When John wrote this verse 2000 years ago I think it meant more than the way we might read this today:

John 21 24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

This was written in Koine Greek and the word testimony is, in the Greek,

μαρτυρων

It is pronounced:  Mar-too-reh’-o

And is a derivative of the word Martyr.

In other words, this uneducated Jewish fisherman wrote this gospel and then said:

“We know that his testimony is true”

Now John often referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved and often talked about himself in third person.

I have meditated on this verse a lot since I heard a man named James Ryle talk about it many years ago.

I think a better translation (sorry NIV, NAS, or any other translation) might be:

I have seen this Jesus and these things with my own eyes.  I testify that they are true.  And I am willing to give my life for this testimony.

After all … isn’t that what a martyr is?

I believe this with all my heart and it inspires me.

This eyewitness.  This fisherman.  This man.  He saw Jesus and he decided that this earth was no longer his home.

And he wrote a book of the Bible to let us know that.

He truly ANSWERED WITH HIS LIFE.

This is not a watered down gospel.  This is the gospel of Jesus and it is written to EVERYONE.  Your resume, your money, your status or popularity, your talent — they literally mean nothing.  At the end of your life, the only thing that will matter is your standing with Jesus.

And this isn’t just the recipe for the eternal.  It is the recipe for the now.

John 5 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

Upon first view, this is the dumbest question in the Bible.

But, as usual, God is right—and we are wrong.

This is the question that all of us must answer.

Do You Want To Get Well?

In your life?

In your relationships?

In your marriage?

In your work?

In your sports?

In your business?

In your raising of kids?

In your dating?

In your … (you fill it in)

When I have not included Jesus in things—They have NOT GONE WELL.

And I am so convicted by this that I am willing to leave it out there with you if you don’t want to do it that way.

JUST REMEMBER THIS WORD.

Because when it all goes poorly come back to it.

It is the key to your eternity.

And it is the key to your now.

Do what John did.

Do what the guy at the pool did.

ANSWER WITH YOUR LIFE

You will not regret it.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J