ALL THE PROOF YOU NEED Message 1
“ALL THE PROOF YOU NEED”
John 20:24-31
INTRODUCTION
This morning we are going to start an in-depth study of the Gospel of John. There is a very simple reason why I’ve chosen for us to study John’s Gospel. Our vision as a church is to change the perception of those who are in the church as well as those who are outside of the church, to change their perception of who Jesus Christ really is and to change their perception of the Christian faith. How do we change the wrong perceptions that people hold? As I said last week the starting point in changing perception is with the truth. In the Gospel of John we have a very clear portrait if you will of who Jesus Christ is. In John’s Gospel we have the pure unvarnished, untainted truth of who Jesus Christ is.
Let me begin this morning with a brief explanation of what a “gospel” is. The word itself means “good message” or “good news”. In its most basic form a gospel is the delivering of a message of some kind, of news of some kind.
In the Scriptures the term takes on added significance because of the content of the message being delivered. The subject, the theme of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is the same, each of the gospels contain a message about Jesus Christ. They are the story of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are in one sense a biography of Jesus Christ. I like to read biographies; I just finished the biography of John Adams our second president. When you read a biography you are given many, but not all of the details of a person’s life. The author of the biography does all their research. Then they select what they feel to be the most important facts and events in a person’s life and write the narrative, their life story. A biography is not normally written with an agenda. By that I mean that the biographer is not writing with any specific purpose other than recounting the facts and the events of a particular person’s life. But here is where the Gospels differ from the average biography. Each one of the Gospel writers has a very clear agenda. Each one of the Gospel writers has a very clear and distinct purpose for writing the life story of Jesus Christ. I think it would be safe to say that the vision of our church; of Grace Community Church is a vision shared with the writers of not only the Gospels but of all of Scripture and that is to change the world’s perception of who God is, who Jesus Christ is, who the Holy Spirit is.
With that information as a backdrop, let’s read our text together this morning.
"Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:24-31ESV)
In verses 30-31 John states very clearly his purpose for writing. He makes it clear that he is not writing as an uninterested, unbiased observer. John is not writing the life story of Jesus Christ to simply provide us with a set of interesting facts about Jesus Christ. John has an agenda, John has a bias, and John has a purpose. John had a clear goal in mind for writing the Gospel that bears his name.
John’s goal in writing can be summarized with one word. “Believe”. John wants us to believe. What does John want us to believe? Does John want us to believe anything as long as we just believe? No, John has a very specific belief in mind. John has a very narrow set of beliefs that he wants us to beleive.
Immediately John sets himself in direct opposition to the spirit of our day. The word of the day in America is one of tolerance, and inclusiveness. The prevailing philosophy of our day is to give equal weight to all beliefs, to not just accept all beliefs, but to affirm all beliefs. But John will have nothing to do with political correctness.
Why? Was John a bigot? No, notice what he says in the last part of verse 31 “and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John has our good at heart. John is writing to help us to experience the kind of life that God had originally created us for.
I believe that as people age, something begins to dawn on them, they begin to experience a nagging, a depression in their soul that the life they are living is not the life they expected to live, and that life has not delivered the satisfaction and the joy that we all are seeking. In response to this realization people set out to find something that will satisfy them something that will bring them joy. They search, they desperately search for the life that has meaning that has purpose, the life that satisfies and brings them joy. That is what John is offering to us. John writes his gospel to point us to the one who can make it possible to live the life we were created to live. As we work our way through the gospel of John we will discover that life is one of the major themes of the book of John.
Let me point out that John was writing to YOU! Notice how he words his purpose, “and that by believing YOU may have life in his name.” John is writing so that you can personally believe.
Still we have yet to answer the question of what it is that John wants us to believe.
Let’s break John’s purpose statement down this way. Let’s break it down into what, why, and how. What does John want us to believe and why does John want us to believe it and how can we believe it.
WHAT DOES JOHN WANT US TO BELIEVE?
1. John wants us to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
What does John mean? John wants us to believe that Jesus was the Messiah; John wants us to believe that Jesus was the Savior. John wants us to believe that Jesus was God. John wants us to believe that God became a man!
We will deal with the incredible truth that God became a man in much greater detail as we go through our study, but let me just say at this point that it is this truth of God becoming man that separates Christianity from all other religions and systems of belief.
2. John wants us to believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
John adds this statement I think for clarity. He doesn’t want anyone to misunderstand who Jesus Christ was. He doesn’t want anyone to be confused as to who Jesus Christ was. Jesus Christ was the Son of God, which is to say that Jesus Christ was God.
Admittedly John is asking us to believe things that seem incredible, he is asking us to believe things to which the our first response may be, “I can’t believe that!” or “That’s hard to believe.” Though the claims of John may be hard to believe they can be believed, and have been believed my millions and millions of people.
2. WHY DOES JOHN WANT US TO BELIEVE?
John wants us to believe that Jesus is the Christ; John wants us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that “by believing you may have life in his name.”
It should be obvious to us that the life that John is referring to here is a different kind of life from the one that his readers already have. Obviously they have some kind of life or they wouldn’t be reading this letter. So we can already draw one conclusion from our study, that there is a different kind of life available to us than the one we already have.
John is referring to a specific life acquired by a specific means in a specific person.
3. HOW CAN WE BELIEVE?
My Pastor made a statement one time that I have never forgotten. He said that “Faith can’t exist without doubt.” It is no secret that ALL of us struggle with belief. As you read the bible what do you find? You find all kinds of people struggling with doubt, struggling with unbelief. We have one such account recorded for us in the Gospel of Mark.
"And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”" (Mark 9:19-24ESV)
Notice what this distraught Father said as the exact same time. “I believe; help my unbelief!” He wants to believe yet he struggles with unbelief! Does that describe you? At times it has described me; at times it still describes me. I believe, yet I struggle with unbelief!
Does John offer us some aid in helping us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Son of God? If he does offer us aid what is it?
Look at verse 30 with me.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;" (John 20:30ESV)
What does John offer us in order to help us believe that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus was God in human flesh?
The aid, the proof, the evidence that John has in mind are the “signs” that Jesus did “in the presences of the disciples”. Before we get to what a sign is, let’s not miss a very important point. John says that the “signs” that Jesus did he did in the presence of the disciples of whom I am one, therefore the things that I have told you I personally witnessed.
What do we have here? We have eyewitness testimony! Please don’t discount the power of eyewitness testimony. Do you realize the power of eyewitness testimony? Our criminal justice system gives great weight to the testimony of those who witnessed a crime take place. We either jail people or set them free on the eyewitness testimony of others. John states that the things that he has written down for us he personally witnessed. That means that what John is writing is not myth, it is not legend, it is not simply a story passed down. That means that what John has written is not made up and it also means that others witnesses these events as well. Notice that John says that the signs that Jesus did he did in the presence of the disciples – plural. Do we have other accounts that verify, that corroborate the evidence that John lays out before us? YES! Do you know what they are? The other Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke!
If you won’t believe John, will you believe Matthew? If you won’t believe John will you believe Mark? If you won’t believe John will you believe Luke? NO? If you won’t believe any of them, then maybe you should consider that your unbelief is a willful unbelief, it is unbelief of resistance to the truth, not simply an intellectual unbelief. It is a willful unbelief. Jesus Christ does not ask us to believe in him apart from evidence, apart from proof, he always asks us to believe in him based upon the truth that we have about him from multiple sources.
John uses the words “signs” to describe the actions of Jesus that he now offers as the basis for belief in Christ.
A “sign” is an event that has some kind of special meaning associated with it. Many of the signs that John describes for us in his gospel could rightly be called a miracle. But they were miracles with a special significance attached to them. The Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament says “For the Gospel of John, however, a σημει̂ον (sign) is not simply a miraculous event but something which points to a reality with even greater significance.” [1] We could say that a sign is a miracle with great meaning.
If you want to know who Jesus Christ is one of the starting points in discovering if Jesus is the Christ, if Jesus is the Son of God, if Jesus is God in human flesh then you need to set down with an open bible and turn to the John’s Gospel and read and study the “signs” the miracles that John was eyewitness to and records for us in writing.
Take a bible and turn to John 2, and read where Jesus turned the water into wine.
Next go to John 4, and read how Jesus healed a man’s son who was deathly ill.
Read John 5 and watch as Jesus heals a man who had been lame for 38 years.
Continue on to John 6 and witness Jesus feeding 5,000 people from only two fish and five little loaves of barley bread. Keep on reading and see Jesus walking on the water
Study John 7 and listen as the teaching of Jesus confounded the most educated men of his day.
Listen in John 8 as Jesus declares himself to be the great “I Am”, and that he has indeed existed long before Abraham, even though Abraham has been dead for centuries. Only and infinite, eternal being could make that claim.
John 9, Jesus gives sight to a man who had been born blind, his parents acknowledged that he had been born blind, other people acknowledged that he had been blind all of his life, but now that Jesus has come, the man can see!
John 10 Jesus makes the bold statement that unless it was true would have been blasphemous. He said “I and my Father are one.” He was declaring himself to be equal to the Father. Utterly blasphemous unless it was true.
If that isn’t enough go to John 11 and read of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after he has been dead for two days.
Watch in John 13 as the one who claimed to be equal with God, who raised the dead and opened blind eyes stoops to wash the dust and the dirt from the feet of his disciples and tell me there isn’t something different about this man!
Listen in John 14 as Jesus declares himself to be “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”. Ponder those words, and based upon everything else that Jesus has said and done and see that there may be more truth in them than you think!
John 15 Jesus declares that he is going to lay down his life. He is going to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Listen in John 16 as he speaks words of comfort to his disciples.
Read John 17 slowly and meditatively as Jesus prays his high priestly prayer, a prayer that Jesus prayed for those who would believe in him, a prayer he prayed for you if you have believed in him.
Watch the actions of Jesus closely in John 18 as he is betrayed and arrested. Notice how Jesus conducts himself in the face of lies and false accusations and declares that his kingdom is not of this world.
Read and weep over John 19 as Jesus – the one who had never committed one single wrong act in his life is crucified and dies an agonizing death on the cross and is buried in a borrowed tomb.
Now we arrive at John 20 and John writes of the greatest of all the signs, the greatest of all the miracles, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. John sums it all up and says based upon all of this and so much more you can believe, there are reasons for you to believe. I’ve written all these things so that you can believe.
As I said earlier, if after examining all the evidence you still won’t believe it is not because there is not enough evidence for you, it’s not because there is not enough proof for you, perhaps you should consider that you simply refuse to believe.
But I want you to know something. You can believe in spite of your doubts. The pathway to belief is paved with the stones of doubting your doubts. How do I doubt my doubts? Compare what you believe to be true with what the Bible says is true. Go to the Word of God. Take your doubts to Christ. That’s what Thomas did.
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[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996, c1989). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains (1:442). New York: United Bible societies.