Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of John. The Gospel according to John,
chapter 14. John 14. The Scripture bears this truth out. In John
13, verse 1, Scripture bears out that our
Lord concerning His immediate disciples at the moment that
He was talking to them, but all of God's people, all of God's
elect, His sheep, it says this, He loved them unto the end. He loved them. Now, His eternal
love for His people was physically manifested until he was actually
taken up into heaven. They beheld, as John says, back
in the epistles of John, which Brother Pat just read, John said,
we looked upon him. We beheld him. We saw God. manifest in the flesh. And our
Lord from chapter 13 through John 16 is actually teaching His apostles,
yes, but all of the church, all of the bride. He is speaking
to all of us. 13 to 16. took place in just
a matter of hours. Just a few hours. The Lord's
Supper. I mean, this started back when
He washed the disciples' feet back in John 13. And now it's
going to take over a few hours. Those chapters that we've looked
at for weeks and weeks and weeks just took place in just a little
period of time. And our Lord is giving His disciples
some lasting words of comfort. And here's the comfort that we
have right now. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Now he picks
up, I'm going to look at verses in John 14. I'm going to look
at verses 19 and 20 this morning. John 14, 19. He says, yet a little
while, And the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because
I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Now, he said
just in a little while, a little while, the world seeth me no
more. Very soon the world is not going
to look on me anymore. When he was in this world, now
you think on this, this was God Almighty. This was God. And God Almighty in the person of his blessed
Son, God the Spirit, prepared him a body, a body that aged
just like ours does. Now, ours ages because of sin,
because we are dying creatures. Ours is aging because of sin. has to be ministered to by food
and water and air. And the Spirit of God prepared
him a body that acted and reacted just like ours does. But his
knew no sin. His had no sin in it. He was made like unto his brethren,
yet without sin. Miracle. He had to be made flesh
to redeem, to live for and die for all that the Father had given
Him. A man disobeyed God. A man had
to obey God. Here is the Lord, and He is walking
around. Isaiah said there was no beauty
in Him, There was no beauty in him, no comeliness about him. It was nothing about him that,
you know, I mean, you see all these little idolatrous pictures,
you know, that paint this picture, you know, and he's got long hair
and he's, you know. How do they know what he looks
like? They say that's what he looked
like. Scripture says there was nothing about him that drew any
attention to him He's just a man, but by faith, by the grace of
God, God Almighty would give eyes of faith, new eyes, eyes
that could see Him and know Him. But the world, He said, the world,
those without life, the world, just a little while, seeth Me
no more. A lot of them saw Him, but they
didn't see Him. A lot of them heard him, but
they didn't hear him. A lot of them watched his faithfulness
before God, establishing righteousness by his life of obedience to the
Father, but they saw nothing in that. They were blind. They were blind. And they got
mad. Now here's an amazing thing. Just turn back to John chapter
9. John 9. Now you know, here's
the amazing thing. You tell a believer, after a
believer is regenerated by the grace of God, you tell a believer
that in himself, as being born in Adam, you tell a believer
that he was born blind, and a believer will agree with you. He'll say,
yes sir, I'm the one. But before he's regenerated,
before God gives him a new heart, a new life, It makes him mad
if you tell him he's blind. Now, I can make good on that.
John 9, 39-41, Jesus said, For judgment I am coming to this
world, that they which see, or that is, think they see, might,
they which see not, might see. That they which see might be
made blind. Some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind also?
And Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you should have
no sin. But now ye say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth until a man is called out of darkness. He
thinks he sees. He thinks he knows. Only a regenerated sinner will
admit, I once was blind. But now I see. Once I thought
I saw, but now I see. Until God gives a man or woman
a new heart, you tell them that man is born blind, born without
the ability to see God, know God, perceive God, it makes him
mad. Give a man a new heart, and that
man will admit, I know I was blind. And by the grace of God,
He has given me sight." For judgment. For judgment. That's what the
Lord said. That is, for God's decision. For Him to come into this world
and fulfill the purpose and decree of Almighty God to reveal truth
to His people and hide it from others. You say, well, you mean
to tell me that God would withhold from one and give to another?
God would withhold light? Look at Luke 10.21. Are you telling
me that the Lord of glory would withhold spiritual light from
somebody and give it to somebody else because it pleased Him to
do so? Is that what you're saying? I'm
telling you what God said. Luke 10.21. Luke 10.21. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent
and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight." Again, I ask, does God have the right to give
spiritual light to one and withhold it from someone else. Yes, he
does. Does he do it? Yes, he does. He's God. He's the potter. And we're the clay. Now, back
in John 14, here's our Lord, and He says, a little while, verse 19, John
14, 19, yet a little while. and the world seeth me no more."
God may leave a man to his own desire. He may. Romans 121 says, because that
when they knew God, that is obviously not by faith, because I'm going
to prove this just by reading the rest of this verse. They
knew God not by faith, they just saw Him in creation. I'm always amazed at how I've
heard statements made like this, and it's usually the Lord, I
mean, people making reference to the Lord, and they're saying,
well, you know, the good Lord, He always, well, the good Lord,
good Lord, you know, it's just like a catchphrase, just, you
know, good Lord, and He is good, and He is the Lord. But if they
don't perceive, truly who He is, as He's revealed in these
Scriptures. They talk about Him. They know
that there is a God. Everybody knows there's a God.
Everybody's got a conscience that knows that there is a God. They know it. Because when they
knew God, or they knew that there was a God, they glorified Him
not as God, Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened." You know, I read that scripture
the other day. Now think about this, Gary. Their foolish heart
was darkened. Their foolish heart was darkened. That dead heart was darkened. And I looked it up. deprived
of light, not allowed to have light. They glorified Him not
as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. For this cause, God gave them
up unto vile affections. And even as they did not like
to retain or acknowledge God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, void of judgment, to do those
things that are not convenient, not becoming, not fit. You know what this makes me think?
Lord, have mercy on this sinner, because Lord, if you leave me
to myself, I have no hope. No hope. The world seeth me no
more. The world cannot see me and doesn't
want to see me. The world doesn't want to see
Him right now in grace. But the Scripture reveals that
they are going to see Him again in judgment. Revelation 1-7 says,
Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him,
and they also which pierced Him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him. Even so, amen. He says the world, back in John
14, 19, he says, yet a little while and the world seeth me
no more. But listen to these blessed words right now. Listen. He says, but you see me. But you see me. And I tell you,
that just makes me have a breath of fresh air. But you see me. You behold Me." They saw Him
right then, His disciples did, and saw Him by faith. They saw Him with these eyes
just like everybody else did. But there were some new eyes
that the Scripture talks about. They saw Him right then. And
they were going to see Him after His resurrection. He appeared
to them. He said, You see Me. They were going to see Him at
His ascension. Think of the comfort that they had. They saw Him die
on the cross, but they saw Him raised from the dead. They saw
Him ascend into heaven. They actually watched Him rise
into heaven, and the clouds received Him. And the Scripture says in
two men while they were standing there watching Him go into the
heaven, Two men in white apparel say, you men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you
have seen Him go into heaven." They actually heard two angels
say that. This same Jesus, why are you
gazing up? Why? He is coming back. He is coming back. The believer
sees Him and knows Him and knows that He is God, God Almighty. This is the God that we worship,
the God that has the right to do as He will in the army of
heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. Nobody orders Him
around. Nobody stops whatever He does. His purpose to do. His counsel
is going to stand. God's people, they reverence
Him. They don't make jokes about Him. As I've said, tell me the filthiest
joke you've ever heard in your life, but don't you ever make
a joke about Him. Don't ever talk about anything
that degrades the wonder. of our precious Lord God. He said, ìThe world sees me no
more. You see me. You see me.î We see Him right
now, right now by faith as Heís revealed in these Scriptures
when He said to His disciples, ìYou see me.î And every believer
in this place right here looked upon Him. By faith. Yes, you did. You beheld the
loveliness of our Lord in your heart and you think to yourself,
something to this effect. Oh, by the grace of God, I can
look upon Him. He said, two or three gathered
together in my name, I'm in the midst of you. And right now the
believer sees Him. And you hear His voice. You heard
Him say to His disciples and to say to you, You see me. You know me. We see Him as God
Himself in human flesh, which is where He is right now, sitting
on the throne of God. There is a man in glory sitting
on the throne of God. There is a man, a man, the God-man,
not merely man, but the Son of Man. God Himself sitting. Right now, the writer of Hebrews
says, we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that He,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Every man without exception?
No. If that was the case, then when
our Lord said in John 10, 15, I lay down my life for the sheep,
would have no merit. He died for his elect. He died for those given him by
the Father. In John 17, he wouldn't even
pray for the world. He said, I pray not for the world.
Look at that. Let's look at it again. John 17. Just turn over
a few pages. John 17, verse 9. Look at verse 2. And here's our
Lord praying, as thou hast given Him power over all flesh, Now
here, the Lord has power over everybody. Everybody. That's
what He just said. Thou hast given Him power over
all flesh. Listen to these words. Verse
2, John 17, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given Him. Are you saying that God has given
Him a people that He's going to give eternal life to? That's exactly what He said.
And listen to this. He prays for them that the Father
has given Him. Look at verse 9, I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given
Me, for they are Thine. You know, if we would just listen
to what the Lord is saying, and take Him exactly, call it His
Word, exactly, what did He say? I'm not concerned about what
the world says. I want to know what did He say.
Let God be true and every man a liar. He tasted death when it says,
for all men, for every man, for every man out of this world,
Jew, Gentile, black, white, man, woman, poor, rich, everyone given
Him. He just said in His high priestly
prayer, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. I pray
for Him. I don't pray for the world. If he's not going to pray for
the world, then why would he die for the whole world? He won't even pray for them.
He prays for those that the Father has given him. He said, soon
the world is not going to see me anymore. But you see me. You see me. Back in John 14,
19. Believers see him by faith. That's the only way we can see
Him. He is our All and in All. I want you to look at 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30. Amazing passage of Scripture. I saw something here the other
day. I mean, I know the truth of it, but I've never seen it
in this particular verse. I've never seen the fullness
of this verse. 1 Corinthians. And I saw this as
I was studying in John 15, verse 1. When the Lord said, I am the
vine, you are the branches, my Father is the husbandman, my
Father is the farmer. My Father is the husbandman.
My Father is the one. You take a tree. I've been planting
some trees around the house. And do you know I choose which
tree I want to put? I chose the tree I wanted to
put. And you know what else I did? I chose where I wanted to put
it. I decided where I wanted to put
that tree. I chose the tree and I chose
where I wanted to put the tree. Now, the Lord said in John 15,
He said, I am the true vine. You're the branches. My father
is the husbandman. My father is the one that chose. We're chosen in Him. Look at
1 Corinthians 1.30, "...but of Him..." He's talking about the
Father. "...but of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. But of God Almighty are you in
Christ." God has chosen to show mercy. Who do we see? We see
Him as our surety. He is our Lord. That's what Thomas
said. The Lord said, put your finger
right here in my hands, Thomas. Here, put your hand in my side.
And Thomas said, my Lord and my God. That's who we see. He said, you see me. He is our
great High Priest who ever liveth To make intercession for us right
now, as we try to pray and try to read that passage in Revelation
8, where it says that the prayers of the saints, as I just stumble
trying to pray, I don't even know what to pray for. Scripture
bears that out. We don't know what to pray for.
We don't know how to say it. But He takes the prayers of the
saints, mingles them. with His merit and presents them
before the throne. And God accepts the prayers of
the saints on His behalf, on His merit. You see me, He said
back in John 14, and because I live, ye shall live also. Because His life gives life,
His people, chosen in Him, redeemed by Him, prayed for by Him, kept
by Him, He said, you are going to live. Because I live, ye shall
live also. I give, John 10, 28, unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of My hand. Why? Why shall we never perish? Colossians 3 verse 4 says, your
life is hid with Christ in God. I read over that again this morning.
Your life is hid with Christ in God. And I wrote down these
words. I said, the Lord's people, they don't struggle over the
truth or worry about eternal life. Now here's it. They strive to enter in. But Paul says, I know whom I
have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. You
know why a believer is not worried about maintaining his life? Because
there's nothing in me to maintain it. And I have totally his Word. I believe God. I truly believe
that I believe Him. I believe Him. As the head is
united to the body, and the body cannot live apart from the head,
because He lives, we live. By faith, that's all I've got.
That's all you've got. All you've got is God's Word. I'm not going to look back on
me walking down on top of a rug And coming down and going through
some kind of a ritualistic, you know, I find no comfort whatsoever
in being baptized in order to be saved. Baptism is the confession
of faith. If the Lord is true, He saved
you. Confess Him in baptism. But I'm telling you, that water
never saved anybody. It's water. It's water. It's water. It is symbolic of
that which God has done by grace. But water does not save. Walking
down an aisle does not save. God saves. And we acknowledge
it. We confess it. He is life. He said, you see me. And in closing,
verse 20, He says these amazing words. He said, at that day,
You shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you." Now, he just said three things that you and I, I'm going
to just, let me just go ahead and settle your mind right now.
None of us understand what he just said. None of us understand
what he just said. By faith, we believe him. There is a sense in which a man
can say, I just don't believe that. A believer is not going
to say that. A believer will say, I don't
understand the fullness of it, but I believe it. Listen to what
he just said. At that day, at that day, and
the key to that verse And the understanding of what day our
Lord was speaking of, the word know. He says, at that day you
shall know. I looked that word up. It means
to perceive or to understand it. To understand. At that day. What day? At that day. There is coming
a day. when we shall know with perfect
vision, perfect understanding, these wonderful mysteries." This
wonderful unity. Now you think of what he just
said. He just said three things. At
that day you shall know that I am in my Father. Now here is
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Here is the Son of God, Deity
Himself. united with human flesh, totally
God, totally man. And he said, at that day you
shall know that I am in my Father. Now, I know, just try to think
that one through. You shall know that ye are in
me. Now, wherever He is, He's in
heaven. He's seated on the throne. He's
in the presence right now of His people. He's omnipresent. And He said, at that day, you're
going to know that you're in Me. And try to explain that one.
And then thirdly, that I'm in you. And that day, 1 John 3, 2, in closing, Here's
the day I'm talking about, 1 John 3.2. 1 John 3.2 says this, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know that when He shall
appear, when He comes back, And we are all changed, Neal. This
old corruptible is going to put on incorruption. Those that died
physically and they are in the ground sleeping in the Lord,
their souls are with God, He is going to come back with the
souls of His people and those dead bodies. These eyes, they're going to
be changed, but with these eyes, I'm going to see God. These eyes,
these eyes right here, they'll be perfect eyes. I'm going to see God. I'm going
to be changed. This very flesh, I'm talking
about this flesh, these hands, changed, but these hands, I'm going to see Him. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. He says that that day
you shall know that I am in my Father, ye in me, and I in you. Glory is going to be revealed
in us. We are going to be conformed to the image of his Son. Job
says what I just quoted, ìIn my flesh, in my flesh, my flesh,
shall I see God.î The poor in spirit, made so right
now by the grace of God, are going to see him. Revelation 22 verse 4 says, ìGodís
people shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads,
in their minds.î perfectly. He said that day, you'll know. Oh, the blessed mysteries that
we believe by faith right now. But in that day, we're going
to see Him perfectly and be forever with Him. Lord, cause my heart
to long after You to see You in that blessed day for Christ's
honor and for the good of his people. Amen.