Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we welcome you to the meditation upon God's precious word. We desire to study some of the most profound words that came from the lips of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, just before his crucifixion, at the closing time of his ministry, with the disciples in the upper room. The special words are found in John chapter sixteen in verse twenty-eight. Listen to them very carefully. They come from the lips of the Son of God, saying, I came forth from the Father and am coming to the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father. Unquote. Here are twenty-two words in this one verse, but in their brevity they give to us a clear history of Christ himself. It is complete in regard to his blessed person, where he came from, where he came to, and what he did, and then where he went at the time of his departure from the earth. Now let us take this verse. and separate it into four statements. Four sections. We can recognize the separate divisions very clearly as we quote them. First of all, the Lord Jesus says, I came forth from the Father. That is the first declaration. Second, he declares, I am coming to the world. Another clear statement. Third, He goes on to declare, Again I leave the world, the third section of our verse. And then last of all, number four, He says, I go to the Father. Now look at the verse very carefully, my friend. See for yourself these four definite statements. They tell us very briefly, but so completely, the whole history of Christ. each section containing precious and eternal truth for our meditation and blessing. My beloved friend, let me ask a question. Do you really know where Christ came from? Do you think that his birth as a babe in Bethlehem was his beginning? Positively not. Neither let your mind and heart be occupied. with only a historical event concerning his birth. God forbid. Let us meditate on the first section of our verse. What does it say? It tells us something of his history before he ever came to the earth at Bethlehem. And they come, the words come from the lips of the eternal Son of God himself. Listen to them carefully and prayerfully. saying, I came forth from the Father. Now what does this mean? Who is this Father? Where is the Father? Now my beloved, I'm sure that if you have read the Gospel, Matthew, Mark and Luke and John, and particularly the Gospel of John, you cannot help but realize over and over again, How very often the Son of God our Savior spoke about his Father. If you would count the numerous times he mentions the Father in the Gospel of John, I believe it is over one hundred, well over that. And when the Lord said, I came forth from the Father, he stated a great and an important truth which we must believe. Tis a declaration of his pre-existence before he came to the earth. Where was he? Well, listen to the words of John chapter one and verse eighteen. John writes by the Holy Spirit saying, No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him or made him known. Now ask the question, where was he? And here is the answer. In the bosom of the Father, he was alongside God his Father in the constant delight of that Father's heart. For he was the eternal Son dwelling in the bosom of his Father, close to the Father's heart. Now go back to chapter one in John again. Let me bring before you verses one and two and listen carefully. These words declare the proof of his pre-existence. Here they are. In the beginning was the word, and that type of word belongs to the Savior. The word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Now, my beloved, this beginning that is referred to, what is it? It was before the beginning of creation, my friend, before he even made the creation. It is in the fourth verse of John chapter one. The creation is mentioned, but in verses one through two, the Lord Jesus existed before that. How far back can you go? How many years before the creation that is written about? We could not measure it. But these outstanding facts are declared. Note, Christ is called the Word as being in the beginning. Second, Christ was there with God, a distinct person other than God himself, alongside God as God's only begotten Son. And then third, it is declared He was God. Oh, may I impress upon you the fact, this was before he became a man, before his birth in Bethlehem. My beloved, I'm sure that you may be listening, hearing, and perhaps even contributing to the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with many others. But would it not do your heart as well as my heart, your soul as well as my soul good, to really ponder and think, where did that Christ born in the manger of Bethlehem? Where did he come from? Was Bethlehem his beginning? It was the beginning of his human life on earth, we know. But that was not his beginning. He existed. before he came to the earth, and in his own words declared, I came forth from my Father. My beloved, will you stop to consider, from the heart of God, from the heart of God, his own blessed Father, he came. Now why did he come from the heart of the Father? He came that He might save you. He came that He might save me. Now as you think of this and in whatever way you seek to commemorate the birth of the Lord Jesus, please drink in the precious truth and drink in the truth from the words of the greatest text you may be familiar with in the word of God. John chapter three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Here you are very definitely, once again, the other words of the Lord Jesus himself, telling where he came from. He came from God. And what a declaration. God loved. And what an amazing fact. He loved the world. But what kind of a world did he have to love? A most ungodly world. And the word means a world of sinners, a world of mankind, a world that is filled with men, women, boys and girls. But the heart of God the Father of our Lord Jesus, was so great in love, and even for the creatures that he had made who have sinned. For may I ask you, my beloved friend, just take one look at the world today, and I speak of it not in the creation of sins, but in the moral sense of what kind of people and persons are living in it. What are they doing? How are they living for the most part? What it seems to be the preponderous situation and condition of the whole world. Can we call it holy? Can we call it good? Can we be pleased with the condition, morally, spiritually, in the world today of mankind? May I say very frankly, the only kind of a world of people that God had to love was a world of sinners. Matters not what kind of a sinner or the grade of a sinner you might be. We're all sinners. But here is the fact. The one who was born in the manger at Bethlehem came from the Father. He declared it himself, I am come forth from the Father. I quote the words of First John chapter four in verse ten. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son the propitiation for our sins. It was God the Father who loved us so greatly he sent His son. Let me raise the question. Where did he send him from? Think of the birth of that blessed babe of Bethlehem. But think very deeply and clearly where he came from and who he is. The son of God the Father. God so loved of that He sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of the world. Will you drink in with me those words of the Lord Jesus? I came forth from the Father, sent by Him to be your Savior. The Eternal Father sent me His Eternal Son to be your Redeemer. Our Beloved and Blessed Father, We thank thee. You sent your Son for the salvation of the world. May someone believe today, this very moment, you sent the Son to save them. For His name's sake, we ask it. Amen.