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(upbeat music) Welcome back for day four of week one of our look to the New
Testament. We're looking at the Gospel of John today. And let's start with the
purpose of John as he wrote.

John wrote to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. He wrote to convince that all
who believe can have eternal life. Key verse in the book of John, John 20, 30 to
31, it's where he tells us why he wrote the book.

These are recorded so that you will believe that he, Jesus, is the Messiah, the
Son of God, and that believing in him, you will have life. The Gospel of John
was written about 85 to 90 AD. It was the last Gospel written.

And over 90% of John is unique to the Gospel of John. He wrote after the others,
so he put some things in that the others didn't put in. For instance, the whole
upper room discourse, all that Jesus said to his disciples in that upper room.

The Gospel of John was written by John the Apostle. John the Apostle was a
changed man because of Jesus Christ. He went from businessman to disciple.

With his brother James, he was part of a family fishing business before he
allowed Jesus to come into his life. There's some good evidence that Zebedee,
his father, was a wealthy man. So he was in a family of some wealth, fishing
business of some success, and he leaves to follow Jesus.

He goes from businessman to disciple. He goes from what Jesus called a son of
thunder to an apostle of love. He and James were very angry men.

They're the ones who wanted to call down fire on people when they wouldn't
believe in Jesus. But at the end of his life, he's called the apostle of love
because all he can talk about, in the book we're going to get to much later in this
study, in the book of 1 John, all he can talk about is love. John is the apostle
whom Jesus loved in this book.

John, by the way, may have been Jesus' cousin. There's some pretty good evidence
that his mother, Salome, was Mary's sister. He put that together by putting
together who was with Mary at the cross and at the tomb.

Jesus committed his own mother to John's care at the cross. Maybe that was
because he was part of the family. It certainly was because John was the only
disciple who was there at the cross.

Everybody else had run away. John's the beloved pastor of Ephesus for much of
his life. After the book of Acts, and he's later, as many of you know, exiled to
Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation.

So he writes a gospel, he writes a letter, and he writes a revelation. God gave
him that privilege as a servant of Jesus Christ. Now what's the message?

What does God want to say to our lives in the book of John? Two words, start
believing. That's what John tells us to do.

You start believing. John's book has a purpose, belief. The book is not written
to inform, it's written to convince.

So what do I start believing? Let me walk through four things. Number one,
believe that Jesus is God.

That's where John starts. John chapter one, verse one. In the beginning was the
word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him
nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. So he starts at the very
beginning.

First verse, he is God. When you believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be,
then you can believe that he's able to do what he claimed he could do. If Jesus
isn't God, it's just nice words, nice teaching.

When you recognize that he is God, it's power. It's change. So you start by
believing that Jesus is God.

Second thing that John teaches us is to believe that Jesus can meet your
immediate needs. Now again, if you don't believe what's in chapter one, you
aren't going to believe what's in the rest of the book. But when you believe that
he's God, what's in chapter one, you can't help but believe what's in the rest
of the book.

Jesus has the power because he is God. In the book of John, there are seven
signs that are given of Jesus' power. Those seven signs are the healing of the
nobleman's son, the changing of the water to wine, the healing of the man at
Bethsaida, the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on water, the healing of the
blind man, the raising of Lazarus.

Those seven signs show the power of Jesus Christ. And in every one of them, when
you look at them, it's how he can meet our immediate needs. Someone needed
healing, he met that need.

Someone needed food, he met that need. The disciples needed him to be with them,
he met that need by walking to them on the water. A blind man needed to see, he
met that need.

Lazarus needed to be raised from the dead, he met that need. Believe that Jesus
Christ can meet your immediate needs. He doesn't always meet them in the way
that you want, but he always meets them because he cares about your immediate
needs.

So that's what you believe. You believe that Jesus is God, you believe he can
meet your immediate needs. The third thing you believe in the book of John is
you believe that Jesus can meet your deepest needs.

Your immediate needs are rarely your deepest needs. And if all you're about is
meeting your immediate needs, you're never going to get to know Jesus Christ and
his power and who he really is. Yes, he will meet those needs, but he also wants
to meet your deepest needs.

There are seven signs in the book of John, that's the immediate needs. There are
also seven I am statements in the book of John. These are where he meets those
deepest needs.

Jesus says the seven statements, I am the bread of life. I am the light of the
world. I am the gate.

I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the
truth and the life.

I am the true vine where you draw your life from. These talk about all of these,
how Jesus can meet the deepest need of your life. You need direction in life.

He's the good shepherd. You need true fulfillment in life. He's the bread of
life.

You need to know the way to go. He's the gate. He's the light of the world.

You need to know where you get the energy for daily living. He's the true vine.
He's the resurrection and the life.

The deepest needs that you have, if you look to anyone but Jesus Christ to meet
those needs, you're looking to someone, to something that cannot meet those
needs, because only Jesus Christ can meet those deepest needs. Now sometimes,
because we want our deepest needs met now, immediately, we have to have it
today, we look to someone, something that promises instant meeting of those
needs, and we look to the wrong thing. That's how you get caught up in cults.

That's how you get caught up in false teaching. Now Jesus is the way, the truth
and the life. So you look to him to meet those deepest needs of your life.

It may take time as you fellowship with him and talk with him, but he will meet
those needs. And there's a fourth thing that John teaches us. Believe that Jesus
Christ can meet your greatest needs.

We have needs that may not be felt at all by us that are our greatest needs. And
Jesus shows us that he can meet those needs as he talks to his disciples in the
upper room, as he goes to the cross and gives his life for us, and as he's
resurrected from the dead. There's no greater model than Jesus Christ in meeting
those needs.

And you see this in the beginning of this section, chapter John 13, how he wants
to meet those needs. I think this may be my favorite story in the New Testament,
John 13, verses three to five. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things
under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.

And so he got up from the meal, he took off his outer clothing, and he wrapped a
towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin, and he began
to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
him. He modeled for us what it means to love, to be a servant.

No one else had washed the dirty feet when they'd walked into that room. It was
a room full of proud hearts and dirty feet. But Jesus, the Messiah, God in human
flesh, the one who should have been served is the one who chose to serve.

And this is a deep reminder that when it comes to Jesus meeting your greatest
needs, he can meet your need for love. As Jesus talks to his disciples that
night before he died, he talked to them about the great commandment to love one
another, and that they could love one another because he had loved them. It's my
conviction that these few minutes in the upper room forever changed John's heart
and his life.

What Jesus said sank in. He never forgot these words. So when you get to his
letters, you see him saying again and again these same words he heard in the
upper room that night.

Love one another. God can meet your need for love. In John 15, nine to 12,
here's what Jesus said to them.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you
keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commands, and remain in his love.

I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made
complete. My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. He can meet
that deepest need for love.

He can also meet your need for peace. John 14, 27, peace I leave with you, my
peace I give to you. I don't give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. If you're anxious,
Jesus can meet your need for peace. He can meet your need for significance and
purpose.

In John 17, 18, Jesus said in his prayer, as you sent me, he says to God, into
the world, I have sent them, the disciples, into the world. And then he can meet
your deepest need of all. He can meet your need for forgiveness, for life.

His great love is shown in his great sacrifice, and that gives us great hope in
the resurrection. Jesus came out of the tomb, and John, like no one else,
emphasizes Jesus' personal appearances to people after he was resurrected. He
came to show them his life.

So he appears to Mary Magdalene, and he says to her, go and tell my disciples.
And he appears to Thomas, and he says to him, touch my hands and believe. And he
appears to Simon Peter, and he says, feed my sheep.

So how about you? We all can have a personal meeting with a resurrected Christ,
because he's still resurrected. You may not see him visibly, but you know that
he's here.

So what does he have to say to you? Maybe it's something that would surprise
you. What does he have to say to you?

Maybe he wants to remind you that he loves you, wants to remind you of his call
in your life. If you're going to live out the life of Jesus Christ, then it comes
from the power of the resurrection. So let's just listen in prayer for just a
moment.

Would you pray with me? And in prayer, just listening to him say, Jesus, you're
the resurrected Lord. You're here right now.

What do you want to say to me? What do you have for my life? Maybe it's feed my
sheep or touch my hands or tell my disciples like those early followers, or
maybe it's something entirely different.

What do you have to say to me, Jesus Christ? I'm listening. Help me to listen
through this day to you.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Tomorrow we're going to turn to the book of Acts,
which tells us how God changes our world.