The Rest of the Story: THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE = =20 John 20:30-31

The Rest of the Story: THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = John 20:30-31

John 20:30-31 Jesus did many = other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Chr= ist, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

“…That yo= u may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you= may have life in his name.” If you have been attending our Wednesday Bible studies, you already know that = this is one of the great themes in John’s Gospel. In fact, this is where he tells us= the purpose of his Gospel: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ…”

John introduces sever= al themes in the first chapter of his Gospel and then returns to them over and over a= s he tells us “the rest of the story” about Jesus. “Believing” is one of = several themes that John emphasizes far more than any other Gospel writer.

Follow this: in Matthew’s Gospel, we find the word “believe” nine times.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In Luke’s Gospel, seven time= s.

But in John, this wor= d is everywhere we turn: = &nb= sp;
a) three times in the first chapter,
b) three again in the second,
c) 7 times in ch.3,
d) 7 times in ch. 4,
e) in ch. 5, 6 times,
f) in ch. 6, 8 times—do you get the picture?

All four Gospels tell= us the story of Jesus, but John “the Evangelist” tells us that everything he writes in his Gospel is there that ‘we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, we may have lif= e in his name.”

So…what do we believe? John understands we have a choice = in this—to believe or not. Believing has a “whosoever will” nature about it. It’s our decision to make. He writes to convince us to believ= e.

Our culture today is not making this decision any easi= er for us either. Two men, traveling= on a plane, were seated next to each other. One turned to the other and asked, “What do you do?” The man replied: "I’m a minister."

"Oh," said the first man. “I don’= ;t believe in that religious stuff. It’s for kids, you know, ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...’”

The minister politely endured the comment, and then as= ked the other man about his job. "I am an astronomer," he said.

"Oh, that stuff," said the minister. “I thought that was just for kids; you know, ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star...’”

Well, I’m not so sure that response enhanced his witness any. But it does poin= t out that there’s a lot of cynicism about believing in God today. As followers of Christ, though, we= know what we believe and we are willing to say we are believers and share our fa= ith with others.

I. We believe in GOD. Believing in God is the first act = of responding to God and entering into relationship with Him. We do this with our minds, with our thoughts, with our convictions.

Let’s face it—there’s a lot to belie= ve if we are followers of Christ. We believe, for instance, that God came to this earth as a baby. We dedicated some babies last week—two of them were just three weeks old—tiny newborns! Precious, but oh, so fragile.

How could God be present in a baby? Yet, every Christmas, those of us = who BELIEVE celebrate this tremendous truth—as John puts it, “the Word beca= me flesh and dwelt among us.” The eternal God took on the tiny body of an infant and began His soj= ourn here in swaddling clothes. We= call it “the incarnation”—and we believe it!

But even that may be easier to swallow than this: we believe in God nailed = to a cross. Even more incredible&#= 8212;that ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,’ on the cross. How could God go to a = cross and die? Yet, our journey tow= ard Easter each year takes us by way of the cross. Do we believe this?

It’s so simple to believe—yet, it’s = not easy. Choosing to believe in = God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is a leap of faith and an act of love for = God, and obedience to God, and it is essential to a right relationship with God.

“What must I do to be saved?” the jailer a= sked Paul and Silas. “Believ= e in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” they replied (Acts 16:30-31). Do we believe in God, and in His Son, Jesus Christ? Do we? There’s more.

II. We Believe In a God Who Loves Us.<= /b> Earlier in John’s Gospel, he shares with us the best known verse in the whole Bible about believing. John 3:16 says, “For God so = loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We believe in the God w= ho loves us.

I don’t think we could truly respond in love to = any other kind of God. We could f= ear a God who does not love us. We = could perhaps serve and obey and be controlled by such a God. But being who we are—who God created us to be--we could not love God but for the fact that He first loved us. And a loving relationship= with us is the only kind that God wants.

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I ran across something that Max Lucado wrote in one of= his books. He humanizes God’= ;s love a bit—makes it very personal.&n= bsp; Listen to what he says:

“There are many reasons God saves you: to bring = glory to Himself, to appease His justice, to demonstrate His sovereignty. But one= of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because He is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to come down the pike in quite a while…

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it= . If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring = and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He = can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart…Face it, frien= d. He’s crazy about you!”

Does your heart resonate with that? Do you believe that God loves you&= #8212;that He genuinely cares about you? He does. “For God so loved= the world…” This incl= udes all of us, of course, but maybe we need to bring it closer to home.

Maybe you’ve done this before, but do it again:<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> take out “the world” a= nd put your name in its place. ̶= 0;For God so loved (your name) <= /u> that He gave His only begotten Son…”

Wow—that’s powerful stuff! It’s powerful because we kno= w who we are. We know that we are n= ot always easy to love. And we r= ealize that God knows this even better than we do—yet He still loves you and= me.

This, friends, is a God that we can love right back. Our love won’t measure up to= His love for us, but knowing how much God loves us will make us want to try to = love Him in return.

Believing in a loving God puts us on a journey toward = a life that’s filled with love—love for Him, love for our families, for people at church and work and even those we don’t even know.

It’s amazing how God’s love changes us and= gives us a love life like no other relationship can!

Are you following this? It is God’s love that gives us the capacity to really love each other. We believe in a God who loves us.

III. We Belie= ve In a God Who Is Gracious. Grac= e is all about giving, on God’s side of things. And for us, it’s all about receiving. Grace is simply re= ceiving a gift we do not deserve.

Do we recognize God’s grace for what it is? We love to sing about “Amazi= ng Grace,” but do we even begin to know how to be thankful for it?

Some years ago, a gem dealer was strolling the aisles = at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. = He noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over carefully, then,= as calmly as possible, he asked the vendor, "You want $15 for this?"=

The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty = as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. Well, that stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger t= han any other stone of its kind. It&#= 8217;s been appraised for $2.28 million.

This is how it so often is with God’s grace. We don’t even begin to know = what it is that we have—the priceless treasure we’ve received.

I don’t know why my life is important enough to = God that He allowed His Son to go to the cross and die for my sins. But as a nine year old boy, I acce= pted this by faith even though I couldn’t understand it. I’m fifty-four now, and I st= ill don’t understand.

Having children of my own has only magnified my amazem= ent over God’s gift. Every good = parent knows that the love we have for our children is too profound to be put into words.

Unless we’ve experienced it, we really can’= ;t imagine what it would be like to lose a child—it’s too painful = to even think about it. So knowi= ng that God chose to allow His Son to die for me mystifies me and overwhelms me every time I think about it.

I don’t suppose I will ever fully comprehend thi= s, but I do believe in grace—in God’s amazing grace. And because of this, I also believ= e in LIFE:

IV. As fo= llowers of Jesus, We Believe In the God Who Gives Us Life. John invit= es us to believe because “by believing you may have life in His name.” We believe in th= is life we have in Jesus Christ!

It’s not always easy to believe in life. It’s much easier to believe = in death. Death is everywhere we turn. And in this age of inst= ant communication, we face death up close and personal on a daily basis. Think of Myanmar and China, as recent and horrific examples of massive death.

But this is also a very personal issue—the ultim= ate personal issue, you could say. George Bernard Shaw made this observation: “The statistics about death are v= ery impressive,” he said. “One out of every one dies!”

Whether it arrives as the gentle passing of an elderly= saint or with the terrifying power of an earthquake or cyclone, no one is exempt = from death. The statistics are ind= eed impressive: one out of every one!

I heard about a shady politician who woke up after surgery and noticed the curtains in his hospital room were drawn. "Why are the curtains closed?" he asked the nurse, who happened to know the man only too wel= l. "Is it night-time already?"

"No," the nurse replied. "But thereR= 17;s a huge fire across the street. = We didn’t want you to wake up, see the flames, and think your surgery ha= d not gone well."

Laugh if you will--but the story makes us feel uneasy.= We understand the implications. There are awful consequences to dy= ing while refusing to believe. John urg= es us to believe so that “you may have life in His name.” But what about those who don’= t?

The Bible says there is a judgment--and we best believ= e it. Listen to this passage from II Thessalonians 1:8-9: “H= e will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished = with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from= the majesty of His power.”

“…Shut out from the presence of the Lord…”—eternally separated from the Lord of life. This is result of refusing to beli= eve the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ—refusing to embrace the Way he has provided for us to have forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

God wants us to have life—abundant life now, and= eternal life in His presence—and He offers us this gift freely through His So= n, Jesus Christ. He asks only th= at we trust Him, that we reach out in faith and receive His gift of grace, that we confess our need of forgiveness and believe that Christ died for our sins a= nd now lives again to be Lord of our lives forever.

1) A Holy God had to do something to wake us up to the= ugly, destructive power of sin in our lives.&nbs= p;
2) At the same time, a loving, gracious God was compelled to do what He mus= t to offer us forgiveness and life.
3) So God “gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Do you believe? Are you trusting completely in God—in His love for you, in the gracious gift of His Son, in the eternal life He promises? Are you living as a believer—= ;caring for others and sharing your faith?

Believe the Gospel.&n= bsp; Receive by faith the Savior who came as God’s love gift for you. Believe in Christ Jesus,= and through believing in Him and embracing Him as your Lord, experience life—full and abundant life in Christ!