These Things have been Written

Well, take your Bible and turn with me to John chapter 21. We were there earlier Like I said, we will cover verse 24 and 25 really primarily verse 24 24 and Then we will turn back to our theme verse which we have touched on from time to time throughout this journey And that's in chapter 20 verse 31 Now this morning, I think it's obvious to us all that we are coming to the conclusion of our verse by verse study through the gospel of John We started this series back on March the 1st of 2015 We've taken a few breaks from time to time.

I know that we have needed to look at what I have called Messages on the pastor's heart from time to time been various subjects that have been needed But we have mostly been in John for four years and in almost three months Now speaking for me personally there has been much joy in studying and preaching through John's gospel There are many many many specific reasons why this journey is has been great for me Very productive and I'll say very very productive The first reason would be very personal for me Very very personal personally discovering and learning chapter by chapter verse by verse Sometimes word by word has been very enriching for me.

It's grown me. It's matured me It's even corrected me that discovery for me has led to many many conversations in my home It's led to many conversations between brother Keith and I brother Keith and I work real closely together I'm in our relationship here as elders and our relationship with preparing for the services And so these messages have led to many spiritual conversations between he and I There's been a great personal joy of growing in Christ Just I have grown through studying and preaching in the gospel.

I Would also have to say that it has been a been wonderful to see You grow in your personal sanctification You have grown in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ You have spoken to me or brother Keith from time to time How this book has grown you you have come and you've shared many different times through these years And I believe that is that we can see this growth in you we can see it We can describe it as we've seen it all along and you know, this is just the power of the Word of God It's the Word of God that transforms us That's what we see in the high priestly prayer in John 17 17 Jesus God the Son prayed to God the Father Talking of his disciples and he says sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth So as you've been under the Word of God the gospel of John specifically you've grown in your personal sanctification I would also say that it's been a joy to see God's gospel John's gospel do an evangelistic Work in some of you. God has used this teaching in this book to bring salvation to lost sinners He has used this teaching to reveal lostness in some of you who are here this morning We're walking with you in this journey.

We counsel with you We pray for you and we trust in the Spirit of God to bring you to that place of conversion But I would also say that it has been wonderful to see John's gospel grow the church collectively this church this body This has been a collective work God has grown this church No, Lebdis church and I believe brother Keith and I could point out some areas where this is Taking place and I would I would ask you to ask us to show to tell you where we have seen this Affect us as a church, but there's a little more There's a couple of verses a few verses that I want us to cover There is more that I believe the Lord wants to show us at the end verse 24 and 25 in our theme verse Verse 31 of chapter 20.

I believe this is a fitting way to conclude our study through John's gospel Now I have titled this message These things have been written These things have been written and you'll see that this really comes out of verse 24 and our theme verse verse 31 of chapter 20 and there are three things we're going to cover. I call them main truths in our outline We're gonna look at what I call these things the witnesses of these things and then the purpose So as always I encourage you to take notes as we finish up this this gospel John's gospel.

Let's go back to these verses and we'll read verse 24 and 25 and then our theme verse again This is the disciple. This is John This is the disciple who bears witness of these things and who wrote these things and we know that this witness Is true and there are also many other things which Jesus did which if they were written in detail I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were Written and then back to the end of chapter 20 I like how verse 30 is really a repeat of verse 25 or verse 25 is a repeat of chapter 20 verse 30 many other things Therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but verse 31 these have been written 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 let's start off the body of our message.

Let's look at what I'm calling these things This is the first major truth in our outline these things now two times in verse 24 We have this phrase these things Witness of these things and wrote these things. I think that's obvious For you now those two phrases can be overlooked even seemed Unimportant by some now for me these phrases really gripped me right away on Monday morning I started to meditate over these verses in preparation and Literally these things jump right off of the pages of the Word of God and grip me We even see this same thought back in our theme verse in chapter 20 verse 31 John says but these things have been written and I think that it is important for us to see What these two phrases in verse 24?

Referred to and what these two phrases can lead us to? Now there are two ways we can go here that I think will be beneficial for us First of all it is obvious that these phrases speak of all of the events here in John's gospel Really verse 24 these phrases speak back to all of the events in John's gospel John is referencing the gospel that he's just written But what does this mean? I? Think that's a valid question. What does this mean?

We must remember that John wrote his gospel because God the Holy Spirit Led him to do so Second Peter verse chapter 1 verse 21 speaks of this work Peter says for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit So John was if I can use Peter's words Carried along by the Holy Spirit to write about all that he had seen and heard concerning Jesus Now we learned in our first message in this series a few specifics concerning this letter that we've completed John's gospel was not like the other Gospels there is no record of the birth of Jesus in John's gospel John gives us no list of the disciples John does not list any of the parables those parables we find in Matthew and in Luke Bible scholars tell us that about 90% of John's material is not found in the other gospels So that's the unique way in which the Holy Spirit called John and empowered John to write his gospel But also John's audience He was writing to a general audience that consisted of Jews and Gentiles But more than Jews and Gentiles this book was written for us Yes in our day.

So what am I wanting us to see here in these two phrases? John is alluding to his gospel which God the Holy Spirit has inspired him to write and This gospel was for Jew and Gentile this gospel was for us and then second Now there is not an obvious reference to all of the Word of God But for me, I see the totality of God's Word behind these phrases.

Let me repeat that There's not an obvious reference to all of God's Word with what John has given But for me, I see the totality of God's Word behind these phrases for me All of the writers of the other 65 books of the Bible can say as John said and I put it in my words I am writing these things that God's supernaturally worked in me to write as well It is as if we have all of these writers in concert with one another Singing the same song we are writing these things that God the Holy Spirit empowered and enabled us to write Now just as with John's gospel There was an original audience with each book of the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation But these books all of the other books besides John they were meant for us as well Also, so in summary, what do I want us to see here?

First John is alluding to this gospel right here in verse 24 in my mind It is as if John is looking back over his shoulder and mentioning all that God had Supernaturally enabled him to write but also I can't reference John's gospel in this way Without pointing out the entirety of God's Word Simply we have God's Word and John's gospel in John's gospel within God's Word We have God's Word in 66 books. We have one book. It's called the Bible Now a question why would I take the time to mention all this? Why would I take the time to focus on verse 24 and to even go further here?

We must all be reminded of the fact that we have God's Word before us in John's gospel go back to that verse with me This is the disciple John doesn't identify himself We know it's John who bears witness of these things again? He's looking back over his shoulder who wrote these things. He is looking back and So we are also we must be reminded of the fact that John This is God's Word in John's gospel And we are also in possession of the full canon of God's Word We must be reminded that is God's people we must operate under the authority of God's Word now Let me share with you something else that gripped me Monday morning as I was meditating over verse 24 Oh Those phrases just resonated with my heart and I immediately went to this one word this one word and that is authority Authority we are under the authority of God's Word and and those of us who are God's people Would affirm that and they mean that and say brother Chris.

I'm right there with you in that we're under the authority of John's gospel, but let me elaborate here We are under the authority of everything that God has taught us here in God's gospel the gospel of John I've simply sought to explain God's Word and to apply God's Word now I am in no way saying the things I have said or on equal standing with God's Word No, I'm a mere man desiring to explain God's Word But what I'm showing you is is for over four years where we've been in a journey through this gospel John's gospel and there is a whole lot of truth that has been put before you there's a whole lot of truth that the Lord has enabled you to see and to Digest and to understand and we're all under that truth that has been revealed to us and opened up to us and explain To us there's just a whole lot of truth that we should be under that authority Now going back to the totality of God's Word We do operate under the authority of God's Word and we see that in church history If we know our church history and we know what took place in the Protestant Reformation Those reformers went back to what the Word said and that is man must be justified by grace through faith not church tradition, but behind that was they were going back under the authority of God's Word and not tradition and So we are like those reformers We want to be under the authority of God's Word and we must work hard We must work diligently so that all of the matters of church and church life Under the authority of God's Word and then all of the matters of our family are under the authority of God's Word and all of our Our children are under the authority of God's Word But I move out from that as we go out in the culture We must operate under the authority of God's Word and that can be hard because when we explain God's Word and stand for God's Word And it in proclaim God's Word society does not want to be under the authority of John's Word And again, I think John's looking back over his shoulder at all of these things that he's written and we can look back over our Shoulder for four years and see that the Lord has given us So very much these things speak to all that the Lord has given us and then second our second major truth We have these witnesses We have these witnesses now there are two words.

I want you to underline or or highlight or just remember here in verse 24 This is the disciple who that personal pronoun who who bears witness of these things and wrote these things and we We know that his witness is true again here in verse 24 We have information two words that might be overlooked. We have this word who and this word we now personally I believe these witnesses are important for us to see Again, I don't know why but this really gripped me Monday morning and these witnesses have been on my heart all week We have two witnesses here first. We have the the disciple who bears witness.

This is John He does not name himself, but we know this is the Apostle John now We need to be reminded of who John was This is John the brother of James the the sons of Zebedee Yes, John had a brother who was a partner with him in this ministry and they were very close to Peter They were Peter's fishing partners. So we learned that in John or excuse me Luke 5 verse 10 so we see that John had a brother and a very close friend Peter and John was one of those 12 chosen disciples chosen by Jesus But John was very busy in his ministry We know that he gave us the books of first John second John third John and then later the book of the revelation The book of the revelation this same John was the only apostle to have lived a long life Although he was banished to that island of Patmos for the gospel or preaching the gospel Then while on the island of Patmos, he gave us the book of the revelation Now I give us a little more information about John John MacArthur gave this to me quite a while back I've held on to it and I've kind of altered what he gave me.

So I must give him credit He reminds us that that John was a Jew That would show us that he is very familiar with Jewish Jewish life and that comes out in this teaching Let me give you an example It helps us when we're in John chapter 24 to understand how those disciples would have viewed that Samaritan woman Being a Jew John knew how those disciples would react to that Gentile Samaritan Also, he was an eyewitness. Is it that what we see here in verse 24?

He's looking back over his shoulder at all of these details that he witnessed and he was that apostle He was an apostle who gave us intimate information about the other Disciples and what they were feeling and how they walk with the Lord and he was the disciple that Jesus loved in a unique way That's this John That's this John, but there's another layer to this witness This phrase who bears witness go back to verse 24 This is the disciple who bears witness of these things It's in what's called the present tense meaning that he is still bearing witness This tells us that John this John that we know so much about Did not write this book and then let it be he continued to be a witness of Christ All of the days of his life his entire life and ministry was a continual witness of Christ and for Christ so we have this disciple who bore witness and then second we have the other witnesses The other witnesses verse 24 says we know that his witness is true For me this we speaks of the whole host of others within this gospel account There were so many caught up in the earthly ministry of Christ who would stand up and say I am a part of this We they would say he changed my life.

They would say he saved me They would say I am a part of this great witness. Oh Automatically, I think back to Nicodemus in John 3 now We know that John does not specifically say that he was converted But most Bible scholars believe that he was converted he identified with the death and burial and resurrection of Christ and other Believers and oh I believe that the Nicodemus would stand up and say oh he saved me. I'm a part of that we I Think of the woman the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 not only would she say hey I'm a part of this week She went back to her own people and testified and proclaimed Christ and said yes.

I'm a part of this week. I Think about Peter back in John 6 now We spent quite a bit of time looking at Peter in John 20 and 21 But there in John 6 when all of those supposed disciples left Jesus What did Peter say we have left everything he was a part of this week? I think of Marian Martha and Lazarus that real close family Jesus was very close to them Mary and Martha were so different Lazarus was the one who had died and Jesus brought back to life They would speak up and say we we are a part of this week and There were so many within this week this crowd in John's gospel who are faithful Witnesses just like John all throughout the gospel They are waving that flag and saying we are a part of this witness and Not only do we see these two witnesses We see the truthfulness of John's witness and their witness as God the Holy Spirit inspired John to write He protected the truthfulness of that witness He protected the truthfulness of that witness throughout the entirety of God's Word And that's what we see here these great witnesses and the truthfulness of this witness so in summary What do we need to see here John bore witness of Christ within his gospel?

He bore witness all of the days of his life even even in suffering on the island of Patmos They are the many who are the we they are the many who were right there in John's gospel And oh we can learn so much from that group the we the many They were witnesses faithful witnesses all of the days of their lives as well Now this leads me to a place where I feel like I must ask you a question this morning Are you a witness of Christ? Sir ma'am young person are you a witness of Christ now? I'm not talking about a witness of what you know of Christ. No listen sir ma'am young person.

I'm not talking about information You know when I was studying my mind race back to my years of my home church I remember at Highland Baptist Church so many years ago. We had a vibrant outreach and visitation ministry It was very vibrant week after week We would meet and we would go knock on doors and visit those who had visited But in those days there were always a group who took evangelism personal evangelism very very serious and and we would take gospel tracts and go out and witness and in pairs and threes and We were trained and many times this one would witness the other would stay there and pray and just hang back and be that support But I'm thinking of a man who was very faithful back then I'm afraid to say that he's not in the faith today John described him John said in first John Those who went out from us never were of us But I remember those days.

He was a very good witness But see I'm afraid he witnessed of the information that he knew the information that he had had Digested and that's not the witness that John was Mom asking you are you a witness of Christ? But are you are you a witness of what Christ has done in you and how he has changed you see? That's what John is saying that's what the witnesses here saying we we've been changed by this gospel in this Jesus I Had the privilege of sharing how Christ had saved me last night It's talking with a young man there at a wedding reception And and I was able to share my testimony and he asked questions And I've told him about my religious upbringing and how I live before Christ And I was able to share the gospel and I was able to share how he had changed me and how he Saved me and made me a new creation.

It wasn't just gospel information No, I was waving the flag just like they were saying yes. I'm a part of the we a Couple of weeks ago. I spent a good deal of time with one of the young men in our church God ordained it that way He began to open up and share with me about some personal struggles struggles And you know for the first time in a one-on-one circumstance with him I was able to share about how God changed me about how God convicted me of my lostness About how I lived before I knew Christ and and I was honest in his eyes really got big and I was able to share Personally see not that gospel information.

It was more than that information I was able to share and witness about what God had done in me So my question is is are you a witness of what God and Christ has done in you? What is John saying? This is the disciple who bears witness that these things are true. It wasn't just information He was a witness of what God had done in him There's more of John's example which can challenge us We must be a continual witness We must witness faithfully throughout all of the days of our lives Not just when you were young throughout all of the days of our lives now work backwards in age.

I think about grandparents How influential can a grandparent be who's poured their life into a grandson or a granddaughter? How faithful can an older grandparent be in? Witnessing about how God has changed them not just that information I think about middle-aged moms and dads how they can influence others and their children and their family about God How God has changed them and young parents see it matters how we witness We must be able to share about what God has done in us how God has saved us.

Oh not just information But there's more John and Deward terrible suffering at the end of his life Church tradition tells us that he suffered and he didn't die a martyr's death not like the others But the suffering that John endured was exile He was exiled to a cruel desolate island Island of Patmos was meant for the outcast and the criminal now. What can we learn from that? Brothers and sisters sometimes in our Christian lives were exiled See what did John do when he was on the island of Patmos says that when he was on the Lord's Day The text says that on the Lord's Day.

He was in the spirit and he looked up What am I showing you when he was an exile? He was walking with the Lord and on that faithful day the Lord's Day. He didn't look out at the circumstances He looked up and see it was that beautiful Exhaust that enabled him to be able to write the book of the Revelation and so for you and for me We are Christians and sometimes we live in exile and through that exile we can have a great testimony I can't think of one any more wonderful than brother Keith and Teresa Most of you know that the exile that they've been in God ordained is not being able to have children Biologically and I watch them faithfully as they went to that seeming exile Walk with the Lord and look up not look out look up not look out and they have been a faithful Witness to the workings of God in their life and not just about adoption but about their personal Testimonies about how God has saved them and changed them So what am I trying to show with you what I want you to see here in verse 24 These are the witnesses and they didn't just witness of information No, it was the witness of a changed life And we must see that that is the kind of witness that we must be all of the days of our life And yes, even in exile You know a third major truth This is the purpose the purpose Now to revisit the purpose we really go back to the theme verse We started this way and I think it's fitting that we in this way We go back to John chapter 20 verse 31 What does the verse say But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name Now it might seem odd, but this verse leads me to tell you a story Many of you know that when I left full-time ministry the Lord would not let me go back on to church staff for a while And so when you leave your full-time ministry job, and you do not go to another full-time ministry job You have to find a job I've said this many times when you have seminary education it kind of limits your employment Well, I went to a church with a man and he asked me if I needed a job.

His name was Ronnie hooks He lives in the Fair River community Well Ronnie happened to be the foreman for a contractor who built houses high-end houses Now honestly, I used to drive Ronnie hooks crazy And it was always with one word in one sentence many times Ronnie would have us on a project And I would ask why are we doing this? Why are we doing this now? I wasn't being disrespectful or questioning his knowledge I wanted to know the purpose behind the task Well, John had a purpose in writing the book and we see the why why John? Did you write the book the purpose in verse 31 go back to the verse?

But these these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and That believing you may have life in his name and there are two purposes That John had in writing the book first John's book his approach was what we call apologetic He was proving who Jesus was proving that he was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament Now question that some of you might ask what is this term? apologetics Apologetics is defending a position using a systematic argument It is making a case for a position with the appropriate information And that is what John is doing all throughout his gospel.

He is making a case He is providing a systematic argument that John is The Son of God the Christ the promised Messiah now an application If you know someone who is not born again And you're witnessing to them and you're trying to nudge them in the right way Listen telling them to read the gospel of John is one of the greatest places to start because it's about proving who Jesus was That was John's purpose and then the second he had a purpose of being evangelistic John was about evangelizing You know in our culture we call it witnessing we may call it sharing our faith I remember distinctly back when I went to India they used a unique term They call it gospelizing it all means the same thing.

That's what John was doing. He was gospelizing that audience he was witnessing and Proving the faith that must come through his son Jesus And there's all kinds of evidence within the gospel that proved John's heart and one that I noticed How many times he used this term to believe? John used the verb to believe nearly a hundred times more than twice as much as all of the other Gospels and it was emphasizing that those who savingly believe in Jesus will have what eternal life This theme verse as well as many other times in instances in John the language it proves That he was evangelistic in his heart in writing this gospel So in summary, what do we see here?

The title of the series. That's where the title comes from Christ the Son of God he's about proving who Jesus was believe and live That's what we've sought to emphasize from day one Now an application I'll be short here But I will say this to you Some of you have learned some of the greatest doctrine some of the most abused doctrine overlooked doctrine That is so vital and that is the doctrine of a proper Christ ology who Christ was That he was God in the flesh We have seen from cover page to page Chapter and chapter word by word who Christ was if you want to know who Christ Jesus was starting chapter 1 verse 1 But also we've seen John's purpose be fleshed out here Like I said earlier there have been people who have come to faith in Christ Through this study of this book and then there are people who have been shown that they're lost them without Christ Through the study of this book John's purpose Now in conclusion Not only concluding this message but concluding the series I want to share with you something I've not shared All the while that we've gone through the gospel over four years Why did I choose?

God John why did I choose the gospel of John? Why did I choose back in? 2015 four plus years ago to go through this book in this gospel. I Want you to know that as your pastor I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and when we started on March the 5th of 2015 I knew that the Lord had led me and brought me to this place Because I knew that there was a work He wanted to do I sought to know what was best for you and for our church And I had a firm conviction that I needed to present Christ to you Christ the Son of God now a question What better message could I bring? What better message could I bring other than Christ? I?

Was encouraged by two testimonies Heard John MacArthur talk about in his early years in his particular church He said that the first few years of pastoring his church He said that all he wanted to do was present Christ present Christ present Christ To present Christ through the Gospels now I'm not saying he influenced me but know that affirm me that the Lord had been leading me in the right path Then hearing other pastors like the great Martin Lloyd-Jones say very similar things What am I trying to show you the most important message that I could bring you is Christ?

And I also had a firm conviction that you needed to hear the evangelistic heart of God Let me repeat that I had a firm conviction that you needed to hear the evangelistic heart of God. I Believe Russ Carter would tell you that God used God's gospel John's gospel in a mighty way to bring him to faith in Christ What about you those of you who are born again listen this evangelistic message could spur you and should spur you on to do What to go and to share your faith and then there are several here this morning You're lost and you've been praying over your condition, and we've been praying with you and counseling with you God has used this gospel in a mighty way to convict you of your condition Now in conclusion I want to give some closing instructions I'm reminded of something one of our men told me several years ago He told me that he has a notebook for each of the studies that we go through I've seen the notebook in his hand.

He says he has one for each study And he explained to me that he kept notes to keep his library so that he could go back later And I encourage you to take notes. Why is it just so you can look nice and look spiritual while you're writing in church No, God showed me that years ago I learned so much that I've forgotten That I have forgotten and I've moon moved past and I think that when we take time to go through a book like John When we take good notes it does become a library that we can go back to and pull some truth out that the Lord Taught us that we might need in that particular day But also you can go back and you can listen to the messages a Couple weeks ago brother Keith told me that he was reminded of something that I had said Several several messages back and he said he went back to the church website Pull that message and listen to it till he could get to that point piece of information that he needed What am I showing you all that the Lord is giving us given us has become a resource to help us today and to help us tomorrow One thing I do share in closing I've seared several times that As we move away from the verse by verse study There's some pastoral thoughts that I'm going to share out of chapter 21 in the next few weeks These are personal pertain to our future and I ask you to pray So what have we had what's before us I Think a four-plus year journey John's gospel I Think four years studying his word letting God changes.

I think it's been a good journey For me, I've had a tremendous privilege and joy. It's been mine first I promise you and I look forward to many more books many more chapters not just the Gospels But many more that are before us and I look forward to those days