Please do turn tonight to John's Gospel, to chapter 19. And our text is found in verse 35. John 19 and verse 35. And He, speaking of Himself, the Apostle John, He that saw it bear record, and His record is true. And He knoweth that what He said, what He sayeth, is true. that ye might believe. Well, my title is very simply just those words. His record is true. I don't know whether you believe that. Do you consider the word of God to be fairy tales? Do you consider this to be just history? Just the record of something that happened a long, long time ago, 2,000 years ago in Palestine and Israel? Or is it more than that? The Apostle John, he wrote a gospel that's very different. The statistic I read was that 92% of the material In John's Gospel is different than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It's written for a different purpose. He's the only one that records the first miracle of the Lord at Cana, the turning of water into wine. He doesn't record, as far as I'm aware, any of the parables of the Lord Jesus. But his purpose is far more theological He wants to try to explain who Christ is. That's the big subject. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He starts the whole Gospel in a way that's reminiscent of the book of Genesis. In the beginning was the Word, and in John's Gospel he speaks about the Word being made flesh. This is his subject, Jesus Christ. Who is he? Is he really man or was he a phantom, imaginary? Is he really God and man, divine? So that's what his whole account is about. John was one of the inner circle. There was James and Simon Peter and John. He was privileged to many insights and no doubt much teaching and certainly certain spectacles like the Transfiguration that were unique to those three. He knew more, he saw more, he heard more and so he's very qualified. To make this statement, he that saw it bare record, he wrote it down. He recorded accurately what he saw, what he heard, the impressions that it had upon him as a human being. In some ways, John was just a very ordinary man, I dare say like you and I. He was a fisherman, uneducated, And yet in many ways he was an extraordinary man. Of the 12, he was the one entrusted to look after the mother of the Lord Jesus. She obviously evidently needed care, and he took her into his home from that day onwards. He was entrusted. He was a disciple whose word and whose account, whose lifestyle, whose demeanor and character was utterly trustworthy. And therefore his report and record is one that we can rely upon. Well, he was the only disciple, as far as we understand, who was not martyred for his faith. We don't know exactly, but the suggestion from the history books is that having been taken into captivity under persecution into the island of Patmos, he eventually went to settle in Ephesus, possibly, and there, in old age, he was the only disciple not to be martyred. He suffered much, In persecution, but he was to die, we believe, probably in old age. Well, these things are remarkable to us. Well, we want to look tonight at the things that John recorded. That's our first point. The truth of his record and what we have here at the end of the verse. That ye might believe. What's the point of John's Gospel? Why is it and the other Gospels recorded? It's not just history. There is a point. There's a purpose. And that is very simply that we might believe. So let's start tonight as we look at this verse. What did John see? What did he faithfully and accurately record for us to read? John's gospel is one of the gospels that if we have one book to give to somebody out of the Bible, very often John or maybe Mark is the portion of the Bible that we give. Why? Because it speaks of Christ fully and very clearly. So let's look at what it says. There's four words in verse 35. He says that he bear record, that's testimony, and his record, his account is True. He emphasizes it again. And he knows that what he says is true. Four words. Four words to emphasize this is accurate, reliable, trustworthy. from an eyewitness who saw, and from an earwitness who heard. And so what does John record for us? Well, the first thing, very evidently, and we can see an evidence for this in verse six of John 19, is the perfect life of Christ. That's essential. There is no Christianity. if we don't have a perfect Christ. Just imagine if Christ had sinned. I hardly say it easily. Just imagine if he'd fallen into sin in some relationship. He could not be your Savior. Just imagine if he had one false thought He could not be your savior. But the account which we read throughout this gospel is exactly as Pilate says in verse 6. He says, I find no fault in him. And many others said the same. People that watched him and listened said, this man spoke like no other man. People that heard his teaching said he had authority unlike the scribes and the Pharisees. And people that watched him just marveled. Oh, this is no ordinary man. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. We use his three titles very deliberately. He is Lord, Chosen. He is Jesus. And he is Christ, the anointed one. And Pilate said, the one that had every motive and incentive to say, this man I will punish and sentence because I find fault in him. But his words, I find no fault in this man. That's the testimony of John recorded for us. Pilate wanted to find otherwise, but he couldn't find any fault, no fault in this man. And even his own family, his disciples, there's not one evidence that there was anything amiss about his whole life. And therefore the record is that we have a perfect, perfect Christ, the one who can be our savior if we come to him. But then secondly, we look down in verse 7, and there is here an accusation made about Christ. The Jews answered him, we have a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Well, it's very evident in the life of Christ that he did. And that's the only reason that he needed to die, because of their law, which they deemed to be blasphemy, but it wasn't, because he was the Son of God. He is the Son of God. He didn't make himself, he was. He always was, and he always will be the second person of the glorious Trinity. He came as God, He took upon himself the form of man. There were times even before he came to earth that he had the appearance of a man when he appeared to certain of the patriarchs and certain of those in the Old Testament. But we can be sure he was God and man. He demonstrated his divine power. No one else could walk through a crowded room No one else had the power to say, stand up, thy sins be forgiven, but he could. He was the son of God. The deity of Christ is unquestionable. in the Gospels and particularly in John's Gospel. He didn't make himself, he was, he is the Son of God and John came to bear record of that. One thinks of his power over nature, over sickness, over sin and the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again. Nobody else can do that. You cannot die tonight and then with your own power give yourself life again. He's the only human being who's ever done that. The deity of Christ. Look down at verse 28. And here we have a remarkable statement. Verse 28. After this, the Lord Jesus is now on the cross. Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished. What an extraordinary statement. All things. Everything that he had promised to do, As we say, before time began, God the Father, God the Son made a covenant together and Christ in human language said, I will go. I will go to earth. I know they will fall into sin. I know the whole world will be ruined by the fall. And he said, I will do everything necessary. This is the fulfillment of what he promised to do. Jesus knowing that all things from that very second were accomplished. And then he could say that the scripture might be fulfilled. I thirst. Everything that he set out to do when he left heaven, everything necessary for your salvation, if you're one of his people, Everything required to pay the price of your sin and my sin, if we will come confessing our sin to Jesus Christ, everything, every last drop of the wrath of God had been drunk up by Christ. Everything. What an astonishing statement. Now multiply that up by the billions of people who will be in heaven. That's my conviction. It won't be a million or 10 million or 100 million. Think of all the people that have ever lived. Think of those little ones that were never even born. And in heaven, Christ has paid the price for every sin, for every one of his people. every single one of them. And he knew them by name, and he knew the number of hairs on their head, and he says, it is finished. An astonishing record which John records for us. But that's not enough. You see, some people say that Christ never died. Some people wrongly say It was a phantom death. They argue that he didn't need to rise from the dead because he never died. But you know, there is no savior unless there is the shedding of the whole of a lifeblood. Unless Christ died fully and all His blood was shed, there could be no Savior. And so there needed to be an accurate testimony and an account that Christ had died. How do we know He died? Well, look down at verse 33. The soldiers have just come to the other two. The two thieves on the cross, one going to heaven because he's trusted in the Savior, one going to hell because he would not acknowledge his sin and confess it when the soldiers came to Jesus. Verse 33, and saw that he was dead already. The soldiers had only one task, death. by crucifixion. Why would they not break his legs? Because they knew that he was dead. They knew it wasn't necessary. But just to make sure, you notice in verse 34, one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came out all. the blood and the water that was in his body. Why did it happen this way? Well, as we shall look in a minute, this was to fulfill scripture. He had to die, but he had to die in a way that not one of his bones should be broken, so the normal method of breaking the bones of the prisoner, the captive, the one crucified, could not be applied to him. But it wasn't necessary because he really was dead already. So we see all things were accomplished and he truly died. This was the most remarkable of all deaths. As John Owen called it, the death of deaths. He was the one that when he died, He enabled it so that we don't have to die, but we can rise with Him in the resurrection, a most remarkable death. Three hours of abject darkness hung over the place where He was crucified. And just so Jerusalem knew the gravity, the significance of what was happening, there was an enormous earthquake And the graves of those many who were in tombs were burst open. And the people came to life. And around Jerusalem, people said, look, there is she, there is him, there is her, there's that little child. Jerusalem was turned upside down. There was a gigantic transformation. Tens of thousands believed who had not believed before and in the days to come. This single death was to transform a city and then a nation and then the Roman Empire. Oh, the death of deaths. But there's something else that John records. It's mentioned several times in passing. 36 and verse 37 says that the scripture should be fulfilled. I'm going to read a number of scriptures. You don't need to turn to them. But there's five examples here of how the details that John records and others of the Gospels are exactly what the Psalms prophesy. Psalm 16, verse 10, speaking of the resurrection of Christ. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Christ could not stay in the grave. His body could not decompose. He had to have a clean grave, never used before. And so his resurrection was prophesied. Psalm 16 verse 10. What about the thirsting that the Lord Jesus mentioned? Psalm 22 verse 15, my strength. is dried up like a pot, sir. Do you know what that word means? A clay tablet that's put into the oven that every final percentage of water that was in that clay is sucked out so that the tongue of the Lord Jesus and the jaws of his mouth were tight. There was no moisture left. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Psalm 22, verse 15. These are things that are recorded, prophesied and then the Gospels tell us they were fulfilled. What about the piercing, the method of death? Psalm 22, verse 16. The wicked have enclosed me, they have pierced. My hands and my feet. Do you know this is remarkable? This record is true. It's authentic. It's accurate. It's trustworthy. What about the garments, the clothing of the Lord Jesus? Psalm 22 verse 18. They part my garments. This is written a thousand years before Christ died. They part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. If Christ hadn't worn the poor man's tunic, they wouldn't have needed to tear it into four. But because he took on a form that was so humble and lowly, he wore the poor man's tunic And as a celebrity token, a memento, these four men decided they would have a piece of the action to take away a crude emblem from the day that Christ died. What about his bones? We've thought about it. Psalm 34 verse 20. He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. This isn't speaking of David. This isn't speaking of one of the other Psalmists. It's speaking of Christ. This is the scripture that's fulfilled in verse 36 of John 19. For these things were done they happened, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. This is John's evidence, recorded of Christ, his perfect life, his deity, all things accomplished, the death of Christ, and now the fulfillment of all the prophecies. Speaking of Christ's death and resurrection. So what can we say of this record? Is it true? I think I could stop here. The evidence is overwhelming. But let me just add to it, the secular scholars, they don't doubt the life of Christ. They don't doubt his death. John says he bears record. What he says is true. That should be sufficient for us. The other detailed eyewitnesses, both in the Word of God and elsewhere, they give a consistent record of Christ's life and death and resurrection. Jerusalem turned upside down. It's difficult to turn A whole city upside down with a false account surely. A hoax would have been found out but it was no hoax. This is what really happened. Why am I mentioning these things? We've got children here tonight. We've got teenagers and you are taught at school it's just a fable. It's just a story. Some people believe it. No. The Word of God is recorded. History. It's authentic. It's true. We have all the evidence we need. Yes, we come by faith. We don't need archeology or anything else, but the everything else, it tallies with what the Word of God says. Think of the 12 apostles, 11, and then one replaced. Why would 11 be willing to martyr, be willing to give their very life for a hoax For something that was made up? Surely not. What about the early church? Why would tens of thousands of people move home, move to a different country, and they give their lives for something that they did not know, and sense, and feel, and experience was truth, and truth personified. Then we could go to archaeology, but we don't need to. Oh, Dr. Luke in Acts 1, he speaks about the many infallible proofs. I love that term. Many infallible. Not one exaggerated element in the Word of God. This is truth. We can rely on it. Let me give you one more reason. Do you know we have a faith which is unique? Every other religion worships no God or a dead God, but we have a living Christ. We come today on the day of resurrection. The day when we remember that Christ rose from the dead. We don't worship a dead tomb. We don't worship a statue, a picture. We worship the living Christ. No other religion says that. And that's what those early disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus did. They gathered together on the day of resurrection, now called the Lord's Day, the day that we keep precious. We worship as much as we can. We keep this day for Him because this is the day that He rose from the dead and gave everything necessary for salvation. Well, let's come to the final phrase. John's record. John protests. Evidence is that this record is true. He says it twice. We've looked at many other reasons why we can believe it. What is the purpose? Did you discover ancient history at school? I found it so dull. All the Roman emperors Pliny, Plato, that Trojan horse. Oh, it was fascinating in terms of stories. But what was it all for? Well, I don't really know. But I know what this is for. This is so that you might believe in the one that it testifies of. In Jesus Christ. This whole gospel. looks to lift up Jesus Christ. Go back to the first chapter. John chapter one, we just look at one verse and we close very shortly. John chapter one, this is speaking of another John, John the Baptist. John one verse seven, the same John the Baptist, the man that was sent from God, whose name was John, came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He tells us in the first chapter of his gospel that the purpose of him writing is that you might believe. Do you believe tonight? Can I ask a question that I hope goes right to your heart and to your mind? Do you believe in a real Christ? Do you believe in His perfect life? Do you believe in His perfect death? Do you believe that He rose from the dead and that there was a purpose in that? That you might believe on Him as Lord and Saviour. If you don't, it doesn't change the authority of what's written here. It doesn't change the historicity It doesn't change the impact that Christ has had upon our life, in changing our life for good, in turning us round. But the purpose it was written was for that little word, two letters in Old English, that ye, that you, it's personal, that you might believe. You go back to, I can't resist, one more verse. John 1 and verse 12. John 1 and verse 12. This will be our final verse. His account was to give a testimony so that we might believe. Verse 7. But verse 12, this is the question. Do you receive this account? but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Don't confuse what I'm saying. I'm not saying accept Christ, make a decision for him. Notice what it says, as many as received him, his identity, His life, His death, His resurrection. You have no power of your own tonight to choose Christ. You need to be given that power. That's what it says here. The word power is very interesting. To them gave He the delegated power, the moral authority to become one of his children. This is about being born again. We cannot do it. We cannot decide it. We cannot choose Christ. He needs to give us the power. When he does that, we believe his word. We believe his testimony. We believe it to be true. And when we then exercise the faith that He also gives to us, we can be born again into the family of Christ, becoming sons and daughters of God, even to them that believe on His name. Let me say it once more. As many as receive this account to be true, authentic, trustworthy, Then He will give you the power to become one of His children, to be born again. Look at what it says in verse 13, not of blood, not of the flesh, not my choice, not of the will of man, verse 13, but of God. Everything to do with salvation is of God. in Christ. That's what John is teaching in his gospel. Let me close with these questions. I have much more to say. Have you accepted this record to be true, to be authentic? I hope so. But you know that's not enough. You now need to believe. You need to believe on the Son of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he will save you. He will come and he will adopt you and bring you into his family and you will have a new nature. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Believe on him as your creator. Believe on him as your saviour. Believe on him as your king. Believe on him as your righteous judge. Believe on him as the heavenly messenger of grace that John records in his gospel. He is both the messenger and he's the message. The message tonight is Jesus Christ. I lift him up before you and we say with the Apostle John, his record is true. It's worthy of you trusting. And when you trust the record to be true, he will give you the power to believe and to trust in Christ as Lord and as Savior.