Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Four Titles—Same Savior Msg 612 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Four Titles—Same Savior Msg 612 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ is indeed the central theme of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: As one quaint soul put it, cut the scriptures anywhere
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  Speaker 1: and they bleed with the Lamb of God who takes
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  Speaker 1: away the sin of the world. When the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: writers wrote of Messiah, they looked forward to the cross.
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  Speaker 1: When the New Testament writers wrote, they looked back upon
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  Speaker 1: the cross. No one wrote while Jesus was on earth.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody watched. Many learned, some rejected, but no one wrote.
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  Speaker 1: So everything written of the life of Christ was written
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  Speaker 1: after the fact, afterwards. Those who wrote of the life
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  Speaker 1: of Christ are four in number, and they bear the
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  Speaker 1: title Gospels. From an old Anglo-Saxon word, good spell, meaning
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  Speaker 1: good news. So each of the four writers of the
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  Speaker 1: Gospels wrote good news about Christ. New Christians don't know
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  Speaker 1: that the Gospel of Matthew is not a gospel about Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: but it's the good news from Matthew about Christ. The
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  Speaker 1: Gospel of Luke is not the good news about Luke.
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  Speaker 1: It is the good news about Christ as seen through
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of the physician, Dr. Luke. The gospel of
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  Speaker 1: Mark is not a gospel of Mark himself. It is
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  Speaker 1: a gospel of Christ. Good news of him as seen
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  Speaker 1: by the missionary named John Mark. And the gospel by
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  Speaker 1: John is not the good news of John. It is
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  Speaker 1: the good news of the man who was converted from
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  Speaker 1: being a fisherman to becoming a follower of Christ. His
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  Speaker 1: name is John and he writes of Jesus. To the
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  Speaker 1: surprise of many people, the Gospels contain 46% of all
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  Speaker 1: that is written in the New Testament. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: surprising because very few Christians make a sincere and deep
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  Speaker 1: and lengthy study of the Gospels. Most of us hurry
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  Speaker 1: to the letters, and we study about men who wrote
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  Speaker 1: of the Christ years later. But alas, much of what
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  Speaker 1: we read has to do with writings concerning Christ Jesus works,
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  Speaker 1: but they really don't have to do with Jesus himself,
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  Speaker 1: as do the gospel writers. Four of them wrote of Christ. Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: a converted tax collector. Mark, who was a missionary. Luke,
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  Speaker 1: who was a physician. And John, who was a fisherman.
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  Speaker 1: They certainly did not write all there was to know.
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  Speaker 1: If you take your New Testament and look at the
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  Speaker 1: last two verses in the Gospel by John, John 21,
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  Speaker 1: verses 24 and 25, you have ample information to tell
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  Speaker 1: you that not nearly all that was done was written down.
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  Speaker 1: This is the disciple who bears witness of these things.
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  Speaker 1: namely John, and wrote these things, and we know that
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  Speaker 1: his witness is true. Next verse. There are also many
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  Speaker 1: other things which Jesus did, which if they were written
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  Speaker 1: in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would
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  Speaker 1: not contain the books which were written. Isn't that great?
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  Speaker 1: If all that he did and said, if all that
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  Speaker 1: his life represented could be put into books, I suppose
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  Speaker 1: the world couldn't contain the library. It took four men
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  Speaker 1: to write of Christ. Now, don't misunderstand. Just because there
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  Speaker 1: were four of them does not mean that just in
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  Speaker 1: the number we have, therefore, accuracy. Because four men wrote
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  Speaker 1: of his life does not mean that the four wrote accurately.
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  Speaker 1: You can have a number of people see the same
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  Speaker 1: thing and come away with different impressions, and all of
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  Speaker 1: them off base. It's like the little piece written by
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  Speaker 1: John Godfrey Sachs entitled The Blind Men and the Elephant.
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  Speaker 1: It was six men of Endustan to learning much inclined
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  Speaker 1: who went to see the elephant, though all of them
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  Speaker 1: were blind, that each by observation might satisfy his mind.
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  Speaker 1: The first said, approached the elephant and happened to fall
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  Speaker 1: against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl,
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  Speaker 1: God bless me, the elephant is very like a wall.
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  Speaker 1: The second feeling of the tusk cried, Oh, what have
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  Speaker 1: we here? So very round and smooth and sharp. To
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  Speaker 1: me it's mighty clear this wonder of an elephant is
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  Speaker 1: very like a spear. The third approached the animal and
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  Speaker 1: happened to take the squirming trunk within his hands. Thus
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  Speaker 1: boldly up and spake, I see, quote he, the elephant
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  Speaker 1: is very like a snake. The fourth reached out an
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  Speaker 1: eager hand, felt about the knee. What most this wondrous
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  Speaker 1: beast is like is mighty plain, quote he. Tis clear
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  Speaker 1: enough the elephant is very like a tree. The fifth
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  Speaker 1: who chanced to touch the ear said even the blindest
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  Speaker 1: man can tell what this resembles most. Deny the fact
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  Speaker 1: who can. This marvel of an elephant is very like
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  Speaker 1: a fan. The sixth no sooner had begun about the
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  Speaker 1: beast to grope than seizing on the swinging tail that
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  Speaker 1: fell within his scope. I see, quoth he, the elephant
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  Speaker 1: is very like a roe. And so these men of
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  Speaker 1: Endustan disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion,
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  Speaker 1: exceeding stiff and strong, though each was partly right and
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  Speaker 1: all were in the wrong. There isn't safety in numbers.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty people could have written of Jesus and all of
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  Speaker 1: them been inaccurate or at least so slanted in their
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  Speaker 1: view that they missed the point altogether. You see, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot discount the fact that superintending the writings It was
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God. He, working directly with each one
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  Speaker 1: at different eras and from different perspectives, presented the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in all of His beauty and in all
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  Speaker 1: of His holiness and yet gave us just little 35mm snapshots.
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  Speaker 1: Even if you put all of the four Gospels together
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  Speaker 1: and run them in some kind of harmony through the
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  Speaker 1: process of time, you still haven't a film of the
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  Speaker 1: life of Christ, blow-by-blow account. You have just little 35-millimeter snapshots,
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  Speaker 1: sort of like a missionary slideshow, with captions beneath each
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  Speaker 1: picture along the way to let you get the feel
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  Speaker 1: of what it must have been like, but you don't
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  Speaker 1: see it all, nor can we, You just get the
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  Speaker 1: perspective from different one's point of view. It doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: that they were haphazard. Turn from John's gospel to Luke,
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  Speaker 1: the first four verses of chapter 1. You'll see what
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  Speaker 1: I mean. Dr. Luke was very careful, not only in
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  Speaker 1: the practice of medicine, but in the writing of his work.
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  Speaker 1: Luke 1, verse 1. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to
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  Speaker 1: complete an account of the things accomplished among us, just
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  Speaker 1: as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants
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  Speaker 1: of the word have handed them down to us, it
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  Speaker 1: seemed fitting for me as well. It's a very personal
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  Speaker 1: word from the physician. It seemed fitting for me as well,
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  Speaker 1: having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it
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  Speaker 1: out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus. So
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  Speaker 1: that you might know the, I love this, exact truth
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  Speaker 1: about the things you have been taught. You know what
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  Speaker 1: this reminds me of when I read those, especially those
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  Speaker 1: last two verses? It reminds me of a person getting
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  Speaker 1: ready to write a dissertation. Knowing that he must or
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  Speaker 1: she must present the work accurately and carefully. There is
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  Speaker 1: a great deal of research that goes into finding those
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  Speaker 1: references that will put the thesis together, and then the
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  Speaker 1: writing of it must be so carefully done that the
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  Speaker 1: exact truth is represented for careful eyes to read. That's
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  Speaker 1: what Luke writes. Why were there four? Why not just one?
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  Speaker 1: Why did the Lord lead four people from varied backgrounds
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  Speaker 1: and different educational references to To sit down and write
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, so that we might
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  Speaker 1: have four wonderful perspectives of the Savior. I suppose it
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  Speaker 1: would be like someone writing a biography of Theodore Roosevelt.
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  Speaker 1: And one person would write of his birth and his roots.
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  Speaker 1: Another person would write of his life as a sportsman
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  Speaker 1: and big game hunter. Someone else would write of his life...
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  Speaker 1: as a military man, and yet a fourth would write
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  Speaker 1: of him in his political and presidential career. Same man,
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  Speaker 1: but seen from four different perspectives. Or Churchill would be
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  Speaker 1: a good example. His background and roots, his educational training,
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  Speaker 1: his interest as an artist, in his world of art,
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  Speaker 1: and then of course his political career in the difficult
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  Speaker 1: days of Great Britain's history. Same man from four different perspectives.
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  Speaker 1: These writers have approached the Lord Jesus Christ from different
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  Speaker 1: angles so that once we study the snapshots, we see
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  Speaker 1: the Savior. We come to know him in four different ways.
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  Speaker 1: Turn to the first of Matthew. Matthew, the tax collector
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  Speaker 1: who is converted to Christ before he writes the good
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  Speaker 1: news of the Savior, presents the Lord Jesus as the
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  Speaker 1: mighty king. More than any other of the gospel writers,
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  Speaker 1: this is the man who presents the regal side of
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah. When you finish reading Matthew, you tie the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus into the Old Testament. In fact, 60% of
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  Speaker 1: Matthew's writings is made up of Jesus' exact words. If
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  Speaker 1: you use a red-letter Bible, you will have more red
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  Speaker 1: letters in Matthew's gospel than any of the others. More
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus' words. Mark consists of 42% of Christ's sayings,
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  Speaker 1: Luke 50% and John 50%, but Matthew 60% or more.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew 1 begins with the genealogy of Christ, but it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't go back to Adam. That's Luke's job. Adam would
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  Speaker 1: link the Lord Jesus as a man among men. But
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  Speaker 1: Matthew wants his Jewish readers to see Christ as the
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  Speaker 1: king of as Jewish through and through, the king of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. So he takes us naturally back to Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
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  Speaker 1: of David, the son of Abraham. To Abraham was born Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: and to Isaac the genealogy continues to Christ. Because Matthew
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  Speaker 1: wants the reader to see that Jesus is the king.
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  Speaker 1: When you finish reading these 28 chapters in the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: by Matthew, you have the distinct impression that he is
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  Speaker 1: the one who has the authority to reign over your life.
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  Speaker 1: 32 times there is a reference in Matthew to the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of heaven. Nine times that which was spoken by
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  Speaker 1: the prophets might be fulfilled. Nine times he is called
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  Speaker 1: the son of David. No other gospel writer emphasizes the
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  Speaker 1: kingship of Christ like Matthew. He is the official ruler
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  Speaker 1: of the nation. No other gospel writer spends as much
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  Speaker 1: time with Jesus on the mount as he presents his
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  Speaker 1: great sermon on the mountain. Because that's kingdom living. And
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  Speaker 1: naturally it would flow into Matthew's perspective. No other gospel
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  Speaker 1: writer keeps you on the Mount Olivet as long as
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  Speaker 1: Matthew does because he's establishing his kingdom reign when he
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  Speaker 1: establishes that over this earth. And he makes it very
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  Speaker 1: clear how that will take place. No other writer spends
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  Speaker 1: as much time on it. And when the writing is
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  Speaker 1: placed over the cross, this is Jesus, the king of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews, writes Matthew. John expands it and goes further.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew stays with the kingship of Christ. When you finish
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  Speaker 1: reading of the resurrection, you see that the king is triumphant.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew has exalted the kingship of Christ. Turn to Mark.
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  Speaker 1: Mark's story was apparently the first to have been written.
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  Speaker 1: It is the least unique of all the gospel writers.
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  Speaker 1: Unlike Matthew, Mark writes of the Lord Jesus Christ as
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  Speaker 1: a lowly servant. He writes of the Lord Jesus as
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  Speaker 1: one actively engaged in serving his fellow man. His favorite
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  Speaker 1: word is immediately. Matthew writes to Jews. Mark seems to
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  Speaker 1: write to the Romans, who were people of action, type A's.
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  Speaker 1: People who wanted to get a job done. And so
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  Speaker 1: throughout the book, Mark's favorite word is immediately. Immediately. Immediately.
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  Speaker 1: Look at just chapter 1, for example. Verse 12 of Mark.
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  Speaker 1: Immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 18. After addressing a few of the disciples, immediately
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  Speaker 1: they left their nets and followed him. Verse 20, and
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  Speaker 1: immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee
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  Speaker 1: in the boat with the hired servants. Verse 28, immediately
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  Speaker 1: the news about him went out everywhere. The same in
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  Speaker 1: verse 29, immediately after they had come out of the synagogue.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 42, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 2, verse 8, immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit
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  Speaker 1: that they were reasoning that way within themselves. It's all
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  Speaker 1: the way through the book. You move from one scene
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  Speaker 1: to another, from one action to another, because a servant serves.
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  Speaker 1: The key verse of Mark is chapter 10. Turn, will you?
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  Speaker 1: Verse 45. For even the Son of Man did not
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  Speaker 1: come to be served, but to serve and to give
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  Speaker 1: his life a ransom for many. The Son of God
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  Speaker 1: Matthew says he's the king. Mark says he's the one
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  Speaker 1: who serves. And aren't you glad we have more than Matthew?
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it a pleasure to think of the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: not simply as high and exalted and removed in his holiness,
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  Speaker 1: though that is true, but he has come among us
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  Speaker 1: to serve, to be available. Have you had a need
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  Speaker 1: lately that no one else could meet? I think you have.
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  Speaker 1: All of us have. Some certain request that you couldn't
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  Speaker 1: seem to pull off yourself and you didn't know anyone
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  Speaker 1: else who could. You remember that as a child of God,
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  Speaker 1: you have one who is available. He didn't come to
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  Speaker 1: be served. He came to serve. You know what? The
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  Speaker 1: longer I live, the more I appreciate a servant's heart.
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  Speaker 1: The less I am impressed with celebrity, the less interested
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  Speaker 1: I am in the greater lights, honestly, and the more
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  Speaker 1: grateful I am for the lesser lights. It's like the night.
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  Speaker 1: What would it be like if it were all moon
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  Speaker 1: and no stars? Sort of dull, huh? When those stars
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  Speaker 1: shine brightly, though they are of lesser significance when you
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  Speaker 1: put them all together, they light the sky with a
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  Speaker 1: beauty all their own. Our Lord Jesus moved among men
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  Speaker 1: and women, serving here and there. When Mark comes to
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  Speaker 1: certain places, he presents only what a servant would note.
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  Speaker 1: For example, Mark is the one who tells us that
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  Speaker 1: Judas sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver. You know,
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  Speaker 1: that was the price of a slave. Again, Mark thought
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  Speaker 1: as a servant, 30 pieces of silver. Mark omits Jesus saying,
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  Speaker 1: I could bring 12 legions of angels at this moment.
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  Speaker 1: Mark doesn't present that. Matthew does because a king has
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  Speaker 1: legions available, but a servant does not. Mark doesn't present
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  Speaker 1: Jesus saying to the thief on the cross, you'll be
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  Speaker 1: with me in my kingdom because a servant has no kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't that Mark didn't believe he was the king
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  Speaker 1: or that Mark didn't believe he had a kingdom. It's
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  Speaker 1: that his perspective was that of a servant. A servant serves.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't rule over a kingdom. When you get to
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  Speaker 1: Luke's gospel, it's different from even the first two. Luke
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  Speaker 1: wrote of Christ as the ideal man. Time and again,
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  Speaker 1: we're given human interest stories. There are more dialogues, I
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  Speaker 1: should say discourses in Luke, more parables than any of
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  Speaker 1: the other gospels. Because people tell stories. And the human
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  Speaker 1: interest of each one of these parables was of interest
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  Speaker 1: to the doctor. In fact, in Luke's gospel, as I
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  Speaker 1: said earlier, the genealogy goes all the way back to
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  Speaker 1: Adam linking Christ with man. Luke tells us more of
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  Speaker 1: the birth of Christ. Luke, being a physician, would do that.
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  Speaker 1: Only Luke tells us of the childhood of Christ. Luke
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  Speaker 1: is the one who helps us with that in-between period
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  Speaker 1: between Nazareth and his baptism. Only Luke. If we didn't
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  Speaker 1: have Luke's input, we wouldn't know of Jesus' childhood at all.
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  Speaker 1: Luke is the one who acquaints us with the numerous
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  Speaker 1: stories he shared among men and women of his day.
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  Speaker 1: And when Luke gets... to the Savior's death, he lingers
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  Speaker 1: longer than the others because he's interested in the anatomy,
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  Speaker 1: if I may, the humanity. You feel the blows of
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  Speaker 1: torture in Luke's gospel more than any of the others.
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  Speaker 1: You feel like he is a man with you. when
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  Speaker 1: you read Luke's journal. Luke is the one who alone
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  Speaker 1: presents that journey on the road to Emmaus where those
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  Speaker 1: men were stumbling along wondering what their future held. I'm
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  Speaker 1: in the last chapter of this gospel by Luke. After
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  Speaker 1: Christ has been raised from the dead and many doubted
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  Speaker 1: it and many knew nothing of it, these men were
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  Speaker 1: walking along on the way to Emmaus and wondering about
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  Speaker 1: what the future held for them, and Jesus happens along
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  Speaker 1: beside them, and they don't recognize him as being the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Luke is the only one who tells of this wonderful
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  Speaker 1: dialogue between him and them. Verse 26, chapter 24, was
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  Speaker 1: it not necessary for the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?
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  Speaker 1: And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, now mark
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  Speaker 1: this carefully, Jesus explained to them the things concerning himself
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  Speaker 1: in all the scriptures. This is one of the few
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  Speaker 1: times where Jesus exposits the word of God. Can you imagine?
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  Speaker 1: We have all heard some mighty fine preachers and we
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  Speaker 1: have all been grateful for those who have taken the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures and explained them to us. But no one ever
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  Speaker 1: heard a better exposition of the whole Bible, at least
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  Speaker 1: the whole Old Testament, than those couple of men on
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  Speaker 1: the road to Emmaus. Jesus pointed out in the writings
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  Speaker 1: of Moses and in the Psalms and in the prophets
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  Speaker 1: the things concerning himself. It's wonderful. By the way, we
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  Speaker 1: never read where Jesus wrote anything down except when he
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  Speaker 1: fingered in the sand that day when the adulteress was taken.
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  Speaker 1: It's the only time we read that he wrote something down.
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  Speaker 1: One wonders what he wrote in the sand. I think
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  Speaker 1: if he had written anything, we would have made such
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  Speaker 1: a shrine of it, the Bible would have faded in insignificance.
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  Speaker 1: We would have so worshipped what Jesus himself wrote. That
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  Speaker 1: our Lord preserved us from such a tendency on our part.
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  Speaker 1: But how often he explained the things concerning himself in
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures. Now verse 28. They approached the village where
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  Speaker 1: they were going and he acted as though he would
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  Speaker 1: go farther. And they urged him saying stay with us
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  Speaker 1: for it's getting toward evening and the day is now
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  Speaker 1: nearly over. He went in to stay with them. They
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  Speaker 1: still didn't know who he was. This is a great seed.
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  Speaker 1: It came about that when he had reclined at the
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  Speaker 1: table with them, he took the bread and blessed it.
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  Speaker 1: And breaking it, he began giving it to them. And
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  Speaker 1: their eyes were opened. Isn't that good? You've had that happen,
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  Speaker 1: haven't you? You've been sort of drifting along and drifting along.
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  Speaker 1: And your eyes are open. We say... In educational terms,
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  Speaker 1: it clicked. Haven't you struggled with an equation? You've had
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  Speaker 1: the teacher work on the chalkboard and work and work.
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  Speaker 1: And all the other students are saying, yeah, right. You're going,
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  Speaker 1: what in the world is that about? And then wonder
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  Speaker 1: of wonders, it clicks. And you go, hooray. And everybody
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  Speaker 1: looks at you like. They've seen it all along. But
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: you didn't see it. Your eyes were open. It doesn't
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: mean literal eyeballs. It means their senses were made aware
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: it is the Christ. It's him. It's him. It's been
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: an overwhelming moment. They recognized him and he vanished from
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: their sight. They said to one another, were not our
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: on the road? While he was explaining the scriptures to us,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: they arose that very hour. It was late, but they
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: didn't wait. They returned to Jerusalem and they sit. And
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: it says in verse 34, the Lord has really risen.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: He has appeared to Simon. It's true. It's true. We've
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: seen him. Their eyes were open. A man among men.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: No one else presents that story but Luke. When you
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: get to the gospel by John, you move 30 years
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: ahead in time toward the end of the first century,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and you come to the one who was the nearest
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: to him during his earthly ministry, John the fisherman. John,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: whose life has been changed, and he presents our Lord
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: not as a mighty king, not as a lowly servant,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Not as a man among men, the ideal man, but
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: he presents him as the divine son of God. In fact,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: John's gospel is the easiest to outline because John states
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: his purpose and then goes about fulfilling what he said
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: he would do. Let me show you what I mean.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: The 20th chapter, kind of like an algebra book, you've
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: got to go to the back of the book to
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: get the answer and then you go back and work
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: out the situation. John 20, 30, and 31.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: 20, 30.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: But these have been written. What? These things I have
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: included in these 20 chapters. These things have been written
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: that you who read may believe that Jesus is the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: anointed one, the Christ, the son of God, and that
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: believing you may have life in his name. That's the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: reason I've sat down to write another story of Christ.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: I want you to see he's not merely the king,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: not just a man, not only a servant. He is
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: very God. And he never stopped being God while he
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: was on this earth. And all the way through he
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: presents miracles and stories and events that cause the reader
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to say, that's God. Only God could do that. Only
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: God could raise Lazarus. Only God could turn water into wine.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Only God could heal the man born blind. Only God
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: could feed the 5,000. This is an extremely unique book,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: by the way. 7% of Mark is unique. That is,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: only he includes it. 42% of Matthew is unique. 59%
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of Luke is unique. 92% of John is. I call
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that book significant. I'm glad God led him to write it.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: And when you read, even at the beginning of the chapters,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: go back to chapter 1. Promise I won't take you
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: through each chapter. But you've got to see the prologue.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: No other writes a prologue like John does. Remember the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: purpose of the book? To present that Jesus is the Christ,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the Son of God. And that by believing you might
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: have life in his name. At the beginning of the book.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: In the beginning was the word. The word was with God.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: The word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: All things came into being through him. And apart from him.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Nothing came into being that has come into being. In
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: him was life. And the life was the light of men.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Verse 14. The word became flesh. This is Bethlehem. The
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: his glory. Man has no glory. A servant has no glory.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: An earthly king has a diminishing glory, and it's only
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: for the time he is appointed. But God has glory.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: We beheld his glory. The glory as of the only
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John says,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I touched him. I sat beside him. I ate with him.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I saw the glory, the glory as of the only
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Only
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: in the Gospel of John do you find seven times
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I am. I am the bread of life, chapter 6.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I am the light of the world, chapter 8. Before
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Abraham was, I am. I am the good shepherd, chapter 10.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I am the resurrection and the life. chapter 11. I
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: am the way, the truth, and the life, chapter 14.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I am the vine you are the branches only in
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: john's gospel well you might think that was enough to
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: cause even his disciples to believe without question now one
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: more visit with john and that's in chapter 20 will
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: you turn verse 24 our friend thomas with whom we
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: can identify. Thomas wasn't there when they saw him raised
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: from the dead. Thomas questioned it. John 20, 24, one
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: of the 12 called Didymus. It means twin. One of
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the twins was not with him when Jesus came. The
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: other disciples, therefore, were saying to Thomas, we have seen
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Now we've seen him, Thomas. But he said
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: of the nails, and unless I put my finger into
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the place of the nails and put my hand into
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: his side where that sword pierced him on the cross,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: unless I can do that, I will not believe. You
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: have a big family, probably one of your kids is
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: like that. If you have a large family, usually one
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: of the kids has a temperament like that. If you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: have a large Bible class, one of the people in
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the class will be like that. There are not many,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: but there are a few. In every church, there are
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: a few. Well, I don't know. Every preacher looks out
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: on a congregation and sees a few faces that are going, well,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know about that. I'm not sure about that.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: And they're always turning. Well, over here, it doesn't say
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the same thing as over there. They're Thomas's. They don't
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: mean to be ugly. They're not resenting it or resisting
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: it necessarily. They just have a searching mind. I want
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: to see it. I want to look at the nail prints.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: I want to feel the spear. I want to feel
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: where the spear was. Show me the scar. It's all
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I need. Isn't Jesus gracious? After eight days again, his
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: disciples were inside and Thomas was with him. Jesus came
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to the doors having been shut and stood in their midst.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: That should have gotten his attention.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: He comes through the door and nobody opens it. And
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: he's there in their midst. Thomas thought, oh, jigs up.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Peace be unto you, Jesus said. He said to Thomas,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: by the way, he didn't have to find out what
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Thomas had said earlier. See, being God, he never misses
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: a thing. He walks right up to Thomas and he said,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: reach here your fingers and touch the scars. And see
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: my hands and reach your hand here and put it
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: into my side. I think he must have pulled his
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: robe aside and said, touch that scar. Thomas never bothered.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Just as John began the book, he ends it. My Lord.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: My God. When you finish reading John's gospel, you want
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to sing, worship his majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: and praise. Majesty, kingdom, authority. Flow from his throne unto
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: his own, his anthem raise. Four portraits of the same person.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: And aren't you glad you have all four? What a
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: balanced picture. Picture of Christ. Now how does it apply?
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Is this just another Bible lesson about the Gospels and
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: then we go on our way? I don't want it
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: to be that. Two things linger in my mind when
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I think of the application of what we have learned
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and heard. Here's the first. We too fill various roles
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: in life. And they're all for God's glory. Think about
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: your role. You may be a woman. You may be single.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: You may be from such and such a family, so
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you're a daughter. You may have a certain career, so
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: you have that role to fill. You have this circle
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: of friends and you're interested in this realm of art.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: And that's an expression of your person. You have various roles.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Your roots, your career, your domestic status, your realm of
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: responsibility and your realms of interest. All of these are
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: roles that you're to fill and all for his glory.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: You may be a man, a son, a father. You
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: may have three children and they see you because of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: their varied ages in three different frames of reference and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: you fill those roles. You may have a very small
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: child who sees you as the model of life. You
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: may have a teenager who sees you as a challenge
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: and learns from you and the dialogue that you have
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: with one another. You may have a grown son who
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: sees you in yet another light. You have a career.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: You have a realm of responsibility that doesn't even touch
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: your family, an assignment in life that you're to fulfill,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: and again, for his glory. Wouldn't life be boring if
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: you were just one slice, just one part of life?
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: God is good in life to give us varied roles,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and they're all to be lived for his glory. Here's
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: another thought. God wants to use each one of our
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: roles to cause others to believe. When John wrote his gospel,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: he said, these are written that people might see that
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: he is the Christ and that seeing they might believe.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: In your realm of responsibility, do people see enough to believe?
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Do they hear enough to believe? Do they believe? Or
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: have you veiled that? Maybe out of a professional fear
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: you've hidden that responsibility of telling them. How good of
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: our God to give us a variety in life and
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: how strategic in his plan to spread our lives like
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: a fan in certain directions so that in each realm,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: whether it's our social or occupational or domestic, Or even
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: family realm with our parents or our own children. Each
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: one is to be a stated witness for him. I
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: sometimes think about the time we will see our Lord.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: We will be taken up to be with him and
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: then the scales will be removed and all the earthly
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: limitations will be gone. We'll see him as he is.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: That must in the future be indeed the most significant
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: moment in all of life. We'll see him in the
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: beauty of his holiness. Our Father, we this moment acknowledge
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: that your Son is our Lord and Savior. We thank
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: you for his wonderful eternal presence. We thank you for
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: the hope that he brings. In a troubled and disturbing era.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Into a life that could be insecure. Uncertain. Though educated.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: He can bring that kind of truth. He is the way.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: The truth. And the life. We together acknowledge him. As Lord.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: And Savior. not one among many, but the Lord and
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: the Savior. Thank you for finding us in our lost estate,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: for bringing us to faith, and for giving us this hope.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Give us a refreshing reassurance as a result of our
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: time together that our life spent in light of the way,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: the truth, and the life is not futile, but has
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: purpose and meaning. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: we pray. Amen.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, four titles, same Savior, was copyrighted in 1988, 1992, 1998,
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: and 2022. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.