Modern atheists view atheism as reasonable and scientific while Christianity is dismissed as wishful thinking. Science and reason have delivered us from dogmatic religious authority and the ignorance of blind faith, they say. “God” as comfort to the fearful and the explanation of all things to the simple-minded is no longer needed. Science has exposed this convenient crutch as mere fantasy. Reasonable people examine the facts of the universe to draw scientific conclusions, leaving the obsolete notion of a sovereign God on the bookshelf with other fairy tales.

In our short study, therefore, we will examine the “reasonable” and “scientific” claims of the atheist and agnostic as compared to the “unreasonable” and “blind” faith of the Christian. Could the reverse actually be true? Could it be that Christian faith is neither blind nor unreasonable, while the best arguments of atheism and agnosticism are built on unsupportable leaps of blind faith?

The results may surprise you.

© Craig Biehl, 2011

September 8, 2013

There are billions of people around the world seeking salvation through religions that cannot save anyone. With sadness in my heart, I’ve watched Buddhists in Asia offering sacrifices, spinning prayer wheels, and going through other religious rituals in the hopes of attaining Nirvana. We have quasi-Buddhists in Flagstaff who fly prayer flags in the hopes that it will bring them good karma. I’ve seen Hindu holy men at the temple in Kathmandu who think that by looking weird and meditating every day, they will gain salvation. When we were in western China last year, our driver stopped the bus at sundown, got out his prayer rug, and said his prayers toward Mecca before we could resume our trip. We were there during Ramadan, when the Muslims think that fasting during the daylight hours will help get them into heaven.

I watched a woman in an Orthodox cathedral in Romania weep as she prayed to an icon of some “saint.” I’ve seen Roman Catholics kneel before statues of Jesus and Mary, praying their rosary beads in their attempt to be right with God. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses canvass our neighborhoods every weekend, thinking that their efforts will earn them salvation. And—let’s be honest—there are people in Protestant churches every Sunday who mistakenly think that their church membership and good deeds will get them into heaven when they die.

But the Bible is clear that religion is impotent to save anyone. By religion, I mean any humanly devised system of belief that teaches that by keeping their rules, rituals, and requirements, a person can gain eternal life. Jesus consistently confronted the Jewish religious leaders of His day, even though they claimed to be following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They thought that by adhering to the Law of Moses, they could commend themselves to God. Over the centuries, they had added to that Law many of their own traditions. But Jesus deliberately confronted these religious leaders. Eventually, they were the ones who put Him to death.

In our text, we move from a section in John’s Gospel where we saw initial belief in Jesus as the Son of God to a section of mounting unbelief and opposition to Him, originating with the Jewish leaders (whom John often calls, “the Jews”; 5:10), leading finally to the cross. At the root of their hostility toward Jesus was that He confronted their man-made religious traditions, especially their Sabbath laws. Jesus never broke the Sabbath as God intended for the Jews to keep it. But He deliberately violated the human traditions that had grown up around the Sabbath, because many of the Jews mistakenly thought that by keeping these traditions they could be right with God. But no one can gain eternal life by keeping God’s law, because no one can keep it perfectly from the heart, which is the requirement.

And so Jesus deliberately did things on the Sabbath to confront the Jewish leaders. After all, He could have waited 24 hours to heal this lame man by the Pool of Bethesda. He had been paralyzed for 38 years; what difference would one more day make? And, Jesus could have told him to leave his mat there by the pool and come back and get it the next day, so as not to provoke the religious leaders. They had taken the Sabbath stipulation not to carry any burden on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21-22) so far as to say that you could not carry a handkerchief from one room to the next. But to get around this rule, if you tied it on, then you could wear it into the next room! Jesus could have told this healed man not to do anything that would violate these Jewish traditions, but He did not. He told him to pick up his mat and carry it.

The great contrast that comes through in this miracle is the impotence of religion versus the mighty power of Christ. Neither the Jewish leaders nor the superstition about the angel healing the first person into the water after it was stirred up had helped this man in 38 years. But in one crisp command, Jesus brought instant and complete healing to him. The lesson is:

While religion is impotent to save, Jesus is mighty to save.

Let me explain that I do not see any evidence that this man whom Jesus healed was saved spiritually. In saying this, I am disagreeing with the venerable C. H. Spurgeon, who thought that the man exercised faith to obey Jesus’ command to get up, pick up his pallet, and walk (see, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 13:201; 21:22). But John never hints that the man believed in Christ. At first, he didn’t even know who Jesus was. He never thanked Jesus for healing him. And when he found out who Jesus was, he went to the Jewish authorities to report Him, even though he surely knew that they were hostile towards Him.

So while I do not believe that this healed man believed in Jesus and was saved spiritually, I do think that this miracle illustrates Christ’s power to save, as contrasted with the impotence of religion to save anyone. And so I hope that you understand that coming to church, serving the church, being baptized, taking communion, or any other religious activities can never forgive your sins or gain you eternal life. But Christ is powerful to save you and will save you instantly if you will believe in Him. Note three things:

1. The human race, fallen in sin, needs God’s salvation above all else.

The pathetic scene around the Pool of Bethesda (the most likely reading, which meant, “Pool of Mercy”) must have been a sight to behold! It was a large pool surrounded by five porticoes, and, “In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered” (John 5:3). These people in various states of physical impairment are a picture of the human race maimed by sin. While not all sickness is a direct result of sin (although this man’s condition did seem to stem from his sin, 5:14), all sickness and death is a result of Adam’s fall into sin. Those awful effects of sin will one day be removed in the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:4).

Do you ever look at people whose bodies are impaired and grieve over the toll that sin has taken on the human race? In 1987, Marla and I were walking on a very crowded street in Guangzhou, China in the rain. We were moving along with the crowd when I almost stepped on a man who only came up to just above my knees. He had no legs and no wheelchair. He was using his arms and hands to propel his torso along the muddy street. He probably often got stepped on or knocked over. A wave of horror swept over me and I immediately thought of the rest of the people around us, who were just as impaired spiritually as that poor man was physically.

The scene by this pool must have become even more grotesque when the water bubbled up. Verses 3b-4 are not in the original text of John, but were added by a later copyist to explain the man’s comment to Jesus in 5:7. Occasionally the water would bubble up, probably from a spring below, but the people superstitiously thought that it was an angel causing the disturbance and that the first one into the water would be healed. Perhaps someone had once been healed of some psychosomatic disorder after the bubbling of the water, and it led to this myth. So there was probably a mad scramble of these blind, maimed, and crippled people, clamoring over one another to be the first into the water after it bubbled. It’s a tragic picture of helpless, sin-wounded people, putting their faith in some religious superstition that cannot save them, rather than trusting in Jesus Christ, who can save the worst of sinners.

2. Religion is impotent to save anyone, but it is powerful to enslave many.

Religion has no power to save anyone, but it is powerful in one way: it is powerful to enslave those under its influence.

A. Religion is impotent to save because it focuses on outward conformity to manmade traditions, not on inward conformity to God’s Word.

The Pharisees were the religious police of the day, much like the Taliban in Muslim countries today. When they saw this man carrying his mat on the Sabbath, they pounced (5:10), “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” When the man explains that he has been healed and that it was the one who made him well who told him to carry his pallet, the religious police didn’t rejoice at his healing or praise God for such a miracle. Rather, they wanted to know who had healed him, so that they could go after him. We’ll see the same thing with the blind man whom Jesus heals in John 9. Impotent religion emphasizes outward conformity to its rules, but it can’t change hearts.

We watched the movie, “The Kite Runner,” because it was filmed in some of the areas where we traveled last summer. It exposes the hypocrisy of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In one horrific scene, they stone a woman accused of adultery. But the leader who carries out the stoning also takes children from an orphanage to use for his own evil sexual pleasure, and then disposes of them like so much trash. That’s the impotence of all religion: it focuses on outward conformity to its rules, but it ignores its own lack of conformity to God’s holy standards on the heart level (Mark 7:6-23).

Jesus sought out this man after he was healed and warned him (5:14), “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” As I said, not all bodily sickness is directly linked to sin (see John 9:2-3), but sometimes it is. This man’s 38 years of being crippled was due to his sin! Sin never gets us what it promises! Jesus lets him know that He has healed him, but that now he needs to stop sinning. Going to the temple and keeping the Jewish traditions will not deal with his heart. God is not fooled by those who are religious outwardly, but whose hearts are full of lust, greed, pride, and selfishness. The “something worse” that Jesus warns the man about is not another 38 years of sickness, but the eternal judgment of God, which is far worse. Religion can’t save because it focuses on external conformity. It can’t deal with our sin on the heart level.

B. While religion is impotent to save people from their sins, it is powerful to enslave people to its damning system.

These religious leaders surely had seen this man lying helplessly by the Pool of Bethesda over the years. Now they see him walking around in the temple. You would think that they would be rejoicing with him over this amazing miracle and giving glory to God. But all they could do was rebuke him for carrying his mat on the Sabbath and track down the healer who had told him to do it! John says (5:16), “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

You would think that they would recognize that Jesus could only do such a miracle by God’s power. Later, when Jesus healed the man born blind on the Sabbath, the healed man pointed this out to the Jewish leaders (9:30-33). The climax of their spiritual blindness was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but rather than repenting and believing in Jesus, they sought to kill both Jesus and Lazarus (11:53; 12:10)! So the religious leaders were enslaved to their own system, which could not save them from their sins.

But they also sought to enslave the people under them. Here, they threaten this man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, which was their manmade tradition. He apparently was afraid of their threats and wanted to put himself in good standing with them, because when he later found out who Jesus was, he informed the Jews, knowing full well that it would put Jesus in jeopardy (5:15). Rather than worshiping the One who had healed him (9:38), the man was afraid of offending the religious leaders. He was in bondage to their damning religious system.

All human religions work the same way: they use fear and threats to keep people in submission to the system. The Roman Catholic Church held power over most of Europe for a thousand years by threatening people with torture, imprisonment, death, and eternal hell if they dared to challenge the Pope. They did not teach that God graciously forgives all the sins of the one who believes in Jesus apart from works. Islam is even worse for holding people in bondage to their system by brute force.

But this miracle contrasts the impotence of religion with the mighty power of Jesus:

2. Jesus is mighty to save.

As I said, there is no indication in the text that Jesus saved this man spiritually. To the contrary, the evidence points to the fact that he was not saved. But all of Jesus’ healing miracles are illustrations of spiritual salvation. They display Jesus’ mighty power, not just to heal bodies that will eventually die, but to heal souls that will live forever with Him in glory. Note three things here:

A. Jesus knows the condition of every person.

John 5:6: “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” We are not told whether Jesus asked someone nearby about the man’s situation, but we’ve already seen that Jesus knew about Nathanael before He met him (1:47-48). He knew the hearts of the people in Jerusalem who superficially believed in Him (2:24-25). He knew the sins of the woman at the well in Samaria (4:17-18). So it’s likely here that Jesus’ knowledge of this man’s condition was supernatural. He may have picked him out of the crowd to heal because He knew that he was the most pathetic case there. He had 38 years of frustration and discouragement in his attempts to be healed. Jesus knew.

Jesus also knows everything about you. He knows all of your thoughts and secret sins. He knows all of your disappointments and discouragements. There is nothing hid from His sight (Heb. 4:13). And He not only knows, He also cares!

You may wonder, “If Jesus knew all about this man, then why does He ask him (5:6), “Do you wish to get well?” At first glance, it’s a strange question to ask a man who has been sick for 38 years! Didn’t Jesus know the answer to that question? Of course He did! Jesus never asked questions to gain information! He asks questions to get us to see our need for Him. He may have wanted the man to recognize his own helplessness and to look to Jesus for healing. Or, He may have wanted the man to recognize how discouraged and lacking in hope he was, as seen by his complaining answer (5:7).

Also, the question uncovers the fact, as strange as it may seem, that some people do not want to get well because it means that they will have to be responsible. As James Baldwin observed (in Reader’s Digest, 1/83), “Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch.” If he became well, the man would have to stop begging and start working for a living. If he got well, he couldn’t complain about his circumstances. He couldn’t blame those who didn’t care enough to help him into the water. And, he may not have wanted to be healed because, as Jesus later tells him, he then needed to stop sinning so that nothing worse would happen to him. Some people actually love their sin so much that they are willing to risk going to prison or contracting a disease like AIDS or to go on suffering rather than give up their sin!

B. Jesus can speak the word and instantly heal a soul who has been bound by sin for decades.

Jesus didn’t reply to the man’s complaint about nobody caring for him (5:7). Rather, He said (5:8), “Get up, pick up your pallet, and walk.” With the command, Jesus imparted the power. The man’s atrophied legs were instantly strengthened (5:9): “Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.” It’s the same as when He told the man with the withered hand (Luke 6:10), “Stretch out your hand.” But that was the problem—he couldn’t stretch out his hand. But with the command, Jesus imparted the power. Even more dramatic was when Jesus spoke to the dead Lazarus (John 11:43), “Lazarus, come forth.” Dead men aren’t known to respond to commands! But because of the power of Jesus’ word, Lazarus came forth after four days in the tomb. It’s like His future command at the end of the age (5:28-29): “All who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth,” either for a resurrection of life or of judgment.

As I said, this isn’t just a story of a physical miracle, but a picture of what Jesus can do for you spiritually. He commands you to do something that you cannot do for yourself, any more than this crippled man could obey Jesus’ command to walk. He says to you, “Believe in Me and you will not perish, but have eternal life.” No matter how long you’ve been crippled by sin, if you will respond to Christ’s command, your response is not from your sinful heart. It’s the gift of God. When you obey His command, He imparts His power to give you eternal life.

C. Jesus is sovereign in imparting salvation to whomever He wishes.

Why didn’t Jesus clear out the Pool of Bethesda by healing everyone there? He had the power to do it. But it wasn’t His purpose to do so. He only chose to heal this one undeserving man. Why didn’t the Lord choose everyone in Ur of the Chaldees to follow Him, but just chose Abram? It wasn’t His purpose to do so. Why didn’t He choose both Ishmael and Isaac and both Esau and Jacob? It wasn’t His purpose to do so. Why doesn’t God save everyone? It’s not that He lacks the power. Rather, it isn’t His purpose to do so. Jesus makes this clear (John 5:21): “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Jesus is sovereign in imparting salvation to whomever He wishes (Luke 10:22). The rest are responsible for their damnation.

Many Christians stumble over the doctrine of election, which runs from Genesis to Revelation. They want to attribute their salvation to their own “free will.” But the Bible is clear that before we are saved, we are spiritually dead, blind, and crippled. Romans 3:11 says, “There is none who seeks for God.” If you’re saved, it’s not because you were smart enough to choose God. It’s because He was gracious enough to choose you. That way, He gets all the glory and you get none (1 Cor. 1:26-31)!

Conclusion

Some of you may be thinking that I’m contradicting myself. On the one hand, I say that you must repent and believe in Jesus to be saved. On the other hand, I say that you cannot repent and believe in Jesus unless He has chosen you for salvation and He works in your heart to bring you to repentance and faith. So you’re saying, “Come to Christ,” but, “You cannot come!”

Asahel Nettleton, a great revivalist preacher (1783-1843) raised this seeming contradiction in a sermon and then said (Asahel Nettleton: Life and Labors [Banner of Truth], by Bennet Tyler & Andrew Bonar, p. 216, italics his):

A celebrated preacher, in one of His discourses used this language: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In another discourse, this same preacher said: “no man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” Now, what think you, my hearers, of such preaching, and of such a preacher? What would you have said had you been present and heard Him? Would you have charged Him with contradicting himself?

Then he adds the obvious, that this preacher was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ! Religion cannot save you. Christ is mighty to save you. He invites you to come to Himself. But if you come, it’s because the Father graciously drew you.

Application Questions

1. Since there is no indication in the text that this man believed in Jesus, why did John include this story in his Gospel?
2. Some have argued that if God could save everyone but chose only some, then He is unloving. The same could be said here: Jesus could have healed all, but only chose one man. Was He unloving? How would you answer this charge?
3. Why is it important to affirm (as Scripture does) that salvation is totally from the Lord and not a joint project between Him and us? What truth is at stake (1 Cor. 1:26-31)?
4. What is the main difference between “religion” and biblical Christianity? Why is the distinction important?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2013, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

September 29, 2013

George Bernard Shaw had it right when he observed, “The statistics on death are quite impressive: one out of one people die.” In light of the certainty of death, you would think that everyone would be very concerned to prepare for what lies beyond. And yet many push it out of their minds and focus on other things that really won’t matter on the day of death. The evangelist, George Whitefield, told of seeing some criminals riding in a cart on the way to the gallows. They were arguing about who should sit on the right side of the cart, with no more concern than children today arguing about who gets to sit in the front seat of the car.

In our text, Jesus is replying to the Jews, who accused Him not only of breaking the Sabbath, but also of claiming to be equal with God (5:19). Rather than responding with horror to such a charge and backing off, Jesus intensified His claims to be God. As we saw in our last study, He claims to be equal with God in His nature (5:17-18), His works (5:17, 19), His love and knowledge (5:20), His sovereign power (5:21), in judgment (5:22), and in worship (5:23). No mere man and no created being could make these claims unless he was crazy. Jesus is clearly claiming to be God!

Now Jesus continues to hammer home His amazing claims. In 5:24, He asserts that there are two categories of people: those who have eternal life and those who are spiritually dead and under judgment. The difference between these two groups is that those who have life have heard Jesus’ words and believed in the One who sent Him, whereas the latter have not. Jesus goes on (5:25-26) to state that He inherently has the power to impart eternal life to dead sinners. Then (5:27-30) Jesus claims that in the future He will raise from the dead everyone who has ever lived and judge them for all eternity. These are mind-boggling claims! Since death and judgment are absolutely certain, our text screams at us:

Since Jesus can impart eternal life and since He will judge all people, make sure that you are right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Before we work through the text, note that in 5:20, Jesus said that the Father would show Him greater works than these, “so that you will marvel.” But in 5:28, He tells the Jews not to marvel at what He has just said. Why does He tell them that they will marvel and then turn around and tell them not to marvel? I understand Jesus’ words in verse 20 to be an invitation to the skeptical Jews to believe in Him when they observe the miracles that He would perform. But in verse 28, He is warning them not to be amazed in the sense of scoffing at His claim to judge all people. In other words, amazement at the signs that Jesus did should lead to faith in Him and His claims, not to scoffing. Our text makes three main points:

1. There are only two groups of people: Those who are spiritually dead and those who have eternal life (5:24).

John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” Clearly, when it comes to being alive or dead, there are two and only two categories of people. Maybe some of you would qualify for being half-dead, but technically, you’re alive! What is true physically is also true spiritually: Everyone is either spiritually dead or spiritually alive. There is no in-between category.

What distinguishes these two groups? The difference is that those who have eternal life have heard Jesus’ word and have believed the One who sent Jesus, whereas those who are spiritually dead have not heard or believed. Jesus’ word stands for His entire message or teaching. Hearing Jesus’ word is the same thing as hearing God’s Word, since Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing (5:19) and spoke what He heard from the Father (8:38). And the Father testified of His Son (5:37-38). God sent His Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29). He sent Him to be the Savior of the world (4:42).

Hearing Jesus’ word referred to more than just hearing the sound of His voice. Obviously, the Jewish leaders who were challenging Jesus heard the sound of His voice, but they didn’t accept or submit to what He was saying. In spite of witnessing the amazing miracles that Jesus did, the Jewish leaders opposed Him and rejected His claim to be sent to earth from God. In John 10:27, Jesus said, by way of contrast with these unbelieving Jews, that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. And so to hear Jesus’ word means to hear with faith and obedience. It means to believe that what Jesus says is true and to submit to His lordship.

Jesus adds (5:24) that those who have eternal life also believe “Him who sent Me.” As Leon Morris points out (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 316), it is more common to have a reference to “believing in,” rather than just believing and to have Christ as the object of belief, rather than the Father. But, he adds,

All those who believe the Father, who really believe the Father, accept Christ. It is not possible to believe what the Father says and to turn away from the Son. The theme of this whole passage is the unity of the Father and the Son.

Jesus says that the one who hears His word and believes in the One who sent Him “has eternal life.” In 5:21, we saw that Jesus gives life to whom He wishes. That statement emphasizes Jesus’ sovereignty in the matter of salvation, which theologians refer to as the doctrine of election. We are saved because God chose us to be saved. That doctrine gives God all the glory for our salvation.

But I’ve had people ask me, “How can I know whether I am one of the elect?” The answer is in 5:24: Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and judgment? Do you believe the biblical witness to Jesus as the eternal Son of God who was sent to this earth to bear your sin on the cross and who was raised from the dead by the power of God? If so, you are one of God’s elect, because none but the elect truly believe in Christ.

The Lord here also gives those who believe in Him great assurance. He says that the one who believes “has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” Judaism in that day believed that the attainment of eternal life was a future event, not a present reality (Andreas Kostenberger, John [Baker], p. 188). But here Jesus says that eternal life is the present possession of the one who believes His word. That person has moved from spiritual death to spiritual life. And if the life that God gives to those who believe is eternal life, then it isn’t temporary life. Or to put it another way, if you can lose it, then it isn’t eternal. God wants those who believe in Jesus to have the assurance, as Paul put it (Rom. 8:1) that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Assurance of salvation is in part a feeling, but it’s a feeling based on fact. The fact is Christ’s promise that those who believe have eternal life and will not come into judgment. Note that Jesus prefaces His words with, “truly, truly,” to underscore what He is saying. Either we trust His word or we don’t.

A man once came to the famous evangelist, D. L. Moody, and said that he was worried because he didn’t feel saved. Moody asked him, “Was Noah safe in the ark?” “Certainly he was,” the man replied. “Well, what made him safe, his feeling or the ark?” Our salvation doesn’t rest on our feelings, but on Christ our Savior. If we’re in Him, we’re secure and protected from the storm of judgment that is coming on the world. Our feelings rest on the absolutely truthful promises of Jesus.

As Leon Morris points out (pp. 316-317), verse 24 is more than a statement of fact. It’s also an invitation or call to hear the words of Jesus Christ and believe in Him. Have you put your trust in Him? If not, why not do it now?

From our Lord’s next words we learn…

2. Jesus is the only one powerful enough to impart eternal life to spiritually dead sinners (5:25-26).

John 5:25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

Jesus again prefaces this statement with “truly, truly,” to affirm the importance and truth of what He is saying. He used the same phrase, “the hour is coming and now is” with the woman at the well when He spoke about worshiping the Father in spirit and truth (4:23). He meant that it was a present reality, but also that there was more to come. In this case, the “more to come” would be the cross, Jesus’ resurrection, His ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But “now is” meant that as He spoke, Jesus had the power to speak so that the dead would hear and live.

Jesus demonstrated that power physically at the tomb of Lazarus when He called out (11:43), “Lazarus, come forth.” With the command, Jesus imparted the supernatural power for that dead man to hear and obey. Only God has such power (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7). But that miracle or sign pointed to the spiritual truth that Jesus has the power to speak to those who are spiritually dead in such a way that they receive eternal life. That is the main focus of 5:25-26. While we all would have been amazed if we had been there at Lazarus’ tomb, we should realize that the miracle of the new birth is just as great, if not greater, than the raising of a dead man. Just as Lazarus was raised instantly at the command of Christ, so dead sinners are instantly saved when they truly hear the voice of the Son of God. With the command to believe comes the power to believe.

In verse 26, Jesus explains why He can impart life to those who hear His voice: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself ….” Life is inherent in God. He spoke all life into existence in the original creation. Even so, Jesus says, the Father “gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.”

But what does this mean? No less a theologian than John Calvin understands that the Father granted this power to Jesus in His incarnation (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 207). But in John 1:4, John said, “in Him was life,” in His pre-incarnate state as the eternal Word. Thus this act of the Father granting life to the Son must, as D. A. Carson puts it (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 257), “be an act belonging to eternity, of a piece with the eternal Father/Son relationship ….” Jesus doesn’t say that life comes from the Father through the Son, but rather that just as the Father inherently has life in Himself, so also He granted or ordained that the Son has this same inherent power of life in Himself. It is another claim that Jesus shares full deity with the Father.

At the same time, the verse distinguishes the Father and the Son and shows that the Son is eternally subject to the Father. Through the centuries a heresy called Sabellianism, monarchianism, or modalism has denied the Trinity. It teaches that there is no distinction of persons between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God projects Himself at times as the Father, at other times as the Son, or again as the Spirit. These are just three modes revealing the same divine person (C. A. Blaising, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology [Baker], ed. by Walter Elwell, p. 727). The error persists today with the “oneness Pentecostal” movement.

But Athanasius, an early defender of the faith, used verses such as John 5:26 as proof that the Father and the Son are two distinct persons (J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], 3:297-298). The Athanasian Creed puts it, “We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance [Essence].”

Thus Jesus is teaching that there are only two groups of people: Those who are spiritually dead and those who have eternal life. Also, He is the only one powerful enough to impart life to those who are dead. Thirdly,

3. Jesus will be the one who raises all the dead of all ages and then judges them for all eternity (5:27-30).

By the way, for Jesus’ claims here to be true, He had to be raised bodily from the dead. Our entire faith rests on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-19). There are five important truths here, which I can only touch on:

A. The Father has given the Son authority to judge because He is the Son of Man (5:27).

John 5:27: “…and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” Along with 5:26, this verse explains 5:25. The reference to the Son of Man goes back to Daniel 7:13-14, where the prophet saw one like a Son of Man coming up to the Ancient of Days. He was given everlasting dominion, glory and a kingdom so that all the peoples and nations might serve Him. Jesus is that Son of Man, eternal God in human flesh. He is uniquely qualified to judge humanity because He is both the all-knowing God and at the same time a man who understands by experience what it is like to be human (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15).

B. Jesus will raise all people to face judgment (5:28-29a).

John 5:28-29a: “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth ….” I take it that Jesus’ hearers were scoffing at His amazing claims to have life in Himself and to judge all people. So Jesus warns them not to scoff or marvel at this. Then He adds a further claim of His divine power: In the future He will give the command and every dead person from every people group from all ages will arise from the dead! Whether their bodies were drowned or burned or eaten by scavengers or blown apart by a bomb, all will be raised to face judgment.

Other Scriptures indicate that there will be two resurrections. Believers will be raised at the second coming of Christ (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:4). They will not face judgment for condemnation (John 5:24), but they will be judged for rewards in heaven (Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 2 Cor. 5:10). Unbelievers will be raised at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15). But no one will escape this final roll call.

C. At the judgment, there are two and only two eternal destinies: eternal life or eternal condemnation (5:29).

John 5:29b: “… those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” Jesus is plainly teaching that this life is not the end of our existence. Either there is life beyond the grave for every person—both the righteous and the wicked—or Jesus is wrong. He says that both those who did good and those who did evil will be raised. The teaching that the wicked will be annihilated contradicts Jesus’ teaching. They will be raised for judgment and then “go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). If eternal life is forever, then so is eternal punishment.

D. The basis for judgment will be a person’s deeds (5:29b).

John 5:29b: “… those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” I had a Roman Catholic friend in college who was very interested in spiritual things. At my urging, she bought a Bible and began reading the Gospel of John. One day she told me that she had been wondering how a person gets to heaven. Then she said that she had come across a verse that told her how. I thought, “Praise the Lord, she has read John 3:16!” But she turned to John 5:29 and said, “It’s by good deeds!”

So I had to explain to her that verse 29 is describing the lives of those who have received new life from Jesus by faith as opposed to those who have not trusted in Him. She had missed John 1:12, which says that the children of God are those who believe in Jesus’ name. She had missed John 3:16, which says that whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life. She had missed John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life….” She had missed John 5:24, “He who believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” Leon Morris (pp. 321-322) explains verse 29 well:

Judgment, as always in Scripture, is on the basis of works…. This does not mean that salvation is on the basis of good works, for this very Gospel makes it plain over and over again that men enter eternal life when they believe on Jesus Christ. But the lives they live form the test of the faith they profess. This is the uniform testimony of Scripture. Salvation is by grace and it is received through faith. Judgment is based on men’s works.

John Calvin (pp. 209-210) comments on 5:29, “For without the pardon which God grants to those who believe in Him, there never was a man in the world of whom we can say that he has lived well; nor is there even a single work that will be reckoned altogether good, unless God pardon the sins which belong to it, for all are imperfect and corrupted.” He goes on to refute the Roman Catholic error that we gain eternal life through the merit of our works. Then he concludes (p. 210), “And indeed we do not deny that the faith which justifies us is accompanied by an earnest desire to live well and righteously; but we only maintain that our confidence cannot rest on anything else than on the mercy of God alone.”

E. Jesus’ judgment will be just because He does not seek His own will, but the will of the One who sent Him (5:30).

John 5:30: “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” He not only said that He did not do anything on His own initiative, but that He could not. This goes back to the theme of the entire section, His unity with the Father in all things. Jesus will be impartial and completely fair in His judgment of all people. No one will be able to complain that he or she was judged unfairly. Jesus will be completely just or fair when He judges everyone. But you never want to ask God to be fair with you! Plead rather for His mercy!

Conclusion

You’ve probably heard the expression, “going first class on the Titanic.” It describes those who foolishly devote themselves to seeking after pleasure in this life only. This world and all who live for it are headed for judgment. Going first class on a ship that is certain to go down is not wise! Rather, get in the lifeboat while you can! There’s plenty of room for everyone, but you’ve got to get in.

Jesus claims that He can give eternal life to those who are spiritually dead and that He will raise all people for judgment. Either He is crazy to make such claims or He is God and He will do it. Make sure that you have passed out of death and into life because you have put your trust in Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death as your only hope for eternal life!

Application Questions

1. In light of these verses, why is it essential to affirm Jesus’ deity? Discuss: Can anyone be saved who denies His deity?
2. Some say that we should not talk with unbelievers about God’s judgment, but only about His love. Why is this mistaken?
3. How would you explain to a Roman Catholic friend that John 5:29 is not teaching salvation by our good works? What Scriptures would you use?
4. Should Christians be concerned about standing before Christ for judgment someday? Consider Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; and Matt. 25:11-30 in your reply.

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2013, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

October 13, 2013

What keeps people from believing in Christ? Why would anyone not want to have his or her sins forgiven and to have eternal life as a free gift so that they do not come into judgment? There are many reasons. For example, many Muslims reject Christ because they have misconceptions about who He is and what He claimed. Also, if they were to believe in Him, it would bring shame on their family, resulting in their family disowning them. Even worse, they could be targeted for death. So the social pressure against believing in Christ is tremendous.

Others reject Christ because they have been wounded by professing Christians or by the church. Maybe a priest or minister abused them, causing them to conclude that Christianity is a sham. Perhaps their parents professed to be Christians and yet were abusive and didn’t live out the faith at home. Or, the parents were overly strict and tried to force the child into believing. Others get into college and their faith is undermined by atheistic professors. We could multiply many more reasons why people do not believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

In John 3:19-21 we saw that people reject Christ because they love their sin and they hate having it exposed by God’s light. Now Jesus directly confronts the religious Jews who were opposing Him, who were unwilling to come to Him for eternal life (5:40). He asks them rhetorically (5:44), “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Evangelistic Sermons [Banner of Truth], pp. 39-51) points out how Jesus saved many unlikely and notorious sinners, but these guys were hard cases! He despairs about these religious Jews. He asks (5:44), “How can you believe …?” The Greek verb points to their inability to believe.

He has just given them adequate witnesses to back up His claim to be equal with God, so they didn’t lack evidence. They were zealous students of Scripture, so they didn’t lack knowledge. What was their problem? What kept them from believing in Christ? Why did they eventually murder the Savior whom the Father had sent? I think that we can boil down Jesus’ indictment of their unbelief to one root cause: the pride of outward religiosity:

The pride of outward religiosity as opposed to seeking inward reality with God will keep you from believing in Christ.

Pride is the root sin of all sins. Pride makes us think that we know what’s best for us so that we rebel against God and His ways. Pride deceives us into thinking that we can be good enough to get into heaven. Pride causes us to put up a good outward front to impress others, while we hide the way that we really are in our hearts. It was pride that kept these Jewish religious leaders from believing in Jesus as their Messiah and eventually led to their murdering Him. Their pride comes through in four ways in these verses:

1. Using the Bible to impress others rather than to grow in humility and love for God will keep you from faith in Christ (5:39-42).

John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

The Jewish rabbis were legendary in their study of the Scriptures. They memorized large portions (sometimes all) of the Hebrew Bible. They copied it with extreme care, for which we can be thankful. Many of them counted the words and letters and could tell you the middle letter of a book or even of the entire Bible!

But the problem was, they took pride in their great learning. We can see this in John 9, with the man born blind, whose eyes Jesus opened. He argued with the Jewish leaders that if Jesus were not from God, He could not do such a miracle. Their response was (9:34), “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” That statement reeks of pride! They knew the Bible, but they missed Jesus because they had used their great knowledge to feed their pride.

Jesus confronts their pride here when He adds (5:41-42), “I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.” The transition between verse 40 and verse 41 is puzzling unless you see that Jesus is contrasting His humility with their pride. When He says, “I do not receive glory from man,” He means that He is not a man-pleaser, seeking everyone’s praise so as to build up His image (as they were). Rather, Jesus always lived to please the Father and do His will (5:19, 30). While He was on earth, He always sought to glorify the Father (17:4). But these Jewish leaders were using their knowledge of Scripture to impress others, not to glorify God.

Note Jesus’ words, “I know you.” He could rightly judge their inner thoughts and motives. He knew that they were studying the Scriptures to increase their own glory, not to grow in love for God. When He says, “You do not have the love of God in yourselves,” He means that they did not love God. The connection with receiving glory from men is, “If you loved God, you would seek His glory, as I do. As it is, you love yourselves; you’re seeking your own glory.” They were breaking the first great commandment, to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength (Deut. 6:5).

These verses bring out some reality checks for us. First, are you studying the Scriptures at all? Jesus didn’t need to rebuke these Jews for not studying the Scriptures, but rather because they studied them wrongly. But He might rebuke many modern Christians because they don’t study the Bible much at all!

Second, are you studying the Scriptures to reveal Jesus Christ to your soul? There is nothing wrong and everything right with sound academic knowledge of the Bible. Without it, you’ll be tossed around by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). Sound biblical scholarship is crucial. But, the ultimate point of Bible study should be to reveal more and more of who Christ is and what He has done for you.

If someone set a fresh peach pie in front of you and you proceeded to run a chemical analysis on the crust and the peaches, you would be missing the point! Taste it! Or, if you went to a lodge that had a magnificent picture window looking out on a spectacular scene and you spent your time analyzing what company made the glass and how it was installed, you’d be missing the point. Enjoy the view! The point of the Bible is to reveal the beauty of Christ to your soul.

Third, is your study of the Bible leading you to greater humility or to greater pride? Studying the Bible properly will show you how great your sin is and how holy God is. It will show you His majesty and His great power. It will humble you as you realize His amazing grace. But if you start thinking that you’re better than other Christians because you know theology and you delight in proving that you’re right and others are wrong, look out! I’ve been around guys who use their knowledge of the Bible like a club. They try to dominate others through their scholarship. Studying the Bible rightly will lead to more humility and graciousness, not to pride.

Fourth, is your study of the Bible causing you to love God more and more? Jesus hits these Jews because they did not love God. They were not seeking His glory and living to please Him. Proper study of the Bible will show you more of His grace. It will reveal His great love in sending His own Son to die for your sins. It will cause you to love Him more and more. But the pride of using the Bible to impress others will keep you from faith in Christ.

2. Making God to be what you want Him to be rather than submitting to Him as He is will keep you from faith in Christ (5:43).

John 5:43: “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” Jesus came in His Father’s name, which means that He came in the Father’s authority and He proclaimed who the Father is. He never pulled His punches to please the crowd. He didn’t use the Scriptures to flatter His hearers or to make them think that God was pleased with them if He was not. As the Light, He exposed their sins. Jesus gave them the truth without sugar-coating it.

Also, Jesus never played to the crowds by being the kind of Messiah that He knew they wanted. They wanted a political Messiah who could deliver them from Rome and provide peace and prosperity. If He had pandered to their tastes, Jesus could have been a popular Messiah. After He fed the multitude, He knew that they wanted to come and take Him by force to make Him king. But rather than accept that superficial allegiance, Jesus withdrew to the mountain by Himself alone (John 6:15). He could have ridden that wave of popularity, but He refused. Jesus would not falsely convey who God is or who He is to gain a following.

Keep in mind that Jesus is here addressing a group of Israel’s religious leaders. They knew the Scriptures well. They were devoted to their religion. Yet Jesus is warning them that their rejection of Him made them susceptible to follow false Messiahs who come in their own name. In Deuteronomy 13:3, God told Israel that He permitted false teachers to test their love for Him. Elsewhere, as Jesus spoke about the end times, He warned of false prophets who will arise and lead many astray. Accompanying this deception will be that people’s love for God will grow cold (Matt. 24:11-12).

Why were these religious leaders prone to follow false teachers? It’s because people will follow false teachers who tell them what they want to hear but avoid telling them who God really is. People will follow a man who doesn’t confront sin and who tells them that they’re okay just as they are. Jeremiah (6:14) confronted the false prophets of his day who healed the brokenness of God’s people superficially, saying “‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.” After telling Timothy to preach the Word, which included reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, Paul warned (2 Tim. 4:3-4), “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” We see the same thing today: Focus on the positive, never confront sin, and you’ll have a large congregation.

When you’re reading the Bible, make sure you read all of it, not just the parts you like! If you only read the parts about God’s love, but skip the parts about His holiness, His judgment, or His sovereignty, you’ll fall into error. Or when you’re looking for a church to attend, look for a pastor who teaches all that the Bible teaches about God and Christ. If he goes along with popular cultural trends, you can fall into pride that your church is “with it.” But the question is, is your church faithfully representing the name (the authority and the character) of the Father? Does the teaching promote godliness on the heart level?

3. Using religion to try to impress others outwardly rather than seeking to please God on the heart level will keep you from faith in Christ (5:44).

John 5:44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” As I said, the word can refers to inability. Jesus was saying that as long as they sought glory from one another, rather than seeking God’s approval, it was impossible for them to believe in Him. Later John (12:42-43) mentions that some of these Jewish leaders “believed,” but their faith was not genuine for reasons similar to the problem that Jesus uncovers here: “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

In Matthew 23:5-7, Jesus also unmasks these religious hypocrites: “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.” He charges (Matt. 23:25), “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.” Their religion was an outward show to impress others and to gain recognition. But the Lord was not fooled. He knew their hearts. Inside these religious men were full of self-indulgence.

The pride that is innate in all of us lures us into religious hypocrisy. We want others to think that we’re better than we know ourselves to be. So we focus on appearances. We’re concerned about what others may think of us and we forget that the most important thing is what God thinks of us. Many pastors fall into this sort of thing. They want the church to think that they have a perfect family. Maybe they’ve just had a major blow-up at home on Sunday morning, but they put on their happy faces as they drive into the church parking lot. And their kids can smell the hypocrisy. When they’re old enough, they walk away from the faith.

I’m not suggesting that we hang our dirty laundry out for all to see, but I am saying that we need reality with God and the humility to be genuine about our failures and shortcomings. I don’t quote William Barclay without a disclaimer, since he was heretical on some major issues. But on this point, he is right on. He writes (The Gospel of John, The Daily Study Bible [Westminster Press], rev. ed., 1:199-200):

So long as a man measures himself against his fellow men he will be well content. But the point is not: “Am I as good as my neighbor?” The point is: “Am I as good as God? What do I look like to him?” So long as we judge ourselves by human comparisons there is plenty of room for self-satisfaction, and that kills faith, for faith is born of the sense of need. But when we compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, we are humbled to the dust, and then faith is born, for there is nothing left to do but trust to the mercy of God.

The antidote to the deadly sin of hypocrisy is to deal with God every day on the heart level. Don’t harbor secret sins, as if God doesn’t see them. He knows our every thought (Ps. 139). Don’t put on false spirituality to try to impress others. If you’re struggling, be honest enough to ask for prayer. If you’re angry, don’t pretend that you’re not. Go before God and deal with it before it conquers you (Gen. 4:5-7). If you’re depressed, tell God about it and ask Him to restore your joy (Ps. 42 & 43). If you’ve sinned, confess it to God and ask forgiveness of any that you’ve wronged (Ps. 51, 1 John 1:9; Matt. 5:23-24). If you’ve lied, go to the one you lied to and ask forgiveness. If you’ve yelled at your kids or hit them in anger, humble yourself, ask their forgiveness, and ask God for self-control. In other words, in every area of life deal with God and others so that you can say with Paul (Acts 24:16), “I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.” Don’t use religion to try to impress others. Do business with God on the heart level.

Thus, the pride of outward religiosity as opposed to inward reality with God will keep you from faith in Jesus. This may involve using the Bible to impress others, rather than growing in humility and love for God. It can stem from making God what you want Him to be rather than submitting to Him as He is. It can take the form of using religion to try to impress others outwardly, rather than seeking to please God on the heart level. Finally,

3. Taking pride in your outward religious performance rather than letting God’s law drive you to Christ will keep you from faith in Christ (5:45-47).

John 5:45-47: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (By the way, note that Jesus, unlike many liberal Old Testament scholars, believed that Moses wrote the Pentateuch [Genesis-Deuteronomy]! To attack the Old Testament is to attack Jesus, because it all points to Him.)

Ironically, these Jews claimed to believe in Moses and they studied Moses extensively, but they missed what Moses was writing about! Jesus says that Moses wrote about Him (see John 1:45; Luke 24:27, 44). As we saw last time, God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head was about Jesus conquering Satan at the cross. God’s clothing Adam and Eve with animal skins was a picture God covering our sins through the death of His Lamb. God’s promise to Abraham that in his seed, all the nations would be blessed, was about Christ. His command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then providing the ram was a picture of God sacrificing His own Son as our atonement. The Passover was about Christ. The tabernacle is an elaborate picture of Christ. The rock that provided water in the wilderness and the manna for food were pictures of Christ (1 Cor. 10:3-4; John 6:31-35). We could go on and on.

The Law of Moses, in which these Jews professed to believe, should have convicted them of their sins and caused them to long for the Savior who would be pierced through for their transgressions and crushed for their iniquities (Isa. 53:5). It should have served as a tutor to lead them to faith in Christ (Gal. 3:24). As Paul wrote (Rom. 10:4): “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” But because they focused on their outward performance of only certain aspects of the law rather than on the essence of the law, which was to love God from the heart, they missed Jesus. The very Law, which was one of their greatest privileges (Rom. 9:4) and in which they took great pride, became the source of their condemnation at the judgment.

If you take pride in your Christian performance, rather than glorying in Christ Jesus and putting no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3), you will miss faith in Christ. John Calvin puts it (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 222): “He who in reality presents himself before God as his Judge, must, of necessity, fall down humbled and dismayed, and finding nothing in himself on which he can place reliance.” All our hope must be in Christ, not in our religious performance.

Conclusion

I don’t know your heart, but God does. I do know that the sin of pride resides in us all and it often seeks to contaminate the spiritual life. So, as Paul put it (2 Cor. 13:5), “Test yourself to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” Here are four tests:

• Examine how you use the Bible: Is it to impress others or is it causing you to grow in humility and in love for God?
• Do you gladly embrace who God is as revealed in all of Scripture, rather than who you may want Him to be?
• Ask yourself whether you’re seeking glory from others as opposed to seeking to please God on the heart level.
• And, examine whether you take pride in your outward religious performance rather than boasting in Christ and the cross.

All of these things can keep us from genuine faith in Christ.

Application Questions

1. I have heard some argue that studying theology leads to spiritual deadness. Is there any validity to this? Why/why not?
2. Why is it important to read and reread the whole Bible and not just your favorite parts (see Ps. 119:160)? What errors have you encountered from Christians who avoid reading all the Bible?
3. How honest should we be in sharing our spiritual struggles? Are we being hypocrites if we restrict sharing our problems to certain trusted friends or mentors and not to everyone?
4. What are some subtle ways that we can take pride in our religious performance (Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, etc.)? What does it mean to boast in the cross (Gal. 6:14)?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2013, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation