This is Monday evening, September the 11th, 1972,
in Richmond, Virginia.
A ministry is being given through Brother Stephen
Kong.
And he gave the power to become the
sons of God.
Ying Ying is life, Ying Ying is life,
and his life is the light of man.
Ying Ying is life, Ying Ying is life,
and his life is the light of man.
Lord, as we draw near to thy presence,
we do claim the cleansing of the precious
blood, without which no one can approach the
throne of grace.
Lord, how we praise and thank thee for
the availability of thy precious blood, that we
may come on that ground and with boldness.
Lord, we do believe that as we gather
together unto thy name, unto thyself, and put
ourselves under thy authority, thou art in our
midst.
Lord, take charge over this gathering.
Fill this place with thy presence.
Speak to us through thy word, by thy
spirit, that we may not hear any human
words and sounds.
But Lord, we want to see thee.
We want to hear thee.
We want to touch thee.
Lord, touch us tonight, and we will behold
thee.
We do commit ourselves to thee, looking to
thee for thy blessing, that thou mayest receive
all the praise and the glory and the
honor.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
I'd like to read just two passages as
sample verses.
The first one is found in the Gospel
according to John, chapter 2.
John, chapter 2.
We'll read from verse 1 to verse 11.
And on the third day a marriage took
place in Cana of Galilee, and the mother
of Jesus was there.
And Jesus also and his disciples were invited
to the marriage.
And wine being deficient, the mother of Jesus
said to him, They have no wine.
Jesus said to her, What have I to
do with thee, woman?
Mine hour has not yet come.
His mother says to the servant, Whatever he
may say to you, do.
Now there were standing there six stone water
vessels, according to the purification of the Jews,
holding two or three measures each.
Jesus says to them, Fill the water vessels
with water.
And they filled them up to the brim.
And he says to them, Draw up now
and carry it to the feastmaster.
And they carried it.
And when the feastmaster had tasted the water
that had been made wine, and knew not
whence it was, but the servants knew who
drew the water, the feastmaster calls the bridegroom
and says to him, Every man step on
first the good wine, and when men have
well drunk, then the inferior.
Thou hast kept the good wine till now.
This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana
of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his
disciples believed.
Then we turn to chapter 20, verses 30
and 31.
Many other signs, therefore, also Jesus did before
his disciples, which are not written in this
book, but these are written, that ye may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and that believing ye might have
life in his name.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have been fellowshipping
together for the last two centuries.
on the gospel according to John.
First, we fellowship, somehow, on the life of
John the Evangelist.
How he came to the Lord, with the
one desire, to be with the Lord.
When the Lord asked him, What do you
want?
His answer was, Where do you live?
John desired to dwell with the Lord.
And because of his dwelling with the Lord,
we find how the Lord dealt with him,
transformed this natural son of thunder into the
voice of God.
And because of that, God was able to
use this man to present to us the
last of the four Gospels.
In a sense, this is the consummation of
all the Gospels.
Because there we find our Lord Jesus is
presented to us as the Son of God.
And in believing in him, we will receive
eternal life.
Now this morning, we fellowship a little bit
on the nature or the character of the
Gospel according to John.
We find John presents Christ as the Son
of God.
What do we mean?
What does the Scripture mean?
By the Son.
It means in a very special way that
he is the revelation of the Father.
No one has ever seen God.
But he who is in the bosom of
the Father, he has declared him.
Now in order to declare the Father in
all his fullness, first of all, he has
to have everything that is in the Father.
That's why you find in the Gospel of
John, it is mentioned again and again, the
Father loves me, and he has given everything
to me.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in
the Son's body.
And secondly, the Son has to empty himself
in order that he may be a full
expression of the Father.
He says, I can do nothing by myself.
I do because the Father is doing it.
I say because the Father is saying it.
So dear brothers and sisters, we find in
our Lord Jesus the Son of God.
He who brings the Father, he is full
of grace and truth.
God is love, therefore he comes to us
in grace.
God is light, therefore he comes to us
in truth.
But neither grace nor truth are something apart
from Christ.
Because Christ is the grace of God.
He is the truth.
And as we receive his life into us,
we find that his life in us is
the life of the Son of God.
Full of grace and truth.
The very nature of his life in us
is light and love.
And that's what you find in the first
epistle of John.
Being, having a life which is love and
light.
We ought to live on this earth expressing
the grace and the truth of the Lord.
He is the Son of God.
But by his death and resurrection he is
to bring many sons into glory.
And this is the nature or character of
the gospel according to John.
Now tonight we will go over the whole
gospel once again.
But from a little bit different angle.
You know, as you read the gospel according
to John, you will find there is a
word which is used by John in a
very special way.
And that word is signs.
Or signs.
There are different words in the Greek that
have more or less the same meaning.
For instance, wonders.
Miracles.
Powers.
Signs.
Now, expectations.
These are various words.
But John seems to have a special delight
in using the word signs.
In the other gospel you may find the
word wonders.
You may find the word miracles.
A word of power.
The Lord is doing something which is wonderful,
miraculous, powerful.
But John, instead of using the word miracle
or power or wonder or expectation or deeds,
he uses the word signs.
Because signs has a meaning which is deeper
than miracle or wonder or power.
The Lord Jesus does a miracle.
The Lord Jesus performs a wonder.
The Lord Jesus does an act of power.
But dear brothers and sisters, John is not
satisfied just by telling us what wonders, what
powers, what signs, what deeds our Lord Jesus
has done.
He wants us to get behind these wonders,
behind these miracles, behind these powers, behind these
deeds, and get into something which is more
basic and more fundamental or, we may say,
more ultimate.
Now, that is John.
Whenever you touch John and his writings, you
find he always leads us back to the
very source, to the ultimate.
He will not be satisfied with anything less
than the final.
For this reason, he does not use the
word wonders or miracles or powers.
Instead, he uses the word signs.
Now, what do you mean by a sign?
A sign means something is done, but that
something is not an end in itself.
That something is a means to an end.
A sign is a pointer.
It points us to something else.
John does not want us to be all
involved with all these acts of wonders, with
all these miracles and all these powers.
However attractive they are, John wants us to
get behind them.
And, as it were, by these signs, we
are being pointed and directed to something else,
or, may I say, to someone.
Just like when you are climbing a mountain.
If you are climbing a mountain, you will
find as you come to different levels of
the mountain, there will be signs there.
Suppose there is a sign on a certain
elevation, at a certain elevation, and that sign
will tell you, now you are now a
thousand feet above sea level.
And probably that sign will also point you
to a direction, and that is the direction
that you can climb to the top of
the mountain.
Now, usually when you see such a sign,
you will stop for a while.
You will look around, and probably it will
be a good scenery there.
That's where the sign is usually put.
Or maybe the sign is made of beautiful
wood and carved, very beautiful, something to be
admired.
But, dear brothers and sisters, you all know,
as you see these signs, as you climb
the mountains, you will see sign after sign.
You may enjoy them for a while, but
you know, you are not supposed to stay
there.
You are to be directed by these signs
and go higher and higher up until you
reach the summit.
And that is the end.
And there you can see a paramount view
of the whole mountain region and how gorgeous,
how grand it is.
Dear brothers and sisters, you know all the
wonders, all the miracles, all the works of
powers, the deeds of our Lord Jesus, they
are signs.
They are marvelous in themselves.
When you see these wonders and miracles and
powers, you cannot help but stop for a
while, consider them, admire them, and praise the
Lord for them.
They are something beautiful in connection with all
these signs.
We worship the Lord because of all the
wonders and miracles that He has performed.
If you stay there, if you stay with
these miracles, if all you see are miracles,
wonders, and powers and nothing else, you miss
it.
How many of God's people today are wonder
-oriented?
How many of God's people are praising the
Lord for all the works of power, of
wonder, of miracles done by the Lord?
And God, for every wonder, every miracle, every
power, every deed, we do stop, admire, amaze,
worship, but these are signs.
Do not stop with them.
You have to be directed by these signs
to something higher up, to someone who is
the higher.
So, brothers and sisters, all the signs recorded
in the Gospel according to John, they are
pointers.
They are not the end.
They do not want us to surround them
and stay with them our whole life.
They want us to climb higher up until
we see that one.
In other words, we see the glory of
the Son.
And as we see the glory of the
Son of God, then, in believing Him, we
will receive eternal life.
Now, that is the Gospel according to John.
In the Gospel according to John, you will
find there is recorded eight.
If you read from the first chapter down
to the twenty-first chapter, you will find
altogether eight signs, eight wonders, eight miracles, eight
acts of power.
But these eight occasions are signs.
They are there to direct our attention to
the Son of God, to witness His glory,
and to believe in Him.
So tonight, we would like to go through
this book with all these signs with us.
We travel by these signs.
And we hope that as we travel by
these signs, we may see the glory.
Now, that is the first sign.
A wedding was performed in Cana of Galilee.
There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
And the mother of Jesus was invited.
And Jesus and His disciples were invited.
Evidently, this young couple or their family seemed
to be very close to the family of
our Lord Jesus.
So they were all invited.
Not only the mother of Jesus, not only
Jesus, but even His disciples were all invited.
It was a happy time.
Marriage was one of the greatest things in
life.
We may almost say that marriage is a
climax.
You'll find that people will grow and grow
and grow and gradually mature.
And after two persons are mature, then it
comes to that climax.
They are being joined into one.
And when two are joined into one, then
the original divine of God is accomplished.
Because in the beginning, God created man.
Male and female created He then.
Man in the original concept of God is
not an individual.
Man in the original idea of God is
neither a man nor a woman.
Neither a male nor a female.
In the original thought of God, man is
the union of a man.
And that is consummated by a marriage.
So here you'll find even in the Garden
of Eden.
You'll find God made a woman out of
man.
And He brought that woman to the man.
And the man said, This is bone of
my bone and flesh of my flesh.
And therefore a man shall leave his father
and mother and be united with innocence.
Marriage is the consummation of the growth of
life.
Here you'll find two people are grown until
finally it is consummated in a marriage.
And with the help of it, the man
is able to fulfill the purpose of God.
Now that is the reason of marriage.
But unfortunately in the Garden of Eden, instead
of after the marriage, God's purpose, God's mission,
commission upon man will be fulfilled because of
this marriage union.
Instead of that, divine sin came into this
world.
And the marriage was broken spiritually.
So here, brothers and sisters, you'll find the
first sign that our Lord Jesus did honor
was done during a marriage feast.
A marriage.
Because this describes the highest of human life
on earth.
It was the happiest moment of life.
It was almost like the consummation of a
mature life.
It was supposed to be after this marriage
then God's purpose might be done through the
partnership of a man and a woman.
But as in the Garden of Eden, here
you'll find in Cana, this marriage began with
joy and happiness.
But as days went on, the wine failed.
You know, according to the Jewish custom of
that time, at a marriage, well, all the
relatives will come, you know, and all the
friends will come.
And they will be there not just for
the marriage ceremony, not just, say, for one
feast, but they will stay there for three
days, and sometimes seven days.
Now I remember when my eldest brother was
married.
It was still in the old-fashioned Chinese
way.
You know, when my eldest brother was married,
all our relatives and friends, they will all
come.
They will come and stay with us.
And we have feasts for three days and
three nights.
So it was the most happy time, you
know.
There were so many people coming and evidently
this young couple were very popular.
So finally you'll find there were more people
attending that marriage than they expected.
So before the days ran out, their wine
were exhausted.
And you know, in the audience, during a
marriage feast, if the wine ran out, then
it was really a tragedy.
All the joy and the happiness of the
marriage were turned into disaster.
What disgrace, what shame it would bring to
the young married couple.
It would be a very bad starting for
their life together.
It was most embarrassing.
You could not send the guests away and
say there was no more wine.
You were supposed to provide enough and more
than enough.
So they were in a most embarrassing situation.
And if this situation was not rescued, it
would end up in tragedy.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true
that at the height of our happiness usually
comes sorrow and pain?
You know, in China we have a proverb.
It says that when your joy reaches the
height, then sorrow strikes.
It also is like that.
And we have another proverb saying that the
moon is not always full.
After you have a full moon, then you'll
find it begins to dim down.
In other words, joy, happiness, satisfaction in this
world, in this life, is never perfect and
complete.
And usually at the very height of happiness
there comes sorrow.
What can give more joy than a marriage?
What can give more satisfaction than during a
marriage?
This is represented by the wine.
Because the wine makes people happy.
As we find in Psalm 104.
But here you'll find the wine is.
It always does.
Our life on this earth is like this.
It never is complete.
It changes so quickly and drastically.
Just at the moment of elation there comes
the moment of humiliation.
And that is always there.
But here you'll find our Lord Jesus.
And there he turned the water into wine.
There were six stone vessels standing at the
door.
These six stone vessels were vessels for water,
of purification.
Now the Jews, they were very careful about
purification.
When the guest count came, you know, the
first thing that had to be done was
they had to have their feet washed.
If they did not have their feet washed,
they were not clean, you know.
They could not enjoy the feast.
They had to wash for purification.
Now these waters in the six water vessels,
they were all exhausted too.
Because there were so many guests.
They came and had this ceremonial washing.
And so the result was there were six
stone vessels there but even the water there
was almost gone.
They were all used up in purification.
So the Lord said, draw water and fill
them up.
So the servants drew water and filled the
six water vessels.
And the Lord said, draw them out.
And sent it to the feastmaster.
So the servants sent it to the feastmaster
and the feastmaster tasted it and said, there
is never such wine as good as this.
So he called the bridegroom and said, now
everybody put on the good wine first.
And when they are nearly drunk, then they
cannot distinguish the inferior wine.
So you can put on the inferior one.
But you are different.
You reserve the best wine until the last.
And there the Lord manifested His glory.
And the disciples believed in Him.
Now dear brothers and sisters, what is the
meaning of this?
The six stone vessels represent us.
We are like the six stone vessels.
Because six, in the scripture, is the number
of men.
Here you'll find we are like the six
stone vessels.
We may be very religious.
We may be filled with water.
That is our natural life.
Our natural life is like water which is
flat, tasteless.
And probably in our natural life, we have
an inclination, a tendency to be religious.
Our natural life seems to help us to
go through the purification ceremonies.
Outwardly, we may appear very religious.
Outwardly, we may appear clean.
But dear brothers and sisters, that's all that
we are.
The best you can find in man's life
is to be outwardly religious.
It is water, not wine.
It cannot satisfy us.
It cannot give us permanent joy and peace.
Sooner or later, you will discover your life
is empty.
Your life is tasteless.
It's flat.
Even though you may be correct.
Even though you may be religious.
Even though you may be moral.
But you know there is no taste in
it.
There is no joy with it.
There is no satisfaction with it.
Everything but you is just tasteless.
Nothing left.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is
the only one who can transform.
He can transform the water into wine.
To be exact, according to the scripture teaching.
Not that your natural life is changed into
a spiritual life.
That which is born of the flesh is
flesh.
But that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit.
Not that your natural life is changed.
The Lord Jesus gives His life to us.
The water that is poured into the stone
vessels the second time represents the life of
the Lord Jesus that is being poured out
to us.
And as His life is given to us.
A new life.
And this new life is a new one.
A better one.
The transformation is not in changing our natural
life into spiritual life.
The transformation is the life of the Lord
Jesus comes into us.
Takes hold of us.
And then transforms our whole being.
That is to transform our mind, our emotion
and our volition.
It is because the new life has come
into us.
Therefore this life will transform.
Formerly our emotion expresses ourselves.
But now the transformation has come.
Our emotion is taken over by Christ and
expresses Christ.
Formerly our mind expresses ourselves.
It is my opinion.
It is my thinking.
It is my reasoning.
I consider this as reasonable.
But now you find we have the mind.
It is Christ.
Formerly it is my desire, my will.
But now not my will, but God's will.
And you know the transformation comes when the
Lord takes control.
The Lord came into the marriage feast and
He took it.
Mary said to the servant, whatever He told
you, you did it.
You did it.
In other words, our Lord came into that
marriage and took control over the whole thing.
When the Lord took control, then the transformation
happened.
And the result was.
Not only the wine was good, better than
any wine.
The best.
Incomparable.
There was such abundance.
You know six stone vessels of two or
three measures each.
That will add up about a hundred and
twenty gallons.
So you find suddenly a hundred and twenty
gallons of new wine were there.
And it is inexorable.
Not only for the marriage feast, but even
after the feast there was more left over.
And that is always the case with our
Lord Jesus.
So dear brothers and sisters here, you find
in this miracle.
In this miracle of turning water into wine,
the sign is pointing to the Lord Jesus.
The glory of the Son.
What is the glory of the Son of
God?
The glory of the Son of God is
He is the one who transforms, turns our
tragedy into glory.
Fills our emptiness with abundance.
Takes away our flatness with the taste of
the new wine.
He alone gives us satisfaction that is lasting.
But more importantly, the Lord is not only
the one who transforms.
He is our transformation.
He not only does the work of transformation
in us.
But as we are transformed, the Bible says,
from glory to glory according to His image.
In other words, our transformation is Christ.
He is not only the one who transforms
us, He is the transformation.
So as He transforms us from glory unto
glory, you'll find we increase and He increases
with us.
Now that's transformation.
Not that you have changed.
It's that you have decreased, but He has
increased.
Now that's transformation.
And thank God, He has not only, He
not only did that in Cana of Galilee.
He is doing that today in everyone.
This is the glory of the Son.
Dear brothers and sisters, often we crowd.
Who can change me?
Who can transform me?
Sometimes we are tired of ourselves.
Sometimes we are just so unhappy with ourselves.
No, who can change us?
The only one who can is the Son
of God.
And as you are being transformed from glory
to glory, you'll find little more of Christ,
little less.
What a glorious work He is doing.
And what glory it is.
Because the final product.
Now that is the first sign.
Then you come to the second sign.
The second sign is found in the Gospel
according to John chapter 4.
Our Lord Jesus came back to Galilee.
And once again He came to Cana, where
He performed the first sign.
And while He was in Cana, a nobleman
in Capernaum, whose son was sick, almost dead.
He heard about the Lord Jesus.
So he traveled from Capernaum to Cana to
seek the Lord and said, Rabbi, Master, come
quickly to my home, because my son is
dying.
And you remember our Lord Jesus said, Unless
you see signs and wonders, you will not
believe.
And that father just pleaded to the Lord
and said, Hurry, don't talk, please come, because
my son is dying.
The Lord said, Go, your son lives.
He believed in the Lord.
And as He was returning, on the way,
He met His servants, saying that the fever
was gone.
Your son was all right.
So He asked, What was the hour?
And they told Him it was at the
ninth hour, which was exactly the time when
the Lord said, Your son lives.
So He and His whole family believed in
the Lord.
Now that was the second sign.
This nobleman, most likely, he was not an
official of the Roman court.
But most commentators agree that probably this nobleman
belonged to the court of Herod the king.
And some commentators even go a step further
and say probably this nobleman was chosen Herod's
steward.
You remember in Luke chapter 8?
Chosen Herod's steward.
His wife Joanna was one of the women
who ministered unto the Lord and His disciples
with material needs.
So some people think that probably this nobleman
was chosen.
He was Herod's steward.
Steward of Herod's house.
A high official, a nobleman in the court.
But here you'll find He came to the
Lord and the Lord healed His disciples.
And He and His whole family turned to
the Lord.
Now if this was chosen, then we find
how His wife Joanna from there on served,
ministered unto the Lord.
It was a wonderful thing.
Now what is the sign there?
The glory of the Son of God is
revealed to us in this sign.
In that He is the life giver.
And He gives meaning.
What is life?
You know in Buddhism there is such a
philosophy.
What is life?
Life is birth, age, sick and death.
That's life.
That's all that life is composed of.
You're born, you grow up, get old, you
got sick and finally you die.
Here you'll find the Son of the Lord.
Some commentators say it's true.
Then the whole family served the Lord.
Now that gives meaning.
What is the meaning of our life?
We are not like those who do not
know the Lord.
Those who do not know the Lord, they
are just wasting away their life.
No meaning to it.
No purpose.
But thank God.
The Lord one day says, you live.
We now live.
And we have a purpose to live.
Our purpose is we may serve the purpose
and the will of God in our generation.
Whatever it may be.
So here you'll find again the glory of
the Son of God.
He is the only one who can give
us life with a meaning.
And without him there is no life.
And there is no purpose, no meaning.
Then the first sign was performed near Jerusalem.
Just outside the city.
In the pool of Bethesda.
That is in chapter 5 of the Gospel
according to John.
And here you'll find there was a pool
in Bethesda with five porches.
And all kinds of sick people were lying
there.
Why?
Because they were waiting for the water to
stir.
And when the water stirred, the one who
jumped in first would be healed.
So you'll find all these sick people, all
kinds of sick people, they were there waiting
for the water to stir.
And I don't know how often it stirred.
Probably not too often.
Now we don't go into the details of
it.
We only say this.
There was a man, an infirm man.
He was sick for 38 years.
He was there hoping that he might be
the first one to jump in and got
healed.
But nobody was there to help him.
To move him in.
And he couldn't move himself.
So he was lying there.
We do not know how many years he
lay there.
But when the Lord Jesus found him, he
was a man that had already given up.
So the Lord said, Do you want to
be healed?
He said, Nobody put me into the pool
and I cannot move in.
When I try to move, the other jumps
in first.
It is just a hopeless case of me.
So the Lord said, Get up, take your
couch and go.
And he did.
He got up, took the couch and go.
And it was Sabbath.
Now brothers and sisters, when you see a
man sick 38 years, immediately you think of
another 38 years.
You remember the children of Israel?
They wandered in the wilderness 38 years.
God delivered them out of Egypt.
God brought them to Sinai.
God gave them the law.
Because they did not keep the law, they
were under the curse for 38 years.
They wandered in the wilderness until they passed.
This is the condition of man under.
Once we were all under the law, whether
we received the Ten Commandments or not, the
law of God is inscribed upon us.
Under the law, no one can be justified.
As in the pool there, there seems to
be a way.
But dear brothers and sisters, once we were
under the curse, we almost gave up hope.
But thank God, the Lord Jesus came and
said, Do you want it?
We said, Lord, no one help us.
I cannot help myself.
The Lord said, Get up and go.
This man was sick for 38 years.
Why?
Most probably his sickness was due to his
sin.
Now not all sicknesses are due to sin.
Let us be careful about that.
Because as you go on to chapter 9,
you'll find another case that has nothing to
do with sin.
It is for the work of God.
But anyway, you'll find in this particular case,
this man who was sick for 38 years,
he was sick because he had sinned.
He was under the curse of the law.
The wages of sin is death.
There was no way out.
The Lord, who has the power and authority
to judge.
He said the Father did not judge anyone.
The Father gives judgment to the Son.
But he said, I do not come to
judge.
I come to save.
Anyone who hears me and who believes in
me is passed out of judgment, out of
death, into life.
How can the Lord deliver us out of
the curse of the law?
By overlooking our sin?
By neglecting the law?
He himself came to be born.
He came under us and he took upon
us the curse.
He was judged by God because he was
judged in our sin.
Brothers and sisters, he gave us rest.
Our Sabbath is in Christ.
So here you'll find again the picture here,
the sign here.
It is not just a miracle performed.
The miracle has a meaning to it.
And the meaning is, through the miracle, who
can justify?
Who can deliver us from the curse of?
Who can clear us from our sin?
Who can give us rest?
None.
And in believing him, we are passed out
of judgment, out of death, into life.
Into rest.
Here again we will say our Lord Jesus
is not only the justifier, he is also
our justification.
He is not only the one who justifies
us, but our justification itself is Christ.
He is our justification.
We are justified because he died for us.
He is.
If he is our justification, who can achieve
that?
That's the glory of the sign.
And the fourth sign.
The fourth sign is the multiplication of the
nose and the fists.
And here you'll find our Lord Jesus was
there.
And five thousand men, with many women and
children were there.
And the Lord looked at them and said
to his disciples, give them feeding.
And the disciples said, what can we do?
Even if we have three hundred denarii, and
they don't have it.
And buy food for these people, it will
not be enough.
And finally you remember Angel, who always noticed
very small things.
He said, there is a boy who has
five loaves and two fishes.
Now do not think of those five loaves
as big ones.
These five loaves are very small loaves.
Just like our biscuits.
It's just good for one meal of a
boy.
Five loaves and two fishes.
Two small fishes.
And Angel said, what is that?
It's almost absurd.
The Lord said, all right.
Command the people to sit down in rows,
fifty and a hundred.
And he took the five loaves and two
fishes in his hand.
He lifted up his arm, blessed it.
And he break it.
And the disciples distributed it.
And five thousand were fed.
And there are twelve baskets full left over.
And you know all these Jews that were
fed on that day by these five loaves
and fishes?
After they are fed, they said, now you
are the king.
We want to make you the king.
Then we will not be hungry anymore.
The problem of food is now solved.
And the Lord had to push them away.
Push them away.
And he sent his disciples away too.
Because his disciples agreed with his multitudes, you
know.
And the next morning the people tried to
find the Lord.
And when they found the Lord, the Lord
said, you do not come because you see
a miracle.
You come because you want to eat.
Do not seek the food that perishes.
But seek the food that does not perish.
He said, it is not Moses who give
you manna in the wilderness.
It is my heavenly Father who gives manna.
But, he said, I am the bread of
life.
He that drinks my blood and eats my
flesh shall have life.
And in the last day I will raise
him from the dead.
My blood is indeed drink.
My flesh is indeed meat.
He that eats me shall live by me.
What is that?
Our Lord Jesus, as the Son of God,
he has not only given us a new
life, but he is the sustainer, the supplier,
the nourisher of our life.
He is the bread of heaven.
We live because, now remember this, we who
have received him, we have his life in
us.
This life that has been given to us
is not meant just to be there and
get starved.
For this life to grow, we need to
continually feed it.
Not just you believe in the Lord once.
Yes, when you believe in the Lord once,
you have life.
But for this life to grow, you need
to feed upon the Lord daily.
As you feed upon the Lord, you find
he is your strength.
He will give you the strength, the nourishment,
that you may walk through the wilderness.
The world today is a wilderness.
How can we go through this world and
without fainting?
By feeding upon the Lord day after day.
He is the bread.
He not only gives us the bread, but
he is the bread.
He is the bread of life.
The glory of the Son of God is,
his life in us is meant to be
there.
Just like Paul said, not I, but Christ
who lives in me.
The Lord said you live because of me.
Because of my life in you.
We do not live any longer because of
our natural life.
Now we live by this new life that
is given to us.
And daily as we commune with the Lord,
as we fellowship with the Lord, as we
abide in him, and he abides in us,
you will find this new life is strengthened
for the wilderness journey.
So this is the fourth time manifesting the
glory of the Son.
Then the fifth one.
The fifth one is in John chapter 9.
And here you find as he and his
disciples coming out from the temple, as they
were passing by, they saw a beggar there.
This beggar was gone blind.
And you know these disciples seem to be
natural theologians.
Because when they saw this man born blind,
they asked them theological questions.
Lord, who is this?
This man or his parents?
If his parents should see, well, probably the
hand of the Lord was heavy upon the
second generation.
Therefore the son suffered for the sins of
the parents.
Or if it is not the parents' sin,
then this man's sin.
Now how did he sin?
He was born blind.
He must sin in the womb then.
It was a theological question.
And you know many theological questions are speculation.
But our Lord was not interested in these
things.
Our Lord said no.
It is neither this man's sin nor the
sin of his parents.
Now it doesn't mean that this man had
no sin.
Nor his parents had no sin.
No, it doesn't mean that.
It means that this particular instance of blindness
is not due to, specifically, due to his
parents' sin nor to his own sin.
But it is for the glory of God.
God is going to do something to open
the eyes of the blind.
And you know the Lord did a creative
work.
He spit into the mud.
He made it into a plate and put
on the eyes, the blind eyes of the
man and sent him to Salome, which means
sanctified.
And as he washed, this man came out
of the mother's womb defective.
His eyes could not see.
So here you'll find the Lord did a
creative act.
He used the mud.
Mixed with spit, his life.
And the result was sent to Salome by
the one sent by God.
A creative act was performed to bring the
blind into light.
So the Lord Jesus said, I am the
light of this world.
Whoever walks in me is not in darkness.
Oh, they're crashing this blind man.
They interrogated him.
They put him through.
They really put him through because it was
the Sabbath day that the Lord performed this
wonder.
And they even told that man, we do
not know this man who healed these ears.
We know Moses, but we do not know
him.
Where does he come from?
He is a sinner.
You gave glory to God.
And the blind man said, whether he is
a sinner or not, I don't know.
But once I was blind, but now I
see.
And I also know that God does not
listen to a sinner.
Something happened in the nation of Israel which
has never happened before.
And you don't know who he is?
Where he comes from?
And when they're crashing him again, they said,
do you also want to be his disciple?
In other words, he is already the disciple
of the Lord.
And they drew him out of it as
communicated to them.
When the Lord heard that, the Lord saw
him.
And the Lord said, do you believe in
the Son of God?
He said, who is the Son of God?
The Lord said, the one who is talking
to you.
He bowed down and worshipped him.
And you know, continuing that is chapter 10.
Now in the original manuscript, the text, there
is no chapter division.
So you have to combine them together.
The Lord began to speak of the sheep,
the shepherd, and the flock.
Here was one man driven out of the
fold of Judaism.
But the Lord actually was the shepherd taking
him into his flock.
One shepherd, driven out, cast out by man,
but received.
He is now sharing his inheritance with the
saints in the light.
And the Lord says, he who said he
is, he sees, is blind.
But he who is blind is now seeing.
Now this is the faith side.
Dear brothers and sisters, we were naturally blind.
We could not.
We could not see things spiritually.
We cannot see God.
We cannot see God's purpose.
We were blind.
But our Lord Jesus, he has opened our
eyes and made us blind.
Because we see.
We walk in the light.
We were not blind.
But more than that, the Lord said, I
am the light of the world.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord has not only
opened our blind eyes that we may see,
but the Lord Jesus is the light of
life.
In him was life, and the life was
the light of man.
If we walk by the light, we walk
in the light.
If we walk in the light, as God
is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sins.
Now this is the faith side.
The glory of the Son of God.
Of course, the sixth one is the raising
up of Lazarus.
Lazarus was dead.
When Martha and Mary sent messages to our
Lord Jesus, our Lord was on the east
side of Jordan because of the opposition of
the Jews.
He retreated to the east side of Jordan.
So Mary, Martha and Mary sent messengers across
the river to our Lord Jesus and said,
the one whom you love is here.
Actually, if you compute the time, when the
messenger arrived at the Lord Jesus' place, Lazarus,
so the Lord knew, Lazarus was there.
So he delayed two more days.
He didn't go over the river until the
fourth day, and he crossed the river and
went there.
And Lazarus was already buried.
Martha came out and said, Lord, if you
are here earlier, my brother would not die.
But I know if you ask God for
anything, he will answer you.
The Lord said, your brother shall be raised.
And Martha said, yes, in the last day
he will be raised.
But the Lord said, no, I am the
resurrection and the life.
He that believes in me and lives shall
never die.
He that dies shall be raised from the
dead.
And the Lord will raise up Christ.
This tells us of the glory of the
Son.
Who is able to raise up the dead?
Who is able to give us resurrection life?
Nobody can.
The Lord alone.
He not only raises us up, but he
is.
Now that is his glory.
And no one can share that glory.
That's the sixth one.
Now the fifth, seventh one, we have to
hurry because it's late.
The seventh one is in John chapter 20.
The resurrection of our Lord himself.
The resurrection of our Lord himself is a
greater miracle.
The Lord, he entered into the tomb.
He was buried there.
He came out.
Declared that he is the Son of God
who has overcome.
By that he deprived Satan who has the
power of death of his power.
Death cannot help him.
After he had accomplished the work of God,
he was raised from the dead.
And by his resurrection he demonstrated that he
had overcome all his enemies.
Even death.
This is the sign of Jonah.
Jonah was in the fish three days and
three nights.
So the Son of Man must be buried
for three days and three nights.
But out of it.
Now the resurrection of our Lord is considered
as the first fruit of resurrection.
Why the raising of Lazarus, strictly speaking, is
not resurrection.
Because when the Lord raised him from the
dead, Lazarus still had a mortal body.
But when the Lord was raised from the
dead, he had an immortal body.
A spiritual body.
That's resurrection.
He is now free from all bondage.
He has overcome everything.
The liberty of resurrection.
The power of resurrection.
And this is the greatest sign of all
signs.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has overcome death, therefore
he can deliver us.
He has been raised from the dead, therefore
he is the resurrection.
And we who have him in us, we
shall live.
In spite of all kinds of deadening circumstances.
And even though one day if he should
delay, our body may have to go through
death, but we shall be raised from the
dead.
Now this is the greatest of all signs.
Then the eighth sign.
The eighth sign is found in John chapter
21.
After his resurrection, you remember some of the
disciples were fishing.
And they went out fishing because our Lord
after his resurrection, you know, he suddenly appeared.
And he suddenly disappeared.
So the disciples were never sure when they
would see the Lord.
And Peter being a man of action, he
couldn't wait.
He didn't know when the Lord would appear.
So he got tired and said, now let's
go fishing.
We had nothing to do.
All they wanted to do was to wait
till the Lord appeared to them.
But the Lord did not appear.
So they said, well, let's go fishing.
So these disciples went fishing.
They fished for the whole night and got
nothing.
And early in the morning, one man was
standing on the shore and said, did you
get anything?
They said, no.
He said, cast the net on the right
side of the boat.
They cast and they got a hundred fifty
-three fish.
Immediately John said, this is the Lord.
Not because he has cleaner eyes, eye sight.
They couldn't see the Lord because probably in
the early morning there would be fog on
this side.
They couldn't see the Lord.
But John intuitively knew it was the Lord.
And when Peter heard that, he jumped into
the water, you know.
That was two hundred yards.
So he just swam to the shore.
And when the disciples pulled the fish there,
there was fire already there.
Bread there.
Fish there.
And the Lord said, take some more fish
here.
And at that time, the Lord asked Peter,
do you love me?
Peter said, you know, feed my land, shepherd
my sheep, and feed my sheep.
In other words here, this miracle, the miracle
of the catching of fish, what does it
point to?
It points that our Lord Jesus, He not
only saves us, but He sends us out
to win souls for His kingdom.
But who can do that?
Everything is based upon Him.
If we want to serve the Lord, there
must be love towards the Lord.
God does not want any servant that has
no love behind it.
If we desire to serve the Lord, it
should be the result of love.
Because Peter said, I love you.
The Lord said, you see that.
So here you'll find the glory of the
Son of God.
He is our Lord.
He is the one who sends us on
His mission.
And if we love Him, we will be
able to do whatever He wants us to
do.
Not only to catch fish, that is to
win souls, but to feed His land and
His sheep.
That is to help brothers and sisters in
the Lord.
And that is the eighth sign.
So dear brothers and sisters, when you go
through the Gospel according to John, you'll find
that sign after sign, just point, mirror, mirror,
mirror, to one point, and the point is
the Son of God.
The glory of the Son of God.
And how our hearts must be attracted.
After sign after sign, how our hearts must
be drawn to the Lord.
And as we behold His glory and believe
in Him, we will have His life.
And in turn, we will lead many sons
into God.
Now this is the Gospel.