JOHN FOUR GOSPELS MY JESUS FROM ALL FOUR SIDES2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: John Four Gospels My Jesus From All Four Sides

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

This morning, we're going to be not continuing like we have been, but kind of taking a step back from what we've been reading in the Bible in three years for the past couple months and prepare ourselves for what God is taking us into. So right now in the Bible in three years, we are finishing up the gospel of Luke.

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And so what I'd like to do this morning is to kind of take a step back from that and look at an overview of the four gospels and understand a little bit better the whole picture of what, you know, who Jesus is and what that means for us. And so I've titled the message this morning, My Jesus from All Four Sides. And I think you'll get the picture right away, right? You have four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and each one is one.

from different angles describing and talking about the life and the ministry of Jesus. And well, as you would expect, each gospel has elements that are common between all the gospels. Some of the miracles that Jesus did are recorded in every gospel.

But then you also have the other way where each gospel has its own unique elements that the other gospels do not have. And so you have, you know, a whole complete story about Jesus as you look at all four of them together.

There was a great theologian many, many years ago, back around 185 to 250 AD. His name was Origen, and he said this about the Gospels. He says,

And so as you look at the different gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they're not different accounts. They're not about different people. They're all about Jesus, but they all have that perspective. And so I like that fourfold gospel and we need each one. And that's why we read through the Bible in the way that we do to get the full understanding of who God is, of who Jesus is, and what he has for us.

Now, up to this point, this year as we've been reading, we've been looking at what's called the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are synoptic gospels. They're very similar in their structure. They're similar in their organization, and many of the accounts overlap, and there's a lot of things that are in Matthew, that are in Mark, that are also in Luke, and there's a lot of similarities there. Now,

Now, as we head into John, John kind of like, kind of, he goes rogue. And he says, I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to tell Jesus, you know, like you've never heard Jesus told before. And so he shares about Jesus different things than the other gospel writers. There's only a few things that are similar. Only a couple miracles are, you know, paralleled and so on and so forth. And so we get some great new fresh insight as we head into the gospel world.

And so you have these different perspectives being written, these different accounts of Jesus, these different events that happened in his life and his ministry. And one thing to observe as you look at the different gospels, and it kind of gives light to the author's intention and who they were writing to and why they emphasize different aspects of Jesus's life and ministry, is you can look at the audience that they were writing to.

And this helps, you know, clarify why some things were highlighted, some things were left out from the different writers. And so as you look at these things, some of the writers specifically declare, this is why I'm writing this, this is who I'm writing to. And some of it, we kind of infer that from the text. But it seems that Matthew was writing to the Jewish people. And so he's writing to

those who know the Old Testament scriptures and they know the promises of God to the people in the Old Testament. And so it's heavily relying upon and built upon the Old Testament. Mark, on the other hand, is writing to Gentiles. Now he's writing to those who don't have the Old Testament scriptures, don't care about the promises and don't care about those people who lived a long time ago. And so he approaches the gospel account differently.

Luke writes, I would suggest, to believers, and we'll see that when we get to looking at the gospel of Luke, but he writes to solidify those things that you've already been taught. And then John is kind of more general as he writes to everyone and continually refers to the whole world as needing Jesus Christ and what he has to offer.

And so we'll look at these different gospel accounts briefly and just kind of get a glimpse of their perspective on Jesus to help us understand who Jesus is and how

Again, the title of the message is My Jesus from all four sides. And so there'll be four points as we look at each of the gospels. And they'll be important because, well, we all tend to get out of balance. And sometimes we focus or we emphasize one aspect of the life of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, and neglect other aspects. And so again, that's why all four are important.

However, as we go through this, one of the things that I want to kind of impart and encourage you in is we're looking at some information. We're looking at, you know, the different nuances in the accounts, and that's good information. It's great stuff. It's interesting and intriguing, but I also want to encourage you to make sure that you personalize it.

that this isn't just, you know, some distant disconnected info, but as we're understanding who Jesus is better, then, well, it should inform us and help us to relate to Jesus better. You know, it happens maybe four or five times a day. Kim will look at me and kind of just smile and bat her eyes and just say, you're my hero. But I've never seen any of you do that to me.

I don't know why. Richard never does. Gabe never does that to me. I don't know why. Well, I'm not your hero in the way that I'm her hero, right? Now, of course, she doesn't really do that, but you get the point. What has to happen for someone to be your hero? Well,

You have to be saved by that person, right? You have to have some personal interaction. You have to have some real connection. It has to be personal. You may have a hero, generally speaking, but...

but it's your hero when, well, you've been involved and you've been impacted by that hero's work. In a similar way, as we talk about Jesus and look at him from the different sides, it's important theologically. It's important, you know, understanding who Jesus is, but make sure you don't just leave it at that.

And make sure you take it further and say, my Jesus. And that's why I made the title of that, not just Jesus from all four sides, but my Jesus, that I've interacted with him and I've received from him in this way. And so I can look at these different aspects and know and understand how I'm to relate to him and how I can walk with him as I believe in him and follow him. And so we'll look at these four different gospels, starting in the gospel of Matthew and

You can be there now in Matthew chapter 1. Here's point number 1 as we look at Matthew's side, his perspective. Jesus is my Savior and King. Now Matthew writing this gospel is one of the 12 disciples. He's also known as Levi. He was a tax collector who began to follow Jesus when Jesus walked by his table and said,

Come and follow me. And so he became a disciple and he, for the three years of Jesus's life and ministry, was there with him along with the other disciples and got to participate. And then of course was sent out by Jesus after his death and resurrection. And so he has firsthand knowledge. He's eyewitness of the things that he's writing about. And he was personally involved in the things that took place. And so he has a lot to say about the life and ministry of Jesus.

But he begins, we'll look at Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 saying this, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Now, as we look at verse 1 here of Matthew chapter 1, yeah, it may not be as exciting as you hoped, right? It might not be super just blowing your mind yet, you know, but as we take a look at these things, they're important things to understanding who Jesus is and what Matthew was seeking to communicate. So first off, he says, the book of the genealogy.

He's going to now list the genealogy of Jesus. It's a line of descendants that's traced back to an ancestor. And he's going to look at the line of Abraham and trace that all the way down to Jesus. And that may not be very exciting for us, but it was essential and important for the mission of Matthew as he's writing this gospel to the Jewish people.

that he is seeking to establish, well, that Jesus came from the line of Abraham. And so this is what tells us right off the bat that Matthew is writing to the Jews because he is really interested in presenting Jesus, first of all, as the Christ. You see that there in verse one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Now the word Christ, it is also the word Messiah. It's the Greek version of Messiah, right?

We refer to both Jesus Christ, we refer to the Messiah, but it's significant to us who've been around the church because, well, it's a word that we find in the scriptures, but for the Gentiles of Matthew's day, they had no significance for that idea of the Christ. They weren't waiting for some promised savior, but the Jews, on the other hand, were waiting for the Christ. They were waiting for that promise. They had been given that promise.

Well, back in the beginning in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, God gave the hint and the promise there that there would be a redeemer for the sin that Adam and Eve had committed and fallen into and really caused all of us to inherit that sinful humanity. And

And ever since then, throughout all the accounts and throughout the prophets, God had been promising and saying there would be a savior. There would be one who would come, the Messiah, the Christ. And so the Jews were waiting for that Messiah. Now, especially at the time when Jesus came, they were waiting for the Messiah because they were under Roman rule.

And they hated that. They hated being under Romans authority or Rome's authority. And so they were looking for and desiring that the Messiah would come because their mind, they thought he's going to overthrow Rome and set up his own kingdom right here, right now. And so they were looking for, they were anticipating. And so as Matthew is writing this gospel, right away he connects with the Jewish audience and says,

This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the Messiah. It's Jesus of Nazareth, and he is the one who fulfills all those promises. And so this is an emphasis for Matthew, proving and showing that Jesus is that promised Savior, the Messiah, as well as that promised King that God had declared would come. And so Matthew's genealogy here establishes Jesus's credentials here.

as the fulfillment of that promise. Because if Jesus came from another line, he could not be that promised savior. And so he says here in verse one, that he is the son of Abraham, the son of Abraham. And that was really important because God had told Abraham in Genesis chapter two, verse three, I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 12, verse three,

God says, I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Here is one of those prophecies and promises of the Messiah. And specifically, God singles out Abraham and says, Abraham, one of your descendants, in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. One of your descendants, Abraham, is going to be the promised savior.

And so in verse 2 here of Matthew chapter 1, Matthew records Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and you can follow it all the way down to Jesus, showing that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, that he is, well, the one who can fulfill Abraham's

That he is the one who through him or through Abraham and through unto Jesus, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so here we have that promised savior, the savior that would save the world from their sins. But also wrapped up in this idea of Messiah and Christ is that promise of a king.

Because it's not just the Savior that was prophesied about, but there was also the prophecies that he would rule the earth, that he would conquer the world, that he, you know, things would bring, he would bring peace and things would be in order when he establishes his kingdom. And you can read through all, you can read that throughout all the Old Testament. And so here in verse 1 of Matthew 1,

Matthew says, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. And here's where the kingship of the Messiah comes into play because, well, as you read through the genealogy, you get to verse six here in Matthew chapter one, and it says, and Jesse begot David the king, David begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. And then it continues on down unto Jesus.

So Jesus is a descendant not only of Abraham, but also he's a descendant of David. And God had told David in 2 Samuel chapter 7, you might remember when David wanted to build a temple for God. And Nathan the prophet said, yeah, go for it. Go ahead. Go do it. But then God spoke to Nathan and said, hey, no, you go back and tell David he's not going to build me a house.

I will build him a house. And God there told him that he would have the heritage of having the eternal king. In 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, God tells David, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. And so God tells David, your seed that is one of your descendants,

will be the one who will be established for all of eternity. I will establish his kingdom. There is that promise of a king. And so you have Jesus fulfilling the promise to be the savior as a Messiah, as well as the promise to be the king as the Messiah. The savior was promised to Abraham. The king was promised to

And so Matthew is establishing that right off the bat as he writes to his Jewish audience. Now, another factor, and you can understand that Matthew was writing to Jews as you read through the rest of his account is,

He goes on to refer back to the Old Testament at least 129 times, Warren Wiersbe says. So 129 times he's referring back to, he's quoting the Old Testament, he's pointing back to Old Testament references, things that Jewish people would be familiar with. And they knew because they knew the scriptures. But it's not just kind of those references.

and the fulfillment of those prophecies where we get this idea of Jesus as the Savior as well as the King. It's throughout the book. Let me give you a couple quick examples. Here in chapter 1, if you'll jump down to verse 20.

Here you have the birth of Jesus. Well, just before the birth of Jesus, when Joseph and Mary are engaged and he finds out Mary's pregnant and he's thinking about putting her away quietly. In verse 20, it says, "'But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, "'Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her "'is of the Holy Spirit.'"

And she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And so here the angel announces to Joseph, the father of Jesus, well, the stepfather of Jesus, but that Jesus will be the savior of

He will save people from their sins. He will deal with the sin issue, which of course we remembered last week as we had Good Friday and Easter Sunday and reflected on the work that Jesus did upon the cross. But then in chapter two, verse one, it tells us,

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. And so there you see the angel announced Jesus is going to be a savior. Here after Jesus is born, these wise men show up and they're looking for the king who has been born.

Because, well, they've seen his star and God brought them to visit this king that has been born. And so we see this fulfilled throughout Matthew's writings, that he is seeking to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised savior, as well as the promised king. You can also see this king emphasis as he uses this phrase, kingdom of heaven,

all throughout the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew chapter 3, verse 1 and 2, you have the preaching of John the Baptist. And here was John the Baptist's message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then when Jesus began his ministry in Matthew 4, verse 17, he said, well, the same thing. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And you can see that the kingdom of heaven...

Well, it's emphasized by Matthew. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the king is here. It's all wrapped together as Matthew presents Jesus and shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of these promises and prophecies to be the savior and to be the king. And so we see a good picture of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew. But again, it's not just information about Jesus and good theology, good doctrine, good to know information.

I would encourage you this morning to reflect and to consider, is Jesus your savior and your king? Are you able to say, not just Jesus is the savior and king, but are you able to say, Jesus is my savior and king? Because it's not just, although Matthew is writing directly to the Jewish people, it's not limited to the Jewish people. Remember God's promise to Abraham.

all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you, through Jesus Christ. It's for all people to be able to receive the salvation from sin that Jesus offers, but also the kingship of Jesus. And that authority as king is important. There's a couple aspects to it. And I would say, first of all, sometimes we make the mistake of the Jews of Jesus's day. And that is, they were looking for

Well, the kingdom right now. And as we think about the kingship of Jesus, we get to participate in that a little bit in a spiritual sense. The kingdom of God is not established on this earth yet. That is going to come. He's still going to come as the conquering king. And all the fulfillments or all the prophecies that have been given to that regard will be fulfilled as Jesus comes again.

But you know, there's the opportunity for you and I now to be part of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, as we submit ourselves

to the King, Jesus. And we allow him to be the dictator of our hearts and of our lives. And we allow him to be the authority and to call the shots. We get to be part of the kingdom of God right now. The peace that comes, there's blessing that comes. There's great things that God does as we participate in his kingdom as his children, as his servants. And so we need to understand Jesus as savior and king, not just God,

just understand the concept. But now he's my savior and he's my king. And we walk and we live according to that. Well, we need to keep on moving. And so we're going to jump down to Mark chapter one and look at the gospel of Mark and his account of Jesus. Mark is the cousin of Barnabas.

He joined with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. And so he was around during the time of Christ and he was around some of the events. He also was a companion of Peter. And so it's often thought that Mark recorded actually Peter's testimonies about Jesus and what he did. And that's what Mark wrote down.

But as we look at the gospel of Mark, the point is his side of Jesus is that Jesus came to serve me. Now, Jesus came to serve. That's pretty easy. You know, we accept that pretty well. But as you add that word me, it makes me a little bit uncomfortable. I don't know. Does it sound weird to you? And if you say that, like Jesus came to serve me, like it's all about me, right? Well, no, it's not all about you.

But at the same time, I would encourage you to accept and to receive that Jesus came to serve you. He came to bless you. He came to minister to you. He came to work in your life. And this is important to understand because, well, you have Jesus in Matthew as the promised savior, the promised king, and he is the fulfillment of that promise. And yet at the same time, he came to serve.

And you have this important role, this important position of the Messiah. But as the Messiah came in Jesus, he came to serve. And specifically, he came to serve you. And so Mark focuses on the servanthood of Jesus. He focuses on what he did, not necessarily what he taught or who he was.

Again, we can consider the audience as we look at the different gospels. Matthew writes to the Jews. Mark writes to the Gentiles.

And how do we know that, that Mark writes to the Gentiles? Well, very simply, Mark will often explain Jewish customs for those who, well, don't know what's all the hubbub about. You know, sometimes there's an incident, you know, in the account. There's some issue and everybody gets all riled up. And if you don't know about Jewish customs, well, you're kind of out of the picture. You don't know why everybody's upset.

Mark goes out of his way to make sure he explains so that those who don't know the customs can understand. For example, Mark chapter 7 verse 3. It tells us,

Because there was an incident where the religious leaders were upset with Jesus because they ate dinner without washing. And it wasn't about cleanliness that they were concerned. It was about this ceremonial ritual type of washing. And so Mark explains, this is why there was a problem. This is why they got upset because, you know, this is what they hold on to. And so Mark explains, this is why they got upset because, you know, this is what they hold on to.

And so Mark is writing to those who are not familiar with Jewish customs. He's writing to Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who is not Jewish. So if you're not descended from Abraham, you're a Gentile. That's...

the way that distinction is made. And so he's writing to those who are not familiar, who don't have the Old Testament, who don't have the scriptures or the promises or the characters, you know, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David. And, you know, they don't care about those guys. They don't, they're not familiar with them. And so he's writing from a different perspective and he's presenting a different side of Jesus as a result. And you can see that also in the genealogy.

Matthew records carefully the genealogy from Abraham all the way to Jesus. Mark, he doesn't give any genealogy at all. He doesn't give any history, no background. He just jumps right in in verse one, in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger. And he jumps right into the ministry of John the Baptist and then into the ministry of Jesus. And so he doesn't focus on

the fulfillment of promises or prophecies or scriptures. He doesn't focus. What does he focus on? Well, he really focuses on what Jesus did.

The gospel of Mark is the shortest of all the gospels, but it is jam-packed. I kind of think about it, and I've shared it this way many times, but I think of it kind of like an action movie, where it's just like, boom, you're in one scene, something amazing happens, boom, you're in another scene, boom, you're in another scene, boom, you're in another scene. And you can see this right here in chapter one of Mark. Now, I don't know if your Bible has the headings above the different paragraphs in the text, but let me just read to you what...

paragraph headings I have here in Mark chapter 1 from the New King James Bible. The first one says, John the Baptist prepares the way. Next, John baptizes Jesus. Then Satan tempts Jesus. Then Jesus begins his Galilean ministry. Then four fishermen are called his disciples. Then Jesus casts out an unclean spirit. Then Peter's mother-in-law is healed. Then many are healed after the Sabbath Sunday. Then he's preaching in Galilee. And then he cleanses the leper.

I mean, you have just this bam, bam, bam, bam, bam list of things that Jesus did right there in chapter one. In fact, he covers so much ground in chapter one. Mark chapter two begins the same place where Matthew is in Matthew chapter nine in the life and account of Jesus. So what Matthew takes eight chapters to cover, Mark does it in one chapter. He said, boom, boom, boom, boom. Here's what Jesus did.

And right away, he's recording the miracles of Jesus, showing the power of Jesus, showing the work and the healings and the miraculous things that Jesus does. And so you get this understanding of the power and the working of Jesus from the gospel of Mark as he moves from scene to scene to scene very, very quickly. In fact, one of Mark's favorite words is the word immediately. Immediately.

It's used 36 times throughout the gospel of Mark, about double any of the other gospels. And so it's his favorite word. He just immediately, Jesus goes here. Immediately, this happens. Immediately, it's this quick moving, this action-packed account of the things that Jesus did. And again, I would encourage you to understand that.

but then to take it and to personalize it and understand that Jesus, he worked miraculously in his life and ministry. But as we consider these things today, he's not done working. And those miracles that he did, he can still do. And he often does. And the healings that he did, he can still do. And he often does. And the way that he is able to speak and to work and to move, well, it's powerful.

And you need to know that not only did Jesus do those things a long time ago, once upon a time, but Jesus came to serve me. He came to serve you. If you would turn with me to Mark chapter 10 for a quick thought on some of Jesus's words here. In Mark chapter 10, the disciples are having their regular debate about which one of them is the greatest.

And Jesus has had to rebuke them about this a few times before. It was a common thread, a common theme as they were expecting the kingdom to happen. And they were thinking, all right, when the kingdom happens, you know, which one of us gets the seat of honor? Which one of us has the greatest position? And so as they're having this discussion in verse 12, I'm sorry, verse 42 of Mark chapter 10, verse 42, it says, but Jesus called them to himself and said to them,

You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

Verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. As this debate is going on about which one of them will be the greatest, Jesus calls them in and says, hey guys, you need to understand that authority is, well, it's different. Greatness is different when you're talking about the kingdom of God.

He says, look, the Gentiles, they lord it over. Yes, bow down to me. Yes, everybody serve me and do what I say because I'm great. And that's the picture of greatness that the disciples had. But Jesus said, let me give you a different picture. He says, look at me as the example. Here I am, the son of man. If anybody would be able to accurately say I'm the greatest in the kingdom of God, it would be Jesus. And Jesus says, I did not come to be served.

but to serve. I didn't come to sit here and have everybody wait on me. I came here to meet people's needs. I came here to meet with people, to connect to people. I came here to heal people. I came here, well, he says at the end of verse 45, to give my life as a ransom for many. I came here to sacrifice myself for the people, for you.

And that is the reality of the life and the ministry of Jesus. There, as recorded by Mark and going on until today, Jesus desires to work in our lives. Jesus came to serve you, not just at the cross. And he gave his life as a ransom for you. And we talked about that a little bit as Jesus as Savior in Matthew. But I would encourage you to think about it this way. You need to give Jesus room to work in your life.

So many times we're busy working in our own lives that we don't give the Lord opportunity. Paul talks about the idea of giving space for God to work and the idea of vengeance. God says, vengeance is mine. That's what the Lord says. It's my domain. But Paul says, hey, you got to give God space. Don't take vengeance yourself. Don't take matters into your own hands. Don't take matters into your own hands.

Let the Lord serve you and take care of that injustice and take care of that wrong. But I would suggest that goes beyond just vengeance. That goes to all aspects of your life. You know, you need to let Jesus have room to work. Let him serve you. Let him meet your needs. The scriptures tell us to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us. Jesus, he wants to serve you.

He wants to meet your needs. He wants to help. He wants to work miraculously. He wants to teach you and lead you. Let Jesus meet your needs. That's what he came for. I know it's beneath him to meet your needs, but he humbles himself and came to do that and still does that. He still works in our lives.

And so we need to allow him to, we need to let him, he won't force it. And so we have to give him room. And sometimes you're going to need to step back and say, you know what? I know a decision needs to be made, but I don't have the freedom to make that decision. Lord, what do you want to do?

And Lord, you make that decision. And Lord, I know this needs to be done, but I'm not just going to run ahead and do it because, well, it has to be done. Lord, I need you to tell me, how do you want to do this? And do you want to do it a different way? And let God serve you and work in your life and rely upon him and call out to him and cast your cares upon him because, well, he came to serve you. Jesus came as a servant.

Moving on now to the gospel of Luke. You can turn to Luke chapter one. Here we find Luke's perspective on Jesus. And I put it this way. Jesus is my model for a godly life.

As we look at Luke's perspective, he's the only Gentile author in the New Testament. He had a great privilege and honor of, you know, being the only Gentile author. He writes a huge account. It's the longest New Testament book, not only the longest of the Gospels, but the longest of all the New Testament books. And as he writes, he is writing specifically with believers in mind. And I say that

Looking at Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Verse 1 says, "...inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you in orderly account, most excellent Theophilus."

Verse 4, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Again, as we consider the audience of the different authors of the Gospels, it gives us some understanding about their perspective of Jesus that they're presenting in their writings. Matthew writing to the Jews, Mark writing to the Gentiles, Luke writing to believers.

Notice in verse 4, he's writing in verse 3, he says to someone named Theophilus. There's some discussion about that, whether that's an actual person or the name means lover of God. So either it's people who love God that he's writing to, or he's writing to a man named Theophilus. But either way, he's writing in verse 4, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

Luke is writing his account for those who have already been instructed about Jesus. You've already been taught about Jesus. You know about Jesus. You've heard about Jesus. And so Luke says, I'm going to put all this together that I've collected and investigated. And Luke is a historian. And so he's interviewing people and he's got all these sources and information that he's gathered up. And so he said, I've put it all together in an orderly account, he says in verse 3.

So that it will solidify what you've been taught. To reinforce the things that you've been taught so that you could know the certainty, that you could be steadfast and recognize, okay, this is the truth. And that's Luke's objective as he writes and records the things in the gospel of Luke. Luke wasn't an eyewitness.

but he had access to eyewitnesses. And he interviewed them and spent time and put together all of these different sources. And so actually Luke has the most thorough of all the gospels. It's not just the longest, like he was long-winded and took a long time to say the same stories, but he also includes a lot more information.

He records 20 miracles throughout the gospel of Luke. That's more miracles than the other gospels. Not by a ton, but there's a couple more that he includes that some of the other authors didn't include. Luke records 23 parables altogether. It's interesting. 18 of those parables are only found in Luke.

So there's about five parables that are found in other gospels, but Luke also brings in these other parables that Jesus taught that were not recorded anywhere else. He is able to bring a very complete picture of the life and ministry of Jesus. Now, as he does that, he pulls in all these sources. He's putting a complete picture of Jesus together. The thing that Luke emphasizes through his writing and what he puts down is the humanity of Jesus, right?

The fact that Jesus became a man. We look that he is the promised savior. He's the promised king. We'll look in John that he is the son of God, that he is God equal to the father, but also just as important, Luke gives the emphasis. Not only is Jesus God, not only is he that promised savior and have this great position of honor, but he became a man for real. For real.

That he really was a man, experienced humanity, just like you and I have experienced humanity. And you can see this demonstrated as you jump to Luke chapter 2. In verse 7, we have the account and the record of the virgin birth. We refer to it often, at least, you know, during the Christmas season. In verse 7, it tells us, she brought forth her firstborn son.

Here Luke records for us Jesus's birth with great detail. He records the journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. He records how, well, there wasn't room for them and any place to stay. And so they ended up in this barn, in this manger. I'm not manger, but you know what I mean. In this cave, essentially.

And then he records how Jesus is born. She brought forth her firstborn son and then records what they wrapped him in. They put swaddling cloths and giving all of these details, intricate details about the birth of Jesus. He's laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

That Jesus actually was born. He actually experienced that process. He actually experienced being wrapped up in swaddling cloths. He actually experienced being laying in a manger. That Jesus actually became, although he is God, and we'll talk about that, but he became a little baby boy who was laid there in a manger. He experienced humanity in that from there, he began the long, slow process of growing up.

Day by day, month by month, year by year. Luke also gives us a little insight into Jesus's growing up years. In Luke chapter 2, verse 42, we have the account of Jesus when he's 12 years old. Luke is the only gospel writer who includes this information about Jesus while he is young.

Before he enters into that ministry as an adult. And Luke tells us there of the time when Jesus was 12. And his parents take him to Jerusalem to sacrifice at the feast. And Jesus stays behind while the family goes back. And mom and dad realize Jesus isn't with us. They get worried. They rush back to Jerusalem. They're looking for Jesus. They find him in the temple. And all of this describes humanity. Very real life.

I mean, those of you who are parents, you've probably experienced something similar. Suddenly mom looks at dad and says, hey, where's Joe? Oh no, you know, where's, and they rush back and there's, there's panic, there's fear, you know, like where's, what's going on? Where's Joe? And, and Jesus experienced that. He experienced all of humanity. In verse 52 of Luke chapter two, it says, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.

After that event there in Luke chapter 2, where Jesus was 12 years old, Luke goes on to say, and then Jesus grew up. That's what it says. He increased in wisdom and stature. He got older. He became a teenager. He experienced that. He experienced growing up into adulthood. He experienced learning how to work with his hands and provide for himself and his family. He experienced humanity. Jesus became a man.

You can also see Luke emphasizing this in Luke chapter 3 as he records his genealogy of Jesus. And in the genealogy of Luke, he takes it back not to Abraham, but all the way to Adam. Luke chapter 3 verse 38, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. He takes it back to the first man to say that Jesus became a man, that he really did become

Enter into humanity and experience what it's like to be man. Now, there's many other things we could look at in Luke's gospel that point to this.

Luke emphasizes the prayer ministry and prayer life of Jesus. He spends a lot of time, you know, going away, getting away with the Father to pray, and that is demonstrated in Luke. We also see emotions being expressed more in Luke than some of the other Gospels as Jesus wept over Jerusalem. And so you can see this picture of Jesus experiencing life, experiencing humanity.

Even in weakness, in Luke chapter 22, when Jesus is praying in the garden and the angel appears to strengthen him because he's weak and he needs strength. And so he receives this strength from the Lord. And so Jesus is referred to many times throughout Luke as the son of man, because he is a son of man. He is human being.

He has experienced humanity. Now, that's really important doctrinally. But aside from the doctrine, aside from the theology, which I'm not going to get into the depths of it there, I would see this as also really important for you and I to understand, well, for our lives today. And you can see an example of this in Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. Here's what it says. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit,

returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing. And afterward, when they had ended, he was hungry. Here we get a little bit of insight into how Jesus as a human was able to endure what he endured and live the life that he lived. I think for us, a lot of times the tendency is to look at the life of Jesus and to think,

Oh, well, of course it was, you know, easy for him to love people who were hard to love because he's Jesus. He's God. Of course it was easy for him to endure temptation because he's God. Of course it was easy for him. And I don't know about you, but that's kind of my tendency as I look at the example of Jesus. You know, of course he's God. Of course he's going to be able to handle those situations. But you know what's interesting is that it tells us here in verse 1 of Luke chapter 4,

Jesus, being filled with the Spirit, he was led by the Spirit and then tempted for 40 days by the devil. How did he endure those 40 days of temptation? Was it just the fact that, well, he's God, so, you know, no problem. No, Luke records this extra insight. Jesus is filled with the Spirit. And so Jesus is able to endure. Jesus is able because he's filled. Right?

It's important to recognize that Jesus was filled because what Paul records in Philippians chapter 2, he tells us, hey, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, that he's in the form of God, but he didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God. And then Philippians chapter 2 verse 7 says, he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

That idea of that phrase there, made himself of no reputation, literally it could also be translated, he emptied himself. Jesus, being God, having always existed, emptied himself and became man. But he didn't stay empty. He was filled with the Spirit. You see, Jesus operated on the same resources that are available to you and I. And again, that's why I make the point, Jesus is my model.

for a godly life. It's easy to look at Jesus and say, well, he's God, of course, no problem. But the reality is that, well, Jesus really did become a man. He experienced humanity. He experienced sorrow. He experienced the range of emotions that you experience.

He faced difficulties and affliction and hurts and heartaches. He faced hardships. He worked miracles. He taught. He had wisdom. He was led by the Lord under the same resources that are available to you and I. Jesus emptied himself, but then he filled, here he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's the same opportunity that you and I have.

Now, of course, we have a sinful nature. That's where it breaks apart that we're not exactly like Jesus because he didn't have a sinful nature, but he operated under the same resources. We have a sinful nature. So that means we are going to fall short, but that's why he died so that we could have grace and forgiveness and get right back up and continue to follow the godly model and to live the life and the character and nature of Jesus Christ. And we can do that. You can live the life

with the nature and character of Christ. That's why Paul says, put off the old nature and put on the new nature because Christ lived as a model showing you can live the way that God has called you to live. There was that campaign a while back, WWJD, right? What would Jesus do? That's important, but also important is how did Jesus do it? It's one thing to look and see what would Jesus do, but how would Jesus be able to do that?

Where do we get the power, the strength, the resources, the wisdom for that? And again, Jesus demonstrated that. He was filled with the Spirit. As I mentioned, Luke highlights the prayer life of Jesus. He was in touch with the Father. He had a real relationship with the Father. He was led by Him. He was filled with the Spirit. And so He operated with the same resources that He provides to you and I so that we can follow His example and live a godly life

the way that he's called us to. Well, finally, now looking at the gospel of John, you can turn with me to John chapter 20. John chapter 20 for the final gospel. And point number four, as we look at John's perspective is Jesus is my God. Again, as we are continuing our journey through the Bible in three years,

We're starting the book of John this week, and it's a great gospel. It's always refreshing, especially as you've been going through Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the synoptic gospels with lots of overlap and redundancy and things that you're familiar with. And now John presents a whole bunch of new different things that none of the other authors presented. And he presents Jesus in a new and fresh way that's always encouraging and beneficial. And so we're going to have a good time as we work our way through the gospel of John.

But here in John chapter 20, I want to look at verse 30 and 31. John here records the reason why he wrote this gospel. In verse 30, it says, "'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.'"

John tells us why he writes this gospel. The whole purpose is so that you would believe, so that you would have life in his name. And so he says, look, I selected specific miracles. Couldn't write all of them. The world couldn't contain all those books, but I selected some. I selected some of Jesus' teachings. And the majority of the gospel of John really takes place in that final week of Jesus, Passion Week.

Most of the gospel of John takes place in that last week. And so it's a lot of information and a lot of detail about what Jesus did and taught during that time period. And so he said, I put these things together. Many others have written and they have, you know, their accounts and they're important, but I wanted to put this together so that you would have the opportunity to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

And so as John is writing so that you might believe, again, we can consider the audience that John was writing to. Matthew wrote to the Jews. Mark wrote to the Gentiles. Luke wrote to believers. John was the most general of all the gospels in a sense in that he wrote to everyone. He had a favorite word too, just like Mark, his favorite word was immediately. John's favorite word was the world.

He uses the world incredible amount of times, 59 times throughout the gospel. Now, compared to the other authors, it's like, you know, they don't mention the world hardly at all. They're not talking about the whole world, but John is talking about the whole world. He wants to know everyone in the whole world can believe and receive life. Everyone can believe in Jesus. Of course, the most famous example of this is John 3, 16. For God so loved the world...

all humanity, that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves the world. And so he presents Jesus Christ to all humanity that all would have opportunity to believe. As he presents Jesus, again, the emphasis as he presents Jesus is on Jesus being God, Jesus being God,

the Son of God. Now, you can see this again by looking at the genealogy that John includes in his letter and his gospel. In John chapter 1, verse 1, it says, And then jumping down to verse 14,

We find out who the word was. It says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Here in giving the genealogy of Jesus, he doesn't go back to Abraham. He doesn't go back to Adam. He goes way back beyond that to the beginning, before all of creation. In the beginning was the word.

The word is Jesus. In the beginning, Jesus was. Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. That's what John is saying here in John chapter 1 verse 1. And then in verse 14, he says, and Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. That's what we just read about in Luke. The humanity of Jesus. He being God became man. And John says, we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father.

And so he looks to eternity as Jesus's genealogy, but notice he also refers to him there as the only begotten of the Father. That's a common thread for John as well. Again, John chapter 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. He presents Jesus as the Son of God throughout the book, strongly emphasizing the

the deity of Jesus, the fact that Jesus is God. And so throughout the book, you'll see the Son of God and begotten of God 13 times in total as John presents Jesus as the Son of God. Now, you and I, we tend to think of Son of God as something lesser than God, but that's not the correct understanding of what that phrase actually means. To be God,

The Son of God, in this way, the only begotten of the Father, is a statement of Jesus's equality with God. You can see this unfold if you'll turn with me to John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, Jesus is having a discussion with the religious leaders. As they usually do, they're kind of going back and forth, and the religious leaders are upset with Jesus. And in John chapter 10, verse 30...

Jesus makes this statement. He says, I and my father are one. Jesus says, I and my father are one. Now he's not saying I am the father. He's saying I'm equal to the father. I'm united with the father in equality, in place, in status, in position. We have the same role. We have the same position. We have the same status. Jesus here is claiming to be God. And Jesus

If that's not clear enough, you can read on in verse 31. It says,

You see, the Jews understood what Jesus was declaring. Jesus was claiming to be God. The Jews understood that. And so immediately they picked up stones. They were going to execute him right there for blasphemy because he claimed to be God. And to make it clear, Jesus says, hey, I did a lot of good works. Why are you stoning me? They say, not for your good works, but because you claim to be God. You make yourself to be God. John presents Jesus as God, equal to the Father.

Equal in authority, equal in position, equal in role. In John chapter 8, we also have the record of Jesus saying, before Abraham was, I am. And that time also, the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus because it was a reference to Exodus chapter 3, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

And he sends Moses to the people of Israel and he says, tell them, I am has sent you. I am was that reference to God, to their deliverer. And Jesus takes that reference and applies it to himself when he says, before Abraham was, I am. John records throughout his gospel seven I am statements of Jesus that are

profound, important statements. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. He says, before Abraham was, I am. I am the door. 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. These are important statements that Jesus is claiming to be God and claiming to be the only way to the Father, presenting himself as equal to the Father.

And so we get this picture of Jesus from John, from his perspective, as he focuses on the reality that Jesus is God. And again, bringing it back to our personal understanding of these things. This isn't just good information doctrinally. It's not just good theology. It's not just something we need to know so that we have good doctrine. This is something that we need to know so that we relate to Jesus as God. That we make sure that, well, Jesus is my God.

You can think about that in two ways. First of all, understand that, well, Jesus, you're my creator. You're my maker. You're the one who knows what's best for me. And so you can see it as a place of absolute surrender, total just submission to Jesus because he is God. But along with that, Jesus is my God, meaning that he is

Well, he occupies that place of absolute worship, that there's nothing more important to me than Jesus. Is that true for you? There's nothing more important to me than Jesus. I worship him. I adore him. I serve him. He has that place of first priority, first and foremost, among all my passions, among all my, you know, things I get excited about and I love and I want and I desire. And

that Jesus is my God. And so through these four gospel accounts, we have Jesus from all four sides. He is savior and king. He came to serve. He's the model for a godly life. He is God, but don't just leave it there as the information. I would encourage you to take some time to walk through these again in your own mind and heart and make sure that you're relating to Jesus and

appropriately responding to these truths and realities being presented by the gospel writers. Jesus is your savior. Jesus is your king. Jesus came to serve you. Let him work. Give him room and opportunity to work in your life. Jesus is your model for a godly life. You can live the life that God's called you to live. Jesus proved it. Follow his example. Be connected to the father. Be filled with the spirit.

Jesus is your God. He's your creator. He's your maker. He knows what's best for you. You can trust him completely. And he deserves that position of absolute surrender and worship and adoration, that position of first and foremost in your life. That's who Jesus is. That's the place he deserves. That's where he belongs. And so let's love him and walk with him accordingly. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we

come before you today. We thank you, God, that you loved us so much that you sent your only begotten son. Lord, that you would give us opportunity to know you, to have our sins washed and cleansed. Lord, that you would give us opportunity to have everlasting life with you. But Lord, you don't just save us from a great distance away and just leave us to ourselves. You're ever present, intimately involved, here in this place with us right now and desiring to work.

Jesus, I pray that you would teach us to know you and not just the theories and concepts, but teach us to know you personally, that the truth of who you are would impact and inform every decision that we make, Lord, that it would impact every action that we take, that we would live the way that we live because you, Jesus, are Savior, King, Servant, Example, and God.

Help us to walk with you in all of those. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.