John chapter 20. John 20. I was thinking this morning how
this should be a good day. Our God is good. He's given us
a day to come here and meet together. This is a good thing to give
thanks unto the Lord, to meet together. There's nothing better.
And I've got the good news to give to you. And it should be
a good day. It could be a great day. It could
be. John 20, verses 30 and 31, this
makes up our whole study this morning, entitled Things Written
That You May Believe, or Might Believe, or Couldn't. Wednesday
night, we looked at blessed believers. Our Lord said in the previous
verse, blessed are they that have not seen yet had believed. We saw the blessing of being
a believer in it. I believe. I really do. Don't
you? I know you do. And we're so blessed
if we have this gift of faith. We've obtained the life precious
faith. And I thought about naming this
study the Blessed Book for Believers. The Blessed Book for Believers.
These things, or verse 30, many other signs truly did Jesus in
the presence of his disciples. See that? See who saw these things? Everybody. Many witnessed what
his disciples did. Many things he did in the presence
of his disciples which are not written in the book. But these
are written. Verse 31. These are written that
you might believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing you might have life through his name. These
things are written. Aren't you glad God wrote this
book? Don't you love this book? That's the rhetorical question.
Don't you love this book? I love this book. There was a
time I did not. Well, I do now. The Bible. That's what Bible means. Book. The book. The book of God's work. If you do love this book, if
you do, God loves you. As you reveal these things to
you, it's giving you a new heart to receive a love for the truth. Everyone doesn't receive a love
for the truth. Many people turn away their ears
from the truth, from the fables. But not you. You turn your ears
to the truth, away from fables. How blessed you are. You must
be loved by God. Listen to the man after God's
own heart, David. It's in Psalm 119. He said, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the time.
Oh, how I love thy law. Listen to this. He said, I hate
thine thoughts, but thy law do I love. He said, in 163, he said,
I hate and abhor lying. But thy law do I love. Great
peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend
them." Now, when we speak of the Bible,
when we speak of God's book, when we speak of God's Word,
the truth, we're talking about Christ. Who is the truth? He said, I am the truth. They
are they, he said, of the Bible. They are they which testify of
me. He said, Moses wrote of me, Christ
said. To him, Christ give all the prophets
witness. So this is truly a him book,
isn't it? The Bible, it's all about him. Genesis 1, 1 begins, in the beginning,
God. John 1 begins that way, doesn't
it? He was with the Father in the
beginning. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God.
The Word was God in the beginning. The last line in this Bible,
Revelation 22, 22, you say, there's no verse 22. Well, yes, it is.
Down at the bottom of the page it says, the end. Christ is the
beginning. And the end, he said that. First
and the last. Alpha, that's the first letter
in the alphabet, and omega, the last. The beginning and the end,
and all things in between. God had this book written concerning
his son. And I look at verse 30, it says,
many of the signs that truly did Jesus in the presence of
his disciple. This book is all about what Christ
The Old Testament tells us that Christ is coming to do something. It tells us of what He would
say and what He would do. The Old Testament, someone's
coming, sent by God to do something. What? To redeem His people. To save His people. Now the Gospels
say, and John writes here, this book's all about what He did.
He came to do something. Well, did He do it? He said so, didn't He? Hanging
on the cross, it's it. Whatever He came to do, He finished
it. It is finished, this work of
salvation, this work of redemption. Christ did it by Himself. This book's about Him, what He
would come to do, and He did it. And He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. And it just remains for his people
to be brought into the fold by what he did. So this is about
what he did. Not what you must do. No, no. The Bible is a story of salvation
in four letters. D-O-N-E. Done. Not do. Done. Done. What he did. It's all about
him. Beginning with creation. He's
the one who created everything. Jesus Christ. Yes. And it ends
with his greatest work, salvation. He's the one that did that. This book is the testimony of
God. The record. 1 John 5. Don't you
love 1 John? Look at 1 John 5. This book is
the recorded testimony or witness of God concerning what? His son. His son. It's in 1 John 5, 9, if we receive
the witness of man. Now, oh, how men believe men. Don't they? Well, they say it
must be true. They say it. You know, it's on
the Internet. It couldn't be said if it wasn't
true. David said, I hate lying thoughts. I hate liars. I said, I esteem
all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate
every false word. David said, I'm not listening
to anybody but him. You cannot lie. 1 John 5, 5,
9 says the witness of God is greater. He's a faithful witness,
a true witness. This is the witness of God. This
is it. What is it? What He testified
of His Son. The only thing God has to say
to human beings is this. This is my beloved son, hear
him, bow to him, believe him, come to him. That's it. That's
it. So this is the book, this is
the testimony which God has testified of his son. First John 5 verse
11, this is the record, the recorded witness, testimony, the recorded,
the record that God hath given to us. Who's this writing to?
Believers. God hath given to us salvation's
gift by grace. To who? His chosen people. Blessed be God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in us He hath chosen us. Given to us eternal life. And
this life is where? In His Son. He that hath the
Son hath life. In verse 13, John said, These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God. I do. I do. I do. I believe the record. And that
you may know that you have eternal life. We all sometimes doubt
our salvation. Don't we? Everybody? Are you
honest? Well, go ahead and doubt yourself
and keep doing so. Don't ever trust yourself. Don't
ever look to yourself. Don't ever look within for some
evidences that you're saved. But look to Him. Believe the
Word. Believe the promise. God cannot
lie. He says, Come unto me, I'll give
you rest. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt have eternal life. He said. That was it. Oh, brethren. So trust Him. Trust Him and Him
alone. All right? Thank God for the
Word. Thank God for this book. Now,
many love the Bible. Many people read the Bible. Many
believe it, say they believe it, and read it, and even read
it through many times. I was talking to a man yesterday
that said he read it through several times, but he didn't
know what it meant. Like the Pharisees, you know,
they quoted whole books of the Bible. That was their philately.
But they didn't know Him of whom the Bible spoke. They knew the
letter of the Word, but they didn't know the Word in the Word.
The One who's called the Word. It's about Him, he said. Many
love to read the Bible. It makes them feel good. It tells
them how to live. And they think, like the Lord
said to the Pharisees, in them you think you have life. If you
live according to the law and the Bible, you'll have life.
You'll earn eternal life. He said, No. They are they which
testify of me. You're dead by nature. You're dead. And high and come,
Christ said, that they may have life through me, but believing
on him. Very simple ain't it? Proverbs 8 verse 9 says, It's
all plain to him that understandeth. If you understand, it's plain.
And we know because the Son of God has come and given us an
understanding that we may know Him as true, believe Him as true,
and we're in Him as true. This is true God, and this is
eternal life. We're so blessed. Now, to the child of God, this
is not just a book. These are the words of our Heavenly
Father. To the child, this is the Father speaking to us. To
the bride of Christ, this is our husband speaking to that.
To the sheep, this is the shepherd's voice leading and guiding, directing. We speak to him in prayer. How
does he speak to us? It's God's voice. Not just words,
it's God's voice. You understand? Thus saith the
Lord. This is what my Lord says to
me and says to you. It's not just a book. Not just
a book. It's His voice. It's His Word.
If the Spirit of God speaks in power. Now, verse 31 says this. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The Gospel of
John is clearly about Christ in it. Clearly. Of all the Gospels,
I hate to say my favorite. But if I can only have one gospel,
if I was on an island somewhere, it would be John. I've often
wondered if I could only have one book in the Bible, what would
it be? It might be the Psalms. The Psalms
are what? They're Christ from the blessed
man in Psalm 1. Well, but the gospel of John
clearly speaks of Christ. And it says here, these are written.
Many other things he did, many other signs, but these are written
that you might believe. This is all we need. What God
wrote is all we need. We don't need anything else.
In fact, the Lord said, anybody add to or take away from this,
your name's not in it. And down in chapter 22, look
at verse 25, chapter 22, verse 25, John said this. There are many other things he
did which if, I suppose, if they were written, the world couldn't
contain the books that should be written. More
books have been written about our Lord Jesus Christ, about
the gospel, than any other subject at all. That's
a fact. More sermons, more men have preached
on Christ than anybody has spoken about anything at all. And that's
as it should be. He is the subject of all subjects. Now, the Old Testament, the whole
Bible speaks of Christ. The whole book speaks of Him.
from the books of Moses. You remember in Luke 24 when
the disciples were walking along, they were together, two of them. And you know if two are together,
you know who's going to show up. Well, he did. And they thought it was just
a preacher. Oh, just a preacher. But he preached to them, beginning
in the books of Moses, and the Psalms, and all the prophets. That's the whole Old Testament.
What? Not a what. Who? The things concerning
himself. And they, being disciples of
the Lord, loved the Lord, knew the Lord. He'd given them an
understanding that they might know Him. They said, did not
our hearts burn within us? He was revealed in the opening
of the Scriptures. This is God's people. These are
God's people who know, who see, who hear Christ's voice and see
Him in the Old Testament. They are the only ones that see
Him hidden. The one who's hidden reveals.
He's a God who hides Himself from the wise and the prudent,
but reveals Himself under His veils. Every one of them. See, the Old Testament is prophetic
pictures of Christ to come. Prophetic pictures. So that we
might know Him when He came. You cannot know the Christ unless
you know something of the Old Testament, because the Christ
who came must fit the one of whom Moses prophesied, of whom
the prophets spoke. He must. Or he's another one. He's another Christ. And Christ
perfectly fit every prophecy that was made of him. Perfectly
fit. So these are pictures and types
and shadows and symbols and ceremonies and all of that. Everything in
the Old Testament, some way or another, points to Jesus Christ
and Him present. Everything. And that's how you
know Him when He came. The Pharisees thought they knew
the Old Testament, but they didn't recognize that Jesus was the
Christ. So they didn't know the Old Testament
at all. It has to be revealed. It's a
revelation. And God does this through these pictures. Don't
you love the Old Testament pictures? Mindy used this illustration
in teaching her young people. When the Montgomery's first came,
before they came, Mindy saw Hannah, our daughter, sent some pictures
of your sons, Stephen and Hope. And, well, they walked into class.
And Mindy said, I knew it was you because I'd already seen
your picture. You see? And that's how we know
Christ. And he shows those pictures to
his people, and they love those pictures. And they know it's
him. They know it's him. We all have
family photo albums of him. Do you have family photo albums?
Do you still look at them? You wouldn't throw those away
for anything, would you? Do you still get great pleasure in looking
back over the pictures of your loved ones? You look with great
love and great joy and memories. You look at them in remembrance
of those you love. This book is the Father, the
Father assembled this book about His Son in the Old Testament
for His family to look at and rejoice and remember Him. I thank my wife for assembling
this brief but pretty concise pictures of
Christ. Do you have that? Do you remember
when she printed out for all of us the pictures of Christ
in the Old Testament? Do you have that? You need to
put that in your Bible. I do. I have six Bibles, seven. And I've got it in every one
of them pasted in front of me. Pictures of Christ in the Old
Testament. When you start reading Genesis,
start reading Genesis 1, you need to see Jesus Christ. You
need to see it. In Genesis 1, He's the Creator
of the world. He's not just Jesus, a man. He's
God manifesting today. And Genesis 1 begins by showing
us that. The Creator came to earth. The light, the first thing God
created and said was what? Let there be light. What's that? You know what? Christ said, I am the light of
the world. You don't know anything if you
don't know Christ. You can't see anything in the
Bible unless you see Christ. The whole Old Testament is a
closed book unless you see Christ in it. That's why it was written. He's the light of the world,
Genesis 3. You cannot know the gospel without knowing Genesis
3. You cannot know who God is and what happened in the garden,
what God had to do in Christ without knowing about the woman's
seed, the virgin-born son of the Most High God. You say, that's
going to go down through all of these. I'll get stuck in Genesis
1. Anybody want to hear the woman's
seed again? You know why the world is like
it is? Genesis 3, you'll find out why man's like man is, why
woman's like woman is, and why Christ had to come here. It's
all right there. In the beginning. And who was
it talking to the man and the woman in the garden? Who's the
voice of God? Who's the Word of God? How does
anybody hear from God? Jesus Christ. He came walking. It sends chills up my spine.
That makes my heart burn. Well, he's, uh, Genesis 22, Robert
and I were talking about Genesis 22, where Abraham took Isaac,
the son of promise, up on that mount to sacrifice him. What
is that all about? No clearer picture in the Bible
of the gospel of Christ than when Abraham, the father, took
the son up on the mountain to sacrifice him as a burnt offering
unto God. God provided himself a lamb as
a burnt offering. That's Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's why Abraham was born,
Isaac was born, that's why that was written. No other reason. Not to show you Abraham's great
thing, but to show you his great Savior and substitute. Man, what a place to get stuck. Go on and on and on and on. Who was it that wrestled with
Jacob? Jacob's running, but Jacob has God loved. Jacob God chose. Who does God love? The ones he
chose. Well, if God loves them and God
chose them, what's going to happen? Christ is going to lay hold of
them. That was who wrestled with old Jacob. A man wrestled with
Jacob. Oh, my, my. Exodus. What's Exodus
all about? We've been studying it. That
Passover lamb. Passover lamb. Numbers, the brazen
serpent. Christ sent it. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever looketh unto him might be saved, be have
everlasting life. That's why Exodus Numbers was
written. The great atonement in Leviticus.
Start reading Leviticus about the high priest and the blood
and every single sacrifice. What's that all about? Jesus
Christ. Joshua. His name is Jesus. Joshua went through the land
conquering the enemy. Saving harlots. What is Joshua
about? Not what, who. Jesus Christ. Joshua. Judges. The angel of the Lord. Gideon.
Somebody appeared to Gideon under an oak. Manoah and his wife. Somebody appeared to Manoah and
his wife. Somebody got in the flame on the altar of the sacrifice
and ascended up to heaven. That's somebody's Jesus Christ.
Ruth. I get chills just saying that.
Anybody want to hear Boaz again? How about this morning? Ah, that's got to be my favorite
story in all the Bible. I am Ruth. It was my hat to light
on Boaz's field, the one who will not finish the work, not
rest, and he'd done everything for me. And so I lie at his feet
and wait. Ruth, the kinsman of redeemment. Well, time's up. The world couldn't
contain the books written, and there's not enough time for all
the sermons that need to be preached. Kings, 1 Kings, the greater than
Solomon, 1 Samuel, the covenant of mercy. On and on it goes. Psalm, the great shepherd. Proverb,
wisdom. Solomon, the song of Solomon,
the bridegroom, the beloved. Isaiah. The Suffering Substitute in Isaiah
53. Jeremiah, the Great Physician.
Ezekiel, the Glory of the Lord. Daniel, the Beloved. Hosea. My, my. And on and on it goes. On and on it goes. You know how
blessed we are. So many of you were in religion.
And you heard these stories. Like
Noah's Ark? Noah's Ark. Noah is Christ. The Ark is Christ. Some of you were in religion
and you heard these stories. My mother admitted it. She heard
all these Old Testament stories and she said their preachers
never mentioned Jesus Christ's name one time. Why? They don't know Him. God hasn't
revealed these things to them. But these things are written
that you, you, you, you might know that He's the Christ. What's Christ, man? It means
the Messiah. It means the Redeemer. It means
the covenant head. Do you know what covenant means?
Do you know what a covenant means? It means somebody made an agreement
together, and they put it in writing, and they sealed it,
and this was God the Son, and God the Father, and God the Holy
Spirit, and you and I weren't around when it's coming. Nobody
was around when God made this covenant. And Scripture says
He ordered it in all things, and it's sure, and it's sealed,
and Christ was given this covenant to fulfill. That's what Christ
meant, the covenant head, the second Adam. Go down there and
do this work. Did He do it? Who did He do it
for? Everyone the Father gave Him.
These are the sure mercies. David said, this is all my salvation
that God has made concerning me, an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my salvation.
All my salvation. This is yours. All my salvation. All the salvation of God's people
is in this covenant that God gave to Christ to fulfill. He's the Christ. I believe that. Don't you, John? Nothing is left to do. Christ
did it. The things He did. The covenant
He had. And the Son of God. These things
are written that you might believe He's the Christ. This is what
Simon Peter said. I love Simon Peter. Don't you
love Simon Peter? Oh, my. Our Lord said, whom do men say
that I am? They said, well, some say this,
some say that. He said, who do you say that? Simon Peter says,
we believe, we're sure, that thou art to Christ, the Son of
the living God. Now, calling him the Son of God,
we don't believe that he's less than God. We don't believe that
he's inferior to God. We don't believe that he's a
son of God like we're a son of God. No, no, he's only begotten
of the Father. That he is very God of very God. The express image of God. The
fullness of the Godhead in a body. But he is God. I'm a man, right? My father was a man. I'm the
offspring of my father. I'm just as much a man as he
was. Not inferior. Right? And so is the Son of God. But He existed with the Father
in the beginning and had no beginning or end. He's God. When we say
the Son of God, we don't mean that there was ever a time when
He was actually created. But he took a body. Scripture
says, a body has self-prepared me. What does that mean? That
he existed before he took a body. You see? And there's millions
of people everywhere that believe, well, Jesus became a son of God
and marries his mother and so forth, and he's a good man and
all that. His mother was really his child. His mother didn't
give him life, he gave her life. Long before she held that baby
in her arm, He held her in His arm. This is God. Thomas said it. This is when
He reveals Himself to you. You'll know He's Christ, and
you'll know, and you'll hit your knees, and you'll say, He's my
Lord, and He's my God. My God. Do you believe? Why? Because he's come and given
you this faith. How blessed. What a blessed book
and a blessed people. Okay.