The Gospel of John was written with the express purpose of proving that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that readers might believe and have eternal life. The sermon outlines the structure of John's Gospel, detailing its prologue, epilogue, and the periods of consideration, controversy, conflict, crisis, conference, and consummation. It highlights seven key "signs" or miracles recorded in John, such as changing water into wine and raising Lazarus, as evidence of Jesus' divine identity. Ultimately, the message emphasizes that belief in Jesus, as presented through these signs and His divine claims, is the pathway to receiving eternal life.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.51 → restored 4.35
Well, it's a joy to be back here at Park of the Pounds. I haven't spoken from this platform on a Sunday morning since the eighth of November. That's over six months. And it's a joy to be back here. I love this platform, and I love this chapel, and I really love speaking here. Shall we read from the first chapter of John's Gospel? John, chapter one, verse one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." And a lady came to the office a few weeks ago, and she was looking, wanted to come here to live.
And I asked if she believed in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. And she said, well, I don't believe He was God. And this is what I read to her. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It's pretty definite. The Word was God. Verse three, all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, John the Baptist.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was said to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Now let's go over to the twentieth chapter. twentieth chapter of John's Gospel. And two verses, verse thirty and verse thirty-one. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book.
But these are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name. May God bless the reading. of his own precious word. Shall we seek his face? Blessed God, our Father, we bow before thee now, and we pray thee that in the next few moments in this meeting that I would exalt the person of thy beloved Son. We ask, Lord, that we may see no man save Jesus only. And we pray, Lord, that our hearts might be strangely drawn out to him. And if there should be one in our midst who does not really know him as Savior, and is not sure of salvation, we ask that this might be the morning when the great eternal decision shall be made.
We seek thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I suppose it's kind of natural to think that there will be some opportunities when I will be speaking here during the summer months, and I would like to have some kind of successive, progressive ministry and teaching. I think the best way to teach the Word of God is to teach it the way it was written, verse by verse, and to try and learn what God gave us in His Word, verse by verse.
There are different ways of preaching. There's what we call the topical method of preaching. You take a topical subject and talk about that. But the expositional method of preaching is to take the Bible verse by verse and expound it by the help of Holy Spirit as you go down through the verses. And this is what I love. I probably learned more of this as a boy I learned this, but I learned more of it from Dr. Gannett of Southeastern Bible College. He always spoke that way. He always spoke from the Bible verse by verse.
And under Dr. Gannett, at Southeastern Bible College, in those wonderful Monday evening meetings we had for the public when we lived in Birmingham, Dr. Gannett went right through the book of Matthew. I'll never forget the things we learned, verse by verse. And right through Timothy, first and second Timothy, we learned wonderful things. And so I've been praying much about this. I had on my mind to take up the epistle to the Romans. When I was talking to Mr. Wordenberg this week, he told me that he spoke on First Romans last week. So that's what I said. The Lord said to me, no, don't speak on Romans. Speak on John. And so I would like, if we can, in our studies here this summer, on the occasions I get here to speak Sunday mornings, to take some studies in John's Gospel.
Now I know John is the best known of all the books in the Bible, and you can be very tiring if you make a really technical study of these books and hang out and be long-winded and it becomes tiring. But we're not doing that. We're trying to take overall pictures and verse-by-verse studies, yes, but try and break it down in a way that we'll remember. It would be wise for you to have one of these... little pens you can get in the bookstore for fifty cents this is called special Bible marking pens it's got ink in there that won't go through the page and come out on the other side you know I use it all the time now and I find it's good I can mark my Bible and my Bible is marked everywhere and it's all come through on the other side and it throws me off but this does not come through so when you start your new Bible Start with this pen and you won't get it all messed up.
And if you're here Thursday night, get hold of one of these. There's plenty there now. Now John's Gospel, of course, was written by John the Apostle. No question about that. I don't think anybody ever doubted that. Many of the books of the Bible have been doubted by theologians. The author have been doubted by theologians, but I don't think any of them ever doubted that. that John, the beloved apostle John, wrote the gospel by John. He wrote five books of the Bible, the gospel, the first, the second, and the third epistles, and the book of Revelation. And I like to think of John in the island of Patmos in his prison there. It's the Lord's day. He says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day.
And I heard a voice behind me, and I turned to see the voice, and he came face to face with the Son of God amid the glories of heaven. He'd not seen the Lord. He'd not heard his voice for maybe sixty years, probably sixty years, because John was around about ninety at that time. Maybe fifty years, I don't know, but many, many years. And suddenly as he's sitting there, of course, he couldn't come together to break bread on the first day of the week as we do because he's in a prison cell. He had no fellowship with other Christians, but he never forgot the Lord's desire to do this in remembrance of me. And I believe Even in that prison cell, he's thinking about the Lord on the first day of the week.
And suddenly the voice becomes light, you know. And he turns around. The voice he hadn't heard for fifty, sixty years. And he sees the Son of God. Not hanging upon a cross as he'd seen him before. Not in the shades and sorrows of Gethsemane. Not as the one rejected and despised and cast out. But he sees him amid the glory of heaven. Upon his head, many diamonds, robes in a beautiful robe down to his feet, his feet shining like brass, his face shining like the sun. And he said, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he put his right hand upon him.
And this is what he said. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. I am he that was dead and is alive again. And I have the keys of... and so on. And he put his hand on him. He said, John, in effect, he said this, John, I've got a job for you to do. I imagine John's mind must have at once gone and worked this way and said, What in a world could I do in a prison cell? I'd love to preach to thousands. I can't. I'm a prisoner on an island. I'd love to be leading the people of God, but I'm separated from them, a prisoner for the witness of Jesus on the island of Patmos.
What can I do? There was one job John could do, and that's just what the Lord gave him to do. I'll read it to you. Revelation chapter one, it says, When I saw him I fell at his feet as dead. He laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. This is his job. Write. Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be.
Now, of course, we divide the book of the Revelation up in this threefold way and say, the things which thou hast seen, that's chapter one. The things which are, that's chapter two and three. And the things which shall be hereafter, chapter four. the end of twenty two because it says after this I looked and a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said come up hither and I will show thee the things which must be hereafter hereafter so there's a threefold division of revelation but there's another kind of revision of another kind of division goes through my mind right with things which thou hast seen as John's gospel the things which thou hast seen.
Write the things which are. That's his three epistles to the saints in that day. Write the things which shall be hereafter. That's the revelation. And so John heard the voice of the Son of God and obeyed as the Lord touched him with his right hand. He obeyed as John wrote. And we have these wonderful books. I think of all the books in the Bible. The one that charms me probably most is John's Gospel. I remember when I was a young fellow, I was associated quite a lot with a very old saint of God called Walter Scott, not Sir Walter Scott who wrote all the poetry, but Walter Scott, a wonderful Scotsman and a wonderful Bible teacher, and he wrote a book which some of you have, which is called The Exposition of the Revelation.
He wrote many, many other books, but that's his classic, and it is the classic on Revelation even today. And I remember Walter Scott said to me one day, he said, my boy, If you ever learn the Greek language, you'll find out that John wrote in a very simple language. He said he wrote Greek, but he wrote short letters, short words, simple words. He was a fisherman. And he said when you read Paul's writings in Greek, you'll find Paul used long words, classical, highbrow Greek. He was a great, highly educated man, the Apostle Paul.
I never dreamed I would ever learn Greek, but it came to my lot. When I left the very meeting where Waterskart was and went to Greece, the Lord took me to Greece. And the first time I met the Christians in Greece, one of the brethren said to me, do you want to learn Greek? I said, yes. And he said, we'll start right here today, the first Sunday I met him. He took a pencil and he pointed, and he started, John one, verse one. And of course, I knew every word in English, so I had no trouble to translate it at all. He said, start. Say this after me. N, R, K, N, O, L, K, four letters, N, three letters, O, one letter, L, G, five letters.
I said to myself, Walter Scott's right. John wrote in small little words, N, R, K, N, O, L, K, O, L, K. And just as truly I found out when I was reading Romans and Corinthians and so on in Greek that the Apostle Paul used the language which I had to keep getting a lexicon out to find out what the words meant. And so it was lovely to start and read this wonderful book in the original language. Now John was a fisherman. His father's name was Zebedee. Mark chapter one, it says that his father's name was Zebedee.
You don't need me to turn it up because I'm sure you know it. It says in verse nineteen, when he'd gone a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. His father was Zebedee. Do you want his mother's name? Look at chapter nineteen. chapter nineteen. Verse twenty-five. No, I haven't got it.
I've got the wrong scripture. His mother's name was Salome. I thought it was in this verse. His mother's name was Salome. But this is significant and we'll read it here. Verse twenty-five. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, that was John. It's significant that John was the only disciple found at the foot of the cross. There were women there, but the only man found at the foot of the cross was John. Not Peter, not James, not all the others. They'd gone. But John was there at the foot of the cross, and the Lord was able to give his mother into his care before he died.
And this, it says, his mother's sister, Mary, was Salome. So that in a sense, Salome, who was John's mother, was the Lord's mother's sister. So there was a relationship here. It's rather wonderful, you know. There is a sense in which the Lord, according to the flesh, was the... John, according to the flesh, was the cousin. of the Lord Jesus. Now His Gospel. I had a wonderful time in this book. When I was teaching, they asked me to teach John's Gospel at Southeastern Bible College, and I just had a tremendous time there and enjoyed it so much.
The structure of the Gospel goes this way. There's a declaration of purpose. I read it in the twentieth chapter. We'll come back to it in a few moments. The declaration of purpose. Why did John write the Gospel? His declaration of purpose. These things are written that he might believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name. A declaration of purpose. And then there's a progress of action. All through this Gospel, there's the actions of the Lord Jesus. And very briefly, I want to sum them up, and if you care to make a note or two, you can, but we'll come to them as we go along. The Bible, the Gospel is divided up into sections.
Everybody, all teachers agree that the first eighteen verses is called the prologue, the introduction, the prologue to John's Gospel. And they all agree that they, The twenty-first chapter is the epilogue, comes at the end. But the prologue, the entrance, the beginning to the Gospel, the first eighteen verses of John's Gospel, which I hope to speak on the next time we speak in the will of the Lord on John's Gospel. But there are periods, and I want to give them to you very briefly, and then we'll come to them as the days go by if the Lord tarry. There is a period of consideration. The Son of God comes here on earth. The Word was...
made flesh and dwell among us. And people considered him. A period of consideration. It's from the nineteenth verse of the first chapter until the fifty-first verse, which is the last verse of the fifty-fourth verse, of the fourth chapter. A period of consideration when men were considering the Son of God here on earth. And you get their verdicts. You get John the Baptist's verdict. You get John's disciples verdict, you get Nicodemus, you get the woman at the well, the centurion and so on, a period of consideration. And then there's a period of controversy. It starts at chapter five, verse one, and one runs through the seventy-first verse of the seventh, runs through the sixth chapter and verse seventy-one, a period of controversy.
When the Lord stated his claims, who he was, then immediately the controversy started and the arguments with the Pharisees and the scribes. And there's a long period of controversy going on to the end of the sixth chapter. And then from chapter seven, verse one, and to the fifty-third verse of the eleventh chapter, we have a period of conflict. You see how it starts. First of all, a period of consideration. And then as they got to know something about him, a period of controversy. And as they got more and he stated his claims in the Son of God, a period of conflict. That brings us to the fifty-third verse of the eleventh chapter.
And then from then on, through the thirty-sixth verse of the twelfth chapter, we have a period of crisis. We're reaching the great crisis in the life of the Lord Jesus. We'll come to these things as we go last. And then right in the midst of the thirty-sixth verse of the twelfth chapter, it says, While he might believe in the light, that he might be the children of light, then it divides there. These things spake Jesus and departed and hid himself. And this is a period of conference when he gets, he hides himself. And then he goes to the upper room and it's a period of conference with his disciples. And then from chapter eighteen, verse one, when the Lord Jesus is arrested in the garden, right through now to the end of the twentieth chapter, is a period of consummation.
Can we get the epilogue, the final chapter of this wonderful gospel? Now there are chronological divisions. Luke is a historian, and he definitely pinpoints certain things in history. He says in the days of Caesar Augustus, the day when there's going to be a tax, he states the very day almost in his gospel. So he can pinpoint chronologically when the Lord Jesus was born. John doesn't do that at all. We haven't talked about the period when he was born.
In the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh. John talks about the eternal Son. John's chronology has no more to do than just a little bit with the Jewish feast which he mentioned. But he does say, this is the record. This is the record. Chapter one, verse nineteen. There are three passovers in John's gospel. Chronological things I'm talking about. Then there's the geographical divisions. The Lord in John's Gospel was in Galilee. He was in Samaria. He was in Judea, and sometimes over the other side of Jordan.
Fourfold division. Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, halfway in between, and then a way over the other side of Jordan sometimes. There are seven signs. Now John says, In this twenty chapter, many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples and are not written in this book. What does he mean by signs? He's not talking definitely just about generally what he said, but specifically about seven signs in this gospel. Seven miracles we call. In the Greek they're called Sema. Sema is a sign. Seven signs. And so there are a number of many miracles, but he just picks out seven of them here, and these are the signs he gives us.
These seven signs, these seven miracles, and he picks out just two of them. Now, I want to talk a little bit, then, about this twentieth chapter and verse thirty. Here is a sign. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. The signs were the changing of the water into wine, the healing of the nobleman's son, the changing of water into wine was a miracle dealing with quality.
The wine was far better. that he produced them what they had before. Quality. The healing of the distance of the nobleman's son, he proved himself the master of distance. In the first one he was master of quality. Now he's the master of distance because he spoke the word and the nobleman's son was healed. And then the impotent man, he was the master of time. Thirty-eight years that man had been there. And the Lord came along. and healed him. And then in the feeding of the five thousand, he was the master of quantity. And then in the walking on the water, he was a master over nature.
And the healing of the man born blind, he was a master of misfortune. And in the raising of Lazarus from dead, he was a master of death. Those are the seven signs that John selected. Now then, let's look at our verse. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that he might believe. Now here we get the great element of belief, of faith, emphasized in here.
This is why he wrote it, that he might believe. And we get the reaction of men to these signs. One reaction is they believe. The other reaction is that they did not believe. John wrote the gospel that they might believe. Some believe, some reject it. Then there's the element of life. These things are written that he might have life through his name. Belief and unbelief, life and death. and they're all determined by belief.
Now very briefly about these verses, then. John is describing why he wrote the book. And first of all, he says, Many other signs there were, but these are written. It was a selective gospel. Selected. He took all the miracles which Jesus performed, and he selected seven. selective gospel. He selected seven miracles, seven signs, and he presents those to people of his day, sixty years probably after the Lord Jesus was crucified, and he's writing to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he selects, of all the miracles, he selects seven of them, which he calls signs, and presents them. And he says, these are written with one purpose, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It was an attested gospel. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples. He's not talking about something he's thought up. In the presence of his disciples. They were living, not in John's day, they're all palace offices now. He's the only one left. But there were men who lived and seen and could, in their day, and in their preaching, prove what John is saying.
It was an attested gospel, attested by the disciples. It was an apologetic gospel, not making excuses for what it says. It's a defense of a position, a conviction. These are written that ye might believe. He wrote it with a definite purpose, that ye might believe. And then it's an interpretive gospel because it tells us who the Lord Jesus was. These are written. that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Christ, the Greek word Christos, means the anointed one.
And the anointed one was the Messiah. So the real reason for writing the Gospel is that the Jews might know that this was their Messiah. And he's proving it by the works that he did, by the miracles which he performed. It was a definite Gospel. The Son of God. And in chapter five, verse eighteen, this was their thing. This was their complaint, that thou being man makest thyself equal with God. That was the point. And this is what John is pointing out. He made himself equal with God. These things are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.
And it was an effective gospel. that believing he might have light through his name. Now what have we said this morning? We've said that John had a definite commission from the Lord to write. And he wrote five books. And one of those wonderful books which he wrote was the Gospel of John. And his purpose in writing the Gospel of John was to prove to men and women that Jesus Christ, who is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of God, come down here on earth. We have said that whilst Luke starts with a definite period in time and tells you to the very day when the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the day when they had to go up for the taxation and all that, and he pinpoints it in history, John is not a man that deals with history, John deals with eternity.
John starts, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. He's not bothering with time. He's talking about eternity. And he's telling us how the eternal Son of God came down into our world to live among us. And we read this morning that the Lord Jesus was in the world. And the world was made by him. And the world knew him not. And then we read, he came to his own, and his own received him not.
He was light shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended him not. Now we live in an age when men are in darkness. Maybe there's someone here this morning. I don't know everyone here this morning. Maybe there's someone here. And when we talk about these eternal things, your mind is in a kind of a darkness. You can't understand them. Don't worry about that now. Yeah, worry about it, but don't think that's exceptional. We were all born that way. The Bible says the natural man cannot understand the things of God. So if you're not saved, This is a proof that you're not saved. This is a proof.
If you cannot understand the things of God, that's a proof that you're not saved. The natural man cannot understand the things of God. They are spiritually revealed. They're revealed by the Spirit of God. And the Lord Jesus was the eternal light of heaven, and he came down here, and the light shone in the darkness. And the darkness didn't get hold of him at all. The meaning of the Greek word comprehended it not. The Greek word is they didn't catch on, didn't get it, couldn't get all of them at all. And there are thousands of people in our world around us today. As I talk to men and women, I find they don't know. They don't understand them in the dark.
And this book makes it all clear. This wonderful Bible of ours makes it all clear. He was light shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. He was in the world. Now today they say, where's God? He's dead. Where's God today? We don't see God in the world today. And yet the very flowers that are coming out of this lovely spring weather proves to us there is a God. But they can't see it. But the Lord Jesus was God, and he came down here and brought among us men. And the marvel to me is their eyes were absolutely blinded. He was in the world.
The world was made by him. And the world knew him not. Things are just the same today. The world knew him not. The people of this world don't know him. The educators of this world don't know him. They're in darkness. They don't know. They have a lot of knowledge. But knowledge doesn't teach you Christ. Faith in God. And the Bible, that's the way to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ. So he was in the world, the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own.
Now here the Greek word is to his own things. It's a plural word. It's a neuter, plural neuter. His own things he came, the Jewish religion. the Jewish setup, all the Jewish economy. He came to that. But the word changes. His own receives him not. That's another. And that's a masculine plural word. His own people receive it. He came to his own things. But his own people received him not. They didn't want him. Their eyes were blinded. They rejected him.
They crucified him. He came to his own. and his own receives him not. And we're just the same today. The Jewish people can't see or understand today, and many of the other people can't see either. But, now I love this word, but, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name. And there was a moment in the lives of each one of us here this morning, probably every one of us here this morning, There was a moment in our lives when we received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Do you remember that moment? I do.
I can take you to the very spot to say, that's where God saved me. As many as received him, to them he gives authority to become children of God. And the moment we receive the Lord Jesus, we become a child of God. and we get eternal life, even to them that believe on his name. So John says then, this gospel is written, that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name. Do you believe in the Son of God? Have you got eternal life?
I'm not saying, have you been going to church all your life? I'm not asking you whether you're good or bad. I'm asking you a simple question. Have you definitely believed in the Lord Jesus and accepted him as your personal faith? If you haven't, you're not saved. If you're not saved, you're not being heaven. You might be sitting here in these pews. But you have to accept him. And John says, I'm writing a whole gospel for that very purpose. The purpose of my gospel is that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And if you believe that, says John, believing you'll have life, eternal life, through his name.
This is the way of salvation. This is what John is telling us all the way through the gospel. I understand that the word believe comes in John's gospel ninety-three times. ninety three times the word believe and that's the whole object that we might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that's why he wrote it and as we go on talking about this gospel week by week in the will of the Lord this is what we want to emphasize believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and I want you to help us I want you to try and help bring in some unsaved people here it's time we saw souls being saved here in this chapel we've been here in this chapel four years in July, and we want to see some souls saved here.
But we can't do it if we don't bring them in. Let's get in touch with the people. Let's bring them in, and we'll preach the gospel week by week, and we'll try and win men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, and we'll rejoice together in the wonderful, wonderful salvation of God, as God saves souls here in our midst. Just be praying for this. praying that God will save souls here in the chapel for his glory. Shall we pray? Blessed God our Father, we thank thee for the beloved Apostle John who wrote this wonderful, wonderful book. We pray, Lord, that as we study this, if the Lord delay his coming, allow us speak to every heart.
Give us to understand, Lord, the way he laid it out by the help of the Holy Spirit. That we may be able to understand these various periods in the in the periods of action here in this gospel. And we might learn the ways broken down, that we might see how men acted towards him and reacted against him. We thank the Lord for this tremendous truth. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And these things are written that he might believe, and that believing he might have. everlasting life. Write these simple things on our hearts, we pray thee, and give us to learn and love thy word more and more as the days go by.
Dismiss us now with thy blessing. Be with us at the dinner table and guide us through the hours of this day. Bless us again tonight as we come together. We ask it in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.