Would you turn with me to John
Chapter 20? While you're turning there tonight,
I'm going to preach upon this subject. Stressed. In debt. And discontent. That would pretty much describe
the average American with it. Stressed. in debt and discontent,
and the text will be in 1 Samuel, chapter 22. John, chapter 20,
I'd like to read the last two verses of that chapter, verses
30 and 31. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book. But these signs are written,
recorded, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of And that believing you might have life through his name. I've entitled this message. A
message for you. A message for you. Not for somebody else. But for
you. John said in verse 31, these
are written that you might believe. That was John's purpose for writing.
That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. John clearly identifies
why this book was written that you might believe. Me? Yes. You. That you might believe. Now some parts of the Bible are
addressed to believers. And there are other parts of
the Bible which are addressed to unbelievers. And perhaps you
are struggling to know which group you are in. I understand
that. Well, the Gospel of John is written
for this purpose, that you might believe. In verse 30 of our text, and many other signs, signs,
truly Did Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, which were
not written in this book, John does not mention all the signs
that the Lord gave to attest to his deity and his power. Look in verse 25 of the last,
chapter 21, the last verse of this book. And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should
be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written. Now, there's a lot
of stuff the Lord did that we don't hear of, that we don't
read of. There are a lot of things in
Matthew, Mark, and Luke that John doesn't mention, but John
says these signs I've mentioned, I've written down for you to
see that you might believe. Now the Gospel of John gives
seven signs. As a matter of fact, the whole
book is developed around these seven signs that the Lord gave
that we might believe. Let me remind you of them and
name them to you, the seven signs of the Gospel of John. The first
sign he gave was at the wedding feast when the water was made
into wine. The second sign he gave was the
cleansing of the temple. When the Lord Jesus made a whip,
I tried to imagine him doing that. He sat down and he made
a whip. And he used that whip to drive out the money changers
in the temple. Did he actually hit them? Perhaps,
I don't know. But I know this. He wanted him
out of there. And he got him out of there.
The third sign was when the nobleman's son was healed. We touched upon
that last week when he said, Go thy way, thy son liveth, and
the man believed. The fourth sign was when he gave
an impotent, a powerless man the ability to rise up and walk. The fifth sign was when he fed
5,000 people with five biscuits and two sardines. He brought
food into existence that was not there before. The sixth sign
was when that one who was born blind was given sight, in John
chapter 9. And the seventh sign was when
he raised Lazarus from the dead. Now these seven signs were given
that you might believe, that you, not somebody else, that
you might believe. You know, I'm interested in what
God's Word says to me, aren't you? I'm not interested in what
it says to somebody else. I want to know what God's Word
says to me. And God's Word says to me that
these signs, these seven signs that I just mentioned that really
contain the Gospel, these signs are given that you might believe. Is He speaking to me? Yes, He
is. These signs are given that you
might Wouldn't it be something if you and I are enabled by divine
grace to believe? I want to be a believer, don't
you? And I want us to consider the
obvious point behind each of these signs, and each of these
signs do teach many things, but there is one main point behind
each one of them. Now, the first sign was the miracle
of the water that was made wine. And John calls it the beginning
of miracles or the most important miracle. Now, this is what God
says regarding the miracles of Christ. This is the most important.
Now, there's other ones that I would think are more impressive.
Raising the dead, creating food that was not there before, bringing
matter into existence, controlling the weather. I consider those
very impressive, but the most important miracle was when the
water was made wine. Water, just Plato H2O, was made
wine. It was not water that looked
like wine or water that tasted like wine, but water was made
into wine. It was made something that it
was not. Now, the gospel is found right
there. I'm made, by the grace of God,
by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm made to be what I
was not. I'm made to be righteous before
God. I'm made to be holy. I'm made to be perfect before
God. I'm made to be what I was not. I wasn't righteous. I wasn't
holy. All I am in and of myself is
sin. But I'm made to be what I was
not. And the reason I'm made to be
what I was not is because Christ was made to be what he was not. He never committed a sin. altogether
righteous, perfect. And he was made to be sin. On Calvary's tree, the sins of
God's elect were charged to him. He was made to be the accursed
thing. That's why I died. He was made
to be what he was not. And because he was made to be
what he was not, I'm made to be what I was not. The very righteousness of God. Now this is the most important
miracle because it tells us the gospel. I'm made to be what I
was not. Truly, really made to be what
I was not because he was made to be what he was not. And actually. The rest of these signs. Give
some aspect of this. Now the second sign. He sat down, maybe just standing
up, I don't know. But he made a whip. I mean, he
made a whip. And he went into the temple with
the money changers and the people selling doves and lambs and so
on. He made a whip. And he drove
them out of the temple, perhaps hitting them with it. Somebody
says, well, he wouldn't have done that. Why not? Why not? He drove them out of the temple.
He overthrew their tables. And the Pharisees said, what
sign showest thou that you do these things? Who gave you the
authority to do something like this? I mean, to come in to our
assembly, to come into our religion and take a whip? and hit people
and drive them out of the temple. That's pretty intense. What if
somebody came in here this morning with a whip? Who gave them the
authority to do that? Now, what was going on here?
I think this is interesting. These money changers, these fellas
selling doves and lambs and so on, what they were doing, they
were making worship more convenient. They were making worship easier. You don't have to bring a lamb
all the way from home. You can just buy one right here.
Save you a lot of trouble. A religion of convenience. We'll
exchange your money. We'll make things easier for
you. And isn't that what religion does right now? They try to make
the worship of God more convenient, more easy, more palatable to
the flesh. And this is what the Lord thinks
of that. And this is what the Lord thinks of all of man's religion. It's an abomination to him. All of man's religion. Here's
what the Lord thinks of it. He makes a whip. And he drives
it out. You know, the scripture says
that which is highly esteemed among men, The Lord Jesus said
this. That which is highly esteemed
among men, which men respect, which men are impressed with,
men's religion, men's sacrifices, the things that we do in order
to obtain God's favor, that which is highly esteemed among men
is an abomination in the sight of God. It makes God sick. And man's religion works free
will religion makes God sick. And our Lord takes a whip and
He drives these people out showing His divine authority. You know, I've not heard any
of these TV preachers talk about this. Not many people deal with
the fact that our Lord made a whip and drove people But they said,
what sign shows thou that you have this authority to do these
things? This was the second sign. Now, the third sign is when the
nobleman's son was healed. Now, do you remember when the
nobleman comes up to the Lord? We talked about this last week,
and he said, heal my son. He said, except you see signs
and wonders you won't believe. He said, come down and my son,
die. And the Lord said, Go thy way,
thy son liveth. And so he went his way, and the
next day when he's on his way home, his servants come to him
and say, Your son lives. He's healed. And he said, What
time did it take place? One o'clock yesterday afternoon,
the exact time that the Lord said he lives. Now, At that time,
the nobleman knew it was when the Lord said your son lives.
Now, I touched on this last week, but I will say it again. You
will not have any assurance of your salvation until you know
exactly when the Lord saved you. I want to repeat that. You will
not have any assurance of salvation until you know when The Lord
saved you. Now, as far as a date or a time,
I don't know when. I can't give you the date or
the time, but I know exactly when I was saved. I was saved
when Christ agreed to be my surety before time began. That's when
I was saved. I was saved when Christ said,
It is finished. I was saved right then. I was
saved when I believed the gospel. Now, I don't know when exactly
that was, but I know I was not saved until I heard and believed
the gospel, and not a second before then. And I'm saved right
now looking to Christ. I'm not looking to what happened
yesterday. I'm looking to Him right now. Now, here's When did
you believe? Right now, at any rate. Right
now. I'm looking to Christ right now.
Now, that's where assurance comes from. Knowing when you were saved. And by when, I'm not talking
about a date. September the 3rd, 1974. I'm
talking about when Christ agreed to be my surety. When Christ
died. When I believed. Right now. The fourth miracle was found
in John chapter 5, when that impotent man, the scripture points
out two or three times in that passage of scripture, those first
11 verses or 13 verses, that he was impotent and that he was
powerless. And the Lord said to him, rise,
take up thy bed and walk. This emphasizes the spiritual
impotence, the inability of man. He lay there waiting for the
moving of the waters. Remember that? Just waiting. And he was powerless. The Lord
said, will thou be made whole? And he said, well, I don't have
anybody to bring me into the pool. He was utterly impotent. And the gospel is not preached
if the absolute impotence and inability of man is not preached. Miracle or sign that the Lord
gave was when He took two sardines and five biscuits, five small
pieces of bread, and fed 5,000 people with this. He demonstrated
creative power. He brought something into existence
which was not there before. Salvation is a creative act of
God. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. It's a creative act of God. How
much did you have to do with the first creation? None. How much do you have to do with
the second creation, this new birth? None. This is God's creative
act. Now, the sixth sign that the
Lord gave was when He took that man who was born blind. He'd never seen a thing. Stone
blind. Never even seen Latin. Blind! And He gave him sight. And here's
the point. If God does something for you,
You'll see what I'm saying right now. And if you say, I don't
say it, it's because you're still blind. If he gives you sight,
you'll see what I'm saying. And the last sign he gave was
the raising of Lazarus. from the dead, which speaks of
the omnipotence of his grace, the invincible, irresistible
nature of his grace. It tells us something about what
gospel preaching is when he said, Lazarus, come forth. Now, when
he said that, he didn't make an offer to him. You know, most
people, most preachers, Present the gospel as well. God wants
to save you. God wants to forgive you. He
offers you forgiveness. But it's up to you to take it,
to accept it or reject it. Your salvation's up in you accepting
or rejecting God's offer. And there's no truth to that.
God doesn't offer anything. He saves. He says, Lazarus, come
forth. Lazarus comes forth. It's the
life from the dead. life from the dead. Now, John
tells us these seven signs were given that you, that you might
believe. Believe what? Let's go on reading
verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which were not written
in this book, but these are written. These seven signs that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life through His name. Now, these signs are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now, what does
this mean? Christ is not His last name.
People talk about Jesus Christ, and what's Christ mean? Well, it means anointed. Anointed. God's anointed. I hear preachers say, I've got
the anointing. I'm not so sure that you do.
As a matter of fact, I'm sure you don't. There's one who has
God's anointing. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you go into the Old Testament,
there were three people who were given God's anointing that signified
God's hand upon them, God's anointing. First, there was God's prophet.
God's prophet was anointed by God. Oil. God's priest was anointed
by God. God's king was anointed by God. Now what this is referring to
is us believing that Jesus is God's Christ, God's anointed,
God's anointed prophet, God's anointed priest, and God's anointed
king. Now what is a prophet? A prophet
is a man who brings us God's word. I've not heard God's name
audibly. No way. I've not heard God's
word audibly. Somebody says God spoke to me.
Well, once again, when people say things like that, generally
they're just trying to draw attention to their flesh. I'm special.
God deals with me directly. No, he doesn't. God speaks through
a prophet. Christ Jesus is God's prophet. He's God's word. And I need the
word of God brought to me, don't you? Oh, I need to hear from
God. I need to hear his word. Christ
Jesus is the word of God. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. He is the word of God. God's prophet. And I tell you
what, I need him to be my prophet. Secondly, these things are written
that you might believe that he's God's Christ, God's priest. Now, what is a priest? Very simple. A prophet is someone who brings
God's word to us and represents God to us. A priest is somebody
who brings us to God, who brings us to God and speaks to God in
our behalf. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
priest. The only way that I can come
into God's presence and be heard by God is if my priest represents
me. I can't come on my own. I must
have him as my priest. I come to the Father by him,
not by me, but by him. The only way I can be brought
into God's presence is if he brings me into God's presence
as my great high priest. No man comes to the Father but
by me. And the only way I come into
the presence of the Father is as I am in the Lord Jesus Christ,
my priest. He comes into the presence of
the Father, and I do too. And I need him to be my priest. Do you need him as your priest?
I tell you what, everybody who needs him as their priest, he
is their priest. that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, God's anointed king. The king is the one who
rules. The king is the one who reigns.
The king is the one who is in control. Now I need him to be
my king. Now he is my king. And I need
him to be my king. I need him to subdue my iniquities
by almighty power. I need Him to cause me, because
He reigns and rules. I need Him to cause me to believe,
and to cause me to repent, and to cause me to love. I need Him
in all those offices. Now, do you believe that Jesus
is the Christ? God's anointed prophet? God's
anointed priest? God's anointed king? Do you believe
that? Scripture says, whosoever believeth, That Jesus is the
Christ is born of God. I know people are thinking, what
about all you think of objections? Listen to me. If you in your
heart believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God. That's the promise of the scripture.
Back to our text. Verse 31, John chapter 20, verse
31. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. These signs are given that you
might believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son. When he took that water, and
made it into wine. There's only one person who could
do that. God Himself. When He makes me to be what I
was not, when He makes me to be holy, when He makes me to
be righteous, there's only one who can do that. God. Nobody else. When the Lord made that whip
and drove those people out, there's only one who has the right to
do that. If somebody came in here with
a whip to drive out the people who didn't believe right, they
wouldn't have the right to do that. But I know one who does. God the Son. He gave us a sign
of his divine authority. And when he said to that nobleman,
Go thy way, thy son liveth. There's only one who could do
that. God the son. And when he said to that impotent
man, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. There's only one who could
do that. God, the Son. And when he brought matter into
existence that was not there before, bread and fish, there's
only one who could do that. God, the Son. And when he makes
me a new creature in Christ Jesus, there's only one who can do that.
God. The Son. When He gave the blind man sight,
only one could do that. God the Son. And as He gives
me sight to see who He is and my utter need of Him, there's
only one who can do that. God the Son. And when he raised
Lazarus from the dead, there's only one who can do that, God
the Son. And when he raised me from my
spiritual death, there's only one who can do that, God the
Son. Now, back to our, stay there
in John chapter 20, verse 21. But these are written, these
signs, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing, believing, You, not somebody
else, but you, not the person beside you, but the Jew might
have life through his name. Now, remember that verse of Scripture
we began the service with? Turn with me there to John chapter,
or Romans chapter 15. Now, the God of hope will fill
you with all joy and peace in believing that you might abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now, we read
of three wonderful things. In that verse of Scripture. Hope. Isn't it great to have hope?
Isn't it miserable to be in despair? To just be in despair, have no
hope that's ever going to get better. But oh, what a blessed
thing this thing of hope is. And joy as opposed to grief. And peace as opposed to turmoil. What wonderful things these are.
Hope. joy and peace. These are great
feelings and they're had in believing. Now here the word believing is
a word that acts both as an adjective and as a verb. It describes what
a believer is. A believer is somebody who believes.
That simple. And it's what a believer does. he believes. All joy and peace
in believing. Now, the Lord one time said to
some blind men, two blind men that came to him, he said, Do
you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe that he is able
to save you? That's a very simple question.
And there's not a more important thing that you and I could possibly
consider than this. Do you believe that he is able
to save you? Now, this word belief. That you might believe and that
believing you might have life in his name or through his name,
this thing of believing. It means to trust or trusting. Trusting him to save you. I'm
trusting, I'm relying on who he is and what he did to save
me. This means entrusting. that entrusting
you might have life to his name. And I think the best illustration
of entrusting is when you entrust your child to somebody else's
care. If you let somebody watch your
child, you're letting them watch over what's most precious to
you. what's most valuable to you. Nothing else can compare
than the value of your children. And when you entrust your children
to them, you're entrusting that which is most and you're depending
upon them to take care of that which is most precious to you.
Now, in believing, I entrust the salvation of my soul to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's most precious to
me. The salvation of my soul. And I'm entrusting it wholly
to Him. That's what it is to believe.
It's also sometimes translated in the scripture to commit. I
know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. You
commit yourself to the plane when you get on board, and you
just sit there and wait for the plane to take off. You know you
don't help it fly. You commit yourself. If you're
afraid to get on the plane, you fail to commit. Now, here's what
a believer does. He commits himself to the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you believe in works, If you
believe in free will, if you believe in salvation having anything
to do with you, you're not committing. It's only as I commit everything
to him. My hands are off. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him. Against that day. Believing. You might have life. And this
is why this is written, that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might
have life, life, life through his name. Now, you know what
that life is? That's the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's my life. I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. His life is my life before God. I live before God because He
lives before God. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. That believing, you might have
life through His name. Now when this refers to His name,
This is not just talking about the name itself. You can have life
through the name itself. But life through his name is
a reference to the person behind the name. It's talking about
all of his attributes. Life through his name. Life through
his sovereignty. Life through his justice. Life
through his grace. Life through His mercy. Life
through His power. In Romans chapter 10, verse 13,
Paul quotes a scripture that's quoted throughout the scriptures.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. I'm one of them. I love that word. Whosoever. shall call on the name of the
Lord. That's his attributes. Lord, save me by your sovereignty
as an act of your will. Command my salvation. Somebody
read somewhere this morning, command deliverances unto Jacob. I think that was in Psalm 44.
Command, Lord, command my salvation. Save me by your grace. Save me
by your holiness. Save me by your righteousness.
Save me by your justice. Save me by your mercy. All of
God's attributes are involved in the salvation of the sinner.
Whosoever shall call, Lord, save me. That's what it is to call. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, save me. I'm calling on
your name. Everybody he calls, what they
do is they call. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Now, here's why John wrote this
epistle. Here's why John recorded these
seven signs, these seven miracles that you might believe. What if I'm not one of the elect?
What if Jesus Christ never died for me? What if God never called
me? Let me tell you something. You are not to worry about that. God's command to you. Everybody in this room. The gospels
of command. And God's command to you is to
believe. And your right to believe comes
with his command. And you will find in believing
that the only reason you believed is because God chose you before
time began, because Christ died for you, and because God the
Holy Spirit invincibly and irresistibly called you. But you don't need
to worry. about whether or not you're one
of the elect. You really don't. I used to stress so much about
that. Am I one of the elect? Did Christ
die for me? Well, I don't know, but I know
this. I need the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said he healed them that had need of healing. And I sure
am one of them. And he said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's God's
promise. Lord, I'm calling. Save me. Let's pray.