He Heals

John 4:43-5:15

Good morning, welcome.  Today, we will continue our study of the book of John near the end of chapter 4.  Before we start that passage, I thought we might take a couple of minutes to review what has occurred in the previous chapters so far.  Chapter 1 begins with the beautiful testimony of Jesus as the Word of God and that “in Him was life, and that life was the light of man.”  Then, we were introduced to John the Baptist who came “to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe.”  John the Baptist is not the light and he denies openly to the people that he is not the Christ.  Then, when Jesus arrives the next day, John declares, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”

One of the attributes of the Bible which I marvel at again and again is its truthfulness.  When you read the Word of God, there is no feeling that something is being concealed about the lives of the men and women.  If I were writing a book about heroes, about the chosen prophets, the spokesmen of God, I would try to leave out their warts and weaknesses.  But the Bible seems to go the opposite direction.  It is almost as if God went out of His way to include the weaknesses of the men and women of the Bible.

He Fills Our Thirst

John 4:1-42

Welcome! Today we continue our series from the book of John, digging in to Chapter 4. Last week we looked at John Chapter 3. As a reminder, we talked about Jesus’ conversation with the Jewish scholar and leader Nicodemus. Recall that Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, a statement that bewildered Nicodemus. Jesus went on to tell him that man must be born of water and the Spirit if he wishes to enter the kingdom of God. He also told Nicodemus the heart of the gospel, from John 3:16 and 17: 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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Last week we also saw John the Baptist confronted with the fact that his ministry was waning while Jesus’ was growing. John’s beautiful response began with saying, “A man can only receive what is given him from heaven.” He described himself as the friend of the bridegroom, a specific role in Jewish weddings of that time, and he described himself as full of joy in knowing that Jesus had come, and that his (John’s) role as a forerunner, as preparer, as announcer of Jesus was coming to a close.

He Brings New Life

John 3:1-36

Welcome! Today we continue our journey through the book of John, going through Chapter 3. This chapter includes perhaps the most well-known verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, which says, 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.

As we dig into Chapter 3, I think it will help to first review a few things from the second half of the previous chapter. Just before the Passover, Jesus had gone with His disciples into Jerusalem, and there He drove the moneychangers and people selling animals for sacrifice out of the temple area, saying “Get out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” This of course created quite a stir, and Jesus no doubt was noticed by not only those in the marketplace, but also many of the people gathering for the Passover as well as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.