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Love Conquers Fear
John 9:27 'He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?'
JOHN 9:6-27
This man showed great courage in confronting these religious leaders. Even Peter later backed down for fear of this same group of men (Lk. 22:54-62). Certainly one thing that gave him this boldness was that he knew what Jesus had done for him. And even beyond the physical healing, he knew that Jesus had healed him because He loved him. It's our security in the Lord's love for us that gives us the strength to face rejection from others. As Proverbs 28:1 puts it, 'the righteous are bold as a lion.' The antidote for fear of men is a large dose of the love of God.
...Sickness Is Not From God
John 9:2 'And his disciples asked him saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?'
JOHN 9:1-4
The disciples asked a question that still puzzles many people today. Why is a child born with a physical defect? Is it a judgment of God upon the parents for some sin, or is it possibly God's judgment upon the child for sins that God knows he will commit?
Jesus Himself had previously linked sickness with sin. In this instance, however, Jesus said this blindness was not caused by this man's or his parents' sins.
This has led many people to interpret the rest of this verse as saying that God made this man blind just so that He could heal him and be glorified thereby. From...
A LOOK AT FATHER'S DAY
God Made Flesh
John 8:58 'Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.'
JOHN 8:57-59
Jesus didn't seek to clarify the Jews' misunderstanding of His previous statements. Instead, He made a new statement that those who would not accept that Jesus was God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16) could not possibly understand. 'Before Abraham was, I am.' He not only said that He existed before Abraham, but He was again associating Himself with the great 'I AM' statement of Exodus 3:14. This statement could leave no doubt that Jesus was claiming deity in the highest sense of the word.
Jesus proclaimed 'I am.' This is how Jehovah identified Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. When spoken under the anointing power of...
What Pleases God
John 8:56 'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.'
JOHN 8:53-56
Jesus is referring to the day when men would be justified by putting faith in God and not in their own works. Abraham had this truth revealed to him (Rom. 4:13), and he believed it and was himself justified by faith (Rom. 4:3-4, 9).
Hebrews 11:6 says, 'But without faith it is impossible to please him.' It was Abraham's faith that pleased God. The Lord promised Abraham that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore and Abraham believed God. That pleased Him so much that he counted Abraham righteous right then, even though Abraham had not yet fulfilled the rite of circumcision...
The Old Man Is Gone
John 8:44 'Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.'
JOHN 8:39-47
All of us were born in sin and were therefore 'by nature' the children of the devil. That's the reason we sinned. Our sins don't corrupt our nature, but our corrupt nature makes us sin. That's why we must be 'born again' and become new creatures (or a new creation) in Christ.
The scriptures teach that everyone was born with a sin nature or old man. For the Christian, the old man is dead. We do not have a nature that is driving...