Look once again at verse two. Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken.
The God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham. And I've entitled this message,
The God Who Appears. The God Who Appears. The God of glory appeared to
Abraham and he appeared to him as the God of glory. Anytime
he appears to a man or woman, they're going to see him as the
God of all glory. And that appearance made Abraham
pack up and leave all he knew and go to the place God told
him to go. That appearance was so glorious.
How did Abraham do it? If you would have seen what Abraham
saw, you would have done it too. That appearance was so glorious
that Abraham left all he knew and went to the land that God
told him to go to. Later on in this chapter, we
read in verse 30 of chapter seven, And when 40 years were expired,
now let me give you the background. Moses was brought up in Egypt,
learned and skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And
he thought that they would understand. that the Lord was going to use
him to deliver him. This was when he was 40 years old, but
it didn't work out the way he thought it would. And he had
spent 40 years on the backside of a desert in utter obscurity,
tending sheep. He went from being this somebody
in Egypt to a nobody in the backside of a desert. 40 years. You think
of that, that's a long time. 40 years. And what took place? And when
40 years were expired, there appeared to him, there's that
word, the God who appears. He didn't see him, but God appeared
to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. And then the angel in
a flame of fire in the bush. And you remember the story. He
saw that bush on fire that could not be consumed. And that's when
Jehovah revealed himself to Moses as I am that I am. Take off your shoes. The place
you're standing is holy ground because it's where I am. Now
with both Abraham and Moses and everybody else who ever sees
God, He cannot be known or seen unless He appears to you personally. He cannot be known, He cannot
be seen, He cannot be experienced unless He appears to you personally. Unless God appears to you purposely,
personally and makes himself known, you'll never know him.
Nor will you care to know him. It's not something that will
even trouble you. And if he doesn't appear to us
personally, when we die, we'll go to hell. That's a sobering
thought, but it's so. If someone is offended by that,
I'm sorry, it's still so. If he doesn't appear to me and
you personally and make himself known personally, we will not
be saved. And here's what I'm saying. You
and I are shut up to revelation. We are utterly and entirely dependent
upon him appearing to us. making himself known, manifesting
himself to us, showing us himself and giving us ears to hear, eyes
to see, and a heart to receive. And if he doesn't do that, we
will never know him. We will never be saved. Now, seeking the Lord. I said
something about this in Sunday school this morning. Seeking
the Lord. What does that mean? Lord, make
yourself known. If you don't make yourself known
to me, I can't know you. I can't understand anything about
you. Lord, make yourself known. Now that's when, as far as our
experience goes, salvation begins. I love that passage of scripture
with regard to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a rich, dishonest
publican, a despised man. But the scripture says he sought
to see Jesus who he was. Now that's when salvation begins.
He sought to see Jesus who he was. And you know what happens
when you seek to see Jesus who he was? He found out he couldn't
do it. He couldn't. He was little of stature. I can't
do this. The only way I can see him is
if he makes himself known to me. I cannot see him. I thought
that scripture in John chapter 12, I love that. Sirs, we would
see Jesus. That was their desire. Sirs,
we would see Jesus. Now, there was a time when you
didn't seek the Lord. Now you do. Why? Because he put it in your heart.
That's the only reason. I was found of them that sought
me not, and made manifest to them that now ask not after me.
Now, listen to this. This is important in understanding
this thing of the Lord appearing. The Lord doesn't appear to everybody. Why bring this up? Because the
Bible does. That's enough of a reason. Somebody
says, well, that seems like you're dwelling on something negative.
No, it's what the Lord says. He said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you have revealed these things. No, you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent. and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. And the Lord Jesus rejoiced in
spirit at the thought of that. I think of the Lord saying, No
man can know the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. And I think of that scripture
in John chapter 12, where it says, Jesus did hide himself
from them. Well, that's scary, isn't it?
Jesus did hide himself from them, so they couldn't see him. Thou verily are to God that hidest
thyself. So if he appears to you and makes
himself known to you, it's an instance of his free Sovereign,
distinguishing, discriminating grace. Now we look at discrimination
as a bad word, and it is a bad word among men, but the only
hope you'll have of being saved is if God discriminates and does
something for us that he doesn't do for somebody else. And that's
just so. Paul is on the road to Damascus,
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord. He wasn't seeking the Lord. He
hated Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden, a light
shining from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Lord. He now knew who he was. Lord, what would you have me
to do? You see, this is an instance
of God's distinguishing grace. If he's appeared to you, it's
because he sovereignly chose to appear to you and make himself
known Who makes you to differ from somebody else? What do you
have that you didn't receive? If he appeared to you, it's because
he was pleased to do so. And when he appears to someone,
there is always a response. Listen to this, Mark 3 11. Unclean
spirits. We're talking about demon possession. Unclean spirits. when they saw
him. You see, he appeared to them
and they saw who he really was. You know what they did? They
fell down before him and cried saying, thou art the son of God. No one ever sees him without
a response. Turn to Mark chapter five for a moment. Verse one, and they came over
onto the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship immediately, there met him
out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. who had his dwelling among the
tombs. And no man could bind him, no,
not with chains, because they'd been often bound with fetters
and chains. I think that's a reference to
human religion. And the chains and fetters had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could
any man tame him. That's what religion tries to
do, is tame men. And always, night and day, he was in the
mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. You see, anybody who sees him,
when he makes himself known, when he appears to a man, it's
always with saving intentions, everyone he appears to, They're
gonna hit the dirt and they're going to worship him. And he
cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee,
Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I'm darkness, you're light. You're holiness, I'm sin. You're
glorious, I'm altogether. What have I to do with thee? Now, anybody that ever sees the
Lord, that's going to be their response. That's how they're
going to see themselves. What have I to do with thee?
I do thee by God that thou torment me not. Now, the problem with
most people's religion is they've never had an appearance from
the Lord. That's why they think so highly
of themselves. and speak things so contrary to the God of the
Bible. They've never had an appearance
of the Lord. They've never seen him as he
is. If you ever see him, it'll take
the starch out of you. Now, regarding seeing the Lord,
I'm gonna give you a couple of things. There are things we can
know about God without Him appearing to us, without revelation. There are things that we can
actually know about God that are true and accurate without
any appearance from Him, without a revelation. Turn with me to
Romans chapter one, verse 18. for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold, and that is
literally hold down the truth in unrighteousness. And here's
what they do when they hold down the truth, because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them. For God hath showed
it unto them, for the invisible things of him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse. You can look at creation. And you see, somebody made this
and nobody made him. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He must be all-powerful to create
the world. And He is eternal. No one made
Him. Now that is known by nature. Somebody says, I don't believe
in God. I don't believe you. You do too. You know better.
You might try to convince yourself that you don't believe in God.
But when you put your head on your pillow at night, there's
this fear. God is. God is. Now, you can know all that and
even draw logical conclusions from that. Well, if God's eternal,
then this must take place. And if God is all powerful, then
he must be this way and that way. You can make these logical
deductions from the light of creation. Creation screams, God
is. He's eternal and all powerful.
Everybody can see that God is. But do you know you can know
all that and still not have a revelation from God? That's just something
you can have naturally, but you can't really know the living
God from that knowledge. You're going to have to have
something more than that. Well, we have something more than that.
We've got the word of God. You know, I was thinking while
I was sitting here, isn't it amazing that we're sitting here wanting
to hear from a book that was written over a 1500 year period
and hadn't been anything added to it for over 2000 years. And
here we are sitting here wanting to hear a message out of this
book. This book is the word of God. Now, somebody says, how
do you expect me to believe that? Well, if you believe God can
create the universe, You believe God can write a book, inspire
men to write it, and keep it pure and preserve it from error
and men's additions. It's just as easy to believe
that as it is to believe that God created the universe. As
a matter of fact, I wouldn't trust anything that's not written
in a book. Just because some man said, I don't trust what
men say. I trust what God says in his word. God tells us what
he is like in this book. All scripture, all scripture. is given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine,
for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all
good works. Now, I love the Bible. In the
Bible, we find out things we would have never known about
God, that he's merciful, that he's gracious, that he's absolutely
just, that he's holy, that he's immutable. You find out what
God's like. But do you know, you and I can't
even understand the scriptures if God is not pleased to open
our heart and open our understanding. I don't care how smart you are.
I don't care how high your IQ is. You and I cannot understand
one thing in the Bible unless God is pleased to appear to us
and make himself known in his holy word. He is the God who
appears. Now, Abraham in our text was
an idolater with his fathers when God appeared to him. As
a matter of fact, if you read Isaiah 51 too, it appears that
there were not any believers in the whole earth at this time,
because God said, I appeared to him alone. There he was in
idolatry, no desire for God, he was just satisfied with things
the way they are. People talk about man having
this hunger for God, men don't hunger for God, they do not.
He was flat out satisfied with his life, had a lot of money,
a lot of friends, and God appeared to him. Turn to Genesis chapter
12. Verse one. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred. and from thy
father's house unto a land that I will show thee, and I will
make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless
them that bless thee, and I'll curse them that curse thee, and
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now
this is God's promise to Abraham. And as a matter of fact, Paul
quotes this in Galatians 3, 3, 8 as being the gospel. Here's the gospel. In thee shall
all nations of the earth be blessed. Because in thee is the promised
seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, all nations of the earth will be blessed. Now, if God
appears to you, he appears to you in the gospel, always. Look in verse seven of chapter
12. And the Lord appeared unto Abram. There we have it again. The Lord
appeared, he made himself known, he manifest himself to Abram.
And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, unto thy seed will
I give this land. He hears the promise again. And
there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him
and he removed from this. Now, when the Lord appears, you
know what you're going to do? You're going to see the necessity
of an altar. You're going to see the necessity
of sacrifice. You're going to see this God
who appears to you. You're going to see the absolute
need of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, or He can't
have anything to do with you. You wouldn't dare come any other
way. He built an altar. All of a sudden,
the sacrifice of Christ was supreme to him. He knew he couldn't come
into God's presence apart from Christ. Somebody says, did he
understand it was Christ? Yes. Yes, he knew Christ hadn't
come yet, but he knew the only way he would be saved is because
of the coming one, just like Abel did. Abel understood what
he was doing, and so did Abraham. He knew that this pointed to
the only way he could be accepted is through the precious shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what else did he do? He called
upon the name of the Lord. You see, when the Lord appears
to you, here's what you're gonna do. Lord, save me! Save me by your justice. Save
me by your grace. Save me by your power. Save me by your wisdom. You call
upon all the name of the Lord, all of His glorious attributes
to save you. That's what happens when the
Lord appears to somebody. They see they're sinners, and
the only way they can come into God's presence is through the
sacrifice. And they call upon His name, Abraham, called upon
the name of the Lord. Look in verse eight, he removed
from thence into a mountain in the east of Bethel. He pitched
his tent having Bethel on the west and high on the east. And
there he built an altar. There he building another altar
and called upon the name of the Lord. Now, when the God of glory
appears to a man, he knows who he is. Look in Genesis 14. This is the story of Abraham
rescuing Lot. There had been a big battle,
and a king took a bunch of people, and included in it were Abraham's
nephew Lot. And he goes back to rescue him,
and he does it. He had 318 trained servants,
and he, through the power of God, whipped those kings, and
he brought these men back. And the king of Sodom is meeting
him at this time, and he says, beginning in verse 17, And the kingdom of the Sodom
went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of
Chedolahomer, of the king's were with him at the Valley of Sheba,
which is in the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
and I have no doubt that this is a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. And Melchizedek, the king of
Salem, brought forth bread and wine. Now only the Lord, how
come he didn't bring a blood sacrifice? Because he is the
sacrifice. That's why he brings bread and wine. He doesn't have
to bring a blood sacrifice because he himself is the sacrifice.
This is why I know this is the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other
priest would have brought what? Blood. A sacrifice, but not this
priest. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, let's go on reading. He was the priest of the most
high God and he blessed him. and said, blessed be Abram of
the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. I love that
scripture in Hebrews when it says, without controversy, the
less is always blessed, the better. Here we have the better blessing,
the less. And he blessed him and said,
blessed be Abram of the most high God, but possessor of heaven
and earth, and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered
thine enemies into thy hand. And he, Abraham, gave him tithes
of all, And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the
persons and take the goods to thyself. It's hard telling what
all kinds of spoil they had. Cattle, silver, gold, they had
all kinds of stuff. And he said, just give me the
persons and you keep all the spoils. And look how Abraham
answered. This is because God had appeared
to him and knew who he was. And Abram said to the king of
Sodom, I've lift up my hands unto the Lord. the most high
God, the possessor of heaven and earth. He knew who God was. Now, understand this. If God
appears to you, you'll know who he is. You'll know he's the most
high God, the possessor, the absolute sovereign of heaven
and earth. You know, everything's in his
hands and you believe that. And you know, when you hear a
God, that's not like that. You know, that's, that's not God.
That's not God. You see, when God appears to
somebody, they know who he is. Now look at Abraham's response.
Let's go on reading. He says in verse 23, I won't
take a thread. I won't take a shoe latchet from
you. I won't take anything that's thine, lest thou should say,
I've made Abraham rich. Now look at this sensitivity
to the glory of God. He said, I won't take a thread
from you. You're not gonna be saying, I
made Abraham rich. The Lord, the most high, the
possessor of heaven and earth is my Lord, my Savior. redeemer. I won't take anything from you.
Look in Genesis 18. Here we have another appearance
and the Lord appeared unto him. in the plains of Mamre, and he
sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up
his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him, and when
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed
himself to the ground." You see, he knew who they were. And he
said, my Lord, if now I found favor in thy sight. You know,
if the Lord ever appears to you, the one thing you know you need
to have is favor in his sight, grace in his sight. He's got
to do something for me. He's got to extend his favor
toward me. He said, I pray thee pass on
away. I pray thee from thy servant.
Now the story here is when the Lord appears to Abraham and he's
going to let him know about what he's going to do to Sodom. Now,
remember that he's going to end up destroying Sodom. It happens
in the next chapter, but pick up reading with me in verse 21. Now look at verse 17. And the
Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do,
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great nation and mighty
nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him. For I know it. I know it. He'll command his
children in his household after them. And they shall keep the
way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may
bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. Now, who
are these people that will keep the word of the Lord and do justice
and judgment? Was it just the physical Jews? No, they did anything
but that. This is a reference to God's
elect. This is a reference to every believer. They'll believe
the gospel. The Jews, they won't. But the
believer will. Now look what he says. Let's
go on reading. And the Lord said, verse 20,
because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because
their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they've
done altogether according to the cry of it which came unto
me. And if not, I'll know. And the men turned their faces
from thence and went towards Sodom. But Abraham stood yet
before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said,
wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure
there be 50 righteous within the city. Wilt thou destroy and
not spare the place for 50 righteous that are therein? That be far
from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that
be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right. Now, if the Lord appears to me,
this I know, whatever he does is right. Doesn't matter what it is. Whatever
He does is right. He doesn't do it because it's
right. It's right because He does it. Now that is how God's
children bow before Him. Whatever He does is right. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that whatever the Lord does is right? Shall not the judge of
the earth do right. And you know the rest of the
story, how he kept trying to get the number down and finally
got to 10. And the Lord says, there's 10 righteous people in
that city, I'll spare it. And there wasn't. There wasn't. And you know the rest of the
story. Turn to Genesis 22. And it came to pass after these
things, Abraham was an old man, that God did tempt Abraham. He put him to the test. And he
said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am. And let me say this. Every time
the Lord appeared unto Abraham and called his name, it was right
before some great trial. And I had no doubt that when
he heard his name, he winced. Behold, here I am. And he said, verse two, take
now thy son, thine only son. Ishmael is not acknowledged as
a son, 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." What an appearance. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning, and 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 into the
place which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his voice, and saw the place afar off. And Abram
said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, I and the
lad will go yonder, and worship, and come again to you. Now, did
he say, we're going to come again to you? Because he knew if he
told them, if I'm going to go kill my son, they would have
said, no, you're not. We're going to stop that. Is
that why he said, we'll come again to you? He was trying to
make the story a little bit more bearable for them to know. He
believed they would come again. You see, God had promised that
the seed would come through Isaac. And Isaac shall thy seed be called.
There wasn't any question in Abraham's mind about that. And
so he knew that if he killed him, God would raise him from
the dead and they would come back. Hebrews actually says that
he knew that God would raise him from the dead. Verse six,
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 then when both of them together,
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and 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 burned
offering? Now understand with regard to
every message you hear, ask this question. Where is the Lamb? If the Lamb's not there, it's
not a gospel message. You say you have to preach the
Lamb every time you preach? Yep, yep, without question. And if the Lamb's not there,
God's not there either. It's not a gospel message. Now, look at Abraham's reply. And Abraham said, my son, this is what people say who have
had a God appear to them. This is what they understand.
My son, God will provide himself a land for a burnt offering. Now, when God appears to you,
You're going to know that you can't provide anything and he
provides everything. God will provide the lamb. God will provide for himself
a lamb. And this is so very important.
Salvation is not what you do for God, but what he does for
you. And understand this, for him
to do something for you, he had to first do something for himself,
for him to have anything to do with somebody like me or you.
So he provided the lamb. And he did this for himself.
For him to do something for you or me, he first had to do something
for himself. And the glory of this passage,
God shall provide himself as the lamb. He is the lamb. And they came to the place, verse
nine, which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar
there. Some of you did a lot. And he
laid the wood in order, just as God had prescribed, 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. He said, lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that
thou fears God saying that thou is not withheld by son, thine
only son for me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked and behold behind him. Your salvation is always
behind us. It's always something God's already
done. Behold behind him, a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. You think of the crown of thorns
placed upon the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham went
and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the
stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of
the place Jehovah-Jireh, as it said to this day in the mount
of the Lord, it shall be seen. Now, when God appears, you see
him and you see him as he is, you see something's happened.
You've been born again, except a man be born again. He cannot
see or enter the kingdom of God. Here's the big question. Has God appeared to me? Has God appeared to me personally
the way he appeared to Abraham? The way he appeared to Moses?
Has God appeared to me? Or have I just been indoctrinated
and believe stuff that I've been taught? Or has God, the God of
glory, appeared to me? Have I seen the Lord? Now turn
to Isaiah chapter six. Well, I don't wanna presume on
this thing, do you? I don't wanna presume. Verse one. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. Now this description is the way
you will see him if you've seen the Lord. I saw also the Lord
sitting. not pacing back and forth and
worrying, sitting, having finished his work, sitting upon a throne
in absolute sovereign rule, high and lifted up, and his train,
the skirts of his garment filled the temple. Above it stood the
seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twain, he covered his face. With twain, he covered his feet.
And with twain, he did fly. That's so significant. Now, what
are these seraphims? Well, they're some kind of creatures
right there at the throne. And they're very powerful. And
they cover their face. No man can see God and live.
You see, all you'll ever see of God is the Lord Jesus Christ.
No man can see the living God and live. They covered their
face. They covered their feet. Now, these sinless beings, you
know they were sinless, yet they covered their feet. That represents
them being ashamed of their walk. Well, how could they be ashamed
if they'd never sinned? They knew the only reason they'd
never sinned is because God had kept them from it. That's the
only reason. And they knew that they would
fall just like that unless God preserved them from doing that.
And with twain they did fly, ready to fulfill his command. Verse three, and they cried one
unto another and said, Holy, holy. Holy is the Father. Holy is the
Son. Holy is the Spirit. Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, and this is what's gonna happen when someone
sees the Lord, woe is me. If that's not my response, I've not seen. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean
lips. Because of my unclean heart,
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, if you've seen
him like Isaiah did, you'll see yourself as Isaiah did. Your only response, woe is me. Why do people have such a superficial
view of sin? Because they've never seen the
Lord. Why do people have such a high opinion of themselves?
Because they've never seen the Lord. Job said, I've heard of
you with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I hate myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. He said, behold, I didn't know
I was. Daniel said, when I saw him,
and you know, you won't see him until he manifests himself to
you. You can't see unless he manifests himself to you. But
when you do, you're going to be like Daniel. When I saw him,
my comeliness, the things that I thought were good about me,
turned into utter corruption. John said, when I saw him, I
fell at his feet as dead. Peter, when he finally saw who
he really was, he said, depart from me, Lord. You don't want
to have anything to do with me. I am a sinful man, a man utterly
full of sin. Depart from me. You don't want
to have anything to do with me. And one final scripture, turn
to John chapter six. Verse 38. For I came down from heaven. I love to think of what his hearers
were thinking when he said that. What if I said to you, I came
down from heaven. You'd be irritated. You'd think,
what's he trying to prove? What's he saying he is? I came
down from heaven. I came down from heaven. But
the Lord said that. I came down from heaven, not to do mine own
will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will, which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And that's where all our hope is, isn't it? All my hope
is found in that statement. That all that the Father gives
Him, He won't lose one of them. But He'll raise them up on that
great last day, and I'm gonna stand before God perfect. That's my hope. Verse 40, and
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone would
seeth the Son. Now you're not gonna see Him,
unless He appears to you. But if you see Him, and you know
this is not talking about a physical sight. This is a spiritual sight
of who He really is. Here's what's gonna happen. Everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him. Now here's what's gonna
happen if me or you ever see the Son. If God appears to us,
you know what we're gonna do? we're going to believe on Him. Now remember, faith is not believing
you're saved. Faith is believing Him. I love the way that song was
changed. I never have liked just as I
am without one plea that that thy blood was shed for me. Because
you don't come to Christ like that. Well, your blood was shed
for me, you need to save me. No, you plead only the blood,
but when you believe on Christ, you don't know whether His blood
was shed for you or not, but you know He's everything in salvation.
And you rely completely on Him. Now, if you or I ever see the
Son, you know what we're going to do? We're going to believe
on Him only as everything in our salvation. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You that You appear. Lord, we'd never know You. We
wouldn't even want to know You, which speaks of our shame if
You don't appear to us. But Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that You would appear in saving mercy to each individual here
for Christ's sake. don't pass us by for Christ's
sake. By your grace, make yourself
known, make yourself manifest, appear to each one here. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Got a closing hymn, Rich? 204.