Jesus was revealing the power of choice

JESUS WAS REVEALING THE POWER OF CHOICE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 7:17 17Anyonewho choosesto do the will of God
will find out whether my teaching comes from God or
whether I speak on my own.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Will to Know
If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be
of God, or whether I speak from myself.—John 7:17.
1. The Feastof Tabernacleswas in progress in Jerusalemwhen Jesus entered
the Temple to teach. A circle of Jews were gatheredround Him, who seemto
have been spellbound with the extraordinary wisdom of His words. He made
no pretension to be a scholar. He was no graduate of the Rabbinical schools.
He had no accessto the sacredliterature of the people. Yet here was this
strangerfrom Nazarethconfounding the wisestheads in Jerusalem, and
unfolding with calm and effortless skillsuch truths as even these Temple walls
had never heard before. Then “the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweththis
man letters, having never learned?” What organof spiritual knowledge can
He have, never having learned? Never having learned—they did not know
that Christ had learned. They did not know the schoolat Nazarethwhose
Teacherwas in heaven—whoseschoolroomwas a carpenter’s shop—the
lesson, the Father’s will. They knew not that hidden truths could come from
God, or wisdom from above. What came to them was gatheredfrom human
books, orcaught from human lips. They knew no organsave the mind; no

instrument of knowing the things of heavenbut that by which they learned in
the schools.But Jesus points to a spiritual world which lay still far beyond,
and tells them of the spiritual eye which reads its profounder secrets and
reveals the mysteries of God. “My doctrine is not mine,” He says, “but his that
sent me”; and “my judgment is just,” as He taught before, “because I seek not
mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” And then, lest
men should think this great experience was nevermeant for them, He applies
His principles to every human mind which seeksto know God’s will. “If any
man will do his will, he shall know of the teaching whether it be of God.”
2. “If any man willeth to do … he shall know.” The quality of our perceptions
is to be determined by the characterofour wills. If we look after our moral
wills our spiritual eyes will attend to themselves. Our visions wait upon our
volitions. Moralobedience is the secretof spiritual discernment. “If any man
willeth to do”; that is the first step in the exploration of eternal truth; that is
the “opensesame”into the region of light and glory. “If any man willeth to
do,” that is the instrument; “he shall know,” that is the consequentrevelation.
“If any man willeth to do”; that is the telescope through which we survey the
far-stretching panorama of Gospeltruth, or it is the microscope through
which we discern the mind of God in the immediate problem. “He shall
know!” The first part of the text proclaims the means, the secondenshrines
the issues.
Doing and knowing are blood relations. “Obedience is the organof spiritual
vision”—so Robertsonre-issuedthe truth, that, if we would know God’s
doctrine, we must do His will. Experiment and experience spring from the
same root, and will not grow apart. Do you wish you had a Christian’s
experience? Will to make the Christian experiment. Will you know who
Christ is, and what He cando for you? Obey Him; do as He directs. Do not
expectexperience without experiment. “Follow me” was Christ’s way of
saying “Tasteand see that the Lord is good:Blessedis the man that trusteth
in him.”1 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts forEvery-Day Living, 38.]

I
Obeying
“If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know.” Here we have the means by
which knowledge oftruth is attainable. There are a number of instruments for
finding out the will of God. One of them is a very greatinstrument, so far
surpassing all the restin accuracythat there may be said to be but one which
has never been known to fail. The others are smaller and clumsier, much less
delicate, indeed, and often fail. They often fail to come within sight of the will
of God at all, and are so far astrayat other times as to mistake some other
thing for it. Still they are instruments and, notwithstanding their defects, have
a value by themselves;and when the greatinstrument employs their humbler
powers to secondits attempts, they immediately become as keenand as
unerring as itself.
The most important of these minor instruments is Reason;and although it is a
minor instrument, it is greatenough in many a case to revealthe secretwill of
God. God is taking our life and characterthrough a certainprocess, for
example. He is running our careeralong a certainchain of events. And
sometimes the light which He is showing us stops, and we have to pick our
way for a few steps by the dimmer lights of thought. But it is God’s will for us
then to use this thought, and to elevate it through regions of consecration, into
faith, and to walk by this light till the clearerbeam from His will comes back
again. Another of these instruments is Experience. There are many paths in
life which we all tread more than once. God’s light was by us when we walked
them first, and lit a beaconhere and there along the way. But the next time He
sent our feetalong that path He knew the sidelights would be burning still,
and let us walk alone. And then there is Circumstance. Godclosesthings in
around us till our alternatives are all reduced to one. That one, if we must act,

is probably the will of God just then. And then there are the Advice of
others—animportant element at least—andthe Welfare of others, and the
Example to others, and the many other facts and principles that make up the
moral man, which, if not strong enough always to discoverwhat God’s will is,
are not too feeble often to determine what it is not.
Even the best of these instruments, however, has but little powerin its own
hands. The ultimate appeal is always to the one greatInstrument, which uses
them in turn as it requires, and which supplements their discoveries, oreven
supplants them, if it choose, by its own superior light, and might, and right. It
is like some greatglass that can sweepthe skies in the darkestnight and trace
the motions of the farthest stars, while all the rest can but see a faint uncertain
light piercing, for a moment here and there the clouds which lie between. And
this greatinstrument for finding out God’s will, this instrument which can
penetrate where reasoncannotgo, where observationhas not been before, and
memory is helpless, and the guiding hand of circumstance has failed, has a
name which is seldomassociatedwith any end so great, a name which every
child may understand, even as the stupendous instrument itself with all its
mighty powers is sometimes moved by infant hands when others have tried in
vain. The name of the instrument is Obedience. Obedience, as it is sometimes
expressed, is the organof spiritual knowledge.As the eye is the organ of
physical sight; the mind, of intellectual sight; so the organ of spiritual vision is
this strange power, Obedience. This is one of the greatdiscoveries the Bible
has made to the world. It is purely a Bible thought. Philosophy never
conceiveda truth so simple and yet so sublime. And, although it was knownin
Old Testamenttimes, and expressedin Old Testamentbooks, itwas reserved
for Jesus Christto make the full discoveryto the world, and add to His
teaching another of the profoundest truths that have come from heaven to
earth—that the mysteries of the Father’s will are hid in this word “obey.”
Men say that when they know they will do; Jesus says that when they do they
will know. He does not promise to manifest Himself to the man who dreams or

debates, but to him who keeps his commandments. The seeds oftruth sprout
in the soilof obedience. The words of Jesus in the mind of a disobedient man
are no more vital than wheatin the wrappings of a mummy. To know the
Divinity of Jesus’s teachings,we must do His will with definite intention.
Moraldisobedience is mental darkness, but to submit our wills in loyalty to
His law is to open our minds to the light of His truth.1 [Note:M. D. Babcock,
Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 19.]
1. “If any man.”—Observe the universality of the law. “If any man willeth to
do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I
speak from myself.” The law was true of the Man Christ Jesus Himself. He
tells us it is true of all other men. In God’s universe there are no favourites of
heaven who may transgress the laws of the universe with impunity—none who
can take fire in the hand and not be burnt—no enemies of heaven who if they
sow corn will reap tares. The law is just and true to all: “Whatsoevera man
soweth, that shall he also reap.” In God’s spiritual universe there are no
favourites of heavenwho can attain knowledge and spiritual wisdom apart
from obedience. There are none reprobate by an eternaldecree, who can
surrender selfand in all things submit to God, and yet fail of spiritual
convictions. It is not therefore a rare, partial condescensionofGod, arbitrary
and causeless, whichgives knowledge ofthe truth to some, and shuts it out
from others; but a vast, universal, glorious law. The light lighteth every man
that cometh into the world. “If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know.”
Of all the insolent, all the foolish persuasions thatby any chance couldenter
and hold your empty little heart, this is the proudest and foolishest,—thatyou
have been so much the darling of the Heavens, and favourite of the Fates, as to
be born in the very nick of time, and in the punctual place, when and where
pure Divine truth had been sifted from the errors of the Nations;and that
your papa had been providentially disposedto buy a house in the convenient
neighbourhood of the steeple under which that Immaculate and final verity
would be beautifully proclaimed. Do not think it, child; it is not so. This, on

the contrary, is the fact,—unpleasantyou may think it; pleasant, it seems to
me,—that you, with all your pretty dresses, anddainty looks, and kindly
thoughts, and saintly aspirations, are not one whit more thought of or loved
by the greatMakerand Masterthan any poor little red, black, or blue savage,
running wild in the pestilent woods, ornaked on the hot sands of the earth;
and that, of the two, you probably know less about God than she does;the
only difference being that she thinks little of Him that is right, and you much
that is wrong.1 [Note:Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies (Works, xviii. 36).]
2. “Willeth to do.”—The old version reads:“If any man will do his will, he
shall know,” but the RevisedVersiontakes us a step farther back, awayto the
preparatory conditions before any deed is yet accomplished. “Ifany man
willeth to do … he shall know!” Back from doing to willingness to do. We are
led from the realm of conduct to the region of character, from finished deed to
primary aspirations. Notice the difference this makes in the problem. Before,
it lookedas if the doing were to come first and then the knowing His will; but
now another element is thrown in at the very beginning. The being willing
comes first and then the knowing;and thereafterthe doing may follow—the
doing, that is to say, if the will has been sufficiently clearto proceed. The
whole stress of the passage therefore turns on this word “willeth.” And
Christ’s answerto the question, How shall we know the will of God? may be
simply statedthus: “If any man is willing to do God’s will, he shall know,” or,
in plainer language still, “If any man is sincerelytrying to do God’s will, he
shall know.” The connectionof all this with obedience is just that being willing
is the highestform of obedience. It is the spirit and essenceofobedience.
There is an obedience in the world which is no obedience, becausethe act of
obedience is there but the spirit of submission is not.
On John 8:43-44 : “Ye cannot hear my word; and the lusts of your father ye
will do,” Brownlow North remarks, “The ‘will’ explains the ‘cannot.’ You
cannot, because your will is in opposition.”1 [Note:K. Moody-Stuart,
Brownlow North, 265.]

“A certain man,” we read in the Bible, “had two sons;and he came to the
first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answeredand said, I
will not: but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second, and
said likewise. And he answeredand said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of
them twain did the will of his father?” Obedience here comes out in its true
colours as a thing in the will. And if any man have an obeying will, a truly
single and submissive will, he shall know of the teaching, or of the leading,
whether it be of God.2 [Note:H. Drummond, The Ideal Life, 309.]
3. “His will.”—If there is one thing more than another which is more personal
to the Christian, more singularly his than God’s love or God’s interest—one
thing which is a finer symbol of God’s love and interest, it is the knowledge of
God’s will—the private knowledge ofGod’s will. And this is more personal,
just inasmuch as it is more private. My private portion of God’s love is only a
private share in God’s love—onlya part—the same in quality and kind as all
the restof God’s love, which all the others get from God. But God’s will is a
thing for myself. There is a will of God for me which is willed for no one else
besides. It is not a share in the universal will, in the same sense as I have a
share in the universal love. It is a particular will for me, different from the
will He has for any one else—a private will—a will which no one else knows
about, which no one can know about, but me.
(1) God has a life-plan for every human life. In the eternalcounsels of His will,
when He arrangedthe destiny of every star, and every sand-grain and grass-
blade, and eachof those tiny insects which live but for an hour, the Creator
had a thought for eachof us. Our life was to be the slow unfolding of this
thought, as the corn-stalk from the grain of corn, or the flowerfrom the
gradually opening bud. It was a thought of what we were to be, of what we
might become, of what He would have us do with our days and years, our
influence and our lives. But we all had the terrible power to evade this
thought, and shape our lives from another thought, from another will, if we

chose. The bud could only become a flower, and the star revolve in the orbit
God had fixed. But it was man’s prerogative to choose his path, his duty to
choose it in God. But the Divine right to choose atall has always seemedmore
to him than his duty to choose in God, so, for the most part, he has takenhis
life from God, and cut out his careerfor himself.
(2) It has happened, therefore, that the very factof God’s guidance in the
individual life has been denied. It is said to give life an importance quite
foreign to the Divine intention in making man. One life, it is argued, is of no
more importance than any other life, and to talk of specialprovidences
happening every hour of every day is to detractfrom the majesty and dignity
of God; in fact, it reduces a religious life to a mere religious caprice, and the
thought that God’s will is being done to a hallucination of the mind. But the
Christian cannot allow the question to be put off with poor evasions like these.
Every day, indeed, and many times a day, the question arises in a hundred
practicalforms. What is the will of God for me? What is the will of God for
me to-day, just now, for the next step, for this arrangementand for that, and
this amusement, and this projectedwork for Christ? Forall these he feels he
must consult the will of God; and that God has a will for him in all such
things, and that it must be possible somehow to know what that will is, is not
only a matter of hope, but a point in his doctrine and creed.
4. How may we assure ourselves that this willingness to do God’s will is ours?
(1) We may judge our primary bias by our treatment of the light which we
have already received. Our inclinations are reflectedin our ways;our
inclinations are the moulds in which our deeds are shaped. What, then, have
our deeds to say about our inclinations? What have we done with the light
which has already been given? For God has nowhere and at no time left
Himself without a witness. In no man’s life, howeverimprisoned and
bewildered, is there ever a heavenwithout a twinkle of guiding light. On the

darkening wastes ofevery life, with all its moors and fens and torrents, there
is a kindly gleam. Many things are hidden, but all things are not obscure.
Some things are clear, and what have we done with them? We are praying for
largerdays, and there is a little glow-lamp at our feet; what have we done
with that? Are we asking for stars and at the same time despising candles?
Are we waiting for light upon unknown continents, and disdaining the
proffered lamp that would guide us down the street? We are, perhaps, waiting
for the sun to rise upon the dark and awful mysteries of the Atonement, while
in our immediate presence there shines the light of a vivid and neglectedduty.
The text makes one thing plain, and we shall do infinitely wellto heed it—that
sunrises are not for those who neglectcandles, and that we need never expect
to enter into the illumined recessesofsacredtruth if the condemnatorylight
of despisedlamps is shining in our rear. “If any man willeth to do his will, he
shall know,” and we are pathetically and tragicallyfoolish if we are seeking
the knowledge by any other road. The way to firm, fine perception, and
therefore to the rich unfolding of truth and glory, is not through metaphysics,
or by the towering aspirations of philosophic Babels, but by the humble
commonplace road of reverent moral obedience.
An earnestbut pessimistic priest was talking to the Bishop about the state of
his parish, and was speciallytroubled by the small successofhis efforts to
help the younger farm-lads lodging at the various homesteads. “Forexample,
my Lord,” he said, “there is one lad with whom I had takenmuch trouble,
and I hoped an influence for goodwas getting a lodgment in the boy’s heart.
But, imagine my distress when I askedwhathe had done in the way of
preparation for his early Communion at Easter, and all he said was, ‘I’s
cleanedmy boots, and put ’em under the bed.’ It is sad, indeed!”—“Well,
dear friend,” replied the Bishop, “and don’t you think the angels would
rejoice to see them there?”1 [Note:G. W. E. Russell, EdwardKing, Bishop of
Lincoln, 114.]

(2) Many of us are putting secondthings first. We are seeking to know the
mind of the Lord, to disengage His truth, when all the time we are rebels to
the truth we know. Now a neglectedduty always pollutes the air like a
neglectedlamp; it contributes smoke whenit was purposed to contribute light,
and the very minister of illumination makes the atmosphere more dense and
opaque. In our quest for God and truth we must, therefore, see to it that there
are no smoking lamps, and we do this when we firmly setourselves to do the
will we know. There are whole continents of spiritual truth lying back in
twilight and night, but there is a fringe of revelation in the foreground,
glimpses of our Lord’s will which leave us in no manner of doubt. Let us begin
with the will we know, and through it move on to the unknown. But, when I
say “the will we know,” I mean all the will we know. We are not to choose a
candle here and a candle there, and reject and ignore the rest. We must not
pick and choose among the lamps. If we are seeking the land of the morning,
we must not despise a single candle which gives its kindly guidance by the
way. Whereverwe find a clearrevelation of our Master’s will it is through
scrupulous obedience to that will that we must seek the unveiling of the truth
that still remains hid.
Obey something; and you will have a chance some day of finding out what is
best to obey.1 [Note: Ruskin, Fors Clavigera.]
As long as we set up our own will and our own wisdomagainstGod’s, we
make that wall betweenus and His love which I have spokenof just now. But
as soonas we lay ourselves entirely at His feet, we have enough light given us
to guide our own steps; as the foot-soldierwho hears nothing of the councils
that determine the course of the greatbattle he is in, hears plainly enough the
word of command which he must himself obey.2 [Note:Mr. Tryan, in Scenes
of ClericalLife.]

(3) If a man is willing to do the will of God, he will be watchful againstthe
prejudices and prepossessions whichwould hinder him from knowing that
will. He will know the danger which always exists of self-deception, and of
confounding strong convictionwith sound and solid persuasion. Some men
have strong convictions, but they believe a lie, a lie for which, if need be, they
are prepared to give up their life. Let us never forgetthat the firmness with
which we hold any principle is no proof of its truthfulness, unless we have
verified it in practice. The man whom Christ contemplates is one to whom all
light is welcome, come from what quarter it may. It may disturb old
convictions;it may revealthat as true which before seemedto be false;it may
alter the proportions and relations of truths, giving a primary position to
some which once held but a secondary, and, on the contrary, reducing to a
lowerstatus what once was highestof all. But it is the will of God he is bent on
knowing and doing, and this is more than a recompense forall the
disturbance which may befall merely inherited opinions. He will feelthat
there is no interest, either in this world or in any other, comparedwith that of
finding out and fulfilling the will of God. This must be right, this must be best.
The difficulty of gaining admission for any truth into the minds of men whose
lives are in disconformity with it is proverbial. If a man’s interests, his present
or even his fancied interests, or his pleasures are involved in his continuance
in any course of action, we know what a mass of evidence is required to
convince him that he is in the wrong. To the makers and sellers of silver
shrines there will be no goddess like Diana of the Ephesians. If a craft,
howeveriniquitous, be in danger, we need not be sanguine in our hopes of
convincing of its wickedness those who are enriching themselves by its gains.
We may be prepared with much evidence of its wrongfulness, but they have
profits which overwhelm all our demonstrations. Hence it is that the opinions
of men are quite as frequently the product of their practices as their cause;
and the doctrine, while it gives its complexion to the life, as certainly takes its
complexion from it. Thieves do not first excogitateevil maxims, and then
begin to steal; they first begin to steal, and then adopt evil maxims; and as a
rule, the worse the man, the worse must be the principles from which he acts;

and the better the man, the nobler the principles which animate him.1 [Note:
E. Mellor, The Footsteps ofHeroes, 239.]
When the Cliffords tell us how sinful it is to be Christians on such
“insufficient evidence,” insufficiency is really the lastthing they have in mind.
For them the evidence is absolutelysufficient, only it makes the other way.
They believe so completely in an antichristian order of the universe that there
is no living option: Christianity is a dead hypothesis from the start.2 [Note: W.
James, The Will to Believe, 14.]
II
Knowing
“If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know.” Here we have the issue of
obedience. This willingness to do His will, whether I find the clearrevelation
in the sacredword or in the private oratory of my own conscience,gives to my
life the requisite atmosphere in which all spiritual truth is to be discerned. To
be willing to do His will, and to do it, gathers into the life a certainair of
refinement which is the only congenialmedium for the discovery of spiritual
truth. Everybody has noticed how clearly sounds travel when there is snow on
the ground. When that white vesture clothes the earth softsounds become
articulate and doubtful callings become clear. And when, by scrupulous
obedience to the will of the Saviour, the heart grows pure, when it is clothedin
habits of consecrationwhichdim even the whiteness ofthe virgin snow, then
do the doubtful utterances of our Lord become articulate, and suggestions of
remote and hidden truth speak clearlyin our receptive ears. “If any man
willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching.”

1. “He shall know.”—Ifwe hearour conscienceand setour face to duty, it will
be with us as with the traveller who ascends the Gemmi Pass. Whenhe comes
to the foot of the precipice along whose ledges and through whose crevicesthe
narrow path ascends, the mist may be lying heavy, and at first he may not find
the starting-point. Once his feetare upon the path, although he cannotsee
beyond a few yards and has no idea how the path may wind, it is only a matter
of doggedand carefulperseverance. With every step the mist grows more
luminous, glimpses of the crestcan now and again be caught, and suddenly
the traveller comes out from the cloud into the clearsunlight on the height,
with the spotless snow aroundhim and the blue of God’s heaven over his
head. He that wills to do God’s will shall come to know God’s will before set of
sun.
I have known men who have for long doubted the existence of God and denied
that we could know anything of Him, resolutelyset themselves to be true and
pure and unselfish, and the changedattitude has begottena yearning for and
a trust in a truth and righteousness and goodnessout of and beyond
themselves. The conviction that they must dwell in a personalsource has
gradually grown within their aspiring spirits; and they have come to feel sure
that it is a PersonalWill that is at the centre of our complicated, perplexed,
and mysterious life, always going out in work and always unexhausted—a
Will and not a cold, hard, material “power-not-of-ourselves”;the Personal
Will of a living and loving Father. In seeking to do the best, they have, like
Zaccheus, come on the track of Him who is the Absolute Bestembodied and
made attractive to all men for the salvationof the world.1 [Note:J. Clifford,
The Dawnof Manhood, 95.]
(1) “He shall know.”—Thereis a wide distinction betweensupposing and
knowing—betweenfancyand conviction—betweenopinion and belief.
Whateverrests on authority remains only supposition. We have an opinion
when we know what others think. We know when we feel. In matters practical
we know only so far as we can do. FeelGod; do His will, till the Absolute

Imperative within you speaks as with a living voice: Thou shalt, and thou
shalt not; and then you do not think, you know, that there is a God. That is a
conviction and a belief.
Faith in Christ is an act rather of the spiritual nature than of the intellect, and
as the result of sympathy with the truth rather than of critical examination of
evidence. A painter or art-critic familiar with the productions of greatartists
feels himself insulted if you offer him evidence to convince him of the
genuineness ofa work of art over and above the evidence which it carries in
itself, and which to him is the most convincing of all. If one of the lost books of
Tacitus were recovered, scholarswouldnot judge it by any accountthat might
be given of its preservationand discovery, but would say, Let us see it and
read it, and we will very soontell you whether it is genuine or not. When the
man you have seenevery day for years, and whose characteryouhave looked
into under the strongestlights, is accusedofdishonesty, and damaging
evidence is brought againsthim, does it seriouslydisturb your confidence in
him? Not at all. No evidence cancountervail the knowledge gainedby
intercourse. You know the man, directly, and you believe in him without
regard to what other persons advance in his favour or againsthim. Christ
expects acceptanceonsimilar grounds.2 [Note:Marcus Dods.]
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certainam I of the spot
As if the chart were given.1 [Note: Emily Dickinson.]
(2) Let us remember, however, that the knowledge promisedby Christ may
become ours only gradually. Our experience may be like that of a man waiting
for the dawn, rather than that of a man who is suddenly plunged out of
darkness into the full blaze of the midday sun. The light grows upon us; and
whilst, at first, we may see distinctly only one or another thing that lies
nearestto us, after awhile other things rise into view, till at last whateveris
within range becomes clearlyvisible. In relation to Divine truth we often find
an impatience which would be counted very foolish in relation to natural
truth. Men who are content to grope on very slowlyin science,getting a
glimpse now of one truth and then of another, expect in the regionwith which
we are here concernedto pass almostat once into full light and certainty. This
cannot be. Moralloyalty, earnestand well-directedlabour and humble
patience, are necessaryconditions of entering into full possessionofthe secret
of the Lord.
I think I cannot be mistakenhere. Could you know how I have lived in His
mind, and tried to understand Him, till comprehensionbecame adoration, you
would think so. I am not pretending to a superior appreciationbeyond
yours—exceptonly on this ground, that, professionallyforcedto the
contemplation, and forced more terribly by doubts and difficulties that nearly
shatteredmorals and life, till I was left alone with myself and Him, I am,

perhaps, qualified to speak with a decisionthat would be otherwise
dogmatism.2 [Note:Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson, 407.]
2. “He shall know of the teaching.”—We oughtto fix in our minds what
exactly Jesus intended by His words when He spoke of knowing the teaching
and doing the will. He did not mean that we must be acquainted with the
various dogmas which scientific religion has from time to time createdand
into whose mould the fluid idea concerning spiritual truth has been run.
Dogmas are the achievementof the intellect, and the Pharisees were
exceedinglystrong in their dogmatic knowledge. WhenJesus spoke of
teaching He referred to the burden of His own teaching, and the sum of all His
teaching was God. His aim was to impress the mind with a certain idea of
God, and it was a moral rather than an intellectual conception. We do not find
Jesus enlarging upon the existence and attributes of God after the manner,
say, of the Athanasian Creed. He saidnothing about the being of God, but He
endeavouredto convince men that Godwas the merciful and faithful Father
of the human race;that He loved men, both goodand bad, with a patient
fatherly love; that He desired His children to abandon their sins and come
home to His fellowship; that He was ready to receive them if they would only
trust and obey Him. This was not theology, it was religion. It was not God’s
being but God’s doing that Jesus preached, not His nature but His character.
He desired not that men should solve problems about God, but that they
should have fellowshipwith Him.
I cannot but think that the brethren sometimes err in measuring the Divine
love by the sinner’s knowledge.1[Note:Dinah Morris, in Adam Bede.]
3. “Whetherit be of God.”—The earnestpurpose to do the will of God
operates upon the heart of man, and leads him to the knowledge ofthe
teaching, whether it be of God. Who can sethimself to the higher life without
there coming upon his soula sense of contrastbetweensuch life and that

which he has hitherto led? There is something enlightening in the very
entertainment of a true purpose. It gives notice to all the unworthy passions of
the heart that a conflictis at hand. The birth of this heavenly resolutionis not
unmingled pleasure. It cannotbe. For there is a past which comes up with its
records of sin and guilt, and the man feels that that past is his, and cannotbe
treated as if it had never been. He cannot wipe it from his memory, nor can he
silence the accusationsofconscience. Doesnotthe soul feelthat the teaching is
of God, whatevermay be the mysteries which envelop it—that it is of God,
because it addresses itselfto the awakenedconscience—thatit is of God,
because it does not sweepjustice awaythat it may find room for mercy, but
blends the claims of both in the sovereignand the fatherly dispensation which
saves the sinner, while it condemns his sins?
I askedmyself what my life was, and receivedas an answer:“An evil and an
absurdity.” And indeed, my life—that life of pampered appetites and whims—
was meaningless and evil, and so the answer, “Life is evil and meaningless,”
had reference only to my life, and not to human life in general. I
comprehended the truth, which I later found in the gospel, that men had come
to love the darkness more than the light because their deeds were bad, for
those who did bad deeds hated the light and did not go to it, lest their deeds be
disclosed. I saw that in order to comprehend the meaning of life it was
necessary, first of all, that life should not be meaningless and evil, and then
only was reasonneededfor the understanding of it. I comprehended why I
had so long walkedround such a manifest truth, and that if I were to think
and speak ofthe life of humanity, I ought to think and speak of the life of
humanity, and not of the life of a few parasites oflife. This truth had always
been a truth, just as two times two was four, but I had not recognizedit
because, if I recognizedthat two times two was four, I should have had to
recognize that I was not good, whereas itwas more important and obligatory
for me to feel myself good than to feelthat two times two was four. I came to
love goodpeople and to hate myself, and I recognizedthe truth. Now
everything became clearto me.1 [Note: Tolstoy, My Confession(Complete
Works, xiii. 62).]

4. What wonderful light the words of our Lord caston the true channel
through which spiritual knowledge enters man, and how they rebuke the
pride and arrogance ofthat reasonwhich presumes to have the powerto
master all things. Reasonhas its sphere assignedto it by its Maker, and within
that sphere it is “a vision and a faculty Divine”; but there are realms in which
it plays, and was designedto play, a subordinate part, and in which its
discovering poweris very small. Even apart from religion, how many
departments of truth there are in which reasonis but an incompetent
authority. How many men of the highest intellectual powers are shut out of
the beauties createdby the genius of the artist, the poet, the painter, the
sculptor, and the musician. Their reasonis blind and deaf before forms and
sounds of the most transcendentloveliness. Manya mathematician, peerless in
his powerof calculation, stands in blank and unsympathetic mood before the
loveliestforms that ever breathed on the canvas;and many a logician, whom
no sophistry could elude, hears nothing but a successionof incoherentand
confusednoises in some marvellous creationof music which enthrals the
appreciative soul. And yet the truth of art is as true as that of such matters as
are within the province of reasonitself, and can no more be justly discarded
or despisedby the merely intellectual philosopher than the radiant glories of
the external universe canbe denied by the man who is blind. So also, but in
still higher degree, religionhas its truths, which, though not contrary to
reason, lie beyond its powerto discoveror, it may be, for the present, to
harmonize. Shall reason, shut out of so many realms of truth even in the
natural world, claim a sovereigntyover the world in which infinite love and
infinite wisdom are displaying their resources to redeem man from sin?
Reasonby itself has almostas little to do with the deeperexperiences of the
soul as affectionhas to do with the questions of arithmetic or the problems of
geometry; for these deeper experiences are those of repentance, remorse,
faith, hope, temptation, and struggle and heavenward aspiration. Love is ever
the keyto the deepestmysteries. Though shut to the scrutiny of the keenest
reason, they open to the knocking of an affectionate and reverent heart.
Hidden from those who regard themselves as the wise and prudent, they are

revealedunto babes. They that seek to do the will of God shall indeed be
taught of Him.
If e’er when faith had fall’n asleep,
I heard a voice “believe no more”
And heard an ever-breaking shore
That tumbled in the Godless deep;
A warmth within the breast would melt
The freezing reason’s colderpart,
And like a man in wrath the heart
Stoodup and answer’d“I have felt.”1 [Note: Tennyson, In Memoriam.]
I’ve seenpretty clearever since I was a young un, as religion’s something else
besides notions. It isn’t notions sets people doing the right thing—it’s feelings.
It’s the same with the notions in religion as it is with math’matics,—a man
may be able to work problems straight off in’s head as he sits by the fire and
smokes his pipe; but if he has to make a machine or a building, he must have a

will and a resolution, and love something else better than his ownease.1 [Note:
Adam Bede, in Adam Bede.]
5. There are two types of men to whom Jesus’ words ought to be a warning.
(1) The first is the man who supposes that he knows the doctrine, but is not
doing the will. Is he sure that he knows anything which counts when his
knowledge is so absolutely divorced from life? He has a very strong theory
about the inspiration of the Bible, but what goodis his devotion to the letter
when the spirit of the Book has not affectedhis heart? He believes that he
knows God, but how canhe?—for Godis love, and this man is not loving his
brother. He is very keenabout the Deity of Christ, but what right has he to
speak of Christ since he will not carry Christ’s cross in mercy and humility?
He is convincedthat his sins are forgiven, and prates about assurance, but can
they be loosedif he will not give quittance to his brother man? He has an
unfaltering confidence that he will reachheavenwhen he dies, but what place
can he have in heaven who to-day is carrying a hell of unclean or malignant
passions in his heart?
(2) The other is the man who is proud of his scepticism, and complains that he
cannot know, while all the time he is refusing to obey. Granted that the Holy
Trinity and the sacrifice ofChrist are mysteries, and that God Himself is the
chief mystery of all, he ought to remember that everything in life is not a
mystery. It is open to us all to do our daily work with a single mind, to be
patient amid the reverses of life, to be thoughtful in the discharge of our
family duties, and to be self-denying in the managementof our souls. Duty at
any rate is no mystery, and it is grotesque that a man should proclaim that he
cannot believe the most profound truths when he is making no honesteffort to
keepthe plainest commandments.

“I wish I had your creed, then I would live your life,” said a seekeraftertruth
to Pascal, the greatFrench thinker. “Live my life, and you will soonhave my
creed,” was the swift reply. The solution of all difficulties of faith lies in
Pascal’sanswer, whichis after all but a variant of Christ’s greatersaying,
“He that willeth to do the will of God, shall know the teaching.” Is not the
whole reasonwhy, for so many of us, the religion of Christ which we profess
has so little in it to content us, simply this, that we have never heartily and
honestly tried to practise it?1 [Note:W. J. Dawson, The Empire of Love, 101.]
Therefore be strong, be strong,
Ye that remain, nor fruitlessly revolve,
Darkling, the riddles which ye cannotsolve,
But do the works that unto you belong;
Believing that for every mystery,
For all the death, the darkness, and the curse
Of this dim universe,
Needs a solution full of love must be:

And that the way whereby ye may attain
Nearestto this, is not through broodings vain
And half-rebellious, questionings of God,
But by a patient seeking to fulfil
The purpose of His everlasting will,
Treading the path which lowly men have trod.
Since it is ever they who are too proud
For this, that are the foremostand most loud
To judge His hidden judgments, these are still
The most perplexed and lost at His mysterious will.2 [Note: Trench, Poems,
102.]
6. Jesus’wordhas greatcomfort for two kinds of people.

(1) The first is the man who is harassedby many perplexing questions, but
who is doing his duty bravely. Courage, we say, and patience. No one ever
carried Christ’s Cross without coming near to Christ Himself, and where
Christ is, the light is sure to break. There is no sacrifice we make, no service
we render, that is not bringing us nearerto the heart of things; for the heart
of the universe is love. Let us watch as those who watch for the morning, and
watchat our work, for the day will break and it will come with morning
songs. St. Thomas could hardly believe anything, but he was willing to die
with Christ, and Christ showedhim His wounds.
With anxious thoughts at this time GeneralBooth avers, when the rubicon
was passedand the severancefrom the MethodistNew Connexion made final,
“Thathe and his wife went out togethernot knowing a soul who would give
them a shilling, neither knowing where to go.” Mrs. Boothwrote to her
parents, “I am so nervous I canscarcelywrite. I am almost bewildered with
fatigue and anxiety. If I thought it was right to stop here in the ordinary work
I would gladly consent. But I cannot believe that it would be so. Why should
he spend another year plodding round this wreck of a circuit, preaching to
twenty, thirty, and forty people, when, with the same amount of costto
himself, he might be preaching to thousands? And none of our friends would
think it right if we had an income. Then, I ask, does the securing of our bread
and cheese make thatright which would otherwise be wrong when God has
promised to feedand clothe us? I think not; William hesitates. He thinks of
me and the children, and I appreciate his love and care. But I tell him that
God will provide if he will only go straight on in the path of duty. It is strange
that I, who always used to shrink from the sacrifice, should be the first in
making it.”1 [Note: The Life Story of GeneralBooth, 55.]
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.

Was thy dream then a shadowylie?
Toil on, sad heart, courageously,
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A noonday light and truth to thee.2 [Note:Ellen S. Hooper.]
(2) The other is the man who laments the simplicity of his intellect. Be of good
cheer, and do not despairor despise yourself. The Masterthanked God that
He had hidden the deep things from the wise and had revealedthem to babes;
He also set a child in the midst of the disciples and told them that if any one
desired to be greathe must become as a little child. It is not through deep
thinking, but through faithful doing, that one comes to know the mystery of
God; and faithful doing is within every one’s reach. The path which
philosophers and scientists have often missedhas been found by shepherds on
the hills, and by working women. Mary of Bethany and the fishermen of
Galilee knew more of God than the scholars ofJerusalem.
One hears sometimes of religious controversies running very high; about
faith, works, grace, prevenientgrace, the Arches Court and Essays and
Reviews;—into none of which do I enter, or concernmyself with your
entering. One thing I will remind you of, That the essence andoutcome of all
religions, creeds and liturgies whatsoeveris, To do one’s work in a faithful
manner. Unhappy caitiff, what to you is the use of orthodoxy, if with every
stroke of your hammer you are breaking all the Ten Commandments,—
operating upon Devil’s-dust, and, with constantinvocation of the Devil,

endeavouring to reap where you have not sown?3 [Note:Carlyle,
Miscellaneous Essays,vii. 229.]
The Will to Know
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
A GoodWill The Condition Of Spiritual Discernment
John 7:17
J.R. Thomson
Intellectual men are apt to set too high a value upon the exercise ofthe
intellect. And in this error they are often confirmed by the notions of the
ignorant and uninstructed, who look up with wonder to the learned and the
mentally acute, and are willing to think such prodigies of knowledge must be
assuredpossessors ofall goodthings. But the factis, that the highestof all
possessionsis to be attained, not by the scholarshipor the ability which men
often overestimate, but by the trusting heart and the obedient and submissive
will. Nowhere is this great spiritual lessonmore plainly and effectively
inculcated than in this passage.
I. THE SOURCE OF CHRIST'S DOCTRINE. This was a mystery to many of
the Jews, who knew that Jesus was born in a lowly station, and that he had
not been trained in the schools ofrabbinical learning, and who could not
understand how he could teach with such justice, profundity, and beauty.
With this difficulty Jesus here deals.

1. The doctrine of Jesus is assertedby himself to be derived. He repudiated
the notion that he spake from himself, i.e. from the experience or originality of
a merely human mind.
2. The doctrine of Jesus is assertedby himself to be Divine. It was neither his
own, nor that of a schoolof learning, nor was it a mere amplification of the
sayings of the ancientlegislatorand the ancient prophets. Jesus everclaimed
to have come from God, and to have actedand spokenwith the authority of
God. This, however, was his assertion;how were his hearers to verify it?
II. THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST'S DOCTRINE. There were many who
listened to the discourses andconversations ofthe great Teacher, who were
familiar with his language, but who were unacquainted with, and indifferent
to, the spiritual meaning and powerof which that language was, to
sympathetic souls, the vehicle. How can this meaning and power be known?
1. There must be a will in harmony with God's will. Man is not merely an
intellectual being; he is emotionaland practical. And the will is the man. It is
the habitual purposes which determine the man's character. Manypersona
have insight into truth, and even admiration of truth, whose moral life is
nevertheless evil, because theyabandon themselves to be the sport of every
fleeting passion. The habitual indulgence of passion, pride, and worldliness
blinds the spiritual vision, so that the highest goodbecomes indiscernible. And
thus three who are not without natural gifts of intelligence become incapable
of judging the highesttype of characterorof doctrine. On the other hand, the
cultivation of a will in harmony with the Divine will is the means of purifying
the spiritual vision. When the goodis habitually chosen, the true comes to be
habitually soughtand prized.
2. The will thus in harmony with God's will recognizes the Divine origin of
Christ's teaching. Both by reasonof his acquaintance with the mind of God,
and by his sympathy with the Law and the truth of God, the devout and
obedient man is fitted to pronounce upon the origin of the Lord's teaching.
"He that is spiritual judgeth all things;" he has "the mind of Christ." Thus it
is, as our Lord acknowledgedwith gratitude, that things hidden from the wise
and prudent are often revealed unto babes. His own apostles were a living

illustration of this law. And every age furnishes examples of clevermen, and
even learned men, who have misunderstood and misrepresentedChrist's
teaching, because they have not been in sympathy with the righteous and holy
will of the Eternal; whilst every age furnishes also examples of simple and
unlettered men who, because lovers of goodness, have displayed a special
discernment of mind in apprehending, and even in teaching, Christian
doctrine. In this, as in other respects, it is the childlike nature that enters the
kingdom of heaven. - T.
Biblical Illustrator
Now about the midst of the feastJesus wentup into the Temple and taught.
John 7:14-16
Christ as a teacher
W. R. Attwood.
Whatevertheory men hold respecting Christ's person and work, all regard
Him as an unparalleled teacher. Fourthings distinguish Him from all His
competitors.
I. HE POPULARIZED RELIGION. The common people heard Him gladly.
What audiences He drew I When He began to teachreligion had lostits hold
on the world. People were weariedof the parodies which went by the name.
Christ taught that it was not a doctrine but a life; not a speculation, but a
love; not conversionto a sect, but change of heart; and that teaching was at
once a revelation and a revolution. What, in despair, the people had come to
regard as dreary and repulsive, He made them feel was bright and beautiful,
and so popularized religion.
II. HE REVOLUTIONIZED THINKING. It is more important to make men
think aright than to teachthem what is right. You cannot ensure their
believing or obeying your instruction, but if you can start them in

conscientious searchofwhat is good, you do them enduring service. Christ did
both, but pre-eminently He liberated the intellect and rationalized its
operations. There was plenty of colossalthinking before Christ, but it was
simply constructive speculationor destructive criticism. And when He came,
it was not as another philosopher, to build another stageysystem. Men
complain that His thinking is defective because fragmentary; but this is its
strength. When men askedfor His principles He threw in a simple sentence,
"You must be born again," "Love your neighbour," some terse, pregnant
phrase which has become the current mental coinof the leading people of the
earth. Any other teacherwould have said, "Come into my class-roomand
take my lectures; the curriculum is sevenyears." Christ could settle it in seven
minutes.
1. He initiated spontaneous judgment. Insteadof sending people to books, He
sent them to their own hearts.
2. He introduced liberty of conscience.Whoeverheard of men demanding
freedom to think and judge for themselves before He came? And yet that
freedom has been a ruling maxim of societysince. Out of these two changes
have grown infinite results, and are quite sufficient to prove that He
revolutionized thinking.
III. HE REORGANIZED SOCIETY. The liberty He vindicated involved
equality and fraternity. It is fashionable to denounce Socialism, and when it
becomes Nihilism or Communism it is a senseless burlesque. He meant that
men should serve eachother, and not that the lazy should share with the
diligent; that as there was a common Fatherhoodin Godthere must be a
common brotherhood among men. So He reconstructedsocietyonthe basis of
mutual respectand reciprocallove. This reconstructionmeant —
1. That He recruited our hopes. He came to a wearyworld. Then a few proud,
petrified men ruled, and the heart of the crowd was crushedand despairing.
The Beatitudes fell on their sadhearts like rain on a drooping flower, and they
lookedup and felt that a new chance was open to them all. So it is wherever
Christ comes now.

2. That He verified our aspirations. Mensighed for another world, but they
scarcelyknew whetheror not to look for it. He came and said, "If it were not
so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you."
IV. HE DIGNIFIED PASSION. Passion, whethergoodor bad, is the greatest
powerin the world. When He came it was everywhere disordered. He purified
and releasedand transformed it into affection. Up to that time men knew not
exactly what to make of the emotions implied by such words as sorrow, pain,
suffering. He gave them at once a status and vindicated their place in the
economyof God. The tendency previously was to stifle pathos, and sneerat
sentiment. He sanctifiedand employed them for the noblest ends.
(W. R. Attwood.)
CharacteristicsofChrist's teaching
Prof. Luthardt.
Wherein did its peculiar power consist? The secretofits influence lies in no
peculiar excellence ofdiction. Jesus was no poet, orator, or philosopher. It is
not the charm of poetry that attracts us, not the ingenious application which
surprises, not flights of eloquence which carry us away, not bold speculation
which evokes our astonishment. No one could speak with more simplicity than
Jesus, whetheron the Mount, in the parables, or in the high priestly prayer.
But this is the very reasonof His influence, that He utters the greatestand
most sublime truths in the present words, so that, as Pascalsays, one might
almost think He was Himself unconscious whattruths He was propounding,
only He expressedthem with much clearness, certainty, and conviction, that
we see how well He knew what He was saying. We cannotfail to see that the
world of eternaltruth is His home, and that His thoughts have constant
intercourse therewith. He speaks ofGod and of His relation to Him, of the
super- mundane world of spirits, of the future world and the future life of
man; of the kingdom of God upon earth, of its nature and history; of the
highest moral truths, and of the supreme obligations of man; in short, of all
the greatestproblems and deepestenigmas of life — as simply and plainly,

with such an absence ofmental excitement, without expatiating upon His
peculiar knowledge, andeven without that dwelling upon details so usual with
those who have anything new to impart, as though all were quite natural and
self-evident. We see that the sublimest truths are His nature. He is not merely
a teacherof truth, but is Himself its source. He cansay "I am the Truth." And
the feeling with which we listen to His words is, that we are listening to the
voice of truth itself. Hence the power which these have at all times exercised
over the minds of men.
(Prof. Luthardt.)
Though criticisedand ridiculed we must go on with our work
J. Preston.
Suppose a geometricianshould be drawing lines and figures, and there should
come in some silly, ignorant fellow, who, seeing him, should laugh at him,
would the artist, think you, leave off his employment because ofhis derision?
Surely not; for he knows that he laughs at him out of his ignorance, as not
knowing his art and the grounds thereof.
(J. Preston.)
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweththis man letters, never having
learned
The originality of Christ as a teacher
P. Schaff, D. D., H. Bushnell, D. D.
We have a greatmany men who are original in the sense of being originators,
within a certainboundary of educatedthought. But the originality of Christ is
uneducated. That He draws nothing from the stores of learning can be seenat
a glance. Indeed, there is nothing in Him that belongs to His age or country —
no one opinion, taste, or prejudice. The attempts that have been made to show
that He borrowed His sentiments from the Persians and the Easternforms of

religion, or that He had been intimate with the Essence andborrowed from
them, or that He must have been acquaintedwith the schools andreligions of
Egypt, deriving His doctrine from them — all attempts of the kind have so
palpably failed, as not even to require a deliberate answer. If He is simply a
man, as we hear, then He is most certainly a new and singular kind of man,
never before heard of, as greata miracle as if He were not a man. Whatever
He advances is from Himself. Shakespeare, e.g.,probably the most creative
and original spirit the world has ever produced, and a self-made man, is yet
tinged in all His works with human learning. He is the high-priest, we
sometimes hear, of human nature. But Christ, understanding human nature
so as to address it more skilfully than he, never draws from its historic
treasures. Neitherdoes He teachby human methods. He does not speculate
about God like a schoolprofessor. He does not build up a frame of evidence
from below by some constructive process, suchas the philosophers delight in;
but He simply speaks ofGodand spiritual things as one who has come out
from Him to tell us what He knows. At the same time He never reveals the
infirmity so commonly shown by human teachers. Whenthey veer a little
from their point or turn their doctrine off by shades of variation to catchthe
assentof multitudes, He never conforms to an expectationeven of His friends.
Again, Christ was of no schoolor party, and never went to any extreme,
words could never turn Him to a one-sided view of anything. This
distinguishes Him from every other known teacher. He never pushes Himself
to any extremity. He is never a radical, never a conservative. And further,
while advancing doctrines so far transcending all the deductions of
philosophy, and opening mysteries that defy all human powers ofexplication,
He is yet able to set His teachings in a form of simplicity that accommodates
all classesofminds. No one of the greatwriters of antiquity had even
propounded, as yet, a doctrine of virtue which the multitude could
understand. But Jesus tells them directly, in a manner level to their
understandings, what they must do and be to inherit eternal life, and their
inmost convictions answerto His words.
(H. Bushnell, D. D.)

The teaching of Christ the marvel of unbelief
W. H. Van Doren, D. D.
The wisdom of Christ's teaching has proved a hard problem to infidels for
1,800 years. To this day it stands above the efforts of the mightiest and most
trained minds.
(W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
And Jesus answeredthem and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent
Me
The teaching of Christ
I. ITS CONTENTS.
1. Concerning God.
(1)His nature — spirit (John 4:24).
(2)His character— love (John 3:16).
(3)His purpose — salvation(John 3:17).
(4)His requirement — faith (John 6:29).
2. Concerning Himself,
(1)His heavenly origin — from above (John 6:38).
(2)This higher being — the Son of the Father (John 6:17).
(3)His Divine commission— sent by God (John 5:37).
(4)His gracious errand — to give life to the world (John 5:21; John 6:51).
(5)His future glory — to raise the dead (John 5:28).
3. Concerning man —
(1)Apart from Him, dead (John 5:24) and perishing (John 3:16).

(2)In Him possessedof eternallife.
4. Concerning salvation —
(1)Its substance — eternal life (John 5:24).
(2)Its condition — hearing His word (John 5:24), believing in God (John
5:24), coming to Him (John 5:40).
II. ITS DIVINITY. Three sources possible forChrist's teaching.
1. Others. He might have acquired it by education. But this Christ's
contemporaries negatived. He had never studied at a rabbinical school.(ver.
15).
2. Himself. He might have evolved it from His own religious consciousness.
But this Christ here repudiates.
3. God. This He expresslyclaimed, and that not merely as prophets had
receivedDivine communications, but in a waythat was unique (John 5:19, 20;
John 8:28; John 12:49), as one who had been in eternity with God (John
1:1,18;3:11).
III. ITS CREDENTIALS.
1. Its self-verifying character:such as would produce in the mind of every
sincere personwho desired to do the Divine will a clearconviction of its
divinity (ver. 17).
2. Its God-glorifying aim. Had it been human it would have followedthe law
of all such developments;its Publisher would have had a tendency to glorify
Himself in its propagation. The entire absence ofthis in Christ's case was a
phenomenon to which He invited observation. The complete.absorptionof the
messengerandthe messagein the Divine glory was proof that both belonged
to a different than human category.
3. Its sinless bearer. This follows from the preceding. A messengerwhose
devotion to God was perfect as Christ's was could not be other than sinless.
But if the messengerwere sinless there could be no unveracity in His message
or in what He said concerning it. Lessons:

1. The marvellous in Christianity.
2. The insight of obedience.
3. The danger of high intellectual endowments.
4. The connectionbetweentruth and righteousness.
5. The sinlessness ofJesus anargument for His divinity.
(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(17) If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.—Better, If any
man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching. The stress is upon
“willeth,” which in our version reads as if it were only the auxiliary verb. It is
not deed, which is the outcome of faith; but will, which precedes it, that is here
spokenof. This human will to do the divine will is the condition of knowing it.
The words are unlimited and far-reaching in their meaning. Those who heard
them would naturally understand them, as it was intended they should, of the
divine will expressedin the Law and the Prophets (John 7:19), but they
include the will of God revealed, more or less clearly, to all men and in all
times. Our thoughts dwell naturally on representative lives, such as those of
Saul the Pharisee, Cornelius the centurion, Justin the philosopher; but the
truth holds goodfor every honest heart in every walk of life. The “any man”
of Christ’s own words excludes none from its reach, and the voice of comfort
and of hope is spokenalike to all in our ignorance, fears, doubts—thathe who
in very deed willeth to do God’s will, shall not fail to know, now or in the life
to come, of the teaching whether it be of God. (Comp. Notes onJohn 5:44 et
seq., and John 6:29 and John 6:45.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
7:14-24 Every faithful minister may humbly adopt Christ's words. His
doctrine is not his own finding out, but is from God's word, through the
teaching of his Spirit. And amidst the disputes which disturb the world, if any
man, of any nation, seeksto do the will of God, he shall know whether the
doctrine is of God, or whether men speak of themselves. Only those who hate
the truth shall be given up to errors which will be fatal. Surely it was as
agreeable to the design of the sabbath to restore health to the afflicted, as to
administer an outward rite. Jesus told them to decide on his conduct
according to the spiritual import of the Divine law. We must not judge
concerning any by their outward appearance, but by their worth, and by the
gifts and gracesofGod's Spirit in them.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
If any man will do his will - Literally, if any man wills or is willing to do the
will of God. If there is a disposition in anyone to do that will, though he should
not be able perfectly to keepHis commandments. To do the will of God is to
obey His commandments; to yield our hearts and lives to His requirements. A
disposition to do His will is a readiness to yield our intellects, our feelings, and
all that we have entirely to Him, to be governedaccording to His pleasure.
He shall know - He shall have evidence, in the very attempt to do the will of
God, of the truth of the doctrine. This evidence is internal, and to the
individual it is satisfactoryand conclusive. It is of two kinds.
1. He will find that the doctrines which Jesus taught are such as commend
themselves to his reasonand conscience, andsuch as are consistentwith all
that we know of the perfections of God. His doctrines commend themselves to
us as fitted to make us pure and happy, and of course they are such as must be
from God.
2. An honest desire to obey God will lead a man to embrace the great
doctrines of the Bible. He will find that his heart is depraved and inclined to
evil, and he will see and feel the truth of the doctrine of depravity; he will find

that he is a sinner and needs to be born again; he will learn his own weakness,
and see his need of a Saviour, of an atonement, and of pardoning mercy; he
will feelthat he is polluted, and needs the purifying influence of the Holy
Spirit.
Thus, we may learn:
1. That an honest effort to obey God is the easiestwayto become acquainted
with the doctrines of the Bible.
2. Those who make such an effort will not cavil at any of the doctrines of the
Scriptures.
3. This is evidence of the truth of revelation which every person can apply to
his owncase.
4. It is such evidence as to leadto certainty. No one who has ever made an
honest effort to live a pious life, and to do all the will of God, has ever had any
doubt of the truth of the Saviour's doctrines, or any doubt that his religion is
true and is suited to the nature of man. They only doubt the truth of religion
who wish to live in sin.
5. We see the goodness ofGod in giving us evidence of his truth that may be
within every man's reach. It does not require greatlearning to be a Christian,
and to be convinced of the truth of the Bible. It requires an honest heart, and
a willingness to obey God.
Whether it be of God - Whether it be divine.
Or whether I speak of myself - Of myself without being commissionedor
directed by God.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
17. If any man will do his will, &c.—"is willing," or "wishes to do."
whether … of God, or … of myself—from above or from beneath; is divine or
an imposture of Mine. A principle of immense importance, showing, on the
one hand, that singleness ofdesire to please Godis the grand inlet to light on
all questions vitally affecting one's eternalinterests, and on the other, that the

want of his, whether perceivedor not, is the chief cause of infidelity amidst the
light of revealedreligion.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Here our Saviour seemethto obviate an objectionwhich the Jews would
make, viz. How they should know that the doctrine which he preachedwas the
doctrine of God? He indeed saidso, but how should they have any evidence of
it? How could he make it appear to them to be of God?
If any man (saith our Saviour) will do his will, & c.; that is, If any man hath a
heart truly disposedto know and embrace whatsoevershallbe revealedto
him to be the will of God, how contrary soeverit be to the interest of his own
lusts, and ready to do it in all things, and live according to the prescript and
revelation of it, having a serious purpose of heart to obey Godin every thing;
if he seekethfor truth seriously, and in the fear of the Lord, laying aside all
wrath, malice, hatred, and any corrupt passions oraffections;God will reveal
the truth to him, so as he shall know the doctrine that is of God; and that I do
not speak ofor from myself, but by authority from my Father. Now, from
hence indeed followeth, that corrupt affections, passions, andprejudices, and
an ill life, may prejudice, yea, and will prejudice, men from receiving of the
free grace ofGod, spiritual illuminations, and the gift of faith; so as men that
give way to such prejudices, or nourish such passions, orlive such lives, shall
be left of God to their native blindness, and to strong delusions, and not
discern the truth in the light that openly shineth in their faces. Butfrom hence
it will not follow, that a moral life, and a study of and seeking aftertruth, are
the cause offaith, or effective of it, with the working of our ownwill.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
If any man will do his will,.... Meaning, not one that perfectly fulfils the law,
which is the good, and perfect, and acceptable willof God; for there is no man
that does this, or can do it; nor is it so said here, "if any man do his will", but
"if any man will do" it; that is, is desirous of doing it; who has it wrought in
him both to will and do, of the goodpleasure of God, by his grace and Spirit;

with whom to will is present, though, he has not powerto perform, and so is a
spiritual man; and who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is one branch
of the will of God; and who depends upon the Spirit and grace of God, and
acts from a principle of love to God, and in the exercise offaith on Christ:
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of
myself; not a man of mere natural knowledge and learning, or a man of
theory and speculation, is a judge of doctrine; but he that leans not to his own
understanding, and implores the assistanceofthe Divine Spirit, and who is for
reducing doctrine into practice:he knows by the efficacyof the doctrine upon
his heart, and the influence it has on his life and conversation;by its coming
not in word only, but in power;and by its working effectuallyin him, whether
it is divine or human, of Godor of man.
Geneva Study Bible
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God,
or whether I speak of myself.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 7:17. The condition of knowing this is that one be willing—have it as the
moral aim of his self-determination—to do the will of God. He who is wanting
in this, who lacks fundamentally the moral determination of his mind towards
God, and to whom, therefore, Christ’s teaching is something strange, for the
recognitionof which as divine there is in the ungodly bias of his will no point
of contactor of sympathy; this knowledge is to him a moral impossibility. But,
on the contrary, the bias towards the fulfilling of God’s will is the subjective
factornecessaryto the recognitionof divine doctrine as such; for this doctrine
produces the immediate convictionthat it is certainly divine by virtue of the
moral ὁμοιότης andὁμοιοπάθειαofits nature with the man’s own nature.
Comp. Aristotle, Eth. ix. 3, iii. 1 : τὸ ὅμοιοντοῦ ὁμοίου ἐφίεται. Seealso on
John 3:21 and John 15:19. It is only in form, not in reality, that the τὴν
ἀγάπηντ. θεοῦ ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, John 5:42, differs from the θέλειν τὸ θέλημα τ.
θεοῦ ποιεῖν here, for this latter is the moral praxis of the love ot God.

Accordingly, we certainly have in this passage the testimonium internum, but
not in the ordinary theologicalsense, as a thing for those who already believe,
but for those who do not yet believe, and to whom the divine teaching of the
Lord presents itself for the first time.
The θέλῃ is not superfluous (Wolf, Loesner, and most), but is the very nerve of
the relation; note the “suavis harmonia” (Bengel)betweenθέλῃ and θέλημα.
The θέλημα αὐτοῦ, however, must not be limited either to a definite form of
the revelationof it (the O. T., Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Bengel,
Hengstenberg, Weiss, andmost), or to any one particular requirement (that of
faith in Christ, Augustine, Luther, Erasmus, Lampe, Ernesti, Storr, Tittmann,
Weber, Opusc., and most expositors;comp. the saying of Augustine, right in
itself, intellectus est merces fidei), which would contradict the fact that the
axiom is statedwithout any limitation; it must be takenin its full breadth and
comprehensiveness—“thatwhich God wills,” whatever, how, and wherever
this will may require. Even the natural moral law within (Romans 1:20 ff;
Romans 2:14-15)is not excluded, though those who heard the words spoken
must have referred the generalstatementto the revelationgiven to them in
the law and the prophets. Finally, it is clearfrom John 6:44-45, John 8:47,
that willingness to do God’s will must be attributed to the gift and drawing of
the Fatheras its source.
περὶ τῆς διδ.] concerning the teaching now in question, John 7:16.
ἐγὼ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ]I of myself, thus strongly marking the opposite of ἐκ τοῦ
θεοῦ. Comp. John 5:30. The classicalexpressionπότερον… ἤ occurs only here
in the N. T.
Expositor's Greek Testament
John 7:17. ἐάν τις … λαλῶ. “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know
concerning the teaching, whether it is of God (or from God) or I speak from

myself.” As Jesus everywhere asserts (John5:46, John 18:37), he who thirsts
for Godwill recognise Him as God’s messenger;he who hungers for
righteousness is filled in Jesus;he who is of the truth hears His voice. The
teaching of Jesus is recognisedas Divine by those whose purpose and desire it
is to be in harmony with God.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
17. If any man will do his will] As in John 6:67 and John 8:44, ‘will’ is too
weak;it is not the simple future, but the verb ‘to will:’ If any man willeth to
do His will. The mere mechanicalperformance of God’s will is not enough;
there must be an inclination towards Him, a wish to make our conductagree
with His will; and without this agreementDivine doctrine cannot be
recognisedas such. There must be a moral harmony betweenthe teaching and
the taught, and this harmony is in the first instance God’s gift (John 6:44-45),
which eachcan acceptor refuse at will. Comp. John 14:21.
he shall know] Literally, He shall come to know, recognise. See onJohn 7:26
and John 8:55.
whether it be of God, &c.] Literally, whether it proceeds from God (as its
Fount), or I speak from Myself. Comp. John 5:30, John 15:4.
Bengel's Gnomen
John 7:17. Ἐάν τις, if any man) A most reasonable andmost joyful condition.
Understand therefore. The doctrine of the Fatherand the doctrine of the Son
are one and the same. He, then, who is conformed to the will of the Father,
shall know of the doctrine of the Son.—θέλῃ—θέλημα, wills—the will) A
sweetharmony. The heavenly will first stirs up [awakens]the human will:
then next, the latter meets the former.—θέλημα the will) known from the
prophetic Scriptures.—ποιεῖν, do) A most solid method of gaining the
knowledge ofthe truth.[181]—γνώσεται, he shall know) he will exert himself
to know; or rather, he will attain to this, that he shall know; comp. ch. John

8:12, “He that followeth Me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life;” 28, 31, 32, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples
indeed; and ye shall know the truth;” John 12:35, “Walk while ye have the
light, lestdarkness come upon you; for he that walkethin darkness knoweth
not whither he goeth;” 45, John 10:14, “I know My sheep, and am known of
Mine;” Matthew 7:24, “Whosoeverheareththese sayings of Mine and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock;” 1
Corinthians 8:3, “If any man love God, the same is knownof Him.” To know
the ways of the Lord is the privilege of those alone, who do righteousness.
Isaiah58:2, “They delight to know My ways as a nation that did
righteousness.”Comp. the future middle γνώσομαι, ch. John 8:28; John 8:32,
John 13:7; John 13:35, John 14:20; Revelation2:23.—ΠΕΡῚ Τῆς ΔΙΔΑΧῆς,
concerning the doctrine) The article has a relative force at John 7:16 [ἡ ἐμὴ
διδαχή, the doctrine, which is Mine) ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ)from God and of God, John
7:16.
[181]I cannot in this place but make some reply to those remarks which the
celebr. Ernesti makes in the Bibl. th. Noviss. T. II. p. 130, etc. No one truly
ever denied that some knowledge ofthe truth is required in him whose will is
to be bent to better things. For instance, in this very passage,which is at
present under discussion. Christ appeals to His doctrine, which had been set
before the Jews. Butwhat, I would ask, was the cause that they were not able
more fully to know and embrace it as divine? Either I, for my part, have no
discrimination at all, or else their perverse will was the hindrance that
prevented them from being able to progress farther in the knowledge ofthe
Divine truth. I confess that I feelin no small degree distressedwhen I find that
abuses are attributed to that sentiment, whereby it is believed that the
knowledge ofthe truth is promoted by the existence of a goodwill [to obey it].
Cæteris paribus, the will is no doubt emended by the knowledge ofthe truth.
But that, in its turn, a more intimate accessto the truth is thrown open by the
obedience of the will, both this very declarationof the Divine Saviour, and the
whole of Scripture besides, openly testify. That most establishedaxiom, that
“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” is superior to all the
subtlety of all the learned. Norcan I think that their design is one to be

laughed at, who profess that they are engagedin this or that style of writing
with the view rather of bending the will (fürs Herz, for the heart) than of
informing the understanding (für den Verstand, for the intellect). A greateror
less degree ofknowledge, to wit, being supposed, it is altogetherpossible to
happen, nay, even it ought to be the result, that the foolishin mind should be
stirred up to weigh the momentous realities of truth, of which they were not
altogetherignorant before, and to overcome in faith the obstacles in the way,
by that declaration, “To Him that hath it is given.” He who so lays out the
first, as it were, stamina of knowledge, thathe establishes it as a fixed
principle with himself to obey GOD, will soonoutstrip in the knowledge ofthe
truth, so far as it conduces to salvation, many who, howeverextensively
learned, are unwilling to give themselves up as servants to GOD. Comp. not.
on John 6:69; John 10:38. Nor am I ashamedto repeat that saying of
Ambrose, “Do not understand, in order that you may believe, but believe, in
order that you may understand. Understanding is the reward [wages]of
faith.” Moreoverwith these remarks it will be of use now for the reader, who
reverences GOD, to compare the remarks which our illustr. Lord Chanc., D.
Reuss, has briefly but spiritedly written in the Elam. Theol. Mor. c. v. § 23,
etc.—E. B.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 17. - The moral test is then applied to the greatdictum which he had
just uttered. If any man willeth - not merely desires, but performs the distinct
act of willing - to do his will - as his will - he shall know;i.e. his intellectual
faculty will be quickenedinto high activity by this moral and practicaleffort.
If the Divine will concerning conduct meets the spontaneous actof the human
will, if a man's will is setto fulfil the Divine will, to will and do what is
revealedto him by God, the eye of the soul will be opened to see other things
as well, and especiallywill have powerto discern the all-pervading Divine
element in this teaching of mine. He shall know concerning (περί) the
teaching, whether it be of (ἐκ) God, or whether I speak from myself - from the
simple ground of my own independent, self-taught humanity. The first and
natural application of this mighty dictum and condition was a test by which
the Jews might come at once to the understanding of his more than prophetic
claim to teach - he having never learned in their rabbinical schools.It

amounted to this: Your moral harmony with the will of God as already
revealedto you will be the sure index and confirmation of the greatfact I have
just referred to. You will discern the Divine in my words, the absolutelytrue
in my teaching. Here the Lord again refers to the greatprinciple, "He that
hath heard of the Father, and learned, comethunto me;" "He that is of the
truth heareth my voice." This moral submission to God will quicken all your
powers to discern and come to an invincible assentas to my claims. This is not
the deep subjective testimony of the inner intuition of those that already
believe, by which a verbal assentbecomesa fall consent, an unchangeable
conviction, or "the full assurance offaith;" but it is addressedto unbelievers,
and assures those who are bewildered by the novelty and sweepofhis own
words that, if they are seton doing the will of God, they will become perfectly
satisfiedthat his own teaching, such as it is, is a stream of heavenly truth
bursting from the very heart of God. The text has been cited by certain
writers as the sum totel of the Christian revelation, almostas though it
substituted practicalobedience for true thinking, as though people might well
be content with holy living, and might safelyleave the decisionof all difficult
problems of thought and revelation to shift for themselves. Nothing could be
further from its real meaning, either at the time or in any of its subsequent or
universal applications. The solemn utterance has a wide outlook, and is
constantly establishing its own verity. A profound and voluntary desire to do
the will of Godis the best preparation for intuitively perceiving the Divine
authority of Christ and of his religion. The desire for holiness of principle and
life sees in Christ not only the loftiest ideal of perfection, but the surest
satisfactionto its conscious weakness,and casts itselfupon his promises of
saving power. The faith which is satisfiedwith Christ is not merely a
conclusiondrawn by logicalprocessesfrom satisfactorypremisses, it is the
consequence ofa new nature or a moral regeneration. In other words, it is the
more practicaland expanded form of the truth first of all addressedto
Nicodemus, and also lying at the heart of the Beatitudes:"Excepta man be
born anew [from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God." If he is born
againhe will see it. "Blessedare the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
"No man cancome unto me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw
him." The sentence presents the truth in a hopeful and positive form, and puts
the criterion of the Divine informant within the reachof practicalethics. It is

an appeal to the conscienceas wellas to the understanding. Apart from the
subjective moral element, all other evidences of the presence of the Divine in
nature, in history, in Christ, will be unimpressive and unimportant. A
willingness to do the will of God is not a substitute for, but a condition of, true
knowledge.
Vincent's Word Studies
Will do his will (θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν)
This is a notable illustration of the frequent blunder of the A.V. in rendering
θέλειν, to will or determine, as a mere auxiliary verb. By overlooking the
distinct meaning of the verb to will, and resolving willeth to do into will do, it
sacrifices the real force of the passage.Jesus says,if it be one's will to do; if his
moral purpose is in sympathy with the divine will.
He shall know
Sympathy with the will of God is a condition of understanding it.
Of God (ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ)
Better, from; proceeding out of.
Of myself (ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ)
Of myself is misleading, being commonly understood to mean concerning
myself. Rev., correctly, from myself; without union with the Father. Compare
John 5:30.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES

CALVIN
Verse 17
17.If any man wish to do his will. He anticipates the objections that might be
made. For since he had many adversaries in that place, some one might
readily have murmured againsthim in this manner: “Why dostthou boast to
us of the name of God? For we do not know that thou hast proceededfrom
him. Why, then, dost thou press upon us that maxim, which we do not admit
to thee, that thou teachestnothing but by the command of God?” Christ,
therefore, replies that sound judgment flows from fear and reverence for
God; so that, if their minds be well disposedto the fearof God, they will easily
perceive if what he preaches be true or not. He likewise administers to them,
by it, an indirect reproof; for how comes it that they cannot distinguish
betweenfalsehoodand truth, (185)but because they want the principal
requisite to sound understanding, namely, piety, and the earnestdesire to
obey God?
This statementis highly worthy of observation. Satancontinually plots against
us, and spreads his nets in every direction, that he may take us unawares by
his delusions. Here Christ most excellently forewarns us to beware of exposing
ourselves to any of his impostures, assuring us that if we are prepared to obey
God, he will never fail to illuminate us by the light of his Spirit, so that we
shall be able to distinguish betweentruth and falsehood. Nothing else,
therefore, hinders us from judging aright, but that we are unruly and
headstrong;and every time that Satandeceives us, we are justly punished for
our hypocrisy. In like manner Moses gives warning that, when false prophets
arise, we are tried and proved by God; for they whose hearts are right will
never be deceived, (Deuteronomy13:3.) Hence it is evident how wickedly and
foolishly many persons in the present day, dreading the danger of falling into
error, by that very dread shut the door againstall desire to learn; as if our
Savior had not goodground for saying,
Knock, and it shall be openedto you, (Matthew 7:7.)

On the contrary, if we be entirely devoted to obedience to God, let us not
doubt that He will give us the spirit of discernment, to be our continual
director and guide. If others choose to waver, they will ultimately find how
flimsy are the pretences fortheir ignorance. And, indeed, we see that all who
now hesitate, and prefer to cherish their doubt rather than, by reading or
hearing, to inquire earnestlywhere the truth of God is, have the hardihood to
setGod at defiance by generalprinciples. One man will saythat he prays for
the dead, because, distrusting his own judgment, he cannotventure to
condemn the false doctrines invented by wickedmen about purgatory; and yet
he will freely allow himself to commit fornication. Another will saythat he has
not so much acuteness as to be able to distinguish betweenthe pure doctrine
of Christ and the spurious contrivances of men, but yet he will have acuteness
enough to stealor commit perjury. In short, all those doubters, who cover
themselves with a veil of doubt in all those matters which are at present the
subject of controversy, display a manifest contempt of God on subjects that
are not at all obscure.
We need not wonder, therefore, that the doctrine of the Gospelis receivedby
very few persons in the present day, since there is so little of the fear of God in
the world. Besides,these words of Christ contain a definition of true religion;
that is, when we are prepared heartily to follow the will of God, which no man
can do, unless he has renounced his own views.
Or if I speak from myself. We ought to observe in what manner Christ wishes
that a judgment should be formed about any doctrine whatever. He wishes
that what is from God should be receivedwithout controversy, but freely
allows us to rejectwhatever is from man; for this is the only distinction that
he lays down, by which we ought to distinguish betweendoctrines.
I DO NOT KNOW GOD’S WILL: WHAT SHALL I DO?
Dr. W. A. Criswell

John 7:17
2-7-82 7:30 p.m.
You are listening to the services ofthe First Baptist Church in Dallas. And
this is the pastor bringing the messagein a series on "Whatshall I do?" And
the messagetonightis, I Do NotKnow God’s Will: What Shall I Do? As I
have stated, they are not psychologicaltreatises. Theyare not sociological
studies. They are expositions of the Word of God. And sometimes they are
not quite as you would suppose or assume or think. And the one tonight is
very much like that. How do I know the will of God? The Scripture is not in
one place, but all through the Holy Bible. The Scriptures answerwith a
tremendous, emphatic word. Our problem is we don’t like it. We stumble
before it. We rebel againstit. But if you listen to the Word of the Lord, there
is a very plain and positive and definite answer: How do I know the will of
God?
Now, just for us to begin with, we are going to read two passagesofScripture
out loud together. The first is John, chapter7, verse 17 – John, chapter 7,
verse 17; and the other is 1 John, the lastchapter, verses 14 and 15. We are
going to read out loud those three verses in the Bible. John, chapter 7, verse
17, and then 1 John, chapter5, verses 14 and 15. Having found our first
passage, letus read it out loud together. John7:17 together: "If any man will
do His will, he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I
speak of Myself" [John 7:17].
Now, 1 John chapter 5, toward the end of the Bible. [First] John chapter 5,
verses 14 and 15 together – "And this is the confidence that we have in Him,
that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know
that he hear us, whatsoeverwe ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him" [1 John 5:14, 15].
How do I know the will of God? There are many, many who say you cannot
know – the answeris no. You cannot know God, nor can you know His will.

The agnostic answersthe question like that. "I do not know." Thenhe says,
"And nobody knows." Isn’tthat a strange antithetical development in his
life? "I do not know." And he speaks ofhis ignorance. Then he changes to
omniscience, and he knows everything. "Nordoes anybody know." He knows
what everybody knows and doesn’t know. That is a strange thing in the
intellectual twist of an agnostic mind.
Augustine prided himself upon being an agnostic before he was converted.
And one day in the presence of a thoughtful old man, he was prating and
parading his agnosticism. And the thoughtful old man asked him, "Whatis
an agnostic?"
And Augustine, the young man, replied, "It is somebodywho is not certain
about anything."
And the old man replied, "Then how can you be certainthat you’re an
agnostic?"
The twist of the agnostic – I don’t know, nor can anybody know, is one of
intellectual marvels of all the generations. Itis like the infidel. "There is no
God." Then you ask him, "You must be omniscient, because if you don’t
know everything, maybe in an area that you don’t know, there is God." Or,
"You must be omnipresent. You must have been everywhere, for in a place
where you haven’t been, there may be God." The answerof agnosticismand
unbelief and infidelity to the question is not intellectually acceptable – ever. It
has a twist in it that is always present. "I do not know," in their language
means, "I do not want to know."
In the eleventh chapter of the Book ofHebrews, there is a list of the great
heroes of the faith, the worthies of the Old Testament. And it says that "they
are looking for a city whose foundations and builder and makeris – wrought
by the hand of – God" [Hebrews 11:10]. And they deny such a city, because
they refuse the faith that could see it. In that same chapter, are marvelous
promises and they deny their power. And in that same glorious chapter, there
are the whisperings of God, but they deny them, saying that they don’t exist
and can’t be heard. They literally wrap the whole world in a fog and in a
mist. Life begins in a materialistic conceptionand it ends in the disintegration

of the grave. Thatis the answerof the unbelieving agnostic. Youcannot
know God. Therefore, it would be ridiculous to think you could know His
will.
Then again, "CanI know the will of God?" No, says the forensic doubter.
There is a turn of mind, and you meet it everywhere, that seeks, in an
argumentative mood, to confront every avowalof faith and every revelation of
the Holy Scriptures. They argue about it, make any avowalof faith, present
any truth from the Holy Scriptures and their answeris forensic, it is
argumentative. It is a strange thing how God meets a man like that. Never in
the Bible does God seek to argue with an unbeliever. All he says is, "The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no God" [Psalm14:1] – and that is all. There
is nothing beyond. It is, to me, a marvel of infinity of His presence and of His
glory that no mind could ever encompass,the immeasurable, abounding glory
of the Lord. My mind cannot contain God. There are just some of the things
of God that I can see that my heart and my mind can grasp, but there are an
infinitude of things beyond what I am able to see orto grasp. Some things I
can know, I canread, I canunderstand. But many, many things are beyond
me. I cannotin my finite mind graspthe great mysteries of the omnipotent
Almighty.
It is like Mont Blanc that is locatedbetweenSwitzerlandand France – mostly
in France. One day, flying over Europe, the pilot said, "We are coming to
Mont Blanc, and for the first time in my life, it is without clouds." And he
flew around that beautiful, gorgeous, towering peak, he flew around it twice.
This is a commercialplane. He flew all the way around it twice. And I took
pictures and pictures and pictures. It was a thrilling thing to see without
clouds – that marvelous creationof God. After that – some years after that, I
was at the base of Mont Blanc. There are cities there, and I was in them.
They are teeming with people all the way around the base. And as I stoodin
the streets ofsome of those villages and some of those cities and lookedat that
vast glory of the handiwork of God – truly, one of the most beautiful,
breathtaking peaks in the earth. As I stood and lookedat it, way up there, far
up there, thousands of feet up there, there was a rarefied world in which no
man lives. The air is too thin, and the intense cold prohibits life. And bathing

itself in the snow and in the clouds it rises to the very feet of God. But down
here at the base of it, we live, cities teem with life.
The revelationof Godis like that. There are many things that are revealedto
us, and they belong to us. But there are many things that God reserves for
Himself. To me, one of the most meaningful of all the verses in the Bible is
Deuteronomy 29, verse 29: "The secretthings God hath revealed – the secret
things God hath kept for Himself, but what He hath revealedis for us and for
our children forever" [Deuteronomy 29:29]. Some things God has revealedto
us. Some things, we can never, ever know. Godhas kept them to Himself.
Our lives and our understanding and our knowledge is like the headlight on a
passengertrain that is hurtling down the railroad tracks in the night. We can
see this far, and we can’t see to the end of the journey. But if we travel with
the Lord, the light shines far enough for us to follow in His will and in His
way. To the argumentative man, to the forensic doubter, to the man who
wants to know it all, are refusedeverything. He cannot know God, nor can he
know God’s will.
How do you know the will of God? James 4:3 says that if we ask and seek
from God things to expend upon our lusts, upon our own pleasures, we can
never find an answer[James 4:3]. And we will never know His will for our
lives. "Ye ask," he says, "and ye receive not because ye ask amiss, to consume
it on your own lusts" [James 4:3]. When I go before God and I ask God’s
revelation to my heart what to do. And I seek God’s pleasure and His
blessing. If the purpose of my asking and my seeking is to consume it on
myself – I want more gold for me, and I want more pleasure for me, and I
want more of the things of ambitious grasping for me. If I do that, I will never
know the will of God. I am shut away from His presence. Again, I cannot
know the will of God. The answeris no if I am a statedand overt and
unbelieving sinner. Sin brings doubt and dubious dismay into the life. It
separates us from God. And when a man is blatant in his unbelief, the
problem lies not in his head, in his forensic arguments. The trouble lies in his
heart, in his soul.
In my younger days, there was a tremendous preacher, evangelist, who later
was president of the SouthwesternBaptistSeminary in Fort Worth. His name

was Lee R. Scarborough. He was a cattlemanand was converted out there in
WestTexas. He was a bold and fearless preacherofthe gospel. Everytime I
would hear him, he would move my heart and my deepestsoul. He described
one time holding a revival meeting in a WestTexas town – in those long ago
frontier days when men were rough and wild. And in that town, as most of
those towns in that day, in that town was an infidel – bold, vocal, vociferous.
He castigatedthe church. He scoffedat the preacher. He made the fun of the
people of God. And he was loud in his remarks. So, on the main street of the
town, there he stoodin the days when Lee Scarboroughwas holding a revival
meeting in the town. And he around him all of the villagers, all the people of
the town. And he was mouthing his loud criticism and sarcastic, sardonic
deprecations of the preacherand the revival.
And Dr. Scarboroughhappened to walk by and listen to the loud-mouthed
infidel. And he made his way into the center of the crowd, and walkedup to
the infidel and took him by the lapels of his coatand held him in a strong
hand and looking into his face said, "The trouble with you is, you are an
adulterer." It was laying a bombshell, and then the villagers thought – and
when I was a boy growing up out there in WestTexas. I have seenmen fight
againand againout there in the streets. Theythought they would see the
bloodiestfight that you could ever think for or imagine. He shriveled and
shamefacedlywalkedaway. The seatof the doubt and the rejectionis not in
the head or in the argument. It is in the heart. It is in the soul. When a man
is not right with God, everything is forensic.
How could God be just and send men to hell? How could God be a loving and
compassionateFatherand send us to eternalpunishment? So they deny the
atonement. And they deny the grace of the Lord. And they deny His Sonship
and the outpouring of His life for us. The trouble is in the heart. When the
Lord came to His own people and they rejectedHim, the trouble does not lie
in their intellectual capacities, [or]in their knowledge. Forthere He was –
walking, teaching – He stoodbefore them. But their hearts were not right,
and they rejectedHim, not because He did not teach the truth, but because
they were not right in their souls. Now, you look at it: "John came unto you,"
the Lord said, "in the way of righteousness, andye believed Him not: but the
publicans and the harlots believed Him:" – they entered the kingdom – "but

you, when you saw it, repented not [afterward] in order that you might
believe" [Matthew 21:32]. The trouble is not in the head. The trouble is in
the heart. The publican believed, and the harlot believed. The prostitute
believed, but you, you did not turn in your heart. You did not repent. You
did not change in order that you might believe.
It is in the heart. Let’s look again. This is just typical. The Lord said: "Ye
searchthe scriptures, for in them, ye think ye have eternallife and there are
they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me that ye might have life"
[John 5:39, 40]. You cansearchthe Scriptures or you can go to church, and
you canlisten to the services, but if your heart is not right, you will never see
the truth of God in the revealedWord of the Lord – never. It will be
argumentative and forensic to you. That is one of the strangestturns of
fortune that I everlookedupon in my life, and that I ever read out of the Holy
Bible. How a man’s creedarises out of the kind of life that he lives.
For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:32, Paul quotes a famous saying of the
Epicurean, the headiness:"Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we
die" [1 Corinthians 15:32]. The creedof their life came out of the
voluptuousness of their living. That is the way they like to live. So they
denied that there was any life to come. Theywere atheists, and they
consumed themselves with the eating and the drinking and the pleasures of
this existence. Isn’tthat a strange thing? A man shapes his faith, and he
shapes his religion according to the way that he lives. I want to do God’s will.
What shall I do?
The answerin the Word of God is exceedinglyplain, exceedinglyemphatic,
and in this moment or two, we are going to look at it. If any man will do His
will, he shall know of the way, the teaching, the doctrine, the answerfrom
heaven [John 7:17]. If any man will do His will. Now, when I read that,
"will" to you is a future tense. I shall do this, or I will do that. It is future.
There is no such future here in the text. There is a volitional verb there –
thelon, thelon . Revelation22:17 says:"And the Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that hearethsay, Come. And let him that is athirst say,
Come. And whosoever[will] – thelon – whosoeverin his will decides for God,
let him come." Now, thatis the exactword that is here. The – the word, the

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Jesus was revealing the power of choice

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