Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's holy word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now today I'm
going to be preaching from the book of John, chapter 12. And
the title of the message is Life Everlasting. Now that is a pleasant,
very positive thought, a joyous thought. Is it possible for sinners
who deserve death, and not just physical death, but eternal death,
is it possible for such sinners to have life everlasting? Well, the obvious answer to that
is yes, because life everlasting comes through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is life everlasting. Now here at the end of John chapter
12, we have the words of our Lord, the last public words that
he spoke in his public ministry. Because beginning at John chapter
13, that begins his private ministry only to his disciples, the 12
disciples other than Judas, And that leads up to his arrest,
his experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest, his
suffering and persecution in Jerusalem, going up to his cross,
all for the redemption of his people. And what he says here
in these last verses of John chapter 12, in his last public
words, yet are very solemn and very instructive concerning what
life everlasting is and how a sinner can attain life everlasting.
Now he starts off here in the passages that I'm going to read
with a very sad note because it is a commentary on man by
nature in unbelief. And the Bible teaches that we
all fell in Adam, we fell under condemnation and that as a result
We are born of the flesh in Adam, born spiritually dead. And if
left to ourselves, if left to ourselves, we will remain in
that state of condemnation because we will not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We won't believe the truth. We
all by our own wills choose ourselves, our selfish desires, our pride,
our self-righteousness. And it says in verse 37 of John
12, but though he had done so many miracles before them, yet
they believed not on him. They didn't believe Christ, even
though they saw the miracles. I think of the parable that the
Lord told of the rich man and Lazarus, how Lazarus, a child
of God, suffered greatly in this world in poverty and sickness,
and how the rich man, who was an unbeliever, who was well off
in this life, and how when the rich man died, he went to hell,
and when Lazarus died, he went to Abraham's bosom, which is
a type of heaven. And the rich man looked up from
hell, and he said, please, Lord, send Lazarus back to earth, so
that he can tell my brothers, who are still living, of this
awful place, and they will avoid it. And you remember the Lord's
response to him was, though, he says, they have Moses and
the prophets. In other words, they have the
word of God. And you know, Christ said, Moses
wrote of me, the prophets spoke of me. The law of Moses was given
to show us our sinfulness and drive us to Christ for everlasting
life, for eternal life and righteousness, for heaven. And he said, they
have Moses and the prophets. He said, though one rise from
the dead, they will not believe. You see, these miracles, though
as great as they were, they will not in and of themselves bring
sinners to Christ. And that's what he's saying here.
Though he had done so many miracles, proving that he is God incarnate,
proving his divinity, proving his power, proving not only his
power to do a miracle, but his power to save eternally. They
would not believe. Man, if left to himself, will
not come to Christ. And that's our problem, you see.
If any sinner comes to Christ for salvation, it's by the power
of God. And we must see that. Salvation
is of the Lord. Well, someone might object and
say, well, if Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, And if he was
such a great person, then why did so many reject him? Well,
right here in verse 38, the Holy Spirit by the Apostle John reveals
that everything that happened in man's rejection of Christ
was the prophecy of God. He says in verse 38, that the
saying of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed thy report? who hath believed
our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed."
That's a prophecy from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. That great
passage that deals with the subject of the suffering Messiah who
died on the cross for his people to bring about everlasting life.
And even back then, even in Isaiah's day, in Isaiah's preaching, there
were very few who believed. And Isaiah spoke in prophecy
of the time that the Messiah would come, and the Lord revealed
in prophecy that the majority to whom the Lord came would refuse
to believe. And he says in verse 39, he goes
on, therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah said
again, verse 40, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their
heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand
with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spoke of him."
That's a prophecy from Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah was commissioned
as a prophet and sent forth. And the Lord essentially told
him, you can read it in Isaiah chapter 6, he says, you've got
a great message to proclaim. But Israel will not hear you."
And he said, they'll close their ears, they'll close their minds,
they'll close their eyes, and they'll harden their hearts against
the Lord. Why is it that men will not come
to Christ? It's because man in natural pride
and self-righteousness hates the gospel. John 3 speaks of
it in verse 19, that light has come into the world, the light
of God's truth. The light of God's grace. Christ
is the light himself. The light that exposes me for
what I am by nature and the wickedness of my best efforts to save myself
and to establish my own righteousness. Man by nature hates that message. He wants to be lifted up in his
pride, in his self-righteousness like the Pharisees. And if left
to ourselves, we'll close our eyes and our ears and harden
our hearts against the message. And God uses that as a judgment
against all who refuse Christ. So don't ever think that Christ
doesn't have the power to save because men and women refuse
to believe. It has nothing to do with it. He said in John chapter
6, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out." Somebody might say, well, where does that
leave me? I'll tell you, it's just like all the scripture from
Genesis to Revelation. It leaves you with no hope of
salvation, no hope of everlasting life, but in Christ. And you
are commanded to come to him. Over here in verse 50, the Lord
said, and I know that his commandment is everlasting life. What commandment
is he talking about? He's not talking about the Ten
Commandments there. My friend, if your attaining
everlasting life is conditioned on your keeping the Ten Commandments,
you do not have and will never have everlasting life, nor will
I. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in the sight of God. Salvation is not and cannot
be by works. And the reason is because our
works are not good enough to save us. Our works are not good
enough to bring everlasting life. Our works are not good enough
to be righteous before God. That's why we need Christ. That's
why we need his blood to cleanse us from all our sins and his
righteousness alone to justify us before God and entitle us
to eternal life. And also that's why we need the
Holy Spirit to drive us to Christ. because on our own we will not
come to him. But now look at verse 42 of John 12. Now this
is really interesting if you look at it in this context. He
says, nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed
on him. Now the chief rulers had to do
with those who were nobles in Jerusalem, nobles in Israel,
and they were some who sat on the court of the Sanhedrin, the
highest Jewish court to pass judgment. upon men's civil judgment
and moral judgment. But it says, nevertheless, among
the chief rulers also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees,
because of the religious leaders, it says, they did not confess
him. They wouldn't confess Christ
lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved
the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, here's a
group of people, it's called many here, we don't know how
many, but there must have been a good, strong group here, who
claimed at least by their outward profession that they believed
on Christ, they believed Him to be the Messiah, they believed
Him to be the Savior. And it says here that because
of the religious leaders, they wouldn't confess Him. Now, the
Bible teaches that confession of Christ is a matter of the
heart. It's a matter of the mind, it's
a matter of the affections, it's a matter of the will. Confessing
Christ before men is an evidence of salvation. It's an evidence
of the new birth. It's an evidence of the work
of the Holy Spirit within as he regenerates and converts in
the new birth the people of God. And those who truly believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches, those who savingly believe
on him will confess him. Christ said this, he said, if
you won't confess me before men, I'll not confess you before my
Father. The Bible says in Romans chapter
10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, And with
the mouth, confession is made. In other words, a man is going
to confess what he knows and believes in his heart. And if
he claims to believe it, but will not confess it, then what
does that tell you? It tells you that his believing
is just a mere sham religious profession. In other words, it's
not real salvation. It's not Holy Spirit wrought
conviction and faith. You see, faith, now listen to
me very carefully. This is the confession of faith,
you see. And without the confession of
faith, there's no faith. But now, faith is not a choice
you make. Faith is a conviction, a persuasion,
that God brings you to by His power, by the Spirit, through
the Word. And when the Spirit brings that
conviction to you, to your mind, your affections, your will, your
heart, you can't help but confess it. One old preacher said, it'll
leak out on you. You can't help it. It's like
that truth wells up inside of you and you have to confess it
before men. Now there'll be times, you see,
we're still human. We're still sinners, even saved
sinners. There'll be time where we'll
have to fight the flesh. The flesh will inspire us to
deny Christ. Peter did it three times, and
he regretted it, you see. He did it because he feared for
his life, but it says here now, in John 12 and verse 43, the
reason these wouldn't do it, wouldn't confess him, is because
they didn't want to lose their stature, their prominence, their
place of honor among men. in the religious community. They
feared that they should be put out of the synagogue. Well, if
I confess Christ, they'd throw me out of church. If I confess
grace, salvation by free sovereign grace, they wouldn't listen to
that here. I've heard preachers tell me
that they believe the doctrines of sovereign grace, free sovereign
grace in Christ, but they cannot preach it from their pulpit because
their people wouldn't let them. My friend, that's the same thing
that's going on here. They claim to believe him, but
they will not confess him because they don't want to be thrown
out of the religious gathering. Well, what's the problem? Where
is their heart? Well, he says it right here.
They love the praise of men more than the praise of God. Men,
man and his judgments, his honor, his esteem takes precedence over
what God says. And whenever that's the case,
there's no saving faith. There's no true conviction. There's
no Holy Spirit work in the new birth. You see, it's just profession. Well, my friend, come to Christ
and confess Him before, believe on Him. You see, everlasting
life is in Him. You may love the praise and honor
of men, but that's futile. It's temporary. It's all going
to be gone. But that which comes from God,
the honor which God bestows of His own glory within the hearts
of His people will last forever. Don't let men set your agenda. Don't let men set your motive
or your goal or your message. Confess Christ before men. Now,
what are we to confess? Well, now, John 12 and verse
44, the Lord Jesus Christ, make several statements here that
puts it all in perspective. Look at verse 44. It says, "...Jesus
cried, and he said, He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but
on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him
that sent me." Now, what he's doing here, he's not denying his deity, he's confirming his
deity. First of all, what do we confess
concerning Jesus Christ? The one in whom we have everlasting
life. Now let me tell you this. If
any person can give everlasting life, I'm going to tell you,
that person must be God. Only God can give and sustain
life. Man cannot do that. Only one
who is God can give life, all life, but especially eternal
everlasting life. And if Christ is not God, then
he cannot give life. But here he says, he that believeth
on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. What he's
talking about is his relationship with the Father. He's not saying
that you don't believe on him, but he's saying you don't believe
on him only. In other words, To believe on Christ is to believe
on the Father. In other words, you can't believe
on the Father without Christ, without the Son. And that's the
point he's making here. There are a lot of people who
say, well, we're all worshipping the same God, but we're just
going different ways, like among the Buddhists or the Muslims
or the Jews, we're all worshipping the same... No, sir. Apart from
Christ, there is nothing but idolatry. Now that's so. You cannot come to the Father
and find salvation without Christ. You cannot worship the Father
acceptably without Christ. Everything that the Father is,
is revealed to a sinner through Christ. If you come to God without
Christ, you are not coming to a loving, compassionate Father. If you come to God without Christ,
you are coming to a righteous judge who will judge you according
to your works and find sin and damn you forever. You see, Christ
said it this way. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father. but by me." Now, the Jews here
would readily say that they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. We who know Christ will say,
we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see, that's
the covenant God of promise. That's the God of sovereign grace.
That's the God who saves sinners by His grace through Christ.
But my friend, if you don't know Christ, If you don't know salvation
and everlasting life in Him whom to know is life eternal, who
is both God and man in one person, who is the Son of God, the second
person of the Trinity, who has no beginning, who has no end.
If you don't know Christ as the Lord your righteousness, as the
one who shed his blood on Calvary as a perfect payment, full payment
for all the sins of his sheep, as the one who established the
only righteousness whereby God could be just and justify the
ungodly." If you don't know Christ, you don't know the Father. And
that's what he's saying here. Christ is God, he's God-man,
and in him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now that's
the fullness of the Father, the fullness of the Son, and the
fullness of the Holy Spirit. We don't believe in three gods.
One God who subsists in three distinct persons. And Christ
is the revelation of the Trinity. He is the revelation of the Triune
God. The Father sent him into the
world. You see, God the Father chose
a people before the foundation of the world and gave them to
his Son. set all of the responsibility,
all of the stipulations, all of the requirements of their
whole salvation upon his son. And in time he sent his son into
the world to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by
the Holy Spirit, to be born on this earth, to walk this earth
in perfect obedience to his law, and go to the cross and die for
the sins of his people to establish righteousness that would earn
He earned it everlasting life. So he's God. He's God. He came
forth from the Father. Now look at verse 46. Here's
the second thing that he tells us. He is truth. He said, I am
come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should
not abide in darkness. You see that? Christ is light. The very opening of the book
of John, in John chapter 1, speaks of Christ the living word, Christ
the word which was with God and which was God and is God, the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us, he tabernacled among
us, he is the light. All truth, all truth now, that
concerns everlasting life centers around the Lord Jesus Christ.
Without him there's nothing but everlasting death. Without him
there's everlasting damnation. But in him there is life. In his truth there is life. The truth concerning his person
that we just spoke of, he is God and man and one person. The
truth concerning his offices as prophet, priest and king,
there's one God. And one Mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, no other Mediator. If you seek
to come to God and be reconciled in any other Mediator than Christ
and Him alone, there is no reconciliation. The truth concerning His finished
work on the cross, the sins of God's elect were put away, borne
away on the cross. and the righteousness of God,
the entire merit of Christ's obedience unto death was legally
accounted to them. The truth of the Holy Spirit
that drives sinners to Christ, showing them their sinfulness
and his holiness and his power to save. All of that you see,
this is light. And as it was said in John chapter
3 and verse 19, he says, men hate light and they love darkness.
A man by nature, would rather dwell in the darkness of self-righteousness
and self-love and religious pride and be honored among men than
to bow to Christ and have everlasting life. And then his truth in the
gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. We believe what God enables us
to hear by his Spirit concerning the truth of Christ. And he says
in verse 47, here's the next thing that he says, he says,
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him
not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Now what he's talking about there
is that his coming into the world, his first advent, was not to
judge. But to save, to save who? The
world. Does that mean everyone without
exception? Obviously not. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, spiritual
Israel. God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation all over the world. And he says in
verse 48, he says, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words,
Hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken, the
same shall judge him in the last day." You see, you cannot believe
in Christ and not believe the truth of Christ. Christ is not
just some mystic phantom out there. They're the doctrine of
Christ, the Scripture says. And if you do not believe the
truth of Him, that same truth will judge you. Verse 49, he
says, "...for I have not spoken of myself, But the Father which
sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I
should speak." Now his union with the Father, his one will
with the Father, he was sent and commissioned by the Father,
the Father representing the sovereign authority of the Trinity, Christ
being subservient to the Father in office, You see, in nature
of person, they're one and the same. In nature of person, they're
co-equal in every attribute of their nature and character and
all the attributes of godliness. But for the purpose of redemption,
the son is subordinate to the father, serving the father, doing
the father's will for the purpose of saving his people. So he's
simply saying here, I'm not telling you what I've determined of myself,
but I came forth from the father. And I'm speaking what he commanded
me to speak. He's the sovereign authority.
And then he says in verse 50, "...and I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. So that whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." His commandment. What is his commandment? Here
it is, "...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved." That's the commandment of life. You see, if the commandment
was simply, keep the Ten Commandments, then it would be death. Because
as I said, by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by grace are you saved, through
faith the work of Christ. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. My
friend, to seek salvation and everlasting life by your law
keeping is death. But to obey the commandment of
God in the gospel, repent and believe in Christ. You see, believe
in Him, rest in Him, trust in Him, bow to Him, submit to Him
and His blood and righteousness as your only hope of everlasting
life and repent of ever thinking that salvation or everlasting
life could be attained by your works." Repent of that. So here's his commandment. His
commandment is everlasting life. Because in Christ, you see, everlasting
life cannot be attained by the act of believing. Everlasting
life is in Christ. I hope that's been helpful to
your understanding of the Scriptures. If you'd like to get a copy,
of this message, listen to the announcer as he gives you the
details. The title of today's message is Life Everlasting. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-432-6969. or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.