His Love Ministries
Episodes
Monday Jul 17, 2023
JOHN 8:48-59 JESUS SAID TO THEM BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Monday Jul 17, 2023
John 8:48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 "And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 ¶ "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." 52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.' 53 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.(NKJV)
This is the section of Scripture right after Jesus tells them if the Son sets you free you shall be free indeed. They say they never have been in bondage, they are Abraham’s descendants and then Jesus tells them the truth about who they really are, so they start accusing Him of all kind of things. They accuse Him of being demon possessed, that He is a half breed Samaritan and finally say He is an illegitimate child. But Jesus has the last word as usual and tells them if they keep His word they shall never see death, nor taste it. He says He honors His Father, but they dishonor Him. They finally hear Him say that Abraham rejoiced to see His day and they are incredulous and say you are not even 50 years old how could you see Abraham. Then Jesus lets them have it by saying He is the great I AM, Yahweh, Jehovah, the Self Existent One, the one who has always existed and will always exist. Then they try to kill Him again, but as usual they fail since His time had not yet come.
John 8:48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
Samaritans were a mixed race with a religion the Jews considered apostate (cf. comments on 4:4). To call Jesus a Samaritan was to use a term of abuse, referring to a heretic or one with a faulty worship. Their charge that Jesus was demon-possessed (cf. 7:20; 8:52; 10:20) suggested they thought He was mad, unclean, and evil. How ironic that after He said their father was the devil (8:44), they said He was demon-possessed![1]
49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
When accused, Jesus did not seek to justify Himself
Jesus says, in effect, I don't need to defend myself, because God the Father seeks my glory. In other words, if you dishonor me, instead of glorifying me, you set yourself against God. If you oppose me, you oppose the one who is committed to honor me.
50 "And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
But all through this whole book, the message has been: The Son of God did not come for judgment but for salvation. He did not come to condemn, but to save. John 3:17: "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
So Jesus finishes his response to their indictments like this (verse 51): "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." In other words, you have gotten to the point where you are blaspheming me, calling me a half-breed and demonized. And you are in great danger of God's judgment, but I hold out to you once more the gift of salvation. If you will keep my word, you will never see death.
51 "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
(cf. comments on 1:51(Similar expressions are “hear” His Word [5:24] and “hold” to His teaching [8:31].) It means to observe, pay attention to, or to fulfill.
John 11:25–26. He says to Martha at Lazarus' grave: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." Though he die, he never dies.
Yes, We Die—And, No, We Don't
Yes, we die: "Though he die, yet shall he live." No, we don't die: "Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." Lazarus' body lay dead in the grave. But Lazarus was not dead. His body was dead. But he was not dead. He had not died.
John 5:24: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
When we were born again, we received the gift of life. Spiritual life (John 3:6–8). When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive (Ephesians 2:4–5). This new life is eternal life. In this new spiritual life, we are able to fellowship with God, know God, experience God, speak with God, hear from God through his word, sense the love of God shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5). This is the work of the Holy Spirit
Our Bodies Die, But We Do Not
Our bodies die. They lie—looking like they are sleeping, which is why the New Testament sometimes calls death falling asleep—they lie in the grave until the last trumpet. "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52). But when our bodies die, we do not die. We have passed from death to life. Eternal life. Unbroken, unending life.
52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'
53 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?"
Joh 4:12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
Either Jesus is a blasphemer or he is God.
54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.
56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
There it is—the clearest, most forthright claim in this Gospel that Jesus is Yahweh, the God of Israel, the great "I am" of Exodus 3:14 and the prophets. If he only wanted to claim pre-existence, he could have said, "Before Abraham was, I was." But he means to say more than mere pre-existence. He says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Exodus 3:14: "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'"
Hebrews 2:14–15 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise hpartook of the same things, that ithrough death he might jdestroy kthe one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who lthrough fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Hebrews says that the fear of death produces a pervasive, lifelong bondage—even when we don't realize it, fear is haunting our choices, making us cautious, wary, restrained, confined, narrow, tight, robbing us of risk and adventure and dreams for the sake of Christ and his kingdom and the cause of love in the world. Without our even knowing it, fear of death is a slave master binding us with invisible ropes, confining us to small, safe, innocuous, self-centered ways of life.
Jesus Sets Us Free
Becker has no solution for this bondage, but Jesus does. "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." Or as he says in John 8:32, "You will know the truth [about death], and the truth will set you free." The world desperately needs the courage and the Christ of fearless Christians who know they will never taste death. Be one.
59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Leviticus 24:16
Joh 5:23 "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Joh 5:41 "I do not receive honor from men.
Joh 5:44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
Joh 8:49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
Joh 12:26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
Jn 5:41 | I do not receive glory from people.
Jn 7:20 | The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
Heb 11:13 | These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Ex 3:14 | God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Jn 7:28 | So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jul 10, 2023
Monday Jul 10, 2023
John 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." 39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father--God." 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 ¶ "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.
In this section of Scripture we will see the difference between the true children of God and the false professors. Many people say they belong to God, but Jesus tells us here that if we were truly His children (Abraham’s children), then our walk will match our talk. It is easy to say you are a follower of Christ; it is another thing to have that ring true by the way you live and talk day in and day out. The Bible always matches saying and doing together. James 2:14 says what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? In other words if you say you have faith, but are not backing it up by working for God, then you are not really saved. He says can this kind of faith save him. It is a question that is asked with the implied answer of no it cannot and will not. He puts it this way in James 2:20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? That is why Jesus can tell these Pharisees that they are not His children, but the devil is their father and that they are liars and murderers too.
God hates sin
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
Romans 6
Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
We think we are secure because of things, Baptism, communion, church membership, grew up in the church, etc.
Claim to be Abraham’s seed and therefore the children of God by the use of three arguments.
Bloodline of Abraham
Ethnicity - John 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?"
Jesus refutes their claim
Joh 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
Ro 4:13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Ro 4:14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
Religion 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, (Spiritual Father) - Romans 9:6-8, Romans 2:28-29
Ge 18:1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
Mt 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 "and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
1Th 1:6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
Mt 21:28-46 Parable of the Son and the Vineyard.
1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Morality 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
Jesus is speaking a language they do not know (understand) so they cannot understand the content of His words.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” [1]
Galatians 3:23-29
Jesus is telling us in this text that one’s “father” is known, not by one’s parents, or even by one’s profession, but by means of one’s practice. Our father is the one who behaves as we do. The Jews who oppose Jesus are liars and murderers, just like their “true father,” the devil. Who your “true father” is will be evident by your walk.
Word – 6 times
Joh 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
Joh 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
Joh 8:43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
Joh 8:51 "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
Joh 8:52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'
Joh 8:55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.
Father - 11 Times Jesus speaks of His role with the Father
Joh 8:16 "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
Joh 8:18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
Joh 8:19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."
Joh 8:27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.
Joh 8:28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
Joh 8:29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."
Joh 8:38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
Joh 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father--God."
Joh 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
Joh 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Joh 8:49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
Joh 8:53 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?"
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
Truth – 5 times
Joh 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Joh 8:40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
Joh 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jul 03, 2023
Monday Jul 03, 2023
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. 37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
In this very familiar section of Scripture we see Jesus get down to the heart of the matter. This is one of the most crucial truths in Scripture regarding whether we are truly saved or not. If we are truly saved, we will continue to believe His Word, follow His Word, and obey His Word. The old song says Trust and Obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. If we are to be truly saved we have to first trust that His Word is true and believe it, then we have to follow or obey it. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. We need to examine ourselves to see what we trusted in and who we trusted in and did it make a change in the way we live. Those are the tests outlined in the Book of First John, which John also wrote. If you say you are saved and the way you live has not changed and if your want to’s have not changed (I used to “want to” live in sin, now, I “want to” please God”) then you need to ask yourself am I really saved. Jesus said this way in another passage Luke 6:46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? (NKJV)
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jun 26, 2023
Monday Jun 26, 2023
John 8:21 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come." 22 So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?" 23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." 25 Then they said to Him, "Who are You?" And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 "I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him." 27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.
In this section of Scripture, Jesus is once again confronting the religious people (the Pharisee’s and Scribes) who think they can get to Heaven by doing some good work. Jesus has stopped these people from stoning a woman “they say” was caught in the very act of adultery, declared He is the Light of the world, has told them again who He is. Now they are saying He is going to kill Himself because He declared that He was going to Heaven and they could not go where He is going. Then they have the nerve to ask Him again who He is, as if He hasn’t told them about a million times already. Jesus testifies again that He is God and that He is representing the Father who sent Him from Heaven to tell them the truth. They will know all this is true when they crucify Him on the cross and that the Father is always with Him and that He always pleases the Father by doing His will. Then many people believed. We will have to wait till next time to find out what kind of believing they did, so I hope you will listen again to our next three messages to hear the conclusion of this chapter.
Die in your sin twice (of unbelief), in your sins once (actions of many sins)
If you die and go to hell, you have no one but yourself to blame.
To go to hell all you have to do is:
Be self-righteous They think He is killing Himself, have to go to hell so that they cannot get to where He is
Be earthly
Be prideful
Be willfully ignorant.
Where I am going you cannot come twice
If they are listening to Jesus carefully, how can He say they will look for Him, as though they need Him? He is not talking about suicide or going to hell. He is saying that once He goes away, it will be too late for them. They will need Him, and they will seek Him, but they will not be able to go where He has gone. They will not find Him to help them. I believe Jesus means they will “look for Him” in the sense that they will eagerly look for Messiah to “come” and to save them in their hour of distress and need. Little do they realize that He has come to save them, and yet they have rejected Him. After they put Him to death, they will realize that He is the Messiah.
It is no surprise that they cannot recognize Him. After all, He is from above, and they are from below. Sadly, they think they are going above (to heaven) and that He is going “below.” They will not believe Him who is not of this world, who came down from heaven. Because of this, they will die in their sins. He who came to bear the sins of men is to be rejected and crucified as a sinner by sinful men. He is the only One who can testify of things above, and they reject His testimony. Unless they believe in Him, they must bear the penalty for their own sins; they must die in their sins.
8:24 Jesus' hearers would die in their sins (plural) unless they believed in Him. Only belief in Him could rescue them from this fate. Here Jesus viewed their manifold sins (plural) as the consequences of their sin (singular, v.21) of unbelief. “The attitude of unbelief is not simply unwillingness to accept a statement of fact; it is resistance to the revelation of God in Christ."331
They needed to believe that Jesus was "I am." In this context this phrase has heavy theological connotations (cf. vv. 28, 58; 13:19). It appeared enigmatic at first, but later Jesus' hearers realized that He was claiming tobe God (cf. v. 59). The NIV "the one I claim to be" is an interpretation of
Jesus' meaning that is perhaps more misleading than helpful. Jesus was alluding to the title that God gave Himself in the Old Testament (Exod. 3:14; Deut. 32:39; Isa. 41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12). Essentially "I am" means the eternally self-existent being.332 Unless a person believes that Jesus is God, in contrast with less than God, he or she will die in his or her sins.
Re 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jun 19, 2023
JOHN 8:12-20 JESUS SAID I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." 13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." 14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. 15 "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." 19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." 20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.
Today we are going to hear about Jesus being the only real righteousness, holiness, and truth there is; this is what it means for Jesus to say He is the Light of the world. Unless we come to Him, we will never see the light of truth, or be righteous and holy like God wants us to be. There is only one source of these attributes and the source is Jesus, God who came in human flesh to pay for our sins. We call it when we think we are smart or in touch with our times enlightenment, well true enlightenment comes only from being saved by Jesus Christ because He is the source of all truth. Jesus will also tell them that if you want to live rightly then you have to Follow Him. The Pharisees do not like what Jesus says and call Him a liar. Jesus tells them who He is and what His role is not only as witness, but judge also. The slander Him and call Him an illegitimate child after He says for the umpteenth time He is from the Father. They say they know who their father is, but does He know who His is? He says His Father bears witness that He is God in human flesh and they don’t know the Father because they don’t believe He is who He has said; He is (God). They want to kill him AGAIN and they cannot because it is not yet the right time according to God’s timetable. He had to die at the right time, when the Passover Lambs were being slaughtered.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Friday Jun 16, 2023
30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL 1 THESSALONIANS GIVING THANKS IN EVERYTHING
Friday Jun 16, 2023
Friday Jun 16, 2023
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I see people thanking God many times in the Bible. 8 times it is Paul who gives thanks even though he’s been locked up, beat up, shipwrecked and many other things have been done to him. I look around at all of us today who have been given so much, but complain so much and are not appreciative of all God has given us. Yes, it is close to Thanksgiving, but the Bible says we should be giving thanks all the time, even in the tough times. Are you complaining or thanking?
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus has got you. https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en
Please share this on your social media with your friends. Thanks.
Monday Jun 12, 2023
JOHN 8:1-11 JESUS SAID TO HER, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU, GO AND SIN NO MORE
Monday Jun 12, 2023
Monday Jun 12, 2023
John 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
In this very familiar section of Scripture we will see that God is a forgiving God and He is willing to forgive us too if we will only repent of our sins and come to Him as the only way to really be forgiven and saved. Jesus has performed several miracles in the book of John, He has told them He is God, He has forgiven the town prostitute (The Samaritan Woman), He has walked on the water, and proclaimed Himself to be the Living Water that gives life to anyone who thirsts for satisfaction that leads to holiness and righteousness. Now we see Him in action showing that He is a loving and forgiving God once again. When they bring this woman that they “caught in the act of adultery” Jesus begins to bring out that principle in Romans 2:1-6; Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds":
Jesus wants these Scribes and Pharisees to know that they are not without sin and we are not guilty either. Many times we judge people for sins they have done and we have done things just as bad or worse, yet we condemn them. If we have enough knowledge to condemn others, then we have enough knowledge to be condemned too. That is why we all need the forgiving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jun 05, 2023
JOHN 7:40-53 THE OFFICERS ANSWERED, NO MAN EVER SPOKE LIKE THIS MAN
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
John 7:40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. 45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" 46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" 47 Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? 48 "Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 "But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." 50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" 52 They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 53 And everyone went to his own house. (NKJV)
In this section of Scripture we will see the Pharisees trying to arrest Jesus because too many people believe in Him and they are losing their popularity and prestige. The people are still divided and the Pharisees are divided and nobody can lay a hand on Jesus because His time still has not come for Him to die on the cross. The officers (the Temple Police) cannot believe the things they hear Jesus say and so they do not arrest Him because no man ever spoke like this Man. They are amazed at Jesus. The Pharisees get mad because the officers do not arrest Jesus and Nicodemus begins to stand up a little more for Him. The Pharisees get mad with Nicodemus and talk about him like they have been about Jesus. They slander him by asking him if he is from Galilee too.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Tuesday May 30, 2023
Tuesday May 30, 2023
John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
In this great section of Scripture we see Jesus get to the crux of the matter, without Him life is nothing, without Him, life is meaningless and useless. But, when Christ’s Spirit Romans 8:9 (The Holy Spirit) comes to dwell in you because you have believed that Jesus died on the Cross, was buried and rose again the third day and have confessed that He is the Lord of your life, then life becomes full, it has meaning and purpose. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would enable those who trusted in Him for salvation to live the life God wants us to have, although not in the fullest sense of the word since that will only come when we go to Heaven. But we will have the fruit of the Spirit, an ability to live life to the fullest this side of Heaven, the ability to have joy, peace and live victoriously in spite of what life throws at us. Jesus will satisfy your deepest longings; he will meet your deepest needs and make your life full and joyous. Have you trusted Him, He is waiting to send that living water into your life if you will only ask Him for it.
Jesus Christ can quench the thirsty soul. That's only the beginning of what He does though. Verse 38 takes another dimension. He didn't just save us to fill us full of living water. No, no, verse 38, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of His heart shall flow rivers of living water." See, when you come to Jesus Christ initially, that's not the end, my friend, that is the beginning. Not only do we drink and have our own thirst quenched, but we become the supplier, would you believe it? The supplier of living water to the world. That's the real key to this. We are channeled for living water to reach the world. Out of our hearts should flow rivers, not one river and not a drip. Most of us can't even say, "Out of my heart drips living water." I think the reason that so many Christians stink spiritually is because they have become stagnant storage tanks instead of rivers of living water. And I always say most of us need a good dose of spiritual Drano because somewhere along the line the channel is clogged.
Once Jesus was with us as an incarnate man, and now he is in us by his Spirit. Listen to John 14:16–17: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
And he is indeed in everyone who believes on Jesus. Remember what Paul said in Romans 8:9? “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” If you come to Christ to drink for your soul’s satisfaction, you get Christ. And now we see that he means: You get the Spirit—the Spirit of God and of Christ.
Isaiah 58:11: “You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
this is prophetic, it can't happen till Jesus ascends and the Spirit comes. And Jesus Himself said later on in John's gospel, "If I go not away, the Comforter cannot...what?...come." And so Jesus had to be glorified after His ministry, the Spirit came. That's what Jesus meant in Acts 1:8 when He said, "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be My..what?...witnesses." You can't be that kind of a witness, that river doesn't flow apart from the Spirit of God.
V37 -Early each of the seven mornings of the feast the high priest would lead a procession from the Pool of Siloam to the temple. Another priest would first fill a golden container with water from the pool. He would then carry it through the Water Gate on the south side of the temple and into the temple courtyard. There he would ceremoniously pour the water into a silver basin on the west side of the brazen altar from which it would flow
through a tube to the base of the altar. Many Jews would accompany these priests. Some of them would drink from the pool while others would chant Isaiah 55:1 and 12:3: "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
Joyously draw water from the springs of salvation." This was such a happy occasion that the Mishnah stated, "He that never has seen the joy of the Water-drawing has never in his life seen joy."301 The priest would then pour water into the basin at the time of the morning sacrifice. Another priest would also pour the daily drink offering of wine into another basin at the same time. Then they would pour the water and the wine out before the Lord. The pouring out of water represented God's provision of water in the wilderness in the past and His provision of refreshment and cleansing in the messianic age. The pouring out of wine symbolized God's bestowal of His Spirit in the last days. Every male present would simultaneously shake his little bundle of willow and myrtle twigs (his lulab) with his right hand and hold a piece of citrus fruit aloft with his left hand. The twigs represented stages of the wilderness journey marked by different kinds of vegetation, and the citrus fruit symbolized the fruit of the Promised Land.302 Everyone would also cry, "Give thanks to the Lord!" three times. Worshippers in the temple courtyard would then sing the Hallel (Ps. 113—118).303 This "water rite" had become a part of the Israelites' traditional celebration of the feast of Tabernacles. Essentially it symbolized the fertility and fruitfulness that the rain brought. In the Old Testament, God likened His blessings in the messianic kingdom to the falling of rain (Ezek. 47:1-7; Zech. 13:1). The Jews regarded God's provision of water in the wilderness and rain in the land as harbingers of His great blessings on the nation under Messiah's reign. Thus the water rite in the feast of Tabernacles had strong messianic connotations.
We can see the strategy of the moment. It says in 37, "In the last day that great day of the feast." Timing is the key here. The whole dramatic ceremony became even more dramatic on the last day because the last day the whole group with all their boughs and branches was marching around the altar and they marched around it seven times...coming to a climax and then the water was poured. Why do you think they marched seven times? That's how many times Israel marched around the walls of Jericho. And so they were symbolically remembering Jericho, all a part of the wilderness wanderings. And then the water was poured out.
Now He makes these claims in verses 37 to 39 reiterating in a different phraseology, with a different metaphor the same claims that He has made before. In effect, I'm God, I'm here, I came to redeem you, believe in Me, you can be redeemed. Reject Me, and you've...you've sentenced yourself for time and eternity. He reiterates the same claims again. And, in fact, He makes a great invitation to the whole city of Jerusalem here, and then we'll see how these four groups responded to Jesus Christ and His invitation.
On the last day that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and...and there we meet the word ek krazenagain...and cried out." He yelled at the top of His voice again. He did it one other time in anger. This time He does it in invitation. He stands in Jerusalem and at the top of His voice He yells, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." Loud He yells, ek krazen, He cries out, piercing the air with His voice. Jesus is not, as I said, angry this time, He's yelling because He wants men to hear. This is a public invitation. Some people don't think you need to give a public invitation. Jesus did. Jesus did. And while He spent most of His time teaching privately, most of His time He was with the few people instructing them He did make public evangelism a part of His ministry. And here He announces that He is water for the thirsty soul.
You know, that's really not anything new because if you remember the story of John chapter 4, you remember the Samaritan woman and Jesus met her at the well and He said to her, "Well, your water's okay, but you're going to have to get some more when you get thirsty again. But the water that I give you, if you drink it you'll never thirst again." And He talked to her about living water, didn't He? And He was saying, in effect, I can quench the thirst of your soul. So the idea of Him being water for the thirsty soul is not new. He said that in John 4. He's also food in John 6 for the hungry heart.
the first word is thirst, that's the idea of a recognized need, right? You're not going to come if you don't feel thirsty. And you want to know something else? Nobody needs to tell you when you're thirsty, do they? It's fairly obvious, right? Listen, when a man knows his soul is thirsty, he knows. There's a craving, there's a soul-thirst that's as real as body thirst. When a man longs for forgiveness, when he longs for hope, for love, for meaning, for peace, for liberty, for salvation, that's nothing more than spiritual thirst and Jesus says, "Here I am, come and drink." But it's got to start with a thirst. So Jesus said, "If you're thirsty," see. If you're not thirsty, sorry, you won't come. If you're thirsty.
Second word, come. That signifies the action of the will. Move toward Christ. That's...that's...that's the same thing you do with your heart that you do with your feet. If Jesus was over there and said "Come here," and you walked over there. It's just taking yourself over to where Jesus Christ is. It's expressing the action of the will. It's moving toward Christ. It's beginning to turn your back on the world. It's beginning to abandon your self-confidence. It's the point of real thirst where you're ready to grab whatever you can.
1. The gift of water, Salvation, the Holy Spirit is free –Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
He is the bread of life. He is the living water.
Re 21:6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
Re 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.(NKJV)
2. It is for Everyone - Isa 55:1 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
3. The Water (Spirit) is Abundant- Out of him will Pour Rivers - Isa 44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;
Ps 78:15 He split the rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
When you come to Jesus to drink, you don’t just get a single drink, but you get spring, a fountain, a well. You get Jesus. Rivers of water will flow because a River-Maker is in you. That’s the point. You will never have to search again for a source of satisfaction for your soul. Every river that needs to flow for the joy of your soul will flow from Jesus. When you come to him, you get him. And he never leaves
4. It Satisfies our deepest longings - Ps 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips
5. The Soul hungers and thirsts for God – We are made to live on God – Eph 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, Our souls were made for Jesus. The ache in our hearts is an ache for Jesus. This is how the soul lives. It lives on Jesus.
Ps 42:1 To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Ps 63:1 A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
6. Jesus wants to satisfy our soul forever. Coming and drinking are what it means to believe on Jesus. Verses 37–38: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me . . .” That last phrase is another way of saying come and drink. Coming and drinking Jesus is what happens when we believe. It’s what believe means.
We saw it in the parallel structure of John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Believing on Jesus is coming to him to eat and drink for our soul’s deepest satisfaction.
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Monday May 22, 2023
Monday May 22, 2023
John 7:25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26 "But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? 27 "However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from." 28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 "But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me." 30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 "You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." 35 Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 "What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"
In this section of Scripture we see some of the people confused because they know the rulers want to and even have tried to kill Jesus; but yet, Jesus is boldly teaching and preaching. They wonder if the Pharisees really know Jesus is the Christ and that is why they do not touch Him. Little do they know that it is not Jesus’s time to go to the cross and die and that is why they cannot take Him and kill Him. It had to happen at the proper time and it did according to God’s divine timetable. Many people believe in Him because of His miracles and many murmur about the Pharisee’s doing nothing to stop Jesus. So, the Pharisees send Temple Officers to get Jesus because they hear the people murmur. Then Jesus tells them He is going and they cannot come where He is. They are confused and speak an unintentional prophecy about Him going to the Gentiles, which is why He has really come to bring the Gospel to all peoples regardless of race. The bottom line of this whole section is no matter what Jesus says, these Pharisees do not want to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, so they will never make it to Heaven where He is going.
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Monday May 15, 2023
Monday May 15, 2023
John 7:17 "If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 "Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" 20 The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?" 21 Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 "Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
We are taking one more closer look at this section of scripture because this time I want to focus on verse 18 that speaks to Jesus being the true one from God, who seeks not His own glory, but that of the Father. The Bible uses the word glory 351 times. 17 times in Bible it talks specifically about glory of God, but all the whole Bible is about God and His Glory. That is why we cannot save ourselves, because He is the only one glorious and holy enough to do it. Our whole world and especially our culture here in the United States has come to the place where we see the glory, not God’s or any others but ours. We always have to be first, we always have to have our way, and we always have to have the best things for our life or our children. God says in James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. He says in 1Pe 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. (NKJV) This means if God wants us to be exalted…..HE WILL DO IT and we should not. This is a lesson we really need to learn in today’s culture and world. Whose glory do you seek?
The great obstacle to recognizing the truth of Christ is not deficient resources but deep rebellion against God. People cannot see and recognize the truth of Christ's teaching because the prevailing tendency of their will is insubordination against the authority of God.
John 8:44 44zYou are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. aHe was a murderer from the beginning, and bhas nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. cWhen he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Verse 18 says that in order to recognize the truth of Jesus you need to see that his life is devoted to the glory of God.
Two Facts and Two Conclusions
When I look at these two verses together I see two facts and I draw two conclusions:
Fact # 1: the truth of Jesus is shown by his commitment to enjoy and magnify the glory of God rather than seeking his own private glory (v. 18).
Fact # 2: the rebellion of our fallen will makes us blind to the truth of Jesus. (If we willed what God willed, we would see the truth (v.17).)
Conclusion # 1: therefore the specific thing that our wills rebel against in the will of God is that his glory not ours should be the quest and passion of our lives.
Conclusion # 2: therefore the reason we can't see the truth of Jesus is because he embodies the will of God which we hate, namely, that God's glory and not ours should be the quest and passion of our lives.
Applications
1) Realize that the deepest obstruction to knowing the truth of Jesus is a heart-obstruction, not a head-obstruction.
It is a problem with our will, not first a problem with our reason, new birth is to replace a heart that loves praise with one that loves to praise God.
2) Therefore, pray that God would cause his name to be hallowed—glorified, treasured—in your heart above all things, so that your eyes would be open to who he really is.
If you feel deficient in God-exaltation, ask him to change you. Is that not what he taught us to pray every day in the words, "Our Father, hallowed by your name"? Pray for a will that is more and more passionate for God's glory. And less and less addicted to you own.
3) Strive to increase your spiritual taste for the glory of God as your favorite pleasure. And if you want to love the glory of God above all other glories, then you will study God and spend time with lovers of God, and listen to God and look at God and gaze and gaze and gaze at the revelation of the glory of God—especially in Jesus.
4) Finally, know that Jesus is true.
Jesus does not merely speak from himself. He speaks for God. When he says, "Before Abraham was I am," he bears true witness that he is the Word and was with God from the beginning and was God. And when he says, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11), and, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (John 6:37), he is true. And you can trust him.
Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Joh 9:31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
Read Pr 1:20 -33 Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
Ac 22:14 "Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.
Ro 2:18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
Eph 1:9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
Col 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Heb 13:21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Jo 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (NKJV)
Joh 12:26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Isa 58:2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
351 times uses the word glory
17 times in Bible talks specifically about glory of God,
1Co 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Wednesday May 10, 2023
30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL GENESIS 12 BLESSED BY GOD
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
In Genesis 12 God said to Abraham, I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Just as Abraham was blessed so he could be a blessing to all the earth, the only reason we Christians have been blessed by God is so that we can do the same thing. Are we living up to our calling as Christians to be a blessing to others or are we being a curse and a hindrance to others coming to Christ?
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tuesday May 02, 2023
John 7:7 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the [a]Jews sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to this feast. I am not [b]yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.” 9 When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee. 10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
It is characteristic of many of the outstanding men of the Bible that they are convinced that they must do what they are doing, and say what they are saying, because they have received a divine commission.
7:17 Jesus further claimed that the key to validating His claim that His teaching came from God was a determination to do God's will. The normal way that the rabbis settled such debates was through discussion. However, Jesus taught that the key factor was moral rather than intellectual. If anyone was willing to do God's will, not just to know God's truth, God would enable that one to believe that Jesus' teaching came from above (cf. 6:44). The most important thing then is a commitment to follow God's will. Once a person makes that commitment God begins to convince him or her what is true. Faith must precede reason, not the other way around. "His hearers had raised the question of his competence as a teacher.
He raises the question of their competence as hearers."
His point was that submission to God rather than intellectual analysis is the foundation for understanding truth,
particularly the truth of Jesus' teachings. "Spiritual understanding is not produced solely by learning
facts or procedures, but rather it depends on obedience to known truth. Obedience to God's known will develops
discernment between falsehood and truth."
You know how you can pick out the true Savior, folks? Check them all out. You know how you can pick out the true Savior? He's the one who doesn't seek His own glory, see. The phony ones want their own glory. You can pick out the true Savior; He's the one who doesn't want His own glory. He's the one who stoops down and washes the dirty feet of disciples. HE's the one who came not to be ministered unto but to...what?...minister and to give His life a ransom for many. He's the one who humbles Himself in love. He's the one who lies down flat on a cross while they nail Him there. That's the true Messiah. He's the one who makes no money, has no home, takes nothing, just gives, gives, gives, gives. False messiahs don't do that. He's the one who gives all the glory to God and takes none for Himself. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whatever you do whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all... to the glory of God." And 1 Peter 4:11, Peter says, "If you're going to minister, minister to the glory of God. If you're going to speak, speak to the oracles of God in order that God might receive the glory through Jesus Christ." That's what we're to do.
Seeking your own glory makes belief in Jesus impossible. John 5:43–44:
“I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
He is not merely saying you have to want Jesus in order to receive Jesus. He is saying you have to want your whole life to be shaped by the will of God in order to even recognize Jesus. To paraphrase the verse: "If anyone wills (wants, prefers, desires) to do the will of God, then and only then will that person be able to know the divine authority of Jesus—that his teaching is God's."
This is one of the most important verses in the whole Gospel of John
“You cannot believe in Jesus if you your root desire is to be praised by other people.” Pride at its core is the craving for human approval. And Jesus is saying that if pride is at the root, faith can’t be at the root.
Faith at its core is humble gladness in the God of grace. It’s not driven by the need to deserve human praise. It is driven by a thankful joy that God is for us when we deserve no praise at all. “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:14, 16).
That is what the brothers of Jesus did not see and did not have. They had not yet been born again. The root of their joy was the praise of man, not the grace of God. That’s what John meant in verse 5 when he said that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him.
The root of their unbelief is the same as Jesus’ brothers’ unbelief. For the brothers, the miracles of Jesus can get them human praise. For the crowds, the miracles of Jesus threaten their human praise. Written over both like a great indictment are the words of John 5:44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:14–16).
Because pride, at its core, is the rejection of grace and the craving for human approval. And faith, at its core, is despairing of human approval and being glad in the God of grace.
The mark of his truth is a passion for God-exaltation, not self-exaltation. "The one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true." For me to see that as a mark of his truth, my will has to join him in that. I have to will God-exaltation over self-exaltation. And this is not what I will by nature. I am like the brothers of Jesus and like the Jewish crowds. I want him to do his miracles in a way that endorses my own love for self-exaltation. I want him to endorse my Sabbath-keeping, my law-keeping, in a way that confirms my self-exaltation.
Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
In other words, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit (v. 9), our wills are deeply, often unknowingly, antagonistic toward God and resistant to his authority, insubordinate to his law, and so unable to please him.
And my whole life, Jesus is saying, contradicts that way of willing. That is why you can't know me. You can't know me until your will is to do God's will—to do what the law most deeply demands, namely, to treasure (to love!) the glory of God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
The great obstacle to recognizing the truth of Christ is not deficient resources but deep rebellion against God. People cannot see and recognize the truth of Christ's teaching because the prevailing tendency of their will is insubordination against the authority of God.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus has got you. https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
JOHN 6:60-71 JESUS SAID TO THEM, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE PART 3
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
John 6:61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 "What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
In this final lesson on the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus goes from having thousands of followers down to maybe only the 12 who become the apostles, certainly not many are left. This goes to show you that not all people who go to church or follow Jesus are the real thing. The parable of the four soils or seeds makes this very clear. This is not four different kinds of Christians in this parable; it is one real Christian who bears fruit and three who never become Christians. John 15 makes this clear that only real Christians bear fruit, but the others never have any fruit. 1John 2:19 also speaks to this fact, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us..
Mark 4:20 "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
Luke 8:15 "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
John 15:2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
We see Peter as the leader of the group and Jesus’ closest disciple speak up and say where else would we go? We have lived as non-Christians and now we know this is the best way and the only way to live so where would we go! We have the best, you can keep the rest. How about you, do you know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and there is no other way to live except for Him. He is the only way that means anything in life, He is the only real truth, and He is the only way to have abundant life as it was meant to be lived.
They could take His person, they could take His works, but His words they can't tolerate.
You say, "Well what's so hard to believe? What didn't they accept about what Jesus said?" They didn't accept any of it. Number one, they didn't like the idea that He said He came from heaven. "What do you mean He came from heaven? We know Your father, Joseph and Mary, they live over there in Nazareth." Secondly, they didn't like the idea that He said He was the only answer to a man's spiritual need. That's apparent egotism to them. That wasn't bad enough, the idea that He came from heaven, the idea that He claimed to be the only answer, the third thing that really capped off their attitude was that He said you had to eat My flesh and drink My blood and they said, "Whoa..." and they were thinking literally about chewing on His body. If you can imagine that. They objected to the whole thing. They didn't like anything He said. They found it intolerable and they cried out and said, "Who can hear this stuff? Who can stand here and listen to that stuff?" And immediately they disqualified Jesus from being their Messiah because He didn't fit their messianic mold.
There's an important note I want to make here. Jesus is giving a rather detailed explanation to these false followers. Moreover, it's an interesting thought because He gave absolutely no explanation to the Jews. He didn't even give them as much as the time of day. They didn't believe and so He just turned away and made it more complicated, more profound and they didn't know what was going on. To these followers even though they're false followers, Christ at least condescends to give them some more information.
There's a great principle there and we've already gone over it in the past weeks, let me just remind you. Just this, here it is, Jesus never committed Himself to unbelief. Did you get that? He never committed Himself to unbelief. Where there is the slightest opening of possibility of faith, Christ commits Himself. To the hostile Jew...nothing. To the would-be more-or-less follower...Christ will commit Himself and take the time to give a detailed answer. I'll say it another way, Jesus never caters to unbelief but to the would-be disciple He gives Himself. He always honors the seeker.
Here's the key. Now hang on to this, I'm reemphasizing the same thing, I want you to get it, listen. The key to
false discipleship is this, to accept the person of Christ but reject His...what?...His words. To hear and receive His person and to refuse His words.
He says this, John 8:31 "The real proof of your true belief... if you continue in My word,"
Matthew 11:6 where He says, "And blessed is he who shall not be offended in Me," see. Jesus' words offend some people.
John 5:24, backing up, He says, "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth...what?...My word and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life."
Men's refusal of Christ doesn't always come because they can't understand, because it's not an intellectual problem. It comes because they're challenged, confronted and condemned by the words of Christ and they walk away.
So, verse 62 is profound, isn't it? He not only predicts His ascension, but He uses His ascension to answer the problems of their unbelief. Boy, that's a tremendous answer. Just to show you that's the correct interpretation, look at verse 63. I know you trust me anyway. But look at verse 63, "It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing." I'm not talking about eating My literal body, folks, it's My Spirit that is the life-giving thing, right? See, that's what He's talking about. He's saying to them, "You...My whole body will go back...back intact in total when it goes back to heaven because I haven't come to be eaten alive, I've come that you might partake of My spirit for...verse 63...it is the spirit that gives life." And He's not talking about the Holy Spirit. He's not all of a sudden teaching the new birth. He's contrasting spirit with what other word? Flesh. He's saying it's not my physical body that needs to be in you, it's My spirit.
What do you mean My spirit? All of His person and being. The flesh is the outside of a man, the spirit is the inside. Christ's saying, "It's not My body that I'm so concerned with, it's the real Me that I want to have in you," see. And isn't that what Paul meant when he said, "Colossians 1:27 Christ in you,"? It doesn't mean we devour His body. It means the person of Christ received into us. So He says, "It is the spirit that gives life." My life coming into your life. Paul says, "Nevertheless I live, yet not I but the life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me," see. My life is Christ in me.
Well He's trying to get the message to them...I don't want you to take My body, I want you to take the Me, the real Me, My being, My person, My character, receive Me into you by faith. Oh the spiritual is what matters, not the physical. So Jesus says I came from heaven, I'm going to return to heaven. Also, My physical body is going to return intact. I have been teaching you spiritual truth, not physical.
Then Jesus hits the crux of the issue again. Verse 63 in the middle, "The words..." there they are again, folks, you see them there? "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit..." What do You mean by that? They reveal My real self and they are...what?...life. What is the dividing line then? It is the words of Jesus Christ, for they and they alone reveal who He really is. And so He says it is My word that is the key. Words reflect the spirit...that is My words reflect what I am, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." I am what I am and will reveal what I am by what I say. You accept the words of Christ and in fact you have received Him. Paul says in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing a speech about Christ," Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing a speech about Christ. It is the words themselves, empowered by the Spirit of God that give life.
Now mark that. Mark that in your minds. That is a biblical principle. Jeremiah 15:16 said, "Thy words were found and...what?...I did eat them." "They became the joy and rejoicing of My heart." Take in the word of God is to receive God for the only expression God ever gave definitively is His words. And that's where true and false discipleship separate company. The false disciple can take everything up to the word but that does it. That's why you can categorize most of liberalism and modernism under that category of false discipleship. Whenever they start explaining away the words of Christ and denying the inspiration of the Word of God, you can file them in the false follower category.
You say, "Well why does He take the time to be..to describe this betrayer right here?" I think because of this, if He's talking about false disciples and showing you the character of false disciples, who is the greatest example of the history of the ages of a false disciple? Judas. And so Judas becomes the illustration. Jesus says, "I knew Judas would betray Me from the beginning." And in John 17:12 it says that he was the son of perdition and he was lost to the cause that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Listen, you go back, if you want to study it, to Psalm 41:9 and Zechariah 11:12 and 13 and you read those and they'll give you a detailed description of the betrayal of Christ. God knew in eternity past, before this world was ever created that Judas would betray Him. That's not outside the knowledge of God.
But Judas is a perfect example, absolutely perfect of a false disciple. to hypocritically confess Christ with your mouth while your life denies Him, to exalt His virtues while your life robs Him of His place, to sing enthusiastic hymns and songs and oratories or whatever while you trample His gospel by Your word and deed, what is that but another Judas kiss.
Everything's okay as long as it's the person and the work but when the words of Christ become demanding and change and just aren't what you thought they should be, you leave.And you know what happens to false disciples? They always leave. They always move out. Verse 66, "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him." False disciples can't take it when it gets to the crucial. They can't hack it. Demas, Paul said, hath done...what?...forsaken us. Why? Because he loved the present world. They went out from us because...what?...they weren't of us.
I want you to see the character of a true disciple. The false we've seen. The true is in verses 67 to 69, Let me read this question as it appears in the Greek structure. Listen to it, "You won't also go away, will you?" That's the question. They've all left, but almost melancholy Jesus says, "You won't also go away, will you?" A broken heart. Thank the Lord for Peter, sweet ole Peter. He jumps up in verse 68, "Then Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?'" Don't you like that? "No, Lord, where would we go?" Is that the character of true discipleship? Oh. Then he says this, "Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." There is the key to discipleship. Listen to me, two things, did you see them there? You know what two things make a true disciple? Here they are, are you ready? Faith...get it...faith, "Lord, we believe." You see it there? "We are sure who You are, we believe.' You know what the other one is? Faithfulness. "Lord, where would we go." See. "Not only do I believe You, I stay where You are."
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus has got you. https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en
Monday Apr 17, 2023
John 6.48-59 Jesus Said To Them, I Am The Bread Of Life Part 2
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Monday Apr 17, 2023
John 6:48 "I am the bread of life. 49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 "This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
In this second part of the Bread of Life Discourse Jesus is going to drive the final wedge between Himself and the Religious folks. They aren’t really interested in knowing who He is, so He will make it harder and harder to have anything to do with Him. Jesus really loves us all, but when we keep on rejecting Him then He finally makes us hard and it’s not that He cannot save us, but that we will not come to Him because our hearts are so hard and bitter. Have you read the parables? Jesus begins to use them as a merciful tool, because they will not believe in Him, He makes them less culpable in the judgment as He keeps them from knowing more and thus being held accountable for more. Luke 12:48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. (NKJV) The hottest place in hell will be for the person who has sat in church or read the scriptures all their life, yet not trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy. 2Ti 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. This was the Pharisees and is the religious people of today, beware that you are not one of them.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
30 SECOND DEVOTIONAL CHRIST ALONE JOHN 3:16
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Hi, I’m Marty McKenzie with His Love Ministries. John 3:16 -17 says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Did you hear that? Jesus did not come to condemn you, but to save you through His death on the cross. So what would you say if God asked you why should I let you into my Heaven? Will it be I am trusting in Jesus Christ and Him alone for salvation?
Where do you stand? Are you in Christ or lost and without Christ?
What do you think it takes to go to Heaven? Good works, church membership, baptism, communion, Keeping the 10 commandments, I have done more good than bad? I hate to tell you none of these will.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today. www.hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial www.hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Monday Apr 10, 2023
JOHN 6:33-51 JESUS SAID TO THEM, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
Monday Apr 10, 2023
Monday Apr 10, 2023
33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [1] 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” 41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” [2]
In this great section of scripture, Jesus tells them He is THE BREAD OF LIFE and He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. This is the greatest truth of the Bible that Jesus is God and He is the all satisfying Savior. All the wants and all the desires we have are met in Him. A song was written that says I can’t get no satisfaction, I try and I try and I can’t get no……Satisfaction. I have a picture that has a woman on it with a hole where her heart is supposed to be and some little birds with their beaks open crying out feed me. At the top of the Picture, it says Secretly and at the bottom it says Starving. This is the greatest picture I have ever seen of the human condition. We all are secretly longing for something to fill up the hole where our heart is, that God shaped vacuum that the great mathematician Pascal said we all have, and the only thing that will fill us up is Jesus. In Colossians 2:10 it says we are made complete in Him, this means without Jesus WE ALL are incomplete and no amount of money, drugs, sex, material goods, alcohol, or any other man made thing will satisfy us, only Jesus. Have you come to Jesus and found that satisfaction that can only come from being saved and made whole. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. From verses 33-51 Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of God or Life 4 times
From verses 39-54 Jesus says He will raise us up on the last day 4 times
John 11:24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
It is interesting to compare the manna to Jesus Christ:
(1) It came from heaven at night; Christ came from heaven when men were in darkness.
(2) It fell on the dew; Christ came, born of the Spirit of God.
(3) It was not defiled by the earth; Christ was sinless, separate from sinners.
(4) It was small, round, and white, suggesting His humility, eternality, and purity.
(5) It was sweet to the taste; Christ is sweet to those who trust Him.
(6) It had to be taken and eaten; Christ must be received and appropriated by faith (1:12–13).
(7) It came as a free gift; Christ is the free gift of God to the world.
(8) There was sufficient for all; Christ is sufficient for all.
(9) If you did not pick it up, you walked on it; if you do not receive Christ, you reject Him and walk on Him (see Heb. 10:26–31).
(10) It was wilderness food; Christ is our food in this pilgrim journey to heaven.[3]
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Wiersbe's expository outlines on the New Testament (227). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Sunday Apr 02, 2023
Sunday Apr 02, 2023
John 6:22 The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Jn 6:22–34). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
In this section of Scripture we will see Jesus really come to the heart of the matter. They want signs, He wants their salvation. The want food, He wants faith. They want to work to please God. He wants them to come freely. Jesus wants us to understand that He is the only way to heaven, that the signs written about in the Old Testament pointed to Him being the reality. Jesus is the Living Water, He is the Bread from heaven. Are you hungry, are you thirsty? Come to Jesus and He will satisfy your deepest longings and give you eternal life.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Mar 27, 2023
JOHN 6:15-21 JESUS TESTS THE DISCIPLES
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Monday Mar 27, 2023
John 6:15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. 16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
In this famous section of Scripture we will talk about Jesus walking on the water and what that means to us today. We will see that Jesus does not always get us out of the storms of life, but He is there with us through them. Jesus gave a demonstration of His power, and then He tested His disciples to see if they learned the lesson. God is always testing us to see if we will trust Him no matter what goes on in our life. I hope you have that peace that passes all understanding because you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior and you know that when you go through the storms of life, He is there with you.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
JOHN 5:40-47 JESUS SAYS IF YOU BELIEVED MOSES, YOU WOULD BELIEVE ME
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
John 5:40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 41 "I do not receive honor from men. 42 "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. 46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (NKJV)
In this section of scripture we see Jesus getting down to the brass tacks. He did not come to be popular, He came to be a prophet and these High and Mighty Pharisees don’t want anything to do with a meek and humble Jesus. They want a political Jesus, a popular Jesus, a genie in the bottle Jesus that can feed them, heal them, overtake the Roman government and set them free not in a spiritual, but physical sense. He lets them know they are not His because they are hateful not loving, that they are headed for hell, and that they will receive the high and mighty popular people, but the one Moses wrote about they will not believe in and receive as Lord and Savior.
40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Those opposing Christ in our text do so with “veiled faces,” so to speak. They are blind to who Jesus is, and rather than come to Him for eternal life, they seek to take His life.
Why are they so unwilling to come to Jesus for salvation? It is because they seek glory and praise from men, rather than from God. Jesus does not seek the praise of men; He seeks to please the Father. This is because of His love for the Father, just as His Father loves Him (5:20).
41 "I do not receive honor from men.
42 "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
Perhaps a parenthetical comment would be helpful here to point out the hypocrisy of the Jews who oppose Jesus and His claims. They will not accept His testimony (5:31; 8:13), yet they accept others who come with only their own testimony: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him”
44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Lose your friends, prestige if you accept Jesus as He came. Want Him on their terms
If you remember the situation at Corinth in Paul’s day, it was Paul who led many of the Corinthians to faith. It was he who had invested a good part of his life in this church. Yet some false teachers came along who seemed so wise, so persuasive, so impressive. The Corinthians began to look down their noses at Paul and the other true apostles. The message of these “false apostles” appealed to the Corinthians. Paul calls attention to the fact that these are men (and women?) who care much about their status and standing with men, and all too little about the praise of God. They compare themselves with other men. They are puffed up with pride and arrogance, and they seek to undermine the authority of the “true apostles.” They are just like the Jews of our Lord’s day, aren’t they? Just as we are doing today with our churches and leaders
God is bearing witness through His Son. Here is the irony. The Jewish authorities will not accept Jesus as the Son of God; they simply will not heed His testimony. Yet, He is the voice of God, the visible manifestation of God to men. They have never seen or heard God in person. God is now standing before them, being accused by them. They are accusing the very One they claim to worship and serve. They do not have God’s Word abiding in them because they do not believe in Jesus, the One whom the Father sent to “declare” or “explain” Him (John 1:18). Is this not a “catch 22”? How can anyone be saved? If people need to trust in Jesus to grasp the Word of God, and they need to grasp the Word of God to see that Jesus is the One to whom the Scriptures bear witness, then no one can be saved. The solution the Bible gives us is that men most certainly cannot be saved on their own; they can only be saved by means of God’s sovereign and gracious intervention, which is exactly what John has been telling us in his Gospel:
We Make God In Our Image -Rom 1:28-32
45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
"Peter says in Acts Peter says in Acts Ac 3:18-25 quoting Deuteronomy 18:15-19 Ac 3:18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 22 "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 'And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' 24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' 26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
He accuses them using their hero Moses, who was the founding father of their faith and was revered above all men
Value Moses, the word, Moses word more than Jesus
Do you love God
If you don’t believe it is not because of a Lack of Evidence
Never heard His Voice - ex 33:11
Never saw His Form - gen 32:30-31
The word does not dwell in you - josh 1:8
Hebrews 1:1-2 Prophets told us Jesus was God
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
John 5:36 "But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish--the very works that I do--bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 "And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 "But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
In this section of Scripture, we will see that Jesus is doing all He can to give them a chance to be saved by telling them who He is and all of the witnesses to His being God. He tells them the works He does witness to His being God, the Father has witnessed and lastly that the Word of God witnesses to this fact, but they are not saved and will not be saved because they will not believe His witness. It is an amazing fact that those who begin by not wanting to be saved end up not being able to be saved because they harden their heart and then God finishes the process so that they cannot ever be saved. That is why the Bible tells us not to harden our hearts for today is the day of salvation.
Jos 11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 1Sa 6:6 "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart? Ps 95:8 "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Heb 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Heb 3:15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Heb 4:7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." (NKJV)
Witness of The Father He moves from defense to indictment (accusation), He not only admonishes them for not receiving God’s witness, He informs all as to the real reason they reject Him as the Messiah. Most important of all, Jesus Himself is the form of God (see John 14:9) and the voice of God. It is He who came to make God known to men: no one has ever seen God. The only One, Himself God, who is in the presence of the Father, has made God known (John 1:18).
37 "And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.
They have never seen God’s form, nor have they heard God’s voice. Yet both of these were evident at our Lord’s baptism.
God is bearing witness through His Son. Here is the irony. The Jewish authorities will not accept Jesus as the Son of God; they simply will not heed His testimony. Yet, He is the voice of God, the visible manifestation of God to men. They have never seen or heard God in person. God is now standing before them, being accused by them. They are accusing the very One they claim to worship and serve. They do not have God’s Word abiding in them because they do not believe in Jesus, the One whom the Father sent to “declare” or “explain” Him (John 1:18). Is this not a “catch 22”? How can anyone be saved? If people need to trust in Jesus to grasp the Word of God, and they need to grasp the Word of God to see that Jesus is the One to whom the Scriptures bear witness, then no one can be saved. The solution the Bible gives us is that men most certainly cannot be saved on their own; they can only be saved by means of God’s sovereign and gracious intervention, which is exactly what John has been telling us in his Gospel:
Up to this point, it may appear as though Jesus is on the defensive, defending His claim to be equal with God. In a sense, this is true, but our Lord is equal with God because He is the Son of God. It is not Jesus who needs a good defense, but His adversaries, the Jewish religious authorities. In verse 37, the tone of our Lord’s “defense” changes and we see our Lord now taking the offensive, challenging those who oppose Him. Here, He not only admonishes them for not receiving God’s witness, He informs all as to the real reason they reject Him as the Messiah.
The Jewish authorities are accusing our Lord of blasphemy and Sabbath-breaking. They have never seen God’s form, nor have they heard God’s voice. Yet both of these were evident at our Lord’s baptism. Jesus has seen the Father and heard His voice (5:19-20, 30). Most important of all, Jesus Himself is the form of God (see John 14:9) and the voice of God. It is He who came to make God known to men: no one has ever seen God. The only One, Himself God, who is in the presence of the Father, has made God known (John 1:18).
Witness of The Word
38 "But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39 "You search (scrutinize diligently – number of characters on a page, but miss the Messiah) the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. Missed the whole point.
The Word was written not just as a legal document or a self-help book to show us how to live, but it is a love letter from God
They studied the Scriptures diligently, thinking this was the way to eternal life.[1] Ironically, these same Scriptures testify about Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. How could these men possess the Scriptures and study them, and yet miss the main point of their teaching? Jesus tells them and us: they do not have the Word abiding in them. They are “in the Word,” but the Word is not abiding in them. This is so because Christ is not only the central theme of the Word, He is the key to the Word. Christ is the key that unlocks the message of the Word. The Jews are not willing to come to Him so that they may have life. Thus, they are blind to the central message of the very Scriptures they possess and regard so highly.
The saying attributed to Hillel: ‘the more study of the Law the more life … if he has gained for himself words of the Law he has gained for himself life in the world to come’ (Ab. 2:7).
The Jewish authorities will not believe in Messiah, and thus they cannot see Him in the Scriptures they study. Christ is a “blind spot” for the Jews, and yet He is both the central figure and the key to the Old Testament Scriptures. Because the Jews are blind to Christ, they read the Old Testament as though a veil were over their faces. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ is that veil removed. The Jewish authorities will not believe in Messiah, and thus they cannot see Him in the Scriptures they study. Listen to how the Apostle Paul explains the “blindness of the Jews”:
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, 13 and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the end of the glory that was fading away. 14 But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16 but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:12-18).
40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Those opposing Christ in our text do so with “veiled faces,” so to speak. They are blind to who Jesus is, and rather than come to Him for eternal life, they seek to take His life.
Why are they so unwilling to come to Jesus for salvation? It is because they seek glory and praise from men, rather than from God. Jesus does not seek the praise of men; He seeks to please the Father. This is because of His love for the Father, just as His Father loves Him (5:20).
[1] “Cf. The saying attributed to Hillel: ‘the more study of the Law the more life … if he has gained for himself words of the Law he has gained for himself life in the world to come’ (Ab. 2:7). There are several sayings like Baruch 4:1f., ‘This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law endureth for ever: all they that hold it fast are appointed to life.’” Morris, p. 330.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Feb 27, 2023
JOHN 5:31-35 THREE WITNESSES TO THE FACT THAT JESUS IS GOD
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Monday Feb 27, 2023
John 5:31 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 "There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 "Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
In this section of scripture we will begin to see the first three of 5 witnesses to the Fact that Jesus is God. The Disciple John will speak of Jesus’ witness, the Father’s witness, and also John the Baptist’s witness. Even though Jesus does not need to prove He is God, He is accommodating us (mankind) because we are so unbelieving and hardhearted. He wants to give us every chance of knowing the truth so we can believe and be saved. He also does it so that there will be no excuses when we stand before Him if we have not believed and are being sent to hell. God says in 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV) Have you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, do it today.
The word Witness is used 136 times in NT; John uses 77 times, verses 31-39 used 11 times
Witness of Jesus
31 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
The Old Testament law required two or three witnesses (see Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15) for a man to be found guilty of an offense. Jesus has much more testimony than this, but it doesn’t matter since the Jewish authorities are determined not to accept it
De 17:6 "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
De 19:15 "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
There is a marginal note in the NASB, which informs the reader that “true” should be understood as “admissible as legal evidence.”
‘If my testimony concerning myself,’ says he, ‘is suspected by you according to the ordinary custom of men, let it go for nothing.’ Now we know that what any man asserts about himself is not reckoned to be true and authentic, although in other respects he speak truth, because no man is a competent witness in his own cause. Though it would be unjust to reduce the Son of God to this rank, yet he prefers to surrender his right, that he may convince his enemies by the authority of God.” John Calvin,
While the Jewish authorities seek to give the impression that they are sticklers for observing the letter of the law, actually they are not. When our Lord stands trial for His life, they employ false witnesses who give conflicting testimony, and yet no objection is raised (Matthew 26:60). The high priest illegally demands that Jesus give testimony about (against) Himself, and then condemns Him on the basis of His testimony (Matthew 26:63). These Jews seek neither justice or truth.
14 So when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone (John 6:14-15).
Witness of The Father
32 "There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. The word another means another one just like him (exactly Like) as in John 14:16 where Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit coming and being just like Him. When Jesus says He bears witness, it means it is a continual action according to the Greek. Mt 3:17 His baptism, 17:5, - transfiguration 27; 51-54 –crucified. All the Old Testament
Witness of John - 1:19, 29,
33 "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
John the Baptist is a very popular fellow, a man many believe to be a prophet (Matthew 11:9; 14:5; 21:26, 46). Jesus reminds the Jewish authorities of their own high regard for John, when they “sent to John” (John 5:33). Initially, I read John 1:19-28 as an interrogation of John by the Jewish authorities, one carried out with considerable suspicion. Jesus seems to say otherwise. His words in our text seem to indicate that their “sending men” to John is their own “testimony” concerning John’s authority. In John 1, the Jews are really trying to “put words into John’s mouth.” They want John to admit that he is Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet. John is the one insisting otherwise.
If I understand Jesus (and John 1:19-28) correctly, for a short time the Jews actually wanted John to be the Messiah. This would explain our Lord’s words in Matthew regarding the Jews and John: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matthew 11:12, NIV).
The Jews are literally trying to force the kingdom into existence, and for a time they try to force John to become their Messiah. In the very next chapter of John’s Gospel, the Jews want to force Jesus to become their king:
Late in our Lord’s earthly ministry, the Jews challenge Jesus to prove His authority. Our Lord’s answer, and the Jews’ response, demonstrates the high regard the people have for John:
27 They came again to Jerusalem. While Jesus was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the experts in the law and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 John’s baptism, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.” 31 They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men—’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet). 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things” (Mark 11:27-33; see also Matthew 11:25; Luke 20:4).
34 "Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
35 "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
Ps 132:17 There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. Witness of Works Is 35:4-6 Works only Jesus could accomplish
Early in John’s ministry, the Jews are eager for John to be the Messiah. In our Lord’s words, they “rejoiced greatly for a short time in his light” (John 5:35). But when it becomes apparent that John rejects their religious system (Matthew 3:7-10; 21:32; Mark 3:15), and worse yet, identifies with Jesus as the Messiah he promised would come (John 1:29-36), just as quickly they abandon him.
They liked the light; it was the heat of His burning for Jesus that drove them away.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Feb 20, 2023
JOHN 5:18-30 JESUS SAYS HE IS EQUAL WITH GOD, BECAUSE HE IS GOD PART 2
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Monday Feb 20, 2023
John 5:16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 "and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
In this section of scripture as we finish it out, we will see that Jesus is equal in works with the Father, He is equal in the ability to save, in the ability to judge, in honor, in the ability to resurrect all, and also in righteousness as His judgement is righteous as is the Father’s. If you don’t believe Jesus is God, then this is the message for you. He loves you and He came so that you might have life and life abundantly, but YOU have to trust Him as Lord and Savior, because He did everything that was necessary to save you and give you a different kind of life than what the world has, a better one because He will never leave you, nor forsake you (Heb 13:5). Won’t you trust Him today, it will be the best decision you will ever make.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Feb 13, 2023
JOHN 5:15-24 JESUS SAYS HE IS EQUAL WITH GOD, BECAUSE HE IS GOD
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Monday Feb 13, 2023
John 5:15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
In this passage we will see the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, in other words Jesus says He is equal with God and is God and this puts the Pharisee’s over the edge. They wanted to kill Him for healing on the Sabbath, but now they try all the harder to find a way to kill him because in THEIR EYES, Jesus has blasphemed against God, but it is really about them and their power and their authority being threatened. Jesus tells us He can work on the Sabbath just as HIS Father does, not our Father, but HIS, which says to the Pharisee’s, He is just like His Father. He tells them He does whatever the Father does, He knows all things just as God does, He will give life (eternal life) to whomever he wills to, that He deserves Honor just as the Father does and lastly that He is the only way to eternal life. For all those who say that Jesus never said He was God, they either did not read this section of scripture or many others, or they are just plain liars and deceivers. Jesus is God, He always has been, and always will be.
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
There is no indication of any repentance, no mention of faith, and no inquiry as to who Jesus is or what He is about (as with the Samaritan woman). We are only told that after this confrontation, the man goes to the authorities to reveal Jesus’ identity to them. It is almost too terrible to be true.
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.
John tells us that they “began persecuting him.” I was initially inclined to think that this “persecution” involved constant questioning, challenging, and heckling, and no doubt efforts to discredit our Lord before the people.
17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
The expression ‘My Father’ is noteworthy. It was not the way Jews usually referred to God. Usually they spoke of ‘our Father,’ and while they might use ‘My Father’ in prayer they would qualify it with ‘in heaven’ or some other expression to remove the suggestion of familiarity. Jesus did no such thing, here or elsewhere. He habitually thought of God as in the closest relationship to Himself. The expression implies a claim which the Jews did not miss.”
Our Lord’s response to the Sabbath question here is unique to John’s Gospel.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11, NKJV).
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
The Sabbath is the “sign of the Mosaic covenant,” and thus to violate the Sabbath is to be worthy of death (Exodus 31:14-17; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36). The Fourth Commandment requires the people of God to imitate God, who “rested” on the seventh day of creation. The logic is simple: God rested on the seventh day, and so must men. But Jesus gives us a very different twist on this. He argues that God is constantly at work, even on the Sabbath. Since God is working non-stop, the Son is also working, and cannot cease for the Sabbath.
The inference is very clear: Jesus is claiming that God is His Father; He is claiming to be God. If our Lord’s claim is true, the Jewish authorities cannot and should not hinder the working of the Son of God on the Sabbath.
In what sense is God “working”? There is certainly a general sense in which God is working to maintain His creation and to bring about His plans and purposes: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NASB).
There is a specific sense in which God has been “at work” from the time of creation on, bringing about salvation for fallen men. Mere men can contribute nothing to this “working.” It is God’s work. And so men should rest on the Sabbath. But since Jesus is God, then He, as God, must work at that which His Father is working. A part of that saving work is healing the sick (see Luke 4:16-21; John 11:2-6).[1] The Jews are therefore wrong in condemning Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath.
The three chapters of this section, John 5-7, record the shift from mere reservation and hesitation about Jesus to outright and sometimes official opposition.
This incident in John 5 does two things. First, it discloses the wickedness of unbelieving Jews, especially of unbelieving Jewish leaders.
The second thing this incident in John’s Gospel does is to provide the occasion for Jesus to state very clearly (and very early in this Gospel) just who He is. I have often heard someone say, “Just who do you think you are?” Jesus tells these Jewish leaders who He is, and they do not like it at all.
Our text has several more lessons to teach us, which I shall briefly mention.
We cannot help but notice that those who are most in the wrong here are those who are most assured of being right.
Doing what is right does not always result in a righteous or a rewarding response
This passage is a reminder of the “weakness” of signs and wonders, and of the power of God’s Word.
Finally, we see in our text a beautiful example of sovereign grace
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
[1] In the Greek text, the word translated “save” is the word often used to describe our Lord’s work of healing men (see, for example, Matthew 8:25; 9:21-22; Mark 3:4; 5:23).
Monday Feb 06, 2023
JOHN 5:1-16 JESUS HEALS A MAN BY THE POOL IN JERUSALEM
Monday Feb 06, 2023
Monday Feb 06, 2023
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." 11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" 12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." 15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
In this section of scripture we see Jesus seek out a man who has been sick for 38 years. The man does nothing to deserve this healing, does not trust Christ and even turns on Christ for confronting his sin. But this is THE Jesus who loves us and does things for us even when we don’t deserve it or even mistreat Him. Also we see that Jesus tells the Pharisees He is God, most people would say that Jesus never said that in the Bible and they would be wrong because they wanted to kill him for it. This scripture also shows us that Jesus has compassion on us even when we don’t deserve it and it also shows the inhumanity of man in that the Pharisees don’t care that the man is healed, all they care about is that he and Jesus broke THEIR LAWS. Because God is not like they are, he is in the healing business all the time. Imagine if hospitals, fire departments, and others who take care of people were closed on Sunday, God is open for business all the time, because He loves us unconditionally.
It seems to me that John is showing us something about Jesus’ knowledge, his compassion, and his power.
This man is in a desperate situation. A picture of us in our sinful condition. Helpless, hopeless, hurting.
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
First, Jesus is in Jerusalem again, and he makes a point to go to a pool where people with diseases and disabilities wait for the troubling of the waters, because healings happen in this pool. Jesus walks in among this crowd of people.
5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
Jesus’ knowledge
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" Some people don’t want to get well, involves work, feeding himself, getting a job, won’t be taken care of without having to do anything.
Isa 35:4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.
Luke 4:16-20, from Is 61:1-3
Jesus knew his situation. When you know Jesus, this is the kind of person you know. A person who knows you perfectly—knows everything about you, inside and out, and all you have ever felt or thought or done. “You discern my thoughts from afar. . . . Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalms 139:2–4). The more you know about Jesus, the more precious this truth becomes.
Jesus’ Compassion
7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." The man misses Jesus’ point, He is like most of us with our positive thinking saying we can do it, it just may take awhile.
Mr 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
You don’t have to get better to get well.
Here it seems that somewhere along the way, a copyist drew a marginal note of explanation into the actual text. Verse 7 begs for an explanation. How the pool worked is not essential to the story. The fact that Jesus worked is essential to the story.
He didn’t say be encouraged, or it will happen, or I will help you get in, or let me make you comfortable (in your sin)
Jesus’ Power
8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."
Have to do what Jesus says to do, when, where, how, and if He tells us. Phil 4:13 – tells him to do something, human responsibility and God’s sovereignty working together. Take your bed, in other words cut off the possibility of going back to where you were at. Trust Jesus to help you do it.
9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” The words “at once” signify the immediacy of Jesus’ power.
This is John exulting again in the sovereign power of Jesus the same way he did in John 2:1-8 when He made the water into wine and it happened without a word and as soon as the jars were filled and in John 4:52–53 where the official’s son was healed at exactly the seventh hour 15 miles away when Jesus said the words.
Is John going to shift from the glory of Jesus to the ground rules of the Sabbath? The answer is no. The Sabbath issue is raised, but it’s raised in a way that amazingly keeps the focus on the glory of Jesus. Watch what John does.
He knows this will create conflict.
Why did Jesus do this other than to create a conflict with the Religious leaders
10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."
He also reminds us of the importance which Judaism has placed, and continues to place, on the keeping of the Sabbath:
May we be privileged, by virtue of the proper observance of the Shabbath, to see the final redemption of Israel. Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, “Were Israel properly to observe two Shabbathoth, they would immediately be redeemed” (Shabbath 118b). Until such time, God’s only dwelling-place on this earth is within the four walls of the Halacha (Berachoth 8a).[1]
11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"
Takes the focus off of himself, he is still a selfish person
12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"
Pharisees don’t care he is healed, just that he broke their laws. The law called for stoning. Jer 17:21 'Thus says the LORD: "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 "nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
Morris points out (p. 307, fn. 33) that the word rendered “slip out” is found only here in the New Testament, and that it means “‘to bend the head aside’ (AS), and thus ‘to dodge.’”
Notice how John refers to this fellow as “the man who had been healed,” while the Jews can only see him as the man carrying his mat on the Sabbath.
Jesus healed and disappeared before the man could find out who he was. He didn’t even know who healed him. Does this mean Jesus had no intention of dealing with this man’s soul? Was he content just to do a random miracle and leave the man in ignorance as to where it came from?
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
Based on what Jesus says his sickness was most likely caused by sin Jesus finds the man in the temple. Once more, He has sought him out. Jesus must know that doing so will identify Him to the authorities and cause Him great trouble (just as He knew that this man had suffered long and hard when He chose to heal him—verse 5:6). Even knowing this, Jesus goes to him with one thing in view—to warn this man to “stop sinning,” lest something even worse happen to him.[2]
No. And we know this because in verse 14 it was Jesus who found the man, not the man who found Jesus: “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.’” Jesus had no intention of walking away from this man and leaving him with nothing more than a healed body.
Notice two things. At the end of verse 13, the reason Jesus walked away from the man was that there was a crowd there: “Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.” The place was filled with sick people and, no doubt those who cared for them. Had he stayed there after healing one man there would have been a tumult of miracle-seeking. This is not the main thing Jesus is after.
So notice, secondly, how this is confirmed in verse 14. Jesus seeks out the man in the temple and tells him the real issue in his healing. “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.’” What’s the issue? The issue is holiness mainly, not health. “I have healed you to make you holy.”
“Turn from Sin to Me”
Do you see this? “Sin no more. Stop sinning. My aim in healing your body is the healing of your soul. I have given you a gift. It’s free. It came first, before my command. You didn’t earn it. You weren’t good enough for it. I chose you freely. And I healed you. Now, live in this power. Let the gift of healing, the gift of my free grace, be a means to your holiness.”
And yes, he warns him that, if he turns away, and mocks this gift, or makes an idol out of his health, and embraces sin as his way of life, he will perish. I take that—final judgment—to be the “worse thing” (in verse 14) that will happen because there aren’t many natural things worse than the 38 years this man endured, and because in verses 28–29, Jesus says, “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
In other words: “I have healed you that you may be holy, that you may stop doing evil, and that you may not rise to the resurrection of judgment, but to the resurrection of life. I have pointed you to myself as a life-giver. I heal in more ways than one. Don’t turn from me to a life of sin.”
Ga 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
He Healed Only One
The implications of this are huge for the diseases and disabilities that we deal with today. Jesus walked into a huge “multitude of invalids” according to verse 3. And he heals one man. Just one. And disappears before even that man can know who he was. He leaves hundreds of invalids behind unhealed. Then he finds the man in a less conspicuous place and puts all the focus on holiness. “Sin no more.”
The point is this: In the first coming of the Son of God into the world, we receive foretastes of his healing power. The full healing of all his people and all their diseases and disabilities awaits the second coming of Christ. And the aim of these foretastes which we receive now is to call us to faith and holiness.
Healing Is the Exception, Not the Rule—For Now
Most people who suffer from disabilities in this life will have them to the day they die. And all of us, till Jesus comes again, will die of something. Here and there, some are healed. We believe in miracles. But even though Jesus had all the power to heal, he did not usher in the final day of perfect wholeness. His ministry points to that day. But while this age of groaning lasts (Romans 8:23), healing is the exception, not the rule. And that is not because we are weak in faith. To be sure, we might see more miracles if we expected more and believed more.
But Jesus left hundreds unhealed at the pool of Bethesda. And told the one man he did heal, who had not even believed on him—to wake up. I am pursuing your holiness. The main issue in this age till Jesus comes back is that we meet him—meet him—in our brokenness, and receive the power of his forgiveness to pursue holiness. In this calling to faith and holiness, the disabled often run faster and farther than many of us who have our legs and arms.
First for Holiness, Then for Health
But for now, may the Lord open your eyes to know Jesus personally, as one who knows you, and has compassion on you, and is sovereign over your body and your soul, and the one who has come with saving and healing power first for the sake of your holiness, and then finally for the sake of your everlasting health.
Notice this man did nothing in this section but complain he couldn’t get into the pool. He was helpless, hopeless, and hurting, but Jesus did this for him anyway. This passage is not about positive thinking, you can do it so take up your pallet and walk, it is about Jesus who can enable us to do whatever He wants us to do.
This means when we minister to people we should not only minister to their physical needs, but make sure we don’t forget the greatest need of all the spiritual need for Christ and where they will spend eternity.
John 8:32-44 Came to set us free
[1] Ibid, p. xxxii.
[2] We must understand our Lord’s words here in the light of His words to His disciples in John chapter 9. There, the disciples automatically assumed that the man’s blindness was the result of someone’s sin. In that case, it was not so. That man had been born blind so that God might be glorified when our Lord healed him. In this case, the man’s sickness actually did result from his sin (see also Numbers 12:9-15; 2 Kings 5:25-27; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:30). Sickness may be the direct result of sin, but it is not always, not necessarily, the case.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jan 30, 2023
JOHN 4:43-54 JESUS HEALS A NOBLEMAN’S SON
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Monday Jan 30, 2023
John 4:43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. 46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." 49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" 50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. (NKJV) In this section of scripture we will see Jesus doing his second miracle that is recorded by John. Remember John only records seven miracles before Christ dies, and then one more after He is resurrected. Seven has been called the perfect number or the number of completion, and eight is the number that has signified new beginnings, because after Christ anyone in Christ is a new creation, behold all things are new (1Corinthians 5:17). I don’t know if this is what John intended, but it is certainly food for thought. We will see a man’s faith tested. We will also see that he is not a Jew, amazing how the Jews do not trust Christ and get saved (ie; Nicodemus, Pharisees, hometown folks), but the hated people such as the outcast Samaritan Woman and the Royal Official who is probably one of “King” Herod Antipas’ governmental rulers and all the poor, lame, and blind, in other words the helpless, the hopeless, and the hurting look to Christ and get saved. We will see in this section just as the Samaritan Woman and probably all or most of her town (Sychar) get saved, this man and his whole household believe Jesus’ words and are saved. Everyone else was looking for a sign.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Monday Jan 23, 2023
JOHN 4:26-42 JESUS CONNECTS DOING GODS WILL WITH SPIRITUAL FULFILLMENT
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
John 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 "And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 "For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
In these verses we will see the Samaritan Woman get saved as she learns that Jesus is the Messiah. The perplexing disciples who after hearing Jesus proclaim to the Woman that He is the Messiah for the first time that we know of, all they can think about is food. Jesus response to their wanting to eat and how He connects doing God’s will with Spiritual fulfillment and how to get it. Jesus will also let them know that we don’t always get to be the one who leads someone to Christ, but we all participate and sometimes we get to enjoy the fruit of someone else’s labor. John will end this section with MANY Samaritans coming to Christ, not because of the signs and wonders many want, but because of the Word of the woman and especially the Word of Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 16:4 "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
John 4:16-26 Jesus Confronts The Sin of The Samaritan Woman
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
John 4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
In this message we see the WOMAN, to whom no Jewish man would speak to, much less a Rabbi or Teacher and for sure not the Messiah, Savior of the World confronted by her sin. The high and mighty Nicodemus has come to Jesus and left unforgiven and unsaved, now the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world goes to this “despicable harlot” who has been married five times and now is living with another who is not her husband to confront her sin. It is amazing how the very people we think are not worthy of our attention or could never go to heaven are the very ones that Jesus goes to and are the same ones who do go to heaven because they see their need. How about you, whether you have sinned as much as this woman has or not doesn’t matter because we all need Jesus to forgive us and save us.
Monday Jan 09, 2023
JOHN 4:1-15 JESUS MUST GO THROUGH SAMARIA
Monday Jan 09, 2023
Monday Jan 09, 2023
As we move into Chapter four we will see John show us another side of Jesus. So far He has pursued his disciples and been pursued by Nicodemus, a supposedly very righteous and influential man, now He will make sure He will have a divine appointment with this very unrighteous and shunned woman of Samaria. Just as Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was trying to tell him, this woman will not get it either. It is amazing how simple the Gospel is, that a little child can understand and believe, yet a grown man or woman with great intelligence will not and cannot understand it. Have you come to that place yet where you believe? I hope so, if not by the time this message is over I pray you will understand the truth and truly believe Jesus is the Christ, God in human flesh and ask Him to forgive you and save you.
It was, more than anything else, the glory of the land of Israel, that it was Emmanuel's land Isa 8:8 He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck; And the stretching out of his wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel., not only the place of his birth, but the scene of his preaching and miracles. This land in our Savior's time was divided into three parts: Judea in the south, Galilee in the north, and Samaria lying between them. Now, in this chapter, we have Christ in each of these three parts of that land.
1 When therefore the LORD knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
1Co 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. [Jesus made and baptized]
It is Christ's prerogative to make disciples, first to bring them to his foot, and then to form and fashion them to his will. These seem to be quoted as the very words which were brought to the Pharisees; and, from our Lord's conduct after this information, we may take it for granted that they were so irritated that they were determined to find an occasion to take his life; in consequence of which, leaving Judea, he withdrew into Galilee. Already the Pharisees had turned violently against John who had called them broods of vipers. It is most likely that they drew John out about the marriage of Herod Antipas and got him involved directly with the tetrarch so as to have him cast into prison. and hence they supposed they had a right to inquire into the conduct of both John and our Lord. They had on a former occasion sent to inquire of John to know by what authority he had introduced such a rite into the religion of the Jewish people. Though he feared not death and did not shrink from suffering, yet he did not needlessly throw himself into danger or provoke opposition
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) sent to baptize with the Holy Spirit, means that it was not the habit of Jesus. This is the last mention of baptism under the direction of Jesus till the Great Commission (Mt 28:19). It is possible that Jesus stopped the baptizing because of the excitement and the issue raised about his Messianic claims till after his resurrection when he enjoined it upon his disciples as a rite of public enlistment in his service.3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. Each time hereafter that Jesus appears in Jerusalem and Judea before the last visit there is an open breach with the Pharisees who attack him (Joh 5:1-47; 7:14-10:21,22-42; 11:17-53).4 And he must needs go through Samaria. Lu 2:49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
Or, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria; for this plain reason, and no other, it was the only proper road. Samaria lay northward of Judea, and between the great sea, Galilee and Jordan, and therefore there was no going from Galilee to Jerusalem but through this province. From Jerusalem to Galilee, through Samaria, according to Josephus, was three day's journey. The direct and usual way was to pass through Samaria. Joseph was directed by God to go to Galilee, a place of safety.
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
The Jews, regarded Samaritans as the most abominable of mankind.
So He came by going through Samaria to a city of Samaria. Now Samaria originally was the name of the capital city of the northern kingdom. When the kingdoms split after Solomon—Solomon was the last king of the unified kingdom (Saul, David, Solomon, and from Solomon’s sons)—the kingdom split, ten tribes went north, two stayed south. The south became known as Judah. The north as Israel. That’s historic.
When the kingdom was established independently in the north, Omri, who was one of the kings of the north...and by the way, all of them were evil, all of them were wicked, all of them were unrighteous, there was never a good king in the north. But Omri, according to 1 Kings 16, identified Samaria as the capital city. Well, it didn’t take long for the word Samaria to extend from the capital city to the whole region, so it all became known as Samaria.
[A city called Sychar] This city was anciently called Shechem. It seems to have been situated on the foot of Mount Garazim, in the province of Samaria, on which the temple of the Samaritans was built. After the ruin of Samaria by Salmanezer, Sychar, or Sheckem, became the capital of the Samaritans.
This place is remarkable in the Scriptures; 1. As being that where Abram first stopped on his coming from Haran to Canaan. 2. Where God first appeared to that patriarch and promised to give the land to his seed. 3. The place where Abram first built an altar to the Lord and called upon his name. . It was at this place that Joshua assembled the people before his death, and here they renewed their covenant with the Lord, Joshua chapter 24. After the death of Gideon it became a place of idolatrous worship, the people worshipping Baal-berith, One of the names of the city was Neapolis.
Now it is the first place where the gospel is preached out of the commonwealth of Israel; so Dr. Lightfoot observes; as also that the valley of Achor, which was given for a door of hope, hope to the poor Gentiles, ran along by this city, Ho 2:15
So we read there that He came to this place, a city in Samaria called Sychar. Probably modern Askar, still around, and located on the slope of Mount Ebal, opposite Mount Gerizim. Do you remember Ebal and Gerizim from Deuteronomy 28? The mountains of cursing and blessing where God warned the people, “If they obeyed they’d be blessed, if they didn’t, they’d be cursed?” That area. Now not just near this village, and by the way, the best estimate would be that if you started in Bethany, maybe He was staying with the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, we don’t know. But let’s assume Bethany, which is right by Jerusalem, somewhere in that area. It’s about a twenty-mile hike and when I say hike, I don’t mean it’s a flat walk, I mean it’s an exerting kind of hike, up and down and up and down and a rigorous walk, 20 miles would take it to where the modern town of Askar is, if that’s close to where Sychar is—a twenty-mile walk that day.
[That Jacob gave to his son Joseph] Jacob had bought this field from the children of Hamor, the father of Schehem, for a hundred pieces of money. Joh 4:1b1a) Here lay Jacob's ground, the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph, whose bones were buried in it, Ge 48:22; Jos 24:32. Probably this is mentioned to intimate that Christ, when he reposed himself hard by here, took occasion from the ground which Jacob gave Joseph to meditate on the good report which the elders by faith obtained. In faith Jacob said take my bones back
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. a state of weariness. The verb means to toil excessively (Lu 5:5). John emphasizes the human emotions of Jesus (Joh 1:14; 11:3,33,35,38,41; 12:27; 13:21; 19:28).
So Jesus goes the twenty miles and He arrives near Sychar, and some suggest that Jacob’s well (It was called that because Jacob’s bones were buried nearby)—they know where that is today. It was probably between a half a mile and a mile away from the village of Sychar. Askar is about a half a mile or so away.
He arrives at that place and we read this: “Jesus being wearied from His journey was sitting thus.” What does “thus” mean? Wearied, in a wearied condition; He sat in a slumped, wearied condition by the well. It was about the sixth hour. The day began at dawn, which means it began say around 6 A.M. and sixth hour puts it at noon. It is high noon; it is the middle of the day. The sun is at its peak and He has walked 20 miles, a rigorous, rigorous walk that morning. And He’s exhausted. The word “wearied,” kopiao, means to be to the point of sweat and exhaustion. It’s an extreme condition. He is worn out. He is spent. And at noon, under the blazing sun, He sits down on the edge of the well.
Even though Jesus was the eternal Word, He became fully man and shared the fatigue and thirst that all travelers experience (cf. Heb. 4:15-16).
The stage is set for this amazing encounter that is about to happen. And again there you see the humanity of Jesus, don’t you? You see His humanity. He understands all that we suffer as men and women because He was one of us. He knew what it was to be weary, to be thirsty, to be worn out, to be exhausted, which contributes to Him being a sympathetic high priest who learned from His own experiences how to sympathize with us. That kind of thing brings shame on those who say that only the Virgin Mary or the saints can sympathize with us. Jesus walked in our flesh. He understands even our physical weariness. And there He is by the well.
[Jacob's well] Cutting wells or pools for public use rendered a man famous, so this well was named after Jacob because he had digged it, and it was for public use. The well stands about a third of an hour walk from the present city of Neapolis and may be seen today.
The word John uses here is pege, rather than the usual Frear. “On the difference between the two Loyd comments: ‘A spring is a God-given thing. God creates the spring; man only digs the well.’ It is a curiosity that such a deep well should have been dug in a country where there are many springs. (Godet says that there are as many as eighty springs in the region.) The well must originally have been well over a hundred feet deep, so that digging and lining it was no small task. This has been worked into an argument that the well really was dug by Jacob. Only ‘a stranger in the land’ would have gone to all the trouble to construct such a well in a land as plentifully endowed with springs! Many commentators give the depth of the well as about seventy-five feet, but according to Hendriksen a great deal of debris has been cleaned out and the well restored to its original depth.” Morris, p. 257, fn. 20.
[1] Time does not permit an extensive exploration of the “well motif” in Genesis, but it has been noted elsewhere. Many of the important events in Genesis took place at a well. It was at a well that Abraham’s servant found a wife for Isaac (see Genesis 24). It was also at a well that Jacob first met Rachel (Genesis 29). A spring plays a vital role in the survival of Hagar and her son, Ishmael (Genesis 16).
[The sixth hour] About twelve o'clock. The time is noted here; 1. To account for Christ's fatigue - he had already travelled several hours, 2. To account for his thirst - the sun had by this time waxed hot. 3. To account for the disciples going to buy food because it was the normal time of dinner among the Jews.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. A polite request.
Three things about this woman seem to put her at a distinct disadvantage. First, she is a Samaritan. Second, she is guilty of sexual immorality, and third, she is a woman. We have already commented about the way the Jews felt toward the Samaritans. We are not left in doubt as to how the Pharisees would have dealt with such a woman:
[There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water] This was the normal employment of women, as we see in different parts of the sacred writings. The Jews say that those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were accustomed to come and draw water; and it is supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also. Joh 4:1. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Drawing water was women’s work. Men worked in the field and did the hard work; women drew the water. That’s supported by all kinds of historical data. They did it every day. They did it every day because they needed water every day. Water was scarce in that part of the world, as you know. Wells were visited every day. That was a common meeting place for the women who came to draw water.
What is fascinating is that they came at dusk, typically. They came when the day had cooled down in the evening. Why is she coming at noon? Why is she there at twelve? Well, we can’t be certain about it, but it would be a reasonable thing to assume that this woman was a woman in town who had a very bad reputation—five husbands and living in adultery. And oh, by the way, the Samaritan religion was based upon an understanding of the Pentateuch which contains the Ten Commandments and a whole lot of other things that have to do with marriage and divorce and adultery, the five books of Moses. This is a scarlet woman. She would normally come at dusk if she was like other women, but if she was a woman of shame, maybe she came at noon because she knows nobody else is going to be there. And maybe she’s avoiding the confrontation and the stigma that she bears. And why this well? Because there’s some information historically that there were wells closer to Sychar. Why go this far? Why pass other wells? And the answer might be the same, that she avoided the very convenient places in the normal time of day to avoid the scorn of other women that she would have to face. She is not a respectable person.
Consequently by all expectations, she is not a woman worthy of attention from the Son of God. She is not a woman who is elevated. This is condescension. And how does He begin? He takes the initiative. He says to her, “Give Me a drink. J.C. Ryle says, “This is a gracious act of spiritual aggression on the sinner.” We don’t think about aggression in terms of evangelism, but we should. It’s a shocking thing, really, very shocking. Not so much in our culture, obviously, but in that culture it’s a shocking thing for Him to do because men don’t speak with women in public. That’s a breach of religious etiquette. And especially rabbis don’t speak to women in public. In fact, I remember reading years ago, a group of Pharisees and rabbis who were called the bruised and bleeding Pharisees and the reason they were bruised and bleeding was because every time they saw a woman they closed their eyes and they kept running into buildings. Jewish men didn’t talk to women. Do you know that Jewish rabbis were not supposed to talk to the women of their own family in public.
Whatever might be thought of the propriety of asking for a drink …, no Rabbi would have carried on a conversation with a woman. One of their sayings ran: ‘A man shall not be alone with a woman in an inn, not even with his sister or his daughter, on account of what men may think. A man shall not talk with a woman in the street, not even with his own wife, and especially not with another woman, on account of what men may say.’” Morris, p. 274, citing SBk, II, p. 438.
So here Jesus, a rabbi, a Jewish man, not only talks to a woman, but He talks to a woman who is an outcast, despised woman, who is a half-breed pagan and worse than that, she is by every measure a well-known adulteress who probably has been an adulteress for a long, long time, hence so many divorces. ’Cause if you look into the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, you will find that Moses did grant a divorce, but a divorce, as we know—because Jesus repeated it—for immorality. This is an immoral woman. It’s a shocking breach of everything Jewish for Him to say to this woman, “Give Me a drink.” And somebody might say, “Well, why doesn’t He have the disciples get Him a drink?” Well, can’t because verse 8 says they had gone away into the city to buy food; so He’s there alone. Why is He there alone? Well, because they needed food. How many disciples does it take to get food? All of them? No, but dismissing them was beneficial to the conversation, let’s put it that way. He wanted to be alone with the woman.
Joh 4:8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Without them there to get Him a drink, and without any instrument to get a drink, He says to the woman, “Give Me a drink.” It’s just absolutely shocking. And by the way, just a footnote, Jesus never did a miracle to quench His own thirst, satisfy His own hunger, or provide anything for Himself, never. There’s no record in all four gospels that Jesus ever did any miracle to feed Himself, provide for Himself, and thus He honored work, and He honored effort, and He honored care, and He honored sacrifice, and He honored giving and all the things that we do in life to sustain ourselves. This was also part of His commitment to humanity. We get what we need through either our own work, and our own effort, or somebody else’s work and somebody else’s effort. He didn’t do those kinds of miracles that would supply His own wants.
A Jewish Rabbi would rather go thirsty than violate these proprieties.
Strict Jews would not have purchased food from Samaritans as Jesus' disciples were attempting to do
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Here is another empty waterpot that I believe symbolizes the empty religion that man seeks for himself
Notice that in the verses that follow, Jesus does not answer this question. It is the gospel which changes all this:
Galatians 3:26-29- 26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise
[That thou, being a Jew] Possibly the inhabitants of Judea distinguished themselves from those of Samaria by some peculiar mode of dress; and by this the Samaritan woman might have known Christ; but it is likely that our Lord spoke the Galilean dialect. [The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans] The woman's question appears to have ended with the words, "Of Samaria" and the subsequent phrase are the words of the evangelist to explain the reason for the woman's question.
It certainly surprised her when He asked for a drink of water. She surmised that He was a Jewish rabbi, and perhaps she tried to “read between the lines” to find another meaning to His request. What was He really seeking?[i]
Of course, our Lord’s request was simply a way to open the conversation and share with her the truth about “living water.” [ii]
The hatred which existed between these two nations is well known. [The middle kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians, who then repopulated the area with non-Jews (see 2 Kings 17), and to the Jews, who so prized racial and religious purity, the Samaritans were at best a people of suspect pedigree who practiced a corrupt religion. Perhaps she was surprised that Jesus would drink out of her water pot.
That he should ask this kindness; for it was the pride of the Jews that they would endure any hardship rather than be beholden to a Samaritan. 2. She wonders that he should expect to receive this kindness from her that was a Samaritan: Christ takes this occasion to instruct her in divine things:
John adds, “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” They don’t use the same utensils.
The Jews “do not use dishes Samaritans have used.” A Rabbinic law of A.D. 66 stated that Samaritan women were considered as continually menstruating and thus unclean. Therefore a Jew who drank from a Samaritan woman’s vessel would become ceremonially unclean.[iii]
In fact, the Jews in John 8:48 said, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” That’s what they said to Jesus. You’re nothing; that was one of their descriptions. “You’re a demon-possessed Samaritan.” Terrible scorn for the Samaritans.
Now again, you go back to 722 B.C., Assyria captures the northern kingdom. Transports everybody out. You can read the story yourself in 2 Kings 17. Takes everybody into captivity, leaves a few people there, a few of the Jews from the ten tribes, and into the district come Babylonians, people from Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, Sepharvaim. They’re even listed in that chapter of 2 Kings. They come in, they intermingle, they bring their gods, they get married, they lose their racial purity. This is an uncivilized time in the eyes of the Jews. They devise some bizarre form of their own religion, they build a temple on Mount Gerizim and they carry on their own kind of worship. We’ll see more about that later.
The bitterness is profound after the Jews in the southern kingdom, Judah came back from captivity. Remember they came back from their captivity. After they came back and rebuilt, you remember, it was Samaritans who tried to help them. Do you remember at the story of Nehemiah? The Samaritans wanted to help them and they refused to let them help. And so the Samaritans then tried to stop what they were doing and the bitterness got deeper and deeper and it lasted, and it lasted, and it lasted.
A renegade Jew, actually, it was a renegade Jew named Manasseh, who married a daughter of the Samaritan Sanballat. You remember he was the enemy of Nehemiah. This renegade Jew named Manasseh, who married the daughter of Sanballat, he’s the one that went up into Samaria and built the temple to sort of be their temple because they couldn’t be a part of the new temple being built in Jerusalem. So this rivalry had gone on. Here we are four or five hundred years later and the attitudes are bitter and deep.
Samaritans continued to worship on Mt. Gerizim and accepted only the Pentateuch as canonical. A small group of Israelis who claim to be able to trace their ancestry back to the Samaritans survives to the present day.
The Samaritans professed to believe in the God of Israel and awaited the coming of Messiah (see John 4:25). They accepted only the first five books of the Law, but rejected the rest of the Old Testament Scriptures. Wherever they found it necessary to justify their religion and their place of worship, they modified the Law. The relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans was definitely strained.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Having captured her attention and stimulated her curiosity, Jesus then spoke a puzzling saying to cause her to THINK…. It was as if He had said, “Your shock would be infinitely greater if you really knew who I am. You—not I—would be asking!” Three things would have provoked her thinking: (1) Who is He? (2) What is the gift of God? (3) What is living water? “Living water” in one sense is running water, but in another sense it is the Holy Spirit (Jer. 2:13; Zech. 14:8; John 7:38–39).[iv]
(1.) Christ is the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters, open for every poor sinner, and freely given, that whosoever will may come unto him, and drink of the riches of his grace. (2.) Many carelessly disregard the invaluable blessings of the gospel, because they perceive not their excellence, nor their own want of them. (3.) They who would obtain the blessings of grace from Jesus and his Holy Spirit, must seek them in persistent prayer; and he who is faithful and true, hath promised, that none such shall ask in vain.
Is 55:1-7, Rev 7:16-17
The word used means, the free gift of God. And this is where evangelism starts. You initiate the conversation, you find your way in at a common point of interest, and then comes the reality that you are offering the sinner it without regard to moralit. It is mercy with no regard for morality. It is mercy with no regard for religion. It is just mercy. It is just grace.
It is the gift of God. This is the unique glory of the gospel. In opposition to all religion, all religion says, “Do this, do this, do this, do this, and God will give you this.” The gospel says, “In whatever state you’re in religiously, and whatever state you’re in morally, here’s a gift.” It is the gift of God. It is a gift of grace. It is a gift of mercy. Dorean, the word here, is “free gift.” Paul loves that word. Paul uses that word in Romans. He uses it in chapter 5, the free gift, the free gift. And that’s where our Lord starts with this unsolicited mercy being offered.
This was one of the many instances in which he took occasion from common topics of conversation to introduce religious discourse. None ever did it so happily as he did, but, by studying his example and manner, we may learn also to do it. One way to acquire the art is to have the mind full of the subject; to make religion our first and main thing; to carry it with us into all employments and into all society; to look upon everything in a religious light, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak,
Mt 12:34 "Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. [If thou knewest the gift of God] The Greek word used here signifies a free gift, a gift which is given without asking anything in return. Such a free gift of kindness was Jesus Christ to the world (chapter 3:16), and through him comes the gift of the Spirit which those who believe on his name were to receive.
2Co 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Christ will convert this woman, not by showing her that the Samaritan worship was dividing (though really it was so), but by showing her her own ignorance and immoralities, and her need of a Saviour. He hints to her what she should know, but was ignorant of: If thou knewest the gift of God, that is, as the next words explain it, who it is that saith, Give me to drink. If thou knewest who I am. She saw him to be a Jew, a poor weary traveler; but he would have her know something more concerning him that did yet appear. Note: (a.) Jesus Christ is the gift of God, the richest token of God's love to us, and the richest treasure of all good for us; a gift, not a debt which we could demand from God; not a loan, which he will demand from us again, but a gift, a free gift, Joh 3:16. (b.) It is an unspeakable privilege to have this gift of God proposed and offered to us; to have an opportunity of embracing it: thou wouldest have asked. Note: (a.) Those that would have any benefit by Christ must ask for it, must be earnest in prayer to God for it. (b.) Those that have a right knowledge of Christ will seek him, and if we do not seek him it is a sign that we do not know him. Jesus here means to denote by it his doctrine, or his grace and religion, in opposition to the impure and dead notions of the Jews and the Samaritans.
Ps 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
What is the gift of God? What is the living water? Well, it’s salvation, clearly. Everything that’s in salvation—mercy, grace, pardon, forgiveness, justification, flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing—and endlessly flowing.
[Living water] By this expression, which was common to the inhabitants both of the east and the west, is always meant spring water, in opposition to the dead, stagnant water contained in pools, ponds, tanks and cisterns; and what our Lord means by it is evidently the Holy Spirit, as may be seen in chapter 7:38-39. As water quenches the thirst, refreshes and invigorates the body, purifies things defiled and renders the earth fruitful, so it is an apt emblem of the Holy Spirit which so satisfies the souls that they no longer thirst for earthly good; it purifies them from spiritual defilement and it makes them who receive it fruitful in every good word and work.
As in His conversation with Nicodemus (3:5), Jesus again alluded to the Old Testament passages that promised salvation as satisfying water (e.g., Isa.12:3; 44:3; 49:10; 55:1-7; Jer. 31:29-34; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-32).
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.
Jer 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Zechariah 14:8 And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur.
Is 1:16-18
Isa 1:2; Jer 6:19 Ps 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
Jer 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. "Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters."
Jer 18:14 Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon, Which comes from the rock of the field? Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
Re 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? concludes his boasts were absurd, and his offers a mere joke.
Jesus was speaking about spiritual water, but she interpreted His words to mean literal water. Again, we see how easily people confuse the material and the spiritual. Furthermore, this woman was concerned about how He would obtain this water, instead of simply asking Him to give her a drink of it.[v]
[Thou hast nothing to draw with] Thou hast no bucket. Good water is not plentiful in the east and travelers are often obliged to carry leather buckets or bottles with them, and a line also, to let them down into deep wells in order to draw up water.
She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?’” This is sarcasm. This is a kind of scorn, kind of mockery. This woman is very used to defending herself.
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
“You’re not greater than our father Jacob, are you? Who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” Who do you think you are? You’ve got something better than this? How are you going to give me water when you don’t have a bucket? How you going to drop the rope a hundred feet, pull up the water? Do you have some other well? Are you greater than Jacob? "There was a trace of sarcasm in the woman's reply, as if she meant, 'We Samaritans are the dirt under your feet until you want something; then we are good enough
Genesis 33:18 and 19, “Dug the well.” This is skepticism, mockery. Again, mercy responds kindly, patiently.
Of course Jesus is greater than Jacob—and greater than the well itself! To paraphrase His reply: “Whosoever continues to drink of this material water (or anything the world has to offer) will thirst again. But whosoever takes one drink of the water I give will never thirst again!” (see John 4:13–14) How true it is that the things of this world never completely satisfy. In hell today, people are crying, “I thirst!”
We have noted before that life is one of John’s key concepts. He uses the word at least thirty-six times. Campbell Morgan has pointed out that mankind needs air, water, and food in order to have life. (We might also add that he needs light.) All of these are provided in Jesus Christ. He provides the “breath” (Spirit) of God (John 3:8; 20:22). He is the Bread of Life (John 6:48) and the Light of Life (John 1:4–5), and He gives us the water of life.[vi]
[Our father Jacob] Despite of the mixture of the races the Samaritans still counted themselves as descendants of Jacob. Art thou greater? Art thou wiser, or better able to find water, than Jacob was? It seems that she supposed that he meant that he could direct her to some living spring, or to some better well in that region, and that this implied more knowledge or skill than Jacob had. To find water and to furnish a good well was considered an indication of skill and success. It was a subject of great importance in that region. Men like to commend that which their ancestors used as superior to anything else. The world over, people love to speak of that which their ancestors have done, and boast of titles and honours that have been handed down from them, even if it is nothing better than existed here--because Jacob's cattle had drunk of the water.
Her reference to "our father Jacob" was probably another barb designed to remind this Jew that Jacob was the Samaritans' ancestor as well as the Jews'.
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:
Jesus did not directly answer her question, or say that he was greater than Jacob, but he gave her an answer by which she might infer that he was. He did not despise or undervalue Jacob or his gifts; but, however great might be the value of that well, the water could not altogether remove thirst.14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up (bubbling up) into everlasting life. All the comforts of the world are insufficient to give any abiding satisfaction; Christ alone can bestow the substantial portion on the soul. They who pant after the earth, and its enjoyments, drink and thirst again;
It is a striking image, and especially in Eastern countries, where there are vast deserts, and often a great want of water. The soul by nature is like such a desert, or like a traveler wandering through such a desert. It is thirsting for happiness, and seeking it everywhere, and finding it not. It looks in all directions and tries all objects, but in vain. Nothing meets its desires. Though a sinner seeks for joy in wealth and pleasures, yet he is not satisfied. He still thirsts for more, and seeks still for happiness in some new enjoyment. To such a weary and unsatisfied sinner the grace of Christ is as cold waters to a thirsty soul.
[Springing up into everlasting life]. This water from Jacob’s well would satisfy only bodily thirst for a time. But the water Jesus gives provides continual satisfaction of needs and desires. In addition one who drinks His living water will have within him a spring of life-giving water (cf. 7:38–39). This inner spring contrasts with the water from the well, which required hard work to acquire. Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit who brings salvation to a person who believes and through Him offers salvation to others.[vii]
Joh 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst again
Joh 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
What is it? It’s living water. It’s satisfaction forever, soul satisfaction forever.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
The woman could not grasp this dark saying because of her sin and materialism. All she could understand was that if she had a spring she would not get thirsty and would not have to work so hard.[viii]
[Give me this water] She did not as yet comprehend our Lord's meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great truths which he was about to announce. water that will prevent thirst. Neither come, "nor keep on coming" as she has to do once or twice every day. She is evidently puzzled and yet attracted.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.
hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
[i] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 299). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[ii] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 300). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[iii] Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 285). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[iv] Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 285). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[v] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 300). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[vi] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 300). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[vii] Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 286). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[viii] Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 286). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Monday Dec 26, 2022
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11 THE MIND OF CHRIST
Monday Dec 26, 2022
Monday Dec 26, 2022
INTRODUCTION
In verses 1-4 of this second chapter, Paul wrote about "The Unity
That Produces Joy", in which he described:
The MOTIVATION for having this unity
The NATURE of this unity
The ATTITUDES necessary to have this unity
In describing the latter, he called upon the Philippians to:
Do nothing through selfish ambition or conceit
Have lowliness of mind in which they esteem others better than themselves
Look out for the interests of others, and not only those of their own
In verse 5, Paul continues to exhort them to have "this mind" (the attitudes of verses 3-4), pointing out that this is also the "mind of Christ"
In verses (6-11), Paul defines the "mind of Christ" (or the attitude of Christ
v6 Jesus did not have SELFISH AMBITION OR CONCEIT
He abandoned a Sovereign Position
PRIOR TO HIS INCARNATION or coming in human flesh
Jesus was "in the form of God" The word form in Greek is morphe- the essence or literally the essential nature of something
In other words, He has always existed as God – John 8:56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
He was also "equal with God"
John 1:1 3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1John 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
V6 YET CHRIST DID NOT CONSIDER SUCH EQUALITY "ROBBERY"...
Literally, "a thing to be grasped"; that is, something to be laid hold of, and retained jealously
Isaiah 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
The "glory" of equality with God which Christ enjoyed from eternity was not something He felt like He HAD to cling on to
A true demonstration of a lack of selfish ambition and conceit on the part of our Lord!
Jesus LOOKED OUT FOR THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS (7-8)
He took a servant’s place and approached a sinful people
WHEN CHRIST BECAME FLESH...
V7 1. He "made Himself of no reputation" John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Some versions say, "emptied Himself” this is the Kenosis or self-emptying
Jn 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
First of all, He gave up His heavenly glory. He gave up His heavenly glory. He dove into the water and went all the way down to the black cold water to the slime and the ooze of this world. And that's why He cries out in John 17 and says, "Father, restore Me to the glory I had with You before the world began." Glory when He was face to face with God. He gave up His glory for the muck of this earth. He gave up the worship of angels, the adoring presence of angels for the spittle of men. He gave up all of the shining brilliance of the glories of heaven for the dark prison where He was kept before His death. Yes, He emptied out His glory in that sense.
Secondly, He emptied Himself of independent authority. I don't understand how the trinity operates. I know it operates in perfect harmony. In addition, I know that in perfect harmony, there would be no discord and no disagreement and that would be the way it is in the trinity. Nonetheless, in some way mysterious to my mind, which I will never understand, He completely submitted Himself to the will of the Father. I will never understand that and I don't want you to even think about it too long or you'll be under the bed saying the Greek alphabet because it does not compute. However, the point is He laid aside a voluntary exercise of His own will and He learned to be a servant and He submitted Himself. In addition, He was obedient, it says in verse 8. He was obedient. I don't understand that but He was obedient. In the garden He says, "Not My will but Thine be done." He learned obedience by the things He suffered, Hebrews 5 says. He said I am...I am come to do the Father's will, John 5:30. Therefore, He set aside His independent authority.
Thirdly, He set aside the prerogatives of His deity. Alternatively, He set aside the voluntary use of His attributes. You say, "Did He stop being omniscient?" No. "Did He stop being omnipresent?" No. "Did He stop being unchangeable God?" No. He didn't stop being anything; He just didn't use those attributes. Some have said He gave up the prerogatives of His deity. I know He was omniscient. He knew everything because He knew what was in the heart of a man, John 2. I know He was omnipresent because He saw Nathaniel when He wasn't even where Nathaniel was in His human form. He didn't give up any of His deity but He gave up the free exercise of those attributes and limited Himself to the point where in Matthew 24:36 He says, "No man knows when the Son of Man will come," not men and not even the Son of Man. He restricted His omniscience. So He gave up the rights of His deity.
Fourthly, He gave up His personal riches...He gave up His personal riches. Though He was rich yet for your sakes He became poor, 2 Corinthians 8:9, that you through His poverty might be made rich. He became terribly poor in this world...terribly poor. He had nothing...nothing.
And then lastly, , He gave up a favorable relationship to God. "He who knew no sin was made sin for us...He who knew no sin was made sin for us." And as a result, He says, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He gave up a favorable relationship to God.
Though He gave up the full expression of his heavenly glory and the full enjoyment of it, though He gave up independent authority and exercise of His own will and learned obedience, though He gave up the prerogatives to express all of the majesty of all of His attributes which He could have done, by the way, and though He gave up personal riches for the poverty of this world and though He gave up a favorable relationship with God when He was made sin, He never ceased to be God, never. He remained fully God. He remained fully God.
He took upon Himself "the form of a servant" – same word Morphe, literally became a servant. John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
He came in the likeness of men He was the same as a man, but different in that He was sinless
Likeness means He was truly human, wept, got hungry, tired in all ways like us but without sin
He could experience their temptations and sufferings –
He 2:17-18 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
V8 And being found in appearance as a man – He looked like us because He was like us.
He "humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross"
Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree")
DO WE HAVE "THE MIND OF CHRIST"?
We do, if we are looking out for the interests of others
We do, if we are willing to humble ourselves, even sacrifice ourselves if it be in the best interests of others
1Jn 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
III. Jesus is HIGHLY EXALTED BY GOD (9-11) – He ascended as a Supreme Prince
V9 JESUS is a good example of Matthew 23:12: "He that humbles himself shall be exalted"
1Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
For God has highly exalted Jesus
By giving Him "the name LORD which is above every name"
Ac 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
V10 that at His name "every knee should bow...that every tongue should confess" He is Lord! -
2Th 1:10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
V11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
We have seen in this passage that "The Mind Of Christ" involves...
Humility
Obedience
Sacrifice
Great Reward
It was Christmas Eve in the Midwest. There was a man who had been in a family where his wife and his children were Christians but he was not. And he rejected it. He sat home that Christmas eve in front of the fire. It was cold out and the snow was blowing. His wife and the little children had gone to the chapel in the nearby village for a Christmas Eve service to honor the Christ they loved. He sat by the fire reading the paper.
All of a sudden, he heard a loud and repeated thumping. He thought someone was banging on the door. He went to the door and opened it but found no one was there. By the time he got settled back into his chair, he heard it again and again. And he was bewildered as to what was causing it until he realized that something seemed to be smashing against the window. And so he went to the drapes and he pulled the drapes aside and to his amazement, a flock of birds was flying into the window. A snowstorm, you see, had blown in. And the birds had been caught away from their shelter and they couldn't find their way back. They couldn't fight the wind. They saw the lighted window and the warmth of the light had attracted them. And they were literally flying into the glass trying to get to the light to get warm. They would freeze to death, you see, if they didn't find some shelter.
Well, the man who had refused to go with his family to the Christmas Eve service because he had no interest in the Christ of Christmas was all of a sudden very compassionate for these poor birds. And so he wondered how he could help them. And so he opened the door, went out in the cold, and tried to chase them away so that they wouldn't kill themselves against the window. And then he ran to the barn and he threw the doors open and he whistled and he shooed them and did everything he could to get them to fly to the barn, they wouldn't do it. He even went so far as to take some corn and some bread and make a big trail from the window to the barn. And they wouldn't follow it.
In frustration, he said to himself, "If I could just communicate with them. If I could just tell them that I don't want to hurt them, that there's warmth and there's shelter and that they'd need to stop beating themselves to death against the glass. But I'm a man and they're birds and we don't speak the same language. Oh, if I could just become a bird, I think I could tell them."
And then it hit him. And in that moment, said Paul Harvey, the whole meaning of Christmas dawned on that man. Mankind had been beating itself to death against the barrier that kept him from the warmth of God's love until somebody became a man and told us the way.
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
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