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the characteristics of genuine beliefJohn 20:30-31 ~ Terry Phillips |
March 10, 2019
If you could turn with me once again to John's Gospel. Believe it or not, we are nearing the end of John's Gospel. This morning we want to focus our attention on the last two verses in the 20th chapter. You recall last week that we took some time to examine the interaction of our Lord with His disciple Thomas, and we recognized-- I trust, the danger that each of us are in of resorting to bitterness in our hearts. One of things I even was thinking about this week and really convicted of is just how we oftentimes allow bitterness into our lives in small and little incremental ways. It doesn't always necessarily something big and something that begins to dominate our entire life. But there are times when we can be embittered against the Lord and we don't even realize it. Sometimes even something, I was thinking about as simple as the weather. I found myself complaining at times about the weather. Genuinely griping about it, and recognizing this is a murmuring and complaining against the Lord, is what it is and we need to be very careful about that, it seems to me. We need to be very sensitive in our own hearts that we would not ever in any way shape or form, be murmuring against God.
Well as we move on then from the passage we began at verse 30. John then makes this statement at the conclusion of the record of the Lord's interaction with Thomas. “Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing, you may have life in His name.” This is a summary statement in John's Gospel, and if you recall, though, it's been a while ago-- even when we began our study of John's Gospel, we directed our attention to these last two verses in the 20th chapter. This is an open declaration of what John perceived to be the overriding purpose in recording all that he had been led by the Holy Spirit to write concerning the life, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
I find this kind of statement to be refreshing, especially sometimes for my own simple mind and thinking. There's no hidden agenda here. There is no secretive or subtle objective, there's no ambiguity, no leaving it for the reader to speculate, no theological theorizing. John comes out and states very clearly. “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” You recall as well -- John actually alludes to this -- you recall, just a little bit further back in the passage when we were studying and considering the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus -- John interjects something very similar in the 35th verse of John chapter 19, as he describes, give some first-hand description of what he witnessed when Jesus died on the cross, His legs were not broken and that a soldier had pierced His side with a spear. Verse 35, he said, “And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.” That's the goal here. What a tremendous goal. Indeed, huh? “That you may believe.”
I want you to notice, also, this fact that the account that we have before us -- not only in John's Gospel, but in the synoptic Gospels as well -- the account is very limited in relation to all the material that could have been included. John says, “many other signs”, that is many other attesting miracles. We notice this from the beginning that these miracles, these signs that Jesus performed were attesting signs, attesting miracles, they were attesting to the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. This is God in flesh. Who else could do this? You see that we see sought often in John's Gospel, but apparently there were many other attesting miracles that Jesus performed. We know there were some recorded by the synoptic writers that John didn't record but from here, from this statement we recognize there would have been many other, many other signs that He performed in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. And this -- you go to the very end of the last chapter in John's Gospel -- and this is where you really see the fullness of it. He says in verse 25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose, that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.” That’s how John ends the gospel. The life of our Lord on this earth must have been filled with activity. Details that could have been elaborated on in lengthy, lengthy passages, but that's not we’re given, we’re given a limited account.
We also notice in what John says here that the divinely ordained limitation of the record in no way detracts from the stated purpose, but in fact it is thoroughly adequate and conducive to that purpose been accomplished. In spite of all that could have been included, there is nothing lacking, nothing lacking in establishing the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. There can be no concern in this gospel account of a lack of evidence, that's for sure. We can’t… we don't read this account and say, well, I wish I could see just a little bit more. All that is needed is included, in relation to our coming to a reliable conclusion, it is fully sufficient. Which means that in relation to personal responsibility, there is no excuse for unbelief. We need to consider carefully what is said here in regard to faith in these… this last verse especially -- excuse me -- this matter of believing is especially important in God's revelation to sinners. We see the spoken of time and time again throughout the Scriptures, and of course it's very prominent in John's Gospel, almost 100 times John uses this word. Far more than any of the other gospel writers -- in fact, all of them put together. We’re told, even in the most fundamental statements in the Scriptures that without faith it is impossible to please God. So, this is not a matter of insignificance. This is front and center in terms of importance, in terms of God's revelation to us. And this passage before us is one of many statements in God's word that highlight the importance of belief, of genuine belief that is.
There are many warnings, there are a number of warnings in the Scriptures that alert us to the fact that there is a faith that does not save. We noted that in John chapter 8, there were those who believed, we’re told, specifically, those who believed in the Lord and the Lord then turns them and says, that their father is the devil. Their belief was not genuine. James of course talks of this as well -- a faith that cannot save. So, it's imperative that we understand this declaration that is made in this passage, and I trust that we do and in many respects, this is a great privilege for us -- when we do understand it -- it's a great joy to review this truth. There’s nothing like it.
I want you to notice, first of all, in the statement that we have before us this morning -- the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. Notice how John puts it here, he says, “many other signs therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But, these have been written that you may believe.” Notice the direct link between the word of God that is been proclaimed, recorded, preserved and enlivened by the Spirit of God -- that unique connection between the word of God and faith. God is very serious about His word. One of the things that we need to often be reminded of is this fact that God states very clearly in His word how much weight He puts on His revelation to man. “Forever O, God – O, Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” Jesus speaks of this fact, that the heaven and earth cannot pass away until every single letter of the law is fulfilled. Jesus makes that statement that heaven and earth may pass away, but His word is never going to pass away. He says there in John chapter 10, He talks about the fact that the Scripture cannot be broken. God's view of His revelation to us is an exceedingly high view. Many times, we don't remember that. Obviously, most people in this world don't receive it, don’t accept that or they accept it very selectively. Genuine faith is indeed a personal response to divine revelation.
I reminded of the passage in Romans chapter 10 that I think is very familiar to most of us. In verse 17 of Romans 10, “So then faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” There is no other way. No other means of our coming to saving faith but, through divine revelation. Belief that is in response to anything else, is not legitimate therefore, it's not reliable. You think of all the different things that people put their belief in. Many times, even when you're talking to somebody and they may -- knowing what you're looking for, say that they believe in the Lord Jesus -- but the more that you talk to them you find out that what they really believe in is a particular set of traditions that have been handed down to them and their family. It may be that they are believing in religious creeds, particular formulas and rituals that go along with a particular church they belong to or have attended sporadically. Some people's belief is in response to nothing more than their own feelings. I've heard people say this outright. “I just feel it, I'm just sure that's true -- so that's what I believe. I believe it because I really… that’s something… I can just feel it.” Or experience, and especially a combination of feelings and experience can be extremely misleading, but there are so many people, so many people in this world who… that's what they base their faith on. Their belief emanates from something within themself or in terms of things that have happened to them and then how they respond and feel about those things. The truth that is before us here this morning is that God imparts life giving truth through His word. God imparts life giving truth to His word. We know this is true, it's put just very simply and directly a number of times in the word of God. I remind you of James chapter 1 verse 18, “In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth.” I remind you of a passage in first Thessalonians, when Paul is reminded of –he’s reminding the saints at Thessalonica, in first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 he said, “And for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is the word of God which also performs its work in you who believe.” This is how God performs a saving and sanctifying work in us -- through His word.
This is so thoroughly consistent, even with the revelation of the second person of the Trinity. I remind you of the beginning of John's Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is the ultimate communication, divine communication of God to man. And he goes on to say in verse four, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” It’s a remarkable thing when you think about the importance of God's word -- words themselves, even apart from God's word -- words can be important. We've all, I presume, we’re all familiar with that saying to the effect that the “pen is mightier than the sword.” Words can make a big difference in people's lives. But these words are on a completely different level. I remind you of the incident in John chapter six that we went over quite some time ago now, when Jesus had been speaking in spiritual terms -- figuratively -- regarding His being the bread of life, and our partaking of Him, and a number of people had left Him. It says a number of those who've been following Him left, and He turns the disciples any He asks them, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” What’s Peter's response? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Now those are words that matter. Those are words that count. Those are the words I need to hear, those the words I want to hear. I want to hear words that indeed, are words of life.
First John chapter one verse one, John, speaking of the Lord Jesus refers to Him as “the word of life”. God imparts life giving truth through His word. This is only made possible through the intervening grace of God, the intervening grace of a God who is rich in mercy. It's only through His grace that this can and does indeed take place. I remind you of the passage that we refer to, or we think of as the Council of Jerusalem -- in acts chapter fifteen -- where things came to a head regarding this whole matter of how a sinner can be made right before God. Whether or not he needed to follow the law of Moses. Peter says this, as he stands up after there's been much debate, he says -- verse eight, “And God, who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as He also did to us and He made no distinction between us and them cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples, a yoke which neither our father’s nor we have been able to bear, but we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Later on, in the acts of the apostles in the eighteenth verse and the twenty-seventh verse, we have a reference to those who believed through grace. And we’re all certainly familiar with that passage in Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine, “For by grace you've been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it’s the gift of God.” So, we have the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. The necessity of the word of God and the grace of God, through the grace of God, maybe would be better to say.
A second thing that I want you to notice from our passage here in verse thirty-one -- not only the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. But this simple reality that -- genuine belief is focused exclusively on Jesus, period. This is such a simple truth, is it not? And yet one that has been so distorted, one that is so difficult for the sinful and the hard-hearted heart to receive and to accept. Jesus Himself is the exclusive focal point of saving faith. The apostles were very clear about this when they were called before the Jewish leaders there in acts chapter four, weren’t they? In verse twelve, “There is salvation in no one else, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” No one else, no other way. This is it. This is the focus of faith. He is the focus of faith.
Genuine belief acknowledges and embraces the reality of who Jesus is. Here, John puts it in this way, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised One, the One whom God Almighty had foretold for hundreds of years before the incarnation. This is the One who would come and become the suffering Servant, the sacrifice for our sins, the One who would bear in His body, our iniquities. This is the One will one day reign, establish His kingdom on this earth. That Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, not simply, merely a human deliver, or coming ruler, which unfortunately for most of the Jews, that's what they were looking for. But this is God in flesh. Any less a view of Christ, and you cannot have saving faith. Notice what John says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Period. If you don't believe that you will not be saved. You can't expect to receive or to inherit eternal life. So simple, and yet so narrow, so exclusive.
It's interesting to me that you see this same… this same acknowledgment several other times very specifically. One of those is in John chapter 11, if you recall -- when Jesus came in just before His raising Lazarus from the dead, after Lazarus had died and He came, and He visited Martha and Mary, and you recall that Martha says this after Jesus declares to her that He is the resurrection and the life and she said to him in verse 27 – “Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God.” You have this same statement made by the apostle Peter in Matthew's Gospel chapter 16, you recall that Jesus is questioning His disciples; -- “Who are people saying that I am? and they say well, some say that You’re John the Baptist others, Elijah some Jeremiah, maybe one of the prophets. He says to them, but who do you say that I am? and Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ” -- the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Son of the living God.
Genuine belief is focused exclusively on Jesus and recognizes Jesus to be God's Christ, the Son of the living God. Nothing less. But I want you to also be mindful this morning -- and we need to be mindful -- that saving belief goes well beyond an intellectual acceptance of this as a fact. The rest of the Scriptures couldn't be clearer in this respect. Saving belief is focused exclusively on Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But it goes well beyond an intellectual assent, if you will. Yes, I recognize that, okay, I’ll agree to that. I can see that, I’ll acknowledge that. It requires an obedient, a submissive reliance upon it. The belief that is spoken of in the Scriptures, in this context is one of trust, is one of reliance, and therefore it must be one of submission. Stop and think about this for a moment. You can't have one without the other. You can't totally rely upon Christ as the Son of the living God, the only One who can save me from my sins without a degree of an act of submission, to some extent for another. I realize that it may start off very small, in some respects -- something that grows throughout our life, Lord willing. But it must begin there, because in our hearts and our thinking, in the way we come into this life and this world, that's not acceptable to us -- to the natural man -- that's not an acceptable fact at all. That it could only be Him? Exclusively? There’s surely something more to this matter of eternal life, of salvation, of being right with God. Surely there's something that I can, and should be able to contribute.
It is a very raw confrontation to our pride to demand this kind of reliance upon Jesus, I'm acknowledging that there is no hope in any other way -- but there's also no hope in me, none. And that means no matter how good I might perceive myself to be. This of course is the great problem -- is it not? -- for sinners in this world. Jesus made mention of this often when He made it clear that He didn't come to call the righteous, He came to call people who recognize their neediness. People who recognize their brokenness. People who would receive the truth about Jesus, submissively. It requires an obedience, a submissive reliance – It’s not just, simply to say, I will trust in the fact that this is true, -- it's the acknowledgment that I am in and of myself condemned, hopeless, helpless, and my sin grieves God and puts me under His just condemnation. It’s then that I can receive Christ. It's then that I come to Him and submit myself to Him and rely upon Him, fully. I recognize I have no other hope. I say, along with Thomas – “My Lord and my God!” -- when I see Christ. That's a submissive reliance you see in Thomas, isn’t it? It’s not just that he's identifying and recognizing—Oh, you are risen from the dead, I now believe it. Okay, I'm satisfied -- that's not what we see in that statement, is it? It’s a submission – “My Lord, my Lord, my God”.
This is one of the reasons that we are told in several passages, the very reality of saving faith is described for us as the obedience of faith. If you want to look those passages up, take a passage such as Romans chapter 1 verse five. Romans chapter 16 verse 26 -- the obedience of faith. Paul sees that as the thrust of the gospel. That's the goal of the gospel -- to bring sinners to the obedience of faith. Saving faith is an act of obedience. There's no way around that.
I want to also just make note of this fact that -- saving faith, saving belief is a persisting belief. It’s not just an act of submission, it's a persistent submitting. It's a persevering obedience. It’s…let me put it another way, it's a way of life in spite of our many failures. None of us exercises the kind of confidence in reliance upon the Lord, that we should all throughout our lives, that would be an understatement, wouldn’t it? We don't do that. This matter of belief is not a once and done thing. It's once and done in the sense that I am now granted life in Christ when I put my trust in Him, but that trust is a way of life. If it's real, if it's genuine, it’s not a moment, “Terry thing”, because that's not submission. Genuine submission… genuinely submissive reliance is a way of life. It's a way of thinking, it's a mindset, it's a whole different perspective now that I have. It’s not just a matter of my saying, well okay, I’ve got that taken care of and now I can get on with life. This whole matter of eternity is taken care of -- an awful lot of people think like that, they’ll come right out and basically say that. Others who won't say it, are living that way. It is a persisting belief. It's a way of life in spite of our many failures. “The righteous man shall live by his faith.” -- Romans 1:17. We walk by faith not by sight. This is a way of life for us. Paul, in speaking to the saints in the regions of Galatia, confronted them with this fact that faith is a way of life. You can't just be… you can't be saved by faith, and somehow go on by works. This is a persisting belief, it’s a belief that is focused exclusively on Christ in a submissive, reliance to Him and it persists.
One last thing that I want to see in this passage, and that is -- the vitality of genuine faith. What a remarkable thing this is. For those who come to see Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and bow before Him, see Him… I see Him as my Lord, my God, not just in a general way – yeah, He's Lord, He's God -- He's my Lord, my God and I'm putting my trust in Him because I realize I have nowhere else I can turn and there's nothing in me, no hope whatsoever in me. When I do that I become a partaker of a vitality, if you will, of an existence of a life that is utterly unique. Believing in Jesus has the most remarkable implications, implications beyond our comprehension. These are things we can't fully understand. Jesus is by His own declaration, the life, right? He is the life. He imparts life to those who put their trust in Him. You recall back in John chapter 5, Jesus made this statement. Verse 21 – “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Jesus is the life, He imparts the life to those who come to Him by faith. This is a remarkable thing. It's something of inconceivable value.
I would ask you this morning if you know that you have that life, how much do you appreciated it? maybe a better question to step back… to step back from this for a moment, just to really ponder the problem that we all have in this area. How many of us -- especially as we've lived for at least some period of time -- recognize that the things that are of the greatest value to us, do we tend over time to appreciate them more or less? You all know the answer to that, don’t you? We start to take them for granted. We don't even think about it. Sometimes, some of the things of the greatest value in our lives we begin to almost hardly even notice them. It's possible for us to do that, even with the life, to some extent. We can't ignore it completely. If we’re in Christ there are certain aspects of this…there's no way we can completely ignore. But there is a very real sense in which we need to be very careful to appreciate it and not just to appreciate it in respect to, well I know I should be thankful. I mean to really grow in our sense of wonder and appreciation for what this really means. One of the things that has especially encouraged me over time and challenged me is to meet over the years, to come into contact with believers who have walked with the Lord for a long, long, long time -- from my perspective -- but who, as they walk with the Lord seem to be growing in their sense of wonder.
Not too long ago, several years ago before uncle Dick had really deteriorated mentally, he made the comment to me that he had been walking with the Lord for 70 some years – I think it was 75 years at that point in time. I think he came to know the Lord when he was about 13. And one of the things that I have noted, especially in the last two years when he moved back into this area and we were spending time with him -- one of the things that just really struck me was he kept going on and on with this sense of wonder that God would’ve placed His hand upon him, and saved him. And he would go back and talk about what a sinner he was -- 75 years ago. I don't remember him rejoicing that much 20 years ago. Now that's not to say that he wasn't, but it seemed as though his sense of wonder was growing and it really impressed me. He's not the only one I've seen that with by any means. Just comes to my mind right now. What a blessed and precious thing this is that God is given to us. He's imparted life to us. I want to just remind you of some of the aspects of this life. First thing, I want you to be mindful of, is -- this is new life. This isn't something old that’s just been revitalized, refurbished, refurnished, repurposed -- repurposing may be good, but not in this case -- we need life, we need new life, and this is new life. “If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation, old things have passed away, new things have come”, the things that once were not really important to me at all -- all of a sudden, they're everything to me. The things that were so important to me before, now -- no big deal. Not when I really see them for what they are. I now have the life! Newness of life, as Paul puts it there in Romans chapter 6 verse four. We now walk in newness of life. Has that become kind of “old hat” to us? The life we have is new. It's a whole new way of thinking. We do not see anything in this world the way we used to. And if we’re not careful begin to take that for granted and we get perplexed and frustrated that the world around us doesn't see life the way we do. Failing to have the compassion in our hearts to recognize -- this is a gift that’s been granted to us from the Lord. It’s not because I'm so smart or so, so filled with spiritual zeal that I now see the world this way -- God has granted me life in Christ. It's a new life, it's something different, completely and entirely different.
It's a life of freedom. We talked about this in John chapter 8 – “You shall know the truth,” -- Jesus said – “and the truth shall make you free. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Why? Because you’ll be free from the power of sin. That's real freedom. The believer, the saint, the one who has come to faith in Christ recognizes, this is real freedom. The world is searching for some political system. Some means of structure, societal structure that will give us all the freedom that we so zealously yearn for. The problem is, it doesn't matter what kind of political structure, or societal structure you formulate, if men and women and children within that structure have not been granted the life -- if they've not been granted freedom from the power of sin -- there's no hope that culture. There is none. Doesn’t matter what the structure is. This is a life of freedom.
It's a life of genuine peace. “Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God” The world talks a lot about peace but it doesn't know anything at all about it, in reality. It's sort of a nebulous concept that the world looks at and it just sounds so good, doesn't it? If we could all just be at peace. The problem is, if we are still at enmity with God, there can be no peace. That's one of the things we have with this life – It’s a life of peace and contentment in Christ, contentment with the Lord, no longer fighting God, but longing to love Him more, to grow in His grace.
It's a life of authentic love. Another thing that is so valued and treasured, and longed for in this world, isn't it? True love, real love. To be in a situation where people come together and they really do love each other. If we have the life that Christ gives, then the love of God, we’re told there in Romans chapter 5, has been “poured out with in our hearts.” In other words, God hasn’t given us just a smidgen of it, He’s given it to us freely. The love of God has been poured out within our hearts. The life -- life of freedom, a life of genuine peace, real freedom, authentic love.
It's a life of illumination. Everyone wants to have a more thorough understanding of the world and of life, don't they? What does Jesus say in John chapter 8 verse 12? “Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” This new life is a light of light. Life of illumination, a life of seeing things in a new way of seeing things from the divine perspective -- the light of life.
It's a life of divine purpose, Romans chapter 6, where we’re told of this… reminded of this fact that what we have in Christ is a newness of life. In verse 11 of that sixth chapter of Romans, we’re told this – “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin” -- and notice these words – “but alive to God” This life, this new life we've been granted in Christ is a life of divine purpose. It means that we are now animated towards God, towards His purpose, His word, we love His truth. We long for His will to be done. We’re alive to God. What's important to Almighty… or Almighty Creator.
Not only that it's a life of divine purpose, but it's a life of divine union. This is absolutely staggering. How do we completely understand this? Paul says, in Ephesians chapter 2 verse five, “Even when we were dead in our transgressions,” -- and that being dead in our transgressions, he described in detail in the first three verses, it’s not a pretty picture - hopeless, helpless, sons of disobedience, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. We are by nature children of wrath, -- “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” Paul speaks of this in Colossians chapter 2 as well. “Alive together with Christ.” Does that remind you of something Jesus said there in John's Gospel in the upper room discourse, chapter 14, what He say – “After a little while” -- Verse 19 of John 14 – “After a little while the world will behold Me no more, but you will behold Me, because I live, you shall live also.” This life is bound in Christ. Paul says, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” He says, it’s no longer me that’s living. It's Christ living in me, the very life of Christ. I'm united with Him in this life.
This is a life of triumph. I'm going through these things…some of these quickly just to give you a reminder and these, I trust, are some things that you can meditate upon. Romans chapter 5 verse 17, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one” -- in talking about the reign of death because of sin entering into the world – “much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” This the triumphant life. Maybe to put it another way, this is not a life for losers. Although it doesn't always look that way, does it? The world, many times will look at those who are followers of Christ, and think of them as losers, but this is a life of triumph. This is life indeed. As Paul says in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 19. “Take hold of that which is life indeed.” Jesus said that He came to give us life and to give us life abundantly. This is an abundant life, is it not? This is the life, John says there in first John 5:12, “He who has the Son has the life.”
It’s eternal life. The passage that’s before us. The goal is – “That we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” Life forever. Life united with the Prince of Life. This is a remarkable reality. Nothing can be more important to any of us here this morning, to any soul on this planet. One simple question -- do you have the life? “He who has the Son has the life” -- but the passage goes on – “he who does not have the Son does not have the life”. Such a solemn statement of truth.
I was reading here, just this past week of some man -- I've never heard of him -- but apparently was some famous sportswriter. He was I think, in his late 80s, he died and they said that he had said when he died they would have put on his tomb stone the words, “I knew this would happen”. He was kind of a comedic sportswriter maybe, as I understood it. I thought to myself a little bit about that. There's a lot of truth to that, all of us do know that that's going to happen, don’t we? Some of us avoid it, some of us think of it as being something that will happen way in the future, not realizing that it could happen in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next week. “I knew this was going to happen.” You and I know that it’s going to happen. Our lives on this earth are going to be over, and very soon. For some of us, it may not be very long at all. We don't know, we don't know when. For some of us it may be a while, but a while on this earth goes by really fast and so I ask you that question this morning. Sometimes it's our presumption that everyone who comes here has the life, do you? Do you have the life? There's only one place, only one source of the life, and that's Christ Himself, and He gives the invitation to us to come, to come to Him. He's the bread of life. Let’s bow together in prayer.
Well as we move on then from the passage we began at verse 30. John then makes this statement at the conclusion of the record of the Lord's interaction with Thomas. “Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing, you may have life in His name.” This is a summary statement in John's Gospel, and if you recall, though, it's been a while ago-- even when we began our study of John's Gospel, we directed our attention to these last two verses in the 20th chapter. This is an open declaration of what John perceived to be the overriding purpose in recording all that he had been led by the Holy Spirit to write concerning the life, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
I find this kind of statement to be refreshing, especially sometimes for my own simple mind and thinking. There's no hidden agenda here. There is no secretive or subtle objective, there's no ambiguity, no leaving it for the reader to speculate, no theological theorizing. John comes out and states very clearly. “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” You recall as well -- John actually alludes to this -- you recall, just a little bit further back in the passage when we were studying and considering the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus -- John interjects something very similar in the 35th verse of John chapter 19, as he describes, give some first-hand description of what he witnessed when Jesus died on the cross, His legs were not broken and that a soldier had pierced His side with a spear. Verse 35, he said, “And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.” That's the goal here. What a tremendous goal. Indeed, huh? “That you may believe.”
I want you to notice, also, this fact that the account that we have before us -- not only in John's Gospel, but in the synoptic Gospels as well -- the account is very limited in relation to all the material that could have been included. John says, “many other signs”, that is many other attesting miracles. We notice this from the beginning that these miracles, these signs that Jesus performed were attesting signs, attesting miracles, they were attesting to the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. This is God in flesh. Who else could do this? You see that we see sought often in John's Gospel, but apparently there were many other attesting miracles that Jesus performed. We know there were some recorded by the synoptic writers that John didn't record but from here, from this statement we recognize there would have been many other, many other signs that He performed in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. And this -- you go to the very end of the last chapter in John's Gospel -- and this is where you really see the fullness of it. He says in verse 25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose, that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.” That’s how John ends the gospel. The life of our Lord on this earth must have been filled with activity. Details that could have been elaborated on in lengthy, lengthy passages, but that's not we’re given, we’re given a limited account.
We also notice in what John says here that the divinely ordained limitation of the record in no way detracts from the stated purpose, but in fact it is thoroughly adequate and conducive to that purpose been accomplished. In spite of all that could have been included, there is nothing lacking, nothing lacking in establishing the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. There can be no concern in this gospel account of a lack of evidence, that's for sure. We can’t… we don't read this account and say, well, I wish I could see just a little bit more. All that is needed is included, in relation to our coming to a reliable conclusion, it is fully sufficient. Which means that in relation to personal responsibility, there is no excuse for unbelief. We need to consider carefully what is said here in regard to faith in these… this last verse especially -- excuse me -- this matter of believing is especially important in God's revelation to sinners. We see the spoken of time and time again throughout the Scriptures, and of course it's very prominent in John's Gospel, almost 100 times John uses this word. Far more than any of the other gospel writers -- in fact, all of them put together. We’re told, even in the most fundamental statements in the Scriptures that without faith it is impossible to please God. So, this is not a matter of insignificance. This is front and center in terms of importance, in terms of God's revelation to us. And this passage before us is one of many statements in God's word that highlight the importance of belief, of genuine belief that is.
There are many warnings, there are a number of warnings in the Scriptures that alert us to the fact that there is a faith that does not save. We noted that in John chapter 8, there were those who believed, we’re told, specifically, those who believed in the Lord and the Lord then turns them and says, that their father is the devil. Their belief was not genuine. James of course talks of this as well -- a faith that cannot save. So, it's imperative that we understand this declaration that is made in this passage, and I trust that we do and in many respects, this is a great privilege for us -- when we do understand it -- it's a great joy to review this truth. There’s nothing like it.
I want you to notice, first of all, in the statement that we have before us this morning -- the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. Notice how John puts it here, he says, “many other signs therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But, these have been written that you may believe.” Notice the direct link between the word of God that is been proclaimed, recorded, preserved and enlivened by the Spirit of God -- that unique connection between the word of God and faith. God is very serious about His word. One of the things that we need to often be reminded of is this fact that God states very clearly in His word how much weight He puts on His revelation to man. “Forever O, God – O, Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” Jesus speaks of this fact, that the heaven and earth cannot pass away until every single letter of the law is fulfilled. Jesus makes that statement that heaven and earth may pass away, but His word is never going to pass away. He says there in John chapter 10, He talks about the fact that the Scripture cannot be broken. God's view of His revelation to us is an exceedingly high view. Many times, we don't remember that. Obviously, most people in this world don't receive it, don’t accept that or they accept it very selectively. Genuine faith is indeed a personal response to divine revelation.
I reminded of the passage in Romans chapter 10 that I think is very familiar to most of us. In verse 17 of Romans 10, “So then faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” There is no other way. No other means of our coming to saving faith but, through divine revelation. Belief that is in response to anything else, is not legitimate therefore, it's not reliable. You think of all the different things that people put their belief in. Many times, even when you're talking to somebody and they may -- knowing what you're looking for, say that they believe in the Lord Jesus -- but the more that you talk to them you find out that what they really believe in is a particular set of traditions that have been handed down to them and their family. It may be that they are believing in religious creeds, particular formulas and rituals that go along with a particular church they belong to or have attended sporadically. Some people's belief is in response to nothing more than their own feelings. I've heard people say this outright. “I just feel it, I'm just sure that's true -- so that's what I believe. I believe it because I really… that’s something… I can just feel it.” Or experience, and especially a combination of feelings and experience can be extremely misleading, but there are so many people, so many people in this world who… that's what they base their faith on. Their belief emanates from something within themself or in terms of things that have happened to them and then how they respond and feel about those things. The truth that is before us here this morning is that God imparts life giving truth through His word. God imparts life giving truth to His word. We know this is true, it's put just very simply and directly a number of times in the word of God. I remind you of James chapter 1 verse 18, “In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth.” I remind you of a passage in first Thessalonians, when Paul is reminded of –he’s reminding the saints at Thessalonica, in first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 he said, “And for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is the word of God which also performs its work in you who believe.” This is how God performs a saving and sanctifying work in us -- through His word.
This is so thoroughly consistent, even with the revelation of the second person of the Trinity. I remind you of the beginning of John's Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is the ultimate communication, divine communication of God to man. And he goes on to say in verse four, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” It’s a remarkable thing when you think about the importance of God's word -- words themselves, even apart from God's word -- words can be important. We've all, I presume, we’re all familiar with that saying to the effect that the “pen is mightier than the sword.” Words can make a big difference in people's lives. But these words are on a completely different level. I remind you of the incident in John chapter six that we went over quite some time ago now, when Jesus had been speaking in spiritual terms -- figuratively -- regarding His being the bread of life, and our partaking of Him, and a number of people had left Him. It says a number of those who've been following Him left, and He turns the disciples any He asks them, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” What’s Peter's response? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Now those are words that matter. Those are words that count. Those are the words I need to hear, those the words I want to hear. I want to hear words that indeed, are words of life.
First John chapter one verse one, John, speaking of the Lord Jesus refers to Him as “the word of life”. God imparts life giving truth through His word. This is only made possible through the intervening grace of God, the intervening grace of a God who is rich in mercy. It's only through His grace that this can and does indeed take place. I remind you of the passage that we refer to, or we think of as the Council of Jerusalem -- in acts chapter fifteen -- where things came to a head regarding this whole matter of how a sinner can be made right before God. Whether or not he needed to follow the law of Moses. Peter says this, as he stands up after there's been much debate, he says -- verse eight, “And God, who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as He also did to us and He made no distinction between us and them cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples, a yoke which neither our father’s nor we have been able to bear, but we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Later on, in the acts of the apostles in the eighteenth verse and the twenty-seventh verse, we have a reference to those who believed through grace. And we’re all certainly familiar with that passage in Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine, “For by grace you've been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it’s the gift of God.” So, we have the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. The necessity of the word of God and the grace of God, through the grace of God, maybe would be better to say.
A second thing that I want you to notice from our passage here in verse thirty-one -- not only the necessity of the word of God in genuine faith. But this simple reality that -- genuine belief is focused exclusively on Jesus, period. This is such a simple truth, is it not? And yet one that has been so distorted, one that is so difficult for the sinful and the hard-hearted heart to receive and to accept. Jesus Himself is the exclusive focal point of saving faith. The apostles were very clear about this when they were called before the Jewish leaders there in acts chapter four, weren’t they? In verse twelve, “There is salvation in no one else, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” No one else, no other way. This is it. This is the focus of faith. He is the focus of faith.
Genuine belief acknowledges and embraces the reality of who Jesus is. Here, John puts it in this way, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised One, the One whom God Almighty had foretold for hundreds of years before the incarnation. This is the One who would come and become the suffering Servant, the sacrifice for our sins, the One who would bear in His body, our iniquities. This is the One will one day reign, establish His kingdom on this earth. That Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, not simply, merely a human deliver, or coming ruler, which unfortunately for most of the Jews, that's what they were looking for. But this is God in flesh. Any less a view of Christ, and you cannot have saving faith. Notice what John says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Period. If you don't believe that you will not be saved. You can't expect to receive or to inherit eternal life. So simple, and yet so narrow, so exclusive.
It's interesting to me that you see this same… this same acknowledgment several other times very specifically. One of those is in John chapter 11, if you recall -- when Jesus came in just before His raising Lazarus from the dead, after Lazarus had died and He came, and He visited Martha and Mary, and you recall that Martha says this after Jesus declares to her that He is the resurrection and the life and she said to him in verse 27 – “Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God.” You have this same statement made by the apostle Peter in Matthew's Gospel chapter 16, you recall that Jesus is questioning His disciples; -- “Who are people saying that I am? and they say well, some say that You’re John the Baptist others, Elijah some Jeremiah, maybe one of the prophets. He says to them, but who do you say that I am? and Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ” -- the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Son of the living God.
Genuine belief is focused exclusively on Jesus and recognizes Jesus to be God's Christ, the Son of the living God. Nothing less. But I want you to also be mindful this morning -- and we need to be mindful -- that saving belief goes well beyond an intellectual acceptance of this as a fact. The rest of the Scriptures couldn't be clearer in this respect. Saving belief is focused exclusively on Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But it goes well beyond an intellectual assent, if you will. Yes, I recognize that, okay, I’ll agree to that. I can see that, I’ll acknowledge that. It requires an obedient, a submissive reliance upon it. The belief that is spoken of in the Scriptures, in this context is one of trust, is one of reliance, and therefore it must be one of submission. Stop and think about this for a moment. You can't have one without the other. You can't totally rely upon Christ as the Son of the living God, the only One who can save me from my sins without a degree of an act of submission, to some extent for another. I realize that it may start off very small, in some respects -- something that grows throughout our life, Lord willing. But it must begin there, because in our hearts and our thinking, in the way we come into this life and this world, that's not acceptable to us -- to the natural man -- that's not an acceptable fact at all. That it could only be Him? Exclusively? There’s surely something more to this matter of eternal life, of salvation, of being right with God. Surely there's something that I can, and should be able to contribute.
It is a very raw confrontation to our pride to demand this kind of reliance upon Jesus, I'm acknowledging that there is no hope in any other way -- but there's also no hope in me, none. And that means no matter how good I might perceive myself to be. This of course is the great problem -- is it not? -- for sinners in this world. Jesus made mention of this often when He made it clear that He didn't come to call the righteous, He came to call people who recognize their neediness. People who recognize their brokenness. People who would receive the truth about Jesus, submissively. It requires an obedience, a submissive reliance – It’s not just, simply to say, I will trust in the fact that this is true, -- it's the acknowledgment that I am in and of myself condemned, hopeless, helpless, and my sin grieves God and puts me under His just condemnation. It’s then that I can receive Christ. It's then that I come to Him and submit myself to Him and rely upon Him, fully. I recognize I have no other hope. I say, along with Thomas – “My Lord and my God!” -- when I see Christ. That's a submissive reliance you see in Thomas, isn’t it? It’s not just that he's identifying and recognizing—Oh, you are risen from the dead, I now believe it. Okay, I'm satisfied -- that's not what we see in that statement, is it? It’s a submission – “My Lord, my Lord, my God”.
This is one of the reasons that we are told in several passages, the very reality of saving faith is described for us as the obedience of faith. If you want to look those passages up, take a passage such as Romans chapter 1 verse five. Romans chapter 16 verse 26 -- the obedience of faith. Paul sees that as the thrust of the gospel. That's the goal of the gospel -- to bring sinners to the obedience of faith. Saving faith is an act of obedience. There's no way around that.
I want to also just make note of this fact that -- saving faith, saving belief is a persisting belief. It’s not just an act of submission, it's a persistent submitting. It's a persevering obedience. It’s…let me put it another way, it's a way of life in spite of our many failures. None of us exercises the kind of confidence in reliance upon the Lord, that we should all throughout our lives, that would be an understatement, wouldn’t it? We don't do that. This matter of belief is not a once and done thing. It's once and done in the sense that I am now granted life in Christ when I put my trust in Him, but that trust is a way of life. If it's real, if it's genuine, it’s not a moment, “Terry thing”, because that's not submission. Genuine submission… genuinely submissive reliance is a way of life. It's a way of thinking, it's a mindset, it's a whole different perspective now that I have. It’s not just a matter of my saying, well okay, I’ve got that taken care of and now I can get on with life. This whole matter of eternity is taken care of -- an awful lot of people think like that, they’ll come right out and basically say that. Others who won't say it, are living that way. It is a persisting belief. It's a way of life in spite of our many failures. “The righteous man shall live by his faith.” -- Romans 1:17. We walk by faith not by sight. This is a way of life for us. Paul, in speaking to the saints in the regions of Galatia, confronted them with this fact that faith is a way of life. You can't just be… you can't be saved by faith, and somehow go on by works. This is a persisting belief, it’s a belief that is focused exclusively on Christ in a submissive, reliance to Him and it persists.
One last thing that I want to see in this passage, and that is -- the vitality of genuine faith. What a remarkable thing this is. For those who come to see Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and bow before Him, see Him… I see Him as my Lord, my God, not just in a general way – yeah, He's Lord, He's God -- He's my Lord, my God and I'm putting my trust in Him because I realize I have nowhere else I can turn and there's nothing in me, no hope whatsoever in me. When I do that I become a partaker of a vitality, if you will, of an existence of a life that is utterly unique. Believing in Jesus has the most remarkable implications, implications beyond our comprehension. These are things we can't fully understand. Jesus is by His own declaration, the life, right? He is the life. He imparts life to those who put their trust in Him. You recall back in John chapter 5, Jesus made this statement. Verse 21 – “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” Jesus is the life, He imparts the life to those who come to Him by faith. This is a remarkable thing. It's something of inconceivable value.
I would ask you this morning if you know that you have that life, how much do you appreciated it? maybe a better question to step back… to step back from this for a moment, just to really ponder the problem that we all have in this area. How many of us -- especially as we've lived for at least some period of time -- recognize that the things that are of the greatest value to us, do we tend over time to appreciate them more or less? You all know the answer to that, don’t you? We start to take them for granted. We don't even think about it. Sometimes, some of the things of the greatest value in our lives we begin to almost hardly even notice them. It's possible for us to do that, even with the life, to some extent. We can't ignore it completely. If we’re in Christ there are certain aspects of this…there's no way we can completely ignore. But there is a very real sense in which we need to be very careful to appreciate it and not just to appreciate it in respect to, well I know I should be thankful. I mean to really grow in our sense of wonder and appreciation for what this really means. One of the things that has especially encouraged me over time and challenged me is to meet over the years, to come into contact with believers who have walked with the Lord for a long, long, long time -- from my perspective -- but who, as they walk with the Lord seem to be growing in their sense of wonder.
Not too long ago, several years ago before uncle Dick had really deteriorated mentally, he made the comment to me that he had been walking with the Lord for 70 some years – I think it was 75 years at that point in time. I think he came to know the Lord when he was about 13. And one of the things that I have noted, especially in the last two years when he moved back into this area and we were spending time with him -- one of the things that just really struck me was he kept going on and on with this sense of wonder that God would’ve placed His hand upon him, and saved him. And he would go back and talk about what a sinner he was -- 75 years ago. I don't remember him rejoicing that much 20 years ago. Now that's not to say that he wasn't, but it seemed as though his sense of wonder was growing and it really impressed me. He's not the only one I've seen that with by any means. Just comes to my mind right now. What a blessed and precious thing this is that God is given to us. He's imparted life to us. I want to just remind you of some of the aspects of this life. First thing, I want you to be mindful of, is -- this is new life. This isn't something old that’s just been revitalized, refurbished, refurnished, repurposed -- repurposing may be good, but not in this case -- we need life, we need new life, and this is new life. “If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation, old things have passed away, new things have come”, the things that once were not really important to me at all -- all of a sudden, they're everything to me. The things that were so important to me before, now -- no big deal. Not when I really see them for what they are. I now have the life! Newness of life, as Paul puts it there in Romans chapter 6 verse four. We now walk in newness of life. Has that become kind of “old hat” to us? The life we have is new. It's a whole new way of thinking. We do not see anything in this world the way we used to. And if we’re not careful begin to take that for granted and we get perplexed and frustrated that the world around us doesn't see life the way we do. Failing to have the compassion in our hearts to recognize -- this is a gift that’s been granted to us from the Lord. It’s not because I'm so smart or so, so filled with spiritual zeal that I now see the world this way -- God has granted me life in Christ. It's a new life, it's something different, completely and entirely different.
It's a life of freedom. We talked about this in John chapter 8 – “You shall know the truth,” -- Jesus said – “and the truth shall make you free. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Why? Because you’ll be free from the power of sin. That's real freedom. The believer, the saint, the one who has come to faith in Christ recognizes, this is real freedom. The world is searching for some political system. Some means of structure, societal structure that will give us all the freedom that we so zealously yearn for. The problem is, it doesn't matter what kind of political structure, or societal structure you formulate, if men and women and children within that structure have not been granted the life -- if they've not been granted freedom from the power of sin -- there's no hope that culture. There is none. Doesn’t matter what the structure is. This is a life of freedom.
It's a life of genuine peace. “Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God” The world talks a lot about peace but it doesn't know anything at all about it, in reality. It's sort of a nebulous concept that the world looks at and it just sounds so good, doesn't it? If we could all just be at peace. The problem is, if we are still at enmity with God, there can be no peace. That's one of the things we have with this life – It’s a life of peace and contentment in Christ, contentment with the Lord, no longer fighting God, but longing to love Him more, to grow in His grace.
It's a life of authentic love. Another thing that is so valued and treasured, and longed for in this world, isn't it? True love, real love. To be in a situation where people come together and they really do love each other. If we have the life that Christ gives, then the love of God, we’re told there in Romans chapter 5, has been “poured out with in our hearts.” In other words, God hasn’t given us just a smidgen of it, He’s given it to us freely. The love of God has been poured out within our hearts. The life -- life of freedom, a life of genuine peace, real freedom, authentic love.
It's a life of illumination. Everyone wants to have a more thorough understanding of the world and of life, don't they? What does Jesus say in John chapter 8 verse 12? “Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” This new life is a light of light. Life of illumination, a life of seeing things in a new way of seeing things from the divine perspective -- the light of life.
It's a life of divine purpose, Romans chapter 6, where we’re told of this… reminded of this fact that what we have in Christ is a newness of life. In verse 11 of that sixth chapter of Romans, we’re told this – “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin” -- and notice these words – “but alive to God” This life, this new life we've been granted in Christ is a life of divine purpose. It means that we are now animated towards God, towards His purpose, His word, we love His truth. We long for His will to be done. We’re alive to God. What's important to Almighty… or Almighty Creator.
Not only that it's a life of divine purpose, but it's a life of divine union. This is absolutely staggering. How do we completely understand this? Paul says, in Ephesians chapter 2 verse five, “Even when we were dead in our transgressions,” -- and that being dead in our transgressions, he described in detail in the first three verses, it’s not a pretty picture - hopeless, helpless, sons of disobedience, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. We are by nature children of wrath, -- “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” Paul speaks of this in Colossians chapter 2 as well. “Alive together with Christ.” Does that remind you of something Jesus said there in John's Gospel in the upper room discourse, chapter 14, what He say – “After a little while” -- Verse 19 of John 14 – “After a little while the world will behold Me no more, but you will behold Me, because I live, you shall live also.” This life is bound in Christ. Paul says, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” He says, it’s no longer me that’s living. It's Christ living in me, the very life of Christ. I'm united with Him in this life.
This is a life of triumph. I'm going through these things…some of these quickly just to give you a reminder and these, I trust, are some things that you can meditate upon. Romans chapter 5 verse 17, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one” -- in talking about the reign of death because of sin entering into the world – “much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” This the triumphant life. Maybe to put it another way, this is not a life for losers. Although it doesn't always look that way, does it? The world, many times will look at those who are followers of Christ, and think of them as losers, but this is a life of triumph. This is life indeed. As Paul says in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 19. “Take hold of that which is life indeed.” Jesus said that He came to give us life and to give us life abundantly. This is an abundant life, is it not? This is the life, John says there in first John 5:12, “He who has the Son has the life.”
It’s eternal life. The passage that’s before us. The goal is – “That we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” Life forever. Life united with the Prince of Life. This is a remarkable reality. Nothing can be more important to any of us here this morning, to any soul on this planet. One simple question -- do you have the life? “He who has the Son has the life” -- but the passage goes on – “he who does not have the Son does not have the life”. Such a solemn statement of truth.
I was reading here, just this past week of some man -- I've never heard of him -- but apparently was some famous sportswriter. He was I think, in his late 80s, he died and they said that he had said when he died they would have put on his tomb stone the words, “I knew this would happen”. He was kind of a comedic sportswriter maybe, as I understood it. I thought to myself a little bit about that. There's a lot of truth to that, all of us do know that that's going to happen, don’t we? Some of us avoid it, some of us think of it as being something that will happen way in the future, not realizing that it could happen in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next week. “I knew this was going to happen.” You and I know that it’s going to happen. Our lives on this earth are going to be over, and very soon. For some of us, it may not be very long at all. We don't know, we don't know when. For some of us it may be a while, but a while on this earth goes by really fast and so I ask you that question this morning. Sometimes it's our presumption that everyone who comes here has the life, do you? Do you have the life? There's only one place, only one source of the life, and that's Christ Himself, and He gives the invitation to us to come, to come to Him. He's the bread of life. Let’s bow together in prayer.
