Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Verse 44 says, Jesus cried and
said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him
that sent me. Now the end of John 12 here,
our Lord is coming to the end of His public ministry. This
is going to be the last word He speaks publicly. Verse 36
says, He departed and did hide Himself from them. Now some think
that verses 44 through 50 is John's summary of what Christ
preached throughout His ministry. Others think that this is what
Christ preached that day. I think it's both. I think this
is what Christ preached that day and it's what He preached
throughout His ministry. He repeated several times the
things we see here. Those who trusted in their works. He's in Jerusalem, He's in Israel,
He's in the middle of the seat of religion. And those who were
trusting in their works rejected Christ that day, just like they
had the entire time He preached. And in their rejection, they
asked our Lord a question. In verse 34, the people answered
Him and said, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth
forever. And how sayest thou the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Now in
verses 44 through 50, our Lord cried out. He declared loudly
the message. And He declares here who this
Son of Man is. And I want to look at this in
three sections here. Just divide this passage into
three sections and we'll look at it as we go. First of all,
this Son of Man is God. That's who He is. He's God. He
said in verse 44, Jesus cried and said, one last time, He's
speaking loud and clear so all hear and all are without excuse
for not believing on Him. And He said, He that believeth
on Me, believeth not on Me, but on him that sent Me. And he that
seeth Me, seeth him that sent Me. He's declaring the Son of
Man is God. He's declaring that He, the Son
of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Son of God. That's who
He is. Jesus cried and said, He that
believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.
And the flip side of that is He that rejects Christ, rejects
God who sent Him. Verse 45, He said, He that seeth
Me, seeth him that sent Me. He was sent to reveal God. He was sent to declare God and
how God saves. And this is vital. He declared
this repeatedly throughout His ministry. The only way to know
God is by the Son revealing Him. That's the only way we can know
God is by the Son revealing Him. He declared God. John 1.18 says, no man hath seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. God's invisible. He's Spirit. We can't see God.
Where are you going to see God? No man has seen God at any time.
But the Son of Man is the glory of God. He's the express image
of God's person. And He was sent forth to declare
God. We see God in the man, Christ
Jesus. Hebrews 1.3 says He's the brightness
of His glory. It says He's the express image
of His person. Express image, that's who Christ
is. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Now the Son of Man is God and
God sending Him means He was with God before God sent Him
as the Son of Man. Listen to John, let's go back
to John 6 and look at verse 62. He was speaking to them and declaring,
ìHeís the man I come down from heaven.î And He said, ìDoes this
offend you?î And He said, verse 62, ìWhat? And if you shall see
the Son of Man ascend up where He was before.î He said, if you see the Son of
Man, ascend up where He was before. John 17.5, He says, Now, O Father,
glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was. The Lord Jesus declares
He was in heaven as the Son of Man before He came into this
world and took our nature. His human body was created in
time. We're not saying He was in His
human body, but in the will and purpose of God, He's always been
the Son of Man. And He was so from everlasting,
the surety of the covenant. Listen to Psalm 139. Listen to
this. This is speaking of Christ. Listen
to this. Psalm 139, verse 15. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest part of the earth." In the womb he is speaking about.
Thy eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect. That means
not yet being created. And he said, And in thy book
all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. In the will and purpose
of God, He's always been the Son of Man. Now this is important
because He is the preeminence in all things. In all things. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of Man, the Son of God, He's the first man. He's the first
man. It's in His likeness that man
was made. Remember God in the beginning
in John 1.26, God said, let us make man in our image after our
likeness. Christ is the pattern. Just like when Moses went up
into the mountain and God showed him the pattern. Who was the
pattern? The pattern is Christ. Everything
about that tabernacle and the high priest and the lamb, everything
about it pictured Christ our high priest, our lamb, our mercy
seat. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the perfect man, the man who is from the beginning, who God
made man after. His human physical body, when
he walked this earth, was in one place at a time. One place
at a time. But because he is the omnipresent
Son of God, while he was in this earth in a human body, he was
yet in heaven. He said in John 3.13, John 3.13,
he told Nicodemus, No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven." He's in the earth when he said that. As his body
was in one place, but the Son of Man is the Son of God, so
that he was in heaven as God, while yet his body was on the
earth. Now here's the good news about that. While now his glorified
body is in heaven as the Son of Man, because he is the Son
of God, he is in the midst of his church right now and in every
believer, in particular, in spirit. This is who he is. He is the
Son of God. He is the Son of Man. He is the
God-Man mediator, the surety of his people. And that's why
I'm giving these scriptures. They declare He's God. And until
a sinner believes that He is God, the Son of God, he doesn't
really believe on Christ. Until we believe He is God, the
Son of God, Christ Jesus, we don't believe He is salvation. We don't believe He is the Savior.
We don't really believe. He said, He that believeth on
Me, believeth not on Me, but on him that sent Me. And he that
seeth Me, seeth him that sent Me. This title, the Son of God,
declares He is God. And His title as the Son of Man
declares He is Man. That's who He is. He is the God-Man,
the Mediator. Our Savior is God. God in human
flesh, that's who He is. To believe on Christ is to believe
on God who sent Him. Believing Christ, we're believing
God who sent Him. That's what true faith is. Believing
Christ, we're saying He is the Son of God. And to see Christ,
to see Him, is to see God the Father. The triune God. Now this is the purpose of this
Gospel of John. He's declaring to us throughout
this book that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. That's his purpose. That's what he's writing to declare.
He's God. This is essential. It's vital.
John declared this over in his epistle. Let me go over there
to 1 John 4. Listen to this. 1 John 4 verse
2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. This is how you know you are
born of God, right here. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. This is how you know when somebody is speaking the truth
of God. He says every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. This is that spirit of Antichrist.
Look at 1 John 5 and look at verse 5. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Remember when Nathanael came
to him, and our Lord said, when you were under the tree, Nathanael,
I saw you. He's God, he's omniscient, all-knowing
God, and he saw Nathanael, saw his heart when he was under the
tree. And when he said that to Nathanael, Nathanael answered
and said, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King
of Israel. Whenever the Ethiopian eunuch
Philip preached the gospel to him at Isaiah 53, and they came
to some water, and the eunuch said, what prohibits me from
being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And the eunuch said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is faith believes
that man, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's
God. Now that's who He is. They said,
who is this Son of Man? He's the Son of God. He's God
come in human flesh. That's who He is. And then secondly,
who is this Son of Man? Back in John 12, the Son of Man
is the light of the world. He's the light of the world.
John 12.46, he said, I am come a light into the world that whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness. We come into this
world only darkness. We come into this world nothing
but darkness. Fallen sinners are darkness,
only darkness. And unbelieving sinners cannot
and will not believe on Christ because we come into this world
and we don't have the light of Christ. Now, He lights every
man that comes into the world. Any natural reasoning we have
and natural life we have is of Him. But spiritually, no man
can believe on Him and no man will believe on Him until Christ
the light has shined into the heart. He is the light. It's
in His light that we see light. It's by Christ the light that
we know Him. It's by Christ the light that
we believe on Him. And we shall not abide in darkness
when He shines the light because we are in Christ the light. You
not abiding in darkness doesn't have anything to do with you.
It has to do with Him bringing you into the light and making
you to dwell in the light, in Christ. Listen to this. I should
have had you hold the place over there, but let me go back to
1 John 5 and listen to what John said here. Verse 19, We know that we are
of God in the whole world, life and wickedness. The whole world
is in darkness. But here is how you know you
have light. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding. That is by His light. And that
we may know Him that is true. That's how we know Him. By the
light. By Him shining the light. And we are in Him that is true. We're in Him. Never to be separated
from Him. We're in Him. Even in His Son,
Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Now how do we get this light?
How do we come to have it? It's just like what He showed
when He created the world. The world was in darkness. Void. It was just darkness. That's
us by nature. After the fall, that's us. And
just as God commanded and said, let there be light, God commands,
let there be light. And He gives the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
He shines the light. He turns the light on. He turns
the light on. This is so of every sinner he
saves. Whoever we are, whosoever we
are, wherever we are in this world, this is how every saved
sinner is saved. No exceptions. None whatsoever. Christ is the light by whom every
saved sinner has the light of life. He said in John 12, there
in verse 46, I am come a light into the world that whoso believeth
on me shall not abide in darkness, when Christ is our light, when
He shines and we behold Him, we cease objecting, we cease
disputing, we cease arguing with Him. Because when the light shines
is when we see what we are, we see we are sin. And the more
the light shines, the more we see our sin. This is why the older you get,
the more your body breaks down and you are not You're not sinning
so much outwardly anymore. But the light is shining more
and more. And you see in Christ more and
more. And this is why you can talk to any age believer and
he will tell you sin's got more to do with what you are in your
heart. Because they see there's still
sin. And they see it. They know it
more. Right now when we're young we're
so taken up with everything we can see. And that's sin if we're
sinning with our bodies. It is sin. But don't ever think
because you stopped something, you're more righteous because
you stopped it. Sin is what we are in our nature.
And you only see that when Christ shines a light. And that's why
when He shines a light and makes us see Him as all our righteousness
and all our holiness, we stop butting and disputing and rejecting
and bow to Christ because now we have some light. Now we have
some light. This is what he said. This is
what I'm trying to say right here. He said, They shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou
shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, for with
thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light we shall see
light. That's when we see the light.
That's when we're satisfied with him and drink of the river of
his pleasures. And when Christ is our light,
we have discernment, we have spiritual judgment. And here's
what this book says, we understand all things. We understand all
things. Proverbs 28.5 says, evil men
understand not judgment, but they that seek the Lord understand
all things. Now what does that mean? Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2.12, Now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. He gives us the mind of Christ.
He makes Christ our wisdom. That's just another way of saying
God makes Christ our wisdom. Another way of saying He shined
the light of Christ. It gives you the mind of Christ,
so that you know salvation is by the Lord's free grace. It didn't have anything to do
with you. Nothing to do with you. God freely chose us in Christ
by sovereign grace. And here's what He makes you
know, since it's by grace, from the God of glory who changes
not. Nothing will ever be able to
make God change His grace toward His child. He will not take it
away. It was not anything in us that made Him shed His grace
on us. It's not anything else in us
that will make Him take His grace from us. Christ has made atonement by
His blood. He has reconciled His people
to God. He has justified His people.
And when you know by Him shining the light, when you know Without
any doubt, you know that Christ by His death on the cross reconciled
us to God, all His people to God. And when you know this,
you know that if He reconciled you to God when you were His
enemy by His death, now that He lives, you shall be saved
by His life. This is what we know. We have
His word that being born of His light, having Christ the light,
He shall never leave us nor forsake us. You know that. You know that. By Him shining the light, you
know this. Freely given to you, you know
Christ is all and you know that we are complete in Christ. You know, when John talks about
this in Colossians, And he says, in him dwells the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. The word there
means, it's the same word used in each side of the comma. It means as fully as Christ is
the fullness of the Godhead body, that's how fully complete his
people are in him. That's why seeing He is the Son
of God, this One who is the Son of Man is the Son of God fully,
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and then hearing Him declare
you're complete in Him, that's what gives you peace and comfort
and joy to know it's settled. It's settled and He's done it.
Now, we don't understand all in His providence. We don't understand
everything our Lord is doing in his providence. Sometimes
we're in darkness in that regard, but as the old saying goes, we
don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.
And knowing Christ is ruling all, knowing your Savior who
came and laid down His life for you is the sovereign God of heaven
and earth, ruling all things, working all things together for
your good and for His glory, you know whatever's coming to
pass, number one, He's doing it, and number two, He's going
to get the glory, and number three, it's going to be good
for you. That's knowing everything. This world right now doesn't
have any idea why things are happening like they're happening.
It's luck, it's some superstition, it's all these different things
that men come up with and it's just all darkness. You know all
things. You don't know exactly all the
intricate details of the Lord working, but you know He's working
it and that's enough. That's enough. This is what the psalmist said,
I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all
things for me. That's what you know. Next time
some providence has come about and you're tossed and you're
troubled and you're all over the place and you just can't
find any peace, stop and read Psalm 57. I will cry unto God
Most High, unto God that performeth all things for me." You can apply
that to yourself, believer. That takes in everything. He's performing all things for
you. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to
whom be glory forever. That covers it all. It's of Him,
it's through Him, and it's to Him. All things. After His loving
correction, after He's worked His providence, and He's corrected
us, and He's sanctified it to our hearts, and He's brought
us to see what He's done for us, you know what we always end
up saying? He has done all things well. That's right. He has done all things well.
He can't do anything any other way. And that's what he's going
to bring his child to see. The sorrow may be there, the
brokenheartedness may be there, and you may have that. You lose
a loved one, and you're going to have that the rest of your
days. But it's a joyful sorrow, because
he makes you see. No matter what he takes from
you in this life, there is one thing that will never be taken
from his child, and that's Christ. And you see that a little more.
You know that a little more clearly. And that's the end of everything
he's doing for us in this world, is to make us know that more
and more. He is the one thing needful and the one possession
that will never be taken from His child. So even in the dark
days, we thank Him for His loving, chastening hand. We trust the
Lord. We stay upon Christ because we
have the promise that we shall not abide in the darkness. We
may be in darkness and not understand what's going on, but we have
this promise. We shall not abide in the darkness. The Son of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His rays. And so he said in Isaiah, who
is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Now thirdly, who is this son
of man? Number one, He's God. He's God. Number two, He is the
Light. He's the Light by whom we see
and know and believe and continue in His Light. We are in the Light
of Christ Jesus. And thirdly, the Son of Man is
the one, Son of God, to preach the Gospel of God, who is Himself
the Gospel. He says here in verse 47, John
12, 47, He says, If any man hear my words,
and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken
of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I Our Lord declares, this is the
day of grace. We are living in the day of grace. He said, I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. You and I and every sinner in
this world were already condemned when Christ came into this world.
We'd already sinned in Adam, we'd already fallen, we were
already condemned as far as just us is concerned when he came
into this world. He is saving by the gospel. He is saving his people by this
gospel. Calling us out and bringing us
to him. And he will not fail. God's gospel
is his commandment. His commandment is the gospel. Christ said, I know that His
commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said to me, so I speak. In John 6.29, they came asking what must I do that
I might work the works of God. This is our thing. We are always
wanting to work some works to work our way to heaven. This
is what the Lord said, this is His commandment. Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe
on Him whom He hath sent. His commandment is to believe
on Christ whom He hath sent. And His commandment is life everlasting
because Christ is life everlasting. The one He calls us to believe
on is life everlasting. In John 17, verse 3, he said,
This is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. John tells us at the
end of his gospel, he tells us why he wrote this gospel. He
said there was a lot of the things Christ did that could have been
written. You think about all the works Christ did, there was
a lot of things that could have been written. You know what's
written in this book? What we need. Listen to what He said. He said in John 20,
in verse 31, He said, But these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
ye might have life through His name. That's why it's written. That's His commandment. The Son
of Man is the last Adam. He's the representative of His
people. And it is by His obedience alone
that we're made righteous. The righteousness of God. By
His obedience alone that we're made the righteousness of God.
He honored and magnified the law and His people honored and
magnified the law in perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
His righteousness who made His people righteous, and it's having
His righteousness that is eternal life. He is that righteousness.
He is that eternal life. And it's being made righteous
that we are alive and have eternal life. Romans 8.10, He said, If
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the
Spirit is life because of righteousness. Christ our righteousness. That's
why you have life. That's why you have life. If
you believe on Christ, the reason you do is He's made you alive
and you believe on Him. And it's because He's made you
righteous. Sin is death, but where no sin
is, there's life. That's why John said that new
man's born of His incorruptible seed and has no sin. He wouldn't
be alive if he did. The new man is of God. The same word here that he's
speaking now shall judge men who meet God without faith alone
in Christ alone. The same word will judge men
who come to God thinking anything else adds to their salvation. Eternal life is by grace alone,
is by Christ alone, is through faith alone. Nothing of ourselves. Christ declared He is life eternal. Go back to John 6 and look here.
John 6 and verse 53. This is the same place where
they were wanting to know what can we do to work the works of
God. And He said in John 6.53, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood,
you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Christ said it this way. He said
in Mark 16, 16, He said, He that believeth and is baptized, he
that believes and is not ashamed to confess before men shall be
saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He said, I must work the works
of Him that sent me while it's day, the night cometh. That is,
when He's finished and gone, the night cometh when no man
can work. In other words, no man can work
the works necessary to save His people from our sin and make
us righteous and accepted of God. He says in our text, this
is why He says this in verse 48, He that rejecteth Me, and
receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word
that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."
This was our Lord's last public message to the children of Israel.
His last public message to the children of Israel. He commanded
them, while you have the light, Believe in the light that you
may be children of light. And he says right here, it is
the word I have spoken to you that shall judge you in the last
day. It's the word he just spoke.
He said, while you have the light, believe in the light that you
might be children of light. And he said, it's this word that's
going to judge you in the last day. This commandment is life
everlasting. What did they do? They rejected
him. They rejected him because they
had their own works, they had their own religious rulers, and
they were fearful. They were terrified that if they
offended their religious rulers, they'd get kicked out of synagogue. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. It's adding our deeds to the
finished work of Christ that are the evil deeds that Christ
reproves that keep sinners from coming to Christ. He that doeth
truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God. That God in Christ did everything. He worked the works. to save
me. That's what Christ is saying.
This is the work of God. It's a play on word. This is
the work of God. It is no work you do. It is coming
and believing on Christ that He wrought all the works. This
is why sinners won't come to Christ. The evil deeds of my
prayers that I prayed and all my Hail Marys I said, the evil
deeds of all my good outstanding religious works for which religious
rulers praised me. It's not willing to come to the
Lord and confess that all my righteousness is filthy rags,
nothing I've ever done commends me to God. That's where we've
got to be brought. And that's what faith is. Faith
is coming to Christ, confessing all our works were wrought in
God by Christ alone. In my hand no price I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. We got that. We got that all
settled. We understand that. You're going
to be a lifetime getting it. So am I. This is what He has
to keep showing us all over again. And it's what He keeps showing
us more and more and more. Because here's the thing. When
He does grow us in the fruit of the Spirit, and He grows you
in it, here's the problem that we have. We start wanting to
look at our fruit as if we grew it. And as if we have something
to pat ourselves on the back with. So the more he, true growth
and grace is down. Because we're going to have to
see he's light more and more and more so that we can't get
puffed up by anything he's worked for us. And he humbles you more
and more and more and more. That's why he sends hard, bitter
trials sometimes. Now listen to this, 1 John 5.10,
let me read this and we'll be done. Here it is. Eternal life's
Christ, and it's only through faith in the Son of God, it's
by the gospel commandment coming in power by the Spirit of God,
and it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.
This gospel command, right here. Now listen, here's where John
ends in 1 John 5.10. He that believeth on the Son
of God, he hath the witness in himself. He's got the light,
the Spirit of the Lord. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. He don't believe God's Word.
He don't believe God. And this is the record that God
hath given, freely given to us eternal life, and this life is
in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things I have written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may continue believing on
the name of the Son of God. That was our Lord's last word. His last word. All right, brethren. Father, we thank you for this
word. Lord, we ask you to Shine the light, we ask You to make
us behold our Lord Jesus, God in the flesh. Make us look into
His face and see Your glory. And Lord, that You would take
everything, any confidence, anything we have that we think we can bring and
make us come to Christ today. I guess the first time we ever
came, come to Him today with nothing, trusting Him only, knowing
He is life eternal. Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for our brethren. Thank you for bringing us here
this morning. We pray, Lord, you would glorify yourself in
the hearts of every sinner here today. Forgive us, Lord, for
our unbelief. Forgive us for our sin of trying
to add something and all of our sin in every form, shape there
is. Lord, we ask you to keep us in
Christ, save us by your grace for his sake alone. Amen.