Truth For Life

Guest (Male): The Bible teaches that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin so that men and women can be reconciled to God. So why isn't everyone saved? What keeps some people from ever knowing or trusting or believing God? We'll explore the answer today along with Alistair Begg on Truth For Life.

Alistair Begg: We turn our attention to the 25th verse of John chapter 17, which reads as follows: "O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me."

Now, I want to call this study this morning "Who Knows? Who Knows?" First of all, Jesus says the world doesn't know you. Secondly, he says I know you. And thirdly, he says and these guys, they know that you have sent me. So that's the framework of our thinking as we try and come to terms with it. Righteous Father, number one, the world does not know you.

Now, when we studied in Romans chapter one, we saw that the unbelief on the part of men and women is not on account of a lack of evidence. We won't turn to it now, but you can make a note of it if you choose to. In Romans chapter one, you remember that Paul makes it clear that both by creation and by conscience, humanity has no excuse for choosing to live without reference to God.

And yet, as we saw again in Romans one, claiming to be wise, we became fools who would exchange a glory, the glory of the immortal God, for things that creep and crawl and fly. In other words, we would start to worship the gifts or the provisions that God has made rather than worship God himself.

And it's interesting, and I think we should make note of it, that it does say that it is behind a facade of wisdom. So if you listen carefully to the news on a daily basis, if you read any kind of magazines or literature, you realize how much great store is laid in our world, in our culture. Well, Miss so-and-so said this, and she is very clever. Mr. X, the professor from such and such, is very, very clever, and we ought to make sure that we pay very careful attention because after all. Well, I'm sure they are very, very clever. Clever fools, some of them. Intellectual fools. Behind a facade of wisdom, setting aside the reality of God who has made us and trusting in other things.

I want to suggest that we can be helped in this by turning elsewhere, and this time into the Old Testament and into Jeremiah and to chapter nine. Jeremiah chapter nine, if you're able to turn to it, I want you to see just a couple of verses that are there.

Now, the background in Jeremiah chapter nine is death and disaster. I'll leave you to follow up on that. The background to Jeremiah nine is a world that was broken, and in that broken world, Jeremiah is addressing the way in which they seek to find significance and security. And God sends Jeremiah to the people in that day to point out to them that their attempts are futile. He sends a prophet. The prophet speaks with sympathy for the circumstances that they face, and yet at the same time, he provides a solution for their sins.

In each of the areas that he addresses, it's important to say that he is not negating the value of these things. But he is making it clear that these things can never be an end in themselves. What are these things? Number one, wisdom. Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Why? Is God not the all-wise God? Yes. So what's the problem? Well, it is a substitute. Remember Ecclesiastes? For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Einstein said, "I have discovered that the men that know the most are usually the most gloomy." I often say to my friends, and I've told you this before, I feel so bad for you because they say, well why? I say, well, you're so clever, you've got so many things to worry about. If you were like me, you can reduce the worry level significantly. You don't know enough to worry about all that stuff. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, or the gym geek in his strength.

As for man, his days are like grass, the glory of man like the flower of the field; the grass withers, the flower falls. And yet we've got a multi-billion dollar industry that sends you tweets and posts and everything every single day of your life, through every newspaper and everything, telling you: You can beat this. You're going to be able to live forever if you just do this and do this and do this, if you just become strong. Well, go to CVS and just walk up and down the aisles and look at either what you need or what you're going to need.

Don't be crazy, says the prophet. Wisdom, strength, money. Money. Or the rich man in his riches. It's been well said that money is the universal provider of everything except happiness, and it's the universal passport to everywhere except heaven. Spending counterfeit incentives, wasting precious time in hell, placing value on the worthless, disregarding priceless wealth. Don't be crazy, says the prophet.

What is he doing? Well, he's simply warning those who do not know God. Because remember, righteous Father, the world does not know you. So the prophet says to those who do not know God, don't think for a minute that you can make sense of your life or find significance in it by means of an agile mind, a healthy body, and a fat portfolio. There you have it. There's the dream. Agile mind, healthy body, fat portfolio. As long as you have your health, that's all that matters. No, no.

What then? Well, what does he say is the answer? He says you shouldn't be boasting in these things. But let the one who boasts, if you want something to boast about, boast about this: that he understands and he knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.

In other words, what runs all the way through the Bible speaking into the lives of those who do not know God is the invitation to meet God as he has made himself known as the creator, the sustainer, the savior, and the king. Now you can go back to John chapter 17 and actually pick it up there at the third verse, where we saw earlier: "This is eternal life, that they know you, that they know you, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

Who knows? The world does not know you. Who knows? Secondly, Jesus says I know you. I know you. We could sit and think about that for a long time because this is such a mystery, isn't it? This mutual, reciprocal awareness within the Trinity. That before the world is ever created, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit live in devotion and in love for one another. And it is in and out of that relationship that creation of the world comes, the solution to the predicament of man that doesn't know God comes.

And here the Son of God, in the presence of his own disciples, says you know, righteous Father, I know, we know, the world does not know you, but I know you. I know you because of the love with which you've loved me before the foundation of the world. That's verse 24. This runs all the way through the Bible. Jesus in that wonderful passage where he says I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep; it's in John chapter 10. And it is in that context that he says: And I'm telling you this, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.

This is a divine mystery, isn't it? I mean, this is phenomenal. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Listen carefully. We cannot access God on our own time and in our own way. We cannot know God by our own striving. We cannot come to know God by investigation, although investigation will be rewarded. Only by revelation. That what God has done in creation and what he has done in Christ is the invitation to men and women to ponder these things. Who knows? The world doesn't know you. Who knows? I know you. Who knows? These know that you have sent me. These know that you have sent me.

The knowledge of the disciples, which we have recorded for us in the Gospels and in some cases in the letters, the knowledge of the disciples is directly related to the Incarnation. They don't know God in a vacuum. They know God because they have seen God. They have met God. That's why when John is writing in his first letter, he begins his first letter, I mean, his Gospel he says there's all these things that I have written, there could be much more, I've written in order that you might believe that Jesus is who he says he is, and that by believing you might have life in his name. When he begins his first letter, you can check this, he actually begins by saying we have heard with our ears, we have seen with our eyes, we have handled and we have touched the very things that we are writing to you about.

That is exactly the case. That's why the person who is thinking about these things, who's investigating these things, has to be prepared to wrestle with direct statements concerning this. Either this is the most amazing fabrication or we are dealing in the realm of truth. If you are a genuine, trusting, believing Christian today, at the heart of all of this is the reality of a knowledge of God that has been entrusted to us.

And in the same way that these, for these disciples to make these statements, it was not easy. It wasn't as if they're like, oh yeah, that's straightforward. In fact, when we read the Gospels, we realize that they were having a really hard time figuring it all out. But as they begin to declare their trust and allegiance, they stand out against other people in whose company they're spending time.

In the conversation with the Jewish people, Jesus is speaking. They say to Jesus, this is John 8:53: "Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Listen to this: Who do you make yourself out to be?" This is what they're saying to Jesus. Who do you think you are?

Jesus says, well, let me say this: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, he is our God. He's our God. Listen to Jesus: "But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to him, "You're not yet 50 years old and you've seen Abraham?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." And they said that's enough of that, and they picked up stones to throw at him, and Jesus hid himself from them and went out from the temple.

You do not believe me. John chapter five, we could go to many places. You do not believe me, for you do not believe the one he has sent. Who knows? The world doesn't know God. Who knows? Jesus says I know. Who knows? Jesus says those that I have revealed myself to, they know.

Now, when Paul, who was devoutly religious, thinking he knew God, finally met God in the person of Jesus, when he then writes out of the fullness of a discovery of the true and living God, he acknowledges, this is what he writes: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they're folly to him, and he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

That's what we were saying about Holy, Holy, Holy. Though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. That's reality. There is no saving knowledge of God outside of the person of Jesus. It is impossible to know Jesus and not know the Father, and it is impossible to know the Father except through Christ the mediator. That's how John began his Gospel, remember? In him was life, and that life was the light of men. What has happened is that the torches of the lives of the disciples have been lit from one torch, from he who is the light of the world.

And it is in, when you light things, whatever it is, those sparklers or whatever, you get one of them going and then everybody, all the children hold their things up to that one thing and then finally, it's all there, but it's all come from one source. The Father says: This is my beloved Son, listen to him. He is the light of the world. Don't walk in darkness. Don't fill yourself up with bright ideas about significance apart from me. I am the living God. You must come. Come.

Because I tell you the truth, says Jesus, you don't believe me. Righteous Father, the world does not know you. Why is that? What is it that keeps people from knowing God? It is unbelief. It is unbelief. We're not kept away from God by the extent of our sinfulness because God in Jesus has taken care of all that sinfulness. God in Jesus is offering to us a forgiveness. He's going to drown our sins in the sea of his forgetfulness. So it can't be that that keeps us away. No, it's pride.

This message is an offense both to the moral and intellectual capacities of men and women. Morally, it confronts us with the fact that we cannot get ourselves fixed up enough to fix up our broken world and be accepted by our creator. He must do that for us. And intellectually, it means that no matter how vast the extent of our mental faculties and capacities may be, if you remember where we read from Matthew 11: I thank you, Father, that you have concealed these things to the intellectual, to the arrogant, and you have revealed them to children. That is the issue. It is unbelief that keeps us from God.

Let me finish by employing another Scotsman from the 19th century saying similarly to his congregation and with a greater sense of clarity than I can muster. This is what he says to his congregation: "I simply charge you upon the authority of God with your willful unbelief. This deliberate rejection of his infinite gift. It is at your peril that you attempt to excuse yourself for one moment to continue in your unbelief. Your doing so is but adding guilt to guilt. And you cannot really suppose it possible that there is anyone to blame for your unbelief but yourself, or that there is any sufficient reason for your remaining in that state another hour."

His prayer begins: Father. He says you are the Holy Father. Here in 25 he says you are the Righteous Father. Sin must be punished. His justice demands it. The extent of his love is such that he provides in Jesus one to bear our sins in his own body on the tree in order that we then, knowing, loving, trusting, following, serving, glorifying him, may be his lights in a dark place.

We're very familiar with John 3:16, we quote it all the time, and so we should because it's so wonderfully helpful. But I'm not sure that we actually pay attention to the verses that follow: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What we deserve is to perish, but the promise of eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, that the people who do not know him might come to know him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment of a righteous God: that light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, doesn't come to the light lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Who knows? The world doesn't know God. Jesus says I know, and these here with me, he says, and others like them, they know that you have sent me. Do you know?

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth For Life. That is Alistair Begg warning us of the dangers of pride and willful unbelief. I hope you're benefiting from this study of Jesus' passionate prayer found in chapter 17 of John's Gospel. And if you missed any of the messages in this series, you can catch up online. All of Alistair's teaching can be heard or watched for free through our mobile app or on our website at truthforlife.org. And you'll find this complete series on the High Priestly Prayer simply by searching truthforlife.org/john17.

While you're on our website, check out the companion study guide for this series. It is free to download. The High Priestly Prayer is considered one of the most sacred passages in the Gospel because it gives us an intimate look at Jesus' heart and it's well worth studying in more depth. And that's why our team created this study guide to go along with Alistair's teaching through all 17 messages. Download your copy for free at truthforlife.org/john17.

I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for listening. We live in a world that carelessly tosses around Jesus' name. Tomorrow, we'll learn why God's name ought to be revered. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.