All right, go with me to John
14. Thank you, Jeanette. John 14. This is the third time
we're going through the Gospel of John together. That's about
once every ten years. And so you've heard this message
at least three times, maybe more. Because I felt it so needful
and so helpful and so comforting, I preached this in four other
churches, four different churches in four different states. This
was a blessing to me to consider. I believe it's glorifying to our
Lord, and I believe it'll be a great, great comfort and help
to you. Our Lord said in verse 9, this
is our text, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me? Philip, or Mindy, or Ron, or
Melanie. Have I been so long time with
you? You know, to know the Lord is life eternal. That's what
he said. This is life eternal, to know
the only true God. and Jesus Christ without sin. To know the Lord is to have peace. If you really know Him, have
relationship with Him. When I talk about knowing Him,
the rest of this evening, I'm not talking about just knowing
about Him. I'm talking about a union with Him, a relationship
like a husband and wife know each other. They become one.
They're vitally joined. Intimate union, communion. Somebody you know, you love,
you talk to, you commune with, you live with, you abide with.
Okay? So it's a relationship. And all
God's people do know him, but. how little we do, or else we
wouldn't have all the fears and all the doubts that we have.
I hope we'll have less when we leave him. But this is life eternal,
he said, and this is peace, it's joy, it's assurance, strength,
comfort to know him. This is why Paul said, oh, that
I might know him. They might know him. Paul knew
him. He knew him as well as anybody, but he said, I want to know him
more. Peter said this, one of the last
things he said was, grow in grace and what? The knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now the Lord was and is speaking
to his disciples. I keep saying that because he's
not talking to the whole world. He's not making these promises. God is not the Father of all
mankind. He's the Creator, He's the Ruler,
He's the Judge, He's the Owner, He's the Sovereign over all,
but He's not the Father of all. Okay? You know that. And our
Lord called them, and this is God manifesting the flag, okay? In chapter 13, He called them
little children, didn't He? Little children. You need to be, we need to be
little children only. Our Lord said, except you be
converted and become as little children, you'll not enter the
kingdom of heaven. You'll not see the kingdom of heaven. Peter
said this, like newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the
word that you might grow thereby. Grow in knowledge, grow in knowledge
of him. So little children, little children. Now, Little children, you have
to keep telling them the same things over and over again. That's
the thing about little children. You keep telling them the same
thing over and over again, like somebody noticed that a mother
told their child something like five or six times, and somebody
said, do you realize you told that child that five times? He
said, why did you do that? She said, because he didn't get
it after four. So we, I don't have anything new, I keep telling
you the same thing. To write, to speak the same things
to you, not grievous, it's safe for you. We need to be reminded
over and over again how quickly we forget. We forget. So he's talking to his little
children. And Paul said this, be children
in malice, meaning don't have any, in attitude. Be like little
children, meek and humble and so forth, but be men in understanding. Little children are tossed to
and fro with every wind and drop. Little children are easy to let
astray. Let's not be little children in that sense. Let's be men and
women. Quit yourself like men. Ground
didn't settle, tossed about. Now he told them, again, he told
them he was leaving. They all wanted to go. He said,
you can't, you can't, not now. He told them they would all leave
him, and it filled them full of sorrow. It's a good sign. It makes you sorrowful at the
thought of him leaving you or you leaving him. That's a good
sign of life. That's a good sign that you know him. Somebody you
know and love, you don't want them to leave you, do you? Somebody
you know and love, you don't want to leave them. If you don't
know and love them, you don't care. Okay? So it's a good sign. And they
were all exceedingly sorrowful. He said one of them would betray
him. That's scary. He said one of
them would deny him. Simon Peter, he denied that he
would deny him. And then in verse, our text,
chapter 14, he said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I
go, I'll come again. I'm leaving, but I'm coming back
for you. Someone that loves you, if they
leave you, they're coming back. There must be a reason. And he
did, to prepare a place for us. He went to Calvary. Went to the
Father. Blood on a mercy seat. Verse
3, he said, I will come again, that where I am you may be also.
And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said,
we don't know where you're going. How can we know where you're
going? The way. And he said, I am the way. The truth and the
life, didn't it? We looked at that Sunday in death.
I am the way. You know the way, don't you?
You know the way? How few people really do know
the way? Many people say there are many faiths. You believe
this way and that way, I believe that way. No, there's one way.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father, one hope of your
calling. One, one, one, one. All of God's people believe the
same way. What's the way they believe?
Christ. He said, I am the truth. No lies are the truth. There's
no lie in the truth. It's the whole truth. It's the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me, God. He said that. What is truth?
Jesus Christ. He's the truth about the love
of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the purpose of
God, the creation, the reason for creation, the reason for
salvation, the reason for everything. Christ is the truth. The life. He said, I'm the life. I already
said these things Sunday, but they give me great joy. He's
the life. He that hath the Son hath life.
Do you have a need for Jesus Christ? Do you have belief in
Jesus Christ? I know you feel like it's little,
but do you really believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you?
Huh? He that hath a heart's desire
for the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him better, do you have
that? He that hath the Son. hath life, not shall have, hath
life right now. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Or you wouldn't. You wouldn't.
Okay? That needn't be said again, did
it? Because we all doubt ourselves. Turn in your Gadsby Hymnal to
number 283. Number 283. We all doubt ourselves. We all And that's why we all
love this poem that John Newton wrote the first time we read
it together. 283. 283. You need to look at
this. I was going to just quote it
for you, but I want you to look at it. 283. You had one minute? You don't have it? I gave it
away. You gave it away? Is there another
one here? I want everybody to look
at this. Your mom doesn't have it. She can share it with you. All right, 283, John Newton wrote
this, and he says, now John Newton knew the Lord. The Lord saved
him, the old blasphemer he called himself. But he says, to the
point I long to know often causes anxious thought. Do I love the
Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why
this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who've never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer a task and a burden prove. Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin, can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yes, every one of us. Yet, I mourn my stubborn will. Find
my sin a grief and a thrall or misery. Should I grieve for what
I feel if I did not love the Lord? Could I joy his saints
to meet, choose the ways I once abhorred, find at times a promise
sweet if I did not love the Lord? Lord, decide the doubtful case.
Thou who art thy people's son, shine upon thy work of grace,
if it be indeed begun. All of God's people have doubts
and fears, and our greatest doubts and fears are concerning ourselves.
We doubt ourselves. You need to. But don't ever doubt
the Lord. Trust Him completely, okay? So,
they said, we don't know where you're going. We don't know the
way. And then, he said, if you'd known me, verse 7, you would
have known my Father also. And from henceforth you know
Him. You've seen Him. John said later, he wrote, well,
he wrote this all later. And in John 1, he said, we've
beheld His glory, full of grace and truth. I have too. Haven't you, John? I've beheld His glory. I really
have. There have been times that I've
just been glorified in beholding His glory. I've heard Him. I've seen Him. More about that
in a moment. Philip said, verse 8, well, show us the Father. That will suffice. Then we'll
really believe if He shows the Father. Is there anyone in here
beside me that has ever asked the Lord for a special revelation,
a special word, a special sign? Anybody? I have. Simon Peter said this. He said,
we were there on the mountain. We heard His voice. We saw His
excellent glory. He said, but we have a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well to take heed. It's a
written word. It's the word preached. They
all heard His voice. They acted like they hadn't heard
a thing He said. This is one of the wonderful
things about the Word of God. You can keep coming back, keep
coming back, keep coming back. It may have been a time, well,
our Lord said, I'm going away and you're going to be sorrowful.
There were three days there they wished they could hear His voice.
Just one more time. Those were the three worst days
of their life. They feel full of doubt. Thomas
would feel so full of doubt and fear and worry, if I could just
hear Him one more time. Well, that's why Peter said,
you can, whenever you need to hear from Him. We have a sure
word of prophecy. And this is His voice. This is
how He speaks in it. But Philip said, Show us, Father. Then he said this, and here's
where we'll dwell. Have I been so long with you,
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He's saying to them and He's
saying to us, After all you've heard, After all you've seen,
after all you've experienced, and you still don't know me. You still don't believe me fully.
You still don't completely trust me. You're still full of doubts
and fears and worries. After all these years, One time our Lord, well, a couple
of times He said, oh ye of little faith. But thankfully He said,
if you had faith there's a grain of mustard seed. He's given them that. They had
faith. This was very little. Another time He said,
why is it you had no faith? Why is it you act like you have
no faith? Anybody give? Another time, they thought they'd
seen a ghost. He said, it is I. And he said, why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? Remember that? Why do you always
think the worst? Why are you always coming up
with just bad things? He promised us it's all good. And it's all Him. Guilty? Guilty. That was them. That's me. That's us, isn't it?
That's us. You know, we have heard and seen
everything that they heard and saw. More. You know that? We've heard His voice. One day
I heard Him say, Come. Kelly, I did. I heard Him say,
Follow Me. And you know what? I did. I've
been following Him ever since. How about you? They shall all
be taught of God. He's taught me. And everyone
that's heard and learned of the Father does what? Comes to Christ. God the Father teaches all His
children, what does He teach them? The way, the truth, and
the life, which is all Christ. These three are one. I've been
taught, I've seen marvelous things, had marvelous things revealed
to me from God's Word, haven't you? Have you ever left this
place and the Lord spoke to you and you went away with your heart
burning? Like the disciples on that road,
did not our hearts burn with it as He opened up the Scriptures
by the way? He was known of them. That's
how He was known of them, the breaking of this bread. Do you
not love that hymn, Break thou the bread of life? And has he
not done that? What's the bread? Christ. He's the bread of life. Is that
who you want to hear? The lady sitting in here tonight,
thank me for always preaching and talking about Christ. The disciples say we can't help
but speak the things we've seen. And you can't help but love to
hear the things you've heard and seen. Right? That's what
you want to hear. This place is not for people
who don't know Jesus Christ. It's not for people who want
other things. Because we do one thing here.
That's because one thing is needful. To know Him. Have we not seen every word,
every prophecy that is revealed to us come true? Everything that
he said is true. Not one word failed. What hasn't
been fulfilled, we're absolutely certain it will. Not one word
has failed. But the disciples heard and saw
him and we have to stop the wild wind from blowing. They were
all in stormy seas, and every stormy wind that blows, they
all were in that boisterous wind, and all the wind was taking them
this way and that way. And they all heard him say, stop,
wind. And they settled down. That's exactly what it did to
me. He stopped my wild career. And then they all heard and saw
Him stop the raging sea. The raging sin within, the Lord
stopped that. Middy and I were eating after,
let's see, we were in Sylacauga. Well, we were there recently
for a funeral. Okay, we went out to eat and one of the men
of the church came by a pizza place and we sat down and ate
with him and he had his daughter with him. She's in her forties
or fifties? At least she's in her fifties.
And we were talking and she said, She's an unbeliever. She said,
I've been mad at the world all my life. Remember that? Eddie and I looked
at each other. She's mad at God. See, she's mad at him. Because
God's running this world. God's ruling over her. If she'll
bow, to the Lord and ask Him, beg Him to forgive her for being
mad at Him, He'll give her peace. He did that for me. Did that for me. All the disciples
then and all of His disciples now heard and seen Him with one
word. They heard Him and saw Him Heal
a blind man. They saw a blind man see. I have seen that many times. It happened to me. It happened
to me. I have preached and preached
and preached to somebody. I've shown somebody the Word.
Do you see that? No, I don't see it that way.
Or looked into faces and it's a blank look. There's nothing
there. No light. No understanding. And Margaret
all of a sudden, Light come on. Eyes are open. See who God is. See what I am. See what Christ
is. I've seen that. I've seen it several times. I've
had the wonderful privilege of observing the blind to see. They
all heard Him give the deaf ears. Oh my, have I seen that. Heard
that. And He does it with His Word.
Does it the same way. Oh, how many times I've seen
people come in here and sit and sit, and they didn't hear a thing.
They didn't hear a thing. Walked out that door, didn't hear a
thing. And all of a sudden, they heard. And they told me, you
were talking to me today, weren't you? No, I wasn't. The Lord was. Like Samuel. Samuel
heard His voice. It's the Lord. I have, the disciples
saw and heard Him Heal the lame, make a lame man to walk, a man
that couldn't walk from his birth. Now, the most difficult thing in the
world, it's impossible, is to get a person to walk through
those doors right here. They'd rather go to the dentist
and have a root canal than to walk through those doors and
sit in that pew and just give God thanks for a little bit.
That's the greatest proof of man's utter depravity and hatred
of God. It's like pulling teeth to get
him to come in and sit and just hear God's Word and just give
thanks. That's it. Don't ask you to do
anything. They're not going to call you
to do anything. Just sit. Now hear the blessed
Word of God and give Him thanks. Just give Him thanks. Right?
It's impossible isn't it? Now I've seen people, they will
not come. He said, you will not come unto
Me. One day, here they came. Right back there sits today. That was me, Polly. Paul and
Polly. That was me. That's what they
all said about me. Ain't no hope for Him. He ain't
coming back. Well, look at there. Sitting in a pew, clothed in
his right mind. See, there's hope. It's never too late. They saw lepers cleansed. I mean,
filthy, dirty, leper-stinking. Cleansed. Wild asses coats. Tamed. Lower their head. Take the yoke. Willingly. Lovingly. Thankfully. Take the yoke. Yeah, put a halter
on it. Give me a short lead rope. Shorten it up. Take the reins. Don't let them go. Put a bit
in my mouth. Only one that can tame a wild
asses coat. Devils cast out. There are many
different kinds of demons, and I had them all. Dead raised. Dead raised. Children of wrath. Enemies. We just read that, how
the things I once abhorred and hated, I now love. I've seen
children of wrath, enemies of God, reconcile to God and each
other. Oh, my. Surely we must know and
believe him after hearing so much and seeing so much and experiencing
so much. Surely we'll not doubt. Surely
we should have hope for those who are blind and deaf and dumb.
Surely. If he spoke to us, why not them? You think you're the chief of
senate? That means you're worse than your unsaved child or spouse
or whoever it is. You feel worse. Well then, there's
hope for them. Look at verse 10 and 11. He said,
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me, the words that I speak unto you? You know, I've heard His voice.
I've heard His Word, haven't you? His Word. Is this not the
Word of God? Don't you believe it's the Word
of God? You really do, don't you? What about the apostles?
Do you believe Paul's Word is the Word of God? Yes. Do you
know how few people believe that? Especially modern women. They
believe Paul's just a bigoted old bachelor, you know, had something
against women. No, everything he said was the
Word of God. I believe that, don't you? Look
at 2 Thessalonians 2. I wanted to look at that with
you, Sunday, that didn't do it. You know it. You can quote it,
but maybe you can't. But 2 Thessalonians 2, look at
this. We talk about the truth, love
of the truth. It's not just knowing the truth,
it's loving the truth. that God is God, loving, that
salvation is of the Lord. Verse 10 speaks of Satan with
all deceivableness and unrighteousness and them that perish because
they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. You see, nowhere in the Bible
does it say accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Won't you accept
Him? Won't you accept the truth? It
doesn't say that. John 1, 12, and 13 says, as many
as received Him were born of God. The reason they received
Him, they were born of God, because He chose them. They're His elect.
The reason they received the Word, because no man can receive
anything except it be given him from above. He gave them the
truth and gave them a love for the truth, or they wouldn't love
the truth. And it's some that don't receive that love from
God of the truth. They hate the truth by nature,
and he just doesn't give them a lot of the truth. Look at verse
11. And for this cause, God sends
them strong delusion. Can God delude someone? You know, the modern world, religious
world, they'd be shocked to hear that. God sends them strong delusion,
okay? You don't believe the truth. I'm going to send things. I'm
going to send signs and visions and everything. You're going
to see it. You're going to experience it. But it's not me. It's another
spirit. And it's a lie and you believe
that. Don't believe me. You're just going to be damned.
Verse 12, that they all might be damned who believe not the
truth at pleasure and unrighteousness. If it's not Christ's righteousness,
it's unrighteousness. Verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Who do we give thanks
to that we believe? We give thanks to God. Who do
we give thanks to that we know the truth? We give thanks to
the Spirit of truth. Because God, verse 13, hath from
the beginning chosen you. To do what? To save you. How? Through sanctification of the
Spirit in what? Belief of the truth. You can't
be saved without it. Whereunto he called you, right
here is the truth, by our gospel. That's the gospel, the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation. And I sure won't leave this out.
To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. to
behold His glory, to be with Him in glory. That's what He
said just a second. I'm going to be with you. Oh, how we need to know Him better,
don't we? Now, all our doubts and unbelief
and most of our fears reveal how little we know Him. They
really do. How often we forgot, forget.
Psalm 106 keeps talking about, they forget, they forget, they
forget. And then in the last part, it
says, He remembered for them. They kept forgetting. He kept reminding, forgetting,
reminding, giving, until finally He said, I'll just remember for
you. He remembered His covenant. He doesn't forget. The only one
thing He forgets. The only one thing he forgets,
what's that? Our sin. There are sins of iniquity, I
remember. When I got older, I started apologizing
to my parents. It took me 40 years. But I started
apologizing for things I did. They don't remember any of it. It's like I never did anything
wrong. Are you kidding me? That's love, isn't it? That's
our Lord. How much more? When that prodigal
came home, why did he come home? When he came home, Father ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him and said, Bring the best robe. Kill the fatted
calf. Put the ring on his finger. Let's
celebrate. Oh, we need to know Him. We need
to know Him as our Lord, our Sovereign, our King, our Covenant
Head, our High Priest. Confess it all and He takes it
to the Father. Our Brother, our Friend, our
Shepherd, our Redeemer. If only we knew. And I close
with this. I close with seven points. You're going to be glad. If only
we knew His perfect love. If we really understood His perfect
love. Perfect love casts out fear.
His love is perfect. Perfect. He loved His people
before they were born. Before they were born. So is
that possible? Ask any one of these mothers.
When that baby was in your womb, Tammy Jo, did you love him? Absolutely,
she said. How much more, your Heavenly
Father, before they've done any good or what? Any evil. And he knows, and one of my next
points, he knows what they're going to do. He loved them anyway. And then while they were yet
sinners. Ain't that something? He's loved them before they were
born. He'll love them after they die. He'll love them eternally. The love of God is eternal. I've
loved thee with a what? Everlasting love. Therefore,
it's loving kindness. Saving love. Everybody he loves,
he saves. Wouldn't you? He does. You can't. He can. He does. Everlasting
love. It's eternal love. His love covereth. Love covereth a multitude of
sins. His love covereth all of them.
All of them. Covered under the blood. Not
there. Blotted out. Ain't that something? If only we knew something more
of His perfect love, it would cast out our fears, our doubt.
I tell you how much He loved His people. He shed His own precious
blood. He laid down His life. Now, you
can't love more than that. If only we knew more of His knowledge
of us and our nature. We read in Psalm 103, like a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. He knows our frame. He knows us. He knows us better
than we know ourselves. You did, your children. Growing
up and all the things they were going through, all the troubles
and all the, you know, the wrestlings and all the, you know, inner
turmoil, especially start to be a teenager, you know, did
your daughter ever say to you, you just don't understand me?
Seriously? I don't understand you? What did I go from 12 to 40 overnight?
No, I went through the teenage years. I went through all that.
I said that very thing. They don't understand me. Our Heavenly Father understands
us more than we understand us. Do you understand? We don't even
know ourselves like He does. We don't know what we're capable
of. We don't know what we're going to do. I pity him. I pity him. If we just knew more of his make
knowledge of us. He took our frame. He took our
nature, didn't he? He knows. He touched with a feeling
of our firmness. He had no sin. It wasn't hard
for him to resist sin. There was no resistance at all
there. He had no sin. He knows we've
got sin in us. We always will have sin in us.
He knows we'll always be tempted and try it all our day. He knows
that. He understands. His mercy. Anybody like the sound of that
word? Mercy. Not getting what you deserve.
Mercy also means kindness. Psalm 136. 26 verses. And he says 26 times. His mercy endures forever. Why? Because we're going to be sinners
until the day we die. We're going to need mercy. His
mercies are new every morning, because we wake up sinners. He
wakes up. He doesn't wake up. He doesn't
go to sleep. He loves us. That's what Psalm 90, what psalm
is it? Psalm 139. He said, when I wake
up, thou art with me. You're with me. Nothing's changed
with him. His mercy is compassion. His
compassion and awe of the Lord is compassionate. Ready to pardon. Don't you love that? He's ready
to pardon. Waits to be gracious. Now, they're in a bad way. I
know it. They're in a bad way. They're
not giving me much thought. And I'm going to let them get
pretty low. I'm going to let them get pretty
desperate. Down and out. Feel like they
don't know me. And I'm going to call them. Call
them back. They're going to come running.
And I'm going to pardon them. I'm going to pardon them. No
matter what. No matter what. All manner of
sin. Forgive. All manner. But you
don't know what I've done. I know who does. He does. Not a word in your tongue. Not a thought in your head. Not
a deed you've ever done or ever will do. He doesn't know. He
knows. You know I'm not encouraging
sin. You know that. I'm comforting sinners. Because
that's what we are. Oh, if we knew more of His great
grace and goodness. Oh, Lord, He's so good. He's
so good. So good. He's good to all them that call
on Him. His faithfulness. He said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Didn't He? You showed me one person in this
book that trusted Him, looked to Him, came to Him, and He left
them. Can't find one. Not one. People disappoint us all the
time. If we know someone long enough, they'll disappoint us
at some point. Everyone of us. He has never disappointed anyone
ever. You can absolutely trust him
and count on him. He's faithful. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh, he's so long-suffering. If
only we knew more of his long-suffering. Peter said it's our salvation.
One time he said, how long must I suffer with you? How long did
he? Till the end. Patient. Oh, man. So. This is, how do you get,
how do you know someone? How do you know the Lord? How
do you grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord? How? How?
How? How do you? Well, if you hadn't have come
here tonight and heard this, would you? Did this help you? Did you get any comfort? If you
hadn't have come here and heard this, you wouldn't. Right? You could read this. It's just
so. I know. You could read this and study
it all you want to, but you're not going to get the blessing
out of it like you did coming here tonight. Isn't that right?
It's just so. That's what the Lord keeps you
coming. That's number one. And number
two, read it for yourself. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word. Like a fellow told his preacher
You know, hiding the word, he said, I'm going to get me a Bible. I want the cow myself. I want
to do the milk. So we read it. How do you get
to know somebody? You talk to them. You commune
with them. Spend time with them. Walk a couple of miles with them.
and talk to them. Confide in them. Hear them confide
in you. That's how you'll get to know
the Lord. Those disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus,
where two or three are gathered. He said, I'll be right there.
And the Lord joined them, and He preached to them. They didn't
know it was Him, but He was preaching to them. John comes over. We preach to each other, don't
we? Kelly comes over. We preach to each other, don't
we? The whole time. Isn't that wonderful? That's how you get
to know Him. Walk, talk, commune, fellowship
with those He's promised to be where His people are. We all learn these things together,
don't we? So, oh, that I might know Him. All right, stand with
me.