we can understand, we can only rightly understand the term, the only begotten, when used to the son in the sense of unoriginated relationship. It's not an event of time that's important when it comes to the getting, it's a fact irrespective of time. The Lord Jesus did not become, but he necessarily and eternally is the Son of God. He's a person, a person possessing every attribute of pure Godhead. And that necessitates eternity, absolutely being. And in this respect, he is not after the Father, but he is the same as the Father. Well, I hope those things are helpful and help us to understand that eternal relationship. I think it's important. Now, going back to John chapter one, if you're still, if you haven't lost your place there, when we think about the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, there in verse fourteen, as of the only begotten of the Father, this is a relationship that we're seeing here. We have the Father, the Son, the Son from the Father, or out of the Father, and it's important. The glory which John is talking about is a unique relationship. This is his pre-existence. This is the glory of the pre-existence of Christ, all right? It was a Father's only begotten who came, the only one who could truly represent a Father, the Father's, the heavenly father here's what john says in sixteen twenty seven you have believed that i came forth from the father i came out from the father and have come into the world again i leave the world and go unto the father again it's pre-existent you see you can't get around it can you you can't miss that great truth Now, here's another one, verse eighteen. Verse eighteen, this is very important too, because it tells us about the Son's eternal dwelling place. He says there, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Did you notice it doesn't say the Son The only begotten Son who was in the bosom, says is. John's writing this, you see, although some would say, well, sure. John's writing retrospectively, and Jesus has already gone back to heaven. Well, he always was in the bosom before. Even while he was on the face of the earth, doing his work and his moral glories that were being revealed from time to time as he did what he did, Still, he was always in the bosom of the Father. There never was a separation between the Father and the Son. It's very important to understand that. No one has seen him. He's the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. And what this does, it tells us that he has an eternal union with the Father in the Godhead. And this wonderful, wonderful, unimaginable intimacy and love between them, the son sharing all the father's counsels, the son enjoying all his affections. We just can't even comprehend. But remember this. Remember what Jesus said, making it practical. As the father has loved me, even so have I loved you. Well, I'll tell you, they'll cheer your heart a little bit. No matter what circumstances you go through, know what difficulties we go through we know the how the father loves the son and how the son loves the father we get that same love even though we may not feel it sometimes on a sick bed or trying to recover or losing a loved one or something going on financial ruin you know all those things they have a devastating effect on us because we're human beings we tie to this world by this flesh but still he tells us these things so that we'll love him, so we'll understand. He does care. He has set it up so that we can enjoy the very same love, the very same relationship that he enjoys with his father. It's amazing. When you think about this dwelling place, we are to understand, we should understand, hopefully, that the bosom of the father ever was and never cease to be the dwelling place of the Son. Now, as we go along, studying several aspects of these passages, in the Gospel of John. Now, Mr. Sengean, I've been studying his book, and if you have his book, you'll see some of the things he said, you'll hear me say. But he points out that other passages, he says in the Gospel of John, but other passages in the gospel John on this subject start out first of all chapter one verse one and two verse fourteen verse eighteen we've already looked at that and perhaps we'll go some others but in chapter four in chapter eight chapter eight verse forty two when Jesus spoke to them he said God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God nor have I come of myself but he sent me again the pre-existence of Christ That's John, verse forty-two. Also, verse fifty-six and verse fifty-eight, he talks about Abraham. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it. He existed before Abraham. And even in verse fifty-eight, the Lord Jesus says, before Abraham was, I am. And then seven hundred years before Christ, he mentions, the Lord Jesus mentioned in twelve forty-one, these things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. And then chapter thirteen, verse three, again records for us thoughts from the Lord Jesus, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God. And in chapter sixteen and seventeen, I would not read them just now, sixteen, twenty-seven, seventeen, five, seventeen, twenty-four deals again with the what the Lord Jesus had to say about his pre-existence. Where he came from, where he's going. Makes it very clear to his beloved. Chapter thirteen, verse three and chapter sixteen, verse thirty, the word to come forth from the presence of God. He came forth from the presence of God. The word APOAPO in the Greek language. Now, in chapter sixteen, verse twenty-seven, it says he came forth from fellowship with God, because in that passage, it literally is from by the side of God, the word para, which we get our English word parallel from it, from the side of God. And then another word that's a very familiar word to many of us, the word ek, which ek, we get the word ecclesia, called out of. Well, in chapter eight, verse forty-two, in chapter sixteen, verse twenty-eight, he says, He came forth from or out of the eternal, essential being of the Father. And then finally, the one that's a favorite of mine in chapter one, verse one, cross. He came forth from standing before God face to face. The word was with God. Now, In our closing minutes, I'm going to stop here because I don't want to take up the second thought and move it to in a minute. It's tonight, Lord willing. But there's a satisfaction here that's caused by this truth in the hearts, in the minds of John and his friends. And it should encourage us to. In the incarnation, the word the Lord Jesus becoming flesh became that which he had never been before. Now you think about the implications. He became a man. He said, you know, to this hour, the Lord Jesus still has a glorified human body. He is God's man. Always will be. Now because of that union, you and I have access to God. Because you see, we are human beings, and we always will be. We'll have glorified bodies one day, but it's because of His death, burial, and resurrection, His sacrifice for sin, to do away with sin, to do away with the power of the devil in hell, that's made it possible for us to have access to heaven as human beings, not as his glorified spirits, his glorified human beings. Has God always meant for us as to we were born to be human beings? Those poor souls in hell are human beings. Now, I guess they're asbestos bodies. I don't know what they've got. I'm not concerned about that so much. The fact that I'm not going there, I'm going to heaven. But they too will suffer all eternity as a human being. That's sad, isn't it? not as some spirit being but as a human being because they're going to be raised from the dead at the last day and you and i as believers are going to be with the father because of the son being becoming a man and he re while retaining this the eternal son from heaven from all eternity the sign of the manger and the swaddling bands had been given that were given by the angel the shepherds, these symbolizes, they symbolize the two sides of his humiliation. First, there was no room for him in the end. He was born, as it were, in an outhouse. We learn later that there was no room for him in the world of his own making. John chapter one in verse ten. He came under his own, his own received him not. And then secondly, the swaddling bands, the swaddling bands were the sign of that disciplined life which he imposed upon himself until the hour of his deliverance when he was raised from the dead, the returns of the glory from where he came. Milton has made these words, said these words, that glorious form, that light insufferable, and that far beaming blaze of majesty, wherewith he wanted heaven's high council table to sit in the midst of trinal unity, He laid aside and here with us to be, forsook the courts of everlasting day, and chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. We can never enter into the mystery of the manger and the swaddling bands until we know something of the pre-existent glory of the Son of God. Let's stop there, close in prayer, and hopefully we can finish this. I'm sure we will finish tonight. Father, we thank you for your son. Thank you for the Lord Jesus, the eternal son from heaven. Thank you, Father, for what we read in thy word about his true existence. Lord, as we think about his purpose in coming, the reason for his coming came into the world to save sinners. It's amazing to us, our Father. We think about the glory of the Son of God, how he veiled that glory. And as it were, laid aside some of his attributes and not his attributes necessarily, but just veiled his glory and just became, he humbled himself. He emptied himself, the scripture says, came a man, came obedient to death, even the death cause. Lord, help us to appreciate more the Son of God.