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[0:01] Good morning. John 21. Last week we looked at a few verses, not very many, but we looked at the verses.

[0:16] It actually covers a very intimate exchange between Christ and His disciple Peter.

[0:30] If you were here, you'll recall those few verses we went through where Jesus three times asked Peter, Do you love me? Lovest thou me? And Peter, of course, answered in the affirmative all three times.

[0:49] The last time the Bible says that Peter was grieved because Christ had asked him the third time if he loved him. We talked about that last week and talked about how the first two times Christ said, Love is thou me? He was using the word agape in Greek, which is a godly and self-sacrificial type of love.

[1:14] And Peter was answering, though, with a word that didn't mean the same thing when he would say, Yes, I love you, Lord. He was answering with the word eros, which is a lesser type of love.

[1:30] So when Christ asked him the third time, Lovest thou me? Then he used the same word. And we talked about all that last week and how, again, this grieved Peter.

[1:46] But Peter acknowledged that Christ knew all in that. He said, You know that I love you. You know everything. Acknowledging the omniscience of Jesus Christ.

[2:02] And therefore, you know, on the flip side of that same coin, when Peter acknowledges Christ as being omniscient and being all-knowing, and, I mean, in that all-powerful, then Peter is also, to an extent, recognizing his own lack of knowledge.

[2:24] His own lack of things as far as that goes. So that's just a real fast recap. We ended with verse 17 last week. But each time that Christ, or Peter would answer in the affirmative, Christ would tell him, Feed my lambs.

[2:41] This is what he said the first time. The second two, or the next two times, he would say, Feed my sheep, commissioning Peter in his role as one that would be feeding the sheep of God.

[2:54] And also, again, on the flip side of that coin, not only commissioning Peter, but showing Peter that he was restored into fellowship with Jesus.

[3:06] I mean, Christ is not going to commission anyone to feed his sheep that is not in relationship with him. It's not going to happen. So, all that being said, John 21, verse 18, begins with a few important words.

[3:25] It says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Verily, verily, Christ says. And you all have heard me say, as we've gone through the Gospel of John, that John is the only Gospel account giver, Gospel writer, that uses the term verily, verily, coming from Jesus.

[3:43] The rest of them use verily. But John puts more emphasis on this. And when Christ says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. He's telling Peter, Truly, truly, I'm about to say something to you.

[3:57] You need to perk up your ears, and you need to pay close and deep attention to what I'm about to tell you. Now, Peter, again, Peter had just been restored back into fellowship with Christ, and Christ had just commissioned him to feed his sheep, to feed his lambs, to go into the world and to preach the Gospel.

[4:21] This is what Christ had commissioned Peter to do. And now Christ is telling him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. In other words, pay attention to what I'm about to tell you, Peter.

[4:33] Pay attention to these words. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not.

[4:51] Let's go ahead and read verse 19. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

[5:02] So back to verse 18 again. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Pay close attention, Peter. Then he says, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest.

[5:13] Now, there's some commentators, and Bible teachers out there, that will say, that this is referring to, the early parts of Jesus' ministry, after the ascension of Christ.

[5:29] Well folks, that can't be the case, because what Christ is saying here, is in the past tense. It says, When thou wast young, when you were young, it's past tense.

[5:40] So what's he saying? He's saying, the way you used to be, when you were, even just three years ago, Peter, when I first called you, when I first came along the seashore, the same body of water that we're at right now, when I first came there, you went where you wanted to go, you did what you wanted to do, you said what you wanted to say, you gird up yourself, and to gird oneself, is basically, to clothe oneself, and specifically, to put on a belt, or a sash of some kind, to prepare for movement, to keep your clothes in place, as you're moving, as you're walking, as you're running, whatever the case is.

[6:26] So he says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest, whither thou wouldest. You went anywhere you wanted to go, you did what you wanted to do, back in your former life, back in your younger days.

[6:41] But Jesus also, confirms something, here in this next line. He says, But, when thou shalt be old, so he confirms, that Peter, is going to live, a while yet.

[6:56] He doesn't say, to what age? But he says, But, when thou shalt be old, confirming, just what Peter had said, in the previous verse.

[7:06] Lord, you know all things. He said, You know all things, you know, that I love you. And so, Christ here, is confirming, the words of Peter, when he says, when thou shalt be old, but, when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth, thy hands, and another, shall gird thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not.

[7:31] So, he's telling Peter here, when you were young, you went where you wanted to, you did what you wanted to, you went with whom you wanted to, when you wanted to, and there was no one to stop you.

[7:42] But when you're going to be old, this will cease to be the case. And he's not talking about, just old age here. Old age is going to hold him down, because we find that in the next verse.

[7:54] He spoke this signifying what death, that Peter would die to glorify God. That's what he's speaking of in this. He's saying, while you were young, you were able to do these things as you wished.

[8:09] But, when you're old, this will not be the case. You're going to come to a point in your life, Peter, where you have no say-so, in the outcome, of your physical life.

[8:23] No say-so, whatsoever. Someone else is going to gird you, and someone else is going to carry you, someone else is going to take you, and when they take you, they're going to take you somewhere, you have no desire to be.

[8:36] And folks, that could very well be the case, with any of us sitting here, in this room, right now. We may live to be a ripe old age. We may not live past today.

[8:48] We don't know, but God does. Christ knows, the very day, and the very hour, that every one of us, is going to pass on in, to eternity. And when that happens, it very well could be, that we're martyred, such as Peter was.

[9:04] Church history holds, Jewish tradition holds, that Peter was crucified, upside down, under Emperor Nero. Probably between, the years of 64, and 68 AD.

[9:17] Somewhere along those lines, we don't know, how old Peter was. There's no birth record, of Peter. But, we've got, a four year gap there, 64 to 68 AD, as to the time, that he would have been, martyred, for Jesus.

[9:34] And this is the very thing, that Christ was telling him. Now, the words that Christ speaks here, when he says, when you were young, you were able, you were able to do these things, but when you were old, you won't be able, to do these things.

[9:45] That's Christ speaking. But here in verse 9, 19, this is John's narrative. He says, this spake he, signifying by what death, he should glorify God.

[9:57] How did John know that? Folks, John lived, to almost 100 AD. It's, it's, guess that he died, somewhere between 96 and 98 AD, according to history, and according to, to, to church history, and church records.

[10:13] So he, he lived almost all that time. Don't think for one second, when Peter was martyred, that that word, did not get back, to John. And John wrote this gospel, as well as the rest of his writings, very late, in his life.

[10:27] So he had, he had, he had knowledge of this, and he was putting it all together here, in John chapter 21. You know, when we ended John 20, I told you all then, that the very last words that John spoke was, you know, he wrote those things, that we might believe on Jesus Christ, and have eternal life through his name.

[10:49] That's the end of chapter 20. And I told you all then, that it's almost like John thought that, that that was going to be the end of his gospel, but the Holy Spirit said, no, not so fast.

[11:00] Hold up a second. We've got more to write. So this is the more, that John is writing here. So this, this spake he, about the death, that Peter would die, but it was for a purpose.

[11:14] It's not that, Peter was just, martyred, because, that's what was said in the stars, millennial, millennia ago. It's not that, Peter was martyred, just because, that's how it happened, to take place.

[11:28] His death glorified God. But folks, whether we're martyred, whether we live to be 120 years old, and stay in service to Christ, all that time, regardless, our death, is very capable, of glorifying God.

[11:46] When people can look down in our casket, or people can talk about us, long after we're put in the ground, and they can say, he was a man of God, she was a great woman of God. They served God.

[11:56] They served Christ. They loved God. They loved his word. Folks, that is a testimony, to the goodness of the gospel. And that is a testimony, to the goodness of God, in general.

[12:07] And to the goodness, and the redemption, that can be found, in Jesus Christ. So, Peter's death, yes, it glorified God. It said, as far as church history goes, that, they were going to crucify Peter, and Peter actually requested, that he be crucified upside down, because, he didn't feel like he was worthy, to be crucified, or killed, in the same manner, that his savior was.

[12:32] His death glorified God. This spake he signifying, by what death, he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me.

[12:44] He tells Peter, he gives Peter bad news. I mean, let's just face it. If Christ had told us this, if Christ was standing here, right now, and said, Spencer, when you were young, you were able to do all these things, and you did all these things.

[12:58] But when you're old, you're going to spread your hands apart, someone else is going to gird you, someone else is going to carry you, and wherever they take you, you're not going to want, to go there. Folks, I would see that as bad news.

[13:10] And he gives Peter this news, but the very last words he speaks, as far as this particular passage goes, verse 9, or verse goes, verse 19, he says, follow me. Follow me.

[13:22] The very first words that he spoke to Peter, as far as we know, in the gospel accounts, when he looks down there, and he and Andrew are fishing, and he looks down, and he says, follow me.

[13:32] And they followed him. And Jesus just told Peter about the death that he would suffer, about the life that he led, coming into the life that he would lead, up to the death, that he would die.

[13:50] And he says, follow me. Folks, that's what Christ tells every one of us. Regardless of what circumstances we find ourselves in, we are to follow Christ.

[14:02] We are to follow him. And that's the call that he gave to everyone that's sitting in here, saved right now, was follow me. Now, some people will say, well, Christ, you know, when the Holy Spirit was dealing with me, he dealt with me in this manner, and in that manner.

[14:15] Folks, our callings are individual. Our callings are absolutely individual. We'll get into that here in just the next verse or two. How we have individual callings, and each of us has a unique role after we are called into service for Christ, after we are saved and we are redeemed.

[14:34] But folks, the call remains the same, though. It's to follow Christ. If we're called to follow Christ, and we don't follow, what does that mean?

[14:45] It means either the calling was fake, or we didn't heed to the call. One of the two. But if we're called to follow Christ, and we truly follow Christ, folks, it may be that we're martyred one of these days.

[15:00] And the longer I live, the more I think that might be the case for a whole lot more Christians, even here in the good old U.S. of A. But, regardless of how our life ends, we are to follow Christ.

[15:14] Regardless of how our life goes, while we're here, while we're still living, we are still to follow Christ. Christ does not say, follow me when things are good. Follow me when there's food in the cabinet.

[15:25] Follow me when there's money in the bank. Follow me when you've got a good job, when you've got a house, when you've got a car, when you've got a family that loves you. Christ doesn't say that. Christ simply says, follow me.

[15:36] So we follow Him through the good, and we follow Him through the bad. Either way, He has taken us on a path that is set as our destiny, that He has foreordained for us.

[15:49] And I promise you, that if it is foreordained by God, and it is given by God, it is good, and it is perfect, it is for our good, and it is for His glory. Hallelujah.

[15:59] We are to follow Christ. Jesus gives Peter what we would see, what Peter would have seen, as awful news. But He says, follow me.

[16:11] And He tells us the exact same thing when He saves us. Follow me. Verse 20, Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

[16:28] Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, if I will, that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

[16:40] Follow thou me. So back to verse 20 again. Then Peter, turning about, Peter, or Jesus just gave Peter, again, what we would see as horrible news, and ended it with follow me.

[16:54] And it's like it doesn't even faze Peter. Peter immediately just turns around, and he's like, well, if this is my fate, what about these guys? What about John here?

[17:05] Again, it says, Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following. We all know that to be John. It's widely accepted that that's John. Seen the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

[17:24] So these are the words that John would have spoke at the last supper that we read about a few months ago, I guess it is now. And they were spoken by John to Jesus when Jesus said, there's one that's going to betray me.

[17:38] But folks, what we've got to understand here is that John is not inserting himself into this cameo appearance in the 21st chapter of his gospel here as much as he is showing us and conveying to us, and everyone who ever has read this, and everyone that ever will read this, he's shown us what context Peter turned around and saw him in.

[18:07] He saw him in the context of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The one who Jesus loved, the one who laid his head upon Jesus' breast and said, Lord, who is it that will betray you?

[18:20] That's how Peter turned around and saw John. It wasn't as one of the sons of thunder. Peter, it wasn't as part of the inner circle. He turned around and saw John as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

[18:35] And that's what prompted his question. What's going to happen to John? What's going to happen to this one? If I'm to suffer and I just told you three times that I love you and he's the disciple, the beloved disciple, what's going to happen to him?

[18:56] And Christ says, Peter, that's none of your business. What is that to you? What is that to thee? I didn't say, I didn't tell you these things and then say, now worry about your brethren.

[19:09] I told you these things and I said, follow me. And that's how he phrases it here. He says, what is that to thee, Peter? If I will that he tarry until I come, what is that to thee?

[19:21] Follow thou me. Your job is to follow me. You don't worry about him. And folks, we would do very well as Christians and we would do very well as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ.

[19:32] A disciple is simply one that follows. We would do well to concentrate on our own walk with Jesus and on our own walk with Christ and our own relationship with Christ as opposed to worrying about other peoples, worrying about other Christians.

[19:49] because where does that get us? We get to suffering. We get ailments of some kind. We get sickness of some kind. We say, Lord, I've followed you all this time.

[20:02] Why is this happening to me? And why are you blessing brother or sister so-and-so so much? When I have followed you, when I have expressed my love not only to you in prayer, but my love towards you publicly, I've done all these things.

[20:18] Why am I suffering like this? And we get to comparing our walk with other people's walk and then what does that do? That allows for confusion to come in. That allows for envy to come in.

[20:30] It allows for all kinds of things. Jealousy. That can come in the life of a Christian. Not only that, but it allows for doubt as well. If they're being blessed so well, what am I doing wrong?

[20:43] Folks, the command here from Christ to Peter was follow me. Follow me. And Peter turns around immediately and sees the beloved disciple, John, and says, what about him?

[20:56] And Christ, praise God, he rebukes him. It's a soft rebuke, but it's a very firm rebuke. He says, if I will, that he tarry, that he lives until I come, what is that to thee?

[21:11] What business is that of yours, Peter? You worry about Peter. You let John worry about John. Now folks, I'm not saying don't pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

[21:23] I'm not saying when they call or they come to you or whatever the case is and they say, you know, I've got this going on, I've got that going on, would you please pray for me? You don't ever look at your brother and sister in Christ and say, I've got my own walk to worry about.

[21:37] You pray for you. You don't ever do that. And that's not what Christ is getting at here. But as far as our personal walk with Christ goes, we cannot compare it to other people.

[21:48] If I compared my walk with Christ to the Apostle Paul's, my goodness, how lowly would I feel? More lowly than I feel anyway. If you compare yours to the Apostle Paul's, you would feel just as lowly.

[22:03] If I compare my ministry to great preachers of the past, if I compare my ministry to Charles Spurgeon's or to any number of other ministers out there, how worthless would I feel?

[22:20] But folks, the call is follow me. And as long as I'm following Christ, as long as I know that I'm doing that and Christ knows if I am and I know if I am.

[22:33] And if I'm doing that, folks, everything's going to fall into place. He's not going to take me anywhere. He's not going to be right there with me. If I'm following after Him, praise God.

[22:45] And the same goes for you and the same goes for me. Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

[22:58] Follow thou me. Verse 23. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die.

[23:09] Yet Jesus said, Not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? So, a couple of really good things we need to take away from this.

[23:24] Then went this saying abroad among who? among the brethren. Well, folks, there were only seven of them present here. There were only seven of the disciples present.

[23:36] We established that at the beginning of chapter 21. So, this rumor began with seven people that were following Christ.

[23:47] and what happened? They misunderstood. They misunderstood what Jesus said. They misunderstood what Jesus meant when he said, If I will that he tarry, that he lives, that he continues until I come, what is that to thee?

[24:04] Then the disciples, these seven, ran off for six of them because John seemed to have a pretty good understanding of it. But regardless, this handful of disciples went running off and spread this to fellow believers.

[24:22] It says it went abroad to the brethren. This would be the first century church. This would be the first, really the first real, or the beginning of the church.

[24:33] And it went to the brethren and they start spreading a rumor that is false because they misunderstood the words of Jesus Christ. And folks, if we are not careful, we will do the exact same things with this book.

[24:47] We will do the exact same thing. That's why there's umpteen thousand denominations right now is because there are misunderstandings of this book and I will not stand here and tell you that I understand everything that's in this book.

[25:00] And I'm not going to stand here and tell you that I've taught or preached everything 100% correct out of this book. I'm not so naive as to think that I have.

[25:11] I'm bound to be wrong in something. And you are too. But folks, the best way to steer clear of that is to keep your nose in it and let it seep into your heart.

[25:28] Pray before you get into the Scripture. Pray that God shows you via the Holy Ghost the meaning of His Word. Pray that when you're sitting in a service underneath the preached Word of God that God reveals His Scripture to you that He reveals what He means in the Scripture to you.

[25:48] Pray before you get into the Scriptures. Period. Otherwise, you're going to walk away with some really wonky stuff in your head. And if you're not careful, if it takes up residence in your head long enough, eventually it's going to sink down into your heart.

[26:06] And then that's when you're deceived. That's when you're deceived. And folks, there are some really weird things out there as far as Scripture goes that completely contradict the rest of Scripture.

[26:19] People will take one line out of Scripture and make it mean something that it absolutely does not mean. And every time I think of cases like that, I think of the Scripture where Paul writes to the Corinthian church not to be unequally yoked.

[26:36] Every time. Because that verse is used to say that blacks and whites shouldn't marry. And that has nothing to do with it. It has zero to do with it.

[26:48] I don't care if later on in that same passage of Scripture it does say what communion hath light with darkness. It's not talking about skin color. He says not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

[27:02] But people will take a part of a verse and they'll make an entire doctrine out of it. They'll make an entire denomination out of it sometimes. Disregarding the rest of Scripture the same thing happens with water baptism.

[27:19] People take four or five verses out of Scripture and make it mandatory to be baptized in water before you can ever see glory. Before you can ever be saved.

[27:30] And that is literally watering down the gospel and the death of Jesus Christ. His blood is sufficient to cleanse me of my sins. I don't need an aspect of His creation to wash over me.

[27:45] I need His blood to cleanse me. Not water. Water baptism is great and I encourage every believer to do it. But it is not necessary to go to heaven.

[27:57] And the Bible doesn't support that anywhere. Anywhere in Scripture. Then what they're saying abroad among the brethren. Keep that in mind it was the brethren. It was these that were gathered or it started with these that were gathered here around Jesus Christ on the Sea of Galilee.

[28:13] It went abroad among the brethren that the disciple should not die. Now keep in mind the disciple we're talking about here is John. And John lived to be an old man.

[28:26] John was almost 100 years old when he died. Nobody knows his birthday but once again 96, 98 A.D. is about when it's recorded in church history that he died.

[28:40] Was he martyred? That was attempted. That was attempted when they threw him in a vat of boiling oil but it didn't kill him. God delivered him from that.

[28:51] And that's when he was exiled to Patmos for nothing more than being a believer in Jesus Christ and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preaching the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation.

[29:02] He was exiled to Patmos. Just for that. But even then he was let go from that. It's assumed because he got so old that he couldn't work in the quarries or mines anymore.

[29:17] So he was released from that and went back to Ephesus. Went back to a region that we know nowadays as Turkey. Went back there and lived out his days.

[29:29] But here's John writing this gospel saying these people were saying I was going to live forever or at least live until Jesus came again. John's writing this about himself.

[29:42] It says yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee? If I will it.

[29:53] Folks if God wills anything it's going to come to be it will come to pass. If it's God's will if it's God's will that I live until Christ come it's going to happen.

[30:05] If it's God's will that you live until Christ come it's going to happen. But that's not what Christ said but it was misinterpreted by these disciples that were gathered around him by this handful of men and therefore it was spread abroad.

[30:22] Now all this being said when John died when John died can you imagine what had to be ironed out within the first century church?

[30:36] Well it was said that John wasn't going to die and now John's dead. What does that do to the scripture? Does that render God's word fallible instead of infallible?

[30:52] Does it render God's word untrustworthy instead of trustworthy? Absolutely not. Because that's not what Jesus said to begin with. It is not what Christ said to begin with.

[31:04] But imagine the confusion that came up in all of that. But folks there's something else in this that we can also take away in what Christ has said here and what he actually said about John.

[31:19] What was perceived that was said about John. Christ is coming again. And Christ says that himself. If I will that he tarry until I come, what is that to thee?

[31:36] Christ is coming again and folks that is our hope. That is our hope. That's what Paul wrote to Titus and called it the blessed hope. The blessed hope of Christ appearing, the blessed hope that he is coming one day for all of his saints, for all of those that believe on him.

[31:54] It's a blessed hope that we have in him and him and Christ here is confirming that that will be the case. He says if I will that he tarry until I come.

[32:06] So that confirms that Christ is coming. And folks that amongst many other scriptures blows out of the water of these people saying there's not going to be a return of Christ. Because there's all kinds of people that say that.

[32:18] Some of them even claim to be believers. But I believe this gospel. Not just the gospel of John. I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. From the beginning of this book to the end of this book.

[32:31] This book being the Bible. I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that he died for me. I believe that he has ascended to the father and I believe that he is coming again for me.

[32:45] Verse 24. This is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true.

[33:00] John's saying this is the disciple which wrote these things and testifieth of these things and we know his witness to be true. This follows right in line with 1 John chapter 5 verse 13.

[33:13] He says basically the same thing. And again John 20 and verse 31. In the gospel of John chapter 20 and verse 31. He says these things are written that people might believe on Jesus Christ and have eternal life through his name.

[33:30] And John here says this is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true. How do we know that his testimony is true?

[33:40] Why do we know that his testimony is true? Folks he was an eyewitness. He was right there with Christ from the beginning of Christ's ministry all the way through up to this point he was with Christ.

[33:55] That's how we know his testimony to be true. When we went through 1st 2nd and 3rd John the very first chapter of 1st John John's mentioning how he has touched the word of life.

[34:07] He's handled the word of life. He heard the word of life. He saw him. And that's how we can trust what John is saying about him. And folks do you not think for just a moment that John would have recanted everything that he said and completely reviled Jesus Christ before being thrown into a vat of bowling hole or even after they brought him up and was threatening exile.

[34:37] if it weren't true. If it weren't true I would have been screaming for mercy from somebody whether it had been Nero whether it had been Domitian regardless of who the emperor was.

[34:53] I said I've been lying all this time but folks John couldn't say that because it wasn't a lie. Everything that he wrote was true and he says here I'm the one that's testifying of these things and you know my testimony to be true.

[35:05] I'm an eyewitness to these things. Everything that happened within the gospel here within the gospel of John. John was with Christ in his ministry so he could verify everything that happened through his eyewitness testimony and eyewitness testimony held a whole lot more clout 2000 years ago as opposed to what it holds now.

[35:31] If somebody's got it in for you it don't matter what kind of testimony you have. It don't matter how many witnesses you have right now. If they've truly got it in for you and come against you people's testimony doesn't really matter anymore.

[35:47] Not like it did then. Not like it did 2000 years ago. But anyway verse 25 and there are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

[36:07] Amen. There are many other things which Jesus did. In other words we've got 21 chapters here of Christ and his ministry beginning with chapter 1.

[36:19] What do we have in chapter 1? We have this wonderful prologue into the entire gospel of John talking about how Jesus Christ was the word made flesh.

[36:30] In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. We learn about Jesus' eternal existence there. He's always been, he always has been, and he always will be.

[36:44] So we learn about that. We learn how in his life there's a lot of men. We learn that he was the word made flesh and dwelt among us. We learn that he came to, he came to, or God wanted a tabernacle with men.

[36:59] We learn that he came into his own and his own received him not. All this stuff we find in John chapter 1. And then later on in John chapter 1 we find the calls of the disciples towards the latter portion of John chapter 1.

[37:11] And then beginning at John chapter 2 we see his first miracle. The turning of the water of wine at the wedding of Cana. And from there on out we see all these things in his ministry.

[37:22] We have that, we have John chapter 3 with the conversation he had with Nicodemus. John chapter 4, the woman at the well. John chapter 5, the man of the pool of Bethesda. John chapter 6, we learn that he's the bread.

[37:34] We learn all these things throughout the gospel of John. And John has written these things as he said in chapter 20, the end of chapter 20, that we might believe.

[37:45] He wrote about the woman at the well. that we might believe that Christ will meet you where you are, in your circumstances, even in your sin, and redeem you. We learn in John chapter 5, the man at the pool of Bethesda, he will come to where you are, just as he did the woman at the well.

[38:02] And he'll lift you up when you can't lift up yourself. And he'll give you life. And he'll give you a reason to live. We learn all these things throughout the gospel of John.

[38:15] And everything that we have read over the past almost two years that we've been going through this gospel, a couple more months and it had been two years, almost two years. John says, there's also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

[38:37] we've only got a sample of what Christ did. But folks, this also shows us that Christ's work did not end here.

[38:50] And it hasn't ended. To this day, Christ's work continues. To this day, the gospel is still going forth. To this day, the gospel, coupled with the Holy Spirit, using the gospel, is convicting hearts and showing people their need for Christ, their need for redemption, their need for the salvation they can have only in Jesus Christ.

[39:13] And Christ's work on the cross is still in effect. It is still in effect. It is still powerful. And it's still the only thing that is able to redeem fallen man.

[39:26] And it continues. It continues. It's like Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5, that if we are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ, how much more, how much more are we reconciled by his life?

[39:42] What life? The life that he currently has. The life sitting at the right hand of God the Father, interceding and mediating on behalf of everyone who repents of their sin and believes in him and his gospel.

[39:57] So the work is still continuing. The work goes on and he ends it with the word, amen. In other words, so be it. So be it.

[40:07] So be the gospel of Jesus Christ. So be the power of God and the salvation. So be the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so be his continued life, intercessing for all who believe.

[40:21] Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that? thanks to you.

[40:38]  the opportunity to do so. God bless y'all. I appreciate your time.