Journey Through John – Ch 9

JESUS HEALS A MAN BORN BLIND

Unlike many chapters in the gospels, which may include a variety of events, John 9 centers upon one event, where Jesus heals a man born blind. Throughout the chapter, we see a number of “blind spots” if you will from those who respond to this miracle.

This is the sixth sign in the gospel of John.

Bruce Milne, says that this chapter is one of the most unified in the entire gospel because it revolves around one miracle and it maintains a continued focus on light  throughout the entire pericope (Milne, The Message of John. 136, 137).

In summary (yes, before we even begin!), we see two results of Jesus being the light of the world (John 9.39):

  1. He brings salvation to “those who do not see.”
  2. He brings judgment to those who believe they see, but are really blind.

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Journey Through John – Ch8

I. (7.53-8.11) The Woman Caught In Adultery

Then they all went home, 1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Of interesting note, your Bible probably has some sort of editorial note concerning this pericope. The oldest manuscripts of John we have discovered do not contain these verses. So, what do we do with this narrative?

Should we consider it as valid, authoritative and applicable to our lives?

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Journey Through John – Ch 7

Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles (7.1-52)

In large part, chapter 7 seeks to investigate the questions, Who is Jesus and how should I respond? It takes place during one of Israels 3 major feasts.

  • Passover – the beginning of the grain harvest in spring
  • Pentecost – 7 weeks later, at the end of the spring grain harvest
  • Tabernacles – an autumn harvest celebrating the tree and vine harvest

Since the Feast of Tabernacles sets our context for us, let’s briefly look at the importance of this celebration before we jump into chapter 7.

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The God Who Saves: Present & Future Aspects of Conversion [Session 6]

In describing salvation, it has been said:

  • I am saved. (Past)
  • I am being saved. (Present)
  • I will be saved. (Future)*

The above statement reminds us that salvation is a process that God begins within the individual through soteriological concepts like regeneration, conversion, and justification. We have spoken about these concepts in some of our recent discussions. For those who have trusted Christ for redemption, these are past events.

Today, we want to turn our attention to the latter two. The present and future aspects of salvation.

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The God Who Saves: Immediate Effects of Conversion [session 5]

We live in a “fast food” world where we have been conditioned to have things in quick and easy fashion. We pull through a drive through at our local fast food restaurant and expect our food to be ready in the time it takes us to drive around the building after placing our order. Information is at the tip of our finger tips now. Rarely do we need to take a trip to the library to investigate a matter now. We simply ask Siri.

If I’ve come to know anything about salvation and the way God works in the lives of people, It is rarely as quick as pulling through our local Chick fil A or as easy as speaking a question into our phones. God’s timing is not our timing and we all probably wish that God would work a bit quicker in our lives than he often does.

With that being said, there are some things that happen instantly when a person turns to trust Christ as their Savior. That’s what we want to focus on below.

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The God Who Saves: The Gospel Call [session 3]

My wife says that I’ll be deaf in just a couple more years.  I’m not really deaf, I just have the spiritual gift of selective hearing. If the children are getting a bit loud in the house, I have the ability to turn the TV up a notch or two and ignore the ever increasing background noise. If the children are calling “Mama” over and over, I have the ability not to respond. After all, they’re not calling me. Right? I have trained my ear over the last 19 years to detect the level of difficulty of the favor she needs by the tone in which she uses when she calls my name. The greater the difficulty, the more hard of hearing I become.

This week we’ll explore how people come to hear the gospel – which is the first step. Before people can understand and respond to the gospel, they must first hear it.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” Rom. 10.14.

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The God Who Saves: Election/Predestination [session 2]

I been in many conversations with people and when the topic of predestination or election comes up, the respond, “I just don’t believe in election.” There are a couple of options on dealing with this theological topic, but the above option isn’t a very good one.

Why? The topic can be found all throughout the pages of scripture.

And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power” Dt 4:37.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.” Dt 7:6–10.

For many are called, but few are chosen.” Mt 22:14.*

“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.” Ro 11:5.

So our best option isn’t to simply not believe in it, but to approach the topic from a biblical point of view.

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Journey Through John – Ch 6

I. Fish Frying (1-15)

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 

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