THE KING’S BUSINESS
566
He was not God manifest in the flesh, if He was the Son “o f God only in the sense that alb men are the sons o f God (as so many teachers in these days tell us), then He was indeed a blasphemer, and according to. the Mosaic law should be stoned. Jesus could point to many works that the Father had done through Him that certified to His claims, and He asked them for which o f these they stoned Him. The reply o f the Jews is deeply suggestive (v. 33). They saw clearly that He set Himself forth as divine. Jesus defended Himself from their accusations not only by an appeal to the works by which the Father endorsed His claims, but an appeal to the Scriptures, and in so doing stated in unmistakable words the irrefragability or absolute inerrancy o f the Old Testament Scripture. The quota tion given is from the eighty-second Psalm, verse six. One can give up the inerrancy o f the Old Testament Scriptures and the divine origin o f the Old Testament Scrip tures only by giving up Jesus Christ and His authority. It is either Christ and the whole Bible, or else it is no Bible and no Christ. Give up the Old Testament Scrip tures and Jesus must go too. But we can not give up Jesus, for Him hath the Father endorsed. Him did the Father send into the world, and Him did the Father seal by the works which the Father did through Him. The proof that the Father was in Him and He in the Father is undeniable and overwhelming. The Jews could not answer Jesus so they sought to arrest Him and put Him out o f the way. T t is a com mon resort o f those who know they are wrong to try to silence the teacher o f truth whom they cannot answer. But Jesus’ hour was not yet come, so their attempt to arrest Him failed, “He went forth out o f their hand.” Again He goes into seclu sion, far from the ecclesiastical authorities who were seeking His death. He went out to the place where John the Baptist had baptized Him and set the stamp o f his endorsement upon Him (cf, ch. 1 :28-34). Those who had heard and seen John and had been disposed' to believe on the Lord
claim with sufficient fruit (vs. 24, 25). The cause o f any man’s unbelief is because he is not one o f Christ’s sheep (v. 26). Christ’s sheep hear His voice, they listen to it, recognize it, rejoice in it. And not only do they know Him, “ He knows” (v. 27), i. e., recognizes them as His own, delights in them, and they follow Him. Saturday, June 24 . John 10 : 28 , 29 . To those who really are His sheep Jesus gives eternal life. W e are so familiar with that wonderful phrase “ eternal life,” that we do not stop and weigh it and so we miss its marvelous meaning. But stop and think o f it today, ponder it long—eternal life, eternal life, ETERNAL. LIFE. I f we are Christ’s sheep eternal life is ours. What has the world to offer in comparison with that? And we are eternally secure, we “ shall never perish, and no one shall snatch” us out o f Christ’s hand. The mighty Father, who is greater than all, has given uS to Christ as an eternal possession and no one is able to “ snatch” us “ out o f the Father’s hand.” This, then, is the place o f perfect security, in which I, as one o f Christ’s sheep find myself; Jesus’ almighty hand underneath me, God thp Father’s almighty hand over me, and in that place all the powers o f earth and hell can not touch me, I shall “never perish.” . Hal lelujah 1 Jesus and the Father “ are one,” they are one in thought and purpose, they are one in nature, for all the attributes o f Deity belong to Christ. From all eternity He existed “in the form o f God” (Phil. 2 :6 ), all the fullness o f the Godhead dwells in Him (Col. 2:9 ). He was so-fu lly God that He ccfuld ¿ay even during His humilia tion in His earthly life, “ He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). In the very beginning He not only was with God, but was God (ch. 1 :1,2), but the Jews judged Him to be a blasphemer when He claimed oneness with the Father, and if Sunday, June 25 . . John 10 : 30 - 38 .
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