The Gospel of John

Dr Peter Masters

A comprehensive study of the Gospel of John, which expounds Christ’s glorious character and work – His person, His saving work, His compassion, His power, His obedience, His suffering and His victorious resurrection. Also included are three sermons from the Book of Exodus and the Gospel of Mark, expanding the Lord’s prayer for His people – ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth’.

The Light of Christ

– Sunday AM February 25, 2018
Reflections on the magnificent introduction to John, glorifying Christ; eternally equal with the Father (no eternal submission), Creator and fountain of life, obscured by the Fall but always saving souls, rejected by the world but ‘tabernacling’ among us for the salvation of those ‘born of God’.

Christ’s Infinite Qualities

– Sunday AM March 4, 2018
Four elevating verses, first, presenting Christ’s eternal existence and amazing condescension to His people; secondly, showing His limitless capacity, and the meaning of ‘grace for grace’; thirdly, extolling His mighty accomplishments, and fourthly, telling how He reveals and ‘exegetes’ the Father to provide our spiritual experiences.

John’s Gospel of New Life

– Sunday AM March 11, 2018
John the Baptist, the forerunner, was needed because of extreme spiritual barrenness. He called thousands to repentance, but most remained unsaved, never receiving Christ’s spiritual baptism – the new birth. Here are lessons to us, and also the saving work of Christ – the Lamb of God.

The Biography of a Soul

– Sunday AM March 18, 2018
The encounter of the first disciples with Christ reflects the experience of all believers, embracing a considerable surprise, a deep sense of need, a compulsion to share Christ, a new character, light on the Word and the progressive discovery of even ‘greater things’.

The Beginning of Miracles

– Sunday AM March 25, 2018
First we see the message of the miracle; second – the insurmountable problem; third – the necessity of obedience; fourth – the quality of the miracle; fifth – the results. The disciples saw Christ’s divine power and the nature of His saving work.

Christ Purges His Temple

– Sunday AM April 8, 2018
The Lord’s purity cannot allow the shameful hypocrisy of Temple conduct, and by an act of divine power He casts out the commerce, and prophesies His own death and resurrection (as well as the fall of the Temple), providing lessons for spiritual living today.

The Lord’s Agenda

– Sunday AM April 22, 2018
A ruling pharisee, possibly exploring cooperation between Christ and the Temple order, comes by night, but the Lord teaches that only a new birth purchased by Himself, wrought directly by God, and revealed throughout Scripture, can save people, whether pharisees or ordinary Jews and Gentiles.

Christ’s Own Appeal to Souls

– Sunday AM April 29, 2018
How the Lord presented salvation by grace to Nicodemus, showing that it was always given to individuals, through faith, by the immeasurable love of God in Christ. Here also is the Lord explaining why people refuse to believe, and his appeal to Nicodemus to repent.

The Forerunner Bows to Christ

– Sunday AM May 13, 2018
Here is the exemplary modesty of the Baptist in yielding the crowd to Christ, and his exalting of Christ’s divinity. Also, we see how crowds desired baptism without deep belief, explaining why John’s Gospel emphasises belief in Christ’s redeeming purpose (which leads to repentance).

The Woman at the Well

– Sunday AM May 27, 2018
Christ’s exhaustion shows His astonishing love in assuming the limitations of human nature for salvation. His encounter with a brazenly reluctant hearer, unable to grasp spiritual wonders until He revealed His identity, reflects all experience of conversion. Here also are the golden rules of worship.

Sowers and Reapers

– Sunday AM June 3, 2018
The harvesting of souls is the Saviour’s stated source of great satisfaction, and will be ours also if it governs our priorities and prayers. Here also is the power of witness, and the nature of saving faith in the case of the nobleman of Capernaum.

The House of Mercy

– Sunday AM June 10, 2018
The startling question ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ exposes the human indifference to salvation, broken only by Christ’s initiative in opening the heart to mercy. Here are lessons in salvation; also – Christ’s unambiguous assertion of His divinity, which became the real basis of all hostility.

Earth or Heaven?

– Sunday AM June 17, 2018
Early in His ministry, Christ challenged the Jews, proclaiming a spiritual resurrection for all who ‘heard’ His voice, and a future bodily resurrection. Again, He asserted His divine sonship, authenticated by the Father through His mighty works, and through the scriptures – especially Moses.

The Testing of Faith

– Sunday AM June 24, 2018
The building of faith in the great calling of saved people – how slowly it deepens, without thought. Here is the testing of the disciples, with lessons, in the feeding of the 5000, and Christ’s earthly power in walking on, and calming, the storm-tossed sea.

Earthly or Heavenly Salvation?

– Sunday AM July 1, 2018
The discourse of the Saviour to followers who sought a political rather than a spiritual salvation. Here is His presentation of His divinity, His life-giving work, His salvation promises, and His explanation of the Father’s preparatory work in the hearts of those who believe.

Christ Reveals Calvary

– Sunday AM July 8, 2018
About a year before Calvary, the Lord preached at Capernaum promises of eternal life to all who received His bodily work for sinners. They would, He said, be ‘drawn’ by the irresistible grace of God to find true and living union with Him.

Words of Eternal Life

– Sunday AM July 22, 2018
Christ exclusively has the words of eternal life, but it is enriching to understand that this is a comprehensive term that refers to a host of features of eternal glory, reviewed here. If these are not appreciated and wanted, one cannot really desire eternal life.

Reactions to Christ on Earth

– Sunday AM August 12, 2018
The attitude to Christ of His own brothers (before their conversion), then of the common people crowded into Jerusalem from throughout the land for the feast of tabernacles, then of the leaders, and then of the residents of Jerusalem. Here also are the lessons.

The Threefold Delusion

– Sunday AM August 19, 2018
The Pharisees and chief priests thought they had communion with God, power to vanquish Christ, and knowledge of the Scriptures. In reality, they had none of these, as this passage shows. Here also is Christ’s great call to the thirsty to receive life and power by the Spirit.

The Divine Wisdom and Grace of Christ

– Sunday AM August 26, 2018
Scribes – experts in the law – devise an inescapable trap for Christ, determined to frame charges against Him, but He confounds them, turning the attention of the crowd to salvation. Here also is ‘I am the light of the world,’ and what it means to possess Him.

Grades of Belief

– Sunday AM September 2, 2018
In a vast temple court, the Lord declares Himself the light of the world, but the Pharisees reject His divinity. Here, He reasons with them, giving a solemn warning. The shallow belief of some of them urges us to be sure of genuine conversion.

Christ – The Key to Knowledge

– Sunday AM September 23, 2018
The Jerusalem ‘clergy’ failed to see the Lord in the clear promises of Genesis and subsequently, so His words made no sense to them. Here is how Christ is the chief rule of interpretation, and the key to understanding all human history.

Seeing Christ at Work

– Sunday AM October 7, 2018
Announced by Christ as a demonstration of His saving work, picturing repentance as central to saving faith. Also here is a statement of commission to successive believers, a view of Christ’s divine attributes, and a glimpse of the demise of the Jewish priesthood.

The New Messianic Order

– Sunday AM October 14, 2018
Six months before Calvary the Lord uses the Good Shepherd allegory to portray salvation and the new church order. Here is the contrast between Satan’s ‘shepherds’ and the Lord. Here also is the call of the Gospel, and the gifts of salvation bestowed by Christ.

Learning Christ’s Methods

– Sunday AM October 21, 2018
Surrounding Christ in the temple precincts four months before Calvary, the teachers of the Jews attempt to ensnare Him, but the encounter reveals seven elements of the Lord’s approach to lost souls, all of which teach believers how they should proceed.

Deepening Conviction

– Sunday AM October 28, 2018
Over several days, the Lord gave three clear intimations that He would raise Lazarus from the dead, but the disciples, then Martha, in varying degrees, could not take in His words. Faith triumphed in the end, and here is the history of growing conviction.

God’s Superior Power

– Sunday AM November 4, 2018
Two months before Calvary, the ruling council of chief priests and clergy assembled to plan the death of Jesus of Nazareth. Their folly is here tracked to show how everything they thought and planned was overruled and re-shaped by the sovereign power of Christ.

The Momentous Supper

– Sunday AM November 11, 2018
John’s record of the last days of the earthly life of the Lord begins with the supper at Bethany – a remarkable picture of Christian worship and commitment seen in Martha’s service, the testimony of Lazarus, and Mary’s demonstration of faith by the symbol of anointing.

Seven Voices For Calvary

– Sunday AM November 18, 2018
Almost like a Greek play with seven scenes, the apostle John (in twenty verses) tracks seven distinct sources of powerful authenticating views about Christ as Messiah, including the words of Christ Himself and the Father. Here also is the Lord’s call to salvation.

Christ’s Final Public Message

– Sunday AM November 25, 2018
The profound meaning of ‘now is the judgement of this world’, and the scornful questions of the masses, revealing their problem, then the Lord’s last great appeal before Calvary, then the mysterious hardening of the heart of the people, plus green shoots of conversion.

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

– Sunday AM December 2, 2018
A symbolic act with four moving lessons for the future apostles, just before Christ went to Calvary, showing his love for his own, his coming humiliation, his cleansing of them, and the humility of bearing and life (essential to them and all believers in order to be used by God).

Seeing Things Unseen

– Sunday AM December 9, 2018
Having washed the disciples’ feet, Christ revealed to them seven vital immediate events – the betrayal, their future work, the ugliness of hypocrisy, the need for heart-searching before the Lord’s Supper, the direction of events, how humiliation would bring glory, and the future church.

How Christ Builds Our Faith

– Sunday AM December 16, 2018
The day before Calvary, with the disciples, Christ gives a fourfold remedy for their deficiencies. They must grasp the necessity of faith, the heavenly objective, His pivotal atonement, and His equality with the Father. Only then can they fulfil their commission.

Christ Tells of the Spirit

– Sunday AM December 23, 2018
In this last teaching discourse to the apostles the Lord impresses upon them things they have not yet grasped, especially about the Holy Spirit: that He is a divine Person, giving spiritual illumination and assurance, and impressing Christ on the hearts of believers.

Lessons in Love

– Sunday AM January 6, 2019
forgiving
Five expressions of love for Christ all found in this passage – all being a key to ongoing assurance, and all stirring greater love. For a new year, we see Christ’s words – love learns, love trusts, love identifies, love serves and love obeys.

The Parable of the Vine

– Sunday AM January 13, 2019
Christ’s instructions to the apostles defining the Christian life. He begins with the New Covenant, and how He is the true vine securing redemption for His people. He also defines ‘fruit’ (the essential evidence of conversion) and what it means to ‘abide’ in Himself.

Chosen for Service

– Sunday AM January 20, 2019
Sublime words of Christ about mutual love between believers, about the privilege of being loved by Him, of being told all things by Him, of being ‘elected’ to salvation and service, commissioned, and equipped with the power of prayer. An overwhelming inspiration to full commitment.

The Church and the World

– Sunday AM January 27, 2019
The Saviour taught that people generally, locked in the world system, whatever their surface attitude, detest Him and His message. History shows this to be so. Here are the various forms of hatred, the reasons behind them, and the biblical response of Gospel workers.

The Era of the Spirit

– Sunday AM February 10, 2019
Christ speaks of the Spirit’s work convicting of sin (unbelief being the crowning sin), convincing of the perfection of Christ and our dependence on Him, and convincing of the judgement to come. As these things were preached, the Spirit would convict and convince souls.

Christ’s Last Promises to His Disciples

– Sunday AM February 17, 2019
The very final briefing of the Saviour to the disciples before His arrest tells of much yet to be taught them (by the Spirit), of Christ being ‘seen’ (by the Spirit), of their new liberty in prayer, and of their great joy – all ongoing promises for believers.

The Lord’s High Priestly Prayer

– Sunday AM February 24, 2019
A prayer expressing the united will of the Godhead for things about to be secured by the work of Christ. Awed disciples learn, and generations of believers receive mighty assurance. This introduction shows Christ praying as prophet, priest and king for all His own.

The Characteristics of True Believers

– Sunday AM March 3, 2019
Believers are those who have ‘seen’ God and His ways. They are interceded for and kept, in order to reflect and speak of Christ. They are separated from the world and dedicated to the joy and service of Christ, and they are sanctified by the Word.

Sanctify Them Through Thy Truth

– Sunday AM March 10, 2019
Sanctification (purification, consecration and commitment) by the Word is the will of Christ for His own, and here we turn to the first three of the Ten Commandments to challenge our souls. How should these be applied today in our lives and churches?

Keeping the Lord’s Day

– Sunday AM March 17, 2019
Christ’s high priestly prayer ‘Sanctify them through thy truth’ takes us to the moral law and a review of the fourth commandment. Here are the biblical reasons (and the resulting blessings) for honouring the Lord’s Day. Here also are its biblical purposes and warnings.

Searching Sanctifying Laws

– Sunday AM March 24, 2019
Continuing John 17:17, ‘Sanctify them through thy truth’, we here review the fifth to the seventh commandments to see the wide application given by Moses and the New Testament, each commandment naming the chief sin of a ‘family’ of offences. This is the path of holiness.

Christian Righteousness

– Sunday AM March 31, 2019
The Saviour’s prayer – ‘Sanctify them through thy truth’ has led to a review of the Ten Commandments, this study surveying the scope of the last three – ‘Thou shalt not steal…bear false witness….covet’ – and especially how these guide believers in the life of the church.

Christian Distinctives

– Sunday AM April 7, 2019
In the course of this great ‘high priestly’ prayer, the Lord reveals the purpose of the Christian calling, the vital distinctives of a true Christian faith, and the Christian’s future destiny. Then the hour of redemptive work arrives, and He proceeds so calmly to Calvary.

The Trials of Christ

– Sunday AM April 14, 2019
The Gospel of John here reveals the repeated failure in understanding and loyalty of a representative disciple, the deep dishonesty of the Jewish leaders, and the unwavering purpose and dignity of the Son of God throughout the multiple unjust, overnight hearings leading to Calvary.

Aspects of Calvary

– Friday AM April 19, 2019
The outward aspects of Calvary show the very evil for which the Lord atoned (on behalf of the redeemed). We see vividly portrayed His humiliation, along with human dishonesty, rejection of Himself, corruption and theft. For all these He paid an indescribable price inwardly.

The Strategy of Resurrection

– Sunday AM April 21, 2019
It is clear the resurrection was completely unexpected by the disciples. Here is how it came, first by gentle intimation, then with a caution, then as a proof of Christ’s successful atonement, and then as a command to trust in the living Lord.

Resurrection Counsel

– Sunday AM May 5, 2019
A resurrection appearance of Christ to seven disciples gives a final lesson on dependence upon Him for all future blessing. Then, the threefold restoration of Peter shows love for Christ is the key to blessing and the antidote to self-love and disloyalty.

Glorifying God in Life and Death

– Sunday AM May 12, 2019
Why does the risen Lord tell Peter he will die a martyr? How did this glorify God and why was Peter told that John’s future should not concern him? Here are the reasons and their importance to us as individuals and churches today.