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This sermon was preached on Sunday 13/08/2000
Am, by Kevin Matthews.
This morning we are going to begin ‘live’ preaching,
as opposed to listening to tapes, as we have done previously.
It is my view that the place to begin preaching
in such a young church, with such an emphasis as we have on missionary outreach,
is the fourth gospel. This gospel which has come down to us as the ‘Gospel
According to John.’
All of us will have varying opinions as to the
usefulness of this gospel and indeed, the usefulness of preaching through
this gospel. Some may feel that this is the book for evangelism, to be handed
out at such events as crusades and evangelistic meetings and other than
that, its usefulness to me is very little ... after all I already profess
to be a Christian and therefore I am past being evangelised.
But then again, it does have the much loved
John 3:16 in it, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.’ and, well, it makes me feel so warm and cosy inside, so it can’t
be all that bad!
Now that may be about the extent of knowledge
that some of us have regarding the fourth Gospel. But there really is so
much more to be known, and learnt from such a special book.
So I make no apology for beginning here or for
wanting to work my way through this Gospel. My goal today is to whet your
appetite for John so that you will leave really wanting to see what this
book has to teach you.
Now, as you can see by my outline, I intend
to look at three main points this morning:
- Who wrote the Fourth Gospel?
- Why Write the Fourth Gospel?
- Why Study the Fourth Gospel?
1.WHO WROTE THE FOURTH GOSPEL?
Originally, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were
four separate anonymous Gospels, circulating around the first century Church.
Not long after the fourth was written the four were collected together and
circulated as one codex or book (as ours, with pages) and the various names
were added, such as ‘The Gospel According to John.’
The earliest fragment of the NT extant today
is from John. In fact John 18, dating to about 130AD. The earliest commentary
on John, written by the Gnostic writer Heracleon, comes from the second
century.
But who wrote this fourth Gospel?
There have been many theories and that may surprise
you, having taken for granted that it was the apostle John. Most of these
theories actually involve a John, but not necessarily the apostle. For example:
- A John of Jerusalem who had access to the High Priest, and influence
among the early Asian Christians.
- John Mark.
- John the Elder, who had an association with the Church at Ephesus,
and whom some early writers confused with the apostle.
- Some person called John.
- A disciple of John wrote from the memoirs of John after his death.
- John used an amanuensis, to whom he dictated.
- John the Apostle.
How are we to make head and tail of all this?
Well, let me refer you to the commentaries for a detailed assessment of
the various theories. For mind, I accept the human author as being the Apostle
John and let me give you some brief reasons as to why, and I will of course
be unable to go into any real depth here.
The Gospel itself is anonymous. It doesn’t bear
the author’s name, but none-the-less it does give some important ‘internal
evidence’ as to the identity of the human author.
Firstly, the author was clearly an eyewitness
to what he records. He is able to give us specific details of the events,
telling us such things as there being 6 water pots at Cana in 2:6; of the
reaction of the soldiers in 18:6; the names of various people that are anonymous
in the other gospels, such as Nathaniel, Nicodemus and Lazarus (6:7ff; 12:3;
18:10); and many other seemingly incidental things.
READ 19:35; 21:24,25
In these verses there are obvious allusions
to the author being an eye witness to the events he records and the Gospel
records other such allusions at 1:14; 13:23; 19:26ff; 20:2-10;etc.
So just who this person is is narrowed down
to those who had been around Jesus quite a lot. Now we can narrow it down
a lot furthers then this, in fact, right down to Jesus’ immediate disciples,
the 12.
READ JOHN 21:20-25
Now this passage not only narrows the possibilities
down to the disciples, but right down to ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’
One who enjoyed a very close and intimate friendship with the Lord.
Now we know of three who had a closer relationship
with Christ than all the others - Peter, James and John. We know this from
such passages as Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33. Which of the three is it then?
Well, the passage in John 21 that we read clearly
eliminates Peter and we also know that James was put to death before this
Gospel was written (Acts 12:1ff). So we can say that the apostle John is
the author of this Gospel.
Now obviously there is much more internal evidence
and many more passages we could turn to in order to further cement our claim
that the author of this Gospel is John the apostle, the son of Zebedee,
but this is sufficient for our purposes this morning.
Now as you would expect, there is much external
evidence also.
We should pay special attention to what Irenaeus
has to say at this point, for he was a disciple of Polycarp, who was himself,
a disciple of the apostle John. He tells us that the author was the apostle.
That is just one example, there are others, but that will do for today.
So we can put it down as an undeniable fact,
that the author of the fourth Gospel was John the apostle, or maybe not?
Why maybe not? Certainly John was the human
author of this Gospel, but who is the chief Author? Is it not God Himself?
READ 2 TIMOTHY 3:16,17
Now having read that passage and considering
others such as 2 Peter 1:21, it becomes very clear that the human authors
of the various books of the Bible only wrote what they did because of Divine
influence. So what we end up with are the very words of God - which gives
us a totally different perspective on how we ought to deal with what is
written.
So what’s the point? Well the point is this
- as we come to the Gospel according to John; we had better take what is
written as the Word of God. Here is a book in which God is speaking to you
- have you ever thought about that? These aren’t just little stories that
are fun to hear or read once in a while. When you hear what God says in
this book, you ought never to be the same again. You can’t just cast off
what you read in this book, as you may a novel, as one author’s own peculiar
ideas - no! What you have here is the written views of Almighty God, your
Sovereign Lord, whom to ignore or push aside as irrelevant, means that there
will be consequences for you to face.
So I want you all to be very aware at the very
outset, as we approach this book, that we will be considering the very words
of God and you must hear what He says with the intention of not only hearing,
but also doing.
So why study John? Because it is the Word of
God to us - it is how God speaks to the world today.
2. WHY WRITE THE FOURTH GOSPEL?
With three other gospels in Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John, the question arises as to why a fourth gospel was needed. Just
why was it that God so influenced the apostle John to write us this gospel?
Or, another way to ask the question is, ‘what is the purpose of the Gospel
according to John?’ What is it that God is saying to us in this book - to
you?
Well, there have been many theories put forward
as to why this book was written. But all these theories can be quite easily
cast aside, at least as far as a primary purpose is concerned. Why?
‘But these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through his name (Jn 20:31).’
So John himself tells us why he wrote this book
and why God wanted this book written.
Even with a quick reading of the four gospels,
John is noticeably different to the other three. Certainly together the
four gospels are complementary, but there is a very noticeable different
feel about this gospel. For instance John does not record the virgin birth,
Jesus’ baptism, His temptation and none of His parables.
Yet his is the only gospel to record the visit
of Nicodemus to Jesus, the story of the Samaritan woman, and the Lazarus
accounts.
Why is this so? This is because his main focus
was on one thing and what he compiled was compiled in order to accomplish
this one thing, that ‘But these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name (Jn 20:31).’
Yes John has left out much, he tells us he did;
but what he has included is there for the very purpose that you may believe
and that you may have life in His name.
In the manuscripts that have come down to us
from the original Autographs, there are two readings for this verse. There
is an Aorist or future tense, which renders the verse as, ‘that you may
believe,’ and a present tense, ‘that you may continue to believe.’
The argument seems to slightly favour the aorist
tense, ‘that you may believe’ - but the jury is still out. Regardless
of the verdict, both thoughts are still present in John.
Firstly the aorist, ‘that you may believe.’
The idea here is that John has included what he has in this gospel that
you may begin to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and therefore
enter into eternal life.
So as we move through John, his purpose and
mine will be to present you with the Biblical evidences and truths in order
that you might become a Christian.
I am not here to merely fill a vacuum in your
social week, that spare hour in which you have nothing else to do. No! Rather,
I am here to proclaim to you the Gospel truth of Jesus Christ, that believing
you may have life in His Name.
That is my desire for you, that you might be
saved, and to accomplish this purpose I can do no better than to proclaim
to you the truths that are recorded in this book, for it is they that are
able to make you wise unto salvation.
I cannot coerce you, I cannot trick you, I cannot
cause you to become a Christian ... but I can present the truth and this
I will do - waiting on the Lord to do what is impossible for man, to save
your souls, to draw you unto Himself, ‘But these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing
ye might have life through his name (Jn 20:31).’
Secondly, the present tense - ‘that you may
continue to believe.’
There is a teaching about today that says by
acknowledging a few facts about Jesus, maybe that He is the Christ, the
Son of God, that you will automatically qualify for eternal life, regardless
of what you do after that. But that is clearly incorrect, for it is only
those who ‘do the will of God’ that will enter into life and not
those who only cry ‘Lord, Lord.’
The substance of the truth behind the present
tense rendering is that if you persevere in believing that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, then you will enter into eternal life.
Yes, if you do initially believe in Christ unto
salvation, you will enter into eternal life; but you don’t just stop there
and then do whatever you like. You continue to believe not just the promises
of salvation to life in Christ, but also the truth concerning godliness
and holiness of life, of forsaking sin, etc. True faith continues to believe,
it perseveres, it endures hardship, etc.
So as we work through John, here is another
thing I will be seeking to do - to build you and myself up in the truth,
that we might be established and persevere, ‘that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name (Jn 20:31).’
So why study John? ‘ that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through his name (Jn 20:31).’
3.WHY STUDY THE FOURTH GOSPEL?
So why are we going to study the fourth Gospel?
This may take quite a bit of time to do, so why take so many weeks to study
this book? Well, I want to give six main reasons.
The first three we have already mentioned and
so we will just mention them again in passing and briefly comment on the
other three.
Because God is speaking to us.
That you might come to faith in Christ, the
Son of God.
That you might be established and enabled to
persevere in Christ, the Son of God.
The harmony of the OT/NT.
One of the things that we will discover as we consider this Gospel
according to John, is the unity of the whole Bible. The OT is not separated
from the NT, but is one complete harmonious whole with the NT. The Bible
is one harmonious unity with one central theme that permeates the entire
Bible. What is that central theme that binds the OT with the NT? It
is He, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the central theme of the Bible.
In the Gospel according to John this unity of thought is very clearly
displayed, so much so, that Jesus says in John 5:39, ‘Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are
they which testify of me.’
So what I am saying is this, that as we study this Gospel, we will
become strengthened in our belief of the unity of Scripture and in Jesus
Christ as the great theme and message of the Bible.
You will find in this Gospel the fulfilment of OT prophecy, in
such passages as 12:14, dealing with what we know as Palm Sunday and
also 19:36, where Jesus is on the cross - John abounds with evidence
of the fulfilment of OT passages, proving the unity of the Bible in
Jesus Christ.
A fifth reason for studying John is that this
Gospel is a great place to start for understanding the Person and Work
of the Holy Spirit. This is the place to begin in order to formulate
a theology of the Holy Spirit.
I don’t think it is a coincidence
that Acts is found after this Gospel, for John is a good preparation
for understanding the Holy Spirit in Acts. For instance, where would
you turn in the Bible to understand the Work of the Spirit in regeneration,
the new birth? John 3. Here you will find the essential role played
by the Holy Spirit in regeneration, without which you cannot even understand
the Kingdom of Heaven, let alone enter it.
It is in John that we begin to understand the role of the Holy
Spirit in the life of the believer. It is here that we see the Spirit
as the Paraclete, the Helper of believers and all that that means.
So why study John? To gain a growing understanding of the Holy
Spirit and His work.
Another reason is really a collection of reasons
really. It is because of the great themes of the Gospel of John.
All I mean by this is that there are great themes that permeate
the Gospel of John, such as light, life, love, truth, abiding, etc.
In John these thoughts are picked up again and again, recurring throughout
the book, being further developed with every mention. Our understanding
of these ideas will grow as we continue on through the book.
For instance light, its first mention is in John 1:4, ‘In
him was life; and the life was the light of men.’ Then you find
the idea of light coming up again and again throughout the book, at
1:5-18; 3:15,16,36; 4:14; 6:35,47,54; 10:10; 17:2; 20:31. The same sort
of thing can be seen with other themes such as life and love.
So these are the main reasons for a study of
the Gospel of John. I look forward to it and I hope you too will look forward
to the study of this great Gospel together. Does your appetite want more
of this book? I hope so. Please read this book a number of times, perhaps
concentrating on some of these reasons as you read. You cannot but profit
from the experience.
10/10/2006
AN OUTPOST PRODUCTION