February 9th, Monday: John chaps. 5-6

John 5

Now the Father broke His Sabbath rest to help 2 sinners.

And Jesus followed His example.

In the world of nature, the Father is healing bodies, multiplying food, turning water into wine, and so forth.

But it takes longer to do those things .

Our Lord's miracles are the Father's works done instantly.

Whether instantly, or gradually - they are the wonderful works of God.

We'll learn about wrath.

Today, Jesus is the Saviour. Tomorrow, He will be the Judge.

Even death cannot keep lost sinners from the judgment, for He will raise them up from the dead.

There is no escape except for faith in Jesus.

If you worship God the Father, you must also worship the Son.

And if you dishonor the Son, you dishonor the Father.

Those who claim to worship God but ignore the Son are not worshiping God as they suppose.

They are only fooling themselves.

How can anyone deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, when so many witnesses affirm that He is?

- John the Baptist, the miracles, the Father and the the Scriptures.

But when people believe on Him, they have the witness within themselves.

John 6

The disciples faced 3 tests because of the great crowds that followed Jesus.

The first one was feeding the multitude.

Philip thought the answer was money.

But Andrew saw the answer in a lad with a lunch.

When you face a seemingly unsolvable problem, or a huge obstacle, claim the promise of this verse, 'Give what you have to Jesus, and let Him tell you what to do.'

In that great song by Keith Green of years gone by: 'Keep doing your best, pray that it's blessed, and He'll take care of the rest.'

They were also tested in leaving the multitude.

Now this incident happened at the high point of our Lord's popularity.

The disciples, especially Judas, would have welcomed the Kingdom, so Jesus sent them away into a storm.

They went from popularity to peril.

But they were safer in the storm than when the multitude and Jesus came to them and met their needs.

Can you obey His will, even when you disagree with Him?

The third test was in losing the multitude.

People want the Lord to meet their physical needs, but not their spiritual needs.

The manna came only to the Jews and sustained their physical lives.

But Jesus came for the whole world and gives eternal life.

Just as you take food into your body, so you take Christ into your life and He becomes one with you.

The disciples had opportunity to follow the crowd but they remained with Jesus.

Life is a key theme throughout John's gospel.

He uses the word nearly 50 times.

Jesus is the life.

The light of life.

And the bread of life.

And He gives the water of life

Jesus laid down His life that we might have life and that more abundantly, and eternally too.