Starting in John chapter 5, in verse 17.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work.
In verse 19.
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The Son can
do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth
the Father do.
For what things soever He doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth
Him all things that Himself doeth.
And He will show Him greater works than
these, that you may marvel.
Then over in verse 30.
I can of my own self do nothing.
As I hear, I judge, and my judgment
is just, because I seek not mine own
will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me.
And then verse 36.
But I have greater witness than that of
John, for the works which the Father hath
given me to finish, the same works that
I do, bear witness of me that the
Father hath sent me.
Let's pray.
Now Father, as we look at Your Word
this morning, and we listen as Don prayed,
we just pray that it be You working
in greater measure amongst us.
As we acknowledge that we are nothing, that
without You we can do nothing, as You've
said in the Word.
And so we believe You to work this
morning in our hearts, through the preaching and
teaching of the Word, that we would know
that the Lord has spoken to us, that
we have truly met together here in the
presence of God.
I ask Your blessing, Father, upon the assembly.
We ask now for the gift of the
Holy Spirit that You promised that You would
give us to come down upon us.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
I've titled this message, Reaching Forth.
I don't know what the word picture is
yet.
I just went out and had one more
talk with the Lord and He hadn't told
me anything yet.
So maybe somebody will come up with the
word picture.
But it's Reaching Forth.
Now we've been going through John and as
God gives us different times, we'll just do
what He tells us to do.
We've had some different messages as the Spirit
has given us direction.
And actually, I was glad that the Lord
kept breaking in and giving us different messages
because I didn't have a grasp on this
chapter yet.
And so after about a month of meditating
on it, probably I guess yesterday, it just
sort of all slipped together what this chapter
is about.
It's a fairly deep chapter.
But the deep things of the Lord are
revealed to us by the Spirit of God.
And so the thing that we need though
is having like Jesus would come along with
the crowds and He broke the bread and
dispersed it.
So we need the Spirit of God to
break the Word of God out to us
in a way that we can understand it.
And what we're going to do, I'm going
to take you through the whole chapter rather
quickly and break it down for you.
And then we're going to come back and
get a couple or three lessons from the
chapter.
Now, we could get into many lessons, but
I think there's one main one here.
And there are many very good lessons here,
but because of time, we'll just get a
couple or three of the lessons.
The chapter that we're talking about is John
chapter 5.
The first 16 verses is what I've entitled
a special miracle.
It was a special miracle.
And I like the last song that we
sang, He Giveth More Grace.
Because you see, this is the third special
miracle that has been given in the book
of John.
The first one was when Jesus turned the
water into wine and it blessed the people
at the wedding.
The second was the healing of the nobleman's
son.
And the first one was a teaching of
salvation coming through faith.
The second one was the teaching of...
The first one was that salvation comes by
the Word.
The second miracle taught us that the healing
of the nobleman's son was that salvation is
by faith.
But this third one then about the lame
man being healed.
This is the lame man that was at
the pool which is called Bethesda.
Bethesda means house of mercy.
There he was there at the house of
mercy and had five porches.
Five being the number of mercy.
God's mercy.
He giveth more grace.
The Lord put that song in there.
And so salvation is through the Word of
God by faith through grace.
This miracle depicts grace.
Now, that's the special miracle.
And if you remember, Jesus came along and
He said to him in verse 6, Will
thou be made whole?
And then the man told him his problems.
He didn't have anybody to put him in
there.
And then Jesus said in verse 8, Rise,
take up thy bed, and walk.
And I've sort of taken the title of
this message Reaching Forth.
Reaching Forth.
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
I believe the man had to make an
effort to get up after Jesus told him
to do that.
But when he made that effort, he did
that which was impossible.
He arose and walked.
Maybe God has a situation in your life
that He's wanting you to rise and walk
in.
Now, the second section of this book is
a special message.
What I've titled a special message.
And this goes from verse 17 all the
way to 47.
And we're going to break this down into
three parts so that you can get a
grasp on it.
Because of the teaching of this passage is
basically on the deity of Christ.
I think it's good for us to have
a grasp on it.
Even though we won't be able to take
a lot of time going into details and
some of the depths of these things, at
least to have a grasp upon this passage
or on this passage.
Now, the first thing is Christ's threefold equality
with the Father, which is verses 17-23.
So we'll look at verses 17-23.
And there are three things that Christ was
equal with the Father in.
If you look at the verses there, verse
17.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work.
And if you remember after Jesus healed the
man, the man didn't know who it was.
He went and after he found out who
it was, he told the Jews that it
was Jesus.
And then they came after Jesus because He
had healed on the Sabbath.
And Jesus had picked a fight with Him
on purpose.
And so He wanted to have this confrontation
with them.
And so the healing of the man was
the means of doing that.
Now, verses 17-21 talk about Christ's equality
with the Father in works.
Look at verse 17.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the Moor to kill
Him because He not only had broken the
Sabbath, but said also that God was His
Father making Himself equal with God.
Then entered Jesus and said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The Son can
do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth
the Father do.
For what things soever He doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son and showeth
Him all things that Himself doeth.
And He will show Him greater works than
these that you may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead
and quickneth them, even so the Son quickneth
whom He will.
So, you have equality in works 17-21.
You go to 22, and He's equal with
the Father in judgment.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son.
But yet you can go over and find
verses where the Father does the judging.
But here it says Christ does the judging.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son.
Who's doing the judging?
They both are because they're both one.
And by the way, this is when we
come back and we tie this all together.
I hope that we have a greater grasp
upon the message of this chapter.
Now, the next thing that He was equal
with is verse 23.
He was equal with the Father in honor.
Equal in works, equal in judgment, equal in
honor.
Look at verse 23.
That all men should honor the Son, even
as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not
the Father, which hath sent Him.
Okay?
So, we have Christ's threefold equality with the
Father.
Now, the next section is a threefold resurrection
that is presented, verses 24-29.
Verses 24-27, we have the resurrection of
dead sinners.
I believe this is a spiritual resurrection.
Let's look at the verses.
Verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word and believeth on
him that sent me hath everlasting life and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death unto life.
If you have believed that belief has brought
life into your heart and God is saying
that there's no more condemnation to you for
your sins because they have been judged in
Christ on Calvary.
But, there'll be a judgment of our works
which is another judgment and it's not dealt
with here.
But we will not have condemnation.
Romans 8, 1-4 talks about that.
Then, verse 25, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Jesus said to them, The hour is
coming and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God
and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son to
have life in Himself, and hath given Him
authority to execute judgment also, because He is
the Son of Man.
So, we have the resurrection of dead sinners.
Ephesians 1-3 would be a verse that
you could look up later on, but I
want you to notice this one word in
these verses.
Verse 24, there's the word life.
He's passed from death unto life.
He believeth on Him that sent Me, hath
everlasting life.
And verse 25, Verily, I say unto you,
The hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God and they that hear shall
live.
If you have life within you, He that
has a Son has life.
You don't have to fear this judgment.
You have life.
And verse 26, He talks about again, For
as the Father hath life in Himself, so
hath He given to the Son to have
life in Himself.
And so, He that hath the Son has
life.
The main thing is to make sure that
you have Jesus in your heart so that
you have life.
Now, we can't go into that much more.
We can go into the resurrection a lot
deeper, but then there's the resurrection of life.
Verses 28-29a.
Let's look at these.
Because we're going through 47 verses this morning.
And if we get into the deeper teachings,
it will take a lot more time.
But there's a message.
There's a message.
Reaching forth.
What is it that God wants you to
grasp this morning for your life, for your
walk with Him?
Okay, verses 28-29 is the resurrection unto
life.
This is a future resurrection of believers.
Starting in verse 28.
Marvel not at this, for the hour is
coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear His voice, and they
shall come forth, they that have done good
unto the resurrection of life, and they that
have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.
Now, this is a resurrection of believers to
life.
Doing the good is not in ourself, but
that which Christ has produced in our life.
We can't do anything good of ourselves, but
that good is of the Lord working.
Now, if you want to have a couple
more passages to look at, 1 Thessalonians 4,
13-18 gives you the basic passage that
where we're at right now, we're expecting a
Lord to come.
And I believe this is why the church
needs to be getting ready in every way
possible.
We need to be ready spiritually, we need
to be ready physically for what's happening because
we don't know the time of the Lord
coming.
He could come any moment, but if He
were to delay, say another year or two,
then we need to be ready in every
aspect that we can for what's coming.
As we were talking about earlier, the Lord
may be getting the church ready for the
pre-tribulation time.
Many have believed that there's going to be
a great harvest of souls come.
There's going to be a great awakening or
something's going to happen.
I personally believe that the Lord's going to
come in the midst of a great awakening
of the Lord really dealing with people and
getting them saved.
And it's going to impact the world.
And we just don't know how it's all
going to work out.
But 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18 are verses
that you need to know.
And verse 16 says, "...the Lord Himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God and the dead in Christ shall
rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
So shall we ever be with the Lord."
And what we're looking for is this catching
away, which has been termed the rapture, being
caught away.
1 Corinthians 15, 51-58 is another passage
that you can write down for that.
And then also Revelation 20, 4-6.
I might read Revelation 24.
"...And I saw thrones, and they sat upon
them, and judgment was given unto them.
And I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and
for the Word of God."
Two things Satan does not like.
He does not like a testimony about Jesus
and he doesn't like the Word of God.
And we believe that the Word of God
has been so mutilated and chopped up and
disguised and done away with that I was
just...
This week we've got a new book we're
reading about Tyndale.
Tyndale, that was the one, wasn't it?
Tyndale.
How he gave his life for this book,
for the Word of God and how the
martyrs suffered for the Word of God that
we have.
And in the book of Revelation, it's for
the testimony of Jesus and for the Word
of God.
"...And they worshiped not the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads or in their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years, but the rest of the dead
lived not until the thousand years were finished."
This is the first resurrection.
We just can't get into all of this,
but this is what Jesus was referring to
back in John chapter 5.
Then there's one more resurrection, the third resurrection,
the resurrection of damnation, which is 29B.
29B says, "...And they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation."
This is Revelation 20, 11 through 15.
This takes place at the end of the
millennium just before the new heavens and the
new earth.
And some believe they're going to come up
and they're going to be judged.
And the degree of their punishment in hell
is going to be determined.
And we could get into another study on
that.
But then there's one more section here, the
threefold witness to Christ's deity.
This is verses 30 through 47.
So we've had the...
if I can go back over...
we've had the special message with a threefold
equality with the Father, a threefold resurrection, and
then now a threefold witness to Christ's deity
in this chapter.
Remember, we're sort of trying to break it
down so you have some kind of little
handle on it.
But there's a point.
There's a message.
The message that Jesus gave to the Pharisees
is the message that we need to receive
too.
Okay, let's look at the threefold witness to
Christ's deity.
Verses 30 through 47.
First of all, you have the witness of
John the Baptist.
Verses 30 through 35.
Jesus said, I can of my own self
do nothing, as I hear I judge, and
my judgment is just, because I seek not
my own will, but the will of the
Father which has sent me.
If I bear witness of myself, my witness
is not true.
There is another that beareth witness of me,
and I know that the witness which he
witnesseth of me is true.
Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness
unto the truth.
But I receive not testimony from man, but
these things I say that you might be
saved.
He was a burning and a shining light,
and you were willing for a season to
rejoice in His light.
I was thinking about this, about John the
Baptist.
A burning.
He was burning inside and shining outside.
Could it be a lot don't have any
shine inside because there's nothing burning inside of
the Lord?
But he was a burning and a shining
light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in His light.
And we'll come back to that verse 35
in a few minutes.
Basically, people listened to John the Baptist.
They rejoiced.
Now get this.
They rejoiced in his ministry.
They really liked it.
Boy, this is really great.
This is bringing some life in our land.
John the Baptist is out there preaching.
They rejoiced in his ministry, but they rejected
him and his message.
Rejected him and his message.
As a nation, he was rejected.
And a lot of people, they might like
the razzle and dazzle, but when it gets
down to it, what are they going to
do with the message?
Malachi said, the Lord's messenger in the Lord's
message.
You are the message of the Lord.
As you go through the week, we are
the message of the Lord.
What kind of message are we?
We are clear-cut message.
Now, the second witness, verse 36, this one
verse, we had the threefold witness to Christ's
deity of John the Baptist.
He witnessed of his deity.
And then of Christ's works themselves.
Verse 36, But I have greater witness than
that of John.
There is a greater witness than John.
What was it?
For the works which the Father has given
me to finish, the same works that I
do, bear witness of me that the Father
has sent me.
So there is the witness of Christ's works.
What was the witness that spoke to Nicodemus?
It was this witness.
He came and he said, We see all
these miracles that you are doing.
We can see this.
Then the last witness was the witness of
the Father in the Scriptures.
Verse 37-47 37-47 And
the Father Himself, which hath sent me, hath
borne witness of me.
Here is the witness of the Father.
You have neither heard His voice at any
time nor seen His shape, and you have
not His word abiding in you, for whom
He has sent, Him you believe not.
Search the Scriptures, for in them you think
you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me.
And you will not come to me that
you might have life.
I receive not honor from men, but I
know you that you have not the love
of God in you.
I am come in my Father's name, and
you receive me not.
If another shall come in my own name,
him you will receive.
How can you believe which receive honor, one
of another, and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only?
Do not think that I will accuse you
to the Father.
There is one that accuseth you, even Moses,
in whom you trust.
For had you believed Moses, you would have
believed me, for he wrote of me.
But if you believe not his writings, how
shall you believe my words?
Alright, you've never gone through John chapter 5
with a preacher probably that fast to go
through a whole chapter, have you?
Now, are there some lessons to learn in
this chapter?
There are a lot of lessons, but I'm
just going to give you a couple or
three.
The first one, Who healed the lame man?
Who healed the lame man?
When the lame man went to the Jews,
he was going as a testimony of somebody
healing him.
The answer is in verse 17.
Who healed the lame man?
God healed that lame man.
These Jews are in a tight spot.
Jesus has pushed them up into a corner.
And they're going to have to make a
decision about who He is.
Because God healed the lame man.
God the Father healed the lame man.
God the Son healed the lame man.
God the Holy Spirit.
Because they always work together.
God always works in unity with Himself.
Now, the Bible says that the Sabbath was
made for man.
And this is the thing that ticked them
off.
Got them all upset.
He healed on the Sabbath.
The Bible says that the Sabbath was made
for man.
And the Bible says that the carnal mind,
Romans 8, 7, is enmity against God.
What kind of mentality did the Pharisees have?
Did they have a spiritual mind?
Or a carnal mind?
Because they were at enmity with God.
Were they not?
All agreed?
Okay.
Now, let's go a little bit farther.
Here's the lesson that I see, this first
lesson.
Now, we're going to cinch down on the
knot.
The lesson is this.
We need to learn to recognize God in
all of our provision.
For if we don't, we'll miss out on
the true blessing of His lovingkindness.
Learn to recognize God in all of your
provision.
This is why the Bible says things like
this.
If riches increase, let not thine heart upon
them.
They did not recognize God.
Even the man that was healed, I don't
know if he ever really got a hold
of it, that his provision was directly from
God.
Withholding is because God withholds.
Blessing is because God blesses.
But acknowledging God in everything...
I was just talking to somebody yesterday.
Who was it?
Oh, yeah.
I was talking to a man last night
on the phone.
And he was saying basically the same thing.
I wrote it down even.
Because I thought, wow, that's the same thing
God is saying on this lesson.
Learning to recognize God in all of your
provision.
Now here's how you can tell if you
are recognizing God in all of your provision.
When He provides and you're so happy and
everything, but then say if He holds back
and you're not happy.
Paul said, I've learned...
What?
He knew how to abound and he knew
how to be abased, thus he had it
all put together that God was God in
his life.
Listen to this chapter.
Psalms 107.
I was in Psalms 107 the other day
in my devotions.
Verses 38-42.
I want you to notice something here.
Psalms 107, 38.
He blessed them.
Talking about Israel.
He blessed them also, so that they are
multiplied greatly and suffered not their cattle to
decrease.
Then look at verse 39.
Again, they are diminished and brought low through
oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
One verse, they're blessed.
The next day, they're brought low.
Verse 40.
He poureth contempt upon princes.
He causeth them to wander in the wilderness
where there is no way.
Verse 41.
Yet setteth He the poor on high from
affliction and maketh Him families like a flock.
The righteous see it and rejoice and all
iniquity shall stop her mouth.
Now verse 43.
Whoso is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the
Lord.
You see, what you had in the lame
man being healed was an expression of the
lovingkindness of the Lord.
Verse 42.
The righteous shall see it.
The Pharisees did not see what happened with
that lame man because their eyes were off
on some nitpicking rule they made for themselves.
Thou shalt not heal on the Sabbath.
Well, they probably put it in real quick.
You're not supposed to work on the Sabbath.
Even God can't break our rules or we're
going to get upset.
Is there something you're upset about that God
has broken a rule in your life?
Now, let's push on a little bit.
There's another passage.
You can write it down.
Well, let's just go to it.
Hosea.
Hosea is right after Daniel.
Chapter 14.
Hosea 14, 8 and 9.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do
any more with idols?
I have heard him and observed him.
I am like a green fir tree.
From me is thy fruit found.
The testimony of Ephraim was they had their
eyes focused on God and then when they
did that, they let go of all their
idols.
They let go of that which was corrupting
them and then they said they were fruitful.
I am like a green fir tree.
From me is thy fruit found.
Who is wise?
And he shall understand these things.
Here's the same concept of Psalms 107.
Who is wise?
He shall understand these things.
Prudent, and he shall know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right.
Has there been a day in your life
when God was wrong?
Then if you or I murmured, what did
that say?
That basically is saying I am God of
this moment.
I am God of this area.
And I'm really upset with God because He
moved in to my life on this day
in this particular way.
Or you get angry.
Or if you worry.
Or we get bitter.
All of this is expression of something.
And we're coming down to tie it even
tighter, this knot on the rope.
The second lesson is this.
If Christ was equal with the Father and
He did nothing of Himself, what does it
mean if we do something without checking with
the Father?
If He was equal with the Father and
He did nothing of Himself, what does it
mean if we do something without checking with
the Father?
And here's the lesson.
To act independently of the Father's will is
to exercise self-will.
Jesus said He did not act independently of
the Father thus He did not act in
self-will.
To act independently of the Father's will is
to exercise self-will without a submissive spirit.
Actually, it comes down to this.
If you have two wills, you have two
gods.
And Jesus was telling these Jews that He
did not heal that man just on His
own will.
But it was the will of the Father
and His will working together.
Two wills equal two gods.
Let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus.
The reason Christ is the head of the
church is so that there will be only
one will.
It will be an exercise.
Five times Satan said, I will.
I will be like the Most High.
I will ascend up and all this.
I will.
The higher we go in our own will,
the farther the fall.
Best to travel low.
So if we do have a fall, we'll
already be pretty low.
John 4.34 Jesus told the disciples what
was the thing that really fed Him.
Gave Him His strength, His nourishment.
John 4.34 Jesus said unto them, My
meat is to do the will of Him
that sent Me and to finish His work.
What really drove you this week?
Was it the will of God?
You got up in the morning.
Oh, Father, what is Your will today?
Here I am.
I'm a blank check.
My life is Yours.
My will is surrendered to You.
Or it was, dear God, I've got all
this to do today and I ask You
to bless this and this and this and
help me to be successful in all that
I do.
Just sign Your name and I'll go.
I wonder if a lot of our frustration
and failure just doesn't come out to this
one point where we're just acting like these
Jews did so many times and we get
upset when we are being the Lord of
our life in a certain area.
John 5.19 Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The Son can do nothing of Himself, but
what He seeth the Father do.
Do you see what God's doing in your
life?
Most of the time, we don't really like
too much what He's doing.
I talked to some people in another state.
A man in another state this week, he
called me up and he said they were
so happy.
His family was so happy.
Everything was going good with them.
God was blessing.
They were being used by the Lord.
Just reaching people and ministering to people.
They said everything's just going great.
And I rejoiced with them because they've had
lots of years when things were not going
great, but the reason it was going so
great with them because the three members of
this family at this point were all surrendered
to the will of God.
And boy, God was just blessing and using
them.
He just called up to say how happy
they were because they were just being used
by the Lord and they were surrendered to
Him.
And it's just a good testimony.
Seeth means to contemplate, to perceive.
You know what?
That's the same word in 1 Corinthians 13,
12.
For now we see through a glass darkly.
And many times we sort of see what
God's doing.
Boy, my glasses are not too...
I sort of see, I just don't understand
everything.
And what you don't get clearly just accept
by faith because it will come into focus
someday.
So many times we just have to see
it all clearly right now.
Now, third thing, in tying this all together,
and this is for all of us to
take personally.
Third lesson.
How we receive the Word of God will
reveal how much we are yielded to the
Lord.
A lot of these other versions that are
out is because men could not accept the
Word of God and so they wanted to
change it.
They wanted to change it.
A lot of Christians don't see this, what's
going on.
But how we receive the Word of God
will reveal how much we are yielded to
the Lord.
I'll just give you a quick illustration.
The reason we have so many children is
because one day in the past, God showed
us that children were the blessing of the
Lord, the inheritance of the Lord, and so
we obeyed the Word of God and we
were blessed.
Because we began to get our lives straightened
up on this area, and then that area,
and then this area.
Look at John 5, verse 44.
I'm going to slip down through here and
we're going to get the knot as tight
as we can get it.
Reaching forth, and you grab a hold of
that knot.
I guess maybe that could have been our
word picture.
I could have brought a rope in, I
could have put a knot in there and
got it tighter and tighter and tighter.
But look at verse 44.
How can ye believe which receive honor one
of another?
These Jews had themselves in a corner and
they couldn't believe God because they were so
stuck on looking at each other, honoring one
another, respecting one another, and all the other
stuff that was going on.
How can you believe which receive honor one
from another and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only?
Wouldn't you rather have God pat you on
the back than man?
Wouldn't you rather have God someday because you
just went through it and you obeyed Him
and He will say, Well done.
Well done.
You were faithful to My Word.
Nobody encouraged you, but you were faithful and
it's a well done.
Look at verse 35.
By the way, there were two words in
verse 44.
How can you believe which receive honor one
of another and seek not the honor that
cometh from God?
This means to lay hold of, to grasp,
receive, and seek.
Same word.
35.
Okay?
He was a burning and shining light.
John the Baptist was a burning and shining
light.
And you were willing for a season to
rejoice in His light.
Sometimes some believers are willing for God to
just go so far with them.
Then the Lord says, Let's move up on
the cross a little higher.
Well, Lord, it's not so comfortable up there.
I'd rather stay down here.
They were willing for a season to put
up with John.
Probably until his preaching began to really convict
them.
They were willing for a season.
Look at verse 40.
And you will not come to Me.
Notice will.
You will not come to Me.
Look at verse 42.
But I know you that you have not
the love of God in you.
Why didn't they?
Because they chose not to have the love
of God in them.
They got upset with the loving kindness of
God in healing that lame man.
They'd never done that man one bit of
good all his life.
Jesus comes along in one moment, blesses him
with health, heals him.
He gets up, walks off.
And they were upset.
Look at verse 43.
I am come in My Father's name and
you receive Me not.
They have not.
They believe not.
They will not.
42.
They have not.
43.
They receive Him not.
44.
How can you believe which receive honor one
from another and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only?
They wasn't seeking the honor from God.
Are you seeking God's honor?
The honor that comes from God.
Verse 47, there's another one.
If you believe not His writings, how shall
you believe My words?
And probably if there's a key, it's in
verse 38.
And you have not His word abiding in
you for whom He has sent Him you
believe not.
Is there any area in your life of
which self-will is in conflict with the
Word of God?
In the area that you're the Lord of
and that you will not let go.
Sometimes we cannot reach forth because we will
not let go.
I remember a message by Brother Ron Dunn.
He has a message on how many times
things are like this.
It's letting go and receiving.
But we've got to let go before we
can receive.
And this message to me, this chapter was
a lesson on God.
Just a lesson on God.
The loving kindness of God.
And Jesus being God.
And this is where he brought them to
this point.
But if you believe not His writings, how
shall you believe My words?
Verse 38.
And you have not His word abiding in
you for whom He has sent Him you
believe not.
There is a verse, I think it was
John 15, somewhere back there.
It goes like this.
Jesus said, if you continue in My Word,
then are you My disciples indeed.
Continue.
Let's bow for closing prayer.
Father, if there's one thing that You've showed
me in this passage, and that is this,
no will of my own, but yet there's
freedom when I surrender to Your will.
My attitude will be right.
My heart will be right.
All my expectation will be of You.
And Lord, I think that this morning if
there's one thing You wanted to show us,
and that is that in letting You be
God, we will be so happy like our
friends at call.
They're so blessed as they were just completely
surrendered to Your will and You were using
them.
They love to reach out to people.
And they were just surrendered in Your will
and happy.
And we want that too.
And we praise You and we worship You.
And if there's something in our hearts You
spoke to us this morning, something that we're
not willing to let go of, and You
just have a good way of putting Your
finger on that thing that we're not willing
to let go of, just like the young
rich ruler.
You knew that man was covetous.
And when You told him to go sell
all that he had and give to the
poor, You know how to push the button
right in the right spot.
And if You pushed some buttons this morning,
Lord, I pray that we would not hang
on, but that we would let go and
reach forth.
And that we would rise and walk with
You in greater faith than that we've ever
done before.
Really it comes down to it, our daily
walk is just simply trusting and obeying You.
Just simply believing You in everything.
Praying without ceasing and everything giving thanks.
And joy in our Lord.
Thank You for this morning, Father.
Thank You for the blessing of Your Word.
Thank You that my mom and dad and
sister could be here.
Thank You for allowing all of us to
gather together.
And we pray for those that are off
traveling and in other places of the country
today that You would continue to use them
and show them their purpose and be in
where they're at.
And now as we go into this week,
we just look to You this week to
be our provision, to be our source of
strength, to be our guide, to be surrendered
in Your will.
And we thank You for Jesus.
How You did send Him to bless us
in turning us from our sins.
And help us not to be like these
Jews so locked in on our own ways
that we cut ourselves off from Your blessing.
We'll thank You in Jesus' name.
Amen.