Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John chapter 8. John chapter
8. I'm going to look at verses 21
to 29. And what I'd like to do is I'd
like to continue where we looked. about two weeks ago on the Lord's
witness of Himself. But before we look at these Scriptures,
let's thank our Lord. Our Father, we know that You
are, and that You are the rewarder of those that diligently seek
You. Lord, help us today. Help us to seek. Help us to know. Help us to behold. Oh, how good
it is, Lord, this side of the grave, to bow to You. Every knee is going to bow. Every
tongue is going to confess. And we realize that it is by
Your marvelous grace that You give us a heart that will do
so now. Bless the services we ask for
Christ's sake. Amen. The last time we looked in the
book of John chapter 8, we considered, as I said a moment ago, the Lord's
witness concerning Himself. And we looked at verses 12 to
20 last time. And these are the three things
that the Lord revealed about Himself. In verse 12, He revealed
that He is the light of the world. Now that sets forth it. He is
the illumination. He is the spiritual understanding.
He is God's light. He is light. There is no understanding
save the Lord Jesus Christ who is God's light. The second thing
we learn is that He's not alone. Verse 16 of chapter 8 sets forth,
And yet if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone,
but I and the Father that sent me. See, they had accused him
of saying, well, the witness that you give of yourself, what's
that? The law set forth that there
had to be at least two witnesses. One witness is not going to hold
up. God's law is not going to be
honored, but He did honor God's law. He said, I'm not alone,
but I am the Father that sent me. Remember, it was the Father
that spoke of Him. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. So that's the second thing. First
thing, He's the light of the world. Second, He's not alone.
God the Father has borne witness of Him. And the third thing was
this, and it was in Verse 19, He said, If you know Me, then you know the
Father. I and the Father are one. We
are one in essence. One in glory. One in holiness. He said in verse 19, Then said
they unto Him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, You neither know
Me nor My Father. If you had known me, you should
have known my Father also. My Father's will. My Father's
purpose. My Father's honor. My Father's
choice. You know me. You know the Father.
You know the Father. You know me. We're one. Now today
I'd like for us to look at the remaining four things that our
Lord has revealed about Himself. And here is the importance of
these things, not only the three things that we've already considered
about Him. But to ask ourselves these questions,
number one, do I know Him as He has revealed Himself to be?
Do I know Him like that? Have I bowed to Him like that?
Do I know the Father and the Son who is life eternal? Let's look in verse 21 to verse
23. Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go My way, and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins, whether
I go You cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill
himself? Because he saith, Whether I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are
from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. Now here is the next thing that he reveals concerning
himself. He's not of this world. You say, now, what is the significance
of that? I want you to turn to John 17.
John 17, verse 14. Here's our Lord speaking in His
high priestly prayer. John 17, verse 14. And He's praying unto His Father.
And He says, I have given them. Now, He's speaking of His disciples
immediately right here. But I will say this. He is speaking
to everyone that He shall call out of spiritual darkness. He
is speaking to everyone or concerning everyone that the Father has
given Him that will in time be called out. I have given them
Thy Word, and the world hath hated them, because they are
not of this world, not of the world, even as I am not. of the world. The Lord Jesus
Christ is setting forth that He is of another spirit than
that of this world. He is One who in and of Himself
loves the Father. He is of Himself the One in whom
the Father is pleased. He said concerning Himself when
He said, I'm not of this world, He told the Pharisees, I go my
way. What way is that? Well, first
of all, I know it's the way of obedience. He is the obedient
one to the Father in the redemption and the salvation of His people
at Calvary. I go my way. I'm not of this
world. Everyone born in Adam is of this
world until the Lord Jesus Christ revealed concerning those that
the Father had given Him in regenerating grace with a new heart, new spirit. Then they are not of this world.
And the world hates them. They are not of this world in
their obedience before the Father, before the Son. Oh, not as they
would desire to be. Not as they shall be, but as
they long to be. You that know Him, let me ask
you this. Do you not long to be obedient to Him? Do you not
long to seek Him as you should? Pray as you should? To hear as
you should? Don't you wish just one time
we could sit down and hear the gospel of God's grace preached
And our minds wouldn't wonder that we would be as we ought
to be, that we would hear as we would desire to hear. Here's
the sad thing. We cannot not sin. We cannot not sin. We cannot
keep ourselves perfectly obedient. That's what Paul meant when he
said, O wretched man, that I am. Here is the Lord setting forth.
He said, I go my way. You shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Now
obviously, here is the One speaking who is the omniscient God. The
One that knows those that the Father has given Him. And He
knows who He is speaking to. He knows all men. He knows His
sheep. He said He did. I know My sheep. He told some Pharisees, He said,
you believe not because you are not My sheep. I know My sheep. My sheep hear
My voice and they follow Me. He said, you, you shall seek
Me. Oh, there's coming a time according
to the words of our Lord when men are going to desire to have
Him. You shall seek Me. In the day that the Lord shut
the door of the ark. Boy, I tell you, I'll go back
and I'll read those words. Noah and his family and all the
animals went into the ark. And it says, and the Lord shut
the door. And I can just imagine when that
rain started coming down and the earth, the Scripture says
it just opened up. And water just gushed out of
the earth, fell from heaven. And men would try. Well, we're
going to have to get to higher ground. And they got to the highest
ground that there was and there was no more ground. Jeff, it
was it. Noah! Noah! And the Lord had shut the door.
He said, you shall seek me. That day when those five foolish
virgins, five wise, five foolish, and those five wise had oil for
their lamps Five foolish didn't have oils. And the bridegroom,
it was announced that the bridegroom was coming, and the five foolish
said, we're out of oils. There's nothing here. There's
nothing for light. Christ is not here. Give us your
oil. No. They said, no, you're going
to have to go buy it for yourself. There was only one way to buy.
According to the Lord's words, you buy without price, without
money. They went looking for it. The
bridegroom came and he entered in. The door was shut and they
came later. Hello! Hello! The door was shut. In that day, the Lord said, many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in Your name? Lord, didn't we cast out devils
in your name? Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in your name. Many. According to the words
of our Lord, ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Boy,
I'll tell you, if there was ever a statement made that ought to
arrest a man or a woman's heart and cause them to cry out, Lord,
have mercy on me. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Listen to me. Salvation, as I've said so many
times, is not coming to the altar, the Lord's table. No. It's not coming to traditions. It's not praying through. It's
not coming to the church membership. Salvation is a person. A person set forth by these Scriptures
who has revealed Himself and the Father has revealed Him.
The prophets have revealed Him. His miracles have revealed Him.
His works, His obedience, the witness of the blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. There is salvation in no other. Salvation is not in anything
that you can do to produce life. How is a man saved? He is saved by the grace of God. That Almighty God who chose to
show mercy. And the declaration of the gospel
of God's free grace is what we preach. We preach that God Almighty
has purposed. God Almighty has ordained. God
Almighty has set forth His will in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's law must be fulfilled.
I couldn't fulfill it because of the weakness of my flesh.
One has fulfilled the law of God. One has obeyed God, the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And men Well, to this day, to
this moment, right now, there will trust in their obedience. Oh, God's people are obedient.
Don't get me wrong. But that is the effect of salvation. It's not the source of salvation. Mark, I remember as a child going
into a Catholic church and kneeling down in front of Confessional. And a man telling me, he said,
I've absolved you from your sins. He lied to me. He lied to me. He told me all I had to do was
say ten Hail Marys and one Our Father. And he said, you are
absolved from your sins. He lied to me. He said, you're going to seek
Me and you're not going to find Me. You're going to die in your
sins. And where I go, you cannot come. Not in this state. Not in the
state you're in. All who die in rebellion against
God Almighty, die with sin's penalty upon them. Die without
bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. This side of the grave, you cannot
come. You cannot come. No man can come
to Me except the Father which has sent Me to draw him. And
I will raise him up the last day. They would not come as He revealed
Himself to be. I know what man by nature says
concerning God's sovereignty, God's will, God's purpose, God's
election. Particular redemption. Particular
redemption. What does that mean? That Christ
laid down His life for the sheep. I said, I don't believe that.
You will if God gives you a heart to. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. My sheep, they hear my voice
and they follow me. I know them. You cannot come. Then they said in verse 22, well,
will He kill Himself? Because He said, whether I go,
you cannot come. Was that arrogance on their part?
Were they mocking Him? Were they mocking Him? I hear
what He's saying. What's He saying? Are you going
to kill yourself? Is that what you're going to
do? Then He said unto them, you're
from beneath. I'm from above. You're of this
world. I'm not of this world. You're
from this world and all of its thoughts arrogance and all of
its unbelief. He was from above. And he spoke
those things concerning God's sovereignty and God's mercy only
in Christ. Listen. Listen. The message of
God's free and sovereign grace. That is God's Gospel. That's
God's Gospel. This is the only message that
God Almighty blesses by His Holy Spirit to the redemption of His
people and regeneration of His people. I'm sorry, regeneration.
This is it. There is no other message that
the Spirit of God blesses. The message of God's sovereign
grace. Man born in this world, he thinks
like the world. He thinks that he's the author
and finisher of his faith. The Lord said, I'm not of this
world. A pretend Savior, a wannabe Savior, somebody that wants to
do and can't unless man lets him. I was watching TV the other
day and there was a fellow on TV and you're saying, well, man,
Marvin, you're kind of hard, aren't you? Let me tell you something.
People are dying, Freddie, they're dying. And they're leaving this
world, aren't they? They're dying. And I'm telling you, they take
that last breath and it's over. It's over. It's over. Almighty God is set forth. He
told Ezekiel, He tells every called preacher that God calls. He said, you warn them. You warn
them. You warned them. You tell them. Tell them the truth. I'd rather
tell you the truth and you get mad at me than to lie to you
and be your friend really superficially is all it is. I wasn't really
your friend. I'm telling you. I was watching
TV the other day. A fellow standing up there and
there's a lot of people at this congregation. He said, I want
you all to repeat after me. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus. I'm a
sinner. I'm a sinner. Come into my heart.
Come into my heart. Save me from my sins. Save me
from my sins." Now, he says, welcome to the kingdom of God.
And I thought, no. No, I'll tell you what you
do. You preach the gospel. You tell
men what God Almighty says they are in themselves. That they
can of themselves do nothing. You tell them that there's hope
in one. Christ, and if the Spirit of God is pleased to take this
message and bless it to the salvation of sinners, God's going to save
His people. He's going to call them out.
He will. He said, I'm from above. You're of this world. I'm not
of this world. We don't preach the message of this world. We
don't preach salvation by man's efforts. We set forth that Almighty
God is the author and finisher of a sinner's faith. Christ is
all in all. Here's the next thing I know
concerning Him. This is what He said. He's God. He's God. And to disbelieve Him
is to die in sin. Verse 24, I said therefore unto
you, that ye shall die in your sins if ye believe not that I
am." If you believe not that I am
He, you shall die in your sins. The Scripture says that devils
believe. The demons believe. People have
a head knowledge. There's a big difference in believing
that there is a God. There's a big difference in believing
that there's a God. Devils believe that there's a
God. Those demons that were in that demoniac of the Gadarenes,
when they came, when the Lord Jesus Christ approached that
man that broke the chains and cut himself, those demons that
were in that man, they believed that there's a God. They knew
who the Lord Jesus Christ was. There's a big difference in believing
that there is a God and believing that God is as He says He is.
There's a big difference in believing that there is a sovereign and
believing the sovereign of these scriptures and admitting in this
heart, Lord, as you say I am, that's how I am. Lord, as you
say you are, that's how you are. The Lord Jesus Christ, I said
therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins if you believe
not that I am He." God's prophet. God's salvation. God's Redeemer. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now listen to me. I will tell
you again as I've said before. It was not Abraham's belief that
God counted for righteousness. Abraham believed that Almighty
God and the imputed righteousness that was charged to him was his
only hope before God Almighty. Abraham believed that Christ,
and he saw his day. The Lord said that. Abraham saw
my day. And he rejoiced. He was glad.
To see the day of Christ, redemption, salvation, he saw and he believed. We dare not trifle with the clear
testimony of the Son of God. Here is the I Am. Salvation is
the sovereign Savior crossing the path of a needy sinner in
mercy and the Spirit of God. in regenerating power and grace,
calling that Son unto Himself. Old Blind Bartimaeus, when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he cried forth, Jesus, Thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. They tried to quiet him, but
they couldn't. Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. All the fullness of the Godhead.
Unless you believe that I am He, you're going to die. All
the fullness of the Godhead, the fullness of the Father, the
fullness of the Son, the fullness of the Spirit, all of the fullness
of the Godhead. I'm lost in that statement. I can't even imagine the depth
of that statement. All the fullness of the Godhead? in Him, God incarnate, the One,
the precious One in our nature, the One in whom we were made. I told you last Wednesday night,
Adam was the first openly revealed man, but he wasn't the first
man. The Lord Jesus Christ, He was
not made manifest until He was made flesh and dwelt among us. But let me tell you something,
secretly, in the eternal counsels and purpose of Almighty God,
He always has been. Always. He said, I was ever before
Him. One brought up with Him. If you listen to this, just turn
over. Turn over to Ephesians. Ephesians 3.9. I just want you to read something.
I read this the other day and I just went back and read it
again. I just wanted to look at it again.
Ephesians 3.9. When we say Jesus, that's His
name. Call His name Jesus. A child
was born. A son was given. Call His name
Jesus. Call His name Jesus. Christ is
His title. The Anointed One. The Messiah. The Sent. So when we say Jesus
Christ, what you're saying right there is God-Man. God-Man. Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3.9, "...and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Who created all things by Jesus
Christ? You mean all things that were
made? Yes. He is before all things. Well,
I'll tell you something. Unless you believe that I am
He. God Almighty, the fullness of the Godhead. Here is the One
that the electing Father chose to entrust the redemption of
His elect. The One in whom the Fathers pleased. The Son. The One that the Spirit
of God speaks of and draws sinners to. He is the Creator, the Sustainer,
the Governor, the King, the Redeemer, the Judge. Oh, my brethren, let us flee
from the evil thoughts of salvation by works of righteousness. Our
righteousness, our self-righteousness. Flee that thought. Flee that
thought. He is. Hebrews 12, 25 says, See
that you refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escape
not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not
we escape if we turn away from Him that
speaks from heaven." I tell you, we have one hope this morning. Bow. Lord, You are. Lord, I am what I am by Your
grace. Lord, have mercy. Verse 25 to
28, Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith
unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning,
I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that
sent me is true. And I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of him, and they understood not
that he spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto
them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my
Father which hath taught me, I speak these things." Here was
the one that they had witnessed. They had seen him heal the man
at the pool of Bethesda. He took five loaves and two fish.
He fed 5,000 men plus the women and children. And they asked
him, Who are you? Who are you? And the Lord says,
I'm the same that I said from the beginning. I'm the light. I'm the truth. I'm God. That's what He says. When He
said, lest you believe that I am He, here is Almighty God standing before you incarnate,
robed outwardly that they could see Him in flesh. These religious, arrogant Pharisees,
they deserved, as we all would, immediate condemnation. Oh, the
mercy of Almighty God, whose meat it was to do the will of
the Father. Here's the next thing He revealed
about Himself. He's God's final witness. Final
witness, verse 26, I have many things to say and to judge of
you. But He that sent Me is true, and I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of Him. I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of Him as the Son of Man, as Almighty
God. Nothing can be told Him. Nothing
can be instructed to Him. But I speak those things which
I have heard of Him In John 16, 12, the Lord said to His disciples,
He said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. Things of redemption. Things
of regeneration. Things of sanctification and
justification. And He taught them when the time
was right. But listen to what He says to these arrogant Pharisees. Verse 26, I have many things
to say and to judge of you. Things that will reveal your
condemnation. But our Lord submitted to the
will of His Father. Let us learn that when we are
criticized, when men stand against you for the sake of the gospel
of God's free grace, And the thing that we always stand on,
we stand on God's Word. I've said this and I'll say it
now, I'll say it again. If I speak not according to these
Scriptures, if I'm saying some things and
this is not what the Word of God says, then I'll apologize and I'll
recant and I'll say, well, I was not saying what the Scripture
says. But if what these Scriptures set forth is what's being preached,
we must realize this is the Word of God. This is God's truth. This is God's truth. God's truth. And we stand and speak concerning
the One before whom we must stand. If I'm saying something that's
not true, show me. And I'll change. But if this
is what God said, and it is, then we have nothing else to
do but set forth. We preach Christ. They didn't
understand verse 27, that He spake to them of the Father.
They didn't understand of the Father's purpose. They didn't
understand the Father's will. They didn't understand the Father's
pleasure. Oh, the darkness of unbelief. If you believe the
record of God's sovereign grace, electing grace, thank Him now. Thank Him for His mercy. Then said Jesus unto them, verse
28, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know
that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things. When I read that verse, when
you have lifted up the Son of Man, I remember reading, you
do too, when the Lord cried from the cross, Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do. There's one thing that I do know.
The Lord Jesus Christ never asked anything that was not His Father's
will. Father, forgive them. There were many that were there
that day did not believe Him. But the Lord Jesus Christ asked,
Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. There's
only one way that the Father is going to forgive a sinner.
That that sinner's guilt has been covered by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ to
ask the Father to forgive them, He had to have been speaking
concerning His elect. On the day of Pentecost, thousands
were going to be called out of darkness. Thousands. Thousands
when they heard Peter and those apostles preaching. When the
Spirit of God blessed the message that those preachers were preaching.
Here's what those chosen, elect sinners cried out. Men and brethren,
what shall we do? Believe. Call. Father, forgive them. That's
what He told them. When ye have lifted up the Son
of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing
of myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. Last verse, verse 29, And He
that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone.
For I do always those things that please Him." Here's the
last thing He revealed concerning Himself. He is the only obedient
servant. The only obedient servant. And He always pleased the Father. The Father said concerning Him,
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Oh, how wonderful
to know God's got a purpose. God's purpose
is to show mercy to sinners. God Almighty has revealed that
He's chosen some sinners that He's going to show mercy to.
He chose them. He gave them to Christ. He gave
them to Christ. And all those that the Father
gave Him, the Lord in that high priestly prayer, He prayed for
them. He said, I pray for those that
thou hast given Me out of the world. I pray not for the world. I don't pray for the world. I
pray for those that You gave Me. When He laid down His life,
He said, I lay down My life for the sheep. I'm going to redeem
all that the Father has given Me. And all that the Father has
given Me, they're going to come to Me. And those that come to
Me, and they're all coming. He said, I will in no wise test
them out. Here's all of our hope. God Almighty
demands obedience. Our obedience is Christ. God
Almighty is going to deal with sin. He was made sin for us. He who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Lord Jesus, by Your
Spirit, bless these words to our heart. For Your namesake,