Author: BTP

“Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Prov. 4:14-15).

The coyote was frightened, very frightened, I’m sure. A couple of weeks ago we were sitting on a plane about to depart from the Toronto airport. The plane had taxied out onto the runway ready for take-off. But we didn’t take off. After a few minutes the captain came on the intercom system and told us why. He said, “I wish you could see what I’m seeing out in front of the plane right now. A coyote has gotten onto the runway, and two ATVs are trying to corner him and get him out of our way.”

The runways at the Toronto airport are highly fenced on every side, and how an animal that size could get inside is a mystery. But this coyote had found a way, and now he was sorry. Our verse today warns us of going onto wrong paths. We are told to stay far away from them and avoid them. Don’t even pass that way! The Lord knows how easily we can be tempted and He is gives us many warnings, especially in the book of Proverbs. We do well to listen!

After a few more minutes our flight took off. If the coyote has a good memory, I don’t think he’ll pass that way again!

“Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor My Father, and ye do dishonor Me” (John 8:48-49).

When the Jews were talking with the Lord Jesus, they hated Him so much that they did not hesitate to insult Him. To call a Jew a Samaritan was a real insult, and to say that Jesus had a devil was a further insult. We notice how beautifully the Lord answered them. To call Him a Samaritan was a personal insult, and He completely ignored that. However, to say He had a devil was a dishonor to His Father, and He answered that.

This is a good example for us. Let us be willing to ignore personal insults, but be ready to answer others, if they speak against God and His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, we sometimes ignore insults to God, but get angry and upset if we are insulted. Let us remember to act like the Lord Jesus.

“If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

When I was doing surgery, sometimes there were people who did not want a general anaesthetic. They said, “Then I wouldn’t be in control of my life during that time.” People who are not saved like to feel as if they are in control of their lives, but do not realize that Satan is really controlling them through their sinful desires. As the god of this world, Satan makes unbelievers the servants of sin.

The Lord Jesus was telling His listeners that only through Him, and through His Word, could they really be made free. The believer in the Lord Jesus is the only one in this world who is really free—free from His old sinful nature, free from Satan, and free from this world. The real truth about everything is found only in the Lord Jesus.

“Neither did His brethren believe on Him” (John 7:5).

“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44).

The brothers of the Lord Jesus (and there were at least four of them) had lived with Him all their lives, and had seen His perfection. Yet right up until He went to the cross, none of them believed on Him. Why was this? It was because our natural hearts do not want Christ, and no matter how much evidence is placed before us, we will not believe. It is only when God begins a work in our hearts that we will believe, and this did indeed happen to at least two of the Lord’s natural brothers (perhaps we should call them half-brothers) after He went to the cross. Both James and Jude were the natural half-brothers of the Lord Jesus, and God used each of them to write a book in the New Testament.

That is why you can make the gospel so clear to those who are not saved, and yet they do not come to Christ. But the Lord can use those words you said later on, to bring them to Christ, so keep on telling others about the Lord!

“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70).

Yesterday we saw how the Lord Jesus really felt it when some of His followers left Him, and “walked no more with Him.” But there was something that affected Him even more: it was the fact that Judas Iscariot, one of His chosen disciples, was plotting to betray Him. The Lord even calls him a devil—a most serious word to use. The Lord does not say “a demon,” but rather a devil, for it was Satan himself who would eventually enter into Judas and persuade him to betray the Lord in a most shameful way.

Peter did not know this, and when he said (in the previous verse), “We believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God,” he thought he could speak for all the disciples. He did not know that Judas was a traitor. Yet this did not stop the Lord from going to the cross; He was going to do His Father’s will, whatever the cost.

“From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (John 6:66).

This is a rather sad verse, and the Lord Jesus really felt it, as many of His followers left Him. What was the problem? Why did they do this? It was because the Lord Jesus had clearly explained to them that it was only through His death that they could have any real blessing. Those Jews who followed the Lord Jesus really believed that He was the Messiah, but they wanted a glorious kingdom to be set up, and all their enemies (especially the Romans) to be driven out. However, this could not happen while they were in their sins; they could not inherit blessing without a new life, and this could come only through the death and blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus.

Many today do not want the Lord Jesus, because it means following One who is rejected and cast out in this world. Are you willing to come to Christ, first of all to be saved, and then to follow Him as a rejected One?

“And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place…And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would” (John 6:10-11).

In these two verses we have one of the occasions when the Lord Jesus fed a big crowd of people—about 5,000 of them! To do this was a real miracle, for He multiplied one boy’s lunch to feed all those people! But there are two little details here that show how gracious our Lord was.

First, He fed them where they could sit down in comfort—on the grass. I have been in places in this world where there was not much grass, and if you sat on the ground, you sat on dust and dirt. But the Lord picked a place where they could sit on the grass.

Secondly, there was enough for everyone to be full. Have you ever eaten where there was not enough food? I have, and some people did not get sufficient food to fill their stomachs. But the Lord Jesus made sure there was enough, and even some left over. We are always thankful at a meal when there is some left over, because it means that everyone had enough to eat.

The Lord Jesus did not need to feed all those people. Perhaps they should have planned ahead, and like that boy, they should have brought a lunch. But in grace He fed them, so that they would not go home hungry.

“And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

This verse has always seemed to me to be one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Here was the Lord Jesus as a man on earth, walking about, preaching and doing miracles. Some believed on Him, but most of those who heard Him did not believe. They were glad to listen to His preaching and glad to experience His power to heal them. They also appreciated it when He fed them when they were hungry.

The main problem was that they did not realize that they needed a Savior. They thought they were doing all right in God’s eyes, and thought that because they, the Jews, were God’s chosen people, they were quite safe. But in this same 4th chapter of John, the Lord Jesus is also presented to us as the One who is given the responsibility to execute judgment. It is a solemn thing to think about, that those today who refuse to come to the Lord Jesus will have to meet Him as their judge.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25).

It is a very humbling thing for us to have to realize that in God’s eyes, we are really dead before we are saved. Yes, we do have a natural life in this world, but we are spiritually dead. It is only when we hear the voice of the Lord Jesus, telling us of His love and our need of salvation, that we can receive true life—eternal life. In our chapter (John 5), the Lord Jesus is presented as the Giver of life.

Have you come to the Lord Jesus to receive that eternal life? Many of the Jews to whom the Lord Jesus presented Himself thought that they could obtain eternal life through their own efforts. But this is impossible, for a dead person cannot do anything. If they are to be given life, it must come from someone else who is able to give them life. Have you heard the voice of the Son of God, and received eternal life from Him?

“This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judea into Galilee” (John 4:54).

Back in John’s gospel, chapter two, the turning of the water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee is mentioned as the first miracle, or sign, that the Lord Jesus did. Here in John 4, the Lord Jesus healed the son of the nobleman, and the Spirit of God tells us that this was the second miracle that Jesus did. This is significant, for unlike the other gospels, John does not speak of many miracles that Jesus did. In fact, there are only eight miracles of the Lord Jesus recorded in John. However, these miracles are unusual, for they teach us special truths that are unique to John’s gospel. As you read through John’s gospel, see if you can find the other six miracles that are recorded for us.