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Well, you can turn with me in 
the Bibles to John's gospel. We're in John chapter eight. Two weeks ago, we looked at verses 
21 to 24. We're going to look at 25 to 29. This is a particular 
section. It's tough to say there are sections 
in this section of scripture because it is Jesus teaching 
in the temple. It's the day after the Feast 
of Tabernacles. He comes the next day early in 
the morning and he speaks to these Jews in the temple. But 
the translators have done a pretty fair job in giving us headings 
or breaks in the narrative. Typically it's focused around 
the dialogue between the Jews and our Lord Jesus. But in the 
section that we're looking at, verses 21 to 29, we see the danger 
of rejecting the Son. We saw that in particular when 
he says in verse 24, Therefore I said to you that you will die 
in your sins. For if you do not believe that 
I am, you will die in your sins. So Jesus is upping the ante as 
it were. Look back in verse 19. Then they said to him, where 
is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. 
If you'd known me, you would have known my father also. So 
he goes from that to now a condemnation, a statement of judgment concerning 
their rejection against him. You reject the Lord Jesus Christ, 
you reject the father who sent him. That's essentially his teaching 
in this particular part of God's word. So I'll read verses 21 
to 29. And then as I said, our focus 
will be 25 to 29. So notice John 8, 21. Then Jesus 
said to them again, I am going away and you will seek me and 
will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. 
So the Jews said, will he kill himself? Because he says, where 
I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are 
from beneath. I am from above. You are of this 
world. I am not of this world. Therefore, 
I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not 
believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Then they said 
to Him, Who are You? And Jesus said to them, Just 
what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many 
things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, 
and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him. 
They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 
Then Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, then 
you will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But as 
my Father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent 
me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, 
for I always do those things that please him. Amen. Well, 
let us pray. Our God and Father, we thank 
you for this beautiful day. The heavens do declare your righteousness, 
your majesty, your glory. Certainly, as the Belgian Confession 
says, we learn of God by the two books, General Revelation 
and Special Revelation. We thank you for your wisdom 
and your power and your glory demonstrated in the created and 
providential order. We thank you for that mercy and 
that grace that you reveal to us in the gospel of our salvation 
and the redemptive order. And God, help us now to concern 
ourselves with a right appreciation for our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
one sent by the Father, the only begotten of the Father, full 
of grace and truth. We ask that you would guide our 
thoughts now by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. 
We pray that you would forgive us and cleanse us from all sin 
and everything that darkens our understanding. And we pray these 
things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as we have 
seen as we move our way through John's Gospel, there is a heavy 
emphasis by our Lord on who He is relative to the Father. And 
you see that in this particular section as well. So last time 
we looked at the announcement of His departure in verses 21 
to 24. Jesus said to them again, I am 
going away, you will seek me and will die in your sin. where 
I go, you cannot come. So they then slander him by asking 
the question, will he kill himself? They're not asking this as if 
it's a possibility or a potentiality, they're trying to get it into 
the news cycle. They're trying to slander him and make him look 
like a lunatic or a madman. And then as I said, he warns 
them, he condemns them, he tells them the great sin involved in 
rejecting the son. And this is something we all 
need to take heed to. When he says in verse 24, that 
if you do not believe that I am, He is equating himself, or he 
is making himself equal with God. And they certainly understand 
this, because at the end of the chapter, they take up stones 
to stone him, because they thought he was a blasphemer. They rejected 
his identification of himself as the Messiah, as the Son of 
God, and therefore he condemns them by saying, if you do not 
believe that Christ is equal with the Father, one true and 
living God, in this divine and infinite being there are three 
subsistences or persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Spirit. If you do not believe that, you will die in your sins. 
Now, the Bible is very clear. There is forgiveness with God 
that he may be feared. In fact, in Psalm 130, David 
is musing on that reality. He says to himself, or he says 
in prayer, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who could 
stand? It's a valid question. If God 
should mark every sin that you and I commit, who of us could 
stand? There would be no hope if the 
psalmist ended at that point in Psalm 130 at verse 3. But 
he continues on, and he says, And that is a glorious truth 
of the Christian gospel, is that there is forgiveness to be had 
in our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we ask the question, well, 
what kind of sin does God forgive? We'll look in John chapter eight, 
verses one to 11. A woman caught in a very active 
adultery is forgiven by our Lord. He says, neither do I condemn 
you, go and sin no more. When you look at the scriptures, 
you'll see that tax collectors and heathen and sinners drew 
near to him to hear him. He says in Matthew chapter 11 
at verse 28, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. He's not talking about being 
physically exhausted from your earthly employment. He's talking 
about being weighed down by your sins. So there is forgiveness 
to be had with our Lord Jesus Christ for all sin, for every 
sin. But in this particular context, 
he says, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your 
sins. The rejection of Jesus is the 
rejection of the forgiveness of sins. And so this is a very 
solemn and serious passage of Holy Scripture. Now on the heels 
of this announcement of his departure, there is this question of his 
identity in verses 25 to 27, and then next the reference to 
his crucifixion in verses 28 to 29. So let's look at the question 
of his identity in verses 25 to 27. So verse 25, then they 
said to him, and we might supply there again, Because they've 
asked him over and over again concerning his identity and his 
authority. We go back to chapter 7 at the 
Feast of Tabernacles. Those were the two issues that 
stuck in their minds. Who is this man? He's not been 
trained in the schools of the rabbis, but yet he teaches with 
authority. Who is this man in terms of his 
origin? And so his identity and his authority 
are at play. So they said to him again, who 
are you? This is the constant issue, the 
perennial problem with these Jews. They reject him as the 
Messiah. This will culminate in his crucifixion at the hands 
of these guilty lawless sinners. Now notice the response that 
Jesus gives. Verse 25, and Jesus said to them, 
just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. There 
is repetition here that Jesus acknowledges. There is repetition 
here that I'm sure you will acknowledge. You have sat under these sermons, 
and you have heard these emphases time and time again. Well, if 
we ask the question, why are these emphases in the Scripture? 
Because the demand of verse 24. If you do not believe that I 
am, you will die in your sin. So it is imperative and crucial 
that we understand who He is, what He does, why did He come 
down from heaven. He comes for us men and for our 
salvation, and that's what He has taken pains to teach them 
and to tell them. So there is repetition, just 
what I have been saying to you from the beginning, and His recurring 
emphasis on the one sent by the Father who sent Him. He is the 
one sent by the Father from heaven above. Notice back in verse 23, 
you are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, 
I am not of this world. He's not an alien, he's not a 
Martian, he's not some sort of a space character, but he is 
rather divine in terms of his origin. God from God, light from 
light, true God from true God. All this resonates with what 
we learn of Jesus in John 1, verses 1 to 18. The apostle sets 
the stage for the way that he is going to treat the life, death, 
and resurrection of our Lord in terms of the economy of redemption 
by first telling us something of theology. How does Jesus relate 
to the Father? John 1.1, in the beginning was 
the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1.14, 
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, 
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. So John tells us or lets us peer behind the curtain, 
as it were, with reference to the Trinity, Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, before he gets to the economy of salvation in 129. Behold the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sin of the world. Now, as we move through the gospel 
narrative in the teaching ministry of our Lord Jesus, he certainly 
highlights his work as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin 
of the world. But in John's gospel, in a unique way, not that Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke don't do this, but in John, it is filled with 
these references to his relation to the Father. as the one sent 
by the Father. The Father is the one who sends 
the Son. And there's something about that 
that reflects the glory between the persons. He is the only begotten 
Son of the Father. And what we find in terms of 
mission or procession, Christ coming into this world reveals 
something about that relation that obtains between the Father 
and the Son. So look at what he says, just 
what I have been saying to you from the beginning. So the prologue 
sets this forth, the ministry of Jesus. Up to this point, there's 
been about 20 references to his having been sent by the father. We're not very far into the gospel 
account. There's 21 chapters in John's 
gospel. And yet up to this point, about 
20 references to the fact that he is the one sent by the father. 
Now as I said, as I'm going to suggest, this will culminate 
in his declaration in John 17.3. You can turn there. John 17.3. So this repetition, this continual 
pounding on this particular nail to teach us something about the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we get to the upper 
room discourse, Jesus will include the Spirit much in terms of his 
teaching. We've already seen his part in 
terms of regeneration in John chapter three. We will see more 
development in terms of the third person of the Trinity when we 
get to the upper room. But notice in John 17, after 
the upper room discourse, Jesus prays. And in verse one, it says, 
Jesus spoke these words, lifted his eyes to heaven, and said, 
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that your son 
also may glorify you. As you have given him authority 
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many 
as you have given him. Now notice verse three, and this 
is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and 
Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So all of this talk, all of this 
teaching, all of this doctrine by our Lord concerning the fact 
that the father is the one who sends and that the son is the 
one sent by the father culminates in that blessed statement concerning 
the essence of eternal life. If we ask the question of the 
Bible, what's sort of the pinnacle of eternal life? What's the best 
thing about eternal life? What's the most joyous thing 
about eternal life? Some would suggest that, you 
know, based on the book of Revelation, it's those pearly gates. It's 
those roads covered with gold. It's that beautiful new Jerusalem 
that comes down from heaven adorned as a bride for her husband. No, 
the essence of eternal life is the knowledge of God, the knowledge 
of Jesus Christ whom he has sent. See, very often today in the 
church, we are markedly different than the trajectory of John's 
gospel. We think of God in terms of, 
what does he do for me? We typically don't think of God 
as, who is he? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now again, John takes up the 
particular question, what does he do for us? But he also wants 
us to ponder who he is, and yes, it's for us. but there is enough 
in God, the glory and majesty of God, so that we will stand 
in awe. As the hymn writer says, when 
we've been there 10,000 years bright, shining as the sun, we've 
no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. And 
that's not just because he redeemed us from our sins, but it's also 
because of who he is. Father unbegotten, Son begotten 
by the Father and the Spirit proceeding from the Father and 
the Son. John wants you to know theology. John wants you to know 
the Trinity. John wants you to know good Christology. That means the person and the 
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're finding here. 
That's why Jesus says, have I not told you? I have told you on 
numerous occasions in terms of my identity and in terms of my 
authority. So the believer wants to know, 
what have you done for us? And again, it's not a bad thing, 
but we also should want to know, who is he for us? This God who 
made the world, this God who governs all his creatures and 
all their actions, this God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly 
places in Christ, shouldn't we want to know him more? ponder 
Him more, contemplate on His glory more, consider Him more, 
enter into what Jesus says is the apex of eternal life, that 
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
Thou hast sent. That, my brothers and sisters, 
is what we were created for. It is to know God. It is to enjoy 
God. The divines at Westminster got 
it right. What is the chief end of man? 
Is man's chief end to go out and do good for others? Oh, that's 
certainly secondary, but man's chief end is to what? It's to 
glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is what Adam and 
Eve were created for. This is what they forfeit in 
the garden. And this is what Christ comes to do in order to 
redeem us, to bring us to that place of a knowledge of our blessed 
God. So back to the text, we ought 
to appreciate that repetition is necessary because as many 
times as Jesus says it, not only does the Jews not hear it, neither 
does the church. The church is simply about horizontal 
things. The church is simply about earthly 
things. The church doesn't simply contemplate 
the glory and the majesty of God Most High. The Church needs 
to reckon with the last statement in 2nd London Confession, at 
chapter 2, paragraph 3, after discourse on the Trinity says 
which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our 
communion with God and comfortable dependence on Him. If you're 
a new believer here this morning, I want to welcome you to the 
household of faith. If you're not a believer and God blessedly 
saved you today, I'll welcome you to the household of faith. 
But one of the things that believers experience in this lower world 
is hardship. One of the things that believers 
suffer in this lower world is affliction. We're going to look 
at that tonight in Ephesians 3 verse 1. The apostle calls 
himself the prisoner of Christ Jesus. That doesn't mean Christ 
left heaven and arrested Paul and put him in a Roman prison. 
It means that he's there because he's a preacher of Christ. But 
doesn't Paul say in Ephesians 1, 20-23 that Christ is enthroned 
at the right hand of God Most High? He has a name that is over 
every name. He has absolute universal dominion. 
If that's true, why is Paul in the poking? John the Baptist 
faced this in Matthew chapter 11. He sends his disciples to 
go ask Jesus, are you the coming one or should we look for another? 
I don't think that means that John the Baptist didn't believe 
that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. But John understood 
the prophet Isaiah. When Messiah comes, he's going 
to heal. When Messiah comes, he's going to fix blind eyes. 
He's going to raise the dead. He's going to do wonderful things. 
So John the Baptist might conclude, why am I languishing in a prison 
if Messiah has come? You see, the reality is, is that 
Christ enthroned at the right hand of the majesty on high does 
not change the world immediately. There's still sin, there's still 
curse, there's still effects. We have to wait to the very end, 
at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, for all those wrongs 
to be righted. So my point is, is that during 
affliction, during hardship, during trial, during pain, during 
misery, which life is not short on, what comforts the believer 
in life and death? Is it our own performance? Is 
our own stability? Is it our own perseverance? No, 
it's our Lord Jesus Christ. It's God from God, light from 
light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in being 
with the Father through whom all things are made. Brethren, 
if you get a good view of the only true God in Jesus Christ 
whom he has sent, that's what provides worlds of comfort and 
stability and the foundation upon which the saints of Christ 
persevere in this present evil age. Apostasy is damnable. We need to press on by the grace 
of God, and I suggest we do this in the manner suggested by, or 
commanded by, the Apostle Paul in Hebrews chapter 12. We need 
to run with endurance the race that is set before us. We've 
got this great cloud of witnesses that testify that God is faithful, 
but our eyes are to be fixed firmly upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Christ. And so when 
it comes to John's gospel, he opens up for us who this Christ 
is, his divinity, his humanity, his glory, his majesty, his excellence, 
his being sent by the Father for us men and for our salvation. Now notice the answer that Jesus 
provides. So verse 25, who are you? Verse 25b, just what I've been 
saying to you from the beginning. So he does the same thing in 
verse 26. Notice, he is the one who's given judgment by the father. 
Notice verse 26, I have many things to say to you, to say 
and to judge concerning you. In chapter five, we know that 
the father has given to the son the role of judge at the day 
of judgment. The Apostle Paul tells us that 
as well. We'll stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and 
we will give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good 
or ill. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. Acts 17, verse 31, at the 
Areopagus, the Apostle says that God has proven that he is going 
to judge the world by raising Jesus from the dead. And Jesus 
will be the one by which we are judged. But that's not what I 
think he's talking about here. Jesus is talking about this judgment 
in terms of reproof, this judgment in terms of correction, this 
judgment in terms of the fact that he's come to his own and 
his own have received him not. He's going to do this in John 
8.44, for instance, you are of your father the devil. He does 
it in John 8.23, I'm from above, you are from below. And that 
doesn't just mean that they're human, it means they're devilish. 
So he has many things to say to them, many judgments, many 
reproofs because of their viciousness and their wickedness and their 
mistreatment of the Son of God. And then notice as well, he affirms 
or rather tells them that he is affirmed by the Father. He 
says, I have many things to say to you and to judge concerning 
you, but he who sent me is true. Notice the language again. He 
who sent me. It's titular. That means it's 
a title almost in John's gospel. Who's the father? He's the one 
who sends. Who's the son? He's the one who sent. You have 
this heavy emphasis on the only begottenness of the Son of God 
in John's gospel. Why? Because again, what we see 
in terms of the economy reflects what is true in terms of theology. 
The fact that the father sends the son highlights something 
concerning the son's begottenness from the father. So Jesus, as 
he has, knowing that they have rejected it and resisted it, 
nevertheless presses them. See, Jesus' teaching isn't this 
way. Well, you know, they don't get it. They don't understand, 
they're thick-headed, they're dull. No, he's gonna keep cramming 
it. gently so, down their throats. He's going to continue to tell 
them. See, brethren, just because people don't get it doesn't mean 
we change the message. We rather are patient. Doesn't 
Paul tell us that in 2 Timothy chapter 4? Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of 
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort. With all what? It's one of those 
passages that are really tough, man, especially for a preacher. 
You don't want to be patient. You want everybody to get it 
right here, right now, with all long-suffering and teaching. 
Brethren, when the church capitulates on sound doctrine because the 
people are too dumb, that reflects on the dumbness of the church. 
We are to take pains to teach the truth as it is in Jesus. 
And just because these Jews are thick at it, and because they're 
resistant, Jesus doesn't tailor his message for that. No! What 
I've been telling you from the beginning, He who sent me is 
true. He is pointed to the affirmation 
by the father in previous sections. Look in John chapter eight in 
our passage right here. John chapter eight, specifically 
at verse 18. I am one who bears witness of 
myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me. They 
rejected it. They resisted it. Remember this 
isn't like five weeks ago. Oh, they must've forgot. This 
was the morning after the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus, according 
to 8.2, comes early to the temple. All the people draw near to Him. 
They bring the adulterous woman. He forgives her sin. He navigates 
their horns of a dilemma. He makes the declaration concerning 
the fact that He is the light of the world in 8.12. And on 
the heels of that, He teaches them until the end of the chapter. 
It's within the space literally of seconds, right? It's been 
a couple of weeks since we were there, but it wasn't a couple 
of weeks since they were there. So when they press him in 25, 
who are you? Look at how he defines himself. Look at how he answers their 
question. He says, essentially, you can 
only really know me in relation to the father. You can only really 
know the father in relation to me. So he is answering their 
question concerning both identity and authority all in one fell 
swoop. And then notice, he says that 
he is the one who speaks the words of the father. Verse 26, 
verse 26, I have many things to say to you and say and to 
judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true. And I speak 
to the world those things which I heard from him. I speak to 
the world those things which I heard from him. Go back to 
7.16. He says something similar there. Actually, yeah, go back 
to 7.16. Jesus answered them and said, 
my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. This corresponds 
to what he says in chapter five at verse 19. Look at 519, then 
Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, 
the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do. 
For whatever he does, the son also doesn't like manner. Now 
for anybody to take 519 and say, well, that means the son is impotent. He can't do anything on his own. 
That's not what it means at all. He's omnipotent. He does precisely 
what the Father does. See, this is not a limiting text. 
This is not a text that says he's somehow subservient or subordinate 
to the Father. It rather tells us that he has 
the same essence as the Father. He is consubstantial with the 
Father. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. 
The Word was God, right? He doesn't have a part of the 
essence, he has the entirety of the divine essence. So in 
519, when he says, I do the works that the Father does, that's 
not a claim to impotence, but it's a claim to omnipotence. 
So in 716, we see the similar thing. My doctrine is not mine, 
but his who sent me. Again, this is not a limiting 
language or deficiency on his part. The doctrine is the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because of the doctrine of divine 
simplicity. We won't get into that too much, 
but it's what our confession says or means when it says he's 
without parts. But the same sort of emphasis 
in chapter 20, or at chapter 8 at verse 26, and I speak to 
the world those things which I heard from him. In other words, 
you don't understand me unless you understand the Father. And 
you don't understand the Father unless you understand me. And 
to bring that point home, look at verse 27. Look at what it 
says. So verse 25, the Jews answered, 
or they said to him, who are you? He gives his answer in verse 
26. And then verse 27, they did not 
understand that he spoke to them of the Father. So who are you? And where does he go to define, 
describe, or to tell who he is? He goes to the Father. And I 
think this at least reminded me of that statement of Gregory 
of Nazianzen. It was an oration on holy baptism. And he makes this observation. 
Now, this is a bit of a packed statement, might not be that 
the first sort of glance that you have at it will make, you 
know, complete sense and resonate in your soul and you'll go, wow, 
that's one of the better things I've, well, certainly going to 
be the best thing you've heard in this sermon. But the point 
is, is that it's one of those powerful packed statements that 
you can spend a little time on, sort of reflecting and thinking 
and musing on or contemplating. So he says, no sooner do I conceive 
of the one. Remember, we're Christians, brethren. 
That means we profess one true and living God, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, three persons. He's one in one sense, substance 
or essence. He's three in another sense, 
person or subsistence. So no sooner do I conceive of 
the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three. No 
sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the 
One. When I think of any one of the three, I think of Him 
as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part 
of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness 
of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. 
When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, 
and cannot divide of measure out the undivided light." And 
again, it's packed, probably take it home, think through it. 
The point is, I can't think of the one without the three. Can't 
think of the three without the one. And when Jesus is asked 
by the Jews, who are you? He goes to the Father. You don't 
understand who Jesus is if you don't understand the Father. 
You certainly don't understand the Father if you don't understand 
who Jesus is. That's what he says in verse 
19. You know neither me nor my Father. If you had known me, 
you would have known my Father also. John 14 verse 9. So Philip 
in verse 8 said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is 
sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been 
with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He 
who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show 
us the Father? Brethren, this is his constant 
refrain. This is his constant orientation. Without a knowledge of the Father, 
you don't know the Son. Without a knowledge of the Son, 
you don't know the Father. And this does not sort of translate 
down to a subservient level or a subordinate status on the part 
of Jesus. It's not a little g-god the way 
the Arians taught. He's not subordinate the way 
that EFSers teach or ERAers teach. He is God from God, light from 
light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in being 
with the Father. This is the glorious truth of 
John's gospel. The Nicene Creed wasn't just 
making this stuff up. You know, these people look at 
the history of the creeds and confessions in the church and 
say, well, those were some bright fellows. They got around a table 
and they came up with this. They didn't come up with anything 
that wasn't in the Bible. How do you deal with in the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, 
without minimizing the glory of the Savior, without minimizing 
the glory of the Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us. The 
glory of the Incarnation is not that He divested Himself of divinity, 
but that He added humanity. That's the glory, or he assumed 
rather, humanity. For whatever is not assumed is 
not redeemed. If he didn't take on our humanity, 
we will die in our sins. So the glory of the incarnation, 
again, isn't that he divided himself. He never ceased to be 
what he is. You know the poverty or the riches 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though He was rich, yet for your 
sakes, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become 
rich. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, 9. So 
as we look at this passage, Christ does not shrink back from teaching 
theology, Trinitarian theology, and a good robust Christology. Now again, back to the modern 
church, we want principles for a better me. We want helps to 
conduct myself on Monday through Saturday. Brethren, you get your 
mind wrapped around who this true and living God is and Jesus 
Christ whom thou has sent, then a lot of these other things will 
kind of work themselves out. When you get your heart and mind 
filled with God, then hopefully you won't be a wretch to your 
wife. When you get your mind and heart 
filled with who our blessed Christ is, you won't shout at your children. 
If you as a child or a believer in Jesus and you understand this 
blessed Savior, then hopefully it will be commonplace for you 
to toe the line relative to obedience to your parents. See, so often 
we want all the practical application, we want all the do's and the 
don'ts, we don't stop to taste and see that the Lord is good. 
And this is the emphasis in John's Gospel. Now notice, secondly, 
in terms of our sermon this morning, the reference to his crucifixion 
in verses 28 and 29. So verse 27, they did not understand 
that he spoke to them of the father. Then Jesus said to them, 
when you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am 
and that I do nothing of myself. But as my father taught me, I 
speak these things. And he who sent me is with me. 
The father has not left me alone, for I always do those things 
that please him. You see how dense and packed and theologically 
rich his answers are to these unbelieving Jews? It really is 
amazing, brethren. I'm not saying here, because 
I love all of you, and I think you love me, and we're all happy 
and healthy, and we gather together on Sundays, and it's nice to 
see each other. But the stories that I hear, the horror stories 
that I hear, it's always interesting on, you know, summer vacation 
people go, and they go visit other churches, and sometimes 
it's good to hear when they come back. Boy, it's good to be back, 
you know. I went to this church, and such and such, or this or 
that, or whatever. And I'm not confessing there's 
not pride in me thinking, oh, yeah, it's great for you to finally 
be back where everything is rosy. No, I'm not saying that. There's 
a lot of bad stuff out there. There's a lot of, as our brother 
reminded us, the false prophets, the false teachers, it's not 
just Balaam in the Old Testament. It's not just the heretics in 
the New Testament. It's not just Alexander the Coppersmith. 
It's not just Hymenaeus and Philetus in the New Testament documents. 
We have a history punctuated with heresy. The early church, 
the fathers had to deal with the Trinitarian controversy. 
They had to deal with Christology. You had notorious heretics. And 
they didn't play games back then. When they exiled and, Yeah, that's 
what they did when you were a heretic. You know, today, should we discipline 
somebody for heresy? Yeah, you should discipline somebody 
for heresy. You know what heretics got in 
the early church? They got exile. What about my wife? What about 
my kids? What about my job? Tough, new Judas. You're gonna 
go live out there, out in the wilderness on your own. They 
didn't play games back then and they didn't play games with Arius 
or Sibelius or the various heretics that plagued the church of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. They're out there today. And one of the things 
today you hear is people say, well, you know, doctrine divides. 
Let's just, let's just love Jesus. Brethren, if we don't have doctrine, 
then which Jesus are we loving? The Jesus that we have conceived? 
The Jesus that we have made? Typically in our own image, mind 
you. But we need doctrine. Love rejoices 
in the truth, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 
And so when it comes to this in the church today, theology 
proper and Christology, well, that's for the seminarians. That's 
for the guys that are really interested. That's for the guys 
that read books. This is eternal life. that they, the church, 
believers, men, women, boys, girls, may know thee, the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Our brother shared 
with us the remedy for the false prophet situation in 2 Peter 
2, in 2 Peter 3.18. What are you supposed to do to 
inoculate yourself against that? Grow. Well, how do you grow? 
Do you just hope that it happens? Yeah, that's like throwing seeds 
out in the backyard. Well, not even throwing seeds 
out in the backyard, just hoping you get some growth. Wouldn't 
that be great? If I just came home to a big avocado tree, that 
would be delightful, yummy, and blessed. It doesn't happen that 
way. You gotta plant seeds, you gotta 
water, you gotta make sure there's sunlight. You've got to use the 
means. Grow in the grace, and guess 
what? In the knowledge of our Lord 
and Savior, Jesus Christ. So in an anti-doctrinal, anti-intellectual 
age, you know what the answer is? More doctrine, more intellect. Preach the word, Paul says, be 
ready in season and out of season. And he gives us two reasons. 
He gives two reasons. Preach the word, be ready in 
season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with 
all long-suffering and teaching. And then he gives two fours. 
Two reasons why. The second is because Paul's 
going to die. Paul doesn't want to leave the 
church in the hands of heretical men. He doesn't want Arius or 
Sibelius to reign on the parade of good Trinitarianism and Christology. But the first reason is because 
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. 
Think about Paul's logic. Timothy shoots off a text to 
Paul and says, you know, I'm ministering in this church here 
in Ephesus, and they don't like sound doctrine. Should I try, 
you know, a pony show or puppets? Should I try? That's what it 
was when I was a younger Christian. I guess there's, you know, guys 
rappelling in now and, you know, doing all sorts of weird and 
odd things to dazzle the multitudes. Should I do that, Paul? What's 
Paul say? No. Preach sound doctrine. Well, they don't want sound doctrine. 
It doesn't matter what they want. It matters what God says. It's 
like a child saying, I don't want beef. I don't want protein 
and fat. I want sugary sweets. Tough. You need fat and protein, kid. If you eat sugary sweets, you're 
going to be fat, and in more need of fat and protein. You 
need to toe the line. See, the church today doesn't 
want to deal with Trinitarian theology or good Christology. 
Not because it's so hard, and it's only for the people that 
do that. There are not very bright bulbs 
that know a lot of things. The law of the Lord, the psalmist 
says, makes wise what? That's simple, doesn't it? He 
says that your law has made me be able to stand before the wise 
men and the intellects of our day and age. This is weaselly 
way out. I don't want to think about this. 
I just want to learn how to live the Christian life. You're not 
going to learn how to live the Christian life unless you know 
the God of the Christian life. You're not going to learn to 
live the Christian life unless you appreciate the only true God 
in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. We need more doctrinal 
training. We need more doctrinal emphasis. 
We need more Trinitarianism. We need more Christology. We 
need more pneumatology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We need, 
certainly, soteriology. We need all that. It's not the 
case that, well, you know, I've heard my sermons in the past, 
I'm just going to, you know, sort of glide into heaven now. 
Again, back to the affliction, back to the hardship. What do 
you think steals the soul of the Apostle Paul when he's the 
prisoner of Jesus Christ sitting in a jail cell? Perhaps you saw 
recently, at least it was in the news this past week, in New 
York State or New York City, those immigrants that have come. 
They've come to a beautiful place. They have come to, you know, 
a bank of phones so that they can call home. They've come to 
three square meals in a day. They've come to Xboxes. They've 
come to a whole host of things. Even the prison system today, 
we used to do prison ministry. I've been in prisons before, 
not on the wrong side, but visiting and doing that sort of thing. 
They get three hots and a cot is what they call it. Paul didn't 
get three hots and a cot, brethren. If Epaphroditus, when he writes 
to Philippi, and he says, Epaphroditus, minister to my need. How do you 
think you ate when you were in prison in the Roman Empire? Well, 
you had friends, you had Christian brothers, you had people that 
cared enough about you to bring stuff. So how does Paul, the 
prisoner of Christ Jesus, steal his soul when he's languishing 
in a jail cell? It's not because Paul's a great 
guy, it's because Christ is a great Savior. Theology, Christology, 
is the need for today. Notice the statement concerning 
his death in verse 28, when you lift up the Son of Man. It's 
language we've already seen, John 3 at verse 14. John 3 at 
verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That blessed analogy 
that the Lord Jesus reaches back into the history of numbers, 
the book of numbers, says the way that the brazen spirit was 
lifted, you looked and you lived, so will the Son of Man be lifted 
up. And then notice in John chapter 12, he uses the same language 
of lifting up to refer to his crucifixion. John 12 at verse 
31, now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this 
world will be cast out and died. If I am lifted up from the earth 
will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what 
death he would die. So back to John chapter eight, 
what is Jesus saying? Jesus knows what's gonna happen. 
Jesus understands the purpose for which he came. Jesus knows 
that he's going to the cross. There's no mystery there. There's 
no surprise there. Jesus is not caught unawares 
by the multitude crying out, you know, away with him, away 
with him, crucify him. Now, I think this language does 
double duty. We know the lifting up not only 
entails the crucifixion, but the lifting up also refers to 
his ascension, his exaltation at the right hand of God Most 
High. You see that in Acts 2 at verse 33. In fact, John Gill 
says this, the cross, what the Jews designed for his reproach, 
shame and abasement, would be the way and means of his rise 
and exaltation. So the two events are inextricably 
connected. You're going to lift me up in 
crucifixion, but it's going to lead to ascension and exaltation 
in what we call now the current session of our Lord. One modern 
commentator says, while the world intends the cross to be the world's 
final word against Jesus, in reality it will be God's final 
word about Jesus. the coronation of Jesus as the 
divine authority and judge. Yet further, this coronation 
will also declare Him Savior of the world. John 4, 42. In 
fact, if you look back for just a moment in verse 26, I speak 
to the world. 8, 12, I am the light of the 
world. When Jesus makes these statements, 
He's not speaking about every man without distinction, or every 
man without exception. He's talking about every man 
without distinction, every tribe, every tongue, every people, every 
nation. God so loved the world, Jews and Gentiles. He's not just 
Israel's Messiah. He is a light unto the Gentiles. 
That's the section we're looking at in Ephesians chapter two. 
We finished up that particular chapter, how Christ in his death 
and resurrection makes one new man out of the two. And tonight 
in chapter three, he starts to unfold his place as a steward 
of that mystery of Christ. And so we have this blessed statement 
of our Lord, that he does this for the benefit, not just to 
the Jews, but for the world. So back to this reference in 
verse 28, when you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know 
that I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father, 
or as my Father taught me, I speak these things. Notice he underscores 
their culpability, their responsibility. This is what Peter does in Acts 
chapter 2, this Jesus, whom you crucified, God made both Lord 
and Christ. We see it later in John's gospel, 
John 19, when Jesus is before Pilate. He says, the people who 
delivered me up have greater guilt. Pilate was not guiltless. Pilate was not innocent. Pilate 
was not a spotless, pure little vessel. He was definitely a sinful, 
rebellious man. But the greater guilt is for 
the Jews who delivered him up. They crucified the Lord of glory. But when he says this, when you 
lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am. What's 
the significance of that statement? If we're gonna define the I Am 
relative to Exodus 3.14, the revelation of God's being, the 
same sort of an emphasis in the prophet Isaiah, the I Ams that 
Jesus utilizes several times throughout John's gospel, both 
with predicate and without predicate, what do we make of this? How 
would it be that at the crucifixion of our blessed savior, they would 
then understand that he is or that he is the I Am? Well, positively, 
Acts 2. What happens in Acts 2? Peter, 
preaching on the day of Pentecost to Jerusalem's sinners and to 
the various nations assembled in the city at that time, there 
was a great conversion. There was a lot of people saved. And as we move through the book 
of Acts, you see these comments by Luke, the author, where a 
great number of the priests were added to the church. What does 
that mean? The crucifixion, and thus the 
resurrection, underscored His identity as the one sent by the 
Father. It underscored His authority. 
So when all was said and done, those whom God had foreordained 
would see and appreciate. Now, negatively, there would 
be mockers at the cross, and there would be those who concocted 
a story that he really didn't rise from the dead, Matthew 28, 
11 to 15. Well, why would you take such 
pains to do that? I don't ever feel the need to 
go out and try to disprove the existence of unicorns. It's so 
fanciful, it's so wild and odd that I would never even think 
to do that. Somebody's going to discover a unicorn someday, 
mark my words, and you're all going to come back to me and 
say, hey, you were absolutely positively wrong. Maybe I shouldn't 
have, I should have engaged that. But why? Why do these, the unbelieving 
Jews in Matthew 28, 11 to 15, concoct this story? This sort of contra-Great Commission. Get a parallel structure in Matthew 
28. Jesus rises from the dead, and then two bodies go into action. The body of Christ is sent into 
action to go make disciples of all the nations. But the body 
of unbelieving Jews concoct the story. Make it up. Tell them 
that the disciples came and stole his body away. The text of Philippians 
2 tells us that at the Day of Judgment everybody will know, 
every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ 
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now some, to their 
benefit, blessing, and eternal joy. Others, to their shame and 
condemnation and utter rejection from the presence of God in all 
that is holy. And so Jesus says that the crucifixion 
and thus the resurrection are going to be marked times in human 
history. And then he goes on to highlight 
not only the knowledge conveyed in terms of his nature, but in 
terms of his close relation with the Father. He says, then you 
will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But as 
my father taught me, I speak these things. Same sort of an 
emphasis we saw before. It's not impotence, but it's 
omnipotence. He has taught this, not discursively. 
Discursively means, you know, when you have kids and you sit 
them down with a book and you say, okay, this is A. It makes 
this sound, ah, or ah. That's not how Jesus is taught 
by the Father. They have the unity of essence. 
Everything the Father knows, the Son knows. John 1.18, no 
one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who 
is in the bosom of the Father has declared Him. And so Jesus 
teaches that based on his crucifixion, based on his work, it will underscore, 
underline, and highlight who he was, the sent one by the Father 
who came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. And he ends by once again explaining 
his unity with the father in verse 29. And he who sent me 
is with me. He does that in verse 16. Notice verse 16. And yet, if 
I do judge, my judgment is true for I'm not alone, but I am with 
the father who sent me. It is an impossibility for him 
to be without the Father. It is an impossibility for the 
Father to be without the Son. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three subsistences. If it were the case that a breach 
could come, if there was a dissolution, that this is an impossibility. 
It's an absolute contradictory thing. There's no way the Son 
can be without the Father or the Father without the Son. Even 
on the cross, brethren, when he says, my God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me? There is not a dissolution in 
the relation between the father and the son. It cannot be the 
case. The father is always with the 
son. The son is always with the father. That will again be affirmed 
when we get to the upper room discourse in spades. So he says, 
he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone. 
Now notice, for I always do those things that please him. I think 
this works two ways. With reference to his divinity, 
it confirms it. I always do the things that please 
him. That's a statement concerning 
His equality with the Father. But in terms of His humanity, 
what does Christ do as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin 
of the world? Yes, He goes to the cross to die for us, but 
He also lived 33 years of righteousness for us. See, the life of Christ 
is exemplary. We should do what Jesus did, 
but that's not the primary referent. The life of Christ in some sense 
is substitutionary, because we can't do what he did, because 
we never will do what he did. We not only need the forgiveness 
of sins, but we also need a righteousness by which we can enter into the 
presence of God. So when he says, I always do 
those things that please him, that according to his humanity 
supports the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. If we don't have that righteousness, 
we die in our sins. There's the story of J. Gressam 
Machen on his deathbed. He's dying alone in Bismarck, 
North Dakota. One of the greatest theologians, 
I would say probably the best of the theologians in the 20th 
century, dies alone in Bismarck, North Carolina. He has time to 
fire off a brief, what do they call them now? It's not email 
or text, it used to be what they, memo? Telegram, yeah, there you 
go. I'm getting beyond my years here, 
going back in the wee annals of history there. You know what 
he says in that telegram? So thankful for the active obedience 
of Christ, no hope without it. What's he mean by that? He means 
we need our sins forgiven. But if only our sins are forgiven, 
we're back at the tree. We're back at the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil, and we have to obey. It's not just 
faith in Jesus at that point for the forgiveness of sins, 
but it's faithfulness in order to secure our place in heaven. 
No, the beautiful doctrine of justification by faith alone, 
the gift of Protestantism to the world is justification by 
faith alone. What is justification? Justification 
is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins. Isn't that glorious? He pardons 
all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight. only 
for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by 
faith alone. We not only need to be cleansed, 
but we need to be clothed. And in the gospel of our blessed 
Savior, that's precisely what we have. You have that illustration 
in Zechariah 3, Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh, 
the devil right there to condemn and indict him. And the Lord 
rebukes the devil. The Lord does cleanse him from 
his sins. And then the Lord puts this beautiful 
garment upon him. It is a beautiful depiction of 
Westminster Shorter Catechism 33, which is a beautiful explanation 
of Romans 4, of Galatians, well, Romans entirety and Galatians. specifically Romans 3, 4, and 
5. But when we come to this glorious 
doctrine, we need one who is a champion, we need one who is 
without sin, and one who always does what the Father is pleased 
with. Well, in conclusion. We see Christ's 
certainty of His mission. Verse 21, verse 28, He knows 
what He's come to do. He's not confused. He's not sort 
of bouncing around the land of Israel, just sort of wondering 
what He's doing. What's He here for? What's it 
all mean? Christ came, sinners to save. 
He was always fully conscious of the mission. We see the glory 
of His person. He is the one sent by the Father. 
He is the only begotten Son of the Father. And when we talk 
about this, he's the son, not by creation. He's the son, not 
by adoption, but he is the son by nature. And that's what that 
terminology, only begotten, points to. And that is terminology the 
church needs to hold on to. The church needs to grab with 
both hands, white knuckle, don't let it go. It points again to 
theology. As well, he is the one who is 
God from God, light from light, true God from true God. begotten, 
not made, one in being with the Father. And then as that creed 
goes on, who for us men and for our salvation came down from 
heaven. See, I think when you get your 
mind wrapped around John 17, 3, the only true God in Jesus 
Christ whom thou has sent, You should have a breathtaking moment 
or a breathless moment like, really? He does that for us? Have you ever had somebody do 
something really kind for you that was just way out of left 
field? You're like, really? You're going 
to do that for me? There's an unworthiness and there's 
a humility that's inculcated. There's an admiration of what 
the person has done. Brethren, never lose that with 
your God. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. That this God operates 
in this manner toward this kind of people? This is amazing grace, 
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was 
lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. We see 
as well in the passage, the condemnation of unbelief. I will say it again 
on the authority of God's holy word as a minister of the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness with God. Whatever your sin is today, I 
don't know your heart, God does. I don't know the nasty crevices 
in your heart, just like you don't know mine. Probably if 
we all really knew each other, we wouldn't be sitting in the 
same room with each other. God is good and merciful in that 
we're not omniscient. But I can affirm to you on the 
authority of Holy Scripture what Paul the Apostle says in 1 Timothy 
1. He says this is a faithful saying. 
It's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the 
world, sinners to save. In fact, he does it in a way 
to emphasize the sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world, 
yeah, sinners to save. We usually translate it to save 
sinners. He throws sinners at the front 
to emphasize the targets of this redemption. But then Paul, just 
to sort of counter anybody that would say, well, you know, I'm 
a little bit beyond the pale. I don't know, Paul, I'm pretty 
bad. You don't know the sorts of things I've done. You don't 
know the skeletons in my closet. What do you think Paul says? 
Of whom? I am chief. So on the authority of God's 
holy word, I can promise you today what John 6 37 says, all 
that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes 
to me, I will certainly not cast out. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will have everlasting life. But if you do not believe 
that I am Christ speaking here, then you will die in your sins. 
There are two places, two positions, two options. And as Elijah challenged 
the prophets of Baal and Israel that listened to them, how long 
will you falter between two options? If Yahweh is God, serve Him. 
If Baal is God, serve Him. Fish or cut bait, come to the 
blessed Savior and you will have everlasting life. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for the clarity 
that we find in the teaching ministry of our blessed Savior. 
He doesn't shrink back or he doesn't hide the fact that he 
is the one sent by the Father with the particular mission of 
saving his people from their sins. And we give praise to you 
that you've included us in this lot and we pray that as this 
word is preached here and elsewhere, it would run swiftly and be glorified, 
that it would accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, 
and that many from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would 
come to the Father through the Son and the power of the Holy 
Spirit, confessing that God is all in all. And we ask this in 
the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, you may take your hymn 
book and turn to 568, 568 as we close this morning singing 
the doxology of praise to our triune God. ♪ Blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him, 
all creatures dearly loved ♪ ♪ Praise Him, above the heav'nly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. Father, thank you for this time, 
this glad hour for public worship. We pray that you would go with 
us now, that your face would shine upon us, that we would 
know your peace and know your presence in our lives. And we 
ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, please be seated 
for a brief time of meditation.