One Gospel, One Saviour

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Wednesday, October 06, 2021
Chapters: John 2-4
Message: One Gospel, One Saviour

Hello My Friend,

As I was praying this morning, I kept thinking about the verse that I had started yesterday’s message with, [Luke 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:]. What I was actually thinking about was what happens when wheat is sifted, it is actually done to remove impurities from the flour and make it softer to produce a lighter, airier cake or bread. Let me tell you, the devil might sift Christ’s disciples, but it only makes them that much more of a testimony of Christ living in and through them, which we are actually called to be, [John 4:38  I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.]

As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, it is interesting to see how each of the men tell their side of the story of their time with Jesus. While most of them do share the same experience in regards to people who were impacted by Jesus, which was important as it proved that the Scriptures did not contradict one another, some of them did add to their story. As you may recall, John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, [John 20] he even looked after Mary after Jesus died, arose, and went back up to heaven. John actually begins his testimony of his walk with Jesus with His mother, Mary, [John 2:1-5  And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:  2  And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.  3  And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.  4  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.  5  His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.]

[Woman, what have I to do with thee?] Maybe Mary was proud to be the mother of God’s only begotten Son, and wanted to show Him off a little bit? Maybe she wanted to see for herself what her son could do, after all, He was just like them? Maybe when she found out that Jesus finally had those special powers after all these years, she wanted to see what He is capable of? Whatever the reason, Mary wanted see Jesus do something miraculous, and Jesus accommodated her. She also makes it a point to make sure the servants knew that they were to do as He commanded them. And they did exactly what He commanded them to do.

[John 2:7-12  Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.  8  And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.  9  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,  10  And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.  11  This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.  12  After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.]

[and his disciples believed on him.] All it took for the disciples to believe on Him is seeing Him turn some water into wine. And we should always understand that this was not alcoholic, it was some sore of juice made from fruit. Jesus would never produce anything that would alter our spirit, nor would He encourage us to consume or do anything that would bring sin, [1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.]

This in no way means that God actually brings us into temptation as so many believe, especially concerning the Lord’s prayer, this is about our own freewill and what God allows us to go through. You see, there is a difference between someone who is religious and someone who actually lives though Christ. Religion will always produce “faithful servants” for them, but not for God. The Scribes and Pharisees were well aware of the Law, they were really good at helping people find their way, even so kind as to have a market for people to buy the sacrifices they needed to make atonement and reconcile with God as they were heading up to the temple to worship God (I am being sarcastic here). As we know, Jesus went into Jerusalem every year for the Passover, and He was known to disrupt their little enterprise. He actually overturned their tables a time or two.

[John 2:14-20  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;  16  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.  17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.  18  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?  19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?]

[Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.] Of course, Jesus was speaking of Himself when they would crucify Him and He would resurrect three days later, but notice how He words it, [I will raise it up.] Right then and there, He is telling them all that He is God in the flesh, yet they were so blind that they thought He was referring to the actually temple building. However, there were some that started wondering that perhaps He is the Christ, although they may not have been very open about it. Nicodemus, being a Pharisee was one of them, and he secretly came to see Jesus, [John 3:1-4  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:  2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.  3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?]

[How can a man be born when he is old?] It is natural to question things that seem obvious to us, but when we are introduced to things that are not obvious, we need to look past our own comprehension. The word born means, [to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate: – bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring.] Jesus did not mince words, He said it again, this time, along with an explanation of what He was talking about.

[John 3:5-9  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.  9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?]

[How can these things be?] Jesus was telling him that we are born of the flesh through man, in other words, we are procreated of the flesh, but at this point, we do not have the Holy Spirit inside of us, which is the only way to God. And in order to get to heaven, we must be born with the Spirit of God, hence born again. Nicodemus still has a hard time understanding what Jesus was saying, in fact, Jesus goes on to stress that he does not believe in Him, for if he had truly believed, he would not be asking those questions.

[John 3:10-15,18  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?  11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.  12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?  13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.  14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.]

[how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?] You see, Jesus knows those who are true believers and who are not. There are people all over the world praising Jesus and all the things He has done, but they are not true worshipers. Why? Because they never accepted Him as their Saviour themselves. One can know who Jesus is, and even believe in His death, burial, and resurrection, but unless they personally believe that He saved them and receive Him as their Saviour, they are not born of the Spirit, hence, they will not receive eternal life, and God simply will not accept them as His. Jesus is not the only one who said this, even John the Baptist did. Remember, how John tells his side of the story a little differently? Well, he actually tells us what was going on right after Jesus had started His ministry, and before John the Baptist had gotten arrested.

[John 3:22-25,27,29,31,33,36  After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.  23  And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.  24  For John was not yet cast into prison.  25  Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.  27  John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.  29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 31  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 33  He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.]

[rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice:] Let me tell you, it truly is a joy to see someone bow their head and trust Christ as their Saviour, it gives you a spiritual high that nothing else we ever do for Christ does. These people witnessed the miracles that Jesus performed the entire time He was here in the flesh, and yet they refused to believe and get saved. People are the same way today, Jesus or not, they are blind to the truth, only want to see the lies. If people cannot see the truth of what is happening right before their eyes, how do they expect to get any respect from God? One can deny the fact that Jesus is the Son of God all they want, but that does not mean anything, He cannot deny Himself, He knows who He is and so do those who actually believe in Him. This is exactly why Jesus opened the door to salvation to the Gentiles, and He did not wait until He resurrected. In fact, He purposely went through Samaria to reach them with the Gospel.

[John 4:1-4,6-7  When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,  2  (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)  3  He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.  4  And he must needs go through Samaria. 6  Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.  7  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.]

[And he must needs go through Samaria.] There are some that believe Jesus only came to save the Jews, but Jesus came to save all who believe, He proved this several times, but the most notable is the Samaritan woman, we do not even know her name, but we would come to know her faith.

[John 4:9-14  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.  10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.  11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?  12  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?  13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.]

[askest drink of me,] Jesus did not care what race or nationality she was, all He cared about was her faith, and what true worship was receiving the gift of God. And if you wondered why Jesus used different tactics to literally explain the same message, it all comes down to who they are. We need to approach Jews differently than we do Gentiles. Likewise, we need to approach each religion differently, a Catholic has different upbringing than a Muslim. There is only one Gospel, and there is only one way to eternal life and that is Jesus Christ, but not everyone responds to it the same way, which is why we are to teach it in a way that they can, [1 Corinthians 3:5-7  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?  6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.  7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.]

No one born of the flesh is worthy to stand before God, which is why she questions why Jesus is even talking to her and why we need to receive His gift of eternal life, also known as being born again. This woman eagerly wanted this life giving water, but it was actually what Jesus had said to her after this that she believed Him to be the Messiah, [John 4:15-18  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.  16  Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.  17  The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:  18  For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.]

[and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband:] All this woman needed to hear was that Jesus knew that she had been married five times and the man she is with now was not even her husband. The woman believed and did what every true believer does the second they get saved, she went not only got the man she was living with, she brought several others with her.

[John 4:25-30,39-41  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.  26  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.  27  And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?  28  The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,  29  Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?  30  Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 39  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.  40  So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.  41  And many more believed because of his own word;]

[And many more believed because of his own word;] God started with the Jews, very few accept Him still today because they refuse to believe God’s own Word. He chose the Jews to show the rest of the world that there is only One God, but He has always accepted all who came to Him. God has never only been the God of the Jews, and has always been the God of all who receive Him as their Saviour, [Isaiah 43:9-11  Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.  10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.  11  I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [John 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. John 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for the gift of my salvation, I know that it is not by my own works that I am saved from death and hell for my sins, but by Your finished work. You died a sinless death, was buried, and arose from the grave three days later. And You not only saved me from an eternity in hell, You assure me that I have eternal life with You. Lord, it can be hard to worship You in spirit and truth when I get overwhelmed with life, lead me and guide me, fill me with Your grace, love, and wisdom to do whatever it is that You call me to do. I love You Lord and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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