If you would turn with me to
John chapter 16, the Gospel of John chapter 16, please. In verse 31, in response to the
disciples' somewhat arrogant confidence, the Lord asked, Do
you now believe? I've given this message a title,
Do You Now Believe? Now let me say in the beginning
that in the days of our Lord, every apostle was a disciple,
but not every disciple was an apostle. Disciples were followers
of Christ who devoted themselves to learning from Him, while apostles
were those whom Christ personally called and sent out to preach
and spread the gospel. There were twelve apostles, but
many disciples. Now, if you look at verse 29,
it says, His disciples, that being Christ's pupils, His students,
which may have included some of the apostles, since none of
them are called by name here, they said unto Him, to the Lord
Jesus His disciples, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest
no proverb. The word proverb there means
no dark or hidden saying. No parable, you're not talking
to us in riddles. Now you're speaking an old proverb. And then they said in verse 30,
Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that
any man should ask thee? And by this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. Now you know folks very often
tell on themselves with their words. They reveal their true
feelings of what they say by what they say, or what they believe
by what they say. That is the case here. Here the
disciples' words display fleshly confidence. The words are contrary
to the spirit of grace and humility. They said, now we are sure. Indeed
saying, we weren't sure before. We weren't convinced before that
you came from God, but now we are. Now they seem to put their
stamp of approval and confirmation on the Lord's Messiahship. We
followed you this far and this long, but we still were uncertain. Now, they insinuate that before
they had their doubts. But now they're sure and they're
convinced and confident. And it was then, it was then
that the Lord Jesus says to them, do you now believe? Do you now
believe? Are you really convinced? And
this is a question that each of us here this morning, those
who profess to know God, should consider for ourselves. The Lord was not as competent
in and of these disciples' faith as they were. And it's one thing,
as you know, to profess to believe, and quite another thing to actually
believe. The Lord's disciples are communicating
here the attitude that they had it now figured out. We've figured
it out now. But faith can't be figured out. Faith can only be revealed. And
you've heard me preach long enough now to know that. There's something
that folks call faith that's not faith at all. That's why
we have churches on every corner in every city, every state, in
pretty much every country. True faith cannot, I repeat,
cannot be understood by human understanding. That's the kind
of faith that these disciples were speaking of. They said,
now we are sure. Now we understand. Therefore,
we believe. By this, we believe that thou
camest forth from God. They are attributing their believing,
their faith to their understanding, not a divine revelation from
God. This happens all the time. If
sinners are taught, they're taught by God. These disciples are talking
about something that human reasoning has figured out. They're not
speaking of a supernatural revelation given by God. The Lord Jesus
hasn't gone to the cross yet. Men can trust in their own faith
and not trust in Christ. Now let me say that again. Men
can trust in their own faith and not trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's easy for men and women in
their fallen natural state to do so. I hear people today talk
a great deal about their faith, about their believing, and they
call themselves people of faith. Well, we're a people of faith.
And there's very often a great compromise made when religious
people come together around faith, regardless of their object of
faith. And my point is this, men's faith can be in anything,
even in their faith. Preachers tell men and women
to keep the faith. Well, keep the faith. Well, how
do you do that? You don't. If God gives you faith, He keeps
you. You trust in His faith. You trust
in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. They say, keep the faith, and
they go on to say, now your faith can get you that new house and
that high-paying job and that healing that the doctors can't
provide. Any need that you have, your
faith can get that for you. Baloney. No sir, it cannot. But God can. But your faith can't. True faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. And to be more specific, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching this Word of God to save them
that believe. You're not going to find God
out in your bass boat fishing. You're just not going to do it.
You're not going to find Him out on the hiking trail looking
at nature. True faith has God and has Christ
as its object. Blind faith never saved anybody.
Faith has to have an object. The only object it saves is Christ. Without true faith, it's impossible,
impossible to please God. Man's self-imagined faith doesn't
please God at all. So what was this conversation
of faith and believing all about that's going on here? What was
it that the disciples all of a sudden understood that they
didn't understand before? Did this new-fledged confidence
come to them by their own understanding? Well, the wise man Solomon said,
trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not, lean not
on your own understanding. Proverbs 3, 5. Paul said, but
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Like with Peter and Paul, saving
faith did not come to them in, by, and through flesh and blood.
The Lord Jesus said, flesh and blood hasn't revealed that to
you, Peter. My Father in Heaven revealed it to you. And He's
the only one that can. It came by divine revelation of
God. And in verse 16 here, the Lord
says, the Lord Jesus said, a little while, and you shall not see
me. And again, a little while, and
you shall see me, because I go to the Father. And then said,
some of His disciples among themselves. They didn't, they whispered it,
but among each other. They said, some of the disciples
among themselves, what is this that he saith unto us? A little
while, and you shall not see me, and again, a little while,
you shall see me, and because I go to the Father. And they
said, therefore, what is this that he saith? A little while.
We cannot tell what he's saying. What in the world's he talking
about? Now, Jesus, now look at this, verse 19. Now, Jesus knew
that they were desirous to ask Him. How did He know? He knows
everything. He's God Almighty. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask Him, but they didn't ask Him. And He said unto
them, do you inquire among yourselves of what I say? a little while
and you shall not see me, and again a little while and you
shall see me. Barely, barely I say unto you that you shall
weep and lament, but the Lord, excuse me, but the world shall
rejoice and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned
into joy. And then it's here that the Lord
begins to explain to them what He meant about their joy and
their sorrow. He begins to explain the reason
that their sorrow would turn to joy, unto joy. Look at verse
21. Christ said, a woman, when she's
in travail, when she's giving birth, hath sorrow because her
hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy than
a man, meaning a human, a person, a being is born into the world.
And ye now therefore have sorrow at the thought of the Lord being
taken away from them. He said, but I will see you again
and your heart shall rejoice when you see me again, not until
then. And your joy no man taketh from
you. So this is what the Lord is telling
them. He said, now you're gonna have
sorrow and you're gonna be saved. I'm gonna be taken away from
you. The son of man shall be betrayed. And in Mark's account,
he said, and they shall mock me and they shall kill me. And
after they kill me, I'll rise the third day. And Mark tells
us in his account that they understood not the things that he said,
and they were afraid to ask him. But here in our text, what our
Lord is telling them is, is when you see me risen from the dead,
they're gonna take me, they're gonna crucify me, they're gonna
kill me, they're gonna bury me. But when you see me risen from
the dead, when you see the glory and the beauty of my person,
when you see the fullness of my suitableness as Savior, when
you see me and you know that death and the grave could not
hold me, Then you're gonna know that God has accepted my finished
work because of what I've done. Then and only then will your
joy be full, not until then. And when it comes, he said, and
it'll come for Christ's true disciples, he said, no man, no
woman, no one, nobody shall take that joy away from you. Do you
have joy this morning? I do. Oh, somebody asked me if
you're happy. Happy doesn't have nothing to
do with it. Nobody's ever been happy all the time. I know folks
say that, but they're not. Come on. But I do have joy. I do have joy. And it's not in me. It's in my
Savior. We shall have joy. A believer's
salvation in Christ brings a joy that's eternal. It's forever. It's everlasting. Look at verse
23, and in that day, you shall ask me nothing, barely, barely,
I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name,
He will give it you. And the Lord Jesus here is saying,
in that day when I'm seated at the right hand of God making
intercession for you, in that day that you're taught of the
Father and have heard and learned of me and come unto me, in that
day whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, He'll give it to
you. You see, friends, our access to God as His disciples, as His
pupils, as His students, as His followers, is the name of Christ. He is the mediator between God
and man. Christ is our only access to
God. He said so Himself. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to
the Father but by me. That's the same as saying, I'm
the only access to God. I am the one way, I am the one
truth, and I am the one life. And you're not gonna get to God
any other way. It's on the account of His blood,
His righteousness, His sacrifice, His substitution, and there's
no doubt that we're gonna have access in Him. Whatever we need
spiritually, I emphasize that, will be given to us. Not physically,
You know, the world, this religious world has taken that to a whole
new level. You cannot give God. You know,
you give 10, God gonna pay you back. Well, God don't owe you
anything. He's not gonna pay you back anything
because you give. We give out of love for the one
who loved us and gave himself for us, not to give back more,
not to get 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold, no. Don't believe that
hogwash. It's on the account of His blood
righteousness that we can ask of spiritual gifts, life, righteousness,
salvation, and He'll give it. There's never been a man or a
woman that has truly begged the Lord to be saved that He didn't
save. You won't find it in the Scripture. Verse 24, hitherto have you asked
nothing in my name, ask and you shall receive that your joy may
be full. These things have I spoken unto
you in Proverbs, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak
unto you in Proverbs, but I'll show you plainly of the Father. And at that day, you shall ask
in my name, and I say not unto you that I'll pray the Father
for you." And what the Lord's saying here is one day very soon,
you'll be able in my name, to go directly into the throne of
grace yourself to the Father for all your petitions. Come boldly into the throne of
grace that you may find mercy and help in time of need. Isn't
that what the scripture says? Well, we can only do that because
of what Christ has done for us. The Lord Jesus is saying, I'm
gonna make a way. I am the way that you yourself
can do that. You can come boldly into the
throne of grace. I won't have to persuade my father
to love you because he does love you. How do I know the father loves
me? Well, I'm gonna show you. Verse 27, for the father himself
loveth you because you've loved me. There it is. How do I know that the Father
loves me? Do you love Christ? Then the Father loves you. And have believed that I came
out from God. The Father sending me proves
that He loves you. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. He loves his people in the world.
If he loved everybody in the world, there wouldn't be any
hell. Nobody's going to hell whom Christ died for. And then
it's here that he gives us the reason that the Father loves
them. He loves you because you've loved
me, he said, and have believed that I came from God. Do you
believe this morning that Jesus Christ came from God? Then you're
loved of God. But this isn't something that
we figured out on our own. This is the gospel truth that
Christ Himself reveals to us. Friends, whosoever believes in
Christ has everlasting life. If you truly love the Lord Jesus
Christ, He tells you right here how you can know if God the Father
loves you. Do you love His Son? That's not
a hard question. It's a yes or no answer. Do you
love Jesus Christ? Do you love him as he's revealed
in the scriptures? Not who you imagine him to be. I wrote an article in a bulletin
not long ago, a couple of my neighbors now got signs in their
yard that says, Jesus 2024. Like he's running for an office
or something. He said, what does it say? Our only hope. Well, he's our
only hope. But not for 2024. For now and
forever. He's not running for office.
God elected and chose him before the foundation of the world to
be the lamb slain. To save his people from their
sin. It does, it looks like an election sign in red, white,
and blue, like Jesus running for office. I despise that stuff. Do you believe that Christ came
forth from God? If you do not love and believe
these things, you'll discover in the end that God never loved
you. Verse 28, I came forth from the
Father and am coming to the world again, and I leave the world
and go to the Father. Now the only comment I can make
on verse 28 is the comment that Paul made to Timothy. He said,
it's a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And he said, albeit for this
cause, I obtain mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might
shut forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him, Christ, to everlasting life. To believe
Christ is to love Christ, and to love Christ is to believe
Him. Right? Christ came forth from
the Father into this world to save wretched sinners like me. And Christ left this world to
go to the Father because God accepted His accomplished and
finished work that saved me. And I'll be the first to tell
you this. Well, I didn't figure this out on my own. It came not by my own understanding. It was revealed to me by the
preaching of His Word. It was given to me by the revelation
of the Spirit of God. Verse 29, His disciples said
unto Him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest
all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee by this."
We've got to pay attention to these words. They said, by this,
we believe that thou camest forth from God. We believe this because
we figured it out. The disciples say that they now
believe because the Lord answered the question that they had not
asked Him. that had asked among themselves. Let me tell you,
He's omniscient. He knows everything. But they
will soon prove that their faith was weak if it was faith at all. God's Gospel is plainly spoken
to our ears only after it's been revealed to us. It's easy to
understand something that you understand. Only when God has given us spiritual
ears to hear do we hear these things. Did these disciples at
this point know and love the Lord Jesus? Well, I don't know. But because of what follows,
I'd say not. Men and women often think that
they have the pure gold of faith in Christ, and it turns out to
not be precious metal at all, just wood, hay, and stubble.
So the Lord Jesus asked in verse 31, Do ye now believe? You say you do, but do you really? Verse 32, Behold the hour cometh,
yea, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone. And yet I'm not alone because
the Father is with me." The Lord saw their self-confidence. He
saw their lack of humility. He saw the haughtiness in their
words. And the Lord says, this is what
you're going to do. You're going to leave me. You
say you love me, but you're going to leave me. Being overcome by
the fear of man, you're going to leave me and you're going
to leave me alone. And after all this time, over three years,
living with the Lord, walking with Him daily, being with Him
24 hours a day, day in and day out. When push comes to shove,
when the rubber meets the road, they left Him alone. And this included the disciples,
the apostles, His 12 closest friends. Not just Peter, all
of them. When the shepherd was struck
down, all the sheep scattered. This was foretold by the Lord
in all four of the Gospels. I'm surprised by that. The Lord
said in all four, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He said when
the shepherd is struck down, the sheep are going to scatter.
And they did. They did. Every one of them.
They all forsook Him and fled. They were all overcome by the
fear of man. The Lord Jesus was left alone
by all whom He was saving. What a sad and pathetic reality
that is. The Lord Jesus was left alone
while on the cross His Father forsook Him. The Lord cried,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? So how can we say
that He would be left alone or not be left alone? He says here,
I won't be left alone. The Father will be with me. And
then we know that He was forsaken of the Father. Did God forsake
him or not? Now listen very closely. God
the Father forsook the Lord Jesus as the lawgiver and as the executor
of the law. As a just and holy God, He had
to. He had to. Because all your sin
and all my sin was put on Him. His hand on the cross is the
substitute for our sin. With the sin of His people upon
Him, in order to be a just God, the Father must forsake Him. Holy, strict, unbendable justice. required it. Yet in God the Father's
personal relationship with God the Son, them being one, He could
not, would not, and never could forsake Him. Now I don't understand
that. How could anybody understand
that? The Scripture talks about a man and a woman getting married
and becoming one. Well, Teresa and I still walk
around separate of one another, but in the eyes of God, we're
one. And friends, in the eyes of God,
we're one with Christ. And Christ is one with God. The Lord said that. And God will never forsake Him
or us with Him. Now that's good news. Why? Because He was one with Him.
Because He was in Him. What an encouragement this should
be to all of His people. God cannot forsake His own. This was made manifest when God
raised Christ from the dead and raised us with Him. And all that
Christ suffered, He could say, the Father was with me. And because
of all that Christ suffered in our room instead, you and I can
say the same thing. Emmanuel, God with us, died for
us. God with us died for us. When
Christ died, we died with Him. When Christ was buried, we were
buried with Him. When Christ arose, we arose with
Him. That's why every believer desires to be baptized. That's
what that represents. Dying, being buried, and rising
with Him. When Christ ascended, we ascended
with Him. And God was with Him and us all
the way. But we're even seated with Him
together right now in heavenly places. Isn't that what the Scripture
teaches? All the union we have with Christ and the union that
Christ had with God. One with the Father, one with
the Son, one with us. Man, that's a great mystery.
But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us
together with Christ. By grace are you saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Verse 33, These things have I
spoken unto you. Now look at this, that in me,
In me, you might have peace. Listen, you're not going to find
peace in your courage. You're not going to find peace
in your faith. You're not going to find any peace in your righteousness.
Your faith is not profitable, the Lord says, unless it's in
me. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. There ain't no peace found in this world. In this
world, you're going to find tribulation, anguish, troubles, trials. But
be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Now if the Lord tells
us to be of good cheer, then we can be of good cheer. Because
He's overcome the world. Where is the believer's peace
found? Christ said in me. Peace is a feeling. Peace is
the opposite of worry. Peace is the opposite of stress.
Peace is the opposite of fear. Peace is the opposite of anxiety. How many of you this morning
have any of those things? Peace is rest. It's not being
afraid. It's satisfaction. It's contentment.
How many of you are resting? How many of you are not afraid?
How many of you are satisfied and content? Peace comes from a relationship
that is without conflict. Do you now believe? Many have feelings of peace without
the grounds of peace. It's nothing but a false peace.
False prophets, what do they cry? Peace, peace, when there
is no peace. If peace comes in Christ, then
there's no peace when Christ is not. One morning, one day in Sodom,
Sodom and Gomorrah, folks woke up with a peaceful feeling and
the prospects of having a good day. I'm sure they walked outside
and said, oh, it's a beautiful day in Sodom. It's a beautiful
day in Gomorrah. It's going to be a good day.
Have a blessed day. They did not know that God was
gonna rain down fire and brimstone and kill every one of them. They had peace without having
any grounds of peace. The Lord said, in me, you'll
have peace. They didn't have Him. Jesus Christ is the grounds for
peace. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, which only comes in Christ. God the Father in three persons,
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Every
child of God has a well-grounded reason for peace. I'll finish
up, but give me just a few more minutes. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 4, if you would, please. Romans chapter 4, verse 25. Romans 4, 25. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul here writes, speaking of Christ, who was delivered for
our offenses, in other words, our sin and iniquity, which was
an offense against God, and was raised again for our justification. Our offenses became His. He was delivered to the holy
justice of God for our offenses, His people's offenses. but He
was raised again for our justification. Now, justification means not
guilty. It's a big word, but it's kind
of simple meaning. It means not guilty. My guilt
became Christ. He took my sin and He took my
guilt. His perfect righteousness became
mine. I told you in the first hour,
that's the greatest transaction ever given to me. I am justified
and have peace with God because of that. God's not angry with
me anymore. He used to be angry with me every
day. He's angry with the wicked every day. But He's no longer
angry with me. Why? Because I'm no longer wicked
in His eyes because Christ has took all my sin away. Do you
get joy about that? He's not angry with you anymore.
He's satisfied with you. and I'm satisfied with him, I'll
tell you that, I'm content with Christ and God's content with
me and Christ. That's my well-grounded reason
for peace. I have no sin before God. Look
at verse one of chapter five. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God, how? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we have access to God?
By whom? Jesus Christ. We have access
by faith unto this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope. You see friends, this peace is
not just a feeling of peace, it is a matter of fact. It's
a fact of peace. God is at peace with me. One more place, Colossians chapter
one, A couple of books over. Colossians chapter 1, look at
verse 20. Colossians 1, verse 20. I want you to see this. We could
just read it, but I want you to see it. Colossians 1, 20. Do you have
it? Paul writes, and having made
peace, How? Through the blood of His cross.
Christ made my peace with God. How? Through the blood of His
cross. He died the just for the unjust.
He took my sin and paid the debt of it. Wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is life in Christ. and having made peace
through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, now
look at this, to present you. holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in God's sight. That's peace. That's peace. Now listen, where there is no
sin, where there is sin, there is no peace. And where there
is no sin, there is peace, right? Paul said in Ephesians 2.14,
for he, Christ, is our peace. That's the only place true peace
is found. In Christ. The disciples in John 16, they
said, now we're sure, we weren't before, but now we're sure that
you came from God. They speak as if their knowledge
of Christ and faith in him was the cause that he came forth
from God. Sinful man's faith or lack of
faith doesn't change God. Who do men think that they are?
For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid, yea, let God be true
and every man a liar. You can shake your fist at God
and tell everybody in the world that you don't believe in God.
And you can curse God, and I'm gonna tell you why you don't
change God one bit. Don't make Him any less God. Don't make
Him any less the only means of salvation. Peace is not found
in men and women's faith. Our faith is not what we think
it is. Peace is not found in our repentance.
It's not found in our understanding. It's not found in our experiences.
It's not found in our circumstances. Christ said that in me, you might
have peace. I may change the title to in
me. Peace is in Jesus Christ. Oh,
may God teach us something of our frailty. Lord, save us and
keep us. We can't save ourselves. We can't
keep ourselves. In the garden, the three who
were his bodyguards fell asleep. The rest of the disciples did
the same. And when our Lord stood before
Herod and Pilate, there was none with him to defend him. He was
all alone, he was by himself. Not a voice was lifted up for
him. When they promised that they would never leave him, there
wasn't any hypocrisy in what they said. They really meant
it. Each one truly meant that they would go to prison or die
rather than deny the Lord. Yet all of them were scattered.
It was every man to his own. John, John the Beloved, the one
that laid his head upon the Savior's breast. He wasn't there. Peter, who said,
all others might leave you, but I'll never leave you. He was
the one that denied the Lord three times. Every man to his own house. Every
man to his own safety and security. That's the very essence of selfishness. That's man's problem, self. Sin
and self. They each scattered to preserve
their own life. A friendship is never so flawed
that when it's needed most, it's not there. Christ said, you shall
leave me, but I'm not alone because the Father's with me. Christ
is there, His Father with Him. He's come to save, and He will
save. He's come to redeem, and redeem He will. He's come to
overcome, and He will overcome. And all those that forsook Him
in sorrow are gonna find Him in one place, the Lord said,
in me. Now we never look to our faith
to be saved. That's what I'm endeavoring to,
to drive home to you. We can only look to Christ to
save us. May we never trust in our faith to have peace. Peace
can only be found in Him. May we never trust in the mammon
of this world to bring us good cheer. In the world, we'll have
nothing but tribulation. Our comfort, confidence, and
cheer is in the glorious fact that Christ has overcome the
world. This is my Father's world. It's always been His world. Are
you a child of God? Do you trust Christ? Do you love
Him? May He be your example to do
so. When all else forsook Him, He did not forsake them. I don't
trust in what I do for God. I better not. I trust in what
God did for me. Believe Him when you can't see
Him. Believe Him when He afflicts you. Believe Him in times of
trouble. He sent it, and He sent it for
your good. And may we be able to say with
Job, though He slain me, yet will I trust Him. Our struggles
here are soon going to pass. Our Lord says, behold the hour
coming. Did you notice that? Yea, He
said it's now coming. The struggle is not going to
last long. It's not a year, it's not a month, it's not a week,
it's an hour. The hour's coming. The hour cometh,
and when it's over, you'll hear the Savior say, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. Just an hour. It's not what we
did well that made us good and faithful servants, but what we
could never do that He did for us. Why are we talking about what
we did? God's people aren't, they won't.
We will forever sing unto Him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood, and has by the sacrifice of Himself
made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him be
glory and dominion forever and ever. That's our peace. It's
the peace that passes all understanding, the peace that keeps our hearts
and our minds through Christ Jesus. He's the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured
the cross, despised the shame, and is now set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. For consider Him, the greatness
of His person as God the Son, that endured such contradiction
of sinners against Himself. They hated Him without a cause.
Lest ye be worried and faint in your minds. The prayer of
every single believer is,