The Character and Work of Jesus, in John's Gospel

Across—

1. Jesus never enslaves; rather, he is always _____ people.  8:36

4. The Jews were trying to shame Jesus but He is _____.  8:49

6. Jesus’ attitude to Martha and Mary and Lazarus was wholeheartedly _____ them.  11:5

8. We accept Jesus’ testimony because he is _____.  3:33

13. The Father doesn’t do this but has entrusted it all to the Son.  5:22

14. Jesus was not of this world. He is _____ _____.  8:23

16.  Jesus is not guilty!  8:46

17.  Jesus is the bread of life. As such, his people never go hungry.  6:35

18.  He had such learning that the Jews found him _____.  7:15

 Down—

2. Out of His fulness we have received more and more.  1:16

3. Jesus is always this to the Father.  5:30

5. He chased the money changers and marketers out of the temple.  2:17

7.  Jesus was greatly _____ by a voice from heaven, at the temple.  12:28

9.  Jesus has testified that the works of the world are evil, so he is _____.  7:7

10.  The thief comes stealing, killing and destroying. Jesus has another reason.  10:10

11.  In fact, he is way over the top. He is _____!   8:54

12.  Jesus’ main purpose in coming into the world was _____ us.   12:47

15.  Nothing gets by Jesus, even a traitor.   6:64

No Condemnation

        Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.                      Romans 8:1.

 

      It’s been a saying in our family for many years, that whenever we see the word “therefore”, we ask, “What’s it there for?” My good friend Merriam-Webster says “for that reason” or “because of that”.

        So, when Paul wrote this verse, what did he have in mind? “No condemnation” is a great place to be—

whether natural sense or spiritual sense. If we go back into chapter 7, verse 5, we find that “in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.” We were under serious condemnation—in fact, we had sold ourselves as slaves to sin and our wages (if you can call it that) were going to be death.

        What changes things? Jesus Christ our Lord delivers us, thanks be to God (7:25).How does Jesus deliver us? From the Gospel of John, we see that the physical condemnation the Jewish leaders placed on Jesus was vicious. Look at this list:—

·         Beating before Annas.

·    Ceremonial contamination and false charges before Pilate.

·         Claimed to be worse than Barabbas, a murderer.

·         Mocked and flogged by Pilate’s men.

·         Vilified by the Jews.

·         Crucified in great agony.

        But there was condemnation from God in heaven, as well:—

·         Forsaken by the Father. Psa.22:1.

·         Buried under our sins.  Isa.53:6.

        So just how does Jesus deliver us? All the condemnation that fell on Him was really due to us. The key is in the word “substitution”. Jesus, the infinite Son of God, was able to bear all those condemnations, and apply to us the good of His obedience.

·         The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa.53:6.

·         The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7.

·         The blood of Christ will cleanse our consciences. Heb.9:14.

“Therefore”, and “because of” that sin-offering by Jesus, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). In fact, whoever believes in him is NOT CONDEMNED! (John 3:18).

God exists

        Hebrews 11:6 says “Anyone who comes to him [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” For a long time I wondered how an unbeliever could be brought to believe that God exists. I’ve been through all of the “apologetics” that might prove God exists—philosophical arguments, natural theology arguments, analogies, and all the rest. Most of them were helpful but nothing seemed to be really conclusive, to the point that my unbelieving friend could ever commit to trusting the Saviour.

        Then Peter’s remark overwhelmed all of these other approaches. He said, “Christ was chosen…he was revealed…and through him you believe in God.” (1 Peter 1:21.) At last, how to believe in God! Look at Jesus.

        In fact, in John 7:17, the Lord himself says that if anyone chooses to do the will of God, they will find out whether there is a God, or if Jesus is just a man, talking. John wrote his Gospel for this very purpose. John 20:31 says, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God”

        Look at the prophecies, look at the miracles, look at the character of Jesus, look at everything he says. Immerse yourself in the Gospels and you will find that you do believe in Jesus and suddenly you will believe in God, above all.

        

        

        

The fruit of the Spirit is...self-control

      The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22, 23. NIV

        For a few months now, we’ve been looking at these wonderful graces. Now we come to the ninth and last—self-control. Someone has pointed out that probably these aren’t nine different “fruits”. Instead, they seem to be different workings of the one Spirit. They can’t be divided into nine categories. The characteristics of these graces overflow into one another. For instance, forbearance overflows into self-control, kindness into gentleness, goodness into faithfulness, and so on.

        The last grace, self-control, summarizes and bundles them all together. What is love without self-control? How can there be forbearance without self-control?

        Once again, we look for examples in Scripture— Who showed self-control? Who lost it? Moses was the meekest man in the world but, at Meribah, he gave up momentarily on the Israelites, and shouted, “You rebels!” and struck the rock twice—to his great loss. (Num.20:10.) Samson is an even worse example—no self-control at all. (Judges 14.)

         The very subject frightened Felix, as Paul talked to him, (Acts 24:25.) because it ultimately means refraining from sin. But who showed true self-control?

        Joseph was a good example when he kept control of himself in Potiphar’s house. (Gen.39.) Daniel and his three friends decided that they would not be defiled by what they ate in Nebuchadnezzar’s household. (Dan.1:8.) The greatest exemplar, of course, is Jesus— “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.” (1 Peter 2:23.)

        

        Oh Father, help us to be fruitful and more like Jesus!

        

        

The Glory of God

        The old gentleman walked shakily onto the stage, placed one hand on the grand piano to steady himself, then waited for his music to begin. As he scanned the expectant audience, his chest swelled and this great declaration filled the sanctuary:--

Down from His glory,
Ever living story,
My God and Savior came,
And Jesus was His Name.
Born in a manger,
To His own a stranger,
A Man of sorrows, tears and agony.

        The hymn-writer, William Booth-Clibborn, expressed the glory of Christ well. And Dick Kuieck, our soloist, and we listeners, could hardly contain ourselves in the refrain,

O how I love Him! How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine, my all in all.
The great Creator became my Savior,
And all God's fullness dwelleth in Him.

The worship continued:--

2. What condescension,
Bringing us redemption;
That in the dead of night,
Not one faint hope in sight,
God, gracious, tender,
Laid aside His splendor,
Stooping to woo, to win, to save my soul.

3. Without reluctance,
Flesh and blood His substance,
He took the form of man,
Revealed the hidden plan,
O glorious myst'ry
Sacrifice of Calv'ry,
And now I know Thou art the great "I AM".

        When I started this article, I was enjoying thoughts of the glory of Christ. In particular, John says in 12:41, "Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him." When did Isaiah see the glory of Jesus---specifically Jesus? Answer: Isaiah 6:1, a verse we frequently hear quoted in worship:

        In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

        And he goes on in verse 5 with, My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.

        This is Jesus, none other! Yes, God, gracious, tender, did lay aside His splendor. And yes! He is the great "I AM"!

“If my heart has been led…”

       I was reading through the Gospel of John when an unusual cross-reference brought me to Job 31:7— “If my heart has been led by my eyes…then may others eat what I have sown.” Job wanted to live righteously. In order to treat people fairly and justly, he had to search deeper than the obvious, or what just appeared to his “sight”.

        This was the very problem the Jews had in Jesus’ day. In just two chapters, John records at least four times when, by “sight” so to speak, they thought they knew all about Jesus. In 6:35, their eyes saw the physical bread he had multiplied for them; in 6:42, they “knew” his father was Joseph; in 6:60, they were repulsed by the thought of eating his body and blood; in 7:41, they “knew” that no prophet could come out of Galilee. But Jesus was right there in front of them, showing them all kinds of signs. Why not believe him? Why not follow him? Sadly, as our verse says, their hearts were following their eyes. This all reminds me of the character in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress: “There was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand. There stood also one over his head, with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered to give him that crown for his muckrake.”

        I recently heard a preacher describe some of the defining moments in the life of Elisabeth Elliot:— a year’s worth of translation work stolen; getting a unique translator into one of the South American Indian languages, only to find him murdered; her husband losing all his translation notes in a flood; then losing her husband, Jim Elliot, to Auca spears after only 27 months of marriage; losing her second husband to painful cancer. None of these events showed the love of God to her; they seemed so pointless. What kept her going, through all these years? She never let her “heart be led by her eyes”. She had confidence in what she hoped for and assurance about what she did not see. (Heb.11:1) She trusted in God’s love for her and that kept her strong.

        And so it is for us. Prayers answered? Maybe. Maybe not. Is God good all the time? Yes, we know He is—it is one of His attributes! (But don’t force me to say it if my heart is broken with the loss of my house, or someone’s child!)

        Let’s go back to those examples from John’s Gospel. In 6:35, we see that Jesus is the true bread; if they ate of him they would live forever. In 6:42, Joseph was only the “step-father”, His true Father is God. In 6:60, there was no intention of “eating His body”, but trusting Jesus would give eternal nourishment and life. And finally, in 7:41, Jesus was from Galilee, but He was also from Bethlehem (as the prophecy required). They misunderstood Jesus on every count.

        To put our verse into simpler, harsher, less poetic language, it might read, “If my attitude is guided only by shallow first impressions and presumptions, I deserve to suffer for my stupidity.” Let’s strive for honesty in our dealings with others. Let’s go for justice and truth and mercy. These are things the Lord Himself never got much of while He was here on earth. Let’s be like Job, and work at understanding people, and especially understanding the Lord. Otherwise, “What will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?” (Job 31:14)

The fruit of the Spirit is…gentleness

     The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 

peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, 

faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22, 23. NIV

        “Gentleness”—Who comes to your mind when that word comes up? For me, I would probably say my father-in-law, Bill Spencer. He couldn’t pass a hitchhiker or a broken-down car without offering help. His name was on the church sign as being the main contact and only heaven knows how many meals and hundreds of cans of Campbells soup he gave away to the needy who called. He was always ready with a word of encouragement, and any assembly could call him even on Saturday evening, and he would graciously agree to preach the Gospel there next evening.      

        Gentleness, my dictionary tells me, is kindliness, serenity, patience, but not harshness or any kind of roughness. W.E.Vine’s Bible Dictionary suggests fairness or moderation, or even meekness; “not insisting on the letter of the law.”

        When we turn to the Scriptures for examples, probably the first is Moses. What he had to deal with, in Egypt and throughout the exodus, would push any man to the brink. But what does the Bible say? “The man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Numbers 12:3. But there was One Who was gentler and meeker, and He says about Himself, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29. With Jesus’ yoke upon us, we can see, and experience, and learn that gentleness, and at last we can rest.