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True knowledge from God

Reference: SHM-S09-017-Mw-R00-P2

(Originally spoken on 1 April 2012, edited on 3 April 2012)

Web site: http://www.ajourneyinlife.org and http://www.ajourneyinlife.com

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Let us turn to John 7: 14-17

John 7: 14-17

14. But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.
15. The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"
16. So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
17. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.

Today, I want to concentrate on verse 16, what the Lord Jesus said in answer to what they were saying: The Jews were saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"

The Lord Jesus answered them and He said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me." What did He mean by this? Why did He say "My teaching is not Mine..."?

Does it mean that the Lord Jesus was just simply transmitting something? God said something, He just transmitted it? Parrots can transmit what somebody wants to say - the parrot just repeats it, but the parrot does not know what the meaning is. It does not represent what is within the parrot. Was the Lord Jesus referring to that?

Obviously, we know that is not so. Whatever the Lord Jesus said, it represented what was truly in His heart: It was important, it was meaningful to Him, it was what He wanted to say. So whatever He said was His own belief, His own convictions, His own values, and they were very important to Him. And He spoke with authority.

So then, why did He say, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me."? We have seen that the disciples of the Lord Jesus were recognized as people who were courageous, who were able to speak boldly important truths and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. They learnt from Him, but were they just simply parroting what the Lord Jesus said? No, it was obvious that the disciples knew what they were saying. They had absorbed from the Lord Jesus - these things had become real to them; they were important to them and they were prepared to give their lives for that. And so when they spoke, there was power, there was courage, there was conviction.

The Lord Jesus was telling the Jews that what He said came from God; there is no contradiction at all with what God wants to say. And He was telling them that that is the way that man ought to live; He was giving us an example of how man ought to live: Man must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not in a manner in which we do not understand what we are doing - we just simply follow and obey - but because we have come to recognize that this is right, this is good, it is valuable, it is what we want, it is what we believe in.

So that is very important for us to understand: Whenever we testify for the Lord, we must ask ourselves, do we really believe in it or are we just saying it because we heard it from someone, we heard it somewhere, we read it somewhere? Does it really come from God? Do we know it for ourselves? Is it important to us? Do we believe in it?

So He says, "My teaching is not Mine..." Does this answer their question "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?"

Well, that answers the question. He was not educated in the way that they were educated, in the way that they acquired knowledge, in the way they thought knowledge should come. His knowledge came from God.

Well, people may spend much time thinking about many things, acquiring knowledge by many, many means. But ultimately, true meaningful knowledge comes from God because God is the Source of true knowledge and from there, that knowledge that we derive from Him will give us true spiritual life.

So the Lord Jesus said, "My teaching is not Mine..." As a Man, He was not just acquiring knowledge on the basis of natural thinking, acquiring knowledge on the basis of what the world could offer Him, could teach Him, but His knowledge came from God.

Many Christians are depending on the world's philosophies and knowledge to solve many problems of life, to help other people, to make progress in their own lives. But many do not truly seek God, do not truly come to God to ask Him, "What is the right way? How should I live my life?"

The Lord Jesus is showing to us the right way to live is to come to God. He is the Source of true knowledge and if we want to be able to help other people, to have teaching, knowledge, communication that will benefit other people, then it is critical that we must first learn from God.

We must hear what He has to say and then we can communicate what He has said.

In John 5: 19, the Lord Jesus said to the Jews in this way:

John 5: 19

• ... "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

It is not that He had no will of His own; it is not that He had no thoughts of His own; it is not that He could not think or do anything, that He just simply followed whatever God said.

He is trying to help us understand that as a perfect Man, He knew that God understood all things perfectly and what He wanted to do was the most meaningful path, and He would not do anything outside of that. He abided in the Father, the Father abided in Him. So whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. He transmitted what was in the heart of God.

And that is why the Lord Jesus could tell Philip, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." He communicated what was in the heart of God.

In John 5: 30, the Lord Jesus put it this way:

John 5: 30

• "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

This tells us the underlying reason why it is the Lord Jesus said, "My teaching is not Mine..." He was not seeking to transmit His own ideas, His own philosophy, His own objectives as a Man. He was seeking to transmit the will of God, the perfect will of God - what God had planned for mankind, what God wanted to accomplish in His creation of man, what God wanted to do through the cross.

The Lord Jesus sought to do the will of God.

And it is because He sought to do the will of God that He paid close attention to everything that God said. He would not deviate from this path; He would not say or do anything by Himself apart from God.

So it is that kind of fellowship with God, that kind of relationship with God that He was helping us to understand we need to establish.

Eternal life centres on relationship. Eternal life has to do with relationship with God, eternal life has to do with receiving life from God. And that life helps us to understand meaning in the way we should live, what is taking place in this world, what our final goal ought to be, how should we live our lives, what is of true value.

Many people often think, "I cannot do so much because I am not well-educated. I am not so able, I am not so intelligent. There are other people who are more able, so they can serve God better."

Well, this incident should help us to consider. The Lord Jesus said, "My teaching is not Mine..." If you can take this stand and if you know how to respond in this way, you need not be afraid that you are not educated, you are not intelligent, you know very little. It is from God. If you know how to come to Him, He will teach you, He will show to you.

In fact, if you know many things, it is a danger. You can trust in your own ability, trust in your intelligence, trust in all that you can accomplish with all that the world can offer to you. You can become very learned in the eyes of men.

But the Lord Jesus was not learned in the eyes of men. But He truly knew what was good, what was right, what was important. He gave us the words of Life.

So it is for all of us. If we truly value what is of eternal consequence, what will bring true meaning in life, this can only be found in God who is the Source of Life, who is moral perfection seen in a moral being. And it is from Him that we receive life and it is through Him we can be transformed to be like Him.

So God sent the Lord Jesus into the world so that He can transmit to us what is in His heart, so that if we come to Him, we can receive life from God. If we follow Him, if He is our Lord, if we listen to Him, we obey Him, we abide in Him and He in us, we will bear fruit. There will be meaning no matter who we are, whatever our circumstance, whatever our natural abilities or otherwise.

All of us can develop the highest quality of meaning in our lives. That is open to every one created by God as moral beings in a frail human body. All of us have that potential. It is up to us what we would choose.

Whether we want to choose to make a lot of money, whether we want to choose to be a famous person, we want to choose to be so capable in this particular area of sports or singing or whatever it is, all these will perish.

The only thing that will last is when we choose to be good in the eyes of God, we choose to be faithful to Him, to know Him, to love Him, walk with Him in fulfilling His will. And when we do that, then every moment of our life will be meaningful. Everything that we do will have spiritual meaning and it will contribute to eternity.

It will not be just during times when we read the Scriptures, when we pray, when we meet together. It will be throughout the day, through all situations of life. We must learn to walk with God each moment.

Enoch walked with God. He was pleasing to God and God took him. If we learn to walk with God, it will be a moment by moment, situation by situation following Him, doing His will. And whatever that may be, it will be meaningful.

So then, as we come before the Lord, as we seek to appreciate who He is and what He has done for us, let us come before the Lord with the recognition that we need Him every hour, every moment of our lives.

Let us come to Him and ask Him to teach us His ways, help us to understand what life ought to be and how we can live for Him.

Let us ask Him to teach us to appreciate the Lord Jesus more deeply, who He is and what He has done for us; how we should follow Him, how we should abide in Him.

Let us ask the Lord to help each one of us to draw near to Him and to respond well to Him.