The man in John 9:6-27 showed courage in confronting the religious leaders. Even Peter later backed down for fear of this same group of men (Luke 22:54-62). One thing that gave him 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. Proverbs 28:1, "the righteous are bold as a lion." The cure for fear of men is a large dose of the love of God.

One of the greatest truths of the Bible and one of the hardest to comprehend, is that we are the objects of God's love. God didn't just pity us or feel some sense of moral obligation to save us. He saved us because of His infinite love for us (John 3:16).To experience God's love is the key to being filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

Paul prays in Ephesians 3:19, that we would experience the love of God which passes knowledge about it. How can we know the love of God if it passes knowledge? This sounds like a contradiction. It's not. The knowing is experiencing it. The end result of having understanding and knowledge of God's love is that we will be filled with all the fullness of God. God's love is the key that opens the door to everything that God is. God is love (1 John 4:8).

It's not just a casual acquaintance with God's love that we need, but an intimate understanding and knowledge of the depths of God's love. Just as a tree's roots provide stability and nourishment for the tree, so our revelation of God's love is the foundation upon which everything else we receive from God is built.

John 9:2 the disciples asked a question that still puzzles many people. 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 linked sickness with sin. But here, 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. From this thinking, many teachings have risen about how sickness and other problems in our lives are actually blessings from God, intended to bring glory to God and correction to us. This reasoning does not line up with the other truths of God's Word.

It was not God who made this beggar blind. This man was not born blind because of any one person's sins but because sin in general had corrupted the perfect balance that God had created in nature. Some physical problems happen, not as a direct result of an individual's sins but as an indirect result of sin in general.

Deuteronomy 28 settles forever the question of whether sickness, poverty, and oppression are really blessings in disguise. God says that sickness and poverty are curses - not blessings from God. Christ redeemed us from these curses of the law so that now the blessings may come upon us through Him (Galatians 3:13). God's curses have been placed on Jesus and removed from those who accept Jesus' sacrifice. We are blessed!

 "Before Abraham was, I am." He not only said that He existed before Abraham, but He was associating Himself with the great "I AM" statement of Exodus 3:14. This statement could leave no doubt that Jesus was claiming deity.

Jesus proclaimed "I am." This is how Jehovah identified Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. When spoken under the anointing power of God, Jesus' pronouncement that "I am he" knocked all of those who came to arrest Him backwards to the ground (John 18:5-6). Jesus was the great "I AM THAT I AM" of Exodus 3:14 manifest in the flesh!

When the Jewish authorities heard Jesus call God "my (own) Father," they immediately understood that Jesus claimed for Himself deity. That claim was either blasphemy to be punished by death, or Jesus was who He claimed to be.

The purpose of the fourth gospel is stated, "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:31). The object of John's gospel was to show that Jesus is "the true God" (1 John 5:20) who was "made flesh" (John 1:14).

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 Bible teaches 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 us to sin. If that is the case, then why do we seem so bound to sin even after we experience the new birth? The reason is that our old man left behind what Romans 6:6 calls a body. 

Just as a person's spirit and soul leave behind a physical body at death, so our old man left behind habits and strongholds in our thoughts and emotions. The reason a Christian tends to sin is because of an unrenewed mind, not because of a sin nature.

Our old man ruled our thinking before we were born again. He taught us such things as selfishness, hatred, and fear and he placed within us the desire for sin. The old man is now gone, but these negative parts of his body remain. Until renewed, our minds continue to lead us on the course of our old man.

To experience the resurrection life of Jesus, we have to know that our old man is dead. Then, through the renewing of our minds, we destroy the body that the old man left behind. The end result is that we will not serve sin any longer.

The Jewish people were descendants of Abraham. As with so many biblical truths, there was much more to the Abrahamic covenant than what a casual glimpse showed.  These Jews were not actually a part of the spiritual children of Abraham.

The Holy Spirit revealed through Paul in Galatians 3:16 and 29 that God's covenant was to Abraham and his singular "seed" or descendant, which was Christ. No one ever became an heir of God's promises through his natural birth. 

Before Jesus gave Himself as an offering for our sin, the Old Testament saints were justified by faith in God's promises concerning the Messiah who was to come. After Jesus' death and resurrection, the New Testament saints are justified by faith in what Jesus has already done. No one has ever been saved because of who his parents are.

Those who have been born again through faith in Jesus have been circumcised in their heart (Colossians 2:11-12) and are the true Jews. They aren't Jews in nationality or religion, but they are the true people of God. 

Gentiles who are joined with Jesust in the new birth are now God's people. Anyone who is saved through faith in Jesus is now Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:16, 22, 26-29). This leaves no doubt that the Church is now God's chosen people on earth. It doesn't mean that God has forsaken the Jews. There are still prophesies which apply to the physical nation of Israel which will be fulfilled.  

The New Testament Church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, is now God's kingdom on earth. We are all His.

The devil has been deceiving the world about sin since the Garden of Eden when he told Eve that through sin she could be like God. Time has proven, not only to Eve, but to each one of us, that this is not true. Sin brings death and not life. 

In John John 8:34, Jesus says that sin enslaves. We become slaves not only to the sin itself, but also to the author of sin, the devil. We are either servants of God through obedience or servants of the devil through sin.

The bondage that sin produces to slavery, the freedom that comes through serving God is being a beloved son. No one would doubt that being a son is better than being a slave. Obeying God is better than giving in to sin. 

True freedom is found only in serving God. There is a false freedom that Satan has been promoting since the Garden of Eden. He has deceived all of us at one time or another into thinking that God is a tyrant who really doesn't want us to enjoy life and  has told us not to do certain things. Because we believe this lie, we disobey God (or sin) in the name of freedom.

The Word of God and personal experience proves that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is stripping sin of any glamour with which the devil disguises it. Sin brings bondage. The only true freedom is found in Jesus. Jesus not only dealt with the original sin that contaminated the human race, but He also dealt with individual acts of sin. 

Even if an individual could stop all sinning, he could not change his sin nature with which he was born. That's the reason we must be born again.

John 8:12-30 is the second of three times that Jesus spoke of Himself being "lifted up" (1st - John 3:14; 3rd - John 12:32-33). 

John 12:33, explains, this was a reference to crucifixion as the means of His death. The lifting up is speaking of being lifted up from the earth and suspended on a cross in crucifixion. The Jews understood that Jesus was speaking of death.

The crucifixion didn't just happen. It was planned by God. Does this mean that God bears all responsibility and those who were actually taking part in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus are not guilty? No! Jesus came to earth to die in our place and purchase redemption for us. That was His plan but He didn't force anyone to fulfill it. His ministry and message placed Him in direct opposition with the devil and his followers. Their hatred for Jesus caused them of their own free will to crucify Jesus.

God, in all His wisdom, simply knew what man would do and He determined to use their rejection of His Son to accomplish His will. He never controls our will to accomplish His.

If a person truly understands the message of the cross, then he understands grace. Jesus didn't just make a token sacrifice for us. He paid it all. There's no sacrifice that we can make that will add to or replace the sacrifice of Christ. He did it all, and we can thank Him forever!

"There is one God" (1 Timothy 2:5).

This truth is so well established in the Bible that some people make no distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but believe they are simply one God expressing Himself in three different ways. 

Jesus makes a distinction between Himself and His Father here and uses Himself and His Father as two different witnesses to fulfill the requirement of Deuteronomy 17:6. Jesus would have been deceiving these Jews if there was no distinction between His Father and Himself; and yet, they are one (John 10:30; 1 Jn. 5:7). This is a great mystery and yet a very well established fact in the Word of God.

One of the great statements of the Old Testament from Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "The Lord our God is one Lord." We do not have three Gods, but one God, clearly identifiable as three persons. This is a great mystery, which has not been adequately explained. 

The Bible reveals the truth of the Trinity, but make no attempt to explain it. We simply accept this revelation as it is, until we know all things, even as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Jesus said that the witness of His Father was the greatest testimony of who He was. Everyone can hear His testimony of Jesus through the Word of God.

Moses and all the Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of Jesus, and Peter said the written word of God was a more sure word of prophecy than the audible voice of God. 

These rivers of living water in John 7:38 are referring to the Holy Spirit and the effects He produces in the life of the believer. Galatians 5:22-23 says, "the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." These qualities should flow out of us as a well. They should not have to be pumped. They will flow as we conform our thinking to God's Word.

Jesus speaks of bearing fruit in John 15 and declares that ". . . without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). This fruit is the product of the Holy Spirit, not our effort. Since "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17), then this fruit of the Spirit is also what our born- again spirit produces. 

Our spirit always has these attributes regardless of what we feel in our emotions. Failure to understand this has caused many Christians to think they would be hypocrites to express joy when the truth is, they are depressed. It's only our soulish part that gets depressed. Our spirit is always bearing the fruit of "love, joy, peace, etc."

For a person who is seeking to walk in the Spirit, it is actually hypocritical to let our soulish emotions dominate our spiritual emotions. The truth is, our spirit is never depressed, just our soul. Those who understand this have the choice of letting their soul depress them or letting the Holy Spirit, through their born-again spirit, release the joy and peace spoken of here.

The "fruit" is not produced by the believer, but by the Holy Spirit, as we live in union with Him. Our part is to yield and trust; God's part is to produce the fruit.

The covenant of circumcision was given to Abram in Genesis 17:9-14. In v. 14, the Lord said that any man who did not carry this sign of the covenant in his flesh was to be killed. This placed a great importance on the act of circumcision. 

Paul says in Romans 4:3-13, that Abraham had already been justified by faith before he was circumcised. It was Abram's faith that saved him at least 13 years before the Lord commanded Abram to be circumcised. The Jews had focused on the outward act of obedience instead of the inward act of faith that caused Abraham to be obedient. 

This was the source of the disagreement between Jesus and the religious leaders also. They were emphasizing all the outward acts that the Lord had commanded and were disregarding the motives of the heart. Jesus was saying that if an individual would cleanse his heart, then his actions would change too.

The truth of salvation by faith had been lost in Judaism, and even though many of the Jews had come to put faith in Jesus as their Savior, they were trying to mix faith and the keeping of the commandments together as a requirement for salvation.

The condition of a person's flesh is not the important thing. It doesn't matter if that flesh is circumcised or holy. It is the condition of the spirit that matters with God. Today the act of circumcision is not the issue, but acts of holiness are still viewed by many as important for receiving salvation. This same legalistic thinking lives on in the doctrine of water baptism, church membership, and other acts of holiness which some preach are needed for salvation.

 Faith alone in the love of God, through Jesus, is the only thing that God demands for justification. Religious rites mean nothing. The only thing that counts is becoming a new creation.

The Jews prided themselves on their observance of the law, but they were keeping the letter of the law and missing its true intent. The greatest of all the Old Testament laws was to love God and then to love your neighbor as yourself. The Jews were violating these laws by having hatred in their hearts toward Jesus and wanting to kill Him. They denied that they desired to kill Him, but the bible declare that they had already plotted or tried to kill Him three times.

They also knew much about God. It was required of the Jewish men to memorize large portions of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Their whole society revolved around God's moral standards and religious observances. But they did not know God.

There is a difference between knowing about someone and really knowing them. Millions of people are acquainted with knowledge about Jesus. They may even be moral and observe religious ceremonies, but if they don't personally experience knowing Jesus, they are not saved and will not make it to heaven. Even the devils believe and tremble but they aren't saved.

Our spiritual man became dead (separated from) God through sin. Just as we didn't accomplish our physical birth, we cannot produce this spiritual rebirth. We are to incapable of saving ourselves, we need a Savior. We simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are saved.

Salvation is not a reformation, but rather a regeneration, a new birth, a new creation, that can only be accomplished by a creative miracle of the Holy Spirit. We must be born again.

Jesus received His wisdom and knowledge by revelation from the Spirit of God not by the teachings of man.  The Holy Ghost was His teacher. Jesus had to be taught the things of God. This looks contrary to Colossians 2:3, which says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus. If Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, why would He have to learn or be taught?

The agreement between these opposite statements is that Jesus' spirit man was 100% God and had all of the wisdom and understanding of God in it, but it was manifest in natural flesh. It wasn't sinful flesh but it was flesh, and had to be educated. The knowledge was within Him but it had to be drawn out.

At the new birth, a born-again man's spirit "is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:10).  "We have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), and "an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John 2:20). 

All of these things are a reality in our spiritual man. But, just as Jesus had to be taught, so we must draw this wisdom and knowledge out of our spirits and renew our minds with it (Romans 12:2). This is one of the main ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer. 

Through the new birth, we have received the mind of Christ in our spirit man and are in the process of growing in wisdom by drawing this knowledge out of our spirits and renewing/reprogramming our minds. 

Wisdom has to be drawn out by faith, time spent in the Word, and prayer.

Peter thought he was being very generous by offering to forgive his brother seven times in one day, but Jesus said he should forgive him 490 times in one day. It would be impossible to have someone sin against you 490 times in one day. Jesus is actually saying that there should be no limit to our forgiveness.

When we are offended or hurt, we often feel justified in holding a grudge. The Old Testament law expressed this when it stated, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Exodus 21:23-25). Until the offense was paid, we did not feel free to forgive. 

God dealt with all men's offenses by placing sin upon the perfect Savior who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others now earn our forgiveness is not Christ like. Jesus died for every man's sins, giving forgiveness to us while we were yet sinners, and we should do the same.

The main reason of this parable is that when we have people who wrong us, we should remember the great mercy that God has shown to us and respond likewise. Any debt that could be owed to us is insignificant compared to the debt we were forgiven. We should have compassion on others as Christ had on us.

If God expects us to forgive our brother who has trespassed against us 490 times in one day (actually an unlimited number of times), certainly He who is love will do the same for us.

The forgiveness that we have received from the Lord is greater than any forgiveness we could ever be asked to give to others.

Matthew 18:18-19 
"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."

Verses 18 and 19 have been taken many different ways, but taken in context, they are specifically referring to church discipline. Some might think that church discipline is only symbolic and isn't taken seriously, Jesus is making it clear that in the spiritual realm, discipline that is directed by the Holy Spirit has much power.

The scriptural commands concerning church discipline are to help restore the brother or sister who is in sin just as much as they are to protect other members of the body from that sin. If the person being disciplined repents, it has been achieved and no further action is necessary. Church discipline is to withdraw both our fellowship and our intercession.

Proper intercession can actually keep Satan "away" even though an individual is living in great sin. This is good if the person uses this freedom to repent and come back to God. But, if the person takes this freedom from the wages of sin to commit more sin, there comes a time when this form of intercession ceases to be helpful. In that case, intercession should be stopped, and we should actually retain that person's sins unto him so that he can no longer get by without experiencing the death that sin brings (Romans 6:23). As he starts reaping what he has sown, it, hopefully, will cause him to turn back to the goodness of God. 

This is the binding and loosing being referred to in this verse. Heaven and earth are affected by our binding and loosing.

One of the greatest truths of the Bible and one of the hardest to understand, is that we are the objects of God's love. God didn't just pity us or feel some sense of moral obligation to save us. He saved us because of His love for us (John 3:16).

God loves people. He even loves those who have gone astray. As Jesus said (Luke 15:7), "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

Once we experience the life-changing power of Christ, there is a tendency to become harsh and impatient with others who continue to live their lives without Him. We sometimes forget that it was the love and goodness of God that brought us to repentance (Romans 2:4), and we become condemning and judgmental toward the lost. This is not the attitude that Jesus had, and not the attitude He wants us to have.

"Even when we were spiritually dead because of our sins, God's forbearance was working on our behalf. He was tolerant, patient and kind towards us. God abounded in excessive proportion with good will, compassion, and desire to help us. His disposition was kind, compassionate, and forgiving in His treatment of us. He wanted in abundant supply to alleviate our distress and bring relief from our sins. He did this by giving us life in place of death.

It was with Christ that this salvation was secured. By grace, kindness, and favor we are saved. All of this was the result of God's extremely large degree of love wherewith He loved us, always seeking the welfare and betterment of us. God likes us" (Ephesians 2:4-5 paraphrased). God loves YOU!