Jesus Is the Son of God


Sermon by Conrad Mbewe on September 19, 2021 John 20:31

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Well brethren, it’s a real joy for me to be back here. I was checking in my diary as to my last – my first and last visit among you – and it was November 2015. So it’s almost six years. What I remember the most was just the warmth of fellowship that I enjoyed with you on that particular visit, and so I remember telling my wife about that and looking forward to being among you.

I’ve been currently involved in the recording of an audio Bible back home, and just finished recording the New Testament. And initially when I began I thought to begin with Matthew and make it all the way to Revelation. They said, “No, you begin with the easier books and then slowly find your way to the end.” And the book that I ended with is actually the gospel of John. And I’ve never quite forgotten the effect of reading through the gospel of John at this pace and then landing with the words that I want us to consider at the end of chapter 20. John, the gospel of John, and chapter 20. I’ll begin with verse 24, although we will really be considering verse 30 and verse 31, more specifically verse 31.

And while you’re turning there, let me just mention what struck me the most. We are living in a postmodern age, which has a very negative attitude towards anything that has to do with assertions, especially assertions of objective truth. We’ve been sort of beaten into a mindset where what matters is whatever anybody believes; you sort of just leave it to them. And then you simply enjoy a congenial atmosphere of warmth and love and so on, and therefore even the Christian church should really end up with that kind of atmosphere where what you believe is really up to you but it’s good to have you here, and hopefully somehow or other we should be making our way towards heaven. That militates inevitably against missions, for example, because in the work of missions, as our friends were sharing here, you’re going to a different culture, different country, different kind of society and community with some assertion concerning Christian truth. And you are seeking to prevail on those people to abandon what is not true and embrace the truth. Obviously, postmodernism has no patience with that kind of approach and therefore shoots the work of missions in the foot, so to speak. And even in the context of Christianity back home, it becomes the same thing. You cannot really preach in a forthright manner saying, “This is the truth.” Rather we are supposed to sort of sit around the table and then just somehow discuss what our different thoughts are, cook them together, and then sort of go home with a serving that is a combination of our thoughts rather than of what God Himself has spoken.

Well what I was reading here amounted to a very clear assertion, and is the title of my sermon – “Jesus is the Son of God.” Take it or leave it. Let’s see how he puts it forward there for us.

John chapter 20 verse 24:

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.” – This is the resurrected Jesus – “So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him,” – there is the assertion – “‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

And then John summarizes the purpose of his putting together this entire gospel:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Now in many ways, that’s why he wrote this gospel, but you will agree with me that indeed that’s why the whole Bible is written. The entire Bible is about Jesus Christ. It testifies of Him in various ways. But ultimately it is drawing our attention to who He is and then the work that He has come to do. With respect to who He is, we cannot miss the fact that He is coming to fulfill the aspirations of God’s people right across history as the one who would be sent by God in order to redeem His people. But in terms of who He is, it is this reality that the one who is to be sent is God the Son Himself. And so what John is saying here represents literally the whole of the Bible. It is therefore vital for us to understand, especially as we read the gospels but indeed as we read the whole of the Bible concerning the person and work of Christ, that it does not contain everything that can ever be known concerning the beauty and glory of this person – who He is and indeed what He has done. John is not ashamed to confess that. He puts it this way in our text as we have already noted, that there are many other signs that Jesus did and they were done not in a secret place but in the presence of the disciples. In this particular case, John himself was an eyewitness. So unlike Luke, who underwent an investigative process, researching, collating information, finally putting together an account, in John’s case he was a first-hand witness of what Jesus Christ did and therefore if there is anybody we should not argue with, it is the author of this gospel. He stood there. He saw with his own eyes what had happened.

And what he is now saying is this – that, “I saw a lot that I have left out of this account, but the things that I have now put together here are with a very specific end,” which end we will come to in a moment. One of those things, the many things that John saw that he left some out and then wrote down others, he calls them here “signs.” “Now Jesus did many other signs.” And then he says, “I have left out many, but these signs I have written down for a very specific end.” The signs, the fuller phrase is that of “miracles, signs and wonders.” The miraculous part refers to the nature of those signs. It was something that did not follow the laws of nature, to borrow a more modern term. They went right across that law that perhaps you and I would be referring to. For instance, you cannot just turn water into wine. That will not happen. You cannot simply open blind eyes. That will not happen. You cannot just walk on water. That will not happen. You cannot rebuke a storm. That won’t happen.

When we were very young back home in Africa and there was something of a whirlwind, we thought it was a hurricane but of course it wasn’t, but a whirlwind that’s coming. I remember we used to sit and just point your small finger in the direction of it and it will pass by. Well every so often it didn’t pass by. We had to scamper for cover because we have no capacity whatsoever to be able to determine the direction of nature. But what Jesus was doing blew the minds of those that watched and heard because it went against the law of nature.

But the phrase, “sign,” had to do with the role that this was playing. This wasn’t just Jesus showing off His abilities; this was Jesus showing the miraculous in order that the people of His day would pause for a moment and say, “Something unique is happening here. We better, as it were, prop up our ears, pull up our antennas, and make sure we respond to God and His deeds in such a way that we do not end up on the wrong side of God.” They were temporal activities that were never meant to last forever. They were for that particular moment to enable that generation to realize that God is about to do something unique. And in this particular case with respect to our Savior, there was a complete change. We were moving from one covenant into the other, enacted in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The entire sacrificial system of the nation of Israel was to be wrapped up. It was to be put into history. A new phase was going to take place where we did not need that of animals but the finished work of Christ was to be sufficient for us.

And then the last aspect of it was that of being “wonders” – “miracles, signs and wonders.” And by “wonders” it simply means that it was going to be something that was awe inspiring; something that would enable you to go, “Wow!” In other words, it would indeed catch our attention, and that’s what Jesus did over and over and over again. Now He wasn’t just acting out these, because often whenever He did any of these He included teachings with them so that the individuals who were listening and watching were able to go beyond the activity and see what truth was to be embraced for dear life’s sake. And so it’s not just activities; it was also the teaching that went with it.

Perhaps the greatest sign is the one that John spoke about when he said “the sign of the prophet Jonah,” which took place just before this account that we are currently reading. And it has to do not just with the death but that glorious resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Defeating death itself, walking out of a tomb on two feet – now that was no doubt miraculous, it was no doubt a sign, and if you didn’t say, “Wow” about that, I wonder what you would say, “Wow” to! Well that’s what took place on this particular occasion, and therefore you don’t blame Thomas when his friends are saying to him, “We’ve just seen Jesus!” He had his head covered – “Tell me another one! Dead people just walk out of graves?” You don’t blame him until Jesus is standing in front of him and literally fulfilling his requests. “Bring Me your hand. Put it here. Bring your hand; put it in My side.” And all that Thomas could do was say, “My Lord and my God.” In other words, “I now believe it!” And Jesus says to him that, “Blessed are those who believe without necessarily seeing.” But that’s the greatest miracle of all that Jesus would rise from the dead.

The point that we need to appreciate here is that the way John writes he’s got what he’s saying at the end that in a sense ties in with what he was saying at the beginning. At the beginning, he is already hinting at the fact that the one that he is writing about is God the Son who came in human flesh and therefore what He is doing between that chapter – in fact, I might as well quickly take you there; John chapter 1. And I’ll just read to you verse 1 and then we’ll quickly skip down to verse 14. John 1 and verse 1 – “In the beginning” – this is the very first line that John writes – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Notice the assertion there of objective truth. “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If I can add there, “Take it or leave it.” And then as it goes on to say in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us – and this is what his testimony is – “and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of truth and grace.” And so from that point he is saying, “Let me now start showing you some of His activities and saying, including the opposition that the light suffered from the darkness to who you, to illustrate that Jesus is the Son of God.

Let me ask you, as you read your Bible and especially the gospels, is that truth ever radiating before your very eyes that this is no ordinary person? That these accounts are not just showing someone who is full of love, therefore is helping the sick, He is helping the hungry, He is even helping the widowed, but that this is showing He is God the Son? We’ll come a little more to that because that’s the very reason why John picks these accounts.

He says, “But,” in John 20 verse 31, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” That you may believe He is the Christ, the Son of God. In a sense, this is the heart of everything he has to say. We have already noted that this is why he has picked the various accounts he has picked, including the turning of water into wine; including the ability to speak to this woman at the well in Samaria and saying to her that, “You have had many husbands and even the man you are currently with in fact is not really your husband.” And she goes to say, “This man has told me everything about me.” Those many accounts of turning so few fish and loaves of bread into so many pieces that thousands are able to eat with so many basketfuls of leftovers, all these are meant to bring this truth out that He is the Christ, the Son of God.

Now to the popular Jewish mind, these were not necessarily two different, completely different descriptions of Jesus or the Expected One. There had been promised that there would be a Deliverer who was going to come in the shoes of David. He was going to come as the Anointed One of God, which is what “Messiah” means, and then in the Greek, “Christ.” That He was going to be a King, mighty to deliver. But at the same time, they expected something of a being that would be divine. And so, for instance, when Jesus revealed Himself in chapter 1, again let’s go back there to Philip and Nathaniel in chapter 1 of John. You notice the way He is referred to there in verse 49. “Nathaniel answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.’” Literally in the same breath, the two together being a description of our Lord Jesus Christ. So to the Jewish mind, this aspect of the identity of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, was a fulfillment of the promises that God had given to His people across the Old Testament.

But for John, even prior to putting together the testimony of Nathaniel, he was already beginning to argue out this point – that the One who was the Word came into the world. And what affected John as a follower of Christ, a disciple of Jesus, was this – that despite what Jesus was doing, which should have convinced any open minded person, His own people to whom He came rejected Him, rejected Him. Let’s go to the first part of chapter 1. John chapter 1. And you can begin to understand why, therefore, it became a burden to John to pen these events down. I’ll begin from verse 9.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” – Now notice verse 5, he had already spoken about this light when it says, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” He has also spoken about it in verse 7. “He came,” referring to John the Baptist, “He came as a witness to bear witness about the light.” And then it says in verse 8, “He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” And that is referring to Jesus. So He has now come into the world. Verse 10, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him,” which has already been said when he spoken about the Word – “He was in the beginning. All things were made through Him.” “Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own, and His own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Now the very people who ought to have celebrated the coming into the world of the long-awaited Messiah, rejected Him altogether. And so out of that genuine burden, John writes down why these people should have accepted Him. The evidence is overwhelming. He puts it right there before our very eyes. This man who walked in these streets is actually the Creator of the entire universe. He’s one of the persons of the Godhead. He was with God and He is God. That all the glory and all the splendor and all the power and all the authority that belongs to God, the wealth and the wisdom that belong to God, belong to this person that moved among us, that was from human eyes but a human being. He veiled something of His glory. But those of us who lived fairly close to Him for such a long period, we can testify that we saw His glory, “the glory as of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. And that’s why I am writing this. That’s why I have put this together – so that you too may believe this – that God the Son visited this planet, that He came for a saving purpose, that even in recording His painful, excruciatingly painful death on that awful cross, it was God there.” As Charles Wesley so well captures it in that hymn, “Amazing Love” – “How can it be that Thou my God should die for me?” How?

Again, let me ask, as you read such accounts, does it grip you that God should love us sinners so much, to such an extent, that He, in the person of His Son, should climb down as it were, from that eternal throne, clothe Himself with our humanity, be hunted like a wild animal from the crib to the cross, and should finally experience the forsaking of God the Father to the point where He does cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And then you say, “For me? That God should suffer this for me?” Have you processed that? That He’s not just a sent One; He is God the Son. Well John is saying, “That’s what I am busy doing as I’ve been writing this account. It is to convince you, the readers, concerning the special, the unique person that visited us – Jesus is the Son of God.” Take it or leave it.

But then finally, we do need to take it because our future wellbeing hangs on this. Look at the way he puts it in our text. It says there, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” By believing, you may have life in His name, which takes me to my introduction because as I said, we are living in an age where assertions like this, instead of people that professed to be believers, Christians embracing this, instead, often you are seen as an individual who is too petty, who is making issues out of nothing, and therefore what you believe is not what really matters; it’s simply how you live, and how you live being whether there is some level of charity and niceness and gentleness towards everybody else.

But that’s not what John is saying here. John is saying what drove him to write this gospel was not simply to an academic exercise to enable us to know what he believed, but it is for the purpose of salvation. In other words, if you do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, you cannot be saved. You can’t. You can’t go to heaven. You can’t. We have life in His name when we embrace this truth that He is the sent One, the Son of God. And therefore, it is out of love, real, genuine love that John then takes the time and trouble to pen these things down because He wants the readers to believe that they might have eternal life. In chapter 1, that’s what we read, and remember I said that we would come back to this. He says there, verse 12, “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” He gave the right to become children of God. And it is this that gives meaning to preaching, to missionary work; it is this reality – that we are going among men and women to make a declaration, which is a saving truth. And the declaration is this – Jesus is the Son of God. Call upon Him that you might be saved!

It may look as though it is purely out of ignorance of what everybody else thinks and says, but this is objective truth. It is what separates Christianity from all the other religions on the planet. There are religions that believe Jesus came, that He was actually on earth. They even have Him in their holy books. But one thing they will not accept is that He is God the Son. That, they will not accept. And on that basis we must still preach to them and declare to them because only in this will they have life.

As I wind up, let me ask, “Is that your faith?” You claim to be a Christian. Have you read your Bible in such a way that you have come away with this conviction that this person was God, is God, continues to be God, that He climbed down into human history to rescue us from our sin that leads us to hell and from the hell that our sins lead us to? Is that your conviction? Is that what has brought you to embrace the Christian faith? Can you say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” – can you speak in those terms? Is that what moves you to support Christian missions? In whichever way you can – money, prayer, sending your sons and daughters over to spread this good news of God the Son – is that you?

I’ll wrap up with this one argument, and it is this. If Jesus was not the Son of God, the atonement would be totally useless for all of us. We’d all still be on our way to hell. It is because God the Son hung on that cross that the value of the atonement is infinite. It can pay for all my sins, all your sins, all the sins of the millions and millions and millions of God’s elect people with even more value remaining. All I’m saying is this. You throw away this doctrinal assertion, you’ve thrown away Christianity altogether. Embrace this fact – that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Son of God, and you have hope not only for yourself but hope for your children, hope for the coming generations, hope for the nations of this world. Oh, may God help us to embrace this with solid conviction and may that drive us in our Christian faith.

Let’s pray.

Eternal God of heaven, thank You that in front of us is the writing of witnesses, first hand witnesses, who saw the glory of Your Son and were left in amazing wonder. Help us to join them in that amazement as we read their faithful accounts, that in us might grow that gift of faith that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing in Him, we may have life in His name. And having that life, that we may spend and be spent proclaiming His name far and wide in jubilant praise to You and in exceeding joy. Oh God, help us to do that in our world, in our age, for Your glory. Amen.

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