I wanted to spend this first
little time looking at a remarkable statement that the Lord Jesus
makes after Nicodemus is silenced. Nicodemus has been brought before
the Lord and he, like his Pharisaic or Friends has continued to say,
we know, and if you read the rest of John's gospel, you'll
see that they keep saying, we know, we know, all the way through
to the end. In fact, right at the very end,
three years later, they're still saying when they come to trap
the Lord Jesus Christ, regarding the coin with Caesar's mark on
it. They say, we know, we know, we
know. When they came with compliments,
we know that you're a teacher and you hold no man's face in
esteem. And yet, and yet now the Lord
Jesus Christ speaks in verse 11. And he says, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen. That word testify is the word
from which we get our word martyr. These are truths which the people
of God are prepared to die for. It's as simple as that. These
are so foundational and fundamental. We know, we know, we know. There are several questions that
necessarily arise from that statement. Who's the we? Well, in the scriptures,
the great ones that testify of who the Lord Jesus Christ are
are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that's what 1 John
says. And if we turn, hold your Bibles
open in 1 John, we'll see that 1 John uses this phrase over
and over again. There are three that bear record
in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that
bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.
Jesus will go on, won't he, and say, I was told you of earthly
things, and you believe not. There are the earthly things,
some of the earthly things that Nicodemus, that the Lord was
going to teach Nicodemus. So the we obviously refers to
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The we no doubt refers
to the Lord Jesus Christ and the prophets. He came in fulfilment
of all of the Old Testament prophecies. The we may well be, of course,
John the Baptist and I, that remarkable testimony that happened
beside, in the Jordan River, when God the Father spoke and
the Holy Spirit descended as a dove. And John the Baptist
bore witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he bore witness to
these people that came from Jerusalem. And he said, I saw heaven opened,
and I saw the Spirit of God. descending upon the Son of Man,
and it remained on Him, and that was the witness. And behold,
the Spirit's testimony is, behold the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world. So there's a testimony, a testimony
of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the we might
also refer to me and my disciples here with me. I brought down
these people. I brought down half a dozen of
them at least from From the Jordan and from Capernaum Philip and
Andrew and John and James and Nathanael And we're here. We're here. We have a testimony
don't we we have a testimony We know and testify what we have
seen they testified to what they saw at the Jordan They testified
to what they saw at the wedding in Canaan but also There's a
we know that includes all of us. When the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of we, we can include ourselves in it. 1 John 5 verse
10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him alive because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us, eternal life, and that that life is in his
Son. So the we is a reference to all
those things. It's a reference to what we know.
It's a reference to what the children of God are taught. That's
why that verse in John chapter 6 is so important. They're taught
of the Father, they hear of Him and they learn of the Father,
and they come to Me. They come to Me, the One that's
revealed by The spirit blowing, the wind blows and you hear the
sound thereof. There is an effect of the wind.
There's an effect of the wind here now and it's going to be
annoying if it gets any stronger. We might have to stop and close
the blind. But there is an effect of the
spirit blowing. There's an effect that we can
then turn around and with the Lord Jesus Christ we can say,
we know. The Spirit, as we saw earlier
in John chapter 3, comes with absolute sovereign power and
authority and purpose, and He comes with a perfect will and
a purpose, and He comes to reveal a perfect Saviour. So if you
have your Bibles open in 1 John chapter 2 with me, I wanted to
go through some of these remarkable verses about the things that
we know. But before we go there, I wanted to remind you that we
have these scriptures before us and John has written these
scriptures so that we might know that things that he has written
are true. This disciple testifies of these
things. these things that he has heard,
these things that we are reading here, and wrote these things,
and we know that his testimony is true. John tells us why we're
reading this gospel of his. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. and that by believing
you might have life through his name. There are things that we
know. Luke begins his gospel by saying
that there are things that we know for sure. He writes to Theophilus,
I love how he begins, he says, for as much as that many have
taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those
things which are most surely believed among us, Luke 1.1.
They were most surely believed among us. And he says in verse
4, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein
thou hast been instructed. That word certainty means safety.
that you might know the safety of the things of the universe.
So let's turn to 1 John and let's read some of these remarkable
promises about the we know. Nicodemus is held up before us
as someone who comes to the Lord Jesus with a we know. Just like
the religious world today, they thought they knew things. They
thought they knew enough to be able to assess who John the Baptist
was and make a judgment about him. They thought that they could
assess the Lord Jesus Christ and make a judgment about him.
But we know, the children of God know, Nicodemus had to be
brought to a place where he didn't know anything. And he just says,
how? How can these things be? He was
brought to a place where he needed to be taught by God. And if we're
brought to that place, oh, what a blessing it is. Let's read
some of these remarkable promises. In verse 3 of 1 John 2, and hereby
we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Anyone here kept his commandments? Let's turn over to 1 John 5 so
we're really clear about what it is to keep these commandments. No, I'm sorry, 1 John 3, verse
22. And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things which are
pleasing in his sight. Is John talking about his own
personal activities here? He's talking about himself in
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. and do those things which are
pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment. This is the commandment of God
now, isn't it? that we should believe on the
name of His Son. We should believe on the character
of the Son of God as revealed in the Scriptures, as revealed
in His own testimony to Nicodemus, as revealed in all of the New
Testament witnesses of Him. And we change nothing about it,
because we delight. We delight in His character as
it's revealed. We can't stand the thought of
His name being changed, His character being changed. And that's what
the essence of all false religion is, isn't it? That's what happened
in the garden. Satan's attack at the beginning,
before Eve fell, was to cause her to be challenged about the
character of God. about his faithfulness to his
word, his goodness to her, in that remarkable place, Satan,
in that place where she had everything that you could ever wish for
in this material world, Satan challenged her about the very
goodness of God, that he's withholding something from her. And he ultimately
caused her to be challenged about the judgment and the justice
and the holiness of God. And that's why these we knows
are so important, don't they? That we keep His commandment.
You see, in 1 Timothy 1.8 it says, we know that the law is
good. This cannot be talking about
law-keeping. It's never talking about law-keeping.
No matter what the religious world says, it's not about law-keeping.
But we know, 1 Timothy 1.8, we know that the law is good if
a man uses it lawfully. Because the law, knowing this,
this is what we know, that the law was not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient. For those who have
a righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ, the law is the is the termination of the law
for righteousness. It's as far as the law goes.
The law comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and finds in Him complete
and utter satisfaction to all of its demands, both in what
has to be done and both in the punishments. It's the end of
the law for righteousness. It's a we know, isn't it? Paul
says in Romans 7, 14, he says, we know that the law is spiritual. Everyone that wants to put other
people under a bondage of law-keeping always takes the law as a carnal
ordinance. Paul says, now I know it's spiritual. He didn't know it was spiritual,
he thought he kept it perfectly. The law is spiritual, and I am
carnal. Sold under sin. Do you know that? Only God the Holy Spirit teaches
these things. Let's go back to 1 John chapter
2 and you can see why this we know that in John's gospel is
such a significant we know and it's used in so many many other
times. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 5 Whosoever keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know that
we are in him. We hold his word, don't we? We
hold his word above all things. It is life to us, these promises
of God. We know We know about this world,
don't we, in 1 John 2.18? We know. We know. It's the last time. Little children,
it is the last time. And as you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we
know it is the last time. These are the last hours for
this earth to be here. It's the last time. We know about
this world. 1 John 5.19 We know that we are of God and
the whole world lieth in wickedness. We know that this is the last
hour. And these verses that we often quote in 1 John 3 are just
amazing, aren't they? Let's read from the beginning.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that
we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not. Don't expect the world to understand
what you believe. Don't expect the world to understand
who you are. Don't expect the world to understand
the Christ that you proclaim. Beloved, now we are the sons
of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. We know We know, in verse 14,
we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Verse 19, and hereby we know
that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before
him. Verse 24, and he that keepeth
his commandments. And we kept the commandments
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were in him when he kept them.
He alone could save those Pharisees, can you accuse me of any sin?
Even Pilate declared to them to be a righteous man. He perfectly
obeyed the law for us and in us, and because of his great
love for us. Listen to what he says. He that
keepeth, verse 24, he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in
him and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he has given us. Hereby we know. Do you know these things? We know. 1 John 4.13 And hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has
given us of his Spirit. We know, we know, we know that
we dwell in him. He is our abiding place. He is our home. He is our all
in all and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Chapter 5
verse 2. Let's go back to verse 1. For whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth
him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this
we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
his commandments. This is, as we saw earlier, this
is the record that God has given. He's given a record of His Son. He's given a testimony of His
Son. He's borne a witness to His Son. And not to believe that
witness is to be disobedient, which is why Paul can speak of
disobeying the gospel, to remain in disobedience. And then I love
what he says, in verse 15, and if we know that He heareth, hears
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desire of Him. What a remarkable promise. You
bring your petitions before God, don't you, child of God? In fact, we're always pleading
people, aren't we? with weeping and supplication
as Jeremiah promised that we would. Verse 18. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. Isn't that a remarkable statement?
Isn't that a remarkable statement? Do you know that? The only people
who know it are people who know themselves to be nothing but
sin. The only people who know it are those who are born of
God. Sinneth not. We know that we are of God, verse
19, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. We know, verse
20, We know that the Son of God is come and 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 true God
and eternal life. We know. We know. We know. How do we know we know?
How do we know? There are three fundamental things
to knowing, isn't there? We know because God said it.
People used to have stickers on their fridges years ago, isn't
it? God said it, I believe it, that settles it. What a load
of rubbish. God says it, that settles it.
Your believing it, my believing it, it doesn't change it at all
one tiny little bit, does it? God reveals it. We know because
God revealed it to us. We know. We know because God
has spoken, but we also know because God has revealed it to
us, and he's revealed his word to us. And that's what Nicodemus'
problem was. Nicodemus knew the Bible in the
most remarkable ways, and we would have been embarrassed by
our ignorance in his presence when he was teaching people. But God reveals things by his
spirit. That's why I love that verse,
and it's a great comfort to anyone who ever has the privilege and
the responsibility, and in a sense almost a terror of speaking before
men on God's behalf, that they will all be taught of God. All
of God's children will be taught of God. But as we saw from all
of those we knows, we know Because God has spoken. We know because
God has revealed his word to us. And we know, we know because
we've experienced it. Ralph Barnard made a statement
a long time ago and he was asked, do you believe everything in
the word of God? And of course his answer was,
yes I do. But he said in another sense,
no I don't because I haven't experienced it. God actually
takes his word and they become spirit and life to his people. We know. We know because God
has spoken it. We know because he has revealed
it in his word. We know because we have experienced
it. We have experienced it because
all of God's children have had a meeting with the Lord Jesus
Christ like Nicodemus had. They've come to the Lord Jesus
Christ in their Adam flesh, haven't they? They've come as sinners
in their Adam flesh, and they always come with a we know. That's
what we got in the garden, didn't it? We ate from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, and we come with a we know. And we
come with a, we can make a judgment on God, we come with a we know
about ourselves. Nicodemus had to be brought to
a place and brought down to a place where he knew absolutely nothing
about himself, and he knew nothing about God. And he didn't have
a clue who was standing before him. We know, we know, Nicodemus
knew the Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh. And now 2 Corinthians
5.16 says, we know no man after the flesh any longer. We know,
we know him. We know him. Let's turn back to where we began
this part of our service in Isaiah. chapter 54. And of course Isaiah
54 follows after the remarkable declarations of the Lord in Isaiah
53. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and he will be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. And he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he
bared the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
And how is this received? Sing, sing, O barren. Thou that didst not bear, break
forth into singing and cry aloud. Thou that didst not travail with
child, for more are the children of the desolate than the children
of the married wife. Have you been desolate? Has sin
and Satan and this world made you desolate? He goes on to say,
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
curtains of thy inhabitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stake. For thou shalt break forth on
the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear
not! 4 For thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded. 5 For thou shalt not be put to
shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. Thy maker is thine husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved
in spirit." See Nicodemus had none of these until he was brought
to a place saying, how can these things be? And a wife of a youth, when thou
wast refused, saith thy God, For a small moment I have forsaken
thee, But with great mercies I will gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my faith from thee, For a moment, but with everlasting
kindness, will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so
have I sworn. that I would not be wroth with
thee nor rebuke thee, for the mountains shall depart and the
hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the Lord that has mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest and not comforted, Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
thy borders of pleasant stones. And then, he says, and all thy
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the
peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
established, and thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou
shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. Verse 17, no weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me. Their righteousness is of me. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit. It's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's the peace that he brings as his righteousness
comes. See, religion is a heart matter. God says, speak to the heart
of my people, and I can't do it. I only have words, but God
can speak to the hearts of his people and give them, as Paul
says in Romans, the joy and the peace of believing. believing God so that's what
faith is isn't it it's taking God at his word just believing
what God says it's much more than just believing in him it's
believing God believing what he said Believing His Word. Believing
on the declarations He makes about who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. Believing that He is the surety.
Believing, believing what He says about us. That we are desperately
in need. You see, throughout the Scriptures,
the children of God call upon Him. When they know Him, they
call upon Him. when they know him as he says
in John 6 45 they come to him and to come to him is to leave
other things behind isn't it to come to him is to be drawn
by a sovereign hand of God he says I've loved you with an everlasting
love And therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you to myself, and
you'll come drawn." So it's the operations of the Spirit of God,
isn't it? To revive the dead bones, to
come to us in our deadness and give us life. We know Romans
8, 28 is known so well, but I love the verses that precede it. Romans
8.28, we keep quoting it all the time, but Romans 8.26 is
a remarkable verse, isn't it? Likewise, the Spirit did also
helpeth our infirmities. He helps our infirmities for
we know not what we should pray for as we ought. Is that your
situation? How many of our prayers are shallow
and short-sighted? And how many of our prayers are
faithless? What a great mercy it is that
as we come before Him in prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ is there
interceding. And what's He interceding with?
He's saying this is it. have borne all their sins and
they're gone. So the Holy Spirit can help us
with our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray
as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Right now, right
now, the Lord Jesus Christ is here with his people, and he's
there in heaven interceding for us. And the Spirit is making
intercession according to the will of God. And what's the will
of God? That ye might believe on his
Son, And we know, we know that all things work together. In fact, in reality it means
all things are worked together for good. We know that all things
are worked together. For good to them that love God,
to them that are thee called according to his purpose. pieces in knowing that for whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified." It's all finished. It's all cast as a finished work. Everything that God does is finished
from the foundation of the world. What shall we say then, if we
know? If we know these things, what
shall we say? If God be for us, if God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not With him also
freely give us all things. Nicodemus came with a we know. The Lord Jesus Christ replied
with a we know. And the rest of the New Testament
is a declaration of the things that are given, aren't they?
So Nicodemus didn't know. Nicodemus didn't know who he
was. Nicodemus didn't know who he
was talking to. Nicodemus didn't know that all
spiritual blessings that Almighty God has for the sons of Adam
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the spiritual blessings you
can have, they're kept in it, but they're in. They were standing
in front of him as he was speaking. They're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nicodemus didn't know that these
spiritual blessings become ours by a union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. As the branch bears fruit because
it remains in the body, as the body has life because the head
lives, we're kept in a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know these things. Nicodemus didn't know that all
spiritual blessings are grace gifts. that nothing of our works,
good or bad, impinges upon the grace of God. Because they're
all given us because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus didn't know that this union and all of these blessings
and the reality of who he is and the reality of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is, is only revealed by a new birth. We're heirs of
God because we are sons of God. Nicodemus didn't know that this
new birth is by the sovereign will of God. It just blows where
it wishes. And these, the Lord will go on
to tell Nicodemus, are the foundational, fundamental, essential truths
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are hidden from
the wise and prudent and they're revealed to babes. Nicodemus
had to be made a babe. Babes know. Babes know. They know something of their
dependence. They know something of their nothingness. when the
Lord calls us to come as little children and come away being
people who know because he has revealed who he is to us. Let's
have a break and make