The Purpose of John and the Essence of True Christianity - John 20:30-31

1:54And are there multiple scripture is very clear: there is one, one system that pleases God Almighty. Even a more fundamental question is: how do you and I come under his blessing? If we come to the pages of Scripture and we see the life that God desires, we see the religion that God prefers, and then if we're honest, we look at our own hearts and we recognize we don't fit that. How do we go from a place of being outside to a place of inside his blessing? How do we come from a place of being outside his blessing to coming under that blessing? That is a question that you need to know the answer for.

2:44Dear parents, you need to be able to explain this to your children. There most certainly is a religion that God prefers, and all others are apostate. Wow, not a very inclusive message. But the message that Scripture wants you to get over and over and over again. Scripture does not want you to be ignorant about this truth. He wants you to know, the scriptures want you to know how you come under his blessing. He wants you to know the tenets and the lifestyle that pleases God.

3:33Who are those who are blessed? Well, Jesus has just told us. You want to know what the Christ of Scripture has to say? Look back at verse 29, right before our text this morning. Jesus said to him, Thomas, blessed are they, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they who did not see, yet believed. So here's Thomas with his great confession, a high point in John's gospel, having seen the scars, having seen what the stars point to and understood and grasped and believed, Thomas says to Jesus, You are my Lord and my God.

4:25You are my master, you are my God. You are the one to whom I owe all personal subjection to. You are the one that deserves all of my praise, all of my adoration. That's who you are. And it's in this context that Jesus says: Blessed are those who understand what you understand and have embraced what you have embraced, yet have not seen what you have seen. That's who Jesus declares are blessed. Those who can arrive at the same point as Thomas without having seen what Thomas saw, but through the words of the scriptures, believe what Thomas believed. Those are the blessed.

5:24When you can come before the Christ revealed in scriptures and say, You are my Lord. You are my master. You are the one to whom everything is owed. You are my Lord, and you are my God. And that's where John wants to take us. This is a high point in John's gospel. He wants us to take us to this point of blessing. This mountain of confession and the blessing that follows. Psalm 2 speaks about God's anointed. We read it a few minutes ago. Psalm 2:1 starts with the question: why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand in opposition, they stand in opposition, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against Yahweh, and against his anointed, against his Messiah.

6:42They take their counsel, they take their stand against the Lord. I'll tell you what, what kind of thinking is that? You want to take God on? But this is the futility of what, and this is what they say: Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. In other words, we don't want God, we don't want his king ruling over us. And then, as the psalmist goes on between verses 4 and 9, the psalmist shows the futility of such opposition, the futility of such conspiracy.

7:27And the governments of men, the nations, the systems of men, Are really a reflection of what goes on in the heart of man. We can bring this back to our level. And we can ask ourselves these questions: In what ways do I take my stand against God and his anointed king? In which ways do I elevate my ways above his ways? In which ways do I purpose in my heart to tear his fetters away and cast them aside?

8:06Where are you today? The psalmist tells us to show discernment. In verse 10, he says, O kings, show discernment. Put your head on straight. Think about this clearly. Take warning, O judges of the earth, worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. I love that. Worship Him and rejoice with trembling. In other words, have a relationship with Him and be joyful in that relationship. It is so wonderfully good. And yet there's an esteem of reverence, things, a relationship with Him. Is too good to be true, ruler over all. Show discernment.

9:07O judges, show discernment. O kings, take warning, worship. And then he says this in verse 12: do homage to the Son. Pay tribute to him. Do homage to him. Please him. Bless him with your life. Do homage to the Son that he might not become angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him. How blessed are those who take refuge in him? The psalmist speaks about the Lord's anointed and God's Son. And listen, if we are going to do homage to the Son, we need to know who he is, right? In fact, Scripture is about the revealing of this divine personality, this individual to whom all allegiance is due and to whom all homage is to be given.

10:18Scripture is revealed. Scripture doesn't want you to be ignorant. It wants you to know who he is. I mean, if we're going to call on, if we're going to pay tribute, To the Son, if we're going to embrace the Lord's anointed, we need to know his name, don't we? We need to know his name. It's a big question: Who is God's Son? Who is this individual? Who is the heir of all that belongs to God? Who is he? Tell me his name.

10:56Who is God's anointed ruler over humanity? Who is he that I may embrace him? That his ways would be my ways. I need to know. I believe the testament of Scripture. It's blessed are those who come under him, cursed are those who oppose him. Even the pagan prophet Balaam figured that out. Numbers 24:9. What are his ways? When we're talking about God's Son, we're talking about the one who is heir to everything that is God's. When we're his unique one, who is the heir of all that is his. When we're talking about God's anointed, we're talking about the supreme ruler over humanity. Who is he?

11:47Well, John wrote his gospel so that you and I would know who he is, so that you and I would know the religion that God favors. So that you and I would know how to come under such blessed favor. This is the purpose for his gospel. I love the way John organized his gospel. There's a lot of speculation on how he organized his gospel. And after all these years, I've come to an opinion of how I think he arranged his gospel. And I want to show you how he did this.

12:38There are two key confessions in the Gospel of John. We just read the second one. We just read the confession of Thomas, right? But I want to take you back to the first confession. Now, put your thumb here or keep John 20 marked. We're going to go back for a minute to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, and I want you to see the first confession. I believe John arranged his material around two supreme confessions: one at the very outset of his ministry and one at the very end, toward the very end. Do you remember Nathaniel's confession? We'll look at this beginning in verse 45 of chapter 1.

13:31Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. This is one of those delightful days of excitement in the Gospels. I believe this is one of those days that was just exciting. Here comes Philip. We have found him. We have found him. Who? We have found the one that Moses in the law and the prophets spoke about. We have found the personality, the individual to whom all of these prophecies are looking forward to. We have found him. Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said, come and see. Come and see. And this is really the purpose of John's gospel. Come and see. Come and see this individual that I am telling you about. Come and see. I want to introduce him to you. I want to introduce the one to you for whom the prophets spoke about.

14:46Come and see. Come and see. It's the invitation for us this morning to come and see. That's why he wrote his gospel, that we would come and see this individual. They can keep. Going in verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

15:26Nathanael had under a fig tree, maybe in some kind of prayer, maybe having some sort of communion with God in some way. And Jesus says, I saw you there. And this immediately spoke to Nathanael. He's like, only God can know this. It was his omniscience. It was his things that he knew about Nathanael that prompted these words to come out of Nathanael's mouth. Listen to what he says. Verse 49, Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel. Right at the outset, a confession far more than maybe he fully understood, but he understood enough to know only God can know what you know, and you are the king of Israel. Come and see. And here's Nathanael: You are the Son of God. The king of Israel.

16:33And Jesus answered and said to him, and I believe with a smile as big as Texas. That's why he made Texas so that he could have a smile that big, right? But I believe Jesus is smiling. This is one of those wonderful moments in Scripture where you can just feel Christ smiling through the pages of scripture. He said, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you will see greater things than this? Jesus, you're going to see so much more greater than this as evidence that I am the Son of God, the King of Israel. And that's really how John starts his gospel. In fact, I would say circle verse 49 of chapter 1 and write off in your margin, confession number 1. Confession number 1. Now flip back, if you will, to John 20.

17:33And notice that, in fact, I would just say, go to verse 28, circle it, and write off in the margin, confession number two. Confession number two. It's very familiar, isn't it? My Lord and my God. Now, there is a difference. Nathaniel says, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel. And What does Thomas say? You are my Lord. You are my God. Do you see the personal aspect of it? It's like John has taken us from a confession of who Jesus is to a very personal confession. This is who you are to receive Him as. Who He is determines how He is to be received. We do not have the prerogative to say, I will take you as Savior and not Lord. We do not have that prerogative. Who He is drives what is to be received. My Lord, my Master, everything to you is owed.

18:47Of course, we don't always walk in that, do we? Our confession is always higher than our reality. But when we violate that, we confess that you are rightfully due this. All my personal subjection, you deserve it all. And so when I violate that, I confess, ask for your forgiveness. And I am assured of your forgiveness because of who you are. And I can go on rejoicing in my King and in my God. Well, that's Thomas's confession.

19:30So, when you start talking about what Christianity is, Christianity is first and foremost about recognizing who Jesus is and personal subjection to him. Christianity is. But Christianity is more than just personal subjection to Jesus. It is having a supreme affection for Jesus. And that's what, my God, you are, you are owed all the affection of God Himself. And this does not diminish the glory of the Father. Worshiping Jesus does not diminish the glory of the Father because the Father sent Jesus. And when the Son is exalted, the Father is exalted.

20:37Recognizing the One whom the Father sent is honoring the Father as well. Well, these two confessions serve as like, I would say, little bookends or bookends to the major section of John's Gospel. Come and see. Nathaniel, you're going to see a whole lot more that demonstrates that I am king of Israel and the Son of God. That's what Jesus is basically saying. And that's what John lays out in that confession number one. And look what happens. Look what happens right after that.

21:29Then he begins to tell the account of the signs. We'll come to that in a minute. But this morning, I want us to get our minds around John's purpose for his gospel so that you are going to know the essence of true Christianity, that you will embrace true Christianity, that you will be a follower of the true Christ. Well, the purpose of John's gospel, the purpose of John's gospel, first, well, let's just pick it up there in verse 30.

22:03Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written. I'm going to stop there for a moment. Notice, therefore, many other signs Jesus did. So John is being very selective in what he's writing about. He has a purpose that he wants to advance, and he is being very selective. He didn't write about all the other signs that Jesus did. Did he excluded the vast majority of them, but he selected a certain number of signs. Many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written. These, what are the these referring to? Without getting into a lot of discussion on that, I believe that these refer to the signs that he has written throughout his gospel, beginning with the water being turned into wine.

23:07And look at, let's go back, let me show you why I think this. What is the go back to chapter one of John and verse 51? Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will, I'm sorry, verse 50, you will see greater things than these. And then he says, Truly, truly, I say, you will see heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. You're going to see greater things. You're going to see God doing things, incredible things. And then, look at chapter 2, verse 1. On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana. Immediately, John takes us into the first miracle. Look at circle verse 11 of chapter 2.

24:00This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. The glory. What is the glory of Christ? His ability to reflect the Father, to show the Father. And this is the beginning of his signs. What was the beginning? His very first sign was the water turned into wine. What is a sign? Just had the privilege of being up in Wyoming with a sister church of ours in Laramie, and those who were there with us last week, we worshiped with them out in the open outside. And the pastor used an illustration that I want to borrow, steal, take, whatever. Not stealing it because I'm giving him credit for it, but it serves the purpose. He told the story: he says, Imagine me taking a bunch of my kids to Disneyland or Disney World. And I've been hyping it up for a long time. The day finally comes. We get in the car. We drive down to Florida. And the anticipation is building. We come into Florida and we see the first sign that says Disney World. And as soon as we see that Disney World sign, we stop there at the sign and we say, okay, kids, we're going to have our vacation right here. That'd be kind of a letdown, right? What does a sign do? A sign points to something else. Else, right? The sign is nothing in and itself. It is just pointing to a greater reality. Much like this morning, we have a sign out at 1179 in Booneville Road pointing the way to Emmanuel Baptist Church. I noticed none of you are stopping there to think that that's where church is happening, right? You know what a sign it points, right? Well, that's exactly what signs are about. They're pointing to a greater reality.

26:02And so there are several signs in John's gospel before we get to the resurrection, which is the main signpost, right? But before that point, what John does, before these two confessions, in the middle, he takes us through the signs, and then he'll talk about the signs. He'll give us the significance. He's not just content in us looking at the signs. He's wanting us to understand where the signs are pointing so that we may go where they take us.

26:37And the very first one is in chapter 2, verse 11. You can circle that and write sign number one. It's a miracle of transformation, right? He is able to take something common like water and transform it into something used for celebration, something to get excited over. And it's interesting in that context. You see this miracle, and then you see him go into Jerusalem, and you see him going in and cleansing the temple, right? He is about to transform the worship in Jerusalem and in the earth. But he can take something common and he can transform it. Who can transform water? Who can take ordinary water and transform it into wine? Who can change its substance? God.

27:29God can do that. Well, then, chapter 4, turn over to chapter 4, and you can even look at, you can circle verse 50, 53, if you want. 54 speaks of a second sign. This again is the second sign that Jesus did. And what did he do? He healed a nobleman's son. He has power over the human body. He is able to bring someone back from the point of death. And he can do it by speaking the word.

28:14His word has power. Side note: the royal official. What Jesus highlights, or is it what John highlights, is the faith. Of this royal official, he believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, verse 50. But who can do that? Who can speak the word and heal? Someone who's Lord over the human body, someone who's master. Turn over to page chapter five. There's a paralyzed man at Bethesda. This is a miracle of healing, right? Chapter five and verse eight, you can just circle that and write sign number three.

29:06Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your palate, and walk. Immediately the man became well and picked up his palate and began to walk. Who can do this? You see what John's doing? He's not just telling us who Jesus is. Oh, he's telling us that. But he has an emphasis. He's telling us who God's Son is. He's telling us who the Lord's anointed is. Who is God's Son? Jesus. You see the difference? He's not just saying, let me tell you about Jesus. He's God's Son. No, he's saying, let me tell you who the scriptures declare to be God's Son. Let me tell you who he is. He is Jesus. See where he's going. Who can do that? Who can heal a paralyzed man? Who is the master over the human body?

30:00You can heal every kind of human infirmity, God. And in chapter five, there is a large conversation about Jesus' equality with God, because it's not only the human body, but the Sabbath in which he is master over. He takes authority over the institutions of God because he is God. And that's why Jesus says that the Father doesn't judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So to honor the Son, even as the Father is honored. Well, that's sign number three. Go over to chapter six, and there you circle somewhere around number 14.

31:08Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world. What sign are they talking about? The transformation, not the transformation, the creation, if you will, of matter out of nothing, in my opinion. He took five loaves, he took two fish. And then he provided food for 20,000 people, and he has all this leftover, this mass, much greater than what started somewhere. That matter, which we all scientifically know, matter cannot be created or destroyed, right? But it can be transformed somehow. That matter came into existence, and the cause of that was Christ, sardines, fish that never swam, bread that had never been made from wheat, that never grew in a field. He could speak it into existence. Who can do that?

32:04Only God. Only God. Who is God's son? Jesus. And then, right after that, verse 6, verse 19, circle that and write down sign number five. What happens? It's dark. And Jesus comes to them walking on the sea. And they were frightened. Who can walk on the water? Who is Lord over the laws of nature and the elements? Who can control them? God. The one who is heir to everything in creation. Go to chapter nine. We come to the sixth. Sign, the sixth sign.

33:04And who is this? This is a blind man. This is a blind man, blind from birth. You can circle number seven. And right somewhere out there by that, sign number six. He took, he spat on the ground, he made clay of the spittle and he applied it to the eyes of the blind man. And he said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. And so he went away and washed and came back seeing. Who has the authority over the faculties of human perception? Who is this individual? Who can heal the eyes? Let them see.

33:50Who can open blind eyes? Only God. Go to chapter 11. Take you to the seventh sign. Chapter 11, verse. You know the account. Lazarus is in the grave. Everybody's crying. No hope. He's dead. He's decaying. He's stinking. He's so far gone. And then Jesus said in verse 43, when he had said these things, he cried out with a Loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face wrapped around with a cloth.

34:44Who can say to the dead, decaying person, get up, you here? Who does the dead obey? God alone, the judge of all things. This is the individual that will call you for you here, the judge of all. God's anointed ruler over the realm of humanity, God's Son, the heir of all things, including all of humanity. And everyone is going to come forward, and everyone is going to confess Jesus is Lord. But the blessed say that now.

35:51Not when they have to, but when they can look and perceive and follow. Where these signs take us. They take us to an individual that is worthy of everything you can give him: all your obedience and all your affection. Those are the blessed. And that's what John is saying: come and see. Come and see who God's Son is. Come and see. And then there's an eighth sign. Go back to chapter 20. Eighth sign, the resurrection. We've walked through this already. The disciples had met. Jesus appeared. Thomas wasn't there. Then on the next, very next Lord's Day, Jesus shows up again and says to Thomas, Thomas, I heard. Isn't it interesting, like with Nathaniel?

37:04Jesus, how did you know? Here's Thomas. Comes in, I'm not going to believe unless I see, unless I touch. Then Jesus all of a sudden shows up and says, Okay, here you go, Thomas. Come touch. How did you know? What does Thomas do? He doesn't touch. He sees this scarred figure, hardly recognizable. Because of the scars, a lamb looking like he had been slain. Here, Thomas, come touch. What does he do? Oh, yeah, I'm going to come touch. Well, let me put my hand in. Well, you know, the evidence is really pointing in the direction that this really, Jesus, this is you come back from the grave. Jesus. But Jesus is telling him, be believing. Don't stop at the signpost, Thomas. It's not just that Jesus, the one you knew, is back from the grave. Thomas, read what the signs are saying. Thomas got it. Be believing. And Thomas says, My Lord and my God.

38:15He doesn't say, Jesus, you're just back from the grave. He's like, You are God. You are my master. You are my God. To you, all my subjection is due. To you, all my affection is owed. My Lord and my God. He didn't stop at the sign, but he followed where it pointed and he embraced its implications for our lives. And that's what John wants us to do. He wants us to understand through the signs. That he has selectively written to show that Jesus is Lord and master over every human, that he is Creator God that has come in the flesh, that you can know your God, that you can know His anointed, that you could embrace His ways so that you could come under His blessing. This is the one whom the law and the prophets spoke about.

39:26And John wants you to know Him. So, as Thomas utters the words, My Lord and my God, he knew the scars were testifying to something else. He understood that the individual standing before him was God Himself, and God, the God-ordained monarch of humanity. Therefore, look back at the text, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written. Why? So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

40:16Obviously, only halfway through my first point, so we're going to have to stop. But you can see where John is going. He wants us to know that Jesus is. Is the Christ. Jesus is God's Son because the destination is that you will have life in his name. You know what death is? Separation from God, growing separation from him. You know what life is? Union with God, growing union with him. And by being, by coming to Christ, you're granted life.

41:04When you leave the security of your tattered, broken shack and the self-reliance on your own sufficiency, when you leave that and come to the one who is all-sufficient, to the one who truly satisfies, then life takes on a whole different meaning. And until you're joined to Christ, you do not have life. You do not know life. You cannot live. And that's why John wrote, follow, believe what John wrote. Follow. The implications and rejoice fearfully with what this means to your life. It's too good to be true.

42:15So don't make him a liar. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you wanting to see Jesus, wanting to understand your Son, wanting to recognize your anointed ruler. And we want to embrace him and welcome him into our lives. You are good in every sense of the word. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for sending your son, for stepping down, sending him, condescending to our level, even all the way to the most horrific death, humbling death, dirty death imaginable.

43:21It is there we can meet you. It is there that we deserve to be, and it is there where he came, and so there and only. Only there can we meet you. We can touch and know you. Thank you for the cross. May it have its effect upon us as you desire. Transform us. Give us a glimpse. Let us see and let us be transformed. Give us the eyes. Give us the faculties of spiritual insight. We ask in Jesus' name.

44:08Amen.