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Can we think 230?
230.
Oh Lord, when we do the freaking praise.
We shall.
Human and I want your swallow and grace.
I hate for the rest of the spring.
So so.
It's right bring stronger than.
The brave.
Holy.
Spirit.
It's my fault there's women coming first.
And then swells in your eyes.
Say to him, so I told the world.
Your celebration.
And close.
Life. I have one trip.
By your birthday smiles.
Let alone bring to God.
Understand that there are some questions that some of our young brethren have asked and might feel encouraged to ask about some of the doctrines that we've been discussing and seeking to bring out in John's Gospel chapter 10. And so it might be appropriate to read the last part of John's Gospel chapter 10 again, perhaps from verse 22 to the end, and then for those that have questions.
To some of the doctrines that we've been bringing out to feel free to ask those questions that we might bring more clarity to the issues that perhaps are questions in some minds.
Sounds good.
To the end, you said. Chapter 10 of John's Gospel, verse 22 down to the end.
And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him.
How long does thou make us to doubt? If that would be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
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I and my father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we still may not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, maketh thyself God.
Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law? I said, your gods.
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because I said, I am the Son of God?
If I do not, the works of my father believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore, they saw the game to take him, but he escaped out of their hand.
And when I get away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode, and many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle. But all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
Just to recap, our brother Steve took up this passage and gave us a very nice.
Prophetic outline of the future day when the nation of Israel, a remnant, will be restored to the Lord.
And they will be true believers. They'll be sheep of the Lord. But this too applies to the day that we live in. And so the Lord Jesus was bringing in the truth, Christian truth. He was giving the seed plot. He wasn't giving a lot of details. Why didn't he give the details? They weren't indwelt with the Spirit of God and they couldn't understand the deep truths, the revelations that would be given to the apostle Paul. They didn't have the capacity to understand those things or to enjoy them.
And so the Lord Jesus did not go into those details, but we'll just mention those seven things again. And perhaps if there are questions about some of those doctrines that he was bringing out, perhaps we could just have more light on them. So in in verse nine, he brings out the truth of salvation. And our brethren was speaking earlier that it says if any man enter in, he shall be saved. That's new language.
It's really the Lord Jesus was bringing this out, salvation. The Jew never knew what eternal salvation was. He didn't know. He didn't use that term. He was safe. He was in the ark, you might say, and he was safe, but he didn't know salvation in this way. And then we go in and out. We have liberty to go into the presence of the Lord, and then it's vital for us to go into the presence of the Lord to learn of Him.
To walk in communion with him and then to go out into the world, perhaps in service or to do our whatever we have, our responsibilities, fulfill those responsibilities. And then it says that they'll find pasture. And so we have spiritual truth. We have sustenance by the Spirit of God. The truth of God is what sustains the believer, the new life that he has. He's it's vital for him to.
Feed upon Christ and to read the doctrines of Christianity and Paul's ministry particularly.
And it's absolutely vital. So he has nourishment. He finds pasture. And then it says in I think it's verse 10, yes, right at the end of verse 10, it says I am come that they might have life. So they're going to have divine life and that they might have it abundantly.
And so to have abundant life is to have eternal life, to be indwelled with the Spirit of God.
And to know the Father, to have a relationship that we didn't the Jew never had to have a father and to know it, to enjoy that relationship and to know the Son as the Savior, as our Lord and that one who is the object of our faith. And so it's that was also something that he was revealing. And then in really, we said from really from verse 11 down to.
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Perhaps verse 15.
151615 Really.
He brings in the thought that of how he would shepherd his sheep. So I'm the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. There is a work, a shepherd in care that the Savior has for everyone of his sheep. And we know that a sheep has divine life. It's a real believer, and we can count upon the shepherding care of the Lord.
And he explains a little bit of his shepherding work. And we know our brother in the last meeting brought before us in chapter 5 of.
First Peter, that Peter was an under shepherd, he was a shepherd too and the Lord had anointed him, you might say, giving him that work, but every one of us is to be involved in that work of being a shepherd to look out for those that have a need and then.
In verse 16, he brings in the fold. And so there was a or the flock, I should say. There was a different principle in the fold of Judaism. There was an enclosure and so the nation was guarded. There was a fence round about. You could read it, the head. God himself protected that nation and there was, but there was no shepherd in the midst. There was no center to that fold.
In the flock, there's no fence around the flock.
But there's a center, and it's Christ Himself. And so He was bringing this out, that He himself would be that shepherd, and He would be the attraction for all of the sheep, and they ought to follow Him. And then we find that in the last one that we read, just read, had read to us in verse 28. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.
My father.
Which gave them me is greater than all. No man can is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. And so we have eternal security. So the doctrine of eternal security is not some invention by the apostle Paul or any of the other apostles. It's the Lord himself that brought this truth out. And it's something that they didn't enjoy. They didn't have. It wasn't revealed to them in the Old Testament. It wasn't a part of Judaism. But you and I can if he can really enjoy and savor the fact that the death of Christ.
In His resurrection, the blood having been shed has brought us into a state before God, into our stand, into a standing before God that is unalterable. There is nothing that you could do or I could do or anyone outside could do to alter that standing before God. It is fixed. The sins are gone. You have divine life. You're indwelled with the Spirit of God. It cannot change.
So those seven things really the Lord brings out in this chapter and to assure His disciples as to the reality of what was coming in after Judaism. So this book is transitionary, as we said before.
There's a transition from Judaism to Christianity in this little gospel.
In the Gospel of John the Lord.
Makes a series of trips from Galilee to.
Come back.
And here he's come back to Judea.
Coming to Jerusalem.
And.
I think perhaps the final trip.
And so.
It's in verse 19 that we we didn't start with that, but there's a division therefore among the Jews for these things. There's different expressions in John, the crowd, the multitude is larger than the crowd. There's the Pharisees very narrowly, that particular sect. And then there's the Jews. And the Jews, I think is particularly the Jews of Judea.
And Jerusalem, and there was a tremendous pride associated with them of the fact of where they were born. And those who were born in Judea and Jerusalem looked at themselves as more holy, more Jewish than those who were from other parts of Canaan, of Palestine. And so there was a lot of pride. So it's the Jews that there's a division among them.
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Of course.
Their suppositions are really blasphemous. You have the devil and this man, others say, how can a devil open the eyes of the blind? And so there's there's a struggle and trying to understand who this is. But their Lord says a little later, they're not my, these aren't my sheet and they can't hear my voice.
Because they're not my sheep.
Now there's a little verse in here that comes in.
It was at Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, and it was winter.
And there may be other thoughts of that verse, but this is what has impressed me.
The time was closing the.
Time was closing.
The Lord's ministry and this scene was almost done.
And really?
If you think of that as more that summer and springtime for Israel, it's closing. It's closing and the cold is coming. He's soon going to be gone. It was winter and there are winter scenes in Scripture. You can go through them, but this certainly was one. And they then they circle him around and and ask what he had so plainly showed them.
You know.
How long does that make us to doubt? That'll be the Christ tell us plainly. But he had not only told them, He had proven.
In all his ways and in the works of power that the father had given him to do. But he says you believe me not Why? Because they didn't perceive the works of power, Because they.
Didn't you know he was speaking in a foreign language?
But because they did not have life.
They could not believe, they did not have faith. Fallen man is born into this world, does not have faith.
He does not, and so we read in Ephesians that let's just turn to that.
Ephesians chapter 2.
Verse 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith.
The face is that which is in the heart that lays hold on what God has said and believes it.
So by grace, we are saved through the instrumentality of faith.
And there.
So there's been a question raised, what does the word that refer to? Does that refer to grace or does it refer to faith?
It refers to faith.
Through faith and that or that faith not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God.
Not only is salvation come by the free grace of God, but the faith to believe that report, that testimony, is a gift of God as well.
It faith is a gift of God. They didn't have faith. They weren't his sheep. They were not born of God when God imparts life.
It's a package deal. You know, people come and they advertise and they say you can get a package deal. You can get your cable and your Internet access and a telephone and, you know, whatever channels you want on your TV. I'm not recommending that. I'm just saying they come with a package deal, don't they?
When God gives life, it's a package deal.
And that's illustrated in the 11Th chapter of John. The next chapter we have a man who's dead, His name's Lazarus. And when the Lord comes and he tells them to roll back the stone, they say he's really dead. You know this, this is useless, hopeless. What are you having us do? But they roll the stone back anyway. And the Lord says, and it says in verse 43. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice.
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Lazarus come forth, and he that was dead came forth.
Found hand in foot with grave clothes, and his face bound about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
He was dead. How did he hear?
As a package deal.
Let's turn back to John. Fine.
Verse 25.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear.
The voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Isn't it interesting that hearing is put ahead of living? Why? It's not that it really is exactly head, but it's a package deal. When he gives life, he gives an ear to hear.
And the faith to respond to what is heard. It is.
It comes as a bundle, as they say. All three come at once. Life comes with a hearing ear and the faith to believe and outside of that, man will never respond to God. It's the sovereign work of God. Scripture has a term for that. Two terms. First one is in John 3.
It's called new birth.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see or enter into the Kingdom of God.
Paul calls it back in Ephesians 2 quickening. So let's go back to Ephesians 2.
Ephesians 2, verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
And then again, by grace, are you saved?
He quickened us. He made us alive.
He gave us a life that we did not have, and it came with faith and it came with an ear to hear. And that's why it says about Lazarus. He that was dead came forth. He hurt, life was imparted. He could hear, He could respond to the command of the Savior, and he came forth. He's a picture of quickening, spiritual quickening. When he gives that life, there's an ear to hear, faith to believe.
All at once. Outside of that, there's nothing.
And so the Lord says to them.
I told you.
And he believed not the works that I do in my Father's name. There bait they bear witness of me. But ye believed not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Faith my sheep here, my voice. They have a hearing here. They have faith to believe. These were not of his sheep.
So someone might ask, well, what's the difference then between quickening and new birth?
Well, quickening is an expression. It's a of the same thing really of new birth. It's but it's Paul's ministry. Paul says you're dead. You're separated from God morally, spiritually, you're dead. You can't respond to God even if you wanted to, but you don't want to. You're dead before God.
Peter, John says you're physically alive with a corrupted nature and a corrupted life.
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And you need to be born again. You need a new life and a new nature. So that's the difference. John's ministry is different in this way. And so, Brother Gordon, I'll just give the illustration. It's a help. I found it to help when I was young. Maybe you find it as help too. But he used to say, you know, quickening is. You could illustrate it this way. Suppose you had a dog on the floor and he's dead and you put 100 lbs of bricks on his back.
Does he feel it? No. It's like a Sinner. He doesn't feel the weight of his sins.
He's dead morally, spiritually dead towards God. He's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. And unless there's divine intervention, the story will never change. So the dog, if you had the power to give the dog life and you said live, that's like quickening you. And the dog would become aware and he would then feel the weight of bricks on his back. He'd struggle to get free.
And so a Sinner that is quickened.
He has divine life. He's safe like Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.
And he begins to have thoughts towards God and so he begins to have a sense of his sins. And so that's just a little bit of a, an expression. I would just say to and add to what you said, Brother Steve, in connection with what we receive at the time that we're quickened, we received divine life.
We receive faith to believe and.
We also.
Receive a gift, A spiritual gift.
At the same time, we don't know it at the time, but I don't know if this is the right scripture or not, but it's Ephesians chapter 4. I know He gives gifts, and that's the men themselves to the church, the gifts to the church, to the apostles, and so on. But in Ephesians chapter 4.
Verse 8 Wherefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
So you received a spiritual gift. You had natural gifts. He gave you natural gifts. You were born naturally into this world.
But then He gave you a spiritual gift as well, and He also has given you the faith to believe. So nothing starts with you, it all starts with God.
We're responsible, but really when we look back at it and by the grace of God.
We see that he had to act. We were dead in trespasses and since he had to act before there would be any movement on our part.
You might just say to in John 10 here verse 26, there are three things that mark a true sheep.
One we've mentioned is he believes. So the Pharisees in verse 26 and those that were there, they didn't believe, but a true sheep believes he has faith. That's really, you might say a mark on the heart. And then in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. And so there's a mark on the ear. They have the ear, the capacity to hear divine, the divine voice, the voice of the Lord Jesus, and to receive divine communications.
And then the other thing is a mark on the foot. There's a following of the Lord.
The capacity to follow the Lord. You know what an unbeliever may try to follow the Lord. He may try to be very religious. He may try to, in the strength of his flesh to do everything correctly and to look just like a Christian and to act just like a Christian. But really he's following his own thoughts in connection with how he should live and to make himself acceptable to God. He's really not.
Following the shepherd. But you have the capacity to follow the Shepherd because you know the Shepherd and he called you. He's called you to follow him.
So those three things we believe.
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We hear and we follow.
Return to 1St John. The hospital does give some very solemn warnings there.
May be averse that.
Young people might not fully understand. We could make a few comments on it.
Chapter four of First John beloved, believe not every spirit.
But try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth.
That Jesus Christ is coming, the flashes of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is coming, the flesh is not of God, and that this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof we have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. What does it mean to when it refers to the spirit of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh?
Well, that is really a declaration of His deity. You did not come in the flesh. You were born into the world, a human being partaking of flesh and blood, but you had no former previous existence existence.
Before your appearance in the world, but the Lord he.
Existed He from a past eternity. He was in the bosom of the Father, but he took flesh. He took manhood into union with Himself.
Within a body that was capable of death, but not subject to it. So he existed from a past eternity. Now every false doctrine that.
That is promulgated will attack the person and work of Christ in some way.
And the apostle is warning here, anyone who?
Refers to the Lord in this way.
Is really denying his deity?
So.
That is one of the hallmarks that the Lord Jesus was the eternal God, right?
Yes, the Gnostics at that time were saying that he came, but he was a spirit. He was not actually a man. And they had all kinds of.
Theories as to what kind of a body he had and so on. But the Spirit of God records that what was spoken of by the apostles and what the Spirit of God revealed at the beginning of the testimony of the Lord Jesus was that he had a real body. He was a real man.
With a real spirit, a real soul, and a real physical body.
He became became in flesh and he became flesh. He took manhood so that he might be able to die and that he might glorify God in his death. But then when he rose again, it was his same body that rose from among the dead, but it was changed. It had a different state. It was raised in a glorified state. And so that's why.
When he rose as a in a glorified state as a glorified man.
The disciples in John's Gospel chapter 20 were in that upper room, and as they were in the upper room, let's read it so that we don't, so that it's clear in everyone's mind and mine as well. It says in verse 19, John 20, verse 19. Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut. The Spirit of God records that fast.
Where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And then we know. For at the time when he was with walking with the ones that were going down to Emmaus, the veiled himself, they didn't recognize exactly who it was. And so he had the capacity to avail himself. But then he disappeared on them. He as they he broke the bread, he gave the thanks for the meal.
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He broke that bread, passed it to them, he disappeared, and so they knew it was the Lord. Then he reappeared in that large upper room and he spoke to the disciples and upgraded them so he had a real body. And so this is really the.
The Spirit of God guards the deity and the manhood of Christ.
In the epistles of John that he had a it was a man in union with God himself. And so he was God, and he also was man and his God with glories as a man. We know, we can read in the gospels, we have the moral glories of the Lord told forth, but he was God as a man.
We have to just guard something here when we come to the person.
Of Christ.
We could we consider ourselves connected with the old creation. We have bodies speaking to Terry via after the meeting. The body is not spoken of as sinful, but.
It has infirmities, and it is.
Capable of sinning because we have an old nature in that body. Now the Lord never had that old nature. And the mistake that Christendom has made, they've considered the Lord as having an infirmity. That is error. The Lord did not have any infirmity. They would take that from Hebrews, I guess, chapter 4.
That the Lord partook of our infirmities. That's wrong.
An infirmity is not sin in itself.
We have various infirmities and we feel the more as we get older.
An affirm infirmity is the weakness.
And it's it identifies us with the the old creation.
And so we are we still a part of that old groaning creation, remember?
When the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, he groaned in spirit.
But to say the Lord had infirmities, then you're connecting him with the the old, the old sinful Adam you're connecting him with.
With the 1St man, it's, it's not, it's not scriptural. Now an infirmity is not sin in itself, but it can lead to sin. Paul had an infirmity and we all have infirmities and he prayed three times that the Lord would would remove it and he did not. The Lord gave him grace to overcome that infirmity. And so the Lord can give grace to us when we to to overcome the.
The the the infirmity that we have so that.
It doesn't lead us into sin. You know what I mean? But that was not the case with the Lord, however. He was tempted in all points, as we are. He was tempted in every way that a righteous man could be tempted. He had all the sensibilities of a man. He felt hungry, He felt thirsty, He felt sorrow, He felt rejection.
He he felt pain when they nailed him to the cross. He was an impervious to discouraging and the nailing in this and so on. And so he was a perfect man, but entirely separate from any taint of the old nature. Now we have the old nature and we'll have it until the end of our of our.
Lives down here.
But that was that was not the case with the Lord in connection with the Lord, though it was not temptation to send it was really he was tested. That's the word that it's what we would use. The modern day expression would be he was tested in every way that a righteous man could be tested. We might get back to our chapter here and remember in verse 29 that the Lord Jesus is the one that introduced us to that relationship that we now have.
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As the Father, and as you know, when he appeared to Mary Magdalene.
In I think it's John's Gospel chapter 20, it says in verse 17.
John 20 verse 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but those of my brethren.
And say unto them, I ascend to unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and to your God.
And so that relationship now they could enjoy. It was something that the Old Testament Saints never, never enjoyed, that it wasn't a part of the revelation given to the.
Jew, or to the children of Israel. But you and I are brought into the very nearest relationship with God. We know Him as our Father.
So the Lord Jesus himself that delighted was a work that His Father gave Him to do to reveal the Father to us, the Father which gave them me. You have been given individually to the by the Father, to the Son.
Is greater than all no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. So the Lord Jesus plainly talked that he was the son of God, that he is God in verse 36 it says.
I am the Son of God at the end of that verse. Now if you have those that call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses, they deny that he ever said that he was the Son of God, but this is one of the verses of scripture that you can use.
To say no, that's not true. He did say that he is the Son of God. He said I am. I said I am the Son of God. He is the Son of God.
So there hasn't been any questions yet, so maybe all hazard one.
Verse 30 is a verse that I think is sometimes used to cause confusion in in the Trinity.
So how are we to understand what the Lord Jesus is saying in verse 30 when he says I am, my Father are one?
Well, I'll make this point out in in connection with the Word Trinity. It's never found in the Scriptures Trinity. It doesn't say the Trinity, but it's an expression that Bible teachers have used to show that the Godhead is in three persons. And so in Genesis, even chapter one, it says in the beginning God or Elohim.
Created the heaven should say the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and so there was.
This plural Godhead, but they didn't have the details in the Old Testament as to how many persons. It said more than one person to the Godhead, but they didn't know how many persons. So here I and my father are. One is really that they are a part. Each one is a distinct person in the Godhead.
And so we have oftentimes different places in Scripture where the Trinity is brought out, and I think it's in Mark's Gospel.
Is it chapter 4 at the baptism of the Lord?
No, it's chapter 3.
Let's look at chapter 3 and verse.
16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him.
Chapter 3 of Matthew and verse 16.
Did I say Mark? I'm sorry, Matthew, Matthew 3 verse 16.
No, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God.
Descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. So he was anointed of the Spirit, indwelled of the Spirit.
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A lower voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased. And so we find that the Trinity is mentioned is revealed here in Matthew's Gospel at the baptism of the Lord Jesus. And So what the Lord Jesus was saying here in John's gospel.
That he was just as much God as.
Whose Father was and in John's Gospel was read to us this morning. We might read it in chapter one.
The scriptures are very plain. In the beginning was the Word. That is the Lord Jesus was the communication of who God is to man. He was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. And so the Lord Jesus is presented in John's gospel as being a divine person. And so he says I am a divine person. My Father is a divine person. And the Spirit of God is also brought in in different passages. And so we have.
The Spirit, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit.
Brought a very distinctly, but there is one God.
And they are equal in importance. And I say sometimes we hear people speak of the first and second and third person of the Trinity. That is not a scriptural expression.
They are one in purpose and council, but there is a distinctness in the in the Trinity, the Father in Council and.
Purpose, the Sun, the one who accomplishes.
The purpose and will of God perfectly He was the Creator.
The Spirit of God is the the power for that.
For those works to be done, so you have the Father and counsel and purpose of the Son who carries it out. The Spirit of God is the power. But I was thinking of that verse, No man knoweth the sun but the Father.
That's that's something that we shouldn't forget to delve into the inscrutable mystery of the union of.
Of Deity with manhood has been a problem amongst brethren for centuries, and some very serious doctrine has come in amongst brethren.
Through delving in and trying to explain the the Trinity and the and the union of of deity with manhood.
That's an inscrutable mystery. We accept it by faith. The Lord was perfect God and perfect man, So as he walked in this world, He was the fullness of the Godhead in manhood.
Now the majesty and glory of his, of his past.
His past manifestation in the Godhead was veiled, so no one could see that majesty and power and divine glory. You never emptied himself of Deity, but He did empty Himself of of that outward glory that He had, that He possessed inherently as the Eternal.
Only begotten Son of God that was, that was never relinquished.
But it was veiled in the person of the Lord in manhood, so he could say, He that seeth me seeth the Father, So he was the perfect.
Expression of the heart of God and of the nature of God. We we cannot we cannot divide them.
Yet we we can acknowledge them as being distinct. But we must.
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Leave this as a matter of faith. Maybe you can explain it better, Robert, than I can. No, I don't think so. But it was really, it was really a truth that existed in the Old Testament times but was not revealed. So let us make man in our own image. So we don't. We didn't. It wasn't revealed who those divine persons were.
But.
Let us make man in our own image.
Let us go down and see In connection with Genesis Chapter 11, the.
Tower of Babel.
Let us go down in.
Genesis chapter 19 in connection with the Lord going to Sodom and Gomorrah, there is little hints that there were in the Old Testament that there were more persons, that God was the plurality, but it's a Christian revelation. That's what we're reading here. It's a Christian revelation and the Lord Jesus himself revealed it. So we have the authority from the Son of God himself. He said he that have seen me have seen the Father, and we have the work of the Spirit of God.
Descending upon him and so on, empowering his service for God.
Because the Father and the Son are one in Trinity.
They're also, Brother John mentioned one in all their ways and their purpose and what they intend to do and their purpose in connection with the sheet and their council are all there one in every way in that way. And so in John 17, in the Lord's Prayer, he requests that the apostles and then on to those that would believe the word that the apostles brought would be one like they were one. Well, we can't be one in Trinity.
How can we be one? Well, we can be one in the way they were, in their ways.
Because they were eternity and their thought, their purpose, their aim, and it was manifested and displayed in this world. And so if you go back to Chapter 5.
And the Lord says in verse 17.
Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and thy work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because not only had He broken the Sabbath, but he said also that God was His Father, making himself equal with God. If you look at the new translation, it says, but said also that God was His own Father.
Exclusively.
They said you're making yourself equal with God. They they took that very plainly. My father worketh hitherto and I work that. He said God was his father, that he was making himself equal with God.
Putting himself on that same status and they picked up stones to stone him. Well, it's the same here in our chapter. I and my father are one. They take up stones to stone him. They very plainly go on to say.
Verse 33 For good works we still may not, but for blasphemy, because thou being a man make us thyself God.
Same as chapter 5. They looked at him in that claim as making himself equal with God, making himself God, but he was a man.
He was a man, and how can that be? Well, here was a man on the earth who was God.
And looked up, and a man for the first time ever in this world could look up and call God his own Father.
His own Father. God had acted towards Israel like a father in the Old Testament. He had acted towards them in the Capacity and character of a father. But no one could ever say that God was their own father in that way, and they knew exactly what it meant. And so I think that I and my Father are one is the result of the fact that they are one in Trinity, that they are one in their aim and purpose and thoughts towards the sheep.
But how do the how do the Jews take that he's making himself gone. That's pretty plain. They understood exactly what he was saying. They evidently didn't believe their prophetic scriptures because he says in we can quote the New Testament, it says in Matthew chapter one.
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Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
Which being interpreted is God with us. So here was a man that would be born into this world and he would represent, He would not only represent God, but he would be God, God with us. But they didn't have faith and so they could not understand by natural reason.
Man cannot. He does not have the Capacity. He is responsible.
Before God to receive the testimony of the Scriptures and to believe, but apart from divine life, he has no Capacity to understand what God has communicated in this way.
Another thing we might mention along along the line of the Trinity, and that is the Spirit of God.
Was not a divine person on the earth in the Old Testament. Now he came upon people and he used them to perform mighty works like Samson and Gideon and so on.
But when the Lord was anointed there, in Matthew chapter 3 referred to, the Spirit of God came down as a dove upon the Lord, and that was the beginning of the Lord's public ministry. That was, you might say, the anointing, sometimes called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And although every act in the Lord's life was in the power of the Holy Spirit, but there was a special anointing.
Just at the time that he was going to step out into his public ministry.
Another thing we want to to guard against the Spirit of God is a divine person, not an influence. Now we we have a lot of charismatic movements in Brazil and this is something that needs to be guarded. He the Spirit of God is not an influence. Another point and this mistake is made by some Christians.
They pray to the Holy Spirit that is never, that is never supported by the Word of God. The Spirit of God is a divine person. He was never Incarnate because you can't see the Spirit of God, yet He dwells in your body as a divine person that you can't see him. So the work of the Spirit of God is always to exalt Christ, never to bring any glory to himself, never to speak of Himself.
So to praise or pray to the Holy Spirit is definitely unscriptural, and I'm afraid that some of our charismatic friends don't understand this.
We are told to pray in the Spirit, and so that is to pray according to the mind of the Spirit of God, what the Spirit would desire, and to be led of the Spirit in our prayers. And so to pray in the Spirit is to be found walking in communion with the Lord, and to be able to pray just as the Lord would have us to pray.
And so they prayed in the Spirit. We were admonished to pray in the Spirit. We might just turn to 1St Corinthians chapter one. And there we find that they really weren't walking in the right way. They weren't walking as one the testimony of what they should have been.
Was not.
Being.
Displayed so he says.
Verse 10 First Corinthians one. Verse 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing.
In that there be no divisions among you.
But that he be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Well, why was it that they weren't praying for the same thing? Why wasn't? Why was it that they were there were contentions, It says in verse 11.
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It was a work of the flesh, and so instead of being characterized by.
Living in the power of the divine life, walking in communion with the Lord and in obedience to the Word of God. Submission to the Word of God. There were debates, contentions, and there was not a submission to the truth of the Word of God. There was not a submission to what the Spirit would lead and how the Spirit would lead.
And so there was. The result was contentions.
Some of the discussions we've had about the Trinity and I and my father being one, that's.
Supposed to correct to say there's a oneness there because of their purpose and because of their relationship. And let us, as you mentioned, let us again, there's the three distinct persons, but there's a oneness and purpose.
And there's a oneness in relationship, and we get a little hint of that when we consider the merit of the men and wife. What are they considered? Whether whether.
Pumpkin and holy ************ they're one flesh. And this is, and I would say too, it's healthy, one purpose in the eyes of God as well.
Yes, they're one flesh, but there are two people. Yes, that's what I'm getting at. Two distinct persons and one flesh.
2 old natures as well.
But I think of the baptism of the Lord.
You know the only reason that we are indwelt by the Spirit of God is on the ground of the blood of Christ.
And the sacrifice of the Lord that was not necessary with the Lord, because there was number sin in him. So the Spirit of God in the form of a dove that that symbol of peace.
A vote on the Lord without any Application of blood. You'll notice in the Old Testament types that the priest first of all was anointed, was washed.
Then he was anointed with blood, and then he was anointed with oil on top of the blood.
Which is a picture, a symbol of.
Of the Spirit of God now dwelling in the believer. This is only known in Christianity that now he dwells within the believer on the ground of the finished work of Christ. Because of the the death of Christ, we're judicially, we're judicially cleansed and clear and the Spirit of God can dwell within us on the that ground.
Is that right? I don't think in the Millennium that they, the Spirit of God will indwell the the people who the believers who will occupy the millennial earth.
He will come upon them as He did in Old Testament times.
We might just turn to John's Gospel chapter 5. It really has to do with the similar situation as we find at the end of chapter 10. Here there were four different witnesses that God had given to the fact that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. And so in verse 33 it says that he sent unto John and he bear witness unto the truth. And so John the Baptist gave us.
Testimony. Faithful testimony.
And said that He was the Word, the Word was come in the flesh, in flesh, and the Word dwelt among us, and so on. And then in verse 36, it's the works I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father that sent you. So His works gave a testimony.
And then the Father himself which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape. And then in verse 39, it's the Scriptures.
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The search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. They thought they would get life, divine life, if they searched the scriptures diligently and so on. But that's not the truth, that they needed to obey the scriptures and to have divine light conveyed to them. They are they which testify of Me, and you will not come to me that you might have life.
So those four things, those four witnesses, John the Baptist, the works of the Lord Jesus, the Father himself, and the Scriptures gave witness. And now we find at the end of this chapter that they really rejected his teaching in connection with the nation and the fact that he was the Son of God. And so it says in verse 39. Well, let's read verse 38. If I do. But if I do.
Though ye believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him. Therefore they saw a game to take Him, but He escaped out of their hand. Verse 40. In connection with what the brother Steve brought out at the beginning of the meeting, he began to receive. He began to distance himself from the nation of Israel. They went away again, and the Lord Jesus, he went away again beyond Jordan.
So he crossed the river Jordan it really at the at the north, I believe in the country and into the place where John at the first baptized, and there he abode.
And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were truth. Many believed on him there. And so his work now in the present day is largely outside of that nation. And he's beyond Jordan. He's laboring, he might say, by the Spirit of God and the power of the Spirit among the Gentiles.
John Jordan And so it's a very solemn, solemn thing if we reject the testimony of the word of God, the testimony of the works of God.
The testimony that God has given of His Son.
He will go somewhere else, the work will continue, but it may not continue here, it'll continue somewhere else. So I just want to apply it that way. And So what a solemn responsibility we have to bow to the truth of God and to live in the good of what we know is the truth of God.
That's opening the Ark, isn't it? We have that.
Occurrence for the.
One open the are studied the arc you remember and judgment fell upon him.
They're trying to the yard. Speaking of the person of Christ doesn't need our steadiness. It is.
It is his very essence.
Deity is is very essence.
Before we close, like to.
Go back and raise a question myself.
How do I know I'm a sheep?
What about if I'm not a sheep?
You know, there were those that heard his voice and those that didn't. Maybe. And all that we've taken up. The question comes up in the heart. Well, how do I know I'm a sheep?
You know it says that.
He knows his sheep.
And in verse 15 or verse 14, I'm the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and and known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, or even as the Father knoweth me, and so I know the Father.
In other words, the sheep and the shepherd know each other like the father and son know each other.
So we might say, well, maybe I'm not a sheep, you know?
Like to go back to verse in Matthew 7?
Verse 21.
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have not.
Have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name of devils? And then I named them many wonderful works. Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me that work iniquity. You know, once you come to the Lord and you're saved, you're always going to be a sheep. You're never going to lose that place that you have your kids always.
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And we've had before us, Brother Kevin brought it out this morning. We're in the Lord's hands. We're in his hand, but we're also in the Father's hand too. And they're one. And there is no escape from those hands. The greatest power of the universe couldn't pluck us out of those hands once. We're a sheep, we're always a sheep. And so he says, Here, depart from me, for I never knew you.
If you're a sheep, he knows you, he knows you, He doesn't say Here, depart from me.
I used to know you, but now I don't.
He says to these ones, I never knew you.
And first or second Peter?
And chapter.
Two, connection with the thought of those who make a profession of Christianity might say, make a profession of a sheet.
But prove that they're not. It says in verse 22 it happened unto them. According to the true proverb, the dog returned to his own vomit again in the South that was washed her wallowing in the mire. Who vomited the dog.
Not is she?
Who was washed? A sheep? No, a Sal.
Never worry she they always were just a dog or some.
Never worksheet.
Once you're his sheep. Once you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're there, eternally secure in his hand and the Father's hand. He'll never say. Depart from me. I never knew you. He knows you.
He knows you for eternity, you know.
Like to turn to verse 2.
And John chapter 6.
We know it's the work of God, as we've had before us to impart life where there wasn't any before. Sovereign grace of God to give life.
Where there wasn't any.
That's the truth of election. And one might say, well, how do I know?
If I'm one of the elect, how do I know if I'm one that he's going to make his sheep?
Verse 37 says All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.
That's true.
All that he sovereignly purposes to pick up and give to the Son are going to come to the sun.
You might say, well, how do I know I'm one of them?
How? How do I know? How can I be sure I'm one of them? I remember asking myself that many years ago.
The second part of that.
Verse is the answer in him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. How do you know if you're one of his sheep? How do you know if you're one that he's given life to? That comes with faith in a hearing here you just come, you just come.
And that will show that you're one of the sheep.
When you respond to his voice, you just.
Old brother named Bill War.
Years ago I was told made this comment.
I suppose maybe at a time in his life when he passed through questions that way in his own soul.
And he said, Elect or not, Lord, here I come.
They just just come.
And that shows you're one of this.
Because the truth of election is beautiful.
So important.
But it never can take away.
The truth.
Of verse 37 him that cometh to me I will and no wise cast out.
73 in the appendix, 73 in the back.
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My father's voice.
Are all done for you.
The shadow, great salt and sheep.
Hornets.
In the world.
My soul.
Has made me whole.
What is seen in the last song of the qualifiers and I found.
The fall of the green shake.
What's the surprise? Me to the world full.
It's me thyself, Dorothy.
I love to be controlled.
I love my.
Tender, chocolate, swollen.
The peaceful.
I see no more until.
I love my health. You make my father's voice.
I love my God.