As we're seated together, then we turn our attention to John chapter 10 and verses 51 through 59. Here we have abundantly evidenced the hardness of man's heart, as seen in those to whom our Lord Jesus spoke, speaking to them the words of life, And yet they respond with the blasphemous statement, verse 52, that they were right in saying that he had a devil, attributing the preaching of Christ to the very devil, offended by the greatness of Christ. Art thou greater than our father Abraham? They were speaking for Abraham's honor, and yet they were speaking truly, because Christ is greater than Abraham, which is our theme this morning. It enables us to see a difference between true and false religion, because here, these to whom Jesus spoke were definitely religious, but yet they made little of Jesus Christ and were offended by the greatness of Christ. Whereas, what is God doing? But God is always up to honoring His Son, even as our Lord Jesus here declares, verse 54, It is My Father that honoreth Me, of whom ye say that He is your God. A mark of true religion. is that it makes much of Jesus Christ. However weak I am as an instrument, I want to make much of Jesus Christ today and to set Him as high as I can, to set Him high above Abraham. My comfort in doing so is that I know that I'm working together with God when I do so. This is what God does. He sets up Jesus Christ on high and does so by the Spirit. May He give us more than just the bare hearing of the Word, but may He give us the living operations of the Spirit. Well, consider three things about the superiority of Christ to Abraham. The first is that Christ is greater than Abraham the mortal, the mortal who died These Jews had something right when they said in verse 52, Abraham is dead. Again, in verse 53, our father Abraham, which is dead. Partly they were making a mistake, not seeing death, and they were thinking perhaps that he meant some kind of escape from experiencing physical death. but partly they were actually right. Abraham was not able to deliver anyone from death. In fact, he couldn't even deliver himself from death. And here Christ is claiming the ability to deliver such from death. where we have a wonderful promise of Christ, a promise that Abraham could never come within a million miles of making. It is a promise of everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Consider a few things about this promise. And first of all, the graciousness. Consider to whom our Lord Jesus spoke these words. Verily, verily, I say unto you, to these ones who had just said that he was a Samaritan and had a devil. to the same people who in a short space of time were going to renew their accusation and attribute His wonderful preaching to Satan. Here when He was in the midst of murders, the children of the devil who wanted to kill Him, and in a short time were physically going to have stones in their hand to attempt to kill Him. To such people, He spoke this wonderful promise. See how He blesses those who are cursing Him. It's a sweet saying that I came across, that Christ is never so angry with His enemies as to forget His friends. Here He is contending, disputing for the truth as it was His duty to do, and He lets drop a golden nugget of gospel promise. Just think about it. If He is so mean to His very enemies who want Him dead, as to give them an open offering. If Christ is so meek towards you, how can He love His friends who can express it? Why do you think so wrongly of so many people who have cast you off? Look how forbearing He is to His very enemies. There was one time, you may know about it, when John Bunyan was driven to a thought in his mind, some thought along the lines of, you know, maybe he should sell Christ. And for years afterwards, he was deeply afflicted in his soul and he thought, It must be that there's no possibility of salvation for me because I've had this evil thought in my heart. I must be a reprobate. It must be that God has already handed me over unto everlasting destruction, and the Lord in mercy brought him out of that. But nonetheless, Just think of this, that here are people who are not just having one passing thought that is despising Christ, but here are people who are actively, willfully, repeatedly, directly blaspheming Jesus Christ. And He says, here, I offer you everlasting life. So what's your own condition today? I guarantee that there is no one here who is beyond the reach of this offer. If you came in here even breathing out blasphemy against the Lord, then the Lord is saying to you in a sense, okay, sit down and listen to this. If you'll keep my saying, you'll never see death. I offer life to my enemies. How gracious grace is poured upon his lips and then great guiltiness if you reject such offers that He makes to His enemies. Notice the graciousness of this promise. Notice the certainty of this promise. He says, verily, verily, or amen, amen. Here is your warrant to believe. Here is the guarantee that this promise is true. Look to the certainty of the promise. Think of the things that the scripture says, great is thy faithfulness, or that the Lord declares His own name, that He is abundant in goodness and truth. When Christ is revealing to us the reliability and certainty of this promise of everlasting life, it's like He gives us good measure, shaken together, pressed down and running but he says that it's very early. Look how he's drawing all the attention of your soul to this promise as worthy of your trust. Don't get tied in knots. Many times people think, am I worthy of this promise? It's the wrong question. Think about this. Is this promise worthy of your trust? And indeed it is. Trust the promiser. Meet him in this promise. He says, he who is God, he who would go to the dust of death, says with a certainty, if you keep my saying, you'll never see death. The certainty of this promise, the meaning of this promise, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. And notice how the Jews interpret what our Lord Jesus has said. Thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Our Lord Jesus makes no quibble about the way that they have restated His words. After all, if you think about it, seeing something is experiencing it by one sense, tasting it. is experiencing it by another. They've got the right idea. He is saying, if a man keep my saying, he will never experience, see, or taste of death. And what sense does this mean? Well, we are, by reason of our guiltiness, we're subject to a threefold death. So there's eternal death. That is the wrath of God forever and ever in hell. Our Lord Jesus promises faithfully, he who keeps his saying will never see, taste, experience the least bit of everlasting death. He drank the bitter cup of the wrath of God. There remains not a drop of that cup for the keeper of his saying to ever drink. And so why then is it that the saints of God suffer? that those who keep the saying of Christ, that they do see and taste and experience many afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. We're tempted to think, well, these sufferings, they must proceed from wrath. It must be that God is casting me off, that he's judging me judicially, taking vengeance upon me for my sins. But we need to bring this promise to bear. If a man keep his He shall never see death. The wrath of God is not present, believer in Christ, in any of your sufferings. It's love that mingles your cup, not eternal death. Also not spiritual death. By reason of our guiltiness, we're subject to spiritual death. Remember how God threatened Adam in the day? that you eat thereof, you shall surely die? What was Adam cast into hell the same day that he ate of the fruit? No. Did he die physically the same day? No. Although the weakness and degeneration of his body did begin, But what was the death that came upon him immediately? And that was a spiritual death, a loss of the image of God in righteousness and holiness, a loss of spiritual life and power in order to live unto God. And so spiritual death shall not touch the one who keeps the saying of Christ, If a man keep my saying, he shall not see death. There is a spiritual death, an inability to live unto God, an enmity of mind against God and all of His holy commandments, a dominion and slavery of sin, A man keep my saying, he will not see that death. Although sin stir in his members, sin shall not have dominion over him. Although at times grace be dwindling down, as it were, to just a smoking flax, here is one who will not quench the smoking flax. Keep the saying of Christ, and sin will not have dominion over you. What about physical death? Well, there are some who are exempted entirely from physical death. The man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Enoch, Elijah, and believers in Christ left alive at the coming of the Lord are those who will never experience physical death. What about the rest of believers who do die? Well, even for such, there's a fulfillment of this promise, because death is described as a sleep, falling asleep in Jesus, not because of some nonsense about soul sleep, but rather because what is more peaceful than falling asleep in rest and trust Yes, the believer dies, but the sting of death is removed. Now death is Christ's messenger saying, I've prepared a place for you. In a sense, I'm coming now in your death for you, to bring you to the place that I've prepared. Here's my love letter. I'm summoning you. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. But death, with the sting and terror removed, of this promise, the condition of this promise, and there is a condition, if a man keep my saying. Not the kind of condition that is, you know, puts God in our debt in any sense. No, it's grace. It is grace who gives eternal And it's God who has appointed the way to the possession of this promised thing. So if you were approaching a man's house, and he's got a road that's going into his house, and he has a gate and a fence up everywhere, You wouldn't say, well, He's invited me to the house, so I'm going to climb over His fence. You would say, He's prepared this road, this way for me to go. So here Christ is saying, I'm inviting you to come and to possess everlasting life. And He tells us the way that we are to come and to receive it. Who is it that will receive the promised thing? In fact, it is rebellion to say, you know, I want the thing promised. I want everlasting life. I'm going to climb over the hedge or climb over the fence. No, who is promised? The man who keeps Christ's saying. Christ's saying contains doctrines to believe and commandments to obey. So notice that Christ is speaking about something that is difficult. If a man keep my saying, he shares death. So there is a hearer who is like the soil that is by the wayside. And he's not the one who keeps Christ sane. He's lying there passively, and the Word is scattered upon him, but then it is snatched away from him. He comes away no different from the Word of God than he entered in to hear the Word of God. And he doesn't have the promise of everlasting life. There is a hearer of the Word, who is like the stony ground here. And there's no depth of soil. The seed goes in. It doesn't take withers away under the persecution. He's not the keeper of Christ's saying. There's a hearer of the Word who is like the thorny ground and the Word is choked by the cares and pleasures of this life. He doesn't keep the Word and he doesn't inherit eternal life unless he experiences change by the grace of God. You know, it's hard to keep the Word of Christ. The world opposes you, trying to distract you and divide and busy your heart. The devil opposes you and tries to snatch away the Word from your mind. And above all, your own flesh opposes you and veers away from the Word of Christ to any number of created things or sinful things. It's a hard thing to keep the saying of Christ. Let no one here bless himself and say, I'll inherit everlasting life, who's not engaged in this battle to keep the saying of Christ. If you're passive and doing nothing, then you're not the one keeping Christ's saying. But notice also the flip side of this. It's that Christ sees how hard it is to keep His saying. So sincere believer in Christ, you experience how hard it is. With all your heart, you want to lay hold upon the Word of Christ. You treasure it. You want to press it close to your heart in meditation. You want to receive it in faith and practice it in your life, but you experience And... of your fingers what you have held on to in terms of the word of Christ. Well, Christ himself sees this struggle, and he's not talking about some kind of perfection. He's not coming here with a new covenant of works. He's not coming along and saying, now, if you can perfectly keep my commandments, then on condition of your perfect keeping, you may have everlasting life. Why would He have needed to come and do it if He had simply come to propose a new covenant of works? Not so. But Christ does see and mark holiness and charity in seeking to keep His word. The next time you go through and you're reading through or thinking through, I have kept them. So what in God's book, in Psalm 119, I have gone astray like a lost sheep, for I do not forget thy commandments. I've kept them. They're lodged What a gracious Savior! His yoke is easy, His burden is light. If this is you, wholehearted and sincere, then Christ is saying, You will never see death. I take off the curse of death from you. You don't belong to death. What good news! And that means that you should focus on what? You should focus on fastening your grip, because this is the way in which He's appointed you to walk to everlasting life. Fasten your grip, hearing the Word of God. So it's a struggle to get out to church. Am I going to let the hearing of the Word of God be taken out of my hands lightly? God can take it out of my hands by His providence. He can take it out of my hands, but let me not be the one. Are you keeping hold upon it? Like, oh, that used to happen. Somehow it's been taken from me. Wake up. Don't let the Word of God be taken from you. Be active. Keep. The saying of Christ, not only hear, not only read, meditate. Think upon what you've heard and what you've read. Have it in your mouth. Speak of it at your dinner table. Speak of it when you're going along the way. Meditate and practice the Word of God. You hear something, God speaking, you take note of it, maybe even literally, you write it down, you set yourself by the grace of God, I'll practice what I've heard. This is how one keeps the saying of Christ. Let that be your business, to keep the saying of Christ by His Spirit enabling you. And then you're walking in the way where He's appointed. that you'll never see death. Why is He given this promise? He hasn't given this promise to people made out of steel. He hasn't given this promise to marble statues who are unperturbed and unmoved by anything. He's given this promise to His sheep, to people of flesh and blood, with souls that experience tumults and fears. He's given this promise because His people do experience the fear of death. Death is the king of terrors. And if we didn't have a natural fear of death, we would be insane. But Christ is stronger than natural fear, which is His promise. Trust this amen, amen promise. And then that frees you to do what? To serve Him. I'll keep His saying by grace, I'll never see death. And therefore I'm free to serve Him. Christ is greater than Abraham the mortal. Abraham could not maintain his own physical life forever, could he? He'll be raised from the dead, but it's Christ, Christ who overcomes death. Christ greater than Abraham the mortal. Secondly, Christ is greater than Abraham the believer. And that's because Christ was the object of Abraham's faith. Notice verse 56, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and it was glad. Now, Abraham is many times referenced as the father of faith. You think about Romans 4 and Hebrews 11. He's a pattern. Yes, indeed. First for the Jews, your father Abraham. Rejoice to see my day and may God bring about the promised day when the Jews will follow in the footsteps of their father Abraham. and will believe upon Christ and rejoice in him, the Jew first and also to the Greek. So he's a pattern to people of all nations to trust upon Christ. There's a couple of things here. So this sight, Abraham's sight is described. He rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. And that was the sight of faith. And particularly it was faith looking to things yet future or hope. And notice a few things about this. One is that Abraham saw Christ's day despite difficulties. So there was a large passage of time that would need to transpire before Christ came into the world. And so... David and the prophets, and yet he hoped for Christ His lively hope of the coming and dying and rising of Christ was as if he was seeing it with his eyes. It made it real in his soul. This means that the unbelieving are without excuse. So you're here to hear a shadowy promise of something far off in the future. Think about how little revelation Abraham really had. The promise of Genesis 3.15, he had the promise that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He had the promise that there would come a son from his own body. At Mount Moriah, he demonstrated his understanding that God would provide a lamb and God would provide a sacrifice. But these, compared to what we've got, are like hints and glimmers. And it takes away any excuse you have if you refuse to come unto Christ and trust upon Him. It takes away the excuses of the unbelieving, but it also makes the godly, we should bless God for these privileges, like Peter talks about. The prophets searched and inquired earnestly, what was the Spirit speaking about when He testified of the sufferings and glory of Christ? And these things are openly preached to us. So despite difficulties, Abraham looked in hope to the day of Christ. Now here's something more to bring out, and it's important, and that is that Abraham saw Christ's day with gladness. So he believed in things yet future, and what did it produce in his soul but gladness, that aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, which is joy. It is stated twice that he rejoiced. Your father Abraham rejoiced, and here we have a very strong word and a less common word. He rejoiced or he exalted to see my day. He saw it and was glad. There is a place in Genesis 17 which says that Abraham laughed and he was never rebuked for his laughter like his wife was. Could it be that that was a laughter of joy and gladness of faith and hope? And when we look at the details of verse 56, there are great men of God who've come to different conclusions. What's the exact nuance of what is being said? It's stated twice, "...rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." And I can only give my own understanding with great modesty. He rejoiced in order to see my day. The way it would usually be translated would be, He rejoiced in order to see my day. He was seeing, by hope and expectation, something that wasn't yet realized. And so could this be describing the four tastes of the exceeding gladness that would be felt at Christ's actual coming and incarnation? And then it comes around a second time and it says, he saw it and was glad that he had in his lifetime a present sight by faith of the coming of Christ and a sufficient measure of joy to sustain him in his life of wandering. So the gospel is good news, and faith is not only an assenting unto the gospel as being true, though of course that's included, but faith is also an embracing and tasting Christ as good. because joy is the fruit of true faith. So hope is not only being confident, I know that God will do such and such, of course, that's included. But I know that He will do such and such things that are so exceedingly and overwhelmingly good and gracious that I desire them. I desire them to come to pass. I rejoice that God has let me, a poor sinner, know that He's going to do such wonderful in this respect. And of course, seeing the things that he only anticipated and looked for by hope, yes, we do have the advantage over him. But in other ways, he's, I think, far beyond, well, certainly myself, in terms of hope and joy in looking to future things. I think we grow forgetful that God's given us a huge privilege as Christians, that He's told us what He's going to do, and that what He's going to do is exceedingly good. May I speak a word to you about Christian hope and joy? It is something that Satan attacks. Satan is hopeless. So He attacks any appearance of hope in the people of God. Satan is miserable, and out of envy and spite, when he sees the people of God having joy and gladness, he seeks to ruin their joy and gladness. Sometimes he does it with doctrinal attacks. like dispensationalism, which at best casts a fog of confusion over the future things, or hyper-preterism with its dangerous falsehood that the resurrection has already passed. Sometimes with more spiritual attacks, like, can you really believe that such a thing will come to pass? Will you really be raised from your grave? And so forth. Satan attacks hope and joy. And believers, you should cultivate hope and joy because joy is an aspect of the Spirit's fruit. And we should actually suspect ourselves when we are in a gloomy and hopeless frame. Now, notice what I didn't say. I didn't say it's wrong to be sad or to be sorrowful. Because there are sorrowful things in this life. Sin is the most sorrowful thing of all, and then the consequences of sin are also sorrowful. The Apostle spoke about being sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. And strangely enough, true joy often thrives the most amidst sorrow. I didn't say you shouldn't be sorrowful. But I do say, when you're gloomy and dark, hopeless and joyless, you need to suspect your own self. And we need to suspect ourselves of making excuses for unbelief. If I came around and asked you, do you assent to the truth of the fact that Christ, the beautiful and glorious Savior, will return upon the clouds of heaven, and every eye will see Him, that the dead will be raised, that God will root out all stumbling blocks, and that He will consign all wickedness to hell, and that He will bring His people in perfect blessedness in full number into the kingdom that He's prepared from the foundation of the world. Do you believe those doctrines? I hope I wouldn't find anyone who would deny them. But yet it's possible to say, I assent to this truth, and yet to not find joy in it? So in a barren intellectual ascent is actually not faith, because faith embraces what God has promised. as good and rejoices, like Abraham. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Looking to the future, the Christian today is looking to the day of Christ, to his coming on the clouds of heaven. True joy does not need to be loud and draw attention, but it is the fruit of the Spirit, and it is a great boon. Are you cultivating Christian hope and joy? Well, we see that Christ is greater than Abraham, the believer, because he was himself the author of, well, the object of Abraham's faith, and yes, the author of his faith, and yes, using for our benefit the pattern and example of Abraham. And thirdly, Christ is greater than Abraham, the patriarch. greater than Abraham, the patriarch. And here in verse 57, "...then said the Jew to him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Now, they did have some things right. Abraham did live a long time ago. And when you look at the biblical genealogies and so forth, you realize, well, Abraham lived a long life and for most of his lifetime, Noah was still alive. So then Abraham could have spoken to Noah. Noah had many years that he was alive at the same time as Methuselah, who in turn was alive for many of the years that Adam was still alive. So you think about how close Abraham was to the beginning of the history of the world. So yes, the impressive age of Abraham the patriarch. But yet, this is blown out of the water by the glorious statement of our Lord. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. There's a change, isn't there? In the tense of the verb, Abraham was, I am. And there's also actually a different verb use. Abraham became, but I am. Abraham as a creature, he became or happened. I as God, I am, the Savior says. It is holding forth the deity of Christ and particularly holding forth His glorious divine attribute of eternity. Why does Christ teach us here of His deity and eternity? One is so that we might worship Him. Think of Micah speaking of the king from Bethlehem, that his goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Then we sing of him, forever and forever is, O God, thy throne of might. Here is the Eternal One who spoke to Moses from the bush, saying, I am that I am. The Son of God is worthy of our worship because He is eternal God, equal in power and glory to the Father. Because He is eternal, we ought to trust Him and take refuge in Him. He says to John, fear not, I am the first and the last, speaking there of His eternity. But yet the eternity of Christ means, O disciple, fear not, because you have an everlasting refuge. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and escape. and what is the name of the Lord, or Jehovah, but I am. Any other refuge you might seek out is at best a temporary refuge. Your home, if you build it up and surround it with security cameras, or whatever it be, it's a temporary refuge. But here Christ says, I am the essence of the world. He's telling us so that we might run unto Him and take refuge in Him. And because Christ is everlasting God, we ought to desire to see His glory. And that's what He prays for, that those whom the Father has given Him may be with Him where He is, that they may see His glory, which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world. The Son with the Father, from all eternity, glorious, and designated and set apart to be the Savior, to come in the fullness of time, to touch in blood, to die, to rise again, to ascend to heaven, and His glory shall be seen in heaven by all who keep His saying. We ought to desire to see the glory and beauty of Christ, which does not fade. Greater is Christ than Abraham, greater than Abraham the mortal, greater than Abraham the believer, greater than Abraham the patriarch. And may our God, by His Spirit, set Christ high in our hearts. Amen. And would you stand with me for prayer? O Lord, our God and our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for the privilege of being under Thy Word and of hearing of Christ and His greatness and preeminence. Grant that we should not be barren and unprofitable hearers, and we ask in Jesus'