Beloved Radio, friends, we greet you very earnestly and gratefully in the precious name of the Lord Jesus today, as we continue the study which we began in the preceding message concerning the greatest person in the universe of God, whether it is the heavens around us and above us and the earth upon which we live, the greatest person is none other. but Christ the Son of the Living God. And may I suggest, without apology for the repetition, if He is, according to the divine record of God's Word, the greatest person, as the supreme subject of the Bible, is it not a necessity that you and that I should have an interest to understand who He is? for the blessing of our life, and a blessing for eternity. For you and for me depends upon knowing him. We repeat the question that we presented at the commencement of our messages in the preceding one. From Matthew chapter twenty-two and verse forty-two, that pertinent, penetrating, personal, preeminent question, what think ye of Christ? My beloved, it is indeed imperative that you and I start thinking about this person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You may not know him, you may not believe in him, but may I say frankly, my beloved friend, someday you will meet him face to face. How better would it be to meet him in redemption down here and know him? We have suggested and we repeat the suggested facts that we shall cover. There are seven special revelations of his person that all of us should understand. We name them quickly. We should understand his pre-existence. We should understand his incarnation. We should understand his atoning death with all of its meaning and his resurrection and also his present glorification. seated at the right hand of God in majesty on high above, and his administration that is his now and shall be, and then also his glorious manifestation when he shall come, and every eye shall see him throughout all the world. We have already begun the first thought, the special revelation of his pre-existence. We have particularly named the direct statements of the Word of God from the Old Testament concerning him. And may I state as we introduce the New Testament scriptures we shall touch upon today, may I remind you, the Son of God was like, but he was also unlike the sons of men. He was both perfectly human and perfectly divine when he was upon the earth. On the human side, He had a beginning, conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of a virgin. But on the divine side, of which we are studying at the present, he had no beginning. He was from all eternity. Now we have noted his pre-existence is established by one line of revelation. That is, it is directly stated And we noted Isaiah seven, Isaiah nine, Micah chapter five, where the Lord Jesus Christ was so spoken of in future prophecy to come to the earth as being none other than God with us, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the one who came out of eternity. We will look at some New Testament scriptures. It's not only the Old Testament and many other scriptures of the Old Testament could be used. but we also turn to the New Testament. We think of a scripture in John's Gospel, Chapter Eight, and may I particularly emphasize, the references that we take out of this Gospel of John are very important. You know we have four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. You may often wonder why we never have had written a consecutive record of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth in one Gospel. Well, beloved, if you know your Bible and study it properly, you will recognize you have four presentations of Christ, different presentations of this person and character in each of these four Gospels. Matthew could be called the Gospel of the King. He's presented as the King. Mark, he is the servant. Luke, he is the man. Perfect man, in all perfect humanity, dependent upon God above. as he lived upon the earth. And the Gospel of John, from which we take a couple of our texts today, it is the Gospel of the Son of God. Stamped upon this whole Gospel of John is the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And John emphasizes, and even in the life and through the words of the Lord Jesus, he himself has emphasized who he was even before we came to the earth. There's the most remarkable chapter, chapter eight of John, where the blessed Lord Jesus Christ speaks very faithfully and forcefully to his enemies, the Pharisees of that day who hated him, who were plotting and planning his death, and ultimately succeeded in seeing him nailed to the gibbet of Calvary. But to them he spoke very plainly, and the words that we shall quote from John eight, verse fifty-eight, When they heard what he said, they took up stones. They wished and they intended and they desired to stone him to death because he made himself God. Listen to the words. Jesus says to them, and I want you to know very carefully, he was not afraid of them. He spoke very faithfully and declared verily, verily, of a truth. other truth. And may I remind you, you have twenty-five occasions when Jesus used this one word verily in a double application. A double verily, unquestionably implying a double imperative to the truth that he was stating. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Now please let me literally tell you what he told them, what he was saying to them, and what they understood him to say. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I existed. The words that he uttered were a divine title belonging to deity. And if you know your Bible, you that do may remember that in the days of Moses, when he stood before the burning bush, and God was commissioning, and commanding him to be the deliverer of these earthly people Israel and take them out of Egypt. And Moses was refusing. Moses was reluctant. And then he asked God, when I go to my people, whom shall I say sent me? Now let me give you the thought. Moses' thought was proper. Every time a prophet would appear to the people of Israel with a revelation, from God the people could and often did demand. What is his name? They wanted the authority to be made known before they heard his message. And the Lord Jesus, in that occasion when Moses was asking, whom shall I say sent me there from the burning bush that blessed divine person said, Tell them that I am that I am has sent you. And my beloved, that was the name of eternal deity, the self-existent God, the eternal existent one. Can I pause for a moment? Please, I want you to think of what the Lord Jesus asked. What think you of Christ? Do you believe that he was the pre-existent person of the eternal God, the eternal Son of the Father? Now let me give you another New Testament scripture in John, the words of Jesus again. And in verse five of chapter seventeen of John, he's now praying to the Father. Listen to his words. Oh, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self. with the glory which I had. And note the next words. With thee before the world was taken in. I defy you to find an authoritative book that men have written concerning pre-existence before creation of this world. But here is the Son of God in prayer to his Father. returning back after the work of redemption and expecting the glory which was His before the world began would be restored on His return to heaven above. May I go even further? Just quote another New Testament scripture, First Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen, where Paul says, Great is the mystery of godliness. that God was manifest in the flesh. Take those words. God was manifest in the flesh. My beloved, what do you think of Christ? I know you may have heard of him. Perhaps the most common name you most of people may know, his name was Jesus. that earthly name which he took to come into the world that he might save sinners. But beloved, listen, he was more than a man. He was very God. Come to the earth. I want you to do some thinking. And I challenge you, my dearly beloved friend, whether believer or unbeliever, you better do some serious thinking. The question we have been bringing is a pertinent, it is a penetrating, it is a personal one, he wants to know what you think of him, and of course it is a preeminent question concerning the greatest person in the universe. Oh, what do you think of Christ? My beloved friend, I've only covered just a few scriptures which only tell us the direct facts claiming him. denoting him to be that eternal son of God, pre-existent, before he came to the earth. Beloved, let me ask again, I challenge you. Your salvation, your eternal blessing depends upon, do you know who he is? Do you believe he was the pre-existent son of God who came to the earth to save you? Father, in the precious name of the Lord Jesus, we commend to the Holy Spirit the blessing of this truth, and may it penetrate many hearts and souls and minds to thy glory in Jesus' name. We ask it for the blessing of all that have listened to the message. Amen.