J.C. Ryle

Ryle: On Loving Christ

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In his excellent book ‘Holiness’, J.C. Ryle expounds many of the great lessons of the Christian life, and of our growth in grace.  You can find the book here on Amazon, and for free here online. It’s well worth the read.  Even though its a book that was first written over a hundred years ago, it is very easy to read, and very plainly written.

In the 15th chapter of the book entitled ‘Lovest Thou Me?’, Ryle talks about the Christian affection for his Lord.  He tells the story of a Native American Indian who loved Christ, which I have copied below, but before he tells that story, he explains some great things about loving Christ that I thought you all would enjoy.  Below is the text of this passage:

…if you do not love Christ, let me tell you plainly what is the reason. You have no sense of debt to Him. You have no feeling of obligation to Him. You have no abiding recollection of having got anything from Him. This being the case it is not likely, it is not probable, it is not reasonable that you should love Him.

There is but one remedy for this state of things. That remedy is self-knowledge, and the teaching of the Holy Ghost. The eyes of your understanding must be opened. You must find out what you are by nature. You must discover that grand secret, your guilt and emptiness in God’s sight.

Perhaps you never read your Bible at all, or only read an occasional chapter as a mere matter of form, without interest, understanding, or self-application. Take my advice this day, and change your plan. Begin to read the Bible like a man in earnest, and never rest till you become familiar with it. Read what the law of God requires, as expounded by the Lord Jesus in the fifth of St. Matthew. Read how St. Paul describes human nature in the first two chapters of his Epistle to the Romans. Study such passages as these with prayer for the Spirit’s teaching, and then say whether you are not a debtor to God and a debtor in mighty need of a Friend like Christ.

(he continues on…)

For another thing, if you love Christ, never be ashamed to let others see it and know it. Speak for Him. Witness for Him. Live for Him. Work for Him. If He has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood, you never need shrink from letting others know that you feel it, and love Him in return.

“Man,” said a thoughtless, ungodly English traveller to a North American Indian convert, “Man, what is the reason that you make so much of Christ, and talk so much about Him? What has this Christ done for you, that you should make so much ado about Him?”

The converted Indian did not answer him in words. He gathered together some dry leaves and moss and made a ring with them on the ground. He picked up a live worm and put it in the middle of the ring. He struck a light and set the moss and leaves on fire. The flame soon rose and the heat scorched the worm. It writhed in agony, and after trying in vain to escape on every side, curled itself up in the middle, as if about to die in despair. At that moment the Indian reached forth his hand, took up the worm gently and placed it on his bosom. “Stranger,” he said to the Englishman, “Do you see that worm? I was that perishing creature. I was dying in my sins, hopeless, helpless, and on the brink of eternal fire. It was Jesus Christ who put forth the arm of His power. It was Jesus Christ who delivered me with the hand of His grace, and plucked me from everlasting burnings. It was Jesus Christ who placed me, a poor sinful worm, near the heart of His love. Stranger, that is the reason why I talk of Jesus Christ and make much of Him. I am not ashamed of it, because I love Him.”

If we know anything of love to Christ, may we have the mind of this North American Indian! May we never think that we can love Christ too well, live to Him too thoroughly, confess Him too boldly, lay ourselves out for Him too heartily! Of all the things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this, I believe, will surprise us most: that we did not love Christ more before we died.

Study Notes 7-14-12

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Below are the notes from yesterday’s lesson.  I’ve got a few extras in there that I didn’t have time to mention – including some notes I had found from Jonathan Edwards on the 35th verse.  Enjoy!

6:22-24 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. [23] Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. [24] So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

  • But the essence of what was going on here is that the next day, once everyone had been fed, and had gone home and slept (while the disciples were going through quite a trial on the Sea), they came looking to see what Jesus was up to, and what He might do and say today.  Again, their motives were not entirely pure…as MacArthur says, they were “thrill seekers.”

6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

  • Sproul aptly points out that when they said “when”, they really were meaning “how.”  For they had seen that Jesus had not gone out in a boat with the disciples, but rather had gone along by himself to pray (Mark 6:46).  However, Jesus doesn’t answer their question…

6:26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

  • This is a stern rebuke – once again Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God sees right into their hearts.  Earlier in chapter two, we read that, “…when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25).
  • James Montgomery Boice points out that there is application here even for Christians.  He asks us to closely examine our own motives as Christians when we come to Christ in prayer. “In am convinced that in our day in American Christianity there is a lamentable tendency to focus on human need rather than on God himself.”  He goes on to explain what he means by that, “What is wrong (with just coming to Christ with our needs all the time) is that it is tragically possible to so focus on our needs that we are actually focusing on ourselves rather than on Jesus, and so never get to the solutions to our problems that Jesus wants to bring.”
  • Am I coming to Christ with my needs fully realizing that He has allowed them to come into my life in order to show me something?  Perhaps something of my own sin?  Perhaps He wants to show me my need for constant dependence on Him?  Perhaps He wants to show me how finite I am, and use this to teach me something about Himself.  Whatever the reason may be, we need to be remind ourselves that Jesus Christ wants us to come into His presence seeking His kingdom in prayer – not just in word and deed!
  • I am not, of course, saying that we ought not to lay our burden at the cross, or that we ought not to come to our heavenly Father with our needs.  But when that becomes the sole focus of our supplication, we reveal that our desires aren’t yet fully conformed to His.  For we should be constantly asking God “Lord, how can I glorify you today?  How can these needs of mine be used to show me more about your character?  How can my situation refine me and purge me of more of my sinful nature? Lord please use me to bring yourself glory.”
  • Boice concludes the thought this way, “May I say it even more strongly? I am convinced that one of the major steps to achieving good spiritual mental health is getting your mind off yourself entirely and on the Lord instead.”

6:27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

  • The first part of this verse is a call for us to seek the Kingdom first and let God take care of the loaves and the fishes.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
  • The second part of the verse stresses where this imperishable food was going to come from: the Son of Man. By now, it would have been evident to these people that Jesus was referring to Himself when He said “Son of Man”, so there would have been no confusion (I don’t think at least) with His point here.
  • The last part of the verse says something about the Son of Man, namely that God the Father has set his seal upon Him.  Carson explains, “The idea is that God has certified the Son as his own agent, authorizing him as the one who alone can bestow this food.”

6:28-29 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” [29] Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

  • As Carson points out, these people misunderstood the point Christ was making in verse 27.  “His point was not that they should attempt some novel form of work, but that merely material notions of blessing are not worth pursuing.  They respond by focusing all attention on work.”
  • These men had been so set on getting their material desires fulfilled that they had “missed the greater blessing” (Boice).  It shows where their minds where when they immediately thought of a blessing from God as something they could earn somehow.
  • How true this is of today!  So many people want to believe that they can do something to earn a merit badge toward heaven.  We Americans are used to pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps, and we almost innately feel like there is something we need to add to God’s work.
  • Ryle remarks, “we should observe, for one thing, in these verses, the spiritual ignorance and unbelief of the natural man…doing, doing, doing, was their only idea of the way to heaven…there are no limits to man’s dullness, prejudice, and unbelief in spiritual matters.”
  • I also think the lesson here of a works-based gospel can give us Christians pause to check our viewpoints on the work of God.  Why?  Because we naturally want to add our own name to God’s work.  We want to find someway in which we can be involved.  We are indeed responsible for responding in faith, however, it is God who gives us the faith!  It is God who is working in your heart to allow you to respond to that offer of the gospel.  But somehow we want to claim our finite free will above the will of the most holy Sovereign!  As Christians we need to learn to give this up.
  • But let us not miss the divine point as we simply analyze the mistakes of men.  This sentence (Boice calls the “golden sentence”) is, in essence, the gospel.  Jesus Christ here tells us how a man can be saved.  How?  To “believe in him whom he (the Father) has sent.”
  • These people of Galilee, like many today, want to know how to be “doing the works of God” – they want to do good things and live a good life.  Christ gives them the answer this time, and in so doing, He says that the work of God is that they believe on the Son of God – the one whom He has sent.  The mission of the Son is intricately caught up in the divine essence of what it means to “do the works of God.”  In other words, there is but one thing that God wants us to focus our attention on firstly, and that is to believe in His Son.

As Ryle sums it up:

If any two things are put in strong contrast, in the New Testament, they are faith and words. Not working, but believing, – not of works, but through faith, – are the words familiar to all careful Bible-readers. Yet here the great Head of the Church declares that believing on Him is the highest and greatest of all “works!” It is “the work of God.”

Doubtless our Lord did not mean that there is anything meritorious in believing. Man’s faith, at the very best, is feeble and defective. Regarded as a “work”, it cannot stand the severity of God’s judgment, deserve pardon, or purchase heaven.  But our Lord did mean that faith in Himself, as the only Savior, is the first act of the soul which God requires at a sinner’s hands.  Till a man believes on Jesus, and rests on Jesus as a lost sinner, he is nothing. Our Lord did mean that faith in Himself is that act of the soul which specially pleases God.  When the Father sees a sinner casting aside his own righteousness, and simply trusting in His dear Son, He is well pleased. Without such faith it is impossible to please God. Our Lord did mean that faith in Himself is the root of all saving religion.

6:30-31 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

  • These people might have been looking for manna from the Messiah who would “duplicate” the miracle that Moses had wrought in their midst – for such was the teachings of the Jews (see Boice).  But we’ve already explored the motives of these people, and it was obviously outside of the mere religious desire to see a second Messiah come from heaven.  Their desires were for their bellies!

6:32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

  • First, He seems to correct them on their understanding of the Old Testament account of the story, for even though they said that “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”, it seems that they thought of “He” as Moses!  Jesus was eager to correct them in this misunderstanding.
  • Boice talks about the necessity of bread for life – especially in the days of Jesus. “Without bread, men died. If you see that, then you also see that Jesus was claiming to be the One whom men and women could not do without.”
  • Boice also points out that “everything before this (in the passage) has had to do with trusting Christ initially.  But when a person trusts Christ as Savior this is hardly the end.”  What he meant by this is that “bread should be eaten daily” as Christ should be “eaten” daily.  This isn’t a call for a daily Eucharist, but rather a call to satisfy our spiritual desires every day, just as we would our physical desires everyday.

6:33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

  • Jesus quickly makes the transition from the physical to the metaphysical, from the temporal to the eternal.  This is something He does ALL the time, it is one of the hallmarks of His teaching, and we see it throughout the gospels. First He will correct misunderstanding of the meaning of an Old Testament passage, then He will elevate their minds to the eternal from the shadow of the OT, then He will conclude by leading them to Himself – as we conclude by leading people to the cross when we are sharing about Christ.
  • Look carefully at the word “world” here and realize that – as Steve Lawson points out – there are at least 10 different uses for that word in the Gospel of John alone.  That means that we need to make sure the one that we have in mind actually fits the context of the text.  In this instance, I think it’s talking about every tribe, tongue, and nation.  Jew and Gentile, man and woman, servant and free man are all alike going to benefit from the Bread of God.
  • Lastly, when we look carefully at the Word of God, and see proclamations about the “world”, we need to more fully understand the significance of the work of Christ, and also the fact that Christianity is not secluded to one tribe or nation.  Christ came to save sinners from all over the globe.  An amazing thought.

6:34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

  • Not unlike the woman at the well, they want the bread (as she wanted the water) so that they would never have to worry about providing for themselves again!  Ryle even notes that, “there is a striking resemblance between the thought expressed in this verse, and the thought of the Samaritan woman, when she heard of the living water that Christ could give.”
  • The Galileans saw an eternal welfare state, as it were, and wanted Jesus to provide for them in this way “always.”  Of course they did. Ryle confirms my own feelings on the matter when he notes, “On the case of the Jews before us, the wish seems to have been nothing more than the ‘desire of the slothful,’ and to have gone no further. Wishing and admiring are not conversion.”

6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

  • This is the first of the seven “I AM” sayings of Christ (if we don’t include 6:20). And as I mentioned earlier, the underlying meaning or feeling conveyed by the language here is that Jesus Christ is God, Jehovah, the great I AM of the Old Testament wrapped in human flesh.
  • Of the several significant points that we need to look at, the first is that Jesus is connecting the “food that endures to eternal life” from verse 27 and that He is the manna that has come down from heaven from verse 33.  They are all one in the same “bread of life”, and they are all meant to point to Christ.
  • What is the result of eating this bread?  It is that one will never thirst or hunger again.  Is it not significant that the two miracles related to food in the New Testament Gospels are bread and wine?  Certainly there is a sort of shadow of the coming Eucharist.  Though I won’t assign too much importance or connection between the two by laying on Scripture something more than might be there.  But Jonathan Edwards also says there’s a connection here between the Showbread of the Old Testament and the privilege we have of eating at “the King’s Table” today.
  • What is clear is that Jesus is claiming to be that which satisfies the souls of man.  He is at the heart of what our hearts long for.  John Piper says this about verse 35, “what it means to believe in Jesus is to experience Him as the satisfaction of my soul’s thirst and my heart’s hunger. Faith is the experience of contentment in Jesus” (Battling Unbelief, Chp. 5).
  • I think the practicality of this passage lies in the fact that Jesus is the ultimate satisfaction for our lives.   When Augustine came onto the scene, one of the things he wanted to illuminate was the way to be truly happy.  As Sproul says, this wasn’t the happiness of the Epicureans or the Stoics.  This was something more substantial – it was finding true happiness in the knowledge of God.  This is what Jesus was saying to these men, I am the key to true satisfaction and happiness in this life and the next. Don’t seek after what the Epicureans give you (happiness for your belly), but that which satisfies the soul.
  • In the margins of his notes on this chapter, Jonathan Edwards scribbled something that I thought was really good.  He said that bread of heaven was “enough for all God’s people” – and he noted that there was a parallel with the feeding of the 5000 and the manna from Exodus that was more than enough for the people each day.  In fact Edwards said that one of the main applications for sinners was that “this bread will save you from eternal famine” and that, unlike the manna, “it doesn’t perish.”
  • The last thought that Edwards pointed out, also find a connection with the feeding of the 5000, and Ryle’s description of us as God’s ministers feeding His people with the Word of God.  Edwards says that we are “priests of Christ” doling out the holy Showbread of Christ (there is underlying sacrificial language/parallels there).  Edwards calls on sinners to not “loathe the heavenly manna and tread it under food.”
  • Yet so many do loathe Christ and scoff at the satisfaction He offers.  And as Christians, it is our unbelief that stops us from laying hold of the satisfaction Christ offers.  When we sin, we are basically saying that we find more satisfaction in our idolatry than in Christ.  We prefer our materialism (insert idol here) over Christ because we don’t believe the basic fact that Christ can be more satisfying than our sin.  This is the sin of unbelief.  We need to take Christ at His word and lay hold of that which is most satisfying – the Bread of Heaven.
  • If we truly believe Christ is what He said He is – the most satisfying thing we can lay hold of – how ought this to change our lives and spur us on?  What actions would you find yourself doing if you truly set your seal to what God the Father set His seal to?

 

Study Notes 7-8-12: Jesus Walks on Water

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Below are my notes for this week’s portion of John 6 (Jesus’ 5th sign – walking on water). I did not abbreviate them this week because they weren’t very long.

6:16-18 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, [17] got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [18] The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

In Mark’s Gospel, we learn that they had rowed well into the 4th watch of the night – that is, between 3am and 6am – so almost to dawn. They would have been tired of rowing by this time. Not only was it late, but the wind was against them, and even though several of them were experienced fishermen, the Sea of Galilee was known for its extremely dangerous winds and storms which would arise suddenly. Sproul remarks, “It sits six hundred feet below sea level, and it is situated, as it were, in a wind tunnel – gales blow off the Mediterranean and through the mountains, stirring up the lake without warning.”

Ryle notes how strange the transition would have been for the disciples. Just a few hours before, they had witnessed and helped administer the miraculous feeding of over 15,000 people. Now, they find themselves in the middle of a near death experience. But as Ryle reminds us, “But Christ knew it, and Christ appointed it, and it was working for their good. Trial, we must distinctly understand, is part of the diet which all true Christians must expect.”

6:19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

They were probably already afraid because of the nature of the storm. The violence of the waves, and the wind would have made even the most experienced sailor tremble – not to mention those in the boat who were not used to being on the water.

But we see here something of a fear that is deeper than what the storm had caused. They saw Jesus walking toward them on the sea. Sproul says, “You would be nervous because of the storm, but then you would look up and see the Master walking across the sea toward you Suddenly it would hit you that Jesus could do this because He is the One who made the sea and ruled the sea. The One who is very human is also very divine. How would you react? You would react just like the disciples did. Instead of feeling relieved and saying ‘I’m glad to see you’, you would be terrified. Any human being would feel that way while watching Jesus walk across an angery sea without sinking.”

Ryle says, “That which is contrary to all natural reason was perfectly possible to Christ.”

Even though John’s gospel doesn’t record the miracle of Jesus calming the sea, Boice points out that that miracle would have already taken place by now, so they would have already seen Jesus’ power over nature in action. This made me stop and think about how these men, who had already witnessed a similar command of nature, could be so frightened once again. Mark’s gospel records that the disciples at first thought they had seen a ghost, but once they realized it was Jesus, they cried out for help.

Calvin addresses the fright of the men at a possible ghost as an example of how men, allowed to themselves and no Word from God, will come up with all sorts of imaginings! “For if he (Christ) present a simple demonstration of his divinity, we immediately fall into our imaginations, and every person forms an idol for himself instead of Christ. After we have thus wandered in our understanding, this is immediately followed by trembling and a confused terror of heart. But when he begins to speak, we then obtain from his voice clear and solid knowledge, and then also joy and delightful peace dawn upon our minds.”

Mark also records something instructive that John doesn’t mention, and that is that “He meant to pass by them,” (Mark 6:48). The ESV Study Notes say this was not so that they wouldn’t see Him, but that His deity would be made manifest to them in a similar way that Moses mentions in Exodus 33:19. There are also elusions to Job according to the ESV, “…it also echoes Job 9, where Job says that it is God who “trampled the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8; the Septuagint has peripatōn … epi thalassēs, “walking on the sea,” using the same words as Mark 6:48, peripatōn epi tēs thalassēs) and then also says, “he passes by me” (Job 9:11, Gk. parerchomai). There is an implicit claim to divinity in Jesus’ actions.

Boice points out something interesting as well. He says that it was likely that the disciples didn’t discard all of that left over bread from the feeding of the five thousand – since they had gone to such trouble to pick up the leftovers. “And in that case evidence of Jesus’ supernatural ability and power would have been under their very noses as they rowed through the tempest.” When I read this it made me think that the same is true for us. When we go through difficult times do we take a moment to look around at all the blessings of home and family? Do we thank God for the overwhelming goodness that we see in our lives?

6:20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

When Jesus says “it is I” here, He is using the phrase (in the Greek) that literally says, “I am, I am” – almost sounding repetitive. There are two words being used, ego and eimi, both of them can mean “I am” – eimi is the Greek “to be.”

This is important to note, because Jesus is saying something more here than just repeating Himself. As Sproul deftly explains:

In order to understand what Jesus was doing, we need to look at the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where we see that the ineffable name of God, Yahweh, was translated into the Greek language by this same strange construction, ego eimi, which can be translated “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14). Therefore, almost every commentator recognizes that when Jesus said, “I am the door,” “I am the bread of life,” and other “I am” sayings, He was using the divine name for Himself. However, when scholars enumerate the “I am” sayings in the Gospel of John, they don’t include Jesus’ statement here: “It is I; do not be afraid.” I’m not sure why, because its exactly the same structure, ego eimi. Jesus said to His disciples, “Don’t be afraid. It is I AM WHO I AM.”

It is significant to me that when Christ reassures them, He does so by first declaring to them who He is and that He is with them. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus promises to be with us always, and because we have His Spirit, we have the inner testimony of God within us reassuring us (Rom. 8:16) that He will work all things to our good (Rom. 8:28). This is quite a comfort.

Calvin notes, “We learn from them (these words) that it is in Christ’s presence alone that we have abundant grounds of confidence, so as to be calm and at ease. But this belongs exclusively to the disciples of Christ; for we shall afterwards see that wicked men were struck down by the same words, “it is I” (John 18:6). The reason of the distinction is, that he is sent as a Judge to the reprobate and unbelievers for their destruction; and, therefore, they cannot bear his presence without being immediately overwhelmed.”

I love Calvin’s distinction here. John 18:6 is that moment in the Garden of Gethsemane when Christ is about to be overtaken by Judas’ mob. But when they ask who “Jesus of Nazareth” is, and He replies “I am he”, immediately they are shaken to the core and forced to their face. This is a picture of what is to come when He returns again!

6:21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Mark’s account says, “And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded” (Mark 6:51). I absolutely love this because it gives a little more insight into the reaction of the disciples. It also tells us that the wind completely ceased…coincidence? I think not. The holy Son of God has absolute control over all nature.

I guess there is some dispute as to whether the reference to “immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” was describing another miracle. No one seems to say for sure whether or not the boat “immediately” being at the other shore means that it happened instantly, or whether “immediately” means that because of the fact that Christ was with them, and because of His power over the sea, they were able to get there in no time at all. To me, it seems easier to understand it as the former, that Jesus in His power simply go them instantly to the other side. However, I’m not sure it matters.

What does seem to matter though, is the change from their condition with Christ and their condition without Him. He saved them from the waves and perhaps death on the high seas. When He comes into our lives our souls become instantly secure – we reach heaven when we die, but in the meantime our souls are written in that Book of Life and can never be etched out! We are “seated with Him in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6) and no one will snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28) once He had jumped in our boat!

Study Notes 7-1-12

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6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

  • Commentators note that there is a special emphasis on this event (the feeding of the 5000) in the gospels.  Carson says, “This is the only miracle during Jesus’ ministry that is recorded in all four Gospels.”  This is the fourth major sign recorded for us in John’s gospel.
  • Some say this was not an actual miracle of Christ multiplying/creating new fish and bread.  I dismiss this, as do most serious scholars.  Leon Morris says that, “there are three principle ways of understanding what happened.”  Those include Christ working a “miracle in people’s hearts”, thus having them share all their packed lunches with each other. This is more a miracle of ethics, rather than creation from nothing, and its strain upon the text cannot stand.  A second way to look at this would be that Christ divided out the small amount of food into tiny samplings, and a kind of sacramental communion was held – of course this doesn’t square well with verse 12 which indicates that they were all “filled.”  The last way in which this could be seen is the way it actually happened, which is how I believe it to be.
  • Sproul points out that theological liberals state that Jesus and His disciples hid food in a cave ahead of time in a sort of clandestine attempt to show a false miracle. This liberal viewpoint runs contrary to the obvious thrust and text of Scripture.
  • When it says “after this” the text seems to indicate some time between Jesus’ talking in chapter 5 and the event we’re about to read of.  The ESV study notes say that as much as a year could have been indicated – and several other commentators indicate something similar.  It all depends on whether or not the undisclosed “feast” in 5:1 was the Passover Feast.  As Carson notes, “The expression is vague: it establishes sequence, but not tight chronology.”
  • The Sea of Tiberias was the same, as we see here, as the Sea of Galilee.  It was named after Tiberias Caesar, and was a more common name among gentiles and those living several years after Christ.  Tiberias was also a city on the seaside that Herrod Antipas had built (about A.D. 20).
  • Calvin tells us that, “the whole lake did not bear that name, but only that part of it which lay contiguous to the bank on which Tiberias was situated.”

6:2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

  • It is not insignificant that John notes the motivation for the following Jesus was producing.  Ryle comments, “There seems to reason to suppose that this multitude followed our Lord for any but low motives.”

6:3-4 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. [4] Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

  • These verses serve to give us the context of where we are, and that it was again a time of an annual feast.  And as to the location, Carson notes, “The Greek to oros does not necessarily refer to a particular mountain or hillside, but may simply mean ‘the hill country’ or ‘the high ground’, referring to the area east of the lake and well known today as the Golan Heights.”
  • Calvin notes (and there is agreement among others on this point) that Jesus was undoubtedly looking to sit down and rest here.  But the crowds were not going to allow this to happen.  Calvin says we ought to take a lesson from this, “We are therefore taught by this example to form our plans in conformity to the course of events, but in such a manner that, if the result be different from what we expected, we may not be displeased that God is above us, and regulates everything according to his pleasure.”  He talks about how Christ submitted to God’s will in everything, and that here, despite wanting to rest, Christ submits to the Father’s plan for him in that moment.

6:5-6 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” [6] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

  • John adds the editorial disclaimer in verse six so that we understand the deity and vast knowledge of Jesus.  It is almost as if to say, “Jesus had a plan already, but He was using this as a teaching moment for Philip.”
  • Carson notes that the word “test” here is peirazo and is “commonly used by the Evangelists in the bad sense of ‘tempt’, to solicit to do evil. The word itself, however, is neutral, and is entirely appropriate here.”
  • Mark’s gospel makes it clear that Jesus had already begun teaching them and had perhaps taken a break to consider or begin to deal with feeding them.

6:7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

  • So here is Philip’s response to the “testing” of our Lord.  Does he pass the test?  How do you think Christ would have had him respond?  I wonder if some faith would have been appropriate in the circumstances, given the number of amazing things Christ had already done.  In other words, instead of just giving a mere accounting of their financial situation, it would have been better if Philip had said, “Lord, we only have 200 denarii, but with you all things are possible, what would you have us do?”  Instead Philip answers by giving the accounting, and adds to it a negative inflection that what they have in money won’t be enough to satisfy the needs of all of these people.  What was predominant in his words are what can’t be done, rather than what can be done.  So, in my estimation, Philip failed to give a faith-filled answer (Sproul agrees with me and says he “flunked” the test).

6:8-9 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, [9] “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

  • Similar to the response of Philip, Andrew says “what are they for so many?”  What is at the heart of this?  Unbelief.  They were not quick in prayer and supplication, but were quick to doubt what could be done for these people.
  • John’s gospel is the only one to tell us that this bread was “barley.”  Barley was really inexpensive bread.  D.A. Carson provides more detail, “The ‘small fish’ were probably pickled fish to be eaten as a side dish with the small cakes of barley bread. Andrew’s point of course, was that this tiny meal was ludicrously inadequate to the need. John mentions it to heighten the miracle.”

6:10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

  • First, we see that the grass is still green (from Mark’s account) and this tells us that it is likely the spring time (Passover connection grows stronger), before the sun had burnt the grass.
  • Secondly, it’s evident this number is only a count of the men.  The ESV study notes say, “The men numbered about five thousand, plus women and children, totaling perhaps as many as 20,000 people.”  Carson says it could have even well exceeded this number.
  • MacArthur brought something to my mind about what this organization must have been like – when he says “can you imagine twelve men serving 15,000 people!?”  What an amazing spectacle.  It also brought to mind the fact that it would have taken a long time to get everyone food.  The people would have to wait on the Lord, and be patient for His provision – how much do we need to take that lesson to heart!

6:11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

  • Note that the first thing Christ does is “give thanks.”  Unlike the disciples, His first action is to prayer.  Carson notes something that I never would have thought of before, and it’s really got me thinking about our own prayers before meals.  He says, “If Jesus used the common forth of Jewish thanksgiving, He said something like this: ‘Blessed are though, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth.’ Jesus ‘blesses’ God, i.e. He thanks God; He does not ‘bless’ the food.”
  • I can’t help but think about how much sense that makes.  When we pray prior to a meal, are we asking God to somehow do something miraculous to the food by “blessing” it?  I’ve often thought about what we are actually asking of God here.  Are we asking Him to make sure that the food does its job?  Are we so small in faith that we need to ask God that He look out for the digestive work to be done while also ensuring that all the necessary protein and vitamins get properly distributed to our bodies???  Are we not better off blessing/thanking the Lord God for His provision for us, in order that we may give glory and worship to Him for taking care of our needs?  I think this may seem a small thing, but it is important that when we pray to the Lord God Almighty, that we are cognizant of our words.  We must not allow ritual to replace reverence.
  • Note secondly that He distributed “as much as they wanted.”  This is similar to the way He operated at Cana when He filled 180 gallons of wine for the wedding.
  • I always think of how abundant His blessings are to us.  We cannot comprehend the how good Heaven is going to be – and how horrible Hell is going to be. But everything Jesus did and said was a “sign” of something even more full that was to come, I think.  When He feeds 20,000 people here, and then goes on to say later that He is “the bread of life”, our thoughts immediately ought to run to what we know about Jesus and His actions here on earth.  Everything points to Him going above and beyond our expectations.  It reminds me of my dad growing up.  There were so many times when I would ask for something, or desire something – maybe I just wanted to make a trip with Dad to the store, or go with him golfing – but what would normally happen would be his going above and beyond my expectations.  It was his modus operandi to bless me beyond my limited expectations.  He would always make those times just wonderful.  There would always be something he’d do to go above and beyond.
  • That is how Jesus acted.  And His actions mirror His teaching about how the Father acts toward us in comparison to our earthly fathers.  Matthew 7:11 tells us that Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  Calvin says, “But as flesh solicits us to attend to its conveniences, we ought likewise to observe that Christ, of his own accord, takes care of those who neglect themselves in order to follow him.”
  • But not only is Jesus the great giver of good gifts, but secondly, He is also the creator of all things, and the fact that He could make something from nothing is not lost of J.C. Ryle who says, “he can call into being that which was not before, and call it out of nothing.”  To Ryle this has a specific application for the gospel, and follows up by adding, “We must never despair of anyone being saved.”
  • Thirdly, Calvin points out that this miracle shows not only the specific power of the gospel to certain men, but in another way, it shows God’s earthly provision of food for all mankind – in theology we call this “common grace.”  He notes, “we shall be compelled to discern the blessing of God in all the creatures which serve for our bodily support; but use and frequency lead us to undervalue the miracles of nature.”
  • Fourthly, I think this section of scripture, and this miracle in particular, show us that Christ identifies with us in our humanity, and feeds His children.  He knows that they have needs, He knows that we have needs (Matt. 6:8), and He moves to fulfill them, while pointing to His even greater fulfilling power – that of the bread of life.
  • This leads to my fifth point, which Ryle called “the sufficiency of the Gospel for the wants of all mankind.”  And what I think he is getting at is what I just mentioned above, namely that Jesus Himself is the “bread of life” (6:35) and that those who come to Him will no longer hunger.  His gospel will satisfy that vacuum in your life, that longing for something better – what R.C. Sproul calls “The soul’s quest for God.”  As noted above, the abundance of Christ’s blessings in salvation are evident in the blessings He showed here to these people.  As Ryle puts it, “There can be no doubt that this was meant to teach the adequacy of Christ’s Gospel to supply the necessities of the whole world. Weak, and feeble, and foolish as it may seem to man, the simple story of the Cross is enough for all the children of Adam in every part of the globe. The tidings of Christ’s death for sinners, and the atonement made by that death, is able to meet the hearts and satisfy the consciences of all nations, and peoples, and kindreds, and tongues. Carried by faithful messengers, it feeds and supplies all ranks and classes.”

6:12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

  • It occurs to me that John left this part of the even in the gospel account for a reason.  And it is an unusual thing to remark upon, but let me try to explain why it is significant (for all scripture is significant and we can learn from each verse 2 Tim. 3:16).  This verse is about stewardship.  But it does beyond what we might normally apply it to.  Specifically, there are two things that I think must be noted here.
  • First, He is reminding us by this instruction to his disciples, that we ought to always be thankful for what He has provided us, and to be good and careful stewards of His blessings so as to not seem unthankful and capriciously waste our blessings, and in a manner, show a distain for His provision and an arrogance toward God for what He has given, as if we will certainly be blessed again (this is an attitude of self-righteousness).
  • The second thing, and probably the most significant, is that He is showing His disciples that they are to be stewards of the men and women who He entrusts to their care here on earth.  J.C. Ryle says that this is one of the main themes of this section of Scripture, in fact.  He says this section shows “The role and office of a minister – to distribute the bread of Christ with no power in himself, but all from Christ.”  At the heart of this role, the minister is Christ’s hands and feet to carry out His purposes and spread His gospel here on earth, “That none may be lost.”  The fact that Jesus uses this phrase “none may be lost” is significant because it sets the stage for the teaching He is about to lay before them about His role as the Good Shepherd.  We will see in the following verses that in this role, He loses none of His sheep.
  • Note also here that they were gathering “fragments” of what remained – this is significant because as part of the picture of this great miracle, Jesus is not only concerned with the whole pieces, but also the fragments which represent the sick, the needy, the sinful, those in need of salvation (Matt. 9:12).  He came into this world to seek and save the lost so that no one of His children, His elect, would be lost (Luke 19:10).  If this isn’t comforting to you, then you must have no feelings at all. For this is the most wonderful thing to me.  Jesus Christ cares about me.  He cares about the least of His children.  No detail is left to chance, no small thing beyond His notice, no weak soul will be unaccounted for when the Book of Life is opened.
  • Now you might be thinking, “I am not a leader in the church, so this doesn’t apply to me.”  But there you would be wrong.  For every parent, every father, every mother is a leader in their home.  We are all stewards of God’s gracious gift.  We ought to always bear that in mind and act with care so that “nothing is lost.”  That is our charge as careful stewards of the gifts we have been given (1 Pet. 4:10) – especially the most important gift of salvation, which we are stewards of (1 Cor. 4:1).

6:13-15 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. [14] When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” [15] Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

  • The reaction of the people here was perhaps different than what we ought to take from it.  In fact, at first I thought about taking verses 14 and 15 separately because they both seem to have plenty to say on their own, however, I think its vital to put them together, and this is why: when the people react to the miracle in verse 14 by calling Jesus “the prophet”, it is tempting to think that they have finally got it right.  They finally see Him as the Son of God and the Messiah in the full spiritual sense for which He wanted them to see Him.  But our hopes are dashed by verse 15 which tells us that they wanted to make Him “king” – evidently their hearts and minds were still set on a political ruler being the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies.  In other words, they still didn’t “get it.”
  • Calvin deftly points out that, “…they erred egregiously in taking upon themselves the liberty of making a king; for Scripture ascribes this as peculiar to God alone, as it is said, I have appointed my king on my holy hill of Zion (Ps. 2:6), again what sort of kingdom do they contrive for him? An earthly one, which is utterly inconsistent with his person.”  He goes on to say that we need to learn an important lesson here, “Hence let us learn how dangerous it is, in the things of God, to neglect His word, and to contrive anything of our own opinion; for there is nothing which the foolish subtlety of our understanding does not corrupt.”
  • What precipitated their desire for Him to be “king”?  I think it was probably a combination of what has been mentioned above, along with an understanding of the role of the Passover feast and how that would have been drumming up nationalistic fervor among them.  Carson notes that, “It was a rallying point for intense, nationalistic zeal. This goes some way to explaining the fervor that tried to force Jesus to become king.”  Carson goes further and explains that, “The juxtaposition of vs. 14 and vs. 15 presupposes that the people who think Jesus may well be the eschatological Prophet understand this Prophet’s role to be simultaneously kingly. If the first prophet, Moses, had led the people out of slavery to Egypt, surely the second would help them escape servitude to Rome.”
  • Sproul also says something similar about the nature of the Passover being like our 4th of July, “it was the supreme celebration of national pride,” he says.  “So while this frenzy was going on, stoking the people’s hopes for someone to deliver them from the yoke of Roman tyranny, the perfect political candidate appeared on the scene. He even provided that which wins political votes everywhere – a chicken in every pot, or a loaf and a fish in every lunch. It doesn’t get any better than that. The people said, ‘This is the kind of king we want – one that will care for us from the cradle to the grave.’ But Jesus read their hearts, and He knew that the kind of king they were looking for had nothing to do with the kind of kingdom He had come to inaugurate. They were looking for the kingdom of man; He came to bring the kingdom of God. It was His mission to provide His people with so much more than bread and fishes.”
  • The next thing we need to note here, and perhaps it seems a small thing in comparison with the large political and spiritual issues at hand in the verses prior, is that Jesus had times of solitude.  This is something we often neglect in our own lives, and something we ought to keep in mind as we seek to model the behavior of Christ.
  • Now, you should ask, “to what end?”  The end for Christ was to spend more time with the Father. In Luke 5:16 we’re told that, “…he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”  We too ought to withdraw for times of solitude for the purpose of prayer.  We need to free ourselves from the distractions of this world, and spend some time in prayer with our Father.

Study Notes 6-24-12

~ pjwenzel ~ Leave a comment

Well – not to be lazy here, but instead of bullet pointing the entire note section of my lesson, I have just given you all my notes in full form here.  Of course this may mean that there’s extra bonus material that I didn’t have time to bring up in class!  Feel free to skim and enjoy!

5:31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

I think there are two things He could be saying here.  At first, I thought of this purely as a legal qualification Jesus was pointing out to from Deuteronomy (Deut. 19:15).  Not only that, but we know it makes common sense as well, because if someone says something extraordinary about himself or herself and there is no witness to verify their claims, then we have to simply believe what they said or not believe it.  The veracity of their statement is wholly based on whether they can be trusted.  Jesus is not surrendering to the idea that He is not trustworthy (as MacArthur also points out), rather He is surrendering the right to be His own witness for the time being.  As Calvin puts it, “Now we know that what any man asserts about himself is not reckoned to be true and authentic, although in other respects he speak truth, because no man is a competent witness in his own cause. Though it would be unjust to reduce the Son of God to this rank, yet he prefers to surrender his right, that he may convince his enemies by the authority of God.”

But, there is also a secondary thing that I think Jesus is saying here, and I picked it up from something MacArthur seems to see in the text.  He seems to almost be saying sarcastically, “you don’t seem to want to believe my word, so if I bear witness about myself I doubt you’ll believe what I have to say.”  In light of that, He offers them several other witnesses that can verify His claims to deity.  

5:32-34 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. [34] Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

Jesus is saying that they went and asked John what he thought of Jesus and John verified His claims and testified about who Jesus was/is.  Now, Jesus clarifies His statement by saying that John’s role was as a witness to Him (John 1:29-34), but it wasn’t as though Jesus needed any witness at all, but for the sake of the weakness of the flesh He is providing that in John the Baptist.  Obviously these men had already checked out John the Baptist, and many seemed to believe that he was a prophet from God, even if they didn’t like or listen to the essence of his message (John 1:19-27).

Because He spoke these words in the past tense about John, many commentators seem to think this indicated that John was either already in prison or had died.  Noting the honor that Christ bestows on His faithful servants, Ryle says of the Baptist, “…this murdered disciple was not forgotten by his Divine Master. If no one else remembered him, Jesus did.  He had honored Christ, and Christ honored him.”  I find this personally significant because it has always been my desire to leave a legacy for those around me that signaled my love of Christ.  I want so badly for those at my funeral to note how I was faithful to God, and what I did for Him and for others on His behalf.  However, Ryle’s points struck a chord with me because in death there will be only one voice whose words of commendation I will care about: those of Jesus Christ.  This being the case, shouldn’t I ought to act as though this were the case now?

Lastly, turning to the end of the verse we see that He nurtures our small seed of faith until we are strong in faith.  This is why He says it was “so that you may be saved.”  This mission statement matches John’s mission statement near the end of the gospel as well (John 20:31).

5:35-36 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

I love the use of the light vs. dark here.  It is a common theme in Christ’s teachings, and one that John loves to highlight.  And in this verse there is a neat thing that MacArthur points out in a sermon on this passage.  He mentioned that John here is the lamp – not the light itself.  The word for lamp here is luchnos, which is a small portable oil lamp.  The word for light that is used to describe Christ and is used in at the end of verse 35 is phos, and is used to describe the essence of what John shown (Christ to the world).

Jesus rebukes them by speaking of their temporary and fading zeal (for a while).  John MacArthur uses some Aristotelian thought when he says he thinks of these people like “moths to a flame” and that flame was John the Baptist.  When the fire got too hot though, they faded away from the light and went on their way.  They didn’t want to repent and change their lives, after all.  All they wanted was to see something novel.

Jesus goes on to put together a logical argument of progression “if x then y” – if you rejoiced in the light of John, then you should rejoice all the more in the light that I am bringing into the world.

Jesus sets Himself apart from John by claiming superiority of  (1) works, and superiority of (2) testimony as well as a (3) better witness of His work (from the Father).  Those are the three ways in which I see Christ as being superior to John here.

5:36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

Jesus is giving us the second witness – his works.  His works were greater than John’s works.  I can’t image anyone disputing that the man who calmed the seas and healed so many people, did not have a superior witness in this way!

Surely no one could have done the works that Jesus did if they weren’t from God.  Nicodemus said in John 3:2 that, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

I don’t think that anyone who was around Jesus could have denied the amazing nature of the works He was doing during His ministry.

Sproul has a great reminder to us about the nature of miracles in the witness of Christ:

Many people today look at the biblical miracles and say, “The miracles in the Bible prove the existence of God.” No, they don’t. The existence of God is established before a single miracle takes place. For a miracle to be recognized as a miracle presupposes the existence of God, because a miracle, technically and correctly defined, is a work that only God can do, such as bringing something out of nothing or bringing life our of death. For this reason, I please with you to fall into thinking that Satan can do actual miracles. He can perform tricks, but he can’t do what God can do.

5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,

It is tempting to take 37 and 38 together, but I want to point out that 38 says some distinctly deep things separate from 37.  In 37 we see that Jesus is putting the finally cap on the fact that it is the Father that is His witness.  This is the third witness that Christ gives as proof that what He is saying is right.  It doesn’t matter that no one as ever “seen” the Father, or even “heard” the Father up until this point in history; for no man can see Him in His full radiant splendor and live (Ex. 33:11).  But for our sake, He provided times (recorded in the gospels) where He was heard audibly to witness about His beloved Son (Matt. 3:17, 17:5 – 2 Peter 1:17).

Then Jesus goes on to say something even more difficult…

5:38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

Wow – so this is the judgment here.  They don’t have the word of God abiding in them, for they don’t love God.  We’ll see more of this reiterated in Jesus’ discourse with the Pharisees in the temple in chapter 8.  But we’ve already heard Christ talk about this in those crucial verses in 3:19-21.  This would have been such a stern rebuke that from here onward the conversation must have been highly uncomfortable for the listeners.

This is a good reminder that in our flesh we don’t love God, and we don’t receive the testimony of His son because we don’t have the ability to (we’re dead – Eph. 2:1), and because we’re dead we don’t have His word abiding in us prior to quickening.  We really don’t want to love Christ prior to what God does supernaturally in our hearts.  Christ is telling these people that they don’t get it.  They aren’t receiving Him because they are not from God (John 8) and don’t have His word abiding in them.  These are harsh, but important words; I’m sure they were swallowed with difficulty.

Incidentally, this is one way that we know Christians are Christians – they have the word of the Lord abiding in them and they show a love for Jesus Christ and for one another (1 John 3:10-11,17, 23-24, 4:8, 12, 15-16 etc.).

5:39-40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, [40] yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

This is very clearly the problem the Jews had then and many of them have now.  They look through Scriptures but don’t want to recognize that the entirety of the Bible in the OT points forward to Christ.  This is also the fourth witness Christ calls against them in this passage.  The Son of God, the fulfillment of all they had ever known or been taught was standing before them, yet they were too daft to realize this.  They were too dead to come forward and receive eternal life.

And what is probably most interesting for me in this passage is the words “you think” – Jesus is basically catching fools in their folly.  He’s saying “you’re zeal for knowledge has left you spiritually bankrupt.  You search for eternal life in vain unless you come to me.”  MacArthur notes, “The Bible cannot be properly understood apart from the Holy Spirit’s illumination or a transformed mind.”

Herein Christ demonstrates that they needed help, they needed to be saved by the power of God.  Despite their great learning, despite His presence, many still refused to “come to him” to have life.  This ought to refute the notion that some have that “if we had only been there to see Christ in person, we would believe.”  These people were students of the scriptures and they walked and talked with the Son of God and still didn’t come to believe!

5:41 I do not receive glory from people.

Christ never desired to receive praise or glory from humans during His ministry on earth. He only sought to glorify His Father.  We are to imitate Him in this and seek only to glorify God.  Too often we get caught up in worrying about pleasing people instead of pleasing God.  We think too much about what others might think about us.

5:42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.

This is His most powerful statement yet.  Again, Christ is very straightforward about the condition of these people’s souls.  He is confrontational with them, and doesn’t let them off the hook easily.

The same is true today.  You may want to think that Jesus is all loving (and indeed He is), but He is more than that.  He doesn’t accept your idolatry, and won’t accept anyone who thinks they can reject Him and still somehow make it to heaven.  That simply isn’t the case.

The specific accusation here mirrors what He said in vs. 38 – I’m assuming that “love” and “word” are different but have the same end (the acceptance of Christ’s claims).  The love of God in our hearts is not something we can manufacture.  Christ isn’t saying here “you just haven’t tried hard at all.  You need to do better at having the love of God!”  No.  He’s pointing out that they have a deficiency.  They thought they had salvation squared away because they were Jews.  In America we have a similar problem.  Many Americans think they are Christians simply because they are Americans.  Jesus is abolishing that idea.  He’s saying that they have a deficiency of love, and that He is the only one who can give it to them.

Romans 5:5 says, “…hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  It is God who pours His love into us.  It isn’t self-manufactured.

5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

This pointed accusation is connected to the fact that these people are not spiritual but are sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:1-2).  The reason they will reject Christ is because He is spiritual and they are dead spiritually, and the reason they will accept another (the implication is a false prophet) is because they are fleshly and that false prophet would be fleshly as well and would make his appeal to the flesh.  MacArthur and Morris both point out that, to their best historical reckoning, there have been some 64 false messianic claims since Christ came.

5:44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Now, as proof that they are not spiritual, Jesus says that their actions are fleshly in that they seek their own glory.  This is the antithesis of faith and of true spirituality.

John Piper says this; “Itching for glory from other people makes faith impossible. Why? Because faith is being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus; and if you are bent on getting the satisfaction of your itch from the scratch of others’ acclaim, you will turn away from Jesus.”

5:45-47 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. [46] For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. [47] But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

He goes brings the argument full circle now and says that not only are they not truly spiritual, not only are they not accepting Him, not only do they not have the love of God in their hearts, but they also do not truly understand what Moses said about Him (cf. 39).

MacArthur tries to show just how shocking this statement would have been: “The Lord stunned them by identifying that accuser as Moses – the very one in whom they had set their hope.  It is difficult to imagine how profoundly shocked and outraged the Jewish leaders must have been by Jesus’ statement. In their minds, it was utterly incomprehensible to think that Moses – whom they proudly affirmed as their leader and teacher (Matt. 23:3) – would one day accuse them before God.”

Christ points out that they have a misunderstanding of what/who Moses was pointing forward to.  They didn’t fully understand Deut. 18:15-18 which states:

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And this is just once prophecy.  Ryle is right to say, “every part of our Bibles is meant to teach us about Christ. Christ is not merely in the gospels and epistles. Christ is to be found directly and indirectly in the Law, the Psalms, and the prophets. In the promises to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, in the types and emblems of the ceremonial law, in the predictions of Isaiah and the other prophets, Jesus the messiah, is everywhere to be found in the Old Testament.”

The last thing that really came to my mind when studying this passage is the parallel to Luke 16 where Abraham says to the rich man in torment who has begged Abraham to send messengers to his family of what awaits them, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”  I want to take this seriously and remember the plight of those who are not saved, and who will one day deal forever with this torment and anguish.  I want to remember that just because someone claims to “know what Christianity is all about” doesn’t mean they are saved.  I need to keep the Gospel foremost on my lips so that God might use me – even if unwittingly – to save someone who hadn’t heard the truth and repented before the throne of Jesus Christ.

 

Study Notes 5-20-12

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4:40-42 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of his word. [42] They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

  • Their belief went from trust on testimony to first hand witness.  The shift is from testimony to witness.  I especially note the willingness of Christ to dine and live with sinners.  He truly came to seek and save the lost.
  • The second thing I note about this passage is how the Samaritans were reacting to His teaching. They were seemingly convinced that He was the Messiah – the Savior of the World.  What an amazing thing to know and realize, that the Savior of the World is walking among you and stayed with your people for two days.  The record of Jesus’ ministry here on earth shows me time and again how lavishly He poured out His love upon those who didn’t deserve it.  God is good and His goodness was made manifest in the person of Jesus Christ.

4:43-44 After the two days he departed for Galilee. [44] (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)

  • There are so many explanations for this, but I like what Carson has to say.  He basically says that the contrast here is not between towns, but between gentiles and Israel.  So in the immediate context we think of Samaria and Israel.
  • The Samaritans were willing to believe in Christ because of His word (cf. 41) and didn’t need a sign like so many of the Jews.

4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

  • This adds context and background and helps us further understand verse 44.  The Galileans had seen His miracles and knew that welcoming Him meant perhaps more miracles.  So they were okay with Him being there – though this certainly can’t be meant to speak of all Galileans as a whole.  It is a sort of neutral statement that they are okay with Him being there.

4:46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. [47] When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

  • Jesus’ reputation had preceded Him.  This was His home territory, and we see the elusion to the fact that this (Capernaum) is close to Cana where He had performed His first miracle.  No doubt the people of this area were well aware of His burgeoning ministry.  And this is why they welcomed him.  Carson notes that they were open to seeing Him because of the miracles, not because they believed in His Messianic role – as the Samaritans did.  And this is the contrast between being “honor” in one’s homeland and other places as Christ enumerates above.
  • Note here how this “official” was likely attached to Herod the Tetrarch.  Herod was a pseudo puppet king, and not a real king.  So though the word in Greek for “official” here has to do with being attached to a king, the people regarded Herod as a king despite his lower title.
  • Ryle wisely points out that we ought to learn form this passage that any man can be afflicted with sickness, disease, and death.  The rich are not immune from this!  Riches complicate life and widen the responsibility of those to whom they are entrusted.  We ought not to envy those with wealth.  They have responsibilities that we do not have and worries that we do not have to deal with.  Ryle points out that David was likely more at peace and happier as a shepherd than a king in the palace at Jerusalem.

4:48-49 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” [49] The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

  • I note here that Jesus is talking about spiritual matters, but the official in the story only cares about the life and death of his child.  But the official also signals his belief by declaring that he believes that his son will die unless Jesus does something to heal him.
  • Therefore, there might be a sense in which the official actually believed before he saw.  This might be also why Jesus didn’t come to the child and heal him in person.  This forced the father to place his faith in Christ’s words and abilities instead of seeing the miracle first hand and the then believing.  This is signaled in the next verse, which says “the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.”

4:50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

  • Can you imagine the trip back home?  In the next few verses we see that the servants use the term “yesterday at the seventh hour” which tells me that it was several days journey from where Jesus was to where the man’s son was.  So this trip, which must have taken about a day if we deduct that the servants say “yesterday” as the time when the boy was healed, must have been a very trying time for this father.
  • But the main point I want to emphasize here is the power of the word of God.  Jesus is just as powerful and effective in person as He is several miles apart from the man’s son.  We know that He upholds the universe by the “word of His power” (Heb. 1:3) and that He sustains all things that way.  We also know that John referred to Him as “the Word” in the prologue.  It’s certainly a theme for John that we ought to notice.
  • From a practical standpoint, can you imagine how powerful this man is spiritually that He can do this?  How can you see this and think, as the Jews did, that He was going to usher in a political kingdom??? Surely this act shows His work here on earth was going to be spiritual in nature.  For only a man who dealt with the spiritual realm could heal people from afar merely by the words he spoke.
  • I think that many of us underestimate the amazing power of the words of Jesus.  We have them written for us, and it isn’t for nothing that Scripture is said to “renew” and transform the mind.  These aren’t just lifeless words on a page, they are the water that Christ offered the Samaritan woman.

4:51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

  • This is the relief point here, he is finally home and he now knows that his boy is okay.
  • When it says “going down” it makes sense geographically due to the fact that Galilee is some 600 or 700 feet below sea level.

4:52-54 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” [53] The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. [54] This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

  • There are two things to note here.  First, the official wants to know right away when his boy began to be better.  He has placed his faith on Christ’s words.  He has been agonizing over whether or not his boy would live.  No doubt his faith was tried over and over again in those evening hours the night before.  And now he knows and his faith is confirmed.  It said before that he believed the words of Jesus, but here we see that his faith is confirmed.
  • The second thing we see is the fact that all of his household believed when he believed.  There is no doubt in my mind that when the father of a household believes, the chances that the children and everyone else will follow suit are very good.  In fact, I remember seeing that statistically it is overwhelmingly more powerful for the father to believe than for the mother to believe and try to convert her household.  This is because God naturally made the man as an authority figure over the house.  This sort of sets a president that we see in other areas of scripture (Acts 16:31-34, 18:8 and others).
  • The father didn’t previously care about Jesus being the Messiah, or about theology, or about anything having to do with ministry.  All he cared about was his son’s health.  Now his head is clear, his eyes are opened, and his heart has been made spiritually alive!  The arm and power of Jesus, God here on earth, is indeed long and powerful.  Christ didn’t have to be there in person.  His witness extended into the heart of this man from miles away.  Such is the power of God when He wants to reach someone.  Can anyone possibly doubt the effectiveness of His grace?

How do we teach this to our children?  EXAMPLE: Today we learned about how powerful Jesus was during His time on earth.  He was so powerful that He only had to speak and people were healed.  We learned also how important the role of the father is in the family.  When a father loves Jesus it is much easier for the rest of the family to love God as well because being a daddy who loves God sets a good example.  Also, we naturally have hard hearts about the things of God and what He wants for our lives.  When our daddies set an example, our hearts melt and we find it easier to follow and obey Jesus.  The last thing we learned was that people of all different backgrounds, races and status have problems that only Jesus can solve.  Rich people and poor people all get sick and everyone on earth eventually dies.  We all need a savior!

Study Notes 4-29-12 covering John 4:16-24

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John 4:16-24

4:16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

  • D.A. Carson remarks, “The change of subject, though abrupt, is not artificial. The Samaritan woman has already failed to grasp who Jesus is, and misconstrued the nature of the living water he was promising. By this turn in the dialogue, Jesus is indicating that she has also misunderstood the true dimensions of her own need, the real nature of her self-confessed thirst.”

4:17-19 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; [18] for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” [19] The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

  • Only a prophet, a man of God, could know these details of her life, thus, the woman immediately perceives that Jesus is more than just a wise man with a claim to “living water.”  This is a man who knows the very details of her life.  At this point in the discussion, the intensity must be so thick that it could be cut with a knife.  The woman has just had her life details (and sin) laid out before her from a total stranger! Carson says, “by displaying his knowledge of her morally messy past Jesus is exhibiting his own more-than-human knowledge  – a point the woman understands. Nevertheless, his remark is not designed to be merely self-reveling: rather it is designed to help the woman come to terms with the nature of the gift he is offering.”
  • The deity and humanity of Christ is clearly revealed in this chapter in such a splendid way that we can really come to no other conclusion than that this man was both fully God and fully man.  He’s tired from His journey, yet He planned the journey in advance and knew exactly when to leave. He’s offering the woman eternal life and knows her life details, and yet he appear to be communicating with her as just a man – there is no angelic radiance or voice from heaven telling her that He is more than just a man from an auditory or visual perspective.
  • One thing that Carson points out that must be examined is the way in which Jesus interacts with people.  He says, “Jesus commonly drives to the individual’s greatest sin, hopelessness, guilt, despair, need…Jesus exposes the whole truth, but in the gentlest possible way; he commends her for her formal truthfulness, while pointing out that she has had five husbands and the man with whom she is now sleeping is not her legal husband at all.”
  • Paul says that the entire world is a prisoner to sin (Galatians 3:22) and Jesus came to set these prisoners free (Luke 4:18)) – that is why He makes it such a priority to get to the heart of sin in these people’s lives.  He does the same with all those whom He calls to Himself.  As Ryle says, “We should mark…the absolute necessity of conviction of sin before a soul can be converted to God.”

4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

  • Even though the Samaritans had built a temple in 400 BC on Mt. Gerizim, the Jews, led by John Hyrcanus, destroyed it around 120 BC.  So knowing this, its easy to see why there was a rift between the Jews and the Samaritans!
  • Amazing how she changes the topic here.  It is so “irrational” to do so (Piper).  It’s like she’s saying, “while we’re on the topic of my adulterous lifestyle, what do you think about the worship issue we’ve been dealing with here?”  It makes no sense.  She’s running away from the light (cf. 3:18-21) of the gospel.  Thomas Aquinas is right to say that no man seeks after God, we all seek after the benefits only God can give us while simultaneously running as fast as we can from Him.  And as Sproul notes, “we are, by nature, fugitives.”

4:21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

  • This verse tells us a great deal about worship and the nature of how people had been thinking about worship up until this point in human history.  Paul articulates this shift in thinking when he said, “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands” (Acts 7:48).  It is an amazing truth that we don’t have to go to a central location to worship God.  In fact, we are commanded to pray to God without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17) and as Spurgeon points out, this command is immediately proceeded by a commanded to rejoice in the Lord.  We’ve talked about this in past weeks and I’ll come back to it again I’m sure.  It is the truth at the very heart of John Piper’s ministry and the at the heart of what drove the Westminster Divines to state that our entire time here on earth out to be “glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.”  Jesus is showing us that we can worship God and enjoy God anywhere in the world.  Like breathing and eating, for the Christian enjoying God is a normal part of life.  How are we to enjoy Him?  By praying without ceasing.  But entering into His presence as often as possible.  We ought to long to be in fellowship with God.
  • The point is that Jesus Christ was ushering in a shift in not only how people were to worship, but where they could worship.  It used to be that the presence of God would dwell in the temple in Jerusalem and a cloud of glory would emanate out from the holy of holies (2 Chron. 5:14).  It was an awesome spectacle to behold.  Jesus was ushering in a time when the temple of God would be our very bodies (1 Cor. 6:19) and that we could worship God wherever we are and that geography no longer plays a role in our worship. Perhaps no where is this more evident than in Acts 16:25 when we’re told that “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.”
  • When we think about how people came to the temple before in the Old Testament, they had to be ceremonially clean and ready to come before the Lord.  Today I often hear legalistically minded Christians tell me that we need to dress up before we come to church so that we show God the respect due Him.  However, this statement both goes too far, and not far enough.  As we have seen above, we are not bound by any special place and dress code for God does not dwell in temples made by human hands, and so thinking that somehow dressing up gives him glory, we miss the point of just about every Biblical passage on this point since God told Samuel that “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1Sam.16:7).  As Ryle says, “Our Lord tells her (the Samaritan Woman) that true and acceptable worship depends not on the place in which it is offered, but on the state of the worshiper’s heart.”
  • But on the flip-side, we don’t go far enough by not realizing that our very bodies are temples of the Living God.  If this is true, how much more are we to respect the fact that He, the very God of God, the Holy One, dwells in this sanctuary?!   Therefore, let us leave behind any notion of legalism and ungodly thinking and realize that true consecration comes 7 days a week, not simply from 9-12 on a Sunday morning.

4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

  • In case there was any confusion as to whether or not Jesus condoned the syncretistic religion of the Samaritans, those questions are put promptly to bed here.  Jesus claims a kind of exclusivity that drives the secular world to anger.

4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

  • It is hard not to say too much about these two verses, for I can’t emphasize their importance enough.  One thing that stands out to me immediately is the nature and person of God.  In these verses we learn a little of His character, and His person.  For instance, we learn that God is a spirit.  This is crucial for our understanding of who God is – and Jesus uses His teaching of who God is, to make a rhetorical play on words to say that we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And though there is a play on words, there is much more substance here than that.  What Jesus seems to be saying here, is that we can’t affectively worship the Father without first having the Spirit of God and having a right idea of who He is, and that is what He means by the Spirit and “truth.”
  • But this verse builds on what was mentioned earlier about where we can worship God.  Now we learn more about who can worship God, and it is closely tied to who can really enjoy God.  The unbeliever might well count their rosary over and over again, but they will never by that ritual, be entering into the presence of God.  They are not worshiping God in Spirit. And enjoying God is the farthest thing from their minds. In fact, prayer is a chore, a duty, a ritual, a habit; it’s a crutch to count those beads.  Its borderline superstition!  Contrast this with the believer who enters into worship in prayer with God because they are commanded to enjoy Him, and because they want the fellowship. It is as necessary to them as eating and breathing as I mentioned above.
  • Though, it must be said that for many believers we don’t understand or take full advantage of this joy.  J.C. Ryle says, “The Lord Jesus sis far more ready to hear than we are to pray, and far more ready to give favors than we are to ask them.”  Not only that, but even the Christian mind is given to outward empty forms, “We are all naturally included to make religion a mere matter of outward forms and ceremonies and to attach an excessive importance to our own particular manner of worshipping God.  We must beware of this spirit, and especially when we first begin to think seriously about our souls. The heart is the principal thing in all our approaches to God.  The most gorgeous cathedral service is offensive in God’s sight, if all is gone through coldly, heartlessly, and without grace.”
  • It is the privilege of believers and no others to enter into this communion with God because only they can enter into this communion.  Why?  Notice the two descriptive terms in Jesus’ statement.  He says we worship God in “spirit” and in “truth.”  Only the believer has the “Spirit” of God so only the believer can enter into worship in spirit.  Only the believer knows the “truth” about God and can worship Him without any polluting ideas of idolatry clouding their mind.  This point in crucial because the unbeliever may think they know something of God.  But like this woman at the well, they have no idea of who God really is.  Their worship would simply be idolatry.  This is why it is absolutely critical that we rid our minds of all false notions of who God is.  We must study His character, learn His ways, and learn to love what He loves and to hate what He hates.  If we enter into worship with a false understanding of who God is, we will ask for wrong things, we will not have the mind of Christ: we will be worshiping an idol created in our minds!