Well, preparing this message
tonight was sure a blessing. I saw some things I had never seen
before. The Lord is so good and so gracious and so comforting. And I'll tell you what, as we
went through this study of John chapter 17, it's been such a
blessing. And one of the things that stood
out for me through this study is the eternal love of God. the
eternal love that the Father has for we who are his people,
that he loves us as he loved Christ. You know, and we can't
fully grasp that, but we believe it, don't we? Because the Word
of God says it's true. So we believe, and we believe
by God-given faith, we believe what the Word of God says. There
was a time when we didn't believe this Word. Now it's so precious. Now it's so precious. The name of the message tonight
is Righteous Father. Tonight, again, we'll continue
our study in John chapter 17. We're nearing the end of this
study. We'll be in verse 25 tonight. And Lord willing, next week will
be the final message of this series in John chapter 17. We could start all over again
and we'd find all new stuff, all new material that's so deep
and so wondrous. And but I again, the thing that's
really come out for me personally is the love that God has for
we who are his people. It's magnificent. It's like no
other love in this world. Doesn't even come close. Any
love in this world doesn't even come close to this eternal, everlasting
love that God has for his people in Christ. And this is fitly
called the high priestly prayer. This is truly the Lord's prayer. The Lord's prayer that everyone
talks is a model prayer for us to pray to the Father. But this
is a prayer. This is the high priestly prayer
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the prayer of the God-man. God incarnate in the flesh. He's
praying to the Father and we've noticed through this study the
full submission that Christ has to the Father. The full submission
that he has to the Father. Keep that in mind as we read
here verses 20 to 26. Neither pray I for these alone
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Now that's us. He's talking there about those
who would believe on the words of the apostles, the preaching
of the gospel. Same gospel I preach tonight
is the same gospel that the apostles preached. The gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, with absolutely no works done
by us, that Christ has done it all. His atonement is a complete atonement.
And my oh my, to think that we're justified by absolutely nothing
we do, say, or how we act, is absolutely incredible. Absolutely
incredible. Now God's people won't act contrary.
Jane, you and I were talking about that. The love of Christ
constrains us from sin. We now are aware of our sin for
the first time, really, in our lives. Because I wasn't really
aware of my sin. before the Lord saved me. And
I know you feel the same way, beloved of God, that we drank
sin like it was water. But now, oh my, it grieves us,
doesn't it? He says this, that they all may
be one. Speaking of the oneness of the head, who is Christ, and
the body, who is the bride. As thou, Father, art in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. All through this prayer, one
thing Dave brought up, I was talking to Dave on the phone
this morning, and one thing Dave brought up was the word sent.
We've seen that through this prayer. And then, following cross-references,
now we see it everywhere. The Gospel of John is filled
with Christ saying, I was sent by the Father. I was sent by
the Father. Sent for you and I, beloved.
Sent to redeem us. Sent to live that perfect life
that we never could. Sent to die on the cross. To
purchase us with His precious, precious blood. By His perfect, sinless life
and death. My, oh my. In the glory which Thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one as we are one. Oh
my. I in them and Thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
Thou has sent me. There it is again. And has loved them as Thou has
loved me. What a verse. God the Father loves his people
in Christ. as he's loved Christ. I'm never going to get over that.
Are you? We're never going to get over that, are we? Oh my. Father I will that they
also whom thou has given me be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory which thou has given me for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Christ brings forth I will. And He speaks this to
the Father all according to the covenant stipulations. That He
would come and die for a people and that they would be with Him
forever in glory. That He would redeem them with
His precious, precious blood. And then tonight's verse is verse
25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have
known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent me. There
it is again. So this is a reoccurring theme we see here, that we as
believers believe that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, was sent by God. And in believing that, we acknowledge
that he is the Son of God. He's from eternity. He's the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was
ever a world, he was king. And the king became a man to
save his servants. And the king is now in heaven.
And you know what? When we die, where do we go? Right up to the king's palace.
Right up to glory to be with the king forever and ever and
ever. All because of his blessed sacrifice. My, oh my. And then he says,
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it,
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. Christ in us, the hope of glory,
beloved. Paul wrote that. Christ in us,
the hope of glory. What a hope we have. We've never
seen Christ, but we hope in him, right? Because if you hope in
something, you've never seen it. People say, well, I hope this
will happen, or I hope that will happen. It's not happened yet, is it?
And the scripture tells us if you see something, you can't
hope in it because you already see it. But oh my, what a hope
we have. It's in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our hope, our hope is all hung on Christ. All hung on Him. The hope of our eternal soul
is hung on Christ. Our joy, our peace, our love
is hung on Christ. He's our wisdom, sanctification,
redemption, our justification. He's our atonement. He's our
sacrifice. My, oh my. He's our high priest. He's our prophet, priest, and
king. He's our redeemer. He's our Lord. And it goes on and on and on,
doesn't it? My. And this is actually an amazing
portion of the Scripture. This whole John 17 has just been
absolutely amazing. And from 20 to 26 here, Christ
is praying for we who believe now. We who will believe on the
words of the apostles. He's also praying for all the
elect of all the ages, as we see with some of the verbiage
that are in these verses as well. But he's praying for, look at
verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
not being the apostles, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. Through the preaching of the
gospel. My oh my. All the elect of all the ages.
shall be gathered up together in glory. Let's read verse 25
again. We see brought forth here before
us one of the great titles and glorious titles of our great
God. Oh, righteous father. What a title. Do you know this
is the only place where this appears in scripture? The only
place where this title appears in scripture. He says, the world
has not known thee. So look at those words. The world
does not know. Before the Lord saved us, we didn't know him. We didn't know him. We were just
like the world, weren't we? We were heirs, and yet we had
no idea. We were just like the world.
That's why you hear us preachers say you couldn't tell a sheep
from a goat before we're saved. You can't tell the difference.
But look at this. But I have known thee. Christ
knows the Father intimately. He's his Father. And these have known that thou
has sent me. He's revealed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit
of God that the Father sent him. Now he said, I'll send the Spirit.
And He's gonna guide you into all truth, right? You not speak
of Himself. He's gonna guide you into all truth. This prayer
has been answered, beloved. Because He reveals to us who?
Christ. He doesn't speak of Himself.
He reveals Christ to us. And we know by God-given faith
and by regeneration first by the Holy Spirit of God and then
by God-given faith, we know now that God the Father sent Christ
into this world to save us from our sins. And we say, hallelujah,
what a Savior. What a Savior is Jesus Christ,
my Lord. And notice again, who's the giver
of knowledge of the Father? It's in the church's head. It's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the giver of knowledge.
He's the revealer of himself. Just as Joseph revealed himself
to his brethren, Christ reveals himself to us. My oh my. He's the head and he communicates
this knowledge of God. It's given to us. By he who's titled, think of
this, he who's titled is the righteous one. He reveals to us the righteous
Father. It's absolutely amazing. And
look at this title, O Righteous Father. This speaks of Jehovah,
God over all. And the Son sends the Holy Spirit
to us. Right? And by his regenerating
power, we're born again, given faith to believe. And then he
continues all our life on this earth to teach us the wonderful
things, the wonderful things of God, that we might grow in
the knowledge of who God is. See, we know more about who God
is now than we knew 10 years ago. If we'd been saved for that long,
We know more now about Christ. That's because the Holy Spirit's
revealed him to us. And I'll tell you what, the more
we learn, the more we're in absolute awe. The more we are amazed that
God saved my soul. It's absolutely incredible. And notice also the oneness of
the church of Christ, with Christ. We are made everlastingly blessed
and happy in our head. Our husband, the Lord Jesus. Excuse me. The Lord Jesus Christ
is. The church is the bride of Christ. Turn if we would to Isaiah chapter
62. Isaiah chapter 62. And we're marvel here. Now we
know what we are. We're sinners saved by the grace
and mercy of God, right? We know what we are. We know
who we are. Still, even after the Lord saved
us, we're still but saved sinners. But look at this. Do you know
that every born again blood washed child of God is as a crown of
glory to the Lord, and as a royal diadem in the
hand of her God. Isn't that amazing? We're His
treasure, purchased with His precious, precious blood. This
is in Isaiah 62 verses 1 to 5. For Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace, and
for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as
a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles, that's you
and I, beloved, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness,
and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new
name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem
in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. O my beloved, neither shall thy
land any more be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephazibah,
and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. The Lord delights in his people,
beloved, because we're in Christ. That's the only reason. He delights
in us because we're in Christ. But look at, marvel at this.
He delights in us. For as a young man marries a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. God rejoices
over us. My oh my. It's absolutely incredible
because we're in Christ. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. And the church of God is precious
to the Father as we just read. Precious to the Son of God and
precious to the Holy Spirit of God. We're his workmanship, beloved,
created in Christ Jesus. Created in Christ Jesus, ordained
to good works. We don't know what those are,
but we're ordained to them, and it's all in and through Christ
Jesus our Lord. Tell you what, if we ever think
we did a good work, we didn't do a good work. Because remember those folks
that the Lord said, well, you've done it unto them, but you do
it unto me. Right? When you've done it unto the
people of God, it's like you do it unto me. Because they said,
well, when did we do these wondrous works that you're talking about?
One group said, oh, we've done all these things for you, Lord. Mine, depart from me, you workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. My, but the
people of God later on in Matthew, and I believe it's in 24 or 25,
they said, when did we do these things? He says, when you did
it unto my people. When you did it unto, my, oh
my, it's absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. So we're
precious to the Father, we're precious to the Son, and we're
precious to the Holy Spirit, who is here called, who is here
called righteous Father. Righteous Father. My. Now how can we be in the presence
of the Righteous Father? Only clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. That's the only way. There's
not a stitch of anything we put in that perfect coat. That perfect
coat of righteousness comes from Christ and what he's done for
us. There's not a stitch of our works. If there was, it's ruined.
It's all by Him. All by Him and Him alone. His
person. So we're now clothed with His
perfect righteousness. So when God the Father looks
upon us, He sees us clothed in the perfect righteousness of
Christ. And we say, Hallelujah! What a Savior is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Let's read verse 25 again. O
righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known
Thee. that these, and these have no one that thou has sent me."
Take note here, there's a division in this verse. There's a division
of two parties. This is what, I didn't see this
until today. And when I did, oh my goodness. Look at this, there's a division
right here in this verse. Two different parties are spoken
of in this verse. First there's the world, then
there's the church. Let's read it again. O righteous
Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me. And take note what
divides them. This is what really came out
for me today. Take note what divides them. Well, first we see the world
hath not known thee. Then we see, but I have known
thee. Christ speaking of himself. And
then we see the word spoken of the church, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. There is a division between two
parties and who's set in the middle. Christ Jesus our Lord. Only He has made us to differ,
beloved. Only He has made us to differ.
The only reason there's a division between the world there and between
the church is Christ Jesus our Lord. And then I was reading
in John 19. Let's turn over there quick. I was reading this today.
Afterwards, after I finished studying this passage, I kept
reading through 18 and got into 19. And look at this. Verse 18. Let's start in verse
17 of John chapter 19. And he bearing his cross went
forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is
called in Hebrew, Golgotha. Now remember, one thief is going
to be saved by the grace of God, right? And one thief is going
to be left in his sins. Who's in the midst? Oh my, look at this. Where they
crucified him and two others with him on either side and Jesus
in the midst. Who made you to differ? And what
do you have that you didn't receive? Jesus in the midst. He's the
great divider. He's the great divider, beloved.
Oh, my. Turn now, if you would, quickly
to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. My, oh, my. And when he says, and these have
known that thou hast sent me, he's speaking of all the elect
of all the ages, beloved. So first he speaks of the world
who will be left in their sins, and then he speaks of those,
and these have no one that thou hast sent me, meaning all the
elect of all the ages, and the only one dividing them is Christ. And think of this. It's his precious,
precious blood that we're ransomed by, as Brother Travis preached
on on Sunday. It's only his blood. Covering
us. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you, the Father says. Right? We're covered in the blood
of Christ, beloved. That wrath of God has already
fallen on our substitute in our place. It's absolutely amazing. What stands between the world
and the church in this verse? But I have known thee, Christ.
Christ. Christ himself coming between
two parties, thinking about, think this, think of this, like
the fiery cloud, the pillar, remember the pillar of fire?
It divided the Egyptians, picture of the world, from God's people. One saw light, the other side
saw darkness. My, oh my, and the only one who
made them differ was Christ, and Christ alone. My oh my, wonders
of wonders. To have Christ between us and
the world, this is the best form of separation. I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me. And this so ties
into this verse over here in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7, which
brings forth the discriminating grace of God, right? We call
it God's distinguishing grace. And the word differ there, we're
going to see what it means in the Greek, but let's read the
verse first. It says, for who make it thee
to differ from another? Who makes you and I to differ
from our family members who are still dead in trespasses and
sins? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as thou hadst not received it? So we can't
glory in anything, beloved, with regards to salvation. Because
Christ has done it all. He's done it all. Now see that
word differ there? It means to separate thoroughly
in the Greek. That is literally to withdraw
from. We've been withdrawn from the
world. We're in the world still, but we've been withdrawn. We've
been separated, literally separated by the Father from the world.
And figuratively, it means to discriminate by deciding. God has distinguished us from
our fellow man by his grace and his mercy in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Isn't that amazing? And let's
read our verse again with that in mind. Let's see, look at the
distinction that's being made. And the only one who's made us
to differ is God and God alone. Look at this. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known Thee. And that's by a saving knowledge.
They don't have Him revealed. He hasn't revealed Himself to
them. But look at this. But I've known Thee, so Christ
says, I've known you. And what's the only reason we
know God is because of Christ? Because the Holy Spirit, who
was sent by Christ, has revealed him to us. Look at this. And these have no one that thou
has sent me by the grace and by the mercy of God. Again, we
just say hallelujah, don't we? This is absolutely incredible.
Right here before us, we see God's discriminating grace, God's
distinguishing grace. between his church and the world,
and the knowledge that his people have of him compared to the world's
knowledge of him. The world don't have no knowledge
of him. Now, I had a God of my imagination when I was in religion,
but I did not know the God of the Bible. Was it so for you? My, oh, my. And our Lord says
here, O righteous father, said Jesus, this world, the world
hath not known thee, but I've known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. And we know those he's speaking
of is his church. Because we know in verse 20,
it says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which
shall believe on me through their word. So he's preaching for the
whole, he's praying for the whole church, beloved. Old Testament,
saints, and new. My, oh my. And note also that
he is called the Righteous One, right? The demons call him the
Holy One of God. He who is titled that, the Prince
of Peace, God incarnate in the flesh, the Holy One of God addresses
the Father in this verse as, O righteous Father. O righteous
Father. Think of the free grace of God
on display to the people of God in this verse. It's absolutely
magnificent. One group, the world, he leaves
shut up in their unbelief. And I marvel, I want us this
week just to think about, I don't want us to lull in what we were
and where we were, but just think of how much darkness we were
in. And how now Christ has revealed
himself to us. We were groping around in the
dark, beloved, and he's revealed himself to us. He didn't leave
us shut up in unbelief. He didn't leave us shut up in
the darkness. No, He revealed His Son to us.
Now we walk in the light. Now we walk in the light, beloved.
We walk in the light of His Word, right? And He lights the path
in this life for us. He lights the path for us, beloved.
Oh my. So He leaves one group shut up
in the unbelief of their own minds by the fallen Adam, and
the other group The church, those who know that he was sent by
the Father, he regenerates. Gives them faith to believe on
him. Saves their soul. He saved our
soul at Calvary already, didn't he? Yeah. Oh, my. My, oh, my. He reveals himself
to them in Christ, having chosen them in Christ from before the
foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father, what a
title. And O Righteous Father, Pink
brings forth that this has a double force. First, God is not only
merciful but just in glorifying the elect, and His grace reigns
through righteousness. It expressed the Savior's confidence
in the justice of the Father, Pink says, that He would do all
things well. And then John Brown comments
this way. He brings forth that Christ was asking for what he
was entitled to according to the stipulation of the eternal
covenant of grace. Justice required that his request
should be granted. And he calls our father righteous
because our father is righteous. He's holy. And then he's our
father, beloved. He's our father. Like that prodigal
son, that's who we are. And the Father said, bring forth
the best robe, and that's the righteousness of Christ. And
he clothes us in it. We don't clothe ourselves in
it. He clothes us in it. And he says, come, feast. My
son who was lost is saved. He's safe, rejoice. The angels
in heaven rejoice. my oh my it's wonderful and also
notice that the lord jesus christ here in this verse speaks of
a personal knowledge of god the father and and and then he says
again in the latter part of this verse for the third time just
in this section that he was sent by god to this earth and we know
why right We know why, because he was, thou shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And he
said, I've not come to heal the righteous, but the sick. And
that's us, sin sick. We're sin sick. He healed us,
beloved. By his stripes we're healed.
And I don't mean some wacko word of faith healing. My oh my, we're saved from our
sins, beloved. By his stripes, we're healed.
By his shed blood, we're healed. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh, our God's so merciful. He's
just. He's just, righteous, but he's
merciful, Father. Oh, my. Let's read that verse
again. Oh, righteous Father. Just. He's just. He's righteous,
Father. He's our Father. We're his adopted
children, beloved. He chose us. When someone goes
to an adopted child, they choose that child, don't they? They
choose to adopt that child, bring him into their family. God adopted us. My, oh my, oh
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. Now our God
we see here is both a just God, he's righteous, and he's a savior,
he's merciful, he's our father. He sent the spirit, and because
we're sons, because we were chosen by God, he sends the spirit of
his son into our hearts, crying what? I have a father. Oh my, we call father, oh father,
have mercy upon me. It's wonderful. So he's not just
a righteous, our righteous God, but he's our father. He's our
father. Now, if we're born again, now
if we're born again, and because of that, we now know God sent
Christ. If we're born again, we now know
that God sent Christ into this world. We didn't know that before. We didn't know that he was sent
to save us from our sins. Because I didn't really know
what sins were, did you? I thought just those wicked people
in jail. Well, they're a bunch of sinners.
You want to see a real sinner, I know a couple of people down
the street, real sinners. And then we find out, no, we're
the ones who Christ died for. See, when the Holy Spirit
reveals to us our sinnership, We have nowhere to go but to
cry out like the publican, God be merciful to me, the sinner.
We're not looking around at other people anymore. Isaiah said,
woe is me. Woe is me. He'd been going around
saying, woe is that person, woe is that person, just like we
did before we were saved. And he said, woe is me. I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips, but he's saying, woe is
me. my oh my my oh my what a savior what a
redeemer is jesus christ our lord so now we cry he said he
sent the spirit of his son into our hearts and now we cry i have
a father therefore this title of our heavenly father is wonderful
to the body of christ We've tasted, haven't we? We've tasted that
the Lord is gracious. We have, we've, we've, we've
truly tasted that, that he's gracious, that he's full of mercy,
that he's gracious to his people in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, all because of the perfect sinatoni work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He completed the work of our
salvation perfectly. It is finished. It is perfect.
If something, you've heard me say this many times, but I'm
going to keep repeating this. If something's perfect, there's
nothing that needs to be added to it. It's perfect. Christ's work was perfect in
the salvation of those who the father gave him. And so each
of us who are believers, we can now rejoice that we have a perfect
salvation, not by anything we've done, but all by what Christ
has done. all by what He's done. He lived the perfect life. Think of that. When He was fulfilling
the law of God, when He said, suffer it, suffer it to be done
for righteousness' sake, when He was baptized, He was fulfilling
the law of God. He's sinless. He's doing it for
you and I, beloved, and for all the elect that were in the Old
Testament, and all the elect that were in the New Testament.
and all who shall be saved to the end of the age. He's living that perfect life
for us. And then he goes to the cross,
having obeyed God's law fully, he goes and dies, has our sin
placed upon him, right? My, and yet he's still sinless. He's still spotless. And he's
bearing the wrath of God that's due me and do you, beloved. He's bearing it there on Calvary's
cross in our room and place, and he just cries, it is finished. Having obtained eternal redemption
for us, right there, right there on that spot, at that exact second,
it's finished. And then God raises him from
the dead for our justification. See, death had no claim on him.
It can't hold him, can it? And so that's why death has no
sting anymore, beloved. Because it can't hold the saint
that dies. Goes right to glory. Oh my. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Hallelujah. What a great God
we have. And if we truly know him, then
we know what is brought forth in this wonderful title of God
being called righteous father. Right, and what a remarkable
combination, the righteousness of God, and he's the father of
his people. My, he can be the judge, because
he's righteous, he's perfect, he's holy, Right? And he's righteous because he's
holy, beloved. My oh my. All his attributes
just form into one, right? They all blend together. But
oh, he's so holy, beloved. He's so holy. We don't understand
his holiness. He's absolutely holy. He's so
holy that we have to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ
just to be in his presence. And how can a judge and the Father
be found in one? Righteous Father, that's how.
God, a righteous God, and a Savior. My. Man, oh my, oh my. He's both
a just God and a Savior. You notice that this knowledge
that God has sent Christ And the fact that God is both
righteous and a father to his people is not common knowledge.
The world don't know anything about it. It's not common knowledge,
not at all. Not at all. Look at the verse,
O righteous father, the world hath not known thee. They don't
have a clue about this. They don't have a clue. Did we
have a clue before the Lord saved us? We might have heard, oh, God's
in the heavens. But I remember hearing, oh, he
loves everyone. No, he don't love everyone. He
loves his people in Christ. He's benevolent to everyone in
the world. But his love is set upon his people in Christ. And
anyone outside of Christ, there's no love for them. My, oh, my. But look at this. Oh, righteous
father of the world, I've not known thee. But I've known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me. So he gives us
the knowledge by grace and mercy. He reveals himself, and then
he gives us the knowledge that he was sent by the Father, and
we believe it by God-given faith. So what can we conclude? Salvations
of the Lord. From alpha to omega, right? From
beginning to end, everything in between, it's all of the Lord.
It's all Him. It's all Him. It's all Him. So this knowledge that God has
sent Christ and He's both righteous and a father to His people is
not common knowledge. Because we see there, the world
hath not known thee. The heathen in the world at that time And
the unbelievers of our time in this world know nothing of God,
who is our righteous father. They may have a God cooked up
in their imagination, like most of us did in religion, but it's
not the God of the Bible. It's not the righteous father.
It's God who they can try to manipulate and bend, gang up
on in prayer. Oh my. My oh my. And the false gods of old, the
Roman gods, they were monsters of iniquity. The Greek gods,
they were monsters of iniquity, beloved. My oh my. You know what? And it's the same
today of man-made gods. They're monsters of iniquity.
Listen to what Spurgeon said during this time. I found this
very interesting. And we will see that it's so today. Listen
to what he wrote. He said, the Christian world
does not know God as a righteous father. Skeptics labeled as thinkers
in the Christian fields reject the evangelical idea of God and
the atonement. which that idea involves. It
knows an effeminate, indiscriminate fatherhood. So in other words,
he just loves everyone. But not the righteous father.
It will not bow before the majesty of his justice. It's the same
today. What does that tell us? Well,
it tells us there's nothing new under the sun. Absolutely nothing
new under the sun. Man has not changed. All the
technology we have today, all the new things we have today,
think, oh man, so much better. No, man's no better than they
were back then. We just got some fancy gadgets now, that's all.
My, oh my. Just look at what a fellow man
will do to another man or woman. My, oh my. Man's not changed
at all. And this is still true today,
whether a man's religious or not. You know what they cry out?
We'll not have this man rule over us. I was reading there, John 18,
19 there, and them Jews, Pilate said, you're king. Well, we have
no king but Caesar. Oh my. They were saying, we're
not have this man rule over us. My oh my and we see in this verse
now I want to bring it back to uh, we see in this verse that
the only one who's made us to differ is god Let's read this
verse again. Oh righteous father the world
hath not known thee. That was our natural state Right,
but you know what even then he's watching over us even then his
eye was upon us just as it is now He knew us. We didn't know him, but he knew
us He knew we were not of the world. He knew we were one of
his sheep. But as far as the world and we were concerned,
we had no clue who he was. But I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me, born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
now we know that the Father sent him. And we know now that our
Father is a righteous Father, isn't he? He's right. We know now that we never would
have chose him, but we praise God that he chose us in Christ. Oh, and we see again the distinction
between the two parties in this verse, the world and God's people.
It reveals the condition of the mind which receives God's word
as truth. See, the world won't receive
the word of God as truth, but when we're born again, And we're
giving faith to believe, God giving faith. We receive that
word now, don't we? We rejoice in that word. That's
why when we get together and we're talking, that's why our
hearts are burning within us. That's why we get excited when
we talk with other believers about the word of God. My, oh
my, because now we know. Now we know who our savior is.
And Sister Diane, you and I have talked about, we're in awe that
he saved us. He saved me. Oh my. What a great God! What a glorious
God! O righteous Father, the world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent me. What a distinction! And when
we see a man or a woman in unconditional submission to the justice of
God, and in trusting and resting on Christ and his boundless love,
and we can know that there's been a work done. Because natural
man will not do that. Natural man will not do that.
Only a new creature in Christ will do that. Trust and rest
in the crucified one. And this verse is also conciliatory
for the believer in Christ to know that God is their father. What a delightful message, to
know that God's my father. He's not like my earthly father,
no, no, he's nothing like him at all. And you know what, his ways are
not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, and he
has mercy upon his people. He has thoughts of love towards
us, and that love, is not like any love we have ever experienced
upon this earth. This love is an everlasting,
unchanging, unconditional love. What a Savior! What a Father! Know how that can console us,
right? How that can comfort us! To know
that God forgives us in Christ, just as the father in the prodigal
son narrative, just as the father just welcomed back that son that
God welcomes us back to after our fallen Adam, he welcomes
us back in Christ, puts the best robe upon us, accepts us, fully
accepts us. Right now, beloved, when you
go home, think about this. Right now, we are fully accepted
by the father in the beloved in Christ. and there's nothing
gonna change that. See, when we were in religion,
we were told, oh, if you do this and you do that and you do this,
oh, God won't, he won't favor you. Oh, and I remember, I remember
being tormented in religion, thinking, oh, this must be happening
because God's mad at me. Now, he disciplines his people,
he does, but he does it in love. God's not mad at us, beloved.
His wrath towards us has been appeased at Calvary's cross.
It is gone. It is so far gone that he will
never remember our sins against us. That is absolutely incredible.
And remember that prodigal son, he wasted his inheritance, didn't
he? He wasted away his inheritance. What did the father do? Come.
He actually ran, looked, ran. He saw him. He'd been looking
for him. He'd been watching for him. And there comes that, think
of that, there's a dot in the road. And he's getting closer
and he goes, that's my son. And he ran. And I bet you that
son picked up speed too. Oh my. And they embraced. I bet you them tears were just
flowing. And he said, father, forgive me. And the father's
like, you're my son. He didn't even mention anything
that the son had done. He said, bring the best robe,
put it on. Let's get a feast. My son that
was lost is now saved. My, what a savior we have, beloved.
And we cannot but be in awe and wonder that our Heavenly Father
has forgiven us all our sins in Christ. I mean, every one.
And has accepted Christ's blood and sacrifice as a ransom of
our souls. This is truly amazing. And then
to learn that all this is done without a violation of His justice. That's why the scripture says
he's a just God. His law was not violated, it
was upheld. His justice did not go unsatisfied,
it was satisfied in Christ. There was no violation of his
law and justice, beloved. He didn't just wink at our sin
and say, okay, no, he sent his son to die for us. that his law
might be fulfilled and that his justice might be satisfied. Wonder of wonders! God did that
for me? God did that for us, beloved?
Sent his Son to die for us? Wonder of wonders! Christ was
sent by the Father to perfectly fulfill the law and justice of
God in our room and place? He's both a just God, which is
righteous, and a Savior, Father. He's a righteous Father to his
people by adoption. What does this wonderful salvation
cause us to do? We rejoice, don't we? We rejoice
in this wondrous salvation. And it causes us to worship.
It causes us to adore God for the wondrous things he's done
for us. It causes us to cry out that
our Savior, he's a wonderful, merciful Savior, and his name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We now exalt the name that we
once used in vain. Oh my, only God can take a rebel
and turn him into one who praises him. That's the work of God. He's the only one who can do
that. And we're gonna worship and adore him for the rest of
our lives on this earth, and then we're gonna spend eternity
worshiping him. And praise in his mighty name for what he's
done for us. And think of these words of Jesus.
I have known him. He's speaking to the Father. The grand character
of the Father. He knows the Father. He knows
him better than anyone. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, they know each other like no other know each other. He says, I've known thee. He
knows him as the righteous father. He's so dear to our Lord. Oh my. And he died, he died that
the father might be called still the righteous father. Saving
us from our sins without any violation to his justice or his
law. And now we have fellowship with
Christ. And now we know the righteous father. Now we know that he sent
Christ. Now we are in wonder and awe
that he saved us. And don't we grow, don't we grow
in wonder and awe more and more every day when we just think
upon him? When we think upon what he's
done for us? And this knowledge of our righteous father comes
to us by a teacher. Christ declared the righteous
father. He declared the righteous father
in his life because he fulfilled his law for us. He's truth and grace incarnate. He's full of grace. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. And he declared the righteous father in his death.
in his death, and that was where he really glorified the Father,
isn't it? Fulfilling his law, saving his people, saving every
single sheep, not one lost, every single sheep, a number that no
man can number, saving every one of them upon that cross,
redeeming them, obtaining eternal salvation for them, and crying,
it's finished. The work done. Salvation to the
Lord. And also, God is declared the
righteous father by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. He
comes in and he regenerates dead sinners. He makes us alive in
Christ. He makes us alive in Christ.
And he gives us faith to believe on Christ. The one we didn't
believe in before, now here we are. We're praising God. We're
worshiping God. We say hallelujah. And when we
say praise you the Lord, that's hallelujah. The Hebrew hallelujahs
praise you, the Lord. Oh, we praise him, don't we?
And I don't care, the charismatics and all that. I'm not gonna stop
saying hallelujah just because they take it and run off with
it. I'm not gonna stop saying that. I'm not gonna stop saying
praise the Lord just because some group has taken it and used
it in a way that, oh, anyways. I'm gonna praise the Lord, are
you? Let's praise the Lord together. Let's praise Him together. Oh,
my. Let's give Him all the glory together. Let's read verse 25
again. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent me. So the love of God for His people
and the discovery of it is all by the grace of God. It's truly amazing that we know
that God's love has been set upon us. Think of that. It's
truly amazing to now know that God's love has been set upon
us from eternity. He's loved this old worm sinner
from eternity. And that I was saved 2,000 years
ago at Calvary's Cross, and then that which occurred back then
now becomes a reality in my life by the regenerating power of
God the Holy Spirit. Give me faith to believe on Christ.
That's what he does. See, we preachers, we're preaching
about something already done. The work's finished. We're telling
sinners, see, I'm like a man that found bread. I'm like a
starving man that found bread. And I want to tell other people
who are starving, look at this bread. This is the bread of life. His name's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the only savior of sinners. There's no other way for a sinner
to be saved. No, not by anything we've done. All by the work of
the blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And think of this,
when the divine Father gives up His best beloved, His Son,
God, the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, When he
gives up his best beloved for guilty men, we may well say,
behold how he loved him. How much Christ loves the Father
by being fully submissive to the Father. And how much the
Father loves us by giving his son. And this love then, it must be
boundless. You can't measure it. You can't
measure this love. It can't even be explained fully. We read what it says in scripture,
and we believe it by God-given faith, but we're still in awe,
aren't we? And I try my best. I just say,
well, God's loved us as He's loved Christ, and we believe
it. We take God in His word, don't we? We don't bucket the
word of God. We say, oh yeah, I believe that.
Only because of the grace and mercy of God. So this love, this
love is boundless. But by faith, we believe it. Now, if you fully know the righteous
father of God, as Christ would have you know him, then we'll
learn that God has loved us as he's loved his son. That'll be
a reality to us. And think of this, if he had
not loved us as he loved his son, he would have spared his
son. Oh my. The eternal father views us in
Christ and in him, he takes delight in us as a father does his children.
The father delights in the children. God the Father loves His Son
infinitely, without beginning, without end, and without change,
without limit, without degree. And in that same way, He loves
you and I, beloved, in Christ. Oh my. He is our righteous Father. He is the righteous Father. And
this love, Wherever it reigns in the heart creates a return
love to God. It creates a return love to God.
This love comes through his spirit. This love is by faith, by God-given
faith, it's real and it's vital. And praise God for his infinite,
unchanging, eternal love to us in Christ. And praise God, he's
revealed it to us, that we might have hearts filled with joy at
this wondrous, wondrous love. Oh, what love is this? Oh, my
soul. Oh, my soul. Praise God. Hallelujah. What
a savior we have in Jesus