Introduction to the Books
Tom Shrader introduces a new multi-year study of the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — taken together as a harmony to provide the fullest possible picture of the life of Jesus Christ. He surveys the distinctive purpose, audience, and character of each Gospel, noting that Matthew targets a Jewish audience to present Jesus as Messiah, Mark writes to Roman Gentiles with action and urgency, Luke brings scholarly thoroughness and compassion for outcasts, and John provides the most theological account with the explicit aim that readers would believe and receive life. The driving motivation throughout is Philippians 3:8, Paul's declaration that knowing Christ surpasses everything else, which Shrader presents as the goal not only of this study but of the Christian life itself.
“Jesus isn't a doctrine. Jesus is a person. He's a God-man. You can know him. You have a relationship with him.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: A Study Of The Life Of Jesus Christ (2003/2004)
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 19 min
Themes: knowing jesus, gospels, life of christ, bible study, discipleship, pursuing christ, scripture, jesus as person, new believer, longtime christian wanting deeper faith, seeker exploring jesus, small group leader, feeling distant from god, adult bible student, pastor, spiritually plateaued
Scripture: Philippians 3:8, Luke 1:1-4, Matthew 1:1-17, Matthew 9:9, Matthew 16:18, Matthew 18:17, Matthew 23:13-29, Mark 2:14, Mark 10:17-22, Mark 14:43-52, Colossians 4:10, Colossians 4:14, Acts 12, Acts 15:39, 2 Timothy 4:11, 1 Peter 5:13, Galatians 2:9, John 1:1-18, John 14, John 15, John 16, John 16:7, John 20:30-31, 1 John 1:1-3
Theological Themes: christology, harmony of the gospels, incarnation, messianic fulfillment, progressive sanctification, knowing christ, biblical inspiration, gospel authorship
Full Transcript
Gospels is to present theological truth about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and call men to faith in Him.
Introducing the Harmony of the Gospels
Last week we focused on Philippians chapter 3 verse 8, and I want to use that as part of our introduction today into a new study. Paul writes: "Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possessions of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and more clearly." We looked at that last week, and I wanted to draw out that phrase because it becomes not just something we talked about last week, but something we are going to be talking about and using for all of our study: of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and more clearly.
Probably the best way to do that is to study a gospel. As one of the shepherds here at the church, and the one who does the lion's share of the teaching, I was aware that we spend a lot of time in the book of Acts and related readings — Paul's writing especially — looking at heavy doctrinal themes. My desire, starting about six months ago, was that when we finished 2 Corinthians we would do a gospel. But I couldn't figure out which one I wanted to do. The more time I spent thinking about it, I thought: let's do all four of them.
What we are doing is what is called a harmony of the gospels. That means we are going to take all four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — and lay them side by side, bringing them together as best we can chronologically. It is impossible to get scholars to agree on a precise order, and I am certainly not one of those scholars, but we can do a pretty good job of it. That is how we are going to study Jesus.
We have said it to you again and again, and we are going to keep it fresh: Jesus is not a doctrine. Jesus is a person. I understand that there is doctrine associated with Him, but Jesus is a person, and we must understand Him as such.
What a Harmony of the Gospels Accomplishes
Robert Thomas and Stanley Gundry write this: "The central person of Christianity is Jesus Christ. The bulk of what we know about Jesus Christ is found in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. An indispensable step toward a better understanding of these four books is to harmonize the separate accounts so as to assemble as many details as possible into the chronologically meaningful sequence. This harmony of the gospels is introduced as a resource to encourage a deeper understanding of Jesus Christ, His life, His death, and His resurrection. A harmony of the gospels provides an important means for studying the four gospels at one time. Though it could never replace the four gospels studied individually, it is an indispensable tool for gaining a well-rounded overview of Jesus' life and all its facets."
That is what we want to do. What I hope you will see this morning is that these four gospel writers had very different audiences in mind when they wrote, very different intent, and they emphasized different points. By bringing them together, we can get the fullest possible picture of the life of Christ. It is a monumental task, and I am excited about it and intimidated by it all at the same time.
I am not sure exactly how long we will do this. My sense is that from beginning to end it will take around five years — that would be my guess. Nor do any of us need a steady diet of just one thing. What I try to do is sense where the body is, and when the majority of us are at a point where we need something else, we go there.
For example, when someone calls and asks me to speak at a retreat and says they want doctrine, almost always I give them application, because they already have doctrine — that is why they want more of it, because it is easy. Or if someone says they want purely practical material, almost always what they actually need is doctrine, but they love the practical and want to live there. We tend to love what we are already good at. If you can really hit your driver well, you love to go to the driving range and hit the driver and you hate hitting long irons. If you can hit a three-pointer but cannot hit a free throw, you hate shooting free throws. In our lives, we tend to avoid the things that are either the most necessary or the hardest to do.
A study of the Gospels may be exactly what we need. We can fall so in love with it that we miss some of the writing found especially in the Apostle Paul, which is also so important. So we will move back and forth. But the Gospels are going to be our focal point for a while.
The Nature and Purpose of the Gospels
John MacArthur writes this: "The Gospels are not biographies in the modern sense of the word, since they do not intend to present a complete life of Jesus. Apart from the birth narratives, they give little information about the first thirty years of Jesus' life. While Jesus' public ministry lasted over three years, the Gospels focus much of their attention on the last week of His life. Though they are completely accurate historically and present important biographical details of Jesus' life, the primary purpose of the Gospels is to present theological truth about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and call men to faith in Him."
and he would collect taxes in that area. But he wasn't on salary. The way he made his living was by overcharging. He was allowed to keep anything that he collected over and above what the Romans required. So the potential for corruption and abuse was tremendous. And the Jews hated the tax gatherers. They were seen as traitors to their own people. And Matthew was one of these.
Matthew's Gospel
What an extraordinary book Matthew is. It is the first of the Gospels, the longest, the most Jewish, the most evangelistic, and in many ways the most compelling. As the first of the Gospels, Matthew is a bridge book linking the Old Testament — with its fervent anticipation of the Messiah — to the realization of the Messiah's kingly rule over the new people of God, which is the church. Matthew is the only Gospel to use the word "church." It occurs in Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:17, the first having to do with Jesus establishing or building the church, and the second with church discipline.
The word "Matthew" means "gift to the Lord." Matthew was also known as Levi, as Mark 2:14 tells us, and he was a tax gatherer. In that day and age, that was about as pejorative and negative an occupation as you could have among the Jews. The Jews hated tax gatherers. What is interesting is that Matthew himself describes himself that way. In Matthew 9:9 he writes: "As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, 'Follow me,' and he arose and he followed him." This is a great insight into the humility of Matthew — he does not disguise his past or make excuses for it.
A tax gatherer was a Jew who had sold out to the Romans. He would have some agreement with the Romans and a specific area in which he collected taxes. He was not on salary. The way he made his living was by overcharging — he was allowed to keep anything he collected over and above what the Romans required. So the potential for corruption and abuse was tremendous. The Jews saw tax gatherers as traitors to their own people, and Matthew was one of these.
Introduction to the Four Gospels
The Gospels are theological and apologetic. They provide authoritative answers to questions about Jesus' life and ministry, and they strengthen believers' assurance regarding the reality of their faith. Luke states this plainly in his introduction. In Luke 1:4 he writes: "I'm writing this so that you may know the exact truth about the things that you've heard."
The Gospels are not a complete, all-encompassing biography of the life of Christ in the way we typically think of biography — multiple volumes with a detailed accounting of every event. What they do provide, however, is everything that God wanted us to know about the life of Christ. Everything God wanted us to know about Jesus is contained in these four Gospels. If there were something outside of that He wanted us to know, He would have placed it here. We can get God's intended full view of Jesus' life by studying Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Synoptic Gospels
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels. The word "synoptic" is a compound word — "syn" meaning together, and "optic" meaning seeing. Matthew, Mark, and Luke seem to see things together. There is a great deal of overlap in the incidents from the life of Christ covered in these Gospels. They are so similar that it has even caused some scholarly controversy. There is a whole school of thought that believes Mark wrote first and that Matthew and Luke simply filled in the gaps afterward, which makes dating the Gospels somewhat difficult. In fact, 93% of the content of Mark's Gospel is also found in Matthew and Luke — a remarkable degree of similarity among these three.
John's Gospel is very different. He ignores the parables completely and focuses in a much more theological way. He certainly does not contradict the Synoptic Gospels, but he fills in the blanks, giving explanation and a fuller understanding. The Synoptic Gospels contain numerous parables, while John records none of them. John and the Synoptic Gospels record only two common events prior to Passion Week — Jesus walking on water and the feeding of the five thousand. These differences between John and the Synoptic Gospels are not contradictory; they are complementary.
Matthew's Background and Authorship
He would do exactly as the term suggests. He, or one of his underlings, would gather taxes — general taxes on land, property, income, poll tax, registration tax, import duty tax, and business licensing tax. The Jews hated these men. A portion of the collected tax would go to Rome, but a portion would stay with the collector himself.
As Matthew writes to the Jews, he does not gloss over the fact that he was a tax gatherer. I love that. He does not ignore his past.
Do you? Especially those of you who became Christians perhaps a little older in life. I received an email this morning from someone who had just this week been in a class with a fellow I used to work with before I was converted. The moment I read that as the introductory sentence, I got a little nervous. This person went on to say that the fellow had been sharing certain things about my past life — one particular story, because he tells the same story to everybody. And yet he was also saying, "But he's really changed. He's really changed. There's something different there."
I was thirty years old when I was converted. There is a lot of difficult history back there. I do not try to gloss over it, but I do not try to glory in it either.
Patience Toward Unbelievers
This really connects to how you as Christians deal with the unbelievers around you. Have you noticed yourself perhaps growing a little impatient with unbelievers? A little judgmental? A short fuse? What are they thinking about? They are thinking about what you used to think about when you were not saved — themselves. They are in the midst of sin. They are in bondage to sin. They cannot do anything about it.
The question worth asking is: why do you have expectations of them? Why do you expect them to act like believers when they are sinners? They are not going to. They cannot. Maybe it is time to take a hard look and ask yourself why you are still holding them to that standard.
It makes me a little sad when I see Christians so impatient with unbelievers. They are pagans. They do not know. They cannot know. It is like me standing in the batter's box trying to hit Randy Johnson. It is not going to happen. He can throw and throw and throw, and I am not going to get the bat on the ball. I cannot do it. And I have a far greater likelihood of making contact than a non-believer does of doing genuine good on their own.
Matthew hits this head-on. That is what I was, he is saying. And now he is one of the twelve.
Date and Audience of Matthew's Gospel
The dates given for the writing of Matthew's Gospel range anywhere from 50 to 70 AD. We would move that date forward to probably the early to mid-50s. Matthew is targeting a Jewish audience, and that is fairly easy to determine simply by beginning to read through the book.
MacArthur writes that the Jewish flavor of Matthew's Gospel is remarkable. It is evident in the opening genealogy, where Matthew traces Jesus's lineage back only as far as Abraham.
Look at Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. Matthew's purpose is to demonstrate that Christ is the King and the Messiah of Israel. He is concerned about the Jew. So what does he do? He begins the Gospel by pointing out to the Jews that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy, and he traces the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham.
Verse 1 begins: "This book is a genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." From there it moves to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and so forth, down to verse 16: "To Jacob was born Joseph, the husband of Mary, and by whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ. Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation of Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation of Babylon to the time of Christ, fourteen generations."
Now take that genealogy to a Roman Gentile, and he could not care less about Abraham and Isaac. Matthew does not care that he does not care, because Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience.
Matthew's Use of Old Testament Prophecy
As you work your way through the Gospel of Matthew, you will see nearly sixty direct references to prophetic passages, each one emphasizing that Christ is the fulfillment of those prophecies. Matthew's purpose is clear: to demonstrate that Jesus is the Jewish nation's long-awaited Messiah.
His extensive quoting of the Old Testament is specifically designed to show the connection between the Messiah of promise and the Christ of history, and this purpose is never out of focus for Matthew. Throughout the Gospel you will encounter dozens and dozens of references to Old Testament passages, to prophetic texts, to Jewish celebrations, holidays, and customs. Why? Because he is writing to the Jew.
Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees
Interestingly, running throughout this Gospel is a continuing conflict between Jesus and the scribes and the Pharisees. Turn over to Matthew chapter 23, where Matthew records some of the harshest teaching Jesus ever delivered.
When I read through the Gospels, I am struck by something. You will see Jesus deal with prostitutes, with adultery, with all sorts of sin and sinners with remarkable grace. But when He comes into contact with these Jewish religious leaders — immediately there is an explosion.
Matthew chapter 23 functions in a sense as a bookend to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says the scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chairs of Moses. He is acknowledging that these are the leaders, the teachers, the ones who have set themselves up as authorities. But they have missed it entirely.
Look at just the opening phrases of His condemnations. Verse 13: "But woe to you." Verse 14: "But woe to you." Verse 15: "Woe to you." Verse after verse, the same thundering judgment.
Matthew's Gospel: Jesus as the Fulfillment of Prophecy
Again and again, Jesus is condemning these Jewish leaders. Verse 16, woe to you. Verse 23, woe to you. Verse 25, woe to you. Verse 27, woe to you. Verse 29, woe to you. Matthew, more than any of the other Gospel writers, brings this right to the forefront. His audience is Jewish, and he wants them to understand this background — he wants them to understand that the Jews rejected Jesus.
Interestingly, Matthew does not seem to care about chronological order. Reading from one of the commentaries, Matthew makes no attempt to follow a strict chronology, and a comparison of the Gospels reveals that Matthew freely takes things out of order. He deals with themes and broad concepts, not laying out a timeline. If he has Jesus teaching something that occurred at a specific date, Matthew does not concern himself with that. He will bring it up early in the Gospel because it fits with the theme or the point he is making.
Since the audience he is trying to reach is primarily Jewish, he wants them to see Jesus as the fulfillment of prophetic passages. This gives some difficulty in interpretation. There are five major discourses recorded by Matthew: the Sermon on the Mount, the commissioning of the apostles, the parable of the kingdom, the childlikeness of the believer, and in chapters 24 and 25, the second coming of Christ. It is a very lengthy and very important Gospel. The thing to remember with Matthew is that he is trying to present Jesus as the Messiah, the servant king, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Introduction to the Gospel of Mark
If you want a sharp contrast to Matthew, consider the Gospel according to Mark. Mark was also known as John Mark. We know his cousin Barnabas, and we also know — though you may not realize it — his mother Mary.
Colossians 4:10 tells us that Barnabas was Mark's cousin. His mother Mary was a wealthy woman who spent time with the apostles and disciples. Remember in Acts 12 where Peter is imprisoned and they pray for his release — he is released, there is a knock at the door, and a servant girl comes. That was Mary's house, John Mark's mother's house. They used it as a base of operation.
Mark's Failure and Restoration
Paul took Mark with him on his first missionary journey. Barnabas came to Paul and said he had this cousin, John Mark — a young man who loved the Lord and would be valuable to take along. Paul agreed, and away they went. For some reason, we are not told why, Mark did not finish. He blew out before the journey was complete.
When it was time for the next journey, Barnabas suggested they take Mark again. Paul refused outright. He made clear that they had tried Mark before, it had not worked out, and he was not willing to take him again. According to Luke's account in Acts 15, verse 39, there was a sharp disagreement that separated Paul and Barnabas, these two partners. Paul left with Silas, and Barnabas took Mark.
The first time this passage was taught, the question was raised: who was right — Paul or Barnabas? At the time, the answer given was emphatically that Paul was right. Looking at it now, the better answer is that they were either both right, or ultimately Barnabas was right. Paul's position is understandable. He was saying this was not a training mission — it was hard, difficult work. As we saw in 2 Corinthians 11, there were beatings, stonings, and shipwrecks. Mark had already proven he could not endure it. But Barnabas believed Mark had learned, grown, and matured.
What is worth loving about Mark's story is that he blew it — and he blew it big. He failed. But MacArthur writes of John Mark's restoration, and restored he was. Here is the end of the story. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 11, Paul is writing to Timothy from prison and says this: "...only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service." This is the same man Paul had refused to take. Now he is saying to bring him in — he is useful. A genuine restoration had taken place.
Peter's Role in Mark's Restoration
Paul may not have had much to do with that restoration. A large part of it was likely due to Peter's ministry. Peter and Mark became very good friends. It stands to reason that Peter knew Mark's mother, heard about Mark's story, and felt a certain sense of connection to him. A love certainly developed. In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter refers to Mark as "my son." As MacArthur points out, Peter was no stranger to failure himself. There was likely a kinship there — that every time Peter looked across the room and saw Mark, something in him understood.
Peter was probably one of the instruments God used to restore this man, to stabilize him, to mature him, and to strengthen him. And that brings us to a point that must not be missed. Failure is not fatal. This is a word for those who are Christians and have blown it, whatever that may be.
God Uses Imperfect People
God's bigger. God not only forgives, God can use you. I have grown to be someone who loves failure, because I think you learn from it, or can, if you're wise. I love, even as we're dealing with staff people, to see people who've had failures in ministry, because you've learned. I have become such a proponent of failure that if you come to me and say you haven't had any failure, then either A, you're lying, or B, you're simply not doing anything. That's part of life. So I love old John Mark here. He's a cool guy in my mind.
The Gospel of Mark
Mark likely wrote his book around 63 AD, just prior to Peter's death. He was referred to in the early church as a disciple and the interpreter of Peter. In fact, Justin Martyr in 150 AD referred to the Gospel of Mark as the memoirs of Peter. Mark targeted Roman believers, especially Gentiles. So throughout his Gospel, if he makes a reference to an Aramaic term or a Jewish custom, he will almost always explain it, and if he doesn't bring the term into his writing, he'll leave it out entirely.
Speculative Glimpses of Mark in His Own Gospel
A couple of other things about Mark are really speculative, so you can discount them if you want. Turn to Mark chapter 10, verse 17. Setting out on a journey, a man came up to Him. We're told in other places it's a rich young man: "Good teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother.' And he said to them, 'Teacher, I have kept all of these.' And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him."
Now, in the other accounts of this rich young ruler, that detail of Jesus looking at him is left out. It might be that Mark was that rich young man. Remember, we've said his mother was wealthy. Somehow Mark put himself in that man's shoes enough to not only understand that Jesus looked at him, but also that Jesus loved him. It's speculation, but I think it's interesting to think about.
Now turn to Mark chapter 14, verse 43. They are arresting Jesus on the night He was betrayed. Immediately while He is speaking, Judas comes and says, "Whoever I kiss, seize him," and he kisses Him. Someone standing by drew a sword — that's Peter, who cut off the ear. Jesus answered and said, "You have come with swords and clubs to arrest Me. Every day I was with you in the temple teaching. Why didn't you seize Me there? But this has happened according to the Scripture." And then they left Him. Verse 51: "A certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body, and they seized him, and he left the linen sheet behind and escaped naked."
That raises a whole bunch of questions. Why is he walking around in just a sheet? Maybe he was the rich young ruler who was told to give away everything, and he did. That might be old Mark again. This account is exclusive to his Gospel, which would make sense if he is including himself in the story. I'm not going to die on that hill, but do you get a sense of who Mark is? Mark is around all of this. He probably thought he was something more than he was, blew out on the first missionary journey, and then became a major figure in the church.
As mentioned earlier, 93% of what Mark writes is also written in Matthew and Luke. William Hendrickson writes this: "Mark's aim is that men everywhere may accept Jesus Christ, Son of Man and Son of God, the conquering King, as their Savior and Lord." So where Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, Mark is tailoring his message for believers — primarily Roman Gentile believers.
The Gospel of Luke
Now, Luke. The Gospel according to Luke. Let me tell you a little about Luke. He is a Gentile, and he is the only Gentile to write any of the books of Scripture. He is a physician — Colossians 4:14 — and it makes sense that as you read through his Gospel, he spends a great deal of time talking about Jesus' healing ministry. It is clearly important to him. He also wrote the book of Acts.
If we were to try to date Luke's writing, this Gospel would be probably 60, no later than 61 AD. He was also a co-traveler of Paul's. I mentioned earlier that at the end of his life, when Paul writes to Timothy, he says, "Only Luke is with me." As you read through the book of Acts and the accounts of Paul's life, you will frequently notice that Luke, as the author, refers to Paul and his traveling party using a first-person plural pronoun — "we were at such-and-such a city, we left, we were here, we departed." Then he will make distinct breaks and say, "Then Paul left, he traveled." But for much of the time that Paul was ministering, Luke was with him.
Luke's style is very scholarly, with a strong emphasis on investigation. Go ahead and look at the very first four verses of his Gospel: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning." That is very scholarly, very thorough — Woodward-and-Bernstein investigative reporting. He provides us the most complete account we have of Jesus' birth. The speculation is that he spent a good deal of time with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that part of his investigative work included her testimony.
The Gospel of John
John writes a very different type of gospel. The author is not specifically designated anywhere within the text, but we know it is John's gospel. He identifies himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," referring to himself this way five times in his writing.
There was a special relationship between Jesus and John. His brother was James, and together they were known as the sons of Zebedee. They were also known as the sons of thunder — that is what Jesus called them. There was a time when they were making their way through Samaria, and when the people there did not receive Jesus, James and John said to the Lord, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" Sons of thunder indeed.
The reason this is worth mentioning is that it does not fit the picture many of us carry of John. We tend to see him as this gentle figure, the disciple whom Jesus loved, characterized by tenderness. But there was an edge to him, at least as a young man. John was clearly the youngest of the disciples, and he would go on to write his gospel around 90 AD, living well into his nineties.
John as Eyewitness and Pillar of the Church
John was an eyewitness to Jesus' ministry. In his first epistle, he writes: "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have beheld with our hands concerning the Word of Lord, what we've seen, what we've heard, that's what we proclaim to you." He was there. He saw it firsthand.
He also became a pillar of the early church. Galatians chapter 2, verse 9 tells us that Peter and James and John were known as pillars of the early church. He was also a prolific writer of New Testament works, authoring the book of Revelation and, in a moment of creative naming, three epistles: 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John.
John's Unique Position Among the Gospels
As noted earlier, John's gospel was written somewhere between 80 and 90 AD — fifty years after Jesus' earthly ministry, and at least twenty to thirty years after the other gospels were written. So John sits in a unique position: an eyewitness, writing half a century after the fact, with the benefit of three gospels already produced, being read and studied across the early church.
John writes not to contradict those gospels, but to supplement them — to help readers understand the synoptic gospels through a very distinctive approach. He is by far the most theological of the four gospel writers. Consider just the opening of John chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." And then verse 14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace."
John also contains the most extensive teaching on the Holy Spirit found anywhere in the gospels. In chapters 14, 15, and 16, Jesus is teaching on the night He is betrayed, and throughout those chapters there are frequent references to the Holy Spirit — the Helper, the Spirit of truth, the One who will come. Jesus says in John 16:7: "I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you. But if I go away, I will send Him to you, and He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment."
John's Purpose Statement
Unique among the four gospels, John is the only one that gives us a clear, precise purpose statement. John tells us exactly why he is writing. Look at John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31: "Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples that are not written in this book, but these have been 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 is saying plainly that this is not a comprehensive account of everything Jesus did. It is a carefully selected record, chosen so that by looking at these signs, readers would see that Jesus is the Christ — the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Savior. And by believing that Jesus is your Savior, you have life. John is very clear about this.
This is precisely why, for example, when the Billy Graham crusade would invite viewers to write in for follow-up material, what they sent was the Gospel of John. That is why John wrote — that you would believe. The word "believe" or "believer" appears more than one hundred times in John's gospel, only half as frequently in Matthew, Mark, and Luke combined. It is a very different kind of book.
If we were to summarize it, we would say this: John provides the record of how men respond to Jesus and —
The Core Message of the Gospels
To sum it up: first, Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Second, He brings the gift of salvation. Third, we either accept or reject that offer. We are saved — delivered from our sin and eternal destruction — if we believe Jesus is who He said He was. If we do not, we are lost.
Why Four Gospels?
Those are the four Gospels, and all I wanted to do is whet your appetite and help you see why we have them. Someone might ask, why would you have four Gospels? The answer is that they are written to four distinct audiences. They do not contradict one another; rather, as we put them together, they complement and supplement one another.
Our task over the next few years is to study these Gospels, because they are unique among all literature. They are designed to give us God's biographical sketch of His Son, Jesus Christ. If I want to know Christ and know Him more fully, I will have to know these Gospels.
Jesus Is a Person, Not Just a Doctrine
Let me say it again: Jesus is not a doctrine. Jesus is a person. He is the God-man, and you can know Him. You can have a relationship with Him.
What I am going to try to do in my own life — and I suggest the same for yours — is to approach this study as though we are reading it for the very first time. We should not strip away the amazement and the shock of it. We should not remove it from its humanity, but rather understand the impact of Christ's revolutionary teaching and life, His resurrection, and what it meant.
Seeing Through the Eyes of the First Disciples
Alistair McGrath writes this: "The Gospel writers set us alongside the disciples as they encountered Jesus for the first time and gradually begin to grasp His significance. He enters into their world as a mysterious figure, someone who commands authority. When the apostles hear His call to follow, they leave everything behind and walked alongside Him. They did not fully understand who He was or what He had in mind for them, but there was something about Him that was attractive and compelling. Leaving behind all that they had counted precious, they walked into the unknown future, knowing that it would include the consolation of His presence. They would spend the remainder of their lives appreciating who Christ is and why He is so important."
McGrath continues: "As we read the Gospels, we realize that we are being set alongside the apostles on their journey of discovery, seeing and hearing the remarkable events which gradually brought them to the electrifying realization that here among them was none other than the Son of God. The Gospel allows us to see with the eyes of the first disciples, taking in with them Christ's encounter with those around Him. We can hear these astonishing words of Christ with our own ears and share the dawn of faith, the moment when they realized that here in front of their eyes was the hope of Israel, the one who had held their future in His hand."
To Know Christ More Fully
That is what I am hoping for. I go back to Philippians chapter 3, where Paul did an inventory of his life and said that he had all these things — things that people respect — and he counted them as but rubbish. He said, "Here is what I want more than anything else on this earth: to know Christ Jesus, my Lord, and to progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully."
That is my goal. That is my desire — for myself, for you, and for us as a church — to know Jesus more fully, to perceive Him, to understand Him, and then to live like Him. It is going to be a great time. I am overwhelmed, but I am excited, and I cannot wait for us to begin to discover, perhaps afresh and certainly more deeply, who Jesus really is.
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*Father, thank You for this truth. It is our desire in this study that as we look at Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, we would know You more intimately, more deeply, and understand You more fully. God, we pray that Your Spirit would do that powerful work in our lives. We pray this to You in Jesus' name. Amen.*