Skip to main content

John 1-3

John
1:1-34 -  Jesus Christ is the Word of God.  He is the Beginning.  He is also the End (1-3; Revelation 21:6).  He is ‘the Word… made flesh’.  ‘We have seen His glory’ (14).  This is only the beginning.  When He returns, we shall see His glory – ‘we shall see Him as He is’ (1 John 3:2).  From Him, there is creation (1-3).  From Him, there is salvation (12-13).  In Him, we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (29,32-34).  He is the Word of God, the Lamb of God and the Son of God (1,29,34).  When we look at Jesus Christ, we see God – ‘the ‘Word was God’ (1), ‘No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known’ (18).  Do you want to know what God is like? – Look at Jesus (14:9).  What do we see when we look at Him? – ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (29).
1:35-2:25 -  Andrew brought his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus (40-42).  ‘You are… You shall be…’ (42).  Jesus looks beyond what we are now.  He sees what we will become through the transforming power of His grace.  The ‘water’ became ‘wine’ (9).  This was the Lord’s doing.  In Christ, we have been ‘made alive’.  This is the work of God.  He is ‘rich in mercy’.  He loves us with a ‘great love’ (Ephesians 2:4-5).  At a wedding, Jesus rejoices with those who rejoice (1-11).  In the temple, He rebukes those who are proud (13-17).  There was ‘death’ in the temple.  Those who were spiritually ‘dead’ acted in complete disregard for the true purpose of God’s House – ‘My House shall be called a house of prayer’ (Matthew 21:13).  ‘Raised from the dead’, we receive ‘new life’ (22; Romans 6:4).  Be real with Jesus.  He will bless you (23-25).
3:1-36 -  We say, ‘I’ll turn over a new leaf’.  Christ says, ‘You must be born again’ (3,7).  Our way of thinking begins with ‘I’.  Christ’s way of salvation begins with ‘God’: ‘God so loved the world…’ (16).  Begin with ‘I’ and you have sin, guilt and condemnation (Romans 3:10-11).  Begin with God and you have Good News for sinners: ‘God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8).  Through faith in Christ, we are ‘born of the Spirit’ (6-8; 1:12).  The Spirit of God is the Spirit of holiness, love and truth.  Those who are ‘born of the Spirit’ are to live a life of holiness, love and truth (1 John 4:2-3,6-7,12-13; 5:2-3).  ‘Come to the light’.  ‘Do what is true’.  ‘Obey the Son’.  Let Christ increase.  This is the work of the Spirit in us (20-21,36,29,34).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 1-3

ROMANS 1:1-32 -  ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith’ (16). Do you think it was easy for Paul to maintain such commitment to Christ, such confidence in Christ? What kind of world did he live in? – A world of ‘ungodliness and wickedness’ (18-31). Many times, Paul could have given up in despair – ‘There is too much ungodliness and wickedness all around me. How can I go on?’ When you feel like giving up, when everything seems to be so difficult, remember Paul. Remember his longing to ‘impart some spiritual gift’, his desire to ‘reap some harvest’ his eagerness to ‘preach the gospel’ (12-15). Let us say, with Paul, ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 6:14). Let us be ‘set apart for the gospel of God’ (1). 2:1-29 -  None of us can ‘escape the judgment of God’. None of us can ‘presume upon the riches of His kindness’(3-4). We dare not come to God like the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Genesis 4-6

Genesis 4:1-5 The name of Abel appears among ‘the heroes of the faith’ (Hebrews 11:14). The story of Abel is a story of grace, faith and obedience. Abel's sacrifice was a blood sacrifice while Cain’s was a fruit sacrifice (3-4). The blood sacrifice points forward - via the Old Testament sacrificial system - to the greatest sacrifice of all - ‘the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7; Hebrews 9:12). The blood sacrifice points to salvation by grace - ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22). Abel’s sacrifice was an act of faith: ‘By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did’ (Hebrews 11:4). The blood reminds us that true faith is always faith in Christ and never ‘faith’ in anything we can ever offer to God. Abel was obedient, bringing ‘the firstborn’ to God. ‘In the course of time Cain brought some...’. 4:6-16 In the story of Cain, we see the development of sin. Jealousy leads to anger, and anger l...
1 comment
Read more

Judges 4:1 - 6:10

Judges 4:1-5:11 Barak is an example of 'faith' (Hebrews 11:32-34). Faith involves believing God's promise - 'I will give...' and obeying His command - 'Go' (4:6-7). God still says, 'Go...I am with you always...' (Matthew 28:19-20). Barak needed Deborah's help (4:8-10). Both needed God's help - 'Our sufficiency comes from God' (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). In Deborah's song, we learn of the importance of giving all the glory to God: 'Bless the Lord...To the Lord I will sing, I will make melody to the Lord...Bless the Lord' (5:2-3,9). We are to repeat the triumphs of the Lord'. This is our high calling as 'the people of the Lord' (5:11). 'Awake, awake, Deborah'...Arise, Barak...' (5:12) - God is still calling His people to wake up, to rise up: 'Rise up O Church of God, awake!' ( Church Hymnary , 477; Mission Praise , 178). 5:12-6:10 'The people of the Lord marched down for ...
Post a Comment
Read more