Explanation - This is a simple review of belief and unbelief in the first 9 chapters of John. Simple conclusions follow each section. As an aside, Jesus still does miracles, for the greatest miracle ("sign") today is a transformed life (2Co 5:17+)!
John 1:7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
JOHN WAS A WITNESS. AM I?
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
TO RECEIVE JESUS = TO BELIEVE. IN HIS NAME = ALL THAT HE IS.
John 2:11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
DISCIPLES BEGAN TO BELIEVE IN HIM, NOT IN HIS SIGNS, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS SIGNS.
John 2:19-25 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting (BELIEVING) Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
DISCIPLES BELIEVED IN WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAID ABOUT JESUS.
OTHERS BELIEVED IN HIS NAME OBSERVING HIS SIGNS, BUT JESUS PUTS DOUBT IN THEIR BELIEF.John 3:14-18 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
BELIEF IN HIM YIELDS ETERNAL LIFE = SALVATION = NOT BE JUDGED.
NO BELIEF = JUDGED ALREADY.John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
BELIEF IS IN THE SON => ETERNAL LIFE. TRUE BELIEF => YIELDS OBEDIENCE.
NO BELIEF/OBEDIENCE => WRATH OF GOD EVEN NOW!John 4:39-42 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
NON-JEWS BELIEVED BECAUSE OF A WITNESS.
MANY BELIEVED BECAUSE OF HIS WORD = TODAY THIS IS THE SCRIPTURES.John 4:48-53 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household.
BELIEF IN JESUS WORD => NOT SEEING IS BELIEVING BUT BELIEVING IS SEEING! BELIEF OF HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD MAY LEAD TO BELIEF IN FAMILY.
John 5:16; 18; 24; 38 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. (5:18) For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. (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. (5:38) “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
HEARS JESUS' WORD - SCRIPTURE TODAY - BELIEVES IN FATHER => ETERNAL LIFE. NO JUDGMENT. DEATH =>LIFE.
TO NOT BELIEVE = NOT HAVE HIS WORD ABIDING WITHIN.John 5:44-47 “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? 45 “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. 46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
NO BELIEF IF YOU SEEK GLORY FROM MEN NOT GOD.
BELIEF IN MOSES [SCRIPTURES] = BELIEVE JESUS & HIS WORDS.John 6:29-31 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’”
WORK OF GOD = BELIEVE.
BEWARE OF PROCRASTINATING ASKING FOR SIGNS!John 6:35-36 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
COME TO JESUS = BELIEF IN HIM = SATISFACTION OF SPIRITUAL HUNGER AND THIRST.
John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
BEHOLD SON TODAY IN HIS WORD. BELIEVE IN HIM => ETERNAL LIFE. RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.
John 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
BELIEF => ETERNAL LIFE.
John 6:60-69 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” 66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
FALSE DISCIPLES DO NOT BELIEVE, DEPART AND EVEN BETRAY. TRUE DISCIPLES BELIEVE, STAY AND HONOR HIM.
John 7:31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”
BELIEVED IN HIM. DRAWN BY HIS SIGNS.
John 7:38-39 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
BELIEF IN JESUS => RECEIVE SPIRIT WITHIN AFTER HE WAS GLORIFIED
John 7:48 “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?
MOST RULERS DID NOT BELIEVE, cf 1Co 1:26-27+.
John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am (Ex 3:14), you will die in your sins.”
NOT BELIEVE JESUS IS "I AM" => DIE IN YOUR SINS.
John 8:30-31 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. 31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
BELIEF IN HIM => TESTED BY ABIDING IN HIS WORD.
ABIDING IN HIS WORD = TRUE DISCIPLES.John 9:18 The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight,
DID NOT BELIEVE THE SIGN.
John 9:34-38 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.
JESUS SEEKS UNBELIEVERS.
HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO THEM.
BELIEF RESULTS IN WORSHIP AS LORD ~ RECOGNITION THAT HE IS LORD.
SO MUCH FOR THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST SO-CALLED "LORDSHIP SALVATION!"