(John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ’, but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He most increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” ~ John 3:27-31).
Sometimes or should I say often times we as humans want things that have not been given to us, often times we want recognition and that recognition is not granted us. We seek after the things we want and forget what has been given to us, we desire the things that someone else has been given and forsake what we have been given. John the Baptist is a great example of humility in action. He had gone out before Jesus and started his ministry; people from all over Judea were coming to him. Jesus with His disciples came into the land of Judea and began Baptizing and all were coming to Him now instead. John doesn’t say, “Let’s form a church committee and figure out how to be more relevant in our society”; instead he recognizes the work of God in the people leaving him and instead are going to Jesus.
John tells his disciples that “you heard me say that I am not the Christ” but “I have been sent before Him.” John was the herald of Christ, he was there to pave the way for Jesus and prepare people’s hearts to except the Savior. So often times in the ministry of men, we measure success by numbers. How many were in Sunday school this morning, how many were in church service? All of that means nothing unless those people come to a saving faith in Jesus. John was here to point people to Jesus; we His slaves are here to point people to Jesus. I write this blog every week in the hope that it will lead people to Jesus, I don’t want anyone following me; I don’t want readers for the sake of having readers. What I am here to do is the same thing John did, point people to Jesus.
In the gospel accounts of Jesus we find much reference to weddings, because a marriage is the ultimate picture of two becoming one. In a 1st century Jewish wedding, the best man (the friend of the bridegroom) did most of the talking until he placed the hand of the bride into the bridegrooms hand and then the bridegroom spoke. When the bridegroom spoke, the best man was quite and listened; after the bridegroom spoke the wedding was over. John references his ministry to this wedding and acknowledges Jesus as the bridegroom, he had put the bride into the hand of Jesus, and Jesus the bridegroom was now speaking, and all should listen. So John tells his disciples that he wasn’t sad that people were going to Jesus instead of him, he was joyful, because that is exactly what he wants; that was the purpose of his ministry. John also tells his disciples that he (John) is of the earth and Jesus came from heaven. Yes John spoke of repentance and turning back to God, but repentance in itself cannot save a man, what saves a man is to trust in Jesus!
Thank you and God bless you,
Mike Peek
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
(John 3:22-26)
“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and where baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arouse a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—Behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ~ (John 3:22-26)
So now we continue with the Gospel According to John in Chapter 3. Jesus had finished His great dialogue with the Pharisee Nicodemus in which He imparted His Gospel, then departed Jerusalem and came into the land of Judea. We find Jesus and His disciples out in the land of Judea baptizing and teaching many, with many people coming to Him. It is estimated that this may have been a period of six months in which Jesus and His disciples were in the land of Judea teaching and baptizing. We know that Jesus himself did not do the baptizing, but his disciples did because it says so in John 4:2, (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples). The passage further tells us in verse 23 & 24 of Chapter 3 that John was also baptizing and makes a point of telling us that John had not yet been thrown into prison. In all three of the other Gospel accounts we have Jesus being baptized by John, departing for a 40 day fast out in the wilderness, then He is in Galilee and we find John the Baptist in prison. So the Apostle John is letting us know that this period of the ministry of Jesus and John the Baptist over lapped in the land of Judea where both were baptizing. John being the Harold for Christ, would have been pointing people to Jesus, being as he had already validated Him as the worthy Lamb of God, the only begotten Son of God. John is the son of a Levite Priest giving him the birth right of a priest, and it was the job of a priest to give approval of a sin sacrifice, and John did that with Jesus.
Then out in the land of Judea a dispute breaks out between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. Isn’t that the same old story? You have different groups, with differing ideas of what makes someone righteous, and they get into an argument about it. It is the same today, you have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and many others of the world’s religions; claiming righteousness through a system of works and Christians saying no you’ve got it all wrong, a man cannot be made right through his own works, because the works of a man are evil, you have to be made righteous by the Righteousness of Jesus. That your sins were applied to Him on the cross and His righteousness was imputed to you through faith in Him. This argument will go on until Christ returns, because the argument is the way of a man vs. the Way of God. Jesus said: “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ~ (John 14:6) I can understand the perspective on this from the view of a man. A man is taught from his youth that you most go out and earn something, especially something of value. But a man cannot earn righteousness, because his ways are evil. Asking a man not to sin is like asking a dog not to eat his own vomit, it is the nature of a dog to eat his own vomit, and it is the nature of a man to sin. They only way a man can stop sinning is if God intervenes, that he is born again. Born with a new heart with new desires that the old man has died and the new man lives by the Spirit of God. Men have already broken the laws of God, you can’t go back and undo what you have already done, and there is a penalty for breaking those laws that must be paid in full. Jesus paid that price with His life’s blood on the cross and through faith in Jesus Christ on the cross, your debt is paid in full; His righteousness is imputed to you. That means that God now looks at you as being as righteous as Jesus Christ, the One who never sinned.
So these men come to John telling him that everybody is going out to Jesus. Well as we will talk about next week, John basically says good, that’s what I have been telling them all to do, so what are you still doing here? So we have people going out in mass to Jesus, and this will happen for a time. People coming to Christ in mass, but not all were saved, as we will see in Chapter 6 where they depart from Him in mass, but His true disciples remained.
God Bless you all,
Mike Peek
So now we continue with the Gospel According to John in Chapter 3. Jesus had finished His great dialogue with the Pharisee Nicodemus in which He imparted His Gospel, then departed Jerusalem and came into the land of Judea. We find Jesus and His disciples out in the land of Judea baptizing and teaching many, with many people coming to Him. It is estimated that this may have been a period of six months in which Jesus and His disciples were in the land of Judea teaching and baptizing. We know that Jesus himself did not do the baptizing, but his disciples did because it says so in John 4:2, (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples). The passage further tells us in verse 23 & 24 of Chapter 3 that John was also baptizing and makes a point of telling us that John had not yet been thrown into prison. In all three of the other Gospel accounts we have Jesus being baptized by John, departing for a 40 day fast out in the wilderness, then He is in Galilee and we find John the Baptist in prison. So the Apostle John is letting us know that this period of the ministry of Jesus and John the Baptist over lapped in the land of Judea where both were baptizing. John being the Harold for Christ, would have been pointing people to Jesus, being as he had already validated Him as the worthy Lamb of God, the only begotten Son of God. John is the son of a Levite Priest giving him the birth right of a priest, and it was the job of a priest to give approval of a sin sacrifice, and John did that with Jesus.
Then out in the land of Judea a dispute breaks out between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. Isn’t that the same old story? You have different groups, with differing ideas of what makes someone righteous, and they get into an argument about it. It is the same today, you have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and many others of the world’s religions; claiming righteousness through a system of works and Christians saying no you’ve got it all wrong, a man cannot be made right through his own works, because the works of a man are evil, you have to be made righteous by the Righteousness of Jesus. That your sins were applied to Him on the cross and His righteousness was imputed to you through faith in Him. This argument will go on until Christ returns, because the argument is the way of a man vs. the Way of God. Jesus said: “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ~ (John 14:6) I can understand the perspective on this from the view of a man. A man is taught from his youth that you most go out and earn something, especially something of value. But a man cannot earn righteousness, because his ways are evil. Asking a man not to sin is like asking a dog not to eat his own vomit, it is the nature of a dog to eat his own vomit, and it is the nature of a man to sin. They only way a man can stop sinning is if God intervenes, that he is born again. Born with a new heart with new desires that the old man has died and the new man lives by the Spirit of God. Men have already broken the laws of God, you can’t go back and undo what you have already done, and there is a penalty for breaking those laws that must be paid in full. Jesus paid that price with His life’s blood on the cross and through faith in Jesus Christ on the cross, your debt is paid in full; His righteousness is imputed to you. That means that God now looks at you as being as righteous as Jesus Christ, the One who never sinned.
So these men come to John telling him that everybody is going out to Jesus. Well as we will talk about next week, John basically says good, that’s what I have been telling them all to do, so what are you still doing here? So we have people going out in mass to Jesus, and this will happen for a time. People coming to Christ in mass, but not all were saved, as we will see in Chapter 6 where they depart from Him in mass, but His true disciples remained.
God Bless you all,
Mike Peek
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Gospel According to Jesus (John 3:13-21)
“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:13-21).
I have meditated on and asked God about these verses for two weeks now and I tell you what, these words of Jesus may well be the most profound in all of scripture, we find contained here in the words of Jesus, His gospel. All throughout the four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ and His ministry on earth among men, we find Him calling Himself the Son of Man. Verse thirteen transcends time and space, heaven exist outside of time and space. Physical earth exists on a plane of time, both of which are a creation from God. Man exists in a physical world, God is Spirit, man cannot leave his physical existence and perceive God, so what had to happen? God had to come to us. John 1:14 says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. Jesus said He (the Son of Man), came down from heaven and is in heaven. How can Jesus be both in heaven and on earth as a man at the same time? The answer many do not want to accept. Many would like to have Jesus as a good man, and as a teacher, but will not accept Him as God. The only reason Jesus can be in heaven and in the flesh at the same time is because He is in fact God. This is no typo, Jesus was telling Nicodemus and all that would read this conversation thereafter, that He was God who came down from heaven. And then in verses 14-20, says that to be saved you must except that and believe that. Believe that Jesus is God, that He is God the Son, the only begotten Son of God. People try to change begotten to say it means something else, but only begotten means only begotten and nothing else. There is no other, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, He is the very person of God in a man.
Jesus says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is kind of a neat story. In numbers chapter 21, the Israelites where sinning and complaining to Moses, so God sent serpents (snakes) among them that bit them and caused many to die. The people came to Moses repentant saying that they had sinned against God, asking Moses to pray to the Lord on their behalf for mercy. God told Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who was bitten when he looks at the serpent on the pole would live. What is important about this story is one word, faith. The people had to believe by faith that looking at this serpent on the pole would save them and when they did, God healed them. We are talking about 1 million people spread out, in order to look at the serpent on the pole you had to come to the pole because you wouldn’t have been able to see it from just anywhere in the camp, you would have had to travel through the snakes to get to the pole and get bit in the process. So in order to come to the pole you had to have complete faith that looking at the serpent on the pole would save you and then God would heal you. It is the same way with the believer, we have to endure the fiery trials of this life with all of its temptations, getting bit by the serpent many times in the process, but you come by faith to Jesus on the cross, because you have faith that this will save you and God saves you.
The words of John 3:16-18 are just incredible, these words just magnify the love of God and how wonderful it is, and that love is available to all peoples, no matter who they are. Many have tried in their Religiosity to be racist, saying God came to save certain people groups but not others, salvation is for all peoples, and no one is excluded. The Jewish people were under the impression that when the Messiah came He would destroy all other peoples and save the Jews. But Jesus says here, you’ve got that all wrong “for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him it might be saved” God sent Jesus to save all people no matter who they are, all people. No matter what race or religious back ground you come from, if you will believe by faith that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who died on the cross for your sins, you are forgiven of your sins and saved by God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” ~John 3:16. That means it begins now. If you believe by faith that Jesus paid the price for your sins on the cross, you have everlasting life, beginning now. Yes one day this body of mine will stop functioning, it will stop breathing, but I will not perish, I will be transformed in an instance in the image of God and be with God worshiping Him in His likeness, righteous. One of the best Psalms I’ve recently read speaks of this. “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness” ~Psalm 17:15. What about the unbeliever? Death awaits him, death of his soul (the second death ~Revelations 21:8) and eternal separation from God. In verses 19-21 Jesus explains why a man won’t come to Him and the reason is that he loves his sin. He hates the light, he hates the savior, he hates Jesus because he loves his sin, because if he were to come to the light (come to Jesus) while in his sin he would be exposed as a sinner and have to give up his sin. Well if he loves his sin, he wouldn’t want to have to give it up, so he fights for it. But the man who hates His sin comes to the light (comes to Jesus), and doesn’t care that he is exposed as a sinner, because he loves the light (loves Jesus), more than his sin, and wants to be rid of his sin, his desire is to glorify God, to glorify the Son of God (Jesus Christ).
God Bless,
Mike Peek
I have meditated on and asked God about these verses for two weeks now and I tell you what, these words of Jesus may well be the most profound in all of scripture, we find contained here in the words of Jesus, His gospel. All throughout the four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ and His ministry on earth among men, we find Him calling Himself the Son of Man. Verse thirteen transcends time and space, heaven exist outside of time and space. Physical earth exists on a plane of time, both of which are a creation from God. Man exists in a physical world, God is Spirit, man cannot leave his physical existence and perceive God, so what had to happen? God had to come to us. John 1:14 says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. Jesus said He (the Son of Man), came down from heaven and is in heaven. How can Jesus be both in heaven and on earth as a man at the same time? The answer many do not want to accept. Many would like to have Jesus as a good man, and as a teacher, but will not accept Him as God. The only reason Jesus can be in heaven and in the flesh at the same time is because He is in fact God. This is no typo, Jesus was telling Nicodemus and all that would read this conversation thereafter, that He was God who came down from heaven. And then in verses 14-20, says that to be saved you must except that and believe that. Believe that Jesus is God, that He is God the Son, the only begotten Son of God. People try to change begotten to say it means something else, but only begotten means only begotten and nothing else. There is no other, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, He is the very person of God in a man.
Jesus says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is kind of a neat story. In numbers chapter 21, the Israelites where sinning and complaining to Moses, so God sent serpents (snakes) among them that bit them and caused many to die. The people came to Moses repentant saying that they had sinned against God, asking Moses to pray to the Lord on their behalf for mercy. God told Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who was bitten when he looks at the serpent on the pole would live. What is important about this story is one word, faith. The people had to believe by faith that looking at this serpent on the pole would save them and when they did, God healed them. We are talking about 1 million people spread out, in order to look at the serpent on the pole you had to come to the pole because you wouldn’t have been able to see it from just anywhere in the camp, you would have had to travel through the snakes to get to the pole and get bit in the process. So in order to come to the pole you had to have complete faith that looking at the serpent on the pole would save you and then God would heal you. It is the same way with the believer, we have to endure the fiery trials of this life with all of its temptations, getting bit by the serpent many times in the process, but you come by faith to Jesus on the cross, because you have faith that this will save you and God saves you.
The words of John 3:16-18 are just incredible, these words just magnify the love of God and how wonderful it is, and that love is available to all peoples, no matter who they are. Many have tried in their Religiosity to be racist, saying God came to save certain people groups but not others, salvation is for all peoples, and no one is excluded. The Jewish people were under the impression that when the Messiah came He would destroy all other peoples and save the Jews. But Jesus says here, you’ve got that all wrong “for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him it might be saved” God sent Jesus to save all people no matter who they are, all people. No matter what race or religious back ground you come from, if you will believe by faith that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who died on the cross for your sins, you are forgiven of your sins and saved by God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” ~John 3:16. That means it begins now. If you believe by faith that Jesus paid the price for your sins on the cross, you have everlasting life, beginning now. Yes one day this body of mine will stop functioning, it will stop breathing, but I will not perish, I will be transformed in an instance in the image of God and be with God worshiping Him in His likeness, righteous. One of the best Psalms I’ve recently read speaks of this. “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness” ~Psalm 17:15. What about the unbeliever? Death awaits him, death of his soul (the second death ~Revelations 21:8) and eternal separation from God. In verses 19-21 Jesus explains why a man won’t come to Him and the reason is that he loves his sin. He hates the light, he hates the savior, he hates Jesus because he loves his sin, because if he were to come to the light (come to Jesus) while in his sin he would be exposed as a sinner and have to give up his sin. Well if he loves his sin, he wouldn’t want to have to give it up, so he fights for it. But the man who hates His sin comes to the light (comes to Jesus), and doesn’t care that he is exposed as a sinner, because he loves the light (loves Jesus), more than his sin, and wants to be rid of his sin, his desire is to glorify God, to glorify the Son of God (Jesus Christ).
God Bless,
Mike Peek
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” ~Romans 3:19-28
My name is Mike Peek. I am a registered nurse; I have done many things in my nursing career but have spent the majority of my career working with critically ill cardiac patients, people on the very precipice of death. I have witnessed much in all the years God has had me do this and there has been one continuous theme I have found throughout my years of working with these patients. No one expects or accepts death! No one! The families don’t and the patients don’t, but I am here to tell you as a witness of death, everyone dies. I have been witness to hundreds of deaths and it never comes easy, no one expects it or accepts it. I have talked with patients who were telling me about their plans for the next day or when they get out of the hospital and then die while telling me their plans for the future, and then try all means we have as human beings to resuscitate them; mechanical, electrical, and chemical to no avail. Ten out of ten people die and we all know this fact, not one person denies that; but with every person it is always some mythical time in the future, it’s never now. I being a witness of death and a witness of people’s reaction to death have something to say about death. You will die, and it will be unexpectedly; it may be today, tomorrow, or years in the future, but you will die and you won’t expect it when it happens. I have a question for you and I want you to give an honest answer. (Hebrews 9:27) says “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” We are all criminals; we have broken the law, God’s law. And just like criminals on earth we have a court date, and that date is set, you cannot change it and cannot avoid it, it is coming weather you like it or not. There is a date set for you to go before the Judge, and this Judge is not like a human judge, He is a good Judge, in fact He is the only One who is good, and He will judge you justly and a good judge punishes the guilty. The question I have for you is this: Are you ready to give an account of your life to God? Yes or no and why, write your answer down and hold on to it, that answer is yours, no one else’s, it is yours.
Now back to our scripture: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” ~Romans 3:19-20. What is God’s law and who is under His law? Well, our scripture says all the world. So what is the law? Some people say the law of God is no more, they say we are not under the law, but oh they are so wrong. Jesus said of the law, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” ~Matthew 5:17-18. Then in heaven we have the ark of His covenant, “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.” ~Revelation 11:19. Now what was in the ark of His covenant? “Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb” _2 Chronicles 5:10. What was on the Tablets? God spoke from the mountain the Ten Commandments to the entire assembly of Israel. Moses said, “And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” ~Deuteronomy 5:22. God wrote His laws, “The Ten Commandments” on stone because they are permanent. You know these laws, they are written on your heart, God has written them on the heart of every person on earth. Let us go over just three of these commandments (see Deuteronomy 5):
1. The third commandment says “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Have you ever used the name of the Lord in place of a filthy curse word to express disgust, or how about saying or writing OMG on facebook? Don’t justify yourself by saying you’re saying gosh instead of God, gosh is a euphemism for God it is used in place of God to make yourself feel better about it, but what you are really doing is lowering God’s name down to a lower level than He deserves. This command says further, “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” In other words He will not let you off the hook for doing this.
2. The sixth commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery” God is Spirit, so you are just as guilty about what you think as well as what you do with your body. Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you looked at another person ever with lust who was not your husband or wife? This commandment includes fornication, sex outside of wedlock. Sex with another person physically or mentally other than the one you are married to is adultery.
3. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness”, in other words you shall not lie. Have you ever lied?
Now that is just three of God’s Holy Ten Commandments and I don’t know about you but I am doing poorly, in fact I have broken all Ten of the Commandments a multitude of times. Even if you have broken only one of these commandments just one time you’re in trouble. (James 2:10) says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all.” So what does the law do? It shuts the mouth of every man, no one can say before the law of God “I’m a good person”, no one. You are not justified before God under the law you are guilty, the law brings the knowledge of sin, because of the law you know that you are a sinner before God.
There is good news, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,” ~Romans 3:21. The law and the prophets mean the Old Testament. This time, the present time we are in now was told about in the Old Testament, that there would be a Way to be made right with God apart from keeping the law and that Way has been revealed. What is that Way? The next verse tells us “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.” ~Romans 3:22. Even the righteousness of God Himself would be applied to you, and you would be looked upon as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself, through faith in Jesus Christ. Think about that a minute, the righteousness of God, to you and on you. John the Baptist in talking about Jesus said that he wasn’t even worthy to lose His sandal, and God would count you as righteous as Jesus, and look upon you as righteous as Jesus? That my friend is amazing and how can this be and why does God do it. Why does God count us righteous for having faith in Jesus?
Most of you recognize Romans 3:23 because it is used in what we call the Roman road. As I have learned to study scripture I have learned to read scripture in complete thoughts rather than how they are broken up into verses. The verses help us locate a section, but they cause a problem when they change the way you think about scripture because of the way they are broken up. Take the Roman road for example: It is several different scriptures throughout the Epistle to the Romans, jumping back and forth to give a gospel message. First of all, I think that is unnecessary since the gospel message is contained right here in Chapter three without jumping around, and second of all many of the verses are taken out of context. The thought for Romans 3:23 actually begins in Romans 3:22. You have all heard many times, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. In reading it this way it makes you believe that the verse is intended to show you that you’re a sinner, we don’t need it for that, the law of God does that. There is a comma before the word “for” at the beginning of the verse because the first part of the thought begins earlier. Here is the full thought. “For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” ~Romans 3:22-24. When you put Romans 3:23 in contexts with the other supporting verses it gives a different meaning and what is the thought here?
The thought is this. You are no better than anyone else. People tend to compare themselves to other people and say, “I must be good because I am better than that man”, but what you are doing is claiming goodness by your own standards rather than God’s. You can take a man in prison guilty of awful murders and many other crimes, before God, you and he are just as guilty, you have both broken the law of God. It doesn’t matter if you’ve broken the law once or thousands of times, if you’ve broken the law, you’ve broken the law. Earlier I quoted you (James 2:10) “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all.” You and the criminal in our human prison system are saved the same way, and there is no difference, you have both sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You both are freely justified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There is no difference. Now how did God justify us? Now this is why I wanted to talk about this scripture because this is really cool.
Verse 25 says, “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith,” ~Romans 3:25. What I find so cool about this is that it is a mathematical equation. Now I’m going to give you some definitions, and I use these words because they are the words used in the literal translations of the word of God and they bring incredible clarity in helping to understand the message God has for us.
1. Propitiation - to propitiate is a legal term, it means to bring appeasement. In this case you are appeasing the wrath of God. You see, as I showed you earlier we are law breakers, God is lawful.
2. Enmity – a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity between two parties. The bible tells us that there is an enmity that separates us from God. A wall of hostility. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” ~Romans 8:7.
3. Holy – the word Holy in Hebrew means separate. God is separate from us and what separates God from us is the enmity, the law of God.
It’s like this; there is a wall of hostility that separates us and God. On one side of the wall is God who is lawful, He upholds the law, He is righteous, on the other side of the wall is man, we are lawless, we do not keep the law, we are law breakers, we are unrighteous. God decided to do something in His grace; He gave us a free gift. God said through the bible that all law breakers would see death, but a graciously gave us a free gift, a Way to become righteous in His sight. He set forth His only begotten Son Jesus as that Way, He took the punishment of death for our breaking the law, He only requires you to accept that gift by faith. So here is the greatest mathematical equation in the history of the world. Mathematical equations have an equal sign =, with each side of the equal sign adding up to equal parts. So here is the equation.
Propitiation = Jesus Christ + Faith
For demonstrative purposes let us assign some values to these:
0. No Faith or absence of Faith, unbelief.
1. Faith – I assigned it the numeral 1 because it is the Holy Spirit who gives us faith.
2. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross – I assigned this the numeral 2 because Father and Son were involved during the crucifixion, Jesus went to the Cross at the Fathers will and the Father turned His back on Him pouring out His wrath on the Son for the sins of mankind.
3. Propitiation – I assigned propitiation the number 3 because the Trinity is present in Propitiation, it requires all three.
So now we have our equation: 3=2+1 equal parts on both sides. Now what are some things that people may put their faith in other than Jesus Christ Crucified for their sins?
4. I’m a good person – they think that they will get to heaven on their own merit.
5. Works – they think if you do a bunch of good deeds, or a bunch of religious acts that will earn favor with God.
6. I prayed a prayer – I have looked and I can’t find even one example in the bible where anyone was ever saved by a prayer.
7. I walked down a church aisle – again that is a work
8. I gave my life to Jesus – again a work
9. A god – the god of Muhammad, Buddha, or any number of Hindu gods.
So let us assign some of these numerals to our equation. Remember God has given Propitiation so whatever you do it needs to add up to propitiation which we have assigned the numeral 3.
3=2+0 Absence of faith – Jesus paid the price for all of mankind but if you do not have faith in him it doesn’t add up to propitiation.
3=4 I’m a good person + 1, 4+1=5 not three so faith in anything other than Jesus Christ Crucified does not = 3 does not equal propitiation, we could go on and on trying, but nothing adds up to propitiation but faith in Jesus Christ Crucified for your sins, NOTHING!
So why did God do this? The remainder of verse 25 and verse 26 tell us, “to demonstrate His righteousness”. Now why would anyone question the righteousness of God? Well let us look at the remainder of verse 25. “to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” ~Romans 3:25. The reason someone might question the righteousness of God is because you live. You heard me right, because you live. God created us, and He established His law, His perfect law, and that is the law by which we are to live by, and punishment for breaking that law is death and eternal separation from God. God had every right to destroy you the very first time you sinned, but He didn’t. God had every right to destroy Adam & Eve when they sinned, removing mankind from existence but He didn’t, and why didn’t He? Well verse 26 tells why He didn’t, “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” ~Romans 3:26. God is a good judge, in fact He is the only one good, He is the only One who has kept His law, never once sinning. The law is the embodiment of His person, it is who He is, He is lawful. The law says “do not lie,” the bible tells us He cannot lie. So God will be just in His judgments and there must be punishment for anyone who breaks His law. But God through His grace has given a Way for us to be justified and that Way is faith in Jesus Christ crucified for your sins. So God can be both just in making sure that there is punishment for sin and He can be justified in letting sinners go free at the same time because He took your punishment Himself.
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of Works? No but by the law of faith” ~Romans 3:27. Now how are you going to boast, you can’t boast in yourself, you’re a sinner, you can’t boast in your ability to follow the law, you’ve broken the law, you can’t boast in your works or accomplishments, and they can’t earn you eternal life. My friends all that we can boast in is Jesus Christ Crucified, and what a wonderful thing that is to boast in Jesus. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” ~Romans 3:28. Now at the beginning of this, I asked you a question, and that question was this: Are you ready to give an account of your life to God? The reason I asked that question is because I have found that the answer one gives to that question reveals the heart. The answer you give to that question is where your faith truly is. I am here to tell you today, if you gave as an answer anything other than Jesus Christ crucified, Jesus paid it all on the cross, I plead with you to repent. Repent means to stop what you are doing and turn around. So repent, turn from whatever your faith is currently on and turn away from that thing and turn to Jesus. Put your faith in Jesus Christ alone and you will be saved. I had a twofold purpose in writing this. 1) If your faith was in anything other than Jesus Christ crucified for your sins, to get your faith off of that other thing, and on what will save you on your day of judgment, Jesus Christ. 2) If your faith is in Jesus Christ to give you confidence in your salvation.
I hope this has brought you close to the Lord,
Mike Peek
My name is Mike Peek. I am a registered nurse; I have done many things in my nursing career but have spent the majority of my career working with critically ill cardiac patients, people on the very precipice of death. I have witnessed much in all the years God has had me do this and there has been one continuous theme I have found throughout my years of working with these patients. No one expects or accepts death! No one! The families don’t and the patients don’t, but I am here to tell you as a witness of death, everyone dies. I have been witness to hundreds of deaths and it never comes easy, no one expects it or accepts it. I have talked with patients who were telling me about their plans for the next day or when they get out of the hospital and then die while telling me their plans for the future, and then try all means we have as human beings to resuscitate them; mechanical, electrical, and chemical to no avail. Ten out of ten people die and we all know this fact, not one person denies that; but with every person it is always some mythical time in the future, it’s never now. I being a witness of death and a witness of people’s reaction to death have something to say about death. You will die, and it will be unexpectedly; it may be today, tomorrow, or years in the future, but you will die and you won’t expect it when it happens. I have a question for you and I want you to give an honest answer. (Hebrews 9:27) says “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” We are all criminals; we have broken the law, God’s law. And just like criminals on earth we have a court date, and that date is set, you cannot change it and cannot avoid it, it is coming weather you like it or not. There is a date set for you to go before the Judge, and this Judge is not like a human judge, He is a good Judge, in fact He is the only One who is good, and He will judge you justly and a good judge punishes the guilty. The question I have for you is this: Are you ready to give an account of your life to God? Yes or no and why, write your answer down and hold on to it, that answer is yours, no one else’s, it is yours.
Now back to our scripture: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” ~Romans 3:19-20. What is God’s law and who is under His law? Well, our scripture says all the world. So what is the law? Some people say the law of God is no more, they say we are not under the law, but oh they are so wrong. Jesus said of the law, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” ~Matthew 5:17-18. Then in heaven we have the ark of His covenant, “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.” ~Revelation 11:19. Now what was in the ark of His covenant? “Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb” _2 Chronicles 5:10. What was on the Tablets? God spoke from the mountain the Ten Commandments to the entire assembly of Israel. Moses said, “And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me” ~Deuteronomy 5:22. God wrote His laws, “The Ten Commandments” on stone because they are permanent. You know these laws, they are written on your heart, God has written them on the heart of every person on earth. Let us go over just three of these commandments (see Deuteronomy 5):
1. The third commandment says “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Have you ever used the name of the Lord in place of a filthy curse word to express disgust, or how about saying or writing OMG on facebook? Don’t justify yourself by saying you’re saying gosh instead of God, gosh is a euphemism for God it is used in place of God to make yourself feel better about it, but what you are really doing is lowering God’s name down to a lower level than He deserves. This command says further, “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” In other words He will not let you off the hook for doing this.
2. The sixth commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery” God is Spirit, so you are just as guilty about what you think as well as what you do with your body. Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you looked at another person ever with lust who was not your husband or wife? This commandment includes fornication, sex outside of wedlock. Sex with another person physically or mentally other than the one you are married to is adultery.
3. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness”, in other words you shall not lie. Have you ever lied?
Now that is just three of God’s Holy Ten Commandments and I don’t know about you but I am doing poorly, in fact I have broken all Ten of the Commandments a multitude of times. Even if you have broken only one of these commandments just one time you’re in trouble. (James 2:10) says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all.” So what does the law do? It shuts the mouth of every man, no one can say before the law of God “I’m a good person”, no one. You are not justified before God under the law you are guilty, the law brings the knowledge of sin, because of the law you know that you are a sinner before God.
There is good news, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,” ~Romans 3:21. The law and the prophets mean the Old Testament. This time, the present time we are in now was told about in the Old Testament, that there would be a Way to be made right with God apart from keeping the law and that Way has been revealed. What is that Way? The next verse tells us “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.” ~Romans 3:22. Even the righteousness of God Himself would be applied to you, and you would be looked upon as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself, through faith in Jesus Christ. Think about that a minute, the righteousness of God, to you and on you. John the Baptist in talking about Jesus said that he wasn’t even worthy to lose His sandal, and God would count you as righteous as Jesus, and look upon you as righteous as Jesus? That my friend is amazing and how can this be and why does God do it. Why does God count us righteous for having faith in Jesus?
Most of you recognize Romans 3:23 because it is used in what we call the Roman road. As I have learned to study scripture I have learned to read scripture in complete thoughts rather than how they are broken up into verses. The verses help us locate a section, but they cause a problem when they change the way you think about scripture because of the way they are broken up. Take the Roman road for example: It is several different scriptures throughout the Epistle to the Romans, jumping back and forth to give a gospel message. First of all, I think that is unnecessary since the gospel message is contained right here in Chapter three without jumping around, and second of all many of the verses are taken out of context. The thought for Romans 3:23 actually begins in Romans 3:22. You have all heard many times, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. In reading it this way it makes you believe that the verse is intended to show you that you’re a sinner, we don’t need it for that, the law of God does that. There is a comma before the word “for” at the beginning of the verse because the first part of the thought begins earlier. Here is the full thought. “For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” ~Romans 3:22-24. When you put Romans 3:23 in contexts with the other supporting verses it gives a different meaning and what is the thought here?
The thought is this. You are no better than anyone else. People tend to compare themselves to other people and say, “I must be good because I am better than that man”, but what you are doing is claiming goodness by your own standards rather than God’s. You can take a man in prison guilty of awful murders and many other crimes, before God, you and he are just as guilty, you have both broken the law of God. It doesn’t matter if you’ve broken the law once or thousands of times, if you’ve broken the law, you’ve broken the law. Earlier I quoted you (James 2:10) “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all.” You and the criminal in our human prison system are saved the same way, and there is no difference, you have both sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You both are freely justified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There is no difference. Now how did God justify us? Now this is why I wanted to talk about this scripture because this is really cool.
Verse 25 says, “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith,” ~Romans 3:25. What I find so cool about this is that it is a mathematical equation. Now I’m going to give you some definitions, and I use these words because they are the words used in the literal translations of the word of God and they bring incredible clarity in helping to understand the message God has for us.
1. Propitiation - to propitiate is a legal term, it means to bring appeasement. In this case you are appeasing the wrath of God. You see, as I showed you earlier we are law breakers, God is lawful.
2. Enmity – a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity between two parties. The bible tells us that there is an enmity that separates us from God. A wall of hostility. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” ~Romans 8:7.
3. Holy – the word Holy in Hebrew means separate. God is separate from us and what separates God from us is the enmity, the law of God.
It’s like this; there is a wall of hostility that separates us and God. On one side of the wall is God who is lawful, He upholds the law, He is righteous, on the other side of the wall is man, we are lawless, we do not keep the law, we are law breakers, we are unrighteous. God decided to do something in His grace; He gave us a free gift. God said through the bible that all law breakers would see death, but a graciously gave us a free gift, a Way to become righteous in His sight. He set forth His only begotten Son Jesus as that Way, He took the punishment of death for our breaking the law, He only requires you to accept that gift by faith. So here is the greatest mathematical equation in the history of the world. Mathematical equations have an equal sign =, with each side of the equal sign adding up to equal parts. So here is the equation.
Propitiation = Jesus Christ + Faith
For demonstrative purposes let us assign some values to these:
0. No Faith or absence of Faith, unbelief.
1. Faith – I assigned it the numeral 1 because it is the Holy Spirit who gives us faith.
2. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross – I assigned this the numeral 2 because Father and Son were involved during the crucifixion, Jesus went to the Cross at the Fathers will and the Father turned His back on Him pouring out His wrath on the Son for the sins of mankind.
3. Propitiation – I assigned propitiation the number 3 because the Trinity is present in Propitiation, it requires all three.
So now we have our equation: 3=2+1 equal parts on both sides. Now what are some things that people may put their faith in other than Jesus Christ Crucified for their sins?
4. I’m a good person – they think that they will get to heaven on their own merit.
5. Works – they think if you do a bunch of good deeds, or a bunch of religious acts that will earn favor with God.
6. I prayed a prayer – I have looked and I can’t find even one example in the bible where anyone was ever saved by a prayer.
7. I walked down a church aisle – again that is a work
8. I gave my life to Jesus – again a work
9. A god – the god of Muhammad, Buddha, or any number of Hindu gods.
So let us assign some of these numerals to our equation. Remember God has given Propitiation so whatever you do it needs to add up to propitiation which we have assigned the numeral 3.
3=2+0 Absence of faith – Jesus paid the price for all of mankind but if you do not have faith in him it doesn’t add up to propitiation.
3=4 I’m a good person + 1, 4+1=5 not three so faith in anything other than Jesus Christ Crucified does not = 3 does not equal propitiation, we could go on and on trying, but nothing adds up to propitiation but faith in Jesus Christ Crucified for your sins, NOTHING!
So why did God do this? The remainder of verse 25 and verse 26 tell us, “to demonstrate His righteousness”. Now why would anyone question the righteousness of God? Well let us look at the remainder of verse 25. “to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” ~Romans 3:25. The reason someone might question the righteousness of God is because you live. You heard me right, because you live. God created us, and He established His law, His perfect law, and that is the law by which we are to live by, and punishment for breaking that law is death and eternal separation from God. God had every right to destroy you the very first time you sinned, but He didn’t. God had every right to destroy Adam & Eve when they sinned, removing mankind from existence but He didn’t, and why didn’t He? Well verse 26 tells why He didn’t, “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” ~Romans 3:26. God is a good judge, in fact He is the only one good, He is the only One who has kept His law, never once sinning. The law is the embodiment of His person, it is who He is, He is lawful. The law says “do not lie,” the bible tells us He cannot lie. So God will be just in His judgments and there must be punishment for anyone who breaks His law. But God through His grace has given a Way for us to be justified and that Way is faith in Jesus Christ crucified for your sins. So God can be both just in making sure that there is punishment for sin and He can be justified in letting sinners go free at the same time because He took your punishment Himself.
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of Works? No but by the law of faith” ~Romans 3:27. Now how are you going to boast, you can’t boast in yourself, you’re a sinner, you can’t boast in your ability to follow the law, you’ve broken the law, you can’t boast in your works or accomplishments, and they can’t earn you eternal life. My friends all that we can boast in is Jesus Christ Crucified, and what a wonderful thing that is to boast in Jesus. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” ~Romans 3:28. Now at the beginning of this, I asked you a question, and that question was this: Are you ready to give an account of your life to God? The reason I asked that question is because I have found that the answer one gives to that question reveals the heart. The answer you give to that question is where your faith truly is. I am here to tell you today, if you gave as an answer anything other than Jesus Christ crucified, Jesus paid it all on the cross, I plead with you to repent. Repent means to stop what you are doing and turn around. So repent, turn from whatever your faith is currently on and turn away from that thing and turn to Jesus. Put your faith in Jesus Christ alone and you will be saved. I had a twofold purpose in writing this. 1) If your faith was in anything other than Jesus Christ crucified for your sins, to get your faith off of that other thing, and on what will save you on your day of judgment, Jesus Christ. 2) If your faith is in Jesus Christ to give you confidence in your salvation.
I hope this has brought you close to the Lord,
Mike Peek
Saturday, October 1, 2011
The Wind Blows Where it Wishes (John 3:7-12)
(“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” ~John 3:7-12).
As Jesus and Nicodemus talked, Nicodemus must have had a look of shock on his face because Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Also I can picture this conversation happening outside where there was a nice cooling breeze, and then Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I found it interesting in studying this passage that the word wind in both Greek and Hebrew could be translated Spirit. I enjoy words especially the word of God, the meaning of words and their root bring such incredible clarity to scripture and impart in such an incredible way, the message God has for us, so as a side note when studying God’s word, study the words and their meanings in their original form.
Jesus was telling Nicodemus using the analogy of the wind to impart to him that the Spirit of God moves where It wishes. You don’t know where It comes from or where It goes but you can definitely see and feel the effects of It in a changed life. This whole subject of birth is quite interesting, take first physical birth, the birth of a human body. You most have two parents a male and a female to give birth to a human life. The same is true with being born again spiritually; you most have two parents, the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God to give birth to a believer. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” ~Mark 16:15. And we who are the redeemed in Jesus Christ need to be obedient in just that in preaching the gospel to every creature. Not changing the gospel to make it acceptable amongst unbelievers, but preaching the gospel in truth. The gospel of God is hard for a man to take and without the Holy Spirit coming to a man it is impossible. Tell someone who is spiritually dead that they have sinned against God and the punishment for sin is death, and that Jesus paid the price for their sins on the cross, shedding His precious blood, and all they have to do is believe by faith that Jesus paid the price for their sins; they will do one of three things, find some reason to depart, laugh at you, or curse you telling you that you are full of hate. But show the gospel to someone that the Holy Spirit is working on, and you will see a complete change, a new birth. For someone to be saved they must be born again and the way God has chosen to do this is by the preaching of His Word and the convicting of the Holy Spirit and it is a wonderful mystery when it happens. You cannot tell from the outside whom God plans to save by His spirit, so you must give the gospel to everyone.
Nicodemus shocked by this news says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” Nicodemus must have felt crushed, here he was a descendent of Abraham by birth and he had been a Pharisee all his life, trying with all his might to follow the letter of the law, and Jesus tells him that it is not good enough you must be born again. I imagine that Nicodemus was crushed and bewildered. Then Jesus crushes him even further by saying to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?” Talk about cutting someone to the quick, basically saying; how can you be teaching the people of Israel when you can neither see, nor know how to get into the Kingdom of God yourself? In the next sentence Jesus says; “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.” You may think that Jesus was referring to Himself and His disciples but I don’t think so, and here is why. The translation I am using is the NKJV, and you may have noticed that in this sentence, which is verse 11, every time Jesus says We or Our it is capitalized. Obviously because the translators of the NKJV believe that He was talking about the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the God head and after praying and studying this I believe that they are right in doing this. You will find throughout this gospel that Jesus often does this and speaks of Him and the Father being One, so with that understanding it brings greater clarity to Jesus’ words. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12).
Now this is my own paraphrase of verse 11-12 and it is what the Spirit has shown me as I have meditated on this scripture all week: Nicodemus We (God, The Trinity) have told you the truth that you must be born again, We have observed you, and this is what We have observed, you do not believe Us. Now what We have told you is basic spiritual truth, it is the beginning of spiritual truth that you must be born again, if you do not believe this you cannot and will not believe deeper spiritual truths.
Next week John 3:13-18, the most well know verse in the bible John 3:16
God bless you,
Mike Peek
As Jesus and Nicodemus talked, Nicodemus must have had a look of shock on his face because Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Also I can picture this conversation happening outside where there was a nice cooling breeze, and then Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I found it interesting in studying this passage that the word wind in both Greek and Hebrew could be translated Spirit. I enjoy words especially the word of God, the meaning of words and their root bring such incredible clarity to scripture and impart in such an incredible way, the message God has for us, so as a side note when studying God’s word, study the words and their meanings in their original form.
Jesus was telling Nicodemus using the analogy of the wind to impart to him that the Spirit of God moves where It wishes. You don’t know where It comes from or where It goes but you can definitely see and feel the effects of It in a changed life. This whole subject of birth is quite interesting, take first physical birth, the birth of a human body. You most have two parents a male and a female to give birth to a human life. The same is true with being born again spiritually; you most have two parents, the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God to give birth to a believer. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” ~Mark 16:15. And we who are the redeemed in Jesus Christ need to be obedient in just that in preaching the gospel to every creature. Not changing the gospel to make it acceptable amongst unbelievers, but preaching the gospel in truth. The gospel of God is hard for a man to take and without the Holy Spirit coming to a man it is impossible. Tell someone who is spiritually dead that they have sinned against God and the punishment for sin is death, and that Jesus paid the price for their sins on the cross, shedding His precious blood, and all they have to do is believe by faith that Jesus paid the price for their sins; they will do one of three things, find some reason to depart, laugh at you, or curse you telling you that you are full of hate. But show the gospel to someone that the Holy Spirit is working on, and you will see a complete change, a new birth. For someone to be saved they must be born again and the way God has chosen to do this is by the preaching of His Word and the convicting of the Holy Spirit and it is a wonderful mystery when it happens. You cannot tell from the outside whom God plans to save by His spirit, so you must give the gospel to everyone.
Nicodemus shocked by this news says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” Nicodemus must have felt crushed, here he was a descendent of Abraham by birth and he had been a Pharisee all his life, trying with all his might to follow the letter of the law, and Jesus tells him that it is not good enough you must be born again. I imagine that Nicodemus was crushed and bewildered. Then Jesus crushes him even further by saying to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?” Talk about cutting someone to the quick, basically saying; how can you be teaching the people of Israel when you can neither see, nor know how to get into the Kingdom of God yourself? In the next sentence Jesus says; “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.” You may think that Jesus was referring to Himself and His disciples but I don’t think so, and here is why. The translation I am using is the NKJV, and you may have noticed that in this sentence, which is verse 11, every time Jesus says We or Our it is capitalized. Obviously because the translators of the NKJV believe that He was talking about the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the God head and after praying and studying this I believe that they are right in doing this. You will find throughout this gospel that Jesus often does this and speaks of Him and the Father being One, so with that understanding it brings greater clarity to Jesus’ words. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12).
Now this is my own paraphrase of verse 11-12 and it is what the Spirit has shown me as I have meditated on this scripture all week: Nicodemus We (God, The Trinity) have told you the truth that you must be born again, We have observed you, and this is what We have observed, you do not believe Us. Now what We have told you is basic spiritual truth, it is the beginning of spiritual truth that you must be born again, if you do not believe this you cannot and will not believe deeper spiritual truths.
Next week John 3:13-18, the most well know verse in the bible John 3:16
God bless you,
Mike Peek
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Born Again (John 3:1-6)
(There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” ~John 3:1-6).
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, which tells us that he was a respected man held in high esteem in the land of Judea among the Jewish people, and probably a member of the council, the ruling religious authority in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, as a group of people were very strict in their adherence of the Jewish law. As bad a rap as they get they did get many things right, one of which was the resurrection of the dead, which the other ruling group at the time of Jesus, the Sadducees denied. To become a Pharisee you have to dedicate your entire life to studying “The Law and the Prophets” (The Old Testament) and strictly adhere to the law, but where the Pharisees fell short is that they thought a bunch of religious acts of self denial would earn favor with God. While on the outside they may not physically steal but would covet the things belonging to someone else. They may not physically go have sex with a woman that was not their wife but would look upon a woman with lustful desire. They had as Paul wrote to Timothy “a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Jesus said of them “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” ~Matthew 23:27. What the Pharisee had going for him was that he wanted to be in God’s kingdom (at least a lot of them did, many of them just liked the power), but what he had against him is that they thought a man could be good enough to please God, so they made up an unbearable amount of rules on top of God’s laws to try and make sure that everyone didn’t break God’s laws and in doing that they broke God’s law.
As we study “The Gospel According to John” you will see that every time Jesus interacts with a Pharisee there is always some conflict, and in the case with Nicodemus as well. The difference between this conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus, and all the other conversations that Jesus has with the Pharisees is that Nicodemus really wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, he really came seeking answers. Nicodemus said he was old, and being a ruler of the Jews he probably was and for an older man to come and pay respect to a younger man calling Him Rabbi, that older man would have to humble himself to do so. So here comes Nicodemus saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2). Then Jesus blows Nicodemus out of the water saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Basically He just told Nicodemus, you don’t even know what you’re talking about Nicodemus, your blind, you can’t even see the kingdom of God, and you’re going to have to start all over again. Jesus said of the Pharisees “They are blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). Nicodemus, I have to hand it to him, being an older, respected Middle Eastern man, for this young man to tell him he is blind, he held great restraint, because he really wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, the prompting of the Holy Spirit was upon him. Also Jesus answered the question that Nicodemus wanted an answer to without him even asking. Nicodemus wasn’t a Pharisee just for the sake of it, he wanted to be in the Kingdom of God, so the question, (How do I get in the kingdom of God?), was on his mind and Jesus answered it without him even asking, which I am sure startled Nicodemus and peaked his curiosity.
So Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). I don’t think that Nicodemus really thought Jesus was speaking of a physical birth; I think he knew Jesus was speaking spiritually, but what Nicodemus was saying is that it is futile. I can’t start over, I’m an old man, I have invested my whole life in following the law and study, I can’t start over again. Jesus’ next statement shows that He agreed with Nicodemus, that he can’t start over, that there is nothing that Nicodemus can do, it is God who must do it. (Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” ~John 3:5-6). This verse many take out of context and try and use it to say that a person has to be physically baptized with water to be saved. Ceremonial baptism is not what Jesus was talking about here. There was the baptism that John did after someone came to repentance and later the baptism that Christians do as a public profession of faith saying that they died to self and are raised to life in Christ. But it is still a Ceremony, baptism doesn’t save anyone, Faith alone in the blood of Jesus Christ saves!
So what was Jesus talking about? You’ve got to remember that Nicodemus is a Pharisee who has studied the Old Testament; there was no New Testament at that time. Jesus was referring to a passage in Ezekiel 36, which Nicodemus would have been well aware of. (Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ~Ezekiel 36 25-27). What was being described by the Prophet Ezekiel and what Jesus was referring to here is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A true transformation of a person where they truly do become a new creature by God, this isn’t something that a man can do on his own, God must do this, the Holy Spirit must do this.
You may have heard believers in Jesus Christ say before, “I hate religion.” On the surface, this may confuse you because isn’t Christianity a religion? My answer to that is yes and no; yes Christians worship God, so in the sense that we worship the God of the universe it is religion, but in the sense of ritual worship, following a bunch of rules to appease a deity and doing a bunch of good works to please that deity it is not. A man cannot please God we are law breakers before God. One of the funniest statements I hear all the time is “He or she is a good Christian.” The first step in becoming a Christian is realizing that you are not good, so the cliché’ “I’m a good Christian” is false. Saying you’re a good Christian is denying the words of Jesus Himself; He said, “No one is good but One, that is God.” (Matthew 19:17). So Jesus in His final statement in these first 6 verses of John 3 says, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). Anything that a man does is of flesh; trying to follow the law, doing good deeds to earn favor with God; that is of the flesh and is of man. Being born again is of the Spirit of God and comes from outside of us. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).
Next week John 3:7-12, thank you, and God Bless you,
Mike Peek
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, which tells us that he was a respected man held in high esteem in the land of Judea among the Jewish people, and probably a member of the council, the ruling religious authority in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, as a group of people were very strict in their adherence of the Jewish law. As bad a rap as they get they did get many things right, one of which was the resurrection of the dead, which the other ruling group at the time of Jesus, the Sadducees denied. To become a Pharisee you have to dedicate your entire life to studying “The Law and the Prophets” (The Old Testament) and strictly adhere to the law, but where the Pharisees fell short is that they thought a bunch of religious acts of self denial would earn favor with God. While on the outside they may not physically steal but would covet the things belonging to someone else. They may not physically go have sex with a woman that was not their wife but would look upon a woman with lustful desire. They had as Paul wrote to Timothy “a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Jesus said of them “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” ~Matthew 23:27. What the Pharisee had going for him was that he wanted to be in God’s kingdom (at least a lot of them did, many of them just liked the power), but what he had against him is that they thought a man could be good enough to please God, so they made up an unbearable amount of rules on top of God’s laws to try and make sure that everyone didn’t break God’s laws and in doing that they broke God’s law.
As we study “The Gospel According to John” you will see that every time Jesus interacts with a Pharisee there is always some conflict, and in the case with Nicodemus as well. The difference between this conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus, and all the other conversations that Jesus has with the Pharisees is that Nicodemus really wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, he really came seeking answers. Nicodemus said he was old, and being a ruler of the Jews he probably was and for an older man to come and pay respect to a younger man calling Him Rabbi, that older man would have to humble himself to do so. So here comes Nicodemus saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2). Then Jesus blows Nicodemus out of the water saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Basically He just told Nicodemus, you don’t even know what you’re talking about Nicodemus, your blind, you can’t even see the kingdom of God, and you’re going to have to start all over again. Jesus said of the Pharisees “They are blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). Nicodemus, I have to hand it to him, being an older, respected Middle Eastern man, for this young man to tell him he is blind, he held great restraint, because he really wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, the prompting of the Holy Spirit was upon him. Also Jesus answered the question that Nicodemus wanted an answer to without him even asking. Nicodemus wasn’t a Pharisee just for the sake of it, he wanted to be in the Kingdom of God, so the question, (How do I get in the kingdom of God?), was on his mind and Jesus answered it without him even asking, which I am sure startled Nicodemus and peaked his curiosity.
So Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). I don’t think that Nicodemus really thought Jesus was speaking of a physical birth; I think he knew Jesus was speaking spiritually, but what Nicodemus was saying is that it is futile. I can’t start over, I’m an old man, I have invested my whole life in following the law and study, I can’t start over again. Jesus’ next statement shows that He agreed with Nicodemus, that he can’t start over, that there is nothing that Nicodemus can do, it is God who must do it. (Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” ~John 3:5-6). This verse many take out of context and try and use it to say that a person has to be physically baptized with water to be saved. Ceremonial baptism is not what Jesus was talking about here. There was the baptism that John did after someone came to repentance and later the baptism that Christians do as a public profession of faith saying that they died to self and are raised to life in Christ. But it is still a Ceremony, baptism doesn’t save anyone, Faith alone in the blood of Jesus Christ saves!
So what was Jesus talking about? You’ve got to remember that Nicodemus is a Pharisee who has studied the Old Testament; there was no New Testament at that time. Jesus was referring to a passage in Ezekiel 36, which Nicodemus would have been well aware of. (Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ~Ezekiel 36 25-27). What was being described by the Prophet Ezekiel and what Jesus was referring to here is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A true transformation of a person where they truly do become a new creature by God, this isn’t something that a man can do on his own, God must do this, the Holy Spirit must do this.
You may have heard believers in Jesus Christ say before, “I hate religion.” On the surface, this may confuse you because isn’t Christianity a religion? My answer to that is yes and no; yes Christians worship God, so in the sense that we worship the God of the universe it is religion, but in the sense of ritual worship, following a bunch of rules to appease a deity and doing a bunch of good works to please that deity it is not. A man cannot please God we are law breakers before God. One of the funniest statements I hear all the time is “He or she is a good Christian.” The first step in becoming a Christian is realizing that you are not good, so the cliché’ “I’m a good Christian” is false. Saying you’re a good Christian is denying the words of Jesus Himself; He said, “No one is good but One, that is God.” (Matthew 19:17). So Jesus in His final statement in these first 6 verses of John 3 says, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). Anything that a man does is of flesh; trying to follow the law, doing good deeds to earn favor with God; that is of the flesh and is of man. Being born again is of the Spirit of God and comes from outside of us. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).
Next week John 3:7-12, thank you, and God Bless you,
Mike Peek
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Destroy This Temple (John 2:18-25)
(So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Now when He was in Jerusalem, at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. ~John 2:18-25).
Today I am going to talk about the last 8 verses of John chapter 2 completing my memorization of John chapter 2; God has shown me much through this chapter. I have had struggles through it, but God who is always faithful has carried me through all the way. I knew when I under took this endeavor, I had no ability to do this except that which is given to me by the Holy Spirit. God has caused me to memorize these first two chapters of John and has spoken to me through them the entire way, and I thank Jesus Christ for that; I will forever have His word in my heart because of this, and I pray He will keep me going through this entire book (The Gospel According to John).
Today we continue on from last week in the temple Jesus had just gotten through running off the people who sold in the temple; oxen, sheep, doves, and the money changers all doing business in the temple. Last week I asked, why did Jesus get so mad about this? I have thought about that all week. Jesus put up with a lot of stuff from a lot of people. Just walk around today and everywhere you look there is sin, it is so prevalent in our society and was prevalent in the society of Judea during the first century. So everywhere you go all the time you are surrounded by sin and sinful people. When the Word (Jesus) walked amongst us He would have been constantly in the presence of sin and sinful people all the time, yet He dealt with it differently than He did on this occasion. I have recently been reading through the books of the Law (The Old Testament) there is one thing I have gotten out of that with certainty. God really got angry with Israel when they had no reverence for Him. Continually throughout the Old Testament the Israelites would fall away and worship other gods then God would become angry with them. Jesus is God! What was going on here in the temple was complete and total irreverence towards God. They had taken His Holy temple and made it into a common market place. There is estimated to be hundreds of thousands of people in the temple for the Passover, and the Scripture tell us that Jesus ran them all out. That is the equivalent of one man by himself with a whip running everyone out of the Dallas Cowboys stadium, that in and of itself is incredible.
So then you have the Jews, the religious leaders, the Priest, the Pharisees, and the Levite guards coming and questioning Jesus. “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” This really is a dumb question, and my guess is that they asked it because they were in shock from what He just did. They wanted a sign, He had just given them a sign, what He had just done was fulfillment of prophesy in Malachi 3. So Jesus gives them an answer, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” These very words Jesus had said, they used against Him when they wrongly tried Him before His crucifixion. He was speaking both of His body which housed His spirit, and the temple in Jerusalem itself. Jesus’ earthly ministry is sandwiched between two Passovers, and two times He cleared the temple, separated by three years. And what did they do when they crucified Jesus on the cross? They destroyed His body, and destroyed temple worship, and all sacrifices both at the same time. When Jesus on the cross breathed His last, and bowed His head, the temple Veil separating the most Holy place in the temple tore down the middle, signifying that it was available to all, and that God had departed from the temple, and it was just a few years after this that God used the Romans to destroy the temple, and there has been no temple worship or sacrifices in Israel since, for two thousand years. Jesus did raise both temples. Three days later He rose from the dead and defeated death but He also rose up the earthly temple as well. You have probably often heard the building in which a church service takes place as being the house of God, well it is not, that is totally untrue. The believer is the house of God, which houses His Holy Spirit. Every single man or women on earth who has had a saving faith in Jesus Christ (His death on the cross as payment for our sins) has received the Holy Spirit of God thereby making their own body the temple of God. Think about that for a minute and it will humble you. Your body is quite literally the temple of God on earth, if you are a believer.
Now the last three verses of John I have to tell you have left me in total shock and awe. I have learned through this process of memorizing (The gospel According to John), to look at the Word of God in terms of sentences or complete thoughts rather than in terms of verses. While the versing of the bible helps us to locate parts of the bible for study, it also hinders in that if you look at a verse as being a complete thought, when part of the thought was in the previous verse, it changes your perception of scripture. So these last three verses are really just two sentences. When I had read this before I had just missed it, because it is two sentences sandwiched between two great events; Jesus cleansing the temple, and His meeting with Nicodemus, so allow me to write them out for you again.
(Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. ~John 2:23-25).
I think that, maybe, the most eye opening, and jaw dropping, literal slap in the face of all of scripture. It says that Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men. Not some men, not just these men but all men, which includes me and you. And it says that He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. He wouldn’t commit Himself to them, because He knew what was in man. What did Jesus think of us, and yet He willingly went to the cross for us, absolutely amazing? Let us take a look at Paul’s testimony of man.
(As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ~Romans 3:10-18).
Paul was speaking of all men, just as Jesus knew what was in man. All I can say to that is, thank God that He sent us a Savior, in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who took our punishment on the cross for all of our sins. Repent and believe by faith in the redemption that comes through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins.
Mike Peek
Today I am going to talk about the last 8 verses of John chapter 2 completing my memorization of John chapter 2; God has shown me much through this chapter. I have had struggles through it, but God who is always faithful has carried me through all the way. I knew when I under took this endeavor, I had no ability to do this except that which is given to me by the Holy Spirit. God has caused me to memorize these first two chapters of John and has spoken to me through them the entire way, and I thank Jesus Christ for that; I will forever have His word in my heart because of this, and I pray He will keep me going through this entire book (The Gospel According to John).
Today we continue on from last week in the temple Jesus had just gotten through running off the people who sold in the temple; oxen, sheep, doves, and the money changers all doing business in the temple. Last week I asked, why did Jesus get so mad about this? I have thought about that all week. Jesus put up with a lot of stuff from a lot of people. Just walk around today and everywhere you look there is sin, it is so prevalent in our society and was prevalent in the society of Judea during the first century. So everywhere you go all the time you are surrounded by sin and sinful people. When the Word (Jesus) walked amongst us He would have been constantly in the presence of sin and sinful people all the time, yet He dealt with it differently than He did on this occasion. I have recently been reading through the books of the Law (The Old Testament) there is one thing I have gotten out of that with certainty. God really got angry with Israel when they had no reverence for Him. Continually throughout the Old Testament the Israelites would fall away and worship other gods then God would become angry with them. Jesus is God! What was going on here in the temple was complete and total irreverence towards God. They had taken His Holy temple and made it into a common market place. There is estimated to be hundreds of thousands of people in the temple for the Passover, and the Scripture tell us that Jesus ran them all out. That is the equivalent of one man by himself with a whip running everyone out of the Dallas Cowboys stadium, that in and of itself is incredible.
So then you have the Jews, the religious leaders, the Priest, the Pharisees, and the Levite guards coming and questioning Jesus. “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” This really is a dumb question, and my guess is that they asked it because they were in shock from what He just did. They wanted a sign, He had just given them a sign, what He had just done was fulfillment of prophesy in Malachi 3. So Jesus gives them an answer, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” These very words Jesus had said, they used against Him when they wrongly tried Him before His crucifixion. He was speaking both of His body which housed His spirit, and the temple in Jerusalem itself. Jesus’ earthly ministry is sandwiched between two Passovers, and two times He cleared the temple, separated by three years. And what did they do when they crucified Jesus on the cross? They destroyed His body, and destroyed temple worship, and all sacrifices both at the same time. When Jesus on the cross breathed His last, and bowed His head, the temple Veil separating the most Holy place in the temple tore down the middle, signifying that it was available to all, and that God had departed from the temple, and it was just a few years after this that God used the Romans to destroy the temple, and there has been no temple worship or sacrifices in Israel since, for two thousand years. Jesus did raise both temples. Three days later He rose from the dead and defeated death but He also rose up the earthly temple as well. You have probably often heard the building in which a church service takes place as being the house of God, well it is not, that is totally untrue. The believer is the house of God, which houses His Holy Spirit. Every single man or women on earth who has had a saving faith in Jesus Christ (His death on the cross as payment for our sins) has received the Holy Spirit of God thereby making their own body the temple of God. Think about that for a minute and it will humble you. Your body is quite literally the temple of God on earth, if you are a believer.
Now the last three verses of John I have to tell you have left me in total shock and awe. I have learned through this process of memorizing (The gospel According to John), to look at the Word of God in terms of sentences or complete thoughts rather than in terms of verses. While the versing of the bible helps us to locate parts of the bible for study, it also hinders in that if you look at a verse as being a complete thought, when part of the thought was in the previous verse, it changes your perception of scripture. So these last three verses are really just two sentences. When I had read this before I had just missed it, because it is two sentences sandwiched between two great events; Jesus cleansing the temple, and His meeting with Nicodemus, so allow me to write them out for you again.
(Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. ~John 2:23-25).
I think that, maybe, the most eye opening, and jaw dropping, literal slap in the face of all of scripture. It says that Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men. Not some men, not just these men but all men, which includes me and you. And it says that He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. He wouldn’t commit Himself to them, because He knew what was in man. What did Jesus think of us, and yet He willingly went to the cross for us, absolutely amazing? Let us take a look at Paul’s testimony of man.
(As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ~Romans 3:10-18).
Paul was speaking of all men, just as Jesus knew what was in man. All I can say to that is, thank God that He sent us a Savior, in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who took our punishment on the cross for all of our sins. Repent and believe by faith in the redemption that comes through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins.
Mike Peek
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