That You May Believe — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:01 Introduction to the Gospel of John

Good morning. Good morning. Morning. It is well with my soul even when it's snowing outside. Now we're gonna start a series on the gospel of John, and we're excited about it.

We finished our first Thessalonians study. And so what I'm gonna do is just give you an introduction to it to try to get you excited about it and get you reading. And I probably have studied and read the the the gospel of John more than ever this whole week in in preparation. So I'm kind of excited about it myself. And what I wanna do is start with John chapter 20 and verse 26.

So if you can turn there, John chapter 20 and verse 26. And before we go any further, let's just take a minute to ask the Lord to bless our time in the word. K? Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the holy word that you have given us, and we pray that we would carefully analyze what you have for us.

Pray that the spirit of God would guide our talk and that Jesus will be glorified. We pray this in his name. Amen. Those of you who are visiting, we're very excited that you're here, and our prayers that you will feel at home, and our desire is to to be a biblical church to teach the care... The scriptures carefully.

John chapter 20 verse 26. And after eight days, eight days after the resurrection, again his disciples were inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, doors having been shut and stood in their midst. So in other words, nobody opened the doors. He just walked right through the walls and suddenly he was inside the building and he said, peace be with you.

Verse 27, and he said to Thomas, reach here your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it into my side. So in other words, Thomas, I I really did resurrect, and I'm not a ghost. I am in the body, a resurrected body. My scars are still there. Put your hand in here.

Put your hand on my side. Remember the spear? Put your hand there. And and be not unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God.

Wow. And Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe. K? So so the the main word of the gospel of John is the word believe.

Believe. Everything John is gonna say is driving us towards this thought that we want you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the thrust. Verse 29... I'm sorry.

Verse 30. Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, in this gospel, but these have been written that you may... There's a keyword, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that in believing, you may have life in his name. So so John just tells us at the end of his writing with... Towards the end, this is the purpose of this book.

This... Everything I've been saying comes to this conclusion. I want you to believe who Jesus is. Don't don't just take him as any other person, any other name, but he's the very God who became a man, and I want you to believe this truth. And if you believe that truth, you're gonna have eternal life in his name.

3:39 John the Eyewitness and Disciple

John thirteen twenty three. Jesus was so intimate... I'm sorry. John was so intimate with Jesus that he leans on his breast. I mean, that's really close.

Right? In a pure way. There's a real deep relationship with him. Now what I appreciate about the the gospel of John is that he was an eyewitness of everything he's gonna tell us. So I'm gonna quote to you or if you wanna turn to first John...

I I like first John, but he wrote first John as well. But look at what he says there. First John chapter one and verse one. Turn there quickly, and I want you to see what he says. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld with our hands and and our hands handled concerning the word of life.

That is Jesus. Okay? So so in other words, he was an eyewitness. What he's writing down, he himself saw it. So notice what he said that that from the very beginning when he was with Jesus, what they heard.

So they heard him talk and what he heard, he's gonna write down a lot of what he heard. And then what he says, well, we saw with our own eyes. So so we're not making it up. Peter said the same thing in in second Peter. What I wrote, I didn't make it up, but I actually saw the lord Jesus transform.

I was an eyewitness. I saw it happen. And so John is saying the same thing that that I heard what he said. I saw it with my eyes, and I I and I beheld him, and my hands touched him. Because not only was he God, but he was fully man, and I was able to touch him, and he wasn't some ghost or some some strange thing.

He wasn't some UFO guy. He was a man, and yet he was God. And I touched him. I saw him. I heard him talk.

Right? And so, wow. What what a tremendous thing to be able to go into a gospel and understand that he... I witnessed it. He saw it.

And there's no greater testimony than that. Right? In a in a court of law, when somebody says, I saw the... I saw what happened. Wow.

What power behind behind that? Okay. So he was he was part of the inner circle of of of some of the disciples with Jesus really close with him. He was a son of Zebedee and Salom and was the younger brother of James. Now James was the one of the first apostles to be martyred.

You can read Acts, and you'll see it right there in the first 10 verse chapters. It's right there. Alright? So James was his brother... His older brother was the first one to die because of Jesus.

Alright. They were also known... These two brothers were also known as the sons of thunder. They were full of zeal. And you remember when when they said...

When when some guy didn't agree with him, hey, Lord, why don't you just send fire from heaven and burn that dude up? Right? And Jesus says, hey, calm down, guys. Calm down. You you don't know what spirit I'm...

I I am. You know? I I don't come just to burn everybody up, but I came to offer salvation. Right? So I'm not just gonna burn this guy, crisp him, and get rid of him.

I'm gonna see if he would believe so he can be saved. Right? And so these guys were really full of zeal, but, you know, you can be overzealous and then burn your testimony. Right? And so Jesus had to calm these guys down.

I appreciate your zeal, but but remember, the spirit of God is full of grace and full of love. Right? Okay. Now where did he write this book from? Where he write...

Anybody have any idea? Where did John write his book from? Yes, sir. That was in the That's where he wrote first John from. First, second John, and Revelation.

Yes. Okay. So where did he write his book from? I'm gonna try to help you out. Alright?

Now Polycarp... Listen to this now. Polycarp was a disciple of John. So the apostle John had many people that led to Christ and they were discipling. Polycarp was born in the year '70, and he discipled them for quite a while.

So Polycarp was the one that died in in Smyrna. Right? He was 86 years old. I've talked to you about him before. And he gave his life for the Lord Jesus, for the testimony of Christ, for preaching them.

Alright? So Polycarp was discipled by the apostle John. Now Polycarp in turn, disciple Irenaeus. Irenaeus. He lived from the year 01/30 to 200.

So so Polycarp then invested a lot of time in in Irenaeus, and Polycarp and Irenaeus both wrote a lot of things about Jesus. And this is what Irenaeus testified. Okay. The the disciple of Polycarp testified this, that on the authority of Polycarp, because he was John's disciple, that John wrote the gospel during his residence in Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age. Alright?

So he was in Asia Minor in Ephesus, and he was there for quite a while in his older years, and several men testify. We have the writings that that testify that while he was writing it, they were watching him do it. So Polycarp was one of them observing John as he was writing the gospel out in in Ephesus as he was an old man already. Clement of Alexandria, who lived from AD one fifty to 02/15, wrote that John, aware of the facts set forth in the other gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, being moved by the holy spirit composed a spiritual gospel, the gospel of John. Alright?

So he did it when he was older. So most scholars believe that it was between the year '85 and ninety AD that he wrote this book. In Asia Minor, in Ephesus. Right? The famous Ephesus.

9:31 Comparison with Other Gospels

They wanted to know, is this the legitimate messiah, the Jewish messiah promised in the Old Testament. Alright? And so we see many quotes from the Old Testament in the... In in Matthew's gospel. In fact, a 120 quotes from the Old Testament to prove that he was the real Messiah, the real Jewish Messiah.

Also, in his genealogy, it traces him back all the way to Abraham who was the first Jew. Right? And so Abraham goes all the way back to Abraham and it goes to the Jewish line. So you can say, look. He was the legitimate one.

Here's his genealogy. By the way, that's why that's there. And that's just so we can say, okay. A bunch of boring names. Who are these guys?

But it's to prove that he was a real deal. Okay? So you you see a lot of talk about the the the kingdom of God because Jesus was supposed to be the one ushering in the kingdom of God. But remember, the Jewish people rejected Jesus. Consequently, the the the promise of the kingdom is is held back right now until Jesus comes in a second coming, and then he's gonna unfold the kingdom of God.

And so in the Matthew... Matthew's gospel, you hear this... The the the statement constantly, the son of David. The son of David. Because he's trying to prove to you that he was a true Jewish Messiah, and and he does prove that when you study the gospel of Matthew.

K? I knocked this little thingy down. That's what I'm doing right now. Alright. Okay.

So then we come to Mark. Mark shows Jesus as a servant. So he wrote to the Gentiles and Roman audience, and Mark emphasizes on what Jesus did rather than what he said. Because the Romans and Gentiles, what do you do? What do you do?

Well, here's what he did. And the keyword there is immediately. He says that word 40 times. Read the gospel of Mark and look for it. You'll see it everywhere immediately.

And so Mark kinda writes fast. You're like, when you're reading his book, you're like, man, is this dude in a hurry or something? And he's he's writing really fast. K. Then we come to...

So so Mark wanted... Matthew wanted to show him as a Jewish king, the legitimate one. Mark wanted to show him as a servant. Look at what he did. Luke wants to show him as a true man, as a true man.

And so so you... The the the big word is the son of man, offering salvation to the whole world. So this is why the genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Luke goes all the way back to Adam. Because I want to show you that this is a true man, and you can trace him all the way back to Adam. You can trace his name.

He was a real man, and so you see him with his emotions. You see him tired. You see him hungry. Luke talks about his birth and the details of his childhood because he wants to show you that this was a real man. You know?

And so, the emphasis is on Christ humanity. So, we can see then that the holy spirit is he was guiding these men to write the gospels. Everyone had a purpose because they wanna show you who Jesus is And so Matthew is to the Jewish people to show you that he's a legitimate Jewish king, the Messiah. Mark, to show you that he was a servant. Luke, to show you that he was a true man, so it emphasizes humanity.

13:10 John's Emphasis: Jesus is God

Amen. That's why he writes it. He wants to show you that he's God. Okay? So let's do a few more comparisons before we dig in a little bit more.

Alright. Now John... There's a lot of things in the gospel of John that are not in the synoptic gospels. What are the synoptic gospels? Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptics.

Why? Because they're they're similar in content. So in other words, Jesus' baptism is mentioned in in in in all three, some of the miracles him doing... Removing demons from people. A lot of the stories, you can see them and compare them.

Right? They show them to you in different angles. So that... That's what's going on there. Alright?

Now there's a lot of things that that John didn't write about that that were... That are in the synoptic gospels that are very important. For example, the temptation of Jesus. You read the gospel of John, and you won't see that in there. The transfiguration.

You say, man, that's huge. Yeah. But John didn't include that. The institution of the Lord's Supper is not mentioned by John. John mentions no example, the gospel of John, of Jesus casting out a demon.

Go and read it. Check it out. You won't see one example of that. The sermon on the mount is not talked about by John's gospel. The Lord's prayer is not found there either.

Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting? There are no parables in the gospel of John. Oh oh, by the way, the vine in the branches is not considered a parable by by by most all scholars. It's more of a teaching, but not really a parable.

Okay? Now some other things that are in the gospel of John that are not in the synoptics. What are synoptics? Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Right?

Because they're similar in content. But John is very distinct, very distinct. Okay. Now John... The chapter two through four of John, the gospel of John, is not mentioned at all in the first three books, the first three gospels.

Right? The early Galilean ministry is not found in the synoptics. Now, what is that? In other words, when he first started ministry in the area of Galilee, it's not mentioned in the first three. Prior visits to Jerusalem before the Passion Week are mentioned in John but are not found in the synoptics.

I don't know if you knew that or not. But the first three books only mention Jesus going to Jerusalem once, one big trip. But the Gospel of John shows several visits. So that's interesting. Now John...

Well, before I get to that point, seven sign miracles that are in the gospel of John are not mentioned in the other ones. Well, they are kind of... Anyway, I'll explain that in a minute. The resurrection of Lazarus, chapter 11, is not mentioned in the synoptics. The farewell discourse, chapter 13 through 17, including the the great prayer of Jesus is not found in the in the synoptics.

Alright. So a large amount of teaching on the holy spirit is found only in the gospel of John. And here's another thing that John never mentioned. He never mentioned the Sadducees. Did you know that?

Check it out. Read the book. You never see the Sadducees mentioned in the gospel of John. Anyway, some... Just some things so that when you when you read the bible, you gotta observe those little things.

You know what I mean? You gotta observe them. Okay. Now according to the gospel of John, Jesus' ministry was about three and a half years in in length. The first three seem to show only about a year, a little bit over a year of length in in in the teaching.

So that's interesting. Right? He had a little... Another little twist to to the picture. Alright?

17:17 Jesus as the Word Become Flesh

In John twenty and twenty eight, my Lord and my God, calling him God. Right? And so we find... I found that very interesting also. Let's continue.

Mark begins his gospel with Jesus' baptism because remember, he's concerned with what he does. Matthew and Luke begin their gospels with the birth of Jesus. John begins with eternity past. In the beginning, the word Jesus already was. Right?

Very good. Now let's look at some of the things that John did were very distinct. Go go to chapter two with me. Go to chapter two. Now as as John is writing this gospel, he's acknowledging the fact that when the event happened, that he didn't quite understand the full significance of the event.

So look at John chapter two, and look at look at verse 17. And his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for thy house will will consume me. So he's looking back and say, hey, we remembered that that's what this meant after the resurrection. Look at verse 22. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciple remembered that he said, and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus had spoken.

So he's he's speaking as saying at the time when Jesus spoke about the resurrection, we didn't get it. But now after he resurrected, I remember what he said and like, oh, yeah. Now I understand. I get it. Look at chapter 12 and verse 16.

Chapter 12 and verse 16. He'll he'll say the same expression again. He'll say the same expression again. These things his disciples did not understand at first. But when Jesus was glorified, that is after the resurrection, then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him.

And, again, chapter 20 and verse nine, we can see one other observation of that. For just as they did not understand the scriptures that he must rise again from the dead. So his disciples went away again to their own homes. And so there was a lot of confusion until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then suddenly the disciples like, wow. We understand the significance of Jesus and everything that he said and did.

Right now, John also does long discourses, and he has long talks. For example, chapter three with Nicodemus, a long talk with him, trying to get him to the point of belief. Right? Getting saved. He has a long talk with a Samaritan woman, and the whole point of talking to her was that she would get saved.

Right? To prove that he was a true Messiah. And then he has a a long discourse where he talks about the... Him being the bread of life and the other long discourses. Now John also in his in his gospel talks about the temple and the body.

He does comparison. The the... This temple is gonna be knocked down, the Temple Of Jerusalem, not this particular one. Right? It's gonna be knocked down, but my body, the temple, is gonna be resurrected three days later.

So he does this comparison thing. He says water and spirit. Give me water to drink, he tells the woman, and then you won't be thirsty anymore. He goes, wow. What kind of water is that?

But he was talking about the spirit. And so he does this word play. Right? Very good. So let's let's continue to talk about a little bit more.

He likes to talk... Do a lot of contrast, light versus darkness, truth versus falsehood, life versus death, above, below, freedom and slavery. So he likes to talk about all of that. Alright. So let's go back now and and start to look at more of the gospel and how he constructs his argument.

21:43 The Key Verses and Seven Signs

Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. Alright. Now the gospel of John, though it talks about a lot of signs, only mentions seven signs. So many people call it the the the book of the seven signs. Alright?

What are the seven signs? I'm just gonna mention them to you so as you're reading, you can look for them. Alright. Number one, the water turned to wine. You remember that one?

John chapter two. The second sign, the healing of the royal official's son, John chapter four. The third sign, the healing of the lame man, John chapter five. The fourth sign, the feeding of the multitude, John chapter six. The fifth sign, the walking on water, John chapter six.

The sixth sign, the healing of the blind man, John chapter nine. And the seventh, what was the seventh? The raising of Lazarus. That's right. And all of these signs are supernatural, and John is saying, look.

Look at these seven signs. There's no way an ordinary man can do this. He has to be the Messiah. He has to be God in the body. Who can do these signs unless he was God?

And that's why he says in this verse, and many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, but he only mentioned these seven, which are not written in the book. But the signs that were written, they were done that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. So the word... The the keyword to the gospel of John is what? Believe.

That's right. How many times is it found in the gospel of John? Come on. What do you think? How many times?

You can guess. Nobody's gonna throw you out of here if you miss it. Come on. How many? 50.

50? Okay. Good try. That was good. Just close.

More. More. 75. Keep going like a... Like an auction.

You know? Alright. I'll just tell you 100. 100 times. Alright?

So the word belief is found in every chapter except for eighteen and nineteen because that's describing the crucifixion of Jesus. So it wasn't necessary right there. But every other chapter has it everywhere. The keyword is believe. Believe.

That's what he wants. Alright. So I want you to go on a little journey with me and and through the through the gospel of John. Go to the very beginning, and we're gonna look at what John has to say about believe. Alright?

Every time we look at verse, God's speaking to us. Amen? So John chapter one and verse 12. 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. Now I I...

I'm just selecting a few because we can be here all all morning reading all the by... All the verses that talk about believing in him. Alright? So he gave them the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. Chapter three and verse 15.

That whoever believes in him, in Jesus, will have eternal life. Chapter five verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, that's Jesus speaking, and believes him who sent me, you believe that the father sent Jesus, has eternal life and does not come into judgment. That is the judgment of the end when God's gonna judge those who rejected him, the living and the dead, but has passed out of death into life. Man, look at that promise. Look at that promise.

That you believe this, you have eternal life, you won't be judged, and you... You're no longer dead, but now you're alive. Chapter six and verse 29. This is the work of God. This is what what do I have to do to be saved?

What do I have to do? This is the work of God that you believe in him who sent me. What do you have to do according to the Bible? Believe. Believe.

Do you believe that Jesus sent them? Do you believe that he's God? That's what you have to do. You don't have to do anything else. It's not by works.

You believe. Chapter seven and verse 38. Chapter seven verse 38. He who believes in me, Jesus speaking, as the scripture said, from his inmost being, from inside and spirit, shall flow rivers of living water. In other words, you believe in Jesus, you're alive, man.

You're alive. You're alive. Eleven twenty six. Eleven twenty six. Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Man, listen to that statement. Do you believe this? That's what it says. You believe in Jesus, you're gonna never die. You have eternal life.

Eleven forty, Jesus said to her, did I not say to you if you believe, you will see the glory of God? Chapter 14 and verse 11, believe me that I am in the father and that the father in me. Otherwise, believe on account of the works, the seven miracles, all the works that I'm doing themselves. Believe it. Believe it.

Look, I'm I'm the real deal. Alright. You can go on reading and you'll see that over and over again. I just selected a few. The names and claims of Jesus.

27:46 Jesus's Claims About Himself

Chapter one and verse 49, he's the son of God. Chapter one and verse 49, he's the king of Israel. Chapter four and verse 26, I, who I'm speaking to you, is telling the woman, am he? I'm the Messiah. So he directly told the Samaritan woman, I'm the Messiah.

And chapter four and verse 42, the the Samaritan people said, we believe now because we see Jesus and we spoke to him that he is the savior of the world. He's the savior of the world. Also, his great I am statements. He said, I am the bread of life. When you think of bread, what do you think?

If I don't have bread, I'm gonna die. I have to eat. What are you gonna do when we leave here? You're gonna go eat. Eat bread.

Not necessarily bread. Right? It could be spaghetti or whatever, but bread is a bread is a a synonym for food. Right? And he says, I'm the bread of life.

If you don't eat me, you're gonna die. So now we gotta take them in completely. Receive them fully. I'm the bread of life. I'm the bread of life.

You can't just look at me and say that bread looks good. You gotta take me in and receive me. He said also himself, I am the light of the world, eight and verse 12. In chapter 10 and verse seven, he said, am the door of the sheep. If if you're gonna come to my house and come in, you're gonna come in through my front door.

Right? You come into the window, you're a thief. I'm probably gonna shoot you. If I don't have a gun, I'll throw a knife at you or something like that. Right?

So Jesus says, I'm the door. You... You're gonna come into the door through me. I'm the door of sheep as us as a people. You wanna be saved?

You gotta come through Jesus. I'm the door. He's the only door to get to heaven. Then he said in ten eleven, I am the good shepherd. He said in eleven twenty five, I am the resurrection and the life.

He said in fourteen six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father that is... Goes to heaven but through me, through Jesus, the only way. So he said in chapter 10 and verse 30, I am the father are one, saying he was equal with God. Then the people responded in verse 31, we're gonna kill you.

They got rocks. We're gonna stone them. Jesus said, why are gonna try to kill me? Here's what here's what they say. Because you being a man make yourself out to be God.

So Jesus clearly said many times, I'm God. He said, I'm the Messiah. I'm the light of the world. I'm the bread of life. And here's the greatest of all his sayings, chapter 19 verse 30.

He said, when he was on the cross, right before he died, he said, it is finished. It is finished. Everything that was necessary for you to be forgiven and given eternal life, I accomplished it on the cross. Father, I did everything. Now they can be forgiven and given eternal life, and he and he gave up the ghost, gave up the spirit.

What what what a powerful word. It's finished. It's done. You can be saved today if you believe. If you believe.

31:17 Conclusion and Final Call to Believe

Here's what we are are gonna see as we look at the gospel of John. That Jesus as the word, the Messiah, and the son of God. You're gonna see that Jesus brings gift of salvation to mankind. And you're gonna see that men either accept or reject the offer. You're gonna see it throughout.

K? And so today, Jesus is saying, do you believe this? Do you believe this? Everything... John, see, he wrote every word here so that the...

At the conclusion of his writings... So let's go to chapter 20. We're gonna conclude with John. So so everything he wrote, he did it on purpose, thinking it out, guided by the holy spirit so that at the end of the writings, it can get to the point where you say, okay. I I can't deny it any longer.

This is not just any man. This is a real man who was obviously God. Look at these seven miracles. Look at the power of his word. Look what he...

He said he's God. And then he said it was finished. He he did the work for our salvation. Then he rose from the dead. He was alive.

And then Thomas saw him, and he goes, man, I was doubting even to the very end, but now that I see him alive, he falls on his knees and he says, my lord, my god. That's what John is driving us to to that point. Is that true of you? Is he your lord and your god? And not just some some figure, but he's a real historical person who's fully god, who died on a cross, who resurrected, and he's got the scars in his hands.

And when they saw him, they they were like, wow. And they just fell down, claiming this truth that he's lord and he's god. So verse 30, many other signs he did, but he only chose to talk about these seven include... And then the eighth is the resurrection. Right?

Jesus performed in the presence of disciples, which are not written down, but these have been written... Why was all this written? This whole gospel that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, which is equivalent to the Messiah. Right? The son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Have you believed this? That's what Jesus wants you to do. Listen. It's as simple if you say, you know, God, I haven't realized who Jesus was, but I believe it today. You believe it today for the first time, then the Lord says you have eternal life.

What a message. What a message. Listen. If you wanna know more about it, please come and talk to me. But don't walk out of here until you give your life to Jesus and you bow to him.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that Jesus, through these seven signs and the resurrection, there's there's just no way we can deny the fact that he's God and that his work on the cross paid for our sin. I I believe it, Lord. I'd say to everybody here listening to, I believe it. You are Lord and you're God, and I bow to you.

If there's anyone here who has yet to do that, Lord, I pray that right now they would believe and be saved. In Jesus' name, amen.

That You May Believe — John 19-20

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That You May Believe — John 19-20

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