Wow, what a tremendous worship service already. Thank you Hannah and Presley for that amazing song. I love that song. And it’s a great way to prepare our hearts for this final sermon in the Son of God series that we’ve been in for 10 weeks now.

So turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Again, this is the 10th and final sermon in our Son of God series, and we’ve been tracing this name, the Son of God, throughout John’s gospel. And we’ve been looking at every time that name is used and what it tells us about who Jesus is, about what John wants us to know about Jesus. And so far, we’ve seen eight uses of this name. in chapters 1, 3, 5, 10, and 11, and then last week in chapter 19, and today in chapter 20.

This final occurrence of this name in John’s gospel appears in John’s purpose statement, which we find in John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. John’s gospel is unique. not only unique in the four gospels that we have, the four accounts of Jesus’ life, but really unique as a book of the Bible, because it has such a clear and intentional purpose statement. John literally says, this is why I wrote what I did. And that’s what we have this morning, these two verses. They conclude John’s account of the resurrection of Jesus.

Last week we were in chapter 19 where we saw the trial and lead up to the crucifixion. Well, at this point where we pick up in John 20, Christ has died and risen again and now has appeared to the disciples. And so these verses, they serve really as a summary of the book But more than that, not only do they tell us why John wrote what he did, but they tell us what John wants from us, what he desires from us in our reading and study of the book that he wrote.

And as we’ve seen throughout the gospel, we see different aspects of who the Son of God is, and today we see the mission of the Son of God. What was He here for? Why did He come? And the mission of the Son of God is threefold. First, it is to reveal the Father through His words and His works. And to accomplish our redemption through His death and resurrection and defeat of sin and death. And then thirdly, as we’ll see, to give us eternal life for all those who believe. And that will be how we structure this text this morning.

These two verses, John 20 verses 30 and 31, we see the Son’s revelation. Secondly, we see the Son’s redemption. And thirdly, we will see the Son’s reconciliation. So allow me to read our two verses this morning, John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Again, the first aspect of the Son’s mission that we will look at is the Son’s revelation. These verses, again, come near the end of the gospel’s main story. Chapter 21 shows further appearances of Jesus to different people, and we see Peter’s redemption from when he denied Christ to when Jesus challenges him by asking him, do you love me, three times. And in the end of chapter 20, we really see the close of John’s account of the resurrection. This comes right after the disciple and eventual apostle Thomas making a confession where he says, my Lord and my God. And this is a significant confession. If you remember, we were introduced to Thomas a few weeks ago in chapter 11. The chapter that contains the resurrection of Lazarus. And as Jesus was preparing his disciples for this sign that would ultimately point to his power over life and death, Thomas in chapter 11 verse 16, who’s also called Didymus, said to the fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.

Again, while he is committed to following Jesus, he wasn’t very hopeful in the prospects of such a life. As the disciples had just warned Jesus, we just came from there. They just, like just the other day, tried to kill you, and now you want to go back. Thomas just says, well, let’s all go die.

And it was this same Thomas who doubted until he could see Jesus for himself. As I read earlier in the service, chapter 20, verse 24, Thomas, one of the 12, was not with them. So the other disciples were saying to them. So as Thomas was not with the other 11 when Jesus appears the first time, they were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see his hands in the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Although Jesus had been telling them for three years, I will die, I will rise again. Here you have Thomas who says, yeah, right. You didn’t see him. It must have been a vision or a dream or your imagination. There’s no way, I saw him die. There’s no way that he is alive. So unless I see it for myself, I will not believe.

So, eight days later, eight days after this happened the first time, the disciples are together again. Where Jesus was during these eight days doesn’t tell us. But eight days later, they’re together again, and Thomas is with them. After he says, unless I see for myself, Thomas was with them and Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and he stood in their midst.

So once again, as the disciples are hidden away, Jesus appears. And he says again, peace be with you. And then he says, Thomas, come here. Bring your finger here and see my hands. And bring your hand here and put it into my side. Not feel the scar on the outside, no. Put your hand into my side. And do not be unbelieving, Thomas, but believe.

And then doubting Thomas becomes an example of faith. Because verse 28, Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Finally, finally he gets it. Finally it occurs to him that he was right. that Jesus, after predicting his death and resurrection for these years, he did it. He is my Lord and my God.

And that confession sets the stage for John’s purpose. It becomes an example of what John wants from all of us, the readers of his gospel. And that is belief. Belief in Jesus’ true identity. This is what it took for Thomas to believe that Jesus is what Jesus has been saying he is for so long.

And there’s a reason why this is the very last thing before John says, this is why I wrote. Because look at what Thomas confessed. And as we come to verse 30, John tells us, therefore, many other signs Jesus also did in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

Jesus challenges Thomas after his confession and belief. He says, this is what it took, Thomas. You had to see all of this. in order to believe, blessed are those who don’t see and yet believe, and John immediately says, there’s more that I could tell you. There’s more that I saw. There’s more that we all saw. But these things that I’ve told you are enough. This is what you need in order to believe like Thomas does. He says many other signs Jesus did. We’ve seen many signs in John’s gospel. This is a central theme to what John uses as evidence in his gospel. And again, he consistently uses the word signs for the miracles Jesus does. The other gospels use the word miracle. John uses the word sign because he’s got a purpose. He’s intentional in what He reveals to us.

Because a sign is not just a supernatural display of power. It’s not just a cool trick. It’s not just something special that He can do. A sign points us to who He is. It points us to the reality of who the Son of God is. And there’s seven major signs that John uses as his evidence. You had the turning of water into wine in chapter 2. The healing of the official son in chapter 4. The healing of the lame man in chapter 5. The feeding of the 5,000 in chapter 6. Walking on water in chapter 6. Healing the man born blind in chapter 9. And as we saw in chapter 11, raising Lazarus from the dead.

And all of these things point us to something. They tell us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And then John says that he did all of these signs in the presence of his disciples. John’s highlighting the apostolic witness to these things. This isn’t something John heard about. This isn’t something that got around by word of mouth that Jesus was telling them he could do these things. They saw it. They were there. They saw all of the signs that he did, even the ones John did not record for us.

These were not hidden signs. These were not in secret. They were public, and they were observable events. And they were observed by people who John’s original audience would have known and trusted. And John is saying, we saw it, we all saw it. And he says, not only that, but many other signs that are not written in this book. The gospel of John is not exhaustive. Don’t read the Gospel of John like it’s some history book that tells us everything that happened. It is historical and accurate, but it’s not written as a complete account of Jesus’ life. It is specifically designed with a purpose. That purpose is evangelistic and it’s pastoral, and we’ll get to that in a moment, but we see here John revealing to us what we call the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. That what we have in Scripture is sufficient. It’s enough. God has provided, through the Spirit’s inspiration, not every detail of Jesus’ life, but every detail we need in order to be saved.

Later in the very last verse of John’s gospel, John chapter 21 verse 25, again he says, and there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be. Imagine that. Imagine if we had every single detail of every single day of Jesus’ life. That would be cool. But we don’t. And John says, we couldn’t. There’s no way that we could tell you everything that we saw about Jesus. I was reminded of this verse last Sunday night as we sang the song, The Love of God. And verse three of that song says,

“Could we with ink the ocean fill?
And were the skies of parchment made?
Were every stock on earth a quill
and every man a scribe by trade?
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry,
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.”

It is inexhaustible. Very similarly, John says in the last verse of his book, I couldn’t possibly tell you everything about Jesus, but I’ve told you enough. I’ve told you everything you need. Again, he doesn’t tell us everything. He doesn’t even tell us everything he remembers, but he’s got a very specific case to make, and he’s included the details he has to prove his point. In verse 31, he says that. He says, I haven’t told you everything, but these things. These things, everything in the 21 chapters of John, these things have been written so that you may believe. These things have been written. That’s a verb in the perfect tense. It means it’s completed. It is a complete record that we need to believe. It is a sufficient record.

given by Jesus’ close friend. And so what John has written stands as a fixed and authoritative account of who Jesus is. And interestingly, there is a textual issue that appears in verse 31. Some of the early Greek manuscripts say that you may believe. Others say that you may continue believing. Now that sounds like a big difference to us, but it’s like one letter in Greek. You flip one letter and it can change that much. But the reality is that these two meanings are not mutually exclusive. John’s gospel can serve both purposes. It can be evangelistic, that you may believe, that you may believe for the first time. You can read the Gospel of John and see who Jesus is and believe in him and become saved. It can produce faith in unbelievers by the power of the Holy Spirit. Or that you may continue to believe. It could strengthen your faith. Even if you already believe and you read the Gospel of John, you’ll believe all the more.

by the power of the Holy Spirit, just like we see with Thomas. Scripture does both. And John’s gospel does both. Because either way, both of these things are true. He has written so that you may believe and that you will keep on believing. That is the revelation of the Son. The Son came to reveal the things we must believe, and He used the pen of John, His friend, to show those things to us. He revealed who He is. He is the eternal Son of God sent from the Father for our salvation. And John goes on to explain more about what he revealed, but our first aspect of the Son’s mission is the Son’s revelation.

And next we see the Son’s redemption. The Son’s redemption, because he says, these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now those terms, by this point in John’s gospel, are loaded terms. There’s a lot of meaning. behind what he says here. The content of John’s message to his readers is that Jesus is the Christ and he’s the Son of God. John has already explained that the term Christ means Messiah, the anointed one, the promised one from the Old Testament. Jesus was expected As we saw in John chapter one, verse 49, when Nathanael answers back to Jesus, after he reveals the divine knowledge that he has, Nathanael says, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.

in passages we didn’t even look at in this series, but we will as we go through verse by verse. In chapter six, he is revealed as the greater prophet that was promised. In chapter six, verse 14, it says, therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had done, they were saying, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world. And he is the suffering servant that Isaiah promised. as we see in chapter 12, but though he had done so many signs before them, they were still not believing in him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? All of this is wrapped up in that term, the Christ. He’s the Messiah. And believers acknowledge Him as the fulfillment of all of God’s redemptive promises when you believe He is that Christ. He is the one that the Old Testament told us about. And then we see this name that we’ve been tracing, the Son of God. Not only is He the Christ, He’s the Son of God. And John bookends his gospel with this revelation. We saw it in the prologue several places, but in verse 18 of chapter one, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, the Son of God, He has explained Him. And then here, at the end of his book, he plainly says, I wrote this so that you would believe that he’s the son of God.

You see, in John’s theology, the understanding, the divine inspiration he’s been given, the son is not just a subordinate lesser person. As we’ve seen, he is equal in authority and in glory and in divinity. We saw that in John chapter five. He is the very expression of who God is. As Hebrews says, the exact imprint of his nature. If you want to know God, know Jesus. And he came for our redemption. Because as John, the author of this gospel, Goes on to explain as he writes letters after he wrote this gospel, explaining what he wrote in here. He over and over reiterates who the Son of God is, what he came to do. Here’s just a few passages from 1 John.

And in chapter 4 of 1 John, verses 9 and 10, he says, by this the love of God was manifested to us. Does God love us? How do we know? By this, the love of God is manifested to us that God sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him. Because in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sin, for our sins. Then in verse 15 of chapter four, whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him and he in God. Then in chapter five, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God and everyone who loves the one who gives new birth loves the one who has been born of him. And then lastly, verses 10 through 13 of chapter five. As John is just nailing home for us what he explained in the gospel. The one who believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the witness which God has borne witness about his Son. And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have that life. Again, John’s purpose statement. For his first letter, these things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This is why the Son came, for our redemption. He came as the Christ. That was always the purpose of the Christ, to redeem God’s people. And John wants us to know his friend, Jesus. And he wants us to know that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that he came for our redemption. And not only that, lastly, he came for our reconciliation. The Son’s reconciliation is number three. And you may be thinking that, well, redemption and reconciliation sound like the same thing. And they’re related, but they’re different. Because redemption is what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. As the perfect, spotless lamb, he stood in our place, and he took the wrath of God intended for us. And that redemption is applied to us when we believe. It’s already accomplished, but it’s applied to us once we believe. This is what John means when he says that Jesus is the Christ. the Son of God. He’s the only one that could do this. This is what it means to believe, is to have His work applied to us. We believe that He is the Son of God. He is God in the flesh who came and lived and died for us. And all of that is encapsulated in these words. that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that is our redemption. Believing that He is that for us.

But our reconciliation, our reconciliation is the result of our redemption. It is what is true because of our redemption. And that is what we see in the last phrase here of John’s purpose statement, the end of verse 31, and that believing you may have life in his name.”

You see, the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that’s a really cool fact. And we ought to believe it because John has presented sufficient evidence for us. It’s clear. It’s true. And we ought to believe it. but not just because it’s true. We don’t just want to be right. We don’t just want to win an argument or have the right facts. There’s a result for our believing these things. And that believing, you may have life in his name.

The ultimate goal and end result of John’s gospel is that we may have life. And as we’ve seen over and over again in John, life is not just physical existence. It’s not just breathing and a beating heart. Life, for John, is an eternal relationship with God. In chapter 10, John, recording the words of Jesus, says that this life is abundant. Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And a few verses later, verse 28 of chapter 10, he says, this life is imperishable. I give eternal life to them and they will never perish ever. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. It’s a life that never ends.

And Jesus clearly explains to us what eternal life is in his high priestly prayer in John 17. Verse three, and this is eternal life. You want to know what eternal life is? This is eternal life. That they may know you. That they may know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God. It’s knowing Jesus. It’s a relationship. with the God of the universe, the creator of all things. Eternal life is having a relationship with Him, knowing Him. And this life is a present possession for all who believe. We saw in John chapter three several times, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, not we’ll one day have eternal life, not we’ll get eternal life once they die. You have it now. Once you believe you have eternal life, it’s yours because you know Him.

And as John says here, this life only comes in chapter 20 verse 31 in His name. in His name. That is, through the person and work of Jesus Christ. That’s the only way to have this eternal life. Not by whatever God you want to name, not by whatever Christ you would like Him to be, Not by accomplishing all the different things that you can do in life, not by doing all the good works, not by going to church or going to confession or any of the things that you can do. The only way to have eternal life is in His name. That’s what this is all about. That’s what the gospel is all about. That’s what this life is all about. knowing God and having eternal life in the name of Christ. So to believe in his name means to believe in who he is, to believe what John said about him, to believe what John has revealed to us about him, that he is God who became flesh and dwelt among us. That He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That He’s the resurrection and the life. This is the truth. And when we believe it, we are forgiven. And we have eternal life. This is the result of belief in the Son of God.

He is our reconciliation with God through his Son. And that is the final appearance of the name, the Son of God, in John’s Gospel. So we need to summarize not only this sermon, but this series. What we have seen about who he is. As we’ve seen today, these verses, they act as the lens through which we should read the whole Gospel. This is what John wants us to get. And these verses tie together everything that we’ve learned about the Son of God. If you noticed, I have read or referenced every single passage in our series today. Everything revealed about him is tied up in what John wants us to know.

John reminds us here that the Gospels and all of Scripture. Again, they’re not exhaustive. They don’t tell us everything that could ever be known. They don’t tell us everything about Jesus’ life, but they tell us enough. They’re sufficient. They tell us what we need to believe. God in his wisdom has given us exactly what we need to know about His Son. God’s Word provides the truth that we need to believe and to obey and to have eternal life. And as we’ve seen today in John’s purpose statement, believing that Jesus is the Christ is to confess all that the scriptures say about Him. That He is the long-awaited fulfillment of all of God’s promises. That He is the anointed King who brings God’s kingdom to God’s people. And believing that He is the Son of God is to confess that He is God. That He has an eternal relationship with the Father. That He’s got the authority given to Him by the Father to reveal God and to save sinners.

And so these two titles we see in the verse today, they reveal the mission of the Son, why He came. And so as we’ve studied this name throughout this series, we’ve really focused on four areas of application. The knowledge of the Son of God, the worship of the Son, sharing the good news of the Son and following the Son. And we’ve covered the knowledge of the Son in all of the passages that we’ve studied. As Peter says in 2 Peter 3, verse 18, we are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You see, knowing who the Son of God is is not a one-time acquiring of facts. We grow more and more throughout our Christian life in knowing Him, knowing who He is. Our Christian life consists of this continual growth in our knowledge of Him until we finally see Him face to face.

And these passages that we’ve studied We’ve seen the expectation of the Son that He was expected to come. We saw His divine knowledge. We saw that He’s begotten from the Father. We saw His equality, His authority, His unity, His glory and His power. In these last few weeks, we’ve seen that He was condemned. He came to be condemned and He had a mission. And through this knowledge, we also grow in these other areas. So what have we learned about worship in the Son of God? Well, Jesus said in John 4 that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. So if we’re to worship the Son of God, we need to have the truth of who He is. To worship the Son is to rejoice in the truth of God’s promises. God keeps His promises. And we know that’s true because of the Son of God. And to worship the Son is to bow down before the one who shares the Father’s glory and who was condemned for us. We bow down before the King who became sin for us.

And as we worship, we declare the incredible truth of the gospel. It reminds us of who he is every time we gather, every time we sing, every time we confess, every time we pray together, every time we read God’s word together, every time we hear God’s word preached. We’re reminded of Christ and who he is and who we are in light of him. That’s the whole purpose of worship.

So as we gather each and every Lord’s Day and we do these things, we need to remember and proclaim Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And by believing in him, we have life in his name. And as we’ve learned through these weeks of our evangelism, how we share the good news of the Son of God. The truth of the Son of God is not something to be heard and kept for yourself. John didn’t do that. And we too are given this knowledge to share. And our knowledge of the Son of God gives us both the content and the confidence in our evangelism.

The content of our evangelism, what we share, is Christ himself. Who he is, what he has done, his death and resurrection, that is what we proclaim. We don’t just tell people that God loves you and has a great plan for your life. We tell people that you’re a sinner and you need a savior. You need the one who came to be your savior.

So when you have opportunity to share Christ with someone, but you’re fearful of what to say or what to share, and I know that you are, because we all are. We’re afraid we might not say the right thing or say it in the right way. Just share Him. Share about your Lord and Savior. Share about what makes you a Christian. Do what John has done for us. Tell them about your friend, Jesus. Tell them who Jesus is and what he has done, that he lived and he died for you. And tell them that by believing in him, you have life in his name. That’s the gospel we share.

And we have the confidence to do this because of our knowledge of the son. You see, evangelism doesn’t depend on our clever arguments or the tactics we use to get people to repeat the same and right words. The success of the gospel depends on the Spirit’s power to use the Word to bring people to faith. We share the truth. We share the truth. We tell people who He truly is, and we let the Spirit do the convincing. Because success in our evangelism is about faithfulness, not about results. The results are up to Him.

And lastly, as we’ve studied the Son of God, we’ve observed a lot about what it means to follow Him. And the best way to learn what it takes to follow Him is to look at the ones who followed Him, to look at the lives of the disciples, the ones who followed Him through His life and ministry. And as we’ve seen, discipleship, it involves a continuous and persevering faith. It’s not just about that initial moment where you see and believe. We saw that in chapter one, where the first disciples were called. But a lot more happens. And it requires a lot more of them than saying the right words upon your initial belief. It involves regularly being fed by him, by his word, and strengthened by him, like they were. And like Martha, we begin with a simple belief, and we grow to trust him more and more. Even though we don’t have it all figured out yet, she didn’t, but she knew what she did believe. And like her, we grow in our trust. And sometimes we think, yeah, okay, I believe. I believe in Jesus. I’m a Christian. Now what? Now what steps do I need to take? What are the to-do lessons that I need? What are the things that I need to accomplish to become a good Christian? What are the practical 12 steps that I need?

But that’s not what the life of a disciple’s about. It’s not, well, I already believed, now give me something to do. The life of a disciple is believe and keep on believing. Believe with every decision you make. Believe with every thought that you have. Believe with every word that you say. Believe with everything you do. The life of a disciple is simply continue believing.

As it says in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five, you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. In other words, believe and keep on believing with all that you are and all that you do. That’s how you live for him.

And like Thomas, we grow in our faith and we develop a deeper and more personal trust in him. And when our trust grows, our confidence grows in him. And when we trust him more, we obey him more. Not because we learn more about the things that are required of us to do and we need to do our duty, because the more we know him, the less we want the things of the world. and the more we want of Him.

So our discipleship should move us from this simple faith like Martha to a personal dependence and obedience on Him. What a study. What a series on the Son of God. What a passage of Scripture today that ties it all together.

In the purpose statement of John’s gospel, it calls for a response. It asks us, do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? And for those who answer yes, I do believe you have life in his name. A life that begins now in fellowship with God through His Son and continues forever in His presence. But for those who answer no, I don’t believe. Outside of Christ, there is no life. There’s only judgment. You remain in judgment.

This truth is central to who the Son of God is. He came not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. But how a person responds to the Son reveals whether or not they’re condemned, or whether they’ve been given life in his name. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. The wrath of God abides on him.

Remember that these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you have life in his name.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer. Our God, we thank you. We thank you for who you are. We thank you for your Son. for this study in the Gospel of John revealing who the Son of God is. Thank you for sending him to reveal who you are, to redeem us from our sins by suffering and dying on the cross, and for reconciling us to yourself and giving us that eternal life that we have in his name.

Lord, I thank you for this time we’ve been able to spend focusing on this name. I pray that it shapes our entire life, that we are motivated to live for him, to share him, to worship him. God, give us a greater knowledge of you through your son. We pray all of this in his precious name, amen.