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JOTTINGS FROM JOHN John 1:1, 14: The “Word” (capital “W”) refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, according to verse 14 and I John 5:7, I John 1:1. When referring to the written Scriptures, the lowers case “w” is proper.John 1:12: The world says “seeing is believing.” The Christian says just the opposite. See Psalm 27:13 for a good reference.John 2:5: “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” is the only command that Mary ever gave.John 2:18-21: This is one of those places in the Gospels where Jesus is probably pointing to himself when he’s speaking. He refers to his body as “this temple,” and he says that he will raise it up in three days after it is destroyed. This contradicts the Jehovah’s Witness teaching that Jesus was resurrected a “spirit creature” and not in the same body in which he was crucified.John 3:3-7: Every believer should be well acquainted with this passage on the new birth, and every believer should be able to prove why the phrase “born of water” refers to physical child birth, not baptism. The references are Genesis 1:20, Proverbs 5:15-18, Isaiah 48:1, and Song of Solomon 4:12. To be born of water is to be born physically the first time; to be born of the spirit is to be born spiritually the second time.John 4:24: God is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, not in ceremonialism, lukewarmness, artificialism, or entertainment.John 5:18: A good verse on the deity of Christ. It was understood that Jesus was claiming deity by claiming God as his Father.John 5:39: This is the only search warrant that Jesus ever gave. We are to search the scriptures and find Jesus. Of course, “the scriptures” at time were the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus is saying that the Old Testament testifies of Christ. For an amazing study on this, get a few installments of our Christ in Every Chapter series.John 5:44: This explains why many people never receive Christ, and it explains why most Christians never bear a cross for Christ. They’re too wrapped up in the praises of men to care about pleasing God.John 6:28-29: A man is saved by works, but not his own works.John 6:37: This is a great memory verse on eternal security.John 7:24: Here’s a verse on judging that never gets quoted. People favor Matthew 7:1 because they think it forbids judging. They ignore verses like this one and I Corinthians 2:15. The rule on judging is simple: Don’t judge when you don’t have to, and judge righteously when you do have to.John 8:47: A man that is of God is supposed to hear God’s word. This is a truth that raises a very important question about most modern “Christians” that keep flocking to the big mega-churches for religious entertainment: Are they even saved? By the Biblical standard, the answer is ”no,” at least for most of them. To attend such a church for a while and then leave for something better is one thing, but to stay in such churches for years and never leave is a strong indication that someone doesn’t love the word of God because they’ve never been born of the word of God (I Pet. 1:23). There are exceptions, of course, but the rule still stands.John 8:58: When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” he was claiming to be the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14. Exodus 3:14 doesn’t predate Abraham, but the “I AM” does.John 10:10: There’s no insurance like abundant life insurance.John 10:28-29: These are two great verses on eternal security. Our salvation is called “eternal life,” which would be the wrong terminology, if one could lose his salvation. If you lost it, then it wasn’t eternal. The same can be said of the words “never perish.”John 10:30: This is probably the most simple verse in the Bible on the deity of Christ. The three members of the Trinity are one, so Christ and the Father are one.John 11:25-26: In addition to being a great memory passage (as well as the inscription on George Washington’s tombstone), the passages is a great doctrinal statement on the two classes of participants in the Rapture: the living in Christ and the dead in Christ, which fully agrees with I Thessalonians 4:16-17 and I Corinthians 15:55.John 11:35: The notion that Jesus was weeping due to sorrow over Lazarus’ death is absurd. He was weeping over the unbelief of Lazarus’ family members, which is pointed out very well in verse 40: “. . . Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” He had told them in verse 4 that Lazarus’ sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God. Yet, Martha and Mary both implied that Jesus had done wrong in allowing Lazarus to die (vss. 21, 32). So he weeps over the whole unbelieving situation.John 12:43: That explains the conduct of over 95% of the people you know.John 14:1-3: A great and precious promise for every believer. This world is not our home. By the way, the “mansions” of verse two are found only in a King James Bible.John 15:3: Only the word of God can keep a believer clean. See Psalm 119:9.John 16:7-14: This is a great passage on the Holy Spirit. Notice two things in particular. One, the Holy Ghost doesn’t convict people of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. He convicts (or convinces) of unbelief. Secondly, he doesn’t speak of himself (like the Charismatics do); he speaks of Christ.John 17:11: Out of over 31,000 verses and 1,189 chapters in the Bible, there is only one “Holy Father,” and He isn’t sitting over in Rome with a Dagon fish mitre on his head. The Holy Father is God the Father, according to God the Son, and no one else is worthy of the title.John 19:15: The words “We have no king but Caesar” along with the words “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Mat. 27:25) cursed the nation of Israel for the next 2,000 years.John 19:30: Perhaps the three most important words in all the Bible: “It is finished.”John 20:28: Notice that Jesus had no problem allowing a man to worship him and address him as “God.”