New Believer's Bible Sample - Flipbook - Page 72
J ohn 21
28 “My
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Lord and my God!” Thomas ex-
claimed.
29 Then
Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those
who believe without seeing me.”
Purpose of the Book
disciples saw Jesus do many other
miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so
that you may continue to believe* that J esus is
the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power
of his name.
30 The
Epilogue: Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples
Later, J esus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.* This
is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples
21
were there—Si
mon Pe
ter, Thom
as (nicknamed the Twin),* Nathanael from Cana in
Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other
disciples.
3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they
went out in the boat, but they caught nothing
all night.
4At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach,
but the disciples couldn’t see who he was.
5 He called out, “Fellows,* have you caught
any fish?”
“No,” they replied.
6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the
right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get
some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in
the net because there were so many fish in it.
7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter,
“It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that
0:31 Some manuscripts read that you may believe.
2
21:1 Greek Sea of Tiberias, another name for the Sea of Galilee.
21:2 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus.
21:5 Greek Children.
C O R N E R S T O N E S
Our love for God prepares us for service
read JOHN 21:15-17
Peter knew that he had let Jesus down when he denied him three times before the Crucifixion. But Peter also knew that Jesus had forgiven him. Jesus tested Peter by asking him
three times the searching question, “Do you love me?”
In the original language of this text, Peter’s response to Jesus’ questions has great
significance. When Jesus posed the questions, he basically asked, “Peter, do you love me
with a sacrificial, committed love?” But Peter responded with a different word for love: Peter
essentially said, “Lord, I like you. I love you as a friend.”
At least Peter was honest. He told Jesus the truth about his commitment. And Jesus still
enlisted Peter into his service. As this story implies, we must love God before we can serve
him faithfully. Here are five ways to tell if we really love God:
1. We Long for Personal Communion with Him. Can you relate to the words of the
psalmist, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1)?
When we really love God, we delight in praising and worshiping him and enjoy spending
time with him and his people.
2. We Love the Things He Loves. We know what God loves by what he has declared in his
Word, the Bible. So if we love God, we will love his Word. Bible study will not be a drudgery
but a delight.
3. We Hate What He Hates. As the Lord’s nature becomes our nature, his likes and dislikes
become our likes and dislikes. His outlook becomes our outlook. We know from his Word
that he hates sin. If we love him, then we should also hate sin.
4. We Long for His Return. Jesus described himself as a groom (Mark 2:19). His bride is
the church—the body of believers (Ephesians 5:23-29). When Jesus returns, he will be united
with his bride. If we love the Lord, we long for his return as a bride longs for her groom.
5. We Keep His Commandments. Jesus says, “If you love me, obey my commandments” ( John
14:15). Though it is impossible for any of us who love God to go on an endless course of sin,
we will still occasionally fall into individual sins. But if we love God, we will repent of those
sins and seek his forgiveness, and our lifestyle will conform to the truths we find in his Word.
For the next note on “Love” turn to page 1105.
