Sermon 2560. Universal Fatherhood-a Lie!

(No. 2560)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 13, 1898.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 1, 1883.

"I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father." John 8:38.

THESE were the words of Christ to those who beset Him round about with angry eyes and cruel tongues. Our Lord declared thatHe had been with His Father before He spoke with those wicked Jews. And, indeed, He had been, for He was with the Father beforethe worlds were formed. He saw all that the Father did and He helped in doing it-"Without Him was not anything made that wasmade." He was the Father's eternal delight. The relationship of father and son among man implies that one exists before theother, but it is not so implied in the relationship of the eternal Father and Son. We know not how to explain this great mystery,for the terms Father and Son are only the nearest approximation that can be given to our poor understandings of the relationshipwhich exists between them. Yet is the Father eternal and the Son eternal-the Son coequal and coeternal with the Father. OurLord had an existence before He was born of Mary-He had an everlasting existence. His goings forth were from of old, evenfrom eternity. Though He is unto us the Child born and the Son given, yet He is equally, "the Everlasting Father," who wasand is and ever shall be One with the eternal God.

We learn, from what Christ said, that He knows all the Father's mind. He understands the very essence of the Godhead. He isacquainted with the purposes that are kept secret from men and angels. As God, He knows what none of us can know till theday shall declare it and there is nothing in the Father's heart that is hidden from Him. As the Son of Man, He knew not allthings, for He grew up as a child and increasedin knowledge. And He said, "Of that day and that hour knows no man, no, notthe angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." But as Divine, He is acquainted with all the Father's heart,mind, will, desire, purpose and plan. The very heart of God is read by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in it andis One with Him.

We ought to be very grateful that the Son of God has come into the world and told us all that we need to know concerning theFather. "I speak," He says, "that which I have seen with My Father." First He saw it all with such an eye as no one else has-andthen He came here and spoke of it all, or as much of it as it was possible and wise for man to receive. Let us rejoice inthe preaching of Christ, because He testified what He had seen. What He said was no theory, no guesswork-He revealed factsand that which He has told us concerning God is stamped with the solemn seal of Infallible Truth, for Christ cannot err ormake mistakes. He has told us what He has seen and testified what He has known. Oh, for Divine Grace to receive His witness!He that does receive it shall live forever-He that rejects it shall die the death that never dies!

Then, at the back of this follows another very consolatory thought-that if Christ's teaching is, indeed, the revelation ofwhat He has seen with the Father, then we are quite certain, since God is never inconsistent with Himself, that there is nothingin the secret purpose and design of God which is contrary to the Gospel which Christ has revealed. When I read, therefore,"Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely," I need not fear lest any doctrine of election or predestination willbe in conflict with that invitation! If I hear Christ say, "He that believes on Me has everlasting life," I may be quite surethat it is so. There is nothing in the sealed Book of the Divine Decrees that is contrary to the open Book of Divine Revelation.There is no passage in the mysterious roll of destiny that, rightly understood, can conflict in any degree with any part ofthe Volume which the Spirit of God has given us. This ought to make us very glad. I may sit down and pore over the tremendousmysteries of fixed fate, foreknowledge, predestination and the like until I confuse my mind and make my spirit heavy witha thousand gloomy thoughts about things I cannot understand-but what a mercy it is to say, "He has said, 'He that believesand is baptized shall be saved.' "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Himshould not perish, but have everlasting life.'" It cannot be that God is keeping back in His mind something that is contraryto what He has spoken-"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: has He said, andshall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?" I rejoice to know that neither has Christ seen wrongly,nor is there anything which He has seen which would conflict with what He has said to us!

I want you, dear Friends, to look at the text and to notice two or three things that come out, as it were, incidentally. Thefirst is that the doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God is a lie. That is clear enough from this passage, "I speak thatwhich I have seen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father." Then, there are two fathers, andthere are two sets of children-there is a Father whom Christ calls, "My Father." And there is another father whom He calls,in speaking to the Jews who hated Him, "your father." The prayer beginning, "Our Father, which are in Heaven," was never meantto be used by everybody. In the mouth of the ungodly, it is altogether out of place, for God is nottheir Father. "You mustbe born again" before you can be the children of God. The Scripture statement is clear and distinct-"As many as received Him,to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." We are constantly spoken of as beingbegotten again, regenerated and adopted by God-all of which is a farce and a nullity if men are by creation and by their firstnatural birth, the children of God. It is not so! "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the Wicked One.""Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God"-and the distinctionis set forth between "us" who have received this "manner of love" and the multitude who are still the seed of the Wicked One.This truth needs to be proclaimed very forcibly and the axe must be laid to the root of that deadly upas tree of universalfatherhood, for all manner of mischief will result if unconverted men are led to believe that they are already the sons ofGod. They are not so until they have been Divinely translated out of the kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.

Another fact that is incidentally taught us here is that there is a devil A great many of the devil's servants are so disrespectfulto their lord that they even deny his existence and Satan, himself, is so self-denying in this respect that he denies hisown existence and sets other people to do the same. Men squeezed the Lord's prayer very hard when they made it read, "Deliverus from evil," for it is pretty clear that it ought to be, "Deliver us from the Evil One." There is a distinct enunciationof a great master-power of evil, a dread personality, "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in thechildren of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfillingthe desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others," until Grace brought usout from that terrible state! They who have started on the road to Heaven know that there is a devil, for they have had manyan evil thought that came not from themselves or from their fellow men-strange, dark, mysterious thoughts which have rushedupon them from the infernal regions and nowhere else!

And those who have stood foot to foot with Apollyon, as Christian did, know full well that he is neither a myth nor a dream,but an awful and powerful adversary from whom may God deliver us from day to day! Even His errand boys, his imps, are terribleenough, for Paul was hard put to it when he was vexed by a messenger of Satan who buffeted him. But as for Satan, himself,when he comes to fight with a soul, woe to that man unless he has the almighty power of God to enable him to bear up in theday of battle! Our Lord Jesus Christ here speaks of Satan as being just as real as the Father is-"I speak that which I haveseen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father." Then He says, in the 44th verse, "You are of yourfather the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do." I quite expect, one of these days, to meet a man who will tellme that I have neither eyes, nor ears, nor head, nor body, nor soul, nor anything else! Sometimes I have said to myself, "Surely,the course of doubting can go no further! Men have reached the uttermost absurdity of unbelief." But, Brothers and Sisters,we know, to our joy, that there is a Father in Heaven-the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and, sometimes,we also know to our terror that there is another father of another family, against whom we fight in full assurance of victory,rejoicing that "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly."

Still, those are not the main Truths of God I want to bring out of the text. Let them be laid by to be thought upon, but think,now, of this Truth-that nature is the root of character. That is the doctrine taught in this text-that conduct is the resultof nature, for Christ says, "I speak that which I have seen with My Father." And to His enemies He says, "You do that whichyou have seen with your father." A child talks according to his nature. Has he good training at home? Does he live with godlyparents? Hear him prattle and you will soon find out where he came from. Listen to another child who has lived in very differentcircumstances-one who has been brought up amid evil of every kind. As you hear himtalk, you learn from what kind of familyhe came. It is the real nature of a person which produces the conversation and the conduct. It is not good actions that makea good man-it is the good man who does the good actions. It is not the sweet apples that make the tree sweet, but it is thesweetness of the sap, the excellence of the tree, which produces the good apples. So, you see, there is a great deal moreto be done than to alter your talk and your actions! Our very naturehas to be changed! That is the Truth of God I want tobring out before I close my discourse.

I. Note, first, that OUR BLESSED LORD PROVED HIS OWN PARENTAGE BY WHAT HE SAID. "I speak that which I have seen with My Father."

Though I cannot put my thoughts into words as I would like, it seems so beautiful to me that our Lord Jesus Christ shouldbe called the Holy Child Jesus and that all His life-teaching should be, as it were, a child telling what He has seen at home.You have sometimes heard a pretty little guileless child telling out all that it has seen while with its father and mother-disclosingeven the innermost secrets of the family with naivete and sweetness. And you have, perhaps, laughed heartily as you have seenhow everything has been laid bare by that little talker's tongue. Now transfer that idea, on a sublime scale, to Christ. Hecomes, as the Holy Child Jesus, not to tell us of the grandeur of God, but as though He condescends to take upon Himself ourchild-nature in its immaturity. He tells us, as a child, what He has seen with the Father! It is such a blessed way of lettingus know the secrets of God's heart for the Only-Begotten, the Well-Beloved, to come and tell us, who are made by Grace theyounger members of the family, all that He has seen with the Father.

When we listen to Christ, we say at once that He speaks to us words of love. "Never man spoke like this Man." He was Tenderness,itself. He spoke so winsomely and His words were so full of affection that, "the common people heard Him gladly." Yes, andeven the publicans and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him! The first words of hope they ever heard fell from His dear lips.The teachers of the Law were chilly and cold, and they froze up every thought of joy in the poor sinner's soul, but the wordsof Christ were warm with brotherly affection, for He spoke of what He had seen with the Father! What had He seen with theFather but love-love unutterable, love illimitable, love that endures forever, for "God is Love"!

Yet did Christ also speak words of justice. God i s not so much Love that any true attribute which ought to be found in aperfect Character is absent and, therefore, God is Just. True Christianity is never dubious about the justice of God. TheLord abhors sin, He cannot endure it. He "will by no means clear the guilty." The tone of the chapter I have read to you [seeExposition at end of sermon] seems severe and so it should be when spoken to hypocrites like those scribes and Pharisees.Do you expect God to treat them with anything but severity? When our Lord Jesus Christ declares that the wicked shall be castinto Hell, "where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched." When He says, "these shall go away into everlastingpunishment," you see the sternness of Divine Justice! Turn back to the Old Testament and see whether this is not the Jehovahwho was the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob-the righteous God who burned up Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed Pharaohand his hosts in the Red Sea. I confess that I have been as ready to tremble at the words of Jesus as at the tempest, fireand smoke of Sinai's burning hill, for Love, when it speaks terrible things, makes them more awful because of love! Nothingcauses the darkness of the tempest to stand out so terribly as that one bright flash of lightning that makes it afterwardsseem darker than before. And when, in the gentle words of Christ, we see the gleam of God's wondrous love, we feel confoundedbefore the terror of many of His warnings because He speaks that which He has seen with His Father-He keeps back nothing.He proclaims the God of Love, but He proclaims that God who shall come and shall not keep silent and who shall judge the nationsin righteousness-and smite the wicked with a rod of iron!

Yet notice always about our blessed Master this trait in the character of His speech, that He always speaks words of Truth.To Christ's sermons there need never be appended any list of errata. He has neither left anything out, nor left anything inby mistake. Nearly 19 centuries have tried and tested the teachings of Jesus and perhaps this century, with all its unbelief,does the Character of Christ more honor than any century that has gone before it! And certainly the influence of Christ isfelt, today, in places of which people little dream. I heard one say that when our soldiers, in the fight in Egypt, stoppedto put water to the lips of the thirsty enemies whom a century ago our troops would have slain at once, it was because theChrist was shadowing them! They felt His influence, though possibly most of them were not Christians at all. Everywhere theChrist is putting down barbarism in some form or other and helping to amend the character of men- they are girded by Him thoughthey have not known Him! He has never had to alter or to revise His teaching, though our explanation of the teaching has hadto be corrected. There have been prophets and teachers, not sent of God, who, to establish a system of doctrine, or a sector denomination, have had to keep back or to exaggerate something or other, but it was not so with Christ-He spoke the Truthof God, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth of God, for He had been with the Father, and as a child He told out whatHe had seen in the Father's House.

Thus I might keep on bringing out various points about our Lord's teaching, but I will only mention one other. And that is,the supreme holiness of the words of Christ Jesus Christ, with all His gentleness and love, never tolerates sin. That narrativein this chapter, in which He said to the adulteress, "Neither do I condemn you," has never made any other woman commit adulteryand it has never helped a single conscience to find delight in unhallowed lust. No, the brightness of that glorious tendernessis as the shining of a crystal! It is so pure in its tenderness that while it is gentle with the sinner-and may we alwaysbe so-yet it is all the more severe with the sin from its very gentleness! Christ never helps us to be selfish, or to excuseourselves, or to be hypocritical, covering up our sin with a cloak of godliness. No, but His teaching is pure, transparentrighteousness from beginning to end. And we feel as if we could bow down before Him and worship Him with the same adorationwith which the cherubim and seraphim salute the Father and say to Christ, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God and Savior, our veryhearts do worship You!" The teaching of Jesus is thus holy because He speaks the things which He has seen with His Father.

II. Now I go to my second head which is that, like their Lord, CHRIST'S PEOPLE SHOULD ALSO DISPLAY THEIR PARENTAGE. They shouldspeak what they have seen with their father and brothers and sisters. You and I are not the children of God if it is not sowith us. We begin to suspect the parentage of any who have no resemblance to their reputed parents-no family trait or featurewhatever! And certainly in spiritual things, he who is in no respect like Christ, may begin to suspect that he is not a true-bornchild of God, but merely bears the name, and has not come by supernatural descent from the Most High.

Notice, first, that children of God have, in a measure, the Nature of their Father We are not full-grown yet, some of us arevery tiny babes, and it is not always easy to detect the Father's likeness in His infants. That likeness comes out as thechild grows and as the man appears. We are struck, sometimes, with the similarity between father and son, though we couldscarcely trace it while the boy was but little. It is so with us in relation to our Heavenly Father. In regeneration, theNature of God is imparted to us-not, of course, that high and incommunicable Essence of the Godhead which belongs to God,alone-but the Character and disposition of God become ours. Did not the Apostle Peter write, "Simon Peter, a servant and anApostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our SaviorJesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as HisDivine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has calledus to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakersof the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust"?

The Spirit of God, in regeneration, creates in man a third principle which, I believe, was not there before. He is only bodyand soul until this miracle is worked, but then he becomes body, soul and spirit-he rises into a higher sphere and entersinto another world into which he could not have come before. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God:for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "The first man, Adam,was made a living soul" and we are made in his likeness. "The last Adam was made a quickening Spirit"-and when we, by beingborn again, receive His likeness, we then participate in that quickening and rise into the Nature and Image of God! Thereis a "living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever" and which becomes our life in that day when, by the powerof the Spirit of the eternal God, we are "begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."This is a deep mystery and blessed are they who need not merely talk of it, because every day they know its power! Now, wherethere is the Nature of God, there will be a likeness to God, and you and I must have a measure of likeness to our great Father,or else it cannot be right for us to say that we are born of Him.

Next, the children of God, when they are in a right state of heart, live with their Father. If you send your children awayto school and they never come home to see you, they may grow up with very little of your characteristics, for they are aptto be impressed by those with whom they live. Those who are born of God live with God. Moses said, "Lord, You have been ourdwelling place in all generations." And the Apostle John wrote, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His SonJesus Christ." It is our delight to go to our Father and to speak with Him. We dwell in God, even as Christ said to His disciples,"Abide in Me, and I in you." You cannot live with a man without growing more or less like he is and, certainly, no child ofGod can live with God and contemplate the Person and Character of Christ so as to abide in Him without becoming changed intoHis image, "from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Children have a natural gift of imitation, so God's children imitate their Father. Paul's words, in Ephesians 5:1, should read, "Be you imitators of God, as dear children." It is very curious to see how children will imitate their parents.Was there ever a preacher whose boy did not stand on a chair and try to preach? Was there ever a man who laid bricks, or useda saw, who has not caught his children doing the same sort of thing? Was there ever a girl who did not seem to know what shewould come to in being a nurse of little children and, therefore, naturally took to nursing a doll? It is the habit of childrento imitate-they cannot help it. Well now, if we are the children of God and if we dwell with God, the instinct of imitationwill certainly manifest itself and we shall try to be doing, in our small way, those deeds of kindness and love, those actsof righteousness and holiness which God is doing! And it will be said of us in our measure, "You do that which you have seenwith your father."

Then, in addition, God's children tell what they hear. There is, in a child, the instinct is always to tell what it hears.I am afraid that I have not lost that instinct, myself, though I am no longer a child. I never like to be entrusted with anybody'ssecrets and I generally give people notice that if they want them published abroad, they have only to communicate them tome. It stops me from being bothered with a lot of things that will be sure to get known without my telling them! Childrencannot keep a secret! It is no use to tell them to do so. If there is any family secret at all, the children must not onlybe put to bed at night, but they must be kept in bed all day, for, "little pitchers have large ears," and they also have agreat gift of running over! Children tell just the very thing that you do not want them to say-and say it just at the verytime when you would rather they not have it said! So, the children of God must tell what they have seen of their Father. Assoon as ever they have heard of the great Father's love, something makes them want to run outside and find somebody to whomthey can say, "Did you ever hear this wonderful story?" Perhaps that "somebody" has no sympathy with them, but he is boundto hear what they have to say-and then off they go to someone else to ask whether he ever heard this good news. Though theymay be ridiculed and laughed at, yet these dear children of God will keep telling the blessed tale. The more a man has learnedof Christ, the more, I believe, he will want to tell the endless and unreliable story of what he has seen with the Father!

I have known some professedly Christian people who hardly like to be spoken to about the things of God, but it ought not tobe so. Let the dear children talk about their Lord as much as ever they like-at the street corners, if they please, or atthe dinner table. Anywhere and everywhere, a good word for God ought never to be out of season. Surely, there is no placewhere a word about the precious Savior will be out of order! What if we do, sometimes, cast pearls before swine? We have somany of them that we can afford to let the wretched creatures munch one or two-and if they turn and tear us, we can endureeven this in the hope that, afterwards, they may be sorry for it and God may tear and renew their hearts! Therefore, do notbe bashful, you who know the Lord, but say with emphasis, "I must speak that which I have seen with my Father."

III. Now I have to finish on the gloomy side of the subject, namely, that THE DEVIL'S FAMILY PARTAKE OF THE DEVIL'S NATUREand they are sure to speak that which they have seen with their father, too.

For instance, there are some who are very spiteful and speak with enmity, especially of Christian people. They cannot standthem-they have never a good word for them. They denounce their motives if they cannot find fault with their actions. I donot wonder that they do, because their father did a long while ago. One of his names is, "the accuser of the brethren," andit was said to him of old, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed." There is alwaysthat enmity and we expect to see it, so we are not surprised. But we are grieved for any of you who, by your speech, betrayyour hatred of the people of God and so reveal the fact that you are children of Satan. One said, "I would like to kill allChristians. I hate them! I cannot endure them, especially if they are very earnest. I would have such fellows hung." Did notone say, the other day, of a certain minister, that he wished he had been killed in the accident? Yes, he did, and that isthe feeling that some have toward those who are true Christians. What said the Jews concerning Paul? "Away with such a fellowfrom the earth: for it is not fit that he should live." That is the way the devil's children still talk, for they hear itat home with their father. Did Satan ever have a good word for our Father? No. Then he will never have a good word for Hischildren. When, sometimes, he has spoken a true word, he has tried, with fiendish malice, to undermine the cause of Christby praising it. But you remember how Paul and Silas would not let the devil praise them-they stopped his mouth directly. Thehighest compliment the devil can pay to virtue, is to hate it. It is the unconscious homage that evil must pay to goodnessto loathe it, even as Satan loathes all that is good and right.

Beside this, the devil's children frequently speak untruths. There are some who lie in trade and some who lie in jest- theycall them, "white lies." If this is the case with anybody here, do not deceive yourself, my Friend. You know who was a liarfrom the beginning and the father of lies-and they who cannot or will not speak the Truth of God are the children of thatancient liar-and they will have to go home to their father one of these days. They are not the children of God, for God'schildren abhor a lie! When their word is once given, they will stand to it even to their own hurt. If you are not true, youhave not been with the great Father of Truth and you must have learned falsehood from the great father of lies.

There are some, too, who are wickedly proud-proud of their person, proud of the rags they wear, proud of their abilities,proud of their station, proud of their ancestors, proud of I know not what-too haughty, almost, to come near a commonplaceperson. Yes, they learned that of their father, for Lucifer is the very prince of pride! "By that sin fell the angels." Andin that sin live those who are like the fallen angels. I beseech you, fling away all pride! May God help you soon to be ridof it altogether!

Then there is another trait which is common enough in many persons and that is, self-will They are not going to be ruled andgoverned and tied to their mother's apron strings. They will have their own way. If they suffer for it, they will do as theylike and be their own master. Yes, and they learned that from their father, for that is the way he talked of old. "Better,"he said, "to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven," according to Milton, and Milton has but put into words the spirit of thatfallen one. He is rebellious, he cannot endure authority, he will not yield to God-the word, "obey," is one which he cannotstand. Oh, let those who are living in disobedience to God, in utter carelessness, as lovers of pleasure rather than loversof God, self-seekers who never give a thought to what they owe to their Creator and their Lord-let them understand that allthis betrays whose children they are and where they were brought up! Does anybody get angry at my speech and say, "I willhear no more of it"? That is like your father, too! And do you gnash your teeth and bite your tongues? That is like your father,too-"You do that which you have seen with your father."

What shall be the conclusion of my discourse? Why, my drear Friends, that it is of very little use for you to try and changeyour outward character, your language and so forth, first. What you need is for your natureto be changed. When the fountainis made sweet, the streams will be sweet, but, until the source is sweetened, that which comes out of it will still be impure."You must be born again." Do you ask, "How can that be?" Well, there is a very amazing connection between being born againand believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the third chapter of John's Gospel and note how our Lord not only said to Nicodemus,"You must be born again," but He also said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Manbe lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Believe in Christ and you are born again!That act of faith is an indication that the new birth has taken place. The moment that God gives you the Grace to trust yourselfwith Christ, He has also renewed your nature! That act of trusting in Christ is like the first snowdrop that tells us thatspring is near. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are a new person in Christ. Then live with your Father and go outand tell all what you have seen with your Father, and God bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C.H. SPURGEON: JOHN 8:12-39

Verses 12, 13. Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: He that follows Me shall not walk indarkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees-These wasps were always stinging Him! When He drove them away once,they quickly returned to attack Him again, "The Pharisees-

13-15. Therefore said unto Him, You bear record of Yourself- Your recordis not true. Jesus answered and said unto them; ThoughI bear record of Myself, yet My recordis true: for I know from where I came, and where I go; but you cannot tell from whereI come, and where I go. You judge after the flesh; I judge no man. He did not come for that purpose the first time. He willcome, a second time, to judge all mankind.

16. And yet if I judge, My judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. You see, Brothers andSisters, how our Lord Jesus claimed to be God, for He put Himself here in such a connection with God as would be quite inconsistentfor any mere man. This is what Paul meant when He said that Christ "thought it not robbery to be equal with God," He thoughtit not a prize to be grasped, for it was already His.

17, 18. It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is true. Iam One that bear witness ofMyself and the Fatherthat sent Me bears witness of Me. He did that by the miracles which Christ worked and they proved that He was, indeed, sentof God.

19. Then said they unto Him, Where is Your Father? Jesus answered, You neither know Me, nor My Father: if you had known Me,you should have known My Father also. They thought they knew His reputed father, Joseph. They thought they also knew all aboutChrist, the carpenter's Son, but there is more in Christ than carnal eyes can ever see. There is more in Christ than the mostenlightened understanding, if it is but natural understanding, can ever perceive. These blind bats, the Pharisees, neitherknew Christ nor the Father. If they had known Him, they would have known the Father, for Christ is "the brightness of HisGlory and the express Image of His Person."

20. These words spoke Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the Temple: and no man laid hands on Him; for His hour was notyet come. Like our Lord, every child of God is immortal till his work is done. This ought to divest us of every kind of fear.The enemy cannot lay hands upon a Christian until his Lord wills it-and when his hour has come, then it behooves not the childof God to resist the Father's will.

21. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: where I go, you cannotcome. Oh, what a terrible sentence is that! I pray that the Lord may never say that to any of us, "Where I go, you cannotcome." That would be the death-knell of all our hopes and would make our life one long banishment. Blessed be His name! Wewho have sought Him and have found Him, by His Grace, know that. We shal1 not die in our sins and where He has gone, we shallalso go!

22. 23. Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He says, Where I go, you cannot come. And He said unto them, Youare from beneath; I am from above. You are of a groveling nature. Your thoughts rise out of the abyss where every evil dwells.

23. 24. You are of this world; Iam not of this world. I said therefore, of you, that you shall die in your sins: for if youbelieve not that Iam He, you shall die in your sins. If you have no faith in Christ as the Son of God, "you shall die in yoursins." What an awful thing it will be to die in your sins! What cerements for your eternal burial! What a robe of fire inwhich to lie down for your long sleep and then to find no sleep because of it! "You shall die in your sins." I would likethis short, stern sentence to ring in the ears of every unbeliever. These are not my words, but Christ's own Words-the Wordsof the most loving and tender Savior-"If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins."

25-29. Then said they unto Him, Who are You? And Jesus said 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 the world those things which Ihave heard of Him. They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have liftedup the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am He, and that I do nothing ofMyself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speakthese things. And He that sent Me is with Me. This made Christ's life so calm, so deeply joyous amid all its sorrow-"He thatsent Me is with Me." Servant of God, can you say the same? If so, it is your joy, your confidence, your strength! God grantthat we may, each one of us, realize that blessed Presence of our Lord!

29. Thee Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. Christ could truly say that. Oh, thatit might be true of us, too!

30, 31. As He spoke these words, many believed on Him, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continuein My Word, then are you My disciples indeed. "If you became My disciples because of what I said, will you believe what Ishall yet say? Are you prepared to take in still further revelations and to receive whatever I shall teach you? If so, 'thenare you My disciples indeed'"

32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Some who heard this message of our Lord caught at it-theywere always on the watch for anything to quibble at and contradict and, therefore-

33, 34. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how say You, You shall be made free?Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. Or, "the slave of sin." Thereis the test of your position-if you do the devil's dirty work, you are his servant. If you delight in sin then you can hearyour fetters clank if the ears of your conscience are but open-"Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin."

35-37. And the servant abides not in the house forever: but the Son abides always. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free,you shall be free, indeed. Iknow that you are Abraham's seed. "I know what a boast you make of that."

37-39. But you seek to kill Me because My Word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and youdo that which you have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus had admitted that,as a matter of temporal descent, but He denied it as a matter of real fact.