First the Question: The word....APOSTLE....is NOT found in the Gospel of John. True or False?
Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 8-3-2011
Question: Is God's order today, in this Dispensation of Grace....To The Jews First, (Ephesians 3:2, Romans 11)? Yes or No?
Answer: NO! Out of the 689 responses we received 73.9% of you got it right! Therefore,
Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 4 of 12
THE BUILDERS TWICE REJECTED THE STONE
In John 1:11 we read that Christ’s own did not receive Him. Presently we will comment on Psalm 118:21-24, Matthew 21:42, and John 12:37-40, concerning Israel’s rejection of Christ. When Israel rejected Christ and delivered Him to Pilate for crucifixion and death, the LORD Jesus said, “this is the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Matthew 21:42). Then we read in Acts 5:31-32 that the LORD sent the Holy Spirit to witness that He had raised Christ from the dead to be Israel’s Prince and Savior. When Israel rejected the resurrected Prince and Savior and God cast them away, He THEN sent reconciliation to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:15). Then the Apostle Paul broke forth in different language saying, “this is the LORD’s doing.” Note what Paul said in Romans 11:33-34.
There is a sense in which there is a difference between the new birth of John 3:3-8 and the new creation of 2 Corinthians 5:17, yet believing sinners today are saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit shed upon them abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Titus 3:5-8). Millions of believing sinners have been preached into the Body of Christ by God’s messengers who have preached “ye must be born anew” and the explanation in John 3:5-16. So that you all are aware, there are a few Bible teachers, who admit that millions have been preached into the Body of Christ by hearing truth contained in John’s Gospel, but then who also state that John himself did not become a member of that Body. They attempt to prove this by Galatians 2:7-9.
WHEN WERE BELIEVERS BAPTIZED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE BODY?
When we read in John 3:5 that believers had to be born of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God, and read with this John 7:38-40 that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Christ had not yet been glorified (John 16:7), we may wonder how anyone could have been born of the Spirit before Pentecost. Also, when we read Matthew 15:24 and Matthew 10:5 that Christ and His Apostles were sent to Jews and not to Gentiles, and know that Faith cometh by hearing the Word, we know that believing Gentiles were not being baptized by ONE SPIRIT into ONE BODY while the LORD Jesus was in the land of the Jews as Jesus of Nazareth. (Acts 10:38-39).
From John 1:12-13, and John 10:28, and John 17:2 we could judge that at the time the LORD Jesus gave believing Jews the power to become the sons of God and gave to them eternal life, they were the sons of God and had eternal life before the historic beginning of the Church, Which is the Body of Christ.
John’s Gospel was written that the readers might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and believing might have life through His Name (John 20:31), and John did not write until years AFTER Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. and the Jews were scattered, so it would seem that two generations of Jews died without having the opportunity to read John’s Record, and be convinced.
Moreover we do not know whether John’s Gospel was in written form to send out to the third and fourth generation of Jews, so that they might read it and believe that Jesus was the Son of God and their Messiah. Surely, sadly, the great majority of the present day Jews will not study this marvelous Record or even read it. They still prefer Moses to Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.
So, with all of their religious activities, with millions and millions of dollars invested in their synagogues, the Jews are condemned already, because they have not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18). If the LORD Jesus should speak to them today, He would say what He said to the unbelieving Jews in John 8:44, to those Jews who denied His eternal Deity, “ye are of your father the devil.” “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Who hath sent Him.” (John 5:23).
In the fourth chapter of John’s First Epistle we read, in verses nine, ten, and fourteen, that God the Father sent His Son. It is interesting to note that in this fourth chapter of First John the word ‘love’ is found twenty-seven times. We can understand why Christ, in Colossians 1:13, is called “the Son of God’s love.”
In Matthew 3:17 and Matthew 17:5, in Mark 1:11 and Mark 9:7, in Luke 3:22 and Luke 9:35, we read that the Father spoke from heaven concerning Christ, “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Surely the Father was well pleased with all that the Son did and said in John’s Gospel, which is indeed a message of love; and YET in John’s Record the Father did not speak from heaven concerning His well beloved Son.
There is a difference of opinion among Bible students as to whether the LORD Jesus Christ (about 33 A.D.) spoke the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave….”, or that it was the Apostle John who was LED to declare the truth of John 3:16 57 years later by the Holy Spirit. It is no easy task to know, as to all the verses whether, the Apostle John, the LORD Jesus, or even John the Baptist was speaking. But, regardless, we read in John 3:35, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.”
We read in John 3:17 that God, the Father, ‘sent’ His Son. We read in John 3:16 that He ‘gave’ His Son. We read in John 6:38, John 6:42, John 3:13, John 8:42, John 16:28, John 17:8 and John 18:37, the testimony of God’s Son, “I came”. In John 10:28, John 6:27, and John 6:51 we read the words of Christ, “I give”. In John 10:11 we read Christ’s words, “the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” “I am come that they might have life….more abundantly.” (John 10:10).
In John 14:27 Christ gave peace.
God, the Father, did speak from heaven when His Son said, "glorify Thy Name.” (John 12:28). The voice from heaven replied, “I have both glorified it, and wilt glorify it again.” Surely now we understand better the meaning of 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jest came into the world to save sinners.”
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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