A LOOK AT THE TRUTH

JOHN 21:24-25

DECEMBER 14, 1997

 

During the Middle Ages, theologians and religious leaders used Latin as their language of writing and conversation on religious matters.  The common man did not understand this ancient language, which was part of the religious hierarchy's purpose.  They wanted to keep theological and biblical matters in the hands of trained professionals but not allow the common people to think or even ask questions on their own.  They even went to great lengths to make sure that the Scriptures were not translated into the language of the people.  As far as the masses were concerned, whatever the religious leaders stated was the truth, regardless of what was written in the Bible.  Since they could not read the Bible for themselves, they knew no difference.  They readily swallowed large doses of error and heresy, thinking that they were drinking truth.

 

Then came an obscure German monk by the name of Martin Luther.  While he followed the normal course of religious life for several years, his tormented soul kept spurring him to reading, thinking, and praying for the assurance that he was forgiven.  After years of agony, the burden of his soul lifted and Martin Luther was born again, trusting in the merits of Jesus Christ alone for his salvation.  He could not be silent about the work of God in his soul.  He began to address the serious errors that plagued the church and that prevented the masses from understanding the message of the gospel.  

 

At the heart of Luther's teaching was what is called "The material principle of the Reformation":  sola Scriptura.  Luther saw that the visible, Roman church had held its voice above the Word of God.  He challenged the whole teaching and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church because it was built upon the Word of God plus the word of man.  Luther understood that the church of Jesus Christ must stand upon Scripture alone, without any addition.  Thus was born the doctrine of sola Scriptura.

 

What does sola Scriptura have to do with the last two verses of John's Gospel, written 1500 years before Luther grasped this truth?  Precisely this:  John saw the contents of his Gospel as adequate for comprehending the gospel of Jesus Christ and a sure foundation for the exercise of saving faith.  He wrote, "...these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (20:31).  John saw that his record of the gospel of Christ was true.  While many documents were written in the period following the earthly ministry of Christ, only those documents confirmed as Scripture are infallibly true.  Other documents may contain some truth, but only the revelation of God's Word is truth.  It is this truth upon which our faith stands.

 

What is the importance of divine truth in our own day?  Let's consider what John has testified of his own biblical record and see if we can understand in greater fashion the wonder of the divine truth given to us in God's Word.

 

I.  A human witness to divine truth

 

Jesus had just finished a loving, yet firm dialogue with Simon Peter.  It was a time of restoring him to usefulness in the work of Christ's kingdom.  In this dialogue, Jesus declared that all who belong to Him serve at His pleasure.  He told Peter of his future martyrdom.  Peter asked about John, who happened to be following close at hand.  Jesus told him "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?  You follow me!"  

 

Now John explains, "This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his witness is true."    The "these things" which he mentions is a reference to the whole of his Gospel.  In humility, John does not even mention his name in relation to his Gospel writing, but is satisfied to be called a "disciple."  He loved that simple, yet profound term which describes the follower of Jesus Christ.  As a disciple of Jesus Christ, John had the privilege of writing a document to give an accurate record of the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  He wrote, not to merely improve mental comprehension, but to declare truth that sinners might believe and be saved for eternity.

 

Some would point out, 'But John was just a man.  How could he make a claim for writing truth that will stand for eternity?'  We all agree that John was just a man, mortal in every way as we are.  But in that process of writing, John received revelation from the Holy Spirit.  He did not write as we would write, even in what we might call 'inspired moments'.  He wrote under the distinct influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  He wrote the very word of God to man.

 

1.  Reality in his witness

 

John recorded some phenomenal things!  He spoke of miracles, raising the dead, healing the blind, and even of Christ's resurrection.  Was it merely hearsay?  Was John drumming up fairy tales to stir the imaginations of those who might read his Gospel?  The beloved apostle uses this word, "bear witness," throughout his Gospel and in his other biblical writings.  It is a common and favorite phrase.  For John wants his readers to know that he speaks with the authority of one who has truly seen and heard firsthand what he has written.  His is an eyewitness account of Jesus Christ.  It is believable because it comes with the authority of this testimony of an eyewitness.  "This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things...."  

 

John continued on this same theme in his first epistle.  

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ (I John 1:1-3; cf. 4:14; Rev. 1:2).


Notice how he uses various expressions to help us understand that his written record is one of a firsthand witness:  heard, seen with our eyes, beheld, handled.  John's Gospel is a very human book.  By this I mean that you find John's own record and experiences of Christ recorded.  C. S. Lewis, the great literary critic, classified John's Gospel as "reportage" [quoted by F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, 412].  He was a careful reporter of all that he saw, heard, and experienced of Christ.  Yet this is a divine book!  All that John wrote was infallibly directed by the Holy Spirit.  When John wrote, he wrote with all of the authority of a man guided perfectly by the Holy Spirit to deliver an authoritative message concerning Jesus Christ.

 

2.  Record of his witness

 

We know that on one of Moses' trips to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, that God wrote the Law on the stone tablets.  John did not experience such remarkable handwriting of God!  John penned his own words.  "This is the disciple who...wrote these things."  

 

Some people have espoused what has been called a 'mechanical dictation of the Scriptures'.  These individuals certainly have a love for God's Word and a concern that we view it as infallible.  But in their zeal, they have missed the clear teaching of Scripture.  John was not holding a quill in his hand while the Holy Spirit mechanically moved his hand to inscribe the Greek letters.  John wrote this Gospel.  He may have used an amanuensis or secretary, as Paul did, dictating the words as the secretary wrote (e.g., Romans 16:22 where Tertius states that he did the actual penmanship in the Roman epistle).  Or it may have been his very own hand that held the quill, dipped into the ink well, and utilized a vocabulary that is distinctly John's own.  Compare John's Gospel to Mark's or Matthew's or Luke's.  Do you see a difference?  Certainly they address a number of different issues in the life of Christ.  But you will also see a difference in their personalities penned.

 

Here we see the wonderful, preserving work of the Holy Spirit.  When you consider that the Bible contains sixty-six different books, written by around three dozen different human authors over a period of 1500 years, covering every conceivable topic necessary for living now and for eternity, yet the truth of God runs consistently through it!  It stands as the solitary, authoritative, objective record of the revelation of God to humanity.  Peter explained it like this, "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (II Pet. 1:20-21).  This word given by God did not come by mere human will.  Yes, humans were involved; their personalities show through every page.  But superintending it all was the Holy Spirit, so that we might have divine truth to lead us to eternal life (II Timothy 3:15).

 

3.  Reliable in his witness

 

Just in case we are having second thoughts about all that John has written, he adds, "And we know that his witness is true."  Some think this may have been a bit of a postscript added by the Ephesian elders who knew John so well.  Others would say that John expressed this himself.  Regardless, the issue it expresses is the reliability of the Gospel of John as a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.  

 

But none of us personally knew John.  Nor did any of our relatives in the past few hundred years.  His witness was recorded over 1900 years ago.  What was truth 1900 years ago, is still truth today.  Truth never changes.  Ideas change.  Theories change.  Postulations change.  But truth stands forever.  "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isa. 40:8).  

 

This truth we must accept by faith.  The Bible is a faith book.  We can diligently attempt to prove the Bible--and rightly so--yet when all is said and done, it is only by faith that we can believe it as the only truth of God.  

 

We trust in what others have written everyday.  When a physician scribbles a prescription upon a small piece of paper, we trust that it is accurate in what it records for our use.  We read textbooks and readily accept the statements offered as fact.  We read news reports and weather forecasts, accepting these things as truth.  Yet none of these things has the seal of the Holy Spirit upon them!  We believe them by the use of our human reasoning abilities.  Quite often people fail to exercise much of their reasoning powers and consequently accept fallacies as fact.  Many governments have been overthrown or brought into dictatorships through the use of written propaganda.  People accepted what was written as true without carefully sifting through for error.  

 

When it comes to the Bible, we must recognize that it has stood the test of time as a book that is vitally important to much of the human race.  But this kind of recognition is not adequate for believing its message.  Many people admire the Bible but have not embraced its truth.  While we can accept many things through the use of human reasoning, we can embrace the truth of the Scripture--particularly the gospel of Jesus Christ--only through the means of God-given revelation.  The Bible is a divine book and as such, requires divine revelation to understand its message and content.  The apostle Paul goes to great lengths in I Corinthians 2 to explain this truth.  He points out that those things which we cannot grasp through our human wisdom comes to us only through the revealing work of the Holy Spirit.  The spiritually darkened mind of man does not accept what the Holy Spirit has given in the Word, for spiritual truth can only be grasped through spiritual means--the revealing work of the Spirit.

 

Yes, John gives a human witness.  But it is a human witness to divine truth.  It is this truth--the gospel of Jesus Christ--that can lead sinners to faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Has the record of John's Gospel or other portions of God's Word affected you in such a saving manner?

 

II.  A thorough witness to divine truth

 

There are times that small phrases pack big punches.  Such is the case of two words found in our text:  "these things."  John testifies that he was "the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things."  We've already pointed out that "these things" is not simply speaking of the immediate context of chapter 21 of John's Gospel, but to the whole of this Gospel.  What John wrote was thorough.  No, John's Gospel does not cover every detail of Christ's life, nor does it record all of His miracles, nor does it give a record of all of His teaching.  Yet it is thorough!  John said that the world itself could not contain the books that could be written if all the details of the infinite Lord Jesus Christ were recorded!  Perhaps we should be thankful for this!  It might be somewhat overwhelming to have to sort through a world of books to grasp what we need to know about Jesus Christ and His power to save.

 

Just what did John cover in his Gospel?  We've spent the past few years working our way through this Gospel.  I will be the first to admit that we have 'yet so much more to learn'!  We can divide what John wrote into three categories:  who Jesus Christ is, what Jesus Christ said, and what Jesus Christ did.  Let's seek to sweep through these things as a reminder of the thorough nature of this Gospel.

 

1.  Who Jesus Christ is

 

When we evaluate the Gospel writers, we come to the conclusion that John's chief agenda is to declare the deity of Jesus Christ.  He wanted the world to know that God had come near; that Jesus Christ is none other than the living God Himself, clothed in humanity.  He does this in various ways.  He offers his own narrative comments and theological statements concerning Christ's deity.  Then he uses the testimony of others to confirm who Christ is.  And he also shows the actions and words of Christ as being evident of His deity.

 

Perhaps we should begin with John's own statements concerning the deity of Christ, as well as those statements he records of what Christ spoke concerning Himself.  I imagine the first passage to which most of us turn in explaining the deity of Christ is the prologue of John's Gospel, 1:1-18.  Here John declares that Jesus had no beginning, that He created everything that exists, that He is the light of God in the world.  He goes so far as to declare, "The Word was God."  

 

In an equally lengthy passage expressing the deity of Christ, we find John recording Jesus' own words concerning His equality with the Father, John 5:19-47.  The Jews understood precisely what Jesus was saying, for John comments that they were seeking to kill Him because Jesus was "making Himself equal with God" (5:18).

 

Some of the other passages which you do not find recorded in the other three Gospels and that offer clear evidence of Christ's deity, are found in John 6:33-58; 7:28-29; 8:14-19; 8:48-59; and 10:29-30.  In the last passage, our Lord goes so far as to declare, "I and the Father are one."  Can we read and hear the record of John's Gospel concerning the deity of Christ and then casually turn away from our need to yield wholly to Him?

 

John continues explaining the deity of Christ by recording the comments of others who attested that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of God.  John the Baptist declared Jesus to be "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (1:29-36; 3:27-36).  Andrew and Philip both excitedly proclaimed that they had found the Messiah, inviting others to see for themselves (1:41, 46).  Nathaniel, upon hearing Jesus describe his condition and position without the benefit of ever having seen him, proclaimed, "You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel" (1:49).  When the woman of Samaria was confronted at Jacob's well by the Lord, she returned to her own village telling others that she had found the Messiah (4:29).  While the other Gospel writers record Peter's great confession of Jesus as the Messiah, John tells of Peter speaking to Jesus, "You are the Holy One of God" (6:68-69).  Greater than all of the witnesses of disciples and followers is the Divine Witness.  In the presence of a multitude, a voice came out of heaven responding to Christ's prayer, "Father, glorify Thy name."  In answer to this prayer, the Divine Witness proclaimed, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (12:28).

 

John is not one-sided in his theology of Christ.  He also gives attention to the humanity of Jesus Christ.  We find this in that incomparable verse, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14).  John used the coarse sounding term, "flesh," to help us understand that Jesus was really a human being though at the same time God.  He did not just appear in a type of body, but he was flesh which John states that he and the other disciples were able to gaze upon in all of the radiant expression of Christ's glory.  Most Jews would not think of putting "flesh" and "glory" together.  One expresses humanity while the other expresses deity.  John was careful in his Gospel to record times of Jesus being "wearied" from the strain of His travels and demands of His labor (4:6).  He spoke of the actual acts of service performed by Christ in His humanity by washing the disciples feet (chap. 13).  The passion of Christ in His physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering in our place is recorded in detail in chapters 18-19.

 

Why did John go to such lengths to convince us that Jesus is both God and man?  He understood that for God to redeem sinners, it required that God Himself bear His own judgment against humanity.  But as God He could not suffer His judgment, so He became a man in the act of the Incarnation for the purpose of vicariously suffering for those He would save.  I don't believe I've ever heard it expressed any more clearly than those words written by James P. Boyce in his Abstract of Systematic Theology over 100 years ago:

This one person was, therefore, able to suffer and bear the penalty of man's transgression, because, being of man's nature, he could become man's representative, and could also endure such suffering as could be inflicted upon man; yet, being God, he could give a value to such suffering, which would make it an equivalent, not to one man's penalty, but to that of the whole race.  [p. 291]


2.  What Jesus Christ said

 

No Gospel writer records all that Jesus said, whether in private or to the multitudes.  Nor do all of the Gospel writers together record all that Jesus said (21:25).  We have the wonderful essence, the capsuled teaching of Jesus Christ presented to us in the Gospels.  The original Gospels were not red letter editions!  But I am glad that printers have added this helpful tool for us in our modern translations of the Gospels.  As you thumb through the four Gospels, you will find the interspersing of the authors' narrative, with conversations Christ had with individuals or small groups, and the longer teaching of Christ.  John follows this same pattern.  For our purposes, let's confine ourselves to the teaching of Christ in John's Gospel.

 

There are a number of pivotal texts that record the teaching of Jesus Christ.  The first of any length in John's Gospel is the teaching on the new birth (chap. 3).  Here Jesus explains the mystery and the miracle of being born of the Spirit or born from above.  He tells Nicodemus that the new birth is a necessity for seeing the kingdom of God; it is an impossibility from man's perspective; and that it is a divine mystery in which you cannot fully explain it, you only see the effect of it.  This put Nicodemus on notice that all of his religious training and practice could not save him.  He had to know the great mercy of God in the new birth to even see the kingdom of God.  Have you been born of God?

 

Jesus commonly utilized normal commodities of life to teach vital spiritual truths.  He spoke of "living water" (chap. 4) and "the bread of life" (chap. 6) to explain to us that Jesus Christ alone can satisfy the thirst and hunger of our eternal souls.  So many pursue acts of service, religious rituals, church affiliation as substitutes for the living water and the bread of life.  Jesus Christ calls us to the reality that apart from Him we cannot enter the kingdom of God.  Apart from Him being the substance of our salvation, the solitary One in whom we partake, we cannot have life.

 

The Bible describes unbelieving man as living in spiritual darkness and being spiritually dead.  Jesus explained that He is the light of the world, so that only in relationship to Him can man be delivered from the bondage of spiritual darkness and brought into the liberty of sonship (John 8).  It is in this context that our Lord declared that only He can set you free from your sin.  You do not have the power to deliver yourself from the curse of the Fall and the bondage that clings to our human nature.  But Jesus Christ sets us free!  And if He sets us free, we are free indeed!  "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free....If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" (8:31-32, 37).  Have you known that wonderful liberty that is in Jesus Christ?

 

Sheep were common sights in Israel.  So were shepherds.  Jesus used the imagery of the 'good shepherd' to explain some critical truths in John 10.  A group of shepherds might put their sheep together in an area for protection at night.  But when the day came, the shepherd would call his own sheep by name and they would hear his voice and follow.  Jesus tells us that this is precisely what He does.  We see His effectual calling of sinners, calling us out of the bondage in which we have been living, and calling us into sonship as His followers.  Make no mistake, "the sheep follow him because they know his voice" (10:4).  Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who has laid down His life for the sheep.  Jesus assures every believer that those to whom He has given eternal life will never perish; no one can snatch them out of His hand!

 

He taught in short fashion that He is the resurrection and life (John 11).  It was in the context of raising Lazarus from the dead that we understand that our own hope of eternal life and bodily resurrection is found in Jesus Christ alone.

 

We find Christ teaching His disciples about true humility and service, as He washed the feet of His disciples as they gathered for the Passover feast (John 13).  We are exhorted to live in such simplicity of service to one another rather than trying to climb over one another for recognition.  

 

Beginning in John 14 through chapter 16, we have the magnificent "Upper Room Discourse."  Here Jesus prepares the disciples for living without His bodily presence.  He explains that He alone is the way to the Father and that in His ascension into heaven He was preparing a place for them.  He teaches us about the Holy Spirit who is an equal member of the Godhead with the Father and the Son, who dwells in every believer, and who alone can carry out the work of convincing the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.  We see our utter dependence upon Jesus Christ in the teaching of the Vine and the branches.  Jesus Christ is the life of the believer, so that in Him the believer has all that is necessary to live in obedience before the Father (15:1-16).

 

While the contents of John 17 constitutes Jesus Christ's high priestly prayer on our behalf, it also contains some of the clearest teaching on the continuing work of sanctification in our lives.  It can really serve as a compendium of Christianity.  We see everything from the explanation of eternal life as knowing God through Christ (17:3), to the fact that Jesus Christ fully completed the saving work the Father sent Him to do (17:4), to the electing grace of God in choosing us and giving us to the Son for His redemptive work (17:5-10).  We find the assurance of our salvation bound up in the finished work of Jesus Christ (17:11-12) and the continuing work of sanctification centered in our relationship to the revelation of God in His word (17:17, 19).  Our mission to the world with the gospel is shown to be vitally connected to our sanctification (17:16-18).  We also understand that the unity of the church expresses the vital union found in the Godhead (17:23).  

 

My brethren, I have only hit the high points in what Christ said in the Gospel of John.  We have been entrusted with a priceless treasure in this book, as well as the rest of God's Word.  How we must be diligent to read and study this treasure, to feast upon its riches, to saturate our minds in its truth, to fill our hearts with its radiance, and to know the extent of God's grace shown to us in Christ!

 

3.  What Jesus Christ did

 

Jesus Christ came to earth to accomplish the work of redemption which the Father purposed before the foundation of the world.  I heard a man on the radio this week saying that the one purpose Jesus had in mind for coming to this earth was 'to help us make it through life'.  My heart sank at such a pitiful thought!  No!  He came to deliver us from the bondage of this life, to deliver us from the curse of the fall, to set us free from the penalty of divine judgment which we deserve, and to reconcile us to God through the sacrifice of His own life!  

 

Above all things, Jesus Christ entered this world as the Incarnate Word to accomplish all that the Father had sent Him to do; to glorify the Father in all things.  He came as our Mediator and He accomplished His priestly work through His own bloody, atoning, propitiatory sacrifice at the cross.  He could make the declaration, "It is finished!" (John 19:30).  Not one drop of His blood was wasted.  Not one moment of suffering was needless.  Nothing can be added to our salvation.  We are saved through Jesus Christ alone, who died on our behalf and rose from the dead in great triumph for all eternity.

 

Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation?  How foolish we are to try and add something to what Jesus Christ has already finished!  Cast yourself upon Christ and His merits, for that alone will suffice before God for righteousness.

 

Conclusion

 

John offered a sufficient witness to divine truth in this Gospel.  There are those people who spend their lives trying to find the so-called 'lost sayings of Jesus' or to explain the 'hidden years of Jesus'.  John assures us that "...there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written."  In other words, the Bible is a miracle of brevity in light of its divine subject!  The world could have been filled with page after page of material explaining, declaring, and illuminating us on our great Redeemer.  But John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was selective.  What he wrote was enough--enough for you and me to understand the simple gospel truth that leads to eternal life.

 

As you read and hear the Gospel of John, you are either condemned because you have rejected the Christ of this gospel; or you are humbled that such a mighty God would condescend to men of low degree to accomplish your redemption through Christ. There's hope for sinners living under the weight of condemnation:  flee to Jesus Christ.  He bore the load of your guilt before the judgment of God.  If He sets you free, you are free indeed.

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