A. In John 20:26-29, we read of Jesus’ appearing to His disciples. During this appearance, Thomas was present to witness the resurrected Jesus. After having seen Jesus, Thomas declares, “My Lord and my God!” To this Jesus replied, “Thomas, because have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

1. Jesus knew that He was soon to return to Heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father. This being the case, no one else would be able to see Jesus first hand. (With the exception of Steven (Acts 7:56) and the apostle Paul. (Acts 9:3-6, 17))

2. From that point on, all who would believe would have to rely upon recorded evidences of Jesus’ purpose, teachings, and miracles.

3. This is why John wrote, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are 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 20:30,31 - NKJV)

C. All that we have recorded of the life of Jesus, His purpose, teachings, and miracles, were recorded so that future generations might believe without physically seeing Jesus.

D. The question for you is this: Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God?

E. With this lesson, we will examine what has been written and the purpose thereof. Lord willing, when we are finished, you who have not yet obeyed the Gospel’s call will be provoked to believe and obey. If you are a Christian, but have grown weak, then it is our prayer that this lesson will spawn within you a memory of a time when you truly believed.

A. In the context, John was specifically referring to the signs which Jesus had done. However, there was much more written about the life of Jesus that just the signs. All these things help aid in the belief process.

C. The Bible Reveals the Teachings of Jesus. For example: Jesus’ teachings on . . .

	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Cleansing a Leper	8:2	1:40	5:12
Healing a Centurion’s Servant	8:5		7:1
Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law	8:14	1:30	4:38
Healing the Sick at Evening	8:16	1:32	4:40
Stilling the Storm	8:23	4:35	8:22
Demons Entering a Herd of Swine	8:28	5:1	8:26
Healing a Paralytic	9:2	2:3	5:18
Raising the ruler’s Daughter	9:18, 23	5:22, 35	8:40, 49
Healing the Hemorrhaging Woman	9:20	5:25	8:43
Healing Two Blind Men	9:27
Curing a Demon-Possessed Man	12:22		11:14
Healing a Man’s Withered Hand	12:9	3:1	6:6
Feeding the Five Thousand	14:13	6:30	9:10	6:1
Walking of the Sea	14:25	6:48		6:19
Healing the Gentile Woman’s Daughter	15:21	7:24
Feeding the Four Thousand	15:32	8:1
Healing the Epileptic Boy	17:14	9:17	9:38
Temple Tax in the Fish’s Mouth	17:24
Healing Two Blind Men	20:30	10:46	18:35
Withering the Fig Tree	21:18	11:12
Casting Out an Unclean Spirit		1:23	4:33
Healing a Deaf-Mute		7:31
Healing a Blind Man at Bethsaida		8:22
Escape from the Hostile Multitude			4:30
Catch of Fish			5:1
Raising of a Widow’s Son at Nain			7:11
Healing the Infirm, Bent Woman			13:11
Healing the Man with Dropsy			14:1
Cleansing the Ten Lepers			17:11
Restoring a Servant’s Ear			22:51
Turning Water into Wine				2:1
Healing the Nobleman’s Son				4:46
Healing an Infirm Man at Bethesda				5:1
Healing the Man Born Blind				9:1
Raising of Lazarus				11:43
Second Catch of Fish				21:1

(Adapted from W.A. Criswell, Believer’s study Bible [computer file], electronic ed. , Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1991 by the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies.)

E. All of what we have quickly reviewed was written for one purpose: So that you may believe!

A. Belief in Jesus is crucial to the saving of your soul. Remember, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Without belief in Jesus, salvation is impossible.

B. When a person sets out to learn about Jesus, the end result should be true belief.

1. The apostles were sent preaching so that the lost might believe. (Romans 10:14-17) Consider the following examples:

a. Peter and John “preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” and many people believed. (Acts 4:1-4, NKJV)

b. When Philip “preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” (Acts 8:12, NKJV)

c. When Philip preached Jesus to the eunuch, the eunuch was baptized. (Acts 8:35-38)

A. True belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God will provoke one to follow Jesus to a life of obedience.

a. Acts 2:38 - “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (NKJV)

b. Acts 8:16 - “For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (NKJV)

c. Acts 9:27 - “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.” (NKJV)

d. Acts 19:5 - “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (NKJV)

e. I Corinthians 1:2 - “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:” (NKJV)

f. I Corinthians 5:4-5 - “ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (NKJV)

g. Philippians 2:10 - “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,” (NKJV)

h. Colossians 3:17 - “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (NKJV)

a. When the lost are saved, they are freed from their slavery to sin. (Romans 6:1-7)

b. After turning to Christ through belief and obedience, one is “born again.” (John 3:3-7; I Peter 1:22-23)

c. Being “born again,” one puts to death the “old man of sin,” rising to walk in a “newness of life.” (Colossians 3:1-4, 9-10; Cf. Romans 6:3-5)

C. Following Jesus and His teachings is crucial because salvation is found in no other name but Jesus. (Cf. Acts 4:10-12) If we reject the purpose of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, and/or the miracles of Jesus, then we have rejected Jesus.

A. There is no excuse for not knowing about Jesus. As John wrote, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are 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 20:30,31 - NKJV)

B. If you will pick up your Bible today and begin studying, then you will learn about Jesus, His purpose, His teachings, and His authority and deity. The study will take time, patience, and perseverance, but, if you will begin today, then you will be taking for the first steps towards eternity with God in Heaven.

C. As you study and learn, you will then see why to believe and in what you are to believe. This belief will then spawn repentance and obedience, which will give you access to the wonderful grace of God resulting in the saving of your soul.