Chapter one

1:1  In a few minutes we will learn that "the word" refers to Jesus. So, given that, let's read this verse again and substitute "word" for the name Jesus because doing so does no damage to the text but rather enlightens it.

In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God.

Before there was any one, human or Angel, before there was anything that has been created, there was God the father, and God the son, and the Holy Spirit.

2.  Verse one taught that Jesus is God. Verse two says that Jesus was with God. Jesus was with God, and Jesus is God, which teaches us that God the father, and God the son are two distinct persons of the Godhead, or the Trinity.

Jesus and the father are not simply two manifestations of God; they are two distinct and separate persons in the Godhead, and yet Scripture mysteriously teaches that they are one. You say, you've lost me, how can 3 be 1, how can one be three, I don't get it. No one gets it, and don't try to explain it because anyone who tries to explain the doctrine of the trinity  destroys it. The Trinity is something we must accept because the Bible teaches it; it's one of those things that are true even though man can't figure out how it can be true. God is much more complicated than our minds can comprehend.

3.  Here we learn something that many people do not know, Jesus is not just the Savior, but he is also the creator. Jesus made everything. Which means that he made everything out of nothing. If Jesus made everything then when he started there wasn't anything to work with. In the beginning all God had was his word. And here we learn that the son of God spoke everything into being.

4.  Jesus is the source of all life. That includes physical life, spiritual life, and eternal life; all of it comes from Jesus. Consequently, Jesus created us, he gave us physical life. He then watched man walk away from him and dam themselves to hell. But being the great, and loving God that he is, he became a man and died on the cross in order to pay for our sins and restore us to the way we were in the beginning. That is, He restored the relationship between us and God and gave us back the spiritual life which sin destroyed.

That's how Jesus is the source of our physical life, our spiritual life and our eternal life. We owe him everything.

4,5.  Light reveals truth, light reveals reality. Light reveals things as they really are. Several years ago I aged 10 years in one week when I bought a new television camera that picked up more light.
 
People can look pretty good as long as the're in a dim light. People can look good spiritually as well when you measure them against other people because other people are a very dim light. But everyone has many flaws when they are put next to the bright light who is Jesus Christ and his revelation which is the word of God.

6.  Before you listen to someone it's good to know their credentials. How do they know what they claim to know? Where do they get their information from?

In verse six God was saying you can listen to John the Baptist with confidence because he was sent from God. You can listen to the entire Bible because it has been given, word for word, by God.

7.  John the Baptist had a job; he was called to be a witness for Christ. In other words, he was called to tell as many people as he could about Jesus and who he is. He was called to tell people why Jesus came to earth and what people were to do about it.

8.  John was not the light. He was not the important one. He just told people about the important one who is Jesus.

When a preacher becomes the focus, the focus is out of place and must be corrected. Being a minister, or Bible teacher is an important calling, but Jesus alone is the important one.

9.  Jesus is the true light. Being around Jesus, and listening to him speak was like shining a bright spotlight on a person's soul. The word of God has the same effect today because the word of God is the word of Christ. The Bible, because it is God's light, shows us what we are doing right, and what we are doing wrong. The Bible gives us joy when were living the right way, and it makes us feel uneasy when we are living the wrong way. It has that effect because it is a light on our soul; it reveals what is in our soul.

10.  Jesus created the world in the beginning. Later on, a little over 2000 years ago, he came into the world he had made, and while he was here he introduced himself as God. But the world was so filled with sin that it didn't recognize its own creator.

Like today, many people knew about Jesus, but very few actually knew him. Word of Christ and his amazing miracles spread throughout all the land of Israel while he was here, so many new about him, but few took the facts concerning him, and drew the proper conclusion, namely that he is God. Many new about him, few actually knew him.

11.  The Bible says that the earth is the Lord's, and everything on it. Jesus came to his own possessions, and his own possessions did not know him. They didn't know him, nor did they want him. 

There's something very creepy and twisted about a person's possessions not wanting them; it almost sounds like the storyline of a twilight zone episode. You buy a brand-new car and it won't start for you. Someone else sits in the drivers seat turns the key and it starts immediately, but whenever you try it won't start. It would be strange if your car, your possession, rejected you. That's what happened with Jesus, his own possessions refused to accept him. They  didn't want to cooperate, they rejected their creator and their owner. Most still do that today.

12.  God's special Old Testament people: Israel, rejected him. Most people rejected him. Most people reject him today. But, thankfully, God doesn't say, if I can't have a majority of people I will condemn all of them. No, that's not how God works, his offer of salvation is still going out to all the world to anyone who may be interested. If you receive him you will have eternal life even though most reject him. What most people do has no bearing on what you do. You decide what you want, and you receive it, even if you're the only one. 

13.  In order to be saved one must be born into the family of God. You say, well then it's too late for me because I've been born into a different family. No, it's not too late. A person is born into God's family when they repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That's what the Bible means by being born again; it's a second birth; it's a spiritual birth, and when it takes place the Bible says that God adopts you into his family.

14.  God became flesh, but he did not stop being God. When Jesus came into the world he was not transformed from God to man. He is now, and shall always be God and man, and I'm not talking 50-50 either. Jesus is 100% God, and 100% man. 

Someone says you can't be 200% of anything. That's true under normal conditions, but it's not true with God and consequently it's not true with Jesus. He is 100% human and 100% God.

15.  John says that Jesus was before him, this of course is John the Baptist. What makes this interesting is that John was six months older than Jesus. John was born six months before Jesus so why does he say that Jesus was before him? Because Jesus existed in eternity past as the second person of the Godhead. Every person comes into existence the moment they are conceived, except for Jesus; Jesus is as old as forever and even before that.

This is another verse which teaches that Jesus is God and has been around forever.

16.  Because of Christ, all of us who belong to him have received one gracious gift after another. Those gifts would include forgiveness, justification, eternal protection, adoption, answers to prayer, eternal life, and by the way a new body in the future.

17.  The law of God is good, the law of God is holy. But knowing God's law, and even obeying it some times doesn't make anyone right with God. 

The law of God is a guide and it also is a divine mirror which shows us how imperfect we are morally. The law of God is a reflection of God's perfect moral character, it puts into words His absolute holiness, as well as communicating his standards for man. The law therefore reveals our sin, our shortcomings, our spiritual imperfections. 

You say why would God do that to us? Why would he lay out his perfect standards which reflect his perfect character? Did he do that to make us feel bad about ourselves? In one sense the answer to that question is yes. The law was given to show us that we fall short of God's standard of perfection, his standard of perfection which is the standard for entrance into heaven. Therefore the law was given to show us how desperately we need a Savior. 

The law makes us feel uncomfortable, and that discomfort is designed by God to get sinners to cry out to him for mercy and salvation through the one Savior Jesus Christ. If the law wasn't given by God, and if it isn't proclaimed by preachers then no one knows that they're in trouble with God and need a Savior.

18.  No human has ever seen God in all of his holy majesty. If anyone did they would die on the spot.

But then came Jesus. He has made the invisible, eternal God known to man. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God, veiled in human flesh. If you want to know what God is like, then study Christ and you will know.

19. John the Baptist was creating a lot of excitement, a lot of it was good, but some of it was bad, at least as far as the religious leadership in Israel was concerned. The people loved him because he was a breath of fresh air spiritually speaking. The religious rulers hated him because John served God not their religious system, not the religious hierarchy. 

John did not feed anyones pride by bowing to them and that would include the religious leaders of the day.  The rulers could not control him, and they didn't like that. He preached the pure word of God. He preached repentance. Even preached that the religious leaders needed to repent, which really cut at their pride since they thought they were better then everyone else.

The people of that day were ignorant of God's word which is how the leadership got away with their arrogance. Only people who understand the Bible can effectivily judge people and situations.

20.  A lot of people thought that John might be the Messiah because hundreds of years earlier Daniel the prophet foretold that the Messiah would arrive about that time. But John told the rulers, I'm not him.

21. John was not the average run of the mill preacher therefore many believed that he was someone special, which is another reason many thought he was the Messiah. They asked, if you're not the Messiah John, then maybe you are the prophet Elijah returned from heaven? John said, no. Well then maybe you're the great profit that we are expecting to come before the kingdom of God is set up? No I'm not him either.

He was not any of those men but what an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as them. John did not hold back so God blessed him with spiritual complements weather they were meant to be complements or not.

22.   They have to report back to their superiors so they want an answer. Who are you? What is your business? John could have said, who wants to know and what business is it of theirs anyway, but instead he will use it as an opportunity to preach and teach the word of God.

To one who is filled with the Holy Spirit and the word of God every situation is an opportunity to instruct from God's word. 

23.  John says, I'm someone, I'm a preacher of God's word. John says I am a voice. That's what every preacher should be, a voice, a voice of God who proclaims the word of God and nothing else. John is a preacher sent by God to tell people to repent of their sins so that they're prepared to receive Christ when he shows up.

No one can receive Christ, and be saved from hell unless they also repent; unless they turn away from their sins. Repentance prepares the way for salvation and in fact is one side of the salvation coin. The salvation coin has two sides; it consists of repentance from sin and turning to Christ.

24,25.  Here's the situation and this is why they were so uncomfortable with John the Baptist. The Pharisees had not given John the okay to minister so they want to know why he is baptizing.They loved to control the people spiritually because that control gave them power over the peoples everday life. 
I believe it was Lennon who said that religion is the opiate of the people. In other words if you can control people spiritually you can control their entire life.
  
Never the less it is not the job of some religious hierarchy to tell other Christians what God has called them to do and where they are called to do it. There's nothing more sickening then arrogant religious leaders trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit by telling other people God's will for them. 
Some preachers, some pastors, some religious administrators are on a power trip. 

26,27,28.  The lowest of household slaves had the job of greeting guests at the door, making them comfortable, removing their sandals, and washing their hot dirty feet. John says, you ask me who I am? I tell you I'm nothing; I'm lower than nothing. I'm not even worthy to be the lowest slave to the Christ who is about to appear on the scene.

Unlike the religious rulers John wasn't in the ministry to draw attention to himself, or as a means of controling other people. John preached for the only legitimate reason there is, and that's to serve God; to draw people to Jesus and get people to notice Jesus. 

29.  Jesus is the Lamb of God; John's Jewish listeners would know exactly what he was saying by that. He was saying Jesus is a sacrificial lamb provided by God. Jesus is God's sacrificial lamb given as a gift to mankind to take away the sins of his people.

God became a man and became the sacrifice for our sins. God wants us to be saved so badly that he put himself on an altar. He wants sinners who have offended him more than we can possibly imagine to be saved so badly that he allowed men to kill him, and by that he paid the penalty for sin.

30,31.  John baptized people as a sign of repentance. But God also told John that somehow he would use his ministry of baptism to introduce the Messiah to the world, and here's how that happened...

32,33.  God spoke to John saying, you will baptize a man, and you will see a dove land on him after he is baptized. That man is my son.

And John may have wondered before he baptized each man, could this be the one; will a dove land on this one? But the only one a dove ever landed on was Jesus, and then John knew that He was the Messiah, the son of God and the Lamb of God.

God uses many means to communicate HIs will to His people, but He seldom does it through special revelations like the one John experienced, nor does He have to because Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit who communicates to us through the Holy Spirit by the the word of God. 

34.  As soon as that dove landed on Christ John started to point people to Jesus; that was his cue to get out of the way and direct people's attention to Jesus alone. Actually as well as things were going beforehand,  John's mission really went into high gear when he understood who the Messiah was. His mission went into high gear because he could now point people specifically to Jesus, the son of God.

People say, wow John's mission was to point people to Jesus what an honor. True and it's the same mission every Christian has been given today. I hope we all enjoy life the best we can because God has given us much to enjoy and  there's nothing wrong with having fun, but our main puurpose as Chrstians is the same as John's which is: live for Jesus and proclaim Him.  

35.  Notice that the disciples mentioned here were disciples of John, but not for long. They have been disciples of the one who spoke of the coming Savior which was the best they could do.
 However the best we can do sometimes changes when circumstances change.  LIving for God is not boring; He often brings new circumstances and with them new challenges and priorities. 

36.  John directs the attention of his followers to Jesus. From this we once again see that John did not care if anyone followed him; the only thing that mattered to him was that people followed Jesus, as He did. 

Any preacher, teacher, minister, whose goal is to make people think that he is an intellectual, or witty, smart, cute, funny, in other words to make people  followers of him, ought to get out of the pulpit, go to Hollywood, and show himself to be the contemptible person that he is instead of masquerading as a servant of Christ.  John did ministry right because he was always pointing people to Jesus. 

37.  John did his job by telling the truth and pointing people to Jesus; that's all he was asked to do and that's all he could do; the rest was up to those who heard him. Happily, as soon as these two men recognized Jesus for who he was they followed him. 

People who hunger for truth will recognize it, and seek to apply it when they find it. You don't have to force-feed spiritual truth to Christians because they hunger for it. 

I have learned over the last 30 years that I cannot make anyone serve Christ, nor should I try;   it does not depend on my ability to put together an arguement. Good speakers can fire people up, and get them to come and hear them but know one has the "talent" to get people to follow Jesus, I don't care how well they speak.  All we or any teacher can do is speak the truth from God's word, make it as clear as we possibly can, the rest is up to the Holy Spirit and those who hear. 

Moses stuttered, Paul was a terrible speaker, but God used them both because they both spoke the word of God. The Holy Spirit uses people like that. 

38. Someone may ask, why did these two men ask Jesus where He was staying? I thought they wanted to learn from HIm, I thought they wanted to be His disciples.  Answer, they did and if you wanted to be a disciple of the Rabbi back in those days you had to stay with him all the time. I mean you even had to live with him. A disciple did not learn by simply listening to the words of his teacher, they learned by observing the teachers lifestyle, and how he applied the word of God that he taught. So when they asked Jesus where he lived they were saying, we want to be your disciples Jesus.
A true disciple of Jesus wants to stay with him, wants to be in constant communion with him so that he can hear them, and they can hear him, because that's how discipleship is done; it hasn't changed since the days of the apostles.

39. Jesus knew they were sincere so he invited them to join him.
Jesus never turns anyone down, no matter how bad they have been in the past, or are right now. The important thing to Jesus is this: do you want to follow him now. Don't worry about what you used to be. Don't worry about your former attitude toward Jesus; "used to be" is irrelevant, what you were yesterday is irrelevant, what you were 30 seconds ago is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is do you want to follow Jesus right now.
Every second is an opportunity for a fresh start with Jesus no matter how many opportunities have been wasted in the past.

40,41.  Andrew, one of the disciples, finds Jesus, and the first thing he does is tell his brother about Christ.

Consider this,  if I and 10 other people are lost in a desert dying of thirst and I find a stream of fresh water I'm going to tell the others about it, and if I don't tell them I am a despicable person indeed.  

Well, Andrew found a spiritual stream named Jesus; he found something infinitely better then 10 tickets to a Bucks game, and consequently he wastes no time in telling his brother about it. 

One of the signs that a person is saved is they want others to come to Christ, and be saved as well. 

Every true Christian believes that Jesus has saved them from hell, and if one believes that,  I mean really believes that, they will be compelled to share that information with others.  If there is no desire to share, then how can that so called belief possibly be real. There is a real disconnect somewhere because the Bible says, I believe therefore I speak.


42.  Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus and Jesus says Simon I'm going to change your name to Peter, which means rock. So Jesus is going to change Simon's name to Rocky, the Rock. 

Now Simon was the type of man who probably thought he already was a rock, and perhaps in some ways he was, but deep down inside, spiritually speaking,  he was more like Jell-O. He was currently Jell-O, but Jesus still gave him the name Peter, or the rock, because Jesus knows He's going to toughen him spiritually. It's going to take a while, and there will be some tough times for Peter, but Jesus will transform him into a spiritual rock; a man strong and firm in his faith.

Hard times, challenges to our faith in Christ, and plenty of God's word  are the things that transform the average christian into a spiritual rock.


43.   According to church history Philip was married with several daughters. Jesus invites Philip to follow him up north into Galilee, and he will follow Jesus.

Married or single, young or old, Jesus should be the most important person in anyone's life. There is room at the top for one, and it should be Jesus. His wife  and his daughters are better off if he follows Jesus.

Perhaps dear o dad stopped doing some of the things he used to do, which may have taken some adjusting on the part of his family, but everyone was better off after he chose to follow Jesus.  The best thing any husband or father can do today is follow Jesus weather anyone else in the family appreciates it or not.  


44. Bethsaida is on the north eastern shore of the sea of Galilee which is where, in the future,  Jesus will feed the 5000 with just a few fish.  Jesus spent most of his time in northern Israel.


45.  There's no doubt in Phillips mind that Jesus is the Messiah. So because he had that firm conviction he told a man by the name of Nathaniel.

People talk about whats important to them.  The Bible says we believe therefore we speak; Philip believed and therefore he spoke.

46.  Philip doesn't try to sell Jesus. Christ doesn't need to be sold. A Christian does not need to be a sales person type to communicate Christ effectively, in fact sales lingo gets in the way of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus does not have to be sold, He has to be proclaimed so Philip says to Nathaniel, check him out for yourself.

We do not have to sell Jesus. Our job is to reveal him. That's all we have to do because Christ sells himself to those who hunger for truth. 

If the word of God isn't  sufficient testimony,  if it isn't enough for someone to follow Christ, then no amount of convincing by me or anyone else will do the job either.


47.  Nathaniel was an honest man. Jesus never met him face-to-face before this,  but Christ knew all about him.


48.  Wherever that fig tree was it wasn't within the physical sight of Jesus, but he saw Nathaniel sitting by it anyway. And Christ did not just see him there; he also knew what Nathaniel was thinking as he sat under that tree. Jesus saw what was impossible for mere man to see both in distance and in depth. Jesus saw into Nathaniel's mind, as He sees into ours.  

The bad news is,  Jesus knows our thoughts when they are not good.  The good news is,  He also knows when we really want to do well, but fail because of the weakness of our sin nature. 


49.  Nathaniel was amazed that Jesus knew he had been under that fig tree because he knew there was no way that Christ could have seen him with His physical eyes.  I suppose it would be sort of like someone saying, hey did you enjoy that third cup of coffee and that second bowl of granola for breakfast when you know you were home alone this morning. Well that's all the evidence Nathaniel needed to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.


50.  Jesus is saying I haven't even started yet Nathaniel, you stick with me and you'll really see some things that with make your head spin; greater things then seeing you without possibly being able to see you.  The "greater things" Jesus spoke of  refer to the many powerful miracles that He will do for the next 3 plus years, which will begin at the wedding in Cana coming up in chapter 2.


51.  A ladder gets us from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom.  Jesus is the spiritual ladder that spans the gap between heaven and earth between heaven and hell bound sinners on the earth.  

Just as important, Jesus is also the ladder that never breaks; if you climb on HIs back, and stay on His back there is no doubt he'll take you to heaven.  Jesus is saying, I'm the one  connection between heaven and earth. Jesus is saying I am  the ladder. I'm the only one who can get you to heaven.



Chapter two



1.  Three days after John the Baptist bore testimony concerning Jesus Mary his mother was invited to a wedding in the city of Cana.

2.  Notice that Joseph has been of Mary wasn't there. Chances are, and according to tradition, he had passed away by this time.

3.  Many people around these parts would not go to a wedding if the knew there wouldn't be free beer. Or perhaps they would go out of a feeling of obligation but they would be ornery the whole while they were there, and they would probably never forget about the wedding that didn't have free beer. It was pretty much the same situation with the wine at this wedding our Lord attended. It would have been considered disgraceful to run out of wine at a wedding in those days; it was actually a major problem for the bride and groom.

4.  The Bible teaches that Jesus is David's grandson many times over, but that he is also David's Lord. In the same way Jesus is Mary's son but he is also her Lord.

Jesus loved his mother, and the Bible says whom the Lord loves he rebukes. Jesus seems to be rebuking his mother Mary right here. He is reminding her that his actions are governed by the father and no one else, no not even his mother.

Mary never did, never has, and never will have more influence on Jesus, then any other Christian who prays. Jesus was moved by one thing while he was here and that's by what his Father wanted him to do. Jesus said I only do what I see the father doing. 

No one,  influences Jesus except  his father, and that would include his mother. Nothing, except his father's will influences what Jesus did and does. That's the way it was, that's the way it remains. The members of the Trinity are in perfect harmony with each other while anyone who disagrees with them is on the outside looking in.

5.  Mary took her Lord's rebuke the way you would expect from this godly woman. She received it with humility.

It's best to avoid the foolishness that brings God's rebuke. However the next best thing is to receive a rebuke from God with humility, and submit to it. Mary is quickly put in her place by her son and consequently she says, whatever he tells you to do, do it. 

Mary was a humble and obedient servant of God, and I believe she would be appalled by the un-biblical honor, and yes even worship that she receives from some today.

6.  The Jews went through all sorts of religious, ritualistic washing before the eight. Much of it was pharisaic nonsense that had nothing to do with the word of God. These six pots contained water for those ritual washing's.

7.  Every word of Scripture is important. The Bible says here that they filled the pots with water to the brim. Jesus will change that water into wine, and no one will be able to say, oh he just diluted the wine that was left. No it was all water all the way to the top.

8.  The ruler of the feast was in charge of food and drink. Somewhere between the time they filled the pots with water and the ruler tasted it Jesus changed that water into wine.

9,10.  Several years ago Pepsi came out with a drink that was called diet vanilla Pepsi. Well I like Pepsi, and I like vanilla so I thought I'd try it. I did in the first sip was horrible, it tasted like bad cough syrup. I took another drink and it was still horrible but perhaps a little less horrible than the first drink. Then I waited a quite a while and took a third drink and it was as bad as the first drink. So I learned a lesson and it was this. Our taste buds are the most sensitive the first time they taste something. After the first taste the sense of taste is dulled somewhat.

That is why people back then served the good wine first, and then later they would bring out the cheap wine. By that time the taste buds had become somewhat dulled so they couldn't tell that the cheap wine wasn't as good as the fine wine. However, the wine that our Lord made was so superior that even after their taste buds were dulled people could tell that it was better.

11,12.  This miracle revealed the glory and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus looked like a normal man; he was a normal man. But when he did a miracle he proved that he was God as well as man. His miracles made a statement about his deity, and along with the word of God that He spoke helped the disciples come to believe in Him.

13.  One may be tempted to read this verse and pass it off as being rather unimportant for us today. But if the Bible doesn't teach that Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover, if Jesus doesn't go to that Passover then we are all in big trouble.

If Jesus skips this Passover we go to hell. You say, well does he died on the cross at this Passover? No not at this one but it was required by God that every man attend the Passover each year. If Jesus doesn't go then he disobeys God, he disobeys the law of God,  which means he sins, which means he's not perfect, which means his sacrifice on the cross would be completely worthless. 
The sinless son of God, the perfect God, the perfect man, the son of God had to be the spotless sacrifice to pay for our sins.

14-17.  Using holy things like the Temple and the Temple sacrifices to make money was wrong. Using holy things like church, and the Bible, and even the word "Christian" to make money today is wrong, and you can see how upset Jesus was about these sorts of things.

I'm not saying it is wrong for a minister to receive a free will offering. The Bible says that those who are taught the word should give to those who teach. I'm talking about those who scheme to make money through their so-called ministries. I'm talking about people who sell prayers, or sell special water from the Jordan that supposedly cures cancer, I'm talking about people who think the ministry is a career, or who charge X amount of money to preach somewhere. That is making merchandise of something that is holy and believe me they would be feeling the sting of Jesus's whip if he were here in person. Jesus said to his apostles freely you have received freely give.

17.  If you are fill with the Holy Spirit and therefore have a zeal for God then anything that dishonors God will anger you; they sure got Jesus's blood boiling.  I don't know about you but I want to like the things that Jesus likes and be angry over the things that anger Him. 

18.  If the rulers would have spent more time with God and less time promoting themselves and marketing their ministry they would not have asked Jesus for a sign of his authority. If they would've spent more time with God and more time reading the word of God apart from the lens of their human traditions then they would have recognized that Jesus cleansing the temple was a sign in itself. 

Our Lord's zeal for the purity of God's house was the fulfillment of an Old Testament messianic prophecy. If the religious rulers would have prayed more, and read the Bible more, and paid less attention to their religious rules then they would've recognized that what had been going on in the Temple under their watch was wrong. They would've recognized that Jesus was holy and righteous to put a stop to the shameless, blasphemous marketing of God.

18-21.  When Jesus said, I'll give you a sign that I am who I am, destroy this sanctuary and I will raise it up in 3 days.  The Jews thought, that's a good trick; you mean to tell us that if we destroy this temple that has taken 40 years to build you will build it again in 3 days? 

That's what they thought Jesus was saying, but they misunderstood Him. The sanctuary of which Christ spoke was His physical body which of course housed God because He was God manifest in the flesh. 
Jesus was saying, you want to sign that I'm the Christ, you want a sign that I'm the son of God, and therefore have the right to drive all of this blasphemous marketing out of the house of God? Here's the sign: kill me, and in three days I will raise myself up.

A dead man raising himself from the dead is more than enough proof for any reasonable person to see that Jesus is God, and that everything he claimed for himself, and everything that he said was true.

22.  So after Jesus was raised it clicked in the minds of the disciples. They thought, oh, that's what Jesus meant when he said, destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days.

With verse 22 we see that it is important to continue to read the word of God, or listen to the word of God being taught, even if you don't seem to be getting anything out of it. It is important to take in the word, even if you don't understand it right at that moment. The disciples didn't understand what Jesus was talking about, they didn't understand the word of God when he said, "destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days." 

They didn't understand his words when he spoke them, but they listened anyway, they took in the word of God, and then later on it became clear to them, and they were blessed.

Sometimes the word of God does not have personal meaning to us the moment we hear it.   Never the less, read the word, study the word, listen to the word of God being taught, because even if you don't need it today, even if you do not understand it right now, you will need it , and understand it in the future, and it will bless you.

23.  The Bible says that many believed, but for many of the many it was a shallow belief based entirely on His miracles. When the miracles stop and their flesh is no longer being tickled they will stop believing.

Faith which is based on miracles is a shallow faith. A faith based on the word of God is an unshakable faith.

24.  Their faith was superficial and Jesus knew it. He didn't count on any of them because he knew they were not serious about following him. Yes they believed in Christ,  but to them  Jesus was just another thing in their life, not the thing, not the most important thing.

Some people say they believe in Christ. There are those who call themselves Christians,  but Jesus is just another thing in their life; he's just something that they tack on to the rest of their life, they don't see him as being the most important thing, and they don't treat him as if he is the most important thing. Their faith is as superficial as the faith of these people in John chapter two.

25.  Jesus knew better than to trust in the shallow approval of man because he knew the heart of all men.
 
Lets clear something up for the listeners right now Jesus is God, not a god,  but the eternal, all knowing, everywhere present, all powerful God and sole creator of the universe.  I say that because some cults proclaim that Jesus is not the eternal God. There's also a growing heresy within so called Christianity which teaches that God, and Jesus do not know everything, past, present, and future. They say God is as surprised by things that happen as you and I are. 

If the people who followed, and supported these heretics would simply read the Bible they would know that they were following liars. They would know that instead of being supported those teachers should be exposed and cut off. Jesus knew what was going on inside of all these people who claimed to be his followers.

So we see that A person's outward behavior can sometimes mask their true self to other people, but not to Christ. Jesus knows if our hearts are set on earthly things, or eternal things. Jesus knows what's going on in our mind.


Chapter 3




1.  The word Pharisee comes from a word that means to separate, and that word fits them very well. They were separate in that they had a zeal for religious purity. They had a zeal for the Mosaic law, and more importantly to them they had a zeal for their religious traditions which they added to the Old Testament.

They had great influence among the Jewish people, they were very effective in getting the people to follow their man-made religious rules, but they didn't get along very well with Jesus because Jesus stuck to the pure word of God. Jesus cut through the tinsel of religious regulations and man-made rules, and got right down to the heart of the matter which was: what does God say in his word. 

That continues to be the most important thing today. If Jesus were here he would not be promoting religious rules like the Pharisees did; he would be promoting the pure word of God like we are attempting to do.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, but he evidently was a Pharisee who had a genuine heart for God because he sought out and found Jesus.


2.  Nicodemus the Pharisee came to Jesus at night. Chances are he came at night because he was afraid of associating openly with Jesus during the day, at least at this point in his life. As I said the Pharisees didn't like Jesus because he didn't adhere to their many rules and regulations and they couldn't control him. Consequently the Pharisees would look down upon any of their members who actually approached Jesus, and engaged him in an honest conversation as Nicodemus is about to do.

There are those today who are interested in Jesus. Their life is empty, they're afraid to die, they don't know what awaits them on the other side, and so they're curious about Jesus, and his claims to be the Savior, but they don't want to publicly declare their interest in the Him for fear of being ostracized by friends and family.

Being interested in Jesus is a good first step, but that interest will eventually wane unless it is acted upon, which Nicodemus did. It doesn't do anyone any good to almost seek out Christ, to almost receive him as Lord and Savior. At some point you have to say, I don't care what friends or family think I do not want to go to hell, and I must a find a way to avoid and that way is Jesus. By the way, later on Nicodemus did publicly acknowledge Christ.


3.  Born-again literally means born from above. Actually Nicodemus didn't ask him how to get into the kingdom of God, but Jesus knew what he was thinking, and He also knew his greatest need so Christ answered a question that was on Nicodemus' mind but he had not verbalized.

Jesus didn't waste time with Smalltalk, he got right to the heart of an issue and the biggest  issue with everyone including Nicodemus is getting saved, is getting into the kingdom of heaven.

3.  The word "again" in born-again indicates that natural birth isn't enough to get you into heaven. Existing as a human being isn't enough to save you. Consequently universalism, which teaches that everyone will go to heaven, cannot be backed by Scripture. 

The Pharisees felt that there physical lineage, being descendents of Abraham made them a sure bet for the kingdom of heaven, but Jesus is saying just being born, even born into a wonderful lineage isn't enough to save anyone.

The same is true today, being born into a Christian family with wonderful Christian parents doesn't guarantee that the child will go to heaven. When it comes to salvation, when it comes to Jesus, it's every man, it's every woman, for themselves. In other words, everyone must personaly, one on one, receive Christ in order to be saved, in order to be born again.

The Jews thought they were in the kingdom of God by reason of their physical lineage, and the fact that the tried to keep the religious laws. But Jesus wants Nicodemus, and everyone else to understand that a spiritual birth needs to take place if one will have eternal life. In other words, a spiritual renewal, a spiritual change has to take place within a person in order to be saved.


4. Jesus said you have to be born again. Nicodemus said, I've already come out of my mother's womb once, what am I supposed to do shrink down, go back in, and come out a second time?

Nicodemus had no idea what Christ was talking about, even though as a religious leader he should have. And the reason he should have is because the Old Testament spoke of the need of a changed heart; Ezekiel 36:26 says, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments, and do them. 

That was God foretelling the new birth which Jesus spoke of hear. Nicodemus should've understood the concept, even if he wasn't familiar with the words that Jesus used. I'm saying he would not have been completely puzzled if he would've known the word of God as he should have.

Never the less, I'll say this for Nicodemus, he didn't quit simply because he didn't understand. He didn't walk away from Jesus simply because the word of God didn't click with him right away. Nicodemus shows that he has a heart for truth by acknowledging his ignorance, and asking a question in order to learn.

God doesn't expect us to know everything; but God does expect us to have a heart for truth which shows itself in a desire to pursue it through study. Some people hear a message from God's word, they don't understand it and consequently walk away. Others hear the word of God,  do not understand it, but they don't quit, they persue truth, which is one important thing that separates those who will be saved from those who will be lost.


5.  Jesus said you must be born of water and of the spirit in order to be saved. There's some disagreement among CHristians as to what the water refers to, I'll tell you what I think and why.  I believe the phrase, born of water refers to natural birth; I do not think it refers to water baptism, as some teach, there's no mention of water baptism anywhere within the context of this verse. Neither do I think that it refers to the washing of the word of God as some people say. The context points to the fact that it refers to natural birth, that will become clear in verse six. A baby is born physically when the mothers water breaks, but physical birth, as we have seen, isn't sufficient. It does not matter who your mother is; you must have a spiritual renewal by receiving Christ.


6.  In other words physical birth produces a physical body that can only function in this physical world. But receiving Christ results in a spiritual birth which gives one spiritual life and makes one fit for eternity.


7.  Jesus didn't say, you must be born again if you belong to one of those groups that teach that sort of thing. This isn't about church. This isn't about religion. This isn't about denominations. This isn't about tradition. This is about the Bible. This is God's word. God's command to be born again crosses denominational lines.

 
Every Catholic/Lutheran/Baptist/Pentecostal/Presbyterian/Methodist/etc. needs to be born again. It's not enough to be baptized, or confirmed; it's not enough to take communion, or go to confession. You can be a priest, a preacher, an Usher, you can be a Nun, but if you haven't repented and asked Jesus Christ to save you, to take complete control of your life you're going to hell; you haven't been born again.


Formal religion isn't enough. Your relationship with God must be on a personal level. Jesus said you must be born again and he did not qualify that statement by limiting it to particular groups.


8.  You don't have to understand every detail about the wind before you can fly a kite. You don't have to understand the science of wind before you can experience it. And you don't have to know exactly how the new birth happens in order to experience it either. I've been saved for 33 years. I have never seen a video of exactly what happened to my soul when Christ saved me. But I've seen the effects of it; I'm different than what I was before I came to Christ. 

Nicodemus is wondering how the new birth happens; he's interested in the process itself.  I think Jesus is saying don't worry about the spiritual process that God uses to make it happen just submit to it.
  
If the leaves do not move there is no wind. If you cannot feel a breeze then their is no wind. If you don't live for Jesus and desire to do what pleases Him then you  are not born again. You cannot see the born again experience but you can see the effects of it. 

What everyone needs to do is to repent of sin and receive Christ as their Lord and savior, if they do the new birth will take place and they'll see a difference in themselves. 


9,10.  A Bible teacher like Nicodemus should have known about the new birth because God talked about it in the Old Testament; the concept is there if not the exact words. Again as I stated earlier Ezekiel 36:26 says this, "a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you."


11.  Jesus is saying, Nicodemus I know what I'm talking about.  Jesus isn't telling Nicodemus what he thinks, or what might possibly be true. Jesus is telling him what he knows. As God, Jesus is an eyewitness to heaven and hell.  Jesus is also the expert on every spiritual and eternal thing in the world.  He knows everything because as God He invented everything.


12.  Jesus used a plane, everyday thing, namely wind to explain the new birth and yet Nicodemus couldn't grasp it. Nicodemus is really going to have trouble with the spiritual truths which can't be compared to anything on earth, and there are several of them.

There are certain things which are too  complicated for us to understand. For example, God has communicable and uncomunicalble attributes. In other words somethings about God, things like His holiness, and His righteousness we can understand.  Meanwhile other things like His eternality are impossible to grasp. 
 
We talked about this on an earlier program, the Trinity, the hypo-static union, election-free will are examples of things that the human mind cannot figure out.  Those are all things which are impossible for our human minds to comprehend, but God's word teaches them, and we must accept them because they are true.
 

13.  No one is completely qualified to speak of eternal things except Jesus. Jesus was in heaven before He was born on Earth, and no one else can say that. Jesus has knowledge of heaven because He's been there; He has knowledge of hell because He made it. As God, Jesus knows everything about everything, that's why I want to believe whatever He believes.


14.  In numbers chapter 21 the Israelites were complaining which is something they had been doing for a long time. As punishment God sent fiery serpents which bit the Israelites causing many to die. The people knew it was the wrath of God so at least some of them repented. In response to that repentance God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on top of a pole and everyone who looked at it in obedience to God was healed of their deadly snake bite. Of course that story doesn't make medical sense. You could never prove that story was true in a test tube.
 
It was a test of faith. And God healed those who believed the word of God and acted upon it by looking at the snake.


14,15.  Salvation from the snakebite came by looking at the bronze snake on the poll. Salvation from eternal hell comes by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross and receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. In both cases salvation comes when one believes the word of God and acts upon it. In both cases salvation is a miracle accomplished by faith in the power of God.


16.  Sometimes people misunderstand biblical love, but we see the true definition right here in verse 16. The Bible doesn't say that God so loved the world that he had warm feelings toward sinners, because he didn't. The Bible doesn't say that God so loved the world that he overlooked their sins, because he couldn't. The Bible doesn't say that God so loved the world that he didn't point out our sins because he didn't want us to feel bad about ourselves, because after all wouldn't that be unloving? 

Warm feelings, withholding truth, and overlooking evil is not love. The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave. Giving is how we express love. Giving is the essence of love, which is how Jesus could command us to love our enemies. Jesus doesn't ask us to have warm feelings toward those who are bad to us. He says love them, give to them, in other words be kind to them.


16.  It is amazing that God loves us. He loves us even though we have grieved him, hurt him, pained, and angered him, and also insulted him with our sins. He loves us so much that he let the person he loved most of all, his son, be tortured, mocked, beaten, and murdered in order to pay the penalty for our sins.

We don't have to experience the wrath of God because his son experience God's wrath for us. Jesus did the work of redemption through his suffering and all we have to do is receive him as Lord and Savior.


17. Back in those days the Jews referred to all non-Jews as: "the world." The Jews were also convinced that when the Messiah arrived he would simply wipe out all non-Jews, all Gentiles, but they were wrong. 

Jesus said, God sent me to give the world an opportunity to be saved, not to bash them over the head and send them to hell. God only dams people as a final resort, and only after they have refused all his efforts to save them.


18.  People say, I hope I'm not damned to hell on Judgment Day. Listen, if you're rejecting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then according to Jesus you're already damned, you're damned right now. The fact is, you have until your death to reverse that. After you die it's too late. 

Some people have this attitude: I want to sin, but I don't want to sin to the point where I am damned. You've already gone way beyond that point, everyone has. Our natural state is the state of damnation; that state needs to be reversed by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 
 
You don't have to do anything more then you have already done to go to hell, but you do need to receive Jesus to avoid it.
  

19,20.  I've heard many excuses for people not coming to Christ, but there are no excuses, just one overriding reason. Jesus cut through all the nonsense here and gives us that reason. 

The reason people do not repent and submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is because they love their sin and they don't want to change. It may be a very subtle sin, it may be a sin of omission instead of commission, in other words, it may be a sin of not doing the good that you should, rather than doing the bad thing that you shouldn't. Those sins are sometimes less noticeable to us, but they are sins, sins that will damn our soul. 

People who know the truth about Jesus being the only Savior and yet refuse his mercy do so because they don't want to give up their sins, or at the very least one particular sin. They don't want to change, and they know in their heart that if they repent and receive Christ then they must be willing to do that. 

According to Jesus people like that love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil. That's why Jesus says, if you love your wickedness and you hate the light you won't come to Christ, instead you'll go to go to hell.


21.  A real Christian doesn't run from the light of God's word like an unsaved person who loves their sin. A real Christian wants to be in the light. He wants to be in prayer. He wants to be in the word. He wants to be close to God. He wants God to show him if he's doing something wrong so that he can change it because his desire is to please Jesus.

 If that's not your attitude then you are not saved, you're not a Christian according to the biblical definition which is the only one that counts. You're playing a game of pretend if you think you are a Christian, and yet you do not want to please Jesus, and you will get blindsided upon your death, and end up in the lake of fire if that's the case.

22.  In John chapter 4 verse two we read that Jesus didn't actually do any baptizing, his disciples baptized. Which means his disciples baptizing by his command was in reality Christ baptizing, as it says here.

Whether it's baptism, communion, or carrying out any other command of God in Jesus name; when we do it it is Christ doing it through us.

23.  John didn't quit baptizing after Jesus came on the scene. John will keep doing what God  called him to do until God allows circumstances that will keep him from doing it.

23,24.  It says John was not yet cast into prison, but he will be, and when he is that will put an end to his ministry of baptism.

It is important for us to do all that we can while we can. Jesus says, "we must work while it is day for the night comes when no one can work." If you're going to do something for Jesus you better do it now. If you're going to help get out the word of God you better start helping now. If you're going to live for Jesus you better start doing it now because the time is short and once this brief life is over it's over for good.

You don't want to be on your death bed thinking, I wish I would not have been a spiritual slacker! I wish I wouldn't have been lukewarm toward Jesus! I wish I would've done more to share the word of God! I wish I would've done more to show Christ that I love him, and that I appreciate him dying for me. If you don't want to be in that situation then you better get serious about Jesus right now, right this second!

25,26.  John's disciples say, "John, that Jesus who you pointed to as the Messiah is intruding into your ministry." In other words, John he's getting more people than you are now. Maybe they expect John to start advertising.

27.  God has a plan for each one of us who know him, for every Christian. Our job is to be faithful and obedient to do what he wants us to do.

As we are faithful and obedient to do what we can God will determine the extent of our outward success. That's his business. That's what John is saying. Our job is to be faithful; God's job is to determine the results and produce the results.

John says don't bother me about how many people I'm baptizing compared to how many people Jesus and his disciples are baptizing; I don't care! I can't do anything unless God blesses it; I can't do anything beyond what God allows me to do; I can't have any more success than what God allows. John didn't care he just kept doing what he had always been doing and left the results to God.

28.  John is reminding his disciples about what he has said all along. He never said that he was important. John never tried to get a following for himself. All he ever tried to do was get people to follow God, and that's why he's not upset that people are following Jesus.

People whose major goal is to honor God don't get upset when they are not honored.

29.  In other words, John is saying, it doesn't bother me that people are going to Christ. The bridegroom gets to go home with his new wife, and Jesus gets to have the devotion of the people. That's the way it should be.

If we are promoting Jesus Christ, as we should be, then we are successful no matter what else does or does not happen. Promoting Jesus and proclaiming his word makes us successful regardless of the outcome.

30.  Jesus must increase and I must decrease. Jesus must become more important in the eyes of the world. John didn't want devotion from people; he wanted Jesus to have all the devotion.

Some preachers today want people to think that they are cool, they want people to think that they are an intellectual, they want people to like them, they want to be popular. John couldn't care less about that garbage, and that's what it is garbage; putrid, disgusting, vile filthy, scene stealing idolatry with self on the throne! If Jesus is our Lord then our goal is to die to self and submit to Christ. 

31.  . Jesus came from above. Jesus is above all. Jesus is God. 

He came from heaven. That's why John said he must increase and I must decrease. Jesus must increase and we must decrease. What Jesus wants is more important than what we want. Talking about Jesus is more important than talking about ourselves. Giving credit to Jesus for all the good that we have, and all the good that we do is more important than taking credit ourselves.

32.  It's tough when you know that you know something for a fact because you've experienced it, or seen it, and yet no one believes you when you tell them. That happened to Jesus all the time.
 
Jesus spoke truth, pure truth. He knew exactly what he was talking about, and yet very few people believed him while he was here. No wonder on one occasion he sighed and said, how long must I be with you?

33.  In other words, when you accept the words of Christ, including the words He inspired His apostles to write in Scripture, then you are accepting the words of God.

34.  In other words, Jesus was not under the control of the Holy Spirit some of the time; he was under the control of the Holy Spirit all of the time. Every word Jesus spoke was the word of God. Everything he did, 100% of the time was being done by God. He didn't have a measure of God's spirit; he was all God all the time and still is.

35.  The Bible says in the book of Colossians that all the fullness of God was in Christ in bodily form. Jesus had it all. We Christians have spiritual gifts from God, and sometimes we move in step with the spirit of God. But Jesus had all the spiritual gifts, and he was always in step with the Holy Spirit.

36.  Notice that believing on the son goes hand-in-hand with believing the son. If you believe on the Son of God Jesus Christ the Bible says that you have everlasting life, but if you don't believe the son you won't see life.

In other words, if you don't believe what Jesus said about himself: that he is the only Savior, that he is the only way to heaven. If you don't believe his words when he said: if you don't believe in Me you will surely die in your sins. If you don't believe what Jesus says about himself, then you're lost because the Bible says the wrath of God abides on you.
 
Getting saved isn't about believing me or any one else. Getting saved is about believing the words Jesus said concerning himself.

36.  Did you know that the wrath of God abides on you right now if you have never repented and received Christ as Lord and Savior? You're in trouble with God right now! You're damned right now! God's wrath abides on you right now it's just that you won't feel the full extent of it until after you die. 

There is a spiritual force field, as it were, buffering the effects of God's wrath upon you, but it's there hovering right above you and it will trounce on you the second you die if you don't receive Christ before that time, and thus remove his holy wrath.




Chapter 4





1. The word of God which was spoken by John the Baptist has now come to pass. He said, Jesus must increase and I must decrease and here in verse one we see that it has happened, Jesus was increasing and John was decreasing.
The religious leaders didn't like John's popularity. Now they notice Jesus popularity, and they don't like that either. In fact his popularity will make them  jealous and result in murder.

2.  Jesus didn't baptize, instead his disciples baptized in his name, on his behalf. While they were doing that Jesus kept busy giving out the pure word of God.  
You must know the word of God in order to teach the word of God and of course no one knew God's word like God manifest in the flesh Jesus.

3.  Jesus left and went up north when he knew that the Pharisees heard he was gaining popularity. You say, what was He doing running from a fight? No He didn't leave because he was intimidated; he didn't leave because he was afraid. He avoided confrontation at this point because it wasn't the right time for it. He left the area because it was the Father's will.  
Jesus couldn't help what people thought and said about Him and I doubt that He cared because His focus was on obeying the Father. 
It's important for us to do what is right in the eyes of God even though we may be misunderstood for doing it.

4.  The Bible says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. And speaking of Samaria I think I better explain who the Samaritans were. 
Back in Old Testament days Israel had been guilty of idolatry and therefore as punishment God allowed them to be invaded and taken captive by the Assyrian Empire. Assyria allowed some Israelites to remain in their land, but also populated the area with their own people. As a result the two peoples intermarried which produced a halfbreed race. That was bad because God did not want his people to marry pagans. But even worse the religion that developed from this mingling was a mixture of Judaism and paganism. That was the origin of Samaria, the Samaritans, and their religion.
In our Lord's day Israel was divided into 3 main sections: in the north, Galilee, in the center, Samaria, and in the south, Judea. By the time Jesus came along the pure blooded Jews who worshiped the God of the Bible hated the Samaritans because they had that hibred form of religion and I don't think the Samartans even knew what god or gods they worshipped. As a result the Jews hated the Samaritans so much that they would go out of their way to avoid stepping on their land. 
Here's an example of what I'm talking about: Galilee the northern section of Israel was populated by Jewish people. The middle section was Samaria, and was populated by Samaritans, and in the south was Judea which was also populated by Jews. 
As I said the Jews despised the Samaritans, consequently if they wanted to travel from southern Israel to northern Israel they wouldn't take the shorter, straight route through Samaria they would go east outside the borders of Israel, and then head north, and then back West into Galilee.
Consequently it was very unusual for a Jew to either need to go to Samaria like it says about Jesus, or want to go to Samaria. But there's someone that Jesus needs to talk to so that's where he goes.
Jesus went against the conventional wisdom of His day. He did not play silly, stupid religious games, or adhere to man-made traditions or predjudices. Jesus lived the word of God and that's it. So Jesus heads to Samaria. 

5,6.  Notice that Jesus was weary; he was tired. Why is that? it's because Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. According to the book of Philippians when He became a man He emptied Himself  of the rights and privilages of deity. Jesus didn't stop being God, but He volinteered to give up some of the advantages of God for us. 
So we see that Jesus was no ivory tower preacher who didn't know what life was like in the real world. He experienced all the negative things that we experience; things like wearieness.

7.  We'll talk about this a little more next time but Jesus just keeps violating all the rules of protocal and He doesn't care.  He went to Samaria. He talks to a woman in public. He talks to a Samaritan woman in public. Every one of those things would have shocked the Jews of His day including His disciples, but Jesus didn't care. 
If it goes against the word of God we shouldn't do it. However if by doing what God wants we offend some christian legalist who has all sorts of extrabiblical convictions too bad; read your Bible, grow up, and deal with it. Get it through your head that the word of God is the only thing that matters.  Pay attention to Holy Scripture and do the word of God weather anyone likes it or not; Jesus did. 

7.  This woman was minding her own business, doing what women did in those days which was fetching water. But while she's doing her normal activities she's about to have an encounter with God that will change her life forever. 
Jesus had this woman in his sights before he ever saw her with his physical eyes. Jesus had this woman in his sights before she even knew that there was a Jesus. She's one of the reasons He was born in Bethleham; she is the reason he came to Samaria.

7,8.  Jesus could have changed stones into bread, and saved his disciples a trip, but he didn't. Maybe they didn't understand why he didn't make it easy for them at the time, but he didn't, and he didn't tell them why. Here we see that one of the reasons was because Jesus wanted to have a private conversation with this woman.
When Christ doesn't do things the easy way for us he has a reason. Faith in God will cause us to trust that he knows what he's doing, and he has a good reason, even if we don't understand what it is.

9.  The Jews believed that Samaritans were unclean. Consequently one of the things they would never do is drink from a cup that was handled by a Samaritan.
Again the only standards we should have are the standards set by God. Whether people liked it or not that was the rule which Jesus lived by.

10. Jesus said if you only knew the gift of God. Most people are too busy chasing the wind to take the time to investigate, or to even care about the great gift that God has for them through Jesus Christ. 
If a person only knew the gift of God today. If a person only knew that they didn't have to go to hell because Jesus died on the cross and paid for their sins. If a person only knew how wonderful eternal life, and a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is they would be willing to sell everything they have to get it, if need be.

10,11.  Jesus is offering her water for her soul. She is thinking about water for her body. Her mind is on the physical so she is not connecting with the spiritual.
A carnal focus scrambles any spiritual signal that God may be trying to send us. When it comes to receiving truth from God the problem is never with the transmitter the problem is always with the receiver. That's why prayer before Bible study, or reading Scripture makes such a big difference. Prayer gets us tuned into God's frequency.  

12.  She's getting a little chippy with Christ. He said he could deliver better water than Jacob. Her response seems to be: Jacob's water was good enough for my ancestors, and it's good enough for me. She still isn't on the same frequency as Jesus.  Actually she isn't even on the same planit as Jesus, but He will work on her until she comes around. 

13,14.  In other words, the water from this well will satisfy you for a little while. But Jesus says, I'll give you living water that will satisfy you forever.
Jesus satisfies! If you're saved, and walking with Christ you don't feel like something is missing. You don't want something different. You know that you have the best.

15.  She is still thinking physical. Give me some of that super water that satisfies for a long time. She says, that'll be great because then I won't have to come to this well every day.

16.  Jesus abruptly changes the subject; he forces her to shift gears by confronting her over  one of her sins. This woman needs to think about spiritual things starting right now.
There comes a point when small talk about things that do not matter for eternity has to end. At some point a lost sinner needs to hear: you're going to hell if you don't repent! You're going to hell if you don't receive Christ!
Evangelicals have been on a kick in recent years trying to build bridges to the unsaved. Their "Christian rock music" is supposed to be a bridge. Their Christian cafés that feature rock music, some of which do not allow Bible teaching are supposed to be a bridge. All sorts of worldly amusements are attempts to build a bridge between hell bound sinners and Jesus.
A few years back there was a "christian music fest" here in town. One of the acts included a young christian woman prancing around on stage in a tight black outfit; that was supposed to be a bridge also.  An "open minded, hip", but lame brain worldly Evangelical man reacted to someones negitive comments about her by saying: don't judge, she is probably reaching some people with her act. When I heard about what he said I said, I agree, her whorish dance probably reached just about every red blooded american male in the audiance, but not in a good way, and certainly not for Christ. Entertainment has replaced the word of God for evengelism in many evangelical circles today, but it doesn't work. 
The Bible doesn't talk about bridges to the unsaved. Jesus did not build bridges to the unsaved, He simply gave them the word of God, and that's the only thing He has commanded Christians to do. He said: go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he who believes and is baptized shall be saved he who does not believe is lost. 
The bridge is the word of God. The bridge is the Holy Spirit who takes the word of God and convinces lost sinners that they need Jesus. The bridge is to preach the word of God to the damned so that they feel guilty about their sin and turn to Christ, and it's a waste of time to try to build other so-called bridges.
Jesus nails her in a very sensitive spot. Seemingly out of the blue he says go call your husband and come here.

17,18.  She had been married five times, and now she's living with a man so she is guilty of fornication as well. Jesus is hitting a spiritual sore spot with her. The word of God has a way of doing that if it's spoken clearly which it should be. 
A preacher doesn't have to know what is going on in everyone's life in order for him to say exactly what his listeners need to hear. If he is prayed up, and studied up, and if he is proclaiming the clear word of God the Holy Spirit will speak directly to anyone who is listening.
I remember one occasion when I finished teaching the word of God a woman came up to me after the service and said that she had been furious over the things that I was saying. She thought concerning me, how dare he tell everyone my life story in his sermons. I told her I have no idea what you're talking about. She thought I was aiming my sermon at her; I don't do that, I didn't do that with her, I simply gave out the word of God and the Holy Spirit took the word and confronted her, and that made her feel uncomfortable. If preachers proclaim the word of God then the Holy Spirit will use it.
By the way, did you notice that there's a difference between being married in the eyes of God and simply living with someone. She's been living with some guy, but that doesn't mean he's her husband because he isn't. 
It's not okay to live with someone when you're not married. It's  a sin; it's called fornication; it is sin and it's not acceptable to God no matter how acceptable it is in society.

19.  God is speaking to her through Jesus, and it's making her feel very uncomfortable because she is guilty of sin. She has sinned, and she continues to sin so she should feel guilty. She is very uncomfortable so she will attempt to change the subject.
When the word of God makes us feel uncomfortable it's because we are doing something wrong. When that happens we shouldn't change the subject until we deal with the evil in our life, but she will attempt to change the subject.

20.  What she said was true, but it didn't have anything to do with what Christ was talking about. Jesus hit a nerve with this woman, but instead of dealing with it by repentance she tries  to talk religion.
It's much easier for an impenitent sinner to talk religion, or religious issues then it is to talk about God's word. Talking religion doesn't convict anyone, but the pure word of God pierces the soul. 

21.  The Jewish religion of the Old Testament had its central place of worship which was the holy Temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus says, the time is coming, (and it came with the start of the church age) that there would be no central place of worship.
You do not have to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or anyplace else to worship Jesus. You can worship him right where you are, and your worship is acceptable if He is your Lord, and Savior, and if you have no unconfessed sin in your life.

21,22.  Salvation is of the Jews because Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Savior, Jesus the only  way to heaven is Jewish according to his human ancestry. 
You want to know why Satan has inspired so many wicked leaders over the years to try to exterminate the Jews? It's because the devil knows that salvation is of the Jews. From the very beginning he tried to cut off the Jewish race to prevent the Messiah from being born. After the Messiah was born what did King Herod do? He tried to wipe out the Messiah. I don't think Herod cared about wiping out the Jews or wiping out the Savior of the world but the devil certainly did, and he worked through Herod.
Satan inspired Hitler to try to wipe out the Jews. In the final days the Bible teaches that Satan will inspire the antichrist, a world ruler, to wipe out the Jews as well. Why? What's the point since Messiah has already come, he's already died on the cross, and paid for our sins; what's to be gained? Well the Bible teaches that when Jesus returns he will set up his worldwide kingdom for 1000 years, and rule in Jerusalem with converted Jews having a special place in the kingdom. If Satan can wipe out the Jews, then that prophecy fails, and if prophecy fails God ceases to exist because he swore by himself that it will not fail.

23.  The Holy Spirit in Christians stirs them to worship Christ. No human being has to teach a Christian how to worship Christ; it happens automatically.

24.  Worship God in truth. Meaning line your life up with the word of God ( which is truth), and when you fail  confess it immediately.
Trying to worship God while living in sin isn't worship, it's mockery, and God will not accept it.

25.  She doesn't understand all the spiritual things that Jesus is talking about. However she believes that when the Messiah comes he will help her to understand. She implies that she wants to put all this intense spiritual talk off for a while. In other words, I will deal with these things later when the Messiah gets here.
Many people go to hell because they put off dealing with what the Bible says about their immortal soul. Many people go to hell, not because they didn't think they would one day get right with God by repenting and receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, but because they put it off too long, and ran out of time. 

25,26.  In other words, you don't have to wait anymore lady, Jesus says you don't have to look any further than me; I am he; I have the answers.
When it comes to spiritual, eternal, and behavioral issues we don't have to look beyond Christ and his word for direction, for answers, and for the ability to do the right thing.

27.  The disciples returned and were surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman in public; something which was not done in those days. The Bible doesn't say that it's wrong for a man to talk to a woman, but it was against social custom. Jesus did it because He didn't govern His life by social norms He was governed by the word of God. 
Social customs change, social customs at times are even contrary to God's word. That's why I say stick to the word of God, do what Jesus did, and you'll be safe. "Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus."

28.   It doesn't say that she went and told the women of the city about Jesus. Evidently she did not care about social customs either because she went directly to the men. Of course it could be that the women did not associate with her because of the variety of men she had been with. 
If you're the type of woman who flirts with someone elses husband, or even enjoys spending time with other women's husbands you will not be popular with wives in your area. 

28.  Getting water was not an easy task in those days, but she left her water pot and went to tell the men of the city about Jesus.  That water didn't mean as much to her now that she has met the son of God.
Knowing Christ makes everything else seem pretty small. Knowing Christ puts everything  in its proper perspective. Nothing is more important than receiving Christ. Nothing or no one is more important than drawing close to Christ through his word and prayer.

29.  Jesus told this woman about her past life with her many husbands. He could do that because He's God, and God knows everything about us.
God knows every little detail about us, just as Jesus knew every detail about this woman, and yet what's amazing is that He still loves us, just like Jesus, in spite of this woman's past, still loved and pursued her. 
In spite of how we have behaved in the past, and still do behave Jesus wants us to be his child, he still wants us to be with him forever. He wants to save us from hell. Jesus wants to be in charge of our life, so that he can help us live holy.  In spite of how we have been, and still are sometimes, Jesus wants us, just like He wanted the woman at the well.
People don't go to hell because Jesus doesn't want them. People go to hell because they don't want Jesus.

30.  The men of the city listened to what the woman at the well told them concerning Christ.  As a result, they came to check Christ out for themselves.
Every person should care enough about their soul to investigate Christ for themselves. If a person is so preoccupied with TV, movies, internet, making money, sports, etc that they don't take the time to see what Jesus has to say about Heaven, Hell, and salvation then no wonder they go to Hell.  God says you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. Most people don't even seek Jesus half-heartedly let alone with all their heart.  
There's no hope for anyone who doesn't care enough about God, or themselves to check and see what Jesus, and the word of God has to say about receiving forgiveness and avoiding hell. The Bible says everyone must carry their own load.

31.  The disciples brought supper from town and now they want Jesus to enjoy it.
Sometimes we think we know what God wants, I mean specifically what he wants but many times we are mistaken.

32.  Jesus said, you're giving me food, but I have food already. He saying, I have a type of food that you don't even know exists.  This is one of those times when the words of Jesus will cause the disciples to scratch their heads.
Does the the Bible ever cause you to scratch your head?  Don't worry about it God will clarify things for you in His good time, and don't worry about it because you are in good company as well.  

33.  They're thinking: how did Jesus get food way out here in the middle of nowhere?

34.  Jesus wasn't talking about hamburgers and french fries, or any other kind of literal food.  He was talking about food for the soul.
Good food satisfies, and Jesus is saying: I have been doing something that really satisfies; I've been talking to a lady about the word of God.
Many things are important. Many things are enjoyable. But nothing is as important, and nothing is as enjoyable as living for God, being right with God, and being used by God, and that includes sharing the word of God with others.

35.  Jesus is saying, there are many souls in the world who are ripe and ready to be picked for God. You say, how are they picked? Give them the word of God. You pick them by giving them the word of God. Tell them to repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Tell them about Jesus dying on the cross. Tell them! If people do not hear the word of God their ripe souls will rot in the field. That's why I don't pull any punches when it comes to proclaiming the word of God.
 I try very hard to be clear and straight forward when teaching, not because it's popular because it isn't, but because it's what Jesus wants.  I also do it for the sake of the souls out there who are ready to be saved if someone will just get them the word of God which tells them what to do.

36-38.  Jesus is saying, God will repay you if you help  get out his word; you'll get your wages. God will pay you with joy, satisfaction, and eternal rewards of some kind, but you'll get paid.

39.  That woman who Jesus spoke to, that woman who was so excited about Jesus didn't suppress her enthusiasm. And because she didn't suppress her excitement it spread to others who ended up getting saved as well.
The reality of Christ in you, and the truth about Jesus which you speak are the things that God will use to bring others to Christ.

40.  These people didn't want Jesus to leave. They experienced a little taste of Jesus, and it wet their appitite for more of Him.
The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good.
When you get a taste of fellowship with God you will want more. When the Bible starts to click in your mind you will want more. Jesus spoke the word of God that's why these people didn't want him to leave.

41.  People were getting saved because Jesus was giving them the word of God.
The devil hates the Bible, he doesn't want people to be where it is taught because he knows how powerful it is. He works on preachers to water down the word, and he works on christians to be too distracted with other things to be where it is taught.  The devil wants people to be in hell with him.  
He hates God and consequently he does what he can to prevent people from repenting, and receiving Christ so that they won't be saved. He does everything he can to keep people from hearing the Bible and being saved. 
Look what happened in verse 41 again. Try as hard as he might Satan cannot stop the mighty power of God's word when a hungry soul is taking it in.

41,42.  Jesus, through the Scriptures, convinced these people that he is the Savior of the world. Notice: He is the Savior of the world. Jesus is it! Jesus is the only Savior that there is! Jesus is the Savior of the world! 
I don't care how religious someone may be if they have never repented and asked Jesus to save them then they are as lost and hell bound as any atheist. "He who has the son has life, he who does not have the son does not have life." That's what it boils down to. You get into heaven by Jesus or you don't get in at all. You avoid hell by Jesus or you can't avoid hell at all. He is the Savior of the world.

43.  Galilee, as I have mentioned in a previous message, was in northern Israel. Jesus grew up in northern Israel.

44.  Nazareth was a village in Galilee were Jesus had been raised. He tried to teach them the word of God on a couple of occasions, but they tried to kill him.
Hometown crowds are usually the toughest audiences for any preacher. And also, some of the hardest people to talk to about Christ are those who we grow up with, or are the closest to us.

45.  Many people Jesus preached to in northern Israel had been down in Jerusalem when he was there. They heard Jesus preach there, and consequently when they returned home they spread the news about him. 

46.  Jesus did his first miracle in Cana of Galilee. He returns there, and because news of his miracles had spread a man with a very sick son will ask Christ for help.

47.  Jesus was his only hope. This man knew that his dying son had one chance of living, and that was Jesus. He says: will you come to my place and heal my son Jesus? 

48.  Jesus wants people to trust his word today. He wants people to have faith in him because of what the Bible says. 
A faith may be encouraged by miracles, but true faith doesn't demand them. True faith is satisfied with the written word of God. The Bible teaches that if people do not believe the written word of God then they won't be convinced even by the most remarkable miracles.

49.  This man had faith in Jesus, but his faith had a couple of flaws. The first flaw: he thought Jesus had to be physically present with his son in order to heal him. The second flaw: he thought that if his son died, then it would be too late for any help from Christ. He was wrong on both accounts. The power of Jesus Christ has no limit. 
When you pray, remember the power of Christ has no limits.

50.  The man definitely believed Jesus, or he never would have returned to his son without bringing Christ with him. The Lord said: your son is healed. The man believed, and because he believed he left for home by himself.
What we believe is always reflected in how we act. If we have faith in Christ then our life will show it. If we believe that Jesus is God our creator, God our Savior, God our hope, then we will treat him as our creator, and appreciate him as our Savior, and be committed to him as our hope.

51-54.  His son was healed at the exact same time Jesus had said: go your way, your son lives. The father knew Jesus did a miracle.
Jesus didn't have to be there with the man's son because as God there is power in his word. The same spoken word of God that created the entire universe, including man, cured this son of a deadly illness. That's the power of God's holy word.



Chapter 5




1.  This feast was probably the Passover. I say that because in that day the Passover was known to the world as the national religious feast of the Jewish people. In other words, what the Fourth of July is to America the Passover was to the nation Israel.

Jesus went up to Jerusalem because the law stated that every Israelite man had to attend the Passover and Jesus always obeyed the law of God. 

Jesus tells us to be holy, he says be holy for I am holy. Jesus is not the kind of God, not the kind of Lord, not the kind of Savior who tells us to do something but doesn't do it himself.

We have no moral authority in the eyes of others to proclaim the truth if we don't abide by the truth ourselves.


2.  It was called the sheep gate because the sheep used for sacrifices in the temple were brought into the city through that gate.


3.  Thank you very much sin; because of you the world is full of weak, blind, lame, paralyzed, and a million other types of problems that bring misery into the lives of people. 

We don't owe sin anything, any allegiance at all. 

We shouldn't give into the putrid ways of Satan by the means of sinful words, actions , or attitudes for any length of time for any reason. You obey sin and like a herd of swine it'll turn on you and trample you to pieces. 

Sin is a curse and who is the only one that can reverse the curse? The same one who is about to reverse it for one particular man in couple of verses. 


3,4.  Every now and then God would send an angel to stir this water. That was the divine queue to get in because whoever went into the water first was healed.

Someone might get upset with God and ask: why was just one person healed? Wrong question! The right question would be: why was anyone healed? 

Christians sometimes say: I don't understand why God doesn't answer this prayer? Again that's the wrong question; the real question is: why does God answer any of our prayers? He wouldn't have to; he certainly doesn't owe us anything.

People get frustrated because their expectations are too high. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you're not going to burn in hell forever even though that's what should happen to us. Consequently salvation from the Lake of fire along with anything else he might do for us is a product of his mercy not our worthiness.

And by the way anything that questions the fairness of God is wrong because he's incapable of being unjust or unfair or wrong about anything. We may not understand his ways but that's our problem; God isn't on trial.


5.  For 38 years this man couldn't walk, but his faith continued to bring him to that pool. His faith gave him hope. His faith caused him to persevere with God even though the delay of what he was hoping for may have caused him to become discouraged at times. His faith over-rode any discouragement he may have experienced.

Never quit on God. Never quit on Jesus. Never quit trusting the holy word of God. Some people quit on Jesus when God's blessing was right around the corner if they had only hung in there for a little while longer. 

When we become discouraged it's because we're not trusting in the word of God and in God who has everything under control.


6. "Will you be made whole?" may seem like a silly question, but it is not, not when you remember that God has given us a free will to choose if we want what will make us happy or not. It's not a silly question. Jesus is letting him exercise his free will, and he lets people exercise their free will today.

Do you want your sins forgiven? Do you want to avoid hell? Do you want to please your creator? Do you want to please your eternal judge? Those are obvious questions as well, but people often answered those questions: no.


7.  Notice he said that the reason he was still lame is because he couldn't get any man to help him. The Bible says, vain is the help of man, so no wonder he's still lame after all this time. 

The sooner one learns to put their trust in Jesus and not some human being ( even one who is well meaning ) the better off they will be.

People will disappoint you if you put your primary trust in them, but don't be shocked and don't be appalled because we no doubt have disappointed, and will disappoint others also. No human being is as reliable, unselfish, or accessible as God which is why the Bible says that we should rely on Him.


7.  Jesus asked him if he wanted to be made well not if he could get into the pool. He didn't answer the Lord specific question. He assumed that Jesus really meant to say do you want to get into the pool and perhaps have an angel heal you; he assumed.

It's very important to stick to the word of God and to avoid building beliefs or doctrines by reading between the lines of what holy Scripture says. Building beliefs or doctrines upon assumptions rather than the clear teaching of God's word must be avoided.


8. We will see that the man who a second earlier couldn't turn over in his bed will now stand up and carry his bed.

Two words you never want to use in response to a command in God's word: I can't. If you couldn't God wouldn't tell you to do it. Many people who tell God, "I can't are really saying, I don't feel like it.


8,9. This was a double miracle because he was cured and he had his strength restored.

I haven't had a lot of experience with broken bones, but I do know that if you have a cast on for any length of the time, even for just a few weeks and you take that cast off you are going to need physical therapy before you can use that hand or that foot, or that leg, whatever the case maybe. This man couldn't walk for 38 years and yet he walked as soon as Christ healed him.
When Jesus does something he does it right. There is never a better way to do something then how Jesus does it or instructs us to do it, and His instructions are found in His word and no where else.


10. " it is not lawful for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath." My question is: not lawful according to who? They certainly can't be talking about God because he never said that.

The law of God in the Old Testament had forbidden work on the Sabbath, but God didn't specify which work was prohibited. Scripture seems to indicate that it was ones customary work that was prohibited, but the religious rulers went way beyond what God's word said. Here's an example: plowing a field would've been prohibited because that was normal occupational work, but the religious rulers added a man-made law saying that it was illegal to slide a chair or any piece of furniture across the floor because there might be dust on the floor and if you separated a couple of pieces of dust that would be considered plowing according to them.

The religious leaders had hijacked the Old Testament religion of God and turned it into something completely useless and actually detrimental to the souls of God's people.

Stupid, idiotic, man-made garbage is what they taught and Jesus didn't pay any attention to any of it because none of it had anything to do with the word of God.


10. It amazes me that they would nitpick this man about carrying his bed on the Sabbath. They should be rejoicing that he is healed, and they ought to admire Christ for doing it. This man is walking! Why do these fools even care that it's Saturday? Why does the day of the week even enter into their minds?

What we choose to dwell on; what we point out in any given situation reveals the condition of our heart.

If on the evening of Nov 22 1963 a member of President Kennedy's staff was heard complaining: I stopped at McDonald's after the assassination and they didn't give me extra ketchup for my french fries; boy that makes me angry, people would think: what's the matter with you, your priorities are completely twisted. The president has been murdered! His blood, his brains are spattered all over the back seat you the only thing you can say is, they forgot the ketchup?

What we dwell on or what we point out in any given situation reveals what's in our heart and if our priorities are correct or not. The religious leaders were more concerned about their stupid man-made religion than they were about this poor fella who who couldn't walk for 38 years. They had more admiration for their religion than they did for the God who showed such kindness and healed this poor man.


11. Jesus healed this man so this man obeyed Jesus when he said: carry your bed. If others didn't like it well I guess that's too bad for them. They didn't heal him, Jesus healed him, and he will obey Jesus.

It's the same with us; if Jesus saved you from hell then he deserves your obedience. If others do not like that then there's not much you can do about it; that's their problem.

It's about time that God's people stop caring weather Christ rejecting sinners or lukewarm "Christians" approve of their behavior, and start caring only about pleasing Jesus, and not apologize for it either.
 

12. What type of mind thinks in those terms? What kind of a religious mind is so dead, so cold that they can't get excited over a genuine miracle and over the good fortune of one of their people, but instead becomes angry and bitter because he broke one of their rules which has nothing to do with God's word?

Stale, cold, dead, unsaved religionists is what they were. Useless pieces of religious trash, decorated outwardly in their fancy religious robes, but inside full of dead men's bones, inside full of moral decay and corruption.


13. Jesus got lost in the crowd. Which tells us that there wasn't anything special about how he looked. As the prophet Isaiah predicted, He was an average looking man who could blend in with the crowd.


14. The health of this man's body was important, but Jesus reminds him that the health of his soul is more important. Not all suffering comes from a person's personal sins, but sometimes it does.

There would be a lot less disease in this world if people were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, living by the word of God.


14. Notice how Jesus used a holy fear of God to motivate him to stay away from sin. "If you keep sinning bad things are going to happen to you." What type of bad things?

The unsaved need to be warned that they will to go to hell if they don't repent. Christians need to be warned that they will have a miserable life with all sorts of trouble that otherwise could be avoided if they don't repent. By the way, there would not be as many lukewarm Christians if preachers followed Jesus' example of warning here.

Christians must understand that every sin leaves a mark. Every sin eats away at the fabric of one's faith. Every sin therefore leads to some form of trouble. That fact needs to be emphasized. Jesus said, don't sin or something worse will happen to you.

God would say to us: don't sin, don't play with sin or bad things are going to happen to you, and if you don't repent then worse things are good happen to you and if you still don't repent then the worst thing will happen to you.


15. I don't think he was trying to get Christ into trouble with the religious leaders, but that's what happened anyway. Not that Jesus cared what the rulers thought of him because he didn't.

Jesus had more important things on his mind than what some arrogant and completely corrupt religionist thought about him. He cared about pleasing the father and whatever consequences came from that were secondary going on irrelevant. 

Every Christian should have the same attitude as Christ. Get so caught up in Christ, so lost in Jesus and have such an overwhelming desire to please Him that whatever consequences may befall us as a result are secondary going on irrelevant.

16. In other words, they wanted to kill (Jesus) God because He would not play by their rules. They wanted to kill God because God refused to rubber stamp their unbiblical priorities, their unbiblical ways, there unbiblical ideas, and their unbiblical lifestyle. 

God we demand that you tell us the things we teach and the things we want to do are okay and if you don't we're going to hate you, and if we get a chance were going to kill you. What do you think about that? I can tell you what God thinks about that: Psalm two says "he who sits in the heavens shall laugh."

Many people would kill God today if they could because he cramps their style, he tells them that the things that they do are wrong and he won't give them free reign to do whatever they want but is always saying that sinful things are wrong and warning of judgment and of hell. 


17. The pattern for working 6 days and resting one stems from creation week. And while it is true that God did not create anything on the seventh day. It's also true that God didn't sit around doing nothing either. He was very busy on the Seventh day, and has been busy every day since; he's been maintaining the creation he made in six days. And that is what Jesus did for this man; he maintained him; as God He maintained His creation.

If God ever took a divine nap and therefore stopped maintaining, the entire world would instantly go out of existence because the Bible says in the book of Colossians that Jesus is the one by whom all things consist.


18. Who is equal with God? How many beings are equal with God? Let God Himself tell you: I am the Lord beside Me there is no other and I will not share my glory with another.

Jesus made Himself equal with God so don't ever say: I believe Jesus was a good man, but I don't believe He was God. Good men don't run around claiming to be God when they are not, they are crackpots and blasphemers. Jesus was either God or He was a nut, and a blasphemer; take your pick. I say He is God. He is who He claimed to be, and He proved it by His works, and by His Resurrection from the dead.

Jesus is God by nature and the son of God by nature. He's the eternal son of the eternal father; there never was a time he wasn't God; there never was a time that he wasn't God's son; even before he became a man he was God's son.

People don't have to believe that Jesus is God, but no one has the right to lie and say that the Bible doesn't teach He's God, because it does. The Jews understood what some refuse to understand today and that's that Jesus claimed to be God, equal in every way to the Father.


19. Jesus and the father are one therefore they were in constant and perfect communication. They always moved in perfect harmony. In other words, Jesus healed that man on the Sabbath because it was the father's will. If the religious rulers don't like it then they better start liking it, and they better accept Jesus because if they do not they will go to their grave lost, without hope and without God.

People who don't like the Jesus who is revealed to us in Scripture do not like the real Jesus and if you don't like the real Jesus you do not have the real God and you are on the fast track to hell unless you repent.


20. Jesus the son did everything the father did. He did no more; he did no less than the father, which means that everything Jesus did testified to the fact that he is God.

Jesus did God things like heal paralysis, like control the weather, like create food, like raise the dead, like forgive sins, like warn of judgment, like warn of hell for those who refuse to repent, like denounce hypocrisy, and like show compassion. Jesus did God things because he is God.

Likewise it should be our goal to do only what Jesus did (morally speaking). The Bible says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Jesus is our only standard, being like Jesus is our supreme goal and receiving mercy through Jesus by repentance and confession is how we get a fresh start every time we need it.


21. The only one who can give life to something that is lifeless is Almighty God. Deuteronomy 32:39 says this: "learn then that I, I alone am God, and there is no God besides me. It is I who bring both life and death." Jesus will raise three people from the dead during his three-year ministry, proving beyond all doubt that he is God.

You say I don't believe it. Well you should believe it because even His worst enemies believed Jesus raised people from the dead. They believed it so much that they tried to murder Lazerous who had been dead for 4 days before Jesus raised him, to eliminate the evidence.

Bloody brilliant! they had created a make believe God in their own image to replace the true God and then they tried to eliminate the evidence of the true God. Guess who one that battle? The religious rulers have been burning in the lake of fire for 2000 years going on forever and Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father.


22. Jesus decides who will go to heaven and who will go to hell and His decision is based on who really knows Him and who maybe only knows about Him.

No one has to tell you if someone knows and loves you. If someone really loves you there is a connection that makes you want to spend time with each other; you enjoy one another's company and you know that you will stand by each other during good times and bad. In other words you have each others back.

Jesus knows who His friends are. Jesus knows those who have His back when push comes to shove with the world. Jesus knows which people care about Him so much that they genuinely feel bad when they sin. 2 Timothy says that the foundation of God stands sure having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His.


22,23. If someone doesn't accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ than they're not accepting the Lordship of the Father either. Which means that although the Muslims may believe in their god, a mythical being called Allah they do not know the real God. Someone says: but I heard they worship the God of the Old Testament.  They do not!  Allah isn't anything at all like the God of the Bible. The Hindus don't know God, the Jews who reject the Lord Jesus Christ do not know  God, and if you don't know God you can't serve God and if you don't serve God you're going to hell not heaven.

What I'm saying is that every other religion is leading their people to hell. They may do good things, they may be sincere, but they're leading their people astray; they don't have God, they do not have the savior, which means they're on their own, which means they are without hope.


24. Eternal life doesn't start for a Christian after they die. A Christian has eternal life right now.  You may not feel like you do, but don't go by feelings. You may not feel worthy of eternal life, and you aren't but that's irrelevant. Satan may be whispering in your mind that you are not good enough to have eternal life; tell him he's right but that's also irrelevant. You have eternal life because Jesus died and paid for your sin and you received him as Lord and Savior. You have eternal life through Christ right now because Jesus said that you do. 

Peter said to Jesus: were not walking away from you Lord because you alone have the words of life. If you're a Christian you will not be condemned, even though everyone else will. If you're a christian then you will not experience eternal punishment in hell, but everyone else will. You won't because Jesus says that you have already passed from death to life. You're going to heaven after you die, and that's just the way this.


25. Who raises people from the dead? If you answered God then you are correct. Jesus said that the dead are going to hear his voice and they will live. Jesus is God; Jesus is the divine alarm clock that will awake you from death. 
You say: great, when is that going to happen? The big resurrection is in the future. That's what Jesus is talking about when he says: the hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live. 
However Jesus also says: the hour is now here. That's talking about the three people he raised during his earthly ministry; those three people were a small sample of what's to come.

If someone tells you to believe in him, to receive him as Lord and Savior, to trust him for eternal life, to trust him for forgiveness of sins, and then he will raise you from the dead on the last day; those are pretty big words and Jesus understands that. Consequently he raise three people from the dead while he was here to prove that it wasn't just big talk, and to top it off he raised himself from the dead after three days in the tomb.


26. Jesus owns life; life is as inherent to him as it is to the father.

Life is not inherent to you and I, the Bible says that God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul. Life is not inherent to man, but rather it has been given to us through our creator Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:15, 16 says: "Who (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature (firstborn, not meaning: first in time, but rather first in position. The firstborn is a biblical title for the one who can take the place of the father, and it doesn't always refer to the firstborn child in a family): for by him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by him, and for him.

So in Genesis 1: 1 when the Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth who is it referring to when it says God? It refers to Jesus! Jesus has given us our physical life, as we just read in the book of Colossians, and on the last day that life which had been taken from us through death will be restored to us through Jesus Christ, as we just read here in John chapter 5.



27.  Who's the judge? Who is the judge that decides who will get to heaven and who will go to hell? Who's the judge that decides what eternal rewards we will get? If you answered Jesus then you are right again. Consequently when Isaiah 66:16 says: "the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many; who is Isaiah referring to when he says the Lord who will execute judgment? When Hebrews 12: 23 refers to God as the judge of all; who is he talking about? If you answered Jesus you are right. What does verse 27 say? And he has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. That's Jesus!


28,29.  Back in verse 24 Jesus may have caused their jaws to drop when He said, he who believes in me has passed from life to death and shall not come into condemnation.  Consequently He says marvel not at this because some day every single person in every grave all over the world will hear my voice and come alive. 
 
Those who hear the word of God, the word of Jesus, the Holy Bible and believe in Christ will hear the word of God, and be raised to the resurrection of life, a wonderful life that will last forever. 


28,29.   You say;  is Jesus teaching salvation by works! No He is not.  I won't argue the fact that the unsaved live in sin, and that the saved do good things for the glory of Jesus. But the Bible doesn't teach that people can do good works in order to be saved; it teaches that they do good works as a result of being saved. That is why on judgment day a person who had saving faith in Jesus Christ also had good works. The Bible says concerning saved people, their good works follow them into death.


30.  Notice: Jesus said, I seek not my own will, but the will of the father which has sent me.

Everything Jesus ever did, he did primarily for the Father. It was great that his teaching saved souls from hell, it was great that is teaching edified those who were hungry for truth, it was great that he healed many people. And I'm sure that Jesus was thrilled that he was able to do all these things for so many. But being a blessing to others was secondary to pleasing the father. Even going to the cross and dying for our sins was primarily for the father, who the Bible says: "isn't willing that any should perish." When Jesus left heaven for the incarnation the Bible says that he said to the Father: "a body you have prepared for me; I have come to do your will oh Lord."

As always Jesus sets the example for us. Anything good, anything right, anything holy we do, no matter how much it blesses, and pleases others must primarily be done by us to please God. The Bible says: do all things for the glory of God.

Preachers, preach the things that please God, and do it for God. Husbands love your wives in order to please God. Wives submit to your husbands in order to please God. Parents bring your children up right in order to please God. Children obey your parents in order to please God. Workers work hard, and do the best you can in order to please God. Employers, supervisors, managers, treat your workers well in order to please God.
 
If in the process of doing all things for the glory of God we make others happy that's wonderful; if we upset them, if we anger them, that's too bad, but that's between them and God, and I guess they'll have to take it up with him on judgment day, and see how far they get.


30. Jesus doesn't have a personal agenda other than following the will of the father in all things.

It goes without saying that Jesus in his deity was always in perfect harmony with the father, because although they are three they are still one. But even in his humanity Jesus never had a personal agenda; his entire life was completely dedicated to doing the will of the father without exception.

Which is why, during his life,whenever  Jesus said: this is right and this is wrong, this is true and this is false he was not speaking off the top of his head, he was not speaking on a whim, he was always speaking the truth of God with the authority of God. 

If people didn't like what Jesus said, or don't like it today, than that is their problem not his because he is God. Jesus is the perfect man and the complete God which means that anyone who disagrees with anything Jesus says is wrong.

Now since God's word is settled forever in heaven, and it's not passing away, those who disagree with Jesus will hopefully come to understand that they need to conform to the word of God or they will end up on the short end of the deal.

In the same way, when a preacher or teacher is communicating the clear word of God and someone disagrees with it, that's not the preachers problem, that's the person's problem. If what the teacher is saying is in line with Scripture, and it better be, than the person who doesn't like it better get used to the idea that God is not going to adjust his word to make them feel more comfortable. They better get used to the idea that they have to conform to the word of God or they also will end up on the short end of the deal.


31.  Jesus is not saying I'm a liar, and you can't believe anything I tell you. Jesus is actually teaching what the word of God says in Deuteronomy chapter 19. 

Jesus lived by the word of God and he taught the word of God and he was always pointing people to what the Bible says. Deuteronomy 19 contains a command that every fact must be confirmed by two or three witnesses in order to be acceptable evidence in court. Jesus is saying: my personal testimony as to who I am wouldn't impress a judge, but he doesn't stop there.


32.  In other words, I'm not the only one who claims that I'm God, I have another witness.


33.  The religious rulers asked John the Baptist if he was the Christ. John said: no, the Christ is coming after me. Then one day John pointed to Jesus and said: he's the one; follow him;  he's the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. John is the second witness on behalf of Christ.


34.  In other words, Jesus is saying: listen, I don't need human approval. I don't depend on human testimony. He saying: I tell you that John the Baptist testified concerning me in the hope that you will at least believe John, and be saved as a result.

Jesus didn't need any letters of recommendation; he didn't need a certificate or diploma certifying that man or some organization approved of his teaching and approved of the fact that he is God. Jesus is who he is.
 
I've said this many times Jesus is not on trial and neither is his word. We don't have to defend the word of God we just need to proclaim it. The people who hear are the ones who are on trial, and their heart is revealed in whether they accept or reject what God says in his written word.


35.  Speaking of John the Baptist Jesus adds: John the Baptist was popular for a while. In fact some of the people that Jesus was talking to here had followed John for a time. John had many people go out to him, when it was the popular thing to do. But many quit following him after he was arrested by Herod. It was fun, it was exciting, but it wasn't worth paying for, it wasn't worth any kind of hardship as far as they were concerned.

The vast majority of Israelites were like little children. They got a kick out of John the Baptist; he gave them a little spiritual buzz for a while, but they soon grew weary of him. They rejoiced in the light of John the Baptist but only as an outsider; they never really walked in his light, they listened to what he said as if he was a singer or some other kind of entertainer, but they didn't do what he said. Consequently it's not surprising that they have rejected the one that John the Baptist pointed to and said: he's a Lamb of God, follow him.

Many people have the same sort of attitude toward Christ today; this Christianity stuff, this I'm a follower of Jesus stuff is fine unless it starts to cost me something then forget it. 
 
It's all about self with many people who call themselves Christians, rather than being all about Jesus. Many times people come to church for the sole purpose of getting something, rather than coming to church to give Jesus something; whether it be their tithes and offerings, or their undivided attention or their worship; it's not the main purpose for them being there, and it should be. And I got news for you: when we come to church, or to Jesus in general with that attitude we do get something out of the deal; we get blessed, and we get fed, and we are edified, and our appreciation for Jesus grows.

36.  The miracles that Christ did pointed to the fact that he is God.

Not before Jesus and not since Jesus has anyone been able to open the eyes of someone who is blind, or open the ears of someone who is deaf. No one except Jesus has ever instantaneously calmed a raging storm. No one except Jesus has ever healed paralysis. No one except Jesus has ever taken a little boys small launch and multiplied the food and fed possibly 15,000 people, and somehow ended up with more food than what he began with. No one except Jesus has ever told someone to go catch a fish, open its mouth, remove a coin which would be worth enough to pay their taxes. No one except Jesus ever raised people from the dead. No one except Jesus ever predicted that he would be crucified, that he would be dead for three days, and that he would be raised from the dead after those three days and then have it happen. And that's just a small sampling of the things that Christ did; there's not enough paper in the world according to the Scriptures to record all of his miracles. His miracles pointed to the fact that he is God, but he's not finished yet.


37.  On at least three occasions that we know of the father spoke from heaven in an audible voice and told the world that Jesus is his son.


38.  If these people would have had proper regard for the holy Scriptures, or the father's voice from heaven, or the word of God spoken by John the Baptist, or the miracles that they all witnessed, then they would have gladly embraced Jesus Christ as the son of God. 

The evidence was in. The evidence demanded a verdict. But their hatred for Christ blinded them to the plain truth. 

The vast majority of scripture is easy to understand, God has spoken in plain language just as you would speak in plain language to a little child. 

If someone loves and respects the holy Scriptures then they will love and respect the Lord Jesus Christ because the Bible from start to finish testifies to the person and work of Jesus.


39.  Search the Scriptures is a command from Jesus Christ. In order to have initial saving faith in Christ one must search the Scriptures. In order for one to grow in their faith and knowledge of Jesus they must search the Scriptures. There is no other way for spiritual growth. Last week I heard someone say that the Bible doesn't contain all that we need to grow and mature spiritually. That man doesn't know what he was talking about. Jesus never told anyone to search any other books in order to grow in their faith. The apostles never told anyone to search any other books either. 

It's the Bible that creates faith; it's the Bible that strengthens faith. It's the Bible that says of itself that is sufficient and all we need for life and godliness.  "all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and training in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work. That verse doesn't leave any wiggle room.  

Don't go around saying the Bible isn't enough. What is enough Rick Warren? your book? What is enough? the latest evangelical fad that will fissile in 6 months to make room for the next one? Jesus says, search the scriptures.


39,40.  They read the Scriptures, but for the wrong reason. They thought that by reading they would earn eternal life. But they failed to see how the Bible pointed people to Jesus. If they would've understood that, then they would have welcomed Jesus and received the eternal life that they searched for and that they were trying to work for.


40.  Notice what Jesus says: you will not come to me that you might have life. Their separation from God was their own fault. They were self-willed rather than God willed. They willed to reject Jesus even though the evidence abounded concerning who he is. They willed to reject Jesus even though he said that it was the father's will for everyone to come to him. They rejected God's will in favor of their own will, and that's why they were damned, and that's why they are damned, and anyone who rejects the real Jesus who is revealed on the pages of holy Scripture today is just as damned, unless they repent.


40.  Those who die and go to hell do so of their own free will. It's not that they can't come to Christ, it's that they will not come to Christ. That is the situation in every case without exception. You say what about those who have never heard about Christ?

Scripture teaches that if a person lives up to the truth that they have with a sincere heart God will reveal more truth to them and I believe according to Acts chapter 10 and 11 somehow someway he will present Jesus to them so that they can be saved. Remember God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 
 

41.  Jesus did not seek the applause of men. Jesus was not interested in being a celebrity. Receiving some special award or some honor from any human being didn't interest him in the least and when others received it, that didn't impress him.
 
Not having the applause of men did not throw Jesus into depression. He did not care. He was just here to do what was pleasing to the father. He was just here to preach and teach the pure word of God and then to die in the cross and pay for our sins.
If teaching and preaching the word of God and applying it to life today isn't enough for any preacher then they need to get out of the business because they're not doing God's work.


42.  That was the fundamental problem with the religious leaders of our Lord's day; they didn't have a love for God. When one does not have a love for God it's not surprising that the don't desire to have knowledge of him, to know about him or to know him. No wonder they didn't come to Christ, no wonder they didn't recognize and welcome Jesus. God was staring them in the face in person and they couldn't see him for who he was, and worse yet they didn't care.

Some people have no interest in God and there's nothing you're going to do to change them. The only thing anyone can do is communicate the word of God and pray that they will have a change of heart and that it will sink in and that they will come to Christ.


43.  Many times God's Old Testament people rejected the Lord their God in favor of false gods who told them what they wanted to hear, who told them things that made them feel good. They very often embraced false prophets who instead of preaching repentance as a way of blessing promised them good times in their sin. 

Unfortunately most people are inclined to do that which makes them feel good rather than that which is good for them. Which is why most people would rather have their ears tickled by fancy preachers promising them health, wealth, success, and anything else that appeals to their flesh, instead of seeking out and supporting those who will feed their spirits with the word of God.

What was true of Israel is true of many today, which is why God said in Jeremiah 2:13 "for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." 
 

44. The problem with these leaders is that they wanted praise from people more than they wanted praise from God. They wanted to be popular, they wanted to be important. But we can't be desirous of popularity with man, and be right with God at the same time.  They cannot coexist because Jesus said friendship with the world is enmity with God. 

A woman can't have a good relationship with her husband or boyfriend if she is seeing another man. A man can't have a good relationship with his wife or girlfriend if he is seeing another woman. And we can't pursue  popularity with man, and be right with God at the same time.  They cannot coexist because pride will come between us and the Lord every single time. Self-will comes between us and God every single time. 


45.  These people accused Jesus falsely of breaking the Sabbath.

Jesus could have accused them of breaking the letter and the spirit of God's law but he won't.  He doesn't have to because the written word of God, the written law of God already is accusing them. 

Again notice the emphasis Jesus places on holy Scripture. The written word of God is the standard by which we live, by which we judge whether something is correct or incorrect. 

Jesus always pointed people to the written word of God, even more then what He said to people personally. Why? because He won't be here in His Physical body very long and then what? 

What Jesus said was obviously important because He is God and what He often taught was look to the written word of God, period. 


46.  The Jews used Moses to denounce Christ. Moses would not be happy to hear that they used him to denounce Christ. Moses knew Christ. He was a friend of the son of God. They had spent many centuries together in heaven before Jesus became a human being and came to earth.


47.  They claimed to have such high regard for Moses and such a high regard for Scripture. Well if they did, then they would have recognized that the Scriptures Moses wrote spoke of Christ and as a result they would have welcomed Jesus.
Those who have a high regard for the Bible have a high regard for Christ. 


47.  It comes down to this: do you believe what is written in the Bible, do you believe the sacred Scriptures or not. If you believe the word of God you don't need any other testimony concerning any issue. If they had believed the Bible they would not have been looking for verification from some other sources that Jesus is the son of God.
 
Their problem was that although they read the Scriptures they didn't really believe what they said. They didn't want to believe the plain simple truth of Scripture because it went against what they liked. I have no pity for people like that at all; they make their choice, not in ignorance, but with full knowledge so I say live with the consequences.
  
The religionists said they believed the Bible but they subtly, and sometimes not so subtly twisted the meaning of Scripture to fit their own desires rather than just allowing it speak to them in the normal language that it was written.

Always remember this: if the plane words of Scripture make sense then seek no other sense.  I'm not talking about rationalism, I'm saying If the word of God is spoken in straightforward language than don't complicated things by reading something into it that isn't there.


Chapter 6

1.  The Sea of Galilee is in northern Israel. In Jesus's time there were many towns on the shore of the sea. Many times Jesus would teach and use the beach as his church; he did a lot of teaching on the beaches of Galilee.

2.  When I was a little boy there was a small island park in our neighborhood called duck Island. It was called duck Island because there were literally hundreds of ducks there. People in our neighborhood would take old bread down to duck Island and break in and little pieces and feed the ducks and I can remember that you could have one duck pretty much by himself and you would give him a little piece of bread and before long you would have hundreds of ducks following you as you walked around that island you could circle that island all day and as long as you dropped a piece of bread every now and then you'd have hundreds of ducks following in your footsteps. People were like needy ducks following Jesus. They followed him because they knew he cared about them and would help them.

3.  Jesus gets alone with his men partially for privacy and rest and partially for private teaching.

4.  Jews normally would start talking about the feast of Passover about 30 days before it arrived and then they would start preparing for it 15 days before it arrived. They would say it's at hand and so that's what's going on here in verse four. "In the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh."

5.  What Jesus did to Philip was sort of like being called on in class to answer a question when you don't know the answer. Philip doesn't have a clue.

5, 6.  Jesus, like a good teacher knew the answer to his question. He is just testing his student Philip to see if he knows.

7.  Philip's answer was, at best, I don't know, and at worse, it's hopeless Jesus.
It is possible to become so focused on our problem that we forget that we have a God who can do anything and will do whatever needs to be done to accomplish his will. Philip's answer was it's impossible but he forgot to add Jesus to the equation.

8,9.  Andrew says: we have five loaves and two fish but why did I even bother bringing it up because that's not going to do us any good.
Of course Andrew is right about that; they do not have what it takes and the little boys lunch for all practical purposes is irrelevant.
God likes us to know that we don't have what it takes. Because when we know that we don't have what it takes we won't be tempted to trust in ourselves but will instead look to him.

10. A lot of grass would mean springtime.

11.  15 to 20,000 people fed, not a little, but is much as they wanted.
When you run into trouble meet those challenges with whatever resources you have even if it's clear that they are not adequate. If you use what you have an offer which you have to Christ then he will supply what is lacking. In other words dedicate whatever you have to the service of Jesus even if it is so small that you don't think it's worth mentioning. Use what you have because it's the correct thing to do, but trust in Christ not in those things.

12.  Material possessions are a gift from God and shouldn't be wasted. No one should say: I don't have to take care of this thing or worry about wasting food because I trust God. That is not trusting God. That is putting God to the test. It is being presumptuous.
Anytime anyone acts irresponsibly and thinks: oh that's okay God will see to it that nothing bad will happen is not living by faith. That is sinful presumption and God will not bless it.

13.  That's a lot of leftovers and did you notice that the disciples are the ones who picked them up. That was a huge job! It was a huge job but the apostles were servants of Christ and of the people.
Whatever God has gifted you to do be content to use that gift as a way to serve others because that pleases Christ.

14.  The Israelites understood that the prophet Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 18 would be the Messiah. Right now this huge crowd believes that Jesus is the fulfillment of that messianic prophecy. There thinking: he's the one that we've been waiting for for centuries.

15.  You say: I don't get it; why would Jesus walk away when they were about to make him king? Isn't this what he was hoping they would do? It's true they were going to make him king right then and there, but their idea of a King Messiah was someone who would meet all their material needs like Jesus just fed them and also free them from Rome. They were not interested in repentance and they were not interested in submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Besides Jesus's mission in his first coming was to die for the sins of the world and he will not allow anything to distract him from that.

16.  Jesus sends his men down the mountain ahead of him.

17.  They evidently thought that Jesus would join them in the boat but he still had not come and it was already dark so they set sail themselves.

18.  When they first left it looks safe because the sea was calm. And of course Jesus told them to go and since Jesus told them to go everything should be smooth; right? Wrong! They were right in the middle of God's will but it was rough going.
Just because something is difficult; just because you're in a situation where you are not happy because of circumstances don't automatically conclude that you have missed God's will because that's not the case.

19.  They know that this is not an illusion because they are all seen it. They were afraid because they think it is a night spirit, they think it's a demon in human form coming to get them.

20.  Jesus knew that they were afraid so he immediately speaks to them.
God's voice comforts his people when they are afraid. Thank God for good friends when times are tough, but the voice of God is really what you need to hear. Prayerfully reading the word of God will help settle Christians down when things are not going well.

21.  It was a miracle; actually two miracles. Jesus walking on the water was the first miracle and then the moment he entered the boat they were at their destination and that was the second miracle. God Almighty somehow someway because that boat to instantaneously reach the shore.

22, 23.  These people are the ones Jesus fed the bread and the fish to the day before. They saw the disciples leave in the one boat that was there but they didn't see Jesus leave so they sit there all night supposing that pretty soon he would come down from the mountain.

24.  Will they check things out and Jesus is nowhere to be found so they figure that somehow someway he must've gone across the lake without them noticing. Consequently they get in a boat and cross the sea looking for Jesus.

25. They want to know when Jesus crossed and how he crossed since there were no other boats. Of course many people would say I walked on the water and you should've saw me it was unbelievable but Jesus doesn't even answer their question.

26. Jesus created free food for them the night before and now since it's time for breakfast they come looking for Jesus again.
Many people see Christ for what he can give them in this life or what they think he can give them in this life. Few seek him because they want to spend time with him.

27.  They, like most people, work for the food that perishes. In other words like most people they put most of their time and energy into getting things that are only useful for this world and for their present physical body. Jesus is saying: that is not as important as working for those things that will benefit your immortal soul after this life is done.

28.  In other words, what kind of works does God approve of; what do we have to do to get on the good side of God?

29.  Nothing anyone can do is more pleasing to God then to believe that Jesus is the son of God the Savior of the world. And of course truly believing that results in repenting and making him the Lord of their life. Faith without works is dead; belief without action is unbelief.
You want to please God? Begin by repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.

30.  The question is shameful and so obvious! They should just be honest and come right out and say what they're thinking: "we are hungry so make us breakfast and then we will say that we believe in you Jesus!"
If the miracle of feeding 15 to 20,000 people with that little lunch the night before didn't convince them of his unlimited power and goodness then nothing will; another meal won't do the trick.

31.  In other words, Jesus you fed us one meal which was nice, but the Israelites ate 40 years worth of free food back when Moses was in charge. Translation: we want breakfast!

32.  Two things about that manna that God gave the Israelites; two things about that miracle bread. First: Moses didn't give it to the Israelites God did. Second it was not the true bread it was just a foreshadow of the true bread. You say: what is the true bread? Jesus defined set in verse 33.

33.  The bread that God gives comes from heaven and gives life not just for the body but for the soul and is for the whole world not just for the Israelites. So the bread that Christ is talking about is much better than the manna back in the days of Moses.

34.  They are thinking literal bread; they are thinking it looks like were going to get more food than we bargained for. We were hoping for breakfast but it looks like Jesus is going to give us some kind of super bread so by all means Lord give us that bread.

35.  In other words, those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and live for him will experience satisfaction now and eternal happiness as well.
Our relationship with Christ and as a result our trust in him provides the solution for all worries and fills our soul with a hope that is real. It saves and satisfies and in that sense he is the true bread.

36.  Jesus told them that the bread of life that he give satisfies. They said they wanted some of that bread but since they are not believing in Christ and receiving him as their Lord he can't give it to them.
People who want forgiveness and eternal life but don't have it don't have it because they refused to receive it on God's terms.

37.  Jesus is the father's gift to us. We who receive Christ are also the father's gift to Jesus. He gives Jesus to us and he gives us to Jesus. I think Jesus is getting the short end of that deal.

37x.  Do not ever think that you cannot come to Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. Do not ever think that it works for others but it won't work for you. Jesus says that he won't reject anyone who comes to him.

38.  All who come to Christ seeking forgiveness and eternal life are the father's gift to the son and since, as Jesus says here, he has come to do the father's will he certainly will not reject any gift from the father.

39, 40.  Anyone who has the type of faith in Christ that leads them to as Jesus to save them from hell and be the Lord of their life is saved and is also secure. It is the father's will for you to be raised on the last day and nothing will stop Christ from doing that for the father. You are coming back and that body of yours only it will be much improved. You say: I don't deserve it! Yes but the father does. Jesus saves us and keeps us and raises us primarily for the father's sake. 

41.  They were not ready to receive Christ so when he claimed to come down from heaven they complained. They knew he was claiming to be more than just a great man or prophet.

42.  Joseph fulfilled the role of father to Jesus here on earth, but they were wrong to say that he was Jesus's father. God caused Mary to conceive Jesus; he's the son of God.

43.  They were not talking to Christ but he knew they were talking about him. They were murmuring about the things that he said. Jesus told him to stop murmuring because the more you reject truth the harder it becomes for you to accept truth.

44.  Unless God works in a sinners soul, and in their life that sinner will never realize his guilt and his need and his need for Christ to save him and God does his work through the written word.

45.  God speaks to the souls of men through the holy Scriptures. Those who take the time to listen and believe what God says are the ones who come to Christ for eternal life.

46.  The fact that people are taught by God doesn't mean that they have seen God. The Holy Spirit who is invisible convinces those who want truth that the holy Scriptures are truth and that Jesus is the only way to heaven.

47.  This is one of the many verses in the Bible that teaches salvation is not by doing good works which includes going to church or any other type of good deed. We are saved by our faith in Christ death on the cross.. And that it.

48.  The bread of life refers to the bread that gives life to those who eat it. Jesus gives life to those who receive him into their life. And Jesus is not just talking about physical life either; he is talking about eternal life.

49.  The Jews here had made a big deal about the manna; that is, the miracle food that God provided Israel while they were going from Egypt to the promised land. It certainly was nice because it kept them going physically but it did not give those Israelites everlasting life.

49, 50.  Jesus is referring to himself as the bread that comes down from heaven. If you really believe in Christ you will receive him into your life and if you do you will never experience eternal death. Receive Christ and you receive the bread of life. Receive Christ and you receive eternal life.

51.  Jesus is talking about his death on the cross that will pay for the sins of man. If he doesn't do that then believing in him will not save anyone from hell. His death is the oven that makes him the bread of life for everyone who repents and receives him.

52.  They are thinking about Jesus as the literal flesh; they don't understand that Jesus is using physical things to teach spiritual truths. That's why they can't figure out how he will give them his body to eat.

. 53  this is not talking about holy communion. Always remember that ritual can never be a substitute for repentance and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying: when we receive him as Lord that's when we receive the benefits of the cross.

54.  You say: I still think it means communion. No, read verse 47 again: "verily verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Eating his flesh and drinking his blood means to receive him as Lord and trust in his sacrificial death.

55.  When you compare the spiritual food that Jesus gives to the food of this world there is no comparison. Meat and potatoes will keep you going for a while. Jesus will give you life eternal.

56.  When you eat food you assimilate it and it becomes a part of you; it abides in you. When you invite Christ to be your Lord he literally comes to live inside of you. Having Christ isn't a religion; it is a close relationship between you and your creator; it is having your creator in you.

57,  as a man God the father was the center of all that Jesus did. As a Christian Jesus will be the center of all we do. If he isn't there something wrong, maybe were not saved, maybe we have backslidden which puts us in a very dangerous situation.

58.  This verse pretty much summarizes everything Christ has said so far. The manna, like any food had temporary value. But Jesus is the spiritual food from God and he gives us eternal life if we receive him.

59.  The crowd had followed Jesus to Capernaum after he multiplied the bread and the fish. They found him in the synagogue and that's where he delivered this message on the bread of life.

60.  Not that it was hard for them to understand, but that it was distasteful for them to hear. They are saying: who can stand here and listen to all of this offensive talk?

61.  "Disciples" refers to the crowd not to the 12th. The crowd did not like to hear Jesus say that he came down from heaven, and they didn't like it when he said that people needed to eat his flesh.

61, 62.  They didn't like him saying that he descended down from heaven. Well if they stick with him they will see him when he ascends back into heaven so maybe that will change their opinion.

63.  The flesh doesn't help at all. The only thing that eating the literal flesh of Christ would do for these people is make them sick. Eating his body counts for nothing; it cannot save them. Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin causing us to repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior and when we receive him we assimilate him into our life like bread.

64.  And it is not that some of these people could not believe in Christ. It's that they would not believe in him. Jesus did not speak in some sort of esoteric New Age babble. He spoke truth and God has given everyone the ability to receive truth. Those who don't do not because choose not to do it.

65. Jesus just insulted the pride of man that causes him to think that he can earn salvation on his own.
Anything good we are, anything good we can do is a gift of God's grace including even the willingness to come to Christ.

66.  These disciples were not very committed to Christ. They may have followed him in a superficial way for some reason, probably to get food. But they didn't follow him because they appreciated who he was and is soon as it became uncomfortable they were gone.

66, 67.  Jesus knew how to empty a church. The fastest way to empty out a church of halfhearted lukewarm believers is to give out the pure word of God; they will run to the church down the street that entertains and they will never come back and the faithful remnant that remains will be better off because of it. Now Jesus wants to know if the 12 are going to leave as well.

68.  Peter is saying: "if we leave you then we are damning ourselves to hell." 12/20,000 wanted truth enough to stay with Christ.

69.  They believe and they know that Jesus is the holy one of God. That's why they would not leave. Anyone who would walk away from Christ and no longer call themselves a Christian is as lost as the devil himself and better hope they don't die because their next stop is hell.


Chapter 7

1.  Several months passed between chapters 6 and seven. Jesus stayed up north because the Jewish leaders around Jerusalem hated him and were looking for opportunities to kill him. Jesus wasn't afraid of them he could've taken care of that bunch in a hurry but it wasn't yet the time for him to die.

2.  The feast of Tabernacles was held where all the other feast were held in that's in Jerusalem; that particular feast came at harvest time. The feast of Tabernacles was a happy holiday, it served to remind the Israelites that someday their Messiah would reign on his throne and is saved Jewish nation will enjoy peace and prosperity.

3.  These guys were blood relatives but they were not saved. They said "go to Jerusalem, and do some of your miracles there." His half brothers did not like Jesus; they were probably jealous of him and it's possible that they wanted the Jews to arrest him and maybe even put him to death so possibly with full knowledge of what was going on with the leadership out to get him they encourage him to go to Jerusalem.

4.  Talk about not understanding Christ; they thought Jesus did miracles to become famous. That's why they said: here's your big chance; go to Jerusalem where the really big crowds are and do your miracles down there and you will be famous.

5.  And I would say that it must have stung Jesus when his own relatives did not believe in him; his own half brothers, the sons of Mary and Joseph. His mother of course believed, but his brothers evidently did not believe their mothers testimony either.

6.  Every day, every second of Jesus his entire life operated on a prearranged schedule. He followed the father schedule to perfection. His brothers didn't care about God so they were on their own schedule. His brothers could go any time but Jesus had to wait for his father's time.

7.  The world refers to the system that man has built that excludes God and his son. It's talking about the culture, art, education, entertainment, and religion that excludes God and his son. That world system did not hate the Lord's brothers because they were a part of it.

7x.  This world is morally depraved. The sinless son of God entered this world and showed people how sinful they are but instead of repenting and crying out to God for mercy they hated him and killed him.

8.  Fallen man loves religious routine and rituals and that's because they can observe them, feel religious, without ever repenting and having a heart for God. That's exactly the way it was for the Lord's brothers. They will go to the religious festival but they are rejecting the word of God and the son of God who is standing right there in front of them.

9.  But not for long; only until after the father says it's time to go.

10.  Sometime after his brothers left Jesus himself goes in a quiet sort of way. He would not miss that important feast because that would be sin but he didn't want any trouble at this time either.

11.  These are most likely the rulers who are wondering: where is Jesus? They want to know where he is because they want to kill him.

12.  There was a lot of talk about Christ and people were taking sides.

13.  The Jewish leaders had the common people intimidated and that's why those who actually believed in Christ among the population would not admit it publicly. The leaders could make life very miserable for people that they didn't like.

14.  The first three days of the feast past and no one saw Jesus. That's why they started to wonder if he would show up. Well he did show up and he started to teach.

15.  Christ didn't attend any of their great religious schools and that's why they were amazed at his depth of understanding concerning the Old Testament and also his ability to teach.

16.  Jesus is not taking credit for his great teaching although as God he certainly could but instead he gives all the credit to the father. He says I'm just telling you what my father tells me to say.
Even today, the power is in the word of God not in the one who speaks it. Some people try to add to the power of God's word by getting loud, by screaming when they preach and teach but Isaiah 42:2 says this concerning Jesus "he will not cry out, or raise his voice." The power is in the word itself not in the volume.

17.  A willingness to obey is the one thing that opens a person's eyes to understand the truth more than any other single thing. If a person really wants truth God will reveal it to them.

18.  As I have said before Jesus had no personal agenda his motives were pure and simple: get out God's word proclaimed the truth of holy Scripture. His motives were pure and that's why his message was pure.
Preachers and Bible teachers who want to be a celebrity try to spice up the word of God in order to draw attention to themselves. Their motives are not pure and so their message is not pure and it doesn't honor God. No matter how talented they may be and how many people they may draw to themselves they are working for self instead of God and God is not pleased.

19. The rulers gloried in the fact that they possessed the written word of God. They must have forgotten that just having the law doesn't do anyone any good if they don't keep it and they were not keeping it. In fact they were plotting the sin of murder and it was the ultimate murderous plot; they were planning to kill the son of God.

20.  The rulers knew exactly what Jesus was talking about but they absolutely refused to confess. Instead the accused Jesus of being possessed by a devil.
Righteous people confess their sin when they come face-to-face with their guilt; they don't pretend that it's not true, nor do they change the subject in order to attack the one who is proclaiming God's word.

21.  The one work Jesus refers to hear is the healing of that poor fella by the pool. The man had not walked in 38 years so Jesus healed him and the rulers were shocked that he healed him on the Sabbath.

22 God commanded baby boys to be circumcised on day eight of their life. They had to be circumcised even if it happened to fall on the Sabbath and the Israelites obeyed that rule and so they obeyed God and worked on the Sabbath when righteousness called for it.

23.  God's law allowed for obedience and necessary works to be done on the Sabbath. Jesus is saying it also allows for works of mercy to be done on the Sabbath. Mercy is necessary; mercy is obedience and acts of mercy therefore should be done no matter what day of the week it is.

24.  Sinful human nature tends to think: what I do is okay but what you do is wrong. Jesus says judge according to what is true not by what you want to think is true.

25.  The leaders dirty little secret is out because it is well known around the city of Jerusalem that they want to kill Jesus; evidently everyone was talking about it. The Bible says be sure your sins will find you out and that's why it's important to avoid sin or if you fail repent and confess and get forgiveness immediately.

26.  If the rulers hated Jesus so much why didn't they stop him from teaching? The people are thinking: maybe the rulers have changed their opinion about Christ and maybe they think he really is the Messiah after all.

27.  Well I don't know where they got that from but they didn't get it from the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. 
The only way to know what is of God is to study the Scriptures. The holy Bible sharpens our spiritual senses. The Bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge. The stakes are way too high to ignore this book, this good book, this holy book, this book that does not just contain the word of God but is at all points the word of God.

28a.  They knew he was Jesus of Nazareth. They knew who he was and where he was from so I don't know what they're talking about when they say we don't know where he's from.

28x. If they would've thought about it for a few seconds they would've realized that they knew that he was Jesus of Nazareth but what they did not know is that Jesus is from God and is in fact God himself and that God is the one who sent him.
If they would've known God and not just known about him they would've recognized Jesus as God.
If we don't know God and I mean really know him and are familiar with him and his ways then we will not be able to recognize the things that come from him and the things that do not. When you know someone you know their character you know what they approve of you know what they would never approve of and if we know God we know those things about him as well.

29.  Jesus says: I am from God. In those words "I am from God" obviously includes being sent by God, but it doesn't only mean that. It also means he had been with God forever in eternity past. Jesus knows the eternal father because he is the eternal son and they been together since forever in the past.

30.  The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus right on the spot and so they tried to grab him but they couldn't do it because God stopped them and he stopped him because the time was not right in this world operates on God's timetable not theirs or ours. When the time is right for Jesus to be offered up for the sins of man then they will be allowed to arrest him and not one minute before.

31.  The regular people had more spiritual sense than their religious leaders. The common people thought: what more could Jesus do to prove he is the Messiah than what he has already done.

32.  The Pharisees here with the people are saying about Jesus possibly being the Christ and public opinion seems to be moving in that direction and that worries the religious leaders. They are afraid that some kind of Jesus movement is about to take place and so they move to arrest him.

33.  Jesus reminds the people, including most likely the officers who came to arrest him, that he would not be with them much longer. Soon he will return to God the father who sent him. And with those words Jesus poured gas on the fire of the Pharisees anger.

34.  One day the religious leaders will no that they need a Savior but on that day it will be too late.
No one should squander an opportunity to repent and receive Christ. They may not get another chance and it is certain that someday it will be too late.

35. These particular Jews didn't get it. When Jesus said he was leaving they didn't think he meant that he was going to heaven. They thought he was going outside the boundaries of Israel to teach the Jews out there.

36.  In other words, where could he go that we could not follow? Answer: heaven. They would not accept Jesus Christ into their life as their Lord and Savior and therefore they could not follow him to heaven after they die.

37.  In other words, to anyone who knows that they are not right with God, you can come to me and I will make you right with him. People do not drink unless they are thirsty and people do not receive Christ unless they first know that they are hell bound sinners who desperately need a Savior.

38.  Living water refers to the good things that the Holy Spirit produces in saved people. If a person is saved that he has the Holy Spirit inside of him and if he has the Holy Spirit then holiness, joy, peace and goodness will flow out of him. So when you talk about living water you're talking about holiness, joy, peace, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, meekness, self-control which are all produced by the Holy Spirit.

39.  Jesus was glorified after he ascended into heaven. In 10 days after Jesus ascended he sent the Holy Spirit, his spirit, to live inside of those who receive him. Since that time every single person who repents and receives Christ receives the Holy Spirit at the same time.

40, 41.  There was just a lot of confusion among the people concerning Jesus. Some believed and some did not believe. Some would have believed if they had known that Jesus was born in Bethlehem not up north in Galilee which is where he was raised from the time he was a little boy.

41, 42.  They were correct when they said that according to the Bible the Christ is a descendent of David and is born in Bethlehem. Now if they had done a little research, maybe ask Jesus if these things were true about him rather than assume they were not they would've known.
God expects us to do our homework. God expects us to search for truth. He expects us to study and to listen to those who communicate truth. He doesn't drop truth into our minds by magic.

43.  They were divided because they were ignorant concerning Christ in the Scriptures.
People are divided today in their opinions of Christ so let me suggest a solution. Don't go by what you feel or what you think or what someone has told you. The holy Scriptures are crystal clear concerning Jesus so believe God and the confusion is gone.

44.  Because his time to die had not yet come no one was able to harm him.
What was true for Jesus is true for those who belong to Jesus. If you're Christian you can't die until God says your time has come. It doesn't matter what circumstances or dangers come your way if it's not your time according to God's timing you won't go. The gun will misfire, the sickness will be restrained the disease will be healed your guardian angel may step in and prevent a deadly accident, etc., etc. Nothing can stop you before it's time. The Bible says Jesus holds the keys to death and unless he unlocks that door you're not going anywhere.

45.  The officers returned to the Pharisees and the chief priest but they returned without Christ and the leaders want to know why. They were supposed to arrest Jesus and the rulers are annoyed because they didn't.

46.  They were too impressed to arrest him. And just think about that officer for a second; he knew absolutely nothing about Jesus other than he was amazing. That officer could have ever imagined that Christians would be quoting his very words concerning Jesus for the next 2000 years.
They heard many people speak but no one ever came close to speaking with the power, authority, wisdom, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

47.  Oh yes Mr. Pharisee we are deceived, we are all fooled. Just like we've been fooled into believing that water is wet simply because all the evidence says that it's wet. We are all fooled into believing that snow was slippery simply because we slip on it and yes we are all fooled into believing that Jesus is God simply because all the evidence demands it!

48.  While that's a pathetic argument! According to him people should not believe in Christ because the pompous, self-centered, hypocritical, religionists did not believe in him.

49.  The Pharisees are the ones who are cursed not the people who were smart enough and humble enough to recognize the God who made them.
There is one thing worse than being dead wrong and that's being dead wrong and being so arrogant that you don't see it, in fact you think it's impossible.

50, 51.  Nicodemus was a sane voice in the midst of these warped leaders. He told them that they had not given Jesus a fair chance. God's law is clear on this one: you don't judge a man before you hear his case. The problem is, they didn't want to hear his case. And that's because they were afraid of the truth.

52a.  Nicodemus was okay until he spoke the truth then they turned on him like a pack of wild dogs. I can just see the scornful look on their faces as they ask if Nicodemus is also one of his followers from up north in Galilee.

52.  They better search and see! They better search and see because once again the religious leaders are wrong. The prophet Jonah came from Galilee.

53  the feast of Tabernacles is over so the people return home. Some believed in Christ but most did not. As for the rulers, they want him dead now more than ever.