The Glory of the Gospel

And so we have finally come to
the end of John’s gospel. Or at least that’s what some
people think. The argument goes like this.
Chapter 20 ends so cleanly that verse 31 must have been
the originally designed end of the book. Thomas had just seen
the risen Savior and had boldly declared his faith, my Lord and
my God. And John’s summary statement
in verses 30 and 31 are not only an appropriate summary
for the interaction that Christ had with Thomas but they are
an appropriate end for the entire book and so the conclusion goes
that the position rather is that chapter 21 was an add-on an afterthought in fact The tone
of chapter 21 is so different from the end of chapter 20 that
some people have even concluded that someone other than John
wrote it. Here’s one explanation. What I would call a bad assessment. These verses form the conclusion
of the gospel as originally planned. Chapter 21 being a supplement
added before the book was issued. Now here’s what you would have
to believe. This would have to be your attitude
of not just John the Apostle, but the Holy Spirit himself. Holy Spirit speaking. Oh, by
the way, John, could we add on that part about the fishing trip,
you know, where Peter was restored? That’s a bad assessment. Here’s
a worse assessment. This was, in the first instance,
intended as the end of the gospel. The conflict between belief and
unbelief recorded reaches its climax in the confession of Thomas
and the blessing that follows. The work appears to be complete. And John abruptly but deliberately
brings it to a close. What follows is an afterthought. not part of the original plan.
Now here, you would have to believe that the Holy Spirit, remember
that I could have had a VA, that’s the image that comes to my mind.
Where the Holy Spirit essentially says, oops, I almost plum forgot
that part. And the worst assessment of all,
the worst assessment of all was a complete omission. a complete
omission of John chapter 20, one of my favorite verses in
all of the Bible, a complete omission of any discussion at
all. What was interesting is as I
looked at this I started coursing through the front of this commentary
looking to see was it accidental? Did he refer to this and maybe
the publisher didn’t include it? And I found this statement
at the front of the commentary. The Christian public of today
has come into a possession of a vast body of expository literature. That much is true, and I’m thankful
for that. The possession of this body of
literary aids constitutes a real peril, and that much is true
as well. There is danger of substituting
the explanation for the text itself. And that is all fine
and good except when you don’t comment on the text at all. And
that usually earns a book like this free fare to Larimer County
landfill. I prefer a much more reasonable
approach. I don’t doubt that chapter 20
does seem to sew up not just the thought of the resurrection
with Thomas’ testimony, but it does seem to even sew up the
unfolding theme in John’s gospel. What I would suggest to you is
that John draws a close, the main portion of his gospel, with
chapter one serving as kind of an epilogue, an additional thought,
not unrelated because it is still the resurrected Christ still
dealing with his apostles. You have a prologue in chapter
1 verses 1 through 18. I would call chapter 21 an epilogue. There’s no doubt that we have
a transition between chapter 20 and verse 20 verse 31. But we believe that in the end,
this account for our Savior’s earthly life and ministry is
precisely as the Holy Spirit purposed and breathed it from
the very first. The Apostle had no oops moment,
no clumsy afterthought by which he threw in this fascinating
story about the Apostle’s fishing trip and Peter’s restoration.
The gospel as we have it is exactly what the Holy Spirit prompted
John to write. You know where we have been in
this great chapter. We have the empty tomb. That’s
how the chapter begins, with Mary Magdalene going to the tomb,
finding the tomb empty, turning immediately on her heels, and
going to find Peter and John. Mary, in God’s good providence,
was the very first one to see the risen Christ. Mary had returned
to the tomb, probably following John and Peter, And as Peter
and John depart, Mary is standing there alone and ultimately is
the first of Christ’s disciples to ever see the risen Savior. The Savior then presents himself
to what is called a group of disciples in verses 19 through
25, both men and women, and There’s only one key individual
that is identified as missing, and that was Thomas, believing
Thomas. See, now you hold him to be believing
Thomas, too, don’t you? And so Jesus, in a very special
appearance, designed largely, if not exclusively, for Thomas
himself, appears to Thomas in verses 26 through 29. And that
brings us to the end of chapter 20 not to the end of the gospel
of john the end of chapter 20 verses 30 and 31 therefore many
other signs jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples
which are not written in this book but these have been written
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. What we have before us in these,
arguably two of my favorite verses in all of scripture, what you
have is the glory of the gospel. You have in it what I would propose
to show you this morning are four high points in the grand
drama of salvation itself. Four high points in the drama
of salvation. First of all, this morning, I
wanna show you the first element, the first high point of this
drama, is the astounding miracles worked by Jesus. Those were given
as signs. Those were, as it were, testimony
to those who were hearing or reading that Jesus was someone
special. Jesus was someone astounding. And collectively, they point
to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, none other than the
Messiah. And we start in verse 30. Therefore
many other signs Jesus also performed. And by this term sign, it’s talking
about not just miracles, but actions such as cleansing the
temple, such as the resurrection, other actions that served as
proofs of who Christ claimed to be. These signs were not just given
to stir our hearts, to impress us, to make us wonder, to believe
that there was a miracle working God or that Jesus was some prophet,
but they were given as demonstrations of God’s almighty power. And that they pointed to something
far beyond anything earthly. They pointed to Almighty God,
that God was at work, that they were not just important in some
earthly sense, they were profoundly significant. And as we found
in John’s Gospel, we’ll review some of this in a bit, the signs
never just stood alone. It wasn’t like Jesus just did
a miracle and let it stand. They were accompanied with teaching,
profound teaching, sometimes explanations of the sign itself,
sometimes just profound teaching that could only have come from
the heart of God. So John’s gospel is replete with
these episodes of these signs. But what John points to here
is not the signs that he recorded. initially. Therefore many other
signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples.
These weren’t hidden. These weren’t performed in the
dark away from the human eye. They were performed in the presence
of the disciples. Others saw these and knew of
these and yet John says That even though they were signs performed
by Christ in the presence of the disciples He chose for some
reason not to include them in his gospel John is looking back
over the entire life of Christ And he says that First and foremost,
his gospel was going to be unique and different. We’ve known this
from the start. It has a different feel to it,
a less technical feel, a more personal feel. You feel as this
is really, truly one that walked with Christ and had a relationship
with Christ and was loved by the Savior. John’s gospel is
unique. And it’s unique in the sense
that it looks back and it presupposes the other three gospels, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. But in that, there are significant
differences that we’ve noticed from the very start. We would
have liked to have seen someone produce from cover to cover. Mind you, it would have filled
not just shelves, but as John will record at the end of chapter
21, All the books in the world couldn’t have contained all of
what God did through Christ. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they
present these largely historical, strictly historical accounts.
John makes it clear that in his gospel, he’s made a selection,
he picked. He purposely made a selection
of what he was going to include and what, frankly, he was going
to leave out. And he acknowledges that there’s
no human way possible that he could have included everything.
He hasn’t told us everything that he knew about Christ. He
hasn’t told us everything that he observed. But he says that
his purpose was not to write a full and complete account of
Christ’s life, but to do so with a purpose. We’ll come to that
in a moment. To select out a few of Christ’s signs, miracles,
that were done by him that would fit his purpose. John leaves
out many things. that the synoptic gospels include. We found in our study of John’s
gospel there is no reference to the birth account. And as
we draw near to Christmas, it is a stark reminder. In fact, John takes us to eternity
past, remember, in the beginning, God. No birth account, no baptism
of Christ, no account of his temptation by the devil himself,
no Last Supper No Garden of Gethsemane, no healing of those possessed
by demons, no parables in John’s Gospels. These discourses are
very lengthy. And so what are the many other
signs that Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples
which are not written in this book? I would suggest to you
that the Apostle John has two things in mind. First of all,
signs that were recorded by the synoptics that John does not
even mention. There are some signs that all
three gospel writers record. All three gospel writers record
almost an initial series of miracles. The healing of a demoniac, the
healing of Peter’s mother, The healing of a leper, the healing
of a paralytic follow immediately after. Walking, pardon me, waking
Jesus from a nap during the boat ride, remember, to calm the storm. John doesn’t record any of those.
John doesn’t record that fantastic, amazing scene with the garrison
demoniac, the wild man who was amazingly healed. A touch of faith. the woman who
was healed just by reaching up and touching Jesus’ garment,
the healing of Jairus’ little girl, the healing of a demon-possessed
boy, blind Bartimaeus, sitting by the side of the road. John
doesn’t record any of these. In fact, there are some signs
that only one of the gospel writers record, pardon me, That only
two of the gospel writers record the feeding of the 4,000 you’re
familiar with the feeding of the 5,000 because of John’s gospel
But there was another occasion of this great meal All who were
sick Matthew and Mark record were coming to Jesus just this
mass healing service the centurions humble faith where Jesus Christ
heals just by a word. And the centurion has such great
faith to take Jesus at His word. And then there are many signs
that only one synoptic writer records. Matthew records healing
of two blind men and a demon-possessed man that no other gospel writer
records. John certainly is referring to
those. post-resurrection witnesses.
Not all the gospel writers recorded all of them. And that appearance
to the women, remember? Not just to Mary Magdalene, but
an appearance to the women specifically. Healing of a blind man at Bethsaida,
only Mark records that. The healing of the widow’s son,
the widow of Nain, only Luke. Healing of the woman on the Sabbath,
only Luke. And so the gospel of John, by
John’s admission, doesn’t record any of those. An amazing array
of miracles that John says did not fit his God-given purpose
for this gospel account. But I suggested to you that the
Apostle John has two things in mind here, not just those signs
that were recorded in the synoptics, whether by all three or only
by two or only one, but not John. But I would suggest to you that
John is also referring here to signs that were not recorded
in any Gospels. At the end of John’s Gospel,
look at chapter 21 since you’re there. At the end of John’s Gospel,
look at verse 25. There are 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 that would
be written. To think that John and Mark and
Luke and Matthew all collectively recorded everything stupendous
that Jesus ever did, that’s silly. John has in mind anything that
didn’t fit his purpose, anything that didn’t fit his God-given
purpose for this gospel and distilling it down to these signs that he
selected for his purpose. Miracles that were recorded by
others and miracles that no one ever recorded. Isn’t that amazing? This is the glory of the gospel.
And the first element in this grand drama of salvation is the
signs that were performed, the signs that were recorded. But secondly, not only these
astounding miracles worked by Jesus, but awesome accounts recorded
by the Holy Spirit. And we saw so many of those that
the Holy Spirit superintended to be written down, accounted
for by these other gospel writers. Look back, if you would, at verse
30. These awesome accounts recorded by the Holy Spirit John admits
right up front therefore many other signs Jesus also performed
in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this
book But these that is these signs have been written And so
what John points to is the fact that the Holy Spirit superintended,
insisted that these and only these signs be recorded because
it fit the purpose, the God-given purpose of the book. The Holy
Spirit, pardon me, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity,
he possesses personal attributes, intellect, emotions, will, And
God through him manifests his eternality, that the Holy Spirit
is fully God, just like the Father and the Son. His omnipresence,
His omniscience, His omnipotence, His truthfulness, all of the qualities of God are seen
in the Spirit. And yet the Holy Spirit has a
special and unique role. We’ve touched on some of those
over the years. that he is the administrator,
if you will, of God’s decrees. He carries out the plan of God. He carried out the work of creation. He ministered to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He initiated God’s church. He is the one who initiates the
work in the lives of God’s elect through the process of regeneration,
illumination, indwelling, gifting, sanctifying, teaching. The Holy
Spirit has a task to do in each individual’s life. But He also had this incredible
role in the administration of God’s decrees in what I would
call, if I can invent a word, the inscripturization of God’s
Word, the writing down of God’s Word. Some of you have been in
our little class that I teach, the history of the written Word
of God, because who could possibly begin to chronicle the history
of God’s Word? We haven’t heard them all. But
with regards to God’s written Word, we do have a body, a text,
if you will, We do have a body of literature that the Holy Spirit
has superintended. Peter speaks of it. 2 Peter 1,
know this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a
matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made
by an act of human will. But men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God. Remember when I said it’s not
like, you know, John got to the end of it and the Holy Spirit
called him into his office. John, what were you thinking?
You left off chapter 21. Silly. God has communicated to
mankind by means of the Holy Spirit speaking through these
human authors. The scriptures are God-breathed. And so the authors ended up composing
Compiling God’s written word and for purposes God’s purposes
and for man’s edification the Holy Spirit Superintended he
preserved these writings down to our present day. What a glorious
gift we have And so John acknowledges that in one sense there were
many signs that were unrecorded, but these have been recorded.
These have been written. This is what the Holy Spirit
wanted me to include. In other words, John says that
what he purposed by God’s direction under the influence of the Holy
Spirit, what he purposed to chronicle is enough. It’s exactly what
God wanted. It’s enough to bring readers
and hearers to faith in Christ. Even if all you had was the Gospel
of John, and you took up and read the Gospel of John and closed
it up, you would have no cause to wag your finger in God’s face
and say, well, I just didn’t have enough. I never saw the
Shroud of Turin. I never saw the Ark. I never
saw any physical, tangible proof. John says here that what the
Spirit prompted him to record is enough. It’s enough. The signs that John did record
are astounding signs. Some of the signs were also recorded
by the synoptics. They also recorded the feeding
of the 5,000, as did John. The scene of walking on the water,
Matthew, Mark, and John all record that fantastic scene, which totally
bewildered the apostles. and at least temporarily emboldened
Peter, right? There were some signs which John
alone records though. The very first miracle, turning
water into wine there at the wedding. The healing at Cana,
the royal official’s son that was healed only by a word from
a distance, John records. The healing of that crippled
man sitting by the pool of Bethesda that was so crippled that he
couldn’t even throw himself into this mythical pool that was stirred
up and legend had it that if you threw yourself in when the
waters were stirred you would be miraculously healed. Well
Jesus healed him not only from this foolish notion but he healed
him from his disease. John records that. John records
the one of my favorite stories in all of scripture because it’s
my story the healing of the man born blind where Jesus finds
him he didn’t find Jesus and he heals his physical blindness
and then he goes back and heals him of his spiritual blindness then he records does John The
resurrection, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. No other
gospel writer records that. The post-resurrection experiences
we saw were very unique to John. The appearance to Mary Magdalene,
the appearance to the 11 disciples, the appearance in chapter 21
of the fishing trip. All of those amazing things only
John records. And he says, because they fit. They were enough. This is what
the Holy Spirit intended. There’s a third high point in
this incredible drama of salvation. Not only these astounding miracles
worked by Jesus and the awesome accounts recorded by the Holy
Spirit, but saving faith generated by the Word. saving faith, generated,
brought to life, made real by the Word. Look at verse 30 again.
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence
of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these
signs have been written. Why? So that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They were given for
a purpose. All of these signs that John
records were recorded for a purpose. A very specific purpose. That
it would engender faith. That it would bring about faith.
Real belief that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God. Paul
tells us this same truth, doesn’t he? Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of Christ.
If you have come to Christ, if you have become a Christian,
it’s because someone had the courage, the faithfulness to
share God’s word with you. And the Holy Spirit took that
word, whether it was a single passage or an entire chapter,
the Holy Spirit took that and unlocked your sin imprisoned
heart and set you free. John didn’t intend to put together,
we were explaining to the kids last week what an encyclopedia
is. We don’t even know what an encyclopedia
is. John didn’t set out to write an encyclopedia on Christ. He designed to gather up a sufficient
number of accounts of these miraculous stories of signs that Jesus performed
that would be sufficient enough to convince whoever would read
his gospel that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah, that
Jesus Christ was really and truly the Son of God. In other words,
John, follow me on this. John, under the direction of
the Holy Spirit, chose the accounts that he did and set them forth
as an adequate, sufficient, enough to bring sinners to faith in
Jesus Christ. This gospel, John’s gospel, is
enough. It’s proof enough, it’s complete
enough, it’s thorough enough to produce Faith it meets God’s
standard for the testimony to the lost And John returns again To this
incredible theme that he has had throughout his entire gospel
the theme is Faith belief 35 times in this particular gospel
elsewhere It is nowhere near as frequent in John’s gospel.
It’s faith in Christ. And it’s not just this intellectual. It’s not just knowledge. You
have many people that know about Christ. They know who Christ
is. They know that He existed. They
know that there is some narrative about Him. They don’t know Him. They haven’t put their entire
faith in Him. John records that there are those
that when they heard about who Christ was, they received Him. They put their faith in Him. That’s the faith that John speaks
of over and over again. As one said, it is to accept
a statement of a person is to rest upon them, to trust them
practically. to draw upon and avail oneself
of all that is offered to Him in them. Jesus Christ offers
to sinners not just a way, He offers to sinners the only way
of salvation, the only way. John says the purpose of His
writing, the main reason that He sat down after three Gospels,
mind you, had already been written. Why a fourth? It was evangelistic. His whole
purpose was that people would read it and people would weigh
the evidence and people would get off of the fence and come
to Christ, place their faith in Jesus Christ alone. And so Jesus or John rather here
presents Jesus not just as Prophet not just as a miracle worker.
He presents him as the Messiah, the promised deliverer. Not an
earthly king, not an earthly deliverer, but a deliverer from
the greatest enemy that man has ever known, that is sin. The sad part about the nation
of Israel is that most of them couldn’t see past their nose. They couldn’t see what Christ
was. They couldn’t see that he was
not just designed, even through the pages of the Old Testament,
to be this Davidic conqueror. John, writing in his first epistle, after Jesus’ ascension, just
prior to his death, John says, we have seen and testify that
the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and
he in God. You can almost hear John cranking
it up to preach that, right? You can sense the heart of this
evangelistic man. You can sense his passion for
the lost. There’s a fourth element in this
glory of the gospel, the high points of the drama of salvation. We see not only the astounding
miracles worked by Christ and the awesome accounts recorded
by the Holy Spirit, but the saving faith generated from that through
the Word. But there’s a fourth. I mean,
this is just incredible. There’s a fourth high point that
is presented here in the text. It’s life imparted through faith. life imparted through faith.
Look at the passage again. Therefore many other signs Jesus
also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not
written in this book but these have been written so that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that
believing you may have life in his name. So John says once again the signs
that have been chosen. They were recorded for the set
and specific purpose of generating faith but even that faith was
not an end in itself it had a purpose. And the purpose was to give life.
In his name and we’ve seen that that phrase before throughout
scripture. especially in John’s gospel,
it just refers to the wholeness of a person, the entire person. Essentially, when you place your
faith in God, when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you
get all of God. When you place your faith, full
trust in Jesus Christ, in His name, is to place it in Him and
in nothing else. It embraces the fullness of God. But that faith, I want you to
think of this, that faith is not an end in itself. It doesn’t
finish there. Okay, now I believe. John wants us to be very clear
here that this faith brings life,
brings life. And that is a very important
term to the Apostle John. He uses it 36 times in this gospel
alone. He uses it in his other writings,
17 times in the book of Revelation, 13 times in that little epistle,
1 John alone. And so when John used this word,
he used it with passion, he used it with purpose. and he uses
it with reference primarily to spiritual life, eternal life. Here’s how this unfolds. I want you just to think back
through the gospel with me. Jesus often, very much like John
here, refers to life just vaguely that you may have life in his
name and you may be sitting there saying, well, I’m living, I’m
breathing, I can converse and interact. Is that the life that
Jesus is speaking about? No, and I’ll explain that in
a moment. Throughout the gospel, Jesus
refers vaguely to life. John 5, 21, the son gives life. You would say, well, of course
he does. All life is in Christ. John chapter 1 verses 1 through
5. Jesus says that there will be
a time where those who did good deeds will come to a resurrection
of life. There are those, He says, that
through their life will rise to a new kind of life. Jesus says in John chapter 5,
You are unwilling to come to me so that you might have life.
And he’s talking to people who are alive, physically. And so he has reference to some
other kind of life. In John 6, he says even more
vaguely, I am the bread of life. And that created no little stir. John chapter 10, he says that
I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly. Well,
that begins to clarify, but we don’t know what abundant life
is not on the face of it. And so Jesus says, I am the resurrection
and the life. John chapter 11, he who believes
in me will live even if he dies. And now he’s clearly referencing
another kind of life. Which he also does in John 14
6. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the father but through me. Jesus hints that there is another
kind of life which is actually life itself. And throughout John’s
gospel Jesus makes it absolutely clear the nature of that life. It’s eternal life. John 4 14. John 6.27, eternal life. John 6.40, everyone who beholds
the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life. John 6.47,
he who believes has eternal life. John 10.28, I give eternal life
to them. John 12.25, he who hates his
life in this world will keep it to life eternal. It’s eternal
life. that is in view and when John
says here that you may have life he’s talking about eternal life and he’s talking about the means
of that eternal life which has also been clarified through this
gospel from the very beginning John chapter 3 he whoever believes
in him will have eternal life could it be any more simple Could
it be any more clear? He who believes in the Son has
eternal life, John 3.36. John 5.24, he who hears my word
and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life and is passed
out of death into life. It’s abundantly clear. And so if you’re sitting there
and you’re saying, I’m living, I’m breathing, I’m alive, No,
you’re not. If that’s all you lay claim to,
not what the Scripture says. In fact, the Scripture says you’re
dead. You’re dead in your sin. You’re
dead in your trespasses. You may be living and breathing.
You may be able to converse. You may be able to enjoy the
air and taste and see and hear, but you’re dead. You’re dead
if you’re without Christ. If you’re not in Christ, you’re
not alive. And that is the message of the
gospel of John. That only to believe in Jesus
Christ is what gives and produces eternal life. That is what fits
John’s purpose. That is what fit the very purpose
for which he wrote his gospel. Not only that you might believe, that you might live forever in
fellowship with Christ. Would you humble yourself before
Him? O merciful God, we thank you
for the glory of the gospel. We thank you for those special
things that were recorded for our edification. to challenge
us and to shape us and to bring us to salvation. Lord God, we
thank you that in this particular gospel John had a plan, a God-given
plan, and the Holy Spirit executed it flawlessly. Lord, we thank
you that We have found it to be true. Those of us who have
placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we can look at this gospel and
know without a doubt that it is true. Lord, we thank you that we don’t
even lay claim to our own faith. You’ve stirred our hearts. You’ve
shown us the facts. How could we but believe? Lord, we thank you for that everlasting
truth. that is ours only if we believe
in the One who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but through Me. Lord God, we thank
You that in Christ we have life, abundant, everlasting life from
the Prince of Life. Lord God, for any who do not
know for sure that they are alive today in Christ. So move in their
hearts, bring them to repentance for their sin and a love and
a faith in the Savior. That they might know beginning
this very day. That they are now alive for eternity. Lord God, we rejoice in your
goodness and grace. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.