Now if you'll take your Bibles
and turn to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Rather than go through the chapter,
I'm going to encourage you when you get home to read through
this chapter. And I'm going to dwell on the
last two verses. But this chapter has to do with
the resurrection of Christ. It has to do with Him as He appears
to His disciples and appears to different ones. And then down
in verses 30 and 31, you look down there with me, it says,
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His
disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
And that believing, you may have life through his name. Now there
are many things written in this chapter to occupy natural man's
curiosity. I found myself chasing rabbits,
is what I call it. And that's when the natural curiosity
gets hung up on things that's not the main thing that the chapter's
teaching. I found in there where he tells
Mary Magdalene not to touch him because he had not risen to the
Father. But then a short time after,
he tells Doubting Thomas, he said, stick your finger in the
holes in my hand. A short time thereafter, the
other women that were with Mary Magdalene grasped him and embraced
him by his feet. So there's touching, but he's
forbidden to be touched. That causes me to... I want to know about that. I
want to understand that. But that's not the glory that
this chapter is about, John. It's not what it's about. It's
okay. And sometime when I'm visiting with you and that's on your mind,
we'll talk about it. I thank the Lord to give me some
sufficient knowledge about that and what it was about. But that's
not the main theme of this verse. in this chapter. So there's many
things here written in this chapter to occupy natural curiosity. And I brought to your attention
last week how that the disciples were taught about the resurrection.
They were taught about it. And I have no doubt concerning
the teacher. The teacher is the master. He's
the only one worthy to wear that name. He is the master of divinity. Never a man spake like this man.
This man knew everything. He knew it all. And yet, And
he was a great teacher. Nobody could teach like he could
teach. He was endowed with the Spirit
of God without measure. There was never a time when he
opened his mouth that it wasn't accompanied by the power of God's
Holy Spirit. He was God himself in human flesh,
teaching. Teaching. He was a master. And
yet they knew nothing about the resurrection. Nothing. Now, natural men knew about it. His enemies knew about it. I
read that to you out of, I think it was out of Luke last week.
I talked to you about it. That's why the boulder was rolled
up there in front of the sepulcher. And that's why the seal was put
on it. And that's where the centurions
come from. Those Jews who were very instrumental in putting
him to death knew that he taught a resurrection. They knew what
he taught. They sent out spies. They knew
exactly what this man taught. And all of his points copied
down in a book. They could tell you word for
word what this man's claims and declarations were. And they knew
that he said on the third day he would rise from the dead.
Now, that resurrection was the greatest evidence of him being
the Christ, his resurrection. And so they went to Pilate and
they said, now wait a minute. Wait a minute. I know he's dead,
and we appreciate the fact that you put him to death for us.
But if his disciples comes and takes him out of that tomb and
tells everybody he rose from the dead, there's going to be
no stopping this thing, no denying this thing. He'll be undeniably
declared as the Christ. So let's set a watch on it. Let's set some men down there.
Let's put the boulder up there. Let's put the raw seal on it
so nobody will tamper with it. So they're just, you see what
I'm saying, there's so many things in this chapter that you can
occupy your curiosity with. And I'm not necessarily saying
that these are evil things to go and understand. It's written
for our understanding. We are to go in here and look
at these things, but it's not the main gist of the chapter.
And Peter and John. And here's what it is I'm trying
to say. All of these things that they
knew in their head gave them no consolation. They knew about
the resurrection, but it didn't give them any consolation. Mary
Magdalene came and anointed him for his death. She knew that
he would rise from the... All of the disciples knew this
in their head, but it didn't give them any consolation. Here's
Mary Magdalene after his death, weeping outside the tomb. And
here's all the disciples, they done went home. They're upset. They saw their whole life's work,
everything that they'd given, everything that they'd dedicated
for nothing, because now he's dead. What they knew about the
resurrection gave them no hope, gave them, they didn't get anything
out of it. They weren't consoled. The two
going down, one of them was Cleophas. He was walking down that road
to Emmaus, Most of the old writers believed the other one was Luke,
who just kind of omitted his name for the same reason John
did. He didn't feel worthy to be mentioned.
But at any rate, these two are walking down the road. Now one
of these, Cleophas, he's the brother of Mary, the mother of
Jesus. This man was in the know. He
was in this inner circle. He knew something. But here he
is walking down the road to Emmaus, and Luke with him, and neither
one of them Neither one of them understanding anything, getting
no consolation whatsoever out of the fact of his resurrection.
Now, if you'd have stopped and talked to them about it, they'd
argue with you about it. But it gave them no consolation.
No consolation. So what am I saying? I'm saying
this. Faith believes God. It believes God. Hebrews 11,
1 says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence
of things not seen. Now, I've got a good hope through
grace, a good hope. I hope by the blood and righteousness
of Christ to be able to stand in the presence of God justified. That's my hope. That's my hope. I've not seen God with these
eyes. I've not heard God with these ears. I've never had any
visions or dreams concerning God. I've never saw any kind
of an image. It's a hope based on the Word
of God and the promises of God. It's a good hope through grace,
but it's a hope. And I hope by the merits of Christ
to be accepted of God and well-pleasing to God. There's no point in me
standing up here preaching to you if I don't believe in my
heart that I'm accepted before God. Then I've got no right to
be up here trying to teach the Word of God and trying to teach
you and try to say things and make spiritual declarations to
you if I don't believe myself to be accepted of God. You see
what I'm saying? I hope by the ascension of Christ
to have a high priest at the right hand of the Father who
makes intercession for me that I can come to in things pertaining
to God and pour my heart out to Him. Ask Him things. Ask Him for benefits. Ask Him
to forgive me for my daily sins and to wash me each day. Are you understanding what I'm
saying? This is my hope, but it's a hope.
It's not something physical. I can't put my hand on it. And
I hope that by His substitutionary death, He's delivered me from
the wrath of God. If He hasn't, I still have it
to face. And I hope by His presence and glory that my presence and
glory is guaranteed. That's a hope. And I've got a
good hope through grace. But what is the substance and
evidence of this hope? Let's just get the shovel and
dig down and find the foundation. What's the foundation of this
hope? Why is it that I can boldly stand here this morning and talk
to you about this hope? Where's its foundation? What
am I standing on? I believe God. Now that's it. I don't have anything else. I never spoke in tongues. God
has not given me the gift to speak in foreign languages. I
can count a few numbers, if you want to call that speaking in
tongues. But the substance of this thing is faith. That's what
he's saying here in Hebrews 11. It's the substance and it's the
evidence. The difference between mental
assent, that is, I hear something, you hear something that I say
here this morning, and I read you four or five things in here,
and you say, well, that seems to be the jest of what this book's
teaching. And so you agree with it. In
your head, you say, I understand that. Two plus two is four. I
see that. Same principle toward whatever
it is I'm trying to talk to you about this morning. And you see
it, and you say, OK, I understand that. I get it. I get it. That's
mental assent. You understand it here. Now the
difference between understanding it here and understanding it
here, that's what faith is. That's the difference. That's
the difference. The difference between mental
assent or head knowledge and true saving faith is that true
faith acts on what it believes. It moves. Lots of folks come
in here and do this while I'm preaching and then go right back
to doing whatever they have done all their life. That's not faith. That's just head knowledge. That's
all that is. Believers' lives are arranged
around what they believe. That's the difference. I'm going
to give you a double shot of this doctrine this morning. I'm
just getting warmed up. God says that we are sons and
heirs together with Christ, heirs of eternal life, heirs of heavenly
glory. Do we believe that? Huh? Do we believe that? You actually
believe when they take you out of this world and put you in
that box and they go down there and lower you down that little
pit or slide you in that little shelf or whatever how it is that
you designed to be taken care of after your death and you go
down there. Do you really believe that one day you're going to
enter into heaven's glory, conform perfectly to the image of Christ
and be with Him forever? One with Christ? One with the
Father? No difference? Do we really believe
that? Do we believe that we're heirs
of God? Because that's what faith believes.
Heirs of God. I'll tell you this, if you do,
your life will change on this earth, won't it? Yes, it will. In the degree that I believe
God, I'll be moved to detach myself from this present world.
Whatever degree of faith I have, that's how much I'll be moved.
The man who believes this world to be his treasure, he gives
himself to it. The man who believes God believes
heaven to be his future destiny. He believes that Christ is his
inheritance. He's going to be like Christ.
He's going to be heir with Christ, joint heir with him, one with
the Father. He uses this world in moderation,
and he uses it to that end. That's the difference. And the
same thing applies to your marriage. If our marriage relationships
only hold an earthly value, then they're going to wind up separations,
divorce, all kinds of things down there. If that's all we
see in them, well, as soon as this person gets a little sideways
of us, we get sideways of them. Divisions, separations, divorce,
all of these things happen. But if I view that relationship
in its true value, if I view that relationship as it's given
to picture the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, then it's inseparable. It cannot be divided. Because
nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. You see what I'm saying? Christ loved his church, gave
himself for her. And one day she will, by the
grace of God, meet all his expectations. True faith not only understands
the truth, But it's moved by the truth into action. And we're
sinners still. There's no denying that. We're
sinners. We still lose our tempers. We
still doubt. We still have fears. We still
have all those things. We're sinners still. Paul teaches
us in Romans 7, we cannot do the things that we would in either
direction. I cannot follow in its fullness,
that course of this world that I once walked on. But neither
can I in fullness follow that course of the Holy Spirit in
this direction. But the things that I would,
I do not. The things that I would not,
those are the things that I do. I'm a man of two natures, and
I'm sinner. All of us are sinners still.
I love, but I cannot produce the perfection of it as it's
manifested in Christ. I truly desire to give, to give
myself and my money and my time and my possessions. But I can't
give like he gave. I just can't do it, man. I am, as best I can, gracious. I hope that I am. I try to be.
But I cannot give like he gave. I can't do it. I don't know what
it is to give 100% Do you? I see it. I see the perfection
of it in Christ. I embrace the perfection of it
in Christ and I've got a good hope by grace to have that perfection
one day in glory. Now, I guess what I'm trying
to tell you is this. Believers are not purely intellectuals. I know we come across that way
sometimes because we're trying to teach things, but I'm going
to tell you right now, you can't teach an unbeliever anything.
Until God changes his heart, he's got no way to understand
anything, he's got no way to perceive anything. I'm just spitting
out words, and they may lodge here, but they won't come down
here. But we're not purely intellectuals,
but we truly believe and hope in the Word of God and the promises
of God, and we vest ourselves. That's what I'm trying to get
across to you. Those who truly believe vest themselves in what
they believe. I don't always know what to do,
but as soon as God opens that window of understanding to where
I know what to do, I go do it by the grace of God. Now here's what I want you to
see concerning this resurrection down here. I'm going to read
these verses to you again here in John 20, verse 30 and 31. Now, you may or may not know
this. After our Lord rose from the
dead, it said there was a multitude of dead men who were also raised
and walked around. They walked around and people
see them and they saw them and they knew them for who they were. And they walked around. These
corpses come right up out of the tomb. And walked around and
gave evidence. And for 40 days, we got it in
our head he was just here for a day, don't we? Or maybe two
days. Forty days after his resurrection,
the Lord lingered on this earth. And He appeared to multitudes,
above 500 men at one time. Just came to the multitudes.
And gave undeniable evidences that He was the Christ. Here,
Thomas, stick your finger in the nail. Here's my side. Thrust your arm in there. That's
what you need to believe. Here it is. Evidences after evidences after
evidences. He sat with them. He drank with
them. He ate with them. Undeniable
evidences that Jesus of Nazareth actually rose from the dead. There was no denying it. No denying
it. I don't care how many rumors
were spread. He appeared to too many people
and these people knew him. They knew him. I don't know that
he had birthmarks on him, but if he did, he showed them the
birthmark. It was him. It was undeniable. This was Jesus
of Nazareth. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written
in this book. And some of them are not written
in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Lots of things He did in this
40 days that gave evidence of His resurrection. But, now watch
this. These things, see it there in
verse 31? These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now you know who
the Christ is. The Christ is the one promised
from the beginning. This is the one in whom is life. All the promises of God. He's
the surety of the covenant. He's the one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Here he is. These things
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. The Son of God made flesh. dwelt among us, the God-man walked
among us. These things are written that
you believe that. That you believe that. Now watch
this. And believing you might have
life through His name. Life. Boy, I want that. I want that. That's why it's
written. That's why it's written. Two reasons here. John says why
I've written these things in the book. And the first thing
is that receiving this testimony that we'd be persuaded that Jesus
is the Christ. This Jesus that they talk about
today is not the Christ. Listen to them talk. They don't
talk about his appearance back in the garden. They don't talk
about him being that lamb slain and whose skin was taken off
and clothed in. They're not talking about the
lamb that was slain on Abel's altar. They're not talking about
the Christ who is our ark in whom was preserved all that God
intended. They're not preaching Christ.
The Christ! That's the important part of
this thing. The Christ, the whole thing is balled up. It's all
balled up into one. God put all His eggs in one basket
in Christ. You're going to have something
from God. You're going to have it in Christ. You ain't going
to have it at all. So the important thing then is to recognize who
the Christ is. I can't call on Him in whom I
have not believed. And I can't believe on Him in
whom I've not heard. And how am I going to hear with
all these multitudes and multitudes and millions and millions out
here declaring a false Christ? How am I going to hear? There
is only one way. God is going to take a man just
like you are. He is going to reveal to him
the truth. He is going to arrange his providence in such a way
just like He did with Joseph and his brethren. And when the
fullness of time comes, He is going to bring you down to Him
and you are going to hear. That's the only way you're going
to hear. Now you can go on in this thing if you want to, staying
home and hiding in the closet and reading the Bible or reading
somebody else's book or somebody else's testimony, but I'm telling
you this, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. And to all those who are not
being saved, every last one of them who are not being saved,
it's foolishness. It's foolishness. I don't have
to hear him. No, you sure don't. You can go
to hell. That's right. You go into all the world. Ain't
that what he told his disciples? And you preach to every creature.
He that believeth. Believeth what? Believeth you.
And this gospel that I send you to preach. He shall be saved. He that believeth not. What?
Shall be damned. That's just the way it is. I
know we like to tickle our consciences a little
bit. We want to comfort our consciences
a little bit. We want to bring this thing of
God's sovereignty down. But I'm telling you this, He's
sovereign. And He's unchangeable. And what God's purpose, you know,
I'm going to sway from it. I'm going to sway from it. The theme of the Word of God
is redemption. accomplished through a coming
Redeemer. He is the seed of woman. He is going to be that prophet
that Moses said was going to come. The seed of woman, the
priest, the king. And He is from the garden represented
as the substitute and confirmed to all generations. The head
of that covenant, the covenant surety. And His coming is to
establish a kingdom for the glory of His Father's name and rule
over that kingdom forever. Listen to this. This is in Daniel.
He said, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like unto the
Son of Man come with clouds of heaven, came to the Ancient of
Days, and brought Him near before Him. Talking about Christ. Daniel
7, 14. And there was given Him dominion
and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages
should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away. And His kingdom, that which
shall not be destroyed. And the kingdom and dominion
and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall
be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." That's
who's going to be given to that. For whom He came to say, whose kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom and dominions, and they'll serve and they'll obey Him. That's
what He said. That's just Christ. This mysterious
70 weeks in Daniel was to finish the transgression, to put an
end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting
righteousness, and seal up the vision of prophecy, and anoint
the Most High. Talking about Christ. The whole
of the Old Testament sets forth a man The Christ, the anointed
of God, sin of God, as a propitiation for our sins through faith in
His blood. That's the way He's set forth
in the garden and that's the way He's set forth on every altar
that was ever built by any saint in any age. Set forth as a propitiation
for our sins. Set forth under the law of God
through the substitute. On and on and on. Describes Him
in unequal detail. detail of character, detail of
providence, detail of ministry, detail of message, detail of
his birth, detail of the places and people he would confront,
and of their attitude toward him and his attitude toward them,
of his death and his resurrection. To him, to him, that's what these
enlightened apostles pray, to him give all the prophets witness.
That's what it's about. They're talking about the Christ.
Who's talking about the Christ today? Nobody. Nobody. Scan your TV. Read the
book. Go down to your local what they
call Bible bookstore. It's no such thing. Go in there
and just pick up any book off the rack. They're not talking
about the Christ. They're talking about reformation. They're talking
about you changing your habits and changing your attitude and
changing this and changing that. They're talking about the successful
life of a man with a woman, talking about marriage, talking about
children, talking about the home, talking about all kinds of things,
but they're not talking about the Christ. Brethren, if you take Christ
out of it, you just took salvation out of it. You just took the
life and you took God out of it. All you've got is religion. All you got is ceremonies. All
you got is ideas and concepts. John says here in these verses
that God chose him, inspired him, and arranged his providence
in such a way as to include him in this great eternal purpose
of grace. And what I write concerning these
things He said, I write so that those who read it can hear and
be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ. That's what this resurrection's
all about. To the man who has no knowledge
of who the Christ is, it's impossible for him to believe. That's why
the Bible was written. Be no high priest in things pertaining
to God apart from Christ. No atonement for sin apart from
the blood of the Lamb. Be no righteousness imputed until
righteousness is established. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. That has to be established. You
have to know that. You have to hear that. You've
got to consider that. You have to commit yourself to
that. Who's going to purpose us a place
with the Father if Christ don't go and make us one? Huh? I must
go away. But if I go away, I'll prepare
a place for you. Nobody else is going to do it. Brethren, we cannot know God
unless God is manifest to us and no man knoweth the Father
save the Son. You see what John's saying? All
of these things he said I'm writing to you, this whole testimony
of the book, From chapter 1 to chapter 20, this whole thing,
and especially this thing of His resurrection, I've written
to you that you might believe. That you might believe. Brethren,
I love to stand up here and preach to you and declare these things,
but I'm telling you this, when I prepare a message, it's always
on my mind, and the first and foremost thing is that you believe. I'm not trying to prove to myself
that these things are so. I believe. I know that these
things are so. I'm trying to convince you. Huh?
Oh. John said, Hereby I know you
the Spirit of God, that Holy Spirit given to us, who abides
in us. That's what our Lord said. When
He's come, He's going to abide. He said, Me and the Father are
going to take up our abode with you, and the Holy Spirit is going
to abide with you forever. Hereby I know you the Spirit
of God, every spirit. And if you'll look that up in
the book of John, you'll see it's got that little S on it.
We're bad about reading these things the same way he's talking
about the Holy Spirit. No, no, no, no, no, no. He's talking
about what the Holy Spirit teaches. teaches every spirit. And in this case, He's talking
about the message of those preachers who stand before you. Every spirit
who stands up and denies that Jesus Christ came into the flesh. That this Christ, if His whole
ministry is not taken up with this one thing, that God become
a man, a representative man, a substitutionary man, and lived
and died for sinners. lived and died to glorify His
Father, to manifest the true character of God. Any man whose
ministry not taken up with that is not of God. That's what he
said. Yeah, but he's a, you know, they
give to the poor. So did the Pharisees. So did
they. This man understands who he was
and why he came and what he did and where he's at. He understands
the necessity of His coming, the divine appointment of His
person, and all the glory associated with Him. Are you with me so
far, what John's saying here? Jesus is the Christ. Well, I'm
going to let it go right there because I've already run out
of time. Maybe we'll take up the same thing next week. Thank
you.