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 look 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,
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Speaker 1: meaning good news. Each of the four writers of the
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Speaker 1: Gospels wrote good news about Christ. New Christians don't know that.
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Speaker 1: 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 doctor 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 name 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 forty six percent
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Speaker 1: of all that is written in the New Testament. I
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Speaker 1: think that's surprising because very few Christians make a sincere
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Speaker 1: and deep and lengthy study of the Gospels. Most of
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Speaker 1: us hurry to the letters, and we study about men
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Speaker 1: who wrote of the Christ years later. But alas much
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Speaker 1: of what we read has to do with writings concerning
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Speaker 1: Jesus' works, but they really don't have to do with
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Speaker 1: Jesus himself, as do the gospel writers. Four of them
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Speaker 1: wrote of Christ Matthew, a converted tax collector, Mark who
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Speaker 1: was a missionary, Louke, who's a physician, and who was
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Speaker 1: a fisherman. They certainly did not write all there was
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Speaker 1: to know. If you take your New Testament and look
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Speaker 1: at the last two verses in the Gospel by John
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Speaker 1: in twenty one verses twenty four and twenty five. You
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Speaker 1: have ample information to tell you that not nearly all
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Speaker 1: that was done was written down. This is the disciple
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Speaker 1: who bears witness of these things, namely John, and wrote
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Speaker 1: these things, and we know that his witness is true.
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Speaker 1: Next verse. There are also many other things which Jesus did, which,
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Speaker 1: if they were written in detail, I suppose that even
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Speaker 1: the world itself would not contain the books which were written.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that great? If all that he did and said,
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Speaker 1: If all that his life represented could be put into books,
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Speaker 1: I suppose the world couldn't contain the library. It took
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Speaker 1: four men to write of Christ. Now don't misunderstand just
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Speaker 1: because there were four of them does not mean that
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Speaker 1: just in the number we have therefore accuracy. Because four
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Speaker 1: men wrote of his life, does not mean that the
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Speaker 1: four wrote accurately. You can have a number of people
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Speaker 1: see the same thing and come away with different impressions,
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Speaker 1: and all of them off base. It's like the little
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Speaker 1: piece written by John Godfrey Sachs entitled The Blind Men
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Speaker 1: and the Elephant. It was six men of endustand to
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Speaker 1: Learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant, though
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Speaker 1: all of them were blind, that each by observation might
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Speaker 1: satisfy his mind. The first approached the elephant and happened
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Speaker 1: to fall against his broad and sturdy side. At once
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Speaker 1: began to ball, God, bless me, the elephant is very
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Speaker 1: like a wall. The second, feeling of the tusk, cried, ho,
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Speaker 1: what have we here? So very round and smooth and sharp?
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Speaker 1: To me, it's mighty clear. This wonder of an elephant
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Speaker 1: is very like a spear. The third approached the animal
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Speaker 1: and happened to take the squirming trunk within his hands.
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Speaker 1: Dust bowldy up and spake. I see, quoth he the
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Speaker 1: elephant is very like a snake. The fourth reached out
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Speaker 1: an eager hand, felt about the knee. What most this
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Speaker 1: wondrous beast is like is mighty plain, quoth he tis
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Speaker 1: clear 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 rope. And so these men of
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Speaker 1: understand 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 writing was the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God. He, working directly with each one at
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Speaker 1: different eras and from different perspectives, presented the Lord Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: in all of his beauty and in all of his holiness,
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Speaker 1: and yet gave us just little thirty five millimeters 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
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Speaker 1: little thirty five millimeters snapshots, sort of like a missionary
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Speaker 1: slide show, with captions beneath each picture along the way
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Speaker 1: to let you get the feel of what it must
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Speaker 1: have been like. But you don't see it all, nor
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Speaker 1: can we. You just get the perspective from different ones
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Speaker 1: point of view. It doesn't mean that they were haphazard.
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Speaker 1: Turn from John's Gospel to Luke the first four verses
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Speaker 1: of chapter one. You'll see what I mean. Doctor Luke
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Speaker 1: was very careful, not only in the practice of medicine,
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Speaker 1: but in the writing of his work. Luke one verse one.
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Speaker 1: Inasmuch as many have undertaken to complete an account of
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Speaker 1: the things accomplished among us, just as those who from
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Speaker 1: the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have
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Speaker 1: handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me
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Speaker 1: as well. It's a very personal word from the physician.
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Speaker 1: It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything
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Speaker 1: carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you
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Speaker 1: in consecutive order. Most excellent theophilis so that you might
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Speaker 1: know the I love this exact truth about the things
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Speaker 1: you have been taught. You know what this reminds me
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Speaker 1: of when I read those, especially those last two verses.
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Speaker 1: It reminds me of a person getting ready to write
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Speaker 1: a dissertation, knowing that he must or she must present
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Speaker 1: the work accurately and carefully. There is a great deal
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Speaker 1: of research that goes into finding those references that will
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Speaker 1: put the thesis together, and then the writing of them
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Speaker 1: must be The writing of it must be so carefully
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Speaker 1: done that the exact truth is represented for careful eyes
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Speaker 1: to read. That's what Luke writes. Why were there four?
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Speaker 1: Why not just one? Why did the Lord lead four
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Speaker 1: people from varied backgrounds and different educational references to sit
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Speaker 1: down and write of the Lord Jesus Christ well, so
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Speaker 1: that we might have four wonderful perspectives of the Savior.
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Speaker 1: I suppose it would be like someone writing a biography
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Speaker 1: of Theodore Roosevelt, and one person would write of his
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Speaker 1: birth and his roots, another person would write of his
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Speaker 1: life as a sportsman and big game hunter, someone else
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Speaker 1: would write of his life as a military man, and
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Speaker 1: yet a fourth would write of him in his political
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Speaker 1: and presidential career. Same man, but seen from four different perspectives.
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Speaker 1: Or Churchill would be a good example. His background and roots,
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Speaker 1: his educational training, his interest as an artist in his
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Speaker 1: world of art, and then of course his political career
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Speaker 1: in the difficult days of Great Britain's history, say man
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Speaker 1: from four different perspectives. These writers have approached the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ from different angles. So that once we study
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Speaker 1: the snapshots we see the Savior. We come to know
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Speaker 1: him in four different ways. Turn to the first of Matthew. Matthew,
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Speaker 1: the tax collector who is converted to Christ before he
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Speaker 1: writes the good News of the Savior, presents the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus as the Mighty King more than any other of
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Speaker 1: the gospel writers. This is the man who presents the
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Speaker 1: regal side of the Messiah. When you finish reading Matthew,
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Speaker 1: you tie him in. You tie the Lord Jesus into
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament. In fact, sixty percent of Matthew's writings
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Speaker 1: is made up of Jesus' exact words. If you use
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Speaker 1: a red letter Bible, you will have more read letters
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Speaker 1: in Matthew's Gospel than any of the others, more of
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Speaker 1: Jesus' words. Mark consists of forty two percent of Christ sayings,
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Speaker 1: Luke fifty percent, and John fifty percent, but Matthew sixty
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Speaker 1: percent or more. Matthew one begins with the genealogy of Christ,
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Speaker 1: but it doesn't go back to Adam. That's Luke's job.
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Speaker 1: Adam would link the Lord Jesus as a man among men,
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Speaker 1: but Matthew wants his Jewish readers to see Christ as
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Speaker 1: the King, 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 twenty eight chapters in the
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Speaker 1: Gospel by Matthew, you have the distinct impression that he
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Speaker 1: is the one who has the authority to reign over
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Speaker 1: your life. Thirty two times there is a reference in
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Speaker 1: Matthew to the kingdom of Heaven. Nine times that which
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Speaker 1: was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled. Nine times
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Speaker 1: he is called the son of David. No other gospel
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Speaker 1: writer emphasizes the kingship of Christ like Matthew. He is
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Speaker 1: the official ruler of the nation. No other gospel writer
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Speaker 1: spends as much time with Jesus on the mount as
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Speaker 1: he presents his Great Sermon on the Mountain, because that's
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Speaker 1: kingdom living, and naturally it would flow into Matthew's perspective.
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Speaker 1: No other gospel writer keeps you on the Mount Olivet
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Speaker 1: as long as Matthew does, because he's establishing his kingdom reign.
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Speaker 1: When he establishes that over this earth, and he makes
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Speaker 1: it very clear how that will take place. No other
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Speaker 1: writer spends as much time on it. And when the
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Speaker 1: writing is placed over the cross, this is Jesus, the
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Speaker 1: king of the Jews, writes Matthew, John expands it and
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Speaker 1: goes further. Matthew stays with the kingship of Christ. When
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Speaker 1: you finish reading of the Resurrection, you see that the
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Speaker 1: king is triumphant. Matthew has exalted the kingship of Christ.
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Speaker 1: Turn to Mark. Mark's story was apparently the first to
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Speaker 1: have been written. It is the least unique of all
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Speaker 1: the Gospel writers. Unlike Matthew, Mark writes of the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ as a lowly servant. He writes of the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus as one actively engaged in serving his fellow man.
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Speaker 1: His favorite word is immediately. Matthew writes to Jews. Mark
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Speaker 1: seems to write to the Romans who were people of
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Speaker 1: action type a's people who wanted to get a job done,
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Speaker 1: and so throughout the book math Mark's favorite word is immediately, immediately,
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Speaker 1: immediately look at just chapter one, for example, verse twelve
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Speaker 1: of Mark. Immediately the spirit impelled him to go out
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Speaker 1: into the wilderness verse eight eighteen. After addressing a few
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Speaker 1: of the disciples, Immediately they left their nets and followed
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Speaker 1: him verse twenty And immediately he called them, and they
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Speaker 1: left their father Zebedee in the vote with the hired
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Speaker 1: servants verse twenty eight. Immediately the news about him went
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Speaker 1: out everywhere. The same in verse twenty nine, immediately after
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Speaker 1: they had come out of the synagogue verse forty two.
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Speaker 1: Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Chapter two,
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Speaker 1: verse eight Immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they
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Speaker 1: were reasoning that way within themselves. It's all the way
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Speaker 1: through the book. You move from one scene to another,
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Speaker 1: from one action to another, because a servant serves. The
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Speaker 1: key verse of Mark is chapter ten, turn will you
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Speaker 1: verse forty five. For even the son of Man did
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Speaker 1: not come to be served, but to serve, and to
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Speaker 1: give 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 requests that you couldn't
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Speaker 1: seem to pull off yourself, and you didn't know any
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Speaker 1: one else who could. You? Remember that, as a child
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Speaker 1: of God, you have one who is available. He didn't
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Speaker 1: come to be served, He came to serve, you know what.
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Speaker 1: The 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 thirty pieces of silver. You
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Speaker 1: know that was the price of a slave. Again, Mark
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Speaker 1: thought as a servant thirty pieces of silver. Mark omits
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Speaker 1: Jesus saying I could bring twelve legions of angels at
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Speaker 1: this moment. Mark doesn't present that Matthew does. Because a
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Speaker 1: king has legions available, but a servant does not. Mark
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Speaker 1: doesn't present Jesus saying to the thief on the cross,
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Speaker 1: you'll be with me and my kingdom because a servant
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Speaker 1: has no kingdom. It isn't that Mark didn't believe he
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Speaker 1: was the king, or that Mark didn't believe he had
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Speaker 1: a kingdom. It's that his perspective was that of a servant.
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Speaker 1: A servant serves, he doesn't rule over a kingdom. When
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Speaker 1: you get to Luke's gospel, it's different from even the
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Speaker 1: first two. Luke wrote of Christ as the ideal man.
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Speaker 1: Time and again we're giving human interest stories. There are
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Speaker 1: more dialogues, I should say, discourses in Luke more parable
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Speaker 1: that any of the other gospels, because people tell stories
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Speaker 1: and the human interest of each one of these parables
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Speaker 1: was of interest to the doctor. In fact, in Luke's gospel,
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Speaker 1: as I said earlier, the genealogy goes all the way
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Speaker 1: back to Adam, linking Christ with man. Luke tells us
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Speaker 1: more of the birth of Christ. Luke, being a physician,
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Speaker 1: would do that. Only Luke tells us of the childhood
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Speaker 1: of Christ. Luke is the one who helps us with
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Speaker 1: that in between period between Nazareth and his baptism. Only Luke.
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Speaker 1: If we didn't have Luke's input, we wouldn't know of
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Speaker 1: Jesus' childhood at all. Luke is the one who acquaints
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Speaker 1: us with the numerous stories he shared among men and
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Speaker 1: women of his day. And when Luke gets to the
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Speaker 1: Savior's death, he lingers longer than the others because he's
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Speaker 1: interested in the anatomy. If I may the humanity, you
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Speaker 1: feel the blows of torture in Luke's gospel more than
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Speaker 1: any of the others. You feel like he is a
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Speaker 1: man with you when you read Luke's journal. Luke is
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Speaker 1: the one who alone presents that journey on the road
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Speaker 1: to a Maus where those men were stumbling along wondering
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Speaker 1: what their future held. I'm in the last chapter of
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Speaker 1: this gospel by Luke after Christ has been raised from
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Speaker 1: the dead, and many doubted it, and many knew nothing
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Speaker 1: of it. These men were walking along on the way
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Speaker 1: to a Maus and wondering about what the future hell
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Speaker 1: for them, and Jesus happens along beside them, and they
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Speaker 1: don't recognize him as being the Lord. Luke is the
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Speaker 1: only one who tells of this wonderful dialogue between him
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Speaker 1: and them Verse twenty six, Chapter twenty four. Was it
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Speaker 1: 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, though at
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Speaker 1: least the whole Old Testament, than those couple of men
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Speaker 1: on the road to Emmaeus Jesus pointed out in the
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Speaker 1: writings 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 worshiped 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 twenty eight. They approached the village
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Speaker 1: where they were going, and he acted as though he
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Speaker 1: would go farther, and they urged him, saying, stay with us,
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Speaker 1: for it's getting towards eves and the day is now
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Speaker 1: nearly over it. He went in to stay with them.
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Speaker 1: They still didn't know who he was. This is a
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Speaker 1: great seed. It came about that when he had reclined
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Speaker 1: at the table with him, he took the bread and
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Speaker 1: blessed it and breaking it, he began giving it to
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Speaker 1: them and their eyes were OpEd. You've had that happened,
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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 any 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
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Speaker 1: you didn't see it. Your eyes were open doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: literal eyeballs. It means their senses were made aware. It
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Speaker 1: is the Christ. It's him, it's him. It's been overwhelming
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Speaker 1: moment they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
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Speaker 1: They said to one another, were not our hearts burning
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Speaker 1: within us? While he was speaking to us on the road,
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Speaker 1: while he was explaining the scriptures to us, they arose
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Speaker 1: that very hour. It was late, but they didn't wait.
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Speaker 1: They returned to Jerusalem and they sit and it says
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Speaker 1: in verse thirty four. The Lord has really risen. He
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Speaker 1: has appeared to Simon. It's true. It's true, we've seen him.
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Speaker 1: Their eyes were open, a man among men. No one
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Speaker 1: else presents that story, but Luke. When you get to
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Speaker 1: the Gospel by John, you move thirty years ahead in time,
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Speaker 1: toward the end of the first century, and you come
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Speaker 1: to the one who was the nearest to him during
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Speaker 1: his earthly ministry, John the fisherman, John whose life has
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Speaker 1: been changed, and he presents our Lord not as a
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Speaker 1: mighty king, not as a lowly servant, not as a
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Speaker 1: man among men, the ideal man, but he presents him
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Speaker 1: as the divine Son of God. In fact, John's gospel
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Speaker 1: is the easiest to outline because John states his purpose
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Speaker 1: and then goes about fulfilling what he said he would do.
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Speaker 1: Let me show you what I mean. The twentieth chapter
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Speaker 1: kind of like an algebra book. You've got to go
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Speaker 1: to the back of the book to get the answer,
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Speaker 1: and then you go back and work out the situation.
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Speaker 1: John twenty thirty and thirty one twenty thirty. Many other signs. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which
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Speaker 1: are not written in this book. But these have been written.
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Speaker 1: What these things I have included in these twenty chapters.
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Speaker 1: These things have been written that you who read may
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Speaker 1: believe that Jesus is the anointed One, the Christ, the
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Speaker 1: Son of God, and that believing you may have life
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Speaker 1: in his name. That's the reason I've sat down to
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Speaker 1: write another story of Christ. I want you to see
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Speaker 1: he's not merely the king, not just a man, not
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Speaker 1: only a servant. He is very God, and he never
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Speaker 1: stopped being God while he was on this earth, and
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Speaker 1: all the way through he presents miracles and stories and
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Speaker 1: events that caused the reader to say that's God. Only
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Speaker 1: God could do that. Only God could raise Lazarus. Only
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Speaker 1: God could turn water into wine. Only God could heal
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Speaker 1: the man born blind. Only God could feed the five thousand.
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Speaker 1: This is an extremely unique book. By the way, seven
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Speaker 1: percent of Mark is unique, that is only he includes it,
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Speaker 1: forty two percent of Matthew is unique, fifty nine percent
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Speaker 1: of Luke is unique, ninety two percent of John is.
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Speaker 1: I call that book significant. I'm glad that God led
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Speaker 1: him to write it. And when you read, even at
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Speaker 1: the beginning of the chapters, go back to chapter one,
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Speaker 1: promise I won't take you through each chapter, but you've
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Speaker 1: got to see the prologue. No other writes of prologue
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Speaker 1: like John does. Remember the purpose of the book to
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Speaker 1: present that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
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Speaker 1: and that but believing you might have life in His
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Speaker 1: name at the beginning of the book. In the beginning
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Speaker 1: was the Word. The word was with God. The Word
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Speaker 1: was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
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Speaker 1: things came into being through him, and apart from him,
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Speaker 1: nothing came into being. That has come into being. In
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Speaker 1: him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen. The Word became flesh. This is Bethlehem. The
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Speaker 1: Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
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Speaker 1: his glory. Man has no glory, a servant has no glory.
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Speaker 1: An earthly king has a diminishing glory, and it's only
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Speaker 1: for the time he is appointed. But God has glory.
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Speaker 1: We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
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Speaker 1: begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John says,
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Speaker 1: I touched him, I sat beside him, I ate with him.
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Speaker 1: I saw the glory, the glory as of the only
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Speaker 1: begotten of the Father. Full of grace and truth. Only
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Speaker 1: in the Gospel of John do you find seven times
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Speaker 1: I am. I am the Bread of Life. Chapter six,
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Speaker 1: I am the Light of the World. Chapter eight. Before
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Speaker 1: Abraham was I am. I am the Good Shepherd. Chapter ten,
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Speaker 1: I am the Resurrection in the Life. Chapter eleven, I
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Speaker 1: am the Way, the Truth in the Life. Chapter fourteen,
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Speaker 1: I am the vine. You are the branches. Only in
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Speaker 1: John's gospel. Well, you might think that was enough to
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Speaker 1: cause even his disciples to believe without question. No one
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Speaker 1: more visit with John. And that's in chapter twenty. Will
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Speaker 1: you turn verse twenty four our friend Thomas, with whom
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Speaker 1: whom we can identify Thomas, wasn't there when they saw
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Speaker 1: him raised from the dead. Thomas questioned it John twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty four. One of the twelve, called Didimus. It means twin,
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Speaker 1: one of the twins, was not with him when Jesus came.
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Speaker 1: The other disciples therefore, were saying to Thomas, we have
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Speaker 1: seen the Lord. Now we've seen him Thomas. But he
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Speaker 1: said to them, unless I see in his hands the
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Speaker 1: imprint of the nails, and unless I put my finger
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Speaker 1: into the place of the nails, and put my hand
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Speaker 1: into his side where that sword pierced him on the cross.
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Speaker 1: Unless I can do that, I will not believe. You
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Speaker 1: have a big family. Probably one of your kids is
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Speaker 1: like that. If you have a large family, usually one
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Speaker 1: of the kids as a temperament like that. If you
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Speaker 1: have a large Bible class, one of the people in
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Speaker 1: the class will be like that. There are They're not many,
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Speaker 1: but there are a few in every church. There are
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Speaker 1: a few. I don't know. Every preacher looks out on
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Speaker 1: a congregation and sees a few faces that are going
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Speaker 1: I'm not sure, and they're always turning well. Over here,
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Speaker 1: he doesn't say the same things. Over there. They're Thomas's.
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Speaker 1: They don't mean to be ugly. They're not resenting it.
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Speaker 1: There are resisting it necessary. They have a searching mind.
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Speaker 1: I want to see it. I want to look at
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Speaker 1: the nail, Prince. I want to feel the spear. I
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Speaker 1: want to feel where the spirit will show me the scar.
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Speaker 1: That's all I need. Listen, Jesus gracious. After eight days,
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Speaker 1: again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with him.
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Speaker 1: Jesus came to the doors having been shut, and stood
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Speaker 1: in their midst. That should have gotten his attention. Oh
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Speaker 1: he comes through the door and nobody opens it, and
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Speaker 1: he's there in their midst Thomas thought, oh, jigs up,
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Speaker 1: Peace be under you, Jesus said, and he said to Thomas,
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Speaker 1: by the way, he didn't have to find out what
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Speaker 1: Thomas had said earlier. See, being God, he never misses
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Speaker 1: a thing. He walks right up to Thomas, and he said,
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Speaker 1: reach hear your fingers and touch the scars, and see
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Speaker 1: my hands, and reach your hand here and put it
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Speaker 1: into my side. I think he must have pulled his
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Speaker 1: robe aside, and he said, touch that scar. Thomas never bothered.
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Speaker 1: Just as John began the book, he ends it. My Lord,
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Speaker 1: my God, when you finish reading John's Gospel, you want
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Speaker 1: to sing, worship his majesty, unto Jesus, be all glory, honor,
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Speaker 1: and praise Majesty, kingdom, authority flow from his throne onto
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Speaker 1: his own his anthem raise four portraits of the same person.
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Speaker 1: And aren't you glad you have all four? What a
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Speaker 1: balanced picture of Christ? Now, how does it apply? Is
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Speaker 1: this just another Bible lesson about the gospels? And then
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Speaker 1: we go on our way. I don't want it to
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Speaker 1: be that. Two things linger in my mind when I
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Speaker 1: think of the application of what we have learned and heard.
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Speaker 1: Here's the first. We too fill various roles in life,
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Speaker 1: and they're all for God's glory. Think about your role.
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Speaker 1: You may be a woman, you may be single. You
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Speaker 1: may be from such and such a family, so you're
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Speaker 1: a daughter. You may have a certain career, so you
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Speaker 1: have that role to fill. You have this circle of friends,
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Speaker 1: and you're interested in this realm of art, and that's
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Speaker 1: an expression of your person. You have various roles, your roots,
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Speaker 1: your career, your domestic status, your realm of responsibility, and
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Speaker 1: your realms of interest. All of these are roles that
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Speaker 1: you're to fill and all for his glory. You may
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Speaker 1: be a man, a son, a father. You may have
34:37
Speaker 1: three children and they see you because of their varied
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Speaker 1: ages in three different frames of reference, and you fill
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Speaker 1: those roles. You may have a very small child who
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Speaker 1: sees you as the model of life. You may have
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Speaker 1: a teenager who sees you as a challenge and learns
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Speaker 1: from you and the dialogue that you have with one another.
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Speaker 1: You may have a grown son who sees you and
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Speaker 1: yet another light. You have a career, You have a
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Speaker 1: realm of responsibility that doesn't even touch your family, an
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Speaker 1: assignment in life that you're to fulfill and again for
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Speaker 1: His glory. Wouldn't life be boring if you were just
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Speaker 1: one slice, just one part of life. God is good
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Speaker 1: in life to give us varied roles, and they're all
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Speaker 1: to be lived for his glory. Here's another thought. God
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Speaker 1: wants to use each one of our roles to cause
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Speaker 1: others to believe. When John wrote his Gospel, he said,
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Speaker 1: these are written that people might see that he is
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Speaker 1: the Christ, and that seeing they might believe. In your
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Speaker 1: realm of responsibility, do people see enough to believe? Do
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Speaker 1: they hear enough to believe? Or have you veiled that
36:09
Speaker 1: maybe out of a professional fear, you've hidden that responsibility
36:16
Speaker 1: of telling them. How good of our God to give
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Speaker 1: us a variety in life, and how strategic in his
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Speaker 1: plan to spread our lives like a fan in certain directions,
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Speaker 1: so that in each realm, whether it's our social or occupational,
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Speaker 1: or domestic or even family realm with our parents or
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Speaker 1: our own children, each one is to be a stated
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Speaker 1: witness for him. I sometimes think about the time we
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Speaker 1: will see our Lord, We will be taken up to
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Speaker 1: be with him, and then the scales will be removed
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Speaker 1: in all the earthly limitations will be gone. We'll see
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Speaker 1: him as he is, that must, that must in the
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Speaker 1: future be indeed the most significant moment in all of life.
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Speaker 1: We'll see him in the beauty of his holiness. Our Father,
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Speaker 1: we this moment acknowledge that your son is our Lord
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Speaker 1: and Savior. We thank you for his wonderful, eternal presence.
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Speaker 1: We thank you for the hope that he brings, in
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Speaker 1: a troubled and disturbing era, into a life that could
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Speaker 1: be insecure, uncertain, though educated, he can bring that kind
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Speaker 1: of truth. He is the Way, the truth, and the life.
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Speaker 1: We together acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, not one
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Speaker 1: among many, but the Lord and the Savior. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for finding us in our lost estate, for bringing us
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Speaker 1: to faith, and for giving us this hope. Give us
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Speaker 1: a refreshing reassurance as a result of our time together,
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Speaker 1: that our life spent in light of the way the
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Speaker 1: truth in the life is not futile, but has purpose
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Speaker 1: and meaning. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, we
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Speaker 1: pray Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message four titles, Same Savior, was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety two, nineteen ninety eight and
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two by Charles R. Swindall. All rights are
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Speaker 2: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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Speaker 2: strictly prohibited