We'll turn in your Bibles to
John chapter 17. My text here will be the first
five verses of John 17. And the title of this message
is Knowing the Only True God. Now, as you might imagine, that's
an awesome subject, knowing the only true God. I mean, you could
spend a lifetime knowing God. But I'm not talking here about
knowing that there is a God or even knowing about God. I'm talking about knowing God
here in a way that will identify Him and distinguish Him in your
mind from all idols in this world. Knowing the only true God. That's the title. Let's read
these first five verses together. 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. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And that word given right there,
it can also be interpreted entrusted, as thou hast entrusted to him. God gave the Son of people before
the foundation of the world. In other words, he entrusted
their entire salvation, their complete salvation, into the
hands of the Son. Left nothing, no conditions for
them to meet, but entrusted them fully to the Son. Verse 3. And
this is life eternal. that they, those that have been
entrusted to Christ, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," and you can see that's
where I got my title, the only true God. Verse 4, "'I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do, and now, O Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." You
see, Christ had a glory, and that last glory he's talking
about there in verse 5, he's not talking about the glory he
had as the Son absolutely considered. He is God the Son absolutely
considered. He's talking about the glory
he had as the mediator, as the substitute, as the surety and
representative of a people. He had that glory with God the
Father before the world began. We'll probably see that a little
more as we get to the lesson. As I said, this lesson called
Knowing the Only True God is not knowing about God. It's not
knowing that there is a God. This lesson is about knowing
God, the only true God, in a way, in the only way. that distinguishes
him from all idols of men's imaginations. So, I'll ask this question. What
does it take, what is required for a sinner to know the only
true God in such a way that distinguishes that God from all idols? And
we'll consider three things on this question. First, it required
the incarnation, the obedience and death of the Son of God.
Now, incarnation, some of you might not be familiar with that
word. That's just a big word. It simply means the joining or
uniting of deity and humanity. God the Son joined together with
his deity, true humanity, body and soul. He was already God
the Son. He was always God the Son, but
he took into union with his divine person. true humanity in order
to fulfill the offices that he was assigned. He is the God-man,
God and man in one person. Listen to Galatians 4 and verse
4. It says, But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent
forth his Son. He sent the Son, made of a woman. There is his humanity. Sent the
Son as his deity. He was made under the law to
redeem them who were under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons. God the Son, I'm talking about
His incarnation, He had to join Himself with true humanity, body
and soul. He had to be made of a woman.
He had to live under the law in order to obey that law perfectly
and continually. He had to offer himself without
spot to God in order to pay the sin debt that the many who were
given or entrusted to him owed, but none could pay. That's what
it says back here in verse 1. Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee. Here's what Christ
is saying right there in that verse. Father, He's speaking
of His impending death on the cross, by the way. And what he's
saying is, Father, the hour has come for you to bring me to the
completion of that work that you assigned me to do, to bring
me to the fulfillment of my office as a substitute and the responsibility
as the surety of those whose total salvation you entrusted
me with before the world began. He had given some to him and
entrusted them to Christ. Christ's death on the cross,
which is the culmination of his complete work, Christ's death
on that cross as the substitute, bearing in His body the sins
of those His Father had entrusted to Him. That's where God's justice
in salvation was put on display. When He went to the cross, that
was a just God who put Him there. That was a just God who sent
Him there. When God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for every sinner He represented. That was God's justice pouring
out His wrath on Christ, on Christ to substitute because of those
sins that He had imputed to Christ. The sins of His elect were charged
or imputed to the account of Christ. And God's wrath spared
Him not when He poured out, when He imputed those sins to Him
on the cross. When God gives a sinner all the
benefits and blessings of salvation, we see the same just God. Showing
mercy to a sinner because of the righteousness Christ established,
imputed, and charged to that account. You see, there's that
double exchange. Those to whom God entrusted the
complete salvation before time began. He gave them to Christ
and entrusted Christ with their complete salvation. At the cross,
the sins of those were imputed to Christ, and He established
a perfect righteousness which is imputed, charged to the account
of those sinners. That's how we can stand righteous
and holy in God's sight, because Christ bore our sins and gave
us in exchange the perfect righteousness He worked out. If Christ had
not completed his work as surety, as substitute, if he had not
come and paid the debt he had obligated himself in that everlasting
covenant before the world began, if he had not established the
one righteousness by which God justifies ungodly sinners like
you and me, there would be no just God to hear about. There
would be no just God to get to know, to come to know. Christ
had to fulfill God's holy law and satisfy his inflexible justice
in order for God to be glorified, to be honored as the just God
and Savior that he is. Think about this for a minute.
What makes it right for God to punish one sinner with eternal
death, to send him to eternal misery, and to give another sinner
all the blessings of heaven when both sinners are equally deserving
of eternal death based on the best obedience they can render.
What makes it right for God to send one to heaven and one to
hell? How can he do that? Your answer to this question
will reveal the God in your mind. The answer is not found in sinners. It's found in the Savior. The
only scriptural answer is this. How can God send one sinner to
heaven and one sinner to hell? Because the Son of God became
incarnate, because he obeyed the law, because he bore the
sins of the one in his body on the tree and established the
righteousness by which God justified the one. And he did none of those
things or the other. The answer, you see, is in the
Savior. The answer is in Christ crucified.
It's in Christ's incarnation, his obedience, his death. It's
in his work on the cross to satisfy law and justice and to establish
that righteousness by which God can count any of us righteous
in his sight. The first thing required in order
for sinners to know the only true God is the incarnation,
obedience, and death of the Son of God. The second thing required
in order for a sinner to know the only true God is the declaration
of Christ. Look back at verse 3 in our text
here in John 17. He says, And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. The only true God is revealed
only by Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. And the Christ he sent
is declared only in the gospel. The true gospel, not a false
gospel. The gospel wherein the very righteousness
of God is revealed. Look over with me to Luke chapter
10 in verse 22. The second thing a sinner that
is required in order for a sinner to know the only true God is
the declaration of Christ. Luke 10 in verse 22 says, All
things are delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows who
the Son is except the Father. And no one knows who the Father
is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him. By nature, none of us has the
knowledge we're talking about here in this context. None of
us has knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
He sent. By nature, none of us are seeking
after this God. By nature, all of us are seeking
a God of our imagination. We have to learn of this God.
And to learn of this God, we have to hear of Him. And how
do we hear of Him? Through the Christ that He sent.
The Son alone knows the Father. And He alone must reveal Him.
But how do we get to know the Son? Since the Father alone knows
the Son. No one knows the Son except the
Father. How do we get to know the Son?
Well, God has to bring us to the gospel. He has to sit us
down under that message that reveals the Son. The gospel is
the declaration of Christ's finished work. Christ said in John 17.4
here, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The
gospel is the declaration of Christ's accomplished salvation.
It's the declaration of what Christ did to satisfy law and
justice. to bear away the sin of His chosen
people, to bring in an everlasting righteousness, and to save His
people from their sins. And until we hear the gospel,
we don't know Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent. There's no way
for us to know that. You don't come to this knowledge
by nature. You don't come to this knowledge in this world's
religion. You have to sit down under the gospel to hear of the
One the Father sent. So the only way to know the only
true God is to hear of the Christ that he declares in his gospel.
But some might object. What about creation? I believe
in the God who created this universe. Isn't the only true God the creator
of this universe? Of course he is. He is the creator
of this universe. The heavens declare the glory
of God, Psalm 19 says. They declare his creative glory.
all that he demonstrated in his creation, his powers, wisdom,
his faithfulness. But God has not chosen to distinguish
himself as the only true God by his creative glory. You could
study creation as long as you want to, and you'd never come
to know the only true God. It's the same thing with providence.
One might say, I believe that God is sovereign in providence. Nothing happens that God has
not ordained. God is in control of the most
minute detail of every event and every moment. Isn't the only
true God the sovereign God of providence? He is the sovereign
God of providence. He is in control of the most
minute detail of every moment and every circumstance. Listen
to Daniel 4 and verse 35. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you
done? He is the sovereign God of this universe. This speaks
of God's glory in providence. But again, God has not chosen
to distinguish himself as the only true God through his providential
glory. You can believe that God is the
creator. You can believe that he's the God of providence. Both
are true. Those are facts, true facts,
stated in this Word about God. But believing neither of these
truths, these truths about the true God, believing these truths,
neither of them will distinguish Him in your mind as the only
true God. God has chosen His glory in salvation,
His redemptive glory. how he is just and justifier
of ungodly sinners based on the righteousness of Christ alone.
He has chosen his glory and salvation as that alone which distinguishes
him as the only true God. Listen to what Isaiah wrote hundreds
of years before Christ came in Isaiah 45, verse 21. Tell ye
and bring them near. Let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none
beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. He is distinguished as a just God and a Savior. To know
God as the only true God, you must know about His righteousness. You must know what makes it right,
or how God is just, to show mercy to sinners, who by nature and
by practice deserve nothing but His wrath and judgment. And the
answer to that is in Christ's obedience unto death alone, the
righteousness He worked out, which alone enables God to show
mercy to sinners. The only way to know the only
true God is through the Christ he sent, and the Christ he sent
is declared only in the gospel. The second thing required in
order for sinners to know the only true God is the declaration
of Christ to the mind through the gospel. But there's one more
thing, a third and final thing required in order for sinners
to know the only true God, and that is the revelation of Christ
in the heart by the Spirit. You see, it's not enough just
to hear the gospel. It's not enough just to hear
about the true Christ. There must be a work done in
the heart. You must be born again is what Christ told Nicodemus.
Look back at verse 3 of our text. And this is life eternal that
they might know the only true God. We'll stop right there.
The only true God is known only by the Christ He sent. That is,
He is known only by what Christ did to fulfill His law. and satisfy
his justice, and establish the one righteousness by which he
justifies ungodly sinners." Now note what this verse doesn't
say about God here. It doesn't say the only God. It says the only true God. When confronted by the subject
of knowing the only true God, there are two preconceived notions
in the mind of us all by nature, at least initially. that cause
us to take offense even at the subject. Let's explore those
two notions. First preconceived notion is,
what do men say when you say, are you worshipping the true
and living God? Are you worshipping the only
true God? What do they say? There's only one God. That's
the first preconceived notion in the minds of men. The problem
is the scriptures won't support that. There is only one true
God. That's true. But there are many
ideas of God. There are many that men call
God. There are many idols in the imaginations
of men. We heard it back here just a
few minutes ago. Goliath cursed David. How? By his gods, by his idol, Goliath
the giant. From the fall of man, men have
had their ideas of God. Throughout the history of fallen
humanity, many have called many their God. Men have worshipped
the idols of their imagination. Some of these idols are carved
out of wood, some out of stone. Some are just images in the mind
of men. Cain came to such an image when
he brought the works of his own hands. And what did the only
true God do? He rejected Cain. He rejected
his sacrifice. The first commandment given to
Israel under Moses, we're talking about this preconceived notion
in the minds of men that there's only one God. The first commandment
given to Israel under Moses is this, Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. I thought there was only one
God. Why would God give a commandment to have no other gods if there
is only one God? Listen to what Joshua instructed
the children of Israel in Joshua 24. Thus says the Lord God of
Israel, Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham,
and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river
in old times, and they served other gods. Verse 14, Now therefore
fear the Lord. Serve him in sincerity and truth,
and put away the gods which your father served on the other side
of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. And if it seem
evil to you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods which your father served that
were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell. But as for me, Joshua said, me
and my house, we will serve the Lord. Throughout the Old Testament,
God refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the only true God, as opposed to all the other gods that the
nation Israel worshipped at various times. And you might be thinking,
well, that was true in the Old Testament, but what about the
New Testament? It's not true now. It's not true
in this day and age. Men don't still worship many
gods in this day and age. Listen to what Paul wrote in
Romans 7 and verse 9. Paul said, for I was alive once
without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died. What Paul is saying here is when
he thought he was alive without any knowledge of law and justice
satisfied in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, he thought
he was alive by his efforts to keep the law. He thought he was
doing everything required by God for him to stand and for
God to accept him based on his work. Now, was Saul of Tarsus'
mind at that time, was the God in his mind at that time the
only true God, or was he an idol of Saul's imagination? In Philippians
3, when Paul lists those things he thought were recommending
him to God, a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, of
the tribe of Benjamin, all those things that men of his day would
glory in as having some part in recommending him to God. When
he was doing that, was the God in his mind a God who received
him based on the work of Christ alone, the only true God, or
a God which he thought received him based on those things found
in him? Look over at 1 John 5. Paul is not the only one that
wrote about other gods. John wrote about them here in
1 John 5, in the last two verses of that book. 1 John 5, verse
20. He says, And we know that the
Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we
may know him that is true. That's the same thing he's talking
about back in John 17. That we may know the only true
God. And we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. And listen to this last verse.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. He's talking to justified
sinners here. He's talking to those who've
come to the knowledge of the true and living God, who've been
born of God, who know the only true God. But he says, keep yourselves
from idols. We have to constantly be on guard
in our day and age. We encounter circumstances where
these idols are being put to the forefront. And we'll either
take part in it, or we'll Stand against it, one or the other.
We have to constantly be on guard against the idols of our generation. If there's only one God, which
is the preconceived notion in the mind of all of us by nature,
if there's only one God and only one Christ, why are John and
Paul so thorough in their explanations as specific in their commands?
Well, the answer from God's word is simple, because there is only
one true God, but there are many called God. by men. There are
many idols in men's imaginations. The second preconceived notion
in the mind of men, all of us by nature, that causes this subject
to be offensive is a conclusion drawn from the error of this
first preconceived notion. The conclusion is that since
there's only one God, which is what we all believe by nature,
there's only one God. Everybody's worshipping the same
God. Now, we may be worshipping in different ways, but we're
all headed toward that same place. We're worshipping the same God.
So, since there's only one God, any and all who worship, they're
worshipping the only true God. This is that second erroneous
preconceived notion. Some might limit this only to
those who worship in the name of Christ, but the scriptures
don't support this notion either. The scripture is clear that none
of us start out seeking the only true God. Listen to Romans 3,
verses 10 and 11. Paul says, As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. Now, he's not saying here that
there's none seeking after a God. He's not saying that men aren't
religious. We're all religious by nature. And we're all seeking
a God before God brings us to the gospel. He's saying that
none are seeking after the only true God. All of us by nature
are seeking an idol of our imaginations. So how are any to be delivered
if all of us start out that way? How are any to be delivered?
Only by the revelation of Christ in the heart under the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. We have to be brought to the
gospel. God has to sit us down under the gospel. We have to
hear of a Savior who by his obedience unto death alone satisfied God's
law and justice on behalf of every sinner whose full salvation
the Father had entrusted to him before the world began. And the
Spirit has to make that message, the gospel, effectual to our
hearts. He has to convince us that all
our efforts to please God up to the time we heard of the only
true God and the Christ he sent were dead works and fruit unto
death. that our only hope is to be found in the mercy of God
and the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Our works and
efforts totally excluded from having any part in saving us
are keeping us safe. He has to turn us from our idols
to serve the living and true God. Paul stated this to the
Thessalonians as one of the main evidences of their salvation.
Randy preached on this passage a few weeks ago But let me just
read it to you from 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 6. He says to the Thessalonians,
ìAnd you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
so that you became ensembles to all in Macedonia and Achaia
who believe. For from you the word of the
Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but
in every place. Your faith has gone out so that
we do not need to say anything, for they themselves declare concerning
us what manner of entry we had unto you." In other words, what
effect the gospel message we preached unto you had on you.
What manner of entry we had unto you, how you turned to God from
idols to serve the living and true God. That's what everyone
who is born of God does. He turns from his idol to serve
the living and true God. When the true Christ is revealed
in the heart, and in turn reveals the only true God, that one to
be the one he sent. Sinners repent of their dead
works in former idolatry. In other words, they give evidence
that they have come to know the only true God. They give evidence
that they have eternal life. This is what I did about twenty-some
years ago when God sat me down under the gospel and showed me
that I believed a God for I don't know how many years, a God that
sent His Son to die for all men without exception. And He would
save whoever would see himself a sinner and believe that Christ
died for their sins and live a lifestyle appropriate with
such a confession. I believed that God. But that
God was revealed by the gospel to be an idol of my mind, no
God at all, a God who couldn't save me. So the third thing required
in order for sinners to know the only true God is the revelation
of Christ in the heart by the Spirit of God. Now I'm going
to summarize what I said here. It's really not all that complicated,
and I can summarize it very shortly. Knowing the only true God requires
three things. First, the incarnation, obedience,
and death of God the Son. Christ had to come. He had to
bear away the sins of his people on the cross. He had to obey
the law in every gotten tittle. He had to establish that very
righteousness by which God can justly declare a sinner righteous. Christ imputed righteousness
alone. The second thing, the declaration of the true Christ
to the mind by the gospel. God has to sit you down under
the gospel. He has to bring you where the gospel is preached.
And the third thing is the revelation of Christ in the heart by the
Spirit. He has to do a work of grace
in the heart. He has to give you life. That's what this eternal
life is, to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. That's the
evidence that He's given you eternal life. So I ask you, is
this the God you're worshiping? The God who has saved you and
is keeping you based on the finished work of Christ alone? Your efforts
totally excluded from saving you or keeping you. Has God turned
you from your idol to serve the only true God? If not, I pray
that he will. There's no evidence of eternal
life. No evidence of knowing the only true God until he does.