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Gospel of John.
Chapter one, verse four in him was life.
And the life was the light of men. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him. The world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him. To them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of Him, and cried, saying, This is He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me, and of His fullness have all we received, And grace for grace for the law was given by Moses.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed I am not that the Christ. And they asked him, what then?
Art thou Elias? He saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias? Neither That prophet John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done.
In Bethavara.
Beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing, the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and Seth, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water.
And John bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, The same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God.
Again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is by to say, by being interpreted, Master.
Where dwellest thou, He saith unto them.
Come and see, they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said.
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Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shall be called Cephas.
Which is by interpretation a stone well, such as their condition and darkness, in which man is that even when the light came, the light comprehended or apprehended. If not, we know if a place is, say, covered with smoke or something, you can bring in the brightest light possible and it won't penetrate that smoke. And so it was with man. And that's why there had to be a new life imparted, and the life was the light of man.
There needed to be a new life imparted just like the one that our brother was speaking about. He was blind from his birth. His the Lord putting clay on his eyes only made him blind or still if that were possible. And he had to go to the pool of Siloam. And that is as it tells us by interpretation, sent. And when anyone saw in that blessed One, the sent one of God, then his eyes were open. Then the light shone in. But the light has come into this world.
And coming into the world, it gave light, it shone upon man in his condition, but man didn't comprehend, He didn't receive that light. How awful our condition. But it's important what is brought out, I believe in this chapter that it was necessary for God to impart a new life. Otherwise we couldn't appreciate that One who was the full revelation, the eternal Word, the eternal Son, the full revelation of all that God is.
I might say also that one of the titles of God is the same. And so he came down into this world and made the Father known. He revealed the heart of God to man. What a wonderful grace that was.
Less than.
Comes to know God by revelation. He can never really know God, can he? He, the world by wisdom knew not God. So for man to come to know God.
God must reveal Himself, and we see in this chapter that there is One who is in the bosom of the Father, and He came to declare, to reveal God to man, but man too couldn't receive that revelation apart from having divine life. So God must impart divine life, and so He's given to us eternal life, and this is life eternal, that they might know Thee.
True God. And then God came down.
The Holy Spirit to take the word of God, to make it known to man so that man would have the power to walk in obedience to the light that shines upon him. So we need that power that we might walk in the light that we're brought into so that we might enter into more.
Of the truth of God. These things are very important, aren't they? It's not a challenge to the old nature to come into these things, but it's really because we have a new life that delights in doing that which is pleasing to God. We have that life from God and we have an object for our hearts who has revealed God to us.
Her father Jordan, I believe, used to say to us that God is sufficient in himself.
For everything except objects upon which to display His love. Something like that as you remember it and God being.
Loved He is also light, and light makes manifest so that when in the purpose of God He was going to get those objects.
Upon which to display His love he must come out in length and light 1St. And so in this Gospel, as well as in the first epistle of John, in the first chapters of each we have God is light, and then just a little space, and God is love.
The Light must come in and break into our souls and give that life.
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To know that we have received this glorious gospel by which we are brought into that relationship with God as children as well. So in in the revelation, in the New Testament.
And God comes in with the gospel. The gospel is Christ. No matter what gospel you're preaching, it's always crazy, whether it's the everlasting gospel or the gospel of the grace of God. And the gospel of the grace is the gospel of the glory because it is Christ, and it's the gospel of the Kingdom because he is the king now here in the New Testament.
The time for the law.
Was over with when Christ hung on the cross. That was the end of that test. So John begins with that.
As already rejected in the first chapter, He came under his own, His own received him not, but as many as received him. To them gave thee power, the right to become the sons of God, the children of God. So life comes in.
But it comes in through faith. There are characteristic words in this gospel. Life comes in 35 times. Yesterday remarked that Father comes in 118 times. Been remarked about sin. He is the sent one.
Of God in this gospel, and when you and I see that he was sent of the Father, it breaks up that needy blindness that was inherent to us, and we see the light and life comes so.
The word one believe comes in 100 times, so here is God revealing himself.
In his word and he revealed himself.
Personally in Jesus.
What the apostles got directly.
In being with Christ they have communicated to us, so now we must take up the written word to learn the mind of God and His love to save sinners and make them like His Son and bring them up to glory.
Meanwhile, making worshippers out of us, the expression in Him was life is a beautiful expression. We can say we have life but we could never say in US was life because this is really all life issues from this Blessed one, we received it from Him and it's the source of all life. And so in Him was life.
And the very life is life.
And of course we have no light apart from him either. We can say we're children of light, but there's no light in us apart from him. And so it's it's, it's essentially him when we read these two expressions. And the light is beautiful because it says in first epistle of John first chapter, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Beautiful expression, isn't it?
So we're beginning to get expressions what he is.
Essence of Christ here the Word.
A beautiful verse in first John one and seven. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. I believe that's the thought that all that the light makes manifest, the blood cleanses from.
So we have God revealed and I was thinking as we go on in the chapter, brethren, it's very beautiful to have John introduced here.
What is the true position if anyone would be a servant, if anyone would seek to be a messenger and a representative here in this world for Christ, it's that he makes nothing of himself and everything of Christ. How much we see in Christendom of the exaltation of man, and because a man becomes a servant of God, why he's put on a platform and given great honors and titles and everything. Well, here's the one whom God says is the greatest among those born of women. What does he have to say about himself?
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Later on in the chapter we find this man comes and they ask him, was he the Christ? Was he Elias? Was he that prophet? All he has to answer is no. And as someone has said, he makes his answer shorter every time. I am not till he finally says no. Well, who are you? He said, I'm just a voice. And let us remember this rather than any little service that we undertake for the Lord Jesus, whether young or old, how important it is that we hide ourselves.
That we don't set ourselves forward, that we see that the one whom the Lord called the greatest among those born of women.
Was the person who said he is only a voice, and his name is introduced in this wonderful chapter that brings before us the highest glory of the person of the Lord Jesus. And this man is introduced as a servant, the person who makes nothing of himself, but delighted to be a testimony to that one who, as he says, He is preferred before me, for he was before me. Well, I believe we have then the glory of this person.
Who has brought before us here in these verses the life, the Light, the eternal Word, the Son made manifest here in this world? And then our position in relation to Him as service. And then too, as we go on in the chapter, we see brought to know Him as the one who takes away our sins.
The object for our hearts, the one with whom we can dwell and the one of whom we can testify. It's also beautiful how it all centers around the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a lovely expression there, isn't it? The one that speaks about that in the.
Verse 15 John bear witness and cried, saying, This is he of whom I spake, he that cometh after me is preferred before me, and you get it again in verse.
27 He mentions this and also in verse 33 times over he brings out in this chapter the one who was preferred before him. What a what a lovely thing that as you spoke about, the servant that can put himself in the place of say a secondary place, put the Lord first, the Lord Jesus first, the true servant of God speaks of him as preferred before him.
Chapter Carry on with those thoughts John in the third chapter says about Jesus he must increase.
I must decrease reminding me of an illustration Eric Smith used to use with us about service, pointing us to the ox, the oxen in those Latin countries. Beautiful.
Teams of oxen in El Salvador yet being used, and you watch the drivers pushing them with the gold and guiding them. They can just put a hole into their side or into their horns or anywhere and guide those oxen. And the oxen are obedient, and they plot along in obedient service to their master. Well, Eric said we ought to be like the ox.
Willing to serve between the plow and the.
Altar decrease, go right down and he would say God has his servants, He raises them up and then he buries them. Well, this is a challenge for us and we might go on with a remark to encourage young brethren amongst us to be a help in the meetings, to take part in the prayer meetings. The comment that.
Tom McMillan made and I heard years ago about young brethren that don't seem to open their voice in the prayer meeting or maybe the reading meeting. He said. Some of them aren't near as young as they think they are. They aren't as young as John the Baptist was when he completed his ministry. It was a little goat to me and I hope it'll serve because we want to encourage. We need the help of younger brethren.
To carry on and to take part as led by the Spirit. Not quenching the Spirit, but also not grieving the Spirit.
Cousin John the Baptist also bring to mind the faithfulness of God because we have him in a type mentioned in the in the last book of the Old Testament, the 4th chapter. He was coming preceding that Blessed One. And how did he come?
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It said the same was came for witness, to bear witness to the light that all men might believe. You know, the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men has appeared and the faithfulness of God is almost as though one was sent out in the morning on a clear day and to point to the sun and say there's the sun that gives the light. God is so faithful.
And he brought this forerunner to make it very clear that his son has arrived. Isn't that beautiful? The light and the life of man taking of John the Baptist. He had to spend many years in the wilderness. Moses had to spend 40 years on the backside of the desert when God saved Paul. He leaves blank a couple of years in his life when he was in Arabia and saw there needs to be that going through something in the school of God.
And if so, what is God teaching us? What were the two great lessons of the wilderness, brethren?
Well, they're told in Deuteronomy to humbly to prove thee, to show thee what was in thy heart. That was one side of it, to see our own nothingness, but on the other side the all sufficiency of God. He clothed them, He fed them, He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night. There is that school of God, and all of us have to go through that in one way or another where God is seeking to teach us.
I've often said he doesn't give any diplomas because we never fully learn, but he is seeking to teach us this and it's good for us all, not us not think either that somehow we've got out of the wilderness. We don't need these lessons. We have to be continually learning them. But we see them very especially with Moses and with John the Baptist and with Paul, the ones who we might say were much used of the Lord. So if there are those, perhaps even young people going through.
Deep trials and difficulties. This is all part of God's preparation.
He is teaching us these two lessons and let us not say we learned them because.
We're never going to graduate till we get to glory, but may we be learning those things in our pathway here that if we are learning those things in that measure, the Lord can use us. And as our brother was saying, open our mouths and help us to speak well of our of, of the Lord Jesus and to take our true place as being nothing. John the Baptist is the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. But there's a beautiful verse at the end of Malachi.
That might be enjoyed by many of us here who have an exercise about the family.
And it is in verse six of Malachi chapter four. He shall turn. This is about a prophecy about John the Baptist. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. Now, is it correct to say, beloved, that if we succeed in our efforts.
To bring the Lord close to people or the people close to the Lord and will also result in a normalization of human relationships.
If I am right with the Lord, I also am right in my attitude towards my wife and towards my children. And if I am right with the Lord as a child, I'm right in my attitude and relationship towards my parents. So how wonderful that is, even in connection with the problems that exist amongst many of God's people.
And it be all in a smaller or greater extent have come to feel and it is important too to see.
That it begins with the hearts of the fathers towards the children.
Not the hearts of the children towards the fathers. So I think these are some practical things that might help us in view of the exercise of family relationships. And it's all part of the service of John the Baptist, who made everything of Christ and nothing of himself.
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You know what we have presented to us a little further on in this chapter about the Lord Jesus. Now in verse 10 it tells us that He was in the world.
And a marvelous thing to think about, that here is one who is the very creator as presented to us in this verse. He was in the world, and the world was made by him. The creator of the world was here.
But then the sad thing is the world knew him not. Surely that's a very sad note that the Creator could be in the world and the world wouldn't know Him. Then he came unto his own. You know that was the Jews, but it doesn't say there that they didn't know Him because they had the Scriptures, but it says that they received him not. But then.
How beautiful for those that he presents himself to. As we learn from the verses, as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of God. Well, it's not that we're born through some experience.
There by some natural means, but it's by God, isn't it?
Born of God how important that is for us and as we look into one another's face. Are we all sure that we have been born of God and can we say that we have God's life that set here in this room today while we can have by receiving him the Lord Jesus Christ and John gospel to get the eternal life is in the sun, isn't it it's.
Displayed in the sun and brought out.
And then I was thinking of John's epistle. You were speaking about how can we know this?
John's epistle Eternal life is seen in the family of God. In the family of God. How does the how does the family get this? By believing it. I was just thinking of a verse in first John chapter 5.
And verse chapter 5, verses 11 and 12. And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life.
And this life is in his son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God.
That's not light.
He that believeth on the Son, verse 10 hath the witness in himself. There's the eternal life there for us, but how do we get it? By believing it, taking God at his word. And I think this is very, it's very elementary, but this is the fact of the truth, isn't it the family of God? I was thinking of the verse you mentioned in the first chapter, John, where he says as many as received him to them gave he the power or the right to become the children of God.
Well, if every child of God here recognizes the fact that he can have that eternal life.
Only by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ because he is the source, he is that eternal life. And I think of John 2 John in the epistle when he in the first chapter where he speaks so lovingly of the Lord Jesus when he could say there in those opening verses of John's first epistle.
Just thinking of it here, he said that the eternal life, the life was manifested in verse two and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you, and our hands have handled of the word of life, that eternal life.
I thought of it in this way, eternal life, walking through this world and this creatures being able to touch him, to lay their hands upon him. This eternal life was the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed truth that is. And every child of God, if we're children of God, that eternal life is ours by believing it, by accepting it.
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I would like to.
Call attention to something that.
Is very interesting to me.
Before we get too far away from our first five verses.
But some of us who have been reading our Bibles for a few years.
Have noticed something that often occurs in the scriptures.
We notice that when God wants to tell us something that he often gives us a summary right at the very first of what He's going to elaborate on later. And I believe that we have such a thing in the 1St 5 verses of our chapter. And I would just like to shine the spotlight once more on those first five verses because I believe that in these first five verses of John's gospel chapter one.
We have a summary of the entire book and we see it elaborated on and the details and the blanks are filled in later throughout the remaining 21 Chapters. But it seems to me, brethren, that verse 4 assumes the incarnation because it says in Him was life, and then it goes on to say the life was the light of man. That assumes the incarnation.
That the life had been manifested and became the light of men. And goes on to say in verse five that the light shone in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. And that really is a summary of the entire book of John that we read later. But I just would like to put the spotlight on verses four and five and make this comment where it says the life was the light of men, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is the source of all moral light for mankind.
He's the source of all moral light for mankind, and we're not for the revelation that we find in the Lord Jesus. Mankind would be in utter darkness. And so that's so eloquently put in verse four. The life was the light of men. He's the source of all moral light that has shone down upon dark mankind. So I just wanted to say that much about verses 4:00 and 5:00 to put the spotlight on those verses and call attention to the fact.
Or at least what appears to me to be the fact.
That in those first five verses we have a summary of the entire book and now we pro ceed.
To see how God fills in the details of that summary, but it all goes back to the Lord Jesus and He is the reference point of everything. The life was the light of men. And then just to make a comment again about some things that have been said already about John.
It says in verse 7 the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light. How can you bear witness to a light?
To ever have anybody say to you in your home, please get out of the way. You're in my light. Well, that's how you bear witness to a light. You'll step out of the way. That's what John did. He stepped out of the way and he let the light shine. It's like to say a word of encouragement to the younger ones in connection with the apostle John, or at least the John the Baptist. Everything exalts.
And we see shining throughout the Word, the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we have been hearing John say, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, and then farther on 35 Behold the Lamb of God, And we might think, my, what a a wonderful man this was John the the Baptist. But turn over to Luke's gospel for a minute and see what happens to John.
When he like us.
Is tested, and the 7th chapter of Luke here is the same John now he's in prison. And verse 19 and John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? Or look we for another, When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come?
Or look we for another. And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits. And unto many that had that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering, said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed.
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Death here the dead are raised to the poor, the gospel is preached, and blessed is he. Whosoever shall not be offended in me here was the same man now being tested himself. And every one of us here, as we enjoy the blessed Lord Jesus, these glorious thoughts that have been brought before us about him, and his exaltation that he should have the preeminence.
Well, we might just say it might just be discouraged a bit and say well really I'm not much and I fail so often. So here we see the tables reversed as it were. The blessed Lord Jesus sending doesn't come to poor John. He sends a messenger and he says, blessed is he that is not offended in me. May we beloved ones not be offended. We're following a rejected Savior.
He's being like Jonah, cast out of this world, and we're going to be tested on this.
Very same person of the Lord Jesus. Are we willing?
To be nothing out of sight and to give glory to Him. The testing is only going to strengthen our faith, and we're going to have that intimate.
Promise from Him. Blessed is he that is not offended in me. Speaking of these 12Th and 13th verses, it's quite interesting how two things are brought out. The question of responsibility in the 12Th verse and the sovereignty of God in the 13th verse.
These things are often brought together in the Scripture. That is, there was the responsibility upon man, upon ourselves to receive him, and in this way to receive, as it says, the power, the right to become the sons of God. That was the responsibility when we heard the gospel, but we would never have done it if God hadn't worked in our hearts in grace. And so we have the next verse telling us that God had to do a miracle.
And impart new life, just as when a child is born, it's a new life brought into this world.
And so we hear the gospel, but there is the side that God has to do that work or we would never receive it. And so we find here which were born not of blood, that is, we might be in a specially privileged position like.
From our parents, the will of the flesh. It wasn't of our own wills that we did it, or the will of man. It's all of God. Here we have, brethren, the sovereignty of God coming in and working. As it's often been said, there had to be a work of God for us that was accomplished at the cross. The Lord Jesus did that work. We didn't have any part in it but our sins, and He did the whole work that was necessary to meet our need as sinners.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. But there also had to be a work of God in US.
And that is this imparting of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. This doesn't destroy man's responsibility. That is, a pardon is offered to a man and he refuses to receive it. Someone else is forced into the situation of receiving the invitation. That doesn't take away the guilt of the man who was guilty. And so man is dealt with as a responsible being. And I think it's very important for us to remember.
As that sovereignty has nothing to do with unbelievers, that is, unbelievers are going to be judged on the position of responsibility. They were responsible beings. The gospel is made known to them. They're guilty before God. They refused it. But since the fact that if all left to themselves, and it is true that all left to ourselves, we would refuse the pardon, there wouldn't be any blessing at all if it were not for sovereignty.
And so God acts in that way. He deals with those as responsible beings who?
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Have sinned against Him and refused His offer of pardon, but He acted toward us in grace. And it's not for us to comprehend, but to believe. Just as we have been talking about the person of the sun, none of us can fully comprehend the glory of that person who was on earth and in heaven at the same time, who was the upholder of all things by the word of His power, and yet was asleep in a bullet. Can your mind or mind take that in? No, but we believe it because we're not talking about a human.
We're talking about God manifest in the flesh here in this world. A great many, especially young people and perhaps many others too, have difficulty over this question of sovereignty. But let us remember, brethren, there are things stated in God's Word that are just beyond our minds. But if we rebel against God's sovereignty, where there would be no blessing for us at all, because if it were not for that, there wouldn't be any salvation.
Any more than if it were not for the work of Christ, no one could be in heaven. Let us then bow to it, and thank God for it. But the gospel is to be preached because God wants men to know His heart is full of love, and that He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if we leave these things as God has put them in, his Word fills our hearts with Thanksgiving and praise. But we have to remember, I say again, there are things that are beyond our minds to take in.
But therefore our faith to receive and justice as our brother was saying, how do I know I have eternal life? I just take God at His word. I believe what he says. I don't look for feelings. God says in His word, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that she may know that she have eternal life. I rest in simplicity on that. Why he chose me I'll never understand, but I can thank Him for it.
If there were left to us, heaven would be empty, wouldn't it?
God commands all there and everywhere, and that's God. That's God's really order and command to all sinners. The Lord said, except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. The words clear the responsibility that God is there so He can show love. But in Second Thessalonians chapter 2, it tells why they go to hell. It's because they will not believe and receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. That's the only reason.
Because all sins can be forgiven. Now that's wonderful grace when we see that His sovereignty comes in, and He would never have repented but for the grace of God. As with Mephibosheth, He sent and fetched Him. I just like to say too, that this is a very important about election, because that is even true of the angels. There are those among the angels who fell, as we know, and there are some who by election are preserved.
Spoken of in the Bible as the elect angels, they're going to praise God for the.
Wonderful power that preserved them. When that fall came with Satan and all his fallen angels with him, it was only the power of God that preserved the elect angels. So they'll be around the throne, not singing, but praising God for His greatness and for His power. Because it's His greatness and power that came out in electing them into that wonderful place of being there to praise God. So there will be also another circle, as we say.
Of the redeemed from among the fallen race of mankind, those who have learned to know the heart of God.
But heaven, as our brother said, would be empty if it were not for election. Let's not get fighting against God about election. You have a right to choose who's going to be in your home, and God has a right to choose who's going to be in His home. But He offers the opening to all. But He must choose, or there would be none. There is not part of man's responsibility. That is part of the sovereignty of God.
Let us get a hold of that, beloved, because that is not understood in many fundamental Christian circles of his own will beget he us by the word of truth. And here it is not by the will of man that we were born into the family. Just like I had no part in deciding that I was going to be born, or that you, your father and your mother.
Wanted to have a child and that's why you are there. That's why you're here.
00:45:02
And so it is in the family of God. New birth is not man's responsibility.
It's part of the sovereignty of God. He brings us into life and it is an act of His will. It's not an act of your or my will. Could we look at in on those line of things, the 6th chapter of John? And I think these things are brought out in John's Gospel very clearly.
Chapter 6. I'm sorry. Chapter 5, John 5.
And verses 39 and 40.
He's speaking the Lord Jesus speaking to these Pharisees here, and he says search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. Oh, that's the point, isn't it? But then notice what he says, and ye will not come to me that you might have life. There's man setting up his will. I can only speak of myself many years setting my will again.
The will of God, but then just going over.
That is, that's the natural thought, isn't it? The natural man, the heart of man, sets his will against God. There's no other answer to it But then going over to the 44th verse of chapter.
Six of John No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him.
Ah, there's the constraining grace of God that comes in the drawing and the drawing us. So if I set my will against God and when I do come, I have to acknowledge that it was his constraining love that has drawn me to him. But I'd I'd like to to read another verse that has been a very much of an encouragement to me. And as to the thought of of the principles of election is verse 30.
Seven of Chapter 6.
Here he says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. What a blessed truth. I set my will against God. I can't come unless he's I'm drawn. And now I bow to this, and I come. And he says all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He turns back and says, I'm glad you came.
You came, but I drew you. And then I believe that the comment has been made that this, this is the this verse 37 is the one of the one of the principles of, of, of election, because the the rule of action is the word of God really and also the the power of it is the Holy Spirit and also the the motive is the will of God.
I believe it's all so blessedly put together here, at least that I have enjoyed. People talk about free will, but man is in slavery through his fallen nature. And Mr. Darby put it this way. That is free to will, but his will is not free. And so God has to work. So God hasn't withdrawn from man the right of choice, but he doesn't have the power. And it's been illustrated like this.
If you set before a person an apple and an orange and he hates apples and he loves oranges and you say, well, you can choose, but what is he going to choose? He hates apples. He's never going to choose the apple because he hates it. You didn't take away from him the right to choose, but you've got to do something to inside to make him choose that apple. And that's what God had to do. And if God hadn't done that in US, and that's what our brother was saying, he imparted a new life. What is the character of the new life?
Why? It's the very life of Christ. It delights in God. We love Him because He first loved us. Our heart goes out to those who are in the family. Why? Because He imparted a new life. So let us remember that we preached the gospel to man as a responsible being.
And God delights to have it proclaimed. And two Corinthians says, we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. If you offer to pardon a guilty man and he refused it, and it's brought up in court that the man is guilty, but it's also announced in the court that you offered to pardon him and he refused it. That honors you that you are willing to do that. So let's not cease giving out the gospel.
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God wants every Sinner in the world to know that He loves them and that He wants to pardon them. If by their own responsible will they reject Him, then let's not blame God. But if God decides when everybody refuses to act in sovereignty, all you and I can do is bow our heads and thank Him that He acted in that way, or none of us would be saved. So let's continue to tell out the gospel and all its preciousness and tell it out with love and affection, because God wants it to be told out according to His heart.
He wants the message to be, as it were, his representative. We pray you in Christ, then be you reconciled to God. I think it's very wonderful to think of this in the light of children.
You know, except he be converted and become as little children and their little children here today. And isn't it wonderful that most that are in heaven perhaps would have come to Jesus?
When they were very young and so that little child.
Makes that simple childlike.
Look at Jesus and believes that he is the Savior. He believes that Jesus loves him and he sings or she sings that little song so popular. Jesus loves me well to me this is very beautiful. Here I can come to know the greatest.
Jesus, the eternal God, come down in sovereign grace. That little child, through one look of faith, might have his life. And that's so. And if you haven't looked, may you look today. May you just think that Jesus loves you. And may it be that each of us will think of those words. Jesus loves me, and that love doesn't change.
And so that one simple look of faith saves the soul for eternity. And it's been said that every after look is really after look of faith is the power of living. We have a life. And as already mentioned, that life is seen in Christ. He came into this world to do the will of God and he delighted in the will of God. And when we receive that light, then we too want to please God.
Yes, it's the same as in the second verse of that chapter. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Adam was the head of a fallen creation, and as the head of a fallen creation, he brought death into this world.
Because by his disobedience, as by one man's, sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned now the Lord Jesus, the 2nd man and last Adam.
He comes as the importer of life. Adam brought in death, this blessed One brings in life. And so the Lord Jesus, surrounded by those of his own, delighted to speak of them. As our brother has said, here's the one whom the Father had chosen and given to him. And he brings before them the Father's mind, the Father's heart. And the new life in US responds to that, because the life that we have, brethren, is the very life of Christ imparted to us.
And it delights, as we have in that sixth verse in keeping his word. The reason we sin is because the old nature's act of thought, the new man always delights in pleasing God, brother. But our brother Ron was saying connected with your comment. Now it certainly is true that in the absolute sense, it's true of the Lord in him was life, and the life was the light of man.
But that life is now imparted to us.
And as it is displayed and manifested in us, it is light for men. I don't think we go too far, would we? And that's our privilege to display the life that has been imparted to us and others can be brought into blessing. Paul puts it in a different way, but it's really amounting to the same thing when he says that we are the epistles of Christ in the Lord Jesus day. He are the light of the world.
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So that is the place Grace has brought us into, isn't it, in his, in the absence of the true light. When the astronauts were up on the moon in the early years, I read that they brought back samples of the, the dust on the moon. And when they examined them, the particles, they found that they were all dust, mirrors, mirrors. And so that when we look at the moon.
If it had just been one big mirror, we'd only see one little spot on the moon as the light would shine onto that one spot. But the whole moon is just reflective particles, and when the sun shines on that moon, it reflects the light from the sun onto the earth and gives light in the darkness. How wonderful it is for us to be in this privileged position now the light has gone back to heaven.
And the Word of God tells us now we are the light of the world. May our light shine in a Dark World.
You read in the Psalms that the moon has been placed in the heavens as a witness. It's a wonderful expression. As a witness to what to let. The sun is still shining, and we're a witness here as the bride, as the sun. We're almost out of time and I'd like to ask a question.
On two of the verses in the chapter one connection with John the Baptist, verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew him not. It's that expression.
What is the sense?
John says I knew him not, we read in verse 10. The world knew him not.
And now John says I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water.
And John bear records, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not. He repeats that, But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God.
He knew who he was. He was given.
Evidence and he testified to who he was he pointed him out this is the.
Behold the Lamb of God. How are we to understand those two expressions? I knew him not.
I've enjoyed this thought, brother, that we only know him by the work of the Spirit. And this, I believe, is what John is bringing out. John was certainly born into a home of faith. His parents were wonderful people of faith. He was brought up. The remarkable expression is used about him. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, but we find that he had to be brought to know the Lord Jesus by the action of the Spirit of God.
And so there may be many in this room who wouldn't doubt at all that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, that he died for sin. But there has to be a personal dealing in the soul, the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that quicken us. The flesh profiteth nothing, and the Spirit of God has to do that work. Many of us who are perhaps a little bit older can look back to the time where all those things that our parents had taught us and that we had heard from our childhood.
We didn't even question, but they came real to us and that was an action of the Spirit of God.
And I believe that's a very important thing because it's not only so about salvation, but it's so about the whole truth of God. Brethren, there isn't any part of the truth of God that you and I can really lay hold of for the good of our own souls and for the glory of God, apart from the work of the Spirit of God. We may have heard about Christ as the center. We may have heard about a great many things, but the time comes when we're passed through a time of testing and those things that we have said we believe before.
God, by the operation of His Spirit, makes real in our souls, and we know them in the way that we never knew them before.
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Because the Spirit of God has made them good in our souls. So that little word but comes in. I knew him not but.
And then he tells how that he was told that he would see the Spirit of God come upon that one and mark him out, and all those things he knew and heard before he came blessedly sure to his soul by the operation of the Spirit of God. Would you? Would you?
Allow the thought that in Matthew 16, when the Lord asked the question, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM? And some said, Thou art John the Baptist, Jeremias, or one of the prophets, whom say ye that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then the Lord said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
That we do not know him outside of a revelation.
From the Father and by the Spirit we do not know Him, and man does not know Him. In that person is centered all the glory of God, and all the knowledge that there is to be had of God is in him, and we only know him by God Himself, revealing Him to the soul. Paul says When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, to reveal his son's.
In me.
Would you connect those scriptures with the expression? Is that involved in it?
That we only know him by revelation from God Himself.
And John 9 That was healed such a marvellous way for some time, until I realized that dear man never saw the Lord, and all that discourse which he had with the Pharisees, he soon found out too that they were against the One.
That had healed him, and then it ended up they cast him out. Now there's a couple of verses I like to read what follows now. I wonder if that's an answer to what we're talking about too.
John 9, the end of verse 34 says and they cast him out.
Then it says in verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast him out and when he had found him, and I'd like to notice that, especially when he had found him. When we say the sovereign Son of God, did he have to find people? Oh, it's just a picture to my heart. There was a time.
I knew all about Christianity, and I knew the Scriptures perhaps as well.
As any of their age and I when the Lord Jesus found me.
There was a revelation that this man had here Dost thou believe on the name of the Son of Dost? I believe on the Son of God. And he answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. What a wonderful revelation the man got. Now there was light, because his eyes were open. He saw.
But.
The revelation had to be just our belief in the soul of God.
And then he was still looking at the same man, but not until the Lord says it. Is he that toughest?
Then he knew and he believed.
Doing speak of that as now we know the Lord is our Savior because our spiritual eyes have seen him.