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Jesus has healed this couple’s son from blindness and fear seems to paralyse them. Fear can paralyse. There were certain people who certainly did not like what Jesus Christ was teaching and doing and if people followed Jesus too closely, or even appreciated Jesus, there was that threat that they might be excluded from the local synagogue. What a way to behave.

These parents are afraid because of the appalling attitude of the religious leaders of the day and they are unable to appreciate the amazing miracle which the Son of God has performed on their son, who was blind,…  ( Click for more )

Jesus anoints the eyes of a blind man with a little ointment He has manufactured using mud and saliva and He tells him to go down to the pool of Siloam and wash. We read of this incident in John Chapter 9.

Jesus is testing the man. Go down to the pool and wash in that water. Jesus is giving him something to do to demonstrate his co-operation, and to show his willingness to co-operate with Christ, and obey Jesus.

To co-operate with Jesus can heal you in all kinds of ways – physically – mentally – emotionally – spiritually. Co-operating with Jesus…  ( Click for more )

Nobody ever got into so much trouble for doing good as our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. So frequently we see him ministering to someone in need and in real need, and all of a sudden, from some quarter, there comes a wave of opposition, or criticism or antagonism.

In John Chapter 9, we read of a man who has been born blind. Jesus noticed and observed this man’s predicament.

This blind man had never ever seen. He had never seen people. He had never seen the creation around him. He had never seen his own parents. This is a unique miracle, but the controversy…  ( Click for more )

If I had to go back and check this passage in John Chapter 8 last week, before I sent it off, I have had to return and check the words of Jesus for this week’s study, and that is never a waste of time. We come to verse 34.

Verse 34. Everybody who sins is a slave to sin. We are all slaves. We are either slaves to sin or slaves of Jesus, and Paul makes that so clear in his letter to the Romans, and in other passages too.

This truth can be painful to those who think they are free and liberated. Unconverted people detest this sort of thing, but it is true.

There…  ( Click for more )

Our last study concluded with these questions. Will you last? Will you go and grow? Will you continue and survive and thrive and be fruitful?

Why are these questions so vitally important? Well, many people fall away over the years and many compromise and wander and even edit or water down the Word of God.

We are in John Chapter 8 and at verse 31. Jesus is speaking to Jews who had come to believe and Jesus knows that there has to be a continuing. As you continue in My word, you will find that what you have received is confirmed to be true. As you receive it and…  ( Click for more )

We are reading and have been reading about the consequences of rejecting the truth of God. It was serious then, and it is equally as serious today. What happens to people who reject Jesus and His Word?

We are in John Chapter 8 and we come to verse 21, where we have these words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “You shall die in your sins, and you cannot come where I am going!” Now, that is strong, and to many people it may appear and sound shocking, but it happens to be true.

To go where Jesus is we must believe He is who he claims to be, and have faith…  ( Click for more )

Jesus offers to keep us out of darkness permanently – not out of danger – nor out of suffering – but out of darkness.

This is one of the reasons why we follow Jesus – to be with Him – and to be with all the others who are following Him. It is called Fellowship. We are in John Chapter 8.

At this point the Pharisees come to Jesus and challenge Him – not follow Him – and basically they are saying, “We don’t believe a word you say. We have only got your word for it. Nobody else is saying these things about you. There…  ( Click for more )

We have been reading in John Chapter 8 of Jesus Christ meeting that human darkness and studying how Jesus dealt with human darkness, where these men came with that woman caught in the act of adultery. They tried to corner Jesus, to trap Jesus, to catch Jesus, to ensnare Jesus, to tie Him up as He tried to answer their rather clever question.

Jesus dealt with them so ably, and we saw how Jesus dealt with the woman – lovingly but firmly – tenderly, but with a strong clear warning.

Jesus goes on to say, “I am the light of the world”. These next words…  ( Click for more )

In this opening scene in John Chapter 8 we have four ‘groups’ present. We have Jesus and people who want to hear Jesus teach, and who want teaching from Jesus – and we have the teachers of the law and the Pharisees – and this woman caught in adultery.

Jesus exposes the world’s ways. John explains how Jesus exposes the world’s systems. They had a system. Do not fall in line with men’s systems.

The authorities barge in with this woman and demand that Jesus deal with the situation there and then! Now, no matter what Jesus said,…  ( Click for more )

We come to an incident in the life of Jesus Christ which is so full of meaning, but it almost did not make it into God’s Word. We move on in our study of the Gospel of John to Chapter 8 and verses 1 to 12.

It is about a woman being brought to Jesus, and it was almost lost! In some early manuscripts it does not appear. Why was it left out? Well – if read superficially it could look as though adultery is all right. I can see some people’s fear and problems and apprehensions with this passage.

It is almost saying that no human being has the right to…  ( Click for more )

In John Chapter 7 and at verse 43, after Jesus had called the people to come to Him and drink and be satisfied, the people were divided. We are designed to be satisfied. When God created us He created us perfectly and if there had been no ‘Fall’ then we would never have experienced dissatisfaction.

Jesus has been speaking about the coming rivers of the Holy Spirit, and John is able to testify about knowing these refreshing streams for some sixty years. It started that day in the Temple in Jerusalem and it has never dried up. Many can testify to that.

Do…  ( Click for more )

Can you imagine the apostle John in his 90’s telling all this to the dear disciples in Ephesus? What John is writing about here in John Chapter 7, they had personally experienced. He is writing about that day when Jesus Christ called out with a loud voice in Jerusalem during the closing day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you are thirsty, come to Me and drink. Come and take a sip from Me, and that sip will be transformed into a never ending reservoir. That is the picture being given.

It was in March 1969, when Jesus Christ gave me that amazing sip, when He baptised…  ( Click for more )

We are in the middle of a most powerful passage, as we come to John Chapter 7 and verses 25 following. There is question and answer, involving Jesus Christ and those who were opposing Him.

We have also been seeing some of the reasons why so many people keep their distance from Jesus. They will not openly come out for Him. They will not publicly decide that they are going to follow Jesus Christ. That is one of the lessons emerging from these conversations. This is one lesson we learn here which is so relevant and apposite to what we frequently meet today.

Never be afraid,…  ( Click for more )

Resistance to truth always deepens our darkness. As we obey the truth and the light which we have, we open ourselves to receive more and more truth and light.

We see this so clearly in John Chapter 7. Doctrine is one of the crucial issues in this Chapter, and that is why at times we must be careful about making simple snap quick decisions. There are matters we are to take time to consider carefully.

We learn in this passage how we can know whether we are walking in the Will of God. Verse 17 makes that very clear, and the next verse can give each of us motivation.

In…  ( Click for more )

When you come to believe in Jesus and become really committed to him, people soon treat you differently, peculiarly, in a funny way, and I am not sure we ever become used to that!

We are John Chapter 7, and as the Feast of Tabernacles approaches Jesus is aware of a plot in Jerusalem to kill Him.

Why did people treat Jesus like this? Well, He told certain people that what they did was bad and evil, and generally speaking, people do not like to be told that. That does not make for popularity.

After his brothers left for Jerusalem for the Festival, Jesus decided to go,…  ( Click for more )

What is it that keeps so many people away from Jesus Christ? When Jesus Christ loves men and women, with the love of God, and heals people, and ministers to ALL kinds of needs, forgiving sins, and removing many of the consequences of sin, why is it that so many keep as far away from Him as possible?

What is it that keeps so many people away from such a loving powerful merciful healing compassionate comforting Christ?

These verses in John Chapter 7 give us part of the answer to these piercing and penetrating and profound and upsetting questions.

These are the questions…  ( Click for more )

We are reading and studying and even meditating upon these profound words of Jesus Christ in John Chapter 6. They are not to be rushed through and hurriedly dealt with. This is Almighty God talking to us and with us.

In verse 52, the Jews become argumentative, and they begin to ask, “How can He give us His flesh to eat?” They just dismissed what Jesus Christ was saying. Jesus speaks here not only about eating flesh, but drinking blood.

This was anathema to the Jew. This was offensive to the Jew.

What Jesus is saying is – I have got to die, and…  ( Click for more )

We have been reading of what is God’s number one priority where in John Chapter 6 and verse 29, we are told, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent”.

The people around Jesus say to Him, “Give us a sign and we will believe”. Give us visible proof. Do another miracle. These people had received bread and fish and it appears they had been too busy eating to realise the significance of it all.

They say, Moses gave us bread from heaven. What You did was nearly as great as Moses. You did it one afternoon only. Moses…  ( Click for more )

We come to John Chapter 6 and verse 25. We have been reading in detail, and I hope studying, that passage about Jesus Christ feeding the 5,000, and then of how Jesus slipped away when He realised that the crowd wanted to make Him king, for the wrong reasons. And, that night, when His disciples were in real trouble in the middle of the Lake of Galilee, Jesus Christ goes to them walking on the water, to rescue them and to see them safely on the shore.

It is now morning, and back where Jesus had fed the 5,000 there are people looking for Jesus, and He is nowhere to be seen.…  ( Click for more )

We are in John Chapter 6 at verse 16, where Jesus Christ had just miraculously and supernaturally fed that massive crowd with provisions which appeared inadequate, but in His capable and able hands everyone was fed and satisfied.

That evening, the disciples sailed off across the lake without Jesus Christ.

Now that is always a dangerous thing to do – to move off and away without Jesus.

It was dark, and on that lake, some 13 miles by 8 miles, a storm arose, and they are in danger of losing their lives. These tough seasoned fishermen were only three miles or so…  ( Click for more )

We are in John Chapter 6, where crowds of people have come to hear Jesus Christ and a little boy has handed over five loaves and two fish. The people are hungry and Jesus cares.

Make the people sit down. There were around 5,000 men, plus women and children. We do not know what the exact number was, but what we do know is that Jesus made the people sit down and sometimes we too have to say that to people.

Jesus took the bread and the fish. He gave thanks and He distributed the bread and the fish. He just kept breaking off more and more bread and fish, until the people…  ( Click for more )

We move right on to John Chapter 6 where we read, “Some time after this” – some time after what – after the healing of the man who had been paralysed for 38 years – after this first head to head confrontation with the hard cold legalistic Jews, where they hear Jesus Christ speak about judgment – and where they hear about the anointed Messiah the Son of God speak about heaven and hell.

We do not hear very much about the judgment of God in these days. I wonder why? Do not miss what Jesus says in Chapter 5 regarding those who have done good…  ( Click for more )

In John Chapter 5 and at verse 39 we have an astonishing statement from Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You search the Scriptures, but you have missed the secret, because you have missed what they are all about. They testify about Me. They point to Me.

These are massive points Jesus is speaking here.

In verses 37,38, Jesus is teaching that it is the providential Father – Almighty God – Who is behind me.

These men looked but they have missed, and were missing, what they were looking for.

It is possible to read the Bible and miss Jesus Christ. The Jews…  ( Click for more )

We have been looking at how Jesus dealt with the accusations of sacrilege and blasphemy in John chapter 5. How did Jesus deal with being accused, when men accused Him? He spoke out the truth of God. He did not run away from his accusers. He did not resign his commission nor give in nor give up. Jesus knew He was right, so He spoke the truth.

If I heal on the Sabbath I am right to heal on the Sabbath.

If I claim to be the Son of God, it is because I am the Son of God, so you better honour me and respect me. Verse 22. One day I will be your judge and I will determine…  ( Click for more )