{"id":19286,"date":"2015-06-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-meaning-of-life-part-1\/"},"modified":"2015-06-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T05:00:00","slug":"the-meaning-of-life-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-meaning-of-life-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning of Life – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[434],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19286","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-john","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Meaning of Life - Part 1","sermon_date":"20150607","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":2738,"sermon_slides":2740,"sermon_mp3":2741,"sermon_id":"67151012277","series_or_event":434,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"20:30-31","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nThe Meaning of Life, Part 1\n6-7-15 John 20:30-31 Lesson 126\n\nGood morning everyone; if we could take our Bibles and open them to John 20, as we\u2019re going to be looking at verses 30 and 31 today. The title of this message is The Meaning of Life, Part 1. One of the things that\u2019s sort of easy to do as we come up on summer is to kind of mentally check out; believe me, I know the temptation well, but I would encourage you to really think about taking advantage of our Sunday School classes this summer. You know, a lot of churches won\u2019t touch Genesis and they won\u2019t touch Revelation and we\u2019re teaching both of them. Ed Alstead is teaching through the book of Genesis and beginning next week I\u2019m going to be teaching the book of Revelation in one of our Sunday School classes. It will be me but it won\u2019t be me, but it will be me because it\u2019s a video serious that we did at the school that I teach at, where I try to present the book of Revelation in ten lessons. And each lesson only goes a half hour so it\u2019s not going to tell you everything you want to know about the book of Revelation; you probably won\u2019t get that explanation about the toenails on the beast and stuff like that. But it will give you a broad sweep of the book and after each session I\u2019ll be there to take questions or discuss whatever you want to talk about. So that class is going on; Ed Alstead\u2019s class is going on, thru Genesis.\n\nAlso there\u2019s an opportunity, not this week but next week, to participate in the Chafer Theological Seminary Pastor\u2019s Conference, which is for pastors and lay people, and it\u2019s over at West Houston Bible Church, about twenty minutes from here, and it\u2019s dealing with issues related to grace and dispensationalism. So I\u2019m going to be doing two sessions there on the Middle East Meltdown; you might be shocked to learn that the Bible has a lot to say about what\u2019s happening in the Middle East. And then I\u2019m going to be doing a session there on what does it mean to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. There\u2019s going to be a host of other speakers there as well, and if you can\u2019t make it in person you might take advantage of their video streaming and all the tech savvy stuff that they have. The conference is free. So I just wanted to make you aware of that also. I think it\u2019s June 17th , 18th and 19th . That\u2019s a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.\n\nHere we are in the section of John\u2019s Gospel that deals with the resurrected Christ. We\u2019ve seen the empty tomb and then what follows are Christ\u2019s post resurrection appearances, His appearance to Mary Magdalene, His appearance to the ten, Thomas not included, and then His appearance to the eleven, this time Thomas is included. And what follows is verses 30-31 which, I think as Bruce indicated, we\u2019ve heard many times, because I make reference to this verse constantly, or these verses, because I believe that they are a disclosure, if you will, of what John\u2019s Gospel is all about. These verses are, in other words, a capsulation of the purpose statement of John.\n\nWhy did he write this book? We have an explanation of that in verses 30-31; it\u2019s sort of tossed in there right after Thomas responds in faith to the resurrected Christ. And as I was looking at these verses I said Lord, you know, we\u2019ve taught this many times, what do You want me to say? And the Lord said well, you think you understand it but you don\u2019t, so I want you to study it out. And guess what? The Lord was right. I started looking at these verses and I started to see, I believe under the guidance of the Spirt through illumination, things that I\u2019ve never seen before. So what I have prepared for this Sunday and next is sort of a clause by clause analysis of these verses. And if you can understand them you understand a lot of things. Number 1, why did John write this book? Number 2, how to gain the gift of life? And number 3, how to evangelize other people. It\u2019s all revealed right here in these verses.\n\nSo notice, if you will, John 20:30, it says, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;\u201d you\u2019ll notice the first word out of the gate there, that\u2019s the word \u201cTherefore.\u201d Now in the Bible whenever you see the word \u201cTherefore\u201d you have to ask yourself, what is the word \u201cTherefore\u201d there for? In other words, the word \u201cTherefore\u201d is very significant because it connects what you\u2019re studying with something that precedes it. And what has preceded the word \u201cTherefore\u201d is Jesus\u2019 blessing on people that would believe, despite the fact that they had never seen.\n\nYou might remember what Jesus said in verse 29, \u201cJesus said to him,\u201d that would be Thomas, \u2018Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.\u201d So it\u2019s a blessing, and that\u2019s what that word \u201cblessing\u201d means, it\u2019s makarios in the Greek, it means acceptable favor before God. If you\u2019re blessed you have acceptable favor from God to you. And a blessing is pronounced on anybody who has believed in Jesus but without actually seeing Jesus. So those who believe on Jesus without physically seeing Him in the flesh are acceptable, or are blessed, or are favored of God.\n\nThen verse 30 follows and it says, \u201cTherefore.\u201d And the reason the word \u201cTherefore\u201d is included is to show this is why John wrote His gospel. This gospel is written to enlighten everybody that did not have the evidence that Thomas had. Remember Thomas responded in faith after having only touched the injuries of Christ that were apparently still visible in His resurrected body. Thomas believed because he saw something; Thomas believed because he had evidence. Yet the vast majority of people that come to Christ by way of faith will not have the evidence that Thomas had. Jesus pronounces a blessing upon those that would come into a relationship with Him, without the evidence that Thomas had, by faith alone. The \u201ctherefore\u201d leads to the purpose statement of the book, which is why John wrote this book.\n\nWhy did John write this book? To give people guidance on how to respond in faith to Christ when they are living two thousand years after these events happened; people that would not touch, have the opportunity to touch Christ\u2019s body. What do you do with people like that, because the vast majority of people that come to Christ are converted, don\u2019t have this evidence. Well, the book of John gives them the guidance that they need. Yes, it\u2019s true, we may never, at least in this life, touch Christ the way Thomas did but there is still hope for all of us because a historical record of the life of Christ has been preserved.\n\nAnd this historical record is given, or is brought forth to everybody living throughout the corridors of time that would not have the evidence that Thomas had. This historical record of the life of Christ captured in John\u2019s Gospel gives us the guidance that we need to come into a relationship with God when Jesus has ascended already, 2,000 years earlier.\n\nYou\u2019ll also notice the second clause here, which says this: \u201cmany other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.\u201d What John is saying is he didn\u2019t include everything that Jesus said or did; not every single miracle that Jesus performed is found in this book. This is a selection, if you will, of the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ.\nIn fact, if you go to the very last chapter of the book, chapter 21, you look at the very last verse in that chapter, as the book concludes, John 21:25, this is what it says: \u201cAnd 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 that would be written.\u201d John is using hyperbole there but he\u2019s saying look, if I told you everything Jesus said or did or performed the world itself could not even contain the volume of material that could be written.\n\nPeople say well, we\u2019ve been in John an awful long time; could you imagine how much longer we would be in John if we had a complete record of the life of Christ. And there are things about Jesus\u2019 life that simply aren\u2019t given in the Scripture. For example, what happened to Jesus between age 12 and age 30? Those are the so-called silent years and the reason they are called the silent years is because there is no biblical text that tells us what happened. All we know is in Luke 2:42 it says, \u201cwhen He became the age of twelve, they went up there,\u201d that would be Jerusalem, \u201caccording to the feast.\u201d And then you go to Luke 3:23 and it says, \u201cWhen He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age\u2026.\u201d\n\nWell, wait a minute, Luke, you just skipped about eighteen years there; what happened in the interim? And the answer to that is the Bible has not disclosed that to us. So when you are studying the life of Christ in this book you do not approach it as one would approach a biography. See, if you\u2019re reading a biography on something and a key fact\u2026 let\u2019s say you\u2019re reading a biography about Abraham Lincoln and a key fact about Lincoln\u2019s life is omitted, then we would say that biographer is not very good, he left out a key detail. The Bible, and particularly the Gospels, and particularly John\u2019s Gospel, never claims to be an exhaustive biography. So we should not approach it with the standards that we would have of an ordinary biography. John is very clear here at the end of chapter 20 and also at the end of chapter 21 that there\u2019s a lot of other things that have been left out deliberately by John as he was guided by the Holy Spirit.\n\nIt\u2019s not John that\u2019s selective, every book of the Bible that you study is highly selective. The author only surfaces information that is pertinent to his purpose in writing. The book of Genesis reads that way, the book of Exodus reads that way, the book of Numbers reads that way, right on through the Scripture, all the way to the book of Revelation. But we believe that the Holy Spirit was active in the writing process, through something I\u2019ll explain in just a minute, called inspiration, where the Holy Spirit was highlighting to the writer, include this but leave this out; emphasize this but de-emphasize that, shaped around each writer\u2019s each purpose in writing. John\u2019s purpose is to get people to believe in Christ. So he doesn\u2019t reveal things and information that doesn\u2019t relate to that purpose. This is not an exhaustive, cumulative biography.\n\nNow as we go into verse 31, notice what it says there in verse 31, \u201cbut 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.\u201d Now you\u2019ll notice the reference to \u201cthese.\u201d No, not everything Jesus said or did has been disclosed in this book, \u201cbut these\u201d things have. Now what does \u201cthese\u201d refer to? Well, \u201cthese\u201d is modified by the word \u201csigns\u201d as given back in verse 30. The Greek word for sign there is semeion, what John has recorded for us is the signs and the miracles of Christ; not every miracle but he highlights seven miracles. And as we have been diligently studying John\u2019s Gospel we have gone through each of these seven signs.\n\nEvery sign or miracle is not given but these seven are highlighted. The first sign is the changing of the water into wine at Cana of Galilee, John 2. Then came the healing of the nobleman\u2019s son, John 4. Then came the healing of the invalid at the pool of Bethesda, John 5. Then came the feeding of the 5,000, John 6. Then came the walking on the water, John 6. Then came the healing of the blind man, John 9. And then the signs reached their zenith or their apex with the resurrection, or I should say the raising of Lazarus from the dead, John 11.\n\nInterspersed throughout all of this material are Christ\u2019s seven discourses. Not every discourse that Jesus gave is recorded in this book but seven are highlighted. The new birth discourse, John 3. The water of life discourse, John 4. The equality with the Father discourse, John 5. The bread of life discourse, John 6. The life giving Spirit discourse, John 7. The light of the world discourse, John 8. And finally the good shepherd teaching, John 10.\n\nAnd woven throughout this material is Christ\u2019s \u201cI am\u201d statements, where Jesus is claiming something for Himself. There are seven \u201cI am\u201d statements in this book; I am the bread of life, John 6. I am the light of the world, John 8. I am the gate for the sheep, John 10. I am the good shepherd, John 10. I am the resurrection and the life, John 11. I am the way, the truth and the life, John 14. I am the true vine, John 15.\n\nAnd, of course, the ultimate sign, in addition to the seven signs, would be Christ\u2019s bodily resurrection from the dead. That is what is highlighted in the chapter we have been studying, John 20. And, in fact, when we get to John 21, maybe next week or the week after, we will see a final sign that Jesus performed. Sometimes this is referred to as his eighth sign, and it has to do with the miraculous catch of fish.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that not everything that Jesus said or did or taught is recorded in John\u2019s Gospel, but these seven signs, plus the resurrection, plus the final sign in John 21, are recorded, in addition to His seven discourses and His seven \u201cI am\u201d statements. And this is the type of thing that John is saying here in verse 30, \u201cbut these\u201d things \u201chave been written,\u201d the \u201cthese\u201d is a modification of the signs, the Greek word semeion, which occurs in the prior verse.\n\nNow one of the things that\u2019s very interesting also, as you take a look at verse 31, is this expression, \u201cbut these things have been written.\u201d Notice again verse 31, \u201cbut 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.\u201d Notice this expression, \u201cbut these\u201d things, these seven signs, seven discourses, and seven I am statements, \u201chave been written.\u201d Verse 30 talks about what has not been written, but verse 31 talks about what has been written.\n\nAnd this brings up a very interesting subject; it\u2019s how God has decided to communicate with humanity. The communication of God involves three things: number 1, revelation; number 2, inspiration, and number 3, illumination. Let\u2019s briefly go through those one by one.\n\nFirst you have revelation. The Greek word for revelation is apok\u00e1lupsis, which means an unveiling or a disclosure. In other words, came to these writers of Scripture in some way and disclosed to them truth. John received his disclosure of truth by being an eye witness to the things of Christ during Christ\u2019s little over three year ministry upon the earth. And then once that disclosure happens then another process kicks in called inspiration; inspiration is the process by which the biblical writers recorded the revelation they received, the disclosure they received. And as they wrote the pages of God\u2019s Word in the original Greek manuscripts we call that a process called inspiration. And we believe that the Holy Spirit was active, not just in disclosing truth but actually guiding the writing process. And one of the things that\u2019s very interesting to note is as the Holy Spirit guided these writers of Scripture He never overrode their personalities, and their temperaments and their styles and their life experiences and their giftedness.\n\nFor example, Luke talks more about the prenatal activities of Jesus and John the Baptist than any other Gospel writer. And we say well, why is that? Well, that would be an area of interest to Luke because Luke was a what? A physician. Luke talks about how when Judas killed himself his body fell down a cliff, Acts 1, and the cliff, or the rocks, tore open his corpse, and Acts 1 says his intestines gushed out. I read that and I say well, that\u2019s a little bit more information than what I need; I mean, he could have just told me he killed himself; why did he have to tell me his intestines gushed out? Well, Luke is a doctor and his personality would bring out that kind of thing.\n\nMatthew talks more about financial issues than any other Gospel writer. For example, the story of Jesus and Peter going fishing and they grab from the water there a fish that has a coin in its mouth and Jesus says to Peter, you\u2019ve got to pay the temple tax. (I wish I could pay my taxes that way.) But Matthew is the only Gospel writer that talks about that. Now why is that? Because Matthew is a tax collector; that\u2019s why, and financial issues are always of interest to him. Matthew talks about the parable of the talents. What is a talent? A talent, biblically, is a monetary denomination. Only Matthew records that because he is a tax man and had a financial mind.\n\nOr you take this apostle, Peter; you know Peter talks more about the flood in his two epistles than any other Gospel or Biblical writer, other than Genesis. Why is Peter so focused on the flood? Why is he so focused on water? Well, it fits his style and his temperament and his background given his vocation as a fisherman.\n\nSo we believe that when these men wrote the pages of God\u2019s Word through inspiration it wasn\u2019t the type of thing where God just assumed control of them because God ultimately is the author of their personalities as well, isn\u2019t He? So He used them in a significant way, a special way, using their styles, gifts, temperaments, life experiences but in the process of inspiration what happened in the original manuscripts is the exact Word of God was recorded for us.\n\nAnd this is why Paul writes to Timothy and he says, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God,\u201d [2 Timothy 3:16], so when we\u2019re reading this book we are not reading an opinion column; we are not reading the editorial section of the newspaper, we are not reading personal commentary, we are reading God\u2019s Word to man, first through revelation and then secondly through inspiration.\n\nPeter talks, just for a moment, on this topic of inspiration and in 2 Peter 1:20-21 it says this: \u201cBut know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one\u2019s own private interpretation,\u201d in other words, when these writers wrote they weren\u2019t giving their own private interpretation of things, they were writing as the Holy Spirit directed them. Peter says, [21] \u201cfor no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men were moved by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God.\u201d The word \u201cmoved\u201d there in 2 Peter 1:21 is the Greek word phero; phero is used in Acts 27:15 and verse 17 of wind that was filling the sails of a boat and consequently the boat was being propelled. [Acts 17:15, \u201cand when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. [17] \u201c\u2026and fearing that they might run aground \u2026 they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driving along.\u201d]\n\nPeter uses that exact same word to describe the propelling of a boat to how the writers of Scripture recorded God\u2019s truth. In other words, in the same way the Holy Spirit came upon these individuals and they ended up as the Holy Spirit respected who they were and their gifts and styles and temperaments, but they ended up recording the message of God to lost man. And so consequently when it says, \u201cbut these things have been written,\u201d verse 31, it\u2019s talking there about the process of inspiration.\n\nAnd then the communication process doesn\u2019t stop there because the Holy Spirit is given to us through something called illumination. Illumination has nothing to do with new books of the Bible being written; there are no new books of the Bible being written. Why? Because all of the eye-witnesses to the things of Christ are dead, however, the Holy Spirit is active in the year 2015. He is active, God willing, I\u2019ve been praying for this today, what\u2019s the date today, June 7, 2015 in Sugar Land, Texas, at Sugar Land Bible Church, helping us understand God\u2019s truth. 1 John 2:27 says, \u201cAs for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you,\u201d and then later in the verse he says, \u201cbut as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.\u201d In other words, there\u2019s another process at work whereby the Holy Spirit helps us, as Bible readers, 2,000 years after the fact, to understand what the Bible says.\n\nNow one of the things to understand about God and this process of illumination is that He uses the laws of language to communicate His truth. God revealed His truth in language and because it was written in language the laws of language govern, such as syntax, grammar, (I\u2019ll be making some grammatical points a little bit later), context, and so the Holy Spirit as we master those laws of language will not override those laws of language but as we master these laws of language, sometimes called hermeneutics, which means interpretation, or the principles of interpretation, sometimes called Bible study methods, as we master those and understand God\u2019s Word then all of a sudden the Spirit of God, as we are open to Him, starts to bring to our awareness in our minds what this book says, and what it means.\n\nSo therefore John says, \u201cbut these things have been written,\u201d number 1, revelation, the disclosure; number 2, inspiration, the process in how it was written down, and number 3, illumination, the Holy Spirit helping us understand what was written 2,000 years after the fact.\n\nNow notice also this expression here, \u201cso that.\u201d Again, verse 31 says, \u201cbut these things have been written so that you may,\u201d and it gives a purpose. In other words, the \u201cso that\u201d reveals a result that we are to experience as a result of reading this book with an open heart and an honest mind. This book, the way it is recorded, will reveal or do that work in our lives if we allow it. In other words, the data contained in this book will produce this result.\n\nYou say well, wait a minute, how could a book like this produce that result when there are gaps in it? I mean, I\u2019d like to know everything Jesus did from age 12 to age 30. But the answer to that is in God and in His providence He did not see fit to give us that data, but the data that we do have is sufficient or is enough to produce the result in us that God wants to create. What I\u2019m trying to simply say is the Scripture is enough to produce the result that God would have it do in our lives. And we call this doctrine the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scripture. The sufficiency of the Scripture is this idea that yes, the Scripture sometimes to tantalize our curiosity we would like it to say more things. But we need not obsess about that, we need not be disappointed about that because the limited data that it has given us is enough or is sufficient to produce the result in us that God wants to create\u2026the sufficiency of the Scripture.\n\nAnd this is one of the great teachings, as given by the Apostle Paul at the very end of his life to this young man, Timothy, who was struggling in the ministry. And Paul writes to Timothy, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for\u201d how many good works? I\u2019ve got it underlined there, \u201cevery good work.\u201d What does \u201cevery\u201d mean? \u201cEvery\u201d means \u201cevery!\u201d What this is saying is what is contained in the Scripture through the process of revelation and inspiration, although it doesn\u2019t reveal everything we would like by way of curiosity, what it does reveal is enough to equip us, not for 95% of good works, not for 55% of good works, not for 75% of good works, but \u201cfor every good work.\u201d\n\nIf you want to be thoroughly equipped by God to live a life for Him in your sphere of influence in the year 2015, if you want to be the family man God has called you to be, if you want to be the husband God has called you to be, if you want to be the wife God has called you to be, if you want to be the children God has called you to be, then the data in this book is sufficient to equip you for the task. Do you want to have a ministry that is approved by God? Then the data contained in this book is sufficient to accomplish the task.\n\nOne of the things that we were talking about in the pastor\u2019s coffee this morning is this idea that the Bible talks more about money and finances than any other single subject. I was somewhat shocked to learn that when I discovered that. The Bible talks more about money than it does heaven or even hell. Do you want to have the equipping of God to handle money and finances the way God would have you handle those things? The sufficiency of the Scripture will equip you for that task.\n\nAnd so we hold to a high view here of not just the inerrancy of the Bible, meaning it doesn\u2019t have any mistakes in it, not just the inspiration of the Bible, but the sufficiency of the Bible. In other words, the Bible is enough. Does it reveal everything that we would want? No it doesn\u2019t but it\u2019s enough for God to do in your life what He wants to do, if we will simply take this off the coffee table, brush off the dust and give ourselves to a study of this book.\n\nPeter talks about this concept of the sufficiency of the Scripture in 2 Peter 1:3-4. Peter writes, \u201cSeeing that His divine power has granted to us everything,\u201d not some things, \u201ceverything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence, [4] For by these he has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d I\u2019ve just got two words underlined here, notice the word \u201cpromises,\u201d promises are the written disclosure of God as found in the Scripture. And notice what those promises will do for us? They will grant us \u201ceverything.\u201d\n\n\u201cEverything,\u201d I\u2019ve seen that before\u2026 there it is, 2 Timothy 3:17, \u201cevery good work.\u201d [\u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d] Here is the same concept, \u201ceverything pertaining to life and to godliness.\u201d Everything you need to mature the way you\u2019re supposed to mature is found in the Scripture. Everything you need to become what God has called you to become is found in the Scripture. And how tragic it is to put the Scripture aside, given these claims that it\u2019s making, and turn to other sources of knowledge that we think we need to use to supplement the Word of God.\n\nI wish the Bible said more about a lot of things but at the end of the day I don\u2019t have to worry because what it has revealed is enough. Don\u2019t be focused on what is not here; focus, rather on what IS here, because what is here is sufficient, or what is here is enough. You know, it\u2019s interesting that when that movie, The Da Vinci Code came out the great focus of people is the silent years of Christ. I mean, what do we know about Him from age 12 to age 30? The Bible doesn\u2019t say so let\u2019s go into the Gospel of Thomas, which was written, by the way, long after the apostles died, not by the real Thomas, someone faking the name Thomas; let\u2019s go into the Gospel of Thomas or some other source to figure it out.\n\nAnd there\u2019s this obsession in people to discover things that the Bible has not spoken on. And I look at something like that and I said this is a total waste of time; I don\u2019t really care\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say I don\u2019t care, I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m not curious, but it\u2019s just not a priority in my life to figure out what happened to Jesus between age 12 and age 30 because the Bible hasn\u2019t seen fit to disclose that.\n\nWhat it has given me, though, is enough. What it has given me is sufficient! It is so easy to obsess about what the Bible does not say when, if you want to obsess about something let\u2019s figure out what it does say. Many people are interested in some sort of private disclosure from God, some kind of voice, some kind of vision, some kind of dream, some kind of lost book. And those things, you know, may have their place at times. However, those are not my focus; my focus is what does this book say because the fact of the matter is the Bible is a closed book to a lot of people. All of these people out looking for some other source of knowledge, if you quiz them on what the Bible actually says many of them come up empty.\n\nDon\u2019t be focused on what is not here; focus on what is here. And after we have mastered everything in this book then we can say okay, I\u2019m ready for another source of knowledge. May I suggest to you that you will never exhaust what is in this book. You will to through your whole lifetime as a devout and diligent Christian trying to understand this book and you will have but a thimble full of all of the data and all of the knowledge that it contains. So this is a tremendous doctrine called the sufficiency of the Word of God; what is in the Word of God is sufficient to produce a result.\n\nNow, the question becomes what result? What is God trying to produce? Well, every book of the Bible has a different result or purpose. John\u2019s purpose is very clearly stated in verse 31 through the word \u201cbelieve.\u201d \u201c\u2026but these things\u201d that would be the seven signs, \u201chave been written so that you may believe,\u201d in other words, yes, there\u2019s gaps but what is revealed is sufficient or is enough to produce the results as to why God gave this book in the first place that we might \u201cbelieve.\u201d What is here is enough to inculcate faith in those who did not have the privilege that Thomas had 2,000 years ago of touching the resurrected body of Jesus Christ.\nAnd we have made much of this word \u201cbelieve.\u201d I want to quote to you from a dictionary; it\u2019s called Vine\u2019s Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words. I quote this just to show you that I haven\u2019t been making this stuff up the whole time. I looked up the word \u201cbelieve\u201d in this dictionary, which is the Greek word pisteu\u014d, and this is what it says: \u201cto believe,\u201d also \u201cto be persuaded of,\u201d and hence, \u201cto place confidence in, to trust,\u201d which \u201csignifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence. It is most frequent in the writings of the apostle John, especially the Gospel. He does not use the noun,\u201d now the noun is pistis, he does not use that but he uses the verb pisteu\u014d, \u201c\u2026Of the writers of the Gospel\u201d John uses this word ninety-nine times.\n\nWhat are we supposed to get out of this book? We are supposed to come by studying the seven signs of Christ, the seven discourses of Christ, the seven I Am statements, by studying the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead, and by studying in John 21 His final miracle of the miraculous catch of fish, what are we supposed to get out of it? We\u2019re supposed to understand through all of this exactly who Jesus is, so that we might believe on Him; in other words, be persuaded of His identity. And consequently as we believe what are we doing? We\u2019re having confidence in Him. We\u2019re trusting Him; we are relying upon Him for our salvation and the safekeeping or our souls.\n\nAnd John is so interested in getting us to do this that he uses the Greek word pisteu\u014d 99 times. What is the word \u201cbelieve?\u201d It is the single condition that a human being must exercise in order to enter into a relationship with God. It is used 160 times in the New Testament, total; 99 times in John\u2019s Gospel. The Protestant Reformers called this sola fide, those are Latin words, sola means alone, or by itself, fide means faith; how do you enter into a relationship with God? By faith in Christ by itself\u2014end of story!\n\nReligion, by contrast, is always adding something to faith. Do you want to be right with God? Okay, God did 90%, you kick in 10%. What ten do I have to do? Well, it depends upon what religion you\u2019re in. You\u2019ve got to pay, pray and obey; you do those three things and do your 10% then you\u2019re in because God has done His 90%. Such a teaching is an abominable false doctrine. In fact, believing that will send you into hell itself because the Scripture is saying we receive, what we receive from God by way of faith as a free gift and that\u2019s the only way we can receive it. Grace, on the other hand, says Jesus did 100%. Did he not say that in His final words on the cross? \u201cIt is finished!\u201d He didn\u2019t say it\u2019s about 99% done. \u201cIt is finished!\u201d Salvation by grace occurs when we simply receive that by faith as a free gift; we call this sola fide.\n\nAt Sugar Land Bible Church, therefore, we seek not to frontload the gospel. What is an example of frontloading the gospel? It is putting some other conditions with faith to gain right standing before God. We also seek not to backload the gospel. What is back loading the gospel? Back loading the gospel is the idea that yes, you\u2019re saved by faith BUT (whenever somebody says \u201cbut\u201d you get nervous), yes, you\u2019re saved by faith BUT you\u2019d better have fruit, and if you don\u2019t have fruit maybe you weren\u2019t saved. That is classic back loading the gospel.\n\nYou do not find in this statement, you don\u2019t find it in John\u2019s Gospel, any front loading of the gospel, nor do you find any back loading of the gospel. I mean, it is simply as clear as it can possibly be when it says, \u201cbut these have been written so that you might believe,\u201d end of discussion, end of story! Nothing to do prior, nothing to do after!\n\nNow when I start talking like this people will get really nervous. Well, what about the holy life? What about evangelism? What about service? Those things are a response to what Jesus did for you by way of worship or gratitude. I do not serve God because I\u2019m trying to somehow front load or back load a simple salvation formula. I serve God because I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve received this gift, and since that is true, what else can I do other than give my mind to Him, give my talents to Him, give my service to Him. They, in and of themselves, contribute nothing to my salvation but they are a proper and heartfelt response to what Jesus has done, but they are NOT requirements in terms of how to enter into a relationship with God.\n\nSo there is more to this book than simply giving us academic information. The book is designed to reveal to us enough truth so that we can respond in faith and consequently experience the gift of life and enter into a relationship with God.\n\nJohn Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion writes this: \u201cThe very assent itself is more of the heart than of the brain, more of the disposition than of the understanding.\u201d In other words, if this were just an academic textbook that\u2019s designed to fill our heads with information, then that would be enough. But you see, this book is designed to give us data but the ultimate purpose in it is to inculcate or create an environment whereby a lost person can exercise faith or trust or reliance or confidence in Jesus Christ for their eternal destiny and the safe keeping of their soul. You can learn all kinds of information about Jesus that\u2019s fascinating but that\u2019s not why John wrote the book under God\u2019s guidance. Yes, he wrote information and data about Christ but the end game is not information. The end game is faith.\n\nNow one of the things that is very interesting here is the way the New American Standard Bible translates this in verse 31, \u201cbut these things have been written so that you may believe,\u201d so that you might believe. Now why is that word \u201cpisteu\u014d translated \u201cmay believe\u201d or \u201cmight believe\u201d? The answer is the verb \u201cbelieve\u201d is in the Greek in the subjunctive mood. You say well, what\u2019s the difference? Plenty\u2026 plenty! The subjunctive mood is the mood of possibility, not the mood of certainty.\n\nWhat is John saying, therefore, by putting this Greek verb, pisteu\u014d, in Greek into the subjunctive mood? His point is perhaps you\u2019ll believe, or perhaps you won\u2019t. Why does he say it that way? Because the choice is yours; the choice is based on human volition. You have to respond as an act of your free will by faith to what Jesus has done. Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, will not, WILL NOT, WILL NOT force Himself on any person. Why is that? Because we are image-bearers of God. An image-bearer of God means that we share in some of His attributes; not all of them, but some. And one of the things God is, is he is free, He has freedom of choice; because we are made in the image of God we have a choice in the matter. If we were created not to have a choice, then God could have just torn out of the Garden of Eden the tree of knowledge.\n\nDid you ever ask yourself that question? Why is that dumb tree in there anyway? That tree is what got us all into trouble. The tree of knowledge had to be there; if the tree of knowledge was not there then God would not be respecting how we are designed as image-bearers. If you are an image-bearer of God you have to have the avenue of rebellion should you choose to pursue that route. If you don\u2019t even have the opportunity then you are nothing but a puppet on a string, a programmed robot. And this is why the word pisteu\u014d is in this subjunctive mood. It is the mood of possibility.\n\nNow to be sure, God, through the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, John 16, convicts us of our need to respond. There is no doubt in my mind that there is an enablement of God. We studied that very clearly in John 16:7-11. However, that enablement will not override your final decision. And this is one of the problems that I have with this idea that faith is a gift. There is this view that God believes for you, whether you like it or not, and you wake up one day and you have faith and you\u2019re regenerated. I do not find any evidence of that in John\u2019s Gospel. What I see is the Spirit placing people under conviction and creating the right circumstances so that faith can manifest itself but the ultimate manifestation of faith is with enablement and conviction an act of will. If it wasn\u2019t that way we would not be who we are, would we, as image bearers of God? God is not going to coerce, He is not going to bully. He\u2019s not going to force Himself on any particular individual.\n\nRemember what it says in the days of Noah, just prior to the flood? It says, \u201cMy Spirit will not\u201d what? \u201cstrive with man forever, for his days are mortal, his days are one hundred and twenty years.\u201d [Genesis 6:3, \u201cThen the LORD said, \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhat is God doing in the days of Noah? He is striving with man, very similar to what He is doing now; He is convicting man, He is wooing man. But eventually that generation went so far in its rejection of God that they would not submit to this striving and convicting process, and God said that\u2019s enough. If you don\u2019t want Me I will not force Myself onto you; and after 120 years of striving the flood waters came.\n\nWhat is God doing today? He is striving with man and yet there are so many people that are closed to God, and we presume upon the grace of God and we think that this striving of man that the Spirit is doing will just continue on and on and although there is a day of opportunity today, we should not presume that that opportunity lasts forever.\n\nNotice also one more expression and with this we are finished; I\u2019m not going to finish the whole verse today. It says, \u201cthat you might believe in\u201d what? What are we supposed to believe in? \u201c\u2026that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;\u201d faith or trust or reliance in what? You see, faith is only as good as the object that it is placed in. You can believe in all kinds of things; you can believe in the tooth fairy, you can believe in Santa Claus, you can believe in the stock market predictions, you can believe the promises that the economy is turning around. You can believe all kinds of things, but you see, those elements of faith don\u2019t save anybody. What saves is the right object that this faith is placed in.\n\nAnd John says here\u2019s what you need to do; you need to place your faith in Jesus, and He gives there the identity of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? \u201c\u2026that Jesus is the Christ,\u201d what does that word \u201cChrist\u201d mean? A lot of people think Christ is His last name. Christ is not Jesus\u2019 last name; Christ is His title. What does that title mean? Christos in the Greek, Messiah, Mashiach, the Anointed One, the One that the whole nation of Israel had been waiting for.\n\nJohn 1:49 says this: \u201cNathanael answered Him, \u2018Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.\u201d See, he believed in Jesus as the Christ. Beyond this we not only believe that Jesus is the Christ, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Again notice what it says, \u201cbut these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,\u201d we don\u2019t believe simply He\u2019s the Christ, the Anointed one, the Messiah, we also believe that He is the Son of God. What does that mean? The eternally existent Second Member of the Trinity. As the eternally existent Second Member of the Trinity He shares in the same essence of deity with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. The Son is full deity, as is the Father; the Son is full deity as is the Holy Spirit. However, in the mystery of the Trinity the Son, just like the Father, and the Holy Spirit, maintain their unique personage. The Son is fully God and shares in that essence with God the Father; however, He remains uniquely the Son. He will always be the Son, He has always been the Son, He remains the Son in His uniqueness. That is the unique role that belongs to Him; it is something that is eternally existent.\n\nHowever, that doesn\u2019t mean He\u2019s less significant; it doesn\u2019t mean He\u2019s less important. Certainly He plays a different role, but He shares in the same essence of deity with God the Father. In other words, when we respond in faith to Christ our faith has to be placed in the right object. There\u2019s more to saving faith than simply believing that Jesus is a miracle worker. The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, not if but when they come to your house, will try to convince you that Jesus is a created being; have faith in that Jesus. May I just say to you, that\u2019s the wrong Jesus. That\u2019s not the Jesus to have faith in. You have faith in Jesus, the eternally existent Second Member of the Trinity. He\u2019s more than just a miracle worker; He\u2019s more than a created being. He\u2019s certainly more, as the book of Hebrews tells us, higher and greater than an angel. He\u2019s certainly more than Michael, the archangel. He\u2019s higher than all of those things because He is the eternally existent Second Member of the Trinity.\n\nThere never was a time in which He was not; He has always been, He will always be. We exercise faith in that presentation of Jesus Christ. We have faith in that Jesus Christ, because only that Jesus Christ has the power to fulfill His promise of giving us eternal life. Who you are trusting in has to have the ability, does He not? And the power to do what He is promising to do in your life. What is Jesus promising to do? He is promising to safeguard your soul throughout all eternity; He has promised to usher you into a relationship with Himself and God the Father. He has promised that once you do this the Spirit of God takes residence in your heart.\n\nThose are pretty lofty promises, aren\u2019t they? So therefore the Being giving us these promises has to have the capacity or the ability to pull it off and there\u2019s only one Being that can do this\u2014Jesus Christ, the eternally existent Second Member of the Triune Godhead. It\u2019s astonishing the things we learn, isn\u2019t it, from this verse, or verses that look so familiar to us. But you get into the particulars and you really begin to see the heart of John and the heart of evangelism.\n\nIt\u2019s possible that someone could be here today that has never really entered into this relationship with God, that may think that we are talking a foreign language, never heard teachings like this. The reason you think we\u2019re talking a foreign language is the Holy Spirit is not in you explaining these things to you. What the Spirit of God is doing is convicting you; He\u2019s making you uncomfortable of your need to respond. You know, being uncomfortable is not always a bad thing, is it? If your hand is on the stove and the stove is on the pain signals, although sharp, will tell you to move your hand, and if you move your hand your hand will not be destroyed on a hot stove. Yes, I don\u2019t like pain but my goodness, I certainly need it, don\u2019t I, or my body would be a complete wreck.\n\nThe conviction of the Holy Spirit can be a painful thing, yet God loves us so much that He makes us uncomfortable. The Spirit of God no doubt is here making some of you uncomfortable; the reason He is making you uncomfortable is because He wants to have a relationship with you, which can happen no other way than through the shed blood of His Son. And as the Spirit of God places you under conviction our exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond the way John in this book, in these verses, has told us to respond, which is to trust, to rely, to depend upon, to be persuaded of, to have confidence in. Switch your allegiance away from yourself and your denomination and your good works and your desire to do better and all these other things and switch that allegiance exclusively into the promises of Jesus Christ. It is not something you have to walk an aisle to do, raise a hand to do, fill out a card to do, give money to do, obligate yourself to join the church to do. Those things are nice in and of themselves but they have no saving nor salvific value.\n\nThe only thing which saves you is trusting only in Christ and that\u2019s between you and the Lord in a moment of privacy through a heartfelt response to Him. You may not understand all the particulars but in the best way you know how to respond by faith or confidence or reliance or trust in Jesus Christ. Trust Him and Him alone for your eternal destiny and the safekeeping of your soul. You can do it right now, even as I am talking, in a moment of privacy. If it\u2019s something that you need more explanation on then I\u2019m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t