The gospel of John chapter 10
we're going to read three verses there and then we're going to
go back to Genesis the gospel of John chapter 10 and we'll
look at verses 28 29 and 30 Chapter 10 beginning with verse
28 Our Lord said and I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand
My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man
is able to pluck them out of my father's hand notice these
words here I and my father are one. One in the same. One in everything they do. One in all their thoughts. One
in all their actions. I and my Father are one. Now turn with me to Genesis chapter
22. At the end of January, our pastor
spoke on this passage. And what he did, he mentioned
a couple of things that brought some things to mind that were
a blessing to my heart and I want to share them with you. In Genesis
22 it says in verse 1, And it came to pass after these things
that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he
said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son.
thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood
for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of
which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son,
and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and this is the
phrase that spoke to me, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham,
saying, Father. And he said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they, again, they went, both
of them, together. And they came to the place which
God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid
the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on
the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, And
he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. And Abraham called the name of
the place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day in the mount
of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself
have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that
in blessing I will bless thee. and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which
is upon the earth on the seashore and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice. So
Abraham returned unto his young men and they rose up and went
together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelt. Beer Sheba they went both
of them together Verse 19 it says they went together to Beer
Sheba they went both of them together and I got thinking about
that and isn't that what the Father and the Son have done
for us in this great covenant of grace Isn't that what He's
done for us in the promise and the provision for salvation for
us? The Father and the Son are together
in this thing. No matter where they are, what
they're doing, it's always for His people. And He's always going
to bless His people. But you read in Scripture in
Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 6, Hear, O Israel, The Lord, our
God, is one Lord. Well, yes, He's one. He's one. There's only one God,
He says of Himself. And besides me, there is no other. But He's revealed to us in three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Don't ever expect me
to be able to explain that because I cannot. That's one of those
mysteries that belong to God. He's not shared how that could
be. But we do know there is a Father. We do know there is a Son. And
we do know that there is a Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact,
when our Lord was baptized, When he came up out of the water,
the Spirit of God, in the fashion as a dove, lit upon him, and
the Father spoke from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. A few chapters after that, we
find Peter, James, and John with our Lord going up the mount,
and Jesus Christ was transfigured before them. And they saw this
great, brilliant clothing that he was wearing. They saw him
as God himself. And God spoke from heaven again
and said, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. And then just
a few chapters after that, the Lord Jesus looks up to heaven
and says, Father, glorify thy name. And the voice spoke from
heaven and said, I have glorified it and will glorify it again.
They were together. Wherever you went and whatever
you know about Him, they were together in everything. They
went both of them together, Abraham and Isaac, and the Father and
the Son and the Spirit are all together. As a matter of fact,
our Lord said, John said that the in let's turn
to it because I can't quote it right now the gospel of John
chapter 1 verse 18 the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 18 It says here in verse 18, no
man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Philip said, show us the Father
and it suffices us. And our Lord said, Philip, I've
been so long with you and you've not known that if you see me,
you see the Father? We're one. One and the same.
The Father and the Son are one and the same. I and my Father
are one. They were one in creation. They
were one together in all the prophecies of Scripture. They
were together at his birth. A body was prepared for him. The Spirit of God came upon Mary
and that holy thing that was produced was the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. They were together in his daily
ministry. He said, I must, at 12 years
old, he said, I must be about my father's business. And in
John chapter 5 verse 30 he says, I do the will of my father. He also said, he does always
those things that please the father. And whatever the father
speaks, that's what he spoke. one in the same they were together
in the timing of the cross the scripture says the Lord Jesus
says of himself here in John chapter 6 or chapter 7 he says
my time is not yet come but in due time Paul said, Christ died
for the ungodly. In the fullness of time, Paul
said, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, to redeem them that were under the law. They were one together in the
garden of Gethsemane. In the first garden, the first
Adam failed. and failed miserably. He rebelled,
he was deliberate in his sin and it resulted in the ruin of
all mankind. Sin has passed upon all of us.
But the last Adam in the garden of Gethsemane was obedient, sinless,
submissive to the will of God. Not my will, but thy will be
done, he says. They were together in his high
priestly prayer. Look at it with me in John chapter
17. John chapter 17 verses 1, 2,
and 3. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. You get the picture? He's looking
up into heaven, and he speaks to his father. Father, glorify
thy Son, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." They're one
together. They're together. They were together
in his high priestly prayer. They were together as he wrought
redemption for all of us as we talked about this morning. God
the Father was there at the cross. God the Father was judging his
son whom he had made to be sin for us who knew no sin. And because
he was sin on the cross God's sword of justice pierced into
his son and his son bore our sins and the wrath of God that
was due upon us. They were together in the resurrection.
He's called the firstborn of God. He is called the firstfruits
of the Lord. They were together in the time
that God gave him all power. Look at it with me in Matthew
chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. Last three verses of that chapter.
Matthew 28. Beginning in verse 18, And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. He had to receive it from somebody.
He had to receive it from somebody. He and his father were one in
this thing. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And don't you like this statement? And lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the world. There He is. They were one together in that
power that was given. They are one together at the
throne of God. Where is He? He's seated at the
right hand of the Father. Now no man has seen God at any
time. How do we see Him? We see Him
through Jesus Christ, the God-man. He's seated there at the right
hand of the Father in His majesty. And they're one together in judgment.
One together in judgment. All judgment is given to the
Lord Jesus Christ, he said. And in Matthew chapter 25, all
the dead, small and great, are brought up before him. There
are the sheep and the goats. There at the judgment seat, the
great white throne judgment, the goats are on his left, the
sheep are on his right. And he judges both groups. One group says, How do we not
do these things? How is it that you said we didn't
feed the poor, we didn't do this, we didn't do that. We did all
kinds of stuff for you. You don't say depart from me,
you work of iniquity. I never knew you. But the other
group will say, well, when you were sick and you were impoverished
and you needed help, when did we help you? They didn't know
that they were doing good works. And the Lord said to them, enter
thou in to the joy of the Lord. They were together at the throne.
They were together in the judgment. But I want you to turn back again
with me to Genesis chapter 22. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
in it. And here he saw the day of the
Lord. Here he saw the day of the Lord. He saw that God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the angel of the Lord that we
read about here, are together in this thing. Abraham and Isaac
saw the salvation of the Lord. They saw it. They experienced
it. God told them where to go, God
told them what to do, and they experienced that. They went,
both of them together, on purpose. Everything God does is on purpose. Everything. Whether it's the
storm of Cookville, whether it's the sickness in your life, Whether it's the aches and hurts
that you have, whether it's the prosperity or non-prosperity
that you have, God is in control. It's all under His purpose. And
you know what? It's for our good and His glory. Everything He does is for our
good. It's for us. They went up together
on purpose. The eternal covenant of grace
is a covenant of purpose. Look at it in 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, the very familiar
verse we hear quite often, verse 9. Speaking of Jesus Christ who
has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. They went, both of them together,
on purpose. They gathered everything they
needed and headed out to the place called the Land of Moriah. On purpose, they made all the
preparations that was necessary. On purpose, our Savior, our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, on purpose, they made all the
preparations that were necessary for God's people to be saved,
to be delivered from this world of darkness to his marvelous
kingdom of light. You see, they brought the knife,
they split and carried the wood, they brought the fire, and then
Isaac says as they are traveling up the hill, we've got everything
else, where's the lamb for the sacrifice? You're not carrying
a lamb, you're not taking a lamb with us. God will provide Himself
a Lamb. Abraham did not know that that
was a prophecy. Because sure enough, He did at
the top of the hill. God has provided Himself a Lamb. And He did it at the top of the
hill. At Mount Calvary, He provided
the Lamb of God for all of us. Oh, I hope we can see in all
this the salvation of the Lord, that we can see Jesus Christ,
God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and work together for
the salvation of God's people. You remember the time that the
Israelites were fleeing from the Pharaoh's
army? And they went into a section
there, that on one side was the sea, on the other side was mountains,
and behind them was Pharaoh's army. They got restless. Fear came upon them. And Moses
stood up and said, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. And God moved that Shekinah glory
cloud between Israel and the army. On Israel's side it was
light all night long. On the army's side it was dark.
Now they had already experienced a darkness that you could feel.
As one of the plagues that was in Egypt. And there they were
in the dark again. They couldn't see the Israelites.
And then God told Moses, raise up your rod across the sea. He
raised it up and all night long that wind blew, parted that sea,
raised it up like walls and dried out the ground that the Israelites
would walk on. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. In Exodus chapter 15, the word
that's used for what God did with that water and ground was
congealed. And some of you ladies who cook,
you know what congealed means. God congealed the waters. They
just stood right over there. God freeze-dried the ground so
they could walk across. And God told Moses, now lead
them on. You know, there were some two
and a half to three million Israelites in that group. That's an undertaking. and God brought them all across
and he moved that Shekinah glory cloud and Pharaoh saw what was
happening and he rushed with his chariots and his army to
try to get to the Israelites when he went down into the sea
what happened? It melted, mud, stuck his chariots
and horses and then closed in upon him Pharaoh and his army was destroyed. You know there were two purposes
in all that. God glorified himself. He glorified
himself in justice. He got rid of all those that
army that was after his people and he justified himself in grace
in opening up the way and allowing the people to go across safely
they went across man, woman, child, animals and all their
substance drag, push or carry here they
went and they got across safely and Moses sang a wonderful song
about that Psalm 90, the psalmist rewrote it and sang it. And in
Exodus, Moses sang that song of the grace and wonder of our
God. You see, they went together on
purpose and they went together to execute God's purpose. They went up on the mountain.
They were going to execute God's purpose. They were going to do
exactly what God told them to do. God the Father has a purpose
and He executes that purpose. We call it Providence. He executes
that purpose. He does what he's decreed to
do and he makes sure that it's done. His son, Jesus Christ,
gave himself to be the one who would be surety for his people
and die for his people. They made the trip. They walked
up the mountain. They built the altar. They laid
out the wood. Abraham tied his only son, the
son of his promised from God, tied him up and laid him on the
altar and raised the knife and was ready to plunge that knife
into his son when God stopped him. As I said, they saw the
salvation of the Lord. God stopped him. The Lord put a stop to this and
the Lord provided the lamb that Abraham talked about. He provided
the Lamb. It was behind Abraham, caught
in a thicket. And our Savior came to this world,
caught in a thicket, came to this world, in this sin, sinful,
rebellious, old world. He became a man so that He could,
with that body, be sacrificed for His people, die for His people. The Lord provided His people
with the Lamb of God on the cross. The father judged his son in
our place. Our substitute. He substituted
himself for us. He satisfied the justice of God. He paid for all of our sin. They went both of them together
in providence. They went both of them together
preserved. Preserved. Abraham thought that
God would raise his son if he killed him. We find that in Hebrews
chapter 11. Look at that with me. Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17. By faith Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it is said
that in Isaac shall the ice-seed be called, accounting that God
was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also
he received him. In a figure Abraham was ready
to take his own son's life and God said no I've got a better
plan I've had it for all eternity We're gonna substitute a lamb
for your son We're going to give a lamb for
your son. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. In all eternity past, the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. In eternity past,
it was purposed. And in eternity past, and as
time went on, it was executed. And Jesus Christ hung on that
cross for you and me. Both of them were preserved.
You see the salvation of the Lord? You see what God was doing? Abraham thought he was going
to have to kill his own son. But he thought if he did, since he
was the son of promise, God would raise him from the dead. God
had a much higher purpose. You're not going to kill your
son. I'm going to sacrifice myself for him. I'm going to give my
life for him. And then they went both of them
together in perfection. Hey, they came down off the mountain. They came down off the mountain.
It was a finished work. It was done. You know, people
think they have to do something. No, there's nothing to do. Or
maybe that God has done what He could and we'll have to pick
up the rest. No. Salvation. Can you see it? It's done. It's done. It's done. I wrote it all across my page
right here. Done, done, done, done, done. It's done. Can you see the salvation of the
Lord in that? But I want to give you one more
thing. And I hope this will be a real blessing to you as it
was to me. Can you imagine Isaac, the thoughts
that's running through his head, when the altar is built, the
woods laid on the altar, and his daddy ties him up and lays
him on that altar. Can you imagine him thinking,
why is dad doing this? He's forsaking me. He's going to kill me. He's raising
that knife. Can you imagine that? Seemingly
there was one time in all of history when the Father and Son
and Spirit were not together. Seemingly. For a moment in time, I want
you to see it with me. Look in Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter
54. Look at verse 7. For a moment in time I have forsaken
thee. Psalm 22 verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Seemingly they were apart. In the gospel of Mark, he says,
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, that is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? As God poured out his wrath on
his beloved, dearly beloved son. who was made to be sin for us
and by the justice of God he had to be punished God turns
the light out three hours of darkness but was God there you read Psalm
22 And every time, three times, the Lord Jesus, that's a messianic
psalm, the Lord Jesus says, one time, my God, my God, why has
forsaken me? And then you read a little bit
later, you're my God. You've never left me. You've
always been there. You're holy. You're righteous. But he cries out, why hast thou
forsaken me? The father plunged the sword
of justice into his son. The son consumed the fiery wrath
of God on sin. He died the death that we all
deserve. And you know why he did that? So that we would not ever have
to suffer the wrath of God. Ever. Ever. Turn to Lamentations chapter
1. Lamentations chapter 1. That's
right between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It's a little book sandwiched
right between them. Between Jeremiah and Ezekiel
you'll find Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 1. And verse 12, our Lord is speaking here. Is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me? I'll
tell you why. So that you and I would never
have to be forsaken. Ever. Never. Never. Hebrews 13 says, He will
never leave you nor forsake you. Now the Greeks have a way of
saying things. And in the Greek New Testament,
if they use one negative, it means no. But if they use two
negatives, it means absolutely no. And here, in Hebrews 13,
5, he uses five negatives. You think you get the picture?
He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Never! Never! Lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world. We may be persecuted, but we'll
never be forsaken. He said, I will in no wise cast
you out. No man. By the way, when he said,
I will in no wise cast you out, he uses two negatives in there. In the English language, if we
use two negatives, we've used the English language wrongly.
Don't use no double negatives. Think about it. No man, he said,
is able to pluck them out of my hand. We are secure in what
Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit has done for
us. We're secure. You want eternal
security? It's the person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. You'll never find it any other
place. You can read and study all you want, but you won't find
it any other place. But in Jesus Christ our Lord. One last verse. Turn with me
to Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah chapter 62. They went both of them together.
Isaiah chapter 62. Verse 4, look at the promise
of the Lord. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. That will not be a name that
will ever wear. Those are in Christ Jesus. Thou
shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land be termed
desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah. What that means? My delight is
in her. He delights in us. He delighted
to give His mercy to us and He delights in His people. And thy
land Beulah. That means married. We're the
bride of Christ. We belong to Him. The church,
Zion. The true Israel. and for the Lord delighteth in
thee, and thy land shall be married. Look at verse 12. And they shall call them the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called
sought out. Not forsaken or desolate. You're
gonna be called sought out. a city not forsaken. Thank you, Lord, that you'll
never leave me nor forsake me. Thank you, our Father, for the
word today. Thank you, Lord, for the fact
that you are always one in the same and together, Father, Son,
and Spirit. And thank you Lord that you were
forsaken on the cross. That we would never ever be forsaken. When Isaac saw that he could
die at any moment and our Lord Jesus speaking to Abraham and
showing him a ram caught in a thicket. Isaac saw the salvation of the
Lord. Abraham saw your day and rejoiced
in it. Oh may we see your day and be
people who rejoice in so great salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's stand together and
sing