The scripture I want to look
at today is a little different in the way that we're going to
look at this. Normally I just try to expound from the text
we have and bring other scriptures in to help us to understand that
particular chapter and verse. And I want to do that today as
well, but I want to focus more particularly on just one verse.
which is verse nine. We've gone over this, but I wanted
to take this phrase in verse nine and help draw our attention
back to the most precious truth of all. And so I've entitled
this message from this text of scripture, We See Jesus. We See Jesus. Hebrews chapter
two, verse nine, begins this way. But we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. And what do we see when we see
Jesus? We see him crowned with glory and honor. And why did
he suffer? Why was he exalted? That he by
the grace of God, there it is, the grace of God. that he by
the grace of God should taste death for every son." Every son. The word man in the King James
Version is really part of the single word in the Greek that
just means every or everyone about whom he's talking. And
we saw last week that that was speaking of the children which
God had given to the Lord Jesus Christ to save, those who are
sanctified those who are called the sons that God would bring
to glory, those who are the seed of Abraham. They're the ones
that he's speaking of here. For every one of them, the sanctified
ones, for every one of them, the Lord Jesus Christ tasted
death. It's a phenomenal fact. It is the gospel. It's the heart
of the gospel, this place that the Lord Jesus took for us with
our sins, suffering, unto death in obedience, in love to his
Father, and in love to his people. So I want to look at this verse
with you today. We see Jesus. Let me first give you some summary
statements about seeing Jesus. Think about this phrase in scripture. Scripture always directs us for
our salvation and our life and all worship away from ourselves
to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is just the fact of the
gospel. And this is the most blessed fact. In the book of
Hebrews, it begins immediately by saying what God has done.
He's spoken to us in these last days by His Son, or in His Son. And then it goes on to amplify
who he is in his person as God, the Son of God, and in his office
as the mediator, and what he did for us, and he purged our
sins, how much greater he is than the angels because he is
the Son of God, and how much greater because God has pledged
in oath to give him all things, and has given him all things.
Now all these things teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ.
They direct us in our thinking and in our confidence and in
our hope away from ourselves to Him. And this is the fundamental
truth of Scripture. There's a fundamental truth in
Scripture which we are often quick to forget. We face challenges
in our lives in everything that we do, whether it be as parents
raising our children or just going to work or getting up in
the morning. Everything for us is a labor,
isn't it? And so we naturally think that
we have to be strong in order to accomplish this work. But
we quickly forget that what God has given us to do, whatever
he has told us to do in his word, we must never think or presume
that we can do it without going again back to him who gave this
task to us, whatever it might be, for the grace to do that. And this principle is especially
amplified in this truth where we see, but we see Jesus. Because God takes all of the
things that we know we ought to be, all of the things we want
God to consider in receiving us, and he directs us away from
ourselves to see Jesus. And in so seeing him to find
all, that we need all that God requires and delights to find
for us in Him. And so we live seeing Jesus. We please God seeing Jesus. He was foreordained before the
foundation of the world that by His precious blood we should
be redeemed. In 1 Peter 1.21-22, he says that
it is by Him that we believe in God. that raised him from the dead
and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God,
seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit. Let me read from verse 18. For
as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, or your
lifestyle, the way you think, what you do, which you received
by tradition from your fathers. But you were redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without
spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you. you who believe,
who by him, you who by him do believe in God, that raised him
from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth.
That's just a synonym for trusting Christ. looking to Him, seeing
you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you
love one another with a pure heart, fervently." So, here we
see, in seeing Him, we see our Redeemer. In seeing our Redeemer,
we see the precious blood God ordained for us. to purify us
in his sight. And in believing him, we know
that purification. We know the cleansing of ourselves
before God. And this cleansing, we know by
faith in him. It says in Matthew chapter 5
and verse 8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God. And how is our heart made pure?
How is our heart made pure before God? Well, God has to tell us
what's pure. He has to tell us the truth.
He has to convince us that this is the way in which we were purified
by the blood of Jesus. And in so believing, in being
so persuaded that this is the way things are, God says our
hearts are purified by faith in obeying the truth. Blessed
are the pure in heart. What is the blessedness that
they will receive? They shall see God. It's seeing Jesus that we see
God, isn't it? We know the truth of who God
is in his character and his eternal purposes, in his eternal work,
in what we shall be by his purposes and his work in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We know all these things in seeing Jesus. And then again,
in seeing Jesus, we grow in grace. In 2 Corinthians 3, in verse
18, it says this astounding thing about how God, by the ministry
of His word in the gospel, increases our faith, purifies our faith,
and grows us in grace. He says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse
18, but we all, with open face, Listen, beholding as in a glass,
a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. You
know what you look like? How do you know? You saw your
reflection. You saw it in a mirror. Maybe
you saw your shadow. You see something about yourself
in these things. How do we, what is seeing ourselves benefit?
How does that benefit us? Very little. Actually, it makes
us vain, doesn't it? My mom always would say that.
Don't be vain. Don't be looking at yourself in the mirror all
the time. I still did. And it still didn't help. It
was always the same face. But here's a look. Here's a mirror
and an image to look to that does profit. What is it? It's
seeing Jesus. We behold the Lord Jesus Christ. in the gospel mirror, and so
beholding him, seeing Jesus, were changed into the same image
from glory to glory. We long for the day when we shall
see Jesus. In Philippians 1, verse 23, talking
about the fact that if he lives in the flesh, This is the fruit
of his labor, that for him to live is Christ and to die is
gain. So he's at a perplexity. In verse
23 he says, for I am in a straight, S-T-R-A-I-T. That means a very
narrow and difficult passage. I'm in this situation where I
don't know whether to do this or that. Betwixt two, having
a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better,
or to stay with you. and which is good for you. So
the Apostle Paul had this longing desire to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ because he wanted to see Him. He wanted to be with Him.
Heaven and eternal life and glory in their essence are in this.
The very essence of our eternal life and glory is seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we long for. That's
what God teaches us. The one who redeemed us by his
precious blood. The one who now pleads for us
in glory to bring us to himself. The one who is the just who died
for the unjust to bring us to God. He's the one we want to
see. And for every believer, our satisfaction will be found
in seeing Jesus. Psalms 17 verse 15, it says,
I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. In Psalm 27,
verse 4, he says, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and this
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life and inquire in his temple. You see, that's
seeing him. In Song of Solomon, on chapter
3 and verse 3, the bride of Christ, the church, the believer in their
hearts say this, have you seen him whom my soul loveth? This is the desire, this is the
pursuit of our lives, to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
in the Song of Solomon, in this sonnet of love between Christ
and his people, the bride, the wife of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is what we are as believers, cries out to those in the street
and asks them, have you seen Him whom my soul loveth? Have
you seen Him? And then she goes on in chapter
5, 16, she says, His mouth is most sweet. because from his
lips drop the words of eternal life and of his eternal love.
His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, she says,
and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Therefore, we want
to see Jesus. Look at John chapter 12. In John
chapter 12, It was closing in on the time when the Lord would
go to the cross, and at that time, there were certain men
who came from, and they were Greeks, they were not Jews, they
were Gentiles, Greeks, and they came to see Jesus. In verse 20 of chapter 12, John
chapter 12, it says, and there were certain Greeks among them
that came up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore,
to Philip, which was a disciple, which is of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and the desired Philip, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. We want to see him. We want to
see him. We want to hear from him. Philip
cometh and telleth Andrew. Maybe Philip didn't know what
to do. These Greeks, they aren't supposed to be here. Didn't he
come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Why are these
Greeks coming? How should we respond? So he
tells Andrew, the other disciple, and Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And what did Jesus say? Jesus
answered them saying, the hour is come. that the son of man
should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Here the Lord Jesus is facing
the cross and the Greeks are coming to him. The Gentiles now
are flocking to him, the first fruits of the Gentiles. And he
says in prophecy, unless I as a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, there will be no fruit. But if I die, if I
fall into the ground in death, then much fruit will come forth.
And he goes on in verse 27 of the same chapter. Now is my soul
troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Why was he made a
little lower than the angels? For the suffering of death. That
was the will of God. That was his purpose in coming.
That's why he came into this world. He says, Father, glorify
thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
And the people therefore that stood by and heard it said that
it thundered when the voice of God the Father from heaven was
heard. Others said an angel spake to
him. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me, all of
his sheep, from all nations, not only the Jews, but also the
Greeks. In verse 33, this he said, signifying what death he
should die. So here we see they wanted to
see Jesus. If we see Jesus now with eyes
that find him, to be all of our salvation, eyes of faith, right? How do we live in our life? How
do we walk in this life? We walk by faith, not by sight,
not with physical sight, with the eyes of faith. What is faith? It's hearing the truth God has
said, and with those eyes God gives to us, seeing that this
is the truth, being persuaded of it, this is the way things
are. and so seeing the very truth of God by this same faith God
gives to us. What do we do? This is the way
things are. We see Jesus. We see him as the
one who is all that he said he was, as God and man and Christ. But he was all these things for
what he said here in John 12. He came into the world to save
his people by suffering and dying, that he might bring forth much
fruit. He was lifted up on the cross in humiliation, that he
might bring forth much fruit. He went into the grave and was
buried, our sins being put away and rose again, and with him
we are raised. And so we see him. We see him
by this God-given faith, and so seeing him, we find him to
be all, all of our salvation. You see, sight looks outside
of itself. We don't see ourselves in the
gospel mirror. We're directed by God to see
Christ. And so seeing Him, what is the
response of our heart? This is what God has provided.
This is what God has received. This is what God testifies to
us of. And in so seeing Him, God has
said something about us. for His sake. He says Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians
15. He was buried and He rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. God has testified
of what He has received from Christ, that He's purged our
sins and therefore He sat down. That's why He's exalted. That's
why He is in glory. Remember in Exodus chapter 12
when they offered up the Passover lamb and they sprinkled the blood
of that lamb on the doorposts and all those in the house where
the blood was sprinkled. What was God's testimony? When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. When we see
Jesus, we see that God sees the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore
He passes over us. You see, this seeing Jesus means
we find that God sees Him, God accepts Him, and God thinks of
Him and so receives us. That was the prayer of the publican
in Luke 18, 13. God, be propitious. Look upon the propitiation, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ, to me, the sinner. Don't look on
my sins. Look upon him, you see. And so
we see him. But if we do not see the Lord
Jesus Christ in this way, if all that God requires of us If
all that we anticipate being held to account by God in the
day of judgment, if now in our conscience, when we come to God,
when we think of God in our relation to Him, does He accept me? Am
I approved of Him? When we think of all that we
do and all that we've done, if what God thinks of Christ is
not the totality of our confidence, the basis of all our assurance,
if we don't take God's answer for our sin and our righteousness
as the full delight of our soul and all of our coming to Him,
if we don't find God's answer for our sins and Christ's answer
of Himself to God, in these words, it is Christ that died, then
what does it mean? Well, we don't see Him as our
Savior. because we have something else we're depending upon. We
think, well, I have to have an influence in my life so that
I can improve and get better and better so that someday I'll
have some confidence, some assurance, something with which to answer
God. We're not truly relying totally on the Lord Jesus Christ
when we do that. We're thinking that we have to
have evidence in ourselves in order to trust Christ. But faith
in Christ starts with a bankruptcy. the debit of our own sin, the
inability, being without strength, ungodly, sinful, and the enemies
of God, unable to be subject to the law of God. in our hearts
and in our minds, and ourselves holding God suspect as our enemy,
and holding ourselves able to judge what's right and wrong
with God, and holding His judgments against our own judgments. All
these things are the opposite of faith, but faith rests entirely
upon what God has said concerning His Son. If we don't have this
view of Christ, as our Savior in this life, and especially
in the day of judgment, when we stand before Him, then what
does it mean? It means we have no answer to
God. It means we stand before Him and He will say to us, depart
from me, you that work iniquity. In that day, He will say to us,
as he says to those in Luke 19, who said, we will not have this
man to rule over us. Then the Lord Jesus, when he
comes, will say, bring them here who would not have me to rule
over them and slay them before me. You see, this is what is
at issue here. How are we going to come to God?
We have to see Jesus. We have to find our sight of
Him to be God's testimony that He has seen and has received
Him. And so seeing and receiving Him
has received us in Him, you see. So we have this great question
in our minds that rises and should rise. If it doesn't rise, we
have a great problem. How can I answer God? How can
I stand before Him? How can I be accepted? Look at
Job chapter 8. Because Job had a friend who
thought he knew the answer to this question. His name was Bildad.
And you know what happened to Job. God allowed him to be afflicted
by Satan. took away all that he had, and
then afflicted his body with boils, took away all but his
life in this world. So he was greatly afflicted.
We could say that Job suffered more than anyone we know except
the Lord Jesus Christ. God laid out a whole book of
his sufferings. But in chapter 8 of the book
of Job, Bildad, who was claimed to be his friend, He said this,
verse 2, how long, speaking to Job, how long wilt thou speak
these things? And how long shall the words
of thy mouth be a strong wind? How would you like to have a
friend like that? Just blow and wind, Job. Does
God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert
justice? Think about your condition, Job.
Does God pervert judgment? It's a rhetorical question. The
answer is of course not. then think about this, Job. He
says in verse four, if thy children have sinned against him, and
he has cast them away for their transgression, you see what Bildad
is accusing Job of? Your kids died, but it was for
their transgression. If thou would seek unto God betimes,
and make thy supplication to the Almighty, Job, you need to
seek God. You need to supplicate before
the Almighty. If thou wert pure and upright,
surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation
of thy righteousness prosperous. What's Bildad saying? Job, you
can only be justified before God. If you seek Him, if you
are pure, if you are upright, that's the way you're going to
receive blessing. Otherwise, your children are going to perish,
you yourself are going to be desolate. What do you think Job
did? He's an honest man. Job's the
one who's suffering here. He had some understanding. In
fact, he had God-given faith. Look at chapter nine. Then Job
answered and said, I know it is so of a truth. Everything
you said, Bill, Dad, it's true. Transgressions, I own them. My
children, they're sinners. They died. No one dies who wasn't
a sinner. And my desolation, you can blame
it on me. I get what I deserve, you see. It's like when a woman in Matthew
15 came to Jesus and he said, I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's not right, to take the
children's bread and give it to dogs. What'd she say? It's
truth. It's truth, Lord. Everything
you say is truth. I take my place among the lepers,
the guilty, the vile. Remember what Job said in Job
40 verse 4? Behold, I am vile. And so Job
says, I know it is so of a truth, but how shall man be just with
God? That's the big question we have
to face. If he will contend with him, if God will contend with
a man, that man cannot answer him one of a thousand, not one
thing. And so we see in Job's response
to Bildad's accusation, this is what we are. Take your place
with Job. See that God cannot justify you
for what he finds in you. No amount of desire on your part
can give you confidence before God. That's not where assurance
comes from. It's not our desires. It's not
our faithfulness. It's not our consecration. It's not our commitment. It's
not our dedication. It's not our good works before
or after, and especially not after we're saved. What is it
then? How can we be just before God? How can we answer God? Look at
Matthew chapter 7. I want to bring these things
because this is the big question. This is the big issue. Do we
see Jesus? Do we? I want to see him, sir. I want to see Jesus. He says
in Matthew 7, verse 13, the Lord Jesus is saying this, enter ye
in at the straight gate, that narrow, difficult way. It's so narrow you can't see
it, so narrow you can't get through it, so difficult to traverse,
you can't get through this gate. But seek to enter into the straight
gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many there be. which go in there at, because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to what?
Life. This is the gate he's describing
an entrance to what? Life. In Luke 13, the disciples
in the same context ask Jesus, who can be saved? And Jesus said,
seek to enter in, strive to enter in at the straight gate. It's
a way of life. It's a way of salvation. And then later on we're gonna
see it's the way of heaven. So he goes on in verse 15, beware
of the false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they're ravening wolves. They look like sheep on the outside,
they're good at that. But what's their problem? Inside
they're full of false doctrine. You shall know them by their
fruits, what they say, because out of the abundance of the heart,
what happens? Your mouth speaks. What did the false prophets say?
In Deuteronomy 13, Moses warned the people, now if a false prophet
come to you and tell you, let's go serve other gods, even if
he performs miracles, you are not to hear that prophet. Don't
heed his words, because his mouth is speaking lies. He's pointing
you to the works of men's hands because he says, let's go serve
other gods. But with his mouth, he lies.
He's a false prophet. He looks like a sheep on the
outside. But he's a liar. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit. But a corrupt
tree brings forth evil fruit. You shall know them by their
fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can
a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. What's inside of you comes
out, right? What you believe is what you
talk about. Out of the abundance of the heart,
Matthew 12, verse 34, the mouth speaketh. So whatever you truly
believe, that's what you're going to confess with your mouth. The
false prophet believes God's going to save him by his works.
So what does he say? Let's get busy. Look at verse
20. Wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them. Later on in Matthew 12, he says, by your
words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be
condemned. That's what he's talking about here. They're false prophets,
they speak false things. Verse 21, not everyone, he's
going to give an example now. He has spoken so often of the
Pharisees. And what were the Pharisees good
at? Doing things that men thought were good works. And they trusted
in their works. But Jesus said, accept your righteousness,
exceed, go beyond, go higher than, the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter heaven. Now he's going
to point out these men who are at the gate of heaven. And Jesus stands as judge. And
unlike the Pharisees, they not only just do these works which
men considered good, they have something even greater. Listen.
Verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, because
they're calling Jesus the Lord, right, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. That's the straight gate. It's
the gate of life, the gate of salvation, the gate of heaven.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Jesus is Lord. Not everyone that says to me,
Lord. You see, these men were professing Christians. Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Who enters? Those that do the will of my
Father. He goes on in verse 22. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied? How? In thy name. You see, they were teachers.
They were preachers. Of who? Jesus Christ. They called
him Lord, they taught and prophesied in his name. And yet, not everyone,
not just a few, but many shall say to me in that day, he says,
and in thy name cast out devils. How could you cast out a devil?
Only by the power of God. These men did things by the power
of God. And he says, and in thy name
done many wonderful works. They were professing Christians.
They were doing good works. And in their defense, what did
they say in the Day of Judgment? Because this is the Day of Judgment.
This is future history. These men, and many like them,
will stand before Christ and say these things. Maybe not word
for word, but this is the attitude of their heart. This is what's
going to come out when the Lord holds them to account. And what
do they say? Well, we've done many wonderful
works. We cast out devils. We did these things under the
influence and by the help of God. And we call Jesus Lord. We've taught and preached in
his name. But what was missing? What was the thing missing here?
They did not have an answer to God, acceptable to God. They
did not do the will of the Father. And what is that answer? What
is that will? Well, we just read it in 1 Peter
1, 21 and 22. By Him, you believe in God that
raised Him from the dead. And you have purified your hearts
in obeying the truth, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
he says in John chapter 6, look at these words here. This is
what doing the will of God is about. This is those who enter
heaven. We know it's true because Jesus tells this to us in John
chapter 6. In verse 35, Jesus said to them,
John 6, 35, I am the bread of life. We were just talking about
entering life, entering the gate of life, the gate of salvation,
the gate to heaven. I am the bread of life, he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. What was lacking with those men
who spoke of Jesus as Lord, who taught and prophesied in his
name? What was lacking? They did not believe on, they
did not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. They had something else
that they trusted in. They looked like sheep on the
outside, but they brought forth a false fruit with their mouth. Because when they confessed,
out of the abundance of their heart, their mouth spoke, they
said, haven't we prophesied in your name? Haven't we cast out
devils in your name? They trusted in what they did,
even by the influence and power of God in their lives, as the
thing that would give them the evidence the warrant, the approval
that they would receive from God in order to enter life, to
be saved and enter heaven. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and they therefore despised others. But
here he says, I'm the bread of life. But I said unto you that
you also have seen me and believe not. Now seeing Jesus, must be,
in order for it to be life, must be a seeing as in believing. These men only saw him on the
outside. They heard his words, but they
didn't believe him. So they saw him, and he says, you see me,
these Pharisees who came to him, but you believe not. But in saying,
I'm the bread of heaven, that if a man eat of this, he'll live.
He's not talking about seeing with physical eyes. He's talking
about seeing with the eyes of faith, that convincing, persuading
work of God in our heart, that operation of the Spirit that
makes us as sinners find in Christ all that God has provided and
accepted for sinners like us, and so resting our eternal souls
on Him. and in so resting, finding peace
and comfort and joy and assurance in everything, all basis of hope
of our salvation. So he goes on. You have seen
me and believe not. Verse 37. In contrast to you
who see me and believe not, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. So who comes? Who believes? Who
actually partakes of Christ as the bread of life? Those given
to the Lord Jesus as his sheep by the Father. All given by the
Father do come. Then why do they come? It is
the gift of God to them to come to Christ. You see, that is the
gift of God. He gave them to Christ and He
gives them, He draws them, as we're going to see in a minute,
He draws them to Him. He teaches them that Christ is
all. You have to face God. You have to answer for your sins.
You have to provide a perfect righteousness. God cannot accept
anything that you are because you're a sinner. Now, what's
your answer? How are you going to respond?
Well, with Job, we're going to say, I don't know. How can I
in myself be just with God? I know it's so of a truth. Everything
I suffer has a good reason for my suffering. It's because of
my sin. But what am I to do? I need an answer. I need God
to give me, by grace, what He requires from me. And how does
He do that? Aha, but we see Jesus, you see.
He directs us away from ourselves to Him. All that the Father giveth
me, directed by the Father to Him, shall come to Him. And He
that cometh to me, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast
out. The Lord Jesus Christ heard these
men. They were defending themselves.
They asked Him, Lord, You look and consider. We did these things. We prophesied in your name, cast
out devils in your name. We did many wonderful works in
your name. Lord, Lord. And he said, no, I never knew
you. Depart from me. Here he says,
but him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. They obviously never believed. They never came as a sinner to
Christ and found him to be the bread of life. He says in verse
38, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. This was the Father's will. This
is why I came. This was the work I came to do,
His will. It wasn't that it wasn't Jesus'
will also. He means here that it wasn't
His. It didn't come of Himself as if it was independent of the
Father. He was sent of God. You claim to trust God the Father,
You Jews, you men of this world, and yet I came by His will to
do His work. This was His will that I come.
This is what He sent me to do, and this is the will. Verse 39,
this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which
He has given me, I should lose nothing. You see, it's all outside
of yourself, isn't it? It's what God gave Him to do,
what he did, and how in doing that he lost nothing. That's
the success of our Savior. He cannot fail. And therefore
God says, look to him. When we see Jesus, we see this.
He says, he goes on, that I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. Who are these raised up? Not
those who were told to depart, but those who actually enter
the gate of life and salvation and heaven. They're the ones
for whom He died. They're the ones He brought to
glory. They're the ones He raises up
at the last day. All raised at the last day by
Christ are those given to Him by the Father. Therefore, we
know, all those given are those who are raised, and all those
who are raised were given. There's no difference. And then
in verse 40, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7? Verse 21 and
22 and 23, he says, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does what? The will
of my father, and here it is, and this is the will of him that
sent me. This is the father's will, that
everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him, seeing
as so to believe him, may have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day." Oh, what a blessed truth that
is. Job couldn't answer, Bildad. Job couldn't answer his own conscience.
The men in Matthew 7 tried but failed to answer Jesus in judgment.
Unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, we shall not enter heaven. How can we possibly have
a righteousness higher than the best of men on earth when we're
the scum of the earth? How can we? When we think of ourselves, we
have to have an honest view. Job had it. He says, I am not
righteous. I am vile in myself. I am vile. Behold, I am vile. What shall
I answer thee? What was Job saying? I do not
in myself have an answer. Well, if you don't have an answer,
then how are you going to be received? These men in Matthew
7 tried to answer and it failed. What are they going to do then?
How could Job possibly come into the kingdom of heaven, have this
life? How could he be saved then if
he didn't have an answer? The answer didn't come from him.
The answer came from his savior, his advocate, his mediator, his
savior, you see. It came from the Lord Jesus.
God gave to him this will to do, to answer God for all that
we could never answer. to answer for us, to taste death
for every son that he might bring us to glory. He died, the just,
the righteous one, though we're unrighteous, for the unjust,
the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. You see how
it directs us away from ourselves? It says, sirs, we would see Jesus,
and there when we see him, what do we find? We find God holds
him up. And he says, he died the just
for the unjust to bring us to God. There's my answer. And I want to take you to this
most blessed truth in Romans chapter 8. As I find this, it's
so comforting that I have to bring you back to it all the
time. Romans chapter 8 and verse 31. What shall we say to these
things? What shall we then say to these
things? What things? That in verse 29, whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate. He knew them in love before.
He therefore predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might, Christ, might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he
also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. and whom he justified, then he
also glorified." An unbroken chain between God's eternal love
and predestinating grace and our glory with Christ in heaven.
Verse 31, what shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who shall be against us? Who can be against us? He, our
God and Father, that spared not His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
but delivered Him up to death and suffering for us all, how
shall He not, having given His Son and not spared Him, how shall
He not, with Him, unfailingly, also freely, give us all things
with Him? And here we go. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect. Who can lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Do you see how God directs us
to himself in our salvation? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look
full into his wonderful face. The things of this world will
grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. In verse
34, here it is, what is the answer, what is my only answer now in
my conscience? What was my answer before the
world's foundations were laid? How could God say who shall lay
anything to the charge of his elect when he chose them before
the foundation of the world? How could all this be true? And
how could God then say of those in judgment that they were justified. How could this be? Here it is.
What is the one answer God has for sinners? What is the one
answer God holds up to the universe as the display of his holiness
and the sinfulness of our sin? How holy is God? How great is
our sin? How sure is our salvation? How
certain is it that we're not saved by what we do? Here it
is. Here's the answer. It answers
everything. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. It is
Christ that died. My only answer, my only standing,
my only hope, my only assurance, the only peace I have, the cause
of all my joy, the reason for all my hope, The basis of my
acceptance, the ground of my assurance, the cause of my love
is in this answer God gave in his son. God provided this answer.
He provided this by his grace. By the grace of God, he tasted
death for every son. Here's my answer now in my conscience. Is Christ the died? And you might
wonder, well, how do I know the Lord Jesus died for me? You can
answer the question with this, this answer of God. Is God's
answer? Is Christ's answer enough for
you? Is Christ that died? If you say, well, but how do
I know? What more do you need? This is the only answer God accepts
for sinners. Is Christ that died? Find all
of your comfort and assurance in what God has said of his son,
we see Jesus. In so seeing what God thinks
of his son, that's seeing him. In seeing what God thinks of
Christ, we see Jesus, you see. And in so seeing him, what do
we see? We see all of our salvation,
all of our coming, all of our holiness, He's the sanctifier of the sanctified,
the bringer of all of God's sons. Because of his death, he brings
many sons to glory. He's the one who did it. I can't
do it. I can't answer. I can't do what's
needed to provide an answer. There's no part of it that I
can do. If there was some part of it I could do, then there
was no reason for Christ to die. But because it was Christ who
died, therefore I have full assurance of faith, because God has said
in his word he accepts his son for sinners. Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. There it is. When we were yet
without strength, Christ died for us. You see, being now justified
by his blood, we have peace with God. We shall be saved from wrath
through him. This is amazing. When we were
enemies, even when we were dead in sins, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his son and we were quickened together with
him. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, therefore
we believe that he will bring those with him that God has given
him for whom he died. This is all of our hope, isn't
it? Do you have any other confidence? Well, what about when people
say, well, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. You need to
have a certain level of dedication. And if you don't have that, then
you prove yourself to be false. What's your answer to them? I'm
a great sinner. It's true. All that you say is
true. I know it's true of a truth. But how can man be just with
God? Here it is. God's answered it.
It's Christ that died. We're now justified by his blood.
We shall be saved from wrath through him. Oh, what a blessed
truth it is to see Jesus. Jesus says in Isaiah 45, verse
22, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God and there is none else. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. He says, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. The old man Simeon said when
he held Jesus in his arms, behold, mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all people. This is amazing. Oh, sir, we
would see Jesus. And so looking upon our salvation
accomplishing savior, we find all that God requires of us.
And so seeing him, we're saved. How do I know Jesus died for
me? Is what God says. of what he thinks of Christ enough
for you, or do you need something else? If you look for yourself,
if you look in the mirror to find something, you won't see
Jesus. But if you look in the gospel
and see all that you need, because God finds all that he requires
of you in Christ, then he died for you. Let's pray. Lord, we
would see Jesus, and we know it is only by your Spirit that
we can come to this persuasion, this conviction of our heart
that though we're sinners and have no strength, and have no
righteousness, yet the just one, the righteous one, in whom alone
is all righteousness, who counted it his highest joy and still
does, to do all for us, It wasn't just an aside for him, as if
he had something more important to do, but he took time out to
save us. It was his heart's delight from eternity, and even now he
ever lives to make intercession for us, to bring us and save
us to the uttermost. And we look to him. We trust
him to do this in all the failures of our lives, in all the disappointments
we have in ourselves. And although we see the weakness
and sinfulness of ourselves, Lord, cause us to see our Lord
Jesus and see him only and hear him only and so worship God in
him. In this we ask in his name and
for his sake, amen.