In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the fourth sign mentioned in the Gospel of John, which is the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Jesus was faced with feeding a large crowd of 5,000 men, along with women and children, but the disciples were unsure of how to provide enough food. However, a young boy offered his five loaves and two fishes, which seemed insignificant. Jesus took this small offering and miraculously multiplied it to feed the entire crowd. The preacher emphasizes that this sign points to the glory of the Son of God and highlights the imperfect and changing nature of human life.

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