John Pt. 1 | Introduction

Introduction to the Gospel of John and the True Christmas Story

All right, new chapter in the life of the church. If you would, please turn into your Bibles to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John.

Join me in prayer.

Glorious God in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this day. The last time that I attempted to preach through this book, I was convicted of holding to a wrong theology, which set me on the path to where I am today.

Lord, I thank you for that day, for that moment. Please, in the name of Jesus Christ, use me as we walk through this book to proclaim the excellent truths of your son.

Amen.

All right, so the Gospel of John, all right, we've been through Galatians, we've been through Hebrews, and I hope that this was something that you enjoyed, right? I hope it wasn't too burdensome on you to hear me proclaim.

And I know I've learned a lot along the way. Learning how to preach standing behind a pulpit has been something huge for me. Back when I was first preached through the book of John, I didn't believe in a pulpit.

I just would hold a Bible and walk around the room, right? And if the pulpit got in my way, it might have got a little back foot, you know, kick. Like, what is that thing you've been doing here? Like, I can remember sitting down beside someone and just looking at them and preaching.

Like, it was just Pentecostal crazy. And so I was reminded that as I was entering into this book, the special moment that I had when I got to John chapter 3 and how the Lord convicted me, where I was and how what I was being taught was false.

And you know, I pray that today. I do not want to be up here letting a system lead the word of God, but letting the word of God lead the message. So in our first message of the gospel of John, we will deal with its intro.

The intro, introducing the gospel of John. So we will not be breaking down a text. We're going to introduce it. It's going to be very informational. And I think it's going to be helpful as we walk through the book of John.

The Prologue of John as the True Christmas Story

To begin our series in John, we must consider six questions. Who, what, when, where, to whom, and why. Who wrote John? What is John about? When was John written? Where was John written? To whom was John written to?

And why?

Was it written?

But before we answer these six questions, I want us to read, I want us to read together the, my iPad's messing up just a little bit. The prologue, I want us to read the prologue together. I want us to see with our eyes.

I want us to hear with our ears. And I want us to understand with our heart and mind the true. Now, I know what month it is. The true Christmas story. That goes further back than any other gospel. The gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Matthew's genealogy has, starts with Jesus outlining Jesus's kingship. Him being from the line of David. Right, so as the book opens, it gives this genealogy proving that Jesus is from the line of David.

The gospel of Mark begins with Jesus being the son of God and about the forerunner that was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, speaking of John the Baptist. And the gospel of Luke begins with angels visiting the earth, foretelling the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of John, however, begins with in the beginning. It begins with in eternity past. Right, the gospel of John begins by showing us the pre-existence of Jesus. It lets us know that Jesus was before the beginning.

And so let's read. We're just gonna read verses, we're just gonna read verses one through 18. Verses one through 18. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light, the true light which gives light to everyone who has come into the world.

He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said he comes after, who comes after me is ranked before me because he was before me.

For from his fullness, we have received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the father's side, he has made him known.

Now over the next several weeks, we will walk through the prologue of John, verse by verse, and we will see the beauty and the unique ordering of this opening of the first Christmas. First question. Who wrote John?

The Authorship of John: Manuscript, Internal, and Early Church Evidence

Now this might seem strange to ask, right? To begin with the book, who wrote John? Right, I mean, the name is there, since it's called the Gospel According to John. But there has been some debate, though not in the history of the church.

So outside the history of the church, there has been debate. Just like the book of Hebrews, the author of this book does not pin his name. Some believe that this gospel was written by Thomas. We see that this is speaking about doubting Thomas.

So when we get to chapter 20, we will see where Jesus appears after his resurrection and Thomas doubts. So there's been speculation that this gospel was written by Thomas, or they also believed Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, whom Jesus rose from the dead, and we'll come to that in chapter 11.

While others who hold to the traditional view believed it to be John, the son of Zebedee. So this would have been the brother of James, one of his 12 disciples. He would have been an apostle, a pillar in the church.

And because I believe this view, I follow the church tradition, we're going to examine the traditional view of who wrote the gospel of John, and we'll do so in three ways. We'll look at the manuscript evidence, the internal evidence, and early church evidence.

First, we'll look at the manuscript evidence. The manuscript fragment P75 and P66, dated in AD 200, called this gospel. The gospel according to John. Same thing that we have, if you have a ESV Bible, I mean, that's the heading that I'm looking at when I look at my Bible, the gospel according to John.

Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, dated in the fourth century, called this gospel according to John, according to John. So when we look at the manuscript evidence from 200 AD, and also in the fourth century, some of the main documents that we have recognize that this was written by John, and it would be speaking about the son of Zebedee.

When we look at the internal evidence, the internal evidence tells us that this book was written by, listen, the disciple whom Jesus loved, also known as the beloved disciple. In John chapter 13, John chapter 13 tells us that he, the disciple that Jesus loved, was at the Last Supper.

So John 13, beginning in verse 21. John 13, beginning in verse 21. Listen, after saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and he testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.

Then the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at the table at Jesus' side, and Simon Peter mentioned to Jesus of whom he was speaking.

So right here, we have the disciple whom Jesus loved. So there's been questions about why would John call himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, right? If John is the author, and this is speaking about him, he didn't pin his name, but he specifically is speaking about the disciple whom Jesus loved, then he seems to be calling himself that, if this is talking about John.

We will finish that question in a second. John chapter 19 has him, the disciple whom Jesus loves, at the cross, and I mention that because it's believed that it was John that this took place with. Church tradition, this is John.

So if you look at verse 25, but standing at the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the mother of Colossus, and Mary Madeline. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son, and then he said to the disciple, behold your mother, and from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

So again, it's believed that this is speaking about John. All the other disciples are named in this book, particularly except for John. And so the idea is when he speaks of himself, he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, the beloved disciple.

But I think John chapter 21's gonna give us a definite answer. So John chapter 21 has him, the disciple whom Jesus loved, as a witness, as the origin of this gospel. So 21, beginning in verse 20. Again, so this is gonna be like, so this is in the context of after the resurrection.

The disciples have been fishing, they see Jesus on the shore, they come to the shore. This is where Jesus confronts Peter, tells him to feed his sheep three times. And maybe I should read a little bit of that, just for context's sake.

So let's read verse 15. And when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, notice it's naming him. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

And he said to him, feed my lambs. And he said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him a third time. I mean, feed my sheep.

And he said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was greedy because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.

And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Look at verse 18. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and you walked wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will be stretched out.

I mean, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This, he said to show him by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, follow me.

So this death that he would glorify God was to be crucified. We know from church history that Peter was crucified. He felt unworthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus, so they crucified him upside down.

When you see the Catholics do the cross, notice it's an upside down cross. It's pointing to the cross of Peter. They believe Peter to be the first pope. So it's Peter's cross. The upside down cross is Peter's cross.

So the context of what we're about to read is dealing with verse 18. So Peter responds. It says, Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. The one who also weaned back against him during the supper, so now it's pointing back to chapter 13, who had said, Lord, who is the one who is to betray you?

And when Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? So he's speaking about the disciple whom Jesus loved. What about this man? Because you told me that I'm gonna die in a way to glorify God of being crucified.

What about this man? What about the disciple whom you love? And Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that the disciple will not die, speaking of the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Yet Jesus did not say that he will not die, but if it's my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, who has written these things.

We know that his testimony is true. So right here, it's telling us that the disciple whom he loved, he is the one who writ these things, but if you look back in verse 23, Jesus says, if I want him to remain until I come.

So I believe this is speaking about the coming that we kind of looked at in Sunday school. Not the second coming, but Jesus coming in judgment. There's cults out there today that believe that the gospel, that John the apostle is still alive.

Right?

As a matter of fact, there's a movie, Dracula 2000, right? Who take this verse, but instead of applying it to John, they applied it to the disciple that portrayed Jesus. And so the first Dracula could not die because it was Judas Iscariot.

And Jesus said, if I want him to live until I come, what's that to you? So basically, he could not die until the return of Christ. But that's not what this is speaking about, right? This is speaking about the coming of Jesus in judgment, and guess who was the only disciple who lived past that time?

John.

All the other disciples died before AD 70. John is the only one who made it past that time to receive the judgment come upon Jerusalem. And so with that information, and what's given to us, I believe it's fair to conclude that the disciple whom Jesus loved is John, the son of Zebedee.

And so why would John call himself that?

That's the question.

I believe there's some intimate, like John is saying something that, that I believe that we're blindsided, like we're not seeing today, right? I believe if you were to hear any of the disciples talk about their experience with Jesus, they would speak about how Jesus loved them.

And it's the same way of me and you, like if I was to say, man, Jesus loves me so much, but if I don't say that of you, I'm not saying he doesn't love you so much. He loves us the same. But this disciple is recognizing the love that Jesus has for him, and he's so bold to confess that love that Jesus has for him.

And so just because he's saying that he's the disciple whom Jesus loved, he's not saying that Jesus didn't love all of his disciples. He's just recognizing, he sees this love that Jesus has for him, and he's overwhelmed by it.

And I would say we would do well to have that same attitude. For Pastor Kyle to be like, I'm the pastor whom Jesus loves, right? And by saying so, he wouldn't be saying that Jesus doesn't love me. Because I, in the same sense, just say, I'm the pastor whom Jesus loves.

And you say, I'm the congregant. Like, we should all be confessing that we are the one whom Jesus loves. Because guess what, it's true. We're not saying it in the same way that we would be our spouse.

Like, I'm the man that Catherine loves. And guess what, she don't love any other man.

Right?

It's different with God. It's different with Christ. Every one of us should have the boldness to say that. And in early church evidence, in the history of the church, AD 170 through 190, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Irenaeus believed the gospel to be written by none other than John, the son of Zebedee.

Eusebius, AD 325, in his books, Ecclesiastical History, book five, chapter eight, section four, says this. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who had even rested on his breast, himself gave forth the gospel.

And he's speaking about giving the fourth gospel. While he was living at Ephesus in Asia. So if you believe like me that this book was written by John, the son of Zebedee, that he is the author of this fourth gospel, you are in good standing with three evidence.

The manuscript evidence, the internal evidence, and early church evidence. So the second question is, what is John about? So the gospel of John, it seems pretty simple. It's a gospel, right? The word gospel means good news.

This book is a book of good news, right? Matthew, a book of good news. Mark, a book of good news. Luke, a book of good news. John, all the same, a book of good news. The gospel of John, however, is broken down into two sections.

Section one is the book of signs. That's chapter one through chapter 12. Section two is the book of glory, and that's chapters 13 through chapters 21. The book of signs in chapters one through 12 focuses on Jesus's earthly ministry during his three and a half years on earth, his ministry being, fulfilling what was said about him, performing signs, and so that's what, so the first chapters one through 12 are gonna be covering the first three and a half years.

His three and a half years. 13 onward, it's just weeks, if that. Right, the last section of John, it's not like a lot of time in between it. It's just very few days or a couple of weeks, a few weeks until his death, burial, and resurrection.

So again, while the book of glory focuses on that, of course, his earthly ministry, the main focus will be on his ministering to his disciples, as well as his final sign, death, burial, and resurrection.

John has opted to use the word signs instead of miracles. Right, whenever you're reading through the other gospel, Jesus performs miracles. Book of John, Jesus performs signs. It's believed that he does this in order to parallel the ministry of Jesus to Moses.

Right, we just read, the law was given through Moses, the grace and truth came through Jesus. So all through the book of John, we're going to see this parallelism between Moses and Jesus. While God was working through Moses, the miraculous works that was being done, they were called signs.

Go back and read Exodus. It was signs that were taking place. It was not, it does not say miracles. There's a Hebraic word, there's a Greek word for miracles that's not used. And so goes with what's taken place in the gospel of John.

So John is just showing this parallelism between Moses and Jesus. Third question, when was John written? And it's believed to be written between AD 85 and AD 95. Again, I've kind of touched on it a few moments ago that this gospel, well, I kind of mentioned that we know it's John because he lived past the destruction of Israel, right?

Now, the internal evidence of that is that this gospel does not have the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark, Luke have the prophecy of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Gospel of John does not have that prophecy.

So because that prophecy is not in there, it's believed that this prophecy had already taken place. And you know it was in AD 70 is when it took place. So they believe that this book has to be dated in between AD 85 to AD 95.

Fourth question, where was it written? And we touched on it earlier. Eusebius tells us that it was written while he was in Ephesus, living at Ephesus in Asia. So the fifth question, to whom was it written to?

And it's believed to be written to the Hellenistic Jews. So put on your, you know, if you haven't been paying attention, pay attention now, right? Hellens means Greece in Greek. Hellenist, this refers to the Greek clergy.

Hellenism is the spread of Greek culture by the conquest of Alexander the Great. So as Alexander the Great was conquering nations, he was bringing in what's called Hellenism. He was taking over and converting people to see things the way that he sees it, his culture, his ideas.

Hellenistic is the term used to describe Jews who were influenced by the Greek culture and beliefs. So when Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, his vast empire split among his generals. One of his generals founded what's called the Silatian city, the Silatius, yeah, Silatius kingdom.

So the Silatius kingdom, which was a Hellenistic state that held power over, listen, Palestine. They conquered Palestine, which is modern day Jerusalem, until 63 BC when the Romans took over. So Hellenistic Jews would have been Jews who were impacted by Hellenism, impacted by Greek culture and belief, which will make much sense whenever we break down the reason behind John calling Jesus the word in chapter one.

It's the Greek word, the logos, or logos, however you want to pronounce it. I like logos. So the word logos can have two different meanings depending on if you're looking at it from a Hebraic perspective and a Hellenistic Greek perspective.

And I believe John to be using it in the way of the Hellenistic perspective. John is writing to a group of Jews who were not around during the life ministry of Jesus Christ, and what he's doing here is he is explaining to them, the Hellenistic Jews, who were not around what took place in the gospel.

And so we come to our sixth and final question. Why was it written? What's the purpose of it? There's already gospels out there. What's the need of a fourth gospel? And John chapter 20 tells us why he wrote it.

Look at verse 30 and 31. Verse 30 and 31 says this. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. So right here at first he's saying that he's not recording all the signs.

When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, there's other signs which are referred to as miracles that they speak about that John does not mention. And he acknowledges that. There's many other signs that he did.

But he also goes as far to say, as a matter of fact, they didn't record them either. Listen to it again. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book.

But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life in his name. So this book gives us two reasons why this gospel was written.

Reason number one, that people might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Reason number two, that by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, they may have life in his name.

Pretty simple, right?

Like it tells you. He wrote this book so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. And by believing that he is the Christ, you may have life in his name. The main focus of this book is in fact on the deity of Christ, the deity of Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ.

And as we're gonna be walking through this book, we're gonna come across the I am statements. Jesus telling us who it is that is speaking to them. Who it is that is in their presence pointing to his deity.

So reason number one, that people might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The word Christ here in the Greek is Messiah, which means anointed one. In Sunday school, we saw that the anointed one, the prince, this is speaking about the Messiah, the Christ.

If you wanna get real high tech in Hebrew, it's the Mashiach, that this is speaking about the Mashiach. The Christ is speaking about the Mashiach, the one, the anointed one that is in heaven comes to earth.

By saying that Jesus is the Christ, he is saying that the Christ has come in the flesh. That the anointed one has taken upon himself flesh. Again, as we walk through John chapter one, we're gonna be dealing with a lot of this.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter calls Jesus the Christ. So let's look at that real quick and kinda point out some obvious stuff. Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 13. I'm gonna point out something that I probably haven't pointed out before.

It says, now when Jesus came to the district of Sisera of Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? Notice he's referred to himself as the Son of Man. This points back to Daniel chapter seven.

This points back to deity. Who do people say that the Son of Man is? It doesn't have him saying, who do people say that I am? It says, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And a lot of time in our Christian culture, we don't connect the two, but this is speaking of Daniel chapter seven where it talks about the Son of Man goes up to the Ancient of Days and receives a kingdom.

And so he's kinda speaking of himself in the third person. Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. And others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Then he says to him, but who do you say that I am? Right here, he connects who he is with the Son of Man. Who do you say that the Son of Man is? Then he says, but who do you say that I am? Clearly connecting the dots that he is the Son of Man.

He is the one that goes before the Ancient of Days and receives a kingdom. And Peter replied, you are the Christ. The Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona. For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

For I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let's look real quick at Daniel chapter seven. Daniel chapter seven, just verse 13 and 14.

Prophet Daniel is given a vision. I saw in a night vision and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like the Son of Man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. He's letting him know, I mean, it makes sense now when you're, if you remember in Sunday school in Matthew 24, when shall your coming be?

When shall we expect your presence? When are you gonna ride through here and conquer and take this dominion that we know is given to you? Jesus identifies himself with the Son of Man, but the disciples don't understand the dominion part of it.

They don't understand that it is on this rock, that the rock here is the understanding that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that the church is built. You cannot be a Christian and deny that Jesus is not, if you say that Jesus is not the Christ, you cannot be a Christian.

Because it's upon that confession that he builds his church. If you deny that Jesus is the Christ, John, the same John in 1 John, calls you an antichrist. Antichrist is someone who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

So anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, at this time it would have been the religious Jews, the religious Jews who John came for and they rejected him, they were antichrist. Today it's more broad, right?

If you're an atheist, you're an antichrist. If you're a Buddhist, you're an antichrist. You know, even in post-Christian cults, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, one-day Pentecostalism, they deny the true Jesus, they deny his Christship.

They confuse this and so therefore they are antichrist. In order to be a Christian, you have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, sent by the Father. Reason number two, that by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, they may have life in his name.

Eternal life is life in his name. Think about it, the Bible says, you have been united with Christ, right? Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision to satisfy your flesh, Romans 13, 14, right?

It's talking about us being in him, Colossians 2. Think about the statements of Colossians 2 where it talks about we are in him, in how? In his name, it's in his name. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

This everlasting life is in his name. In order to be saved, you must call upon his name. The only way to have eternal life is to believe, is to call upon the name of the Lord, to call upon the name of Jesus Christ.

That is by believing the word the Logos took on flesh that the Christ added to his deity manhood and lived the life that we could not live and took our sins upon himself and became the sacrifice that pleased the Father so that we can have life in his name.

And that's the gospel, right? It's to have life in his name. I mean, that's what matters in Christianity. That's what makes us different than all other beliefs. Our life, our eternal life is not dependent upon works done in the flesh.

But it's dependent upon a man. The God man. God, the eternal God who takes on flesh. He enters creation. And that our life, eternal life is by believing, it's by trusting that what he did was for us. And we live accordingly.

Now, our living accordingly is not what gives us eternal life. That's like I tell my daughter, you are a rice. As a matter of fact, you're my daughter. And what you do reflects me. And what I do reflects you.

And you're gonna live accordingly to that. And I know there's a big gap in between the two because I don't put something in Trinity that causes her to live accordingly. But when you believe that Jesus is the Christ, when you have eternal life in his name, when you call upon the name of the Lord, guess what he does?

He gives you his Holy Spirit. And the Bible tells us that this Holy Spirit, once the Holy Spirit is given to us, he writes his laws on our mind and on our hearts. And we're able to do that which he wants us to do.

Because we have the Holy Spirit. It guides us, it leads us, it helps us. And so I hope you are as excited as I am for this study. Again, like I mentioned earlier, the last time I walked through this book, I was convicted and I stepped down from the pulpit ministry.

And it's led me to where I am now. Having a more richer theology, I believe a deeper understanding of the things of God. But I say that because I was no less a Christian then than I am now. Still a Christian then, my understanding was different.

I believe that Jesus was the Christ then, the son of the living God, so therefore I was a Christian. But I'm so excited to open this book and for the second time to walk through it, and this time hopefully complete the walkthrough.

And I hope you are as excited as I am. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, I beg you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. So that by believing, you may have life in his name.

That you this day will call upon the name of the Lord. And I'm available to anyone who wants to talk, Pastor Cal as well.

Prayer for Faith, Redemption, and the Lord’s Supper

Let's pray.

Glorious God, you who are in heaven, Lord you have opened wide the heavens and sent your son. You have sent to us the champion, the one who conquered death by living the life we could not live and dying the death that we should die.

He conquered death by being resurrected. And he was the first fruit of things that are to come for those that are in him, who have life in his name. Lord please be gracious to us as we walk through this book.

And please be gracious to anyone who is under the word that we are proclaiming, Lord. And God we just pray that you give them faith to believe. That you will open their eyes to see, open their ears to hear, and open their heart and mind to understand what Christ has done.

That he has brought redemption in the darkest time. And Lord I do pray over the supper. I pray right now that those who are going to partake are preparing themselves to partake. Lord I just ask that you bless this and that you use this as a means of grace to grow us closer to you.

We pray these things in Jesus name, amen.