In John 11:33, we learn that when Jesus saw Mary and the Jews weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  Jesus' groaning in the spirit may have been caused by His seeing their weeping instead of believing in Him.  By their attitude and actions, they had already given up on Jesus.  Even though He was there, He was too late in their view.  When we give up on Jesus, we too cause Him to groan in the spirit.  If we look at events and say it is hopeless, that God failed us, we can be sure that He groans.  Jesus knew He would defeat death and give everlasting life, but Mary and the Jews still seemed to be more concerned with the physical than the spiritual aspect of life.  This would be enough to trouble Jesus.  Our lack of faith in Him when things don't go the way we want today is sure to be troubling.  We have the assurance that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is with us always, yet we still ask why God wasn't there for us.  In verse thirty four, Jesus asked them where they had laid the body, and they said for Him to come and see.  Jesus really didn't have to see where Lazarus was buried to resurrect him.  He does not have to see where people are physically buried today to resurrect them.  Then verse thirty five, the shortest verse in the Bible, in most translations, says Jesus wept.  He was human and was a man of many sorrows, but I don't think He was weeping for Lazarus.  He knew what was about to occur with Lazarus, so there would be no need for tears.  I believe He wept for the fact that His friends were weeping without waiting to see what He would do.  How often today do we shed tears of doubt without waiting for God to act?  Does our lack of faith at times cause Jesus to weep over us?

After Martha left Jesus, we find her going to get Mary in John 11:28.  It says she went to Mary secretly and told her the Master was come and was calling for her.  We don't need to go in secret, but we need to into the lost world with that message the message that the Master has come and calls for them.  Mary, when she heard that Jesus was come, arose quickly and came to Him.  When we witness, that should be the desired outcome, that whoever we are witness to will arise and come to Jesus quickly. When Mary left to go to Jesus, the Jews there followed her.  They thought she was going to the grave.  Sometimes, as Christians, people around us may follow us for the wrong reason, but if they end up in the presence of Christ, then it is a good thing.  They had gone to mourn with her, but they were in for a miracle.  In verse thirty two, when Mary got to Jesus she fell at His feet and said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."  She was once again at the feet of Jesus, but this time more in accusation than adoration.  She didn't care who saw her or how it looked to others. Even in her faith, she fell short of believing in the complete power of Jesus.  If we find ourselves in destress today, we need to fall at the feet of Jesus and put our trust in Him.  No matter how bleak the situation may be, there should always be hope and peace when we come to Him.  We also need to put our coming to Christ above everything else.  Both Martha and Mary, in their own way, went to meet Jesus.  We, as His followers, do not have to hunt the Holy Spirit, but we do need to seek His guidance and comfort in all that we do, and we need to let the world know that we look to Him for strength.

In John 11:25-26,  Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that belieth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  And whosoever liveth, and believeth in Me shall never die.  Believest thou this?"   Notice that once again Jesus did not say that He was a way to the resurrection and the life.  Resurrection and life are through Him alone.  Also, He did not say that one day He would be the resurrection and the life.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, everlasting life with Him begins.  We, as His follower, are not promised, as the saying goes, pie in the sky by and by.  We have the gift of everlasting life with God as soon as we accept Christ as our Savior.  We, like Martha, sometimes try to focus on the physical, instead of the everlasting aspects of life.  If we truly believe that when we leave this world that death has no victory over us, we will begin to focus on the important things of God.  Then, the key to Jesus' statement to Martha, and to all since, is the question, "Believest thou this?"  Until we believe that no matter what happens in this world that we can trust God to see us through, we do not believe as we should.  In verse twenty seven, Martha said to Him, "Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ,the Son of God, which cometh into the world."  Our profession of faith, though made in the world to those around us, must first be directed to Christ.  We should tell others, but first we should say to Jesus, "Yea, Lord.  I believe you are the Savior of the world, and my Savior personally.

In John 11:19, we find that many of the Jews had gathered to comfort Mary and Martha.  Even though Mary and Martha were followers of Jesus, the Jews came to comfort them.  The Jews may have been attempting to kill Jesus, but they still showed respect for these two women who were His followers.  Today, people may show respect for Jesus followers, even when they have no respect for or belief in Him. Then, they heard that Jesus was almost there.  Friends may comfort us in times of trouble and distress, but the real comfort comes through the Holy Spirit being with us.  In verse twenty, when Martha heard Jesus was close, she left everyone else and went to Him.  Even if we have the comfort of friends with us, we should always leave everything and look to Christ first through the Holy Spirit.  Even though she thought He was too late, Martha in her grief still came to Jesus.  When we are grieving, the best place to be is in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  In verse twenty one, Martha tells Jesus that if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died.  She admonishes Jesus for not being there sooner.  Her faith was weakened, but she still came to Him.  If our faith grows weak and we think God has not answered our prayers in time, then we need to go to Him.  He will give us strength.  In verse twenty two, Martha tells Jesus that she knows that anything He asks of God, God will give to Him.  Though weakened by the events, her faifh was not totally dead.  We need a faith today that is not controlled by events but by an unshakable faith in God.  This is the faith that moves mountains.  In verse twenty three, Jesus told Martha her brother would rise, and in verse twenty four, she replied that she knew he would rise again in the resurrection at the last day.  She misinterpreted what Jesus was saying, and often today we can do the same if we aren't careful.  We never need to get so caught up in what is one day going to happen in our relationship to Christ that we lose sight of what He is telling us today.  Lazarus was not just going to live some day in the resurrection, but he was giong to live again in this world.  We need to be living life now, and not waiting for someday.

In John 11:16,  Thomas, called Didymus, said to the other disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."  Some interpret this as meaning die with Lazarus if he were dead, but there would have been no reason for them to die.  Others, including me, see Thomas as saying that even if Jesus were to die returning to Judaea, that they should accompany Him and die with Him if necessary.  That is the faith that we need today.  We must be willing to follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, even if it looks dangerous.  Until we are willing to do as Thomas told the disciples to do, and that is to follow Christ no matter what, we can never expect to see the miracle.  Too often, we are like many who became Jesus' followers then- we want to see a miracle before we follow Him.  When we turn away every time we encounter trouble or opposition in our walk with Christ, we display a lack of faith in Him.  Too often, we are like the disciples, questioning if we should go where we know there is possible danger.  In verse seventeen, it says that when Jesus came, Lazarus had been in the grave four days.  To everyone around, including the disciples, it looked like a trip for nothing.  When we look around as we are doing God's work, at times the situation may look hopeless, but if we are certain of what He is calling us to do, then nothing is ever hopeless.  We may often fail to see a great work from God because we are simply going without faith in the reason we are going.  Though they were going with Jesus, they were not going expecting a miracle.  If we pray for a miracle today, we need to ask that God's will be done and believe and accept the outcome.

After Jesus said these things, in the second half of John 11:11, He said to the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may wake him out of sleep."  In verse twelve, the disciples said, "Lord, if he sleep, he will do well."  Jesus called the death of Lazarus sleep, because for His followers, death has no dominion.  The physical body may perish, but the spirit does not.  Lazarus was a friend of Jesus and the disciples.  As His followers today, we should certainly be His friends and friends of other believers.  We are united through Christ as family.  The disciples thought Jesus was talking of Lazarus being physically asleep and if he were very sick, they thought this would be a good thing.  Also, if he was sleeping, there would be no need for them to go to Judaea and be confronted by the Jews again.  We must not let the fear of confrontation with the world stop us from doing the work of God.  We today may think we are only resting or sleeping when we may be dead in our work for Christ.  If so, we need to allow Him to raise us up to spiritual life again.  In verse thirteen, we are told that the disciples indeed thought that Lazarus was simply asleep, but in verse fourteen Jesus clarified things.  Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead."  Jesus did not have to go to where Lazarus was to raise him from the dead.  He said in verse fifteen, "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless, let us go unto him."  Even when things look hopelss or unnecessary, if God tells us to go, we must go, so that our faith may be established in Him.

After two days, in John 11:7, Jesus said to His disciples that they were going to Judaea again.  The disciples asked Jesus in verse eight, "Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee; and goest thou there thither again?"  From Jesus' decision to go at this time, we can be sure the time was right.  We may not always understand God's timing, but we can be certain that when He says stay we should stay, and when He says go we should go. This may have been a test of the faith of the disciples.  As they said in verse eight, the Jews had just tried to kill Jesus there. They may have been concerned for Jesus, not recognizing yet Who He really is, or they might have been concerned for their own safety, again not recognizing Who He really is.  We need never question the power of God to accomplish His purpose or to protect His followers. Jesus did not answer their question directly.  Instead, He said in verse nine, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyman walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world."  God never expects His people to walk anywhere but in the light of Christ.  We do not need to worry about what the world is attempting to do to us as long as we rest in faith in Him.  When God's time is right, we need only to look to Him.  Then, in verse ten,Jesus said, "But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in Him."  The disciples were becoming distracted by the events that had occurred when they were in Judaea before. This was causing them to stumble in the darkness of a lack of faith.  As long as we are in God's will, we walk in the light.

In John 11:4, Jesus said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."  We know as we continue to read the story that Lazarus was physically dead, but we also know that His spirit lived on.  Some would interpret what Jesus said to mean that God caused Lazarus to die so Jesus could be glorified by raising him back to life.  I don't believe this.  God did not need to manipulate events for Christ to be glorified.  Some would say that Jesus had the ability to physically see the future since He said that the sickness wasn't to death, but I believe He was just in close spiritual contact with the Father and was assured of the outcome.  We must accept the fact that Jesus was fully human, with the limitations of any human, or make Him less than what He said He was.  He was not playing the role of a human, but was indeed a man.  When we go to Christ with our concerns, we want Him to act immediately.  We see in verse five that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but in verse six, that He stayed where He was for two days.  We would think that if Jesus loved them that He would have left immediately to heal Lazarus.  Jesus was not here just for physical healing, but for spiritual healing, and Mary and Martha had to put their trust in Him, no matter what.  The same is true today.  We must abide in faith in Christ, even if the answer we are looking for does not come.  Jesus loved them, but no more than He loves everyone.  There are no favorites for God's love.  We should never expect God to do more for us than for any other Christian.

In John 11:1, Lazarus is sick of Bethany.  He is the brother of Mary and Martha.  Mary was the one who anointed Jesus' feet with ointment and wiped it with her hair.  They were friends of Jesus.  We hear today about people who are friends of someone, such as a president, and that is somehow supposed to make them more important.  This was not what Lazarus, Mary and Martha were trying to claim.  Mary and Martha knew Lazarus was sick and that Jesus could help him.  We need to have that same faith in God today, and come to Him asking and not demanding.  No matter how close we feel to God, we can never make demands on Him.  Neither can we dictate how He will answer our prayers.  People often believe that prayers are unanswered because they are seeking God's stamp on their plan.  We should always filter prayer through the will of God, and accept the answer, even if it is no.  In verse three, the sisters sent for Jesus, saying him whom thou lovest is sick.  We need to go to God with our cares and concerns for the lost and dying world.  Often, they can not or will not do it themselves.  Also, we need to lift up fellow Christians during their times of need.  We need to realize that God loves everyone, and we can rest assured that He will give to us everlasting life, if we only believe in Him.  We do not have to send for Him as He will always seek to draw us to Him.  In verse four, Jesus said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."  We can say the same of spiritual sickness today, if we accept the gift of salvation from Christ.  It is not unto spiritual death, if we call on Jesus for forgiveness.  Our salvation is not for our own glory, but for the glory of Christ.

In John 10:31, the Jews again attempted to stone Jesus.  Men have been attempting to kill Jesus, or His testimony, ever since He first started preaching.  While He was here, they couldn't stop Him from preaching and teaching, so they tried to and eventually did kill Him.  Since then, having killed Him, the world has attempted to kill His word, but since they war against God through the power of the Holy Spirit, they will never be successful.  In verse thirty two, Jesus said He had shown them many good works from the Father and asked for which of these were they trying to kill Him.  If we are truly following Jesus today, all they could charge us with is doing good works if we were confronted by the world.  In verse thirty three, they said they weren't trying to kill Him for His works, but for blasphemy for claiming to be God.  They still did not know Who He really was, even though He told them.  The world today, those who do not believe, will always see Jesus as someone other than the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of mankind.  In verse thirty four, Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your Law, I said, Ye are gods."  That is from Psalms 82:6.  Then, in verses thirty five and thirty six, He asked, "If he called them God's, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him Whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemist; because I said I am the Son of God?"  Jesus never went against what the Scripture said, and neither should we.  If we feel something is wrong, we need to base it on God's word, not our own understanding or desires.  In verse thirty eight, Jesus said, "But if I do, though you believe not Me, then believe the works:  that ye might know and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  If people today do not believe us when we tell them about Christ, will our works prove that He lives in us through the Holy Spirit and that we live in His word and will?  They didn't listen to Jesus, as they again sought to take Him, but He escaped out of their hands.  God's plan for salvation could not be stopped.  We can rest assured in the knowledge that nothing will ever take us from Him.  In verse forty, Jesus went beyond the Jordan to where John had  first baptized and abode there.  Verse forty one says that though He did no miracle, that they said that the things John said of Him were true.  In verse forty two, we are told many believed.  The things we do for God should always be consistent with what the Bible says about God, just as Jesus' life was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the coming Messiah.  We should never need a miracle to believe in Christ.

In John 10:24, the Jews came to Jesus and asked Him to tell them plainly if He were the Christ, the awaited Messiah.  They asked how long He would leave them to doubt. Their doubt was not Jesus' responsibility.  If someone today doubts that Jesus was and is Who He says He is, it is not because He has been unclear about Who He is.  God calls all people to Christ, and gives them the faith to believe, so if people choose not to believe, it is no ones fault but theirs.  In verse twenty five, Jesus said, "I told you,and ye believed not: the works I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me."  If someone were to ask us today if we are a Christian, we should be able to tell them, but our works should also bear witness to the fact.  Still, they did not believe Jesus, as He said in verse twenty six, so we should not be surprised if they don't believe us.  He also said in that verse that they were not His sheep, as He had told them.  Had they been, they would have recognized His voice.  Again in verse twenty seven, Jesus said, "My sheep know My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." One thing we can say with certainty is that if we are followers of Christ, we must recognize His voice, no matter how He speaks to us.  Jesus had spoken to the Jews with both words and miracles, but most chose to believe neither.  Then, in verse twenty eight, He said He gave them eternal life, though I still personally think everlasting life is a better description, since the definition of external is without beginning or end.  They will never perish nor be plucked from His hand.  We have everlasting security in Christ.  In verse twenty nine,Jesus said His Father Who was greater than all gave them to Him, and no man was able to pluck them out of the Father's hand.  This applies to all believers for all time.  Then, in verse thirty, Jesus said, "I and My Father are One."  Some day, we will truly understand that statement, but for now we can only accept and believe it.  We worship one God, through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In John 10:19, we read once again of a division amongst the Jews over the teachings of Jesus.  God's people should have no trouble understanding what He says, but often do.  Again many of the Jews, God's chosen people, accused Jesus of having a devil or being mad.  We might expect this reaction from the world, but certainly not of God's chosen people.  God's people today, the church, should never argue over the nature of God.  Others of the Jews once again pointed out that these were not the words of one with a devil, and that a devil could not open the eyes of a blind man.  Both Jesus' words and actions spoke of Who He was, but many simply refused to see.  The same is true today.  God's words and actions through the Holy Spirit speak to the truth of Christ as the Messiah, the Savior of mankind. This all happened in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication when it was winter we are told in verse twenty two.  In verse twenty three, we are told Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomon's porch.  This was done to remember the dedication of a new altar and the cleansing of the second Temple during an the reign of Judas Macabbaeus.  Jesus came to cleanse not only the Temple, but all the wrong actions and attitudes of worship.  We today have our Christian holidays, but sometimes it seems we lose sight of the significance they have. The religious holidays were not the problem, but how and why they were worshipped were often seemingly forgotten.  We need to insure that God is honored, no matter the occasion of celebrating what He did for us.  Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny often get more attention than the manger and the cross.

In John 10:11, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."  If we are to follow the example of Christ, we should be willing to give everything to protect the church, His sheep.  He gave His life for all people, but He protects those who are His.  We need not fear the forces of evil, because we have the Good Shepherd to protect us. In verse twelve, Jesus says that the hireling, who doesn't own the sheep, when he sees the wolf will flee and abandon the sheep.  The hireling does not set out to harm the sheep, but still puts himself ahead of the sheep.  Though Jesus alone is qualified to be the Good Shepherd, we as His followers need to ask how we behave when trouble comes to the church.  We can act as the Good Shepherd and lay down our life in defence of the church, God's people, or we can look to what is best for us.  In verse fourteen, Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and are known by mine."  As His followers, His sheep, we must know and recognize His voice in order to follow Him.  In verse fifteen, Jesus said, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep."  The death of Jesus for the salvation of the world was the Father's will. In verse sixteen, Jesus spoke of other sheep not of this fold.  He was speaking of the Gentiles who were not of the Jewish fold.  That includes us.  He was not speaking of people in America,or anywhere else, that He physically appeared to.  His life on this earth was in a particular place in a particular time for a particular purpose. As He said in verse seventeen, no one took His life, but He willingly lay it down, so He could take it up again.  As we are confronted by the lost world, how much are we willing to lay down for their salvation through Christ.  If we must, then we can rest assured that Jesus will raise us up again to everlasting life.

In John 10:6, we see that the people did not understand the parable of the Good Shepherd.  Often today, even we as His followers may fail to understand what Jesus is telling us, so it should be no wonder that the lost world fails to understand.  Jesus, in verse seven, says that He is the door for the sheep.  Again, in order for anyone to be His sheep, His followers, they must go through the door that only He can provide.  To state it once more, Jesus is not a way to salvation, but He is the only way.  In verse eight, Jesus said all that came before Him were theives and robbers, but His sheep didn't hear them.  There had been others who claimed to be shepherds of Israel, but they had sought their own glory.  The scribes and Pharisees were supposedly the ones leading people to God, but instead they sought their own position of power.  We are never to feel that we in anyway control salvation and are superior to other people.  We are to be His sheep, His servants, and to reach the lost world with His message.  In verse nine, Jesus said, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."  We go in and out into the world to witness for Christ, but we rest secure in His protection.  We have our needs met through Him as we find pasture.  Too often, we want more than just having our needs met.  We think another pasture looks better than the one God has provided. That is when the thief steps in.  In verse ten, Jesus warned of the thieves coming to kill and destroy, but that He came to give abundant life.  When we look to the things of this world to bring satisfaction instead of looking to God in obedience, we have that abundant life stolen.  We sometimes seem to believe that abundant life means material riches, but instead it means a close personal relationship with Christ.  If we go in and out through the door of Christ, we will not be led astray.

In John 10:1, Jesus spoke of the nature of a shepherd.  He first said that anyone who entered by any other method than by the gate was a theif and a robber.  If someone tells us that we as His followers, His sheep, can get into heaven by any method other than the gate of the cross of Christ, then they are as thieves and robbers.  There is only one way to heaven, and that is through the gate that Jesus leads us through.  In verse two, Jesus said he who enters through the gate is the shepherd.  Jesus was telling the people that there was but One spiritual Shepherd, and He came openly and honestly.  God does not have to sneak into people's lives.  He calls us to enter into His fold openly.  We may hear Him as a still, small voice, but it will not be disguised as anything else.  The porter opens the gate for the Shepherd, and His sheep recognize His voice, and He leads them out.  We could say that the Heavenly Father was the Porter Who opened the gate for Jesus to claim His sheep.  We, as His sheep, should recognize His voice.  There should be that close, intimate relationship between Christ and His followers.  If we have trouble recognizing His voice, we need to pray and listen.  Sheep need a shepherd to lead and protect them, and we need a Shepherd, Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, to lead and protect us.  If we ever fail to know where we are headed spiritually, then we can be sure we are not following the Shepherd.  Verse five says the sheep will not follow a stranger, but will flee because they do not recognize his voice.  When someone or something is calling us away from following Christ, we need to flee from it.  As long as we are following closely behind the Shepherd, nothing can lead us astray.  We simply have to listen to His voice, and follow after Him.

Starting in John 9:34, through the end of the chapter, we have the end of the story of the man who was blind and the Pharisees.  In verse thirty four, the Pharisees accused the man of having been born in sin.  Since they viewed him this way, which was in keeping with their teachings, they asked how he could think he could teach them.  When people feel superior to others, they will not readily listen to what that person has to say.  This is especially true with religion based on man made rules.  Since they viewed him as a sinner from birth, they cast him out.  Since they viewed themselves as the keepers of the way to God, this was serious.  It would be like those denominations today that feel that a person must go through them to get to God putting a person out of the church.  Fortunately, this was not true then nor is it now.  In verse thirty five, when Jesus heard what had happened, He sought the man out.  No person nor organization can bar us from Christ.  Jesus asked the man, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"  This is the key question for everyone throughout history. For those before Jesus, it meant believing the Messiah would come, and for those since, believing that He did come in the Person of Jesus.  The man asked Who He was that he might believe.  Jesus said in verse thirty seven, "Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee."  Even if we don't at first recognize Christ, or even His works, He will make Himself known to us.  In verse thirty eight, he said, "Lord, I believe," and worshipped Him.  If we accept Jesus as our Savior, He becomes our Lord and we should always worship Him.  Jesus said in verse thirty nine, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."  The Gentiles did not know God, but Jesus opened their eyes.  The Jews professed to know God, but were blind to Who Christ was.  They relied on man made traditions to set themselves above others, and needed to be blinded to that idea in order to see Jesus as the Messiah.  When the Pharisees asked if they were blind, Jesus said no, that if they were blind, they would be without sin, but they professed to see, therefore their sin remained.  They felt superior, but Jesus said there attitude condemned them.  We can never excuse sin, but if we start to feel that we are above those poor sinners, we need to ask God to forgive us and reach out to them with His love.

The Jewish religious leaders continued to try to claim Jesus was a sinner, but the man who was blind presented his case for why Jesus could not be a sinner.  In John 9:30, he stated that herein was a marvelous thing.  First, it was strange that they professed to know nothing about Jesus, especially since they sought to kill Him.  The Pharisees prided themselves on knowing what was going on in the community, but with Jesus performing miracles around them, they professed to not know Him.  There are many people today who take pride in their knowledge of the world, yet even if they have heard of Jesus, profess to know nothing about Who He is.  For the Pharisees, and all like them, that would fall under willful ignorance.  Second, it was a marvelous thing that they should question the divine mission of One Who had performed a divine miracle.  In verse thirty one, the man said that God hears not sinners.  Some believe that means that we have to go to someone here on this earth who is worthy to speak to God for us.  That is not what is being said.  God does not hear sinners who come to Him through any means other than the cross of Jesus.  It also means that even if God works through those who do not believe in Him, it is not because they asked it of Him.  In verse thirty two, he asked if anyone in history ever heard of a man blind from birth being given his sight.  This could not be explained in natural terms, nor had any prophet of God ever done such thing.  We can be sure that when God performs a miracle that nothing can explain it away.  Then, in verse thirty three, he says, "If this man were not of God, He could do nothing."  We today, as His followers, must acknowledge that of ourselves, we can do nothing, but through Christ, all things are possible.

In John 9:24, they called the blind man again and told him to give God the praise, because they said they knew that Jesus was a sinner.  It is a good thing to give praise to God, but not when that means that we are attempting to use praise for the Heavenly Father while denying the Son.  Jesus was not what the Jews were looking for in a Messiah, and He is still not what so many are looking for today.  The man who was blind said in verse twenty five, "Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."  Again, he was not acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, but simply as the One Who had healed him.  The Jewish leaders again asked how he had been cured, and he said he had already told them, and asked if they would also be His disciples.  Matthew Henry states this could be a real invitation for them to become disciples, or most likely he was speaking ironically.  They didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah and wanted to kill Him, so why were they so interested in Him?  There are those people today who question everything God does, not because of a desire to follow Him but to attempt to discredit Him.  In verse twenty nine, they said they knew God spoke through Moses, but they didn't know where this man came from.  They counted themselves as followers of the teachings of Moses, but didn't hear his teachings of another Who would come, and they hadn't checked for themselves to see Who Jesus was.  If people today want to know Jesus, they will not find Him in history or tradition,, but must go to Him personally and He will reveal to them Who He is.  Jesus did not deny the work of Moses, but instead validated it.  We need to acknowledge all those who have worked to further the gospel, but we also need to realize and proclaim that there is but One Savior, Jesus Christ, and any who would know Him can by simply responding to His call.

In John 9:18, we read that the Jews refused to believe the man had been blind.  If they couldn't find Jesus to discredit or silence Him, then they would try to discredit the one He had helped.  If people cannot discredit God directly today, they will attempt to discredit His followers.  We should not be surprised when we are called all sort of things by the world.  The followers of Christ have always been attacked, since God cannot be defeated.  The Jews called the parents of the man who had been blind and asked if he were their son who had been blind.  We should not be surprised if people ask others about us when we profess salvation through Christ.  They may be attempting to prove that nothing really happened to make a change in our life.  If this were not the man who had been blind, then either Jesus or he was a liar.  The parents said that this was their son, which only served to validate the miracle.  When people attempt to discredit God, often all they can really accomplish is to validate His power. The parents said they did not know how he had been given his sight.  Just as we cannot be saved by our parents' relationship to Christ, neither can they be saved by ours.  Until an individual meets and accepts Christ as their Savior, they cannot understand the work of Christ to bring salvation.  The parents said that the man was of age, so they should ask him.  If people want to know about our salvation, they should ask us.  No one else can really tell them how we were saved.  The parents feared the Jewish leaders because they had said anyone confessing that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.  Since the synagogue was the center of most worship and the Jews were His chosen people, that would be like putting someone out of the church today because they believed in Jesus as their Savior.  The parents again said go ask him.  Even if the once blind man were banned from the synagogue, he would still be able to see.  As followers of Christ, it doesn't matter if we are banned from every church and organization in the world, if we are His disciples, we can never have salvation taken from us.

In John 9:12, when the man who was blind said he didn't know where Jesus was, the people brought him to the Pharisees.  As Christians, if we are asked where Jesus is, we should be ready to point the lost to Him.  The man had received his sight, but he then lost sight of Jesus.  As His followers, we must never lose sight of Him.  The man told them how he had received his sight because of what Jesus did on the Sabboth. The Pharisees were once again more concerned with the fact that this happened on the Sabboth than they were that the man could see.  Again, we need to do the will of God everyday, even on the Sabboth, or for us Sunday.  Following Christ is a relationship, not just rules and regulations.  They said Jesus was not of God because He didn't keep the Sabboth.  They were still missing the important fact, and that was that Jesus healed the man of life-long blindness.  When people are healed today by someone acting in God's name, we need to concentrate on the healing, not when or how it was done.  We also have to be careful that we know God is being glorified, and not the person acting for Him.  We cannot dictate God's miracles, so to say that we can heal just anyone is not what God teaches.  Some of the Pharisees asked the question of how a sinner could do such miracles, so once again there was a division amongst the religious leaders.  Today, there are at times divisions amongst the religious leaders over what Jesus through the Holy Spirit can do, but if this is true, it is because they have lost sight of Jesus.  When they asked the man who he thought Jesus was, he said in verse seventeen, "He is a prophet."  The man did not truly recognize Who Jesus was, or if he did he didn't say, yet he was healed.  God today heals people without them acknowledging Who He really is.  We can never say that someone who is miraculously healed is a follower of Christ, nor can we say that those who aren't healed are not followers.  When we have a true relationship with Christ, it is about the everlasting life, not the temporary of this world.

When a miracle occurs, people, even non believers, become curious.  In John 9:8, the neighbors of the man who had been blind asked, "Is this not he that sat and begged?"  Though this was a physical change, when we accept Christ as our Savior there should be a change in us.  People, especially non believers, should know that there is something different about us.  We cannot behave like the lost people of the world and expect them to be drawn to Christ.  In verse nine, some said it was the man and some said it wasn't.  They were his neighbors, but to acknowledge that he was the man they knew who had been blind meant acknowledging a miracle, and some evidently didn't want to do that.  Today, some people will look for any explanation for a miraculous healing except the work of God.  The man said it was him.  Then, in verse ten, they asked him how were his eyes opened.  We as followers of Christ need the world to ask us that question today, but in reference to our spiritual sight.  In verse eleven, he told them that the Man called Jesus had anointed his eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Saloam.  He did as Jesus said and his sight was restored.  Nothing elaborate or too difficult occurred.  When people today ask about salvation, it is nothing elaborate or difficult.  We simply respond to the call of God to come to Him through faith in Christ.  When we do, our spiritual sight is restored.  We should never go back to seeing the world as we did before.  We should always remember that this Man called Jesus made us whole, and that as His disciples our main purpose is to proclaim Him to the world.

In John 9: 1-7, we have the record of Jesus healing the blind man.  Verse one states that Jesus saw him as He passed by.  The man was blind from birth, and in verse two the disciples asked Jesus if it was because of the man's sins or his parents' sins.  How often today do people see someone suffering and think it is because they have committed some sin.  At times, if a Christian sees another Christian struggling or suffering, it is believed that Christian must be guilty of some sin.  Jesus, in verse three said, Neither hath this man sinned,nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.   Not all suffering is the result of an individual's sin, but when God relieves someone of that suffering, He will be made manifest.  In verse four Jesus said,"I must work the works of the One Who sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work."  Today, we might say with all our artificial light that we can work in the darkness of night, but Jesus was speaking of a spiritual darkness.  We cannot do the works of God in spiritual darkness.  Matthew Henry also equates the comlng darkness with our own mortality.  We must work while we have life and opportunity.  In verse five, Jesus again stated as long as He was in the world He was the light of the world, but His time was growing short.  In verse six, Jesus spit on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes.  Jesus did not need clay to anoint the man's eyes to heal him, but did this to see if the man would allow Him to heal him, no matter the method.  How many of us would have allowed a stranger to put this paste on our eyes.  We must never feel that anything that God asks us to do is beneath us.  The man was told in verse seven to go wash in pool of Siloam, which we are told by interpretation is Sent.  The man had to have faith to allow Jesus to put the mixture on his eyes and to go and wash them where Jesus told him to go.  We must have faith that Jesus will redeem us of our sins and then go in obedience to Him wherever He sends us.  The man returned seeing, and we will go forth seeing spiritually when we obey God.

Then in John 8:52-53, the Jews still tried to put a physical interpretation on what Jesus was telling them.  They said since He said that if a man kept His saying he would never taste death, they knew He had a devil.  Abraham was dead, and the prophets were dead, and they wanted to know if Jesus thought He was greater than them.  Then they asked Jesus who made Him so.  That He was greater was what He had been trying to tell them the whole time, and that the heavenly Father made Him so. Their first mistake was looking at things in simply physical terms.  Jesus' physical death was a necessity.  When we look to Christ today it has to be with the understanding that He frees us from spiritual death, not physical.  Their other mistake was thinking no one could be greater than Abraham and the prophets.  They were looking for the Messiah, so they had to know that One greater was coming.  No matter how great a Christian might be viewed to be, there is One greater that they represent.  Then, in verse fifty four and fifty five, Jesus said if He honored Himself, His honor was nothing, but the Father honored Him.  He said they did not know the Father, but He did, and if He said He didn't know Him, then He would be a liar. We, as His followers must honor God in all things, and through the sacrifice of Christ, we can know the heavenly Father.  Then, Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see His day and saw it.  Did He physically see it?  No, but he saw it by faith looking ahead.  Then, in verse fifty six, they said that Jesus wasn't fifty years old, so how could He have seen Abraham.  Then, in verse fifty seven, Jesus said, " Verily, verily I say onto you, Before Abraham was, I am."  He didn't say He was or that He would be, but I am.  We serve the eternal God, the great I Am.  The Jews responded by attempting to stone Jesus, but He slipped away out of the Temple.  We today can either accept Jesus for Who He is or attempt to discredit Him, but we can never change Who He is.  He is the great I Am, the eternal God.

Then, in John 8:49-51, Jesus said, "I have not a devil; but I honor My Father, and ye dishonor me.  And I seek not my own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth.  Verily, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death."  Jesus did not respond to the Samaritan accusation, but He denied the accusation that He had a devil.  This questioned His character.  He said He only honored His Father and did not seek His own honor.  If we are attacked about our ethnic or national identity, that has nothing to do with our spiritual condition.  Yet, we are often more concerned with nation of origin than with the Kingdom of God.  If we are accused of being a demon possessed individual, then we need to make a strong denial if we are followers of Christ.  Then Jesus said if anyone kept His saying, he would never see death.  He was not speaking of physical death, but of spiritual death.  We know that we may face physical death, but as His followers, we will never face spirtual death, that everlasting separation from God.  Jesus said they dishonored Him with their accusations and disbelief, and this is still true today.  Anytime any one refuses to accept the salvation freely given by Jesus, they dishonor Him.  Just as Jesus came to bring honor to the Father and not glory to Himself, so must we do as His followers.  If we get to the point where we are receiving all the glory, then we are not following the leadership of Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Our life must reflect God if we are to be effective witnesses.

In John 8:46, Jesus asked the Jews, and the religious leaders, which of them could convict Him of sin.  That is what they would have to do in order to legally kill Him.  We hear the same idea put forth by Christians at times today.  The statement will be something to the effect that God is causing bad things to happen to them, so He must not be much of a God.  In verse forty seven, Jesus said that those who are of God hear His word.  This means to believe what we hear from God.  Those who question God when something bad happens to them do not understand the word of God.  Just as the Jews of His day did not believe Jesus because it threatened their position, some today question God because of earthly circumstances.  We must truly hear what God is saying to us.  When we do not hear God, we are not of God.  Then, in verse forty eight, the Jews accused Jesus of being a Samaritan possessed of a devil.  They really didn't want to believe Him.  Being a Samaritan was low enough, but being a Samaritan possessed of a devil was even lower.  We should not be surprised today when people accuse us of all sort of things when we witness and live for Christ.  They either have to attempt to discredit us or believe what Jesus said was true.  To believe what He said and not accept it as the truth of God would take a truly evil person.  Are there such people in the world?  When we see the actions of some people, that would seem highly possible.  Some people just don't want to give up control of everything, so they must attempt to discredit God.

In John 8:43, Jesus asked them, "Why do ye not understand My speech?  Even because ye cannot hear My word."  Why do so many people refuse to believe in the salvation of Christ today.  It is not complicated, but many,many people, when the gospel is presented refuse to accept it.  The Jews in Jesus' day heard the actual speech, but they refused to believe the words that Jesus was speaking.  To be a follower of Christ, we must listen in the faith that God gives us and believe in what He says.  In verse forty one, again speaking to those who had just said that they had but one Father, God, Jesus told them they were the children of the Devil.  He continued to say that they would do the lust of their father, the Devil, who was a murderer from the beginning. He abides not in truth.   The devil speaks in lies, because the truth is not in Him.  The Devil knew the truth, just as all the other angels did, but he chose to follow his own desires.  When he failed, he began to lure people with his lies, and he became the father of lies.  In verse forty five, Jesus said, "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not."  If we are the children of the devil, the father of lies, we cannot accept the truth, because it would condemn us.  People always have a simple choice.  We can either believe the father of lies or the Father of truth.  As the followers of Christ, we have chosen to believe the truth of God.

In John 8:39, Jesus told them if Abraham was their father, they would do the works of Abraham.  Today, if we are God's children, we need to do the works of God.  That does not mean judging and condemning others.  Jesus said He didn't come to condemn but to save, and that is our work today, to lead people to the salvation of Christ.  In verse forty, He said they were trying to kill Him for speaking the truth of God, so they were not doing what Abraham would do.  As Christians, our example is Christ, so anytime we are not doing what He would have us do, we are acting more like the children of the Devil.  This does not mean we are not saved, but that we are working against the will of God.  As the descendants of Abraham, the Jews were not living up to their calling.  In verse forty one, they claimed to be the children of Abraham and thereby of God.  They said they had one father, even God.  They were relying on the fact of their physical birth and not the relationship with God that it brought.  Jesus spent a lot of time explaining His unique relationship to the Father, so it is very important that we never ignore that relationship today.  We must come to God the Father through Jesus the Son.  In verse forty two, Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I preceded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me."  When we go to witness in the world, we do not go on our own, but we go because God sends us and we go in His name and under His power.

In John 8: 37, Jesus tells the Jews that He knows Abraham is their father in earthly terms.  Sometimes, people today feel the same way about Christianity.  If asked about their relationship to God, they say their mother and father have always been Christians, or that they grew up in the church.  God knows this about people, but the question is what have they done about Jesus.  Jesus said they sought to kill Him, because His word had no place in them.  It was not enough to be born into the family of Abraham without understanding what that meant about their relationship to God. No matter where we were born or who our parents are, we must have a personal relationship with Christ as Savior and Lord to be a part of His family.   He also told them that His word, the truth' was not in them. We can believe the truth of the world, with big bangs and evolution, or we can believe the truth of God with creation and redemption through Christ.  If we choose to believe the world, the truth is not in us. If we present any other way to salvation, the truth is not in us.  In verse thirty eight, Jesus said He spoke what He had seen with His Father and they did what they had seen with their father.  Doing the things our fathers do may be a good thing or it might lead us far away from God.  The only way to follow God is to hear what He is saying to us.  Jesus presented to the world the way to follow in obedience to the Heavenly Father, and He is the example we must follow.

Many of the Jews believed in Jesus as we see in John 8:30.  The religious leaders were the ones who opposed Jesus the most.  He told them in verse thirty one that if they continued in His word they were His disciples indeed.  If we are His followers, we must continue in His word.  This does not bring us salvation, but it shows our commitment to Christ for what He did for us.  In verse thirty two, Jesus said to them, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  When we accept the truth of God, we are free from the power of sin, and we are free indeed.  The Jews told Jesus they were the descendants of Abraham and had never been in bondage to any man, so how could Jesus say they would be free.  We may have never been in bondage to any man, but we have definitely been in bondage to sin.  They were still looking with a worldly understanding, not a spiritual one.  Jesus told them this in verse thirty four, when He said anyone who commits sin is a servant of sin.  That includes everyone, because all have sinned except Jesus.  He then said that a servant doesn't abide in the house forever, but the Son does.  Sins power over us does not last if we accept Jesus as our Savior, but His salvation last forever.  If we put our faith in Him, as He said again in verse thirty six, we are free indeed.  Only the Son, Jesus the Messiah, can accomplish this.  If we allow sin to rule us after we accept Christ, it is because we choose to.  Contrary to the popular saying, the devil cannot make me do it.  As His followers, God will always give us the power to overcome temptation, if we put our trust in Him.

In John 8:27-30, Jesus continues with His discussion with the Jews around Him about Who He was.  He first notes that they don't understand that when He spoke of the one Who sent Him that He was speaking of the Heavenly Father.  When John wrote this, he knew Who Jesus was and could better understand the reaction of the Jews to Jesus.  We today have a whole history since His coming and dying for us to help understand peoples reaction to Him.  If they don't believe everything Jesus said about Himself, they will die in their sins.   In verse twenty eight, Jesus said when they lifted Him up, they would finally understand Who He was.  He wasn't talking about lifting Him up in celebration, but lifting Him up on the cross.  Before we can celebrate Jesus as Savior, we must acknowledge putting Him on the cross.  He was there for my sins, and everyone else's, so only when we accept that fact can we be redeemed.  Only after accepting Him as Savior can we celebrate Him as Lord.  Until then, it doesn't matter where we were born or how good a life we have lived, He is not our King. There may be those who say they have never have done anything to need forgiveness for are like the Jews Jesus was talking to.  They are relying own there own goodness or some other thing to justify themselves, and it cannot be done.  Being a descendant of David did not save them, nor can a belief in our own goodness save us.  Jesus said in verse twenty nine that He Who sent Him had not left Him alone.  Since the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One, Jesus was truly never alone with the exception of the cross.  After this, many people believed in Him.  Still today, some believe and some do not.

In John 8:21-27, Jesus was again explaining His unique nature.  He said, " I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: whether I go, ye cannot come."  From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus let people know He wouldn't be in this world long.  Fortunately for us, He promised when He left, He would send a Comforter to be with us until His return.  He warned them that they would die in their sins because they refused to accept Him as the Messiah.  If a person today dies in their sins, it is their own choice, as it has always been.  The people, the religious leaders in particular, asked if Jesus was going to kill Himself, since He said where He went they could not come.  It is sad when God's people so utterly fail to recognize what He is saying.  Jesus said, in verse twenty three that they were from below and He was from above and that they were of this world and He was not.  Again, He was telling them that He was the Messiah.  There are things we will never understand in this life, but that Jesus is the only way to salvation is one that we must.  Jesus said they would die in their sins because they did not recognize Him as the Messiah.  In verse twenty five, they asked Jesus again Who He was, and He said the same as He said from the beginning.  His testimony never changed then, nor has it since.  In verse twenty six, Jesus said that He had many things to say and judge of them, but He Who sent Him was true.  Jesus said He spoke to the world those things He had heard from the Father.  When we speak the things of God we can be sure they are true, whether the world accepts them or not.

In John 8:12-20, Jesus spoke of Himself as the light of the world and had another encounter with the Pharisees.  Jesus said in verse twelve, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  There is never a time when we are active that we do not need light to move around effectively.  The only time we don't need light is when we are asleep.  Spiritually, if we are to move effectively, it must be in the light of life that Jesus brings.  The Pharisees said that Jesus bore record of Himself, so His record could not be true.  Again, they were seeing Jesus only as a man and not as the Messiah.  We hear people today say that we as Christians only have the Bible to support our claims, but as Jesus told the Phrisees, this is not true.  He said He had Himself and His Father, and the witness of two was true in their Law.  We have the Bible and the Holy Spirit to attest to the truth of Jesus as our Savior.  Jesus bore record of Himself, but it was not He alone but the One Who sent Him.  He said the Pharisees were judging by the flesh and didn't know where He came from.  We cannot base Christianity on worldly standards.  Jesus said He judged no man, but if He did, His judgment would be true. We are not called to judge, but to spread the light of Christ to the world.  In verse nineteen, speaking to some of the most religious people of His time, Jesus said they neither knew Him nor His Father, because if they knew Him they would know the Father.  We must always see Jesus in the spiritual light that He gives us.  If we know Him, we know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Who are One.  Jesus said these things in the treasury, as He taught in the Temple.  There is no reason for His followers to struggle in darkness, when He is our light.

In John 8:1-11, we have the record of Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees about the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus had been up on the Mount of Olives overnight, but had returned to the Temple to teach.  It says all the people came to Him.  He was not hard to find.  Again, when we seek Jesus, He is always easy to find and ready to teach us.  The Pharisees came also, not to take Jesus but to get His judgment on a woman caught in adultry, evidently by herself.  The world is never going to trick God.  People have been attempting to prove Him wrong since the Garden of Eden, but it will never occur.  The Pharisees really weren't concerned with the woman, but with trapping Jesus into making the wrong decision.  They knew what the Law of Moses said, but wanted to hear what Jesus said.  If we bring any decision before Jesus we need to make sure that it is to seek His will, not to justify ourselves or to seek punishment for others.  Jesus stooped down and wrote in the ground.  In verse seven, He said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."  Then, He continued to write in the ground.  People today speculate about what He wrote, but whatever it was combined with His words sent all her accusers away.  We today must never be guilty of casting the first stone at anyone else's sin.  Instead of seeking their punishment from God we need to seek their forgiveness from Him.  Our own sins convict us, but He forgives us, and we should seek the same for others.  When Jesus looked up, the woman was alone.  He asked her where her accusers were and had no man condemned her.  She answered, "No man, Lord."  They had brought her to trick Jesus, but had to slip away in defeat.  We can rest assured that God will always be victorious over those who would attempt to discredit Him.  The last part of verse eleven was the good news for the woman and for any who come to Jesus for forgiveness.  "Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more."  There was a call for a change in her life.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, it calls for a change in our life.  We are no longer to allow sin to rule our life.  We will never be perfect in this, but we are to recognize when we have sinned and remove it from our life.  We, like the woman, are guilty but forgiven.

In the last few verses of John 7, there is a continuing debate about Jesus' claim that He was the Messiah.  Again, in verse forty seven, the leaders of Pharisees and the chief priests asked those that they had sent out if they were so easily deceived.  We have to remember that these were not only God's chosen people, but those that considered themselves to be the best of His people.  They were proud of their own standing.  Today, there may be some who are more concerned with their status as a Christian than they are of their service to Christ.  They were more concerned with religious policy than they were with worship. While Christ was continuing to teach during the feast, they were attempting to stop Him.  When religious leaders become more concerned about their position than the presenting of the gospel, it is not the gospel that deceives.  Then, the Pharisees and chief priests, after stating that none of them believed in Jesus as the Messiah, called those who did the same as the Gentiles. Guess what?  They were correct, but not for the reason they thought.  We have to realize that we are no better than any other Christian because of who we are.  Then Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus by night asked, "Doth our law judge any man, before it heareth him, and know what he doth."  We should always get the facts before we judge, but those who oppose Christ will never acknowledge the truth of His salvation.  Notice, they did not answer his question, but simply dismissed him as being from Galilee.  They contended no prophet could come out of Galilee.  When we dismiss people, or even try to discredit them because of where they were born, we are not following the example of Christ.  They were also attempting to limit God by deciding where prophets could or could not come from.  We need to be careful that we never attempt to dictate what God can or cannot do.  Then, they all went to their own homes, some believing, some questioning, and some completely rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.  Today, after encountering Christ, the same thing occurs.  It is always an individual decision about what to do with Christ.

In John 7:40-47, there is once again a division among the people over Who Jesus was. Many said that of a truth, this was the Prophet.  They were looking at Jesus as a prophet like Moses or a forerunner to Christ.  We as His followers have to have no doubt that He was and is more than just another prophet of God.  Others recognized Him as the Christ, which we must do also.  There is no other.  Then, others disputed this because Jesus was from Galilee, and the Scriptures said the Messiah would be from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, where David was from.  We cannot us the Scripture to support our view when we don't have all the facts.  They were accurate in what the Scriptures said, but they did not have all the facts of the birth of Jesus.  We must have all the facts of a situation before we decide if it is Scriptural or not.  In the division among the people, some would have taken Him.  The world that opposes Christ today may attempt to limit or stop the spread of the gospel, but they cannot as long as we as His followers put our faith in Him.  The Pharisees wanted to know why those they sent to sieze Jesus returned without Him.  Since He came into the world, those who oppose Jesus have wondered how they could stop Him.  Those sent by the Pharisees said, "Never man spake like this man."  They at least recognized that there was something different about Jesus.  The Pharisees asked them if they were also deceived.  Many people today are going to attempt to claim that Christians are just deceived by believing in Christ, but we must stand firm on the truth.  Jesus was and is and always will be the Messiah.

On this last day of the feast, in John 7:37-38, we read that Jesus said to the people, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.  He that belieth on me,as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters."  If we are thirsty for hope as His followers, there is only one place to go, and that is to God through Jesus, the Messiah.  If a lost person is looking for salvation, there is only one place to go, and that is to Jesus.  The answer to the problems of life cannot be found in religion, philosophy, materialism or any other place.  On this issue, we have no choice but to be close minded.  The only way to salvation is Jesus.  Jesus said those who believed on Him would have rivers of living water flowing out of him.  We go to Jesus for living water, but once we do, we have that Living Water flowing out of us. We, as His representatives here on earth, must let the gospel flow out of us like living water.  In verse thirty nine, it says Jesus spoke in the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, but was not yet come because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus said when He went away, the Comforter would come.  That is the way we encounter Jesus today, through the Holy Spirit.  I find nothing in the Bible that says Jesus is going to appear on earth again until He comes back to claim the church, His people.  Once He ascended, and the Holy Spirit came, it is the Holy Spirit we must look to for leadership.  He will indwell us, and we will have that Living Water flowing in us.

After Jesus had said in John 7:34 that where He was going they could not come, the Jews were still thinking in earthly terms.  We have to see the promises of God from a spiritual understanding, not a physical one.  I think this is why we often look to material things as a sign of God's blessings.  They asked if Jesus might be going to the Jews dispersed among the Gentiles or even to the Gentiles.  They should have realized that they could go to these places themselves.  They might not have wanted to, but they could.  They then questioned His statement with an attitude of disbelief.  Where can He go that we cannot go.  There are so many people today who do not want to acknowledge that Jesus was more than just a man, and they ask what He can do, where He can go, that they cannot do or go.  He was speaking of His ascension after His crucifixion, somewhere they certainly could not go, but they were offended by His claim that He could go somewhere or do something that they couldn't.  That is the problem with many people today.  They don't want to think that Jesus, or anyone else, can do anything they cannot do for themselves.  We must acknowledge our inability to do what Jesus did for us.  Until a person is willing to acknowledge his or her own inability to find salvation through his or her own efforts, that person will continue to be without hope.

In John 7:31-34, Jesus continues to speak to the people about Who He is and why and how He had come to them, and the people continued to be divided over Who He was. Many people believed in Him and said, " When Christ cometh, will He perform more miracles than these which this man has done?"  They believed because of the miracles.  Only One sent from God could have this power over natural forces.  There may be some who come to Christ today because they have seen a miracle, and that is good.  Even believing in Him, they asked if the Christ when He came could do more.  This could be seen as doubt, but was likely an expression of new faith.  Could any else do more.  No one could.  Today we might occasionally ask the same thing and we have to answer that no one else can do what Christ did.  When the Pharisees and chief priests heard the people, they sent officers to take Him.  In verse thirty three, Jesus said to them, "Yet a little while I am with you, then I go unto Him Who sent Me." He continued in verse thirty four, "Ye shall seek Me, but ye shall not find me."  The Pharisees and chief priests thought they could easily arrest Jesus, but He said not yet.  People of the world today may feel that they can easily stop the gospel, but God says not yet.  No matter how many plans are made to halt the gospel, it will go forth.  We need to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, and there will never was nor ever will be another.  God is fully in charge of the time when the return of Christ will mark the end of the proclamation of the gospel.  Until then, we must witness for the time is not yet.  All those who seek Him shall find Him.

In John 7:28-29, Jesus cried in the Temple, "Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but He that sent Me is true, Whom ye know not.  But I know Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me."   Jesus spoke loudly so those Jews hunting Him might hear Him.  Once again, we can be sure that Christ will make Himself known to us.  He isn't hiding away making it hard for us to know Him. Salvation was made simple so the least of us could understand, and God calls out for us to respond.  Jesus said they did know Who He was physically, but that wasn't enough.  We today have to know more than the physical facts about Jesus.  That does not let us know Who He is.  He said He did not come of Himself.  He was sent by the Father, as the Messiah that they looked for.  God had promised the Messiah would come, and His word was true.  Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise.  When we witness today, people are going to know who we are in the eyes of the world, but we must make them understand that we come in the name and under the power and leadership of God.  Jesus said that the people there didn't know the Father.  He was speaking mainly to the religious leaders who wanted to kill Him.  We need to pray that we will never attempt to proclaim the word of God without knowing Him.  Then, Jesus said He knew the Father because He was sent by Him.  When we as His followers go into the world today, we go because He has sent us.  In verse thirty, they attempted to take Him, but could not, because His hour was not yet come.  They were prevented from taking Him by the power of God.  We have that same power protecting us today, but we must realize that for some, our hour may come.  The question is whether we will be faithful until the end.

In John 7:25, the people question the religious leaders.  They asked if Jesus was not the one they saught to kill.  When people chose to oppose God, they often do not even recognize Who He is.  No matter how much people attempt to discredit or deny God, His work in the world is always visible.  The Jewish leaders who were attempting to kill Jesus evidently didn't even either recognize or acknowledge Him.  Then, in verse twenty six, they said Jesus spoke boldly and they did nothing to Him.  Then, more in derision than belief, they asked if the religious leaders didn't know Jesus was the very Christ.  Even under the threat of death, Jesus spoke boldly, and so must we.  We can never let a real or perceived threat keep us quiet about salvation and the goodness of God.  In verse twenty seven, they denied that Jesus could be the Christ, because they knew where He came from and none would know where Christ came from.  They were mistaken in more than one aspect of the coming Messiah.  They saw only the human nature of Jesus, but not His divine nature.  We can only be saved by Christ if we recognize both His human and divine nature.  Also, though none knew when the Messiah was coming, His birth was foretold in the Scriptures.  We need to realize that people will even use the Bible in an attempt to discredit Christ.  Some do this from a superficial understanding of what the Bible says, and others from a deliberate distortion of what it says.  We must ensure that when we speak of what the Bible says that it is from a God given understanding.

Jesus was being charged with working on the Sabbath, and this is one of the reasons the Jewish leaders were using to persecute Him.  In John 7:21, Jesus said, "I have done one work, and ye all marvel?"  They were not talking about His healing the man, but about His doing it on the Sabboth.  We cannot set time limits on God's work.  If a person is doing something good for God on a Sunday at church time, we don't need to condemn them for working and missing church.  In verse twenty two, Jesus reminded them that Moses had given them the Law, from the Father, which they were attempting to persecute Jesus on, but the Jewish people circumcised on the Sabboth.  Circumcision was ordained and practised by the Jews forefathers before Moses and was incorporated into Mosiac Law.  It took priority over the Sabboth.  Jesus said if it was lawful for them to break the Sabboth rules to do something they saw as more important, then why were they condemning Him.  Healing was of a higher priority than not working on the Sabboth.  We must be careful that we don't condemn people for breaking one religious rule, or even Commandment if we would be more accurate, when we are guilty of breaking others ourselves.  There is never a time when we should fault a Christian for doing good works for God.  If religious rules come in conflict with doing the will of God, stand on His will.

In John 7:19, Jesus reminded the Jews that Moses had given them the Law, but they didn't follow it.  He then asked them why they went about trying to kill Him.  The nation of Isreal was unique, not because they were any better than any other group of people, but because the had been chosen by God to be His people and to reach the rest of the world.  As such, they had been entrusted with the Law given to Moses.  They failed to keep that Law, making the need of the Messiah necessary.  We today as His followers, His people, are entrusted with the Gospel, but we often fail to live up to our calling.  Jesus asked the Jews searching for Him to kill Him why they were doing that.  When we look to the people of the world hoping God will punish them for their evil deeds, we have to ask who we are to condemn them, since we are all underserving of salvation.  In verse twenty, the people accused Jesus of having a devil.  They accused Jesus of either being demon possessed or delusional.  How far from the truth could God's people get?  We need to pray that we will never get so determined to mold God into our own desires that we attempt to credit His work to the devil.  They also seemed unwilling to believe that their religious leaders were attempting to kill Him.  We should always support our religious leaders, unless we know that what they are doing goes against God's word and will.  Jesus did not answer their accusation.  He knew the truth and was there to lead them to the truth.  We do not need to argue all the false claims made against Christ and Christianity.  We only need to present the truth and lead others to it.

In John 7:17, Jesus said, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."  Speaking to the Jews, Jesus said if the knew God's will,  they would know the doctrine of Christ, of the Messiah, and whether He only spoke of Himself.  The only way we can know the truth of whether what someone is proclaiming as the word of God is if we do the will of God.  Then, in verse eighteen, Jesus said if someone is calling attention to himself, and not to God,he is seeking his own glory.  The message some people proclaim today is all centered around what God has done for them, how He has blessed them, and how they have been rewarded materially.  We need to point people to Christ through the power of God's will.  Again, if we are to be His followers, we must look to His example, and that leads us to daily take up or cross.  Jesus never said He would make us rich in this world, but that we were to lay up our treasures in heaven.  If we follow Him, we must live by faith in Him and not by faith in things of the world.  When we hear someone say that God wants us to be happy so He is going to materially bless us, point them to the example of Christ.  Material things will never satisfy.  We must learn to be content in Christ, no matter our material status in the world.

When people began to recognize Jesus, they didn't say anything for fear of the Jews, but in John 7:14, Jesus went up to the Temple to teach.  This is not the action of someone who is hiding in fear.  Even if the whole world were to be against Him, God will never hide in fear.  That is what we as His followers often do, though.  We surrender without a fight because we fear those who are in power more than we trust God.  The people marvelled, wondering how Jesus could know so much when He was unlearned.  Jesus, in verse sixteen, Jesus told them that His doctrine was not His own, but that of He Who sent Him.  There are many highly educated people today who do not know God and they look down on poorly or less educated people who proclaim Christ as Savior.  We must realize that education, though important, is not the determining factor in knowing Jesus and understanding God's will.  The only way to understand the will of God is through a personal relationship with Him, and then we must listen to and proclaim His doctrine.  We can almost come to worship formal education more than a calling from God.  Jesus did not call His disciples based on their education, but instead on their willingness to follow Him.  If we are to be effective witnesses today, we must be grounded in the doctrine of God.  We will understand His doctrine as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, and His doctrine will always be consistent with His written word, the Bible.  Jesus did not cite His credentials or His degrees, but simply said He was teaching the doctrine of God.  That is our challenge today, no matter what the opposition might be.

In John 7:10, it states that after His brethren left, Jesus went up to Judaea Himself to the feast, but He went quietly.  It says He went not openly, but as in secret, but I think this means without announcing His coming.  Sometimes, we may be better off just quietly going about doing God's work without calling attention to ourselves.  Even though He was in their midst, the Jews were still looking for Him, but for the wrong reason.  If we today are looking for Jesus for the wrong reason, we are not going to find Him.  If we are looking for someone other than the Savior of the world or for some reason other than salvation by His sacrifice, we are not going to find Him, even though He is always in our midst.  When I see signs that say, "Let's bring God back to America," I cannot help but think that He never left.  When we feel a lack of the presence of God in our life, our community, or our country, we need to acknowledge that His absence is not the problem.  We can even say that the actions of the lost people is not the problem.  We see in verse twelve that as the religious people, the Jews, looked for Jesus, the other people around Him recognized Him.  They murmured about whether He was a good or bad man, but they knew He was there.  The people of God, the Jews, did not recognize Him even when He was there.  If there is a lack of the presence of God in America, or anywhere today, the problem lies with His people.  Jesus was not hiding at the feast, and God is not hiding today.  He is with His followers, expecting us to make Him known to the world.

In John 7:6, Jesus told His brethren that His time was not yet come.  Even though He was the Son of God, Jesus came to earth for a purpose, and He set the example for everyone who believes in Him to follow.  We are to do things on God's schedule.  Again, this does not mean every minute is preordained, but that we need to daily seek God's guidance for that day.  Jesus then told them their time was alway ready. They had nothing to do to keep them from going to the feast, but Jesus had to use His time wisely.  As His followers, when we have time to spare, do we look for ways to serve God, or do we look for ways to serve self?  Jesus pointed out another difference between His brethren and Him.  No one was trying to kill them as they were Jesus.  We may have problems where we live, but very few people are trying to kill us because of our faith.  In many countries where they are trying to kill Christians, the Christians there are more faithful than we are.  We need to follow Jesus' example, and follow the will of the Father no matter what.  Jesus said He could testify that the works of the world were evil.  We seem to think we have it a lot worse than anyone before us, but the world has been evil since the Garden of Eden.  Our time is much better spent witnessing to the salvation of Christ than moaning about the evils of the world.  If we begin to spend all our time talking about how bad the world is, then how do we get out the message of hope?

In John 7:1, Jesus was still in Galilee.  He was there because the Jews wanted to kill Him.  He was not there out of fear of the Jews, but because His time had not yet come. We, as His followers, must never retreat from a situation because we are afraid of the world, but we must make sure that God's timing is right before we confront any situation.  Jesus was not hiding out, but was walking around Galilee.  Again, even if we know God's timing is not right for us to witness in one place, that does not mean it is not right in another.  Of course, it also means when we know God's timing is right, we must move into the battle, no matter the cost.  The Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles was approaching, and His brethren encouraged Jesus if He was going to Judea to celebrate.  They wanted Him to show His disciples His works.  They implied that He was wasting His time in Galilee.  We must be content to witness for and serve God wherever He leads us.  Some preachers are always looking for a bigger church, but God may want them where they are.  His brethren told Him that He wasn't getting enough acclaim by staying in Galilee.  When we start to look for personal acclaim in our service to God, we are already off course.  Jesus came to seek and save those who were lost, not to be a world acclaimed leader.  In verse five, we see that Jesus knew that they weren't doing this because they believed Him, but because they didn't.  They were basically daring Him to prove He was the Christ by worldly deeds.  Some today who do not believe will challenge us to prove that Jesus is the Savior by doing some worldly miracle, but faith can never come by sight.  His brethren knew Who He was physically, but they did not know Who He was spiritually.  We must have that spiritual relationship with Him to truly understand what He is calling us to do.  We can never act just because people urge us to.

When following Christ becomes hard in earthly terms, what will we do?  In John 6:64, Jesus told those who were following Him that there were some who did not believe in Him.  Living in the Bible Belt, there are many people who profess Christianity, but there is little evidence that they really follow the teachings of Jesus.  Many people were following Jesus for all the wrong reasons.  They did not fool Him.  We are told that Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would betray Him.  Does this mean that He had some super human ability that we do not possess?  I don't think so.  I think He knew because of His close personal relationship with the Father.  If we today are in a close, personal relationship with God, we may many times see those who profess to believe in Christ do not live by His teachings.  That does not mean we are to judge others who profess to be Christians, unless they begin to disrupt the church.  Jesus again reminded them that no one could come to Him on their own, but had to be called by the Father.  We know that He calls all to Him.  Notice, Jesus did not send the people away, but they left on their own.  Those who follow Jesus for their own benefit will eventually tend to turn away on their own.  Even if they don't turn away in this lifetime, there will come a day when Jesus sends them away, but it will still be from their own choice.  In verse sixty seven, Jesus asked if the twelve would leave Him also.  We need to be able to say and mean as Peter did in verse sixty eight, "Lord, to Whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life."  If Jesus is not Who He said He was and is, where will we go?  There is no other way.  Peter said in verse sixty nine, "And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God."  We must believe and be sure of this above all else.  Then, Jesus said He chose the twelve, and one, Judas, was the devil.  He did not send him away, and Judas still could have believed.  If we are following without believing, we still have a choice.