Sermon #89 — John’s Gospel

            Title:                           “His Commandment is Life!”

            Text:                           John 12:44-50

            Subject:                     Christ Our God-man Mediator

            Date:                          Sunday Morning — June 27, 2010

            Tape:                          John #89

            Reading:                   Psalm 103:1-22 or Ezekiel 33:1-20

            Introduction:

Let’s open our Bibles to John 12:44-50. The title of my message is “His Commandment is Life!” If you are interested in your soul, if you would have life everlasting, give me your attention. Our text is the last public sermon our Lord Jesus Christ to the Jewish nation.

Think about this for a moment. — Just suppose that this might be the last day that Christ ever speaks to you. It just might be. Will you listen to what he says? Will you listen right now to what he says?

John 12:44-50

44. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

45. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

I have come here as God’s ambassador to your soul. I come with a message from the God of heaven to you who hear my voice. Now, remember, he who is God is the King, your King, the King of the universe. His message is not a suggestion, or an offer, or even an opportunity. His message, God’s word to you, is a command. — “And”, the Lord Jesus declares, “I know that his commandment is life everlasting!” Keep your Bible open on your lap, as I call your attention to seven things in our Savior’s declaration, seven things “Jesus cried and said.”

1.    Faith in Christ is faith in God (. 44). — “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.”

Faith in Christ is faith in God; and there is no faith in God except faith in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other pretended faith in God is a damning delusion. You have no faith in God, if you do not trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Savior.

·      Your Only Righteousness

·      Your Only Atonement for Sin

·      Your Only Salvation

In this passage our Lord Jesus is describing, for the very last time, to the Jewish nation who he is and what he came into this world to do as the God-man Mediator. He is not talking about himself as God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Neither is he talking about himself merely as a man. Rather, he here speaks of himself as the God-man, Immanuel, our Mediator, Jehovah’s righteous Servant.

“Jesus cried with a loud voice,” — speaking distinctly and clearly, that he might be heard, leaving the Jewish nation and people (the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, and Religious Lawyers), without excuse. He cried with a loud voice, expressing both the bold earnestness and openness with which our Savior preached to men. He spoke to be heard and understood. His words were so plain that they could not be mistaken.

“He that believeth on me, believeth not on me.” — Obviously, these words are not to be understood in an absolute sense, for that would be a contradiction in terms. We who believe in Christ do believe in him personally; and it is right for us to believe in him.

·      Christ is the object of all true faith.

·      It is Christ who is set before us in the Gospel.

·      It is the Father’s will and counsel that we believe in his Son.

We believe on the Lord Jesus Chris as the sent One of the Triune God. Thus, believing him we believe God; and our faith in him is our assurance that we are born of God and taught of God (John 6:45; 1 John 4:2, 15; 5:1; 1 John 2:22-23).

(John 6:45) “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

(1 John 4:2) “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.”

(1 John 4:15) “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

(1 John 5:1) “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”

(1 John 2:22-23) “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

“He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.” — If an ambassador is sent by an earthly ruler to a foreign court, anything done to him is done to the one he represents. An affront to the ambassador of a king is an affront to the king. So it is with the Lord Jesus, the God-man, as Jehovah’s Servant.

·      If you despise Christ, you despise God.

·      If you receive Christ, you receive God.

·      If refuse to believe Christ, you make the Triune God a liar.

·      If you believe Christ, you believe the Triune Jehovah.

2.    The Lord Jesus Christ is the invisible God made visible (v. 45). — “And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.”

What a wonderful statement! We may never fully realize it. — Christ is the seeable God. God is not visible; but when we see the Christ, we see all of God. The Invisible God made himself visible in Christ. — “For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself!” — “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9-10).

(Colossians 2:9-10) “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

But our Savior is not talking about seeing him with the natural eye. Multitudes saw him physically, who never saw and never knew God. They saw nothing divine in him. When our Savior talks about people seeing him, he is talking about seeing him with the God given eyes of the soul, the eyes of faith. To see him is to believe him. All who truly see Christ with an eye of faith, see his glory, as “the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” “as the brightness of his Father’s glory,” having the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him. Therefore, he declares, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

(John 14:1) “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

(John 14:6-10) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Faith in Christ is faith in the Triune God. To see Christ is to see God; for Christ is God incarnate, God made visible and knowable to man, God in our nature. —— Now, here’s my third point. ——

3.    Faith in Christ, true, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, sheds light upon everything (v. 46). — “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

Faith in Christ sheds light on everything concerning which light is desirable. We are made to understand things when you believe in Christ. Until we believe, we understand nothing. It is no surprise to me that you who believe not doubt everything and question everything. You have no light. You walk in darkness. I do not expect you to see. But believers walk in the Light. And the Light in which we walk is Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of faith. If you have no light, you cannot see. — Faith in Christ sheds light on everything. — “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Believers understand all things (Proverbs 28:5).

(Proverbs 28:5) “Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the Lord understand all things.”

Other people are vexed and confused by the Word of God, the ways of God, and the works of God; but God’s saints understand all things. This is not a matter of supposition, but the plainest possible declaration of inspiration. — “They that seek the Lord understand all things.” The wise man tells us that “Evil men understand not judgment.” Then he asserts, “but they that seek the Lord understand all things.” I do not suggest that religious people understand all things, not by a long shot; but the Lord God himself asserts that his people, all who know him by the saving operations of his grace, all who are born of God and taught of God, understand all things (1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 2 Corinthians 4:6).

(1 Corinthians 2:12-16) “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 4:6) “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Darkness to Light

Like all others, God’s elect themselves, while in a state of unregeneracy and unbelief, are in darkness. When Christ shines in upon them and infuses the light of faith into them, they are no longer in darkness. The darkness is past and the true Light shines. In that true Light we see the light of the glory and grace of the Triune God in Christ. In and by Christ we see the invisible realities of the world to come. Walking in the light of his grace, we no longer walk in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and unbelief; but walk in the light of truth, faith, and holiness, until the perfect day comes, when all the shadows of remaining darkness will flee away.

Believers understand that the origin of all things is God. We understand that the end of all things is the salvation of God’s elect and the glory of his great name. God’s people understand that the nature of all things here is temporal. Everything here in this sin-cursed earth is temporal and vanishing. Every relationship in this world is just temporal.

Most importantly, those who are taught of God understand all things spiritual. This is what the Apostle John tells us. — “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). All who are born of God and taught of God have the mind of Christ and understand all things vital and necessary to the saving of their souls.

All Things in Salvation

All upon whom the Lord God shines the Light of his grace understand how God saves sinners in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

·      Saved by Purpose in Election

·      Saved by Price in Redemption

·      Saved by Power in Regeneration — Effectual Calling — Preservation — Resurrection

Thanks for All Things

We understand that it is both the responsibility and the joy of believers to give thanks to God for all things. We are taught to give “thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). In the context Paul is talking about walking in the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. The Spirit filled life is the life of a believer giving thanks to God. — “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It is both our duty and our great privilege to give thanks to God always and for all things. It glorifies God for us to praise him and give thanks to him. It breeds joy and peace in our own hearts and among our brethren for us to ever give thanks to God for all things.

Restitution of All Things

We also understand that there is a day coming called “the restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21). It is written, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” In that great and glorious day, when all things are brought to their final end, when time shall be no more, all things will glorify our God! Everything that has been, is now, or shall hereafter be, all things, all events, all creatures, and all the actions of all creatures, whether good or evil, will praise him and will prove to have been good! Everything, even you and I, will glorify the triune God, one way or another. We will either glorify his grace in Christ in our everlasting salvation; or, like Pharaoh, we will glorify his power and wrath in our everlasting destruction; but we will all glorify God!

Inherit All Things

In Revelation 21:7 we read, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” All true believers may rightfully sing, “We shall overcome some day!” We shall at last, by the grace of God, completely overcome sin and all its consequences. We shall in the end overcome this world, all its lusts, and all its charms, by the power and grace of our God. By God’s free grace in Christ, we shall overcome Satan, too.

Thirty-five years ago, when my doctors thought I was about to die, and I was fairly certain that they were right, I got a card from a friend that lifted my spirit to heaven itself. It was totally blank, except for a Scripture reference. On the inside, my friend simply wrote the reference Romans 16:20. When I turned to it and read the text, my soul melted within me and leaped with joy in the realization of the promise contained in that text. Listen to this word from God to all his people. If you are a believer, this is God’s word to you. — “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly!” Then, we shall inherit all things, by the grace of God. We shall inherit all things with Christ, in Christ, and for Christ’s sake!

End of All Things

We who are taught of God also understand that “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). — “Behold, he cometh!” When our great and glorious Christ appears the second time, without sin, unto salvation, then the end of all things will come.

·      The End of All Our Troubles!

·      The End of All Our Struggles!

·      The End of All Our Toils!

·      The End of All Our Trials!

·      The End of All Our Temptations!

·      The End of All Our Sorrows!

·      The End of All Our Sins!

Done All Things Well

God’s saints all understand this, too. — The Lord our God has done all things well! When the end of my days on this earth comes, when I look over my life’s finished story, I am confident this will be my final word then. And when the end of all things has come, and time shall be no more, this will be the final word of all His-Story and of all rational creatures: — “He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37). This I declare now; and this I will declare in that great day, when time shall be no more.

·     “He hath done all things well” with me and mine!

·     “He hath done all things well” with his church!

·     “He hath done all things well” with his world!

·     “He hath done all things well” with you and yours!

4.    This is not the Day of Judgment, but the Day of Grace (v. 47). — “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

“If any man hear my words and believe not” — Men may hear the Gospel of Christ, and not understand it. They may understand it literally and grammatically, but understand nothing spiritually and experimentally. If that is the case, they do not believe, but rather reject and deny it the Gospel. — Though faith comes by hearing, not all who hear are given faith (Hebrews 2:1-3).

(Hebrews 2:1-3) “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.”

“If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not.: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” — At his first coming the Lord Jesus did not appear as a judge, but as a Savior. He not accuse, condemn, or judge men, but would leave them to another day, when righteous judgment shall take place.

This present dispensation is not the time of judgment. The Lord leaves you that are unbelievers to yourselves. He has not yet come to judge you. There is a second coming, a Day of Judgment, when he will be both Judge and Witness, and Condemner, of those who have rejected him; but this present Gospel Age is the Day of Grace. — “Behold, now is the accepted time! Behold, now is the Day of Salvation!”

(Ezekiel 33:11) “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

(Micah 7:18) “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

5.    There is a Day of Judgment appointed by God (v. 48). — “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

O sinner, did you hear that? — The Gospel which you refuse will judge you at the last day. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the world, as the Apostle Paul said, “according to my Gospel.” —— You who against the Gospel involve yourselves in the most solemn condemnation. The greatest guilt is yours; and the greatest punishment shall be yours!

·     The heathen, who perish without the Gospel, shall be damned by the witnesses of creation and nature, by the witness of the law written upon their own hearts and consciences.

·     Those who had only the revelation of the Mosaic law, shall be judged and damned by the witness of creation, conscience, and the law written upon tables of stone.

·     But you who perish under the sound of the Gospel shall have the greater condemnation, being damned by the witness of creation, conscience, law, and the Gospel you choose to despise!

You have been favored with the revelation of the Gospel, but have rejected and denied it. That Gospel you despise will judge you at the last day. The Judge will act by its present declaration, and according to that proceed, as it stands in Mark 16:16. — “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

The Gospel you have heard this day will rise up in judgment against you! The message you have heard this hour, from these stammering lips of clay, will be to you for all eternity a savor of death unto death! — It shall forever torment your soul!

You have heard the Gospel. — Neutrality is impossible! Either you believe on Christ, trusting him for all righteousness, grace, atonement, salvation, sanctification, acceptance with God, and everlasting life, or you reject him. — There is no middle ground!

·     You either receive his words and trust him, or you trust in yourself and despise him.

·     You either enter in by Christ the Door, or you are still trying to come to God another way.

·     Only the blood of Christ can satisfy Divine justice.

·     Only the obedience of Christ can meet the demands of God for righteousness.

·     Only the holy Christ can make sinners holy before God.

But if you do not believe, Christ is not the reason you are under condemnation. — He said, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 3:17-18).

(John 3:16-18) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Every sinner was already condemned when Christ came. You were condemned before you ever began to hear the word of truth. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ define “the condemnation” and the evil you are doing right now (John 3: 19-20).

(John 3:19-20) “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

Be sure you get this: — All men do what their nature determines they will do. The natural man is conceived with an evil nature. Therefore, he does evil. He hates Christ the Light, will not come to Christ the Light, because he does not want his deeds, his very being, reproved as being evil. Confusion and shame will not allow you to admit you are a sinner. The same confusion and shame convinces you that you have made yourself righteous, or at least something God will accept and receive. Yet, deep down inside you know, even in your abominable self-righteousness, that refuge is all fig leaves and a refuge of lies!

·     Your bed is too short; you cannot rest.

·     Your covering is too narrow; you cannot cover yourself.

·     You have no ease in your soul, no comfort in your heart!

Still, you work to make yourself better. But this is your condemnation: — You love darkness and hate light. You love evil and hate Christ the Light. What an awful condition to be in!

Now listen to the Lord Jesus define what it is “to do truth.” — “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21).

Be sure you understand our Lord’s words. — The heaven born soul is regenerated, given a new nature, born from Christ the Incorruptible Seed, by God the Holy Spirit. That newborn soul is one with Christ the Truth. Indeed, that new man created in you is “Christ in you,…the new Man, created in righteousness and true holiness!” Those born of God do truth by coming to Christ the Light.

·     The chosen, redeemed sinner is given faith in Christ and repentance toward God.

·     The conscience is purged.

·     The prisoner is set freed.

·     The adopted child is made to rejoice in Christ.

·     The forgiven soul is made to be ashamed of the fig-leaf righteousness.

·     The believing soul is confidently assured that all that God requires of him Christ is for him and he is in Christ!

(2 Corinthians 5:19-21) “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

(Galatians 2:20) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

(Romans 8:1-4) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

6.    In that great and terrible Day of Judgment the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man Mediator, will be either your everlasting Executioner or your everlasting Savior (v. 49). — “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”

Here is the Divine authority of the Gospel. Our Lord Jesus, as the God-man Mediator did only that which he was commanded to do and spoke only that which he was commanded to speak as our Covenant Surety, as Jehovah’s own Fellow, and the Servant of the Lord. Christ, as a man, as our Mediator, had his mission and commission, his instructions commandments from his Father to preach the Gospel unto men and gather his sheep into the fold of grace (John 10:16-18). He was appointed to the work from eternity.

·      He agreed to accomplish all the work as our Surety.

·      He was anointed for it by the Holy Ghost.

·      He was prepared for the work in the incarnation.

·      He finished the work at Calvary.

·      He was accepted into heaven as our Forerunner, and rewarded for his obedience, when he ascended on high.

7.    In the light of these things, I urge you to obey God’s commandment, I urge you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because God’s commandment is life everlasting (v. 50). — “And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

God’s commandment is that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23-24; 6:28-29; Romans 3:31)

(1 John 3:23-24) “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

(John 6:28-29) “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

(Romans 3:31) “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

(Ezekiel 33:14-16) “Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”

(Ezekiel 33:19) “But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.”

The only way you can do that is by offering God that which he requires, that which he only can give, — Christ! The only way we can restore the pledge, give back what we took away, do that which is lawful and right, the only way a sinner can make restitution to God is by faith in Christ, by bringing Christ to God in the hands of faith!

God’s commandment is the Gospel. and the Gospel of Christ is life.

·      It is the ministration of life, the means by which God gives life to dead sinners, the power of God unto salvation.

·      When the Gospel comes home to the chosen, redeemed sinner in the mighty power of God the Holy Spirit, it gives life.

“How will my heart endure

The terrors of that day

When earth and Heav’n before His face

Astonished shrink away?

But ere that trumpet shakes

The mansions of the dead,

Hark from the Gospel’s cheering sound

What joyful tidings spread:

Ye sinners, seek His grace

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;

Fly to the shelter of His cross

And find salvation there.”

——Philipp Doddridge

Amen.

Don Fortner

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