What if we really would God the
Father turn down? April times he had lost all hope For what earthly reason
would the Father let him hang on the tree? I left with the answer, but what
is the reason? What is the reason? I was the reason. What is the reason? I was the gift. He was a sacrifice I was a taker
He was a giver Dying while I go through What is the reason for me? The Paris of angels was not summoned
from the throne up in the sky. It purchased my heart and not
even the angels could die. The only provision for my salvation
was to get me to dream. Sweet land of glory, what earthly
reason wants me? I want a reason He was the reason I was accused
He was the sacrifice I was the taker He was the fear Dying while I go free. That one earthly reason why. Dying while I go free. That one earthly reason for me. follow along in John 14 once
again. John chapter 14. Now, once again, we take up our study of and enter into the private conversation
of our Lord with the disciples before he was going to the cross,
before he went to the cross. A private, intimate conversation
that God has recorded for us to read for our comfort. And
I am so thankful that you felt fit to record these words for
my prophet. because I'm just like one of
these disciples, very troubled and very weak. A weak and a troubled
child, that's me. Now, you will remember that our Lord began to allay the fears
of his disciples by telling them that he was going to prepare
them a place. He had told them before that
he was leaving them, and apparently it didn't see him, and he was
telling them again that he was leaving them and going away. And in one place, back in chapter
thirteen, he says, the way I go, you cannot come, so now I say
unto you, you cannot come now. But he says, you'll come afterward.
But he began to allay their fears, or quiet their fears by telling
them, now I'm going to my father's house. My father, and you're
a father. He prayed that in John 17. I'm
going to my father's house and I'm going to prepare a place
for you. And he said, I'm going to come
again and get you and take you back with me. That's how he began
to quiet their fears. But it didn't seem to be enough
for these troubled young disciples. Now remember, after all, this
was their close and intimate companion, their close friend,
their closest friend and confidant, their master, their teacher,
the one that they had depended upon for these three and a half
years now, the one that they looked to for all their answers
and all their sustenance, all their Their food, their very
food and drink and clothing and everything, they had totally
depended upon the Lord for these things. And now he's telling
them, I'm leaving you. I'm going away. And they were
naturally troubled by his leaving, by his words here. But he said,
I'm going to prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come
back and get you and take you with me. But it didn't seem to matter.
He was just leaving. He was leaving. And it started with Peter. Peter
said, Lord, I want to go. Let me go with you. No, Peter,
you can't. You're going to have to go through
one of the most horrible trials of your life. And then after
that, after you're converted, you'll be strengthened in the
brethren and you'll be preaching the gospel and out in the world
for a while. And then you can come. They promised
Peter, Lord, you will come where I am. Peter starts, and then
Thomas focuses, and says, Lord, we know where you're going. And
then Phillips, they all got in on it. They one by one said,
Lord, where are you going? How are you going? Don't leave
us. Don't leave us. Well, let's read. Let's start
again there in verse 1. He said, Don't be troubled. Let
not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? I know
you do, because I gave you this faith. I revealed the power to
you. Now, believe in me. In my father's house, there are
many reservations. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I'm telling you the truth. I
always speak the truth. If it were not so, I would have
told you, and I'd go to prepare a place for you. For you. I'm
going personally to see to it that you have a place there.
And if I go and prepare a place for you by going to the cross,
taking your burden on my shoulders, your sin and suffering under
the wrath of God, and taking your punishment, giving you my
righteousness, if I go and prepare that place for you and return
to the Father, having succeeded, I'll come again and receive you
to myself. and then presents you to the
Father, that where I am, seated at the right hand of the Father,
reigning, that where I am, you may be also as He is now. So
will you be. So are you. And where I go, look
at verse four, this is where we pick up. And where I go, you
know. I just told them where you were
going, didn't I? I'm going to my Father's house.
I'm going to prepare you a place. Now I'm going to come back and
get you. And where I go, and he said, now where I go, you know,
and the way you know, I told you, is the way I'm going to
Jerusalem. I'm going to be betrayed into wicked hands, and they're
going to kill me, and I'm going to rise again the third day,
and successfully accomplish salvation. Where I go, you know, and the
way you know. Look at verse, Christ said, he
just told them now he's going to his father's house to prepare
them away. Poor old Thomas. And this is me, bawling Thomas. Poor Thomas. He was all torn
up, and he blurted out here, Lord! Verse 5. We don't know
where you're going. And perhaps you've said this
now. We don't know. Where is he? We don't know where he is. We
don't know where you're going, and how can we know the way?
Thomas said, how can we? Where are you going? And what's
the way to get there? We want to go too. Well, now we need to have compassion
upon these disciples because, you know, he told them several
times where he was going, what was going to happen to him, and
yet they didn't seem to understand. And as we tried to point out
last week, They perhaps thought he was speaking in parables or
something. He spoke in parables so often, when he said, I'll
be delivered and rise again, so for I didn't know what he
was talking about. And here, they're so exasperated and so
fearful that he's leaving them. Don't leave us. He said, I'll
come again. No, no, wait, wait. Where are you going? Take us
with you. Don't go. How do we get there? What's the way? Now, they didn't
have, Perry, they didn't know as much as you know. He's a soft
spirit. They didn't have the revelation
that you had. You've got it right there in your lap now. Sure word
of God. You've got the finished book. Finished book, from start
to finish. And over in John 16, verse 13,
it says, when Christ said to the disciples, when the Spirit
has come, you've got to be in all truth. And you'll remember
that after Christ arose from the grave and he appeared to
his disciples, it said he preached unto them, beginning with Moses
and the prophets. and the songs expounded unto
them all the things in the scriptures concerning themselves. They heard
the gospel like they'd never heard before. And then Pentecost
and days after that, the Spirit came and fully revealed to them
the truth of the gospel. And they were just like you and
me, Barbara, when they heard me sing. We sing. You know, you
didn't see it at first then. We can't be hard on them because
they didn't see or didn't have this book that we have. But as
the Spirit began revealing these things to them, they began writing
them down. He said that, too. In the Acts,
it says that they were called to mind His words, what He had
said to them. That's what He said He would
do, and it's written right there. I see that in Leviticus. I see
that in Numbers and Deuteronomy and so forth. So they didn't
have what we have, and their ignorance was somewhat excusable.
Ours isn't. Ours isn't, Roberta. We've got
a more sure word of prophecy. Well, you do well to take heed
and believe it, and don't worry. But we're flesh. The Spirit's
will and the flesh is with us. But Christ answered, promised
all exact phrases that we don't know where you're going. And
how can we know? Where are you going? How's the
way to get there? We want to follow you. What's the way? And
Christ uttered these words in verse six. He said unto him,
Thomas, I am the way, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Now, Adam in the garden, Adam
lost, or man in Adam, lost three things. He lost these three things
right here, Terry. He lost the way, communion, fellowship
with God. entrance into God. We read it
there in Hebrews 10, how He's broken down that veil. He's made
us a new way, a new and living way. How did I say it? He became
the way. Adam lost communion or fellowship
with God, the truth. Adam lost understanding, didn't
he? He lost spiritual understanding
and light. Darkness came over him, the wisdom
of God. He lost that. He lost the life
of God, which was the presence of God, the life, and Christ
restores all three of these things. In Christ, we have all three
of these things restored. The way Christ bridges the gulf,
that great gap that's fixed between us and God, that way that we
cannot transcend ourselves, Christ must come between us and hold,
grab God's hand and grab our hand and bring us together. Christ
bridges that gap. And there's a way, you know,
men try different ways. They try different ways. Rick
read that to us from over in Ezekiel. I noticed this. He said,
God said, I scattered these people among the heathen, and they were
dispersed through the country according to their way. according
to their way and according to their doings, I judge them according
to their way. And there's a way that seems
right to men. How is that? Self-righteousness was their
way of heaven. That's the way that seems right
unto men. But the end is what? Death and destruction. It won't
get us to God. Only Christ can bridge that gap
and save and bring us to the Father. He's the way. He's the
way. And faith, simple faith, needs
to lay hold on this, the fact that Christ But a simple faith
needs to lay hold on this, the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son
of the Most High God, came down to this earth for the express
purpose of saving sinners and bringing them to God. He's the
way. That's why, that's why Kings
told his name Jesus. He'll save. He'll show them himself
as the way to God. He'll take them to the Father
in the end. He's the proof. Christ is the full and final
revelation of God. Now, Adam, back in that garden,
Adam believed a lie. He believed Satan's lie, didn't
he? And that's you and me by nature. We'll believe everything
that comes down the pike. Every thought that comes in our
heart, or our heart and our head, every superstition and Every
tradition that comes along, men are ready to believe these things. Any fellow that comes down the
line that has some charisma about him, and he's fast-talker, and
he's able to move and sway people with his eloquence or whatever,
and his seemingly wisdom, people follow right in behind him. Like
Christ said, come in, come in his own name, and then you'll
receive. You follow right along. But we see in Christ the truth. Superstition and error fill the
natural man's thoughts of God, but we see in Christ the truth,
the truth of salvation by grace. You know, the whole multitude
of the world are asking with Pilate, what is truth? What is truth? Pilate asked the
truth of it. He had the truth standing right
in front of him, and he said, what is truth? He was looking at him. What is
truth? And nearly every person has in
their possession the truth right here. It's revealed in Christ,
the truth. Christ is the truth. In Him,
the scripture said, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All of them. A man would be a
fool what folly it would be to ignore Christ. He's the truth. Everything else is a lie. And
like Adam, we believe all the devil's lies and our own lies,
too, ever since. And man's been groping in ignorance
and darkness ever since. But Christ is the truth. He opens
up your understanding to see what this whole thing's about.
You might know many things now. You might know something about
science. You might know something about politics. You may know
something about whatever it may be. But unless you know the truth,
that's Christ. Unless you truly know Christ,
you don't know anything. You know nothing yet. You don't
know what's going to profit us in the end. We're laying there
in our casket, and they walk by. Rick, you're laying there
in the casket, and they walk by and say, boy, sure does look
good, doesn't he? That's what they'll say. They
sure did a good job on him. He's dead, but they made him
look alive. They brag on your flesh, you
know. Boy, he sure did pick a banjo,
didn't he? Yeah, he could. Big deal. There must be one. There's, you
know, 1,432 guitar pickers in Nashville. That's what the song
says. Big deal. Say what? Does he know Christ? Did he know
Christ? Did he know the truth? Did he
love the truth? Did he know Christ? Was he resting
in Christ? Did Christ reveal himself? That's
what's going to matter. And I believe, I believe that
we're going to walk away, and some of us are not going to say
that, but I believe he knew Christ. Well, ain't he, don't you, Joe?
Yeah. I bet he looks good now. I bet
he looks good now. Well, unless you know him, it's
all so much worthless knowledge. Whatever you acquire upon this
earth, so much worthless knowledge. It won't profit you one bit,
one bit. But you know him. in whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." You know everything. Everything you need to know.
One thing equal to know Him. Well, he said, I'm the light
also. Christ frees a man from final,
eternal death. Now, the whole Bible bears witness
to the fact that the natural man is spiritually dead and trespasses
in sin. The natural man is dead to the
things of God. I can readily prove that if I
were to go down and get a mirror out of the bathroom and point
it on you people right now. It's so hard, isn't it, to pay
attention to words of life. and trespasses and sins. The
natural man, that is. But there's a spark of life.
Don't fear. Don't be troubled, Joseph. There's
a spark. There's a spark, though, isn't there, buddy? There's a
spark. But God is causing it to grow. He's causing it to grow. But the natural man doesn't fear
God, doesn't know God, or care for God. And that man is warring
within our members also. We're dead to heavenly things,
taken up with earthly things. Men and women, by nature, just
exist. They don't live. They don't live. Christ said, I'll give you life,
life more abundant. A life you never know anything
about, that you never truly enjoy. You know, when that prodigal
son returned home after being gone, what did the father say
when he came back? When the father went out to meet
him, he said, kill that bad calf. This is my son. He was dead,
but now he's alive again. He was lost, but now he's found. Dead, but now he's alive again. And Christ is the one, he's the
one who gives life. The one who believes in Christ,
trusts, and follows after Christ has passed from death unto life
in him. And Christ said there in verse
six again, he continued by saying, Thomas, I'm the way. I'm the
way to God. I'm the truth. You know me. You
know me. And I'm the life. I'm your life
because I live and you live also. Because I go to the Father. He
said, Thomas, no man can come unto the Father but by me. But by me. And it couldn't be
any clearer, could it? It could not have been any clearer
right here. Salvation is right here. He couldn't have been any
clearer. The picture of salvation couldn't be any plainer. Nobody
will be accepted by God Almighty except on the basis of Jesus
Christ. No man can come. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Not Mohammed, not Buddha, not
your way, but by me. You've got to go to Joseph. He's
got to go on. You want something to eat fast? You've got to go
to Joseph. You want salvation? You've got to go to Christ. You've
got to come to Christ. We don't accept Him. He must
accept us. We can't win His favor. He must
show us favor of grace. That's another word for favor. America's favor is grace. But
he said, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You remember
our study last Wednesday? No man, no woman, no young person
is going to get into that great marriage feast unless Christ
takes him under His arm and walks in and says, It's okay. He's
with me. You try getting in by yourself.
Push him out. Who is that stranger in here?
But Christ's got His arm around you. You're wrapped in, you're
dressed like Him, you look like Him, and He's got His arm around
you, smiling upon you. takes him before the Father and
says, meet my new bride. He's with me. And that's the
way we get to the Father. Verse six, or verse seven, he
said, if you'd known me, you should have known my Father also.
If you'd have known me, you should have known the Father also. Now,
the reason why the disciples found it so hard to understand
all he was saying about the Father's house and his way and their way
there and so forth was because they didn't. And this is our
problem. This is our whole problem. They
didn't understand. They didn't see clearly who Christ
was. And, Henry, that's our problem
most of the time. We don't see clearly just who
that was that came down to this earth. God! God! came down and took the body
of a man. And they lost sight of that fact.
And so they were all exasperated and troubled and torn apart. But they lost sight of who He
was. And we do the same thing. This is the reason why they found
it so hard to understand everything. True knowledge, true knowledge
of God is only found in His Son. In His Son. You want to know
what God is like? No sign. Yeah. The Son revealed
him. The Father is known as the Son
is known. He was God manifest in the flesh.
It wasn't just the manifestation of God. He was God manifest in
the flesh. Well, he said, verse 7, "...from
his poor you know him, and have seen him." This is sort of apostasy
here, I believe. He's saying, very shortly now,
you're going to fully know God as your Father. You're going
to have perfect assurance, and you're going to see Him in me.
You're going to see. He was who He said He was, wasn't
He? He was like that centurion when
He was crucified, when He said, It's finished. He saw that miraculous
act upon that cross, and that centurion said, Truly, no doubt
about this, who this was. Truly, that man was the Son of
God. Truly. And that's what Christ
is saying here. Shortly now, you're going to see You don't
know just who I am. I'm God. They didn't know. It's
in miraculous words along with everybody else. But they were
full of unbelief, too. We're the same way. And so he
really revealed himself to us. The character of God the Father
was clearly seen in God the Son. Every way he moved and walked
and talked clearly revealed the Father. It's better to search
the scriptures than to sing it that says, God, he's with us,
Messiah's here. Well, first Peter said, Peter
said, Lord, I want to go with you. I want to go with you. Take
me with you like a little child. I don't want to go. Don't leave
me. Please, take me with you. No, you can't, Tom. You're going
to deny me. No, no, I won't either. I'm going to say to everybody
else, maybe I'm not going to. Yeah, you will too, Peter. Yeah,
you're going to hush up now. Then Thomas goes up, Lord, you
know where you're going. How can we know the way? Thomas,
I'm the way, the truth, the life. I'm the way. If you know me,
you know the thought. Then Philip got in. Look what
Philip said. Philip verse 8. Philip said, Lord, show us the
Father then. If you're leaving, show us the
Father, and that'll be all. That'll suffice us. That'll make us happy. You know, sometimes our minds
only run in one direction, don't they? We fail to hear many things
for thinking along one line, you know, being so narrow-minded.
We fail to hear all that's going on around us. And they failed
to hear what He was saying to them. I'm God. I'm the way. I'm the truth. Show us the Father
again. Show us the miracle. Maybe Philip
wasn't there when on that Mount of Transfiguration when Christ
was glorified in His person. By the way, Peter and John, James
forgot about it real quick anyway. It wouldn't have done him any
good if Philip had been there. They forgot about it. But maybe
he's had that in mind. And we didn't get in on that.
We didn't see that. And we'll be happy. We'll believe
then. Show us the Father. We heard
them tell us about these boys, and show up! And that'll make
us happy. We'll be happy. We won't be worried
then. And you know, this may be like
this too, and it was stationed here. It may be like, you know,
a child needs to have a parent around. Needs to have a very
young child. Needs the security of having
mama or daddy around the house just having them there just knowing
their day just hearing their voice every now and then and
every now and then hannah uh i'll be seated uh reading or
whatever and she'll be playing or whatever and and she'll put
down her toys and she'll just come over and and just she likes
to twirl the hair on the back of my head because every now
and then she'll just quit what she's doing and walk over and Kind of squeezed me, played with
my head a little bit, and go back to what I was doing. And
I'd think, what was that all about? She's touching my face.
She's touching my daddy. Daddy's here. Security. Daddy. Daddy's here. I'm secure. I'm safe. I feel all right. Everything's
OK. Daddy's at home. And when I was
gone so long, really, she was torn up. Daddy was gone, away
from home. And perhaps this is what Phillip's
saying here, too. Show us the Father. You're leaving
us. Just give us a glimpse of the
Father. Let us touch base. Give us some
security. Verse 9, Christ said, Have I
been so long time with you? Show us the Father. Have I been
so long time with you? I am the Father. have I been so long with you
now, and yet you have not known me, fellow. He that hath seen
me, seen the Father. He that hath seen me, seen the
Father. Why do you say it is your Father?
I am the Father. There's not a clearer verse in
the scripture in regards to the deity of Christ, is there? Christ
God is saying, you better believe it. Yes, He did. Yes, He is. He said it right there. He's
seen me. He's seen the Father. I am the
Father. I'm one with one and the same
person. Here I am, Philip. Here I am. This was a forceful
rebuke to old Phillip. Forceful rebuke. Haven't you
ever fully comprehended who I am? Haven't you? And you know this is a terrible,
this is a, this is a tremendous rebuke to
somebody maybe. Has the gospel been so long time
with you and yet you haven't known him? How many messages have you heard and you don't know him? That's a rebuke. How long? How long? And yet you haven't
known him, confessed him, believed in him? Hmm? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me?" Don't you? Don't you? Perfect, intimate union and communion
between the Father and the Son. Father and the Son. I'm in the
Father, and the Father is in me. He said, the words that I
speak unto you. The words. Just think about the
words I've spoken. I don't speak the words of myself.
If you just heard the scriptures, you'd find out that I've been
repeating, quoting scriptures for thirty-three years now. That's
a word he said was recorded in the Old Testament. The words
that I speak, the Spirit, the life, the truth, the power. Look at this, look at this. The
words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the
Father that dwells in me, he'll do the work. That's a misprint. It's supposed to be words. No,
no, no. This is right here. Notice the connection between
words and works. They're one and the same. How's
that? Well, how did God do anything
back in the Old Testament? How was anything accomplished?
How did God make the earth? How? He just planted it. It was God. And Terry, when Christ
was here on this earth, he spoke. Whatever he spoke was God. Didn't
he? Lazarus! Come on, how about that? Woman, you're saying this again.
Whatever he said was God. He spoke, and it was words. Proof of who he is and was. The words that I speak unto you,
I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in me. He
doeth the works. Verse 11. Believe me, believe
me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Believe
me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. I say to
a fretting, troubled believer, to believe Christ, trusting his
word good. We often, just get a hold of
me, we think of God, we tend to think of God in different
terms than we do of Christ. We tend to think of God as being
some austere, unmoved force or being out there somewhere who's
not, no emotion, no, he's unmoved. This is God, I hear. God was
manifest in the flesh, wasn't he? How he was God? How he was
Christ. Oh, he reached down, he stood
there, merciful and kind. Look, he wept, he, this is God,
Terry. This is God. Let him believe
that I'm in the Father and the Father in me. And to a troubled
believer. Christ came to save sinners. He came for the express purpose
of saving people just like you and me. And he uttered so many
words of kindness, all his words of kindness and comfort and peace
and assurance were to people down and out and low good and
low life and worthless scum of the earth just like you and me.
Just like the That's threaded timeless. Oh, well, foreman,
where are your accusers? Does no man accuse you? A common
harlot, Mary. I'd venture to say that no ladies
in here have gone that route. She's about as bad as you can
get in it. I said, woman, I don't believe
you. I don't believe you. Mary, you hasn't gone that far,
or have you? in your heart, in your mind?
Maybe. It's just as bad, really. He
says the same thing to you, Debra. I don't, I don't condemn you.
I don't care what you've done, Debra. He says, I don't condemn
you. This is God, now. I don't condemn you. No condemnation
in Christ. There's real comfort here now
in knowing that this is God. This is our comfort. This is
our faith. This is our hope. God was manifested. Right at
this mystery of Godliness, God was manifested in the flesh.
And you can believe Him. You can take Him at His word.
You believe me, Terry? You think I'm a man of my word? You believe me, don't you? I
tell you I'm going to do something. But the Son of God believes it. Trust me. And I'll save you,
He says. It would. What he said here, it's
a fad, though. He appeals even to his disciples
and his apostles along the same lines that he did with those
unbelieving Jews back earlier. He appeals along the same lines.
He said this very thing to some of the Jews. He said, no, verse 11, I'm sorry.
He said, believe me. Believe what I tell you. If you
don't believe what I tell you, at least believe me for the very
work's sake. You remember him telling that
to the Jews? Believe me for the work's sake.
The work's that I do, they bear witnesses of who I am. And that's a terrible reproof
and rebuke to us to at least acknowledge the proof of God's
hand in your life. Boy, you can sure acknowledge
that, can't you? You're not going to believe the
Word of God. You're not going to take Him at His Word. If you're
not just going to trust Him at His Word, then boy, you can go
back over your life, can't you? Count the blessings. Name them
one by one, can't you? Every day that He's upheld you.
restrained you, constrained you, given to you, freely bestowed
upon you. You can go back and believe the
works that he's done, showing you who he is, that he's God. And people, we ought to believe.
Pride placed upon this glorious book. Yeah, we ought to. We ought to just believe this
book. We've studied together many, many messages along these
lines of assurance, and how that assurance is based solely on
what he says in his book. And we ought to believe it. We
can take him at his word. Yeah, we can. We can take it
like it's written. Yeah, you can. And you can rest
your soul on that. And you can go to bed at night
and sleep uncondemned by God. Hey, you know, God was here.
He said so. He said so. So if you don't believe
for this book's sake, go back over your lives and think about
what he's done for you. How he spares you. Think about
it. He keeps sparing you. And he'll
spare you again. His mercy endures forever. It's
done it so far, hasn't it, Barbara? It's endured and endured and
endured in spite of you, hasn't it? In spite of you. That's proof,
isn't it? Hey, he's merciful. Let's sing
this song that Jerry was playing a while ago, 127. Hallelujah,
what a Savior. I saw Eddie mouthing the words
with me. I like this song. 127, hallelujah. What a Savior. Stand with me. you