You Study The Scriptures Diligently

John 5:37-40 – And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Luke 24:44 – He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Application:

• ·         Despite the Jewish leaders reverence for the very letter of Scripture, they did not recognize the one to whom Scripture bears supreme testimony.
• ·         God, through the Messiah, came to bring about the full and final redemption of His people and the full and final restoration of all things.
• ·         People do not come to Christ strictly on their own initiative; the Father draws them.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Works

John 5:35-38 – John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

John 14:11 – Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

John 10:25-26 – Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 5:39-40 – You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Application:

• ·         “Works” were the miracles of Jesus, which testified to what He is and to His divine mission.
• ·         Faith includes believing that Jesus is one with the Father.
• ·         “The one and only Son, who is Himself God” is an explicit declaration of Christ’s deity.
• ·         Despite their reverence for the very letter of Scripture, the Jewish leaders did not recognize the one to whom Scripture bears supreme testimony.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Saved

John 5:32-34 – There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.

John 1:7 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

Acts 16:30-31 – He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 – For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Titus 3:4-7 – But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Application:

• ·         John the Baptist’s singular ministry was to testify about Jesus.
• ·         Jesus did not rely on human testimony—which is always fallible and often fickle.
• ·         “Believe in the Lord Jesus” is a concise statement of the way of salvation.
• ·         No human effort can contribute to our salvation; it is the gracious gift of God.
• ·         The new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are central to the gospel message.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Testimony

John 5:30-31,39-40,46 – By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true…You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life…If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

John 1:7 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

Application:

• ·         John the Baptist’s singular ministry was to testify about Jesus.
• ·         Despite their reverence for the very letter of Scripture, the Jewish leaders did not recognize the one to whom Scripture bears supreme testimony.
• ·         The authors of the New testament books sometimes expressly stressed and everywhere assumed that the Old Testament, rightly read, pervasively points to Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Done What Is Good...Live...Done What Is Evil...Condemned

John 5:24,27-29 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life…And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

John 16:2 – They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.

Daniel 12:2 – Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Romans 10:9-10 – If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

James 2:21 – Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

Application:

• ·         Religious people have often persecuted others in the strong conviction that they were doing God’s will.
• ·         As always in Scripture, judgment is based on what people have done in their lives.
• ·         Salvation, of course, is a gift from God in response to faith, but true faith in Christ results in changed lives, lived in obedience to Christ as Lord.
• ·         Faith and life are connected.
• ·         Christians believe not only that Jesus lived but also that He still lives.
• ·         Salvation involves inward belief as well as outward confession.
• ·         Faith that saves produces good deeds.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Has Life In Himself

John 5:25-26 – Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

John 16:32 – “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Psalm 36:9 – For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

John 1:4 – In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Application:

• ·         The spiritually dead who hear Him receive life from Him.
• ·         The disciples had faith, but not enough to stand firm in the face of disaster. Jesus knew they would fail; however, His church is not built on people’s strength but on God’s ability to use people even after they have failed.
• ·         When they chose the Lord, they chose life.
• ·         Ultimately, for sinners, God provides the water of life through Jesus Christ.
• ·         Life is Christ’s gift, and He, in fact, is “the life”.
• ·         Light often symbolizes well-being or life and salvation.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Believes Him...Has Eternal Life

John 5:22-24 – Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

John 20:31 – But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Application:

• ·         Faith and life are connected.
• ·         Faith has content.
• ·         Eternal life is a present possession, not something the believer will only obtain later.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Entrusted All Judgment To The Son

John 5:22-23 – Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Genesis 18:25 – Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Judges 11:27 – I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Application:

• ·         Abraham based his plea on the justice and authority of God, confident that God would do what was right.
• ·         As the divine Judge, the Lord is the final court of appeal.
• ·         Although the body is wasting away, we are responsible for our actions while in it.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Son Gives Life

John 5:20-21 – For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

John 14:12 – Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

2 Corinthians 1:9 – Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

John 11:25-26 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Application:

• ·         These “greater things” depended on Jesus’ going to the Father, because they are works done in the strength of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus would send from the Father.
• ·         God’s grace is all-sufficient; Christ strengthens us when we are weak.
• ·         Jesus not only is life, but He also conveys life to believers so that death will never triumph over them.
• ·         Christ’s interest is in His sheep, whom He enables to have life to the full.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

My Father Is Always At His Work

John 5:15-19 – The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

Mark 2:25 – He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

John 10:30 – I and the Father are one.”

John 4:34 – “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Application:

• ·         God does not stop His deeds of compassion on the Sabbath day, and neither did Jesus.
• ·         The Jews did not object to the idea that God is the Father of all, but they strongly objected to Jesus’ claim that He stood in a special relationship to the Father—a relationship so close as to make Himself equal with God.
• ·         Because of who and what He was, it was not possible for Jesus to act except in dependence on the Father.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Sinning

John 5:9-14 – At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

Mark 2:5 – When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

John 8:11 – “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Application:

• ·         “Stop sinning” implies that the man’s sins had caused his disability.
• ·         Jesus repudiates the idea that disabilities are always caused by sin, but He does not say they are never caused by sin.
• ·         The eternal consequences of sin are more serious than any physical ailment.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Man Was Cured

John 4:54-5:10 – This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

John 2:11 – What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Mark 5:34 – He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Application:

• ·         Signs revealed Jesus’ glory and likely also pointed to the fullness of the salvation He came to effect.
• ·         The Greek for “healed” can also mean “saved”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Believed

John 4:47-53 – When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

John 2:11 – What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Acts 14:3 – So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

John 20:31 – But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Application:

• ·         Signs revealed Jesus’ glory and likely also pointed to the fullness of the salvation He came to effect.
• ·         A major purpose of miracles was to confirm the truth of the words and the approval of God.
• ·         The whole Gospel of John is written to show the truth of Jesus’ Messiahship and to present Him as the Son of God, so that the readers may believe in Him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

A Prophet Has No Honor In His Own Country

John 4:43-46 – After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

John 1:29 – The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 2:11 – What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Application:

• ·         It may be that John chose “Lamb of God” as a unique way of referring to Jesus’ mission to point both to the sacrificial offering that Jesus would become and to His subsequent conquest of all evil powers—the two ways by which He “takes away the sin of the world”.
• ·         The welcome of the Galileans actually was a kind of rejection, for they were interested only in Jesus’ miracles.
• ·         In his account of Jesus’ first display of “His glory” by providing an abundance of wine at a wedding feast, John probably was testifying that Christ’s saving mission would culminate in the redemption of the creation from all its distresses, so that the wine of joy would flow fully, as the prophets had announced.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Four Months Until Harvest

John 4:35-42 – Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Matthew 9:36 – When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Luke 2:11 – Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Application:

• ·         Jesus’ compassion for people is often noted in the Gospels.
• ·         There is no competition among Christ’s faithful servants, and sower and reaper share in the joy of the crop.
• ·         “The Savior of the world” points to the facts (1) that Jesus not only teaches but also saves and (2) that His salvation extends to the world.
• ·         Many Jews were looking for a political leader to deliver them from Roman rule, while others were hoping for a savior to deliver them from sickness and physical hardship.
• ·         “God so loved the word” is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

My Food...Is To Do The Will Of Him Who Sent Me

John 4:33-34 – Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

John 10:37-38 – Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 14:30-31 – I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.

John 15:10 – If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

Application:

• ·         John often mentions that Jesus depended on the Father and did the work the Father sent Him to do.
• ·         “The works of my Father” are the kind of works of compassion that the Father Himself does.
• ·         It was Jesus’ quality of life, not people’s inability to explain His marvels, that He spoke of.
• ·         Jesus had stressed the importance of His followers being obedient, and He set the example.
• ·         Obedience and love go together.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Messiah...Will Explain Everything

John 4:25-32 – The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

John 1:24-25 – Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

Mark 9:41 – Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

John 6:27 – Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Application:

• ·         “The Messiah” means “the Anointed One”.
• ·         God remembers even small acts of kindness extended to believers because they are believers.
• ·         “Eternal life” is not something to be achieved but to be received by faith in Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

God Is Spirit...Worship In The Spirit And In Truth

John 4:24 – God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Philippians 3:3-6 – For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Application:

• ·         “True worshipers” must worship God in the power of His Spirit and in accordance with truth.
• ·         Circumcision’s true, inner meaning is realized only in believers, who worship God with genuine spiritual worship and who glory in Christ as their Savior rather than trusting in their own human effort.
• ·         Jesus is the way to God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Come

John 4:23 – Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

John 5:25 – Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

John 16:32 – “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Philippians 3:3-6 – For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

Application:

• ·         “Is coming and has now come” was a reference not only to the future resurrection but also to the fact that Christ gives life now.
• ·         The disciples had faith, but not enough to stand firm in the face of disaster. Jesus knew they would fail; however, His church is not built on people’s strength but on God’s ability to use people even after they have failed.
• ·         Circumcision’s true, inner meaning is realized only in believers, who worship God with genuine spiritual worship and who glory in Christ as their Savior rather than trusting in their own human effort.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV