John 7:10

John 7:10 says, But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  After His brethren left, Jesus went up to Judea 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 are not the problem.  Verse eleven adds, Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?  The religious people, the Jews, looked for Jesus, the other people around Him recognized Him.   We need to be able to recognize Jesus for Who He is, or we will be looking for Him in the wrong place. Verse twelve continues, And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people. 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. Verse thirteen concludes, Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.  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.  When people began to recognize Jesus, they didn't say anything for fear of the Jews.  We do not need to let fear keep us from witnessing for Jesus.   

John 7:6

John 7:6 says, Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.  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 always 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?  Verse seven adds, The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.  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? Verse eight continues, Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come.  Jesus told the disciples to go up to the feast, but once again said His time was not yet come so He wasn’t going.  The people were still trying to make Him a physical king and the religious leaders were still trying to discredit or arrest Him, but it was not yet time for that to occur.  Verse nine concludes, When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.  After saying this, Jesus abode in Galilee. 

John 7:1

John 7:1 says, After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.  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. Verse two adds, Now the Jew's feast of tabernacles was at hand.  Verse three continues, His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.  The Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles was approaching, and His brethren encouraged Jesus to go 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.  Verse four states, For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.  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.  Verse five adds, For neither did his brethren believe in him.  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. 

John 6:67

John 6:67 says, Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Jesus asked if the twelve would leave Him also.  There may come a day when we have to answer that question.  Verse sixty-eight adds, Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  We need to be able to make this confession as Peter did.  If Jesus is not Who He said He was and is, where will we go?  There is no other way to salvation.  Verse sixty-nine continues, And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.  Peter said that they believed and are sure that Jesus was that Christ, the Son of the Living God.  We must believe and be sure of this above all else. Unless Jesus is Who He says He is, we have no hope.  Verse seventy states, Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?  Verse seventy-one adds, He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. 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. 

 

 

John 6:64

John 6:64 says, But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.  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 superhuman 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. Verse sixty-five adds, And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.  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.  Verse sixty-six continues, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  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. 

John 6:59

John 6:59 says, These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Jesus tells us that He spoke these things at the synagogue at Capernaum..  Verse sixty adds, Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?  Many of His disciples said this was a hard saying and asked who could hear it.  Some things that God tells us are hard to hear.  It is much easier to hate your enemies than to love them, for example.  The disciples basically began to murmur.  It was bad enough that those who opposed Him murmured against Him, but how much worse for His disciples to do it.  We today as His followers have a tendency to murmur against God when things don't go the way we wanted.  We discount what God is asking us to do to be just too hard.  We sometimes use the expression, "It's not humanly possible."  That is most likely true.  If we are acting strictly out of our human ability, and it can be accomplished, then we feel no need of God and begin to operate under our own power.  It is only when we acknowledge that only by God's power can we accomplish what He has called us to do that we can really find success.  When God calls us to do a hard thing, remember it is not hard for Him.  We simply need to trust that what He is asking us to do can be accomplished by putting our faith in Him.  With God, all things are possible. Verse sixty-one continues, When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?  When Jesus knew the disciples murmured, He asked them if the things He had said offended them.  We need to ask ourselves if anything about the gospel offends us.  We cannot pick and choose the parts we wish to believe.  If we come for anything other than allowing Jesus to be Savior and Lord of our life, then the gospel will indeed offend us.  Jesus then told those following Him that He spoke of spiritual things. Verse sixty-two asks, "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up to where He was before."  He wasn't speaking about what might possibly happen, but about what He knew had to happen.   Verse sixty-three continues, It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. He then said the Spirit quickens and brings life and the flesh profited nothing.  Jesus said the words He spoke were Spirit and they were life.  We need to spend our time listening to the words of life from the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes, we treat salvation as a get out of hell free card, but not as a call to discipleship.  Jesus knew that His physical body would soon be destroyed, but He also knew that it was necessary to complete the plan of salvation.  This does not mean we are to ignore or punish our bodies, but that we are to put faith in Christ above all else, even our physical life.  If we spend more and more time and money on the physical than the spiritual aspects of life, we may need to examine our priorities.  When following Christ becomes hard in earthly terms, what will we do?