THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Chapters 16-21)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey.
Ben Bailey:
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble” (Jn. 16:1). I’m Ben Bailey.
Timothy Sparks:
And I’m Timothy Sparks. Welcome to our study of the Book of John. This broadcast is being brought to you by individuals and congregations of the churches of Christ. We hope you will visit the churches of Christ in your area, and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this broadcast. If you have a Bible question or a spiritual concern, they would be happy to help you with it. If you would like a Bible study, they also would be glad to assist you with that. We, too, would like to be of service. Visit us on our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com, where we have streaming audio and video lessons of our broadcasts. You may download these and use them to assist you in your study of God’s Word. We also are making available CDs of these broadcasts, as well as VHS and DVDs. We will be glad to send any of these to you completely free of charge.
As we begin our study with John 16, we learn that Jesus is trying to get the disciples prepared for the dark hours that lay ahead when they will leave Him and be scattered. Jesus begins His discussion by saying, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble” (Jn. 16:1). Years later, John would write, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:1). Jesus didn’t want His disciples to grow weak and sin. Yet He knows that the Shepherd will be smitten, the sheep will be scattered, and Satan will be tempting them to fall away.
Ben Bailey:
Some of the disciples will have to endure severe persecution. Thus,
Jesus tells them, “But these things I have told you, that when the time comes,
you may remember that I told you of them” (vs. 4). However, Jesus also tells the disciples
about something else that will help them—the Holy Spirit. Jesus continued, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He
will guide you
into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He
will tell you things to come” (vs.13). In John 14 and 15, we see that Jesus had promised them help
from “the Spirit of truth” once He had departed. Jesus is speaking to His immediate
disciples (within the context of the apostles). Thus, we see that this was
a specific
promise that applied to them, in that age, in order to help them with the revelation
of God’s Word. One of the things we learn from this text has to do with the
all-sufficiency and inspiration of God’s Word. “When He [the Spirit of truth]
comes, He will guide you into all truth.” When
did the Spirit of truth come? The answer to that can be found in Acts 2:1-4. Peter stands up
to speak to the multitude that is present in
Timothy Sparks:
Because “all truth” has been delivered unto us, we can rest assured that with the death of the last apostle, God’s process of revealing that truth came to end. No additional revelations occurred. We today do not have to be concerned about receiving some “latter-day” revelations. James spoke of the fact that we already possess “the engrafted word, which is able to save [our] souls” (Jas. 1:22). We have the “perfect law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). We learn from 2 Peter 1:3 that we have all things that “pertain unto life and godliness.” Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the apostles “all the truth.” Now, we have that truth revealed in the Bible—God’s Word. We are truly blessed to have, right at our fingertips in our own mother tongue, the will of God that can help us live good lives now, and help us enjoy eternity with Him in the hereafter. Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). Jesus was going to leave them with peace, because they would need it to endure the troubling times ahead. He said in John 14, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (vs. 27). Jesus wanted them to know that He, and they, would overcome.
Ben Bailey:
In John 17, we see Jesus praying. In verses 1-8, He prays for Himself.
In verses 9-19, He prays for His current disciples. Then, in verses 20ff., He prays for us.
As Jesus begins His prayer, He knows that He has done the will of God, and He asks for
strength to be able to glorify God’s name as He endures the pain and death of
the cross. Then He prays for His immediate disciples, because He knows they are going to
face severe difficulties. In verses 9-10, Jesus says, “I pray for them. I do not pray
for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are
Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” Then, in verses 20-21, Jesus says, “I do
not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that
the world may believe that You sent Me.” Jesus prayed for us today. And what
was that prayer about? It was about unity! What does God want for His
people today? I can guarantee you that He doesn’t want the confusion and
division that we see around us today in religion. Jesus wants us to be united.
The only way we can be united is to adhere to the Word of God. Paul wrote that we should endeavor “to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). What is that “bond of peace”? It is the Gospel—which
draws us together and keeps us close. As we look at the Lord’s prayer in John 17,
it is evident that we need to be working toward unity today. The
psalmist wrote, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psa. 133:1). The problem today
is that we follow the ideas and
teachings of men. Paul dealt with this same
problem when he wrote his first epistle to the Christians in
Timothy Sparks:
In John 17:3 Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal life is defined in the context of knowing God and Christ. This implies a relationship built not upon merely believing that Christ is the Son of God, but instead built upon the unity that Jesus was discussing in John 17. We must be united with God on His terms, not ours. John taught, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9). The only way to have the best possible life here and now, as well as an eternal home in Heaven with God, is to have the right relationship with God.
In John 18, we learn about the betrayal and arrest of Christ. He is brought before Pilate, to whom He says: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (Jn. 18:36). Jesus makes it clear that His kingdom is not earthly or physical in nature. Whenever people tried to force Him into being an earthly king (as in John 6), Jesus carefully avoided any hint of that. He wanted His disciples to undestand that He never intended to rule over an earthly kingdom, since His kingdom is not of this world. Rather, He intended to rule spiritually—in the hearts and lives of men and women. Jesus told Pilate, “I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (vs. 37). Pilate then asks, “What is truth?” (vs. 38).
Ben Bailey:
There are two ways of looking at this. Pilate could be asking a genuine question because he wants to know about truth. Or, he could be asking it in from an agnostic viewpoint (“Is there really any such thing as truth?”). In John 17:17, Jesus provided the answer when He said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Pilate may not have wanted to hear from Christ that there is such a thing as absolute truth, and an absolute standard of right and wrong. People today often don’t want to hear such a thing either. They ask mockingly, “What is truth?,” or “Is there really such a thing as objective truth,” or “How can you say truth is a ‘hard a fast’ rule that applies to everyone?” We live in a postmodernistic world today that wants us to think that there real truth does not exist. But real truth does exist—in God’s Word. People who say, “There’s no real truth” in religious matters, would never say that in any other area of life. Example: two plus two is always going to be four. That fact represents a true standard that cannot be denied. This type of thing is true, not just in mathematics, but also in science and other areas of life. There are standards that are true and undeniable. If this is true elsewhere, then why not in religion? It’s because many people want to escape a standard. They don’t want to be tied down to a certain morality or a certain way of doing things. But God has established His Word as the standard of truth. And living according to that Word is the only way we can be saved. Don’t buy into the idea that no such thing as truth exists. The psalmist wrote, “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever” (Psa. 119:160). If you will live your life according to God’s Word, you will have a good life now, and one with God that will last throughout all eternity (Jn. 17:3).
In John 19, we see that Pilate orders
Jesus to be scourged. A purple robe is placed on Him, and some of
the solders put a crown of thorns on His head. Here we begin to see the immense
suffering of Christ. The scourging was not a “light beating.” It was carried
out with an
instrument [known as a flagrum] that had leather straps in which were imbedded
pieces of metal and stone. It was a horrible thing to have to endure,
yet Christ was beaten until His back was laid open. Pilate had asked Jesus, “Are You not speaking to
me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and
power to release You?” (Jn. 19:10). Jesus answered Pilate by saying, “You could have no
power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (vs.
11). There is an important lesson in this statement, even for us today. That lesson
is this: God still rules in the kingdoms of men. Chapters two and four of the Book of Daniel
plainly teach that. Revelation 11:15 teaches that the
Timothy Sparks:
After Jesus’ scourging, Pilate brings Him out to the crowd and says, “Behold the Man!” (Jn. 19:5). The chief priests and others yell, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” To the Jew, crucifixion was the most despised and humiliating of all deaths. The Old Testament said that everyone who was hanged on the tree was accursed of God (Deut. 21:23). But we learn in Galatians 3:13 that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” Paul also wrote that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). It was going to be by His death on the cross that Jesus would bring men to Himself, and thus to God (Jn. 12:32). As He was hanging on the cross, Christ instructed that John should take care of His mother Mary. Jesus cried out from the cross, “I thirst.” He was human—just as we are (Heb. 4:15). As He was dying, Christ said, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). They wanted to be certain that He was dead, so they pieced His side with a spear, and out flowed blood and water.
Ben Bailey:
In Zechariah 13:1, we learn that “In that day a fountain
shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of
Timothy Sparks:
John 20 tells us about the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week—the same day that has been appointed for Christians to gather to worship. We learn from Acts 20:7 that it was on the first day of the week that the disciples met to break bread (i.e., partake of the Lord’s Supper). We learn from 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 that it was on the first day of every week that Christians were commanded to “lay by in store” and contribute to the church treasury for the spread of the Gospel. It is on the first day of the week that we are to hear the Gospel proclaimed, to pray, and to sing to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Since every week has a first day, then faithful Christians assemble on the first day of every week—in compliance with the will of God. These activities are based upon the resurrection of Christ, without which there would be no hope. If Christ was not raised, there would be no need for us to live the Christian life, and there would be no need for evangelism of any kind. Yet we learn from 1 Corinthians 15 that because Christ did arise, there is hope for our own resurrection. Thus, the things we do—preaching, teaching, living the Christian life—are not in vain.
Ben Bailey:
After Christ’s resurrection, He met with some of His disciples. But Thomas wasn’t there. When the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the resurrected Christ, Thomas’ response was, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe (Jn. 20:25). Later, Thomas was present with Christ and the disciples. The text in John 20:27-28 records what happened: “Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Thomas’ response was the correct one. He realized that Christ’s resurrection proved His deity. This leads directly into the thematic statement of the Book of John: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31). John wants us to be like Thomas and examine the evidence. Look at the miracles Christ performed. Look at His works. Then, make a conscious decision about Who Christ is. But know that these things aren’t all that Jesus did. He did much more than what is written in John’s Gospel. The things that are written, however, are so that you can believe in Him and have eternal life through Him. This is why God gave us the Bible. He wanted us to know that we can go to Heaven. As John put it in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Timothy Sparks:
In John 21:15-17, we see Christ offering Peter a chance for restoration after having denied Him three times. Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” Jesus had used the Greek word agape—to ask Peter, “Do you genuinely love Me?” Peter answered: “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” But Peter used the Greek word (phileo) for “love” that means “I ‘like’ you.” So, Jesus asks Peter a second time, ““Do you love Me more than these?” Once again Peter responds by using phileo, meaning, “Lord, you know I like You, I am Your friend, and I have brotherly kindness toward You.” The last time Jesus asks the question, He “comes down to Peter’s level” and asks Peter, “Do you love (phileo) Me?” Peter says, “Lord, you know I love (phileo) You.” Here, we see a different side of Peter. He is no longer the brash one. He is no longer the one who is too quick to speak. Jesus looks at Peter and says, “Feed My sheep.” The Lord has much for Peter to do. We learn that Peter did many wonderful works, and wrote (by inspiration) the Books of First and Second Peter. Jesus, today, gives people the opportunity to hear His Word and respond. John closes his Gospel by saying, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn. 21:25). Jesus is the Master Teacher. He came to bring to us a message of salvation. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and if you will genuinely repent of your sins by changing your heart and your mind, you can make the good confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and you can be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then, you can live a faithful Christian life and have the hope of heaven as you try to do the greatest amount of good in the time that you have left on this Earth.
We want to extend to you a heartfelt and personal
invitation to attend the
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is brought to you by loving, caring members of the church of Christ. The McLish Avenue church of Christ in Ardmore, Oklahoma, oversees this evangelistic effort. For a free CD or DVD of today’s broadcast, please write to:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
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1. What was going to happen in the lives of Christ’s disciples that might make them “stumble”?
2. Jesus promised to provide help for His disciples in their “dark hours.” What was that help?
3. According to 2 Peter 1:3, what do we possess within the pages of our Bible?
4. Using such passages as James 1:22,25, explain why we today should be expecting any “latter-day” revelations from God.
5. Jesus’ prayer in John 17:9-19 has a theme running throughout it. What is that theme?
6. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prayed for someone. Who was that “someone”?
7. Jesus said in John 14, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (vs. 27). What was Christ’s point in making these statements?
8. Jesus prayed for something in John 17 that was missing in the Corinthian church. What was that “something”?
9. What is the single most important point being made by Jesus in His statement to Pilate in John 18:36?
10. When Jesus said to Pilate, “I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37), Pilate asked Jesus a question. What was that question, and what is the correct answer to it? Support your response with Scripture.
11. Pilate thought that he had complete power over Jesus. According to John 19:11, however, there was something Pilate didn’t understand. What was it?
12. Using the Book of Deuteronomy to provide an answer, explain why Jews feared crucifixion so badly.
13. Zechariah 13:1 says that a “fountain” would be opened in Jerusalem. What was that fountain?
14. There is something that cannot happen without the shedding of blood. According to Hebrews 9:22, what is that “something”?
15. Thomas frequently is referred to as “doubting Thomas.” What action earned him that nickname?
16. While Thomas may have doubted, he nevertheless did onething that is commendable. What is that one thing?
17. What is the difference in the two Greek words agape and phileo?
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,