The Son, the Pleasure of the..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 8 and we'll be reading from verse 21 through 30. But the focal point of our meditation this evening will be on verse 29.

So that's John chapter 8 from 21 through to 30. So he said to them again, I'm going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jew said, will he kill himself since he says where I am going, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are from below.

I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. So they said to Him, Who are you?

And Jesus said to them, Just what I've been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but He who sent me is true. And I declare to the world that I have heard from, or what I have heard from Him. They did not understand that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak just as the father taught me.

And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone. For I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Let's just quickly come to our Lord in prayer. Lord, we come before you this afternoon and we ask that you would be among us by your Holy Spirit. This is your word.

These are your people. Feed us this evening, we ask. Satisfy our souls with Christ. Pray these things in the name of our blessed Savior, in your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Well, brothers and sisters, we've been following through our exposition of the gospel according to John for a while now, and we've been in chapter 8 for several months, so I'm hoping that the context is very clear to our minds, and therefore my intro this evening is going to be quite short because I have much to say about verse 29 that is before us. But it will suffice for me to say and to remind you that our Lord is in the temple ground. And he's speaking to the religious leaders of the day, namely the Pharisees, and he's indicting them to rank unbelief. They don't believe our Lord, and they don't believe anything he's saying. To the point where our Lord looks them in the eye and says, you don't even know God.

Actually, the words he says in verse 19 are, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father. This is an indictment, a massive indictment. to these pious, proud men, thinking they know Yahweh, they know the scripture, they know history, and they taught it. But Jesus is saying, otherwise, He says, I peer into the soul.

I know you don't know the Father. How can He say that? Because you do not recognize His Son. That's how I know. And if they don't recognize the Son, then they're separated from the Father.

They're separated from the Father. These men are still confused. In the text that we read this evening, they're still asking the question, Jesus, who are you? Verse 25. They still don't know.

So based on their state of unbelief, our Lord issues them with a gracious warning. We see that in verse 24. He says, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. So as it stands, Jesus stands before these Pharisees in the temple grounds and he looks at these men and he says, you, unless you believe in me. Unless you believe that I am here, that I am all I claim to be, that I'm from above and you're from below, that I've been sent by the Father, that I am the I am.

Unless you believe, you remain in your sin, you remain unforgiven under the judgment of God. Scary words, but they're laced with grace because their hearts still beat and there's still an opportunity for them to believe. However, for a few moments, let's put the ignorance of the religious leaders of the first century aside for a few moments and think about what's happening in that place. There's a live audience, remember. Remember that this is a time or towards the end or after the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.

There are mums and dads there. There are sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. There are lay worshippers who have come over from all over the world into Jerusalem to worship at the festival. And it's very likely a substantial crowd is standing before our Lord and these Pharisees as they engage in this dialogue and they're listening to every word. And it's very likely that that crowd wasn't apprised of the previous conversations our Lord has had.

with these religious leaders over the years. Now, the Pharisees should have known. They should have known who Christ is. He said, you should have known. I've been saying who I am from the very beginning.

But these lay people, they weren't there. They may have some questions on their mind. I mean, think about it. If you were in the crowd and you hear this rabbi with that Galilean accent say these words, unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Wouldn't you have a few questions to ask?

Like who? Who are you? How about the why question? How about, why is it that, why would believing in you, Jesus, give me the forgiveness of sin? Why would believing in you, Jesus, take away the judgment of God?

Why is it necessary for me to believe in you? I'd say they're pretty good questions to ask. And in fact, having the answers to those questions, beloved, is essential for salvation. that we know who Christ is, and that we know what He has done. And I believe our Lord, in His grace, gives the answers to those questions in the following words in the section that is before us.

Last week, and beyond, we considered the who question. who this Jesus is. I'm not going to recap, just for the sake of time, but if you missed those messages, you can go to the recordings and have a listen to catch up. But in the previous sermon, which was last week, when I exposited verse 28, in there is a part of the answer to the why question. Why would believing in you, Jesus, give me forgiveness of sins?

Part of that question was answered in verse 28. You might be thinking, how? Because our Lord reveals the necessity of his death. In fact, he gives some more specific details. He says that he'll be lifted up, and that lifted up language is speaking specifically to the type of death, the mode of death, being by crucifixion.

But does that answer the question? Not really. So He dies on the cross, maybe is what they're thinking. Still, how does that matter for me? You're telling us that you're going to be handed over, you're going to die upon the cross, lifted up.

But how does that matter for me? Well, there are some dots to be joined. And Jesus joins those dots here in verse 29. This is where Jesus, I believe, puts it all together when he says, and he who said me is with me. He has not left me alone for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

What an awesome statement. Beloved, we'll park here for the rest of the evening, and by God's grace, I pray that the time that we spend in this verse will be a time of edification for our souls. It's an exciting verse, verse 29. And the truth that is found in the words of our Lord in these few words are worthy of our undivided attention. Because brothers and sisters and friends, the veracity or the truthfulness of what Jesus is saying in verse 29 are the very heart and soul of the gospel.

It's why the gospel saves. In other words, Christian, if by grace through faith you've been saved and redeemed, if by grace God has plucked you from the kingdom of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of the sun, it is because of the truth that is found in verse 29, before your very eyes. Beloved, statements that come out of the mouth of our Lord, that we've heard previously, as we've looked through or examined the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John and previous to that. Statements like, unless you believe that I am here, you will die in your sins, only make sense in light of the truths that have been proclaimed in verse 29. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

Let me start by saying this is a bold and audacious statement by our Lord. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. Think about the tenacity that is required to utter those words. God the Father. God in heaven.

is looking upon my work, upon what I do, all of it, and He's delighted in me, is what Jesus is saying. My every word that I've ever spoken, my every deed that I've ever accomplished, the every last thing that I have done and yet to do, are completely and continually pleasing to the Father. Who can speak with such authority about the mind and the heart of God? Because the things that please God aren't things that please simply His mind. It's His heart.

It's the very being of God. And Jesus is saying, I know the very heart and the essence of God to the point that I know that everything I have ever done and everything I do is completely pleasing. It's a delight. It's a delight to the Father. Nothing I've done is displeasing in His sight.

Nothing. I know the Father looks down from heaven, is what Jesus is saying. And He looks at me, and He has a big smile on His face. And He's never taken that smile off His face. They're pretty bold words.

Now think about the absolute sky-high standards of perfection required by God. Remember, God doesn't judge by appearance. Jesus warned these same people in the previous chapter, don't do that. Don't judge by appearance. God judges the heart.

He knows the heart. He sees all things. He knows all things. He judges according to the motivation behind the action that is being done. Sure, externally, one can do what seems to be righteous works.

We can all pull it off to some degree or another. On the outside, we can seem devoted to God. We can render worship to Yahweh. These men before our Lord, the Jews, the Pharisees in particular, they were very good at offering the sacrifices at the right time. They were very good at paying their tithes perfectly.

They were pretty meticulous in paying their tithes. They fasted regularly. They recited beautiful, beautiful prayers that wowed their listeners. But beloved, God cannot be mocked. He looks at the heart.

He looks at the heart. He sees everything and he demands undivided faithfulness that roots in the heart. Nothing less than righteous actions in the whole of life, rooted deeply in a genuine love, love for God, a love that is from all of the heart and all of the mind, all of the soul, Anything short of that will not please God. The Jews knew this, they knew the scripture. Now this Jesus is boldly asserting that God is delighted in all that I do.

Beloved, if you were there, you're either going to believe Him and fall in complete adoration of Him. or you're going to think this is a very, very dangerous man. Because here he is in the temple speaking to these religious heavyweights and he's declaring, I am the apple of God's eye. How can you say that? How can Jesus say with a confidence and certainty that what he does is always pleasing to God?

Or said another way, how can Jesus say that God is always pleased with him? He can say those amazing words, beloved, precisely because they are true. They are true because of who he is. John the Baptist, on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the time of our Lord's baptism, he declared under the spirit of who Christ is, you might remember the words, he said, and I have seen, John the Baptist speaking, and have borne witness that this is speaking about Christ, who? The Son of God.

The Son of God. In the prologue of John, we're told He is the Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. That is the eternal Word, the eternal Logos, speaking about Jesus, the One who became flesh and dwelt among us. The eternal Word was in a face-to-face relationship with the Father, we're told in John 1, verse 1, right? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

That is, in the original, that's a face-to-face, eternal, intimate love relationship with the Father. He spans from all eternity. He never had a beginning. He became flesh and He tabernacled among us. Beloved, what is there for God not to love?

What is there for God not to delight in when Jesus is His eternal Son, the epitome of all that is good, the epitome of all that is righteous and just? In fact, He is one in divine nature with the Father. What is there not to love? The fullness and the perfection of God in the Son of God. We're told in Colossians 119, for in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

The Son has always been the object of the Father's love. Always. He's always been the object of the Father's delight. The Father has always been pleased with the Son from everlasting to everlasting because the Son is worthy of that pleasure. And that love continues now with the incarnation of the Son of God.

See, much Scripture speaks about that love relationship that spans out through all eternity. Let me give you a few passages. John 3, verse 35. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Or John 5, 20.

The Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. How about the testimony from the Father's mouth? You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17? You remember when Jesus was up there with Peter, James and John? You remember the voice that came down from heaven?

You remember what the Father said in that day? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is my beloved son. He's the object of my love. He's my son.

I am pleased in him. I'm delighted in him. So delighted that I'm commanding you to listen to him because his words are my words. I approve of everything he says, of everything he does. may cast a doubt about Jesus being the object of God's eternal love, and they'll ask the question, what if these verses are talking only in time and space?

What if God's love upon his son was only from the incarnation? That's heresy. In fact, John 17, 24 is for doubters like that, and it reads this way, Father, Jesus praying, of course, in his high priestly prayer, Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you love me. When? Before the foundation of the world.

No, no. The Father's love for the Son didn't start in the Incarnation. It's an eternal love that spans out through all eternity. The Son has always been the apple of the Father's eye. He's always been a delight in the Father's eye.

And that intra-trinitarian love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has always existed in an intimate relationship in the Godhead. It's glorious. Christ is eternally pleasing to the Father because of who He is. He is the eternal Son of God. But beloved, although that's true, and one cannot One cannot separate the person of the Son of God from his work.

The emphasis of verse 29, however, is not merely on his personhood, but actually on his work. Can you see it? What does he say? He says, for I always, what? Do the things that are pleasing to him.

It's what Christ is doing that is in question. It's the work of Christ that is in question here. So Jesus says, I know the works that the Father requires. I know the works that are pleasing or I delight to my Father and I do those works. It's all I do.

Every moment of every day, Jesus is saying, I live to please the Father. He sees it all, He knows it all, and He's delighted in everything that I do. So Jesus, how do you bring delight to the Father's heart? How does Jesus bring pleasure to the heart of the Father in what He does? Well, the answer to that question is found throughout Scripture.

You can see it throughout Scripture. We can go to Genesis in the beginning and see what God required of man when He created man. Because what God requires of man is pleasing to His heart. But I'm not going to take you to the Genesis account. Instead, I want to take you to 1 Samuel 15.

So 1 Samuel chapter 15. You don't need to go there yet if you don't want to. But you may remember. I'll give you some context. The king, the first king of Israel was who?

Saul. Saul. He was the king of Israel and Saul turned out not to be such a good king in the end. We know the story. But Saul was commanded by God to go and to go into battle against the enemy, the Amalekites.

And then God said to Saul that you go and you attack the Amalekites. These are evil people in my eyes and you devote every one of them to destruction. the men, the women, the children, the infants, the cattle, the sheep, the donkeys, everything, everything is to be devoted to destruction. That might be a hard pill to swallow for some of us, but this is what the Lord commanded, and when God commands, He expects what? Obedience.

So Saul goes into battle, and he defeats the enemy. But then he does something very foolish. He allows the best of the sheep and the cattle to be brought back. And he does something very foolish in and of himself, where he brings back the king of Amalek. He brings him back as a trophy, as a prisoner of war.

Look what I've done. I'm a stronger king than you, and that's not what God wanted. God wanted obedience. God wanted full destruction. And so the word of the Lord comes through the prophet Samuel, the judge Samuel, and then this is what we read in verse 22 of verse Samuel, chapter 15.

Has the Lord as great delight, or you can translate, or is he pleased, in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than that of fat of rams. For rebellion is as sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." Terrifying words.

What pleases the Lord? Genuine obedience. Because he says disobedience is like rebellion. It is opposition or revolt against God. And disobedience is also, he says, it's like, and we know that he likens it to divination.

He says, for rebellion is as the sin of divination. What is divination? What is that? It's seeking counsel or direction from a source other than God or the word of God. So disobedience, which is rebellion against God, is like one saying, I don't need to listen to you, God.

I can find a better way. I know a better way and it doesn't include you or your word. That's what disobedience is. It's rebellion. Beloved, this is not a manifestation of love, is it?

God demands that His people love Him. Disobedience is hateful to God. It's rebellion against a good and holy God and it's to do what is displeasing in His sight. Saul didn't love the Lord. Saul despised Him.

Saul's desire was not for the Lord God. Saul's desire was for Saul. So he disobeyed God and God was angered in his disobedience. So God rejected Saul as king and he departed from Saul. How?

By removing his spirit from him. There was now separation between God and Saul. What pleases God is genuine obedience. And that obedience is only possible with a loving disposition towards God and with a heart rooted in a genuine knowledge and affection for God. And I'll show you how that is.

Open with me to Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah chapter 9 from verse 23. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23. Thus says the Lord. Let not the wise boast in wisdom.

Let not the mighty man boast in might. Let not the rich man boast in riches. But let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and he knows me. The greatest privilege, beloved, to mankind, the greatest privilege, the sons and daughters of Adam, is none other than to know God and to be known by God. Greatest privilege bar none.

And then he goes on and he says, that I am, to know me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. And then he says something very important. For in these things I delight. In these things I am pleased, decrees the Lord. Did you get that?

The heart The heart of a man that knows the heart of God knows what pleases God also. What pleases Him is that His creatures recognize, A, who He is, that they know Me. He says, this is what you boast in, that you know Me. And what pleases God also is that their conduct, the conduct of His people, are reflective of His own goodness, of His own character, to honor the original creation when He made man in His own image, in His own likeness. He made man to be like Him.

to reflect His goodness, to reflect His holiness, His righteousness, to reflect His true knowledge. Now, three of these attributes or characteristics, if you will, are noted for us in the passage that is before us. We have steadfast love, that is, steadfast, unbroken, abiding love. We have, because God is love, we know God is love. We have righteousness.

And then we have justice. And we already know that Christ knows the Father. Christ knows what pleases the Father. So He knows these things. He knows that these are pleasing to the Lord.

And so let me frame how the incarnate Son of God accomplished all His work, all His work with genuine, abiding, steadfast love, with perfect righteousness, and with deep concern for the justice of God, thereby always, always pleasing the Father. Steadfast love is the first one, right? We've already established that the love between the Father and the Son is the love that spans out through all eternity. An unbroken love. Unbroken.

It's a stream of love that has never been broken from eternity past. But as a man, As a man, as the God-man, there is a point that the Incarnation happened. That is, the Eternal Son of God became man in the Incarnation. He took a reasonable body and a reasonable soul. And there is a point where the Son of God became the God-man.

And at that point, He manifested His love for the Father through a genuine desire for complete obedience to the Father. A complete obedience to the Father's will as a man. Remember, before that, Jesus was not a man. He was the eternal Son of God. And now He has two natures.

A divine one and a human nature. Remember the Lord's words in John chapter 6 verse 38. He says, For I have come down from heaven for a reason. And that reason is not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. He's saying, I've come down from heaven with a mission.

The Father has given me a work to accomplish, and that work is His will. And beloved, as the Father was delighted with the work of the Son, as Christ is telling us, the Son is delighted in doing the work. of the Father. You see, there's a reciprocating love and delight going on. The Father is delighted at what the Son is doing and the Son is delighted in accomplishing the actual will of the Father.

His heart's satisfaction. The completeness of His joy. The pleasure of His soul, that's Christ, was found in doing the Father's will and abiding in the Father's love. He says so in John chapter 15. This was no external obedience that we know we saw so many times throughout the scripture.

No, this was a deep rooted genuine obedience rooted in the love for the Son to the Father and the Father to the Son. Jesus delighted in doing the will of the Father. You remember back in John chapter 4? In John chapter 4 in Samaria, the disciples leave Jesus at the well there in Samaria, Jacob's well, and they go to a nearby town called Sychar. They know Christ is hungry and thirsty.

They left Him that way. They go to the town, they get some food, they come back. And when they come back, they offer Jesus some food. And Jesus says, no thank you. I don't want the food that you've given me.

So in order for our Lord to teach His disciples a lesson, this is what He says. He says, I have food to eat that you do not know about. And so the disciples said one to another, has anyone brought him something to eat? We've been away for maybe an hour and someone fed Christ. And then Jesus says to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.

Beloved brothers and sisters and friends, listen to those words. My food, He says, is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. The will of the Father, the work of the Father is the source of my pleasure. It's the source of my satisfaction, is what Jesus is saying. It brings delight to Jesus's heart, and it brings delight to the heart of the Father.

They're in total agreement, the Father and the Son. I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. John 14 31. I always, I always do what is pleasing to Him. So what is the obedience the Father's pleased in?

Well, Jeremiah chapter 9, remember, we know obedience ought to be rooted in a steadfast love, an unbroken abiding love for the Father because that is the heart of the Father. The heart of God is a heart of love. But the next one is also obedience according to righteousness. Righteousness. Now righteousness was clearly on the mind of our Lord when he began his earthly ministry.

Can you remember where Jesus began his earthly ministry? He began his ministry with his baptism. You remember that? And in Matthew chapter 3, in the narrative of the baptism of our Lord, listen to what is written. 3.

13. Matthew 3.13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, that's John the Baptist, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you.

And do you come to me? John was hesitant. But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.

And behold, the voice of heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. But did you get it? Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill what? All righteousness. He came to fulfill all righteousness.

But why? You've got to ask that question. Jesus, why? You are the eternal Son of God. We've established that.

You have established that thus far in the Gospel according to John. You've got nothing to prove. You are God. You are righteous. You are the epitome of righteousness and justice and love and steadfast love.

Why do you need to fulfill all righteousness? You've got nothing to prove. That's true, but this is why. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, now listen to this, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoptions as sons. Galatians 4, 4 through 5.

Beloved as the God-man, Jesus was born under the law. That means he was subject to the law of God. He is subject. So it was right and good for him to obey the law, as it is right and good for you and I to obey the law. That was the will of God.

That was part of the righteousness. Part of the righteousness that he had to fulfill. And as a man who was subject to the law, same law that was given unto men, it was therefore required of him to be actively obedient to the law. Total and perfect righteousness is required by a holy God. A holy God who cannot look upon sin.

A holy God that despises disobedience. A holy God who is pleased in what? Obedience. True, genuine obedience. And Jesus, in every way, was unblemished by sin.

We know that He is the sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Absolutely, morally perfect. Positive in His righteousness. Blameless in His deeds. who's always, always pleasing to God.

He's the only one who loved God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. No other. No other. He's the only one who ever loved his neighbor as himself. The two make the summary of the law of God.

None other. None other but Jesus. Above that. That righteousness was necessary. But the Father also gave Him a unique work to do.

A unique work that was given to the Son of God, uniquely for Him to accomplish. And Jesus was perfect in accomplishing and fulfilling all righteousness, even with what the Father uniquely gave Him to do. And we'll talk about that a little bit later on. Okay. So he was steadfast and unbroken in love.

And he was perfectly righteous in all that he did. He did perfectly obedient to the Father. And everything he did was pleasing to the Father. So why does that matter? Why does it matter for the people who are now listening to Jesus in the temple?

The Jews, the Pharisees might have had hardened hearts, but what about the rest? Why does it matter? Beloved, why does it matter to you? Why does it matter to me? I'll tell you why it matters.

It matters because only those who are pleasing to God will avoid judgment and enjoy the presence of God forever. Only those pleasing to God. And He's the rub. I use plural, only those pleasing to God. But He's the rub in and of ourselves.

You and I have never pleased Him. By human efforts, by the efforts of flesh, not a single man, woman or child has ever, ever pleased God. None. By the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it matters.

That's why it matters that he lived his life in perfect obedience to the Father. That's why it matters that everything that Jesus did was completely pleasing to the Father. That's why it matters. Because no one has ever pleased God. And beloved, if you haven't got it ready, there's a big problem if you haven't pleased God.

Because nothing other than perfection can enter into His presence. And apart from the presence of God there is only, beloved, hear this, only judgment. You're either in the presence of God or you're under his judgment. There's no third option. No third option.

Adam disobeyed God in the garden. We know history, we know the book of Genesis. He didn't do what is pleasing to God. God said, you can eat of all the trees, but do not do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what did Adam do?

He disobeyed God to obey his pleasure to the heart of God. Adam disobeyed. He disobeyed God. He proved to be unrighteous in his work. And so, through Adam's disobedience, Adam is the head.

All humanity was in the loins of Adam. And through Adam's disobedience, the whole of humanity plunged into sin with Adam. One man's trespass brought the curse and destruction on the whole of humanity. His disobedience brought death into the world. A physical death.

A physical corruption. A physical decay. Absolutely. But worst of all, a spiritual death. What is a spiritual death?

Well, in Colossians 1 and Ephesians 4, we're told that a spiritual death is to be alienated or separated from what? From the life of God. That's a spiritual death. We saw that in Genesis chapter 3. Can you remember how?

When Adam sinned, you remember what happened? He was expelled out of the garden with his wife Eve and the Lord put a cherubim there with a flaming sword so that no man would come back into the presence of God. You've sinned. You've disobeyed. You're unworthy of my presence.

It's a scary thing. Unworthy. Why? Because he is holy. No, he's holy, holy, holy, blemishless.

He lives in unapproachable light. He cannot look upon sin and unrighteousness, and only that which is absolutely perfect and holy is able to come into his presence. That's why, Adam, Eve, you can't come into the presence of God. You are now unworthy because you've disobeyed God, you've sinned. You've sinned.

We see this demonstrated for us, do we not? In the tabernacle or in the temple. When you have the Holy of Holies, you remember the curtain, the veil that went from top to bottom. But what would happen if a man, other than the high priest and other than once a year, would enter into the holy place? Instant death.

Instant death. Why? Because unrighteousness cannot enter into the presence of God. That's why. Man is separated from God because of sin.

Man is separated from God because of disobedience. And disobedience is rebellion. Rebellion is sin. But the God-man is different. Jesus Christ is different.

He's saying He's not a man. Absolutely He's a man. And He's God. But He wasn't begotten of a man. He didn't come from the seed.

of a man. So He's not infected. He's not corrupted by original sin. He's not corrupted by the sin of Adam. He's the God-man.

He's pure. And He only ever did what is pleasing to the Father. And do you know what it means? If He only ever did what is pleasing to the Father, this truth is glorious. If Jesus only ever did what is pleasing to the Father, it means He was never what?

Never separated from the Father. He doesn't need to be reconciled because He was never separated in the first place. Look down in verse 29 before you. I've been preaching from our Lord's words in section B of verse 29, if you will. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

But what comes before those words? You see before, or you can translate because I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. There is something contingent or dependent upon Jesus always doing the things pleasing to the Father. What is it? What comes before?

And He who sent me is with me. Hear this. He has not left me alone. for because I always do what is pleasing to Him. Do you get it?

The communion with the Father and the Son possible only because He only does what is pleasing to Him. They were never separated. Never, never, never in eternity past or in the incarnation. Never alienated from God the Father. Never.

Why? Because He's faultless in His loving obedience and perfect in His righteousness. The Father's never left His side. Because the Son is eternally worthy of the Father's presence. And the Father delights in abiding with the incarnate Son.

Listen how Jesus puts it in John 15. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Do you get it?

If you abide, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. The Father has not left Christ alone. And Christ continues to abide in the Father's love because, yes, because it's contingent of the obedience, the perfect obedience of Christ to the Father's will. The Father is pleased with the positive righteousness of the obedience of His Son. He has not left Him alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him, Jesus says.

That's good news, beloved. Because our Lord, as I said earlier, was born of a woman, born under the law. Why? to redeem those under the law. There was a reason why Jesus was born under the law, was born of a woman.

It is to redeem those who have been born under the law. He has come to be our human representative. Because apart from Him, beloved, the Bible is so clear, is it not? No one is righteous. No one, not even one.

Because of our sin, we're all by nature separated from God. And as I said earlier, if you're not in the presence of God, then where are you? You're under the wrath and the judgment of God. There's no third option. Either God is pleased with you and you are in His presence, or you're apart from God, separated from Him, and under the direct fury of an angry God who's angry at sin every single day.

Because He's righteous. There's a God-man who's born under the law. Obedience to the law of God was mandatory and He fulfilled it in all righteousness on our behalf. Praise be to God. But we're missing something, aren't we?

Remember how I directed you to Jeremiah chapter 9? Was it two things or three there? Three. Jesus fulfills them all. I said that.

His obedience was perfected, rooted in steadfast love. His obedience was perfected and rooted in a righteousness, the righteousness of God Himself. What's the third? Justice. What about the justice of God?

What about the sin problem? the alienation, the separation from God, because our hearts are wicked, dark, and evil. What about the fact that God cannot look upon a sinful people? He must rightfully recompense sin and pull His judgment accordingly. Up until now we've seen the active righteousness, the active obedience of our Lord in the things that He did.

All of which pleased the Father. Jesus says so. But he'll be required also to demonstrate his willingness to be obedient to the justice of God. To show a real concern for the justice of God. Beloved, an obedience, an obedience, an obedience to the point of death, even death upon the cross.

Philippians 2.8 An obedience not active as with the obedient work that we've been speaking about, but more of a passive obedience. In other words, allowing an action, something to be done upon Him willingly. I mean, He is able at any point to stop the thing that is being poured out on Him. But it pleased the Father.

And if it pleased the Father, Jesus is saying, I only do that which pleases the Father. If it pleases you, I'll endure it. Disobedience would satisfy the justice of God. And beloved, disobedience came with unimaginable anguish. Inconceivable sorrow that you and I can think about, meditate upon, but we would never ever get to the depth of what Jesus experienced.

The cup The cup he drank was more excruciatingly painful to the soul than the horrific physical death of being crucified on a Roman cross, although that too should never be played down. That anguish, that anguish brought our Lord to his knees before the Father. Sweating drops like blood that hit the ground, Luke tells us, and caused him to say, Father, If you are willing, remove this cup from me. Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. This is an incredible time for our Lord.

It's actually uncomfortable because now we get to the end of ourselves and we say, we can't associate with that. We don't know what that experience was like. It's beyond our human experience. When Jesus says, what is coming is so difficult that it comes before the Father in Gethsemane. And he says, Father, remove this cup from me.

If you're willing, let's not forget that. Nevertheless, of my will, but your will be done. Is that not incredible obedience? Your pleasure, Father. Your pleasure, your delight is more important to my soul than the suffering and the agony that I will drink upon our cross.

But the father was pleased. Not only for his son to bear the cross, but for him himself to crush it. Open with me to Isaiah chapter 53. I don't normally get you to read large portions of scripture when I preach, but this is one that we must read together. We'll be reading from verse 1 all the way through verse 11.

Isaiah 53 from verse 1. Who has believed what he has heard from us and whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look upon him, no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And as one whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he is born out of grief. and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed, all we like sheep. have gone astray and have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away and as for his generation was considered that he was cut out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. So much.

So much I could say. But I only want you to see verse 10. The word translated will in verse 10. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. It's used some 75 times in the Old Testament and some 67 times according to my count.

It is translated pleased or delight. Yet the Lord was pleased. Yet the Lord was delighted to crush Him. In order to satisfy the just demands of justice. And His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, was pleased to allow the Father to crush Him.

What a difficult verse. If that truth doesn't move your soul, nothing will. God, motivated by love for sinful human beings, would be pleased to crush the very object of His eternal love and delight, pouring His full cup of fury and His righteous indignation upon His Son to deal with the sins of His people. Christian, that's your sin and mine. to deal with our sin, to deal with the cause, to deal with the effect, to deal with the destruction and the death that brought, the sin brought about.

The separation, the alienation from God, to reconcile sinful mankind who'd been alienated from Him. Alienated from a righteous, thrice holy God. Beloved, that required no less. No less than for God to crush the only one who ever pleased Him. The only one who had ever pleased God the Father.

The only one who had ever pleased Him. God crushed Him so that He would save those who had never pleased Him. Ever. How do we understand that love? How do we understand that love?

I tell you the only response, once we remain aware of what He has done, the only response is for us to fall on our knees in absolute adoration to Him and worship Him and love Him. and serve Him for the rest of our lives. To look upon Christ as the glorious one, the beautiful one, apart from which I will be destroyed under the judgment of God. What other response is there that we can come to, beloved? What other response is there to this truth?

And it's all because He said and He did all that is pleasing to the Father, always and forever. Only what is pleasing to the Father. The sooner we know this truth, the sooner we grasp it, the sooner we embrace it, the better, believe me. Because then we'll understand how wretched we are, how wicked we are, how unworthy we are of such love. How unworthy we are of such mercy, of such grace that is found in Jesus Christ.

Because in our corruption, we never please God. We could never say, I always do the things that are pleasing to him. Beloved, I can't say that even for a single day of my life. Disposition of God upon sinners is only wrath. It's judgment.

And they deserve nothing more. If you think in and of yourself you're entitled to more from God than judgment, then you're deluded, you're deceived. The sinners don't deserve anything apart from the righteous wrath of God upon unrighteousness because we are unrighteous before him. The Lord paid the price. He bore our sins in His body.

He drank the cup of wrath and the fury of God. And He did that. Beloved, He did that if you are in Christ so that you would not have to. What a cost. What a cost.

If you ever thought that the words of our Savior, I always do the things that are pleasing to Him, were spoken lightly, think again. But the story continues, right? I mean, he always did what is pleasing to the Father. He said so. But what evidence is there?

What evidence is there to unequivocally verify the certainty of the words of verse 29 that our whole salvation hinges upon? What's the proof? Christian, what is the proof that our Lord Jesus Christ faultlessly obeyed the will of the Father, that He only did what is pleasing to the Father? What is the proof that those words are true? Shout it out.

It's the resurrection. It's the resurrection. Jesus was vindicated in the resurrection. How do we know that? Beloved what is the wages of sin?

Was Jesus dead? Yes he was. When he hung on the cross he died and he was buried. Beloved if Jesus for a moment for a single moment did that which was not pleasing to the Father. You remember when I said earlier he would be separated from the Father because God cannot tolerate unrighteousness, sin, disobedience.

A single thought, a single complaint, a single action, a single lie. If any of his claims that these Jews don't believe If any of them were not true, even for a single moment, then the father would have to separate himself from the son because the son is disobedient. Now theologically we know that's an impossibility. But beloved, if that happened, if even for a moment Jesus disobeyed, then the father would be separated from the son. And I said earlier there are two options.

Either you're in the presence of the father or we're under the wrath of the father. You're either with him or you're against him. A single act of unrighteousness would have meant that Jesus Christ would have remained in the grave. The resurrection vindicated our Lord. Why?

Because death could not hold Him. The sinless Lamb of God, the one who's eternally righteous, the faithful one, the one who is love, could not be held down in the grave. So He was resurrected in a victorious life. The cross, beloved, The cross is glorious, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ. is indication that everything the father is saying that everything my son ever did everything he ever said everything he ever taught everything he ever claimed is true and above that the resurrection means that the payment he paid with his precious blood that blood of God that was shed upon the cross to atone for the sins of many that resurrection is God saying payment accepted the check has not bounced I've accepted the blood.

He's atoned, has been accepted. What a glorious truth. What a glorious truth. Beloved, there's more. I'll be as quick as I can, I know I've gone over.

That perfect life of obedience, That perfect righteousness in accordance to the will of the Father, beloved, that will be accounted, or it is accounted, to everyone who ever believes upon the Son. That's the good news. That's why it was necessary that He lives that perfect righteous life, in perfect obedience to the Father, born under the woman, born under the Lord, to redeem those under the Lord. The just demands of God's laws completely fulfilled in the Son. And now the resurrected Son is resurrected in the victorious newness of life.

As our brother said earlier, He has died to sin, died to death. Death has no sting. He has no victory no more. So that those who come to believe in Jesus Christ, in the saving faith, who embrace Him for all that He is, the life of Christ is now The righteousness of Christ, that righteousness that was pleasing eternally to the Father, is now a righteousness that covers every single one of His people who have been united in Christ. You see, that union in Christ is critical, that we understand it as Christians.

We don't believe in Christ and we walk side by side. No, we're united in Christ. And that union means that God the Father looks upon wretched sinners who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ. And you know what He sees? He doesn't see filthy sinners where He needs to pour out His judgment.

He sees His Son in whom He is eternally pleased. And He looks upon you and He says, if you've come to believe in Christ. And He says, the pleasure I have with my Son The love I have for my son is the love I have for those who are united in my son. Wow. That is incredible.

And that is only possible, beloved, because of what happened upon that cross. You know, the Apostle Paul explains it really well. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, the Apostle Paul, in one sentence, which is remarkable, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he explains what happened on the cross. And if you remember that verse, it's a good one to remember, a good one to recite. He says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Simply said, Our sin was placed on Him, accounted to Him, or if you want to use a theological term, was imputed to Him. 1 Peter 2.24 tells us that He bore our sin where? In His body. We gave Jesus our sin if you have come to trust in Him.

He bore our sin upon that cross. And then He gives us what? The righteousness of God. Filthy, wretched sinners give Jesus to sin. He bears the brunt.

And we, we don't bear the brunt. Instead, we get the righteousness of Christ. And the Father looks upon us and says, innocent! I love you. I love you just as much as I love my son.

Humanly speaking, who got the better end of that exchange? It's an incredible exchange. being alienated from God, being separated from Him because of what the Son has done. My sin, my unrighteousness separated me from God because of the One who was always eternally pleasing to the Father, the One who was always eternally in the presence of the Father because He is worthy. And then those who have come to trust in Him are now reconciled to God in the Son.

Beloved, this is why Jesus is able to say to the Jews that are before him, and the people in the temple, and every one of us today, everyone who's read this text since, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. Because of who He is. Because of what He has done. No other way. No other way.

Apart from Christ, there is no forgiveness of sins. Apart from Christ, there is only alienation from God. Apart from Christ, there is destruction, there's judgment, there's wrath of God to come. This might sound just like words to you, but this is reality. God has spoken in His Word, and His Word is true.

It is the absolute source of truth. By virtue of my union in the Son of God, Remember that love we spoke about before, that intra-trinitarian love, where the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, and the Spirit, and there's that love that spans out through all eternity. That's what the bond was. It's a bond of love. It's an intimate relationship between the Godhead.

That love that spans out all eternity. If you've come to believe in Christ, By faith, through faith, you've embraced Him for all that He is, and you've trusted in Him. If you believe He's forgiven you of your sins because He died on the cross to redeem you, to shed His blood for you personally, not in a general way, but for me. He thought of me, and I believe in Him. I believe that He died for my sin.

Then beloved, that insertion into Christ, that union with Christ, is a union into the intra-trinitarian love that they enjoyed from all eternity. Now tell me that doesn't boggle your mind. We're not worthy of that. We're not worthy of that. That's grace.

Oh, that's grace, praise be to God in Christ Jesus. And all those spiritual blessings, I'm gonna rush this, because I know we've gone over, you're probably tired. But all the blessings in the heavenly realm, all of them bar none, all of them are found in Jesus Christ. Every last one. He is my righteousness, he is my redeemer, he is my king, he is my savior, he is my prophet, priest, and king.

He is all glorious. My identity is found in Him. Beloved, the goal for every Christian, the goal for everyone who has come to know Christ in a salvific way, who understands the words, I only do that which is pleasing to God. the one who has come to embrace them and embrace Christ for all that He is, all that He claims to be, the one who's bent their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then His heart would be like His heart. The heart of our hearts would be like the heart of the Savior.

And I said earlier, what was the desire of the Savior? What was the food? What was the complete and total satisfaction of His soul? To live a life pleasing to the Father. And that ought to be the goal, that our lives, as we fix our eyes upon the object of faith, to look to Him and live our lives pleasing.

The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, whether we are of or away, he says, we make it our aim, that is our goal, our purpose, to do what the Apostle says, to please Him. Not because we earn favour. We've already said we can't earn favour with God. We're under His judgment. We've got nothing to offer.

We have no currency He would accept as sinners. No, Christ has earned the favour. Our salvation, our righteousness is Jesus Christ and Christ alone. But because our food and our delight is to please Him because He's given us hearts to desire the things that He desires. Beloved, we know that apart from faith, no one can please God.

That's what Hebrews 11, 6 tells us. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Or Romans 8, 8 says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But now, by faith in the risen Son of God, who we've been united with, we are able to actually please God. Why?

How is that even possible? Well, I said earlier, the resurrection is Christ resurrecting in a victorious life. That He's died to sin, that He's died to death, and that we've been inserted in Christ. So the life of Jesus Christ flows through us. Beautiful example, John 15, I am the true vine and you are what?

The branches. The true vine, the branches are attached to the vine. And the life of the vine flows through the branches. So that the fruit that is produced is produced because of the power and the life and the righteousness of the vine. Christian, you are able to produce fruit of righteousness.

And you're commanded to produce fruit of righteousness. But not in and of your own efforts. Look to Christ. He's your power. He's your strength.

He's your sustenance. He's your righteousness. Discern what is pleasing to Him. We're able to, in Ephesians 5.10 we're taught.

Before we didn't know how to please Him. But now in Christ, we can discern what is pleasing to the Lord. And now we're actually empowered to do good fruit. It says, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1.

10. But how do we do that? In Christ. Never forget that. I'd like to say something bold here, but I can tell you, I believe with all my heart, the summary, a good culmination of the whole of the Christian faith is simply those two words.

In Christ. In Christ. We can ask, are you a Christian? But I'd rather ask, are you in Christ? Are you in Christ?

Because Jesus says in the same chapter in John 15, he says, apart from me, you can do what? Some things. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Let me close. I want to close by just simply reading a passage in the book of Hebrews.

And I want you to listen to the words. A passage that does beseech the Christian to produce good fruit, fruit of righteousness. But also a passage that recognizes you cannot do that unless you are in Christ. unless you are in Christ. He's the object of our faith.

He's the one who strengthens us, empowers us. He's the one who flows, his life flows in and through us to produce good fruit. Hebrews chapter 13, I want to read from verse 15 through 21. Hebrews chapter 13. From verse 15.

How does it start? Out loud, how does it start? through Him. Who's the Him? Christ.

In Christ, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of the lips that acknowledge His name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Christian, you can actually please God, but only in Christ. Then skip down to verse 20.

Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight. You can do His will, he's saying. working in us, that which is pleasing to God, pleasing in His sight, and then He gives us help through Jesus Christ. It begins in Christ and it brings it to a close by saying in Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Our Lord, our Savior said these glorious words that were vindicated to be true in the resurrection.

And upon these words, we rest. And he said, I always do the things that are pleasing to him. Praise be to the Lord. Let's pray.