And if you would, take your Bibles, and we're going to look at two passages this morning. First of all, we're gonna look at 1 Corinthians 4. This is on page 953 in the Pew Bibles. 1 Corinthians 4. Have you seen the shirt that says, only God can judge me? Have you seen the shirt? I can't wait to see somebody wear that shirt while in handcuffs. Because that's not true. All right? That is the ultimate perversion of a truth that is in the Bible. That is, do not judge or you too will be judged. In the same way, or you judge others, you will be judged, and with, and here's the key word, with the measure, or by the standard you use, you also will be judged. And so you are not the judge, but it is extremely important that we make judgments about what is good and evil all around us. So I want you to notice here, how Paul is, this is right at the beginning of 1 Corinthians, this is a tough book, dealing with some challenging subjects facing the church in Corinth, but notice how he's grounding his reflection in the coming of God and in the humility that's necessary for those who are speaking. So 1 Corinthians, Chapter four, verses three through six. Hear the word of God. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time. Before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart, then each one will receive his commendation from God. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. All right, not the most familiar passage, but one that I think very much relates with what we're going to talk about today, is we now turn to a very familiar passage, John chapter 21. We're coming after a whole lot of time. I haven't calculated up exactly how long, but we're coming to the end of the book of John. And I've decided I'm going to do, we're going to cover verses 20 through 24 today. And then next week we'll be looking at verse 25. And then I wanna go back and do one more sermon kind of over the whole of John 21. I think there's one more lesson that I would really like to draw out from and really going back into John 20 as well. Anyway, we've got a few more weeks here, but we're quickly coming to the end of John, and then we're going to do a topical study for a period. And then I did want to signal clearly that we're going to be going then into the Book of Acts, possibly at the end of the year, more likely into the new year, depending on how long things go on. But we'll be continuing on in the Book of Acts in the near future. So let's look now at John 21. And again, I would remind you where we are. The disciples have gone back to fishing in the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias is a city, the biggest city on the Sea of Tiberias, better known as the Sea of Galilee. And so if you're looking at it, think of like a clock face. Let me do it your way. And so over here at like seven or eight o'clock, on the sea is where Tiberias would be. And so it was often called that, particularly by Greek speakers, the Sea of Tiberias. And they've been out all night. They caught nothing. Jesus said, cast your net on the right side of the boat. Then they caught 153 fish. They dragged them out on the shore. and then they had breakfast with Jesus. And now Simon, sorry, John is reporting a conversation, a rather extended conversation that Jesus had first with Peter. And I want you to notice today that now John is the object of the conversation between Peter and Jesus, all right? This has everything to do with when will Jesus come again? And so, watch this passage. Look what John is pressing home as sort of the climax of his gospel. John 21, beginning at verse 20. Now hear the word of the Lord. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but quote, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. This is the Word of God. When will Jesus come? There's a lot of prophecy mongering going on in our world right now. There are people that are persuaded that the bombing of Israel by Iran and the bombing of Lebanon by Israel and all of the stuff that's going on, this is authenticated prophecy about the coming of Jesus. Don't believe a word of it. Now, go back and read your Bible, but then interpret your Bible in its grammatical and particularly its historical context. Because there is a lot of misinformation flowing around about when will Jesus come. I want you to notice, it ain't the first time. In fact, clear back in the time of Jesus himself when he was yet in that 40 days between his resurrection and ascension, there were already misunderstandings about the second coming of Christ that were cropping up. There's yet one more brief conversation Jesus has that John wants to bear witness about. It was, in fact, Jesus' comment about John himself. And with this, John concludes his gospel. It is simple, and I wonder if you're waiting with bated breath, we're not gonna hear the answer of when will Jesus come today. All right, don't expect that. But it's intriguing, especially if an aged John is nearing the end of his life. I think that the verses before us today are probably the best argument for a late date for the Gospel of John when John may be in his 70s or 80s or possibly even later. John is nearing the end of his life, perhaps, and quote, the disciple whom Jesus loved, puts to rest speculations about the timing of Jesus' second coming. We would do well to learn this lesson in our own day as well. So I went through this and I tried to kind of do a thought experiment. According to what we have in this text, what are the most important things to know and what are the least important things to know? And I want to try to make that case today. I believe that the most important thing that John wants us to know, based and seeing in him, seeing ourselves in his experience, the most important question to be answered is, am I loved by God? I want to remind you that this is the last time that now John is putting himself in this very special category. Verse 20, the disciple whom Jesus loved. In fact, John nowhere uses his name. But John is continuously referring to himself by this. This is in fact his primary, this is one of the sub-themes in the Gospel of John. No less than five times he's referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Those references are in the introduction paragraph. of the notes, and so you can look those up later on your own. John has repeatedly pointed to the importance of believing in Jesus. So what I wanted to do is I wanted to think about this connection between believing and being a disciple, and then this one disciple referring to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Do you think that John knew this at the very beginning. Remember back in John 1, Jesus was like, so what do you want? And they're like, well, where are you staying? And then I still have this kind of look, Jesus is turning, maybe walking away, but he looks over and he's like, come and see. Come on, come with me. And little did they know, Peter and John on that day, sorry, Andrew and John, that that would be the beginning of this adventure of walking by faith with one who claimed to be the eternal son of the eternal God. What a thing. And I want you to just think about how does believing, John 3, 16, whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's why Jesus came into the world. That whoever believes in him would have eternal life. In fact, in John 20 and verse 31, look back at that for a moment. John tells us that this, believing, is the reason that he wrote his gospel. Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life. To enter into this life is to also enter into the rigors of discipleship. The Greek word mathētēs, from which we get our word mathematics, This is a life of rigor, of intellectual discipline. It's becoming a student, enrolling in the University of Jesus, and letting Jesus teach you with authority. I want you to see that John has very carefully developed two ideas. One is the idea of the disciple, and the other is the idea of faith. That is, it's by faith that you enter into a right relationship with God, by faith alone. But you can't say you believe if you're not a disciple. Disciples walk with Jesus. They listen to his teachings. They process and rigorously seek to apply to their life that which Jesus is teaching them. There's this relationship between disciple and belief that I find fascinating. John tells us that he believed when Jesus, He describes in, I lost my, John, I wrote it down somewhere. Anyway, but it's back in John chapter 20, where we have a specific statement about John's own belief. In John 20 and verse eight, then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in. That's John, and he saw and believed. And so John is himself a believer, but he also refers to himself, John 2 verse 2, as a disciple or a student of Jesus. This is kind of like enrollment in a college or attending a conference. It's one thing to go to college. It's one thing to go to a Christian conference. It's another thing to go in faith. And to say, Lord, use this for the betterment of my life. Work in me that inner person, that inner sanctification that you would have of me. Lord, I am your servant. I desire to do your will. The most important question is not, do you believe or are you a disciple? The most important question that John wants us to see in his own experience. Does Jesus love me? Am I loved by Jesus? Do you see how there's kind of a constellation of three ideas? Faith or belief, disciple or the rigor of the Christian life. But then there's this deeper existential question at the core of your identity. Am I loved by God? And friends, I would ask you that today. The first question is not, do you have faith? The question is, does God love you? If he does, he loved you in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now we're into election and predestination and all that. Are you loved by God? If you are loved by God, what is the appropriate response to God's never stopping, never giving up, steadfast love? It is to let Him love you. It is to receive His love, to delight in His love, to rejoice in His love. Well, friends, there's some important things here. One thing that I would like you to do in application of this sermon is do a word study on the word love. The Greek word in the New Testament is agape, but the Old Testament word translated as love in the ESV is this old Hebrew word hesed. It's the covenant love or the steadfast love, the never stopping, never giving up kind of love. It's the opposite of what love is when we talk about love today. Oh, you know, I love my boyfriend. Oh, I love my girlfriend. Okay, so you're gonna walk with them for the rest of your life? Is it steadfast love, or is it just a current, shallow, emotional kind of a crush that will pass in five minutes? Friends, that's the crisis we have today, is we've disconnected the emotion of love from the commitment of faithfulness. Look around and see the results. More children in some parts of our country are being born into single parent homes. And they never know the love of a dad who's in their house. Or a mom who's in their house. They didn't think about the consequence of that feeling of love. They're only looking at life through the keyhole rather than looking at life as God created it to be lived and enjoyed and celebrated. Oh friends, do you see that steadfast love, committed love, loyal love, faithful love, this is what the Bible celebrates because it's a central quality and character of our God. And do you see how we are then called to reflect His character in the world? So be faithful, be disciplined, be loyal. So that's, I think, the most important question. Now, point number two, the most intriguing question. This is the one I hear people ask. I was asked this question this week. The most intriguing question, what about my friend's future? Or the way I've heard it most often is, okay, I get that God loves his people, but what about those who don't believe in Jesus? What about the natives in Africa who've never heard of Jesus? Okay? And I say, well, there are good answers to that. We can talk about that. But did you hear, do you believe that God's love is a never stopping, never giving up kind of love? You're wanting to talk like this. I'm wanting to talk like this. Do you understand that God has a purpose for you and for your life? It's a fascinating thing. So we're curious and notice that Peter is curious. Peter has gotten some pretty amazing predictive prophecy spoken over him by Jesus himself. That's back in verses 18 and 19. But now notice that what Peter does is he immediately points to John and he says, what about this man? Lord, tell his fortune now. I think this is the most intriguing question. This is the one that gets us. It's like, oh, if we could only know the future. There's more here, but I just want you to see that this is the one that gets clicks on the internet. This is why I remember walking through New York City, and on one walk I passed a place that was advertising their crystal ball, and I passed two places that were advertising tarot cards. And they, all three looked super shady, like, this is, A scam from the beginning. But how do they stay in business? Renting storefront in New York City. There's got to be a certain level of patronage of that place. What about my future? What about my friend's future? What about him, Lord? Point number three then. And I'm curious if you agree with me here, but I've characterized it as the least important question. And there's one word used twice in verses 22 and 23 that I would base my argument on. It's the word if. You'll notice that Jesus uses this word twice. If it is my will that he remain until I come. And then down at the end of verse 23, Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but if. It is my will that he remain until I come. What is that to you? So I'm arguing the least important question that's before us today is, when will Jesus come? So this is sort of an odd one to have as the title of the sermon. But I hope you see where we're going here. When we are challenged, well, Jesus hasn't come back. He should have come back a long time ago. Are you sure? Because that's what they thought in John's day. And John is saying, I have it on authority from Jesus himself. Jesus did not say I would still be alive when he came back. That was misinformation. That was a perversion of actual words spoken by actual people. That was a straw man argument. Very often we get strawman arguments, either that Jesus is coming back at this certain time, or that Jesus didn't come back when he said he would, therefore we don't have to believe in Jesus. And in fact, John is saying very clearly here, something very important. So if you would, under point three, I didn't include this, but I want you to put right down the verses, Matthew 24, verses 36 through 38. Matthew 24, 36 through 38, we're gonna look at this a little bit more tonight, so I'm not gonna turn there right now. But I want you to know that Jesus says very clearly, no one knows the day or the hour, not even the Son of Man, but only the Father. actually creates the emphaticness of it, creates another interpretive challenge. Well, can God the Father know something that God the Son doesn't know? That's a whole nother question that we won't go into. But Jesus says, I am going to come when the Father sends me, just like the first time. And until the Father sends me, I'm not coming. So wait, wait, wait. And it says, when the ten virgins were very weary in the middle of the night, suddenly the bridegroom appeared like a thief in the night. You don't expect a thief. If you knew the thief was coming, you would have done things differently, including locking your doors. That's how the Bible describes the second coming of Christ. So don't try to outsmart Jesus. That's my overall thrust today. When will Jesus come is a dumb question. Even Jesus apparently doesn't know the answer to that question. But come back tonight because we're going to see that even in the Gospels, there's the anticipation of people growing weary. Why does this world keep turning on? Why do we have these things like the internet that result in the mass delusion of people? Why is this world so broken? Why are these crazy things happening to us? Oh, I wish it would just all go away and I could just fly away and go and be with Christ. And friends, I say, there is hope. There is hope right now. There is hope for this world that has nothing to do with who our next president is or who your next representative or senator, depending on what state you live in. I want to remind us that, in fact, multiple times in history, people got in their heads, well, if just this one really catastrophic thing would happen, then Jesus would come back. So I was just listening to Dr. Robert Godfrey earlier this week. In about the year 1099, Europe got in its head, if we could just get Jerusalem back from the Muslims, then Jesus will come back. And you know what? They mobilized, they slaughtered an awful lot of people getting there, but they conquered Jerusalem. And it was very ungodly. But you know what? Jesus didn't come back. So now we have Russia in the north. There's a king that will come out of the north and we have China and we have Iran. And I just listened to all of this craziness going on right now about what's going on in Israel. And I don't know where you are. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. I think there's a lot of people that are just thinking, oh, oh, Maybe, maybe this is what the end times is all about. Friends, I'm sorry, but they have no idea what they're talking about. Jesus doesn't know, and we don't know. And by the way, write down what the so-called prophets say. And if it doesn't come to pass, then they should be canceled. Well, if we canceled people. But you see what I'm saying? Do you see the logic here? If I stand up here and tell you in the name of the Lord what's going to happen in the future and it doesn't happen, then I'm disqualified. I hope you would fire me. Because that's called being a false prophet. And that is happening all over the place right now. And they usually won't come quite out and say like a date or any of that stuff. Some of them will. When will Jesus come? When Jesus comes. When will Jesus come? I don't know. That's a good answer. That doesn't mean you haven't studied your Bible. That doesn't mean you haven't thought deeply about eschatology. That means you believe what Jesus himself said. All right? So the least important question is when will Jesus come? This leads us then to the fourth and final point. This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things. and who has written these things. And we know that his testimony is true. The most practical question, the most practical question for all of us to wrestle with here, if you want to grow in your faith, then this is the question that you should research and not take someone else's word for it. Is the Bible eyewitness? is the Bible an eyewitness account? This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things. And who has written these things? These words were not written by another group of people, hundreds of years removed from Jesus. And we know that his testimony is true. Now, how do you know that? Well, one way is by an exhaustive study of the book of John. What in this book sounds like the figments of overactive imagination? Was John there? He again and again and again and again established, I was in the room. I'm the one who leaned back on Jesus during the last supper. I'm the one that had access because I knew people inside of the high priest's palace. I've been in the area there just south of Jerusalem that's identified as the high priest's palace. Probably John heard Peter deny Jesus. They probably were all three within earshot of each other. Friends, notice that what Peter was after here was knowledge beyond revelation. He wanted to know about the future of his friend. He wanted to know about when Jesus would come back. And John doesn't say it here, but I imagine these guys kind of like, yeah Peter, you were not the sharpest tack in the bend back then, were you? I think there was a little bit of going back and forth here. Notice, John never dishonors Peter. He respects him as a brother, as a leader in the church. But Peter, you could have asked some better questions and made some better statements than the ones you made. And I think Peter would be like, you are absolutely right, my brother. It is by grace alone. But I want you to see that John understands the difficulty of being one who walks by faith and not by sight. who follows what feels like an imagination in his own brain, rather than running the ways of the world, that will get you wealth and fame, if you try hard enough. This is the disciple who is bearing witness. John understands that he is on the stand and that a jury of his peers will be carefully scrutinizing him. And the question is, is he telling the truth? If he's telling the truth, there are a whole lot of consequences. Like wicked people who deny Christ, standing before the judgment. Well, they won't be standing before the judgment. They'll be hiding in caves in the ground from the wrath of God. This is what the Bible teaches. If John is not telling the truth, then we are of all men most to be pitied. We are wasting our time. These delusions of justice and righteousness and peace among all men are just that, delusions. Friends, there is no more important question in this world than who is Jesus. And your answer to that question is the most important decision you will ever make. So think carefully. Read. Carefully. Reason carefully. Don't be impulsive. And the one that's behind the answer to who is Jesus is, do we have eyewitness evidence? The uniform testimony of the New Testament is that these are the people who were there. They know things that someone writing 100 years later would never be able to know, like how many fish were in the net. That's one of my favorite pieces of trivia in the whole of the Gospel of John. There were 153. Why 153? Well, isn't that a symbolic number? Doesn't it mean, no, it means there were 150, like Peter counted them, I was there, and he proudly announced to Jesus, Jesus, did you know there were 153? It says large fish, by the way. 153 really big fish. Thanks for helping us out on our fishing trip. Do you see the practical eyewitness nature of the Bible? Friends, if they were in the room, then you should be pouring over their words again and again because this is the way that you know Jesus. It's not through your emotions. Your emotions will lead you astray. It's not through tradition. Well, I've been listening to medieval tradition, medieval church history, and the things that they were saying on the basis of tradition caused the hair to stand up on the back of my neck. But if we have a church that is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets themselves, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone, then we are the church of Christ. I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, even though it's coming at some of you with bared fangs. You do not need to be afraid or dismayed. Be anxious about nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding. When people who were in these pews a matter of weeks ago. Go, I was reading a poem this week, through a doorway cut in sod. into the presence of Christ. If verse 24 is true, then they are in such a blessed state right this moment. And if verse 24 is a lie, then we are of all men most to be pitied. Stand on the precipice of eternity. There's the whole hum. There's the day after day routines that I know can get so wearisome. But are you living your ordinary life in the light of eternity? And if you reject eternity, then what do you do with your ordinary life? What does it mean? Where's it going? What's the point? Why do you do the things you do? Friends, verse 24 may be kind of a pivot, kind of a high point. I'm going to leave you with this question. It haunts me, so now I'm letting you be haunted with me. This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things. And we know that his testimony is true. So when will Jesus come back? Well, let's look at that question in context. It's not the most important question. It's not the most intriguing question. It's in some ways the least important question. When will Jesus come back? He will come back when the thief comes in the night, at a time you do not expect. And by the way, that Matthew 24 passage compares this to the time of Noah, when they did not know the flood was coming until the day that they entered the ark, and suddenly the flood was upon them. Friends, consider the eternal wisdom of God. Let's pray. Oh Lord, thank you for all that you lay before us. Lord, this is a simple conversation and yet the subjects of it are tremendous. Lord, how easy it is to caricature the Christian message. Lord, this message, this saying spread abroad that John wasn't going to die. And yet, that was just a simple twisting of what Jesus had said. Lord, help us to not strawman one another. Help us to think deeply about the world and the Word. Help us to see that the same God who created the world gave us the Word because We are loved by God. And Lord, help us to be those who rather than chasing whatever the current wind or tide is of doctrinal teaching, that Lord, we would have a deep anchor for our souls that would last. And Lord, I thank you for the professions of faith, the clear professions of faith, of those who were in our midst a matter of weeks ago and are now with Christ. Lord, thank you that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Thank you for the hope of the resurrection. Thank you that even here in this passage, Jesus implies, even as he doesn't teach about it, until I come. Thank you for the promise of the second coming of Christ. Lord, help us to live with eternity in mind. Help us to labor to not serve two masters. Lord, we cannot serve God and the things of this world. And help us to weigh the value of both. Not that one is unimportant, but that one is most important. Lord, show yourself mighty in our lives as we seek to live as disciples of Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.