morning we're turning to John
chapter 14 I want to bring a message to you from verse 18 19 and verse
20 and I'm taking the title for the message from the words that
the Lord declares in verse 19 John 14 verse 19 yet a little
while a little while and the world seeth me no more but But
you see me. Now, but you see me, and then
there's a punctuation mark there, colon, stop. Because, you see
that word? Underscore that. Underscore that
least in your mind. Because, because. Because I live. You shall live
also, because, because. What is the reason of your salvation? What is the first cause of your
salvation? Now think about that. I'm gonna answer that question
later. But I want you to think about
it. What is the cause of your salvation? The cause, the first
cause. What is the second cause? What
is the third cause? What is the fourth cause? Okay. Salvation, the title of the message
is going to be Salvation Because of Christ. Salvation, not because
of you. Salvation is not dependent upon
you. Salvation because of Christ. Salvation because of Christ,
or we could put this title, use this title, Life Life, because
of Christ. He said, because I live, you
shall live. Life, because, because. Such
an important word, because. Because of Christ. Now everything
connected or related to Christ. Our salvation is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life, who is our salvation. I've said to you for many, many
years now, salvation's in a person. Salvation totally rests in a
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. His person, He is the Lord. He's
the Christ of God and He is Jesus our Savior. Now when Paul writes
in Colossians chapter 3, he identifies the Lord Jesus Christ this way,
when Christ our life shall appear, then shall we appear with Him
in glory. We've already read this verse,
don't turn back because you're familiar with it, but here in
John chapter 8 verse 12 the Lord said I am the light of the world
he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have
the light of life. He is the light of life. He is
light and he is life. Over here we studied already
in John chapter 10 where our Lord said the thief cometh not
but For to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I am come that
they might have life. They. Who's he talking about?
Who's he writing to? The sheep of Christ. That they
might have life. That they might have it more
abundantly. Now clearly, salvation is in
the Lord. He is life. He is the light of
life. He's life more abundantly. In
John chapter 11, verse 25 we read this verse the Lord said
I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me
though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die he is our life he is our
resurrection now I direct your attention to this one John 14
verse 6 John 14 verse 6 the Lord said I am the way the truth and
the life. He's the life, the Savior. No man, no person, no one comes
unto the Father but by Him who is life and salvation. Now again I want us to continue
studying the Lord's answer to Philip's question found in verse
8. And from verse 8 all the way
down to verse 21, actually from verse 9 down to verse 21, the
Lord gives the answer to that one single question. Philip said
unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied. Reveal
God unto us, and we'll be satisfied. Now, as I said, if you've missed
some of these messages that I've brought, you can find them out
there on the table. I'm sure there's plenty of copies
to go around, and if you don't find what you're looking for,
you bring it to my attention, and I'll make it for you. Let's
begin today with verse 18, where we left off last week. He said,
I will not leave you as orphans. I will not leave you comfortless. But I will come to you, I'll
send the Comforter unto you. He says in verse 16, I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither does
it know him, but you know him. For he dwells in you and shall
be in you. I will not leave you fatherless,
comfortless, as orphan. I will, I will come to you. Now the Lord assures us and them
in that day that he will not abandon us. nor leave us as helpless
children to defend ourselves, to protect ourselves, or to provide
for ourselves. The Lord Jesus Christ being our
Great Shepherd, He's called the Great Shepherd of the sheep,
He's called the Chief Shepherd who shall appear, and in John
chapter 10 He's called the Good Shepherd who lays down His life
for the sheep. Christ, our great and good and
chief and glorious shepherd that gave himself for us, he provides
for us abundantly, doesn't he? He is the good shepherd. Now
what does a shepherd do for the sheep? Well, just naturally speaking,
the shepherd tends the sheep, watches over the sheep, and provides
for the sheep, and if necessary, the shepherd will give his life
to defend the flock. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ does for us, and much more. My God shall supply
all your need according to His riches and glory through Christ
Jesus. The Good Shepherd will not leave
us as helpless, defenseless children. He provides for us. You remember
Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd and because
He is, I shall not want. I shall not want for anything,
any good thing. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. All things are found in Christ.
Just naturally speaking, what kind of father, and we see this
all the time, what kind of father would abandon his own child?
Now we see this all the time in the news, don't we? A father,
even a mother, would abandon children. Sometimes they find
them in strange places. Abandoned by mama. Abandoned
by daddy. What kind of a father would abandon
his child? Well, you would just think, thinking
in your mind, you're thinking, you've already come to a conclusion,
haven't you? He'd be a sorry fellow. He'd be a no-count. He'd
be a low-down scoundrel that would not provide for his own
children. You'd probably get a little bit
upset with him, wouldn't you? Be angry with him. You know the
scriptures teach this, 1 Timothy 5 verse 8, but if any provide
not for his own, especially for his own house, he hath denied
the faith and is worse than an infidel, worse than an ungodly
unbeliever. So what kind of a father would
abandon his children? Not a very good one. The Lord
Jesus Christ is our spiritual father and he will never, never,
no, never abandon us. Our Lord, you see, we have been
begotten of the Father. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
And as sons of God being begotten of his own will, the Lord Jesus
Christ being our spiritual father, our shepherd, You reckon he'd
abandon us? Not for a moment. Our Lord assures
us, he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you,
I'll never abandon you, but we'll always be with you. We read that
in Hebrews 13. We're gonna see this in our study
in the book of Hebrews. He said, I will never, no, never
leave you, nor forsake you. We've studied already in John
chapter six, verse 37, he says, all that the Father giveth to
me shall come to me, and those that come to me, I will in no
way, no case, will I cast them out. We've studied already in
John chapter 10, he said, no man can pluck them out of my
hand. You see, He provides for His own. You remember in that
study verse in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 where it says, Behold
I am the children, where He presents us before the Father? You see,
the point I'm making is the Lord Jesus Christ as our great and
good shepherd will never leave us. He never will forsake us.
He provides all things for us in salvation. I will not leave
you as orphans. And then verse 18, the second
part, he says, I will, I will. Now salvation is by somebody's
will and it's not yours. It's His will. His will. I will. Of His own will begat
He us with the word of truth. Not of him that willeth nor of
him that runneth, but God that shows mercy. I will come to you. That's a definite promise. It's
not maybe, I might, it could happen. It might happen someday.
No, I will come to you. That's a definite promise, isn't
it? Can we believe Him? Absolutely. Absolutely. I will come to you. Now, in the
case of these apostles, He came to them immediately after His
resurrection on the third morning. He appeared to them just as He
said He would. He came to them again with special
power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This would
have been just 10 days After his resurrection, you remember
after his resurrection, he lived among them for 40 days. That
day of Pentecost fell on the 50th day after the Day of Atonement. That would have made 10 days
after he ascended to glory. He said, I will come abide in
this city until you be endued with power from on high. And
10 days later, just as he said, I will come to you, guess what?
God's good on his word, isn't he? He did come to them in great
power and great glory and Peter preached the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ in that day and the Lord blessed the preaching
of the gospel in that day and added in that one day 3,000 souls
unto the body of Christ. Now here's the point. How is
that relative to us? The Lord Jesus Christ will come
to all of his elect in saving mercy sooner or later. He will
cross their path with the gospel and reveal himself
unto us. Now, if you're one of His, one
of His that God had chosen in that covenant of grace, He will
cross your path with the gospel truth. And He will take that
gospel truth, preach from a gospel preacher, and He will drive that
home to your heart, and He will make you a new creature. In Christ
Jesus, He's hid these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them unto babes. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to call out His people with the gospel truth. He called us out of darkness
and His marvelous light. By His grace, He said, I will
come to you. God who has begun a good work
in you, we're confident of this very thing, that God who has
begun a good work in you He'll finish it. He'll get the job
done. Now look at verse 19. Yet, he says in John 14, 19. Yet, a little while, and the
world seeth me no more. Now remember he told them he's
going away to the cross to prepare glory for them by his atoning
death. And he said the world's gonna
see me no more, but you're gonna see me. You're gonna see me and
you do see me. and then that punctuation again,
definite stop. Because I live, you shall live
also. Now, I want to spend a few minutes
on this verse 19, and if we have time, we'll look at verse 20.
But if not, we'll come back and get verse 20 next week. The world
will see me no more. Now, the world of the natural
and carnal men saw him with fleshly eyes, didn't they? What was their
response? There was no beauty in him that
they should desire him. The world and worldly men of
unbelievers, even the religious world, saw him with natural eyes.
The Pharisees, Nicodemus and others, they looked upon him
and for the most part he was despised and rejected of men.
They said even before Pilate, when Pilate brought him forth
and presented him as, behold your king, And they said, uh-uh,
you got it all wrong. He's not our king. Away with
him. Crucify him. We have no king
but Caesar. They said, away with him. The
world saw him with natural fleshly eyes and despised and rejected
him. They'll never see him again as
a mere man. Never again. But you know what? They will see him. They will
see Him again. They will have to face Him in
judgment in the last day. They will hear Him say unto them,
Depart from Me, I never knew you. This is the Lord with whom
we have to do. They will not see Him no more
as they despised Nazarene, but they will see Him. Listen to
this scripture. Remember this from Revelation
chapter 1. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
see him. Talking about his second coming.
Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him,
and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him. You remember the rock those in
that day prayed into the rocks and mountains to fall on us and
hide us from the face of the wrath of the Lamb. I thought
God loved everybody. Apparently that's not so. The
love of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. those apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ, the wrath of God will abide upon them."
Now, the second part of verse 19, he says, he says, the world,
a little while the world will see me no more, but, but, you
see me, you see me, you see me. The apostles saw Him with different
eyes than the world of the unbelievers, didn't they? Turn back over here
to Matthew chapter 16. The apostles saw Him with different
eyes. Turn over here to Matthew 16.
With different understanding. They saw Him and beheld Him with
eyes that were enlightened by God the Holy Spirit. They saw
Him with eyes of faith. Not perfectly and not clearly,
but they did see Him. Because look what it says here
in Matthew 16. Verse 13, When Jesus came into the coast of
Caesarea of Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Well, some
say that thou art John the Baptist. Some that you're Elijah, or Jeremiah,
or one of the other prophets. But he said unto them, But whom
do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Son of the living
God. And Jesus answered and said, You are a blessed man. You're
a blessed man. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babe. Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Peter and the disciples
saw him as the Christ of God. We've seen this before. Turn
over here to John chapter 6. You see me. John chapter six,
you remember over here, when the Lord declared that salvation
was by the grace of God alone, not by works, not by law, not
by ceremony, where he says in John chapter six, verse 65, no
man can come to me except it were given of my Father. What's
he saying there? Sovereign mercy, sovereign grace.
John chapter six, verse 65. He declared the way of salvation
was by the sovereign mercy of God alone. From that time, many
of his disciples went back and walked no more. They quit. They
quit, they walked off. They said, this is too hard.
We don't like this grace stuff. They quit, they walked away.
Did they ever really believe him? No. But, verse 67, then
said the Lord to the 12, if you wanna leave, now's the time.
Will you also go away? This whole crowd here, 5,000
that he just fed, this whole crowd here turned and left. 5,000
men walked out the door. Well, man, his ministry's not
very successful. Yes, it is. You see, don't judge
by numbers. What's the message? Who's being
preached? Look what it says here. Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life. We believe and sure, we are sure,
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. You see, they saw Him, they saw
Him as the Christ, they saw Him as the Messiah, they saw Him
as the one scent of God. Simeon, you remember, we read
a week or so ago in Luke chapter 2, we won't turn and read it
again, but I'll remind you what Simeon saw in that baby eight
days old, that baby that Joseph and Mary brought to circumcise
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, being a baby. Here's God, oh
my, God who inhabits eternity, an infant of eight days old.
and brings them to the priest to have the baby circumcised
according to the law. And Simeon picked him up in his
arms and said, Lord, I'm ready to die. I've seen thy salvation. He saw salvation in that baby,
eight days old, in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter
saw him, Simeon saw him as the Savior, Peter saw him as the
Christ, Thomas later on And John chapter 20 saw him and confessed,
you're my Lord and you're my God. How about the thief on the
cross? The thief on the cross saw him
at all his salvation or he said, Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. And the Lord said, today you're
going to glory with me. Saul of Tarsus saw him and cried,
you remember on the road to Damascus? Saul of Tarsus saw him and cried,
Lord, what would you have me to do? He bowed to the lordship
of Christ. Isaiah saw him high and lifted
up and said, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lip, mine eyes have
seen the king. Job saw him and said, I've heard
of thee by the hearing of thee ear, now my eyes see it thee,
wherefore I abhor and hate myself. John saw him on the Isle of Pappas,
you remember? In Revelation chapter one. and
fell at his feet as a dead man. And the Lord declared unto him,"
over here, turn over there to Revelation chapter 1, you can
find that pretty quickly, I think. John chapter, Revelation chapter
1, verse 17, "...when I saw him," you see Revelation 1, 17, "...when
I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." The glorified, risen Christ,
I fell at His feet, I'm dead. And He laid His right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I'm the first, I'm the last. Now look at verse 18, I'm He
that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell. and death. He owns all things. And we as believers right now
by faith, we behold the Lord of glory seeing Him with eyes
of faith. We do see Him now. I'm beholding
Him. I'm beholding Him right now.
Not with these natural eyes. I'm not looking for a vision
in a tree or a cloud or someone to appear at the feet of my,
the foot of my bed or the feet of my bed or however that's said,
at the bottom of my bed. I'm not looking for some kind
of vision. I'm looking unto the Lord Jesus
Christ right now with God-given faith, eyes of faith, looking
unto Him who is the author and finisher of our faith. There's
an article in the bulletin on the back page regarding this
saving faith that's given of God looks back to the author
of faith. It doesn't look in here. It looks
to Christ alone. The eyes of our understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints is in him. We have never seen the Lord Jesus
Christ in the flesh, but every believer sees Him as He's revealed
in the Word of God as all and in all. He is made known unto
us throughout the Word of God as all of our salvation. That's
the way we see Him, as everything in salvation. In Him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete
in Him. Now here's the third thing in
verse 19. In a little while, he said, the
world will see me no more, but you see me. Now here's the third
thing, because, because I live, because I live, you shall live
also. The Lord Jesus Christ lives as
God. He is the giver, the sustainer,
the sovereign of the universe, of all life, both physical and
spiritual life. They all come and go at His command. He's the sovereign over all.
Turn back a few pages to John, chapter 5. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a true and living God. As such, He's a giver and sustainer
of all life. He gives and He takes away. He
identifies Himself not once, but several times, I'm the Lord,
I kill, I make alive, right? I the Lord do all these things.
Look at John chapter 5, verse 21, For as the Father raises
up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth
not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. We do honor Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our mighty, eternal, sovereign God. He has power over
all flesh and He should give eternal life to as many as the
Father had given Him. In Romans 9, the Lord said, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. So then it's not
of Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but it's God that
shows mercy. From everlasting to everlasting,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our God. As God, He is the sustainer,
the giver, the provider of all life. The Lord Jesus Christ not
only lives as God, the Lord Jesus Christ lives as our Redeemer,
who came in the flesh, who died to put away our sin. We studied
that in Hebrews chapter 9 this morning. He has obtained for
us eternal redemption with His blood. In Hebrews 9 verse 26
it says, It says that He appeared once in the end of the age to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ
justifies us with His blood. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
all Scripture for us, who redeemed us from the curse of the law,
who ever lives, right now, He ever lives to intercede for us.
Again, I go back to the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, verse
25. He's able to save, wherefore he's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him, seeing that he ever lives to
make intercession for us. Now, look back at verse 19. Because I live, he is the living
God, right? The true and living God. He is
a true and living Redeemer. He said, I am God, beside me
there is no other. Because I live, you shall also
live. Because I live, you shall also
live. Now, let's work on this word
for a moment here, because. Because I live, you shall live. Now, I asked you that question
earlier. What is the first cause, the first reason of your salvation? Had time to think about it? What
is the first cause of your salvation? What would you say? You're saved
because of... What is the first cause of our
salvation? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? What is the second
cause of your salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
first cause, the only cause. Okay, what is the third cause
of your salvation? What is the fourth cause? You
get the point, we could go on for all morning long. The fifth,
the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the hundredth, the thousandth,
the millionth. You see, He's the cause because He is the cause. He is the because. Does that
make sense? I know that's not good grammar,
but it's a good theology. He is the cause. He is the cause. He is the because. He's everything
in salvation. It says in Colossians 3 verse
11, Christ is all and in all. The total and single reason for
all of our salvation is because of Him. Because of Him. His person, I am that I am, and
His work, His effectual redeeming, saving, work, His redeeming blood. Salvation, therefore, we can
say is always dependent upon Him, determined by Him, and accomplished
by Him, and applied by Him. We can say, as Jonah said, in
the belly of that fish, salvation is of the Lord. Now, four things. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the living and true God, and it's only because that He is
the living and true God, we have eternal life because of Him. He is the living and true God. Now let me show you that. I can
show you that in verse 3 of John 17. Turn over there. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ is the living and true God. I always
like the way it says that in scripture, that He's the living
God, that He's the true God, the only true God. In John 17,
look at verse 3. Because He is, that's the only
reason that we have salvation. The only reason we have eternal
life. John 17, look at verse 2 first. As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him his covenant people. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. Because He is the living true
God, we only have life, eternal life, in Him. He's the because. He's the cause. You see that?
Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only just God and Savior. We are justified and saved in
Him. You remember from Isaiah 45? Beside me, there's none else.
I'm the only just God and Savior. Therefore, he said, look unto
me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God and there is none else. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only just God and Savior, we are justified only in Him. What's the reason of being justified? What's the cause of being justified? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Call His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. Because He is the Savior. You
see, He is the cause of our salvation. Now I'm working this over because
I want you to see it. Because Christ is the living
true God we have eternal life secondly because he's the only
just God and Savior We are justified and saved only in him Act chapter
4 neither is there salvation any other for there's no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved
and I don't know if I've quoted this before, but if I have, here
it is again. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. He is the cause of sin forgiven. Because I live, you shall. Because. And you see, again this
is telling us that salvation is all His doing. You mean, I
have no part in it? Not in the doing of it. Now you
have a part in the enjoyment of it, in the receiving of it,
but not in the doing of it, not in the accomplishing of it, not
at all. Thirdly, because the Lord Jesus Christ is our only
Redeemer, who actually obtained eternal redemption for us, because
He is the Redeemer, because He redeemed His people, we are redeemed. Is that right? You know it is.
He obtained for us eternal redemption. What is the cause of your redemption?
Well, I prayed through. What is the cause of your redemption? Well, I repented. That's not
it. You missed it. You missed it. Faith is not the cause of salvation.
Repentance is not the cause of salvation. It's the fruit of
it. Not the cause of it. The first
reason of redemption is Christ is the Redeemer. He redeemed
us. And the fruit of that, being redeemed, we believe Him. We do repent. We turn, turn from,
we turn. Here's what it says in Scripture.
Get it right. I'll try to get it right. 1 Thessalonians
1.9, we turn to God from idols, our idols. What's the cause of that turning?
Well, you know, I just decided one day that I'm going to turn.
That's it. That's not it. It says in Scripture,
Turn me, Lord, and I'll be turned. He's got to turn me. I'm not
going to be turned. You see, He's the cause of our
being turned. What's the first cause of salvation?
Christ. What's the second cause? The Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly,
it says, because Christ is our righteousness, because Christ
is our Redeemer, because Christ is our Savior, because Christ
is a living and true God, because Christ is our righteousness,
we're righteous. Now, all of our so-called goodness
and righteousnesses, it's plural there in Isaiah 64, 6. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in God's sight. I mean, you just pile them all
up. You pile up one filthy rag on top of another filthy rag,
and another filthy rag, and you multiply that out, what
do you have? A pile. You have a dung pile. We count all of our righteousnesses
as dung. rubbish that we might win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is
of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. We read it a moment ago, but
of Him are you in Christ, who of God, who of God, here's the
cause, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He is the Lord our righteousness,
and because He's righteous, He's the head, we're the body. If the head is righteous, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ is called His bride, His body.
What's true of the head, is true of the body. You see, He's the
cause of our righteousness. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputed righteousness with, outworks, because I live. Because I live,
you shall live also. Fifthly is this. I thought about
this just a little while this morning before I went back over
to the house after coming over early and studying. What's the cause of our acceptance
before God? What's the cause of our acceptance
before God? Now, I know what most people
think. Most people think the cause of
their being accepted is something they bring, something they do,
some condition they meet, some qualification they attain unto.
That's not the cause of being accepted of God. Because it says
in Ephesians chapter 1, we are accepted in the Beloved. You see, we're only accepted
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him alone. Because I live, you
shall." Where have you heard that language before? Because
I will, you shall. Isn't that the very language
of the covenant of grace that we studied in Hebrews chapter
8 and in Jeremiah 32? I will be your God and you shall
be my people. Well, what do you know? The Lord
says, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He doesn't change, his promise
doesn't change, his word doesn't change. You can believe him,
you can trust him at all time. He is a refuge for us. Because I live, you shall live
also. Well, I'm gonna leave it right
there and we'll come back next week to verse 21 and verse 20
and that in that day you shall know that I am in the father
and ye in me and I in you now figure that one out that in that
day you shall know that I am in the father and that you are
in me and that I am in you sound like we're pretty secure in Christ
absolutely secure in him and we'll pick up there next week