Participants: C. A. Murray
Series Code: POF
Program Code: POF000022A
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00:23 Thank you for tuning in, as you do each and every day.
00:26 You may be listening via the radio, or watching on 00:29 television, or the internet, but we know that you'll be blessed 00:34 because God has given Pastor C.A. Murray 00:37 a special message for us. 00:38 And this is part two in a five part series that's entitled, 00:42 Walk This Way. 00:44 Now today's sermon is entitled, The Wise Way. 00:48 We appreciate Pastor C.A. and his wife, Irma. 00:52 They're great team members of the 3ABN team. 00:55 And Pastor C.A., he wears many hats here at 3ABN. 00:59 He is currently the 3ABN Proclaim General Manager, 01:03 but again, he does many things for 3ABN. 01:05 And we're so blessed to have he and his wife here with us. 01:09 Before we continue here, I'd like to open in prayer. 01:13 Father in heaven, Lord, we're so grateful for Your love, 01:16 Your care, and just Your watchful care over us 01:20 each and every day. 01:21 Lord, You've blessed us with so many things, 01:23 and we're just grateful for the gift of salvation. 01:26 Thank You for Pastor C.A. and the message that You have 01:29 given to him to share with us today. 01:32 We just pray that as Your Word is opened, that Your Holy Spirit 01:36 will be here with us and with him as he shares 01:39 what You have given to him. 01:40 We thank You, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:53 We do welcome you once again to, Pillars of Faith; 01:57 this opportunity that we have to bring the Word 02:02 to the world, and to lift up the name of Jesus, 02:07 and to speak a word on behalf of our 02:09 Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 02:11 Our series has been entitled, and is entitled, Walk This Way. 02:18 On yesterday we dealt with, Stay This Way; 02:23 Paul's call to Hebrew Christians to keep on walking 02:28 the way you're going, keep on going the way you're going, 02:31 keep on doing what you're doing. 02:32 Don't turn your back on Jesus. 02:37 Don't turn you back on His will and way. 02:41 And don't turn back to the old ways. 02:45 Don't put yourself under the bondage of the old system, 02:48 but stay free in Christ Jesus. 02:50 Today, The Wise Way. 02:53 Or wisdom's way, as we may call it. 02:56 We center in on the book of John. 03:02 One of my favorite gospels. 03:06 Luke is still, I think, my favorite guy of all time, 03:10 but I've gotten a loving respect for John and what he 03:15 tries to do, what he seeks to do to his hearers, 03:20 given his audience. 03:22 And you've got to remember that the gospel writers 03:26 wrote to specific audiences. 03:29 They had a, dare I say, constituency in mind 03:35 when they wrote. 03:36 They were trying to prove something, to show something, 03:39 to unearth something, to discover something. 03:42 So they wrote with a specific constituency in mind. 03:47 But all of it is meat in due season for us. 03:50 All of it has something to say to us. 03:52 And this marvelous, non-synoptic gospel... 03:58 Synoptic meaning generally, same view. 04:01 John's view is a little bit different. 04:02 And we'll take a look at that in just a moment. 04:04 Bow your heads now with me as we ask God's blessing 04:07 upon this message and our time together. 04:09 Father God, as we look at the way of wisdom, or wisdom's way, 04:14 we ask once again that Your power, Your presence, 04:19 may be felt here. 04:21 That those who are called to listen and hear 04:25 may be doers of the Word, 04:28 that Your presence may illuminate us as we dig into 04:34 this treasure trove of wisdom. 04:38 Bless us, Father. 04:40 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 04:44 It is generally agreed by most Bible scholars that 04:52 the gospel of John was the last book in the Bible to be written. 04:57 I think you well know and understand that the Bible, 05:01 as we find it in its current state, 05:08 was not written chronologically. 05:10 It wasn't that Matthew was first, then Mark wrote, 05:12 and then Luke wrote, and then John wrote. 05:17 The order is not chronological. 05:20 Most Bible scholars agree that the gospel of John was the last. 05:26 Now we do know that John the beloved was among the younger, 05:31 if not the youngest, of the apostles. 05:34 So he outlived most of them and wrote sometime later. 05:41 The gospel of, as I recall, Mark is first. 05:46 And he wrote about 20 years after the death of Christ. 05:51 Matthew shortly after that. 05:53 Luke sometime after that. 05:55 And then John wrote, "John," after the book of Revelation 06:03 after he was released from Patmos. 06:06 No he did not die on Patmos. 06:08 He got back from Patmos after his exile. 06:12 And we believe that, "John," was written 06:14 from the city of Ephesus. 06:17 What is interesting about the gospel of John 06:19 is that it does not self-identify. 06:21 He does not say, "I, John, wrote this gospel," 06:25 as we see in some other gospels. 06:27 He alludes to the fact that the beloved disciple write it. 06:30 We see that in John 13, John 19, John 21:7, 20, and 24. 06:37 But there's no direct statement that says 06:39 John wrote the gospel, or, "I, John, wrote the gospel," 06:43 like we see in Revelation. 06:44 Over and over in Revelation we see, "I, John, saw..." 06:47 Well that's kind of self-identification. 06:49 We don't have that in John. 06:50 There are many, many interesting things in the book of John. 06:54 A lot that you and I need to apply to ourselves. 07:00 So we believe it was written in the town of Ephesus 07:04 sometime after his return from Patmos. 07:07 That would date the writing of the book of John 07:10 to about AD 95 or so. 07:16 The historian Eusebius says that John was exiled 07:20 to Patmos and was returned in AD 93, 07:25 and about two years later this gospel was written. 07:28 So sometime we figure between 95 AD and 100 AD 07:33 John sat down to write this gospel that bears his name. 07:38 And as we say, it is the final book chronologically 07:43 in the New Testament, somewhere around the turn of the century 07:47 of the first century. 07:49 So John has much to say, and his view is very, very different. 07:58 But he does play a little trick on us, John does, to the seeker. 08:04 He makes the statement at the very end, kind of telling us 08:10 who wrote the book. 08:12 And this is so very funny. 08:16 He is forced to hold onto that explanation, by the way. 08:21 He introduces the gospel; we get it, you know, 08:25 we get that little bit at the beginning, 08:28 and then he kind of exposes it at the end. 08:30 Let's look at John 20:30. 08:33 We're at the end of the gospel. 08:34 John 20:30 08:40 John, more than any book, there's a lot of little... 08:44 I'm not sure what you would call them. 08:46 ...tricks, little left turns, little interesting nuances, 08:51 in the gospel of John. 08:56 I'm in John 20:30. 08:58 "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence 09:02 of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 09:06 but these are written that you may believe 09:10 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 09:15 and that believing you may have life in His name." 09:18 So John tells you just about at the end why he wrote the book. 09:24 He says, "Christ did a lot of things. 09:27 I don't have time, there's not enough ink, 09:30 or enough pages to let you know all of the things 09:33 that Jesus did. 09:35 But He did these so that you can believe, 09:40 and that in believing, you may have salvation." 09:43 Now, if you're connecting the dots, here's what you discover. 09:47 John's purpose for writing his gospel is not unlike 09:53 Paul's purpose for writing the book of Hebrews. 09:56 Paul wrote, as we listened to and understood on yesterday, 10:00 the book of Hebrews to keep Hebrew Christians 10:04 from returning back to classic Judaism. 10:08 John wrote the book of John so that those following Jesus 10:15 in the second century, or in the second generation, rather, 10:20 would have assurance that the legacy left to them 10:24 by the first generation was the real deal. 10:27 Now what am I saying? 10:30 By the time John wrote, 95 to 100 AD, most of the people 10:37 who knew Jesus personally, who walked and talked with Jesus 10:42 on a personal level, who saw Jesus personally, 10:47 who listened to Jesus personally, had died. 10:51 They were gone. They were no longer alive. 10:54 So the Jesus of Nazareth, the personal Person, 11:00 was no longer around. 11:01 Nor were the people who could say, "Oh yeah, I saw Him," 11:05 "Oh yeah, I heard Him," "Oh yeah, I knew Him." 11:09 That generation had died. 11:11 The generation who was going to be reading the gospel of John 11:15 was connected to Jesus only by the Word. 11:19 Now that's very, very important. 11:21 Only by the Word. 11:23 In other words, somebody had to write something about Christ 11:26 or somebody had to say something about Christ 11:29 that familiarized them with who He was. 11:32 And maybe that is why we get this very interesting 11:37 beginning in John 1:1. 11:43 Here's what the Bible says. 11:45 "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, 11:51 the Word was God." 11:53 The Logos. 11:55 "And He was in the beginning with God. 11:58 All things were made through Him, 12:01 and without Him nothing was made that was made. 12:05 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 12:11 And the light shines in the darkness, 12:13 and the darkness did not comprehend it." 12:16 You see there a parallel with the way Paul 12:20 addresses the book of Hebrews. 12:22 There is this apologetic, this understanding, 12:26 this teaching of who the Word is, and at the same time 12:31 a concomitant defense of the Word, the power of the Word, 12:37 the beauty of the Word. 12:39 And then he goes on to say, "There was a man sent from God 12:43 whose name was John." 12:46 And then John, of course, gives illumination to the Light, 12:52 who of course, is Jesus. 12:53 So John is doing in his own way the precise same thing 12:57 that Paul was doing in the book of Hebrews. 13:00 He's giving a defense of Jesus, an apologetic of Jesus, 13:04 an understanding of the legitimacy and the realization 13:07 of who Jesus was. 13:09 And as such, a justification for following Jesus. 13:14 This Jesus, John is saying, was the Light. 13:17 And that Light came to shine into the lives 13:20 and into the hearts of all men. 13:22 So you have it; John's goal is to get his reader to understand 13:27 and accept that Jesus of Nazareth is the long anticipated 13:33 Savior of the Jews and of the world. 13:38 But remember, he's talking to people who have 13:41 no connection with Jesus. 13:42 Never saw Him, never heard Him. 13:44 And yet they're called to believe someone 13:47 that they've never had any contact with. 13:49 Hey, that kind of sounds like you and me. 13:53 Never seen Him, we've never walked the dusty roads with Him. 13:59 We've never shaken His hand. 14:01 We've never had a chance to hear His wonderful Word. 14:04 The only connection that we have with Jesus 14:08 is through the Word and the indwelling power 14:13 of the Holy Spirit. 14:14 And of course, John talks about that in John 14 14:18 just a little bit further down in his book. 14:21 So John's message to that second generation 14:26 is John's message to us many generations removed; 14:30 that Jesus is real. 14:32 "You haven't touched Him, you haven't talked with Him, 14:36 you haven't sat with Him, you haven't heard His voice, 14:39 but you've got His Word. 14:41 And His word is real and alive, and quickens us. 14:46 And the reason I'm writing this book is so that you can hear, 14:50 and read, and believe, and be saved." 14:55 So of all of the gospels, John's message kind of 14:58 focus on you and on me. 15:00 Because we weren't there to meet Jesus either, 15:03 but we have the very wonderful legacy left in His Word. 15:13 John goes at His defense in a very interesting way. 15:17 And you find some things in the book of John 15:19 that are really very fascinating. 15:23 John didn't write us a history book 15:26 as much as he wrote us, dare I say, a commercial. 15:32 The book of John is a commercial for Jesus. 15:35 It's an advertisement. 15:37 A short television docudrama suggesting that if you 15:43 desire life, Jesus is the way. 15:47 If you want safety, Jesus is the way. 15:52 If you want wisdom, Jesus is the way. 15:58 John 14, you know it very well. 16:01 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, 16:04 believe also in Me. 16:06 In My Father's house are many mansions; 16:08 if it were not so, I would have told you. 16:09 I go to prepare a place for you. 16:12 And if I go to prepare a place for you, 16:15 I will come again and receive you unto Myself; 16:19 that where I am, there you may be also. 16:22 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 16:27 Now Thomas, you know Thomas, "Thomas says to Him, 16:30 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, 16:33 and how can we know the way?'" 16:36 And then Jesus gives us the punchline, as it were. 16:39 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way... 16:44 I am the way, the truth, and the life. 16:50 No one comes to the Father but by Me.'" 16:52 Now that seems like a very bigoted statement. 16:55 And perhaps it is. 16:56 But Christ is pointing out the way of salvation. 16:59 "You want to get to God, you've got to come through Me. 17:00 I am the way." 17:03 And so John is careful to place that in this particular book 17:09 because he wants you to know that Jesus is the way. 17:14 Jesus is the path. 17:16 Jesus is the direction and the director. 17:21 And it's not coincidental that in that same chapter 17:24 we get an allusion to the Holy Spirit, 17:27 a mention of the Holy Spirit. 17:29 And Christ also says, "By the way, if you love Me, 17:33 keep My commandments. 17:34 Don't forget about that." 17:36 So Jesus is the way. 17:37 He is writing, that is John, we believe, most scholars believe, 17:42 to educated, trained Jewish Christians. 17:46 Again, we get this idea, this necessary writing 17:53 to Jewish Christians. 17:54 As I said in yesterday's message, it was tough 17:56 being a Christian in the early days. 17:59 So Paul, the arch-missionary, the ultimate evangelist, 18:04 tries to encourage them. 18:06 And John, whose audience now is very much a non-Jewish... 18:12 Well not very much. 18:14 I should say, it's intermingled with Jews and Gentiles 18:18 because the gospel has gone to the Gentiles. 18:20 You remember, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed 18:23 by the Romans in 70 AD. 18:25 This is written some 25 years or so after 18:31 Jerusalem has been destroyed. 18:33 So the Hebrew community is scattered. 18:35 There is no more centralized government in Jerusalem 18:41 because Jerusalem no longer exists. 18:42 The city has been torn down, the temple has been destroyed. 18:45 So John is writing to a community that, 18:48 though it has many, many Jews, is not exclusively Jews. 18:51 Really, the same audience that Paul is addressing. 18:55 But John is addressing it as a Jew who saw Christ 19:01 and knew Christ, and dealt with Christ, 19:05 and lived with Christ for a while, and gives it a certainty 19:10 of one who was with Christ to those who had 19:13 no connection with Christ other than these words. 19:17 So he's writing to a trained, educated Jewish community. 19:22 He did write to an essentially Jewish audience 19:26 like Matthew and Mark, who are traditional Jews. 19:32 Mark wrote to foreign Jews, Matthew to classic Jews, 19:38 Luke to non-Jews. 19:40 John now writing to educated Jews. 19:43 So as I said before, each evangelist, each gospel writer 19:48 had an audience in mind. 19:50 Matthew's writing to traditional Jews who want the heritage. 19:55 So you get that long line of names 19:56 there in the book of Matthew. 19:58 They want to know that Christ came through 20:00 the line as predicted. 20:02 Traditional Jews. 20:04 Mark writes to Diaspora Jews. 20:07 He's writing to people who have been flung 20:10 to the far corners of the earth who need to know 20:13 that Christ can save. 20:14 And so you notice in the book of Mark, 20:16 Mark doesn't deal with a lot of history. 20:18 He doesn't give you, this one begat this one, 20:19 and this one begat this one, and this one begat this one, 20:21 and gives you that long history. 20:23 Mark's not concerned with that. 20:24 Mark is writing to people who need to know 20:27 that Jesus can heal, Jesus can save. 20:29 So you find most of the miracles in the book of Mark. 20:35 Luke is writing as a person outside of Palestine 20:39 to a difference audience. 20:42 And he's writing to non-Jews. 20:46 And that's why what's interesting in the book of Luke, 20:49 every time you see a non-Jew doing something good, 20:53 Luke writes that story. 20:54 Or a woman. 20:55 Good Samaritan; in the book of Luke. 20:59 The publican showing the Pharisee how to serve the Lord; 21:02 Luke 18. 21:04 Luke is writing to non-Jews letting them know 21:06 that even though you didn't come through Jewish stock, 21:09 even though you don't have the Jewish lineage, 21:11 even though you don't have the Jewish heritage, 21:13 God loves you, God can use you, God can bless you, 21:17 and God has a place for you in His kingdom. 21:22 And that is Luke's burden. 21:23 Well now we have John. 21:27 John, again, addresses himself to an educated Jewish community. 21:35 But he wants them to know that Jesus is real. 21:42 Jesus is making a place for you. 21:47 Even if you don't know where you quite fit in, 21:50 Christ has a place for you. 21:53 By this time the temple, as I said, had long been 21:55 since destroyed, in fulfillment of Christ's ominous prediction. 22:00 Matthew 24. It's also in the book of Mark. 22:03 It's also in the book of Luke where Christ said 22:05 not one stone would be left upon another. 22:09 The Pharisees, bless their hearts, had gained 22:13 control of the faith. 22:15 They were defining Judaism along Pharisaical lines. 22:20 Lines that suited them. 22:22 Which meant no Jewish Christians and rigid adherence to orthodoxy 22:29 as they saw it. 22:31 So Judaism was beginning to evolve, dare I say, 22:37 or devolve maybe is a better word, 22:39 and sort of circle the wagons and close in on itself. 22:44 It was developing along Pharisaical lines. 22:48 So one of John's tasks is to keep the fire burning, 22:54 to keep the momentum going, to keep this fledgling baby 23:00 Christian movement energized. 23:04 He will be joined in that awesome task by Paul 23:07 and other New Testament church fathers. 23:11 Christianity during these days, round about 100 AD, 23:16 has to defend itself against any number 23:20 of demonic outside attacks. 23:22 Liberalism... 23:26 You don't have to do anything. 23:29 Ultra-conservatism... 23:32 You've got to do everything. 23:35 Docetism, Nicolaitanism, Gnosticism, Stoicism. 23:44 Hellenization, or the Greek-izing of the church. 23:48 Paganism. 23:50 Judaizers who try to turn all the Christians back into Jews. 23:54 And the ever present internal power struggles 23:59 And Roman paganism, as well as Epicureanism. 24:05 Some of these things you can hardly pronounce. 24:08 And yet the church had to fight against all of them. 24:10 When you're a new movement, everybody wants a piece of you. 24:14 Everybody wants to get a little piece. 24:15 And so Christianity is trying to grow up in among 24:19 all of these weeds which are pressing in upon them. 24:24 You know, as you look at the book of Galatians, 24:26 Paul says to the church of the Galatians, 24:27 "How quickly you guys have come off the rails. 24:30 How quickly you've jumped the tracks. 24:33 You know, we set up the church and go away, 24:35 and so quickly you've lost your first love. 24:38 You're wondering in darkness." 24:39 Because all of these ism's and idiologies 24:42 were pressing in on the church. 24:43 And of course, the church was going around and baptizing 24:46 people who were bringing some of these, dare I say, 24:48 diseases or infections into the church with it. 24:52 So many of the early church fathers... 24:54 Marcion got kicked out of the church. 24:56 You had others who brought different kinds of abhorrent 25:00 Arian ideologies to the church. 25:02 And the church has to not only resist paganism, 25:06 not only resist the threats of the Roman government, 25:10 you've got all of these subset religious cults and idioms and 25:14 idiologies trying to weave its way into the church. 25:18 And so people like Paul, John, and other New Testament 25:21 apostolic fathers had to constantly fight against the 25:25 incursion of these false faiths 25:30 working their way into Christianity. 25:31 It was a time of consolidation and stabilization. 25:37 It was hard to keep the church pure 25:40 and to keep the church clean. 25:42 And of course, you've got Greek thought, and you've got 25:46 the thought of the Platos and the Aristotle's of the world 25:51 trying to encroach into the church. 25:53 And even till today, you've got all kinds of subset... 26:00 You know, the numbers I don't even know. 26:03 I've heard some people say as many as 33,000, 26:07 I've heard 300, I've heard 3000, 26:09 different Protestant denominations, 26:13 depending on who you talk to. 26:16 They all can't be right. 26:19 The truth is, somebody's got to be right 26:23 and somebody's got to be wrong. 26:26 And one of the jobs of Christians, one of our jobs, 26:31 is to search the Scriptures daily and make sure 26:36 that you're walking the right way. 26:40 The way of wisdom and the way of truth. 26:43 And so by the time John is writing, this incursion, 26:49 encrosion, of false faith is a clear and present danger 26:55 that John and Paul push back against 26:59 in order to keep the church pure and clean, 27:04 and focused on Jesus. 27:08 And John does it in a very unique and exciting way. 27:13 We're going to get to that in just a little bit. 27:14 Alright. 27:15 So we know that he's writing to the second generation. 27:18 That's one of the keys to understanding the book of John. 27:21 John is writing to people who do not know, have never known, 27:24 would never know Jesus on a personal level. 27:26 This second generation whose only connection 27:29 is the testimony of people like John, 27:32 or the first generation. 27:34 Maybe that is why John presents what we call, 27:38 the touchless Jesus. 27:39 Now what did I say? I said, the touchless Jesus. 27:43 John's Jesus is a touchless Jesus. 27:48 Now what do I mean by a touchless Jesus? 27:50 Look at the miracles in Matthew, 27:53 look at the miracles in the book of Mark, 27:55 look at the miracles in the book of Luke. 28:01 Not all, I can think of one or two incidences, 28:04 but the vast majority of the miracles in the books 28:11 of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are accomplished 28:15 through a touch of the Master's hand. 28:18 Somewhere in those miracles Jesus is going to lay His hand, 28:23 or pick somebody up, or hold somebody, 28:27 and the miracle is accomplished during 28:30 or through that touch. 28:34 But I discovered that in John's case, John presents 28:40 a touchless Jesus. 28:43 That is to say, the miracles that John speaks about 28:47 as performed by Christ are done without any physical contact. 28:55 Now you can check this out. Give you a homework assignment. 28:57 You can look up that for yourself. 28:59 But the miracles in the book of John don't have any contact. 29:04 They are touchless. 29:06 And I think John did that for a very specific reason. 29:12 I think he put in those touchless miracles 29:18 to assure those who would never be touched by Jesus 29:23 that the word is as strong as the touch. 29:29 You see, I will never have a chance, this side of glory, 29:34 to be personally touched by Jesus unless He does for me 29:39 what He did for Paul, and that sort of bear me out of time 29:41 and give me a personal visitation. 29:43 And so John is writing to people who fall into that category. 29:47 You're not ever going to touch Jesus, 29:48 not ever going to be touched by Jesus. 29:50 But John is letting them know that when you've got the promise 29:56 of the Word, the Word is as good as a touch. 30:02 So those who were touched by Jesus have no advantage 30:05 on those who only have the Word, 30:07 because the Word is as good as the touch. 30:09 So John presents for us a touchless Christ 30:13 who does miracles and healings that are not transacted 30:18 through the result of a personal experience 30:21 between Christ the Healer and the healed individual, 30:25 the person who gets healed. 30:27 He's touchless. 30:28 Now let's look at some examples of a touching Christ. 30:31 I'm in Matthew 8:3-4. 30:34 So we'll turn over to Matthew. 30:38 Matthew 8:3-4 30:41 Matthew 8:3 30:42 "Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, 30:47 'I am willing; be cleansed.' 30:49 Immediately his leprosy was cleansed." 30:51 Alright, that's a touch. 30:53 Let's go to Matthew 9:18. 30:55 So we're turning over to Matthew 9:18. 31:00 14, 16, 18. 31:03 "While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and 31:07 worshiped Him, saying, 'My daughter has just died, 31:09 but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.' 31:15 Jesus arose, followed him, and so did His disciples." 31:18 Again, another touch miracle. 31:20 We'll take one more from the book of Matthew. 31:22 I'm in Matthew 14. 31:24 Matthew 14:29 31:29 Matthew 14:29 31:32 "So He said, 'Come.' 31:33 And when Peter had come down out of the boat, 31:36 he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 31:43 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; 31:47 and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Master, save me!' 31:49 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him..." 31:53 So even Peter's salvation, when he's getting ready to 31:58 drown in that boisterous sea, was accomplished through touch. 32:02 So the miracles, for the most part, in the book of Matthew 32:05 are touch miracles. 32:08 Miracles where Jesus made physical contact 32:11 with the person He's healed. 32:13 Now let's go to the book of Mark. 32:15 I'm in Mark 1. 32:17 Mark 1:29 Mark 1:29 32:26 "Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, 32:29 they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 32:34 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, 32:38 and they told Him about her at once. 32:41 So He came and took her by the hand," that's a touch, 32:44 "and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her." 32:48 And so Mark, the miracle guy... 32:52 I say, "the miracle guy," because he recounts miracles. 32:55 He just gets right into miracles. 32:57 This is the very first chapter, we've got a miracle already. 32:59 But it's a touch miracle. 33:01 Now Mark 5:21. 33:04 Mark 5:21 33:08 Mark 5:21 33:09 "Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat 33:12 to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; 33:15 and He was by the sea. 33:17 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, 33:20 Jairus by name. 33:21 And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 33:25 and begged Him earnestly, saying, 'My daughter lies 33:28 at the point of death. 33:29 Come and lay Your hands on her, 33:31 that she may be healed, and she will live.' 33:33 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude follow Him..." 33:36 Now this, of course, is a great, great story, 33:39 because it's a miracle in a miracle. 33:41 Christ is going to heal Jairus' daughter. 33:44 Meanwhile, the woman with the issue of blood 33:46 touches the hem of His garment and is healed. 33:50 Later on, Christ heals Jairus' daughter. 33:55 So again, touch, contact between Christ and 34:00 the person that is healed. 34:01 Take just one more. 34:03 I'm in Mark 9:25-27. 34:08 Mark 9, and I'm picking it up at verse 25. 34:14 The Bible says, "When Jesus saw that the people 34:16 came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, 34:19 saying to it, 'Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, 34:22 come out of him and enter him no more!' 34:24 Then the spirit cried out, convulsing him greatly, 34:27 and came out of him. 34:28 And he became as one dead, so that many said, 'He is dead.' 34:33 But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose." 34:39 Again, a miracle accomplished through direct contact 34:42 between Jesus and the person being healed. 34:45 Now let's go to the book of Luke. 34:47 Almost done. 34:48 Luke 4:40 34:50 Luke 4:40 34:54 Luke 4, and I'm coming to verse 40. 34:58 Luke 4:40, the Bible says, "When the sun was setting, 35:03 all those who had any that were sick with various diseases 35:08 brought them to Him; and He laid His hands 35:11 on every one of them and healed them." 35:13 He did what? He laid His hands. 35:15 Again, direct contact between Christ and the person healed. 35:19 I'm in Luke 7:14. 35:22 Just a few chapters over. 35:23 Luke 7, and I want verses 14 and 15. 35:29 Luke 7:14 35:32 The Bible says, "Then He came and touched the open coffin, 35:37 and those who carried him stood still. 35:39 And He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.'" 35:43 Again, direct contact between Christ and the person healed. 35:47 Just one more in Luke 8:40. 35:49 Luke 8:40 Luke 8:40 35:57 Luke 8:40 35:59 The Bible says, "So it was, when Jesus returned, 36:02 that the multitude welcomed Him, 36:04 for they were all waiting for Him. 36:06 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, 36:09 and he was a ruler of the synagogue." 36:10 This is a repeat of the story that we read in Mark. 36:13 "And he fell down at His feet and begged Him 36:15 to come to his house..." 36:17 Again, Matthew, Mark, Luke; all of the miracles 36:24 are touch miracles. 36:28 Now let's go to the book of John and see John's content. 36:33 Let's consider John 2:1-11. 36:37 I'm only going to read a couple of these 36:39 because these are longer. 36:40 And I'm going to tell you why they're longer in just a moment. 36:42 So I'm in John 2:1-11. 36:45 There's one short, kind of tricky one that we're going to 36:48 have a little fun within just a minute. 36:49 John 2:1 36:57 John 2 37:00 "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, 37:03 and the mother of Jesus was there. 37:05 Now both Jesus and His disciples 37:07 were invited to the wedding. 37:08 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus 37:11 said to Him, 'They have no wine.' 37:13 Jesus said, 'Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? 37:17 My hour has not yet come.' 37:18 His mother said to the servants, 'Whatever He says, do it.' 37:22 Now there were set there six water pots of stone, 37:26 according to the manner of purification of the Jews, 37:29 containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece." 37:32 So you've got a large amount of water. 37:35 And of course, this is one of Jesus' first miracles; 37:38 turning water into wine. 37:40 No contact. 37:42 He didn't put His hand in the wine vat. 37:44 He didn't touch the water. 37:46 He just made a pronouncement. 37:48 The water was there. The man begins to drink. 37:51 And of course he says, "This is the best wine of all. 37:54 This is better than the first wine." 37:56 So let's go to John 4 now. 37:58 I'll pick it up at verse 46. 38:00 I'm in John 4:46. 38:03 "So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee 38:07 where He had made the water to wine." 38:08 We just read that. 38:10 "And there was a certain nobleman whose son 38:12 was sick at Capernaum. 38:14 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, 38:18 he went to Him and implored Him to come down 38:21 to heal his son, for he was at the point of death." 38:24 So this child is just about ready to die. 38:28 "Then Jesus said to him, 'Unless you people see 38:31 signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.' 38:35 The nobleman said to Him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies!' 38:39 Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your son lives.'" 38:44 So the miracle has already taken place. 38:47 Between the time the nobleman said, "My son is about to die," 38:53 and Christ kind of rebukes them because they want to see a sign, 38:57 the next thing out of the nobleman's mouth is, 38:59 "Lord, we need to hurry this thing up 39:00 because my child is dying." 39:02 The next words out of Jesus' mouth are, 39:05 "Your son is going to live." 39:07 So the miracle now has already taken place 39:10 in the midst of this nobleman's hesitation 39:14 about the power of Jesus to perform that miracle. 39:17 No touch; He didn't go to the house, He didn't raise him up, 39:20 He didn't put His hands on him. 39:22 The man asked for a miracle. 39:24 Christ says, "Everybody wants to see a miracle." 39:27 The next instant, the miracle has happened. 39:30 A touchless miracle. 39:32 Let's pick up just one or two more. 39:33 I'm in John 5:1-15. 39:36 You notice how these are long? 39:38 Ten verses, five verses, fifteen verses. 39:40 But I'm in John 5:1-15. 39:48 John 5:1, "After this there was a feast of the Jews, 39:52 and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 39:53 Now there was in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, 39:56 which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda," house of mercy, 40:00 "having five porches. 40:02 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, 40:07 blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 40:10 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool 40:13 and stirred up the water." 40:14 Now this was a belief that when the water was troubled, 40:17 when there was a little ripple on the water, 40:19 that an angel was doing that. 40:20 And of course the belief was, the first person in 40:23 after the ripple gets healed. 40:28 And then Christ talks to this man. 40:30 Pick it up at verse 7, "The sick man answered Him, 40:33 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool 40:36 when the water is stirred up; 40:38 but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'" 40:41 So he's possessed of this belief than an angel troubles the water 40:46 and the first person in gets healed. 40:50 Now look at this. 40:52 There's no, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." 40:54 There's no big ceremony. 40:56 Christ never puts His hand on Him. 40:58 "Jesus said to Him, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.'" 41:04 That's the story. 41:06 "Lord, I want to get healed. 41:08 But I can't get into the water." 41:09 Christ says, "Take up your bed and walk." 41:12 It is a touchless miracle. 41:15 Now let me show you something kind of cute and kind of tricky 41:17 that John puts in here maybe just to challenge our thinking. 41:20 I'm in John 9:6-7. 41:24 This one is very, very short. 41:25 John 9:6-7 41:28 That's why I studying the Word of God. 41:30 Not only is it exciting and inspirational, it's fun. 41:33 John 9:6 John 9:6 41:45 Here we go, John 9:6. 41:48 "When He had said these things He spat on the ground, 41:53 made clay with the saliva; 41:55 and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 41:58 And He said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,' 42:03 which is translated, Sent." 42:04 Go wash in the pool of Sent. 42:05 "So he went and washed, and came back seeing." 42:08 Now, John is playing a little game with us here. 42:11 When did the miracle take place? 42:14 Did the miracle take place when Christ put the 42:18 mud spit mixture on his eyes or did the miracle take place 42:24 when he went and washed? 42:27 Or did the miracle take place on the way back? 42:32 The Bible doesn't say precisely when the miracle took place, 42:36 but it intimates that the miracle took place 42:40 after the man showed faith and washed in the pool. 42:44 Now Christ had touched him by putting the saliva 42:50 mud mixture on his eyes, but the eyesight didn't return 42:55 until he had washed. 42:57 So John is giving you a little brain teaser there. 43:00 But again, it's a touchless miracle. 43:05 I'll give you just one last one, John 11. 43:07 And as I was moving through the book of John 43:09 and showing all of these things, I really got excited 43:12 to see how John in particular elucidates 43:19 all of these touchless miracles. 43:21 So I'm on John 11:39. 43:23 John 11:39 43:31 Yeah, John 11:39. Here we go. 43:33 Here we go. 43:36 "Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, 43:39 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, 43:43 for he has been dead four days.' 43:46 Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if 43:50 you would believe, you would see the glory of God?' 43:53 Then they took away the stone from the place 43:56 where the dead man was lying. 43:58 And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 44:00 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 44:02 And I know that You always hear Me, 44:07 but because of the people who are standing by I said this, 44:12 that they may believe that You sent Me.' 44:16 Now when He had said these things, 44:18 He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' 44:22 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot 44:27 in grave clothes..." 44:29 Now Christ didn't go in the grave and unwrap him 44:32 and pick him up. 44:33 Christ didn't lay hands on him. 44:35 Christ shouted from outside the tomb to a dead body 44:39 inside the tomb. 44:41 The dead body was awakened and walked out of the tomb 44:45 still wrapped in his grave clothes. 44:48 Lazarus, one of Christ's closes friends on earth, 44:52 who we are told in inspired writings was really 44:55 a disciple of Christ, healed by Him, resurrected by Him, 45:01 and Christ never laid a finger, or as we say, 45:04 never laid a glove on him. 45:06 So you see in the book of John touchless miracles. 45:12 Non-contact cures. 45:14 And you only see that in John. 45:17 Now why are these stories so long? 45:18 They're so long simply because they're touchless. 45:22 In a touch miracle you can simply say, 45:25 "Jesus touched him and healed him. 45:26 He was fine." 45:28 But when you've got a story where a person gets healed, 45:30 and they never are contacted by Jesus, 45:34 you've got to give the context. 45:35 So you find that these touchless miracles in John 45:39 consume much more language than the touch miracles 45:42 in Matthew, Mark and Luke. 45:44 And that's why they're so good to study. 45:45 Now why did John do that? 45:46 Why did John put all of these touchless miracle 45:50 in his particular gospel? 45:52 I think for one reason. 45:54 To let the people in his day know and understand 45:58 that the voice of Jesus, the word of Jesus, 46:03 is as powerful as the touch of Jesus. 46:06 John knew that those living in 100 AD, 200 AD, 300 AD, 46:13 during the Diocletian persecution from 303 to 313 46:17 when tens of thousands of Jews were being killed in the arena, 46:20 all the way down to 2016, would need to know 46:25 that the Word of Jesus is as strong as the touch of Jesus. 46:30 That the Word of Jesus is as powerful as the touch of Jesus. 46:35 That even though we will not ever lay hands on Him 46:39 or eyes on Him until we see Him when He comes back, 46:43 that we've got the power in His Word. 46:46 And the Word says that Christ will heal those 46:50 who come unto Him in faith and in righteousness. 46:54 And John put that in there for that specific reason. 46:59 To let us know, we don't have Jesus in body 47:03 but we've got Him in Spirit and we've got Him in our hearts. 47:06 And we've got His Word, which is as powerful 47:10 as His presence and as His touch. 47:14 So I think John is trying to say something very important 47:16 to that second generation. 47:17 The same thing that he's trying to say to you. 47:19 The message is that the Word of Jesus is powerful, 47:23 is efficacious, is loaded with the presence of Jesus 47:28 through the power of His Holy Spirit. 47:31 Paul said, "I got to experience the Savior 47:35 as one born out of time." 47:37 God did something very, very special for Paul. 47:41 God did something special for that man's pedigree. 47:45 But John intimates, "Even if you don't get that experience, 47:50 even if you don't get that special anointing, 47:53 that special contact that Paul had, you don't have to feel 47:58 like a second class citizen. 48:00 Even though you're a second generation Christian, 48:04 you're not a second class Christian." 48:07 In fact, the Word overcomes, supersedes time and space. 48:16 Because there were people in Jesus' time 48:19 who got their miracle never having seen Him 48:22 or touched by the Messiah. 48:24 So you today can know that you may never see Him 48:29 in this life, but you can have the miracle 48:32 working power of Jesus. 48:34 Why? 48:35 Because the Word says so. 48:39 And the Word is as good as the God who gave it. 48:44 Now my time is getting away from me, 48:45 so I've got to do a couple of things real fast. 48:49 John's gospel also does the same thing as we mentioned 48:53 that Paul is attempting to do in the book of Hebrews. 48:57 In John we see Jesus as Teacher, like we do in Hebrews, 49:02 we see Him as Counselor, like we do in Hebrews, 49:06 we see Him as Rabbi or priest, like we do in Hebrews, 49:10 and we see Him as Pastor, as we do in Hebrews. 49:14 So you've got two men writing in two different places 49:17 at two separate times, but they're both trying to 49:21 strengthen the hands of a fledgling church 49:24 which is trying to get on its feet. 49:25 We see this more in John than any other gospel. 49:29 Here's anything thing you see in the book of John 49:31 that's exciting to me. 49:32 John takes time, and we're not going to have time really 49:35 to examine this thoroughly, but John takes time 49:39 more than Matthew, Mark, and Luke to talk about 49:42 the personal and private conversations, 49:45 the one on one ministry that Jesus had with those 49:49 who would follow Him. 49:50 In Matthew, Mark, and Luke you get the big stuff. 49:52 You get the feeding of the five thousand. 49:54 You get the big public pronouncements. 49:56 You get the big sermons on the mount. 49:57 But in John you get the private sermons. 50:01 You get the private Bible studies. 50:03 You get the private discourses. 50:05 I'll give you an example. 50:07 You get in John a recitation of Christ 50:11 one on one with Nicodemus. 50:14 Private with this ruler of the synagogue. 50:18 Private consultation. 50:21 You get a private discussion with the woman 50:24 caught in adultery. 50:25 You get a private one on one discussion 50:27 with the rich young ruler. 50:29 John takes pains to know that Jesus did many great 50:33 public things, but He also spent some quality one on one time 50:37 with those who needed a little special instruction. 50:40 And I will say to you, brothers and sisters, 50:42 Christ will do that for you today. 50:43 You need a little one on one time with Jesus, 50:45 Jesus will be more than happy to come aside 50:48 and talk with you and walk with you, 50:51 and tell you that you are His own. 50:54 So John's gospel has all of the public stuff, 50:58 but it also has the private stuff. 50:59 It gives you this exalted picture of Jesus. 51:05 Again, we see the uniqueness like we do in Hebrews. 51:08 And Jesus is meek and mild. 51:11 But we also see in John, and I love this, 51:15 we see in the book of John a passion that Jesus has 51:20 that really appears in none of the other gospels. 51:24 Jesus is passionate about His work. 51:27 And we today need to be passionate 51:31 about our work for the Lord. 51:33 Jesus was meek and mild, but don't confuse meekness 51:37 with weakness or wimpiness. 51:41 Because Christ was none of the above. 51:43 Jesus, in John's gospel, is passionate about His mission. 51:47 And we should be passionate about our mission 51:51 as servants of Christ. 51:52 No weak-kneed, namby-pamby sort of 51:56 backsliding Christianity will do. 51:58 The cause of Christ must be populated with 52:01 passionate followers. 52:03 John 3:3, we'll go through these real fast. 52:05 John 3 52:08 When Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, 52:10 He kind of lays it out. 52:11 He doesn't spar with the Pharisee. 52:13 You know, "Do I need to go back into my 52:14 mother's womb to be born again?" 52:16 Christ doesn't dally with that. 52:18 He simply says, "Marvel not, don't be surprised. 52:21 I'm telling you, you've got to be born again." 52:24 Period. 52:25 End of story. Exclamation point. 52:28 You must be born again. 52:30 There's passion there. 52:32 This is a rich person. 52:33 This is a man who's accustomed to having people 52:36 bow and to defer to him. 52:37 And Christ doesn't dance with him. 52:39 Christ doesn't do that kind of thing. 52:40 Christ says, "Listen, you want to be saved, 52:43 you've got to be born again. 52:46 No other way. 52:47 You have to be born again." 52:49 So there's passion. 52:50 The passport, the visa to being saved is being born again. 52:57 Christ didn't say, "Nicodemus, well let's see if we can 52:59 work out something special for you. 53:00 You're rich, you've got standing in the community. 53:03 Let's see if we can maybe do something special for you." 53:07 No, no. 53:08 "Marvel not, don't be surprised. 53:10 You must be born again." 53:11 Next we see Jesus pushing back against tradition. 53:16 The willful or unintended ignorance 53:20 of tradition and darkness, in John 3:10, John 5:39-41. 53:25 My time is going to get away from me. 53:27 I won't be able to go through these thoroughly. 53:29 But Jesus is pushing back against pretense and tradition. 53:32 Let's go to John 3:10. 53:34 Let's just do that real fast so that I can... 53:36 I'm looking at my time and I'm going to be in trouble. 53:39 John 3:10 53:42 John 3:10 53:45 "Jesus answered and said unto him..." 53:47 Now listen to Christ's words here. 53:49 "Are you a teacher in Israel, and do not know these things? 53:53 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know 53:56 and testify what We have seen, 53:58 and you do not receive Our witness. 54:01 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, 54:05 how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" 54:08 You know, Christ is pushing back against darkness. 54:10 "You know, you're a teacher, you're a leader. 54:12 You're somebody who's kind of running the show. 54:14 You're in charge of people. 54:15 And you don't know the truth? 54:17 If I tell you earthly things and you're not buying it, 54:20 how are you going to receive heavenly things 54:23 that you don't really understand?" 54:24 So Christ did not countenance willful ignorance 54:28 or ignorance that was spurned or buttressed by 54:32 following tradition over and against the revelation that 54:35 Jesus was trying to give. 54:36 So we see in John again this passionate Jesus, 54:41 this Jesus that pushes back against pretense. 54:45 "You're searching or pretending to search, 54:48 but when you say you found, you're not following 54:52 what I've called you to do." 54:54 Now we've got another little thing here in the book of John 54:56 that I'm not even going to have time to get into. 54:58 And that's Christ's condemnation of hypocrisy. 55:03 The word is only used about twenty times in the Word of God. 55:07 Oh, if I remember correctly... 55:09 And I say, Word of God, I meant New Testament. 55:12 I think about thirteen of those twenty, He specifically 55:15 identifies scribes and Pharisees. 55:18 So, "hypocrite," is one of the strongest words 55:22 that ever came out of Christ's mouth. 55:26 And He used it against those who would be 55:30 teachers of the law who professed to be leaders, 55:33 but who really did not follow Him. 55:35 So again, we see in John a very unique picture of Jesus. 55:41 We see Jesus as the way, and the way of wisdom. 55:47 Christ did not countenance darkness. 55:50 He fought against darkness with light. 55:53 But He brought to His gospel, as pictured in the book of John, 55:59 a passion, a desire to right wrongs, 56:04 to keep people on the right path, to hold people accountable 56:09 for their actions, and to allow them the privilege 56:16 of full entrance into His kingdom. 56:21 John is saying to you and to me, "You never walked with Jesus, 56:29 you never talked to Jesus, 56:31 you didn't sit by the wayside, 56:35 but you can have an intimate relationship with Christ 56:39 through His Word. 56:42 That the Jesus who talked with me will talk with you. 56:48 The Jesus who walked with me will walk with you. 56:53 The Jesus who was my Friend will be your Friend. 56:59 And you can have, through His Word and through the presence 57:05 and power of the Holy Spirit, you can have as intimate 57:11 a relationship with the Messiah as I had 57:15 when I walked with Him for those three and a half years. 57:22 For He is truly the way of wisdom." |
Revised 2016-11-29