Scripture:John 12:43 “For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”Observation:Jesus’ miracles and His teaching were nearly irrefutable evidence that He was who He said He was – God’s Son, the promised Messiah. There were ample reasons to believe this. Many of the Jewish leaders really did believe this, but they didn’t want to admit it, because of their fear that they might be ostraci...  Read More

Scripture:John 11:40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”Observation:Mary and Martha were in deep pain, and pain makes faith very difficult. They wanted to believe in Jesus’ ability to raise their brother Lazarus from the dead, but it seemed impossible, since he had already been dead for four days, and his corpse was even beginning to smell as...  Read More

1 John 2:12-17I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.  I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been...  Read More

Scripture:John 10:16 “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”Observation:Jesus desires that people of all different nationalities and cultures be united as one flock under His shepherding. However different we may all be from one another, Jesus longs for us all to love each other an...  Read More

Scripture:John 9:16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”Observation:Because of the Pharisees’ predetermined ideas about what was religious and what wasn’t, they missed out on recognizing their Messiah, for whom they had been waiting for centuries. They were so stuck on their human definitions of what it meant not to do any work on the Sabbath, t...  Read More

Scripture:John 8:11 “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”Observation:Jesus was without sin, and so had the right to condemn this woman. But, as He said in John 3:17, He does not want to condemn people. Instead He is eager to forgive us for wrongs we have done and give us a fresh start to go and live right. Jesus doesn’t say that sinning is no big deal, or...  Read More

1 John 2:7-11Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.  On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.  The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates ...  Read More

Scripture:John 7:39-40 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive….”Observation:Jesus predicts that one day, all who believe in Him would receive the Holy Spirit in such fullness that it would be like water flowing in a stream. Up until then, the Holy Spirit...  Read More

Scripture:John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”John 6:65 “No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”Observation:Even though it’s true that each of us either chooses to follow Christ or to reject Him, Scripture also clearly teaches another side to this here. If God hadn’t drawn us to Christ, and if God hadn’t enabled us to believe in Christ, we ne...  Read More

Scripture:John 6:9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”Observation:Whoever this boy was, he was willing to give up his own lunch and give it to Jesus, even though it seemed ridiculous to even offer such a small amount of food in the face of such a huge crowd. The boy could have just kept his lunch to himself, thinking that the ot...  Read More

Scripture:John 5:42 “I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.”Observation:These Jewish people thought of themselves as very religious and godly. They studied the Scriptures (v.39), they followed religious rules to the letter (v.10), they had acquired the praise of other people for being so religious (v.44), they even saw themselves as God’s appointed religious police...  Read More

Scripture:John 4:13-14 Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.Observation:Jesus uses the metaphor of thirst to talk about the inner longing of every human heart. We are born with a sense that there must be more to life than just the ...  Read More