The Gospel Of John # 1 – The Disciple Jesus Loved (Part 1)

‘The disciple Jesus loved’

To help us understand the Gospel of John, first, we need to learn something about the Author of the Gospel

The Author doesn’t name himself in the Gospel, he only refers to himself as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’

‘The disciple Jesus loved’ had the closest relationship to Jesus of all the disciples. In fact, he was the closest observer of Christ and His ministry who has ever lived, and because of that, he is uniquely qualified to write the record
John 21: 20-24

The Author of the Gospel of John refers to himself 5 times as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ John 13: 23, John 19: 26, John 20: 1-2, John 21: 7, John 21: 20

Using these 5 references, let’s have a closer look at the special relationship between ‘The disciple Jesus loved’ and the Lord Jesus Christ

1/ John 13: 21-26
The disciples were having the Last Supper with Jesus on the night of His betrayal and ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ was sitting next to Jesus
Peter asked ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ to ask Jesus who it was who would betray Him
Although it was Peter who asked the question, Jesus only confides in ‘the disciple He loved’ and tells him who it was who would betray Him

2/ John 19: 25-27
‘The disciple Jesus loved’ was the only disciple present at the crucifixion of Jesus, and near death, Jesus entrusts His own mother into the care of ‘the disciple He loved’

3/ John 20: 1-10
‘The disciple Jesus loved’ was the first disciple to arrive at the empty tomb on the Sunday morning of Jesus resurrection

4/ John 21: 1-7a
Shortly after the resurrection, the disciples went fishing on the lake/Sea of Galilee and the Lord Jesus appeared on the shore and called to the disciples. It was only ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ who recognized the voice of Jesus

5/ John 21: 20-23
While Jesus was walking down the shore with Peter it was ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ that followed close behind

So, who is ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, who is the Author of The Gospel of John?

His name is John, son of Zebedee and Salome and younger brother of James
(John’s mother Salome may have been the sister of Mary, Jesus mother – so John and Jesus may have been cousins)

The Gospel of John is considered by many Bible scholars to be the greatest Book in all the Bible and the very highest level of theology

The Gospel of John is considered to be the Mount Everest of theology because it towers over all the other Books of the Bible

Mount Everest is 8,850 meters above sea level, about the same altitude that commercial jets fly

John concludes his Gospel by saying that he only recorded a very small part of the Life and ministry of Christ
John 21: 25

Today is Easter Sunday; and for the Christian it is one of the most important days on the Christian Calendar

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

We are going to have Communion together in the same way the disciples did in the upper room on the night of Jesus betrayal and arrest
Graphic: Communion/Last Supper

John 13: 21-23
As we celebrate communion, in your imagination, put yourself in John’s place, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, on the night of Jesus betrayal, in the upper room with the other disciples, and seated beside Jesus

Now, take a moment to thank Jesus for His love towards you!

You are the one He loves!
You are one that He died for on the cross
You are one that He was buried for in the tomb
You are one that He rose for from death

So that by believing in Him you would receive eternal Life!

Romans 10: 9-10 9 ‘If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved’.

Are We A Good Church Or A Bad Church? # 7

This is the final Message in this Series – Next Sunday we start our new 2019 Winter Message Series the Gospel Of John

Today I want to finish this Series by talking about how we can improve our evangelism – for the glory of God!

Jesus last command to His disciples (and to us) was to go and ‘make disciples (evangelize) of all the nations’

Matthew 28:18-20 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

If we want to succeed in evangelizing the nations, there are two things we need to improve

Firstly, we need to make sure we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said this

Acts 1:8 ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

Notice, ‘power’ comes first; second is ‘telling the people about Me’

That promised power of the Holy Spirit to evangelize, was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost
Acts 2: 1-4

In the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter and the other disciples begin to evangelize the crowds of people in Jerusalem
Acts 2: 22-24

Secondly, we need to make sure we tell people the truth about the way of salvation in Jesus

Now, look at Peter’s evangelistic Message to the crowds of people
Acts 2: 32-36

See how the people responded
Acts 2: 37 ‘Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” (to be saved)

Now, contrast Peter’s powerful Message of salvation, given on the Day of Pentecost, with these 4 popular yet misguided attempts to invite people to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior

1/ “Come to Jesus and your Life will get better” = this is called the Prosperity Gospel

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter didn’t say to the crowds, “Come to Jesus and your Life will get better”

For some people who come to Christ, their Life will get better, but for some people their Life might not get better, in fact, it might get worse
Acts 12: 1-2 James the disciple was executed

And, for some people their Life is already great – so why would they want to come to Jesus?
Acts 24: 24-26 Felix the Roman Governor, who had the Apostle Paul in custody, was a very rich and powerful man – so why would he want to come to Jesus?

2/ “Come to Jesus, God has a wonderful plan for your Life” = this is called the Wonderful Life Gospel

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter didn’t say to the crowds, “Come to Jesus, God has a wonderful plan for your Life”

For some people who come to Christ, a wonderful plan is probably better than no plan

But for some people, they already have a wonderful plan for their own life, and they don’t want God telling them what to do
Mark 9: 59 Jesus said, ‘Come follow Me.’ The person replied, ‘first let me…’

3/ “Come to Jesus, God will heal you of your sickness” = this is called the Healing Gospel

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter didn’t say to the crowds, “Come to Jesus, God will heal you of your sickness”

Now, God might heal your sickness, but He might not
2 Timothy 4:20 ‘I left Trophimus sick at Miletus’

4/ “Come to Jesus, see Him bleeding and dying on the cross with His arms outstretched to you in love” = this is called the Poor Jesus Gospel (Graphic: Cross)

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter didn’t say to the crowds, “Come to Jesus, see Him bleeding and dying on the cross with His arms outstretched to you in love”

That’s just pathetic! Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we would feel sorry for Him – He doesn’t need a hug!

No, these 4 popular, yet misguided attempts to invite people to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior are not the true Gospel of salvation

Look closer at Peter’s Message of salvation in Christ
Acts 2: 38 RE-READ ‘You must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’.

Now see how effective his Message was!
Acts 2: 41

Finally, dear Friends, Jesus has given us the responsibility to evangelize the lost (Matthew 28: 18-20)

If we are going to be effective in our evangelism, we desperately need the power of the Holy Spirit, and we need to clearly, accurately, and biblically tell people about the way of salvation in Jesus Christ – for the glory of God, Amen?!

2 Corinthians 5: 18 ‘He (God the Father) brought us back to Himself through Christ’s death on the cross. And He has given us the task of bringing others back to Him (self) through Christ’. (NIRV)

Are We A Good Church Or A Bad Church #6

Ephesians 3:21 ‘to God be the glory in the church and in Jesus Christ for all time, forever and ever! Amen’ (GNT)

Over the last few weeks we have been saying, a CHURCH THAT GLORIFIES GOD IS A GOOD CHURCH

And a good Church glorifies God through its 1/ worship and its 2/ discipleship 3/ evangelism

I want to make a few comments about our worship, discipleship and evangelism

I think that as a Church, over the years, we have been faithful in our worship and discipleship and through it, God has been glorified

I think we have been less successful in our evangelism

We have a ‘heart’ to win the lost to Christ, but we have been frustrated by the lack of results

Sometimes the task of evangelism seems impossible!

And, quite often we blame ourselves for the lack of results and say things like

“If I could explain the Gospel better – I would get results”

What we need to understand about evangelism is that we don’t determine the results!

Evangelism is a partnership with God

We tell people about salvation through Jesus Christ and God does the saving!

When we evangelize the lost, many will believe in Jesus and get saved – many will not
John 12: 37-42a

God is sovereign in our salvation!

Example: Mark 10: 17-26

17 Many people want eternal life

18-20 Many people think their good works will save them

21 Jesus sets the terms of salvation very high
(Give up everything and follow Him – Mark 10: 28-30 READ)

22 Many people don’t want to give up everything and follow Jesus

22-25 Jesus said that it’s hard for many people to give up everything and follow Him

26 And we, like the disciples get frustrated at the lack of results – look at their response!

Q. So, why is the task of evangelism difficult? (ask the Congregation)

A. Because lost people are held captive by the stronghold of Sin

Galatians 3:22 ‘But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin’,

Romans 3: 9 ‘all people…are under the power of sin’.

Romans 3: 10-11 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God”

If this young man, who came to Christ, was truly seeking God and wanting eternal life, he would happily give up everything and followed Him – but he didn’t

The sinful nature, from the very beginning, has always been opposed God

Genesis 6:5 ‘The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil’.

The sinful nature is still opposed to God today – nothing has changed

Romans 8:7 ‘For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will’.

This young man came to Christ, and was invited by Christ Himself to follow Him, but he refused and turned away

27 Jesus reminds us that evangelism is a partnership with God

We explain the way of salvation, but it is God who does the saving

Jesus said John 6:44 ‘For no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them to Me’

Ephesians 2: 1-10