Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning.
[00:00:02] I just want to welcome those that are joining us, livestream as well as you that are here this morning. Why don't we stand together? We go to the Lord in prayer. And when we look at our world today, I'll just make this comment it's a mess.
[00:00:17] But I would say that our society over the centuries, it's always been messy. And you say, Why is that, Pastor? Because we're human beings and because of the nature of sin in our lives, we just make a mess of things. Isn't that true? And I'm so glad today we can come into God's presence. We can honor those that have served our country, many of them laying down their lives. What an incredible gift, right? The gift of life. That's the most incredible thing. And just last summer, I had the privilege or late spring to be in Normandy, actually, around the celebration of the D Day landings. And I'll tell you something, 80 years later, people in France still remember with gratitude the sacrifice that people from Canada, Britain, around the world, americans who laid down their lives to free their country. And they're still appreciative. And it's just a very moving experience. So I was so glad we continued to do this event every single Remembrance Day. So, Father, we want to thank you today for the freedom that we enjoy in our country, which many parts of the world do not enjoy today. We want to thank you for that freedom. Freedom to worship you, freedom of expression. Freedom to live quiet and peaceable lives. Freedom to serve you with our whole hearts, Lord. Freedom to worship together collectively and study Your Word, Lord, and grow in our faith. And Lord, Your Word says, to whom much has been given, much is required. And we recognize that we have an obligation to our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who do not have this freedom, who are struggling. And Lord, we have partnered with people from around the world, and we're so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that's bringing freedom not just a political freedom, but bringing a spiritual freedom, bringing a freedom from sin, bringing a freedom into our lives that we can enjoy life to its fullest. To experience this amazing life, Father, we thank you for that. And Lord, I recognize, even as we gather there's so many in our church family battling various challenges, lord, medical challenges, financial challenges, emotional challenges, relational challenges. Lord, we want to lift these situations before You, Father. Some are experiencing seasons of grief in their life and especially as we move towards the Christmas season with that sense of loss. Lord, we want to pray for our brothers and sisters who are struggling through that time. Lord, would you comfort their hearts on this hour? Now I pray. Lord, open the eyes of our understanding. May there be an awakening in our spirit as we hear this message about your amazing love, Lord, that brings about transformation in the human heart. And we thank you for that, Lord, in Jesus name and God's, people said, amen. You may be seated. I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John We're in chapter three, one of the great chapters in the Bible number of years ago, and I've read it a couple of times, a book by John Stott. It's a theological book called The Cross of Christ, and in it he tells the story of a drama that addresses the victims of evil and injustice and God's response to their pain. Listen, I think a lot of people feel like God's abandoned them, especially when they have moments of injustice happen to them, moments of abuse, moments of difficulty in life. And God doesn't seem to be maybe at that moment saying or doing anything. And so people question, if there's such a loving, good God, why does he allow the things that are happening in our world? I know it's a big question that we keep bringing it up, but I think society keeps bringing it up, and I think we need to respond to that, he says. In the short drama entitled The Long Silence, the following scene is acted out. It says, at the end of time, billions of people are scattered across a great plain before God's throne. Most shrink back from the bright light before them, but some groups near the front talk heatedly, not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering? Snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal tattooed numbers from a Nazi concentration camp. We endured terror, beatings, torture, death. Another group, a Negro boy, lowered his collar. What about this? He demanded, showing an ugly rope burn lynched for no crime, but being black in another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. Why should I suffer? She murmured. It wasn't my fault. And far across the plains are hundreds of such groups, each having a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in this world. How lucky God was to live in heaven, where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God led a pretty sheltered life, they said. So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because they suffered the most a Jewish person, an African, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed, arthritic thimaldomide child. In the center of the plane, they consulted with each other. At last, they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they endured their decision as God should be sentenced to life on Earth as a man, let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think of him as out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. And then let him be tortured. And at last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a graced host of witnesses to verify it. And as each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval go up from the throng of people assembled.
[00:06:32] And when at the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. Or suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.
[00:06:47] Is that profound?
[00:06:50] God understands human suffering. He endured it.
[00:06:55] What we discover in this sentence did not, or this little drama did not originate in the mind of the dramatist. The story doesn't even originate with humanity, but it's God's story.
[00:07:09] As we turn to John 316, we find the real motivation for why God died for us.
[00:07:16] But before we get there, I want to focus our thoughts briefly on why did God have to die? Why doesn't God just forgive us regardless of our response to him? And the answer, simply put, is that it would not be just.
[00:07:32] In other words, where's the justice in that?
[00:07:36] The innocent dying for the guilty is not justice. When someone sins, they violate someone. It is unjust for nothing to happen, as the victim has suffered in some manner. There must be some sort of recompense, some restitution.
[00:07:50] In the Middle Ages, a biblical scholar by the name of Anselm wrote a book entitled Why God Became Man. And he tried to answer the question why God had to die.
[00:08:01] Obviously, we're talking about God in the person of Jesus Christ. God becoming a man in the teaching on the Atonement which deals with how Christ's death on the cross brought about forgiveness of sins. And some focuses on the demand of justice that goes along with mercy and forgiveness. And I like what Theologian Philip Kerry says. He assumes the classical conception of justice as rendering each is due, that is, paying with one owes. The key concept absalom introduces is satisfaction, which means paying what is owed to someone who has been harmed, offended or dishonored. You see deep down inside, that's what we all want. That's why people go to court. They want some sort of rendering that will bring about fairness or justice.
[00:08:47] Although God cannot be harmed in himself by his, but he can be dishonored by that which he created. He can be dishonored by us because God is better than the whole world or an infinity of worlds. The debt incurred by sin or disobedience to god is infinite. We don't think of it that way, but that's true.
[00:09:11] To leave the debt unpaid, Ansom argues, is not mercy, but injustice. If someone cannot make satisfaction for his offense, the only just alternative is punishment.
[00:09:24] In Ansom's account, God became human because this was the only way to make satisfaction for sin. Only humans owe the debt, so God becomes human to repay the debt. As a human being, Christ owes the debt. But as God, he pays the debt. It's an amazing proposition he's making here.
[00:09:46] Rather than looking at Christ's death as an innocent person being unjustly punished, I think sometimes that's how we look at it. Ansom takes the view that Christ is merciful by paying the debt for our sin. It's a different way of looking at it so we can see that what we believe about Jesus is absolutely critical. And the Christmas celebration is actually a reminder each year that God became a man.
[00:10:15] Theologians call this the Incarnation, jesus both fully God and fully man.
[00:10:23] We have seen why God had to die, but what motivated Him to die for us? You see, like, okay, I can see why God's meeting the just demands of the law, but why would God do that? Why would God, who really created our world and our world, ran amok? Why would God even bother with us? He could probably start a whole new race on another planet. You ever thought of that?
[00:10:47] But the Bible says God loved what he created, and God loved you and me. That's amazing to me. And his love is so incredible. That's what we're going to explore a little bit today, John. And later, the Apostle Paul will tell us that God dies for us because of who he is, not because of who we are or what we have done. Christ's gift of forgiveness is granted despite us.
[00:11:17] And here Paul writes these beautiful words. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I want you to just think about that for a moment while you and I were in rebellion, while we were indifferent, while we were negligent, while we had no thought of God in our lives, god still loved us and made a provision for us, and he was motivated out of love. That's what drove Jesus to the cross.
[00:11:47] Later on, in writing to the Ephesians, paul describes our condition as being spiritually dead, which means we are, in a sense, separated from God because of sin. Sin is a barrier between ourselves and God, a holy God, an unholy people, a barrier. And how does God close the barrier? It says, as for you, Paul is writing to a church now in the city of Ephesus. As for you, he's speaking to believers, you were dead. Now, I want you to notice the tense. It's past tense. You were dead. That was your condition before you were dead. How in your transgressions and sins. And then he goes on to say here in which you used to live when you followed the ways of a world. And I was actually talking to Chris Acosta and I was trying to explain how do you describe the idea of the world to a bunch of junior hires? And so we came up with the definition. It's just simply a society that doesn't have any of the same values God has, doesn't share what God is concerned about. That's what it means to be in this society. To be a society apart from God has a totally different value system that's the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. That's an interesting description, but that's a description of an evil malevolent force, a person called Satan and all of the demonic realm who are part of this evil that's perpetrating society and motivating people to do what is evil in the eyes of God. And so when we look at our society today, we see a lot of evil in our world. What's instigating it this benevolent spirit, a spirit who is now at work in those who are what?
[00:13:29] Disobedient. Disobedient to whom? To God. And to God's ways.
[00:13:33] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, which is the nature apart from God. It's a nature controlled by sin and following its desires and thoughts. And like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath.
[00:13:49] But now I like the big word, B-U-T. But this is now going to wipe all that three verses that sounded so awful in one word. But because of his great love for us, god, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ.
[00:14:09] He actually helped us become connected to God. He brought up together and reconciled us to the Father. He brought us together while we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. I love that word, that Greek word. It's the word keras. It's the word we use for gift. It's a gift, it's a grace, it's something God gives us, something we don't earn, something we don't deserve. We talk about unmerited favor. God gives that to us. And here in our text from John's Gospel, we discover three elements regarding the nature of God's love to us.
[00:14:45] A love which is running to us.
[00:14:48] I want you to think about it. First element is simply the extent of it.
[00:14:54] It's probably the most well known passage of scripture. We have encapsulated form the good news about God's love for us. And it's stated this way, john 316 for God so loved the world, god loved us even in our state of rebellion, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[00:15:20] We get a different level of life.
[00:15:23] We become united with God. The idea is not how much God loved, but how God loved the crucifixion of Jesus is how Jesus's death is the ultimate expression of his love. You know, so often people act like, I don't know if God really loves me. Can I just tell you? I don't even know why we think that way. Think about it. He gave his life for you. That's the greatest expression of love that could ever be given. He laid down his life for us.
[00:15:53] I don't even question God loves me. I know God loves me. He's proven it. He's not just saying words, I love you, world. He's demonstrated his love by laying down his life. I believe love is an action. It's demonstratable. We can say all the words we want to. People say words all the time. Sometimes words mean zero. Isn't that true? But when you see somebody laying down your life, giving their life up for you, you can see them serving you day after day. You shouldn't question it. That person loves you. They're committed. This is the kind of love God has for you. And I, so often when we think of God's love, let me just break it down a little bit, because when we study the nature of God, he's one God in three persons. Isn't that true? God the Father. God the Son, god the Holy Spirit. So how does that work in salvation? Well, God the Father actually worked at planning this event. God the Son came and actually provided the event that you and I could be saved. And the Holy Spirit comes and applies it into our lives. They all have a part in this salvation. And everyone goes, well, yeah, look at the know. Planning is not a big deal. Can I tell you, if you really want to get a sense of how dramatic it really was for the father, can you imagine giving up your only child for the sake of someone else? Think about know. I think of the story of Abraham when he gave up his son Isaac. Remember that story? And then God rescued him from killing his own son because God made a provision. But that provision was actually, in a sense, a type of what God was about to do. God was revealing to Abraham he was going to give up his own son. And so we see the heartache of actually giving up a son for the sake of others. How heart wrenching that know, only a father who has sacrificed a son can really understand the depths of a father's love. Giving up your son, that would be difficult, wouldn't it? And yet I read the story years ago, and it was back in the Great Depression, 1937. A guy by the name of John Griffin, he was a control of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi River. One day in 1937, he brought his eight year old son Greg to work with him. And as they were sitting on an observation deck, eating lunch and enjoying their time. Time sort of slipped away. And all of a sudden John heard the Memphis Express rumbling toward the bridge that he had drawn open for the boats to go through the river. And he realized he needed to hurry and drop down that great drawbridge so the train could cross the great Mississippi. As he was racing toward it, he got to the control tower and just before throwing the master lever that would literally bring the drawbridge down, he glanced down to see if there were any ships below. And there a sight caught his eye that caused his heart to leap in his throat. Greg, his eight year old son, trying to follow after him, slipped and dropped into the gearbox.
[00:19:06] His left leg was pinned in the cogs of the two main gears. Desperately, John was trying his mind whirling in that moment to figure out how could he save his son and the people on the rails.
[00:19:20] And he knew it was impossible.
[00:19:23] And again, with alarming closeness, the train whistled shrieking in the air.
[00:19:28] And he could hear the locomotive wheels clanking over the tracks. And there was his son. But yet 400 passengers now were on that train, and he had to make an agonizing decision.
[00:19:41] And so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master lever down. The great drawbridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express roared across the river. And when he lifted his head, his face smeared with tears, he looked into the passing windows of the train business people casually reading their newspaper, women sipping coffee, children pushing long spoons into dishes of ice cream. No one looked at the control house and no one saw the great gearbox. And with wretching agony, John cried out, I sacrificed my son for you people.
[00:20:20] Don't you care?
[00:20:22] The train rushed by, but no one heard the wretched cry of an agonizing father, you and I do not know the depths of God's love. I'm telling you. The apostle paul prayed. He's told of the ephesians. He said, we need to pray that we would actually have a revelation of the height and the depth and the breadth of God's love. I believe if that would really grip our hearts, it would change the way we would behave because we would say to ourselves, how can I commit this great sin against thee, Father, and just do my own thing and live a self centered life and not realize how much you gave? What an amazing love he has for us. Let me move on to the second element. It's the effectiveness of God's love. You know, Jesus came into this world not to condemn it, but to save it. I think we need to realize that we all were under God's condemnation because that's what sin does. It brings us there. And it says in verse 17 because I think a lot of times we stop reading at verse 16. We love that verse, but look what verse 17 says for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Through whom? Through Christ. Through what Christ did. D. A. Carson says, the Son of man came into an already lost and condemned world. When Jesus came to this world, the whole world was under condemnation.
[00:21:48] He didn't come into a neutral world in order to save some and condemn others. He came into a lost world. For that is the nature of our world, in order to save some. Because God knew, because he gave us a will. He knew that some would not choose to respond to his amazing Grace, that some would reject it, unfortunately, but he also knew that some would respond. The key to experiencing salvation rather than condemnation is to embrace this gift of love.
[00:22:21] How do we do that? By receiving Christ as our Lord and our Savior.
[00:22:26] And when we do that, it changes the whole trajectory of our lives. It changes even our own nature, because God's nature now fills our hearts. It goes on to say in verse 18, well, let me go back here and just complete this, that not all the world will be saved is made perfectly clear by the next few verses. We're going to read those in a moment. God's purpose in the mission of Jesus was to bring salvation to our world. That's why Jesus was later called the Savior of the world in this Gospel.
[00:22:59] But whoever believes in Him, it says in verse 18, is not condemned. Isn't that beautiful?
[00:23:05] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ Jesus, there is now, therefore, no condemnation to anyone who is in Christ Jesus.
[00:23:15] Sometimes as Christians, we walk around, we feel condemned. That's because we're not believing what Christ did for us. We're under no condemnation. Isn't it amazing? God can forgive the greatest of sins. You know, sometimes people feel like I've sinned too greatly to be forgiven. There is no sin God cannot forgive except for the unpardonable one. And you'll say, which is that, Pastor? That's the one of resisting the Holy Spirit and not responding to God's message of grace. That's the only sin. Everything else God can forgive. Do you know the Apostle Paul was a murderer? And God forgave him? He was murdering Christians and God forgave him. That's amazing. To me, God is a forgiving know.
[00:23:58] Well, it goes on to say, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he's not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. See, that's the unpardonable sin right there. He's explaining it to us.
[00:24:11] You know, our trust in Christ delivers us from condemnation.
[00:24:17] Our society, for the most part, either ignores God completely or it blames Him for so much of the evil in the world. Isn't amazing that we look at our world and the statement tells you where people are coming from, if God is so loving, why does he allow such evil? And what's the short answer? God is allowing evil for a season, but it's not because he loves it.
[00:24:40] But God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We're the one creating the evil, folks.
[00:24:47] We're the ones responsible for the mess we're in, and then we blame God for it. I've noticed as a society, we're really good at blaming people.
[00:24:58] Isn't that true? It's a lot easier to blame people than to take responsibility. But what I've discovered in life is when you blame, you're never free.
[00:25:08] And even the people who have been victimized, as long as they stay angry and unforgiving, they remain a victim.
[00:25:15] So the two things that have to happen, one, we got to stop blaming. And number two, we got to start forgiving. And when we do that, there's a freedom that comes into our lives. We're no longer defined by what happens to us. We're no longer defined by perpetrators in our life. We're defined by the freedom of God's grace in our hearts. And it's liberating. We can move forward. And it's so powerful, everyone in this room at some point will be offended.
[00:25:43] We all need to practice forgiveness. It's the nature of it.
[00:25:48] And if you do it, you just walk in a greater degree of freedom in your life. And that's so important.
[00:25:56] It's always interesting when people are blaming all the evil in the world upon God. Like, why doesn't God do something then, Pastor? Well, he's going to do something. He's going to return. He's going to judge this world. That's one thing he's going to do. But the only reason he's hesitating is, he's waiting for people to come into his kingdom. And I love the story of this barber.
[00:26:15] He was unconvinced about the gospel, but he kept giving haircuts to a minister. The minister kept sharing the gospel. And so they had this banter going on between the barber and the minister. And one day they were walking along the streets and they happened to move along to kind of the more derelict side of the city. And the barber pointed out the people. He said, you know, if there's a loving God, how can he permit all this poverty, suffering and violence among these people? Why doesn't he save them from all of this? Sounds like a good argument. Just then they noticed kind of this disheveled man crossing the street, unshaved, filthy, long scraggly hair down to his neck. The minister pointed out to him, says, hey, you're a barber and claim to be a good one. Why do you allow that man to go unkept and unshaved?
[00:27:00] What he says, why? He's never given me a chance to fix him up. Exactly, said the minister. Men are what they are because they reject God's help.
[00:27:11] I thought, that's a cute story.
[00:27:13] FF Bruf reflects the man who depreciates Christ or thinks him unworthy of his allegiance, passes judgment on himself and not on Christ. He does not need to wait until the day of judgment. The verdict on him has already been pronounced. There will indeed be a final day of judgment, but that day will serve only to confirm the judgment already passed. You see, we're under judgment already. We're under condemnation already. And the only hope we have of escaping this judgment is to embrace God's grace in the person of Christ. That's the way out. That's why the scriptures teach there is no other way. There's no other name among men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus. That's why Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the you know, no other way to the Father except through me. There's no other way, because any other way would be less than the way that Christ literally came to die for our sins. If you can save yourself, you're negating what Christ did on the cross. You're saying it was not I don't need your death. Thank you very much, Jesus. But some of us say I do need your death.
[00:28:29] You know, when we come to Christ, it's an amazing thing. We're removed from the state of separation from God, and that state will remain for eternity if we don't respond to Him in this life.
[00:28:42] The Book of Hebrews says it's appointed unto men once to die, and after that to face judgment. The apostle Peter describes the Christian life this way that though there are trials for a season that come to refine our faith, he continues on with these beautiful words. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don't see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Can I tell know when you're a follower of Jesus, there are moments of inexpressible and glorious joy. It's a beautiful thing.
[00:29:18] God can do a mighty work in our souls. For you have received the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls to know the freedom of sins forgiven, the joy of walking with God, knowing he cares. There's nothing beyond that's happening in our lives that's beyond the scope of God's. What I would consider as providential care. He's watching over us. He's allowing things in our lives, but not to destroy us, but to refine us and to bring us and help us to become more like he is. It's an amazing journey.
[00:29:53] Now, as a follower of Christ, we live with a compelling purpose, and we have a confidence in an amazing future, an eternal future, to be with God forever and ever and ever. You know, when you're young, you think you're going to live forever? Well, the reality is you get older, you start realizing the runway is getting shorter.
[00:30:15] There will be a lift off moment here somewhere down the road. And even when we're young, we have no. Guarantee of how long our life will go, but to know that we have this assurance that we've met our Maker and it's right with our soul and we have a relationship with Christ so that at any moment of time, if anything happens, we're going, I'm ready to go. Right? That's what Paul said. For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. But let me move on to the final element. It's the evidence of God's love. How do we know that we're experiencing God's love in our lives? It's basically by the direction of our know. We're moving in a direction. We're either moving towards God or away from God. It's true, we're either moving towards light or we're moving towards darkness. Those are terms to speak of direction here. When we move away from God, it reflects a wrong heart condition. Look at verse 19 and 20. This is the verdict light has come into the world. Jesus we could say this is a statement of morality. Light has come into the world. But men or women love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light. Some people go, I don't understand why people are behaving this way. Well, it tells you the condition of their heart. If you love, what's good, it tells you who you are inside. If you love what's wrong, it tells you who you are inside. It's actually showing you. It's exposing us, is what it's doing. He says, and will not come into light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. Wow.
[00:31:54] People don't want to be exposed.
[00:31:57] If you thought about it, if God is love, then sin has to be the absence of love.
[00:32:05] Ever thought about that? God? As John tells us in his letters, love, god is love. We cannot be filled with God and live in continuous sin.
[00:32:16] Now, that doesn't mean, as a Christian, I never sin. We're not saying that because the Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's written to Christians. So I think Christians sin, it's just that we cannot live in continuous sin. What do you mean by that, Pastor? Sin becomes a way of life.
[00:32:37] God wants to deliver us from that way of life because what it'll do is destroy us. Sin has a way of defacing and demarring our life.
[00:32:49] One John 416 says, and so we know and rely on the love of God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. And in this way love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. That's a beautiful statement. You see, something should be happening in our life. There should be a progression, a journey. And so when I look at the Bible I see either progression or degression. I'm either becoming more Christlike or I'm becoming less Christlike. How many see what I'm getting at? I mean, as you mature, you should be becoming less self focused. You should be becoming more others centered. You should have a desire to please God. Your life now you recognize it doesn't belong to you. It's a gift from God and you're accountable to Him. And you're living your life to bring honor and glory to his name. And God is giving us opportunities to minister to people through our journey called life. And we should be becoming more fruitful and more productive and more effective as we journey along. Or we can turn our back on God and we can shrink back from the challenges of the Christian life because it is a narrow way. The Bible does declare that. It says there's really only two ways to live life. You're either living for Christ or you're not. There's either a broad road or a narrow road. The Bible says that. Jesus says my way is the gate is narrow and the road is narrow. Not everybody's on this road, not everybody is living this kind of a life. And it doesn't matter what their words, they're saying because God is looking at how we're behaving and treating each other. That's the evaluative thing. We can see it within the human heart.
[00:34:34] Then he goes on to say this there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. And so I believe that as a believer, there should be courage in our life. I look at the scriptures. How many times does the Bible say do not be afraid?
[00:34:53] Somebody said there's 366 times. The Bible says, do not be afraid. Do not be not afraid. Why? Well, maybe one for every day of the year and one for leap year. I don't know.
[00:35:07] But I think the real reason is because as human beings, we tend to be fearful, right? We just have that nature of fear inside of us. But I notice when you're doing what's right and you know you're doing the right thing, you can be courageous, you can say, you know, this is the right thing to do. I'm going to do it. Even though people may not understand what I'm doing, I'm going to do the right thing. Do you know sin inevitably leads the sinner to hide himself from God? And we see that in the garden, right? Adam and Eve sinned against God. What's the first thing they did? They recognized that they were naked, they were ashamed and they hid themselves.
[00:35:41] So that's what we see this attitude here. We see in our text that when we do evil, it is really a reflection of our attitude towards God. We are not loving God. Rather we're placing ourselves in the place of God.
[00:35:55] There's the biggest problem I think that we have we put ourselves in the place of God. How do we do that, Pastor? It's real simple. We call the shots. We make the decisions. Now, I think know I tried to describe it this way when I'm sharing the gospel with people. I said the big difference between how life was lived before you knew Christ and afterwards is simply this before you were trying to be the owner. Now you're just the manager. You still have to make decisions, but you have to be accountable to the owner. How many go, well, that's a different way of looking at it. And here's the other part that I like. How many know that if you're a manager, you don't have all the headaches the owner has because they have to come up with all the resources.
[00:36:36] So then I can just say, god, we're in this together and you're the one that has to provide. And God goes, Just do what I tell you to do, and provision will be there. How beautiful is that? That's the way to live. You see, we can be dethroning God from his rightful place in our lives by putting ourselves on that throne. The only problem is that we lack the wisdom to truly govern our lives. A right. How many think God probably is a little smarter than you and me?
[00:37:03] I'm going to raise my hand, maybe the rest of you. You think you're smarter than God? That's your business. But I already know better. I've lived long enough to know I still make stupid decisions at times. Nobody else besides me makes a few of those. You see, I think God's smart. Why don't we just trust him?
[00:37:19] We're not as wise as God. He knows what's best. We think we know what we want and decide what's best for ourselves. But when it's not God's will, we suffer and so do others because of our sin. That's the way it works every single time.
[00:37:33] That's why God scripture calls for us to deny ourselves. The real test of love is not what we say to each other, but it's demonstrated in our actions. True love means, let's take marriage. We'll use that as a great example. You know what we're doing in marriage? We're saying, I'm giving an exclusive love to one person. I'm saying yes to one and no to everything else. Isn't that what we're doing? It's a commitment.
[00:37:58] It's not always based on feeling. This is where I think our culture is really struggling right now. We're being tempted by lots of things pulling at our emotions. Okay, can I just say something to us all? You and I need to learn how to manage our emotions. We have to live self control lives. The fruit of the spirit is self controlled. You and I can say yes to God and no to a lot of things in our lives. We have to learn how to do that folks, I'm going to preach a sermon. Yet. I keep threatening to do it, but I will. It's called managing your emotions. And the verse of Scripture that really came alive to me a number of years ago was in Ezekiel when God said, I was so angry with the Israelites I was about to destroy them. But I didn't act out of how I felt. I acted out of who I was. How many are glad? God doesn't always act on emotion. He acts on out of his character. That's what God is calling us to do, to act on who we are as believers and not act out of emotion. That means we have to ask God's help to be self controlled. It doesn't mean we're denying we have those emotions because God admitted that's how we felt. But he didn't act on how we felt. He did the right thing. That's what we need to understand.
[00:39:08] So listen to what Jesus says. True love means putting others ahead of ourselves. It really does. And Jesus explains what it means to really love God. Listen to what Jesus says here. Then he called the crowd to him, along with his disciples, and said, whoever wants to be my disciple, my follower, my learner, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, don't you think that applies to now? Just like it did in the first century? This is always applied, folks. The Son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. Now, Jesus is basically spelling it out. And yet in a different text we read jesus says, love our neighbors as ourselves. So what does that really mean? And I love what John Stott writes when he says, how is it possible to value ourselves and deny ourselves simultaneously? Isn't that an interesting question?
[00:40:20] How do you love yourself and yet you deny yourself? See, I think we're confused on this question because a lot of Christians, god's so loving. He just wants me to have whatever I want. You see?
[00:40:34] Really?
[00:40:36] But, you know, people say that kind of stuff. No, hey, listen, I know this has got to be God's will because this is what I really want. And God loves me, therefore he wants me to have it.
[00:40:46] You don't think I haven't heard this line too many times? It's usually the wrong line. Let me help us make that distinction, okay? And this will really help us get it. I love this. He says, what we are, our self or personal identity, is partly the result of the creation you're made in the image of God. Isn't that beautiful? I mean, that's amazing. People are made in the image of God. I love that. And partly the result of the fall, the image defaced. So you and I not only are made in the image of God, but there's a fallen image of God inside of us because sin, defaces, DeMars, affects the image of God in our lives. And if we keep sinning, we become less and less like God, and we become less and less human.
[00:41:35] Wow. The self we are to deny, disown and crucify is our fallen self. Everything within us that is incompatible with Jesus Christ. Hence his command. Let him deny Himself, and then let him follow me. The self we are to affirm and value is our created self, everything within us that is compatible with Jesus Christ. Hence his statement that if we lose ourselves by self denial, we'll find ourselves. And then he concludes true self denial, the denial of our false self is not the road to self destruction, but the road to self discovery.
[00:42:12] This is really good theology and really good psychology.
[00:42:20] So I'm not against psychology, but I just go, any psychology that's not good theology is bad psychology.
[00:42:27] This is good psychology.
[00:42:30] When we move towards God, it's because of what God has done within us.
[00:42:35] But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done in the sight of God. You know, D. A. Carson explains that these deeds are actually done by God's enabling power and not of some self righteous action independent from God. He says it this way while the lover of darkness shuns the light out of fear of exposure, shame and conviction, the lover of light does not prance forward to parade his wares with cocky self righteousness, but comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
[00:43:10] It's pretty humble.
[00:43:12] This strange expression makes it clear that the lover of light is not some intrinsically superior person.
[00:43:19] No, we're like the Apostle Paul, but for the grace of God.
[00:43:22] I look at my life, I go, man, if I didn't have God's grace in my life, I'd be a wreck.
[00:43:28] I would be wrecking myself and wrecking other people big time, but for the grace of God. Isn't that true?
[00:43:36] But you know what? I like? That which you and I love, we run to because there's a joy and excitement into it. Now, I want to just paint a picture and I'm going to close with this. How many love it when a grandchild or one of my neat perks here as a pastor is I have little kids running up to me and giving me a hug. I don't deserve it. That just tells me that the people here must like me. And so they say something. And the little kids like me and it's very moving. How many think it's very moving when someone runs to you to love you? Isn't that a beautiful picture? I want to close with the story and you know the story. It's probably one of the most moving parables in the entire Bible. Jesus teaches on the prodigal son, two sons. One asks for a share of his inheritance, abandons his father's house, squanders his wealth and sin fills self centered lifestyle.
[00:44:30] What did the rejected father do? He continues to hope, to watch, to wait for the day his son would return after spending his entire inheritance. The younger son, in time of suffering and soul searching, decides to come home and ask his generous father to be hired on as a worker.
[00:44:47] He just goes, Just give me a job. You're treating your servants better than I don't even deserve to be called your son. I'm such a mess. But there was an awakening in his soul. The father, seeing the Son from a distance, ran to him, embraced him, restored him as a son. God runs to us when we come to him.
[00:45:13] You see your view of God reflects your relationship with Him. And how do you see Him? Do you see Him as a judge condemning you or a loving father running to you? If we come to God with a repentant heart, he will come running to us. I love that.
[00:45:30] Isn't that amazing? Let's stand how to experience love come running to you Well, I use that little title to catch people's attention, right? Because I know that that love is actually God's love.
[00:45:49] How many here say, you know, Pastor, I love it when God comes running to me.
[00:45:54] I love it when God I don't mean physically, but I mean literally the fact that God loves us so much.
[00:46:03] Maybe we need a renewed revelation of his divine love.
[00:46:07] It's going to have everyone bow their heads as I close in a word of prayer this morning. I'm so glad you're here. Do you know God's even happier you're here than I am.
[00:46:17] Isn't that neat? Maybe you're here this morning and you're listening and you're listening live stream. I want to give you this opportunity. This morning I'm praying and we have been praying, not just me, but others have agreed with me in prayer today. Here's the prayer that somehow God would break through the pain, the sorrow, the hurt, whatever's going on in your life, that you would have heard the voice of the Father saying, listen, this is how much I love you. I gave up my son.
[00:46:50] Could you hear the voice of the Son saying, this is how much I love you. I came to earth and laid down my life for you.
[00:46:58] Can you hear the Holy Spirit now speaking to your heart and saying, this is how much I love you. I want to put myself in your life. I want to fill you with my presence. I want to heal the broken places, the wounded places. I want you to experience my forgiveness to such a degree that you'll be able to forgive all the people around you that have ever hurt you. You see, I think when we really experience God's forgiveness, something happens inside of us. We can now begin to forgive. And maybe you're here today and you're saying, I really struggle with forgiveness issues. Pastor, I want you to open your heart today. I want you to say, Jesus, I want you to come flooding into my life. I want to experience your forgiveness. See, sometimes we look at ourselves and we think, oh, it's no big deal, I'm sinning against God. Yeah, it is a big deal.
[00:47:48] You know what, we're violating a person.
[00:47:51] It's so great.
[00:47:53] And we just don't think that way because the focus is on ourselves and that's what God wants to change in your life. He wants to move that focus away from you to Him.
[00:48:04] And actually he's going to make you a lot happier with you. That's the way it works. Isn't that amazing?
[00:48:11] So with every head bowed today, I believe God's spirit has been speaking to hearts this morning and maybe it's not even coming to Christ for the first time. But you recognize today that there's deficiencies in your life and you want to open your heart to God's love.
[00:48:26] And I'm going to do it that way because I think that way there's going to be more of us responding and I think we need to respond this morning.
[00:48:34] How many here say, you know, Pastor, there's some deficiencies in my soul right now and I need love running to me and that's you just raise your hand. Yeah, a lot of people now are raising their hands. That's great.
[00:48:46] Beautiful.
[00:48:48] It's beautiful. Yeah. Open your heart. Open your heart to it. Say, Lord, would you bring the healing that I need in my life, the broken places some of you are struggling with, how many here say, you know, I'm going to be honest, I struggle with forgiveness issues. Just raise your hand. That's you just raise your hand. Let's be honest, it's so beautiful. So many people are saying yes to Jesus right now. What I'm going to say, I'm going to pray for us right now. Lord, would you open our hearts? Would you heal those broken places? Those unresolved woundednesses in our soul? Those places where we've been violated, abused, manipulated, used? Whatever it is, I pray that we will experience a grace and a love in our heart so deep and so lasting that you know what? We're just going to release all that garbage inside of us because it's affecting us in a negative way. We just let it go right now. We're receiving love to let go of hate. We're receiving love to experience grace. Lord, we recognize this is not a lack of justice. No, the fact that you died for us is the expression of justice met through the life and death of Jesus. And I experience it right now. I celebrate it. And now I receive that mercy for my soul so I can, in turn, pass on forgiveness and mercy to those who do not deserve it, just like I don't, Father, and I thank you for it. And, Lord, right now, if there's some of us in this room that still don't know You, I pray that they'll whisper this prayer. I want to know you, Jesus. I want you in my life. I want to experience forgiveness. I want to be free from a life of condemnation. I want to walk in joy. I want to experience this love that your scriptures teach about. I want to live a life of joy inexpressible joy and not shame and condemnation. And I just open my soul to you right now. I give my life to you. I'm moving from ownership to management with all that that entails, and I thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you. As you leave today.
