John's Story - Pastor Robert Morris

all right I want you to turn to two passages of Scripture a revelation one open your Bible to Revelation 1 the last book of the Bible Revelation chapter 1 and then put a marker at John chapter 13 all right so open to revelation 1 and then put a marker at John 13 we're beginning a new series that's going to take us through the spring I'm extremely excited about this I think you will be as well after this message today we're calling it face to face divine encounters and we're going to look at people who've had face-to-face encounters with God now we're going to use the Bible and look at people but I've got a surprise for you I've got a couple of people that will be here throughout the spring too that are coming in that are going to share with you face to face and face to face encounter with the Lord and they are phenomenal so it's going to be wonderful the rest of the time I'll be bringing these messages and so I'm excited about this so here is the first message in this series I call it John's story John's story and we're talking about the Apostle John the disciple one of the twelve disciples John revelation chapter one look at verse nine revelation 1 verse 9 I John both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying I notice red letters if you have a red letter addition this is Jesus speaking I am the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last and what you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia to Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamus to Thea Terra to Sardis to Philadelphia and the Laodicea then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band his head and hair were white like wool and white as snow and his eyes like a flame of fire his feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters he had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its stream and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead but he laid his right hand on me saying to me do not be afraid I am the first and the last I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am Alive for evermore amen and I have the keys of Hades Hades is the Greek word for hell I have the keys of hell and the death in other words I I have the way for people to not have to go to hell and to not have to die a spiritual death but to be able to live forever okay so I want to tell you three things about John's story all right here's number one John had a revelation of Jesus would you agree with that after reading that okay this is just one of his revelations of Jesus but John had a revelation of Jesus Jesus said to him I am he who was dead and am Alive for evermore this is a face-to-face encounter with the resurrected Christ the Ascended Christ he meets him and he sees him face to face now let me tell you a little bit about John so you understand this john is the only living original disciple at this time all the other disciples of course we know about but the rest of the sciples had been martyred John is the only disciple that was not martyred Acts chapter 12 by the way verse 1 and 2 says about that time Herod the King stretched out his hand to harass some of the church then he killed James the brother of John with the sword years later then we don't know for sure but we believe it was Nero crucified Peter upside down and so John is the only one left now the interesting fact about this and and some of the things I'm going to share with you're going to be straight out of Scripture some things are history and so they're not in Scripture so we're not for sure about these their historical documents of the day but history tells us that they tried to kill John but he wouldn't die they tried to make him a martyr they put him in a barley oil and he preached him and he did not burn his skin at all it was boiling when they put him in it and he preached Christ to him the emperor again could have been Nero but we're not for sure who got so afraid of him that he banished him to the island of Patmos he was on this island for one year on this island he writes the book of Revelation the passage we just read is him as John having the vision of Revelation on that island there are two theories about john's mother and about his father i believe the second and i believe most theologians do one theory is that joseph the father of jesus the earthly father jesus was married before he married Mary and his wife died and that he had a daughter named Salome being the half-sister of Jesus and Salome married Zebedee and Salome and Zebedee had John so if that's the case John was a half nephew you of Jesus the most theologians believe though that Salome was Mary's sister and and then again solo married Zebedee and Zebedee and Salome had John and so John was a cousin of Jesus because Mary Salome was Mary's sister this is why many theologians believe that in John chapter two which I'm going to share about next week that at the wedding of Cana in Galilee that it was John's wedding actually because John has a history of writing where he doesn't talk about himself many believe it was John's wedding and the reason Jesus was there is because he was a relative and the reason that Mary his mother was concerned when they ran out of wine was because she was a relative and she may have even been in charge of refreshments to work for to help slow at her son's wedding so we believe though that John was related to the Lord Jesus Christ so he knew him and had many many encounters with him John's Gospel this is fascinating to me when you really study John and and for me to be get to tell you John's story it's almost like I'm telling you his testimony John's Gospel begins like no other book in the Bible no other gospel except one book of the Bible it begins with the very same words that Genesis begins with John 1:1 says in the beginning in the beginning was the word referring Jesus and the Word was with God and the Word was God John had a revelation of Jesus as God he wrote the Gospel of John to be able to help people understand he's not just the Messiah he's the son of God and He is God himself he felt like that that that that it needed to be nailed down if you remember I told you in the Christmas message the week right before the Sunday right before Christmas that weekend I told you about the - two doctrines that are under attack the humanity of Jesus and the divinity of Jesus okay John had a greater revelation of the humanity and the divinity of Jesus probably than any disciple because he writes the Gospel of John to provoke to prove the divinity of Jesus he writes first John to prove the humanity of Jesus for instance he says that first John 4 verse 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not a god and then in in in 1st John chapter 1 verse 1 he says that which was from the beginning talking about Jesus which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word life now the reason he's writing this again because he lived a long time many people believe he died in 98 ad some believe he died in over 100 AD but he was over a hundred years old when he died we know that so he's watching the church and he's seeing things in the church that's beginning to bother him and that's the reason he writes 1st 2nd 3rd John and of course revelations of direct commandment where Jesus said write the things you see and that's the reason I went back and wrote the Gospel of John later in his life very much later and I'll tell you about that in a moment but he writes 1st John because at Ephesus there were these false teachers that were saying Jesus didn't actually come in the flesh he was a figment of their imagination he was a spirit and he didn't actually come in the flesh and so here's what John says I was there listen I I touched him I saw him I heard him and he's the only disciple left who could do that and that's the reason he wrote first John I was there I'm a first-hand witness to what I saw it's it's like a a while back someone said he said did y'all hear what happened at the conference some conference and before I could say anything he begin to tell what happened at the conference and I said well that's not exactly what happened and the person said well that's what I heard and I said well that's not what happened and the person said well how do you know I said I was there and I wasn't trying to be mean about it I just simply said I was there there are a lot of things being said but I was there okay here here's what first John is it's John the Apostle saying I was there I saw him I heard him so John had a revelation of Jesus here's the second thing I want to tell you because it's very very important when we talk about face to face divine encounters John had a growing revelation of Jesus John had a growing revelation of Jesus the book of John again is fascinating to me it records more of what Jesus said about himself than any other book in the Bible than any other gospel it records more what Jesus said about himself theologians sometimes refer to John as the red-letter addition the red-letter gospel it has more red letters per capita than any other gospel in other words more words directly that Jesus said it's also referred to as the I am gospel let me just read you a few John 6:35 I am the bread John 8:12 I am the light john 10:7 I am the door John 10:11 I am The Good Shepherd John 11:25 I am the resurrection John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life John 15:1 I am the vine John 10:36 I am the Son of God come straight out and says I am the son of God he's also referred to as the love disciple he talks all about how much he loved Jesus and Jesus loved him and he talks about love and if John had not have recorded this we wouldn't have it John's the only one that recorded that Jesus said a new commandment I give you that you love one another and then in first John he backs it up saying if anyone says he loves God and doesn't love his brother he's a liar he's the one that tells this as a matter of fact there's a history again says that when John was very very old he was in Temple one day and someone said John is here John is here he's here John the disciple he's here and so they said please John come tell us please come and tell us what was it like being with Jesus what do you remember most about what Jesus taught he walked to the front and he said three words love one another and he went he sat down and they said to him is there anything else that you will tell us about Jesus and he said love one another and they said well why won't you tell us anything else and he said because it's the commandment that our Lord said it's the new commandment that our Lord gave he's just a fantastic guy James was his brother Peter and Andrew they believed that Peter and Andrews follow they were brothers that Peter and Andrews father died when they were young and that Zebedee John's father took him in and that's why they're fishing together Zebedee was the fisherman and taught Peter and Andrew the trade just like he taught his own sons James and John but you have to remember now it's a growing revelation because John didn't start out to be the love disciple John was a Galilean like Peter was they were known by their speech they were a considered country folk they were considered uneducated when Peter and John went to the temple and and and the healed the lame and when Peter and John were arrested it says that they said these are unlearned uneducated they're ignorant people but they took notice of them because they've been with Jesus so this is where John comes from but he's a little bit rough you have to know that you know he's a little rough he's a lot like Peter as a matter of fact James and John Jesus called them some of you remember this the sons of thunder now we we all use that as a compliment they're called the sons of thunder in the in the language original language it doesn't seem like a compliment it's like Jesus saying you guys are a little wild and we'll have to help you that's really what it seems like let me let me show you a little context here Luke 9 verse 54 and when these disciples James and John saw this they said Lord do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did he's a long way from the love apostle at this point and of course Jesus had to say you don't even know what spirit you're ruff here's another one mark 938 John answered him saying teacher we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he does not follow us here's what he's saying we saw someone from another church using our material and we told him to stop let's that's what he's saying remember James and John are the ones that went to Jesus secretly and said when you come into your kingdom can can we be right next to you can we be the leaders can we be the bosses and then and then we have another thing where their mother actually did it Salome and it's we me some people believe it's the same I don't believe it's the same I believe that they put their mom up to it then because she was the aunt you know and they figure well Jesus won't say no to you know his mom's sister you know so this is kind of where he came from by the way um you know he wrote the book of Revelation it's not revelations it's not plural it's singular and you will never understand Revelation the book of Revelation if you don't understand who it's about and not what it's about many people think it's the revelation of end times it is not let me just show you how it starts revelation 1:1 the revelation of Jesus Christ the revelation of Jesus Christ if you try to figure out what revelation is talking about rather than whom it is talking about you'll never understand revelation you have to see it all in the life Jesus so what I'm saying is that John had this growing revelation of Jesus I tell you a little something else about John he refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God 27 times in the book of Revelation alone the Lamb of God let me tell you why that's significant the New Testament only refers to Jesus as the Lamb 31 times and two of the other times of the for the not in revelation or in the book of John so 29 out of 31 times the New Testament refers to Jesus as the lamb it's John talking John is John is telling us or reporting this we have a unbelievable understanding now that Jesus is the Lamb of God and we have all of the Old Testament analogies and symbolism of the Lamb and now that Jesus is the Lamb but let me tell you where we got it we got it from John no one was talking about Jesus was the Lamb only two other instances and one was when the eunuch the Ethiopian eunuch was reading he was reading Isaiah 53 and Philip said what do you know what you're reading and then the other was Peter who obviously became a very close friend of John's John's gospel is not a synoptic gospel Matthew Mark Luke our synoptic Gospels the word synoptic in essence means same are similar so Matthew Mark and Luke are similar Gospels John is not a synoptic gospel it is a gospel it is a book of good news but it is not synoptic here's the reason why and here's the reason John wrote it we believe Matthew Mark and Luke wrote there's way way way before John wrote his and what they did though was they wrote about the last year of Jesus's ministry they wrote about the birth of Jesus they wrote about you know him going to will dursa being tempted and in being water baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit and then immediately Matthew Mark and Luke Matthew 4 Luke 4 mark 1 they say after the imprisonment of John the Baptist and then they give you all these things that happened in Jesus life okay John the Baptist was in prison after the first two years of Jesus's ministry as a matter of fact Matthew Mark and Luke only tell us of one Passover other than the Passover he died only one Passover that Jesus attended John tells us of three we might not have known that Jesus's ministry was three years had it not been for John John writes his gospel between 85 and 95 ad which most people believe are actually in the early 90s that he wrote it years and years and years really about 60 years after Jesus died 60 years later and he writes it because everything he's reading is only about the third year of his ministry so that's why you'll find things in John you won't find in any other gospel Matthew Mark Luke John 2 though the wedding of Cana in Galilee where Jesus Jesus is first miracle we wouldn't have known about Jesus's first miracle turning water into wine had it not been for John's Gospel John 3 Nicodemus we would not have known Jesus said you must be born again had John not written it so it's nowhere else we would not have had John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son who started believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John for the woman at the well John 5 the lame man who'd been at the pool for 38 years John 8 the woman caught in adultery it's not in Matthew Mark or Luke John 9 the blind man had been born blind from birth that Jesus Hill John 11 the raising of Lazarus John 13 the washing of the disciples feet it's not in Matthew Mark or Luke it's it's just phenomenal what we read in the book of John because here's here's what I'm trying to tell you because he had a growing revelation of Jesus Christ he writes this about 60 years after Jesus dies on the cross his revelation is still growing in the Lord Jesus Christ you know I am this past week fell a little over a week ago February 16th was my spiritual birthday I've been saved 32 years now I know Jesus better today than I did 32 years ago my revelation of him is is growing because I know it's very very important than when we talk about face to face divine encounters I want you to hear me that it's not a one-time encounter there's a meeting of Jesus but then there are lots of meetings and to grow into the disciple that God wants for you to be you got to continue meeting with it you got to continue having divine encounters and here's the the last thing about John John had a revelation point number 3 John had a revelation of himself in Jesus and then you can turn to John 13 John had a revelation of himself in Jesus he saw how Jesus saw him now remember he wrote this 60 years 55 to 60 years after Jesus died he wrote where we're about to read John 13 verse 23 now there was leaning on Jesus as bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved he's referring to himself John 20 verse 2 then she ran and came to Simon Peter into the oh I don't know if you could turn that fast we can just follow me then she ran and came to Simon Peter into the other disciples whom through to the other side Paul whom Jesus loved again he's referring to himself they said taken away the body my lord John 21 verse 7 therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter John 21 20 then Peter turning around saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following who also had leaned on his breast at the supper John 19 verses 26 and 27 when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour from that hour that disciple took her into his home okay he refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved now when I first saw that I didn't really get this great impression of it you know it's like the Bible says you know Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth you know he wrote that Moses but he made it in the Bible so I got a I got under feel like that okay the Holy Spirit inspired him say this okay here's the point Jesus John writes five times he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved okay it's the same way I said a moment ago but that you're so giving it's not a comparative it's a commendation it's not a comparative John's not saying he loved me and he didn't love the others here's what he say I finally figured out that he loved me Jesus loves me he has a revelation of Jesus that we have to have that same revelation he saw him as Lord and he saw him as lamb as a matter of fact as I said we have things in John that we wouldn't have any other way John 13 the washing the disciples feet but listen what else we have John 14 15 and 16 is the conversation what Jesus said at the Last Supper no one else recorded it to where Jesus said let not your heart be troubled if you believe in God believe also in me my father's house are many dwelling places and I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go away I will come again and receive you to myself he's telling them and he says and I'm not gonna leave you as orphans I'm gonna send another like like me he's gonna comfort you he's gonna help you he's going to bring to your remembrance all the things that I said and when you think about even that phrase he's going to bring to your remembrance all the things that I said John 14 15 16 the conversation at the Last Supper and John 17 the prayer that Jesus prays in the garden he tells Peter James and John he called Peter James and John to go with him into Jairus his daughter's room where he raised her from the dead he calls Peter James and John to go with him to the Mount of Transfiguration where he's transfigured before him and talks to Moses and Elijah he calls Peter James and John when he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane he tells them you come closer you come closer I think Jesus did it because he knew John would record his prayer and John 17 is the prayer Jesus prays in the garden where he says Lord I pray that they will be one as you and I are one I pray that they will know that you love them as much as you love me and I pray Lord that they will love one another because by this the world will know that they're my disciples Peter and James go to sleep John listens at that last supper John is leaning on his breast to hear every word that Jesus said but he doesn't write it down until 60 years later how could he remember that conversation three chapters of the Bible and then the prayer John 17 60 years later here's my theory because he kept having encounters with Jesus if I could somehow inspire you to have daily encounters with Jesus it will change your life how did this disciple go from a son of thunder who wanted to call down fire from heaven on people to the one who in his own older age would only say three words love one another it's a it's the commandment of our Lord love one another how'd he do that because he kept having he kept having encounters with God face-to-face encounters with God we can have face-to-face encounters with God and then what happens is he sees himself the way Jesus sees him because remember he writes the disciple whom Jesus loved but he doesn't write it until he's in his nineties it's amazing I remember one time I was talking along my friends about my poor self-image I was just all of us battled that to some degree and I was saying I just I just don't I just don't know how to get over this I don't understand I just can't figure it out and my friend said Robert I have a picture in my mind he said did you ever know you might not be able remember a specific situation but you ever know kind of this scenario of a pretty girl in school and she might have dated this real popular guy but he was real prideful and arrogant and he was full of himself and he was kind of abusive to her and put her down in front of others and she'd walk with her head down and I could see that even though I couldn't see anyone specific you know for my school I could see that I've you know you've seen this scenario many many times of a beaten-down woman by an abusive self-absorbed prideful man and you see it on her countenance I could just see it and he said and then finally she you know gets free of this abusive relationship and she meets a good man who treats her right and the very first time that man says to her you're beautiful she just breaks because she's never believed that of herself she's never seen herself as beautiful because she's always had this abusive voice he said you ever can you relate to that can you relate to ever remember I said yeah like I can and I'll never forget this friend of mine looked at me and he said that you met you he said you are so beautiful to the Lord but you've been listening to the wrong voice for so many years so I just want to tell all of you if you don't get anything out of this message get this you're gorgeous you are gorgeous to Jesus you are the disciple whom Jesus loves and I can do everything I can to tell you but let me tell you when it'll really change your life when you hear Jesus tell you that and the only way you're going to hear Jesus tell you is to keep having face-to-face divine encounters with Jesus just like John did I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes and I want you to just take a moment and say Lord what are you saying to me you might have just heard him say you're gorgeous you're beautiful to me Lord what you say to me we want to pray for you we do this every weekend maybe you're new here we do it at every campus we have one final worship song and during that time we have leaders at the front of every campus and at the front of every overflow room and we we just want to pray for you if you're going through any difficulty in your life or you just need prayer for a decision that you're trying to make or you need prayer to get over a poor self-image to see yourself the way Jesus sees you maybe you need prayer for relationship in your life for finances or health or job or our situation and family or marriage we want to pray for you so in just a moment real Stan will have one more worship song during that time no matter which campus you're attending on won't you just step out and come come to the front for one of the leaders and let us pray for you you don't have to be a member of Gateway Church come for prayer so please don't be embarrassed as soon as we stand up you just stand up step out and come you'll see others coming okay Holy Spirit I pray you'll draw every person that has any prayer name in Jesus name Amen I was 19 years old when I gave my life to the Lord and everything changed I didn't have any desire to go back to that old life I wanted to walk with the Lord and learn more about him and some people helped me to learn the Bible and to learn how to pray and to learn about my new life in Christ and that's what we want to do for you I am so excited that you've given your life to the Lord he's forgiven all of your sins and you're on your way to heaven but we need to learn some things now about the Bible about prayer about some basics of the Christian life so that you can be victorious and live for the Lord like I know you want to so we've designed a class called fresh start and I want to encourage you to sign up for this class because we want to help you grow in your walk with the Lord now I love you and I'm so proud of you

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Keywords: Face to Face, New series, Live sermon, Sermon, Pastor Robert Morris, Gateway Church, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, gatewaypeople, John, John's Story, Jesus, Bible, DFW, Texas, Love, Lord, God, Southlake

Id: ai9R_sfIaM4

Length: 34min 31sec (2071 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2013