[0:00] Let us sing to God's praise, Psalm 45, the second version of the psalm, and we're singing from the beginning to verse 5.
[0:13] My heart, inditing is, good matter in a song, I speak the things that I have made which to the King belong. My tongue shall be as quick as honour to indict, as is the pen of any scribe that you saith fast to write.
[0:32] Thou art fairest of all men, grace in thy lips doth flow, and therefore blessings evermore on thee doth God bestow. Thy sword gird on thy thigh, thou that art most of might, appear in dreadful majesty, and in thy glory bright.
[0:51] For meekness, truth, and right, right prosperously in state, and thy right hand shall teach to thee things terrible and great. Thy shafts shall pierce their hearts, that foes are to the King, whereby into subjection the people thou shalt bring.
[1:13] And so on, these verses 1 to 5, the second version of Psalm 45. My heart, inditing is, good matter in a song.
[1:23] My heart, inditing is, good matter in a song.
[1:37] I speak of things that I have made which to the King belong.
[1:52] My tongue shall be as quick as honour to indict.
[2:07] As is the king of any scribe that you said fast to write.
[2:23] Thou art fairest of all men, grace in thy lips doth flow, and therefore blessings evermore O God, inditing is, good matter in a song.
[3:16] Thee, majesty, and in thy glory night.
[3:26] For meekness to thine right, Bright cross, cross, green state, And thy right hand shall teach to thee Things terrible and great.
[3:58] Thy shafts come, your stead hearts, Thy foes are to the King.
[4:13] Whereby it to subjection The people thou shalt bring.
[4:31] Shall we turn to the passage read? Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John, chapter 12. We'll read again, verse 44.
[4:45] Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, Believeth not on me, But on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, Seeth him that sent me.
[5:04] I'd like us to consider these words Very briefly this evening. First of all, By placing these words in their In their immediate context, And then consider the The sense that is brought home to us What we should be able to understand From what is said By the Lord himself.
[5:38] Some of our Bibles, There are so many Bible Versions, I suppose, Some different prints Of the same versions.
[5:53] And some of them will have Inserted in them paragraph headings, Which are Not part of The scripture, But they are Guides to the content Of the various Passages that you have before.
[6:12] Sometimes they're chapter headings, Sometimes they're headings That subdivide Into paragraphs What we have there. And in my own Study Bible, The last seven verses Of chapter 12 Is identified As a summary Of the claims Of Christ Or the claims of Jesus.
[6:42] The ESV Bible Or a version of it Probably basing Its own Interpretation Of the content It says The same passage That this is the Jesus come To save The world And They're both Right Essentially They're both Telling us What the content Of This paragraph Is I am come A light Into the world That whosoever Believeth on me Should not abide In darkness 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 So it's
[7:43] It's not really An interpretation As such But A comment Based on the content Now What governs Our conclusions Obviously Should be The content Of the verses And while And while The words That we're Looking at Are clearly Words spoken By the Lord Jesus And they Are descriptive Of what is True of himself As Lord As God And as Saviour But they Arise Out of a Particular Circumstance And we Find the Circumstance Brought to Our attention In the Verses Leading up To this What we Have to
[8:43] Understand Is that This is A critical Point in His own Earthly Ministry We see If we Read on Into Chapter 13 And 14 And 15 That While Jesus Is Preaching Or teaching In these Verses His teaching Is directed To those Who are Most intimately Acquainted With him Prior To that Although They were Included In what He had To say He Also Spoke To Such as The scribes And the Pharisees And those Who belonged To the General Population And he Talked Then About Himself And about The ministry That he Had And the Purpose For him Coming into The world
[9:44] And what We find Is that At this Point Jesus Is saying Quite Clearly What he Is doing Is he Effectively Drawing A line Under that Ministry Not just Because of What we Find in These Verses But in A sense What we Find is Something that Encapsulates All that Ever All that he Ever Encountered During his Ministerial Life What we Find is That There is From some At least A very Stubborn Resistance To the Word That he Proclaims He performed Miracles And he Spoke Clearly As we've Said often Like no Other Spoke His
[10:44] Wisdom Was far In Excess Of anything That they Possessed Or anything That they Had ever Heard Delivered Or portrayed By any Other person And yet They are Defiantly Resisting The message Of the Gospel Of Jesus Christ There is No time For it In their Life And there Is no No way That they Will tolerate What the Message of The Gospel Requires them Not just To believe But requires Them to To Enact In their Lives So When we See in Verse 36 There Jesus is Telling Them He Is Presenting Them with The Gospel And having
[11:44] Presented The Gospel And the Fact that That Gospel From his Mouth Would be Denied Them While he Says While ye Have light Believe in The light That ye May be Children Of light A summary If you like Of the Proclamation Of truth That he Often Came with That he Is the Light Of the World And that He came To bring That light Into the World But Having Said that He said These Things Spake Jesus And Departed And did Hide himself From them Now that Wasn't just A physical Thing As We Need to Understand Because What He means By that Is explained To us By the Words That Follow That Because Of their
[12:44] Stubborn Resistance To the Gospel This Isn't Going to Happen Without Any Aftermath Because We read In verse 37 Though he Had done So many Miracles Before them Yet they Believed Not on Him That the Saying of Esaias The prophet Might be Fulfilled Which he Spake Lord Who Hath Believed A Report So he Quotes The words Of the Prophet Isaiah And he Tells Us These Truths That Will be Fulfilled In Them That are Resisting The truth He says That the Saying of Esaias The prophet Would be Fulfilled Which he Spoke Lord Who Hath Believed A Report To whom Hath The arm Of the Lord Been Revealed Therefore They could
[13:45] Not believe Because That Esaias Said again He hath Blinded Their eyes And hardened Their heart That they Should not See with Their eyes Nor understand With their Heart And be Converted And I Should heal Them And The Implications Of Their Resistance To the Gospel Is Prophesied By Isaiah And Shown To be Fulfilled In the Experience Of those That Jesus Encountered There was There was a Stubborn Resistance To his Word As we Said And While he Had Done All manner Of miracles While he Had preached Like no Other Preacher They Are Left Without The light
[14:46] Of the World As part Of their Eyes So the Words Of verse 43 Just for An Example Are A sad Entitement Of how Many have Behaved Towards them They Loved The Praise Of men More Than The Praise Of God John Calvin's Interpretation Of that Statement Is that They Preferred The World And The Ways Of The World And The Adoration Of the World Was Preferred By Them To The Acknowledgement Of God Or The Preferment Of God But That's In the Background Of what We Have Here And It Can't But Bring Home To Us The Importance Of what Jesus Has To Say Because
[15:46] These Words Come At The Conclusion Of This Chapter And If They Are A Summary Of What He Has Said Before Which You Can See That What He Has Said Before Is Repeated Here Or Is Identified As Something That Had Been Declared By Him Before We Read That Jesus Cried And This Is Before He Hid Himself From Them With The Emphasis To Them That This Needs To Be True As It Needs To Be True For All The Emphasis Not Just To Them But To All Who Read These Words Jesus Cried And Said He That Believeth On Me Believeth Not On Me But On Him That Sent Me That Is The Words That Well Many Of The Commentators Draw Attention To This
[16:46] That The Centrality Of Faith Or The Need For Faith Or Belief Is Something That Is A Recurring Thought In These Last Words Of This Chapter To Believe In Him Is Not Simply Just To Believe On Him As An Individual As A Person For All His Attractiveness For All His Uniqueness Christ Says That There Is More To That Than Just Being Drawn To Him As An Individual Because It Is Well We Do Acknowledge And We Have To Acknowledge That He Is An Individual Of Some Significance But Jesus Wants To To Bring This To Their Attention That What Makes Him Significant
[17:47] Is This That He Is The Son Of God And That God Is To Be Seen In Him And God Is To Be Believed Because Of That Revelation Of God Through Him And I Suppose You Could See This Is Something That Is Difficult For Us To Understand Because We We Appreciate That There Is One God And That God Is The Triune God Father Son And Holy Spirit So We Have No Difficulty In Giving Christ The Place As The Second Person In The In That Trinity The Second Person In The Godhead But When He
[18:47] Spoke He Was Speaking To Those Who Did Not Fully Comprehend That Relationship And Jesus Was Saying To Them That He Wasn't Denying The Place That He Had And Ought To Have In Their Appreciation Of Him Being A Saviour But What Made That Possible Was The Fact Of His Relationship With God He That Believeth On Me Believeth Not On Me But On Him That Sent Me And Not Only Is He Equating Himself With God By Saying That He Is Insisting That It Is Only Because Of Who God Is And What God Is Doing In Him That That Is Of The Atmost Import Let Me Give You A Quotation From
[19:47] Don Carson In His Commentary On John's Gospel Faith In Jesus Is Not Faith In A Merely Human Agent But Faith In God Mediated By God's Supreme Self Disclosure The World Incarnate The God Man His Unique Son Or Else It Is No Faith At All I'm Not Comfortable Myself With The Word Agent There But I Suppose You Have To Use Some Word To Describe The Role That Jesus Has As The Second Person By Whom We Gain Access To God There Is This
[20:48] Sense In Which It Is An Agency A Means Towards An End A Means By Which The Person Gets To See God Which Is Not Possible Were It Not For This Device Or This Agent That Is Spoken Of In The Word Now Jesus Isn't Supplying A New Bit Of Information He's Not Telling Them Something That He Hasn't Told Them Before Throughout His earthly Ministry He Has Frequently Stated That This Is What Is True Of Him The Very Beginning Of This Gospel As Recorded By John Begins With These Words In The Word In The Beginning Was The Word And The Word Was With God And The Word Was God Now That's A Stupendous Statement In Itself But
[21:49] It Requires Us To Understand It In This Way That There Is No Difference Between The Passion Of The Father To The Passion Of The Son To The Passion Of The Spirit As Far As Their Deity Is Concerned But What Makes The Father The Father Is The Fact Of The Son And It Is By Means Of The Son Through The Spirit That That Revelation Of That Unique Relationship Is Brought To Our Attention Through To The Sardin Ministers I've Said This This Passion That They Can See Who Is Divine But Human And They Are To See The Father Who Cannot Be Seen Except Through The Son Because
[22:49] The Father Remains The Spirit Who Is Not Seen With The Human Eye And Yet They Are To See The Father Through Him But Here In The Words We're Going To Come Back To That He Says He That Believeth On Me Believeth Not On Me But On Him That Sent Me Because His Very Presence In The World Requires The Passion That Sent To Be Brought To Our Attention We Mentioned Don Carson And He Speaks Of This What He Calls A Peculiar Subordination And The Reason He Says That And Theologians Always Spoke Of It There Is An Ordu Salutis Within The Way Salvation Is Outworked And There Is We
[23:53] Understand Father Son And Holy Spirit One God They Are Equal In Power And Glory And Yet At The Same Time We Need To Understand That The Father Is Before The Son And The Son Before The Spirit In The Order Of Of Salvation Not In The Order Of Of Power Or Glory Or Anything That Pertains To That But There Is This Framework Which We Must Understand That Exists And It's So Mysterious To Us That It's Not Easy For Me To Explain It Anyway But It Does Exist The Son Is In The World And Is In The World To Do The Will Of The Father The Father's Will Exists Just As
[24:54] The Son's Will Exists And The Son's Will Is Subservient To The Will Of The Father Otherwise It Is Not It Is Not Able To Be Explained In That Sense The Son Delights To Do The Will Of God Not Because The Wills Are Opposed But Because The Father Has Given To The Son The Church That Is To Bade His Name And The Son Has To Die For The Church To Save The Church And That Is A Submission Of Will To The Will Of The Father In Obedience Obedience Doesn't Mean Anything Unless There's A Command That Requires Obedience If It's Not If The Element Of Obedience Doesn't Come Into It Then It Is Not It
[25:54] Is Not Something That You Can Call Obedience If It's Not If I Don't Want To Confuse Myself Let Alone You But What We Find Here Is Christ Saying To Them He That Believeth On Me Believeth Not On Me But On Him That Sent Me And Jesus Makes That Distinction For A Reason He Makes That Distinction In Order That We Understand That There Is This Order Within The Trinity Insofar As Salvation Of Sinners Is Concerned You Remember That Jesus Spoke To The Apostle Peter And Peter Confessed The Lord Before The Lord And He Said That Christ
[26:54] Was The Son Of The Living God And It's Jesus' Response To That It's Not Just That Peter Recognizes The Divinity Of The Son But That His Knowledge Of What He Professes Or Confesses There According To The Wisdom Of Christ Is A Confession That Could Not Possibly Be His Except He Believe In The God Who Was The Father Of The Son What Did He Say To Blessed Are You Simon Bar Jonah For Flesh And Blood Has Not Revealed It Unto You But My Father Which Is In Heaven That Was A Divine Revelation That Came From God The Father Jesus Doesn't Say To Him I Showed You That I Revealed That To You No He He
[27:55] Gives The Father The Glory For Revealing The Glory Of The Son To This Person Who Is A Believer And In That Statement Christ Is Explaining To Peter Not Just To Peter But To Yourself And Myself That It Is Of The Essence Of Faith That This Revelation Has Impacted On Our Lives As We Have Come To This Conclusion Not Of Our Own Volition But Because God In His Grace Has Revealed Himself To Us Through His Word Through And Through His Word He Has Revealed To Us The Relationship That Exists Between Him And The Son Again Paul The Apostle Frequently Makes Mention Of The Same Thing And He He Brings
[28:55] Brings To Bear The Mind Of The Believer As He Exercises Faith That The Father And The Son Jesus Says It Them Them That They Are One But With Regard To The Outworking Of Salvation There Is This Order That Needs To Be Observed Remember That Jesus When He Spoke To The Disciples Again He Spoke About His Role As The Shepherd Of The Sheep And The Flock Of God Was Just As Much His Flock But He Identifies The Father As The One Who Gave Him The Sheep To Look After My Father Which Gave Them To Me Is Greater
[29:56] Than Them All And No Man Is Able To Pluck Them Out Of My Father's Hands Again This Is He Is Insisting On This In Order That Our Faith Would Be Properly Exercised And With Knowledge And With Appreciation Of This Person Not Being Just A Minister He Was That Not An Apostle Which Preached Salvation Which He Did And Then The Inclination Might Be To Think That He Was One Among Many That He Was Just Perhaps A Prophet Which He Was But He Was One Who Was Able To Say That He Was One With His Heavenly Father And That's
[30:56] Why The Second Part Is Important He That Seeth Me Seeth Him That Sent Me The Two Things Go Together You Can't Understand My Role Jesus Is Saying If You Don't Understand The Role That My Father Has In Sending Me Your Faith Must Rest Upon This As A Revelation Of The Glory That Belongs To Salvation As God Being Active In It In Sending Me And In My Revealing The Father To You He That Seeth Me Seeth Him That Sent Me John Calvin In His Translation Says That The Word See There Should Be Understood As Behold Well Behold But In This Sense That It
[31:57] Is The Sense In Which Knowledge Is Brought To Light When We See We See What Is Contained Within What We Are Seeing The Sight Of Not Just Our Eyes Our Mind Is Also In Active In It And If It Is The Case That Calvin Is Right Then It Is The At Most Import That This Knowledge Which Is Given To Us He That Seeth Me Seeth Him That Sent Me He That Knows Me Knows Him That Sent Me And Jesus Again And Again As We Believe He Is Summarizing What He Has Taught Before He Is Not Coming With New Material To The Attention Of Those Who Are Blissfully Ignorant That He Has Ever Said This Before He Is Not He Is Just Reiterating
[32:57] Reminding Them Emphasizing For Them The Truth That They Must As Believers Possess Otherwise They Are Not Believers If They Have Not Seen God In Him Then They Have Not Seen God That's The Only Way To See God It Is In Christ And Why There Is A Mystery There And That Mystery Is Deep Christ Took Our Nature And We Are Able To See God In Him Not In A Physical Sense But In A Spiritual Sense Remember When He Preaches To When The Apostle John Again The Apostle John Was Somebody Who Was Who Was Taken Up With This Idea That God The Spirit Led Him To Consider It But When He Wrote His Epistle He Says There To Us In The Epistle
[33:58] Hereby Know ye The Spirit Of God Every Spirit That Confesses That Jesus Christ Is Come In The Flesh Is Of God That Is What He What He Believes Every Person That Is Able To Come To That Conclusion Can Only Do So By Reason Of The Activity Of The Spirit And The Spirit Is The One Who Is Active In In The In The Quickening Of The Soul We Are Born Again Through The Spirit Of God And Only By Reason Of That Quickening Are We Able To Understand That We Can See Him That Sent Me We See God We See Christ And We See Through The Agency Of The Spirit What We Are Me To See To See And Hear
[34:58] Christ Is To See And Hear The Father And The Believer Of Peace Even Has His Lord Lived In Obedience To The Will Of The Father No Man Paul Says Can Say That Jesus Is Lord But By The Holy Ghost Remind Yourself Of This If I Made You Confused Forgive Me What Jesus Is Saying Here Is Not New He Said It Again And Again And Again And Those Who Have Heard Him Said Have Believed What He Has Said And Believed Through What He Has Said That God In His Infinite Grace Is Able To Show Mercy To Sinners And This Is The Way That He Has Done It And This Is The Way That We Are Able To See It And We See The Mercyful God
[35:58] In The Activity Of Christ The Redeemer I Am Come He Says A Light Into The World That Whose Word Believeth On Me Should Not Abide In Darkness And He Continues I Know That His Commandment Is Life Everlasting Whatsoever I Speak Therefore Even As The Father Said Unto Me So I Speak Jesus Shares With Us In The Gospel The Words Of His Heavenly Father And There Is Nothing That Jesus Says That His Father Has Not Given Him To Say But It Is Not Something That Was New To Him But The Relationship Is Disclosed The Relationship Is Emphasized The Relationship Is Enhanced I Suppose In Our Reckoning Because Of What It Means To Us Well
[37:00] May God Bless To Us These Those And May Encourage Us To Reflect On What Jesus Is Saying To Believers Remember He Saying This To Believers He Already Describe Those Who Have Rejected This Truth The Implications Of The Rejection The Day Will Come When They Will Be Rejected On The Basis Of Their Rejection But He Is Speaking To The Believer Who Have Received The Truth And Believed The Truth Concerning The Father Concerning The Son And Concerning The Spirit And Their Activity In Saving Sinners Let Us Pray Lord Our God We Give Thanks That There Is Mystery Contained Within The Revelation Of Truth And We Might Make It More Mysterious Than We Should Forgive Us For That We Give Thanks That Any One Of Us
[38:00] Who May Think That We Can Delve Into The Glories Of Eternity Through The God Who Is Eternal That We Are Deluding Ourselves Because There Are So Many Awesome Wonderful Truths Contained There That We Cannot Fully Comprehend Yet You Have In Your Mercy Kept Nothing Back From Us Essential For Our Salvation And All That Is To Make Our Understanding Strengthened And Confirmed By What You Have Revealed To Us Is Brought Your Attention In The Word Blessed To Us We Pray And Remember Your People According To Need For Give Sin In Jesus Name Amen I'm Going To Conclude By Singing In Gaelic Some Verses From Psalm 85 Psalm 85 The
[39:02] Last Two Verses Of Psalm 12 Vers 12 Vers Vers bigger One .
[39:32] Na re hans shonia sau li webd k je hova ga in na ime ichtgut hof jastou. Thank you.
[40:08] Thank you.
[40:38] Thank you.
[41:08] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[41:20] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[41:56] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[42:08] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ZANG EN MUZIEK you know of the passing of Mrs Alda McLean the services in connection with this bereavement will take place at Wake tomorrow night at 8 o'clock and a funeral service on Saturday at 1.30 here in the church that remains going to Boston on Saturday
[43:08] May grace, mercy and peace from God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are dressed and abide with you on earth and on with you Amen