Oh, the love of God. Let's take
our Bibles once again and turn me to the book of John 14. I'd
like to deal with verses 7 to 14 out of the
14th chapter of John. The Lord has been speaking to
His disciples. And in the next few chapters,
He's dealing with that conversation that He's had with them. And
He's told them. He told them in verse 1 of this chapter 14,
He said, Let not your heart be troubled. You do believe in God. He knew
they believed in God. He had given them faith to believe
in God. Believe also in Me as God. God speaking to His people. God speaking to His people. He told them that in His Father's
house, verse 2, many dwelling places, And the preparation for
His disciples, His people, to dwell there is only by Him, through the cross,
to put Him away of their sins. And verse 3, He told them, if
I go, I'm going to come back and get you. I will receive you
unto Myself. And Thomas, very honestly, Verse
4 and 5 admits his ignorance, the full understanding of those
things. And our Lord, in a verse of Scripture
that I'm telling you, we will not this side of eternity fully
understand. The more I look at that sixth
verse, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That is a verse of Scripture
that is so full, we think we can enter into the
depth of it. But we don't. But suffice it
to say, that's our hope. I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, ever. You say, well, I know in regeneration,
right. How about right now? How about
right now? How about when you pray? How
about when you call on the Lord? Not except through Him. As we
looked at a couple of Wednesdays ago, when He takes the merit
of His intercession, and the merit of His intercession is
added to, that's what Scripture says, the margin of reading says
it's added to the prayers of the saints. And on His merit,
in His merit, God hears. on His merit. No man cometh unto
the Father but by Me. Then he said in verse 7, If you
had known Me, you should have known My Father also. And from
henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. Now, that verse of
Scripture is understanding. Look at John. Go back to John
1, verse 18. That scripture, no man has seen the Father at
any time. The Son has declared Him. Look at John 1, verse 18. Read it, what I just read. No
man has seen Now back in 14 verse 7, He said, If you have known
Me, you should have known My Father also. From henceforth,
you know Him and have seen Him. Chapter 1 verse 18, No man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Back in John
14, the Lord says, if you truly perceived, understood Me, My
work, My will, My purpose for being in the world, you would
know and perceive the will and purpose of the Father. No one can rightly know Christ,
or the Father, without knowing the other. He said, I and the Father are
one. Now listen, two persons, three
persons, Father, Son, Spirit. There are three distinct persons at our Lord's baptism. He lifted
up out of that water. The Father spoke from heaven.
This is my beloved Son, whom I'm well pleased. And the Spirit
of God descended upon Him in the form of a dove. Three persons. One God. And again, we're way
over our heads here. I've tried to hear, I've told
you this before, I've listened to people try to explain the
Trinity, and they'll say it's like water. You've got a liquid,
it can be a gas, it can be a solid, ice. Don't try to explain it,
please. All it does is just degrades
the honor. Lord, as you say you are, you
are. He said, if you had known Me,
you should have known My Father also. And from henceforth, you
know Him and have seen Him. From henceforth, from right now,
you see Him and shall see Him. How? How? As you see, He was telling them,
as you see Me, as you see My walk, My work, as you see Me
in this life unfolding before you in His walk, in His work,
in His crucifixion, in His death, in His ascension, as you see
Me You're seeing the Father. In the works that I do, you're
seeing the Father. You're seeing God Almighty. Soon
He would go and lay down His life for His people, be taken
in the garden. When He would be taken in the
garden, they'd approach Him and He'd ask them, Who do you seek?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And He said, I am. They fell
back. He said, You see Me? You're seeing
the Father. This is God's will. This is God's
purpose. You see what I'm doing? You're
seeing the Father. They're going to behold Him as
they put that crown of thorns, nail Him to a cross. He said,
from henceforth, you know Him and you've seen
Him. And Philip, verse 8, saith unto
Him, Show us the Father and it sufficeth
us. You know, if we'd be honest,
we're just like Philip. He just told him, if you see
me, you see my work, you see my walk. You see my faithfulness. The Father said, this is my beloved
son whom I'm well pleased. The Lord said, you see me. You've
seen the Father. Lord, Philip said, I hear your
words, but my understandings are feeble. Philip asked the
Lord, can we see the Father? Show us
the Father. will settle us down. We'll never
doubt again. If we can actually see God, if
we see the Father, we'll never doubt. That's what our flesh
would say. You know, if I could see God,
they're looking at Him. They're looking at Him. They're
listening to Him speak. Oh, the frailty of this flesh. Lord, we'd be content. We'd never
fear again. We'd never doubt again. We would
never not believe. You show us the Father, and it
sufficeth us. Oh, but the longsuffering of
God. You know, I think to myself,
and how impatient I am. If I tell somebody something,
it's like I just told you. I just told you. And you just
asked me again. And I'm thinking, were you not
listening? But look at the long suffering
of our Lord in this gentle rebuke. And that's what it is. Verse
9, Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you? And yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father? You know, that gentle rebuke. We looked at that just a moment
ago. Listen to this, Psalm 141.5. Let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me. It shall
be an excellent oil which shall not break my head. A gentle rebuke. A kind rebuke
for love's sake. For Christ's sake. For the honor
of our Lord's sake. That's like excellent oil. Soothing. I need that. Have I been so long time with
you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us
the Father? They saw Him. raised the dead. They saw Him turn water into
wine. The Lord was telling them, you're
seeing the Father. These miracles and signs that
were setting forth Him by these miracles that God proved Him
by. But again, is it not so with
us that we would doubt? Let me ask you something. Let
me show you. Think of this statement. Have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? As many of you here have been
here a lot longer than I, and a lot of you were born and raised
in this assembly. I got to thinking about how long
this church has been here. Almost 60 years. 60 years. Many of you have been here that
long. Been here. Now let me ask you
this. You've seen the miracle of God's
grace in the calling out of God's sheep. The blessing of Almighty
God. The blessing of God's Spirit
being poured out. and calling out His elect, and
keeping them, and keeping them, and keeping them. And this blessed
little place that's been here all of these years, you know
what you've seen? You've seen the Father. You've
seen the blessing of God. Have I been so long time with
you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father, and how sayest then thou? Show us
the Father." You have actually beheld the grace of God. You've actually beheld the will
of the Father. You've seen Him. Seen His will. Looking upon His blessed attributes
of mercy and kindness and holiness, love and longsuffering. Think
about the longsuffering of God that's kept us here. And all
of these years, the inconsistencies that we've seen in ourselves. I don't want to look at you.
Let me look right here. You've seen the Father. I'll never forsake
you. You've seen the Father. Verse
10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in Me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself,
that is, independent of Him. But the Father that dwelleth
in Me, He doeth the works." He said it again and again. Paul said, it's not grievous
to speak unto you the same things. He said, it's not grievous to
me. For you it's safe. They needed to hear the same
thing repeated over and over and over. Tell me again. Here our Lord reveals Himself
as the servant of Jehovah and Jehovah. He that sees Me. I'm in the Father. The Father
in Me. The only way that we see Him
right now is in the exhibition of His mercy. God is Spirit. How am I going
to see Him? I see Him in the calling out
and the keeping of His people, the sustaining of His sheep.
He said He would. This is what we're looking at.
People that say, well, God manifested Himself. I saw God. The Lord
said to him, you do see Me. But how do we see Me? How do
we see Him? He said, My sheep hear My voice.
How? With this ear? No. No, they don't.
Not now. There was a time when God spoke
to them verbally. There has been times that God
spoke from heaven and they heard verbally, right here, they heard
in these ears. But right now, God speaks to His people in their
heart. as the Spirit of God teaches
them. And they truly hear. They hear
with the ear of faith. And they know it. And the world
doesn't know anything about that. The world says, that's foolishness.
Not to a believer, it's not. Not to a believer. He says, believe
me, verse 11. that I am in the Father, and
the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's sake."
Oh, the blessedness of hearing him continue to speak and continue
to speak. That God would not be silent.
Believe the words that no man can speak but me. These words
that set forth Himself to be in union with the Father. Or
believe me, he said, for the works sake that I do. His Word and His works all began
and terminate in Himself and in the Father who are one. Neither does anything independently
of the other according to that everlasting covenant God Almighty
who purposed to call in perfect agreement with the Son and the
Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, who in covenant mercy
would take upon Himself flesh, add it to Himself, never relinquishing
His deity. In the fullness of Godhead, that's
what the Scripture says, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. These men, they would sit there
and look at Him and they'd think, all of God is in Him. The Father, the Spirit, and the
Son. One God. Three Persons. A great mystery. Here again,
that we truthfully bow to. Verse 12, "'Barely, barely, I
say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall
he do also. And greater works than these
shall he do, because I go unto my Father.'" Now you talk about
a Scripture that we need some light on. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do
also. You know, the works that the Lord Jesus
Christ, turn to Acts 2.22. The works that the Lord Jesus
Christ, I made mention of this a minute ago, I'll show you now.
Acts 2.22, the works that he did, the miracles that he did.
This was the reason. All that he did was for the confirmation
of who he was, or who he is. Acts 2.22, you men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, a man. approved of God among you, how? By miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know." All that the Lord Jesus Christ did, He did by the Father and Himself, the
Spirit of God, as a confirmation of who He is. Those miracles,
signs, and wonders. And our Lord said to His disciples,
verse 12, He said, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me,
the works that I do shall he do also. He said, these things
that you've seen Me do, heal. Heal the sick. Peter, James,
walking into the temple. If I ask in alms, Peter said,
look on us. Silver and gold have I none such
as I have. Give I thee in the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. He said that these things that
you see me do, you're going to do. Look at Mark 16. Mark 16, verse 17 to 20. Mark
16. 17 to 20. Our Lord said to his disciples,
and these signs shall follow them that believe, in my name
shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues,
they shall take up serpents, if they drink any deadly thing
it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick,
they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken
unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right
hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following."
Amen. Turn to Hebrews 2. While you're turning, I'm going
to ask you this question. and miracles and wonders still
needful today, according to the scriptures.
For the confirmation of the gospel? No. Hebrews 2, verses 3 and 4. How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us
by them that heard him." Did you pick up on what was just
said? After our Lord left, He being
approved or confirmed by miracles and signs and wonders. Those
men that he commissioned to go, while the Scriptures were being
penned, they were not written completely yet. Paul the Apostle
was called out of darkness in Acts 9, and the Lord used him
to pen through letters, divinely inspired letters to send to these
different churches, and the Scriptures were penned. But before, these
men were sent into the world to preach. How did God confirm
them that they were of God? There were many false prophets.
How did God confirm them? God, Hebrews 2, 4, God also bearing
them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles
and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. Almighty God blessed
them just like He had been blessed and approved. How was He set
forth the same way they were set forth? God Almighty confirmed
them. Mark well that the needed confirmation
of the Word preached by God's preachers was actually done by
God Almighty. God, I know this. There are many, many men, and
I guess women too, that are claiming that they are
miracle workers, that they can still perform miracles, and they
have the gifts of healing, and they have this, that, and the
other, and that they can do all these things. The Lord said,
John 15, 5, without me, you can do nothing. You can do nothing. These men that God sent out,
the Lord Jesus Christ, they were actually confirmed by the signs
and wonders before the Scriptures were written. But it was God
Almighty that was doing it. In Acts 3, verse 12, that incident
that I was telling you about where that man was healed, and
here's what Peter said, 3.12, then Peter saw it. Everybody
was wanting to come up and pat Peter and him on the back. Boy,
you guys... Peter said, verse 12, when Peter
saw it, he answered to the people, you men of Israel, why marvel
ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on
us, as though by our own power, our holiness, We had made this
man to walk. Peter was saying, do you know
where this power comes from? You want to know the absolute
evidence of a man being a false prophet. He claims to know. Turn back to John 4, and I'll
wrap this up. John 4, 23-24. They claim to
know God. They claim that they are
working miracles in God's name. Scripture speaks of these lying
wonders. What is the evidence that a man
is a liar? And what he is doing is not in
the name of Almighty God. John 4, 23-24. The hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship Him." God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God Almighty, back in John 14
now, the Lord Jesus Himself, He says, the works that I do,
you will do also. And greater works than these,
not greater in magnificence, but greater meaning more. More openly, the day of Pentecost,
3,000 people converted. Soon after, 5,000. Why? He said, it's because I go unto
the Father. Obviously, the ascending back
to the Father must have preceded the ordained work and mission
of the Holy Spirit of God. God Almighty ascended back, having
completed the work of redemption, shed His blood, laid down His
life, died, raised from the dead, ascended right hand of the Father.
And now, Ephesians 4 and verse 8 says this concerning His work,
His office right now. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended on high, led captivity captive, gave gifts unto men
as the victorious Lord of glory, having conquered death, actually
shedding his blood, actually putting away the guilt of his
people in his own shed blood and broken body. He now continues
through the glorious work of the Holy Spirit, furnishing them
with all of their need, blessing His people through all of this
time frame on this earth, my God shall supply all of your
need according to His riches in glory. He told them, He says,
the works that I do, you are going to do too. They did. They
did. And whatsoever, verse 13 and
14, you shall ask in My name, that will I do. that the Father
may be glorified in the Son, if you ask anything in my name,
according to my will." When he says my name, he's talking about
my character. I mean, people, they use that Scripture and they
think like they can just beckon God, like I said before, like
He's just a bellhop. Lord, if it be Your will. Lord,
if it be according to Your purpose. Lord, if it be for Your glory,
Lord, if it be for my good, Lord, have mercy. Lord, speak to me. Lord, keep me. Lord, teach me. Lord, these blessed truths that
You've set forth concerning Your glory, Your oneness with the
Father, Lord, that we would be able to witness by faith and
soon, by the grace of God, by sight, that we would see the
Father Lord, show us afresh, and may we, by faith, behold
the miracle of Your will and purpose for Christ's sake.