In the first chapter of the Gospel
of John, John chapter 1. I want to read
two verses, verses 17 and 18. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at
any time. The only begotten Son of God,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. John chapter 14, the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking to Philip in particular, but all of his disciples
told them, he that has seen me has seen the father. Hebrews
chapter one and verse two, we read of the son. He is the express
image of his person. But our text tonight in verse
18 tells us that he hath declared him. God's only begotten son
hath declared him. The word translated declared
literally means to make known. To me, this is one of those many
texts in the word of God which is exhaustless. He hath declared
Him. That is, the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, hath declared Him, hath declared God. He hath made
God known. What I plan to do is to look
at three truths, three truths which were declared when God
made His goodness pass before Moses. This is recorded, of course,
in Exodus chapter 33 and chapter 34, when Moses desired to see
God. And God said that no man could
see him, as this text says, but that he would hide him in the
cliff of the rock and pass by. and take his hand away, and he
could see his back parts. That is, Moses could see his
back parts. But no man has seen God at any
time, as this text declares to us. And when God passed by before
Moses, he proclaimed his name. He proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And this is what we read. And
the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty. I want to take three words out
of those out of that proclamation, which declared God, and see how
the Lord Jesus Christ has declared Him. As this text tells us, no
man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which
is, that's present tense, is in the bosom of God, of the Father. He hath declared Him. There never
was any disunion. When Christ came into this world,
when the eternal Son of God came into this world, He was still
in heaven. You say, explain that to me.
He didn't come by movement. He came by taking into union
with His person, that body which was prepared to Him by God the
Holy Spirit. Great is the mystery. You say,
how do you explain that? He told Nicodemus when he was
speaking to him that he was in heaven at the same time he was
talking to Nicodemus. Great, Paul said, great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And there are certainly things
about God. God's infinite. And there are things about him
about his sovereignty, about his power, about his wisdom,
about his omnipresence, about his immutability. There are things
about him that you and I will never be able to comprehend,
even in heaven, because we will not be infinite. Only God is
infinite. But we will worship him, and
I believe we will learn more and more. about him as the ages
of eternity go by. And we'll never learn all about
him because as I said, he is infinite and we are finite creatures. But first, the Lord God merciful
and gracious. He hath declared him. The Lord
God merciful and gracious. I want you to turn to Luke chapter
seven. Luke chapter 7 and reading verses
11 through 15. And it came to pass the day after
that he went into a city called Nain. And many of his disciples
went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the
gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out. the
only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And much people
of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he
had compassion on her and said unto her, weep not. And he came
and touched the bier, and they that bear him stood still. And he said, young man, I say
unto thee, arise. And he that was dead set up and
began to speak, and he delivered. him to his mother. And there
came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying, That a
great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited
his people." As we read this historical event of the Lord
restoring to life this young man, Isn't this the Lord Jesus
Christ? Can't we see in this the Lord
Jesus Christ declaring the Lord God merciful and gracious? Declaring God Almighty merciful
and gracious. God who works all things. In Ephesians chapter one, we
are told this. He works all things after the
counsel of his will. You know, men like to talk about
man's will. And they like to argue about
man's will. But let's never forget that God
has a will. And God's will is a sovereign
will. And God's will shall always be
accomplished. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. And it was certainly not by accident
that as our Lord Jesus this day approached to this city of Nain,
at that very time there was this funeral procession taking place
that had been arranged from old eternity, just as in John chapter
four, when he was weary from his journey. Imagine that, he
who upholds all things by the word of his power as God and
yet as man He was weary from his journey, but the scripture
tells us that he must need to go through Samaria. And he sits
there on the well, the side of the well, while his disciples
go into the town to buy some food, some nourishment for them.
And out comes this woman to draw water. And we know that she was
one of God's chosen. And it was in God's providence
that the Lord Jesus Christ and this woman come together at this
particular time that he might reveal himself unto her as the
Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior. And the same thing happened here
in Nain. It wasn't by accident that as
he and his disciples approached the city, the gates or the walls
of the city, that out comes this funeral procession, this widow
woman and those that were with her. In Arthur Pink's book on
the Attributes of God, in his chapter on mercy, he makes this
comment about mercy. He said, and I quote, it denotes
the ready The ready inclination of God to relieve the misery
of fallen creatures. The ready inclination of God
to relieve the misery of fallen creatures. And here's a woman,
and surely no one would question that she was in misery. She had already buried her husband. She was a widow. But now she's
on the way to bury the body of her only son. Who could question
that she was in misery? And we see as that verse there,
God declared, the Lord God merciful and gracious. As we look at this,
we see how the Lord Jesus Christ declared God. revealed God, told
out the truth about God. I want us to look at the actions
of the Lord Jesus as we read these verses. The first thing
I point out to us is that he saw her, verse 13. He saw her, when the Lord saw
her. Now we're not told that she saw
him at this time. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't.
I'm not sure, doesn't matter. But I know this, the Lord is
always first in mercy and grace. He's always first. He always
goes beforehand where he will show mercy and grace. Seek the
Lord while he may be found. And yet every person who truly
seeks the Lord does so because the Lord has first sought him,
sought her. Just as the Lord Jesus saw this
woman He first saw her. We love Him because He first
loved us. You say, I don't know if the
Lord loves me or not. Well, do you love Him? Do you
love Him? If you do, it's because He first
loved you. Lost people do not love the Lord.
But those that He loves, We love Him because He first loved us. So that's the first thing, He
saw her. Second, He had compassion on her. He had compassion in verse 13.
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her. Now there
are three recorded instances in the Gospels where the Lord
Jesus Christ raised the dead. And each one of these, no doubt,
each one shows forth his mercy and his grace. But I think especially
this one, especially this instance when the Lord raised one from
the dead, shows forth his mercy and his grace. In the case of
the daughter of Jairus, her father had come seeking help for his
daughter. He came a good distance asking
the Lord to come. and to help his daughter who
was at that time sick. And in the case of Lazarus, when
he raised Lazarus from the dead, remember his two sisters, the
two sisters of Lazarus had sent word to the Lord Jesus Christ,
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And the Lord, of course,
waited knowing that Lazarus died. But we read here, She didn't
ask for help. Nobody in this crowd asked for
help. When he saw her, he, he had compassion
on her. Don't we see here his ready inclination
to relieve this poor widow? He saw her and unasked, unsolicited,
he relieved her misery. The Lord God, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious. He hath revealed Him. He hath declared Him. As to God's grace, mercy and
grace, we see His mercy here to relieve this widow woman. But as to grace, how many people
do you imagine were buried that day? We don't know, of course,
but I would imagine there was more than one in all of Palestine. I would imagine there was more
than one being buried that day, but this one, this one is the
one that God was gracious to in raising him from the dead. I believe we have an example
of that text in Romans chapter 10. And verse 20, where the apostle
Paul, and he's quoting from the book of Isaiah, and this is God
speaking, I was found of them that sought me not. I was found
of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. And that truth is so of all of
God's elect. He is found of them that sought
Him not. We didn't seek Him until He first
sought us. If we've sought Him, it is because
He first sought us. The third thing we see in this
history is the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to her and He said, weep
not. If anyone else had spoken these
words to this widow woman who had lost her son, They would
have been harsh, they would have been very cruel words, no doubt. Weep not. God has made us, and
he has made us with the ability to both weep and rejoice. And there are times to rejoice,
and there are times to weep. And as the writer of Ecclesiastes
tells us, God hath made everything beautiful in his own time. The Lord said to this woman,
weep not, because he who is full of mercy and grace knew what
he was going to do. They were not harsh words. They
would have been by any other person but not by him because
he knew exactly what he was moved, the compassion that he had moved
him to relieve the misery of this woman. Number four, he touched the buyer,
the thing that they were carrying the coffin on, and so he halted
the funeral procession. And notice his action. In the Old Testament, we have
several examples of prophets that God allowed to raise men
from the dead. For instance, Elijah. Remember
God told Elijah that he had commanded a widow woman to sustain him
during that time of drought. And when Elijah came to Seraphath,
He saw that widow woman out there gathering sticks and she said,
I've got just enough meal in the barrel and just enough oil
in the cruise to make a little cake for my son and I. And we know how that with that
little oil and that little meal that God provided for Elijah
and that widow woman and her son over the time of that drought. But then we read that her son
died. Her son died. So what does Elijah
do? The point I'm making, we see
the difference here. What did Elijah do? Well, first
of all, he cried unto the Lord. And then second, he laid himself,
he took the boy's body up and laid it on his bed, and then
he laid on that body. And he didn't do that one time,
he did that three times. And he cried unto the Lord and
asked the Lord to restore that young man's soul to him. And
the Lord did. And we have a very similar example
with Elisha. I love to read about Elisha and
this woman. She may have been a widow when
her son died. I know she wasn't a widow when
Elisha first met her. But Elisha passed by him and
his servant Gehasi, and she recognized something about him. She said,
he's a man of God. He's a man of God. And let's
build him a little room on our house here. And it's so interesting
to me, here's a man of God and what furniture he had in that
room. He had a bed, he had a table. These men today that take advantage and, you know,
are hucksters, tell people it's always God's will for God's men
to have the very best. And some of those people live
in million-dollar mansions. And what a contrast, right, between
the prophet Elisha and men today that claim to be prophets of
God, preachers of God. But her son died also. He was
out in the field one day and he told his dad, he said, my
head's, he didn't say this, but he said, my head's killing me.
That's what he meant. And he went home, the father
said to his servant, take him to his mother. Of course, when
he did, he died. And she, of course, went to see
Elisha, remember. And Elisha told his servant,
Gehazi, here, take my staff and go with her. And she said, I'm
not going to leave you unless you come, unless you come. And Elisha did come, but the
same thing. He lay upon that boy and put
his mouth on the boy's mouth and his eyes on the eyes of that
boy. and the Lord restored him. And
then we have another example when they were burying that man
and they were putting him down into the sepulchre and when his
body touched the bones of that prophet, we studied about that
prophet a few weeks ago, when his bones touched the bones of
that prophet, he was resurrected. Later in the book of Acts, there's
a woman, a Christian believer, had such a wonderful testimony
and she died. Her name was Dorcas. And Peter
went in and he asked the people to leave and he bowed down before
the place where her body was laid out to be buried. And he
prayed and asked the Lord. But notice the Lord, how he speaks. He doesn't pray. He doesn't ask
the Father to restore this young man to his life. Why? Because he is God. He is God. And with his word,
he spoke, the word arise. And the young man arose, set
up, the scripture tells us. He immediately set up and began
to speak. I wonder what he said. Don't
you? I just wonder what he said when
he woke up or was raised. He didn't wake up. He was dead
and now he's alive and he began to speak. I would imagine that
he and his mother began to speak. I would imagine they began to
praise the Lord, don't you? To praise God from whom all blessings
flow. But you know that same voice
here, the same voice that spoke to this dead corpse, this young
man, is the same voice that one day is going to speak the voice
of the archangel. That's his voice. And all the
dead, all the bodies of his people, all the bodies of all people
are going to rise from the grave. When He commands, when He speaks,
it's going to take place. Look at that in John chapter
5. In John chapter 5, verse 24, the
Lord said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My
word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, now notice this, and now is, and now is,
the hour is coming, it's already here, it's already come. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, those who are spiritually dead, dead
in trespasses and sins. He said, my sheep, hear my voice,
and they that hear shall live. For as the father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the son of man. Marvel not at this. That's a
marvel. But don't just marvel at this,
for the hour is coming, not yet come, but it's coming. It's coming,
isn't it? For the hour is coming in which
all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. Just like this
corpse of this widow woman, her son, heard his voice arise. He's going to speak one day from
heaven when he comes again. And all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done
good unto the resurrection of life, those who are saved and
their souls are now with the Lord. But in that day, their
bodies shall be raised, and those who are alive and remain, we
know our bodies, if we are alive, shall be changed, those that
have done good. And God's people do good. They
do good. It doesn't mean that they're
going to be raised because they are good or because they've done
good works, but God's people walk in good works, which God
hath before ordained, the scripture says in Ephesians chapter two.
But they that have done evil, lost men, they do evil. That's all they can do, is do
evil. Unto the resurrection of damnation. Well, let's go back to Luke 7.
I want to point out one more thing here. the last thing, he delivered
him rather to his mother. And this is a display of his
infinite power, but it is also a display of his infinite mercy
and grace. The Lord God, the Lord God merciful
and gracious, the only begotten son hath declared him. Now here's the second thing I
want to briefly touch on if you look further down in this seventh
chapter of Luke. The Lord God forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin. We know that as the verse 36
tells us that a Pharisee invited the Lord to eat with him And
we won't read all of this, but you're familiar with the facts. As he went in to eat with this
Pharisee, and there was a woman in that particular city, and
the scripture says in verse 37, which was a sinner. Now, all
men are sinners. The reason is pointed out here,
this woman, which was a sinner, she was notorious. Most people
believe she probably was a prostitute, a harlot. We don't know that
for sure. But I do know this, her sins
were many, because the Lord Jesus Christ will declare that later
on. If you look down to verse 47,
he said, speaking to the Pharisee, wherefore I say unto thee her
sins, which are many, Our sins, which are many. How
many sins? How many sins are we guilty of?
There's no way that we could compute the number of sins that
we are guilty of. Do you ever pick up the Bible and
start reading the word of God and before long your mind's way
off there in left field? thinking about something, just
out of the, what is that? You ever pray and have thoughts
come into your mind, sometimes evil thoughts, wicked thoughts,
blasphemous thoughts? I'm talking to believers, to
God's children. Our sins, which are many, just
like this woman, her sins were many. But the scripture there
says the Lord, the Lord God, who forgives iniquity, transgression,
and sin. And our Lord spoke to this woman,
look in verse 47, wherefore I say unto thee, Simon, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven. The Lord is declaring God. The only begotten Son of God,
no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Declared Him. And as we look at the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we see how He declares God. He tells
out God. This is who God is. He that hath
seen Me has seen the Father. the express image of his person. Her sins which are many are forgiven
for she loved much. Now, her sins were not forgiven
because she loved much, just the opposite. She loved much
because her many sins were forgiven her. The meritorious cause of
the forgiveness of our sins is the person and work of Jesus
Christ. For Christ's sake, we have been
forgiven. We are forgiven, for Christ's
sake. And not for anything that we
have done, whether it's loving Him or not loving Him. We're
forgiven for Christ's sake, those who are forgiven. And those who
are forgiven much, love much. And I don't know about you, but
this is always very convicting to me. I've been forgiven much. Do I love much? Do I? I pray that I do, hope that I
do. Notice in verse 50, our Lord
said, thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Faith was, as I
said, not the meritorious cause of her being saved, but it was
faith that allowed her to know that she had been forgiven. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
upon the tree, he paid our sin debt. Our sins were forgiven.
But we come into this world, sinful creatures, we don't know
our sins are forgiven. But when, by the grace of God,
we are regenerated and given life and we trust in Christ,
we have faith in him, then we know By faith we know our sins
are forgiven. They're not forgiven because
of our faith. Faith didn't die for us. Faith didn't pay the penalty
for our sins. But faith is a gift of God that
allows us to experience the wonderful truth that our sins are forgiven. One other place, I want you to
look in Mark chapter 15. The Lord God, the Lord God who
will by no means clear the guilty. In Luke chapter 15 in verse 34,
we read these words, you're very familiar with them, the words
spoken by our Savior upon the cross. At the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabatania,
which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Isn't this, now think about it,
isn't this the Lord Jesus declaring, making known, God, who will by
no means clear the guilty? He was guilty. When he spoke
these words, he was guilty. He had no sins of his own. We
understand that. But yet all of the sins of his
people were charged to him. And he was guilty before God. And God will by no means clear
the guilty, not even his own only begotten son, when he was
charged with the sins of his people. He has made, He has told
out God. He has declared Him, revealed
Him. When He spoke these words, He
was guilty. He was guilty, and unless He
had perfectly, and I pray that every one of us here hear this
and understand this, that unless God's justice had been perfectly,
absolutely, satisfied, the Lord Jesus would never have come out
of that grave. But to show and to testify to
the world that God's justice is satisfied, that the debt,
the sin debt of his people is paid, he raised him from the
dead, declared him just. He was cleared and His resurrection
is a testimony to all the world that God's justice is forever
satisfied. And the only reason He told this
woman, only reason He could tell that woman, we looked at in Luke
7, go in peace. That's what He says to all of
those who believe in Him. Go in peace. Why? Because your
sins have been paid for. The justice of God has been forever
satisfied. Go in peace. I pray the Lord will bless the
words to us here tonight, the truth of the words. The only