The Gospel of John

that being in Matthew 1 and 2 and the second being here in Luke 1 and also

Luke 2. Luke's gospel opens in an interesting way.

Verses 1 through 4 of chapter 1 is actually one of the most highly stylized

Greek statements in the New Testament. It would have really impressed

Theophilus when he read these opening words of Luke in this high literary Greek.

But then with verse 5 everything changes. Luke goes into a mode really according to an

Old Testament Hebraic style telling the story about the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary and then of course the announcement to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to bear

John the Baptist who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. So Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1.

In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you most excellent

Theophilus that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught. In the days of Herod king of Judah there was a priest named

Zechariah of the division of Abijah and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was

Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the

Lord but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.

Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the

Lord and burn incense and the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense and there appeared to him an angel of the

Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid

Zechariah for your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name

John and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great before the

Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the

Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the

Lord a people prepared and Zechariah said to the angel how shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years and the angel answered him

I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news and behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time and the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were wondering at his delay in the temple and when he came out he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute and when his time of service was ended he went to his home after these days his wife

Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept herself hidden saying thus the

Lord has done for me in the days when he looked upon me to take away my reproach among the people in the sixth month the angel

Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

Joseph of the house of David and the Virgin's name was Mary and he came to her and said greetings

Oh favored one the Lord is with you but she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be and the angel said to her do not be afraid

Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name

Jesus he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the

Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of the kingdom there will be no end and Mary said to the angel how will this be since I am a virgin and the angel answered her the

Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy the

Son of God and behold your relative Elizabeth King of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb and why is this granted to me that the mother of my

Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my

Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant for behold from now on all generations will call me blessed for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty he has helped his servant

Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring forever and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son and her neighbors and relatives heard that the

Lord had shown great mercy to her and they rejoiced with her on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they would have called him

Zechariah after his father but his mother answered no he shall be called John and they said to her none of your relatives is called by that name and they made signs to the father inquiring what he wanted him to be called and he asked for a writing tablet and wrote his name is

John and they all wondered and immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke blessing

God and fear came on all their neighbors and on all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts saying what then will this child be for the hand of the

Lord was with him and his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying blessed be the

Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant

David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath that he swore to our father

Abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days and you child will be called the prophet of the

Most High for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our

God whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace and the child grew and became strong in spirit and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel let's pray father

God we rejoice at the incarnation of Christ we rejoice at the nativity narrative that God became flesh that God entered into history entered into his own creation to live that perfect life that is needed in order to please you and Lord we rejoice that we know this truth we rejoice that you have called us that you have chosen us that you have adopted us into your family as your sons and daughters that we too might share in the blessings and Lord we thank you for Jesus Christ for his perfect life for his death for his resurrection for his ascension we thank you that he is now ruling over everything and Lord I pray that we would remember this that we would reflect upon who

Jesus Christ is and what he has done and that we would be brought brought nearer to you help us

Lord in our understanding and help us in our proclamation of this truth and Lord be with us now as we continue our worship through the sermon we just pray that we would hear what it is we need to hear that we would understand the truth of the scriptures help us

Lord to apply these things to our lives that it wouldn't fall on deaf ears that we would understand your words apply your words and live them out in the power of your spirit we thank you

Lord for this time of worship at this time of fellowship in Jesus name amen well let's turn in our

Bibles to John chapter 20 again I considered going to another passage given this is

Christmas Sunday but and looking over this passage I really thought that we couldn't do any better than what's already here and so here we are with Luke 20 in this

Gospel of John this what 119th Lord's Day we're given to this study and today we'll give consideration to John 20 19 through 31 all people of course begin their life in this world in a state of spiritual death and sadly many of them live and die in that condition and then enter a

Christless eternity the Bible speaks about hell as the destiny of all unbelievers however thankfully

God brings out a spiritual death to experience spiritual life many and we who believe on Christ are numbered among them and of course to those that he imparts life he reveals

Christ to them Christ gives them life even eternal life and so today concluding our study of John chapter 20 we'll read that God brings people to experience and enjoy everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ last

Lord's Day we were addressing John's account of Jesus appearing to his 11 disciples on the second

Sunday evening after his resurrection from the dead Thomas would not present on the first occasion when

Jesus appeared to his 11 disciples but he was on the second occasion the second

Lord's Day evening as it were the disciples had told

Thomas that they had seen and spoken with Jesus but Thomas did not believe their witness he had declared to them unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side

I will not believe but shortly after the Lord appeared to his disciples on this second occasion

Jesus it would seem immediately addressed unbelieving

Thomas convincing him that he had indeed risen from the dead and then

Thomas of course confessed his faith that Jesus was his Lord and his God and so we'll read of this again beginning with verse 26 in John 20 through the end of the chapter and after eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them

Jesus came the doors being shut stood in the midst and said peace to you then he said to Thomas reach your finger here look at my hands reach your hand here put it into my side do not be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered and said to him my

Lord and my God Jesus said to him Thomas because you have seen me you believe blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed and truly

Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name verses 30 and 31 appear almost to be a conclusion of the gospel but of course there is one more chapter following that will begin to address next

Lord's Day Lord Willie now the outline that we've employed addressing verses 19 through 26 is three major points we dealt with the first one thoroughly and we are now considering Roman numeral two which actually has four sub points and we've already addressed the first two and so now again

Jesus appeared again to his apostles including Thomas and now we consider

Jesus addressing Thomas directly and how Thomas responded to Jesus in faith verses 27 and 28 then he said to Thomas reach your finger here look at my hands reach your hand here put it into my side do not be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered and said to him my

Lord and my God again Thomas had missed the first occasion when

Jesus appeared to the disciples and even though he had refused to believe the witness of his friends that Jesus had risen from the dead it would seem that he did not want to miss this second occasion when they probably were anticipating him to appear to them a second time and so the disciples again gathered on the evening of the first day of the week the

Lord's Day and that's an emphasis here in John's Gospel the Lord's Day and indeed

Jesus appeared to them again and it was as the earlier event even though the door to their room was locked the door was shut assuming it was locked probably out of fear of the

Jews Jesus suddenly stood in the middle of them we read in verse 26

Jesus came the doors being shut stood in the midst and said peace to you and as we pointed out this is the third time now that Jesus assured them of peace he assured them that all was well between God and them peace be to you his disciples he could pronounce peace to them for he had secured peace for them through his death he obtained peace with God on their behalf through his death which atone for their sin we have peace with God not because we made peace with God but because Jesus Christ made peace with God on our behalf and therefore it's assured to us and secure to us isn't it if peace with God was dependent upon you or me we'd be in a world of hurt but Jesus could pronounce peace be to you and so it is that you are at peace with God and God is at peace with you through faith in Jesus Christ if you are his disciple a true believer of Jesus Christ Romans 5 1 and 2 of course state this overtly therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ that's not talking about not talking about feeling peaceful it's talking about a state of peace before faith in Christ he was at war with you and you were at war with him now he's at peace with you through Jesus Christ and through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and other we stand in this state of peace and we rejoice in the hope or the anticipation of the glory of God that will be conferred upon us one day at the resurrection and so here

Jesus was still on earth in his resurrected body heaven would have received him readily even at this point and myriads of saints and angels would have sung praises upon his entrance into heaven and upon him formally receiving his authority as King from his father our

Lord's full glorification would occur not many days after this post -resurrection appearance to his disciples and of course in the

Old Testament Daniel 7 13 and 14 prophesy of this event and then

Revelation 5 recorded this event the same John that wrote this fourth gospel later saw and described this event when

John had taken had been taken into heaven Revelation 4 1 he beheld this scene again which would take place shortly after Jesus appeared to these 12 or these 11 rather on this night and we read of it in Revelation 5 now and he

Jesus Christ had taken the scroll out of the hand of the Father the four living creatures 24 elders fell down before the

Lamb each having a heart golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the

Saints and they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people in nation you've made as kings and priests to our

God and we shall reign on the earth and we understand that scroll that Jesus took out of the hand of the

Father was the Father conferring a kingdom royalty authority it was a coronation and Jesus began to reign over heaven and earth upon his ascension into heaven and then

John went on to say I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the

Lamb who was slain to receive power riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them all of creation

I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the

Lamb forever and ever and then the four living creatures said amen and the 24 elders fell down and worshipped him who lives forever and ever this is what awaited the

Lord Jesus which would occur not just a few weeks after this appearance of our Lord to the disciples this is what awaited him when he would soon ascend to his father to receive regal authority to reign over his kingdom but before us here in John chapter 20 we read of Jesus soon to be glorified fully standing in the midst of his eleven apostles about to convince one of them that it was indeed he

Jesus who had risen from the dead this is amazing condensation condescension on the part of our

Lord Jesus don't you think Jesus would forestall his glorification in the heavenly throne room so that he could be with his disciples while they were still cowering together in a locked room he desired to assure them of their state of peace with God but this is true of our

Lord and all his dealings with his people Jesus Christ was always concerned most and delighted most not in bringing glory to himself but in bringing blessing to others blessing to them for whom he lived and had died and on whose behalf he would soon reign but upon his appearing to his disciples

Jesus almost immediately turned to Thomas we assume and addressed him for here was one of them who had not yet believed amazingly and Jesus would correct this bringing

Thomas to full faith as he had already done with his other disciples the week before by our

Lord's words to Thomas he revealed that he knew full well what had transpired between Thomas and the other disciples at some time the previous week when

Thomas had refused to believe their testimony and it would seem Jesus repeated

Thomas's very words of unbelief that he had spoken to the others the week before and so our

Lord confronted Thomas to bring forth faith from him but in encouraging

Thomas there's also an implied rebuke isn't there Thomas was probably shamed in a measure and probably humbled as well and of course personal humility often accompanies divine blessing so it is as the

Lord knew of Thomas's failing so our Lord knows all our deficiencies and defections and our expressions of unbelief and our little and weak faith in him he knows us thoroughly

Jesus has heard every word of your unbelief spoken he knows the condition of your right of your heart right now as to whether you're unbelieving or believing he has read every evil and wretched thought of your mind and the illicit affections of your heart and he has his ways of revealing you to you your weakness and failings as he did with Thomas but again

Jesus was wonderfully condescending to Thomas he did not rebuke

Thomas overtly but he dealt with him tenderly and with the purpose to lead him to full faith in him as his resurrected

Lord and God and of course the Lord commonly strips a person spiritually naked before clothing him with his righteousness through faith alone the

Lord deals with us in this way too restoring us after we falter and stumble that is if we're true believers true committed disciples of Jesus Christ Jesus said to Thomas in verse 27 reach your finger here look at my hands reach your hand here put it into my side do not be unbelieving but believing so the

Lord would affirm himself to you as well of course even if you're doubting even as he did here for doubting

Thomas bringing him to the place of full faith in him as his

Savior for Jesus Christ of course is a merciful and gracious Savior of sinners it was prophesied of Jesus in Isaiah 42 stated of him in Matthew 12 he'll not quarrel nor cry out nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised reed he'll not break a smoking flax he'll not quench in other words he's tender compassionate and desires mercy and forgiveness a new life for people

I just ordered a new book the other day I seem to be ordering a new book about every week or so but this one was testified by numbers of people as the best published

Christian book of 2020 and it's a setting forth of the tender heart of Jesus and his desire to save sinners as simple as that but everybody writes about how what a wonderful book this is and how reinforcing and encouraging it is

I should be receiving it in the next couple days and so our

Lord manifested his character here he's gracious and forgiving even as he corrects and restores us and we're to do the same by the way with one another we have an obligation to bear the failings of the week is what the

Apostle wrote but if and when we do so we only do what the Lord Jesus always does for you and for me and he did here of course for Thomas Jesus gave

Thomas permission to touch his nail pierced hands to thrust his hand into his side where the

Roman spear had pierced him and apparently even while Thomas is about to do so Jesus said be not faithless but we but believing apparently he was faithless but then as a result of this he became believing now

John does not actually tell us that Thomas put his fingers in Jesus's hands or his hand in his side whether he did or did not we don't know

I kind of suspect at this point Thomas didn't see the need we read in verse 28

Thomas answered and said to him my Lord and my God and with that confession

Jesus pronounced those as blessed who believe apart from see it's implied that Thomas was blessed it doesn't say that but if you believe on Christ even though you haven't seen him you are indeed blessed more so than Thomas so verse 29 we read

Jesus said to him Thomas because you have seen me you believe blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed you and I have not seen

Jesus I'd be worried about you if you claimed you had except with the eye of faith we see him of course we know he's risen we know he's alive and it wouldn't convince us any more than we currently believe if we did see him physically because we are convinced through the eye of faith we believe what

God has testified Thomas didn't believe the disciples we believe the disciples and their witnesses contained for us in the

New Testament top for Thomas his faith was based on sight what his physical eyes beheld faith of course is the instrument through which

God brings sinners to experience the forgiveness of sins and assures them of their future inheritance of eternal life but where Thomas had refused to believe the witness of his fellow

Apostles again we have and continue to believe their witness the

New Testament is the recorded witness of the Apostles or a close associate of the

Apostle or an associate taught by and and the story related by eyewitness

Apostles and so Jesus pronounced you to be blessed which is a word that describes a right and secure saving relationship with God through him therefore the peace that Jesus pronounced to these disciples on these two occasions in John 20 is assured to you and me as his disciples again

Romans 5 1 & 2 Paul is writing to Christians at Rome the church at Rome therefore since we included himself have been justified by faith we have presently peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ through Christ we have also obtained access by faith into this grace of peace is how we entered into it and it's in this state of peace we are currently standing even as we're rejoicing in the hope in other words the certainty one day of receiving the full glory of God that's been promised to us as his children by the way and you and I can't even fathom as the sons and daughters of God the kind of glory that's going to be conferred upon us on the day of the resurrection none of us can even comprehend it well we now move on to verses 30 and 31 of John 20 in which we have this third division

John gave a pronouncement regarding the signs of Jesus and the limited record that he had provided of them in his gospel he didn't write everything he knew we read in these verses

John's declaration of his purpose for writing the fourth gospel and why he chose what he recorded toward accomplishing his purposes

John wrote and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name let's say a word first about the word sign

John wrote truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples we have come across this word sign numbers of times in John's gospel the word sign or signs plural which are references of course to the miracles performed by Jesus the word occurs 16 times in this gospel and John's gospel contains up to this point six specific signs that John identifies and they're listed for you and all the miracles recorded in John there's others in the synoptic gospel

Matthew Mark and Luke but these are John's selected signs Jesus turned water into wine

Jesus healed a noble nobleman's son Jesus healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda Jesus fed the five thousand

Jesus gave sight to a man born blind and Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead six signs now it's generally accepted that John recorded seven signs of which would be the number signifying fullness or completion that's common to the scriptures certainly common to the revelation that he would later write actually it seems quite clear although there's difference of opinion it seems quite clear to me as to what the seventh sign is way back in the beginning in John chapter 2 we have this interchange between Jesus and unbelieving

Jewish leaders so the Jews answered said to him what sign do you show to us since you do these things and how did

Jesus answer Jesus answered said to them destroy this temple and in three days I'll write raise it up of course they didn't understand what he was saying then the

Jews said it's taken 46 years to build this temple of Herod will you raise it up in three days but he was speaking of the temple of his body see

Jesus's body was the new temple there's not gonna be a future rebuilt physical temple in Jerusalem Jesus's body is the temple and then the church is it by extension his temple we're living stones building up this spiritual temple don't look at that nonsense people talking about a physical

Jewish temple with sacrifices now the true temple is what the

Old Testament temple pointed to Jesus Christ himself and he said you you destroy this temple which is a reference to his crucifixion and in three days he would raise it up and so he rose from the dead and so it's clear the seventh sign was the

Lord's crucifixion and resurrection from the dead and that kept it all and so all these signs particularly there's a last one when

Thomas was convinced of it he became the full -fledged believer he believed in a measure but this sealed it well

John declared here in verse 38 that Jesus had done many other signs in the presence of his disciples and of course they were convinced by all these signs with this seventh sign as the culmination of confirming proof however and Thomas seemed to be the one holdout that is until now but with his confession they all had come to believe

Jesus was indeed the Christ the Son of God and so this leads us to consider specifically a word about the purpose for the signs that John had chosen to set before his readers again

John wrote and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe

John chose these signs specifically which he or rather the

Holy Spirit determined were sufficient to lead people to saving faith in Jesus Christ to a full saving faith through the record of these signs they could come to acknowledge and believe in the identity and the authority of the

Lord Jesus Christ to which these signs testify faith of course is at the heart of a relationship with God the

Bible everywhere affirms that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness faith is the instrument that God uses to bring his people to know him and to receive the benefits of his promises in Jesus Christ through faith comes forgiveness of sins through faith we come into a state of adoption as his children through faith we experience deliverance from the power of sin in our lives as we trust him to do in us and for us that which we cannot do ourselves through faith we receive

God's power to enable us to fulfill his will in our lives true

Christians are ones who have true faith have come to Jesus Christ in faith who live by their faith in him and continue in faith until they die biblically prescribed and defined faith is the only way that anyone can can become pleasing to God as Hebrews 11 3 states without faith it's impossible to please him you can know the

Bible from front to back some Jewish rabbis had memorized the entire

Hebrew Scriptures our Old Testament in Hebrew and yet that's possible

Nicodemus had that and yet Jesus told Nicodemus unless you're born again you'll not even see the kingdom of God let alone enter it for he who comes to God must believe that Jesus is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him and not only know who

Jesus is but who God is you can't assume anything these days but without faith it's impossible to please

God but what is true faith and how can it be distinguished from phony faith there's a lot of phony faith around today a faith that does not save the sinner from damnation there'll be many in that day that will be discovered not to have saving faith here is a good description of what the

Bible sets forth as true faith saving faith faith cannot be defined in subjective terms in other not because of an experience you had it's not something you feel that's not biblical faith as a feeling or optimistic decision neither is it a passive orthodoxy

I believe all the right things I got to be saved that's not saving faith faith is a response directed toward an object and defined by what is believed

Christian faith is trust in the eternal God and his promises secured by Jesus Christ it is called forth by the gospel as the gospel is made understandable through the gracious work of the

Holy Spirit Christian faith is a personal act you're not a

Christian because your dad mom are it's a personal individual act involving the mind the heart the will just as it's directed to a personal

God and not an idol or an idea that's a good definition and of course it's through faith alone that we come into a state of justification by and before God the unbeliever is guilty before God for he said both his propensity to set his sinful nature and all of his individual acts of sin it's not just because of what you did but it's because of who you are a sinner but upon true faith in Jesus Christ he immediately comes into a state of peace with God his sins having been pardoned past present and future sins are all pardon to the

Christian the true believer is declared and regarded to be as righteous as the Son of God himself for the gift of Christ's righteousness has been accounted or reckoned to be his he's forever secure in Christ for he is now alive in his faith in Christ that moves him to follow

Christ substantiates the reality gives evidence to his present spiritual life and so everything about our knowledge of God and of our relationship with God is wrapped up in this matter of faith through this means faith

God takes away any credit or glory from the creature and shows forth his will in all his dealings with his people

Paul wrote of this with respect to our justification before God through faith it removes every ground of boasting doesn't it if you find a proud

Christian you found someone who was either terribly ignorant in error or he's not a

Christian there's nothing about becoming a Christian or being a Christian that should result in pride in you thinking yourself better than others the gospel is completely contrary to that idea and Paul stated this in Romans 3 27 then what becomes of our boasting it's not there is what he's implying it is excluded he states by what kind of law by a law of works no but by the law of faith for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law we're not saved by our works by the merit of our works we're saved through faith alone apart from works and we should always add this of course we're not saved by faith regardless of works we're saved by faith that is accompanied by works and so you can't be saved by your works but you cannot be saved without works because true works are always the product of true faith we are his workmanship created by Christ Jesus on to good works which

God hath for ordained that we walk in them Ephesians 2 10 and so faith is something that someone else has done for us it removes any basis of self -exaltation the very essence of the gospel is taught in the scriptures promotes humility before God and others and gratefulness to God alone the law or principle of faith is the means

God uses to save his people so as to prevent them taking any credit for anything that they receive from God as Paul wrote elsewhere for by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of worthless anyone should boast no basis of taking credit of glorifying yourself and that's why

Paul wrote to Christians at the Church of Corinth messed up Corinth but of him you were in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification of redemption that as it is written he who glories let him glory in the

Lord don't glory in yourself there's nothing there but reason for damnation glory in Christ and him alone well let's return to our passage in John's gospel what is it that John desired his readers to believe this is important again verses 30 and 31 truly

Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe here it is that Jesus is the

Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name now first we read

John selected the signs he'd recounted in order to lead his readers to believe that Jesus is the

Christ Jesus is the Christ that is the anointed one which is the meaning of the word

Christ in Greek Christos and and Messiah is the

Hebrew word they both mean anointed in the

Old Testament when a person or thing was anointed with oil it indicated that person belonged to God and would be an instrument in God's hand to work on his behalf and so priests were anointed because they ministered before the

Lord prophets were anointed because they spoke on behalf of God judges and kings were anointed because they administer justice on behalf of God and so in the

Old Testament we frequently we read words about the Lord's anointed and my anointed referring to God's servants and by the way

John in one of his little epistles says that every true Christian has an anointing from the Lord and you know what that anointing means and indicates it means that every true

Christian knows and believes that Jesus is God and fully man and because you have that anointing nobody else can fool you about this if I stood up here and declared that Jesus wasn't really a man he was

God but just looked like a man you'd throw me out of here and rightly so I couldn't convince you otherwise because you have an anointing

I wouldn't want to convince you otherwise of course false teachers would but you can't be convinced that way because God has given you an anointing you know this and you wouldn't accept any other statement that Jesus is the

Christ means that God his father had called and equipped him to secure the redemption of his people he was called and appointed for this anointed for this and so Jesus of Nazareth was called commissioned and sent into the world to accomplish

God's work of salvation in you if you come to him and this indeed is a cause of great joy you have no power to make yourself acceptable before God nor does anyone other than this man

Jesus have this ability Jesus is the Christ the one appointed by the

Father and equipped by the Spirit to do this thing that you cannot do the word

Christ or anointed is actually an adjective the anointed one it could be translated as Jesus the anointed one that Jesus was the

Christ was saying that he was the promise anointed one of God to accomplish God's will to save his people in time the word came to precede the name of Jesus and so frequently you'll find in the scriptures he's referred to as Christ Jesus again it's an adjective but as the first century unfolded the word

Christ became more formalized becoming a part of his name Jesus Christ it's his last name as it were as often set forth in the scriptures all of these varied uses of the word

Christ are found in the New Testament as an adjective preceding his name

Christ Jesus and and then Jesus Christ again more specifically the term

Christ speaks of our Lord being anointed to his threefold office and each office is necessary for our salvation first we're in need of Christ to as a prophet to reveal

God to us and our sinful and condemned standing before him by the way it was John Calvin who first devised this from the scriptures saw this in the scriptures he's our prophet priest and King he's the first one to ever declare it in that way we need a prophet and then of course secondly we need a priest intercede with God on our behalf and to make a sacrifice for our sin and third we need a king to subdue sin within us and lead us and preserve us to our heavenly kingdom and our

Lord was anointed by the father to perform this threefold office this threefold function on our behalf so in Christ alone were all these duties entrusted and he alone was equipped to execute them because he was anointed of the father to do so in the

Old Testament there were examples of men and dude with two of these three offices and so we read of kings who are also prophets like David we the

Old Testament records of a king who was also a priest Melchizedek King priest there was also a priestly prophet who was

Samuel but only our Lord Jesus was anointed with oil of gladness above his fellows to assume this threefold office to execute on our behalf and thus he is priest having sacrificed himself on our behalf and he lives to apply the benefits of his sacrifice to us as a priest he is to us a prophet who declares and reveals the will of God to us and that he's our teacher and he is our king who delivers us leads us and protects us and provides for us and he does so of course by giving us the

Holy Spirit and so Jesus Christ is all we need a little child's catechism and I love to cite this and I do from time to time catechism is a series of questions and answers most

Roman Catholics are the only ones that have ever heard a catechism but Protestants have always had catechisms and here's a child child's catechism that says it so wonderfully question why do you need

Christ as a prophet answer because I'm ignorant question why do you need Christ as a priest answer because I'm guilty question why do you need

Christ as a king answer because I'm weak and helpless and that says it all but here in John's Gospel particularly

John 2031 believing Jesus to be the Christ is to be understood chiefly to know and believe that Jesus is the promised

Son of God who God declared through the Old Testament prophets would rise to inaugurate the promised kingdom of God which is the same as the kingdom of God some separate the promised kingdom of David and the kingdom of God they say

Jesus is over the kingdom of God now he's Lord but he's not yet ruling as the Son of David that'll happen in a future earthly thousand -year

Jewish millennium that's false the promised messianic kingdom of the

Old Testament was realized when Jesus rose and ascended into heaven and was enthroned we're living in the messianic kingdom and the

Son of David is ruling not only over a remnant of Jewish people who have believed on him but also

Gentiles throughout the world which is promised to the Messiah in Isaiah Jesus Christ is the promised

Messiah the king of Israel and so when John declared that he had chosen these signs to lead people to faith in Jesus it was first to show them that Jesus Christ in his human nature is the promised

Son of David he's the Christ he is the one who has inaugurated the promised messianic kingdom but not only did

John choose these signs to prove that Jesus was the promised Son of David the Messiah the

Christ but he selected these signs and recounted them in his gospel in order to lead his readers to believe that Jesus secondly is the

Son of God so there you have the two natures of Christ his human nature and his divine nature and so here in John's gospel we read of this where Jesus is the

Christ speaks of his human nature in John's gospel the Son of God speaks of his divine nature this is not in every case the phrase is used but it is commonly so Jesus Christ is truly a man and he is also truly

God we've addressed this rather recently but it is a cardinal doctrine essential doctrine you cannot be a

Christian unless you understand and believe this so it warrants rehearsal repetition

God has led his church through the centuries to assert that unless these two natures of Jesus Christ are not both believed you cannot be a true

Christian according to the scriptures and that's why we call Jehovah's Witnesses a cult because they don't believe

Jesus is God eternal God and that's why we call Mormons Mormonism a cult because they deny of course the biblical teaching of the deity and the humanity of Jesus Christ as well

Jesus Christ is truly man he's truly God two natures in his one person and John wrote in his short epistles first second third

John that those who believed in the deity of Christ but who denied his human nature this was 60 years after his resurrection there were some of those around they were not

Christians but rather they were Antichrists there's actually four references to this

Antichrist spirit of Antichrist I listed them on the top page 80 or notes and he basically identifies an

Antichrist spirit of Antichrist as someone who believes Jesus is God but does not believe that Jesus is fully man truly man that's an

Antichrist we address this matter the divine nature of Christ not many weeks ago back just in November November 8th we addressed it thoroughly and so we'll not do so now however the there is ample evidence in the scriptures to teach this

Robert Raymond who is with the Lord now wrote a wonderful systematic theology in which he had an entire chapter on this matter and he wrote the biblical evidence for the deity of the

Sun includes first Old Testament adumbrations in other words foreshadowings and predictions of a divine

Messiah in other words he is God second Jesus self -testimony both words and deeds he claimed to be third is resurrection testifies to his deity and for the

New Testament writers united witness they all testify to it and fifth specifically the nine

New Testament passages in which God is used for a title for Christ and that that just is his introduction to a hundred and three or four pages in which he addresses these and delineates these the fact that Jesus is

God eternal God the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity is amply taught in the scriptures now to what end did

John desire their belief John made it quite clear in this last clause of these verses again we read truly

Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name that purpose clause if rightly understood would correct a whole lot of error at practice and belief among evangelicals

John desired that his readers would become believers but here he uses a present participle believing and the emphasis is on continual faith continuous faith the life of faith of a true believer again

I viewed I mentioned it in Sunday school I viewed last night a 60 -second commercial by Franklin Graham God bless him he preaches

Christ I rejoice in that but in second 60 seconds he claimed to give the gospel and lead people to accept

Christ and then call this number if you did I tell you what you know the gospel takes more than 60 seconds to explain and you need to examine a person is to a whole lot of matters and to reduce it to 60 seconds you know a 60 -second commercial clip is really sacrilegious in my humble opinion but it's incredible this idea that the gospel is so truncated in what it means and what it implies

John was not writing so that his readers would make a one -time decision of Christ for Christ whatever that means nor was he striving for his readers to accept

Christ as language it is so common in churches but it's not biblical rather he chose and recorded these signs of Jesus because he desired his readers to be believing continuous believing that is become continual believers and of course this is what constitutes believing according to the

Holy Scriptures salvation is not obtained by a one -time decision a one -time sinners prayer accepting

Christ the Bible doesn't teach that and that is not biblical evangelism to lead people and I know that from personal experience the error of promoting a method of evangelism to make a decision for Christ is one of the major reasons that there are so many spurious conversions that fill so -called

Bible believing churches with unconverted people it's a message that promises forgiveness of sin to any believer but what they mean by becoming a believer is to making a one -time decision for Christ to accept

Christ the real question that should be asked is not have

I truly accepted Christ but rather has Christ truly accepted me that brings in a whole different set of questions the reason the

Arab decisionism exists and it's been it's been here for now almost 200 years

I think can be traced in this way first of all the Bible does indeed teach that God justifies a sinner through faith alone and Jesus Christ alone and that it is a one -time declaration of God that the believer sins are forgiven and that he is thereafter regarded as righteous for Christ's sake when you begin to believe that's when

God declares that sinner is no longer guilty but forgiven that sinner is no longer a guilty sinner but righteous because of the righteousness of Christ and of course the

Protestant Reformation recovered that biblical truth however secondly it was then wrongly assumed and taught that because justification is a one -time declaration of God of the pardon of the sinner that it only takes a one -time decision for Christ to secure this blessing that's a wrong conclusion this is error but this resulted in the invention and practice of decisionism in the 19th century through personal and crusade evangelism these evangelists sought to lead people to come to Christ in faith and this was seen to be a one -time decision of an awakened sinner at the end of an evangelistic message at which time that one was then pronounced say because of his faith alone and then thirdly this is coupled with the errant reduction of the meaning of salvation to that of the forgiveness of sins only since saving faith is apart from works the prospective converts are not examined for evidence of God's saving transforming grace in their lives but only assess as to whether or not they believe

Jesus to be their Savior these converts are never pressed about the essential need for repentance turning from sin submitting to Jesus as Lord they're told all they have to do is accept

Jesus and this may be done simply by praying the sinner's prayer and there are tens of millions there are 50 million people in America that think and claim they're born -again

Christians and this is because of a false gospel that has been promoted for the last 200 years started with Charles Finney can conducted by good godly men who are sincere but sincerely errant in their practice like DL Moody Billy Sunday in the early 20th century

Billy Graham I thank God they preach Christ but they feel churches with people that are never been truly converted and if you just if they were just encouraged to examine their lives there would be very little little evidence or testimony that they have new life in Christ and you look at polls and evaluations of Christians and the way they think and the way they live now remarkably parallel parallels with unbelievers in the in the world there's no difference between them how much true

Christianity is there in the world I'm fearful no John was writing in order that his readers would become believers he was not desiring one -time decision but lifelong believing which is expressed through this present participle translated believing and John commonly described saving faith in this manner

John 316 everybody knows for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten

Son that not whosoever at one time believes on Jesus but whoever believes that's a present participle ongoing continuous faith whoever believes in him should not perish would have everlasting life

John 336 he who believes on the Son not who at one time believed oh

I believed on Jesus in the second week of January 72 I asked Jesus into my heart and so I have saving faith no saving faith is a present faith it's not so much what you believe you know 40 years ago it's what you believe today what are you believing today and what are you going to be believing next year or ten years from now if the

Lord tarries and then comes then are you going to be believing there if you're a Christian you will be you'll see to it the grace of God will see to it and you're going to be motivated to see to it too calling upon the

Lord and others to help you that nothing draw you away into error and that and that your sin itself won't draw you away and I'm not saying that true

Christians can lose their salvation but true Christians are to put forth effort in the way they believe and order their lives because it's not what

I claim to believe it's what my life will testify that I have believed the way

I've lived is going to be evaluated on the day of judgment not that we're saved because of our works but will be our faith will be vindicated or shown to be valid by the way we lived or by the way we lived will prove that we were hypocrites and God does not promise salvation to hypocrites those who claim to believe but their lives say otherwise their lips say they believe but their lives testify they're no

Christian the way they think they what they value what they like what they love what they don't like they're no

Christian they've got no life in them and that's what brings us to this last word here in this passage in order to underscore what we're saying consider the result of the manifestation of this believing that Jesus is the

Christ the Son of God again John wrote truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is a

Christ the Son of God and that believing continuous believing you may have life in his name that's the ultimate goal life is an important word for John we have found it 47 times in John's gospel in 39 verses our life is not believing our life is in Christ and believing brings us into that life to enjoy that life is what he's saying in believing you may have life the issue is do you have the life of Christ Christ is our life he's the source of life he is the meaning of life he's the origin of life he's the purpose of life he's the blessing of life do you have

Jesus do you know Jesus does he know you do you think about him walk with him pray to him follow him delight in him desire that others would know him

I'm not saying if you do this perfectly or fully consume we have lapses but is this the tenor of your heart the desire of your heart in your life is this what you wish for yourself and lastly he includes briefly this life in his name which means in Christ himself again life is not in believing it's believing that brings us into this life and enables us to enjoy this life whereas unbelievers and that includes those just one -time decision -makers they are in unbelief and Charles Spurgeon I read a sermon the other day where he talked about unbelief and how this is the great sin that God will not pardon you'll forgive any other sin but if you live in unbelief and die in unbelief all your sins will drag you down to hell and we'll close there

I would hope that you would take time to read those concluding remarks of Spurgeon and then also

I included after the notes at one page summary of the

Bible teaching on faith and works it's a theological note from the Reformation study

Bible faith and works that I included for your benefit and so may the

Lord help us to be right on these matters and help us to be clear as a church and as Christians in declaring these matters there are so many people that profess to be

Christian that are deluded and deceived and yet they're being assured there's so many parents because their child their son or daughter seemed to give evidence of saving faith when they were children or maybe into their teens but they've walked away from Christ and they haven't shown any indication of life in Christ the last 10 years 20 years 30 years well at least they're saved no parents need to awaken the fact they're still in their sin and you need to pray for them and urge them you know as best as you can because they need to be saved truly true salvation is a life not just a profession may the

Lord help us in these matters let's pray thank you father for your word and the clarity in which you express yourself in your word and we just lament our

God our ignorance in our error help us our God to be faithful and true to you do a great work of revival

Lord and awakening in our families and in our churches help men of God stand forward and proclaim your word faithfully and truthfully in such a way that you can bless it our

God the Holy Spirit would would use it to convert people and to sanctify your people to become more like the