2023-07-26
Given by Dr Peter Masters
John 14.12
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Christ is addressing the apostles in this verse. The apostles would of course be enabled to do signs wonders and mighty deeds just as Christ had done. The book of Acts tells us repeatedly that they and they only could do those works because they were witnesses of the resurrection and those that Christ had appointed to give testimony of the risen Lord. Then Christ says "greater works than these shall he do", there are greater works than the healing miracles, but the apostles never did works greater than the Saviour, they were to the same degree. It authenticated the first apostles. How did people know they were apostles, their special office, how did Christians know their words would have the status of Scripture? Because they did the same works that Christ did, but not on the same skill. But what are these greater works?
It is the bringing in of lost souls. The great work of soul winning and the mushrooming of the church of Christ was to take place after His crucifixion and resurrection, the apostles would be the first evangelists, and the greater work would fall to them. Of course the Spirit would actually do the work, turning men and women around to Christ, making them regenerate creatures, but the apostles would be instruments in appealing to souls, and they have the privilege of being the key instruments of evangelism for the birth of the NT church.
The first of these greater works was the 3000 converted at Pentecost. And later the 5000.
Following these words in v12, verse 13:
John 14.13
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
That verse is often plucked out of context. It is used by Christians to be a promised attached to prayers whatever those prayers are for.. But remember that this tremendous promise, which is followed by stronger expression of it, it is in the context of the apostles doing greater work, in the context of evangelism and proclaiming the gospel, and the gathering in of the lost, it is not a promise that covers everything that you and I would like in our material lives. It is a promise made in the context of bringing in of lost soul. Look at the verse again.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name (everything relating to evangelism), that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (supposing you or I were to ask for a new car or a new bike, how is that going to reveal Christ to people? The Father will give you anything you pray for in this Christian service context that the Father may be glorified in the Son. A new car has nothing to do with this promise. But souls saved are a different matter, Christ is revealed in the heart of a new convert. It is important to understand these great promises in the right context).
John 14.14
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
It has not lost the context, and we bear that in mind.
John 14.15
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
The promise of the Comforter comes next, but let's go down to verse 26.
John 14.26
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
That is clearly a special promise to the apostles. How do we know? Because it says so. "bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." He is speaking to them. All that you have heard me say. The sermon on the mount, every word said to anyone, to be restored to be made whole, everything said God will bring to memory. It is not to us, but to the apostles who had been with Christ. What is the purpose of this? The comforter will inspire a clear recollection, and bring all things to your remembering, because the apostles are going to be the penmen of the New Testament, or those who would have the capacity, understanding and authority to recognise and affirm any part of the NT that would come from a non-apostle. They are inspired with the knowledge of what is right, what is scriptural. We were looking yesterday that Mark comes from Peter, he is inspired with everything to be recorded.
Let us turn to 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter writes here
15 And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
The key words that we consider are the second half of v15-16. Here is the apostle Peter authenticating the epistles of Paul, the apostle Paul out of due time, as scripture, the same first books of the OT, the history books, the psalter, the prophets, the major and minor prophets, the scriptures, the gospels, and the epistles of Paul. They are as inspired and authoritative as the other scriptures. So you have the canon of scripture formed not by a church council, but in the scripture. The canon - what books are canonical and belong here - were determined by the apostles. We are told that this was decided by the church, but it is the apostolic faith.
Then we can go over to Jude 1:3
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
The faith - what is the faith? All the doctrines, all the truth. It is synonymous with the inspired word, the NT. There is nothing equal to it. It is the one yard stick for all truth, it is the inspired Word of Truth, and Jude is able to call it that.
We mentioned P52, the fragment of John's gospel yesterday, if you are in the Manchester area, you can get in and go and see it if it is on display. It is the size of a credit card rather than a book today. It was found in Egypt. The man who brought it in an Egyptian market and realised what it was, died before he could fully translate it and publish it. The work was left to a scholar named Colin Roberts, he was an expert in ancient Greek documents, he was an intellectual called up and sent to Bletchley Park. He went back after the war and published this. To think that this fragment was kept by churches, why are there so few early documents? People who were caught with this in the Roman Empire would be executed, and documents destroyed. Colin Robert's first conclusions were that these were from AD90, the reason why he moved it back was because the historians said that the gospel was not in Egypt in AD90. But 5 years ago, there was solid evidence that the gospel was in AD90, that scholar was correct, and it was deflected because of the wrong assumptions of historians. That could be 30 years after that gospel was first written.
There is another fragment also found in Egypt made from paper mache, that has not been published yet from a grave. The guesses are that it could be AD80, it could be the oldest fragment. These are wonderful things, coming out of the ground, always vindicating the Biblical record when they do.