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THE KING’S BUSINESS
hate (v. 44), and these are also the two clearest marks o f the child o f the Devil (cf. 1 John 3 :12, 15). The principal reason why the Jews refused to believe Jesus was because He spoke the truth (v. 45). That is alsa the principal reason why men today refuse to believe Jesus and refuse to believe the Bible; it speaks the truth, and they love darkness rather than light. It is nothing against the Bible, but much in its favor, that men who love sin do not believe it. Jesus challenged them to convict Him of sin. This, none o f them could do, He was absolutely sinless. Finally, He told them that a sure mark o f a child o f God was that he heard God’s word (v. 47; cf. John 10:26, 27; 17:8). Any one who is born o f God will recognize, listen to, and love the words o f God, and will therefore recog nize the Bible as the W ord o f God and love the Bible because it is the W ord o f God. The best cure for skepticism is the new birth. Sunday, June n . John 8 : 48 - 59 . The Jews could not answer Jesus, so they slandered Him. They said about Him what seemed to them some o f the meanest things that they could say, that He was a Samaritan (fo r there was no one that they so despised and hated as the Samaritans), and had a demon. If those who hated the truth spoke thus o f the Lord, should we, His disciples, complain when they speak in a similar way o f us? (cf. John 15:18, 20). Jesus never sought His own glory, His one joy was the glory o f His Father and that was all that He sought (cf. ch. 17:1, 4). It is a startling word that our Lord utters in the 51st verse, “ I f a man keep my word, he shall never see death.” W e do well to deeply ponder it. It teaches us plainly that if any one studies, believes, and obeys the W ord o f Christ, death has no power over him. His body may crum ble into dust, but he will not die; the spirit, the real man, leaving the present earthly house o f this tabernacle, will be absent from the body, but at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:1-8, R. V .; cf. Phil. 1:23), and
some day the body itself shall be raised and transformed into the likeness o f the Lord’s glorious body (Phil. 3:20, 21, R. V .). The believer in Christ can face death with out a fear, for death cannot touch him. He can shout in the face o f death . as he approaches, “ Oh death, where is thy vic tory” (1 Cor. .15:57, R. V .) This utter ance o f Jesus seemed to the Jews like the utterance o f an insane man, and so it seems today to those who are as blind as the Jews were. The Jews were shocked that Jesus should think for a moment that He was greater than Abraham who died. They wondered and asked, “Who makest thou thyself?” Jesus answered it mattered little who He made Himself, the question was what the Father declared Him to be, and the Father declared Him to be far, far above Abraham, His only begotten Son. But they did not know the Father, though they boasted they did, and therefore they did not accept the Father’s testimony about the Lord Jesus. Just as many who boast they know God, the Father, today do not accept His testimony about His Son. And then our Lord gave utterance to another wonderful statement: “Before Abraham was, I am.” “I am ” is the name o f Jeho vah, and Jesus here takes that name to Himself. There was a time when Abraham came to be (came to be is the force o f the Greek word translated “was” in verse 58). But there was no time when our Lord came to be, He was the eternal I Am. Jesus also, told the Jews that he whom, they boasted o f as their father Abraham “rejoiced to see my day.” When did Abra ham see His day? The answer is found in Genesis 18. There we are told that Jeho vah appeared unto Abraham as he sat in the tent door in the heat o f the day (Gén. 18:1), and then we are told o f three who stood over against Him. As we read on through the 18th and 19th chapters we find that one o f these three was different from the other two, that one o f the three remained behind while the other two went on to Sodom (Gen. 18:22, 23, following, and Gen. 19:1). This one who remained
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