John 5:38

And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. AND YE HAVE NOT HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU - passing now from the Witness-bearer to the testimony borne by the Father in "the lively oracles:" both were alike strangers to their breasts, as was evidenced by their rejecting him to whom all that witness was borne....

38._And you have not his word abiding in you. _This is the true way of profiting, when the word of God takes root in us, so that, being impressed on our hearts, it has its fixed abode there. Christ affirms that the heavenly doctrine has no place among the Jews, because they do not receive the Son of God, on whom it everywhere bestows commendation. And justly does he bring this reproach against them; for it was not in vain that God spake by Moses and the Prophets. Moses had no other intention than to invite all men to go straight to Christ; and hence it is evident that they who reject Christ are not the disciples of Moses. Besides, how can that man have _the word of life abiding in him _who drives from him the life itself? How can that man keep the doctrine of the Law who destroys the soul of the Law, as far as lies in his power? For the Law without Christ is empty and has no solidity. Ju...

30-38 Our Lord returns to his declaration of the entire agreement between the Father and the Son, and declared himself the Son of God. He had higher testimony than that of John; his works bore witness to all he had said. But the Divine word had no abiding-place in their hearts, as they refused to believe in Him whom the Father had sent, according to his ancient promises. The voice of God, accompanied by the power of the Holy Ghost, thus made effectual to the conversion of sinners, still proclaims that this is the beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased. But when the hearts of men are full of pride, ambition, and the love of the world, there is no room for the word of God to abide in them....

Verse 38. _YE HAVE NOT HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU_] Though ye believe the Scriptures to be of God, yet ye do not let them take hold of your hearts-his word is in your mouth, but not in your mind. What a miserable lot! to read the Scriptures as the true sayings of God, and yet to get no salvation from them! _Thy word_, says David, (Psalms 119:11,) _have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee_. This, these Jews had not done. Reader, hast _thou_?...

HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU - His law does not abide in you - that is, you do not regard or obey it. This was the “third” thing that he charged them with. * They had not obeyed the command of God. * They had not regarded his manifestations, either in the times of the old dispensation, or now through the Messiah. * They did not yield to what he had said in the revelation of the Old Testament. FOR WHOM HE HATH SENT - God had foretold that the Messiah would come. He had now given evidence that Jesus was he; but now they rejected him, and this was proof that they did not regard the word of God....

EXPOSITION Here commences the second division of the Gospel (John 5:1) II. THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM, GALILEE, AND JERUSALEM, TO THE DEATH SENTENCE RECORDED BY THE SANHEDRIN. JOHN 5:1 1. _Christ proved, by signs and wonders and testimonies, to be Source of life._ JOHN 5:1 (1)

AND YE HAVE NOT HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU,.... Which some understand of Christ himself, the Logos, or word: who, though he was now with them, being made flesh, and dwelling among them, yet would not long continue with them: though rather this designs the written word, or the Scriptures of truth; and especially that part of them, which contains prophecies concerning the Messiah, which did not dwell in them richly, nor they dwell in their meditation on them, as was requisite. Or rather, it may intend that word of God expressed in the testimony he bore to the sonship of Christ at his baptism, by a voice from heaven, which made no lasting impression upon the minds and hearts of the Jews that heard it; as appears by what follows: FOR WHOM HE HATH SENT, HIM YE BELIEVE NOT; meaning himself; for if they had had either a due regard to the sacred oracles, or to that voice from heaven at his baptism...

John 5:24. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,_ If we truly believe the word of Christ, and trust in him who sent his Son into the world, we have at this moment everlasting life. John 5:24. _And shalt not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life._ What a grand verse this is! It is worthy to be written in letters of gold at every street corner; would that we all knew the fullness of its meaning by heartfelt experience! John 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (John 5:1 .)_ 2. The Opposition of the Jews. (John 5:10 .) 3. His Unity with the Father. (John 5:19 .) 4. The Present Hour. Believers Delivered from Death and Judgment. (John 5:24 .) 5. The Future Hour. His Power to Raise the Dead. (John 5:26 .) 6. Witness Concerning Himself. (John 5:30 .) 7. The Witness of John. (John 5:33

WITNESS. The subject is introduced abruptly, but rises naturally out of the circumstances. The claims made, if less than the author represents them, were such as to raise the question of authority. By what authority could He substantiate them? In the first place, John the Baptist, in whose teaching the people for a time took such pleasure. His chief witness is God Himself, whose testimony is declared through the works which He enables Jesus to do, and also directly in Scripture, which they study in the hope of gaining life. And yet they reject the Prophet, whom Moses in those very Scriptures (_cf._ Deuteronomy 18:15 ff.) and many others foretold....