The Gospel of John - The Approach
John · Vern Peterman · Jan 13, 2013
Gospel of John (2013), No. 02
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926340507653

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're continuing with the Gospel of John. We introduced the book last Sunday, and today we'll be looking at the approach to the Gospel of John. There are two aspects that we'll talk about in terms of our approach. One is things that are true of all of Scripture, that is, how we would approach it because it is Scripture. that aspect, and then the other is things that are unique to John, things that are unique to the gospel of John, the way John writes, and so we'll take a look at that as well. We will look at it in a kind of a big-picture overview of the gospel of John. So, one of the things we're going to do here is look at overview sheets on how do we approach the study of Scripture and keep those things in mind.

One of the things that often baffles people, both inside and outside the church, is why are there so many different interpretations of scripture? People just, you know, wow, I can't believe, you know, it seems like for every passage there's a half dozen different interpretations. I've seen one passage for which there is over 200 different proposals as to how it ought to be interpreted. And so could this possibly be that God intended a half dozen or a dozen or hundreds of different meanings? Is that what God had in mind? Likely not. So we want to take a look at how do we get around that and actually see what God intended.

So if you have a handout, here what I'd like you to do is to take a look at, there is a sheet like this that's an overview sheet. And then the next page is also overview and is in color. So overview one and two. So starting with this overview one sheet here.

It says at the top, the Holy Spirit is involved in every part of the right understanding of Scripture and are beholding the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word and thereby being changed from glory to glory. So downstairs, what are they studying? The person and work of the Holy Spirit.

And we're going to do that here because we want to look at the Holy Spirit's involvement in all of Scripture everything from how it gets originated to how the Lord uses it in our lives and in our hearts. How did Scripture get written? How did Scripture get written?

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the word inspired coming out of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, basically meaning God breathed. God breathed. And then Peter writes about the authors of Scripture being carried along by the Holy Spirit. So that expression. So the Holy Spirit is involved in the original writing of Scripture, about roughly 40 different authors in 66 books. So we have that.

Second Corinthians 3.18 brings the final part of it, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord that is the Spirit. What that's telling us is this, as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ through the written word of God, it is a work of the Holy Spirit that we are transformed, changed from one level of glory to the next. It's a work of the Holy Spirit in us to use the Word of God that the Holy Spirit has inspired, to use the Word of God to change us. So the Holy Spirit was involved thousands of years ago, centuries ago, in its original writing, and it's still involved in the application of the Word of God to our lives. Is that all that the Holy Spirit has any involvement with regarding Scripture?

Are we done? No. I see some heads no. Why not? Why aren't we done covering how the Holy Spirit's involved? Yeah, huh? Yeah, one of the things we will be looking at as we study the Gospel of John is later on, and this is at the time of the Last Supper, the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the things that Jesus had said and done with them. And so the Holy Spirit's involvement there. Are we done yet? No. What else does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit convicts, okay? And let's ask this question. Does the Holy Spirit convict believers or unbelievers?

Unbelievers for sure. Okay, what does convict mean? Does that mean a gavel goes down and you're now convicted? What does that mean? That's condemnation. Yeah, that's condemnation. What does conviction mean? Conviction in your mind that things might be To bring to mind things that need to be corrected. I think that's on the right track.

Is it sometimes called conscience? Conscience is something that is in parallel with it. It's not explicitly the Holy Spirit's conviction. The human conscience is one of these things that by itself can be either in the right direction or off track. But you're still on to an important point. What does conscience do if it's working properly with people? It alerts you to the fact that something is wrong. So it says something is wrong.

Going beyond that, what the Holy Spirit does when the Holy Spirit convicts is it tells us about a spiritual truth, not simply the moral standing. Conscience particularly deals with moral standing. And, you know, I did this wrong or I won't do this because I believe it's wrong. That's simply the moral standing, whereas the Holy Spirit's ministry of conviction has to do with spiritual issues, our relationship with the Lord, and one way to look at that, a similar sounding word, convincing. It's spiritually convincing regarding sin and righteousness and judgment. Yes? I also have a question about this.

We're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Is that where the Mormons get part of their reasoning that they develop into God? Their development is completely concocted. and they don't get it from here. I'm sure after the fact they would go back and say CC, but in fact the Book of Mormon teaches against anybody changing or God changing. Very interesting. It was something concocted after the Book of Mormon was written and printed in 1830. And that's one aspect of it.

But isn't he also involved with the discernment, knowing the difference between good and evil, and how you live your life? It can't be necessarily a spiritual truth, but it can actually be a guidance paraclete coming alongside. We will actually be looking at aspects of that next Sunday in the main service because, in fact, Galatians 5 addresses that very issue. How does my life get lived out and what does that look like? And it depends on whether the Holy Spirit is the one who is guiding and leading spiritually, or whether the flesh is calling the shots.

In terms of assurance, does He convince the righteous? Yes. And in terms of assurance is the question. And the reality is that the Holy Spirit is always bringing us to the truth. And the truth, as we look at God's Word, is that yes, in fact, we are saved, and it's entirely Entirely by Christ's righteousness, not our own.

God's word is for individual growth, 1 Peter 2.2, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. When you're saved, is that it? I got my fire insurance policy, that's it? I'll see you in heaven? No. Buy it right now. Once you've been saved, you may grow with respect to that salvation.

So there is growth. Where does it come from? From the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. God's Word feeds the growth of the church body as a whole, and I think that's something that is a parallel truth important to point out. There is individual growth of a believer, and the Word of God is a necessary ingredient for that growth. There is also church body growth, which is another dimension altogether. And I'm not talking about just growth in numbers, but spiritual growth of us as a church body.

So both of those truths are taught in scripture. Ephesians 4, 11-13. And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets. By the way, that apostles and prophets are three times in the book of Ephesians. And some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the service for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. So there's body growth, that's the Ephesians 4, 11-13 passage, and in fact verses 14 through 16 continue that.

And then there is individual growth, and 1 Peter 2.2 is not the only passage I could point to.

Colossians 1.28 is another good one for individual growth. Okay, and then we have these two boxes here in the lower middle of that same page.

You have observation and interpretation, application and then appropriation. The point we make here in the observation and interpretation part is 2 Peter 1 20-21. We know that first of all that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own, and King James has private interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. The point there is that observation and interpretation are objective. And that's one of the difficulties that has caused so many different interpretations is loss of the understanding, observation, interpretation, or objective. I can look at something and I say, do you see that? Do you see that? Do you see that? And something that we can all take a look at. The interpretation is also objective.

It is when we get to application and appropriation that it must become subjective. That is, it needs to be applied personally. It needs to be applied personally. It's a part of the problem with just having Sunday school classes alone, and even worse, seminaries and Bible colleges, things of that sort. It can easily be, okay, I've got my academic part. Am I done? No. And it's personal application, and there is a subjective element that is, because it must be applied to me personally.

Just like we've been looking in recent weeks in the main service, Paul writes, I have been crucified with Christ. And we can study that objectively, right? But it's when we take that personally that it begins to have significance and meaning for us, and there's application of it.

So then, 1 Corinthians 4.1 and we can also point to 1 Corinthians 4.37. Let a man regard us, and Paul is writing about himself and those who are with him, regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

What's a steward? Someone who has a stewardship. Ah, there we go. Someone who has a stewardship. Very good. Good dodge, too. Alright, what's a stewardship? Something given to a steward, right? Administration. Administration is actually a part of it. Ultimately, what's a stewardship? You take care of something, something is entrusted to you to take care of, and there is administration involved with it.

An example that's fairly easy to understand, here is Joseph, son of Jacob, and he is in Egypt, and he is a steward, he has a stewardship over Potiphar's house. And basically the way it's written is the only thing Potiphar had to worry about was lifting the food up to his face. Joseph took care of everything. He had a stewardship. He was entrusted with taking care of everything in the household and out in the fields and all the crops, livestock, everything. He was entrusted with it all by Potiphar. He had a stewardship.

Let's ask this question. Does Christ have a stewardship? Does he? Or did Christ? Will Christ have a stewardship? When Christ came the first time, did he have a stewardship? He was entrusted with the people and land of Israel. He was entrusted with bringing the gospel of the kingdom. He was entrusted with dying for our sins and being buried and resurrected. He was entrusted with twelve disciples. So there were things that he was entrusted with, and as a matter of fact, as we'll see, he was entrusted with them and still is. And in the future, he will have a stewardship when he comes again.

Let's take a look here, 2 Timothy 2.15, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. So there is an accurate handling of the word of truth, which implies that there is also an inaccurate handling. And so good workmanship has accurate handling. There are a couple of ways this word in King James has rightly dividing. A couple of ways that this word has been used I think will be helpful.

One is the Roman road engineers would lay out the course for a Roman roadway so that the roadway would be cut this word, the roadway would be cut into the topography and you'd end up with a good alignment for the road. So that was part one. Accurately handling is from that same word where you'd cut carefully and have a good alignment for the road. Secondly, here's the Apostle Paul making tents and what he would do is he'd go into a city and he'd buy the raw material for the tent and then he would take patterns and lay the pattern over it and mark it out and cut along the pattern lines real carefully and then he'd take the next piece and lay the pattern over it and cut along the pattern lines real carefully so that when you put the pieces together you get no gaps and you get no flaps. So it's a matter of carefully cutting so that this thing goes together properly. That's the word here that he uses for rightly dividing or accurately handling, the word of God.

Okay, let's take a look at, you now have a colored one here, and that presents some of the same ideas, but also some other observations. God's message through scripture, on the first column there, the Holy Spirit inspired it, preserved it, guided in the recognition of it as scripture. That's part one. So we have scripture in Hebrew, the Old Testament, except for a few portions in Aramaic, and Greek in the New Testament that conveys God's message precisely as He intended for us to receive it.

From there we have illustrated observation, interpretation, and application. One of the primary reasons why all these different interpretations are arrived at is because people stop observing. A great many people will observe enough in scripture or enough about scripture to fit their system and preconceived ideas and then go with it. But rather than continuing to observe, observe, observe, observe, observe, it's lazy observation. It's skewed observation. I've got enough information to fit my preconceived idea. that causes people to arrive at a whole bunch of varied conclusions. I have even seen that, it doesn't matter if a guy has a doctorate degree from seminary, I have even seen that happen.

Romans 6.23 says the wages of, and it has the sin, which in the larger context I see as the sin nature, pays a wage of death. Many commentaries by guys who have doctorate degrees from seminary will say the wages of sinning is death. That's not what the passage says. Not what the passage says.

Okay, let's go back here to our first page then. So we'll be studying in the Gospel of John. According to the same set of principles, we would apply to the study of all of Scripture. doing our observation, interpretation, and application carefully. One of the primary, and this is number one here on that first page, one of the primary reasons for varying and errant interpretations of scripture is inadequate observation. Thorough observation is critical to arriving at the intended meaning of each passage and all of scripture.

But when I got out of seminary, there were some things that I looked at and I said, you know, I'm not sure what they taught me there was quite correct. And so in some cases, I studied, you know, things I actually wrote down here. I have a question about this. And I studied it in some cases for as long as nine years. Observe, observe, observe, observe, observe, observe before drawing a conclusion.

And it wasn't the one they taught me. So, observing carefully is very important, not just grabbing enough to fit the preconceived notion. A number of Bible interpreters are prone to develop a system of theology—Calvinism, Arminianism, Charismatic, Covenant theology, etc.—that is used as an interpretive grid which is laid on top of Scripture, overriding the intended meaning of a passage and all of Scripture at various points.

Alright, so here is the Calvinist with John 3.16, For God so loved the world of the chosen and the elect, that he gave his only begotten Son only for the chosen and the elect, that whosoever believes in him which will only be the chosen and the elect, shall not perish because they are chosen and elect, but have everlasting life because they are chosen and elect. So there's the passage. Is that what the passage says? Not so much, right?

Calvinism says that you are first made alive, having been spiritually dead. And how does God choose who gets made alive and who doesn't? You're chosen and elect, right? So those He chooses and elects, He makes alive, because before that you couldn't even respond. You're dead.

So then, you're given the gift of faith and then you believe and so that's the sequence problem four times in the gospel of John as we will see the sequence is believing you might have life through his name even the one I just said to you John 3 16 for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes first will not perish but have everlasting life Calvinism is the wrong sequence Okay, so the next one, number two, the key interpretive approach to the Gospel of John will be to observe the context of Scripture at various levels, which will include observing all the elements of language, history, and culture.

Why do we point out language, history, and culture? Why are those important? Yeah? There are numerous places in the Bible where we list and recognize these terms. Yeah, what does this mean, right? One of them we point out in the past is, and it's stated a few times in the New Testament, adoption of sons. We think of adoption and we think of adopting maybe a baby or a young child, which is, they never did that in their adoption of sons process. So adoption means something different in the context. There are a number of different other areas where we could look at figures of speech and things of that sort, and it's important to understand what it meant then in order to interpret it for what it means now.

Okay, next one here. Three, having observed the distinctions between the gospel of substitution and the gospel of the kingdom, Throughout all the scripture in the Law and Grace series, we have Lessons 35, 36, and 58, that's where we point those out. We'll continue to observe those distinctions as we proceed through the Gospel of John. The slides, well, what I have here is, not slides to the left, but in the back. In the back, here what you have are, the very back sheet should have a color sheet here. On the top we have the Bible from beginning to end, Genesis to Revelation. And what we have on the top, here's the Gospel of Substitution, that's in red outline. The Gospel of Substitution that is Christ died in my place. Christ died in my place. Christ the suffering Savior died in my place.

And so that starts back in Genesis 3.15, Exodus 12, the Passover.

Lamb is a continuation of that. And by the way, these are not exhaustive. That is, it's not every single one, but it's giving you an idea of the spread of this idea throughout all of Scripture. Exodus 12, the Passover lamb points to Christ. How do we know that that Passover lamb points to Christ? What's that? That's what the Apostle Paul says, Christ our Passover, 1 Corinthians. Christ our Passover. So we have not just a, we think it's this, but actual confirmation.

Isaiah 53, he will bear their iniquities. He will bear their iniquities. Acts 3, 18 and 19, Christ would suffer. So what you have is from beginning to end all the way to Revelation. What is Christ called throughout the book of Revelation and also in John chapter 1? The Lamb. So He is the one as the Lamb.

That's the gospel of substitution. Christ died in our place. Right below that we have the gospel of the kingdom. Christ the Messiah will reign. So the first message that we talked about, the gospel of substitution, focuses on Christ's first coming, right? The fulfillment of the gospel of the kingdom, although the gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed in Christ's first coming, the fulfillment of that is in Christ's second coming.

We start to see it in Genesis 12 and 15 and other places in Genesis 2, talking about the land. We see at the end of Genesis 49, 8-10, Christ is the Lion of Judah, which is also brought out in Revelation. 1 Chronicles 17, 11-15, I will establish His kingdom forever. And this Acts 3 passage again, Acts 3, 19-21, Send Jesus the Christ. When you see the definite article before Christ, that's the anointed one, that is the Messiah.

And then finally, the confirmation of that, Revelation 5.5, the Lion of Judah, the sword in his mouth. By the way, the sword in his mouth, and that's not a little Roman short sword, that's a rumphia, which is a five foot long battle sword. You just swing with the idea that anybody who gets within that You know, a ten-foot circumference plus the arm length is going to get nailed and hacked. That is the expression of judgment that comes. And it comes from Christ's mouth up to the end of the tribulation period. And then finally we'll reign with Him for a thousand years.

So you have the gospel of substitution, gospel of the kingdom. That same pattern is seen in detail in the first coming of Christ in the four Gospels. And we'll be seeing it, of course, in the Gospel of John. Here's Matthew chapter 1, 20-21, speaking to Joseph, that is the husband of Mary. Jesus, he will save his people from their sins. So that's Gospel of substitution. John 1, 29-36, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And we mentioned last week that the takes away doesn't mean he just makes it go away, but he lifts it up. Specifically, that's what it's pointing to.

Matthew 12.40 and 16.21, Christ says he must die and rise again. And finally there, Jesus is crucified, buried, raised, appearing to as many as 500 witnesses at once. So here is the resurrection. That's all under the gospel of substitution.

And then the Gospel of the Kingdom on the bottom there also shows in the Gospels, and we'll be looking for that. Here is in Luke 1, 30-33, Gabriel, and by the way, there are only two angels named in the Bible. That's Michael and Gabriel. But Gabriel speaking to Mary, throne of his father David, reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will have no end. This is the gospel of the kingdom. And then it's interesting, Mary gets told the gospel of the kingdom, Joseph gets told the gospel of substitution. Isn't that interesting?

Matthew 3.2, John, and 4.17, Christ, John the Baptist, would refer you to there. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then Christ ascends from the Mount of Olives to return to the Mount of Olives at the second coming. Acts 1, 1-11 spells that out. His return to that same place is predicted in Zechariah 14, verse 4. It mentions him on Mount of Olives and says his feet will touch there when he comes again as soon as seven years from now. Okay, so that's one of the things we're going to see This is again an important observation distinction.

Many churches will mix up the two Gospels, the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Substitution. A lot of churches just put those together, not observing the distinction and difference between the two. Again, it's careful observation that you arrive at the difference. And there is quite a difference.

What we see right below there, the second to last paragraph on page one, the gospel of substitution is centered on Christ Jesus' first coming along with the name Jesus, Yeshua, in the Hebrew, Savior. The gospel of the kingdom, on the other hand, is centered on Christ's second coming along with the name that is a title, Christ, from the Greek, Christos. In Hebrew, it's Hamashiah. And they both, although we call that Messiah and it's sort of an anglicized form, They all mean anointed one. That's the fundamental idea. In Acts 3, 17-21, both Gospels are in one passage, which is why we point that same passage out. the upper and lower parts of one of the charts there.

And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Christ suffering, that's gospel of substitution, right?

And therefore repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. That he may send, future, right? That he may send Jesus Christ, the Christ, the Messiah, appointed for you. Here is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, appointed for you. He is the one who has been given that place whom heaven must receive right now until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times.

All things will be restored when Jesus comes again and not until then and no election will fix it. There will be no election that we will do here in the United States or anywhere else that will fix things. It's not going to get fixed until Jesus comes again. Sorry.

Yeah. So, I know we're studying Quran, but when Paul talks about Jesus, a lot of times, or many times, he says, you know, Jesus and Christ together. Yes. So is he talking about Both Gospels. Think about that. We see Jesus Christ and sometimes the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you look at it, Jesus, which coming does that really focus on? Primarily the first coming. The title Christos, Christ, the Anointed One, focuses primarily on His second coming. So that's ultimately saying he came and he did this and this is going to happen. It's looking in the past. It's looking in the future and saying everything is defined by his first and second coming. Right. So Paul's not saying that he's limited by either this he's preaching the entire message. That's right. That's the whole thing.

If you look at it, we won't do it here explicitly, but the book of Acts continues to preach both the gospel of the kingdom, as we saw right here in Acts 3, and the gospel of substitution. Both of those get taught up to the last verses of the book of Acts. So both of those messages, as separate Gospels, continue to be presented even, because the end of Acts is 30 years after Christ has already ascended into heaven. So three decades later, both Gospels are still being presented in parallel. that we're building the kingdom now. Yeah, and a lot of the problem lies, again, it's lack of observation. We have one gospel, and then we've got another gospel, and you take them and just mush them together. And building the kingdom is a confusion of these two gospels.

Okay, let's take a look at page 2. The aspects of our approach that apply uniquely to the Gospel of John. So John stands in the context of all of Scripture with the Old Testament as a preface with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke offering comparable and unique content. We showed last week just a little insert that showed Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Let's take a look.

There's one here called the Life of Jesus in your handout. I think it may be about the second sheet. the life of Jesus. This is a brief harmony of the Gospels, and I've seen whole books put together harmonizing these different passages. So this is concise, but nonetheless I think it's somewhat helpful.

What you have is the details about the birth of Christ are only in Matthew and Luke. When we celebrate things at Christmas time, those passages out of Matthew and Luke end up being the ones quoted because they specifically address that historically. The childhood of Christ is summarized again in Matthew and Luke. Christ's baptism is the first event that gets recorded substantially in all four Gospels.

The unique thing that we see is Christ's baptism gets linked to John declaring, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. And so one of the things you'll notice as you look at this is that while John has some things in parallel with the other Gospels, there is quite a bit that's unique. There's quite a bit that's unique. So we'll be looking at those things that are both those that are parallel as well as those things that are unique. So back to page two of our introductory handout here.

There are several religious and political groups active in Israel in New Testament times, and these are introduced, and I'm going to have a supplemental handout. I don't have it here yet here. Judaism, Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. The Essenes are not named in the New Testament at all. The only evidence of them in the New Testament is Matthew 534.

Remember where you're told to hate your enemy? The only ones who taught that were the Essenes. They aren't named in the New Testament, but their teaching of hating your enemy shows up in that one spot. The Essenes taught hate your enemy. They also taught double predestination like the hardline Calvinists do. God chose some to be saved and others to go to hell. And the ones that are going to hell, go ahead and hate them as you're supposed to.

Was John the Baptist an Essene? I doubt it very much. There are people who try to make connections with John the Baptist as Nassim, or with Jesus as Nassim. Jesus did not teach hating your enemy. What did he teach? The opposite of that, right? And here John the Baptist is the forerunner of Christ and saying this is the Lamb of God. And so John the Baptist doesn't fit the picture very well, and neither does Jesus. And what did you say they believed? Hate what? Hate your enemies? Hate your enemies was one of the things they taught. They didn't get involved in the whole temple ceremonies because they thought that the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were their enemies, just polluted the whole thing. So they just wouldn't touch it. Okay, so we will take a closer look at that.

Regarding grace, identification truths, and position and condition, we will find that these are present in many of the chapters of the Gospel of John. as it began to show in last week's elective and handout. We'll look to the letters of the Apostle Paul, however, for explanation of and inspired commentary on those precious truths. So John will include those things, grace and identification and position and condition, in his gospel, but we'll have to look to the Apostle Paul to explain it. Why would the Apostle Paul be the one who uniquely would explain position and condition?

Yeah? Mysteries. Okay. Stewardship of revealing mysteries. And you're right, and that's one reason why. Why else? Tom? Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. And that is key. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. And I don't mind repeating that. Here's the difference.

The Jews saw God as a moral being and their relationship with Him indicated that they ought to be moral beings as well. In the Gentile culture that was not true. The gods were in fact immoral. They would have a god go and cover himself with the clouds so that he could commit adultery and then his wife wouldn't know. So There was no moral requirement among the pagans regarding their gods. So what did the Apostle Paul have to do? He wrote about THE God, right? In contrast to all the other gods. THE God. And he would write about THE God being a fundamentally moral and holy creature as opposed to all these pagan ones.

That being the case, he had to end up explaining things that the Jews would already just assume. The Jews would already just assume them, and therefore no explanation was needed. So the Apostle Paul explains things that are contained elsewhere in Scripture, but he had to do so because he was writing to people who didn't have the same set of assumptions that the Jews did.

Next, we will be able to take advantage, in a good way, of John's unique approach, insights into the people and events of the life of Christ, and inside track on the Sanhedrin, that is, the Jewish High Council. Also take note that John had the most ongoing contact with Mary, the mother of Jesus, after the crucifixion. John 19, 26, and 27, Jesus, while still on the cross, points to John and says, behold your mother, looks to Mary, behold your son. He from the cross gave the assignment for John to watch over Mary. That may explain why John 7, 1 through 10 reveals details about Jesus' brothers that are unique.

It said, for instance, and we'll see that when we get to chapter 7, that Jesus' brothers, including the brothers who authored the books they're studying in the other elective here, James, actually Jacobus, and Jude, those brothers who wrote two of the books of the New Testament were not believers until after the resurrection.

It must be really convincing to see your brother who you knew died resurrected. I think that probably turned him, right? That probably turned him. So that's uniquely revealed in John. John has a connection there with the brothers, an insight into them, likely because of his connection with Mary. John writes in simple language, also in generally consistent words, phrases, and patterns, often unique in that usage.

For example, John writes, and we've got a half dozen bullets here, only John directly calls Christ the Lamb, and we go dot dot dot because the number of times it shows up in Revelation is substantial, all the way to the last chapter. In the new heavens and new earth there will be no more mourning, crying, or pain. Christ still will be recognized as the Lamb, the one who paid the price for us, the price we could never pay for ourselves. Only John, second bullet, only John uses the term down out of heaven.

That shows up in the Gospel of John in Revelation repeatedly, both of them. Curiously, it's spread out in Revelation. It's all in one chapter, the Gospel of John, chapter 6. Third bullet, we point out last week that John has Christ saying, I am, ego eimi in the Greek pattern. He continues on into Revelation, into the last chapter.

Again, John is a very consistent writer. John tells his readers that the book is written that the reader might believe, and he has the word believe in the book several dozen times. Believe, believe, believe. It's very important about why it is written. John, as we pointed out last week, writes with patterns of seven, seven I Am statements, seven miracles in John. In Revelation, seven years, three sets of seven judgments each, and that's just the beginning. He actually has quite a few more patterns of sevens.

John 1.1 and 1.14 and in Revelation 19.13, Christ is called the Word.

The Word. And we're going to see next week the significance of that. But why would Christ be the Word? What's so important about this word, Word? And I'm not stuttering. What's so important about the word, Word? One thing might be that God called creation by a word. He spoke it. How were things brought into existence? They were spoken into existence. It says in Colossians that Christ is the one who did that. Right, in the beginning was the word, the one who spoke it.

Alright, good. Any other reasons you can think of? In the Gentile mind there was a use of the word prophets too, but it was false. So that's something else. John is not only making a statement, but he's correcting as he makes a statement. That's something we can find from time to time in the Bible where we can see statements being made that correct a pagan understanding.

Even, here's the Apostle Paul, he speaks with two different groups of philosophers on Mars Hill. As he does so, both groups of philosophers, even though they don't agree with one another, both groups believe the physical universe is eternal and always was. So what does he do? He goes to Genesis 1-11 to talk about there is a God who created this universe and He is eternal and the universe is not.

He corrects. So that's an important point. We're going to see that in here and you bring up a key point and that is a lot of the Bible is corrective. Corrective, especially of pagan understandings. You can see in Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Christ not only brought a message, Christ is God's message. Christ is God's expression. God's message to us. By the way, what message does Christ bring from God?

Grace and truth. Yeah, grace and truth. And we're going to see that here in the very first chapter of John. Grace and truth. Yeah, good point. Okay, so we're going to take advantage of these aspects of the way John writes to arrive at certainty and clarity and spiritual depth and insight as we step our way through this masterfully written book. Let me run through a few slides here. I think it will kind of give us a pictorial survey, if you will. Here is John 3, which will be unique to the Gospel of John.

Jesus and Nicodemus. a dramatic chapter. Here is Nicodemus. By the way, there were six ways to be born again in Israel. So here's Nicodemus who qualifies by several of them. And as far as the ways you can be born again, he's got more covered than anybody else. So what does Jesus come to this guy who's been born again, again, again, again? Born again.

Oh, man. So you can imagine, he's just floored. He is just floored by this statement. What? I mean, how can I do this? How can I be born again any more than I already am? Alright, so we'll touch on that. Jesus in John 4 talks to the woman at the well. And by the way, I've got a question.

Why did Jesus go into Samaria? None of the other Jews ever did. Why did Jesus go into Samaria? When Jesus goes in and talks to people and goes into land that's not explicitly Jewish land. He does so, and this is an example, he does so because he's going into land that was originally given to the Jews and ought to be Jewish land and will be included in the kingdom. So, case in point here, John chapter 4. Jesus goes into Samaritan land. He talks to a woman of ill repute. I'm not supposed to do that. And asks her for a favor. Shocking. Okay. John chapter 11, the raising of Lazarus, and one of the things we're going to see about that is Jesus could have been there on time to cure him, but he actually delayed his arrival until Lazarus was completely dead and in the tomb.

And it's pretty certain that we've identified the tomb, and when we get there I'll show you some pictures In fact, I have kind of a 3D thing you can look inside of the tomb. John 14-16, very unique material because these are things that were spoken at the Last Supper, that were things that talked about how ministry would take place in the church. It's not recorded in the other Gospels.

This includes identification truth material. This is very special stuff. And it talks about the work of the Holy Spirit, who had not been given yet. So, really good stuff. John 17, Jesus prays in the garden. As we pointed out last week, it includes identification, truth material. It also includes Christ praying for you. Christ's prayer for you.

There is also in it intimacy. Intimacy. Very cool material. So we'll be looking at that. John 19, Jesus is tried and crucified. The first three hours, 9 a.m. to noon, Jesus spends the time talking and making arrangements. and whatnot. You know, John, this is your mother. Mother, this is your son. You know, take care of her. And then even talking... Who else does Jesus talk to on the cross? What's that? Yeah, the thief on the cross, right? What does he tell? Today you will... Today you will be with me in paradise. That word paradise is a Persian word. means pleasure garden.

That's the first of three times in the New Testament it shows up. Today you'll be with me in paradise. The Apostle Paul says I was caught up into paradise and the last time it shows up is in Revelation. Speaking of heaven, the new heavens and the new earth. So you got that showed up. The first time it shows up is here today you'll be with me in paradise. Which also tells you one other thing. Did Jesus go to Hades, to hell, Did he go to hell while, between the time he was crucified and the time he was resurrected? Today you will be with Whitney in paradise. Anyway, we'll touch on that too. Anyhow, really cool things, really cool things to look at.

The second half from noon to three was the time when Christ was not talking to other people. He did say some things, and we'll take a look at what he says. He did say some things, but what he talks about has to do with his paying the price for us. We were crucified with him, so our identification with him starts at 9 a.m. and goes till three in his death. But it appears that the spiritual work was accomplished from noon to three.

Amazing. Anyway, let's pray. Okay. Lord, we do give you thanks as we look at this passage, as we look at, excuse me, these passages, as we look at this book and look at the approach to it. What wonderful and marvelous things you have here for us as we step through this amazing book, this masterful writing of Christ's first coming. And we just are looking forward to it with excitement, with anticipation for what you have there for us. And we pray in Jesus' name.