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#174.
Matthew Chapter 11 and verse #28.
All ye that labor and are heavy laden.
Come unto me.
Now I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.
From meek and lowly in the heart.
Ye shall find rest.
Unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
And my burden is light. Shall we pray? Well, Father, we thank you for the precious things.
John, Chapter 8.
Beginning at verse #12.
Then spake Jesus again under them, saying I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself. Thy record is not true.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.
For I know whence I came and whither I go. But ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh. I judge no man, and yet if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me.
It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
I am.
I am one that bear witness of myself and the father that sent me bear with witness of me.
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered.
You neither know me nor my father.
If he had known me, he should have known my father also.
These words spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple.
No man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come.
Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins, because I go.
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Whether I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself?
Because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from above, ye are of this world, I am not of this world.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins, For if you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
I have many things to say and to judge of you.
But he that sent me is true, and I speak to you the words.
Those things which I have heard of him.
I speak to the world, those things which I have heard of him.
They understood not that He speak to them of the Father.
Then set Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of man.
Then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
And he that sent me is with me. The Father had not left me alone.
But I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if he continued in my word.
Then I ye my disciples indeed.
And he shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and we'll never in ******* to any man. Joseus, thou ye shall be free indeed. Ye shall be made free. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I send to you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
I know that your Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because my word.
Have no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father.
And you do that which you have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If he were Abrahams children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham he do the deeds of your father. Therefore said they unto him, we be not born of fornication.
We have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me.
I For I proceeded forth, and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech? Even because he cannot hear my word? You have your father, the devil.
And the deeds?
And the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not on the truth, because there's no truth in him.
When he speaketh the lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, he believed me not.
Which of you convinced me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?
He that is of God heareth God's words. He therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Then answered the Jews, and said unto him.
Say we not well, thou art a Samaritan, has the devil, Jesus answered. I have not a devil, but I honor my father, and ye do dishonor.
Me and I seek not my own glory. There is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily I send you. If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him. Now we know that thou hast the devil.
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Abraham is dead in the prophets. And thou, saith a man, keep my sayings, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead? Whom? Who maketh thou thyself?
Jesus answered. If I honor myself, my honor is nothing.
It is my Father that honoured me, of whom ye say that he is your God.
Yet ye have not known him, but I know him.
And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you, but I know him, and keep his sayings.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.
Thou said, Thou then said the Jews unto him.
Thou art not yet 50 years old. And hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was.
I am.
Then took the Upstones to cast at him.
But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them.
And so passed by.
These I am statements of John's Gospel.
Are very, very precious.
I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Take any one of these I am statements. I am the bread of life.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the Good Shepherd. Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
All these I am statements and it ends this chapter. We have the grand climax of it where he says.
Before Abraham was I am.
Impossible to read the Gospel of John with.
Intelligence and go away.
Denying that Jesus is God.
These statements if true, unless one rejects everything that he said of himself.
But if one accepts them, he was either making statements like this. If anyone of us would make such statements, we would.
We would be considered.
Something unusual and probably crazy.
Either he was the truth.
When they asked him, Who art thou in this chapter, he says, and I'm going to give the full force of it.
He says I am altogether and absolutely what I say to you.
Every word that he spoke was the expression of himself.
My mother used to say to me, do as I say, don't do as I do. But he did as he said, and he said as he did. He was the living expression of the truth, and all that he spoke was truth.
The world doesn't know how to deal with such a such a person.
In the 18th chapter of this gospel, he tells Pilate that he was.
Come into the world to bear witness of the truth and Pilate said as a typical politician, what is true.
There's no such thing as truth, no such thing as an absolute standard of truth, of right and wrong, of good and evil.
But that's who he was. The truth.
And we've seen the sad display of that recently in our own country, where the political leaders of the day haven't the foggiest notion of what the truth is.
Well, the first woman created in this world was told by this archd deceiver who is a liar. He told the first lie. He said Thou shalt not surely die.
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The first lie in the history of the church was Ananias and Sapphira. They lied about how much they sold their property for.
Ye are of your Father the devil, the Lord said to these Pharisees we were talking about.
This morning, the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, there were other words that proceeded out of his mouth that were not gracious. They were righteous and just and true and said it like it really was. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father You will do. You cannot pin a character on the Lord where He was.
He excelled in that particular aspect. You cannot say well this was his strong point. This was his weak point. He had no strong points and he had no weak points. He was fine flower, perfectly smooth up to every occasion, perfect in everything, whether he was confronting the Pharisees as we see in this chapter, whether he was dealing with a an adulterous woman.
As we saw in the early part of the chapter, no matter who he was dealing with, he was perfect in grace and in truth. And there's only one man like that. Only one. That's why it says of the Lord Jesus in Acts chapter one of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. And so I might say many things, but my life may not correspond with what I say. The young people have a little hymn they sometimes sing.
Your walk speaks so loud that the world can't hear what you say.
But his brother Chuck has brought out the Lord Jesus was the fine flower that perfect consistency. But I think too, it's important to see that Chuck mentioned Satan in the garden. And it's interesting that the first recorded words of Satan were half God said immediately trying to raise a doubt in the mind of Eve. Had God really said this? Was this really the truth? And I believe Satan is still seeking to undermine.
The word of God, has God really said this? Is this book we hold in our hands really the truth of God? And then it's interesting that the first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament are, if thou be the Son of God, immediately trying to raise a doubt as to whether the Lord Jesus was really who he said he was. And I say Satan is busy today to do those two things, raise a doubt as to the written word of God. It was the spoken word with Eve, but we have the written word.
And then trying to raise a doubt as to the person of Christ, is he really the eternal Son of God? And I fear that our young people are bombarded with all kinds of teaching today that discredits these very fundamental principles and, and the truth that we have been Speaking of. And so we need to go to the Scripture. And I believe John's Gospel brings this out so very, very clearly. Is there any doubt when it says the word was made flesh and dwelt among us?
We beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Is there any doubt as to who this person was from a past eternity? No. And so we need to be grounded and we need to go over these things. And I believe that's why for the sake of the young people, it's good to go over these precious fundamental truths that we go over so many times. And that's why Peter said I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things.
Though ye know them and notice this expression and be established in the present truth, that is the truth of God hasn't changed. Whether it's the written word that we have in our hands, whether it's the person of Christ that we're Speaking of, these things don't change. They are and the only things in this world that are absolute.
Pilot was referred to, and the Lord standing before him.
In the 18th chapter, I think it just be good to look at a verse or two there because it goes with what's being said in the 18th chapter of John.
Pilot was interrogating and charging Jesus.
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And Jesus was responding and Paula didn't like what he said. Verse.
35.
Am IA Jew.
Pilot didn't like to hear that kind of a thing.
Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?
Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from hence? Now this put a question in pilots mind. He said, verse 37 Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am.
A king, I think, is the way to read that. Then the Lord enlarges on it to this end, Was I born? Why was he born? For this cause, came out of the world, that I should bear witness under the truth. Jesus tells why he came. It's astonishing. We wouldn't have thought about that, I guess. But Jesus came to bear witness to the truth because the truth makes manifest what is. Truth is the declaration of what is. Jesus was a declaration of what is, and that's God.
He says everyone that hears the truth.
That that is of the truth hears my voice. And then what is truth? Well.
The truth is revealed. Truth is a declaration of what is.
And then what's being said about the truth is so basic and so important. I like to look at Luke 1, the way he begins to help to understand what truth is. God is what is. Think Bob said that in his commenting on Deuteronomy.
The eternal God is thy refuge.
He is the eternal.
Luke begins his book very remarkably. Just read a little bit there.
The first verse gets what I want to get to though for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration.
It's a declaration of what is truth is a declaration of what he is, of those things which are most surely believed among us. So he wrote.
To declare what is and God wants us to know him.
And Jesus is the way to know Him, the eternal, the I am. So all these I am, as have been said, are so important here in this book of John.
I'd like to hear a little bit more said about this title. I am especially in putting it together with the.
What we have in Exodus chapter 3 where Moses was sent back to the children of Israel and he asked what his name?
Would be And the 14th verse it says God said unto Moses, I am that I am.
Then he said, Thus thou shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.
What does that exactly mean?
Is that God in his absoluteness or?
How would you explain it?
The expression, you'll notice it's all in capitals. I am, but I am.
If you would translate that, that means, and it's used elsewhere in the Bible, He is the same. He is who He is. He does not change. He is the unchangeable, unchanging one. He is who He is.
Without change, if you would translate I am, you would translate it as the eternal one. He's the eternal one. He is the I am. He's the one that lives in it, an eternal present.
He is the I Am, and these are his essential names, which is who? He is the same. That's a name that is given to the Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is that I am, that I am, and this is, this is the most glorious declaration in Exodus 3 of who this God is, Jehovah. That's the meaning.
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Of Jehovah, the self existent, 1 The unchangeable One, the ever present 1 The timeless being. He, he dwells in eternity. He inhabits eternity. It says in Isaiah 5715. I think it is the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity that we can understand the expression. He inhabits heaven.
That's a place, but he inhabits eternity. What's that mean? It means he's a timeless being. He lives in an ever present.
I present he lives in a presence, and he often speaks of the future as though it's an accomplished things.
Those whom He foreknew he also did predestinate. That's the past. And whom He and them, he, them he called, that's the present whom He called, them He justified. That's the present whom he justified. Them He glorified. Well, that's the future. It doesn't say He will glorify. It says He glorified because to Him.
It's as good as done.
It's time He's not. He's not bound by time. He's not bound by space. He's not bound by the things that that.
Limit us. We are very finite and very limited creatures. But he is not a creature. He's the creator, as we've been hearing, and the greatness of him is this expression I am that I am the unchangeable, the unalterable.
The same yesterday, today and forever. And then just the I am by itself. He is the ever existent one. He exists now.
Today, yesterday and forever the eternal. Recently I read something that helped me in thinking about this. I certainly enjoy what's being said and believe it with all my heart. Well, it was a simple statement and it's just this time is.
No time at all to God. He doesn't exist in time, He exists in eternity. I know we can't grasp that, but it helps us in thinking and thinking of the Lord's words here. Before Abraham was I am. He went back to the eternal existence that he had.
He doesn't say before Abraham was, I was, which would have been true.
But he uses the I am term to describe his endless being from eternity past to eternity future. We can we can conceive of someone.
Created now, living forever, going up, going on forever and ever. And we're going to do that. We're going to live forever. He's created us with an immortal soul spirit. We're going to go on forever. But you can't really conceive of a being.
That had no beginning. You just can't conceive that and that's the I am. You have no beginning or end. One of the interesting verbs and used in connection with Jesus is the next to the last verse of first John. It runs this way. We know that the son of God is come now isn't that a strange verb to you is come.
And that he has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true.
And we are in him. That is true even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the eternal God.
Little children, keep yourselves from mind. It is one of the most charming verses you can get. He is come. I suppose somebody else might comment on that, but he is come refers to John's Gospel 114 The the word was made place that he became something he wasn't before. He is come and it's in perpetuity from that time on. He is the eternal as as Jesus, as a man. No end to that, but he took that form.
To communicate with us and to us.
But that expression, you just said it, no end to that. Just think of it, you know, he didn't just become a man to accomplish a work and then revert back to the form of God from which he came. He was in the form of God. He assumed the form of a servant. Now that he's finished his ServiceNow, he's going to lay that form of a servant aside and go back to the form of God, only not so he'll be a servant forever. And that is an awesome thought, is it not, that he became one of us.
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Not for time, but for eternity. It's just, it's just so thrilled your soul when you think of that, how can we fathom it? And he is just as perfect as a man as he is as God. One perfect man, He always remains that.
I enjoyed it, but that I read in one of the writings that when the Lord said that to Moses what his name was I am. It was like giving Moses a blank check every.
Situation. Every need that they would ever encounter, that blank check could be filled in for whatever they needed in God was all they needed.
And so when they come to the New Testament, are you hungry in your soul? He says. I am the bread of light. Do you need light for your pathway? I am the light of the world.
Do you need to know the way I am? The way beautiful? You can fill it in for anything you encounter down here. You'll find your God sufficient.
For every need.
That doesn't help us. So with the thought of the eternity, what it will be like. I've noticed that our hymn writers often use expressions such as sing his praises for all eternity. But if there's no time in eternity, how are we to sing? Singing takes time. So it's a completely new existence that is before us. That's why it says in the First Corinthians. I have not seen or hear heard. Neither have entered the heart of man.
The things that God had prepared for him. And so we there's nothing in our experience, absolutely nothing that helps us to understand what it will be like in eternity. And I'll just give you.
A simple explanation. Almost anything we do can become boring. We know that even the most exciting things in time can become tiring, can become boring. But we know that in the eternal state we shall be likened.
And so then we'll be suited for eternity. The Spirit makes it known to us to continue that thought that I have not seen or ear heard. So we have a sense of that. But there is nothing in our experience that can tell us what it will be like in eternity. But we believe God's word, don't we? And we know it'll be a place of eternal bliss and joy and peace. No more tears, no more crying. It'll be a wonderful place because we'll be in the presence of a loving God.
And will be suited for it. But I think we're facing insoluble problem if we try and picture what eternity will be like. Because there'll be no time there. It'll be. We say endless, even endless means that that's a sense of time. But we are preachers of time. We cannot escape that. Our heart beats. It gives us a sense of the last time we can wake up in the middle of the night and make a quick estimate about how many hours we've been asleep. We have in a very big.
The mechanism of time. But the wonderful part is, and this is really such a wonderful thing of expectation for us, is that we're going to be in that eternal state where we'll be suited for it in the very presence of a loving God.
There are three things that affect us every day in this life time and distance and physical limitations. And that's why it's difficult for us to visualize something, a scene where there will be no time, distance or physical limitations. And I suppose that's really why we're told so very little about what eternity is really like. The scripture gives us a few hints here and there, but we're really told very little about what it's going to be like in a coming day.
And there's an expression we sometimes use, and I have no problem with it. It conveys the thought, and I've often used it myself. We speak of spending eternity. We use that expression in the gospel. We use it too in connection with those of us who are going to be with the Lord for eternity. But really, in a sense, we can't spend something that has no beginning and no ending. You can spend a bank account, no matter how large a bank account you have, every time you go down and draw on that bank account, the account itself becomes less.
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And we've all heard stories and known of cases where people have had large inheritances, large bank accounts, and through mismanagement and squandering, they've spent up those bank accounts. So we can spend things down here. We spend time. Time comes and it goes, and it's gone forever. But really, brethren, we can't spend eternity. We're going to be for all eternity with and like our precious Savior. It says we're ever with the Lord in the end of First Thessalonians 4.
That is when he comes back to reign over the earth, we come with him. When he's in heaven, we're with him. We're ever with the Lord. And those who enter the regions of the lost, they're going to be for all eternity. And it's a solemn thing if there's someone here this afternoon who's not saved, to think that you are going to be, if you reject God's offer of mercy and leave this world lost, you are going to be in a lost eternity for as long as those of us who know the Lord are going to be with the Lord Jesus.
What a solemn thing it is. But I was thinking too that when Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven.
He said he heard unspeakable words it was not lawful for a man to utter. Rather than we have little conception of what it's going to be like to be an eternity with our precious Savior, there is one side of it that we can understand and that is negative in the eternal day.
In Revelation 21 it says God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. We can understand that.
There shall be no more death. We can understand that.
Neither sorrow we can understand that, nor crying, neither shall they there be any more pain.
Rejoice with me so much because pain is such a hard thing to bear. But these things are negative. You go into the next chapter and there won't be any night there. So that the negative things we can't understand. And Peter, who saw the excellent glory, that's about all he said about it, the excellent glory. But there's more to this. I want to read a verse in First Corinthians 2.
I'll read the two verses, Verse 9. But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, doesn't say the heart of the Christian, but into the heart of man, the things which God have prepared for them that love him. Verse 14 says The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness under him, neither can he know them. These things haven't entered the heart of man.
But verse 10 says, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
Spirit searcheth all things. Yeah, the deep things of God. We have the Spirit of God to make good in our souls. These things which the natural man is impossible for him to enter into, but we can enter into them. And to answer what you were just saying, Jim, Ephesians 3. The apostle Paul prays these words, verse 14 for this, 'cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of whom every family it should read in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory.
To be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Again, the Spirit is mentioned as the strengthening power of the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That He, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. And notice this next expression. And to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Yes, we're going to spend eternity.
Exploring.
The love of Christ, it passes knowledge. How can you know something that passes knowledge?
Mr. Kelly said it this way so beautifully. The apostles supposes us launched upon a shoreless sea and will never see the shore. We'll never get to the shore. We'll have all eternity to explore the love of Christ. We'll never get to the end of it. We'll never say I've learned it all. But so that's that's that's sort of an anomaly, but it's there. And so I don't object to someone saying I'm going to spend eternity with Christ.
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So that's just this verse came to mind when you said that it's something like knowing the love of Christ, which is unknowable.
No, I have no objection to using the term either, because the Spirit of God puts things in a way that we can understand them, realizing that we only have human capabilities. And isn't that a wonderful thing to realize? Brethren, the Spirit of God has recorded these things in the Word so that his brother Chuck has been saying we can have an enjoyment of heaven before we get there. We can sit here this afternoon, brethren, having been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And we can be not only the possessors of divine life, but we can live in the full and rich enjoyment of it. Now, it's true, when we get to heaven, the hindrances that will be removed. Maybe there's some here this afternoon and you have a headache. And you say, well, I just can't seem to get beyond the headache and really enjoy the ministry the way I'd like. To some who might be weary, your eyes are heavy. You've had a long journey in getting here. You've been up late. We have physical hindrances and limitations now.
But the physical hindrances and limitations will be removed in the coming day. But, brethren, we can enjoy the old corn of the land now.
We can be in the full enjoyment of what it is to be seated in heavenly places in Christ. We can be in the full enjoyment of a risen glorified man at the right hand of God because we have been given not only as I say, divine life, but we have the Spirit of God that makes these things takes of this book, ministers Christ to us according to the need, brings these precious things before us because he doesn't want us to have to wait until we're safe home to enjoy these things he wants us to be.
In the present enjoyment of this now, and if we're not, the hindrance is not on his part, the hindrance is on our part. And what is the effect of that? If we are in the enjoyment of these eternal things, the things that are offered to us by the world, the good life as they call it, all these things that the natural man can enjoy, how long are they going to last?
There's nothing permanent about them. There's nothing eternal about them. We have the eternal riches.
And when we are enjoying those riches, the things that.
Are of this world Don't attract us. Don't attract us at all because we found something infinitely better.
All that we have that we can get ahold of is by revelation. You can't reason this out. You can't learn God by searching. You have to get Him by revelation. Well, he has been pleased to reveal himself. So it comes down to the written word so that what you were quoting about.
The 25th verse earlier, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them.
Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. That is, I am exactly what I say. My word and myself are the same. So we go back to the scriptures and believe them. And that's where we do begin to understand God through the Son who became a man to communicate with us and to us.
I think it is interesting too, brother, and to think in Colossians one, it tells us that we're to set our minds on things above.
Colossians chapter 3. Sorry.
And I really believe if we set our minds on things above rather than there's a lot we can learn about heaven before we get there. A lot. The Tabernacle was made after the pattern of heavenly things.
It all spoke of Christ and as we meditate on a chapter like.
Revelation 2122. There's a lot to understand and we meditate on it that we can learn to know and enjoy even before we get there. Let's exercise ourselves to set our minds on things above we have been.
Hearing and enjoying the thoughts of the I AM God.
Revealing himself that way, We've been enjoying thoughts of eternity.
But we all realize as a brother Hendrickson said that God gives us to know that which is unknowable. We realize that we quickly bankrupt our abilities to enter into these things, but how do we enjoy it? We've been hearing about enjoying these things. It's to get to know better. The person that is revealing himself in this very chapter. The Lord Jesus is, I am and I would submit, brethren, that the measure in which you and I.
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Learn more of him and personal fellowship and communion and walk with him. Learn more of his beauties and enjoy more of him will in a large measure be the nation which we're going to understand as much as we can understand in this scene as to what the Lord meant when He said I am that I am. And when Paul talks about being caught up and hearing things that are not lawful for him to reveal.
About eternity, and to hear about the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge, to hear about the fullness of Him that filleth All in all, and to go on to these things over and over. I submit that, brethren, we want to be careful that we don't separate the person of Christ as we consider these things and meditate on them, that we keep him preeminently before us, because it measured that we enjoy him.
Will be led to.
Whatever nature we can understand those things in what is the power that we have to enter into these eternal realities. It's the Spirit of God and we can only enjoy these things if we if he is not grieved. The Paul says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption and quench not the Holy Spirit. He has taken up his abode in us. He's here to glorify Christ.
He's here to make known to our souls these riches which are ours in Christ.
A living reality that we enjoy them. He is here. But if we grieve Him, if we sin, if we do that which is displeasing to Him, He has to occupy us with our sin and to bring us to repentance and to judge that. But if it's an ungrieved spirit that is operating, we will enter into these things. It's by the Spirit, but it's through faith. We've got to believe this word that that's before us. It's the only way we lay hold of it.
And we've got to read the word too, don't we? If we neglect our Bibles, we're not going to be able to enjoy these things. And the Lord Jesus, later on in John's Gospel, he spoke much truth to the disciples in the upper room. And then he said, when the Spirit of truth is come, he would bring to remembrance all things that he had spoken unto them. That is, they listened to what the Lord Jesus said, but the Spirit of God hadn't yet been given in the way that it was going to be on the day of Pentecost.
After the Lord Jesus ascended back to the glory. But he says when the Spirit has come, then he'll bring these things to your remembrance. But I might just say for the sake of those who are younger, the Spirit of God can't bring something to your remembrance that you haven't read. If you don't listen in the meetings to the ministry, if you don't read the Word in the quiet of your room, the Spirit can't bring something back to your mind that you haven't read. But if you read these things, avail yourself of good menace, Christ's exalting ministry, then maybe it doesn't mean a whole lot to you at the time. But then when you're faced with the situation or the question.
Then the Spirit of God can bring it back and make it good to your soul. So we have all that we need. But brethren.
We need to avail ourselves of the resources that we have. If you don't open this book and read it, you're not going to have an enjoyment of Christ and heavenly things. Our meeting began so good this morning. I thought with referring to reading various places. I was a little bit surprised and then we went to writing. Well, that's the way God communicates with us and reminds me of a interesting thing that happened in a family that might be here today.
They were reading along in the scriptures and had been for some time and.
The father of the mother asked. One of the children there said, What words do you like the best that we've read? And he said, And it came to pass.
I got so nice it came to pass. God's word always comes to pass Believe it.
He that hath my commandments and keepeth them.
Here it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him.
And will manifest myself to him. John 14.
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Be ye doers of the word.
And not hearers only deceiving your own selves.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote of all lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them.
Thinking of.
What Paul writes to the Corinthians in.
Chapter 13.
For now.
We see through a glass darkly.
But then.
Face to face, now I know, in part.
But then shall I know even as also I am known?
We read the 2nd Corinthians, I believe is 12 where we.
See one who is carried into this.
Area of Revelation.
2nd Corinthians 12/2 I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago.
Whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God know it such in one caught up to the 3rd heaven I knew such a man. Whether in the body or how the body I cannot tell. God knoweth how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter.
You know, every believer here is a man in Christ.
And he has access.
It will be in such a way that we won't know whether we are in the body or out of the body. It's beyond.
These physical limitations.
And it's entering into things where they can lodge in the heart, but they won't come out of the mouth.
There are things that would lead us, each one individually, to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
I would think that the.
Counterpart to this, the likeness of this would be to be filled with the Spirit, we're told, but be filled with the Spirit. As we've heard, the Spirit of God ungrieved has that liberty to fill us, and that just removes it by His own presence. It pushes out, we can see it that way, all those things that would interfere and gives me to enter into an area of things.
That I cannot know apart from that.
And I was just wanting to say one comment about what was said about faith.
The Bible says.
Except you believe that I am.
You shall die in your sins.
And as much has been said to the younger ones, I'll tell you this.
It doesn't matter if he's a professor.
It doesn't matter if he's a reverend. It doesn't matter if he's a brother.
He believed that I am, except ye believe that I am.
And I would say to you young people.
Put that standard up.
God said it. It's good if he says it one time and I don't believe it. Saying it twice won't help.
It's faith that lays hold on what God says and weighs everything by that. I believe that's what it says in our chapter. I am the light of the world.
Everything has to be measured by that man, Christ Jesus.
Nothing outside of that. And for us as believers, as we go on, beloved, we should.
We should expect, we should count it as part of the path to be filled with the Spirit, to be elevated up into these things that are ours, the power of the Spirit of God.
Ephesians chapter 5 tells us exactly what light is.
I think it's helpful. Verse 13. All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. So in the presence of the Lord Jesus everything is manifested. Absolutely impossible to hide anything there.
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In fact, if you try to hide.
Something in the light. You only make yourself that much more conspicuous. You only show that you're trying to hide something impossible to hide in the light. But that word in verse 12 of our chapter, which is the opposite darkness.
Isn't it wonderful, brethren, to have the light? You ever walked along a dark in a dark night on the path where your flashlight has gone out? It means an awful lot to have a light to show you where you're going, and just to think of this poor world around us in the dark, having no idea where they're going.
Tragic how important for us to let the light shine, brother.
The slackness of darkness forever. That's the end of those who reject the Savior. Is it not the 12Th of John? The Lord said, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not, my word hath won the judges Him. The word that I have spoken. The same shall judge Him in the last day.
That 12Th verse again.
How do we, how do we get to light it? Says he that followeth me.
Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You can't have light for your pathway if you're not following the Lord, walking in his footsteps, walking as he walked.
He's his pathway. Study his pathway as it's given to us in the Gospels. The truth as it is in Jesus, That's where we find it. It's following Him who is the light himself. The light is never spoken of in scriptures, being created.
Says in Isaiah he forms the light and creates darkness. In Genesis he said let there be light and there was light, there was darkness that covered this scene. And then he said, let there be light. The God who spoke that dark, that out of darkness light should shine as shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We were once darkness. We walked in darkness. We had no light from God.
And then he shone into our hearts the light of the Gospel, and everything became clear to us. This book that was totally an enigma to us before we had the light now becomes an open book to us and we can read it and enjoy it.
That's one of the tests that we can make for our souls is do you have an appetite for this book? Do you have an appetite for the word of God? Do you esteem it more than your necessary food? It's more important to read the Word of God every day than to eat every day for the body. What would happen to our body if we if we fed it as much as we feed our souls? Sometimes with the word of God, we'd be, we'd be sick.
It would be undernourished.
Man cannot live, the Lord said, by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It's it's thy words were found that I did eat them. Thy word was unto me that joy and rejoicing of my heart. I esteemed thy word more than my necessary food. And that's the that's that's following him. We're going to learn about him here in this book, nowhere else, not in the newspaper, certainly not and other literature put out by man, but in God's word. Read it, study it, ponder it, make it your very force of food and sustenance.
And light and light.
The entrance of thy words giveth light.
We need to hang on to our Bibles.
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I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil the.
Psalmist Said 119.
And Ecclesiastes says, truly, the light is sweet, and the pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. I suppose you could spell that, son as well as SUN.
Moving down a bit, we're not going to get through this chapter if we don't move a little.
Verse 19 We don't have to cover every verse. If someone wants to cover these verses in between, you're free. Then said they unto him, Where is thy father?
Jesus answered he neither know me nor my Father. If he had known me, he should have known my Father also. You see, that verse tells me that it's impossible to take the position. I believe in God, but I don't believe in Jesus. I believe in that God is my Father, but I don't believe in Jesus. You cannot take that position. If you don't know the Son, you don't know the Father. If you don't know the Father, you don't know the Son. The 2GO together, they're inseparable.
And that's, that's Christianity, is it not?
He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who hath sent him.
John 5.
Washington controller and then didn't dwell into all the fullness with the God that model. And if we think about it, this is really one of the many things that shows us the Trinity as a truth, the fundamental scripture. So how could you know one of the Trinity and not know the other two?
It just wonderfully hangs together, but the one that just needs the greatest collide is that person cautions and him fall off all of fullness and that God had caught it.
Is this connected with what Philip said in John 14? Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And the Lord answered, He that hath seen me, have I been so long time with you? And hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest show us the Father that connected?
Certain years.
In verse 21, the Lord says, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall not, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go? You cannot come if you die in your sins, if you depart this scene in your sins.
Unsaved. Unregenerate. No forgiveness. You'll never go where he is gone. You'll never be in his presence.
It will be shut out of his presence forever. How solemn. Whether I go, you cannot come. His religious leaders with all their religion. It just blinded them to his person. I don't know of anything more blinding than religion without Christ. It's it's it's just blinding, isn't it, Ralph? Just nothing worse than that.
Met the religion of Cain, man's natural religion.
Said that Cain was of the wicked one.
That is, he believed what the devil said. He was morally of the wicked one.
And how many people today want blessings, but they don't want Christ?
And how many religions are offering them in the name of God?
Blessings and escape from judgment without Christ.
What folly is it to contemplate God manifesting himself?
And man saying no he's not.
You won't die.
His watchman.
Are blind.
They are all ignorant.
They are all dumb dogs.
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They cannot bark.
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yeah, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own ways. Everyone for his gain from his quarters. Kamie say they I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow shall be as this day.
And much more abundant.
The end few verses of Isaiah 56.
Didn't they say in John?
9.
MMM.
Verse 40.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words.
And said unto him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.
But now ye say, We see therefore your sin.
Remaineth.
Ye blind guides.
Which straineth a gnat, then swallow a camel.
Matthew 23.
There's plenty of that kind of stuff around us today.
Those scriptures are a very apt description of what we find in the life of the Lord Jesus.
When he was here, because it was really the religious leaders of the day that were at the forefront in the rejection of the Lord Jesus, they had religion. In fact, even when it came to the trial of the Lord Jesus, there were certain things that they wouldn't do, wouldn't go into the judgment hall, so they wouldn't defile themselves so that they could eat the Passover. They wanted to make sure the bodies didn't remain on the cross on that Sabbath because that Sabbath was on high day. And so they had religion.
And their traditions and so on.
But here they were rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And isn't it remarkable to consider the fact that here were the ones that should have been standing for rectitude and righteousness. Here were the very ones that should have been pointing to the Lord Jesus as the Messiah?
Not only did they want not want him themselves, but they hindered those that did and that's what brought down woe and condemnation on those leaders from the Lord Jesus. Just read the woes in Matthew. They didn't want to enter in, but they were hindering others who would want to enter in. So it's a very graphic description, Brother Brockmire, those verses and as you say, isn't it a graphic description of many today? Many take the place of being Lords over God's.
Heritage take the place of seeking to guide and direct souls, and yet their blind leaders of the blind going on without Christ themselves and not pointing souls to Christ as they ought to be.
Oh, write some remarkable words in the end of the book of Acts that apply in that way. Or just read a few in the 28th of Acts.
Verse 24 And some believe the things which were spoken, and some believe not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After that Paul had spoken one word.
Well speak the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand.
Seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive for the heart of this people.
Is watch grows, and their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Well. The Lord was leaving.
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In the 23rd of Matthew I think it is and he says.
Henceforth you shall see me no more, until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blindness in parts happen unto Israel, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles run on. And for some years I've been subscribing to the Jerusalem Post. It's an interesting little magazine published.
Weekly coming from Jerusalem.
And they have in the next to the last page page almost always the quotation from their Bible, the Old Testament, the Torah. And I've been reading that for these years and I haven't found one chapter, one article that they understood out of their own book. They're just blind. They can't understand, they can't see it.
God has sealed that nation up when they rejected Christ and in John's gospel.
They had rejected Him from the very first chapter. He came unto his own, and his own received him not so that blindness in parts happened to them. Well, let's be careful that we believe God's Word. We can't understand it, and I think we've had enough said there.
To realize that we can't understand the glory. We can't get into the Millennium or the Day of God yet. But let's believe it and enjoy it. And there is enough revelation in this Word to fill our hearts when we consider Jesus as a man down here.
Those same scripture.
Who is this man? Question is raised in verse 25 of our chapter. Who art thou? Of course we can't understand anything if we don't understand and have a proper answer to that question. Who is he?
And if we have some persuasion and where does that come from? That didn't come from our.
Mental exercises or the astuteness of our minds, or perhaps from a good education, but has been already noted from the Corinthians by revelation, God made himself known. He compelled a hearing, He forced us, He brought us into extremities that we could not deny him. So we came to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
Christ and now in support. How are we going to go on?
Just a few references in John 8.
A quotation was made a little bit ago from Psalm 119, the entrance of thy word giveth light. We would like to have some light. Reference was made to the difficulties when you're in the dark, and no, with no Lantern, no candle, no flashlight, and pretty tough to try to find a place to walk.
But the interests of thy word giveth light. Now in John 8, after we're satisfied as to who he is in verse 25.
Verse 26 he says I speak.
In verse 30.
He spake as he speak these words many believed on him. Then verse 31.
If he continue in my word.
Some parts of this book are more difficult to understand than others. Peter refers to some things hard to be understood. But are we going to read it anyway?
Verse 31.
Continue in my word and more a reference to My word in verse 37.
In connection with the negative side of things, verse 38, he says I speak.
In verse 43.
Some that don't understand how come?
You cannot hear my word, so there's a premium placed on hearing.
Here my word, numbers 47. He that is of God hearest, God's word, verse 51.
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Keep my saved.
Who puts the word of God in a preeminent place? Does it not?
Verse 24 of our chapter is so important too, I said therefore.
Unto you, that ye shall die in your sins. For if.
Ye believe not that I am.
She is an italics.
That same title that God used in the Old Testament, if you believe not that I am.
Ye shall die in your sins. Very important, not only believe in Jesus.
As a man, but to believe that he is the very Son of God, that is vital to believe that.
If you believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. A good verse to use when we meet up with Jehovah's Witnesses.
I was going to mention two of those verses you referred to in the end of the book of Acts.
Are repeated the same verses are repeated in the 12Th chapter of our gospel here. Just like to point them out because.
It's so interesting to see that Jesus is in every way God over all things. Blessed forever, nothing less.
John 12 and verse 37 But though he had done so many miracles before them.
John is speaking about Jesus, of course, yet they believed not.
On him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord.
Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts. They should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Now notice verse 41 These things said.
Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. If you look back at the 6th chapter of Isaiah, who was it that Isaiah saw and spake of? It says there very clearly mine eyes have seen the Lord Jehovah of hosts.
And John, speaking about this, says he spake of Jesus.
Jesus is Jehovah, therefore, if you believe not.
That I am ye shall die in your sins.
Interesting to see too that when Jesus comes out of heaven in Revelation 19.
Beginning with verse 11 That he's given a name.
In the 13th verse and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God, The Word of God. That's what John's gospel begins with. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Scripture clearly shows that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom is one man recognizes his place as a creature. And what we find about us today are men who feel that they can run the whole universe, they can correct everything that's wrong in this world and they don't realize that they're a creature. Well, in the chapter seven of our book, there's a verse that I've always enjoyed, if any man will.
To do his will he shall know of the doctrine. This one man takes a place as a creature.
And recognizes the almighty power of God and that He has to give an account to His Creator. Then that is the beginning of wisdom. And that's what's so lacking in the world about us today. No Fear of God.
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Like the reverse in John Chester 9.
Verse Verse 24.
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a Sinner.
He was a man that they would have gone a long ways to convince him that that man was a Sinner.
He knew who that was. He could see. He had never seen his mother. He had never seen his father. He had never seen his own house. Now he can see.
And they're trying to convince him that this man is a Sinner.
Well, just another word for young as well as old.
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Can you be talked out of it?
Can somebody come along with a Bible in their hands and the title to their name? Or somebody with a textbook even wrote the textbook and talk you out of it?
No, it's that person.
Don't care what anybody says, the Bible says let every man be a liar, not just mistaken.
Let it remain be a liar.
Because Jesus Christ.
Is everything to the soul that believes in him.
In this to talk us out of it. Oh beloved, you need to be much before him.
This day, because there are many people who just talk us out of a little bit, just twist things a little bit.
What they're trying really to take us away from that one who is God's center. He is everything. That's what the Bible says.
I wonder if I could read a few verses in the first chapter of John's epistle in connection with a contrast.
That which was from the beginning, that's what we've had today, brother. We've had that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon at our hands, have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifest, and we have seen it. And bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard declaring of you.
That ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto that your joy may be what quote the Lord wants you and me to be the enjoyment of what we've had and we have all like the challenge you raised for the bill about the world around us taking away what we got. But what do we have? The Lord says I want your joy to be full, just like my joy.
In the knowledge that you belong to me, you're redeemed with my precious blood. And very soon we're going to be singing the heavenly choir, brethren, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins with His own blood.
Seen him #70 in the offenders.
He referred back to the beginning of the meeting, Speaking of the internal state.
#70 in the appendix.
We see.
All right.
We all listen. Service of love.
The.
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God must have been to be there.
Oh Lord.
Pleasure.
And all.
Over heaven and our glaring clearance and praise her.