Welcome Online
Memory verse
Pray for Involve Church
*******
When I was in junior high there was an area between two of the buildings (remember this California now) and this area was perhaps triple the width of our back parking lot, and there were basketball hoops on both sides.
And I was walking along one day, and I’ll never forget it, there was this kid, he’s standing approximately under one basketball hoop, he’s holding a basketball, and he dropkicks it, not aiming at anything, but just dropkicks it, and by chance, it goes the whole width of the blacktop and swishes in the hoop on the other side.
Now, I don’t think there was anyone else out there. But he was there, and I was. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. Not a miracle obviously but I'm still talking about it to this day.
Here’s another story, also basketball. I’m at a Capital High game here in town. I don’t remember which team was trailing, but I think it was Capital. Last second of the game, this kid is locked up in the corner of the court. He turns, lobs it up, swish baby. Now maybe that one was dumb luck, but it does possibly say something about that kid as a basketball player. If you know where I’m going, it could be a sign that he was a good player. Someone could have told me he was a good player, but this was seeing evidence.
So why am I bringing this up I'm bringing this up? Because Jesus did these miracles, and they are, as John puts it, signs, and the signs show us who Jesus is. They point to the fact that He is the Christ and the Son of God. And they grabbed attention, and they drew crowds. People wanted to see Him.
Now those basketball examples were fun, but let’s get real for a minute. Unlike those people from the basketball scenes, Jesus obviously came with a message.
Now let me tell you about someone else, someone local who kept coming to Summit. She had a radical message that if we followed it would totally transform our lives. She kept wanting to talk to us as staff members, she said the church was too commercialized, and kept trying to convince us quit formalized church, and our jobs, join her, and give her money. She had a message.
Jesus had a message. His was radical too. Leave behind what the religious leaders say, leave them behind, and follow me. Persecution and death awaits. But Jesus had something this woman didn’t. He preformed signs, miracles that showed who He was, showed His authority to make such audacious claims on our lives.
In the Gospel of John there's this emphasis that's going to come to a head in our passage today, one of signs that Jesus preforms, that’s one stream of evidence that John records, and then the other strand is the verbal testimony about Jesus, both from Jesus Himself, and others. Now, John had the benefit of having a front row seat to both, both words or verbal testimony and the miraculous signs. He got to be present with Jesus and His ministry. He was a first-hand witness to Jesus. In 1 John, John puts it this way
1 John 1:1-3
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Now as John writes His gospel, John understands that his readers can‘t see the signs but they as he did, but they can hear about them.
His readers have access to the verbal testimony, the words, but unlike John himself, they did not see the signs.
And so I find John's discussion of signs and words very interesting for us today.
Before we get into our passage, we’re going to do a little time travelling through John. And if you know anything about the science of time travel, you of course know that this past week we celebrated the 71st anniversary of Doc Brown seeing the vision of the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.
So let’s go into the future in John to John 20:30-31
So then, many other [h]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the [i]Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.
It’s important to go over this now. It’s no use to say that we have evidence, if we’re not going to explain what the evidence is supposed to prove. The evidence is supposed to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so we can believe this and access to eternal life.
OK, Back in the Delorean, or if you prefer Bill and Ted’s, the phone booth, back to the past, back all the way to John 1.
John 1:29, 32-34 Joh the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus:
The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 2 And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 And I did not recognize [ad]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [ae]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [af]in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the [ag]Son of God.”
Even in this verbal testimony, we see words vs signs. John the Baptist, says who Jesus is, and he sees a sign that proves it to him.
In v.45 we see Nathanael coming to Jesus. Now when Jesus meets Nathanael, Jesus tells him, He already knew what Nathanael was like before they met, in fact Jesus could see him in the privacy of being alone.
John 1:49-50
Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
In John 2:11, after Jesus turned water into wine it says:
This beginning of His [d]signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
So again we see this pattern that the signs are supposed to point to belief in who Jesus is
Then we see in chapter 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says:
From John 3:2
“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these [b]signs that You do unless God is with him.”
So Nicodemus knows Jesus is someone special. He’s close, he’s willing to say God is with Jesus. But at this point in John, Nicodemus can’t get all the way there yet, to form any opinion on whom Jesus is.
That brings us to today's passage we're going to backtrack a little into what Brian's already covered and you're going to see why pretty much immediately.
John 4:39-42
Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to [m]Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.”
And what do we see here? The woman, impressed that Jesus knows details about her personal life even though she just met Him, and based on the fact that He tells her is the Christ, the women tells the people she knows. They believe based on her words. Then they speak to Jesus, and after hearing from Jesus Himself, even more of them believe, and all the more, based on His words.
Picking back up,
43-45
43 And after the two days, He departed from there for Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, only because they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
John says the reception back at home for Jesus was a little more tepid. Right? Words aren’t enough for them. Their belief is only based on the evidence of the signs.
Healing an Official’s Son
46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see [n]signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “[o]Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son [p]is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [q]son was [r]alive. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the [s]seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and his entire household. 54 This is again a second [t]sign that Jesus performed when He had come from Judea into Galilee.
So this royal official is interesting. He probably works for Herod Antipas, a local royal ruler, and makes the trek 15 miles mostly uphill to Cana because Jesus is there. It’s hard to know why Jesus seems to direct this ctriticism about signs at him.
The guy’s son was sick. Certainly seems to believe and Jesus can heal him. He's certainly not coming to Jesus out of unbelief, and as soon as Jesus says the words that his son is alive, the guy believes Him. But his belief seems to grow when he finds out that his son got better exactly when Jesus spoke to him about it. And that belief spreads to his household.
This sign shows us about who Jesus is. Do you know anyone else who can speak from 15 miles away, and you instantly get better? Because if you do, I have terrible white coat syndrome, man, I want your doctor. The sign tells us who Jesus is. And John has told us Jesus is God. That’s part of His identity. It’s why He can do these things. It’s why we should listen to Him.
Also, again, going in the past in John, to the present, to the future.
Ch.1
In Him was life
Ch. 4
Your son is alive
Ch. 20
By believing you may have life in His name
The sign demonstrates Jesus is the source of life, and He has the power to give it.
You may say, “Well, this could be coincidence.” Fair enough, but the guy who actually had the sick kid didn’t think so, and one piece of evidence. John is building the whole case. Stick with him. Let him cook.
Now let's go back to the future, back to that chapter 20 passage. Jesus has appeared to the disciples after his death, but Thomas wasn't there.
So we pick up in verse 25
John 20:25-31
So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 [a]Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been [b]shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be to you.” 27 Then He *said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and see My hands; and take your hand and put it into My side; and do not continue in disbelief, but be a believer.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
30 So then, many other [c]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the [d]Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name
The people who read John's book couldn't see Jesus. Jesus had already gone back into heaven. They had no ability to see any of the signs that Jesus done. That was also in the past. All they had was the testimony of John and others. Yet they believed this testimony.
And as a result, Jesus’ message to them is they are blessed because they were open to belief without having seen Him.
And we can't see these things, Jesus, or His miracles. And we want to, don’t. You want me to believe in Jesus? His identity? His resurrection? Prove it. We can’t, but we can examine the evidence, and decide if we will accept testimony. This is where we're at, way in the future. We have Jesus’ words. We have the testimony of those who saw Jesus. And we are left to determine if we believe or not.
Now I've been reliably informed that people want something to do an application to their sermon.
Well, most of you here today have already done it. You already believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You have life in his name already. So be encouraged. If you have a busy week, I'm not here necessarily to give you another thing to do. Apply sermon, done! Cross that off your list.
But maybe you want something more. Fine. Afterall, John’s gospel was written to people who also had already taken this step, who already believed that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God.
So what does John want from us? He wants us to feel confident. He wants us to know that there is evidence to what we believe about Jesus. The verbal testimony, and the signs, the miracles.
So if you want to do something, if you want a next step after this passage, here's what I'm recommending. Go all in on John. Here we have handed down God's word through the ages, evidence that Jesus was who He says He was.
So study John, come here as many Sundays as you can, or watch from home, but coming is better, and in between, look even more into John. Examine the evidence, the verbal testimony the miracles, the signs. Get a commentary, a study Bible, a John journalling notebook. Take this opportunity of us going through John to take John seriously. Go all in on John.
Take the time in this book of John as an opportunity to know more about the savior of the world, the Christ, the Son of God and to become more convinced . John wants you to have an evidence-backed approach to Jesus. He wants you to know that he actually physically touched Jesus. He actually physically saw Jesus do these things. He heard Jesus preach. He wants to be a witness to you, to provide testimony, evidence, of the things he saw and heard so that you, just like him, you also have the benefit of knowing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God the savior of the world because there's life in Him.
Now as a bonus, but wait there's more, let's sweeten the deal, let me tell you is amazing literature. I am not saying I don't believe that John is true. I am saying John is well written. So in addition to the eternal spiritual benefits that you will get from studying John it's a more and more amazing book the further you drill down.
Now maybe you’re like Nicodemus. You have some thoughts on Jesus. You have reason enough to be here, but you’re not on team belief yet. You can also use this time in John to seriously consider Jesus. Watch what He does. Hear what He says. Hear what others say about Him. Stress test Jesus and His claims. Go deep. You know Nicodemus in chapter 3 He isn’t a believer in chapter 3, but in chapter 19 it’s a different story, He reemerges and is one of the people who buries Jesus. He has clearly come to faith in Jesus. You know, you may not be a believer now, but by the end of John, we’re hoping you are.
Or maybe you say, “Uwf, you know what, I’ve been around this Jesus stuff long enough, I think I believe. I don’t have all the pieces yet, I’m not a theologian yet, but I aww, I think I believe. Jesus asks you to believe three things, and accept two implications. His identity. We’ve talked about that a lot today. That He died to pay the punishment for our sins. And He came back to life with power over death, and power to offer us life after death. The implications of believing are sorrow for sin, and therefore asking for forgiveness, and then turning around to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives.
Pray
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Blessed are you who did not see, and yet believed.
Memory verse
Pray for Involve Church
*******
When I was in junior high there was an area between two of the buildings (remember this California now) and this area was perhaps triple the width of our back parking lot, and there were basketball hoops on both sides.
And I was walking along one day, and I’ll never forget it, there was this kid, he’s standing approximately under one basketball hoop, he’s holding a basketball, and he dropkicks it, not aiming at anything, but just dropkicks it, and by chance, it goes the whole width of the blacktop and swishes in the hoop on the other side.
Now, I don’t think there was anyone else out there. But he was there, and I was. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. Not a miracle obviously but I'm still talking about it to this day.
Here’s another story, also basketball. I’m at a Capital High game here in town. I don’t remember which team was trailing, but I think it was Capital. Last second of the game, this kid is locked up in the corner of the court. He turns, lobs it up, swish baby. Now maybe that one was dumb luck, but it does possibly say something about that kid as a basketball player. If you know where I’m going, it could be a sign that he was a good player. Someone could have told me he was a good player, but this was seeing evidence.
So why am I bringing this up I'm bringing this up? Because Jesus did these miracles, and they are, as John puts it, signs, and the signs show us who Jesus is. They point to the fact that He is the Christ and the Son of God. And they grabbed attention, and they drew crowds. People wanted to see Him.
Now those basketball examples were fun, but let’s get real for a minute. Unlike those people from the basketball scenes, Jesus obviously came with a message.
Now let me tell you about someone else, someone local who kept coming to Summit. She had a radical message that if we followed it would totally transform our lives. She kept wanting to talk to us as staff members, she said the church was too commercialized, and kept trying to convince us quit formalized church, and our jobs, join her, and give her money. She had a message.
Jesus had a message. His was radical too. Leave behind what the religious leaders say, leave them behind, and follow me. Persecution and death awaits. But Jesus had something this woman didn’t. He preformed signs, miracles that showed who He was, showed His authority to make such audacious claims on our lives.
In the Gospel of John there's this emphasis that's going to come to a head in our passage today, one of signs that Jesus preforms, that’s one stream of evidence that John records, and then the other strand is the verbal testimony about Jesus, both from Jesus Himself, and others. Now, John had the benefit of having a front row seat to both, both words or verbal testimony and the miraculous signs. He got to be present with Jesus and His ministry. He was a first-hand witness to Jesus. In 1 John, John puts it this way
1 John 1:1-3
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Now as John writes His gospel, John understands that his readers can‘t see the signs but they as he did, but they can hear about them.
His readers have access to the verbal testimony, the words, but unlike John himself, they did not see the signs.
And so I find John's discussion of signs and words very interesting for us today.
Before we get into our passage, we’re going to do a little time travelling through John. And if you know anything about the science of time travel, you of course know that this past week we celebrated the 71st anniversary of Doc Brown seeing the vision of the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.
So let’s go into the future in John to John 20:30-31
So then, many other [h]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the [i]Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.
It’s important to go over this now. It’s no use to say that we have evidence, if we’re not going to explain what the evidence is supposed to prove. The evidence is supposed to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so we can believe this and access to eternal life.
OK, Back in the Delorean, or if you prefer Bill and Ted’s, the phone booth, back to the past, back all the way to John 1.
John 1:29, 32-34 Joh the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus:
The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 2 And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 And I did not recognize [ad]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [ae]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [af]in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the [ag]Son of God.”
Even in this verbal testimony, we see words vs signs. John the Baptist, says who Jesus is, and he sees a sign that proves it to him.
In v.45 we see Nathanael coming to Jesus. Now when Jesus meets Nathanael, Jesus tells him, He already knew what Nathanael was like before they met, in fact Jesus could see him in the privacy of being alone.
John 1:49-50
Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
In John 2:11, after Jesus turned water into wine it says:
This beginning of His [d]signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
So again we see this pattern that the signs are supposed to point to belief in who Jesus is
Then we see in chapter 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says:
From John 3:2
“Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these [b]signs that You do unless God is with him.”
So Nicodemus knows Jesus is someone special. He’s close, he’s willing to say God is with Jesus. But at this point in John, Nicodemus can’t get all the way there yet, to form any opinion on whom Jesus is.
That brings us to today's passage we're going to backtrack a little into what Brian's already covered and you're going to see why pretty much immediately.
John 4:39-42
Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to [m]Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.”
And what do we see here? The woman, impressed that Jesus knows details about her personal life even though she just met Him, and based on the fact that He tells her is the Christ, the women tells the people she knows. They believe based on her words. Then they speak to Jesus, and after hearing from Jesus Himself, even more of them believe, and all the more, based on His words.
Picking back up,
43-45
43 And after the two days, He departed from there for Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, only because they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
John says the reception back at home for Jesus was a little more tepid. Right? Words aren’t enough for them. Their belief is only based on the evidence of the signs.
Healing an Official’s Son
46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see [n]signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “[o]Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son [p]is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [q]son was [r]alive. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the [s]seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and his entire household. 54 This is again a second [t]sign that Jesus performed when He had come from Judea into Galilee.
So this royal official is interesting. He probably works for Herod Antipas, a local royal ruler, and makes the trek 15 miles mostly uphill to Cana because Jesus is there. It’s hard to know why Jesus seems to direct this ctriticism about signs at him.
The guy’s son was sick. Certainly seems to believe and Jesus can heal him. He's certainly not coming to Jesus out of unbelief, and as soon as Jesus says the words that his son is alive, the guy believes Him. But his belief seems to grow when he finds out that his son got better exactly when Jesus spoke to him about it. And that belief spreads to his household.
This sign shows us about who Jesus is. Do you know anyone else who can speak from 15 miles away, and you instantly get better? Because if you do, I have terrible white coat syndrome, man, I want your doctor. The sign tells us who Jesus is. And John has told us Jesus is God. That’s part of His identity. It’s why He can do these things. It’s why we should listen to Him.
Also, again, going in the past in John, to the present, to the future.
Ch.1
In Him was life
Ch. 4
Your son is alive
Ch. 20
By believing you may have life in His name
The sign demonstrates Jesus is the source of life, and He has the power to give it.
You may say, “Well, this could be coincidence.” Fair enough, but the guy who actually had the sick kid didn’t think so, and one piece of evidence. John is building the whole case. Stick with him. Let him cook.
Now let's go back to the future, back to that chapter 20 passage. Jesus has appeared to the disciples after his death, but Thomas wasn't there.
So we pick up in verse 25
John 20:25-31
So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 [a]Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been [b]shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be to you.” 27 Then He *said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and see My hands; and take your hand and put it into My side; and do not continue in disbelief, but be a believer.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
30 So then, many other [c]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the [d]Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name
The people who read John's book couldn't see Jesus. Jesus had already gone back into heaven. They had no ability to see any of the signs that Jesus done. That was also in the past. All they had was the testimony of John and others. Yet they believed this testimony.
And as a result, Jesus’ message to them is they are blessed because they were open to belief without having seen Him.
And we can't see these things, Jesus, or His miracles. And we want to, don’t. You want me to believe in Jesus? His identity? His resurrection? Prove it. We can’t, but we can examine the evidence, and decide if we will accept testimony. This is where we're at, way in the future. We have Jesus’ words. We have the testimony of those who saw Jesus. And we are left to determine if we believe or not.
Now I've been reliably informed that people want something to do an application to their sermon.
Well, most of you here today have already done it. You already believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You have life in his name already. So be encouraged. If you have a busy week, I'm not here necessarily to give you another thing to do. Apply sermon, done! Cross that off your list.
But maybe you want something more. Fine. Afterall, John’s gospel was written to people who also had already taken this step, who already believed that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God.
So what does John want from us? He wants us to feel confident. He wants us to know that there is evidence to what we believe about Jesus. The verbal testimony, and the signs, the miracles.
So if you want to do something, if you want a next step after this passage, here's what I'm recommending. Go all in on John. Here we have handed down God's word through the ages, evidence that Jesus was who He says He was.
So study John, come here as many Sundays as you can, or watch from home, but coming is better, and in between, look even more into John. Examine the evidence, the verbal testimony the miracles, the signs. Get a commentary, a study Bible, a John journalling notebook. Take this opportunity of us going through John to take John seriously. Go all in on John.
Take the time in this book of John as an opportunity to know more about the savior of the world, the Christ, the Son of God and to become more convinced . John wants you to have an evidence-backed approach to Jesus. He wants you to know that he actually physically touched Jesus. He actually physically saw Jesus do these things. He heard Jesus preach. He wants to be a witness to you, to provide testimony, evidence, of the things he saw and heard so that you, just like him, you also have the benefit of knowing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God the savior of the world because there's life in Him.
Now as a bonus, but wait there's more, let's sweeten the deal, let me tell you is amazing literature. I am not saying I don't believe that John is true. I am saying John is well written. So in addition to the eternal spiritual benefits that you will get from studying John it's a more and more amazing book the further you drill down.
Now maybe you’re like Nicodemus. You have some thoughts on Jesus. You have reason enough to be here, but you’re not on team belief yet. You can also use this time in John to seriously consider Jesus. Watch what He does. Hear what He says. Hear what others say about Him. Stress test Jesus and His claims. Go deep. You know Nicodemus in chapter 3 He isn’t a believer in chapter 3, but in chapter 19 it’s a different story, He reemerges and is one of the people who buries Jesus. He has clearly come to faith in Jesus. You know, you may not be a believer now, but by the end of John, we’re hoping you are.
Or maybe you say, “Uwf, you know what, I’ve been around this Jesus stuff long enough, I think I believe. I don’t have all the pieces yet, I’m not a theologian yet, but I aww, I think I believe. Jesus asks you to believe three things, and accept two implications. His identity. We’ve talked about that a lot today. That He died to pay the punishment for our sins. And He came back to life with power over death, and power to offer us life after death. The implications of believing are sorrow for sin, and therefore asking for forgiveness, and then turning around to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives.
Pray
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Blessed are you who did not see, and yet believed.