An unbelieving believer & believing unbelievers
1 John 20:19-20 · Vern Peterman · Apr 5, 2015
Specials, No. 01
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492650187901

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

Well, good morning, and happy Resurrection Day. We have a little bit of a shift of focus in these last couple of days. Just two days ago, we were very cross-eyed. But now, we're shifting our focus. Today, we're very open-tomb minded. So, that's our focus here as we gather together on this Resurrection Day.

Now I've titled this, what may be a bit puzzling, An Unbelieving Believer and Believing Unbelievers. And so it'll become evident as we go through this what I'm talking about. We'll start with an unbelieving believer. Today this morning, however, we need to talk about the elephant in the living room. So we've got a rather major topic to unveil, and what do we mean by this elephant in the living room? And it's this, John 12, 16, and you have this on the first page of your handout.

These things his disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things were written of him, and that they had done these things to him. They didn't understand the things that had taken place or the things that were just about to take place. The disciples were told numerous times that Christ would die, that Christ would be buried, that He would be resurrected on the third day.

He told them that in advance. They were clueless as to what He meant. They were clueless. They did not understand it. I think one of the things that is important about this is people will sometimes say, well the disciples just made this story up about Jesus dying and being resurrected. No, they did not. They didn't expect it. It was not even in their thought process that that was possible.

Jesus told them numerous times in advance, they didn't comprehend it. And as we saw from Luke, the passage that I believe is in the top of your inside bulletin there, from Luke, Luke says that they're actually prevented from understanding it until later. It wasn't simply that they were dolts, but they were spiritually prevented from having understanding and insight.

All four of the Gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four of them, record that the Lord told the disciples in advance, numerous times, that he was to be killed and buried and raised on the third day. Numerous times, each one of the Gospels, none of them misses on that point. They also record, by the way, that in each one, that the disciples didn't understand. The disciples were clueless about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

All of them. As the above verse shows, and that's just a sample, none of Jesus, none, it wasn't like a percentage, or one just got, none of Jesus' disciples understood what he was saying. It was not just a matter of doubt. See, we think about doubting Thomas, and his name is almost a byword among many. But the reality is none of them understood. It was not simply a matter of Thomas doubting. They all didn't understand to begin to doubt. They didn't comprehend it.

While the church and even the culture will make note of Thomas the doubter or a doubting Thomas, and we'll use that sometimes as a phrase applying to other things, Every single one of the 11 because remember Judas is out of the picture now by this time by the resurrection and All the others with them as we'll soon see Didn't have a clue what Jesus had been telling them for years Okay, probably a couple of years at least he began telling them in advance multiple times all of them They didn't have a clue what Jesus had been telling them, and it had to be brought into comprehension of what Jesus was telling them would take place later.

Later. As we mentioned previously, they first had to come into understanding of what had taken place, and then over the years and over the decades, they would learn the significance of what took place. The apostles were having aha moments for decades. They had no comprehension when the events took place.

It kind of reminds me in some respect, I've been talking with Nancy some about our trip to Israel that we took just a little over a month ago. And it seems like it's more impactful since, because we were seeing so many things and having had a chance later to reflect on it and to realize in some respects what we saw. There's more understanding as time goes by. And you probably had that kind of a phenomenon happen as well, where later on you have more insight into what was happening at a particular event.

Every single one of them had to be brought from a total lack of comprehension of the reality of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. It was all stunning, shocking events, to a belief in the reality of those events, and then an understanding and belief of those monumental and eternally pivotal events and what those meant spiritually.

We, two days ago, celebrated Good Friday. If you had gone to these disciples on the day of the resurrection and said, Isn't it great? This is Good Friday! They would have thought you're nuts! This is the worst Friday in my life! They would have thought, right? It took time for them to comprehend these things. Here's John 20 verse 1. So we're going to start ahead of the verses that Courtney read for us there.

Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, and while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. Now, that Mary Magdalene we pointed out previously, that meant she was from Magdala. It's not her last name. It meant that she was a woman of the city of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

So on the first day of the week, we would call Sunday and the Jews didn't have days for days of the week. They counted their first day, second day, third day. That's how they would count their days. So the first day of the week, we would call it Sunday.

And Mary Magdalene was one of a few women that ultimately came to the tomb there. And so I have a question here. Was the tomb opened so that Jesus could get out? Otherwise, Jesus is stuck in there, right? No. It's not the case. The tomb was opened so that all those who didn't yet understand would begin to see for themselves. Otherwise, they wouldn't even know that the body was missing, right? So with the tomb opened, then they could see the body isn't there.

And they would begin to say, well, what's going on? And as we'll see, The understanding, the lack of understanding was so great that the first conclusions that they jumped to was not, oh, Jesus has been resurrected. So here's verse 2, John 20 verse 2, So she ran and came to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, I'm sure she didn't say it in a quiet monotone, right? They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Now, does it sound like she understands that He's been resurrected?

Not at all. She jumped to the conclusion they, whoever that is, have taken the body away. Mary Magdalene did not immediately conclude that Jesus had been physically resurrected. That was not her conclusion. Her conclusion, right off, was somebody's taken the body. Opened the tomb, rolled the stone away, and somebody's taken the body. She assumed that his body had just been moved, but she just didn't know where.

That was her assumption. She was not thinking anything else. The law of Moses required that any important fact be confirmed by two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 19.15 says two or three witnesses. Problem.

The rabbis had excluded women as viable witnesses. I think it's very interesting, very interesting that Jesus showed respect for women that the Jewish culture did not. It is women who would call Jesus rabbi and teacher. And he was unique in that respect. None of the other rabbis would teach a woman. But Jesus did. And here, I think God has a sense of humor.

Who we're going to see is the first witness of Christ resurrected. amazing okay so let's look at John 23 through 5 so Peter and the other disciple went forth and they were going to the tomb and the two are running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first and stooping and looking in he saw the linen wrappings lying there but he did not go in So imagine these guys running.

What did they think had happened? Well, and they go and they look in here and they just see linen wrappings. There's no body. Wow! What happened? Now John typically called himself the other disciple, or another pattern that he uses, the disciple whom Jesus loved. He would call himself one of those two here. John would not refer to himself by name. So here is John and Peter, they come to the tomb.

And just so we get an idea, here is Nancy coming out of a tomb. And by the way, I think this is the first time I've seen Nancy come out of a tomb. You know, I just, I just, you know, stunned me. I kind of, yeah, I don't think I've ever seen, you know, 41 years of marriage and I've never seen her walk out of a tomb before. So this was a first. Anyway, this was a tomb at Nazareth Village and some things I'd like to mention about it. The late Dr. E.L. Natowski did a survey of all the New Testament era tombs in Israel and found that this one was typical.

You had to stoop over to get in the entrance. That was the common pattern. You had to stoop quite a bit over to get in, not just duck your head. Genuinely stooped to get in, so that height that's shown there is about correct. Secondly, it was very common to have a stone of about that size. The one in front of Jesus' tomb was larger than usual, however. The New Testament makes note of that. So probably the opening at that is about right for what would have been Jesus' tomb. And the stone in front of it would have been smaller than this one. And why a larger stone? Likely because this was the grave of a rich man.

But I think it gives you a good idea. The entrance would have been small. And what we see there is that Peter and John stooped. Peter and John stooped to get in. So that fits with what we understand then. So, Peter and John both ran to the empty tomb, John arriving first, but pausing at the entrance, and Peter rushing in. Of course, that sounds like Peter, right? Ah, yeah, that Peter.

You know, the one that says, hey, I want to walk on water, too. And then he starts looking around and starts slipping into the drink. And then the one who first refuses, oh, you shouldn't wash my feet, you know. Jesus insists, and he says, okay, then wash everything. So yeah, that Peter. And the one that denied Christ multiple times, right there in the courtyard of the high priest, that Peter. He's the one who goes to the tomb and just rushes in. Boom. The tomb was open. It was empty. There were only linen wrappings remaining. Period.

So here's John 26-9, So Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb, and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the facecloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Now, a few different things here.

One, have you ever heard of the Shroud of Turin? And a lot of times people make reference to that. Because of the description I see here, that by itself causes me to be skeptical that that's the shroud that Jesus had. Because what does this say? The face cloth, the cloth around the head is separate. from the rest, whereas the Shroud of Turin has it all in one shroud. Another point here to look at here, it says, he saw and believed. What did he believe? Who did he believe?

He believed Mary Magdalene's report, because what we're going to find, they didn't think, ah, Jesus is resurrected. They think, ah, somebody did take the body, right? That's what they're believing based on what Mary Magdalene had said. As yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. They believed, however, that Mary Magdalene's report was correct. The body has somehow been moved. We don't know where. There's just linen wrappings left.

So both Peter and John were in the tomb, saw the same thing at the same time. What they found was a separate head and body wrappings without any body inside. So they both saw it. They both saw it at once. Both saw it at the same time. John arriving there initially, but just looking in. Peter just rushing into the tomb, as you would expect from Peter. And eventually both of them seeing the same thing. And I guess Mary was right. Mary Magdalene was correct. Somebody's taken the body. So here's John 20, 10 through 14. So the disciples went away again to their own home. Can you imagine that? Okay, the body's been taken. We don't know where it is. I'm going home. Okay, I'm going home too.

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping, and so as she wept, she, again see this word, stooped and looked into the tomb. Here's a beautiful picture of Nancy coming out of the tomb and then It's that stooping phenomenon that you see with both the disciples Peter and John and with now Mary Magdalene so so dr. Natowski is I think correct That it was a small entry large stone And so here then But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. So she's weeping, oh no, they've taken away my Lord. I don't know where the body is. And verse 12, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. Now, does she recognize yet that they're angels?

No. Okay? She just sees them as men. Okay? And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. So at this point, she just sees the angels as a couple of men. She's still concluding that they've taken the body away. Somebody has taken the body away. And she'd like to know where that body is. That's her perspective. Verse 14, And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.

First of all, have you ever had the experience where you didn't recognize somebody because they were out of context? Ever have that happen? You run into somebody and they're not in the place you usually see them? Nancy and I have even had it where we see somebody, you know, counties or states away and, you know, run into somebody and not expecting it, right?

That's the kind of phenomenon I think was happening here. She was not expecting at all to see Jesus, and so she wasn't saying, well, oh, there he is, resurrected. That just didn't come to mind at all. It was completely out of expectation and context.

So verses 15 through 18, Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Same question as the angels. Why are you weeping? What's the problem? Why would you be weeping? Whom are you seeking? Ah, okay. Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Is she now seeing Jesus as resurrected? Not yet. Not yet? Here she is looking at the resurrected Christ and she's not registering this is Jesus resurrected. There was no expectation among any of the disciples, the eleven, nor any of the other people who spent time with Christ. Mary Magdalene included.

Jesus said to her, Mary, And she turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. And this again, I point out that Jesus would teach women unlike all the other rabbis. Jesus would teach women. And so she directly spoke to him as the one who teaches women. Teacher. Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my father and your father.

Now isn't that a curious way to put it? My father and your father and my God and your God. That's very curious to put it that way. Why would he speak that way? It's because he has a relationship with the father that's different than her relationship with the father, right? My God and your God.

And so Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, this is not what they were expecting, I have seen the Lord and that He said these things to her. I think it is beyond humorous that the Lord chose a woman to be the very first witness. Amazing. Not only did Christ show respect for women, but God does here. God considers her a valid witness, even if none of the other rabbis do.

So here we begin the passage that Courtney read for us, John 20, 19 and 20. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. And when he said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

I think rejoiced might even be an understatement. When the doors were shut. Now, typically how that would happen is because they had fear of the Jews, they wanted to make sure that they weren't going to get somebody just rushing right in. And so they would usually have a bar across the door as the way of locking things, kind of like this, this pattern. Put a bar across the door, and even better if it's a strong metal bar, right? And make it so nobody's going to just come rush in quickly.

Now, this is something that is not known for certain, but this room here that we showed you on our trip to Israel in the first week, this room here is not certainly but likely to be the room that's called the upper room where the Last Supper was held. According to Christian tradition, this was also the room where the disciples were gathered there, the 11. That's not certain. And also one other thing to just remind you, the columns and the roof were added later, about the year 1200. So it'd be the floor and part of that wall that you see preserved would have been what was there.

So, Christ wasn't stopped by closed doors. It doesn't matter how many steel bars you put across it or put anything in front of it, He goes right through. As a matter of fact, one question I have, did He come through the doors at all? It doesn't say so.

He just came and stood in their midst. Peace be with you. And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced, I think, Have you ever had an experience with anything like this, where you're expecting one thing, and maybe some bad news, and then some really good news comes in?

They were behind barred doors for fear of the Jews. Keep the Jews out. And here, now Jesus comes in. Not at all what they were expecting. He comes right through the wall. And so here he comes and then says, peace be with you. The feeling, if you're in there, clustered together with the doors barred, and you're afraid of the Jews, oh no, we're going to get crucified next, right? And now, Jesus, whom you saw crucified and buried, whose tomb you saw, steps into the room without opening the doors. However he came in, through the door or through the wall, he steps into the room without opening the doors. I think your experience is going to be one of overwhelming relief along with joy. So rejoicing, yes, and immensely relieved and shocked and stunned all at once. Shocked and stunned all at once. So he gave them the usual Jewish greeting. What should he have said? Well, just the usual Jewish greeting. There's enough shock in this thing without it adding some other words, right? So the usual Jewish greeting. Shalom. Peace be with you.

Christ then showed the ten, because we find out that Thomas isn't here. the ten, the marks of His crucifixion. It's really me. It's really me. So now there are ten disciples who have seen the Lord. There's Mary Magdalene who has seen the Lord. So you now have eleven witnesses. And this first day is not over. So here is John 20, 24 through 25, and I skipped a few verses there that go beyond or outside of just the resurrection. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, We have seen the Lord! And I'm sure they didn't say it in a quiet monotone.

But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Now, we've talked here about the Jewish standard of testimony. Remember Deuteronomy 19.15? What's the Jewish standard of testimony? You confirm things by two or three witnesses.

The rabbis had reduced that further to it had to be men. Okay? Women don't count. Children don't count. Had to be men. So two or three witnesses was the Jewish standard. And certainly, you've got ten men Thomas says, nope, I'm not going with that one. Sorry, I'm not going with that one.

He personally had to witness the marks of Christ's crucifixion before he would believe. So here's John 20 verse 26, after eight days his disciples were again inside, Thomas with them, Jesus came the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said peace be with you But now Thomas is with them Now Thomas is with them How's this gonna come off I Got one other question After eight days this is by Jewish counting a week later. I Because they would include the day that they started with, which was typical of Jewish counting. So, after eight days, this would be a week later, the same day. Why didn't the Lord show up sooner to Thomas? Why didn't the Lord show up sooner? Why did the Lord wait a week? to show up sooner.

Isn't that amazing? Wouldn't you and I have said, oh, we've got to fix this, right? No. That's not the way it's going to work. The Lord will sometimes put us through tests of time. Have you ever had something that didn't happen at the timing that you were hoping for? the Lord will sometimes put us through tests of time.

And you can imagine Thomas every day for a week listening to these guys talking about having seen the Lord, you know, and talking and talking and talking about it, and, you know, one of them at a time, probably several at a time, tried to appeal to him again, I would guess. But here's Thomas, nope, nope, I've got to see him myself. And so the Lord accommodates him a week later. Peace be with you.

In verse 27, then he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it to my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing. Now, had Thomas believed in Christ before then? Yes, he had. but he had been unbelieving about Christ's resurrection. So now here you have Thomas is about to become the unbelieving believer that converts to the fully believing believer. He says, hey, good to see you. Boy, it sure is nice to see you after this rough time we've all had.

No. My Lord and my God. And Jesus of course said, now wait a minute, I'm not God. Right? Is that what He said? No. He accepted worship as Lord and God. Unlike the angels in Revelation. John the Apostle, twice towards the end of Revelation, mistakes an angel for God, and the angel immediately says, no, get up, do not worship me. Jesus does not do that. He accepts worship as Lord and God. So let's see Thomas' answer here. Okay. Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God, And Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Do you believe now? Now do you believe?

Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. That's us. That's you and me. Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Luke 24, 36-43 is another similar kind of account, and you might make note of that. Now let's look at the other part of it here, believing unbelievers. Now you may have been puzzled by the unbelieving believer, it was Thomas. Let's find out who these believing unbelievers are, right?

Now here you have, and it's the top half of page 3, This is the family tree of Jesus' immediate family, and it's presented here as Joseph and Mary as the father. Obviously there was a different relationship with Jesus since Joseph was not actually the biological father of Jesus, but it's shown here just for the sake of some degree of clarity. We have some notes that are following underneath that, and I won't make particular points on all of them, except this. Jesus was born of a virgin, and that's indicated in both Matthew and Luke. Joseph was not the biological father, but as he was of Jesus' other siblings. So Jesus was properly a half-brother to these siblings. That's part one.

Jesus' brothers did not believe in him, which we'll take a closer look at, until after Christ was resurrected. And James and Jude, actually Jacob and Judas, and as a matter of fact, go back to the Hebrew, it's Yaakov, that's a little different from James, were the authors of the New Testament books by those names. So we have of the brothers, four brothers, we have two of them authored a New Testament book. Then we have The names James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon are given in Mark 6 3.

And it's not given the names, but the fact that he had sisters as well. And we're not told much about the sisters. I have the names given there from later tradition, later documentation that's outside of scripture itself. So I'll leave it to you to go through the rest of that, should you like to do so.

Let's look at John 7, 1 through 5. After these things, and this is by the way a phrase that was started way back in the book of Genesis, the after these things, but in the New Testament, John in the Gospel of John and in the book of Revelation uses that phrase, after these things. It's a John particular with one exception phrase.

Jesus was walking in Galilee and he was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of booths, was near. Therefore his brother said to him, Leave here and go into Judea, so that your disciples also may see your works which you are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do those things, show yourself to the world." What are his brothers trying to get him to do? They're trying to get him to go down to Judea right then and there with them so that Jesus will be killed.

His brothers had that antagonistic a relationship with him. Were his brothers expecting that Christ would be resurrected? Not at all. Not at all. His brothers were not expecting Christ's resurrection. They were hoping for his death. They were extremely alienated from him. Now, you can imagine how this went. How come you're not a great son like that one? I'm sure that was always the comparison. You should look to your older brother. He's just the way you ought to be. And I'm sure they got sick of hearing that. But at any rate, they despised him. They did not, certainly not, believe in his resurrection. But they did hope for his death. Not even his brothers, John 7, 5, not even his brothers were believing in him.

And what's interesting here, with the exception going through the feasts in the Gospel of John, it is getting to a place historically where there are several different points of verification. With the exception of that Feast of the Jews in John 5.1, we actually have specific dates for each of these events. And increasingly, Christ's crucifixion on April 3rd, 33 AD, is getting to be a confirmed date.

Now, we jump ahead to 1 Corinthians 15, 3-8. Here is the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Corinth. He's not been a direct witness of these events, but he's told of the events that we've been looking at here by the other disciples. But, as we'll see towards the end, the Lord did appear directly to the Apostle Paul.

So it goes like this, 1 Corinthians 15, 3-8, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared. Now, He lists the appearances, but what has He done in verses 3 and 4 here particularly? He has given us the basics of the gospel. He died for our sins.

He was buried and he rose again. If a person believes that, they're saved. God says, that's it, I'll take it from there, right? I'll do the rest. So he's given the gospel very simply and succinctly right here. It's if a person believes that, they're saved.

And then, he starts in verse 5, and he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, that is to the whole group of the disciples. The term the twelve got to be used for all the disciples, even though the actual count at that time was eleven, right? Okay, and after that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time. Five hundred witnesses at once. Are all five hundred of us hallucinating?

No. 500 brethren one time most of whom remain until now so some of them had As Paul puts it falling asleep had died as we would say But most of them had remained even up to the time of Paul's writing this letter Now here is the next one then he appeared to James Then he appeared to James which James His half-brother, can you imagine?

Here's James hated Jesus, wanted him dead. Here's James, hope for his death, which finally got fulfilled, had no comprehension at all of the idea of Jesus being resurrected. Not even close. So here's James. Can you imagine, can you put yourself in James' place of shifting in a moment from I hate my brother. I want him dead. Yeah, they finally killed him.

Good. In a moment from that attitude to one like Thomas, my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. That would be an astounding moment. Now it doesn't say there that he appeared to the other brothers. So we can kind of fill in the blanks there. Imagine James going back to his other siblings. You know that brother we hated? You know that brother was killed a couple days ago? Yeah. I've seen him. Alive. He talked to me. Now, let's go to Acts 1, 12-14, because this is the next part of the story regarding Jesus' brothers.

Then they return to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. So this is the mountain directly across from the Temple Mount, right immediately across. And when they had entered the city, they went to the upper room where they were staying. Now, again, it's not known for absolute certain.

It is believed that this same room, the one where they had the last supper, was the room now where these believers were gathering. And so it goes on there, when they entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is Peter, and here we have the fourth listing of the disciples soon to be turned into apostles.

Peter and John and James and Andrew So Peter and Andrew were brothers, and John and James were brothers, so two sets of brothers, and then Philip and Thomas, this is the one that doubted, Bartholomew and Matthew, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, different from Judas Iscariot.

These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women that he taught. uniquely, right? And marry the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. So here are the brothers who only weeks before, only weeks before, wanted him dead. Now they're gathered together, okay? The brothers, all of them. All of them, all four of them. This, by the way, is the last mention of marry the mother of Jesus by name. The last mention right here. And then with his brothers, but now the brothers, they've all come around. They didn't believe before, none of them did. They wanted Jesus dead, and now they've all come around.

So here we have in John 20, 30 and through 31, therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written, the ones John collected, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. You may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Now, you have to understand that that's how you get to heaven, but there's been progress now. A modern technology, the requirements for getting into heaven have recently been changed. You've got to have a login name and password. No, I'm kidding. So notice there, the word may, so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. These uses of the word may, or it's might in the King James, are not to talk about probabilities, maybe you will, maybe you won't. Instead, what they're talking about is God's provision so that you can. So that you can believe, and so that you can have life in his name.

It's talking about God's provision, not just possibilities and probabilities there. The Greek verb here behind you may have life is in the present tense. It has critical consequences for us this morning and every morning. The life that comes from God through our believing is not just a future prospect.

A lot of people will think, okay, this means I go one place instead of the other. Right? That you have, echo, is a possession. You have a possession of that life. Right now. Right now you possess it. You don't have to wait for it. You possess it now. What do you do? Believe. That's it. So what do these underlying words convey? What are they trying to get across? They convey that the person who believes does so with the outcome that he or she will be having in the present, as a personal possession, life in all who Christ is.

This is in no way just a promise for the future. Believing is not a get-out-of-hell-free card. It's not an eternal life insurance policy. Believing is the possession of life now and ongoing and forever. But it's not just about when we get out of here.

Looking briefly at Colossians 3, 1-4, Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, Seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on things That are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God When Christ who is our life right now present tense, okay? Christ who is our life present tense is revealed. Then you also will be revealed with him in glory Christ who is our life right now right at this moment. I Is there a hope for the future? Absolutely. But it starts now. We're not waiting for something. We possess that life now by His resurrection.

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed, the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. What we have here is a partial revelation of all the things that Jesus said and did. That's one of the things that Courtney was remarking about having gone to Galilee and seeing things there. We have little samplings of what took place. We don't have the complete account and just imagine the immense amount of time that Jesus would spend with people.

We have even record that he spent time with people who never would believe. Isn't that amazing? How gracious. that he would spend time and even give the truth to those who would end up not believing at all. That is astounding. But you, if you have believed today, presently have as a spiritual possession, never to be reversed, life in his name. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for that wonderful astounding amazing life that you have given us this life that the Disciples at one point in time never knew was coming. They didn't understand it And we thank you for what they eventually did come to understand and what they have conveyed to us And we thank you that we have multiple Expressions that we right now have life in his name. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen