John chapter 16 as we come to the conclusion of the Upper Room Discourse. Remember, another name is the farewell discourse. And of course, Jesus often sets before them the fact that he is departing. So I would suggest that the last portion, verses 25 to 33, is the conclusion proper of this discourse. We'll just take up verses 25 to 28 this morning, and then God willing, look at the latter part in a couple of weeks. So I'll read verses 25 to 33, and then our focus will be verses 25 to 28. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." His disciples said to him, "'See, now you are speaking plainly and using no figure of speech. Now we are sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God.'" Jesus answered them, do you now believe indeed the hour is coming? Yes, has now come that you will be scattered each to his own and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone because the father is with me. These things I have spoken to you that in me, you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the glorious truth that we find here in the upper room concerning you, concerning your Son, concerning the Holy Spirit. We ask that you would guide us now by that Spirit and instruct us and encourage us and build us up in our most holy faith. We have that wonderful example in Matthew's gospel where Jesus calls upon the weary and the heavy laden sinner to come to him and he will give them rest. And we pray that would occur today for any and all here dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray that you would awaken them as well for your people, God, as we come in weary, as we come in burden, we ask that your spirit would minister to us that again, we'd see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has accomplished on our behalf in his life, death, and resurrection. Forgive us now for all sin, for all that remaining corruption. Cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb and guide us into all truth. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, this has the nature of a farewell discourse. And of course, Jesus has reminded his disciples on many occasions in this upper room that he is going to depart. In fact, if you look back in the context to chapter 16, at verse 16, a little while, and you will see me. And again, a little while, and you will see me. you will see me because I go to the, I'm sorry, a little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me because I go to the father. So that refers to his death and then his resurrection. And then again, his ascension on high. So this is a recurring theme. And certainly he takes that up here in verses 25. to 28. I would suggest that we look at this section under these three heads. First, the manner of His instruction, verse 25. I think it connects us with the context and, again, shines the light upon the Holy Spirit. Secondly, we'll look at the access to the Father in verses 26 and 27. And then, thirdly, the mission of the Son in verse 28. But with reference to verse 25, note his manner of instruction when he says, these things I have spoken to you in figurative language. That word figurative literally means a brief communication containing truth designed for initiates, veiled saying, figure of speech in which especially lofty ideas are concealed. So when he says, I have spoken to you in figurative language, he doesn't mean everything. He doesn't mean every jot and tittle of everything that ever came out of his mouth. But I think it's those things that we see in the upper room that they're still struggling with in terms of a complete appropriation of that truth. Remember in John 14, Jesus speaks about going to the father and preparing mansions and coming back and receiving them unto himself. Well, of course, they ask a question about that. As well, Jesus has been speaking about His relation to the Father and about the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son. He's been talking about His death and His resurrection and His ascension on high. It's kind of like those instances where Jesus says in Matthew 16 and 17 and 20, we must go to Jerusalem and there I must be tried and put to death and raised again. Well, they obviously understood what it meant to go to Jerusalem. They didn't get the significance at this point concerning his death and his resurrection. And so that's what he is saying to them in verse 25. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language. These things touching on the doctrine of the Trinity. These things touching specifically with reference to his passion. Now, of course, the Bible taught this in the Old Testament. There is the prophecies. Jesus says to the religious leaders in John 5, 49, that Moses wrote about me, but the disciples up to this point were still struggling with some of these lofty concepts. In fact, look at verse 12 in chapter 16, and Jesus acknowledges this. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." So Jesus is not saying that everything he says is a mystery to them or veiled, but rather those things that they're still struggling with. And he understands that, he identifies that, and he speaks specifically concerning their need. Now, note what he goes on to say, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. I think the time is coming refers to what he's already said in verse 16, this little while. What John has spoken comprehensively of is as the hour. The time is coming. upon His death, upon His resurrection, upon His ascension to the right hand of God Most High. In fact, look to the Gospel of Luke in Luke chapter 24, a post-resurrection appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to disciples, and we notice that they get it, they track, they understand. So on the way to the cross, there's still an obscurity. There's still this veiledness to what Jesus has been teaching. But once he goes into the grave, once he's raised again the third day, and especially once he's enthroned at the right hand of the Father and he sends the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, all these things become crystal clear to the disciples. Notice in 24 at verse 25, then he said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe and all the prophets have spoken. So again, Christ knows that the prophet spoke concerning his life, death, and resurrection. But Christ also understands it's not just the nature of his disciples, it's not the sin of his disciples, rather it is the timing at play here. It's the giving of the Spirit that is emphasized, I think, in our passage in John 16. But notice in verse 26, "...ought not the Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." And then in verse 44, then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. So it wasn't that the data wasn't available. It wasn't that the data was so super mysterious that nobody could have ever cracked that code. The emphasis lies upon the giving of the Spirit after the resurrection, to be sure, but most pertinently with reference to the day of Pentecost. One commentator says, according to the rest of the farewell discourse, the hour is the new order of Christian existence under the ministerial office of the paraclete, who will guide the Christian in all truth. That's been the recurring emphasis of our Lord in John 14 to 16. He is telling them, I'm going away, but I'm not leaving you as an orphan. I'm going to send another comforter and he is going to teach you the things concerning me. He is going to guide you into all truth concerning me. He is going to empower you and enable you to take this gospel message to the uttermost parts of the earth. We turn to the book of Acts after we see Jesus breathe on them in John 20 in terms of reception of the spirit, we turn to Acts 2 and the spirit comes as a mighty rushing wind. I think what Jesus is highlighting once again in this farewell discourse is the nature of our triune God. The Father sent the Son to save His people from their sins. He does so through death, resurrection, and ascension. From that place of exaltation, He sends the Spirit to empower and enable His church, to comfort and assist them, and to be the means by which that gospel is extended to the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus is speaking concerning those glorious truths reflective of our blessed God. Now, notice he goes on to speak of access to the Father in verses 26 and 27. He speaks of prayer to the Father, again, something he has spoken of a lot in the upper room, and then the promise concerning the Father. Note the reference to prayer, verse 26a, in that day you will ask in my name. I think he's using prayer as sort of a foil to speak in terms of all access to God in this new covenant setting. And note that the emphasis is upon the mediatorial office of Jesus. In that day, you will ask, in my name. He's already instructed them. Notice back in verses 23 and 24. And in that day, you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full. The emphasis falls upon the in my name-ness of what Christ is speaking. He's speaking in terms of the Trinitarian God, we come to the Father through the Son and the Spirit. Again, not that the Trinitarian God is absent from the Old Testament, but in the mission of the Son and in the mission of the Spirit, it is as it were, the light has been flipped on upon that room that was dimly lit, and now we see it in its full glory. We see the blessedness of our triune God and the way that sinners come to the Father, the way that the believer comes to the Father is through the Son. It's similar to what he says in John 4, 24 about worship. And those who worship must worship in spirit and truth. As I said last week, he's not talking about heart and head. He's talking about second, third person of the Trinity. We come to the Father, through the Son, in the spirit, and this is the emphasis of our Lord. It is most glorious because, as I said, he wants the disciples to be helped. He wants them to be encouraged. He wants them to leave the upper room and the empty tomb and to go into the world and make disciples of all the nations. What's going to empower them for that task? The knowledge of God, the understanding of who He is, the reality of what He's accomplished, the blessedness of who He is. That's what Jesus leaves as his parting gift to the disciples in the upper room in order to enable them to go forth and to do the task that he has called them to. So notice, in that day, you will ask, speaking specifically of prayer, but access to the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you. Brethren, he's not saying he's not going to be their mediator, because he's just indicated that you're going to ask the Father in my name. The Lord is not saying that he's not going to intercede for us, because Romans 8 and Hebrews 7 tells us that he always lives to make intercession for us. The Lord is saying that they will have direct access to the Father through the Son, the in my name, in the Spirit. And I think what he's as well saying is the benevolence—no, that's not the best word, that's more general—the graciousness, the effusion of grace, to use an older word, the magnificence of grace, is that the Father's ear is toward you. That's the point. As Kim mentioned, that I mentioned last week, these, whatever you ask in my name, it's not a meal ticket. It's not a summer house up north. It's not a trip to Florida. It's God, more God, more power from God, more presence of the Spirit, more aid to go and to glorify our blessed Savior. So what Jesus is highlighting here is that in this new covenant era, based on the reality of his life, death, and resurrection, It's the case that you have access to the very throne of grace. Ask the Father in my name. Gil says, but to declare, when he says what he says here, he says, I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you. Gil says, but to declare the disposition and readiness of his Father to hear them and grant unto them whatsoever they should ask of him in his name. It underscores the relation that the believer has to the father through the son. It underscores the relation that the father has to the believer through the son. And Jesus goes on to speak concerning that. Notice in verse 27. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God." It's a great statement, isn't it? It's not the first one in the upper room. Look at 1421. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him. And then in verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. So Jesus is simply stating, restating what he has been saying, but specifically focusing in on our relationship to the Father. Based on what Christ has accomplished, he has brought us into this place of favor. And what a place of favor it is. For the Father himself loves you. It's not because we're lovely. It's not because we're deserving. It's not because we've done well and so therefore we're rewarded. The Father loves us because of Jesus. And the love of the Father is unchanging. I don't know that we reckon with that as we ought, the unchanging character of God's love. I don't think we know that experientially in our lives, right? We're brought up by parents and we think that if we don't do what they say, they're gonna love us a little less. But if we really go up and above the call of duty, they're gonna love us even more. And you know what? That might actually happen. Because man fluctuates. Man is changeable. Man is mutable. Man ebbs and flows. And man has a wretched heart. And he might look at his son or his daughter that way. I never did. Just for my kids that are here, just know that that never happened. But not God. We speak of the impassibility of God. He doesn't move from one emotional state to another. It's a subset of immutability. God does not change. God cannot change. People say, well, that's not right. That doesn't mean. God can't change in his love for us. If God could love us more, then he didn't love us as best as he could have. If God could love us less, the implications are terrible. Just be assured that he would, because we certainly merit as little possible love as anybody could ever garner. The father loves you, he says to the disciples. Again, brethren, step into the original context. We like to pull passages out of the scripture and say, what does this mean for me right now? These apostles are gonna see their Lord brutalized on the cross. These apostles are gonna see him placed into the ground or into the tomb. These apostles are then going to see Him again. And these apostles are going to hear the command, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. With that promise, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So notice how Jesus is leading them along in the upper room to encourage them, to help them, to sustain them, and to empower them for that particular task. And the main emphasis of this teaching is on God. We just don't operate that way. If you were going to go out to the mission field, we'd make sure that you learned about all the cultural things that go on in that society. And that's not wrong. We'd make sure you had a pocket full of money that is useful in that society. We'd make sure you had someplace to lay your head in that society. You'd wanna make sure that you were safe and protected in that society. Again, not bad things, but what Jesus does is take them to school and the subject matter is theology proper. Behold your God, disciples. Behold your God, apostles. This provides the impetus for you to go therefore and to make disciples. It is most glorious. So all that to say, heavy emphases on the person or rather the being of God is a most essential thing in the hands of our Lord. So back to verse 27, for the Father himself loves you, Notice there's a condition here, because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. Now, we don't satisfy that condition. It's not that, you know, one day I woke up and wow, now I love God and I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. No, we love Him because He first loved us, 1 John chapter 4, or chapter 5, chapter 5, 4, it's 4, 419, I think. I could look at my notes. That's probably the smarter thing to do here. 1 John 4, 10, and then verse 19. He loves us because we love Jesus and because we believe on Jesus. But again, that because there is not conditioned on our part. We've arrived, we've gotten the data, we've made good decisions, and now we're gonna love God and believe on Jesus. No, we don't make good decisions. Our hearts are darkened. We're dead in our trespasses and sins. For us to love the Father, we must, by grace, be awakened. We must be regenerated. We must be born again, according to the teaching of John chapter three. He's not saying that this is your reward for having stumbled upon this act of loving God. He's stating the truth based on the relationship to our Lord Jesus by grace through faith. So back to the text, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. I would suggest that that object of faith, Christ, The verb tenses are the same, so you can't really figure it out that way, but theology in general teaches us we're born again. The reflex to that is the graces of faith and repentance, where we lay hold of Christ and all of his gospel benefits. And then that first expression of genuine faith is love to God. It's love to Christ. So the love of the disciples is a fruit and evidence of the faith of the disciples. And that love of the disciples is the chief expression of that faith. Listen to Machen on Galatians 5. Love, according to the New Testament, is not the means of salvation, but it is the finest fruit of it. A man is saved by faith, not by love, but he is saved by faith in order that he may love. That's the order that you find in the scripture. So again, Jesus is not saying, you know, because you stumbled on this love of God and because you stumbled on by free will this faith in me, guess what? Ding, ding, ding, the Father loves you. That's not the point. The point is by God's grace, you've been brought into this place of redemption. The power of regeneration, justification by faith alone, and the finest expression of that justification by faith alone is love to God. Gil says, faith in Christ and love to Him go together. Where the one is, there is the other. Faith works by love. They are both the gifts of God's grace and the fruits and effects of His everlasting love. And those who are possessed of them may be firmly persuaded of their interest therein. So what Jesus is doing is He is commending them or commending to them their status. their position, their place, their favor in the sight of God Almighty. And I would suggest there's an implication here that sort of jumps out, or we can pull it out. There's no universal fatherhood of God in a redemptive sense. Creationally, the apostle at Acts 17 at the Areopagus gives a reference to God as Father in a created way. But this idea that everybody's going to go to heaven, everybody knows the father, everybody is loved by the father with a redemptive love, no, that's for those whom he chose before the foundation of the world. Not for anything good in them, not because he looked down the tunnel of time and said, you know, that guy's gonna make good decisions, so I'm gonna set my love and affection upon him. No, it's sovereign. It's according to his good pleasure. And it's by His grace, for His glory, and through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why sinners need to hear the gospel. We don't just simply go out and say, guess what? God loves you, and He has a wonderful plan for your life. That's not... As far as we know, true. It could be if we happen to find somebody that has an E on their forehead, but we don't know that. And when you trace the apostolic preaching of the gospel in the book of Acts, they don't ever say God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. In fact, love doesn't ever come up in the book of Acts. Now that doesn't mean therefore God hates everything. Do you love apples? Yeah. Well, why do you hate oranges? No, that's just weird. But in the apostolic preaching of the cross, it was the apostolic preaching of the cross. What's the gospel? Is it my experience? Is it my feelings? Is it my emotions? No, it's the message of Christ and him crucified and resurrected. The apostles preached that and then called upon sinners to believe it, to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. They don't go out there and say, well, you know, God already loves you. You just have to activate it to another level. Or you just have to, you have to comply or do this. And we preach the glory of the gospel for the salvation of sinners and leave the results to God most high. Well, that brings us then to verse 28. And Jesus speaks concerning his mission. but he speaks beyond just the temporal mission. Remember, we've been looking at the upper room and we're trying to define some Trinitarian discourse. Jesus actually speaks of the eternal procession from the father and the temporal mission in what we call the incarnation. Thomas says, the son proceeds or comes from the father in two ways. One is eternal, the other temporal. He refers to the eternal procession when he says, I came forth from the father, eternally begotten from him. And note verse 28. It's this robust, powerful, simply structured, articulate expression of Christian doctrine. It's almost like, and I don't know this because I'm not in the mind of the Spirit or in the mind of the Lord Jesus, It's almost like this is the crescendo upon which the farewell discourse ends, not suggesting that it doesn't continue to verse 33. But if there's one thing Jesus wants you to get, Disciples, if there's one thing you need to keep in your hearts and in your minds, it's this reality. He's already commended faith in him. Notice in verse 27, for the father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. You have believed that I came forth from God. And so now he articulates this. Notice in verse 28, I came forth from the father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the father. So why does he keep emphasizing this? Why does he keep reiterating his status as the sent one from the Father who is the sender? Why does he keep reiterating the fact that he's going to send the Spirit upon his ascension on high? Well, I would suggest it's to remind his disciples concerning that relation between the Father and the Son. I mean, if they're already struggling, they're already kind of limping along until the cross, until the day of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost comes and the Spirit flips the light on, everything's going to make beautiful sense. It's like Paul on the road to Damascus. He knew his Old Testament. He just didn't have that necessary ingredient. the fulfillment of the New Testament in our Lord Jesus. So when the Lord Jesus comes to him on the road to Damascus and hands him that interpretative key, everything makes sense to the Apostle Paul. Well, the disciples are going to go through that same thing. As well, the confirmation of His ability to declare the Father. Remember the prologue starts off, 118. No one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him. And then we noted in chapter 16, what's the purpose of the Holy Spirit? To declare Jesus. The Spirit takes the things that are Jesus, who takes the things that are the fathers, and they declare each other the one living and true God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit's function, according to John 16, is to glorify Jesus. There's no competition. There's no gradation, there's no, you know, fighting or racing for who's top dog with reference to the God world. No. One living and true God. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences. The Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each having the whole essence, yet the essence undivided. We've got to get away from this idea that there are three separate beings in the sense of three separate centers of consciousness, or three wills, or three substances. That's not biblical Christianity or orthodox Trinitarianism. As well, it is to encourage the disciples concerning his departure. And I would suggest at least the last bit there in verse 28 sets the stage for what he says in verse 33. I leave the world and go to the Father. Look at verse 33. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." Don't we need that great big dose of verse 33 like every day? We're gonna look at suffering again. I'm sorry, this guy's got a one-note theme. No, we've seen it in John 15, 18 to John 16, 4. We're gonna see it in Philippians chapter one tonight. Paul makes a remarkable statement there. We know Paul's circumstances, he's in prison. He says to the Philippians that it has been granted to you. graciously given to you, not only to believe in Christ, but to also suffer. Now, that sentence is tough, not grammatically, not syntactically, but practically. You mean to tell me that that one word, graciously given, not only modifies faith or governs faith, which we all agree because we're Calvinists, God gives the grace of faith so that we can believe. I shouldn't say that in a cheeky way, that's true. But he's graciously given us suffering. That's where I suggest the challenge in that verse lie. That's a tough one to get your mind wrapped around. It's almost like the psalmist in Psalm 119. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. It was good for me that I was afflicted. That's a tough concept. A verse 33 mindset in the upper room is very helpful. Jesus says, in this world, you will have tribulation. He's not painting the world with rose-colored glasses. Oh, now you know me. So once you leave here, it's gonna be health, wealth, and prosperity everywhere you go. You're gonna have new cars, you're gonna have new boats, you're gonna have great this, you're gonna have great that. Jesus isn't Benny Hinn, and Benny Hinn isn't Jesus. in case anybody needed that clarification. So I think that what Jesus does in verse 28 is he makes three statements. First, he speaks of what we've seen and we'll rehearse this briefly. We won't spend a lot of time in it, but he rehearses or declares what we call the eternal generation of the son. I came forth from the father. He then speaks of the incarnation of the son when he says, and have come into the world. And then the ascension of the son, when he says, again, I leave the world and go to the father. That's why I suggest it's kind of like a doctrinal creed stuck right there in a real practical section as he's bringing the sermon or the discourse to a conclusion. He wants them to get this. He wants them to understand this because it teaches us great theology. So note first this doctrine of eternal generation of the son. I came forth from the father. We've seen this already. You can turn back to John one, John chapter one. We have that prologue, that theological expression of who God is in Himself. Beginning in verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Then note verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of, note, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. We saw it in John 3, 16. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And then again in verse 18, he who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. The only begotten Son. He's not the Son of the Father by creation. He is not the Son of the Father by adoption. He is the Son of the Father by eternal generation. There are other passages, not just these words, only begotten, referred to Christ. You see it in Psalm 2, see it in Proverbs 8, you see it as well in Acts 13, Hebrews 1, 1 John 4. This speaks of what we call in theology, eternal relations of origin. Our confession of faith distinguishes the persons, or makes distinctions among the persons, through these relations of origin. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. So it's not enough for us to maintain that God is one. We need to maintain that God is three. Not in the same sense. One in essence or substance, three in subsistence or person. We cannot collapse the distinction of the persons and think that we're doing good theology. It's just not good. It's heresy. Bad stuff. Bad, bad, bad. Don't do that. So there is distinction among the persons and that distinction is seen in those relations of origin. The father is unbegotten, the son is begotten by the father, and the spirit proceeds from the father and the son. There are various images and metaphors concerning this word, this second person of the Trinity. Just consider a few of them. The word is the brightness of the father's glory and the express image of his person. Sometimes my people say, oh, your son looks like you. Okay, there's a resemblance there. That's not what the apostle's saying. He's saying what Jesus says in John 14, when the disciples say, show us the father, Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. It's not just a bit of a family resemblance. It is very, very clear. The word, excuse me, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. The word is the image of the invisible God, Colossians 115. Again, not image the way we are. by creation. The image, the way the only begotten Son is, as each having the divine essence. The Word is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 1 Corinthians 1.24. The Word's goings forth are from of old, from everlasting, or from the ancient of days, Micah 5.2. The Nicene Creed gets it right when it says this, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father. The eternal generation of the son contains an analogy so that we can understand. We know what generation means when your wife has a baby. You have a baby, the baby comes out and the baby looks like you, resembles you. Generation. So there's something analogous in the relation between the father and his son that we can sink our spiritual teeth in. But you can't forget that eternal. That eternal is absolutely crucial because it's not like a woman going into labor and having a baby. I'm talking again in terms of the second person of the triune God. It's eternal generation. There's never been a time when the son was not. There's never been a time when there wasn't a relation between the Father and the Son. There's never been a time when there wasn't a relation. And time doesn't even apply. No time in eternity. It's not like, you know, eternity past and there's eternity present and eternity future. That's a concept foreign to eternity. But you get the point. the eternal generation of the Son. At the same time, highlights that he is from the Father eternally, but as well, he is one in essence with the Father. So there's no gradation. He's not a littler God. He's not a little G God. He's not working on his lessons to become sort of like the Father. No, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences or persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, and yet the essence undivided. You say, well, I don't really understand that. But does the Bible teach it? The Bible does teach it. The hardness to understand is because we're finite and God is infinite. As we talk about in the theology class on Saturday mornings, if we could figure out everything there was to figure out about God, we'd solve that puzzle and we'd move on. We'd get a bigger Rubik's Cube. We'd go after a new venture. We will never figure out God. But we have 31,000 propositions in the Bible and some good heavy lifting that the church has done in terms of creeds and confessions that help us to understand what is revealed. This eternal generation of the son is mysterious because it's not something that we have the categories for. We're not infinite, we're not eternal. Gregory made the observation, the beginning of God must be honored by silence. It is a great thing for you to learn that he was begotten, but the manner of his generation, well, how does this happen? Right? Does the Bible teach it? Yes. That's what Gregory said. Well, how does it happen? Oh, good. This theologian from ancient years is going to solve the riddle. Here's how he solves the riddle. But the manner of his generation, we will not admit that even angels can conceive, much less you. Shall I tell you how it was? It was in a manner known to the father who begat and to the son who was begotten. Anything more than this is hidden by a cloud and escapes your dim sight. He's right. That the scripture teaches the distinction between the persons we confess. We worship, we praise, we honor, we adore. We preach against the heretics that would maintain otherwise. But for the finite to get into the infinite and be able to describe in detail or to the satisfaction of man, it's just not something we can do. Our confession says that his essence is known only to himself. Our confession says that he's incomprehensible. Again, that doesn't mean we can't know anything about God. It means we can't know everything about God. And I would suggest that's one of the things that keeps us humble. It should. Keeps us low. It should. And keeps us worshipful. It should. Now, he moves from eternal generation to what we're more familiar with in the incarnation. Already read John 1 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So notice what he says in verse 28, I came forth from the father and have come into the world. The son assumed our humanity without any compromise to his divinity. This is something being taught today, and I want you to be on the alert for it. Well, you know, Jesus, when he was a man on earth, didn't really have that God ability. As a brother said, when he does things pertaining to God, we don't forget man. When he does things pertaining to man, we don't forget God. One person, two natures. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the son assumed our humanity without any compromise to his divinity. Listen to Gil. This does not suppose any local motion. Notice in verse 28, I came forth from the father and have come into the world. We sing songs like that. He left his father's throne, which I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with singing that as long as we understand what we're not saying. It doesn't mean there's some division in the person. You know, the divine part's up here, and the human part's by the Sea of Galilee. Now, the glory of the person of Christ is that the one standing by the Sea of Galilee is the divine Word who assumed our humanity, who can walk by a fig tree and curse it such that it will never, ever again grow figs. who is such that when he's awoken from a nap by his scared disciples, he can speak to the wind and he can speak to the waves and they will be calm. That's the glory of the Savior. It's not that the divine is up there and the human is down here. It's the one person of Christ who has our humanity. Gil says, this does not suppose any local motion or change of place, but only intends an assumption of the human nature. It's the good language to the assumption of the taking unto himself, the human nature into unity with his divine person who fills heaven and earth with his presence, nor any separation from his father with whom he was and in whose bosom he lay when he was made flesh and dwelt among men, nor any absence from heaven for he was there when on earth. The body didn't contain the divinity. It didn't locally compromise that. Jesus took our humanity, the divine word, without ever ceasing to be the divine word. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 8, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet, for your sakes, he became poor. He doesn't become poor by giving up the riches. The riches stay, but he becomes poor by assuming our humanity so that you, through his poverty, life, death, resurrection, can be rich. What good would it be if our Savior came, and I'm sort of paraphrasing Dolezal here, and he left his riches behind? We want our victor. We want our champion. We want him to come with all those riches. So he assumes to himself our humanity. In the language of 2 Corinthians 8, 9, it is through the assumption of our humanity he becomes poor, but not by getting rid of his divinity. Cyril said, he came forth a man of a woman, not casting aside his being as God and the fact of his having been begotten of God the Father. Even in the assumption of flesh, he remained what he was. I guess the onus here or the emphasis here is, brethren, this is what we think about in terms of incarnation, or what we should think about in terms of incarnation. This becomes a busy time in the year. It becomes a very others-oriented time of the year, which is actually really good. We should be more others-oriented a lot. But if we're gonna think through the incarnation, we need to think through it the way that Jesus teaches us. He came forth eternally, begotten from the Father. He comes into the world, not by leaving beside or behind him that divinity, but taking to himself our humanity. And then he lives for us. Then he dies for us. Then he's raised for us. In other words, think through the person of Christ along with the work of Christ. Yes, we love his life, we love his death, we love his resurrection, but think about the person doing that. I mean, if the king of, I don't wanna say any country, because I don't respect any of them, but if somebody that was really noble and had high position came and swept your garage, you'd think, wow, My garage is swept, probably, but the onus would be on that king swept my garage. Kind of doubly makes it good, doesn't it? Not just that it's swept, but that a king actually came and swept it. So I think that it's good for us and we should capitalize on the work of Jesus, what he does, what he did, what he presently does in terms of interceding for his elect, being an advocate with the father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. But let's think about his person. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And that word that was God became flesh. Why? And I've seen Creed answers that as well. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. and that Christ who took on our humanity to save us from our sins. Watson says, he was poor that he might make us rich. He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God. He took our flesh that he might give us his spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise. He came down from heaven that he might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love? If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us. Behold love that passes knowledge." The Lord Jesus Christ is that blessed one in the Song of Solomon. He is altogether lovely. He is chief among 10,000. And we see with reference to the apostles in the upper room, his emphasis first is on who God is. Secondly, he emphasizes God's love for them. Brethren, if you haven't thought through the unchangeableness of God as it pertains to the love of God, that's a very fruitful exercise and endeavor. You're not in a relationship where if you don't read your Bible, and I think you should, seven times this coming week, God's gonna love me less. We act like mercenaries in the service of God. Now again, everything in me would love to command you and bind your conscience, read your Bible seven times this week. Of course, once per day, you get that. Okay, Monday I'm going to blow through, you know, seven times. I'll just take a 30-second break. We got to get out of this mindset that somehow we're earning more of God's favor. We're earning more of God's love. Our confession of faith speaks of God as most. You know what most means? He can't get better at it because he's already perfect. He can't get worse at it because he's already perfect. It's a blessed, wonderful truth. It is a glorious reality. God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. There's no shadow of turning with him. There's no wrinkle on the brow of eternity. There's no change in our blessed God. And for the Lord Jesus to say, the Father loves you, why? Because you love Jesus. Because you believed on Jesus. Again, not a condition, but rather an effect or consequence of God's grace and his love for us first. But the reality is, is that our blessed God is one true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that one God loves us. In fact, the upper room begins on that grand note. Notice in 13.1, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Brethren, and I'm not saying this to justify future sin on your part or mine. I'm not saying this so that we have trivial or small views of the heinousness of sin. This is prior to Peter's denial. Again, don't say, well, you know, Jesus loved him. He went out and denied. So I've got a few of those. I've got a few mulligans up my sleeve. I can go out and do these. No, don't reason that way. What shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. Gospel logic does not think that way. I'm going to go out and sin because God loves to forgive sin. I love to sin. He loves to forgive. It's a wonderful arrangement. That's not gospel logic. Gospel logic is Christ died for me. He rose again for me. I love him. He's altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. I want to please him, not because I think I'm earning his favor or keeping his favor, but because I want to please him. The bride wants to please the bridegroom. The bridegroom wants to please the bride. It's a beautiful arrangement. So when we see statements like this, do not think like a mercenary. If I do this or I don't do that, then God's love for me diminishes. And now, if you take that and you say, well, I'm going to go out and commit adultery because God's love for me isn't going to change. That's not what I mean. Believe you me when I say that's not what I mean. What I mean is this mindset where we think that based on what we've done or what we haven't done, the love-o-meter in God fluctuates. The blessedness of divine immutability and impassibility is that God is most loving. And if you're not a believer here this morning, I can think of no better thing to say to you as to why you should come to Jesus than that love of God. Whatever the problems life has, believers aren't rid of problems. 1633, in this world, you will have tribulation. But man, tribulation is a whole lot better with the love of God. So what would you rather have? Tribulation and no God, or tribulation and God who's working through it to conform you under the image of His Son? Well, take B. Thank you. But it's not just the tribulation that I want you to consider as we close now. It's the sin problem. See, God is a holy God. God has promised to judge the living and the dead by this man, Jesus, whom he's raised from the dead. And so you will stand before this Jesus, and you will give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. How that happens, that's probably better left with the question of eternal generation. But that it happens, the Bible tells us. The only way, the only means, the only possibility for escape from the judgment and the wrath and the fury of God is to be cleansed in the blood of Jesus and clothed in His righteousness. Say, well, how do I get that? You believe on the Lord Jesus. You look to him and live. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. John 3, 14. We looked at Numbers 21 on Wednesday night. It wasn't lift that bronze serpent up on that pole and the faithful Israelite who was bitten, who sucks the venom out of his leg and then pulls himself to that pole and kisses it, he'll be the one that's saved. No, it was a look and live. It could have been a feeble look too. Perhaps you're about to die and expire. You hear Moses say, look at this. You look at it, what happened? You live. So the faith is not the kind that necessarily moves mountains. It could be mustard seed. but look to Christ for His blood, His righteousness. The forgiveness of sins is what we need, and that righteousness by which we can enter in to the presence of God Almighty. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for the clarity of our Lord's doctrinal statement here at the end of the Upper Room Discourse. And Lord God, we stand in awe that you are such a God, such a blessed, wonderful God. Father, Son, and Spirit, we thank you for the incarnation of our Lord, that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, that he took to himself our humanity with all those essential properties and common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin, that he lived a life of perfect righteousness and obedience to your holy law. He died as a sacrifice and a substitute on that cross, and he was raised again the third day. May it be that sinners all over the earth would by grace look unto him and would live. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. where you can turn.