Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the Book of John, the Gospel
of John, and I'll be in chapter 16, the last part of this chapter,
beginning at verse 25. The title of the message is Christ
Going to His Father. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the second person of the Trinity, going to his father. Now, he told his disciples many
things in the upper room discourse where he was teaching them personally,
privately, concerning the work that he was sent to do and that
he was going to do. They expressed sorrows, they
even expressed doubts, that they were human beings, sinful human
beings, as we all are, and even those who are saved, who know
the truth. When we face circumstances and
situations that that calls us to doubt, calls us to wonder
why, why me Lord, that kind of thing. But Christ was, he's comforting
them and he tells them in verse 25 of John 16, he says, these
things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs. Now the word Proverbs
there is the Greek word for parable. So he says, I've spoken unto
you in parables, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak
unto you in proverbs or parables, but I shall show you plainly
of the Father. Now, you know what a parable
is. The word parable literally means
to stand alongside of. And what it is, it's an illustration
using various objects, subjects, people, situations to teach a
spiritual truth. And so the parable cannot be
taken literally. The parable has meaning behind
it. And if you'll recall over in
the book of Matthew chapter 13, if you want to look there, this
is where Christ began to speak what we call the kingdom parables. Parables that show the nature
and progress of the kingdom of God. that was established by
Christ in his first coming and in his obedience unto death on
the cross. And it says here that he began
to speak in parables and he began to speak, the first one he spoke
was the parable of the soils. Now that's the parable where
he talked about the seed being sown That's the word of God,
sown out in the preaching of the gospel, and the seed fell
upon different types of ground. He says some of it fell by the wayside. When he sowed,
it fell by the wayside. And the birds came and devoured
them up. In other words, that's the word
of God that finds no object. In other words, preaching to
people who have no interest in the word of God. And then he
says, some fell up on stony ground and they didn't take root. And when trouble came, they left
it. And so that's a stony ground
here and some fell up on thorny ground. and it was choked out
by the thorns of the world, riches of the world. And those describe
three types of unbelievers who heard the word of God, but it
didn't take effect under their salvation. The Bible says the
gospel is the power of God under salvation to everyone that believe
it, to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the justified shall live by faith. But in those first
three grounds, soils, the wayside, the stony ground, the thorny
ground, the gospel took no effect. And the reason it took no effect
is because it was not empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit.
Now Christ had just spoken to the disciples over in John 16
of how the Spirit would come and convict his people all over
the world, the world, not every individual without exception,
but his people, God's elect, Christ's sheep all over the world
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And what he's speaking
of there is the gospel that comes in the power of the spirit that
brings a sinner to life. It's the word of life. Because
by nature, we're spiritually dead. And before we can believe
and repent, we have to be made alive. We have to be born again
by the Spirit. Ephesians chapter two and verse
one says, you hath he quickened, made alive, who were dead in
trespasses and sins. And so in the parable of the
sower and the seed, the parable of the soils, the first three
soils represent spiritually dead sinners in different situations.
Some have nothing to do with the word. They walk away unaffected.
Others claim to believe it, but they don't really believe it.
There is a rival within their hearts, their dead, cold hearts.
And when trouble comes, they leave it, or when the riches
of the world appear, they leave it. But it says in Matthew 13,
verse eight, but other fell into good ground and brought forth
fruit, some 100 fold, some 60 fold, some 30 fold. Now this
was the first of the kingdom parables. And so we have the
wayside hearer, lost person, who heard it but didn't affect
him. The stony ground hearer, a lost person who heard it, received
it immediately without counting the cost, but didn't really believe
it. Then you had the thorny ground hearer, who's one who received
it, but it didn't take root and it was choked out by the thorns,
the riches of the world and the cares of the world. But the good
ground hearer is a true believer. And this good ground here does
not represent people who are good in themselves, because the
Bible's clear. Romans chapter three and verses
10 through 12, there's none righteous, there's none good, no, not one. So what is the good ground here?
Well, the good ground is the prepared new heart that God gives
to a sinner in the new birth. And God is the one who prepares
the heart. Now that goes back to what Christ
said in John 15 when he said, he was the vine and his father
is the husbandman. The good ground here is a sinner
who's been regenerated by the spirit, born again by the spirit,
and ready to receive the word of God by God-given faith and
brought to repentance. And so that's a sinner saved
by grace. Well, when Christ finished that
parable before he actually told them what it meant, and that's
another thing about the parables, whenever you see a parable, there's
always an explanation of it. But when he preached that parable,
he said in verse nine of Matthew 13, who hath ears to hear, let
him hear. And that's a common expression.
A lot of times the Lord said that, especially in the book
of Revelation. If you've got ears to hear, hear. Now, what
he's talking about is spiritual ears. In other words, it's a
hearing that is empowered by the Holy Spirit that brings a
sinner to receive that word and to bow to it and to believe it.
You must be born again or you cannot see their spiritual sight.
So he says, if you've got ears to hear, let him hear. And the
disciples ask in verse 10, they came and said unto him, why speakest
thou unto them in parables? Now, the them there, he's talking
about the crowd there, especially the Pharisees who were there.
And he answered in verse 11 and said unto them, because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it's not given. Why do you speak in parables?
Well, because it's a gift that's given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it's not given. Now,
who gives this gift? God does. It's a gift of God's
grace. So when you talk about these
parables, the reason he spoke in parables was to show his disciples,
whom he'd given this gift, the realities of the kingdom of heaven. But there's another thing he
says here that is amazing. He says in verse 12, for whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance,
but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that
he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they
seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. One of the reasons he spoke in
parables was to hide the truth from those who had continually
rejected it. And they weren't given the gift
of faith, they weren't given the gift of life, eyes to see,
ears to hear. But over here in John 16 in our
text, He said, I've spoken unto you in parables. But now there's
gonna come a time, he said, verse 25, when I shall no more speak
unto you in parables, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
In other words, you're going to see firsthand the glory of
the Father. Now how are you gonna see the
glory of the Father? How were they gonna see the glory
of the Father? Because the Bible teaches us
that no man can come directly into the presence of God the
Father and see Him, there would be certain death. In other words,
to go to the Father, to see the Father, and to be shown the glory
of the Father, we must, because we're sinners now, we must have
a mediator. an intercessor, an advocate,
one who will stand between the Father and us. And that's why Christ came to
this world, to establish a ground upon which God the Father is
reconciled to His people in justice and mercy, and that same ground
upon which His people are reconciled to Him. No man, he said, cometh
under the Father, but by me. You remember that in the book
of John. No man cometh under the Father,
but by me, he said. And he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father,
but by me. So you see, and he's telling
them they're gonna have a direct line to the Father, but it's
through the Son. We must have an advocate, Jesus
Christ the righteous. You see, in order to meet the
Father and to see the glory of the Father, we must look to Christ,
the Son of God incarnate. He is the Lord our righteousness.
We have no righteousness without Him. And no one who is unrighteous
can come before the Father and see His glory and live. So we must have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. We'll go back
to John 16 and he says in verse 26, At that day you shall ask
in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father
for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because you have
loved me and have believed that I came out from God. Now that
language, it may sound a little confusing to you, but all he's
simply saying is that I am your connection to the Father. And
there's no other connection. The Bible speaks of the glory
of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. The Bible says
in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9 that in Christ dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Father, Son, and Spirit. So he's
simply telling them, because you have loved me and have believed
that I came out from God, you see. He said, I will pray, I
say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for
the Father himself loveth you. In other words, you are a recipient
to enjoy the love of the Father through the Son. And that's a
key point. Look at verse 27, for the Father
himself loveth you, because you have loved me and have believed
that I came out from God. There's no love for sinners from
God apart from Christ. Outside of Christ, there's only
God's wrath, God's justice and punishment. And that is actually,
in the Bible, God's hatred. You see, when the Bible says
God hates the workers of iniquity, He's not talking about a sinful
hatred that is undeserved. You know why people reject any
idea of God hating somebody is because they don't believe we
deserve hatred, but we do. If God loves any of us, it's
grace. We didn't earn it and don't deserve
it. And so you read passages like 1 John 4, 10, which says,
herein is love, not that we loved him, but that He loved us and
gave His Son to be the propitiation, the sin-bearing sacrifice that
brought satisfaction, the propitiation for our sins. So outside of Christ,
listen, if you live your life in unbelief and die in unbelief,
you go to God, the great judge of all who is Christ, without
a righteousness. without forgiveness, without
the blood, and that's eternal damnation and death. So he says,
I go out from, I came out from God. Now look at verse 28 of
John 16. He says, I came forth from the
Father, and he'd proven that. He is God the Son in every attribute
of his character, deity, The miracles prove that. His message
proved that. I came forth from the Father
and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and
go to the Father. When Christ came into the world,
it is described this way in Galatians chapter four and verse four.
It said, in the fullness of time, that is in the appointed time,
God sent forth His Son. He came out from the Father.
God the Father sent forth His Son, made of a woman. That's His holy, sinless humanity,
created for Him in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit,
made of a woman, made under the law. That's the responsibility
that he had for the salvation of his people. Having all of
the salvation of God's chosen people, chosen before the foundation
of the world and given to Christ, all the responsibility of their
salvation was conditioned on him. And what did he have to
do? He had to satisfy the law, the justice of God. He was made
under the law. You see, the Bible says that
Christ came to keep the law and to satisfy its justice. And Romans
10 verse 4 says that Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment,
perfection of the law, finishing of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. So he was made of a woman, he
was made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And then he goes on
to say, because you are sons, he sends forth his spirit, the
spirit of adoption, to bring us to see what the reality of
this is. Well, so he says, I leave the
world and go to the Father. Well, you remember back in John
16, one of the things the Holy Spirit convicts God's people
of is of righteousness, he said in John 16, 10, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Well, what is the significance
of him going, he came out from the father, he came to this world,
he lived a perfect life, as the surety, the substitute and the
redeemer of his people, he went to the cross and accomplished
the redemption of his people, fulfilled every condition of
salvation, put away their sins, brought forth everlasting righteousness.
He did all of that. And His death, that's His blood,
was the satisfaction of the justice of God against the sins of His
people that had been imputed to Him. And He died, He was buried,
and then He arose again the third day. He walked among His people
and taught for a time And then he ascended back to the Father. Now how did he go to the Father?
He went by way of the law and the cross. He went by way of
resurrection and ascension. He went there as the Redeemer. He didn't go as one who made
a stab at redeeming us. Christ did not come to this world
to try to redeem you. If you're one of his sheep, he
did redeem you and he'll have you and you'll be in glory with
him. And the evidence of that is when you hear the gospel with
the hearing ear, you see the glory of God with the seeing
eye, the spiritual eye. You see that? He who hath ears
to hear, let him hear. And you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as he's identified and distinguished in the Bible. You'll
rest in him, you'll plead his blood, and His righteousness
alone for your salvation. You'll be like David of old.
God hath made a covenant with me and has ordered in all things,
ensure this is all my salvation and all my hope, nothing else. You'll submit to Christ as the
Lord your righteousness. And so he went to the Father
as the successful Savior who saved his people from their sins.
There'll be no one in hell for whom Christ died. All for whom
he said it in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. He went on to say, this is the
will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
And we're gonna see that in the next message concerning the Lord's
Prayer in John 17. You see, for anyone for whom
Christ died to perish in eternal damnation would be to destroy
the glory of God and the preeminence and glory of Christ. It cannot
be. God has a people and he's not
willing that any of them should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. So in John 16, he says, I go
to the Father, Christ going to the Father. In verse 29, his
disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and
speakest no parable. We're hearing you plainly now,
they said. Well, he'd been speaking plainly,
and then he began speaking in parables. But as I said, they
were weak human beings like all of us, sinners saved by grace. They grew in grace and in knowledge
of Christ. They grew in assurance, they
grew in faith. But he's speaking plainly. In verse 30 they said,
now are we sure that thou knowest all things? Really? Think about
it. He'd proved this so many times.
But they said, now are we sure that thou knowest all things?
And needest not that any man should ask thee? By this we believe
that thou camest forth from God. Now we know. It's settled in
their hearts. Now, you're going to see when
He embarks upon His road to the cross, they're going to waver
again. That's human beings for you. That's why salvation is by grace.
And that's why perseverance is based upon His preserving us. Because if He did not preserve
His people, we would not continue. We would not abide. So Jesus
answered them, do you now believe, this is verse 31, do you now
believe? Verse 32, behold, the hour cometh,
yea, is now come, that you shall be scattered. Now he's telling
them this. They're gonna run. Run like cowards. And I understand that because
the only way that any of us are gonna stand boldly for the truth
in opposition to those who want to kill us is by the grace of
God and he says you're going to be scattered every man to
his own his own house own home and shall leave me alone they're
going to abandon him he had to walk the wine press alone but
he says this he says and yet I am not alone because the father
is with me isn't that something How could He in His humanity
endure the sufferings, the pain, the affliction, the derision,
the cross? How could He endure that? Well,
the Father was with Him. And then we're told in other
passages He had a full measure of the Spirit of God was with
Him. And then He is God. One old writer said that Christ
offered up the sacrifice of his humanity upon the altar of his
deity. And it was because of who he
is that he was able to endure that. So he concludes this section
before he goes into his prayer. Verse 33, he says, these things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. Now
where's their peace coming from? not in themselves, but in Christ,
the prince of peace, the bringer of peace, the one who accomplished
the redemption of his people, that brought reconciliation between
God and sinners, peace by the blood of the cross. And he says,
in the world, you shall have tribulation. Now you know what
tribulation is, that's trouble. In this world, there's trouble. but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. This world's full of trouble
for God's people, but this world will not conquer us. Christ has
overcome the world. And how do you know that? Because
he's now with the Father as our advocate, making intercession
for us, keeping us, preserving us to bring us unto glory. all by His grace. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through
our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.