The Divine Healer
John 4:46-5:18
The Divine Healer
John 4:46-5:18
Main Idea: The healings and words of Jesus reveal His compassion and divinity.
I. Seeking Jesus (4:46-54)
Parallels Between The Signs in Cana
A need is communicated (4:47 cf 2:3)
but he initially rebuffs the petitioner (4:48 cf 2:4)
When the petitioner responds in faith (4:49 cf 2:5)
Jesus gives a command that is obeyed (4:50 cf 2:7-8)
at which point the need is met (4:51-52 cf 2:9-10)
These are then identified as the first and second signs, in response to which people believe in Jesus (4:53-54, cf 2:11)
"If he leaves to return home without Jesus, there is probably not enough time to seek help from anyone else. If he does not believe Jesus can speak the word and the healing comes to pass, he will be inclined to stay and plead with Jesus to come to his son. He can depart in peace only if he believes Jesus can say the word and make his son well."
~ James Hamilton, ESV Expository Commentary
II. Sought by Jesus (5:1-9a)
“If John intends any symbolism, it may be along the following lines: just as the water from the purification pots of the orthodox could neither produce nor be mistaken for the new wine of the kingdom (2:1–11), and just as the water from Jacob’s well could not satiate the ultimate thirst of religious people who may have looked to genuine revelation but whose views were widely viewed as aberrant (4:1–42), so the promises of merely superstitious religion have no power to transform the truly needy”
~ D.A Carson The Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)
III. Stalking Jesus (5:9b-18)
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Taste and See
John 4:27-42
Taste and See
John 4:27-42
Main Idea: Those who taste and see will go and tell.
I. Satisfied Soul (4:27-30)
We see here the nature of those who have begun to taste truth, how they do not remain idle with the love of truth conceived in them, but they are zealous for others to know the truth. And they do not separate themselves from others, but they desire them to be joined to them in knowing the truth.
~ Wolfgang Musculus Reformation Commentary on Scripture
II. Submissive Servant (4:31-38)
Deuteronomy 8:3: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Psalm 147:11: …but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Psalm 149: For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
Isaiah 62:5: For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Luke 15:10: Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
"At one level, Jesus is unique as the one sent by the Father, and his work can be accomplished by no one else. At another level, those who know Jesus, those who trust him, must follow his example. Those who follow Jesus and obey the Father can expect to experience this kind of nourishment. They will experience strength and joy multiplying when they do the will of God. They will be happy when obeying."
~ ESV Commentary
Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
III. Shared Satisfaction (4:39-42)
First by report, then by His presence. So it is to-day with them that are without, and are not yet Christians. Christ is made known to them by Christian friends; and just upon the report of that woman, that is, the Church, they come to Christ, they believe through this report. He stays with them … and many more believe, and more firmly believe, on Him, because He is in truth the Saviour of the world.
~ Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.7: St. Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Romans 10:13-15: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
From Thirst to Testimony
John 4:27-45
From Thirst to Testimony
John 4:27-45
“There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’ This way of putting the matter is certainly not without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the law rather than part of the gospel. If one looks at the New Testament evidence, one gets another impression. Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”
~ Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
Main Idea: When Christ truly satisfies your deepest thirst, your life cannot remain silent.
I. A Soul Satisfied by Christ (4:27–30)
When the disciples return to the well, they are shocked. John tells us, “Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman” (v.27). Everything about the scene defies their expectations.
John gives us a small but profoundly meaningful detail: “So the woman left her water jar and went away into town” (v.28). She came for water, and she leaves with living water.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
~ Augustine, Confessions
“If we truly drink of the living water, we shall turn away from the broken cisterns of the world.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
John 4:28–30: So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
II. A Missions Lunch with Christ (4:31–38)
“Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat’” (v.31). They are thinking about bread, about their immediate physical needs. Jesus, however, is thinking about something far greater: salvation.
He answers them with a statement that at first confuses them: “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (v.32). The disciples misunderstand completely, whispering among themselves, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” (v.33). They are still operating on the level of the physical, but Jesus is lifting their eyes to a spiritual reality far deeper.
“The immanent frame is a constructed social space that frames our lives entirely within a natural order.”
~ Charles Taylor, A Secular Age
John 4:34: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Our world constantly trains us to focus on what is immediate: productivity, comfort, consumption, and entertainment. We live surrounded by bread, yet starving for meaning.
Jesus invites us into the joy of participating in the work of God.
Jesus points toward the fields surrounding the town. “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (v.35). The disciples see farmland, rows of wheat ready for the sickle, the mundane details of rural life. Jesus sees souls. The harvest is ready.
Matthew 9:36–38: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Christ satisfies our deepest thirst, and then He gives us something better than the empty pursuits of the world: a life that matters forever.
III. A Satisfied Soul Shares Christ (4:39–45)
While Jesus teaches the disciples about the harvest, something remarkable is happening in the town. John writes, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” (4:39). Her simple testimony becomes the spark of revival. “He told me all that I ever did.”
Her deepest source of shame becomes an undeniable proof of grace.
John carefully traces the progression of belief.
Her Word: Many believe because of her testimony.
His Word: Then, as they hear Jesus for themselves, many more believe because of His word (4:39–41).
Their Confession: “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves” (4:42). Her witness started the journey, but Jesus Himself completed it.
This is the goal of evangelism: not to make people followers of us, but to bring them to Christ.
And then comes one of the most astonishing confessions in all of John’s Gospel: the Samaritans declare, “This is indeed the Savior of the world” (4:42). Not the Pharisees, not the religious elite of Jerusalem, but outsiders, former enemies, those marginalized by culture.
And there is a quiet, cutting irony at the close of the story. John writes, “A prophet has no honor in his hometown” (4:44). In Samaria, outsiders recognize and receive the Savior. In Galilee, familiarity breeds indifference. Being impressed by Jesus is not the same as being satisfied by Him.
When you are satisfied in Christ, you share Christ.
“One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). From the cross flows salvation itself. Isaiah had anticipated it: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). Every thirsty soul must come to Christ crucified—every thirsty soul must come and see the Savior who died that we might live.
Witness is not taught; it is caught from the overflowing joy of having tasted the Savior.
Living Water
John 4:1-26
Living Water
John 4:1-26
Main Idea: Jesus offers us living water so we might be saved and satisfied in him.
I. Surprising (4:1-9)
As Jesus “had” to pass through Samaria (4:4), he crosses a number of barriers in this encounter:
Jews and Samaritans (4:9)
Men and women (cf. 4:27)
The Messiah and a moral / social outcast
“It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast between two persons than the contrast between the important and sophisticated Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, and the simple Samaritan woman. He was a Jew; she, a Samaritan. He was a Pharisee; she belonged to no religious party. He was a politician; she had no status whatsoever. He was a scholar; she was uneducated. He was highly moral; she was immoral. He had a name; she is nameless. He was a man; she was a woman. He came at night, to protect his reputation; she, who had no reputation, came at noon. Nicodemus came seeking; the woman was sought by Jesus.”
~ James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John
If Nicodemus needed to be “born again” (3:3), then everyone must be born again; if this Samaritan woman could receive “living water” (4:10), anyone can receive living water. These conversations teach us that no one is “too good” to achieve salvation, and no one is “too bad” to be ineligible for salvation.
II. Satisfying (4:10-18)
Jesus offers this Samaritan woman “living water,” which entails a number of meanings:
Literally: living water refers to fresh, flowing, running water, rather than stagnant and sitting water sources
Spiritually: living water is a frequent reference in the Bible to God, who is the source of both physical and spiritual life and vitality (cf. Jer. 2:13; 17:13; Isa. 44:3; Ez. 47:1-12; Rev. 22:1-2)
Jesus seems to introduce a “non-sequitur” into the conversation (cf. 3:3): “Go, call your husband…” In this question and the subsequent interchange, Jesus is doing what all prophets do: exposing sin and shame by the Word of God. Jesus is doing this not to condemn, but in order to save (cf. 3:17), lovingly inviting this woman to come into the light, rather than deflecting or hiding.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
III. Saving (4:19-26)
Rather than the Samaritan woman changing the subject, she is actually in search of the proper response to being exposed in her sin. “The woman does not seek to defend herself or to hide the sin. She has placed her trust in the stranger and she does not draw back…. Where sin has been exposed one must ask about the possibility of atonement, or forgiveness. A prophet can bring no healing if the ministry of the priest is not available, if there is no ‘mercy seat’ where sacrifice can be accepted, and sin put away. Where is that mercy seat?” ~ Lesslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come
The Samaritans and Jews had a long-standing and hostile disagreement about the true temple. However, Jesus tells this woman that while “salvation is from the Jews” (cf. Rom. 1:16), the “hour is coming and is now here” when true worshippers will no longer need to travel to the temple, but they will worship in “spirit and in truth” from their inward being.
Jesus then reveals that he is the “true temple” and the “Messiah” that she is looking for. On the “hour” of his crucifixion, Jesus thirsts in our place (cf. Ps. 22:14-15; Jn. 19:28) so that we might be saved and satisfied in him.
“The heart is as insatiable as the grave until Jesus enters it, and then it becomes a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fullness in Christ that He alone is the believer’s sufficiency. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the provision of Jesus that he no longer thirsts – except perhaps to drink more deeply at the living fountain… Come continually to the fountain, and take the water of life freely. Jesus will never think you take too much, but will always welcome you, saying, ‘Drink abundantly, loved one.’”
~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening
Isaiah 55:1-3: Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
He Must Increase
John 3:22-36
He must increASE
John 3:22-36
Main Idea: Rejoice in Christ, recognize His reign, and rest in His reward.
I. Rejoice in His Rise (3:22–30)
John 3:22-23: After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison).
John 3:25-26: Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”
John 3:27-28: “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.
John 3:29: The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
“The bridegroom’s friend, is jealous for the bridegroom. And he does not put himself forward as an adulterer in the bridegroom’s place but bears witness to his friend and commends the one who really was the bridegroom to the bride. He wants to be loved in him and hates the idea of being loved instead of him.”
~ Augustine
John 3:30: He must increase, but I must decrease.
II. Recognize His Reign (3:31–34)
John 3:31-34: He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
A. Recognize His Authority Over Your Mind
To recognize His reign is to surrender your reasoning to His Word.
B. Recognize His Authority Over Your Time
Because Jesus reigns, then He rules over your calendar, your work, your rest, and even your hidden life.
C. Recognize His Authority Over Your Confidence
When you recognize the supremacy of Christ you no longer brace yourself against His authority—you draw confidence from it. You do not resent His commands—you trust them. You do not fear His providence—you rest in it.
III. Rest in His Reward (vv. 35–36)
John 3:35-36: The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
A. Rest Means You Stop Trying to Save Yourself
Rest begins when self-salvation ends.
B. Rest Means You Take Judgment Seriously
If you are in Him, wrath does not remain on you. It fell on Christ. That is why you can rest.
C. Rest Means Daily Reliance
Belief is not a one-time glance. It is ongoing trust.
He Must Increase
John 3:22-36
He must increASE
John 3:22-36
Main Idea: He must increase, therefore we are wisest to always pursue a greater worship of Jesus.
I. The Heated Debate (3:22-26)
Any heated debate has at least three common elements. There is a situation, a flash point, and an escalation that turns up the heat.
The Situation - Jesus and his disciples baptizing near John and his disciples.
The Flash Point - A discussion arose over purification.
The Escalation - “He is baptizing, and all are going to him.”
II. A Humble Response (3:27-30)
Instead of being drawn into the controversy and escalating the debate, John steps out of the controversy and addresses the situation from a different - and proper - vantage point. John’s response de-escalates the debate by appealing to a universal constant, correcting the historical record, and stating the inescapable conclusion.
A. The Universal Constant
John 3:27: A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven.”
John’s view of reality saw heaven intimately and intricately involved with and orchestrating affairs on earth. From this perspective, everything on earth is a gift from heaven. John was unfazed by the situation that led his disciples and this Jew into heated debate because he knew that heaven rules and earth follows.
B. The Record Correction
John 3:28: You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’
John locks in on the the only two identity markers about himself that mattered to him:
I am not the Christ
I have been sent before the Christ
John affirms that his sense of identity is wrapped up in what God and the Scriptures say about him.
C. The Inescapable Conclusion
John 3:29-30: The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He [the bridegroom] must increase, but I must decrease.
John makes Jesus the center of attention, not himself or anyone else. Now that "that One” has arrived on the scene, John enjoys two blessings.
“This joy of mine is complete.”
My mission is fulfilled. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
III. A Homiletical Summary (2:31-36)
Whether this section is a continuation of John the Witness or a chapter summary from John the Apostle, it stands as a three-point sermonic conclusion to the whole chapter:
He who comes from above is above all - v. 31. Listen to Him and do not be surprised that He sounds confusing to you.
He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. - vv. 32-35. His testimony is true. Those who reject it do not make Him false. Those who receive Him prove that what He testifies to is true.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. - v. 36. To hear Him and repent is life. To ignore Him and rebel is to miss life and invite wrath.
So Loved
John 3:16-21
So Loved
John 3:16-21
Main Idea: Jesus was lifted up to love us into life and light.
I. Jesus Loves Us To Life (3:16-18)
John 3:16–18: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Romans 5:8: ... but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
“Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream; all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him”
~ “Come Ye Sinners”
II. Jesus Loves Us To Light (3:19-21)
John 3:19–21: And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
Isaiah 25:9: It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Isaiah 35:10: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
“The reason the darkness may be faced and lived is that even in the darkness, there is one to address. The one to address is in the darkness, but not simply a part of the darkness. Because this one has promised to be in the darkness with us, we find the darkness strangely transformed, not by the power of easy light, but by the power of relentless solidarity.”
~ Walter Brueggemann
Born Again
John 3:1-15
Born Again
John 3:1-15
Main Idea: We all must be born again and made new through the finished work of Christ.
This passage answers three questions about the new birth: Who needs it? What is it? How do we receive it?
I. Who Needs It? (3:1-3)
We learn that Nicodemus is…
A Pharisee
A “ruler” of the Jews (a member of the Sanhedrin)
The “teacher of Israel” (3:9)
Wealthy (cf. 19:39)
Nicodemus would have been a highly respected member of the Jewish community and a religious and moral exemplar in his time. Though he recognizes something unique and divine in Jesus, he approaches him “by night,” a seeming illustration of the warning given in 2:23-25.
John 2:23-3:1: Now 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… Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus…
Though Nicodemus was a prominent man of great respect, success, and stature, Jesus is clear: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (3:3). If Nicodemus needed to be born again, then truly everyone “must be born again” (3:7).
Philippians 3:3–7: For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh… circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ…
II. What Is It? (3:3-8)
The new birth is:
Spiritual not physical (3:3-4): “Born again” can also mean “born from above;” this is the theological concept of “regeneration.”
“Of water and the Spirit” (3:5; cf. Ezek. 36:25-27; Isa. 44:3; Titus 3:4-6); the ‘water’ is symbolic for cleansing and purification, something pictured in baptism.
Bringing new spiritual life out of spiritual deadness (3:6; cf. Ezek 37; 2 Cor. 5:17)
Unseen, but evidenced (3:7-8)
Acts 4:13: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
III. How Do We Receive It? (3:9-15)
Jesus is surprised that Nicodemus, “the teacher of Israel,” does not understand the promise of new birth found throughout the Scriptures, a clear indication of his need to be “born again.” If Nicodemus is stumbling over the entry to the Kingdom of God, then Jesus is unable to move to the more glorious details of life in this kingdom (“heavenly things” | 1:12).
His problem is not only a lack of understanding but also an issue of authority; Nicodemus is unable and unwilling (at this point) to receive Jesus’ testimony” (1:11). Jesus has authority to bear witness to this birth “from above,” because he is the one who has descended from heaven as the “Son of Man” (cf. Prov. 30:4; Dan. 7:13).
To further illustrate his point to Nicodemus, Jesus reminds him of another famous OT passage from Numbers 21. The Lord provides a source of healing from the curse of the serpent’s poison by looking at the bronze serpent that is “lifted up” on the pole.
The challenge of being “born again” is that it is a passive reality. Jesus does not command us to “go and be born,” because this is not how “birth” works. There are two “musts” in this passage:
“You must be born again” (3:7)
“The Son of Man must be lifted up” (3:14)
“You don’t go and get born. Birth happens to you, but the baby doesn’t do a thing. It’s all the mother. The baby is brought into this world through the mother’s labor. The baby is brought into the world through the mother’s pain. The baby is born through the mother bearing the weight through all those months. Somebody else suffers. Somebody else is burdened. Somebody else is in labor. Somebody else is in anguish. Somebody else is bleeding.” ~ Tim Keller, “The New Birth”
John 1:11-13: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Good and Angry
John 2:12-25
Good and Angry
John 2:12-25
Main Idea: If Jesus is Lord, we must love what He loves, hate what He hates, and trust in His way.
I. The Symbol (2:12-17)
John 2:12-17: After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
“The temple courts were to be a place where the Scriptures were read, where sacrifices were offered, and where people came to pray… The one thing that would have been impossible at the temple was the one thing it had been made for: the reverent worship of God.”
~ Richard Phillips, John (Reformed Expository Commentary)
II. The Substance (2:18-22)
John 2:18-22: So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
2 Corinthians 6:16: What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
“God kept his promises through the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is the new and better Passover Lamb accomplishing a new and better exodus, after a more devastating destruction of the temple and a more impressive rebuilding of it on the third day, in his resurrection.”
~Jim Hamilton, ESV Expository Commentary
III. The Savior (2:23-25)
John 2:23-25: Now 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 6:64-66: But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Luke 14:26: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
"My faith rests not in what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is doing for me."
~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning
Jeremiah 20:9: If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
1 Corinthians 9:16: Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen”
~ Martin Luther, The Diet of Worms (1521)
Pure Worship, True Temple, Genuine Faith
John 2:12-25
Pure Worship, True Temple, Genuine Faith
John 2:13-25
Main Idea: The crucified and resurrected Jesus calls us to pure worship and genuine faith.
I. Pure Worship (2:13-17)
1. Jesus is passionate about our pure worship.
“The temple courts were to be a place where the Scriptures were read, where sacrifices were offered, and where people came to pray… The one thing that would have been impossible at the temple was the one thing it had been made for: the reverent worship of God.”
~ Richard Phillips, John (Reformed Expository Commentary)
2. Jesus’ righteous anger against what God hates
“Jesus shows us that godly people are passionate people – passionate for the things of God, passionate in their love of good and in their hatred of evil. Jesus hated what he found at the temple and, employing all his great moral energy, cleansed it of impurity.”
~ Richard Phillips, John (Reformed Expository Commentary)
3. Jesus does what was expected of the Messiah.
II. True Temple (2:18-22)
Malachi 3:1, 3: And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts… He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.
Two things that are significant about Jesus referring to his body as a temple:
Jesus has come to be the new temple
Jesus has come to be the ultimate sacrifice
III. Genuine Faith (2:23-25)
These two expressions tell us something about this “faith” is not right:
1. “When they saw the signs…”
John 6:2: And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick
John 6:14- 15: Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’ Jesus perceived that the people were going to take Him by force to make Him king of Israel, so He withdrew to the mountain by Himself.
John 6:26: Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
2. Jesus knows what is in us.
“Jesus knows what is in every heart, and so he can see when someone believes in a way that is not really believing. In other words, Jesus’ ability to know every heart perfectly leads to the unsettling truth that some belief is not the kind of belief that obtains fellowship with Jesus and eternal life. Some belief is not saving belief.”
~ John Piper