Monday, January 29, 2007

ONLY JESUS SETS US FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN

JESUS - THE RIGHTFUL JUDGE

READ JOHN 5:24-30

John had just related a story of Jesus healing a man who had been weak and afflicted for 38 years. This man tried to get healing through human means and the help of human friends, but to no avail. As the Lord of the Sabbath and having complete authority equal with the Father, Jesus heals this man physically. Jesus also warned this man that physical healing is wonderful there is a need for spiritually healing to make his life complete. Now in the following verses Jesus will speak on the spiritual healing that a man must come to in order to receive eternal life.
24) What is salvation? CAUSE: hear His Word and believe the God who sent Jesus EFFECT: eternal life, no judgment, pass from death into life.
25-29) "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart..." (Heb. 3:15) Here Jesus gives a prophesy about a time that is yet future where the opportunity to accept spiritual healing will come to an end. For an hour is coming when all will hear His voice and will arise, some to resurrection of life and others to the resurrection of judgment. It is through Jesus that we are accepted by the Father into etermal life, for the Father, "...gave Him all authority to execute judgement, because He is the Son of Man." He went to the cross to die for the sins of the world, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father except through Him. (See John 14:6)
30) His judgment is in complete compliance with the Father, for Jesus does not seek His own will, but He seeks the will of the Father.
FATHER, HELP US TO BE MINDFUL THAT ONLY JESUS CAN BRING SPIRITUAL HEALING AND THAT THE WORLD IS RIPE FOR THE HARVEST. AMEN

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

EQUALITY WITH THE FATHER

READ JOHN 5:19-23

God reveals Himself to people of every time period and culture; through nature and the historical events of history. In John 5 He is revealing truth through His Son and they (the Jews) were not accepting this most gracious gift, because He claimed to be equal with the Father. Making a simple list (v. 19-23) of all that we learn about the Father gives us a picture of why Jesus is worthy to know!
THE FATHER:
1) Both Father and Son work in 100% equality. Everything the Father does, the Son does and vice versa. They both are Self-existent, neither are depend on anything outside of Himself.
2) The Father loves the Son. The idea in v. 20-21 is that God has done some remarkable things in the past, but you have not seen anything yet. Jesus (God's beloved Son) will do the ultimate work so that we will marvel. What is this great work? That the Father raises the dead. What is the result of this great work? That life is given through the Son. Eternal life to whom the Son wishes (to whom He has purposed). Both the Father and the Son are Omniscience (All-knowing), nothing takes the Father or Jesus by surprise, this has all been planned since the foundation of the world. (See I Peter 1:20-21)
3) The Father has given all judement to the Son. It is Jesus who holds the key to the kingdom. It is through Him salvation takes place. (See John 14:6) Why has the Father done this? (v.23) To honor both the Son and the Father. Both are Ominpotence (all-powerful) It was not weakness that caused the Father and the Son to accomplish this great work; bringing salvation to a dying world. It was done with great power by a Holy, Righteous, Merciful and Loving Diety. Why is Jesus worthy to know? Because He brings credibility and honor to the Father and because, "...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8)
FATHER, THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF JESUS WHO IS EQUAL WITH YOU IN ALL WAYS. HE HAS BROUGHT HONOR TO THE DIETY OF THE GODHEAD AND GIVEN THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF LIFE TO ALL WHO WILL BELIEVE. AMEN

Thursday, January 18, 2007

JESUS, LORD OF THE SABBATH

READ JOHN 5:9b-18

9b) SABBATH: Means "seven." It is in conjuction with God's 7th day of Creation (Gen. 2:2)where God had completed the Creation and rested. The Sabbath day was and still is on Saturday for the Jews. It was a day set aside by God as a day of rest from work (See Ex. 20:9-11). By the time Jesus walked on Earth the Sabbath had been perverted by the Jewish leaders with many restrictions. They had complicated it with rules and regulations far beyond what God had commanded. Making the Sabbath Day more of a burden than a day of rest. When the Sabbath rest is spoken of in the New Testament it is not refering to the day (Saturday), but to a spiritual Sabbath, a redemptive rest. It is a perpetual Sabbath resting IN Christ. (See Col. 2:16-17 and Heb. 4:9-10)
10-13) These verses show the characteristic of how bad a burden the Sabbath Day had become to the people. The Jews, confronting this man who was healed, were not animated by his being healed and walking, but that he was carrying his pallet on the Sabbath. The fact that they were still in the pool area is an idication that they probably saw the healing or had become aware of it through other people. Jesus had been able to slip away because of the crowd that had accumulated.
14) Jesus finds the man in the temple and warns him to not sin anymore so that nothing worse will come upon him. What could be worse than an illness lasting 38 years? Loss of life and facing God's judgment! Warren Wiersbe put it best in his book, The Bible Exposition Commentary. "It is not easy to understand the relationship between this man and Jesus. There is no evidence that he believed on Christ and was converted, yet we cannot say that he was opposed to the Saviour. In fact, he did not even know who it was that healed him until Jesus met him in the temple. No doubt the man went there to give thanks to God and to offer the appropriate sacrifices. It seems strange that the man did not actively seek a closer relationship with the One who healed him, but more than one person has gratefully accepted the gift and ignored the Giver."
15-18) Why this man went and told the Jews is unknown, but the reaction of the Jews expresses to us the attitude of their hearts. They were without mercy; only wrapped up in laws and traditions. They were blind to the teachings and mercy of Jesus. They loved the darkness and did not comprehend the light. They persecuted their merciful Savior and sought to have Him killed. Jesus did not fear their persecution or threats but mercifully confronts their unbelief, which we will look at in the next session.
FATHER, THANK YOU THAT I CAN REST IN CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK! HE IS THE LORD OF THE SABBATH! AMEN

Monday, January 08, 2007

REMEMBER THOSE SWEET DAYS OF SUMMER?

JESUS, THE LORD OF THE SABBATH

READ JOHN 5:1-9

1) After the events of Chapter 4, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem and His minstry is being narrowed down to just a few men. "Between chapters 4&5 of John, Jesus ministered throughout Galilee, especially in Capternum. He had been calling certain men to follow Him, but it wasn't until after this trip to Jerusalem (5:1) that He chose His 12 disciples from among them." (Tyndale handbook of Bible Charts and Maps)
Jesus was going to Jerusalem for Passover. This is the 2nd Passover mentioned in the Book of John. (1st Passover, 2:13) One year has progressed by this point. At the first Passover, Jesus cleansed the Temple, but at this Passover He will show the need for our hearts to be cleansed. (This will be shown as we continue into Chapter 5 but first I want to give you some insight into the Passover and the healing.)
What is Passover? The following information about Passover is taken from the book, The Feasts of the Lord by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal.
A)TIME: Observed each year on the 14th day of the Hebrew month, Nisan. (March/April)
B)RECORD: The lamb was the core requisite for Passover (Ex. 12; 34:25; Deut. 16:1-7) Passover and the lamb was used interchangeably, one could not exist without the other. Three symbolic foods were to be eaten: the lamb (depicting innocence), matzah (unleavened bread was to be eaten representing purity of the sacrifice since leaven was often a symbol of sin (1 Cor. 5:6-8), and bitter herbs (reminder of the suffering of the lamb). (Ex. 12:8)
C)IMPORTANCE: 1) There was only one Passover, when the Lord passed through the land in judgment. All other observances are memorials commemorating an occasion. 2) Oldest religious feast of the world and still observed by the Jews today. 3) Passover was so important that God allowed those who could not observe it on the proper day to observe it 30 days later.
D)SERVICE: Observed as a memorial forever (Ex12:14)
2-9) In this particular Passover, done on a Sabbath day (5:9b), Jesus heals a sick man.
A) SETTING: In Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate is by the Temple area. The pool was a reservoir of water with five porches. "The excavations of a pool near the Sheep Gate have uncovered five porticoes or covered colonnades, confirming the accuracy of the description given here in the Fourth Gospel." (The Bible Knowledge Commentary by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck)
B) SUPERSTITION: An angel from the Lord would come down at certain times and stir the water. The first one in was healed. This sick man had been hoping for a miracle for 38 years.
C) TRUTH: Jesus, accessing the situation, knew that the man had been in this hopeless state for a long time. Jesus chooses to show mercy, the same kind of mercy He has shown to us sinners who are in a hopeless state without Him, "While we are yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6) Undeserved mercy! What did Jesus ask the sick man? "Do you want to be well?" The man anwered, "There was no one to help me to become well." Wow, what a statement, for standing before him was the God of the Universe, the one who could make him well! Jesus said to him, "Arise, take up your pallet, and walk."
D) MIRACLE: Immediately! The man was healed. 38 years of muscles that would not have worked anymore. Not only did he arise, but also he picked up his pallet and walked! Complete and total instant ability to move his body! This was an instantaneous healing, occuring without any perceptable duration of time! "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou doest take thought of him?" (Ps. 8:3-4a)
THANK THE FATHER THAT CAN WE SERVE AND KNOW HIM, WHO CARES FOR US!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

AN AMAZING WOMAN!

READ JOHN 4:39-54

39) Amazing isn't it? Here was a scorned, sinful woman who shared the truth of Jesus with the people of her village. ("Men" in v.28 is the Greek word "anthropos" which designates a "human being" regardless of sex, so she was speaking to all the villagers, male and female) She was changed on the inside, she openly confessed her sins, told who Jesus was and she shared even in the face of possible opposition. (Does this not sound like the spiritual food that Jesus spoke of to the disciples, obedience and responsibility in v. 34?) God continues this wonderful story by opening up the ears of the people and many listened to her and believed. Although we are not privy to her name, she is forever stamped in Biblical history along with other women of faith, like Sarah, Deborah, Ruth, and Esther of the Old Testament and Mary (mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Priscilla, Junias, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Euodia, Syntyche, and the daughters of Philip of the New Testament.

40-42) THEY BELIEVED: The Greek Word for believe here is "pisteuo" and means to "exercise faith in, put one's trust in." Look at what they said in v.42, they believed Him to be the Savior of the world. Nicodemus saw Jesus as a good teacher sent from God, Jesus showed him that he must be born again and believe the Word. The Pharisees and many of the Jews saw Him as an imposter demanding to know from where He got His authoity to do what He did. (Many will not believe) The Disciples, at this time, were unsure of exactly who Jesus was, but yet were attracted to Him and were willing to follow Him. (They were willing to believe, but were a bit skeptical) The Samaritans got it right they believed Jesus as the Savior of the world. These outcasts, who a good Jew would not even walk on the same side of the street with, believed that Jesus was the Messiah not just for the Jews, but for all peoples.

43-45) In these verses Jesus enters Galilee, for He was not honored in Judea. The Galileans received Him, but there reception was with the wrong attitude. They were looking for more signs and wonders. John is teaching us in this chapter that belief in the Word takes precedent over signs and wonders and John uses an example from an event that took place in Galilee.

46-54) Jesus meets with a Royal Official from Capernaum who has a dying son. This official asks for healing. Connect this event with the women at the well. The woman at the well came to faith by believing Jesus' word and so did the people of her village, but the Galilians received Him because of His signs and wonders alone, which can not change the heart. The Royal official received the word from Jesus that his son was healed and he went home to witness the sign and wonder of his son's healing. The message here is that signs and wonders are proof that the Word, which came first, is true.
FATHER, THANK YOU THAT WE CAN BELIEVE YOUR WORD AND IT IS A LAMP UNTO OUR FEET AND A LIGHT UNTO OUR PATH! AMEN