The Son Knows the Father - J..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 8, starting from verse 48. The Jews answered him, Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?

Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon.

Abraham died, and as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than father Abraham, who died, and the prophets died? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.

It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him, I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Are we having trouble hearing me? Or does it? Okay.

Shall I take this off, brother? Just keep going. Let's come before our Lord for a moment of prayer. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you that in your providence, You've allowed for us to come and meet and gather in this way, but we don't do it haphazardly.

We do it in reverence. We approach you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We open your word. This is your word. These are your truths.

These are your people. And so I ask this evening, Lord, that you would only allow that which is true and corresponds to truth be proclaimed from my mouth and pressed into the heart of your people, applied to their soul only as you see fit. You know where we are, Lord, and we appeal to you this evening. We ask, Lord, that you would presence yourself among us by your spirit. Please, Lord, we ask this.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So we are still in John chapter 8, and we are nearing the end of this chapter. And to be honest, you've heard me say this before, I was intending to bring this chapter to a close this evening. However, as I was prayerfully considering and preparing for what I wanted to say and share with you this evening, I decided instead to focus our attention on verse 55.

I wanted to take us back to verse 12 and really read the whole narrative, essentially the whole chapter apart from the first narrative that is the woman caught in the act of adultery. But of course we didn't do that. simply because maybe, by God's grace, we'll do it next time when we do bring this chapter to an end. And as you've probably already realized, as we've worked our way over several months in the eighth chapter, you would already realize that there are a lot of themes that are recurring, a lot of truths that Jesus keeps coming back to and speaking to those truths in different ways. And this is one that is already revealed to us So there might be a bit of repetition in what I'm about to say.

You may have heard it a month, two or three ago. But I think it's or believe it's worth our while because the contents here in verse 55 are certainly worth us meditating upon. Now, as I said earlier, we didn't start from verse 12, but essentially that is the verse where Jesus stands before these people in Jerusalem in the temple. Presumably he's still in the treasury in the temple. The audience would be men and women in first century Palestine, and he's proclaiming immense, godly, high, and lofty Christological truths.

And in verse 12, He proclaims to these people the second of the great I Am statements. They're the I Am statements, with the predicate nominative. That's just another way of saying where He says, I Am, and then something after that in the sentence. Not simply just, I Am, like He says in verse 58. And we'll get to that.

When he says, I am in here, he says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows after me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. It's a statement of absolute truth. It's a statement of exclusive truth. And as I've said before, when we looked at that verse and spent one Lord's Day on that verse, everything else that comes after verse 12 in chapter 8 needs to be read in light of what Jesus said in verse 12.

I am the light of the world. Everyone who follows after me, everyone, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light. of life. That needs to be the backdrop of everything that we go and meditate through this eighth chapter. That's the verse, that's the truth, that's the proclamation that ought to be in the back of our minds as we read and consider and meditate what comes in the chapter.

I've said this a few times over the last few months. So what does Jesus say there? Why is it so important that we keep that in the back of our mind? Why did Jesus frame the whole chapter? What He was about to say to these people, these Jews, in which initially His audience were the Pharisees, if you remember, up to about verse 30 and then verse 31.

It's the Jews who believed in Him. So why did Jesus frame this truth, all the truths that He's going to speak to them with this great I AM statement? What's he saying? What's Jesus saying? Well, essentially, Jesus is simply saying, profoundly saying, I am the sole source of revealing light.

I am the sole source of life. I've come to expose darkness and reveal truth. to reveal what is really there down deep in your hearts, in places you may not even know. I've come to shine that brilliant light of God into see what is in exposed, what is inside of you. I've come that you may see the light.

Out come that you may know the life. And there's an exclusivity of the words of Christ. You might have seen it. There's a definite article there. It says, I am the light of the world.

There's a definite article there. I am the light. There's an exclusive light that Jesus speaks to. And he says, I am the light of the world. And he's also the life.

Because if we look further, it won't be shown in your English Bibles, because it would make for bad grammar, simply. But in the original it reads, I am the light of the world, whoever follows after me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of the life. The light of the life. No other light. No other life.

But Christ. To be devoid of Jesus Christ is to be in pitch black spiritual and moral darkness. It's to be immersed in death. You see, if he is the life, if he has the exclusive rights to life, then anything apart from this Jesus is what? It's death.

We spent many months in this chapter, and I hope it's been as beneficial to you as it has been to me as I've prepared and spent time in these beautiful verses. But when it's all said and done, as lofty and as high and as wonderful and as glorious, these truths are. The only question from that point on, the only question from verse 12 on, that his audience in the first century and indeed anyone who reads and anyone who's existed, any human being really who's existed since, the only question that matters from that point on is this. Have you come into the light? Have you come into the light?

Or do you remain in the darkness? Lord, that's the only question that matters. That's the only question that matters. You see, the rest of the chapter from verse 8 explains and impacts the detail of the beautiful, intricate truths that pertain to that declaration that Jesus made in verse 12. It impacts how one is to enter into that light.

It's clear, we know, One enters into that light by believing in the person and in the work and in the words of Jesus Christ, the one who proclaims that truth. It also unpacks the consequences of rejecting that light. Rejecting that truth and remaining in that darkness. Have you entered into that life? Have you entered into that light, to the light of Christ?

It's the only question that matters. For all humanity, in all ages, it's the only question that matters, beloved. Because apart from Christ, you remain in the realm of darkness, in the realm of death. And realize I said remain, because that's the default state, is it not? Death, of course, is the just penalty of sin.

The wages of sin is Death, Romans 6, 23. You might say, brother, but the contents or the narrative that is taking place before us here in John chapter 8 in the first century, well, the Jews didn't have the book of Romans. It was before the apostle Paul penned those words. Did that audience know that the wages of sin is death? Yes, they did.

The soul that sins shall die, Ezekiel 18, verse 20, and many more in the Old Testament they have. It's a universal truth from the very beginning. Sin warrants death. Sin warrants death. Not only the physical type, we spoke about this a few weeks ago, but the eternal spiritual type of death.

And that's a terrifying thought. But beloved, when we think about what sin warrants, an eternal death, the lake of fire, eternal conscious torment, then we need to sit back and think, why? And it's because sin is such an affront to a thrice holy God. We don't always think about that. We don't always think about how offensive our sin is towards a God who is pure and holy and knows no sin.

The stain of sin, if it remains, then this God must enact His justice upon that sinner. After all, He sits on the throne of righteousness. His throne is founded upon righteousness and justice. And here's the thing. Every one of us has sinned.

We know that. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All humanity has sinned. But here's the other thing. All creation is also infected with that deadly disease.

All of creation has been corrupted by sin. Thorns and thistles. Do you think maybe we've become so accustomed to the corruption of sin in our world that that it doesn't move us quite like it should? Let me ask you this question. Let me stimulate your minds.

When you lay your eyes upon a thorn bush, do you think, hey, that's the consequence of sin? Does that trigger your mind like that? I know when you're driving your car and you see a dead bird or a dead rabbit or on the side of the road as we often see dead kangaroos, do you look at that carcass and think, sin caused that death. Not a car, not a trailer, not another animal. Sin caused that death.

Ultimately, animals weren't killing each other. A man was eating the plants that the Lord had given him in the garden. Are we thinking that way? Or does it take for us to drive our cars by a cemetery and when we look upon those granite or marble tombstones that are etched with the name and the dates, does it take that, with the flowers that are rolled over the grave, does it take that to remind us that sin and its consequences is evident in that picture. Or does it take maybe something further like a cross erected above the grave before that thought comes to our mind?

Beloved, let me tell you how devastating sin is, not only before the eyes of God, but how devastating it ought to be in our understanding, in our thinking, Because not only when you drive by a cemetery should you be reminded of sin and its consequences, but can I tell you in all honesty, this planet is one massive graveyard. You may have to dig into the ground a little, you may have to do that, but this whole planet is infected and corrupted by sin, And it's evident. It's everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. You and I might not see it every day or be aware of it, but this is another point completely, but let me just throw it out there.

How patient is God? You don't have an all-seeing eye. You don't have x-ray vision. And you and I, if we're honest, we don't think of the consequence of sin every time we see a squashed bug or a dead animal or even thorns or thistles, but he sees all and knows all and yet he's still patient to redeem his own. What a wonderful God.

So beloved, after thinking that through, the remedy is to be found for this sin disease. If there is going to be any hope for humanity, then the remedy must not come. It cannot come from this earth, right? It has to come from above. It has to come from above.

It has to come from that which is not corrupted already by sin. This mercy must come from God above, and God has. has given us mercy. He's revealed His mercy through the light of the world. That is His Son, who has come and proclaimed the message of salvation, the Word of God, the mercy of God, through His life, through His work.

He's revealed how God will take care of the sin problem. And in verse 24, there's a glimpse of that. You are from below, Jesus says. I am from above. You are of this world.

I'm not of this world. I told you that you would die in sin, for unless you believe that I am here, you will die in your sins. You are from below. I'm not from below. I'm from above.

You are from this world. I'm not of this world. I'm qualified to take care of your sin problem. What about the soul that sins shall die? What about the wages of death?

Wages of sin is death. Aren't they absolute straight statements of truth? Are they written in the Bible? Absolutely they are. But there is one remedy that God has provided for the sin problem and its consequences.

And that remedy comes in that verse, in the unless. Unless, unless Jesus says in verse 24, you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. And a bit further into the conversation he'll say to these people that are before him that he's true disciples. They are the ones who have come to believe in him. They are the ones who have and keep and abide in his word, know the truth.

And they are the ones who will never see death. You might remember that from a few weeks ago. You see, the Jews were unable before the Lord to believe His words. They thought Him to be a madman, even demon-possessed. It's true that the claims of Christ is making a high and lofty, that's so true, but that wasn't the problem.

The problem lies within their own hearts. Hearts that were yet in darkness. Hearts that were devoid of the light and the life of God. You see, they were deceived. They thought their religion was alive and vibrant.

That's what they thought. The truth of the matter is that they were dead within. And Jesus hits the nail on the head when he reveals that the real problem is not what they know, but what they, who they do not know. In doing so, he reveals the state of their godless hearts and contrary to what they thought, He reveals that they are in dire, dire need of salvation. I said several months ago that as we work our way through the eighth gospel, the things will get clearer and clearer.

It sounded a little bit cryptic when Jesus was was teaching these people earlier. It wasn't, it was clear, but He wasn't putting everything together to give them the absolute clarity of what He was teaching them. Now we've come to the end of His discourse, and things are really getting clear. There's not going to be any misunderstanding about what our Lord is saying. Yes, Jesus spoke in parables for a reason.

This is not a parable, but He did. And that was that those who have ears would hear, and those who don't hear, don't have ears. What? It would be judgment upon them. But here Jesus is really getting clearer as the time goes on.

Before he spoke of his father and they didn't understand who his father was. Then he spoke of the one who sent him and they didn't put two and two together. But now he's being absolutely crystal clear. clear with his words. By the time he's done in chapter 8, there's going to be no one scratching his or her head in regards to acknowledging at least who Jesus claims to be, at least who he is saying he is.

Now they might not believe it, and we know because we've read the passage that they don't believe him. Many Maybe in our day don't believe or agree with his words but there's no questions as to what Jesus is saying and what Jesus believes of himself and what he perceives in them and he'll give them that answer now. So now he makes a peacing statement. One that would have, no doubt, been received with a great deal of offense. And it comes in verse 55, but we must note what he says at the end of verse 54.

Let's start in verse 54. Jesus answered, If I glorify my Father, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me. Now, we considered those verses last week, so let's continue. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say He is our God.

So let's be clear with what Jesus is saying. This God that I've been speaking about, the Father that I've been speaking about, is God. He's Yahweh. You know Him as Yahweh. You claim with your mouth that this is Yahweh.

Probably thinking about the Shema, you know, the proclamation that is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6. That the people of Israel would proclaim every day, morning and evening, Hero Israel, the Lord our God. You claim He's our God. The Lord our God is one. He's one.

Jesus is saying, you know of Him. You proclaim that He is your God. This is the profession of your mouths. This is the God I speak of. This is the Father I speak of.

This is the one I've always spoken of to have sent me. This is the one I was with face to face from all eternity. He is Yahweh. He is the Father. This is the God I speak of.

Let's get that clear. Because before you said of me that I am demon possessed, I don't know what you're thinking but I'm not demon possessed. You said before of me that is it not true that you're a Samaritan and if you remember a few weeks ago I explained what that means because the Samaritan had this twisted way of worship. They had synchronized Yahweh and other gods that were brought in by the Assyrians and it was a pagan type of worship that was all mixed in and they said Jesus you're a Samaritan because what you believe is not what us pure Jews believe. Your God is a different God.

Jesus is saying, let's get it clear, the God I speak of is the God that you all claim to be your God. The other thing that we need to keep in mind is when this was taking place. This is first century. And in the first century, although Israel and much of the world was actually under Roman rule, we know that even the Romans were influenced quite heavily under Greek Hellenistic culture. It had been around for several hundred years.

And we know that Greek Hellenistic culture was a very polytheistic culture. They had many, multiple gods, and the Greeks or the Romans had adopted that into their thinking, into their understanding, into their pagan type of worship. They may have changed the names, but they believed in the same gods as Jesus, saying, how about that? Of course, I'm not referencing to any of that. Let's just get it clear.

I'm going to be crystal clear right now and the clarity that comes out of our Lord in the next few verses are unbelievably clear because he's, as I said, he's mentioned these things before but now he's actually speaking in a way that they cannot get what he says wrong. The God I'm speaking about is the one that you call your God. the one that you've learnt of in the Scripture, the one that you've been taught by, the one that you hear in the Feast of Booths celebrating and offering sacrifices to. It is your God, the one that you say is your God. Let's get it clear, that's whom I speak about when I speak that He is my Father.

And then verse 55. But you have not known Him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Imagine the reception of those words by these Jews from the mouth of our Lord.

Take a moment to feel the weight of what Jesus is saying. We don't have their response to those exact words, but just think of how piercing those words were to their Jewish sensibilities. Jesus point blank declares, you do not know the Father. The one that you proclaim is Allah, God, is unknown to you. But I know him.

But I know him. I know that you claim to know him but I know him and I cannot say I do not know him because if I say I don't know him I would be a liar like you and Jesus has already established that they are liars you remember who's our father Jesus says, your father is not Abraham, nor is it God. Your father is the devil. He is the father of lies. And when we went through that passage, I hope to have shown you that what Jesus was saying essentially is, like father, the apple never falls away or too far away from the tree.

Jesus has been saying all along that he knows God, that he was sent by the father. that the Father and Him have this relationship that spans out from all eternity. John 1 in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. It's this beautiful face-to-face intimate love relationship that existed from eternity past. Jesus says, I can't say I don't know Him.

I would be a liar like you. I know Him. You know, it's interesting because Here we have Jesus saying that you have not known him. We've established the Father is the one that you call your God, and we've established that you don't know him, but I do know him, but the words he uses are actually different in the original. They're the same in our Bibles, but they're actually different in the original.

Now the context is very important. It's very important because context tells us and establishes what is meant. And sometimes these words can be interchanged. But I believe, you have to believe, that Jesus is using different words to establish the knowledge of His knowledge to the Father and the knowledge that He speaks of, of these audiences that are before Him, that they don't have of the Father. He doesn't use the same word.

He uses a different word. You see, the word He uses, speaking about His knowledge of the Father, I know Him, I oint up God, that's the word He uses, and the knowledge He speaks about the others. the audience knowing God is Gnosko type of knowledge. As I said earlier, the context is very important. But always, or many times in the Gospel of John, the latter denotes, or the latter, which is the one he used, Gnosko, which he uses to connote that the people before him don't know God, it denotes an inception type of knowledge.

In other words, you haven't even begun to know the Father. The root or the seed of knowledge is not even in you. But the word he uses for himself is more portraying a force and a perfection of knowledge. It's as though he's saying, We're not even competing on the same page here. I'm not saying I know him, you don't know me, you know him.

I'm saying I know him in his perfection. I know him. I know his thoughts. I know his heart. There's nothing in the Father that is undisclosed to me.

I know it all. There's no secrets between me and the Father. Open hearts. What he knows, I know. What I know, he knows.

Everything that belongs to him is mine and everything that is mine belongs to him. I know the Father. You haven't even begun to know. That seed of knowledge has not even been found in you. Is that not, that's incredible.

That is unbelievable. But Jesus goes on and he says, he's the one who keeps the words of the father. He knows his thoughts. He knows his heart. He knows his words.

And he keeps his words. And in fact, right now he's proclaiming his father's words in all truth to these people that are before him. He knows the father. And right now he's revealing him to the Jews who are rejecting his claims, who are rejecting his teaching, who are rejecting his salvation. In essence, they are rejecting the salvation of Yahweh, the one they call God.

If God were your father, Jesus says, earlier on, you would have loved me for I came from God and I am here. You might remember us looking at that. It's a verse that's in verse 42. He says to them, when he was proving to them that God is not their father, And he was bringing them to the point where actually the devil is their father. But it's interesting that he says that.

Because he says, I'm here and you don't recognize me. I've been sent by the Father and if you truly love Yahweh, as you say you love Him, then you should recognize who I am and you should love me. But what I see from you is only insults. I see from you slurs. I see from you low blows.

claim or you accuse me of being demon possessed, you say my religion is not a true religion, you don't know the Father. That's one evidence that you don't know God the Father because you don't love the Son. I know him and I keep his word. The implication of Jesus saying I know him and I keep his word is what? You don't know him and you don't keep his word.

Because if you do keep His Word, you have the Scripture. And brothers and sisters, you've heard us say on so many occasions that when we read through the Scripture, Jesus has given us a hermeneutical principle where in Luke chapter 24, on the road to Emmaus with the two disciples, you remember what Jesus said? All the Scripture speaks to whom? It speaks of me. Scripture is fulfilled in me.

Because when God has spoken, those who have true faith, those who are true sons and daughters of God, and the Word of God is abiding in them, then when they see Christ, they don't hear the words of a man, they hear the words of God. They'll recognize Him for who He is, and if their love and their hearts are devoted to God, then their heart and love will be devoted to the Son of God. But the Word of God does not abide in them. Actually, he confirms something along those lines to the Jewish religious leaders back in chapter 5 where he says, and the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard.

It's pretty scathing. His form you have never seen. They might have accepted that one, but I can tell you that they wouldn't have accepted the next. And you do not have his word abiding in you, is what Jesus says. Four.

You do not believe the one whom he has sent. Love, what Jesus is saying to these Jews is quite pointy. It's very piercing. And we would do well to think about who these people are. Who are the audience?

Who are listening to what Jesus is saying? Because this is not riffraff. These are not outcasts. These are not atheistic or agnostic or pagans that Jesus is speaking out. Jesus is speaking to Jews, and I've said on numerous occasions, as we've worked our way and continue to work our way through the fourth gospel, when the Apostle John uses categories for people, we need to take note.

We need to take note, because when he uses the terminology Jews, he is more than likely speaking to religious people. Highly religious people, most likely even religious leaders. Now you might say, but hold on, he was speaking of Pharisees earlier on, now he says Jews that believed in Christ. Yes, the religious leaders don't necessarily have to be the Pharisees. You see, that's what he's saying.

Now when the Apostle John wants to speak to just a crowd of people, he used the word crowd. We saw that in the previous chapter. Or he might say the people. Or even sometimes if he's speaking about the residents in Jerusalem, just the lay people who live in Jerusalem, he would say the people of Jerusalem. Exactly those words in chapter 7.

But here he's not using those terms. Here he's saying that it's the Jews. So we would do well to think about that and think, okay, so at the very least, these are men and women who are well-versed in religion, well-versed in Torah, well-versed in the things of Yahweh, and that makes the indictment so much more scathing. Because Jesus says, the God that you say is your God, you have not known. That would hurt, I would think.

They've just tried to profess to Jesus in the course of the conversation that they are Abraham's offspring. They've just tried to profess that we are not born in sexual immorality. God is our Father. And now Jesus is looking them straight in the face, a people who are more than likely dedicated their whole lives to the study of Scripture, to the meditation and memorization of what they knew was the Word of God. And He looks them in the face, a people who are devoted to Yahweh.

And He says, you have not known God. Now we're clear about who we're speaking. We're clear about who my Father is. You don't know Him. You know, sometimes I think, We may be so far removed from the first century that we dismiss in our minds the waviness of that indictment.

Looking back, And what we know of Judaism, the first thing that might come to our mind is legalism. Cold, mechanical legalism. Cold religion and religiosity. You know, we think about what we know about what took place in the temple and the conversations Jesus had with the religious leaders. We think about what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23, you know, the seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees, and we read the list and we go, wow, these people are quite sinful.

Then furthermore, we think about what they did to our Lord. The sinless, righteous Lamb of God who'd never sinned. They were so offended at His words and His grace and His truth claims that He made that they handed Him over to the officials, both the Jewish officials, you remember the high priest, and then to the Roman officials. And then when the Roman official pilot put Him out and said, I see nothing wrong. He's done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve death.

You remember what the people chanted? Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Let His blood be on us and on our children. Furthermore, we know the persecution of the church, the early church, when Jesus ascended into the right hand of the Father.

We've read the book of Acts. We've studied the book of Acts only last year. So we know when Acts chapter 7 runs around and Stephen is stoned by these religious Jews, the persecution that flooded the church, and they were expelled from their homes. The Bible tells us everyone was expelled from their homes except for the apostles. Then we read the epistles.

In particular we read about what the apostle Paul has to say, and in Galatians in particular about the system that was a Judaistic system that very much emphasized religion and the performance and works of righteousness, this legalistic system that was unto salvation, thinking that you can accomplish with your own feeble hands the things of salvation. So with all that in the back of our mind, we may look at these people and think the worst. We may even associate the temple Now destroyed, when we think about the temple, we may actually think all that took place in that temple in this day was false religious practices. But can I disavow you of that thought? Can I tell you, do we believe, according to God's word, that God has always kept a remnant?

Has there always been a people of God? Has there? Elijah said to God, I'm the only one. No, there's 7,000 who have not bowed a knee to bow. No, God has always preserved a remnant.

And can I submit to you that if there was, and there was, people of God who loved the Lord, who served the Lord, who worshipped in truth, people who actually saved and came to worship and to sacrifice in truth because they loved Yahweh, if they were to be anywhere this time of year, where would they be? may be in Jerusalem, in the temple, in obedience to God, to be there at the Feast of Booth. This is the eighth day, the day of holy convocation, the day of holy assembly. It is a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Okay, so let me ask you, let me stimulate your minds once again.

If I was going to, in my sermon, make a correlation and say, this is what's going on in first century Palestine in the temple, and this is the audience of Christ. If I want to make a one-to-one correlation and bring it to today so we can understand who the audience of Jesus was, so that we can feel a little bit of the sting and the weightiness of what he has to say, then can I ask you, what would be a place that would come to mind? If it has to be a place where true worshippers are, but there's also deceived people, but true worshippers did exist, and they did love the Lord, and they did worship God. Would it be a mosque or a Buddhist shrine? No.

Would it be a beach or a rock concert? Would it be in the streets when we go and proclaim the good news of the gospel to people coming and going? Would it be a place like that? No. Brothers and sisters, when Jesus proclaimed these words, the only place I can think of that would be almost a one-to-one correlation to what he had before him in the way of an audience would be an evangelical church, just like Cornerstone.

where the people have gathered on a Sunday evening or Sunday morning to worship God. And there are some that would be in Christ and some that wouldn't be. It was a mixed crowd. Let that sink in for a while. Of course, I'm not going to sit here or stand here and say what Christ says.

No, God forbid I say things like that. No, I would never do that. But I do believe that the text before us demands of me to at least ask the question, do you know God the Father? Do you know God the Father? You see, the indictment of Christ to these Jews was not that they had the wrong scripture.

They had the right scriptures. They had the oracles of God, the statutes of God. It wasn't that God had not prescribed the type of worship that took place there. We're working our way through the Old Testament on two or three occasions. We know already the Feast of Booths was commanded by God.

Three festivals in particular, men were meant to come in obedience, in love for Yahweh to serve and to sacrifice and to enjoy the worship and the feasts. These Jews aren't pagan in origin, I said that before. Jesus acknowledges even in verse 37, he acknowledges that they're the physical offspring of Abraham. It was their line that had the promise. We heard that today.

The Exodus account was their people. The giving of the law was for their people. They were the recipients. Their, what do they call them, ancestors? Their ancestors were the recipient of the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It was their people that God made. From their people, God gave them the prophets and the priests and the kings that they have in their history. It was all of their own heritage. Yahweh was seen in that all. And Jesus looks at these people with all that knowledge, all that commitment, all that fervor, and he says, you don't know God the Father.

You see, it comes down to this, I believe. There is a difference between knowing of God and truly knowing God. Demons know of God, they know God is one, and they shudder, they tremble. But they don't know God, do they? So here the piercing words of our Lord were directed, I believe, straight at the heart, because they know of God.

Jesus is telling them that you know Him intellectually, You know him in your mind academically, ritualistically, but your knowledge is cold. It's mechanical. It doesn't warm your heart. You're familiar with his law. You acknowledge his temple.

You even reverence his covenantal name. But your hearts, well, your hearts are far from him. See, the knowledge that they had was not intimate. It wasn't relational. It wasn't rooted in love.

Simply said, it wasn't real. It wasn't real. You know, there's no ultimate safety, beloved, in the system of religion. There's no safety in the group that you're in. There's no safety in the Bibles that you...

in our hands. There is no safety in the hymns that we sing. There is no safety in the sitting under preaching of the world, even if it is faithful preaching. There is no safety in any of that. There is no safety in the performance of your hands.

There's no safety in the activities of your feet. There is no safety in any of that. None. Because if it comes down to activity, and what we know, and what we've memorized, and the things we do with our hands, then these people will put us to shame. Let me just give you a couple of words from the best of them.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more." The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3. Circumcised on the eighth day, the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, kosher. A Hebrew of Hebrews, if you want to think about a Hebrew, you're not going to find someone that is more Hebrew than me. That's a pretty big statement, actually, as to the law.

A Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law. Blameless. Blameless. What boasting. What boasting that was once on the lips of the now great apostle.

But with all that performance of his hands, with all that knowledge, with all that acumen, a resume like no other, trained under that great Gamaliel. Even now in the Jewish writings, there's only two, maybe three rabbis that stand out. Gamaliel was one, and this was his prize student. A man with encyclopedial, if that's the word, knowledges. He memorized scripture.

He knew it all. He was meticulous in the way he did what he did. Did he know God? I suspect if we ask the pre-converted Paul, no, Saul of Tarsus, if we ask him as a Pharisee, do you know God? What do you think his answer would have been?

His answer would have been, according to the resume he's just given us, I know him intimately. I know him well. I know him more than anyone I know. I know him more than all of you. That's what he sounds like, right?

There's a lot of boasting in there as to righteousness, blameless. So what with all that so-called knowledge? With all that acumen, with all that knowledge, you'd think that the Apostle Paul, if he was ever confronted with God, Because he claimed to know him really well. If he was ever confronted with God, you would think that he would have absolutely no problems recognizing him and identifying his voice, right? I mean, that's the least you would have to say for someone who knew him so well.

Okay? Let me tell you on the road to Damascus. Inspired scripture tells us exactly that's what took place. And listen to the words that we've been given. When his eyes finally made contact with God, and he heard the voice of God, do you know what he said?

Who are you? Lord. Now don't let that word Lord put you off. That's not Lord as in Yahweh. That's a honorific or giving honor statement like you say, who are you, master?

Who are you, sir? Because he was scared out of his wits. Who are you, he said. But Paul, you know the word of God. You claim to know him.

You claim to. You don't recognize his son? Who are you? Blind, I tell you, and no pun intended. He was blind to the things of the spirit.

All that religion didn't bring him one iota closer to a true knowledge of God. And that ought to make us tremble. And he confirms that fact himself, because if you remember early on, I quoted a few verses from Philippians chapter 3, but I stopped somewhere. Let's just continue. Philippians chapter 3 from verse 7 to start, partway through verse 6, just so you can get the context.

As to righteousness under the law, he says, blameless. But, when you see those words in the Scripture, but, we need to take notice, because something is happening. There's a pivotal point. But, whatever gain I had. I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of what? This is the word we're looking for. Knowing. Knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. See, according to the Apostle, all his external righteousness was now considered, translated in New Year's Eve Bibles, as loss.

But the real word, the original word here is skibala, and that would be better translated refuse or dung. And there's a couple of other words I can use which I'm not going to mention. That's what the Apostle Paul considered all his righteousness in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus. religious formalities in his eyes, apart from the work of the Spirit to make known God in Christ, is done. But what about all the sacrifices?

What about the tithing of all the herbs? What about you, Paul, the memorization of the Scripture, Paul? Paul, what about the countless prayers you offered? What about the fasting twice a week that you were very meticulous in doing? What about the scripture that you taught, Paul?

What about the zeal that you had for Yahweh? What about all that? Well, if God is not known, if God is not known, then what value does that activity actually have? If by faith we have not come to know Jesus Christ beloved, if by faith we have not embraced Christ, His person, His works, His words, all His claims, if we're not trusting in the Son, then we are still in the darkness and we are devoid of His love and we are in enmity still with God. then the only manifestation would be that of the flesh because there's either the flesh or there is the spirit and those who are in the flesh cannot but please God.

In fact, if it's not of faith, then it's sin. So what of all those sacrifices and all that worship? You know that it is worship, but not of Yahweh. It's wicked idolatry. And God looks upon that type of worship And he says, that is an abomination in my eyes, because you don't know me.

They're scary words. I mean, when I was preparing, this is piercing. It's this black and white. It's either you're in or you're out. You're either in darkness or you're in the light.

You're either dead or you're alive. It's black and white. This world will say, no, there's a great deal of grey. There isn't. You're either sons of God or you're sons of the devil.

That's it. There is black and white. How black and white is this chapter? I tried to find a dividing line and the dividing line is so thin you can't put anything in it. It's either you're on this side or that side.

It's so clear. How? That is devoid of the knowledge of God. Through faith in Jesus Christ is only capable of sin. We may do things under the cloak of righteousness, but it's despised by God, even acts of worship, even if we are sincere.

Can I tell you, all the sincerity in the world, all the earnestness in the world, all the religious strictness in the world, if one does not know God through faith in Jesus Christ, it is an abomination and detestable in God's eyes. Sincerity apart from truth is meaningless. And I don't doubt that there are many sincere people out there worshipping the wrong God. But that's the nature of deception. And that's why God has made us proclaimers of the Gospel.

Because that Gospel shines the light of Jesus Christ and exposes the darkness for what it is. Apart from the heart that has been touched by God, to open spiritual eyes, to see, to know Him, to love Him as the living God, then what you have, even under the guise or the name of Christianity's dead religion, even if you name Yahweh, even if you name God, even if you name Christ, it's still dead and unacceptable to God unless you truly know Him. So many examples I wanted to give in the Word. There are many, there are many. But I just want to take you to one that really makes this quite clear.

So let's open our Bibles now to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, let's read from verse 1. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O Israel, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand. The ox knows its owner. The donkey knows its master's crib.

But Israel, essentially, they do not know me. Let's fast forward to verse 11. Beloved, I want us to think about these words, because what we have before us is not actions or activities or rituals or rites that these people have produced from their own minds, but rather ones that God has commanded. So we have to distinguish. It's not that they're going out there building golden calves and calling it Yahweh.

It's not that. It's not Jeroboam's sin. It's rather these are actions, these are commands, these are practices that God has given, but there is a wrong heart, there is a lack or a devoid of the knowledge and love for God. Let's start reading from verse 11. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord?

I've had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or the lambs or the goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my court? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me.

new moon and sabbath and the calling of convocations i cannot enjoy in quiet and solemn assembly your new moons and your important feasts my soul what your new moons and your appointed feasts who appointed those feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.

Beloved, all the activities of those who stand before our Lord, as religious as they are, They stand in the temple celebrating their last, well, they've just celebrated the Feast of Booths. Religious men and women, they all fall into that category that we've just read here in Isaiah. And that is a scary thought, but it is true. Because they had not known Yahweh. Because had they of known him, they would have received his son.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him, John 1, 10 and 11. Now I suspect, I suspect that those in Isaiah's day, or even, beloved, before our Lord, if they were asked the same question that I hypothetically ask the apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus, I suspect they would answer something similar. Now, we do know the Father.

Yahweh is known to us. This is His temple. This is His land. We know the scripture. I suspect that's what they would say, because they deceived.

But then I want to ask a follow-up question. And the follow-up question is this. How do you know that you know Him? You say you know Him. How do you know?

that you know him? What do you think their answer would be? What would your answer be? Just in your own mind, it's a rhetorical question, think it through. Now, if you've been listening to our Bible studies in the last series and the series that we've just begun, maybe five or six weeks ago, you would probably, you'd have a good biblical answer to that question.

But that is helpful, but it could be very dangerous as well. Because the answer to that question, knowing God, is not simply a mind thing. It's not simply rooted in intellect. But beloved, it's a truth that has been placed in your heart. Yes, it's a biblical truth, but it's supernaturally placed in your heart.

And if it's being placed in your heart and you're able to say, I know him, then the only one who can place it there is God himself. If he's placed it in you, he will never take it away, that's his promise. And if it is being placed in your heart, then he will necessarily bring forth fruit, and that fruit will be like father, like son, right? That's what Christ was saying. We spoke about that a few weeks ago, so I'm not gonna elaborate on that.

But beloved, I don't know, I don't know how you would have answered that question. How do you know that you know Him? But I hope, I hope your answer at least began something like this. I know the Father, because by faith I have come to know and believe in the Son. I have come to embrace Him by faith, to trust Him, to believe in his work, to believe in his word, to acknowledge and truly believe in his claims, even the one that comes in verse 58.

Everything he says, I believe. You see, Jesus was able to look at these Jews straight in the eye. Well, I'm assuming it would be in the eye. And he was able to say with absolute certainty, you do not know God the Father. Not only because he knows the heart of man, that's true, but also because of what he's already said and established earlier.

You might remember. In verse 42 he says, if God is your Father, you would love me. If you knew God, if you're in the family of God, if you claim to be sons and daughters of the Father, then You would love what the Father loves. I'm his son. I'm the eternal object of the Father's love.

And you hate me. You reject me. You slur me. You insult me. And now you want to kill me.

But also there was a truth in verse 19, spoken to the Pharisees, but it's a universal truth. And there Jesus says, if you knew me, you would know my Father also. Put that together and you have Jesus looking at these people and He's saying, of course you don't know me. I'm proclaimed. Even just the contents of chapter 8.

I've told you who I am. I've told you that I've been sent by the Father. I've told you that I was with the Father from eternity past. I told you that I'm not from down here below but I am from above. I told you that I'm the light of the world and I told you that if you follow after me you will not remain in darkness but you'll have the light of life.

I've told you that if you are truly my disciples, you'll abide in my word and you'll know truth and the truth will set you free. I have told you all these things. I've told you that unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sin. I've told you. I've told you who I am, that he is my father.

I've told you that you are sons of the devil. I told you that unless you abide in my word, that is to keep my word, you will die. Or if you keep my word you will never see death is how Jesus puts it. I've told you all these things. I've told you who I am and here you are looking at me saying we reject you Jesus.

You're a Samaritan, you're dim and possessed and in a few moments they're going to pick up stones to stone him. You're a fake, you're a showman, you're a performer is what they're saying. Jesus is saying the fact that you do not know me means you don't know my father who sent me. The fact that you don't love me, he says. You see, if God was your father, you would love me.

Think about those words. Let's end there, actually. You know, there's many ways, there's many things that we can say about the father's love. There's many things we can say about why the disciple of Christ ought to love him. The first is we love him because he first It's a divine love that has been implanted in us.

It's a spiritual reality, and I haven't gone through that, because we all know that regeneration has to take place before faith, and then that faith embraces Jesus, and we know that. But why would Jesus say that if you, Father, if the Father was your Father indeed, that you would love me? I think it comes down to what Jesus said in verse 12. I am the light of the world. That's where we began.

Whoever follows after me will not walk in darkness, will not be in darkness, but will have the light of life. Jesus is the revealing light of God. Let me tell you something. When he shines that light on the heart of a person, two responses. Either you run back into darkness or you remain exposed, naked and vulnerable.

Either you hate him like these people who end up pushing him away. He goes in one direction and they go in another. Reliefed, no more exposing. He's exposed us far too much. We can't tolerate his words.

Or you remain right there. As this chapter began with the woman caught in adultery, those accusers ran away and she remained with Christ. Let me ask you, those who remain, what is their heart's disposition to this Jesus? You know, he's just exposed you for who you are. He's just exposed that woman to be an adulterer.

He's just exposed what you have in your heart. He's just exposed that you are indeed a slave to sin. He's exposed the unrighteousness and the ugliness and the wickedness that is within. It's an ugly thing when He exposes. Brothers and sisters, you know what I'm talking about, because it didn't happen once.

It happens always if you're in Christ. If you're abiding His Word and His Word abides with you, then you've always been exposed by that light of Christ. And you see that ugliness. But why don't we run away? Why don't we run away?

Because of our hearts disposition is one of love. We say, thank you for exposing me because the alternative is death. The alternative is darkness. The alternative is death and eternal death, eternal torment under the wrath of God. Yes, he exposes my sin, but I love him because he doesn't only expose my sin, but he tells me, beloved, I have shed my blood for you.

How glorious is that? That I hung on that cross. I'm sinless, but I hung upon that cross to shed my own blood for you. My perfect life of righteousness. The perfect, faultless obedience to the Father's will that you could not do.

Everything that you ought to have done, I did. And more, because the Father gave me a unique work to do. I did it all. And I hung upon that cross faultlessly. And I was innocent, but I was willing.

No one took my life. I laid down my life for my sheep. And He reveals and reveals more of Himself in that light of His. He's the light. And He reveals more and more of Himself.

And beloved, you see the beauty and the glory of this Christ. How can you but love Him? was your father, you would love me. How can you? How can you know this truth and not fall on your knees and say, Lord, I love you?

You've placed that love in me. You've opened my eyes to see where I'm at. It's ugly, but you have cleansed me. You have made me clean. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 1.

Let's go to verse 18 since it's open before us. The Lord has indicted Israel and then he says in verse 18, come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, thou shalt become like all.

Why do we love Christ? Because He's revealed through His exposing the light to who we are. And He's shown us His glory. He's shown us what He's done for wicked sinners like us. He's given us a faith to believe in Him.

To believe His words, His teaching, His claims. And He's placed in us a love, a divine love that looks to Him and says, I love you. A love for the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not by anything we have done. He's a complete Savior, and He's done it all.

Do you know Him? Let's pray.