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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/isaiah-frazier/characteristics-of-the-gospel-of-john/
Let's read from John, chapter 20, please. I'm just going to take a few minutes to share something I've been appreciating. John, chapter 20, and we'll read the last two verses here. Gospel of John, chapter 20 and verse 30.
John doesn't actually tell us at the beginning of his gospel the reason that he writes this book. It isn't until we come to this chapter, he makes it very plain his purpose. John, chapter 20 and verse 30 says, and many other signs, truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.
Now, my purpose this afternoon is particularly to speak to younger people. We have often been told that we should be diligent readers of the word of God, and that is absolutely true. But I would just like to say something for studying the Bible, for being diligent students of the Bible.
And there are, of course, many different ways to study the Bible. And what we're going to speak about very briefly this afternoon is looking at the books of the Bible, taking a book as a whole and getting an understanding of the gist of that book in the whole of it.
Now, after we have an understanding of a book, then we can begin to study by chapters. And then, of course, you can go into phrases or verses and then even down to words. All those things are vital when it comes to studying and learning and appreciating the word of God.
So what I like to do this afternoon, maybe this is very elementary for some people, but just to give you an overview of the gospel of John. Now, I'm not going to give you an in-depth study in every fact and detail, but really my purpose was this is to maybe encourage you to study the gospel of John for yourself.
So just to give you a general outline and likely the things that I'm missing here. But when it comes to the gospel of John, we can appreciate it is a very useful book. It is very useful, of course, in preaching the gospel.
We likely hear more from the gospel of John when it comes to preaching the gospel than than many of the other gospels. This is also a book that is it is very necessary when it comes to combating error concerning the person of Christ.
This is something that is very real today. People have a skewed view of who Jesus Christ really is. And really, when you consider the many of the religions of the world, they do not appreciate the person of Christ for who he is.
And that is something that the gospel of John is going to do for us. And lastly, you could say it is a very devotional book because, as someone has said, Bible study is never complete until it results in worship.
Now, when we read the gospel of John and how John would present the person of the Lord Jesus, that, of course, is going to bring us to know him in a greater way. And as we begin to know him and appreciate him, of course, we are going to be in awe and wonder and worshippers of this wonderful person.
You might find this interesting, but that 92 percent of John's gospel is unique to John. And what we find in this book, there is very little that is actually overlapped in the other gospels. So this is something that is most certainly worthy of our time.
Now, as far as the the author, I hope you know that the gospel of John was not written by John. John the Baptist, that is, he is found at the beginning of this book, but he is not the author. It is John, the apostle of the Lord Jesus, who would write this book.
Now, as far as the recipients of this book, John isn't necessarily writing to a church or local churches. He's writing in a very general sense. I take it likely we can appreciate he's writing to Jewish minds, as we read in this verse, that the Lord Jesus did many signs.
And that is something that would appeal to Jewish people. But we also have to take into account the word that John uses so often, whosoever. John's writing to whosoever, the message of the gospel is really to to all, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish.
So I'm just going to give you the three main categories when it comes to this book. I'd like you to consider when you're reading the gospel of John, the man that John presents to us who the Lord Jesus is, who is he?
And of course, John is going to speak to us about the miracles, the miracles that he did, or as it's likely better translated here, the the signs that the Lord Jesus performs. And thirdly, I'd like to consider the message, the message, what the Lord Jesus said, what the Lord Jesus taught.
Now, there's a few key words you're going to find as you begin to study the gospel of John. I find this interesting. Do you know that the the word believe is found almost 90 times in the gospel of John?
Now, what is so amazing about that is the other synoptic gospels put together all of them, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Hardly use it a third that many times. So the gospel of John, he speaks often about believing the word world or cosmos is used of planet Earth is used of humanity 78 times to know 131 times truly is found 50 times.
And we're going to speak about that. The word true or truth is something that is emphasized in this book almost 50 times in the word life, 47 times. Now, there's many other words that are very important.
But just to just to help you out, that is, you're reading through this gospel. You could you could note those things down, the key words of of of this gospel. Now, before we get into the three main divisions, I just like to give you a few of the distinctions of John, a few of the distinctions you will not read here in John's gospel, a record of his genealogy or birth.
But what you will read is this chapter one in verse one. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. And down to verse 14, the Bible says is the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
So it most certainly speaks of his incarnation. But we understand that the conception of the Lord Jesus in Mary's womb was not his beginning. He is an eternal being. He is the eternal son of God, as John so plainly teaches us.
So there's no record of his genealogy or his birth. And there's no record of his temptation in this book. And I would link that with the words of James, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
Something that is not found as well as the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, when he is exalted in his glory is revealed as disciples on that mountain. Because, again, John chapter one tells us this very plainly.
We beheld his glory, glorious of the only begotten of the father. I take it through the whole interaction of the disciples with the Lord Jesus. The glory of his person was was revealed to him. And I should have known this, but this likely was what surprised me the most was that there's actually no parables found in the Gospel of John.
There's no parables. Matthew, of course, has many, many parables and Mark and Luke, you'll find parables. What do you find then in the Gospel of John? You'll find many conversations of the Lord Jesus speaking about himself, speaking about who he is in his person.
So that brings us into the first point that I have. The Gospel of John reveals to us the man who he is. And as we've been hearing already today, to have an understanding of who he is, that he is absolutely worthy of our trust and confidence as we begin to understand who he is and all the claims that he makes, we are either going to decide in ourselves whether he is worthy of our trust or he is not speaking the truth and he is not who he claims to be.
But John makes it very plain as to who he is and to know him is to trust him and to worship him. So we could go to the first chapter of this book and you'll read that there are a number of titles or names concerning him.
And some of these are found again throughout the rest of the gospel. Again, word he is called the word. And we're going to speak more about that in a few moments. He is named as God in that verse that we have just quoted from from chapter one.
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. That is something that is undeniable, the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has always been God and he was no less God as he stepped into humanity.
Becoming a man, that was something that was new, that was something that he did not know until he was conceived. But to be God, he always was. He is also called the creator of all things. In chapter one, he is called the light.
He is called the lamb of God. He is called the Messiah or the Christ. He is the one of whom Moses wrote. He is called the son of God. He is called the king of Israel. He is the only begotten of the father.
You come over to chapter four. He is called the savior of the world. You come over to chapter five and you'll find out he is the judge of humanity, that the father has committed all judgment into his hands.
And you come over to chapter 17, as we've appreciated already, he is the great high priest of every believer. These are just a few that we would mention to you, but I'm going to tell you there is something else that is unique to John.
It is the titles of the Lord Jesus as the I am. And I think you can appreciate if you study each one of those sections, the Lord Jesus reveals something more of his person and character. And even of the work that he does.
We have already heard today, the very title I am is the name of Jehovah, the God who always is, has always been. You can link that as well to the Lord Jesus in his deity. I'm just going to go through this without making many comments.
But just so you understand, this is John's record, something so unique to John as the Lord reveals himself. First of all, John, chapter six, I am the bread of life. The Lord Jesus says he that comes to me shall never hunger.
He that believeth on me shall never thirst. I hope you understand that life is only found in him. Eternal life is not found in anyone else or in anything else. That if we are going to have eternal life, it is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the only one that can offer us life. I am the bread of life. He is the living bread. He is the bread of God as well. In that chapter. Chapter eight and chapter 12, you read, I am the light of the world.
The Lord Jesus is unique in this. I am the light of the world. This is what he says. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. Isn't about following religion, isn't about following other men, isn't about following our own wicked hearts.
The Lord Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Not only is he the light that illuminates and shows our sin, that's chapter three, but he is the light to be followed. Listen to what he says. I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You come over to chapter 10. You read these words. I am the door of the sheep. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
Salvation is found in no other. And again, he says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Come over to chapter 11. Speaking to a woman who has recently lost her dear brother.
The Lord Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whoever lives and believeth in me shall never die. He is the one that has a power to call dead bodies out of the tomb.
He has a power to give them life, to give life to those who will trust him, those who are spiritually dead. And then you come over to chapter 14. The Lord Jesus makes it so plain again, so singular in a statement that he makes.
I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. There is no other way. I am in chapter 15. I am the true vine. Life, of course, is something that comes only from the Lord Jesus as a bread of life, but also our fruitfulness as believers depends on our intimacy with him.
But John tells us that not all believed on him. Not everyone that saw him and heard him recognized him for who he was. In chapter eight, the Lord Jesus says, I said, therefore, unto you, you shall die in your sins.
For if you believe not that I am he that I am everything that I claim to be as a son of God, as a savior of the world, all of these things, he says, you will die in your sins. But Thomas, on the other hand, when he considers the person of the Lord Jesus, he says, my Lord and my God.
And again, chapter 20, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. So the man you read to the gospel of John. Who is John displaying for us? Who is John giving testimony to the man, the son of God and the greatness of his person?
And then there are the miracles, the miracles that he performed or as is translated, likely more correctly here at the end and many other signs that Jesus do. You see, it wasn't just the Lord Jesus doing good on the behalf of those who were needy.
But there were actually works that the Lord Jesus performed to prove who he was as the son of God. And that is what John would single out. The Lord Jesus did many, many things. But you come through the gospel of John and what you're going to find is that there are six or seven or maybe we'll throw in an eighth one.
Things that John specifically refers to later on at the end of the book. It says, if everything that Jesus did was written, likely the whole of the world can contain the books. But John says these are enough.
What is recorded right here in this gospel? These are enough to give evidence, proof that the Lord Jesus is who he claims to be. So his his miracles, I would just say this, the miracles that were given the Lord, the nation of Israel, as Paul says, the Jews are always seeking for a sign.
They're very hard to persuade. They want to see something to believe in, even though the Lord Jesus did so many things, they still didn't believe him. But that is what they said. You see, even even Moses understood this.
And now you come to Exodus chapter four. I'm not for sure whether Moses is referring to the incredulity of the of the people or a pharaoh. But how are the people going to know that you are sending me?
How are people going to know? So the God shows him. That's that rod that you have in your hand, throw it on the ground and it turns into a serpent. And then he puts his hand into his booze and becomes leprous.
And he says, if the people will still not believe you, then pour out water and it will be turned into blood. You see, there were signs that would give a that would back up the claims of that person. Signs to prove that Moses was that divinely appointed leader, teacher, redeemer of the people.
So even so, the person of the Lord Jesus. Chapter two of John being in Jerusalem, many believed in his name, seeing the signs that he did. You come over to to chapter six. The people say, what sign? What sign then do you do for us to see and to believe you?
Even though he had just fed likely 10 or 15 ,000 people from a few fish and bread, they say, what signs are you going to do so that we can we can believe? Or as Nicodemus states that Nicodemus as rabbi or teacher, we know.
That you have come from God as a teacher because nobody can do these signs that you do if God is not with him. So the Lord Jesus was not just doing these things to cause wonder and awe in the minds of people, but it was actually to prove to them that he was everything that he he claimed to be.
Now, just to give you a brief, I'm not going to say any more about these things. What are the signs that are recorded in God and John's gospel? Chapter two tells us the first sign was converting the water into wine.
That is something that the disciples saw and because the disciples thought they believed in him. And chapter four, you have the healing of the nobleman's son at a distance. And the Bible tells us it was the second sign that Jesus did in Galilee.
Chapter five, you have the healing of the paralytic man. The Lord Jesus speaks and the man hears and he walks. Now, some people would add in chapter six, the Lord Jesus walking on the water as a sign.
And I think that the feeding of the multitude was a sign to the people. And of course, that was that was just to get their attention because he was going to speak to them about more than just eating and being filled.
He was going to speak of their spiritual needs. You seek for me not because you not because you they understood who he was because they ate and they were filled. There was so much more that he had to offer them.
Chapter nine, you have the sight that is given to the man who was born blind. Now, if you just want to borrow what is seen in chapter two, the man said that the best wine was saved for last. Likely, you could say that the greatest sign was saved for last of the resurrection of Lazarus, man who had been dead for four days.
And you read that there were many people that believed on him when they saw that he had raised this man, Lazarus, from the dead. I'm going to add one more. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the ultimate vindication of his person, was it not?
The Lord Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew a couple of times in evil and adulterous generation, they seek for a sign. But he says no sign shall be given but the sign of Jonah, the prophet, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the well of the fish.
Even so, the son of man, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And Romans chapter one tells us that he was declared to be the son of God through the spirit of God, the spirit of holiness and the resurrection from among the dead.
There's no greater display of the evidence of the claims of the Lord Jesus than dying and being raised again on the third day. So you come over to Peter's first message on the day of Pentecost. This is what Peter says.
You men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know. The miracles, the reason that he performed these, as Nicodemus could say.
No man can do these miracles except God be with him. But Nicodemus understanding had to come that God is with us in the person of his son. So lastly, then, to come to my final point, the message. Not only does John reveal to us the man for who he is and the miracles that he performed, but the message that he brought again, Nicodemus words.
We know that you are a teacher come from God. What is the message that you bring as a divine teacher? John chapter one says that the law was given by Moses. It was given through this man, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Hebrews chapter one tells us that God in sundry times and in many different ways, spoken times passed to the fathers by prophets. Holy men of God were used by God to speak to the people. But the writer tells us, says that God has spoken in these last days by his son.
The plainest, the fullest, the ultimate revelation of God is found in the person of his son. The plainest revelation of God's mind towards us is seen in the person of his son in the words that he spoke.
Is it any wonder that John calls him the word? The word. God has spoken to humanity many times when God has spoken in his fullness, in his fullness, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you that there is no other revelation.
Then the word of God and the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is this is something that stands in great contrast to so many of the sects and religions of the world. They might say, yes, we believe in the Bible, but we also believe in this.
We do not believe in anything outside of the word of God as being divinely inspired. The sole authority that we base our eternal hopes on is found are found in this book and this book alone, not based on tradition or revelations of sinful men.
Communications of of men as so many sects and religions. The Lord Jesus is the ultimate revelation of the mind and heart of God toward us. The end of the gospel of John, the Lord Jesus says, for this was I born and for this I came into the world to bear witness to the truth.
He and everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. If there is something that a person says or is convinced of that does not agree with the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they are not in the truth.
Everyone that is that hears my voice, everyone who is of the truth hears my voice and pilot there says, what is truth? John, chapter eight, again, the Lord Jesus speaking, which of you convicts me of sin?
If I tell the truth, why don't you believe me? He was of God. Here is the words of God that is ultimately the test, is it not? Is the word of God, is it received or is it rejected? Is the word of God believed or is it doubt?
He who hears the words of God, therefore, you do not hear them because you are not of God. And again, I remind you of of something that is also unique to John is this phrase verily, verily or truly, truly.
Twenty five times over, you read those words. The Lord Jesus is speaking with absolute authority. He says it is absolutely just as I say, there's no place for doubt or discussion. He says verily, verily, truly, truly.
It is something that is emphatic. The absolute authority of his words, you know, the Lord Jesus never says, I think so or I hope so. He never says, baby, he says, this is the way it is. This is true. And something that I was going to look at, I didn't have time to, but there were so many things, so many things that the Pharisees thought were true.
And the Lord Jesus told them they weren't. They thought and he told them the truth. You know, this is something that is really a great test, is it not? I appreciated someone made this comment. And when it comes to things like the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed, so many people will say, oh, yeah, that we believe that the Lord Jesus turning water into wine.
They have absolutely no difficulty with that. But you come over to the next chapter. The Lord Jesus says verily, verily saying to you, accept a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. They don't accept that.
The words of the Lord Jesus, they will accept his works. They won't accept his words. But listen, the Lord Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life exclusively. Truth is found in him and the very words that are recorded for us in the gospel of John.
You can take them to heart again. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes God that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. But has passed from death into life.
I hope this will whet your appetite to study more of the gospel of John. John speaks to us of the man. John speaks to us of his miracles. John speaks to us of his message. John says these things, these signs have I written unto you that you might believe that he is a Christ and that believing you might have life in his name.