John 3:31

 John 3:31 says, He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.  John said that He that is from above is above all things.  There is only One Who is from above, Jesus Christ.  He is the One we point people to, that He might be glorified.  We must never put ourselves above Christ.  John the Baptist again distinguishes between Jesus and every other person to walk the earth, even John himself.  He states, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all."  The reason the gospel is so simple is so that the simplest of mankind can understand it.  When we attempt to understand everything about God, we are doomed to failure.  We spend a lot of time trying to know things about God that we can never understand in this life but must simply accept by faith.  Jesus Himself said if He told us earthly things, and we do not understand, how will we understand if He tells us heavenly things.  We are blessed that all we have to know is the gospel and all we have to do is accept it by faith and then let God have control.  Verse thirty-two adds, And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony   Verse thirty-three continues, He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.  Jesus testified to what He had seen and heard.  The prophets, and even John himself, could only speak of things they had been told, and the same is true for us today.  Jesus not only knew the truth, but He was and is the Truth, yet people will not believe.  We react to what we believe to be the truth instead of listening to the Truth. Yet, for those who do believe, God seals them as His own.  Verses thirty-four says, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.  Jesus is the only way to salvation.  Verse thirty-five adds, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.  He did not have limited ability, but the full power of God.  The Father sent the Son and put salvation in His sacrifice.  Verse thirty-six continues, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him   Those who believe have everlasting life, and those who refuse to believe have not life, but the wrath of God abiding in Him.  The gospel is simple, so we can understand it.  Heavenly things are complex, and we will never understand them in this world.  We cannot force the Bible to conform to our understanding but must simply follow God by faith.  All things will be revealed in His time, and we are told not to worry about them.  We are simply to follow Him, understanding the important things He has told us first, and that is that He died for our sins, and we are to live for Him by faith. 

John 3:27

John 3:27 says, John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. When again asked about his ministry, John said a man can do nothing unless it come down from Heaven, or from God.   Though there are those who think the stars control our destiny, this is not what John was talking about.  He meant we can receive nothing spiritual except from God.  John had a calling to prepare people for the coming of Christ.  He did not aspire to someone else's calling.  We may see someone doing great things for God and get envious, even when we know that is not what we are called to do.  We need to be like John, actively carrying out our task and pointing others to Jesus.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.  John reminded his disciples that he had always said he was only the forerunner of Christ.  With crowds following him, it would have been easy to forget that.  We today may let our success in carrying out our calling lead us to forget that we are but witnesses for Christ.  Verse twenty-nine continues, He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.  John said that the one with the bride was the bridegroom, but that those with the bridegroom rejoiced with him.  We know that the church is called the bride of Christ, and this is what John was referring to.  Verse thirty concludes, He must increase, but I must decrease.  John knew his role was to listen to and assist the bridegroom.  Our role today is to assist Christ in reaching out to the lost world, and in all things, we must decrease, and He must increase.

John 3:23

John 3:23 says, And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.  John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was much water there.  He needed a lot of water, because he was immersing people, and not sprinkling them, and he still had a lot of people coming to hear him who believed his preaching.  Verse twenty-four adds, For John was not yet cast into prison.  John was not yet thrown into prison.  As he was writing this, John the Apostle knew what happened to John the Baptist, and that he had been faithful even to his death.  We today need to remember that baptism is a depiction of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection as we are dipped under the water and raised back up out of the water.  Verse twenty-five continues, Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.  We also need to have the faith to be obedient, even to death.  John's disciples and the Jews began to have a dispute about purification. John's disciples believed in purification by the baptism of repentance, and the Jews who had not accepted John's ministry believed in purification by the Jewish laws.  Then, there was Jesus.  He, through His disciples, was now baptizing, as John's disciples pointed out.  The Jewish leaders may have feared that more and more people would start baptizing and they would lose their position.  Verse twenty-six states, And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.  John's disciples saw the fact that Jesus' disciples were baptizing as disrespect to John.  After all, John had baptized Jesus.  In the world, Jesus is always the dividing point.  We either believe in Him as our Savior at the exclusion of all else or we attempt to ignore or discredit Him.  We cannot hold on to past beliefs or positions in the world to bring us salvation.  There is Jesus, and He is the only way. John's disciples were concerned that more people were coming to Jesus than to John, but that was what John was preparing them for.  He was calling on them to make ready for the coming of Christ the Messiah.  We today do not call on people to follow us or even to join the church, but to make ready for and receive Christ as their Savior.  Once they do, He will lead them to what He wants them to do with their life. 

John 3:22

John 3:22 says, After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.  John tells us that Jesus then went with His disciples into the land of Judaea.  He had been to Jerusalem, where He had very publicly cleansed the Temple and privately had taught Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again.  We today have a public ministry, which is carried out in one respect by gathering together in church.  People passing by know why we are there.  We must also publicly proclaim the gospel to the lost and live out our lives in faith.  We have a private ministry as we teach and learn from each other away from the world, whether at church or at home.  Both are necessary, but after engaging in public ministry that is often not well received, we need private times to encourage one another.  Jesus did not leave Jerusalem simply to rest and relax.  He was still teaching, and the disciples were baptizing while they were there.  Private time with God does not release us from our public obligation to share with others about God.  We need those intimate times to grow closer, but we can never withdraw from reaching out to the world.  We must live out our faith in the world ministering to the lost, even when we know it is not going to be well received.  When we decide the world is to evil for us to interact with those of the world, the gospel begins to die and evil begins to triumph.  Jesus saw things going on in the Temple, God's house, that He knew were wrong, and He confronted the problem.  Before we withdraw to our more private worship and ministry, we must first confront those things that are wrong in the world.  We cannot simply withdraw, or who will spread the truth of the gospel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In John 3:22, we are told that Jesus then went with His disciples into the land of Judaea.  He had been to Jerusalem, where He had very publicly cleansed the Temple and privately had taught Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again.  We today have a public ministry, which is carried out in one respect by gathering together in church.  People passing by know why we are there.  We must also publically proclaim the gospel to the lost and live out our lives in faith.  We have a private ministry as we teach and learn from each other away from the world, whether at church or at home.  Both are necessarily, but after engaging in public ministry that is often not well received, we need the private times to encourage one another.  Jesus did not leave Jerusalem simply to rest and relax.  He was still teaching and the disciples were baptizing while they were there.  Private time with God does not release us from our public obligation to share with others about God.  We need those intimate times to grow closer, but we never can withdraw from reaching out to the world.  We must live out our faith in the world ministering to the lost, even when we know it is not going to be well received.  When we decide the world is to evil for us to interact with those of the world, the gospel begins to die and evil begins to triumph.  Jesus saw things going on in the Temple, God's house, that He knew were wrong, and He confronted the problem.  Before we withdrawn to our more private worship and ministry, we must first confront those things that are wrong in the world.  We cannot simply withdraw, or who will spread the truth of the gospel.

John 3:17

John 3:17 says, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  The purpose of Jesus's coming is further explained.  He did not come to condemn the world.  No one had to come down from heaven to condemn us.  We do that ourselves.  Verse eighteen adds, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Any time we break one of God's Laws we are condemned.  It does matter which Law it is.  In the eyes of God, just thinking of doing something against His Law makes us as guilty as someone who actually breaks that Law, but by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord we are not condemned.  That means we cannot use the gospel to condemn others while using it to find forgiveness for our sins.  Jesus came to save the world by our belief in Him by faith.  When we are born again, we are living under the grace of God.  His grace brings us forgiveness and His grace gives us the strength and ability to do anything He calls us to do.  Verse nineteen continues, And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Verse twenty says, For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  If anyone one is condemned, it is their choice, because Christ came to be a Light unto the world, and they chose darkness instead of light to hide their evil deeds.  We may fool the world, but we cannot hide from the Light.  People who don't want their deeds to be examined by the Light may think staying in the darkness keeps them safe, but it only allows them to stumble around in their disbelief.  People go to great lengths to justify their actions in the eyes of the world, but if what they are doing is wrong under the light of the gospel, then God is not fooled.  Verse twenty-one adds, But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.  Our deeds will either be reproved or manifested by the Light.  If we are doing wrong, our deeds will be reproved, but as His followers we will always want the Light on what we do.  If we begin to attempt to hide our actions in the dark, we can be certain that we need to bring them into the Light.   

John 3:16

John 3:16 states, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever belieth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  I am sure most of us have seen a sign at a sporting event that says John 3:16.  For the lost of the world, this may really mean nothing.  It refers to a scripture verse that many may not know, and some may not even know it is a scripture verse.  I am not saying there is anything wrong with this, but when we witness, we need make sure that people understand what we are saying.   This is our message to the world, that needs to be presented in a way that they understand what is actually being proclaimed.  As we look at this verse, we should be amazed that God still loves the world.  That includes everyone in the world.  He loves even those who are actively working against Him. He loved the world enough to send His only begotten Son to die for everyone, each and every individual.  I have read a translation recently that left "begotten" out.  It no longer says the same thing without it.  We are told through Christ we become sons and daughters of God, but we do not become God.  Jesus, the only begotten Son is the only One Who can make that claim.  Whosoever belieth in Him means none are excluded, if they believe He is their Savior.  That does not mean someone else's Savior, but the Savior of each person individually who would be His. Everlasting life means simply that, life that will never end.  We do not have eternal life, one without beginning or end, since Jesus as God alone is without beginning.  We were born and had our beginning, but Jesus always was.  This does not mean we should avoid saying eternal life, only that we should recognize the difference.  It is only one short verse, but it is the key to salvation.  If we do not believe God did this for us, the rest of the Bible is immaterial.  It is only through belief in this verse, John 3:16, that we are restored to God.