Jeff Miller

March 2, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Word

Jeff Miller

March 2, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

It's NOT because of "Lack of Evidence . (John 5:30-40)
3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:
1. Through John the Baptist's testimony. (John 5:33-35)
2. Through Jesus' miracles. (John 5:36)
3. Through God's Written Word. (John 5:37-40)

Because you don't Love God. (John 5:41-43)
John 3:19 - And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Romans 1:21 - For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Because you're Self-centered . (John 5:44)
Because you don't believe God's Word . (John 5:45-47)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:02
Open up your Bibles to John chapter 5.
00:03-00:12
And while you're turning there, just to get us all in the context of the passage, in John chapter 5, Jesus healed an invalid on the Sabbath.
00:12-00:16
And the Jewish leaders were now literally wanting to kill Jesus.
00:17-00:19
For two reasons. He broke their Sabbath rule.
00:20-00:24
One of their Sabbath rules. Not God's. One of their Sabbath rules.
00:24-00:26
The second reason is he made himself equal with God.
00:27-00:32
And Jesus responded, this was last week's message, Jesus responded by declaring that He is God.
00:32-00:43
He does nothing of His own accord, He gives life, He's the ultimate judge, He deserves the same honor as the Father, and someday He's going to empty every cemetery, and He's going to resurrect everyone.
00:44-00:56
And our passage today is Jesus continuing His teaching to these leaders who are so angry with Him for healing on the Sabbath and equating Himself with God.
00:56-01:06
John 5. Before we turn there, our series this year is called "Knowing Jesus." Right? And that's our goal as we go through John.
01:07-01:17
Every passage we look at, we're asking, "What does Jesus want us to know about Him so that we can know Him in a deeper way?" That's our theme this year.
01:18-01:26
And if you've been following along with us, if you spend any time in God's Word, The question this morning is this, why wouldn't somebody want to receive Jesus Christ?
01:27-01:30
Why wouldn't somebody want to receive Jesus Christ?
01:31-01:34
I mean, I want you to consider for a second what Jesus offers.
01:35-01:35
Think about this.
01:36-01:38
Jesus takes away our sin.
01:38-01:40
He makes us totally forgiven.
01:41-01:45
He gives us his presence within us to guide us and to comfort us.
01:45-01:47
He promises perfect provision in all things.
01:48-01:50
He puts us in a community of faith.
01:50-01:57
He promises heaven, which is the glorious existence, forever in His presence.
01:58-02:04
And He promises so much more, but everything that He promised, He made available to us because He died on our behalf.
02:05-02:09
He willingly laid down His life to die a horrible death.
02:09-02:11
He gave us the free gift, the free gifts.
02:12-02:13
Judgment is cancelled.
02:14-02:15
There's no fear of death.
02:15-02:16
There's no fear of hell.
02:17-02:20
for the person who receives Jesus Christ.
02:20-02:24
So the question this morning is, why wouldn't somebody take that deal?
02:25-02:26
Think about it.
02:26-02:33
According to the Bible, what Jesus Christ offers, you have everything to gain.
02:33-02:37
And the only thing you have to lose, really, is the wrath of God.
02:37-02:40
That's really the only thing you're losing in this transaction.
02:41-02:45
It is all upside coming to Jesus Christ.
02:45-02:45
It's all upside.
02:46-02:50
So the question is in light of all of this, why would you hear this?
02:51-02:59
Why would you hear the Gospel message of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ and His love and His mercy?
03:00-03:06
And how can you hear that and still refuse to come to Jesus Christ?
03:07-03:09
Why would somebody say no?
03:10-03:16
You know, Jesus tells us very clearly in this passage we're looking at today why people say no to Him.
03:17-03:21
Why people would look at what's offered, say I'm not interested.
03:22-03:23
He tells us very clearly.
03:23-03:28
So in your outline if you're taking notes, and I always encourage you to do that, here's what we're looking at today.
03:28-03:31
Four reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus Christ.
03:31-03:33
I say you second person.
03:33-03:39
I'm talking to the person now who's been coming to church interested in what's going on but hasn't received Christ yet.
03:39-03:47
Or the person that listens to this podcast that Murph puts online and has been listening to this series and hasn't come to Christ yet.
03:47-03:49
Why haven't they? I'm talking to you.
03:50-03:55
According to Jesus, this isn't my opinion, this is what Jesus said, here's why you haven't come to Christ.
03:56-03:59
Number one, we're going to take the negative out first.
03:59-04:01
It's not because of lack of evidence.
04:02-04:03
This is where Jesus starts.
04:03-04:06
Why would you refuse Jesus? Start here.
04:06-04:07
It's not because of lack of evidence.
04:08-04:08
Look at verse 30.
04:09-04:11
Jesus said, "I can do nothing on my own.
04:11-04:21
I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." That was last week's sermon, verse 19.
04:22-04:23
We talked a lot about that.
04:24-04:26
Jesus lived in total submission to the Father.
04:27-04:39
Verse 31, Jesus says, "If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true." What Jesus means by that is if I'm just testifying about myself, as far as you're concerned, it's not true.
04:40-04:44
I mean, obviously everything that Jesus said is literally the word of God, right?
04:44-04:51
But Jesus was saying to them, "Look, from your perspective, "for me to testify about myself, yeah, I get that.
04:51-05:02
"As far as you're concerned, "my word about myself means nothing." Verse 32, Jesus said, "There is another who bears witness about me, "and I know that the testimony he bears about me is true.
05:03-05:08
"Someone else bears witness about me, "and it's the best witness ever." Jesus is referring to God the Father.
05:09-05:14
And in the passage that follows here, he's saying God the Father bears witness about Jesus in three ways.
05:14-05:15
We're gonna go through these quickly.
05:16-05:17
Here's the point.
05:17-05:18
Why would you refuse Jesus?
05:18-05:21
Jesus is pointing out here, it's not because of lack of evidence.
05:21-05:24
Like, well, where's the evidence you are who you say you are?
05:24-05:25
And Jesus says, well, God the Father's given you three.
05:26-05:28
All right, and here they are, jot these down.
05:29-05:31
Three ways God the Father bears witness about Jesus.
05:32-05:35
First of all, through John the Baptist's testimony, right?
05:35-05:36
Through John the Baptist's testimony.
05:37-05:38
Look at verse 33.
05:38-05:42
Jesus says, "You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
05:42-05:48
Not that the testimony I receive is for man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
05:49-06:00
He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light." Here's the thing, when we read the Bible, I think we can sort of look at John the Baptist as this minor character.
06:01-06:06
But understand in the first century, John the Baptist was huge.
06:06-06:09
He was the first prophet to show up in over 400 years.
06:09-06:13
And everybody in this day acknowledged that John the Baptist was a prophet.
06:13-06:16
Everybody had John the Baptist fever.
06:16-06:19
Read Matthew three, read Luke three, read John chapter one.
06:19-06:20
We already covered that.
06:20-06:23
But John the Baptist wasn't a minor character.
06:23-06:29
John the Baptist in those days, like everybody was just like crazy about this guy because he was so fascinating.
06:29-06:31
He's such a powerful speaker for the Lord.
06:32-06:38
He was like, everybody's reaction to him was sort of like, It was like Elvis.
06:39-06:40
Okay, let's try another one.
06:40-06:42
He was like the Beatles.
06:43-06:46
Okay, apparently my illustrations are a little dated.
06:47-06:51
So I had to do a little research to get the younger generation.
06:51-06:53
John the Baptist was like Justin Bieber.
06:54-06:56
All right, you tell me, okay, who's the guy then?
06:57-06:58
What's the hot, what is it?
06:59-07:00
All right, so mine aren't so dumb.
07:00-07:02
All right, you get the point, right?
07:03-07:04
Everybody was crazy about this guy.
07:05-07:09
Like, they were going out to him in droves to hear him preach.
07:10-07:22
And Jesus said, "He was a lamp, and you all enjoyed basking for a while under his light." Jesus goes, "You all acknowledge this guy was legit." Oh, and by the way, what was John the Baptist's message?
07:22-07:24
What did John the Baptist talk about?
07:24-07:25
I'm going to give you a few things.
07:25-07:35
John 1.29, John the Baptist said, "Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 3.30, John the Baptist said, He must increase. I must decrease.
07:36-07:46
John 3:36, John the Baptist said, "Believe in Jesus Christ, the return of life, or you'll face the wrath of God." And Jesus here is saying, you all thought John the Baptist was legit.
07:46-07:49
And his whole ministry was about highlighting Me.
07:49-07:50
Pointing to Me.
07:50-07:51
Driving people to Me.
07:52-07:57
Okay, so first of all, if you're looking for evidence, you know this guy that you were all crazy about?
07:58-08:00
That's the first evidence that God gave you.
08:00-08:01
He was pointing to Me.
08:02-08:08
Letter B, the second way that God the Father bears witness about Jesus is through Jesus' miracles. Look at verse 36.
08:08-08:12
Jesus says, "But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John.
08:12-08:28
For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me." Another way that God has authenticated the person of Jesus Christ is through His miracles.
08:28-08:30
The miracles were a sign from the Father.
08:30-08:32
We've talked about this before.
08:32-08:35
The purpose of the miracles wasn't to dazzle people.
08:35-08:44
Like Jesus wasn't some like David Blaine street magician like, "Hey, check this out. I'm gonna get your card." And that wasn't the purpose of the miracles.
08:44-08:50
The miracles were to help people that were far away from faith make that first step.
08:51-08:51
Right?
08:51-08:58
Like remember what Nicodemus said in chapter three, verse two when Nicodemus came to Jesus, he said, no one can do what you do unless God is with them.
08:58-08:59
And that's the thing about Jesus' miracle.
09:00-09:03
You realize nobody ever denied Jesus' miracle.
09:04-09:04
Read your Bible.
09:04-09:06
Nobody ever denied Jesus' miracles.
09:06-09:11
It wasn't like somebody said, well, Jesus fed multitudes, and there were a group of people that were like, no, he didn't.
09:11-09:15
Or, you know, Jesus raised his widow's son from the dead, and people were like, no, he didn't.
09:16-09:17
Like, that never happened.
09:17-09:19
Everybody acknowledged Jesus' miracles.
09:19-09:22
Actually, the only miracle they denied was his resurrection.
09:23-09:31
But that's different, you see, because they actually fabricated a lie to cover it because they couldn't cope with the fact that Jesus resurrected as he said he would.
09:32-09:34
His miracles were never denied by anyone.
09:34-09:36
That's what Jesus is pointing out here.
09:36-09:39
Like you've already seen some of the works and we're gonna see more.
09:40-09:42
In fact, Jesus' miracles made the Jewish leaders panic.
09:43-09:47
If you read chapter 11, verse 47, we're gonna get there, Lord willing, down the road.
09:47-09:50
But the Jewish leaders got together and they said, "What are we going to do?
09:50-09:53
"He performs many signs." The miracles had confounded them.
09:53-09:54
What are we going to do with this guy?
09:55-09:59
We want to just shut him up as a madman and discard him and get rid of him.
09:59-10:02
And he does these incredible things.
10:03-10:06
Jesus said that's one of the ways that God the Father bears witness about him.
10:07-10:11
Number three, I'm sorry, letter C, letter C, through God's written word.
10:12-10:14
This is an argument from lesser to greater.
10:14-10:16
This isn't like last and least.
10:16-10:18
This is last and most important.
10:18-10:21
I'm getting to the key part of my argument here.
10:22-10:23
through God's written Word.
10:23-10:25
Look at v. 37-38.
10:25-10:29
Jesus said, "The Father who sent Me has Himself borne witness about Me.
10:29-10:35
His voice you've never heard, His form you've never seen, and you do not have His Word abiding in you.
10:36-10:45
For you do not believe the One whom He has sent." Jesus said you don't know God, and you don't know His Word, because you don't believe in who He sent.
10:45-10:53
V. 39, Jesus says, "You search the Scriptures Because you think in them you have eternal life.
10:53-10:57
And it is they that bear witness about me." You see that?
10:58-11:01
These people, they would have had the Old Testament memorized.
11:02-11:09
Jesus says you're looking to the Word for eternal life, but you're missing the forest for the trees.
11:10-11:15
Because understand, it's not the paper and ink that save you.
11:15-11:18
It's who this is talking about that saves you.
11:19-11:24
It's sort of like this, imagine now, my wife and I, I've known my wife since high school.
11:25-11:27
Let's just pretend for a second, we're using our imaginations.
11:27-11:29
I want you to pretend for a second, I didn't know her from high school.
11:30-11:43
But through some very weird set of circumstances that only exist in our imagination, somebody came to me in my 20s and said, "Hey, I know you don't know this girl, "but here's a picture of her, "and you're going to marry her, okay?
11:45-11:49
"Without any shadow of a doubt, "you're going to marry this girl." What do you think I'm gonna do with this picture?
11:49-11:51
I'm gonna be studying it and looking at it.
11:51-11:54
I'm gonna have it up in my car and on my desk at work.
11:54-11:57
And I'm just gonna be constantly like, why?
11:57-12:00
Because this picture tells me a lot about this girl, right?
12:00-12:04
I can see her attitudes right here in this picture.
12:04-12:09
You see the point of this picture was to show me what she looks like.
12:09-12:10
And she's sitting over here.
12:10-12:12
Show me what she looks like when she shows up.
12:13-12:14
So this is Jesus' point.
12:15-12:21
He's like, "I'm here, and you guys have the picture in your hand, and you can't even make the connection.
12:22-12:24
That's a picture of me. You don't see it.
12:24-12:29
You can't receive me because you haven't connected the dots." Scriptures are all about...
12:29-12:32
When we say "Scriptures" here, we're talking about the Old Testament.
12:32-12:35
Jesus was talking about the Old Testament because He was writing the New Testament with His life.
12:36-12:38
The Old Testament is all about Jesus.
12:38-12:44
It talks about His birth, it talks about His life, it talks about His death, it talks about His resurrection, it talks about His future reign over all the earth.
12:44-12:57
That's why when the New Testament was written, you know the New Testament actually quotes the Old Testament 312 times, and references the Old Testament about 530 times.
12:58-12:58
Why?
12:58-13:08
Because they're saying he's here, the Christ is here, and we've had this picture of him, and now we see him, and it's connecting the person to the picture.
13:09-13:14
That's what Jesus is pointing out here, like you missed it, I'm standing right here, and you don't recognize.
13:15-13:16
Like, all right, what's the point?
13:16-13:16
Here's the point.
13:17-13:32
The point is Jesus is saying, despite all the evidence, despite everything the Father has shown you through John the Baptist, through the miracles, through God's written word, despite all the evidence, verse 40, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
13:32-13:44
And if you're sitting here and you're listening to these messages, you attend another church and you're listening to the messages and you haven't truly come to faith in Christ, It's not a matter of you can't.
13:44-13:45
That's not the issue.
13:46-13:47
The issue is you won't.
13:47-13:55
That's why Jesus said, you see in verse 40, He said, "Refuse, refuse." That's not unable, that's unwilling.
13:56-13:59
I have no desire to, I'm not going to do it.
13:59-14:02
And Jesus is pointing out here that it's not due to lack of evidence.
14:03-14:04
It's not due to lack of information.
14:04-14:08
In fact, it's in the face of overwhelming evidence.
14:09-14:10
We're gonna talk more about that in a second.
14:10-14:13
and you're gonna see Jesus circle back to that in the text.
14:13-14:15
But that gets us back to the original question.
14:15-14:18
Why would someone refuse to come to Jesus?
14:19-14:20
He says, "Well, it's not because of lack of evidence.
14:21-14:25
Let's get that out of the way first." Okay, so that's not what it is.
14:26-14:28
Then can you please tell us what it is?
14:28-14:30
He continues and he tells you exactly what it is.
14:31-14:36
Number two, you know why someone, why you will refuse to come to Jesus Christ?
14:36-14:37
It's because you don't love God.
14:38-14:40
Again, not my opinion, Jesus' opinion.
14:40-14:41
And look at verse 41.
14:42-14:48
Jesus said, "I do not receive glory from people, but I know you do not have the love of God within you.
14:49-14:52
I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me.
14:52-14:58
If another comes in his own name, you will receive him." He says you don't have the love of God in you.
14:59-15:01
Meaning, you don't have a relationship with God.
15:01-15:07
Maybe you have dead religious rules that you follow that you think make God happy.
15:07-15:08
You just follow the rules.
15:09-15:12
I'm a churchgoer. I'm a pew sitter.
15:13-15:15
But I'm not a Christ follower.
15:15-15:18
Jesus says you won't come to Christ because you don't love God.
15:19-15:20
How can you say that?
15:21-15:24
Gifts are an expression of love, aren't they?
15:24-15:27
You don't accept gifts from people you don't know, do you?
15:28-15:28
Do you?
15:29-15:30
Do you accept gifts from people you don't know?
15:31-15:32
I sure hope not.
15:33-15:37
You don't have the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ because you don't know God.
15:38-15:48
"Well, that's a pretty hard statement to hear." So if it's true, if I don't love God, if I don't truly love God, if I don't truly have a relationship with God, what's keeping me from loving God?
15:48-15:50
I'm gonna give you a couple of things that keep people from loving God.
15:51-15:52
Again, this is from the Word of God.
15:53-15:55
Jot these down, here's two things that keep people from loving God.
15:56-15:58
Number one is they love their sin more.
15:59-15:59
Why don't I love God?
15:59-16:02
Because you love sin more, that's why you don't love God.
16:02-16:04
Jesus said that in John 3:19.
16:04-16:09
Light has come into the world, And people love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
16:11-16:12
Here's why you don't love God.
16:12-16:14
Because you love your sin more.
16:15-16:16
You love your sin more than you love God.
16:17-16:36
Whatever that sin is, whether it's love of money or pursuit of money, whether you're in a relationship that you know you shouldn't be in, whether it's an addiction to a substance or to a person or to something else, whatever it is, you love your sin more than you love God's Son.
16:36-16:37
Is that me?
16:38-16:39
Well, what dominates your thoughts?
16:40-16:41
What dominates your thoughts?
16:41-16:41
God or your sin?
16:42-16:43
And that's what you love.
16:43-16:44
What receives money from you?
16:45-16:46
God or your sin?
16:46-16:47
That shows you what you love.
16:48-16:48
What gets your time?
16:49-16:50
God or your sin?
16:50-16:51
That shows you what you love.
16:52-16:54
So you love your sin more than you love God.
16:54-16:55
That's one reason.
16:55-16:57
One thing that keeps you from loving God.
16:57-16:58
Here's another one.
16:59-17:00
This is gonna sound weird, but follow me on this.
17:02-17:03
You're going to see this.
17:04-17:06
Here's another reason people don't love God.
17:06-17:07
It's because they refuse to be thankful.
17:08-17:09
They refuse to be thankful.
17:10-17:11
Again, not my opinion.
17:12-17:13
Look at Romans 1.
17:13-17:19
Verse 21, it says, "Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God..." See that next phrase?
17:20-17:29
"...or give thanks to Him." Like, I know that there is a God, a higher power, a something out there somewhere, but they didn't want to honor Him, and they weren't thankful to Him.
17:29-17:33
But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
17:33-17:35
Keep that verse up here for a second.
17:35-17:38
You need to see that thankfulness is a total game changer.
17:39-17:40
Because there are two kinds of people.
17:40-17:43
There are people who are thankful to God for what He's provided.
17:43-17:46
They realize that God has given us so much.
17:46-17:47
You realize God has given us so much.
17:48-17:53
He's given us family and friends and church and breath and food and happiness.
17:54-17:56
And God has given us so many wonderful things.
17:57-18:02
And there are people that are like, I thank God every day for the big things and the little things that He's given us.
18:02-18:03
Thank you God.
18:03-18:07
But on the other hand, there are people that refuse to acknowledge that God has provided anything.
18:08-18:10
Those people either say, "It's all me.
18:10-18:11
It's all me.
18:11-18:12
I do it all myself.
18:12-18:12
I earned.
18:12-18:13
I worked.
18:13-18:15
I did it myself." No thought of God.
18:15-18:24
Or, if they do on some level acknowledge the existence of God, their attitude is, "Well, He's never done nothing for me.
18:24-18:25
What's God done for me?
18:26-18:27
Spoiled child.
18:28-18:29
It's God done for me.
18:30-18:32
We see in Romans 1 what Paul says about that.
18:33-18:33
Being an ingrate.
18:35-18:36
It leads to what?
18:36-18:38
They don't give thanks, so what does it lead to?
18:39-18:41
You're futile in your thinking and your hearts are darkened.
18:42-18:45
A.K.A. you don't love God.
18:46-18:47
And that's why you refuse to come to Jesus.
18:48-18:49
You don't love God.
18:50-18:51
You love your sin more.
18:51-18:53
You live this life of being an ingrate.
18:53-18:54
Whatever.
18:54-18:55
But God's not number one.
18:55-18:56
You're not going to come to Jesus.
18:58-19:05
Number three, more reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus, not because of lack of evidence, it is because you don't love God.
19:05-19:08
Number three, it's because you're self-centered.
19:08-19:10
Yeah, it's not getting any more comfortable here.
19:11-19:12
Look at verse 44.
19:13-19:23
Jesus said, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" Now hang on a second, let's look at this verse.
19:23-19:34
He says, "Okay, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another?" We get that but what's this last phrase mean you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God What is the glory that comes from God? What is that?
19:35-19:52
I think a better question is who is that the glory that comes from God is Jesus Christ We had some time we could walk through the Bible and I can show you that biblically But I believe that's what Jesus is talking about here talking about himself Jesus is how can you believe when you're so self-centered?
19:53-19:59
That you want to get glory from other people instead of give it to the one who deserves it you care so much about what?
19:59-20:25
Others think about you You'd rather have the applause of man than the approval of God you'd rather Put yourself in the position of God and receive glory Instead of putting yourself in the position of a worshiper and give glory And then being around Jesus makes you realize I can't have my ego Be my God and at the same time allow Jesus Christ to be my God There's only room on that throne for one person.
20:26-20:26
You are Jesus.
20:27-20:30
You realize, "I can't live for myself, and I can't live for Him.
20:31-20:33
There's not room for two on the throne.
20:33-20:34
There's room for one.
20:34-20:40
One has to go." For many people, they refuse to come to Jesus Christ because they're so self-centered.
20:40-20:43
They just think everything revolves around them.
20:43-20:44
That's really the root of all sin.
20:45-20:46
The root of all sin is selfishness.
20:46-20:47
That's your whole world.
20:47-20:48
It's just all about me.
20:49-20:50
Living your whole life without a thought towards God.
20:50-20:51
Everything's about you.
20:52-20:54
How can I look good? How can people applaud me?
20:54-20:56
You refuse to come to Christ.
20:57-21:01
And finally, number four, four reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus.
21:02-21:07
And again, I believe this, just like the previous list, I believe this is last and most important.
21:08-21:09
It's because you don't believe God's Word.
21:10-21:11
Because you don't believe God's Word.
21:11-21:14
Again, I told you, Jesus circles back to this concept.
21:14-21:15
Look at verse 45.
21:16-21:20
Jesus says, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father.
21:21-21:26
"There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you've set your hope.
21:26-21:30
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me.
21:30-21:31
For he wrote of me.
21:32-21:38
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Jesus is talking about Moses.
21:38-21:43
That was sort of just a figure of speech to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures.
21:43-21:45
Understand, they didn't call it the Old Testament.
21:45-21:48
They called it the Scriptures, or they called it the Law and the Prophets.
21:48-21:52
And sometimes they would just call it Moses, because Moses wrote so much of it.
21:53-21:58
But Jesus said this, "The things that Moses wrote, again, it's all about me.
21:59-22:01
Moses wrote about me back in the day.
22:02-22:07
And if you don't believe him, you're not going to believe me." I know this is a lot of information, all right?
22:07-22:15
So turn to the person next to you and grab their sleeve and just give a little tug and say, "Are you still with us?" Go ahead. Go ahead. Come on.
22:16-22:19
Why are you guys all shy today? Come on. This is serious.
22:19-22:25
Here's the point Jesus is making, and this is so relevant in our day.
22:26-22:29
And church, I'm telling you this because I've talked to you.
22:29-22:38
I've been witnessing to this guy at work for six months, and I've been talking to my neighbor for two years, and I don't understand why he won't come to Jesus.
22:38-22:42
Jesus is telling you why, and this is the big one here, people.
22:42-22:50
Look, we think that if somebody doesn't believe in Jesus, What they need is more information. Right?
22:51-22:52
They need more information.
22:53-22:56
So here's another track. Here's a Ravi Zacharias book.
22:56-22:58
Here's a John Piper book.
22:58-23:02
And we're just going to keep giving them information, and eventually they're going to come to Christ.
23:03-23:05
But do you realize here Jesus is saying the opposite is true?
23:05-23:06
You don't need more information.
23:07-23:16
Jesus said if you don't believe the truth that you know of, you're not going to believe in more truth and deeper truth when you hear it.
23:17-23:30
And we can look at these people in this passage and be like, "Oh, those fools, they were standing right in the face of Jesus, and they wouldn't believe Him." But I've got to tell you, church, this is where it stings you and I the most, because we have full revelation.
23:30-23:34
You know the big difference between us and the people that Jesus was talking to here?
23:34-23:39
We're on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb, right?
23:39-23:42
We know all about that. We know how that went down.
23:42-23:48
We have the full Word of God clearly outlining the whole story.
23:48-23:56
We have all these Holy Spirit-inspired New Testament letters telling us the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
23:57-24:03
And like the people Jesus is talking to here, you refuse to come to Jesus because you don't believe God's Word.
24:04-24:05
You just don't believe it.
24:06-24:07
And you're like, "Yeah, how does that happen?
24:08-24:13
How does that happen that we just don't believe God's Word?" We've not been paying attention.
24:14-24:15
What do we do with the Bible?
24:16-24:19
We reinterpret it to match what we want to believe.
24:20-24:22
We question it. We deny it. We twist it.
24:22-24:26
We will do anything with the Bible, but believe it.
24:26-24:29
And you have to see that that's happening in more and more and more churches.
24:30-24:33
The Bible says this, but what it really means is that.
24:33-24:38
And you don't really understand the cultural context in which Paul wrote this.
24:39-24:41
We'll do anything with the Bible, but believe it.
24:42-24:43
That's Jesus' point here.
24:44-24:49
Jesus says when you reject the source material, how can you believe in Jesus?
24:50-25:00
Somebody's like, "I don't believe the Bible." I'm like, "Well, then evangelism conversation is over." Because if you don't believe this, what am I gonna tell you that's going to bring you to Christ?
25:01-25:07
And I'm gonna tell you, church, can you not see how Satan is having a party right now?
25:08-25:17
Satan is laughing hysterically right now, I'm going to remind you, if you were with us through the study of Revelation last year, his laughing doesn't last forever, right?
25:17-25:23
But I've got to tell you, right now, he is laughing hysterically at what's happening in this culture.
25:24-25:29
The way that he's gotten people, just like Eve, to doubt and deny the Word of God.
25:29-25:34
He has to be laughing, because he's knocking them all out right in order.
25:34-25:35
Right in order!
25:35-25:36
What's the first verse of the Bible?
25:36-25:37
What is it?
25:37-25:38
In the beginning.
25:38-25:39
What does it say?
25:40-25:42
God created the heavens and the earth.
25:42-25:44
And what has Satan done with that?
25:45-25:47
Generations of evolutionary teaching.
25:47-25:48
No, no, no, no. God didn't create.
25:49-25:53
We are a product of chemical processes through evolution.
25:53-25:57
And we don't believe in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
25:57-25:58
We don't believe that.
25:58-26:02
And then you maybe go a couple of paragraphs or even flip one page.
26:03-26:07
The next big thing we see is the Bible says that God created the male and female.
26:08-26:11
Right? What has Satan convinced our culture?
26:11-26:15
What's male and female? You are whatever gender you want to be.
26:15-26:21
Right? Whatever you want to be. You're born a man, you want to call yourself a woman, I'll call you a woman too, and I'm going to applaud that.
26:22-26:25
And Satan's like, "Okay, what's next?" Right?
26:26-26:31
Oh yeah, here's what's next. God says marriage is to be between a male and a female.
26:32-26:41
Where's our culture at on that? Marriage can be between a woman and a woman, Two men, three women, I've even seen people trying to marry their pets.
26:42-26:43
And Satan laughs.
26:44-26:50
Oh, and then you turn just a little bit further in Genesis, when God promises Adam and Eve that sin brings death.
26:51-26:52
And the ultimate form of death is hell.
26:53-26:57
And what is the lie that Satan has gotten people, even churches, to swallow today?
26:57-27:08
"There's no hell, come on." "Oh, the boogeyman that the church has been promoting." "Oh, scared of hell." "There's no hell. There's no hell." God's too nice to send anybody to hell.
27:08-27:16
And Satan's just going right through the book, and he's gotten us to deny and disbelieve every single thing that God said.
27:17-27:31
So is it any wonder, when you don't believe what God's Word says on these matters, you get to the part about Jesus, the Creator, who shows God's full picture of marriage, the One who came to save us from death and hell, and we're like, "Psh, I don't believe that either.
27:32-27:38
I mean, why would I believe in Jesus if I don't believe all that fairy tale stuff in the beginning of the book?
27:38-27:39
And Satan laughs.
27:40-27:51
And it's just as Jesus said to this audience, "You haven't believed the foundation, so you won't believe in the full revelation, because it's all about Jesus. All of Him.
27:51-27:56
And that's why you refuse to come to Him." You know, I was thinking this week about these questions.
27:57-28:04
First, obviously, the big question addressed in the passage, I was thinking this week, "Why wouldn't someone come to Jesus?
28:04-28:07
Why would somebody see all this and reject it?
28:07-28:13
Why wouldn't someone come to Jesus? Why wouldn't they? Right? Why wouldn't they?" And then I got thinking about another question.
28:13-28:15
"Why would somebody come to Jesus?" Right?
28:15-28:17
And I was thinking about those two questions.
28:17-28:22
"Why wouldn't somebody come to Jesus?" And then, "Why would someone come to Jesus?" And then it hit me.
28:23-28:25
Do you realize those questions have the exact same answer.
28:25-28:26
Did you know that?
28:26-28:28
Those questions have the exact same answer.
28:28-28:29
Why wouldn't somebody come to Jesus?
28:30-28:31
Why would somebody come to Jesus?
28:32-28:34
Same answer, because He changes people.
28:35-28:38
And if you see your need for it, you'll gladly embrace Him.
28:39-28:41
But if you don't want to change, you'll avoid Him.
28:42-28:52
But in any case, let's stop pretending and making up silly excuses why I have these intellectual sounding obstacles to the faith.
28:52-28:56
Jesus tells us here exactly why people won't receive Him.
28:56-28:58
It's not lack of evidence.
28:59-29:00
It's because you don't love God.
29:01-29:02
Because you're self-centered.
29:02-29:05
It's because you've refused to believe God's Word.
29:06-29:10
But if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now, this can be a different day for you.
29:10-29:12
You can say, "You know what? I see it now.
29:12-29:17
I see the things that Jesus said to these Jewish leaders.
29:18-29:22
These things are relevant in my own life." And you can reevaluate everything.
29:23-29:24
I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please.
29:25-29:30
Father, we cry out to You, because we have the complete inability to change anyone.
29:31-29:41
Father, we see from Your Word, it's not a matter of giving people more information, or a guilt trip, or trying to scare them out of hell, or something like that, Father.
29:41-29:45
This is a supernatural thing that has to happen.
29:45-29:47
And God, only You can do that.
29:47-29:58
So we pray, Father, for those who are listening, that You would remove that veil, that you would awaken in them a hunger to truly come and receive Jesus Christ.
29:58-30:04
Father, I pray for those in this church who have been witnessing, and sharing, and encouraging.
30:05-30:07
Father, I pray that they would not lose heart in doing that.
30:08-30:15
I pray also, Father, that they would spend as much time talking to you about it as they do sharing with the people they're trying to bring to Christ.
30:16-30:19
Father, we thank you for the clarity of your Word.
30:20-30:23
We thank You, Father, for the transforming power of the Gospel.
30:24-30:25
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:30-47

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
What 3 things did the Father give as evidence of Jesus’ identity? Why did Jesus find it necessary to point these out (John 5:31)? Which one seems most important to you?
Read Romans 1:21. What is the connection between thankfulness and faith?
How can you convince a self-centered person that they are, in fact, self-centered? How can you recognize this trait in yourself?
Explain why unbelief of the Old Testament leads to unbelief of Jesus (John 5:47). Do you have to believe Genesis is literal in order to believe in Jesus?

Breakout
Pray for one another, and for anyone you know who still refuses to come to Christ.

Jeff Miller

February 23, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Life

Jeff Miller

February 23, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Submission is power. (John 5:19-23)
Judgment is cancelled. (John 5:24)

Satan's Lies:

Man is basically good
The "good Lord" overlooks our faults.
If we try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
The pain we go through on earth is God's only judgment for sin.
I've always been a Christian.
Any "religious path" will get you to heaven.
We can't really be sure of heaven.
1 John 5:13 - I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Life is Restored . (John 5:25-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:54-01:56
Open up your Bibles to John 5.
01:58-02:00
John 5. It would help if I turned there.
02:03-02:10
You know, there are certain topics, just by mentioning the topic, it brings debate.
02:12-02:19
And I thought we'd kick off this message by talking about some of those highly controversial topics.
02:20-02:24
I thought, what better way to approach the Word of God than to get our and ruffled a little bit.
02:27-02:30
But you know, certain topics bring instant debate.
02:33-02:52
It could be something as mild as saying, "I think Pepsi is way better than Coke." I see some people nodding in agreement, and I see some people squirming in their seat very uncomfortably, like, I thought they preached truth at this church.
02:55-02:57
How about this topic that brings instant debate?
02:58-02:59
Marijuana.
03:02-03:03
Should it be legalized?
03:06-03:07
Are your feathers ruffled yet?
03:07-03:08
Hang on.
03:09-03:10
How about this one?
03:10-03:11
What about vaccinations?
03:14-03:18
What if I said to you I believe vaccinations cause autism.
03:20-03:22
Are your feathers ruffled yet?
03:22-03:23
Hang on.
03:24-03:25
I got one for all of you.
03:26-03:28
What if I said President Donald Trump?
03:31-03:34
What if I said I think he's the best president ever?
03:36-03:36
(audience laughing)
03:44-03:54
What if I said saying things like that "You're gonna get me shot." This is just an illustration, an introduction.
03:57-04:03
What if I said, just in case there's somebody that's not offended yet, don't worry, we'll get to you.
04:03-04:10
What if I said, "I think the church should only play hymns "with a pipe organ."
04:11-04:12
(audience laughing)
04:13-04:14
(laughter)
04:17-04:18
Is there anybody I have not yet offended?
04:18-04:19
Because I can keep going.
04:23-04:23
Here's the point.
04:25-04:35
In Jesus' day, Jesus created controversy with the Jewish leaders in the two biggest areas that He possibly could have.
04:38-04:40
Look at verse 18 in John 5.
04:40-04:40
Here they are.
04:41-04:45
He says this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.
04:48-05:00
Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, that's number one, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
05:00-05:01
That's number two.
05:01-05:04
So we talked about our little controversial subjects.
05:04-05:06
Jesus hit the two biggest in his day.
05:07-05:12
the Sabbath and the Lord God.
05:14-05:23
Jesus violated the Sabbath, and He was making these claims that He was equal to God Himself.
05:25-05:29
We saw last week Jesus healed a man who was lame for 38 years.
05:30-05:35
And you would think that the Jewish leaders would be like, "This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!
05:36-05:40
He healed this man, but that's not the reaction Jesus got.
05:41-05:44
In fact, they reacted to Him with disgust.
05:45-05:55
Because Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and therefore Jesus broke their Sabbath rules, not God's, He broke their man-made Sabbath rules.
05:57-06:06
And then speaking as if He were equal to God Himself, they decided literally at that point, they wanted not just to shut Him up, They wanted to kill Him.
06:08-06:14
And in this passage we're looking at today, we have Jesus' response to this situation.
06:16-06:17
That's what we're looking at today.
06:18-06:25
How did Jesus respond to verse 18 where they want to kill Him?
06:28-06:32
You know, Jesus could have tried to defuse the situation.
06:34-06:36
You could have tried to reason with them.
06:38-06:42
And instead, in this passage we're going to look at today, we're going to see that Jesus doubles down.
06:44-06:55
He escalates by emphatically reinforcing the boldest claim that any human being could ever make.
06:56-07:06
And that is, "I'm God." And that's a theme throughout the ministry of Jesus.
07:07-07:10
Understand that Jesus wasn't just some moral teacher.
07:13-07:19
Jesus made claims that could only apply to God.
07:20-07:22
Jesus said these things about Himself.
07:24-07:30
For example, Jesus claimed that He has control over people's eternal destinies.
07:32-07:34
Jesus said He has authority over the Sabbath.
07:35-07:36
Jesus said He answers prayer.
07:37-07:39
Jesus said He forgives sin.
07:40-07:41
Jesus said He rules angels.
07:42-07:44
Jesus said He has an eternal kingdom.
07:44-07:48
Jesus says He has the right to be worshipped.
07:49-08:01
And probably hardest of all, Jesus many times referred to Himself as the "I Am." The name that God the Father used to identify Himself.
08:06-08:15
So Jesus spends His ministry making these claims that can only apply to God, and we've seen them through the book of John even from the very first verse.
08:16-08:18
Right? That's how John started.
08:18-08:24
"In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, Word - verse 14 - became flesh.
08:25-08:28
We're going to see this throughout the whole series in the Gospel of John.
08:29-08:30
Jesus is God.
08:30-08:46
And in the passage we're looking at today, Jesus clearly explains not only who He is, but the implications of His identity for you.
08:46-08:47
Okay, for you.
08:51-08:59
And each of these three hard truths - again, we're looking at three things here that are going to be kind of hard to swallow.
09:00-09:11
Jesus starts every one of them with a phrase, "Truly, truly, I say to you..." Now, everything Jesus said was truth, right?
09:11-09:14
Everything Jesus said was the Word of God.
09:14-09:23
But when Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you," it was almost like He was pulling out as this highlighter and saying, "Listen, this is very important.
09:24-09:28
And you're going to find this hard to believe, but you can take this to the bank, ok?
09:29-09:33
Write this down. This is absolutely true." So on your outline if you're taking notes.
09:35-09:36
We're going to get through this together.
09:36-09:43
Three astonishing claims of Christ for those who will believe.
09:45-09:47
So this is Jesus' response.
09:48-09:49
The first one.
09:49-09:51
The first astonishing claim.
09:55-09:56
Jot this down.
09:56-09:58
Submission is power.
10:02-10:04
Submission is power.
10:04-10:05
Look at v. 19.
10:07-10:20
"So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, and only what He sees the Father doing for whatever the Father does that the Son does likewise.
10:22-10:25
Jesus said He did nothing of His own accord.
10:25-10:27
Try to wrap your brain around that one.
10:28-10:33
Do you realize when you study your Bible, Jesus never did anything for His own benefit.
10:33-10:33
Nothing.
10:34-10:35
He never did one thing.
10:35-10:41
Having all the power in the universe, He never did one thing He personally benefited Himself.
10:43-10:43
Right?
10:45-10:47
Think of Satan tempting Jesus.
10:48-10:50
"You're hungry. You've been fasting for 40 days.
10:51-10:54
Tell these rocks to become bread." Jesus said no.
10:56-11:00
He could have, but He didn't use His power for His own benefit.
11:00-11:04
Jesus lived in total submission to the Father.
11:06-11:10
And this submission to the Father It wasn't based on obligation.
11:10-11:11
It was based on relationship.
11:11-11:12
Look at v. 20.
11:13-11:17
It says, "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing.
11:19-11:32
In greater works than these will He show Him so that you may marvel." You know, the heart of God's redeeming work is love for His Son.
11:33-11:34
That's first and foremost.
11:37-11:46
All of the work of Jesus Christ - dying on the cross, resurrecting from the dead - a lot of times we think, well, the main reason He did that is me, and that's not true.
11:47-11:57
The main reason Jesus went through that is because of His love for the Father, and to glorify the Father, and to fulfill the purposes of the Father.
11:57-12:02
It's that love relationship that the Father and the Son have that was the main drive.
12:02-12:07
We are the beneficiaries of that.
12:08-12:09
It's a whole other sermon.
12:10-12:11
We're going to move on.
12:11-12:12
Look at verse 21.
12:15-12:24
Jesus goes on. He says, "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.
12:26-12:30
The Father judges no one, He has given all judgment to the Son.
12:32-12:37
That all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
12:39-12:46
Whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent Him.
12:49-13:01
In other words, because Jesus gives life, because Jesus has all authority and judgment, Jesus is saying here - did you catch it?
13:02-13:07
That He is worthy of the same worship that God the Father deserves.
13:09-13:12
In fact, Jesus takes it to another level.
13:13-13:18
Jesus says if you don't honor the Son, then you don't honor the Father.
13:20-13:25
Okay, so let's dispel this generic notion of God that people want to embrace.
13:25-13:26
You know, God bless America.
13:27-13:46
When you think of God as this generic force or thing or whatever, Jesus says, "No, no, you honor Me to honor the Father." I want you to look again at v. 19.
13:49-13:55
Where Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of His own accord.
13:58-14:01
That could be one of the most shocking things Jesus ever said.
14:04-14:13
I mean, I would think, I don't know about you, I would think, you know what Jesus, if you're God, you can do whatever you want. Right?
14:15-14:16
I mean, you're God.
14:16-14:18
You're not going to make a bad choice.
14:18-14:20
You're not going to do anything wrong.
14:20-14:25
"Jesus, you can do whatever you want." But Jesus here clearly stated the opposite.
14:26-14:39
Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of His own accord." And Jesus didn't mean physically, like He's unable.
14:41-14:42
He means morally.
14:45-14:53
For example, if I said to our treasurer, Sean, And I said, "Sean, why don't you take some money out of the missions account?
14:54-14:59
Take Jenny somewhere real nice for a little vacation just the two of you." I know what Sean would say.
14:59-15:03
Sean would say, "I can't do that." I'd be like, "Well, yeah you can.
15:03-15:06
You have access to the bank account and things like that.
15:06-15:13
You could do that." And Sean would say, "No, I can't do that." He could, but he won't.
15:15-15:16
Because he knows it would cheapen his life.
15:17-15:18
contradict who He is.
15:20-15:23
No, it's just not in Him to do that.
15:24-15:26
And that's the same with Jesus.
15:26-15:27
He could have done whatever He wanted.
15:28-15:30
Tell these rocks to become bread.
15:30-15:31
He could have.
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But He said, "No, I can't do that." Because He would not do anything except what the Father wanted.
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in any situation.
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And He teaches us this truth that people don't want to believe.
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But it's true whether you want to believe it or not.
15:58-15:59
And here it is.
15:59-16:00
You ready?
16:02-16:03
Submission is power.
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We think when I have authority over someone or someones, that is a position of power.
16:14-16:22
And Jesus said, "No, no, submission is power." People don't want to believe that.
16:24-16:25
You know how I know?
16:26-16:28
It's because I've preached a few wedding sermons.
16:30-16:47
And I'm preaching the wedding sermon and I get to that Ephesians 5 part, "Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church." And everybody's like, "Christ the Lord!" And I'm like, "Wives, submit to your own husbands." And everybody's like, "Ugh!" I can hear the groan and I listen for it.
16:49-16:52
I hear the groans and I face the feedback.
16:52-17:11
And I've had so many women over the last two-plus decades wagging their head and waving their hand saying, "I don't submit to no man!" And I just think to myself, You don't get it.
17:13-17:15
Because I've also seen it in the church.
17:17-17:30
So many times, and Aaron can tell you, so many times, not just this church, other churches where we've served, I've seen people will submit to the church leadership so long as the leaders tell them what they want to hear.
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And if the leaders don't tell them what they want to hear, I ain't submitting to that.
17:40-17:41
Well, then is it really submission?
17:45-17:51
The Bible calls us to a life of submission to God.
17:53-18:02
And submission to the authorities that God has placed in our lives so long as these authorities don't ask us to sin. Right?
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Then we appeal to the higher authority, which is God.
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God has placed authorities in your life that He has called you and I to submit to.
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The government, church leaders, kids to their parents, wives to their husbands.
18:15-18:19
You know the Bible says that we should submit to one another in the church.
18:21-18:33
You see, this idea of submission gets so much negative feedback, but if you really read your Bible, the Bible says we should be people that are used to submission as a lifestyle.
18:35-18:40
Too many people have bought into this idea that submission is weakness.
18:42-18:43
Submission is weakness.
18:45-18:50
And I challenge that by saying, well, who was the most powerful person who ever walked the earth?
18:50-18:51
Who was it?
18:52-18:57
The most powerful person, the most influential, the most famous person to ever walk the earth.
18:57-18:58
Who was it?
18:59-18:59
Say it.
19:00-19:00
Jesus!
19:01-19:03
And do you know what Jesus said about submission?
19:05-19:19
He said, "The Son can do nothing of His own accord." The most powerful person who ever walked the earth lived a life of 100% submission.
19:20-19:31
And we too will learn and experience true power in our lives when we submit to God and the authorities that He's placed in our lives.
19:32-19:39
You do that, you understand like Jesus that submission is power.
19:41-19:46
And I just have to ask myself, if Jesus Himself had this attitude of submission, how can I have anything less?
19:49-19:57
The first thing Jesus taught and modeled, and would come into us, submission is power.
19:58-20:02
Secondly, here's another astonishing claim of Christ.
20:03-20:07
Judgment is canceled. Judgment is canceled.
20:10-20:32
So many people struggle with this idea of judgment and this idea of preaching forgiveness and grace, but Pastor Jeff, I've done so many wrong things in my life, and I'm not the person that I should be, How do I know that God's not still angry with me because of my sin?
20:32-20:33
Look at v. 24.
20:34-20:40
Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.
20:41-20:50
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." To be saved.
20:51-20:53
To have the promise of heaven.
20:53-20:55
To have your sins forgiven.
20:57-20:59
You have to come to Jesus on His terms.
21:01-21:03
It's His Word. It's His truth.
21:03-21:09
It's believing that He was sent from heaven to save you, to give you eternal life.
21:11-21:28
But when we talk about salvation, when we talk about judgment being canceled, when we talk about our sin being taken away, when we talk about our total need for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, So many people get confused.
21:29-21:37
Or so many people flat out get it wrong because they bought into Satan's lies regarding salvation.
21:39-21:51
I'm going to go through some of these lies quickly because I promise you there are some people here today, there are people listening online, that have bought into one or more of these lies.
21:53-21:57
So we're going to hold them up to the light of God's Word for what they are.
21:57-21:57
They're lies.
21:58-21:59
Have you bought into Satan's lies?
22:03-22:04
Here we go.
22:05-22:09
First one is, "Man is basically good." That's a lie from hell.
22:10-22:11
People say, "You know what?
22:11-22:19
I think man deep down, man is basically good." And I'm like, "Really?" You know, the Bible says that we're sinners by birth and by choice.
22:20-22:30
Even apart from the Bible, can you really look around at what's happening in the world and come to the conclusion that mankind is basically good?
22:30-22:32
Can you really look within?
22:33-22:39
Knowing your own wicked thoughts and attitudes and conclude that man is good?
22:40-22:44
That sure doesn't line up with experience, and more so, it doesn't line up with the Word of God.
22:44-22:44
That's a lie.
22:48-22:51
from Satan is the good Lord overlooks our faults.
22:52-22:54
We've all heard that, right?
22:55-23:07
"Oh, you know, we all mess up, we all make mistakes, but the good Lord just overlooks our faults." When the reality is God is holy, and He cannot overlook our sinful rebellion.
23:10-23:11
He can't. And He won't.
23:13-23:14
Like, well, how bad can I be?
23:15-23:19
You know, the Bible says if you've broken God's law at one point, you're guilty of the whole law.
23:20-23:21
That's James 2.10.
23:22-23:25
Because rejecting the law means you're rejecting the law giver.
23:25-23:38
Now I would ask you, hypothetically, imagine you showed up in a local courthouse here, and the judge says, oh, I see here that you are guilty of breaking every law that we have on the books.
23:39-23:41
What are the chances that that judge is going to just let you go?
23:43-23:43
Zero.
23:44-23:53
No honest judge could dismiss a person guilty of every crime possible.
23:55-23:59
And somehow we think we're going to stand before a holy God?
24:00-24:04
That He's just going to ignore our sin?
24:08-24:08
It's not true.
24:10-24:12
Furthermore, why did Jesus show up?
24:13-24:15
If God just overlooks our sin.
24:17-24:20
Third lie, if we try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
24:20-24:21
This could be the biggest one.
24:22-24:24
If you just try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
24:27-24:30
It doesn't matter if you try to do right.
24:31-24:33
Because you're still guilty of sin.
24:33-24:33
Right?
24:34-24:40
Get back to that courtroom scenario where you're standing before the judge and you're guilty of committing impossible to commit.
24:40-24:43
What if you said to that judge, you know what, your honor, you're right.
24:43-24:45
This looks very bad for me because I'm guilty of all these crimes.
24:45-24:48
I'm gonna tell you what, from now on I'm gonna live at the soup kitchen.
24:48-24:56
I'm gonna move in and I'm gonna spend every day for the rest of my life helping poor people or helping down and out people.
24:56-25:01
The judge is going to say, hey, that's a noble intention, but you're still guilty, right?
25:01-25:03
That doesn't take away your guilt.
25:06-25:07
So it is with the Lord.
25:08-25:15
"You know, we can try to do right, but we still stand guilty of violating God's law." That's a lie.
25:17-25:18
Fourth lie, letter D.
25:20-25:24
"The pain we go through on earth is God's only judgment for sin." Oh, I've heard that so many times.
25:24-25:38
"I don't believe in hell, Jeff, because I believe that we experience hell on the earth." And I'm not making light of those of us who have struggled with various types of pain and loss.
25:39-25:40
But here's the reality.
25:41-25:45
Pain is part of the experience of living in a fallen world.
25:47-25:49
Pain itself doesn't take away sin.
25:50-25:55
God sent His Son to pay the eternal penalty for our sin and to take it away.
25:56-25:57
Pain doesn't take away sin.
25:58-25:59
Jesus takes away sin.
26:02-26:03
Fifth lie.
26:03-26:23
People say, "I've always been a Christian." "I've always been a Christian." Now, listen, this is different than "I grew up in a Christian home and was discipled and came to understand Jesus at a young age." But, you haven't always been a Christian.
26:26-26:33
"Yes, I have." "No, you haven't." "Yes, I have." "No, you haven't." What if I just did that for five minutes?
26:33-26:34
How annoying would that get?
26:37-26:38
Well, let me ask you this.
26:40-26:49
When you came out of your mother's womb, at birth, did you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in that moment?
26:51-26:52
Like, I don't really remember that moment.
26:55-26:56
Probably not, right?
26:57-26:59
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were one year old?
27:00-27:03
No, I don't even think I was talking at that point.
27:03-27:06
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were two years old?
27:07-27:09
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were three years old?
27:09-27:10
You see the point, right?
27:10-27:15
At some point in your life, you have to believe in Jesus Christ.
27:15-27:20
At some point in your life, you have to personally receive Him.
27:24-27:25
It has to happen somewhere, right?
27:25-27:35
Whether you're a disciple in the home, or Jesus was never mentioned in your home, and you came to know Him and understand Him some other way.
27:37-27:39
At some point, you have to receive Jesus Christ.
27:42-27:43
Next lie.
27:44-27:46
Any religious path will get you to heaven.
27:48-27:50
It doesn't matter what you believe.
27:50-27:51
Just believe in God.
27:51-27:52
Your path will get you to heaven.
27:56-27:59
Well, that contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.
28:01-28:03
Because He's the only one that deals with the sin issue.
28:04-28:08
Nobody else has or can do that.
28:11-28:14
But again, apart from the Bible, even the concept itself is ludicrous.
28:15-28:19
If you came to me and said, "Hey, I'm going to take a little family trip to Erie.
28:20-28:24
"What's the best way to get to Erie, Pennsylvania?" And I said to you, "Any road will get you there.
28:26-28:45
Just get in your car and drive, and you'll end up in Erie." You're like, "Well, that doesn't seem to make very much sense." I'm like, "No, no, any path will get you there." Look, I'm not one to push my beliefs about maps and direction and GPS.
28:47-28:51
I don't want to be obnoxious and push my beliefs on those things.
28:51-28:56
So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, young grasshopper, you take any path you want, you'll get to Erie.
28:59-29:01
You'd be like, what was in your communion juice?
29:05-29:06
It's crazy, isn't it?
29:06-29:09
Isn't it funny when we talk about heaven, people are like, any path will get you there.
29:09-29:10
No, it will not.
29:12-29:18
Because you've got a sin issue, you've got a holy God issue, of one Savior that dealt with that issue.
29:18-29:20
And His name is Jesus Christ.
29:22-29:26
Last lie is we can't really be sure of Heaven.
29:27-29:29
I mean, we can't really be sure.
29:30-29:40
The answer to that lie is yeah, we can know that Heaven is real and we can know that we have eternal life because God wants us to know for sure.
29:40-29:41
Did you know that?
29:41-29:42
God wants you to be sure.
29:43-30:06
That's why the Bible says, among other places, 1 John 5.13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." You're like, well, how can somebody possibly know that they have eternal life?
30:06-30:24
Well, let's get back to John 5.24 when Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, for he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life." Can you hear Jesus' Word?
30:25-30:30
And I don't just mean can you audibly pick up the sounds coming out of my mouth.
30:30-30:31
No, it's not about me.
30:31-30:34
Can you hear what Jesus is saying in this passage?
30:36-30:36
Are you tuned in?
30:37-30:43
Because Jesus said, John 10.27, we're going to get there, My sheep hear My voice.
30:47-30:49
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sin?
30:50-30:54
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to give you eternal life?
30:54-30:57
If you do, look at the end of verse 24.
30:57-31:06
Jesus said, "He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life." See, that's the assurance.
31:06-31:09
It's believing the promise of Jesus Christ.
31:10-31:13
I can confidently stand before you and say I know that I'm going to heaven.
31:15-31:16
You're like, well, that sounds awfully arrogant.
31:16-31:17
No, no, no, it's not!
31:18-31:19
Because it's not up to me.
31:20-31:21
It's not based on me.
31:22-31:25
It's not up to my works or my integrity.
31:25-31:27
It's based on God's integrity.
31:27-31:31
He made a promise, and I'm saying I believe the promise that He made to me.
31:32-31:33
And I believe God always keeps His Word.
31:34-31:37
So because of that, I know that I'm going to heaven.
31:40-31:44
People all the time say things to me like, "You know, Pastor Jeff, I've got a lot to answer for.
31:44-31:50
Don't stand behind me on judgment day because God's really going to let me have it." That's just not true.
31:51-31:52
That is not true.
31:54-32:06
Because if you've received Jesus Christ, He says, "Truly, truly, there is no judgment." Three astonishing claims of Christ.
32:06-32:07
Do you want to know one more?
32:08-32:10
Number three, life is restored.
32:12-32:14
Life is restored.
32:18-32:23
Jesus Christ did not come into the world to turn bad people into good people.
32:25-32:28
Jesus Christ came into the world to turn dead people into alive people.
32:29-32:33
Adam, the first man, He brought sin and death into the world.
32:36-32:38
He brought sin and death into the world.
32:38-32:44
So what we need is not morality, we don't need encouragement, we don't need positive thinking or good vibes.
32:45-32:45
What do we need?
32:45-32:46
Look at verse 25.
32:48-32:53
Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming.
32:53-33:01
It is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
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For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.
33:12-33:13
What we need is life.
33:14-33:17
What we need is spiritual resurrection.
33:19-33:21
Regeneration. Being born again.
33:23-33:28
Jesus is pointing out here that regeneration in His day It has begun.
33:29-33:44
Jesus, during His ministry and all the way up to February 23, 2020, and tomorrow if He gives it, Jesus is giving life to those who will believe in Him.
33:46-33:48
We are by nature spiritually dead.
33:50-33:51
That's how we're born.
33:52-33:55
And some people will remain that way for the rest of their lives.
33:55-33:56
will not respond to God.
33:57-33:58
There's no thought of accountability.
33:58-34:00
They refuse to listen to God's Word.
34:00-34:02
They refuse to turn from sin.
34:02-34:03
Why?
34:03-34:06
Again, Jesus points out, because they don't hear.
34:07-34:11
They're unwilling to hear what the Son of God is saying.
34:12-34:13
Look at verse 27.
34:15-34:30
It says, "And He has given him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." At this point, I think Jesus' audience, I think their jaws are on the floor.
34:31-34:32
Hearing all this?
34:33-34:36
This is some pretty shocking stuff that Jesus is saying.
34:37-34:40
And I think that that's what's happening because of Jesus' next statement.
34:40-34:44
Verse 28, He says, "Do not marvel at this." Like, you look shocked.
34:44-34:45
Hey, hey.
34:46-34:48
Don't be so surprised that I'm telling you this.
34:49-34:55
Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming And all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out.
34:57-35:03
Those who have done good, the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
35:04-35:06
We talked about the spiritual resurrection.
35:07-35:10
When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are born again.
35:10-35:11
You have His life in you.
35:12-35:14
Here, Jesus is talking about the physical resurrection.
35:15-35:21
Someday, Jesus is going to empty every cemetery, every grave.
35:22-35:29
is going to be emptied so that the body - the glorified body - is going to be reunited with the soul.
35:29-35:31
Last year we covered this in Revelation 20.
35:32-35:34
Jesus sums it up here.
35:34-35:42
Those who have done good - meaning those who have received Him, believed in His name - that bodily resurrection happens at the rapture.
35:42-35:45
And it happens through and after the tribulation.
35:49-35:55
You'll have an eternal body for the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth and beyond.
35:57-35:58
That's one resurrection.
36:00-36:02
Jesus said there's another resurrection for those who have done evil.
36:03-36:05
Revelation 20 tells us, remember?
36:07-36:10
This resurrection happens after the thousand year reign of Christ.
36:14-36:28
For everyone who's rejected Christ, and insisted on living life by their own terms, they'll get a glorified eternal body to stand before the great white throne.
36:30-36:35
And that eternal body won't be used to enjoy God's presence and fellowship forever.
36:35-36:38
That eternal body will be given to suffer forever.
36:42-36:45
So it looks like the judgment is based on works here.
36:47-36:48
It is.
36:50-36:51
Your works can't save you.
36:54-37:08
Your works can't keep you from being saved, but what Jesus is pointing out here, works, your works, good or bad, they're the fruit, they're the evidence on where you stand with Jesus Christ.
37:11-37:17
Just tell me for a second that the God of the universe puts His life inside you and you don't change.
37:17-37:19
You don't have new appetites.
37:19-37:23
You don't have desires to do things that are pleasing and honoring to Him.
37:25-37:26
That's why your works, they're evidence.
37:27-37:31
And I would ask you, what does the fruit of your life reflect?
37:34-37:38
Just think of your typical Sunday through Saturday week.
37:39-37:41
What does the fruit of your life reflect?
37:42-37:46
Does your life look like someone who has the life of Christ alive in you?
37:47-37:51
Or does your life look like someone who lives life on your own terms, apart from God?
37:54-37:56
Because for some of you, this verse should be frightening.
37:58-38:05
Because the day is coming, that your choice regarding Jesus Christ is going to be revealed.
38:08-38:09
You can fool me.
38:11-38:14
You can fool your family that you live with if you have a family.
38:14-38:17
You can fool your dear, sweet grandmama.
38:19-38:20
You can be a nice person.
38:21-38:22
You can be a churchgoer.
38:22-38:25
But if you haven't received Jesus Christ, you will not fool Him.
38:28-38:33
The wonderful news in reading all this is it doesn't have to be frightening.
38:36-38:40
Today, you can have your sin taken away.
38:42-38:49
Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life.
38:49-38:52
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
38:54-38:55
Can you hear Him?
38:58-38:59
Are you tuned in?
39:02-39:05
I believe Jesus is who He says He is.
39:06-39:07
He's God in the flesh.
39:07-39:09
He's the Giver of life.
39:09-39:10
He's the Judge of all.
39:12-39:13
Turn from your sin.
39:16-39:16
Turn to Him.
39:19-39:21
You can do that right now.
39:21-39:26
I'm going to ask you to bow your heads with me, please.
39:29-39:30
I'd like to lead you in a prayer.
39:32-39:38
And just repeating some words, that doesn't do it.
39:42-39:48
It's believing from your heart what it is that you're praying.
39:51-39:56
With whatever faith you have, bow your heads.
40:00-40:04
If you need to say this prayer, say it with me.
40:06-40:10
Something like this, God, I understand that I am a sinner.
40:12-40:14
I am dead in my sin.
40:14-40:17
I understand, God, that I am lost without You.
40:20-40:22
God, I see in Your Word that You are the Giver of life.
40:23-40:28
that you've given your Son the authority and the power to give life.
40:31-40:43
And God, You have promised that if I hear Your Word, and I believe, I will receive life.
40:45-40:47
I will not come into judgment.
40:50-40:56
But I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
40:57-41:03
I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin.
41:05-41:10
I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give me eternal life.
41:11-41:15
And God, today, right now, I'm asking that You have mercy on me.
41:16-41:30
I'm asking that You give me the life When Jesus Christ promised, I'm asking God that You give me true spiritual faith to believe the things that You've promised in Your Word.
41:34-41:43
If you've prayed that, and you believe, then you will not come into judgment.
41:45-41:47
and you will pass from death to life.
41:49-41:51
Father, You know every heart in this room.
41:54-42:12
Let us not be self-deceived people, but instead, let us be people who like little children, we take You at Your Word, we believe, and we act on that belief.
42:14-42:29
Father, I pray through this message from Your Word, that You would truly bring people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that sin is broken, that eternity is changed forever.
42:33-42:34
Healing takes place.
42:36-42:37
Father, glorify Your name.
42:38-42:40
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:18-29

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why do you think Jesus didn’t try to “reason” with His critics? Why would Jesus declare such truths about Himself if He knew it would only make them angrier?
According to John 5:29, what is the basis of judgment? If good works cannot save you, what does this mean? What place do “good works” have in the life of the redeemed?

Breakout
Have you ever struggled with feeling condemned? What does John 5:24 say about judgment for the one who believes in Jesus? Why do we often believe our feelings over the Word of God? How can we change that? Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

February 16, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Healing

Jeff Miller

February 16, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)

You have to Want to. (John 5:6)
Stop Blaming others for your problems. (John 5:7)
Stop doing things Your way. (John 5:7)
Do what Jesus says to do. (John 5:8)
1. Get up
2. Take up your bed
3. Walk
Live in Gratitude to Jesus. (John 5:14)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:11-01:11
John 5.
01:12-01:15
Every message through John, we're looking at one thing.
01:16-01:19
And that's what does Jesus want us to know about Him.
01:20-01:23
So that we might know Him in a greater way.
01:24-01:29
That's our theme this year, "Knowing Jesus." John 5. Pick up in verse 1.
01:30-01:35
It says, "After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
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Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five rooted colonnades.
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And these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed." Okay, so John takes us to the scene.
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There's a feast, one of the three annual feasts of the Jews, and Jesus, like every Jewish man, went to Jerusalem for the feast.
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And it says there was this pool that was by the sheep gate.
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Do you know what the sheep gate was for?
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Sheep, OK.
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That's right.
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You've studied this?
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Yeah, the sheep gate was for the sheep.
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But this pool, think of it in terms sort of as a public pool.
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It was used for water.
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It was used for cooling off.
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It was used for bathing.
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But this was a large one.
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We know it's large because it had five porches.
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And it says that this is a place where many invalids hung out.
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Well, why did they hang out there?
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Well, does your Bible have a verse 4 in it?
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Look down at your Bible.
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Is there a verse 4 in your Bible?
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No.
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Wait a second.
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I got a defective-- I know I shouldn't have bought my Bible at Ollie's.
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No, your verse 4 might actually be in the footnote.
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That's where it is in mine.
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It says, "Some manuscripts," insert, holy or impart, "Waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water.
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Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had." Like, why isn't that up with the regular text?
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The reason that's not up with the regular text is it doesn't belong in the text. That's why.
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This was actually a superstition, okay?
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It wasn't true.
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What happened was in the early manuscripts, that wasn't in there at all, and somebody later, when the manuscripts were being copied, knew of this superstition and said, "We're going to insert that in there." But that didn't really happen.
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Like, how in the world, Pastor Jeff, do you know that that didn't happen?
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I want you to think about it.
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Where else in God's Word have you ever seen anything like that?
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I was thinking about it a lot this week.
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You know, that's an extremely cruel thought when you think about it.
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I mean, just, who do the angels work for?
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God, right? And they work for God perfectly, right?
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They do whatever God says to do.
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So you're telling me that under God's sovereignty and under God's direction, this angel, every so often, has a race for invalence.
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And says, "I'll tell you what, I'm going to sneak down and I'm going to splash the water, and whoever gets into the pool first gets healed, and the rest of you, sorry about your luck.
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Does that sound like God at all to you?
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To have some sort of an impromptu race for handicapped people?
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I mean, that sounds horribly cruel to me.
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And I just don't buy it.
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I just don't buy that that was actually a thing.
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I think it was a superstition.
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Like, oh, they were so silly back then, weren't they, Pastor Jeff?
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I look up the Popovich Miracle Water, right?
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Right, Darren Keller?
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Sally sent me a video one time with Peter Popovich with his miracle water.
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That you get this little packet of water in the mail, and these people are like, I got a check for $7,000 thanks to the miracle water.
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Some people believe anything.
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And that's exactly what was happening here.
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The pool was probably fed by some underground spring, and every so often it bubbled up.
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And the people were like, "Oh, the angels are taking a bath!
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Now's the time to jump in and get healed." Well, that's what was going on there.
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The Invalids laid around there because a lot of them believed the superstition.
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Verse 5 though, let's focus on one of them in particular.
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It says, "One man was there who had been an Invalid for 38 years." Just stop there for a second.
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Let's try to conceptualize that.
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Some of you haven't yet lived 38 years.
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So just for you, it's like your entire life plus, right?
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I was trying to conceptualize it for me.
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That would mean for me that I would have become an invalid in sixth grade, or I'm sorry, when I was six years old.
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Sorry, six years old, that's first grade.
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I wasn't six years old in sixth grade.
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First grade, from my first grade year of elementary school until this very day, I would have been an invalid.
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It's a long time.
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That's this man's story.
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Invalid 38 years.
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It says when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he'd already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" I'm going to stop there for a second because I'm going to be honest with you.
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I don't mean this to sound irreverent whatsoever.
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I'm just being honest with you.
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When I first read this, I thought that was a really dumb question.
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Now I'm conflicted here because I know Jesus doesn't ask dumb questions.
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When I first read this, I'm thinking, wait a minute, here's a guy that's been, almost four decades, he's been unable to walk.
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Okay, and then Jesus shows up and he says, "Do you want to be healed?" And I just imagine the smart-alecky side of me, and no, I don't want to be healed, actually.
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I was thinking about maybe laying here another 38 years, you know, sort of even out the tan.
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Like, do I want to be healed?
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Like, what kind of a question is that?
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I'm like, you know, the more I thought about that, you're going to see it.
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There's something extremely profound and wise in that question.
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We're going to get to that in a second.
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But as we go through the text, I want you to see the question isn't near as surprising as the answer.
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You would think that the guy would be like, yes, I want to be healed.
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Yes!
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Look at his answer.
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Verse 7.
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It says, "The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water's stirred up.
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And while I'm going, another steps down before me.'" He sort of gives his canned complaints, "Life's not fair, I'm such a victim, let me give you all the reasons I can't get well." You notice the guy didn't even really answer the question.
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Why didn't he just say yes?
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Well, truth be told, he had no idea who he was speaking to, okay?
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We're going to see that very clearly later in the text.
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He didn't know this was Jesus, he didn't know what Jesus was capable of, he just thought this was just some random stranger walk up like do you want to be healed like he didn't know it was Jesus but would it have mattered if he did know because 38 years is a long time to settle into the comforts of being an invalid to always have the excuse ready and if we're honest being well well that holds a lot more responsibilities. Maybe Jesus' question wasn't so crazy. Do you want to be healed? Maybe your Bible says, "Do you want to be made well?" Well, that means I'm gonna have to do more than just lay here. That means I'm not going to get people's donations, and I'm not going to get people's pity, and I'm not going to get people's attention. Maybe it's not such a crazy question. Think about it in in terms of our day, of somebody who has some sort of a physical issue going on, and they've learned to live off of SSI.
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Imagine going to that person and asking them, "Would you like to get healed and get off of SSI?" For some people, the answer would be no.
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Look, this is how I live.
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This is what I'm used to.
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And I can't imagine what life would be any different than it is.
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So he gives Jesus his excuses.
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verses 8 and 9, Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed and walk." And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and he walked. Now, that day was the Sabbath.
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And that last statement tells us the problems that are going to be coming, you're going to see again in the text, the problems that are going to be coming with the Jews. Jesus did this healing on the Sabbath. You know, the guy was an invalid for 38 years. Jesus a day sooner, or he could have waited a day later.
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Jesus very specifically and intentionally did this on the Sabbath.
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And to the Jews, what this man did was a violation of the Sabbath.
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To carry your bed as Jesus commanded him to do, this man broke the Sabbath.
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And that was a huge no-no.
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And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait.
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Isn't breaking the Sabbath, isn't that like in the Old Testament?" No.
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It's really not.
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If you study your Old Testament, the only prohibition regarding the Sabbath is don't work.
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What's the heart behind that?
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The heart behind that is men would just keep working 24/7, 365, never stop, never take a break, never focus on worship, ever.
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Never spend time with their family, ever.
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Never rest.
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Sabbath was a gift from God to man to say, you need to take time away from your work to rest and to worship.
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So the Jews made up hundreds of man-made rules that they believed would help them keep the Sabbath.
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Rules like.
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You're not allowed to carry your bed on the Sabbath.
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This man clearly violated that.
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First, hence, the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is a Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me..." See, he didn't know it was Jesus, okay?
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He says, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" We just have to pause here and note the true insanity of this passage, But the Jews didn't care that a man who was crippled for four decades is walking around.
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Don't care. Do you know what they cared about?
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"You're breaking our rules, pal." "What?" Verse 13, "Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place." I've got to stop here.
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I love this verse because this verse lets me cut the guy some slack.
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You know, I read so many preachers and commentators and scholars this week.
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And do you know what I saw over and over and over and over in my studies?
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So many of the preachers were like, "This guy was such an ingrate.
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Like Jesus healed him and he never said thank you." According to verse 13, does it look like the guy had a chance to know or to thank Jesus?
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It sounds like Jesus, according to verse 13, it sounds like Jesus just sort of flew by the pool, healed the guy and just kept going.
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It says Jesus had withdrawn before the guy was even like, "Whoa, who was that guy?" But Jesus is going to make sure that they meet again.
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Verse 14, "Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'See, you are well.
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Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you.'" So Jesus finds him in the crowd.
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I don't think that was an accident.
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Well, what's the point?
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Well, Jesus wanted to tell him the point of the miracle.
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You realize when Jesus did these miracles, it wasn't just a matter of dazzling people or showing off.
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There was always a point behind the miracle.
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I could do a whole sermon on this, but here's the short version.
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You ready?
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Jesus said to the man, "Look, I gave you a new lease on life.
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Now go live like it.
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Because the results of sin are a lot worse than the results of illness.
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In 38 years in invalid's bed, eternity in hell apart from God.
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In other words, don't take grace for granted.
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We're going to talk more about that in a couple of minutes.
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Verse 15 says, "The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him." So he uses his brand new legs to run to the Jews and tell them it was Jesus.
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Why?
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Again, a lot of people that I read this week, that was sort of the whole gist of their sermon, was like the guy was an ingrate and he was ratting Jesus out.
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And I just got to tell you, I can't say that.
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I would say maybe, but look, the text doesn't give his motives.
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It just doesn't.
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And perhaps, perhaps the guy was just innocent.
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Perhaps he was like, "Hey, I found out who that was.
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Hey guys, guys, I found out who that was. It was Jesus." I mean, we don't know that it was malicious.
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I don't know.
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It doesn't matter, because that's not the point anyways.
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The point is verse 16. Here's the point.
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This is why John tells us this whole story, to get to this point.
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He says, "And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath." John's like, "This is the whole point." Okay, so let's not split hairs over motives or gratefulness or anything like that.
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The point is they were mad at Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
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Well, Jesus knows everything and He knew their attitudes, so He responds to these Jews.
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Verse 17, "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.'" Jesus' response to them is simply, "My Father and I are at work." You Sabbath police people, your work is enforcing your little man-made laws, But my work is my Father's work.
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That's to love people.
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That's to minister to suffering people.
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Verse 18 shows us that Jesus' statement to them just doubled their reasons to hate Him.
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This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, look at this, making Himself equal with God.
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they at least rightly understood what Jesus was saying.
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He was equal with God.
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And this event is a turning point in the Gospel of John, because this event really fires up the hatred of the Jews, specifically the Jewish leaders, against Jesus.
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But for a few moments this morning, I just want to focus on one question.
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Again, I thought when I first read this that it was kind of a silly question.
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The more I've thought about this passage and meditated on it and studied it in its context and examined my own life, I think there's something profound here for you and for me.
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Jesus said, "Do you want to be made well?" Do you want to be made well?
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He confronted this man with that question, and He confronts you and I with that question today.
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"Oh, maybe you haven't been an invalid for 38 years, But you have something going on in your life that's been debilitating to you.
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And Jesus comes to you and He says to you, "Do you want to be made well?" What area is it for you?
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Because the Bible says Jesus knew what was going on with this guy.
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He knows what's going on with you.
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He knows the thing that's been even metaphorically crippling you.
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It's been hurting your walk.
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It's had a stranglehold.
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It's kept you in bondage.
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And imagine Jesus walking in today.
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He just cuts right through the chase.
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He goes, I know what's going on in your life.
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Do you want to get better?
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Are you content to just lay there?
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Do you want to be made well?
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That addiction, that addiction, you just can't seem to get behind you.
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Do you want to be made well?
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You know that addiction to pornography that's brought you such shame and damaged your relationships.
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to you, Jesus says, do you want to be made well?
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That marriage that has been miserable, Jesus comes to you and he says, do you want to be made well?
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That unforgiveness in a relationship that went bad years ago that you've just been so sour towards that person, you've had such hatred towards that person, and you know that's not God's intention, you know forgiven people forgive.
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And Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?
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Or maybe it's bad money management, right?
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You've so poorly mishandled God's money in your life that it just seems to hinder everything in your life.
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You just can't seem to get ahead or get a grip on anything in life because this financial thing is hanging over you." And Jesus comes to you and He says, "Do you want to be made well?" Well, I want you to jot some things down in your outline.
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Do you want to be healed?
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Do you want to be made well?
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Write from the text.
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Here's five things you need to do to get better.
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Five things you need to do to get better.
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And number one, you have to want to.
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It starts here.
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You have to want to.
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You have to want to.
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It all starts with How you answer the question, "Do you want to be made well?" I mean, like, honestly answering the question.
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In other words, are you comfortable in your place?
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Have you excused your inability to change?
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Have you settled for less?
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Have you gotten to the point with whatever your thing is - you know what it is - have you gotten to the point in your life that you're like, "Well, there's just really nothing more to life.
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This is it.
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Nothing's ever really going to change for me." and you just have this attitude of defeat that you're carrying around, like, "This is it. It's not going to get better for me. This is it.
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I'm just resolving myself that it's going to stink from here until the grave.
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It's just not going to get any different or any better for me." And I would suggest to you, if that's your attitude, you're just like this guy at first, when Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?"
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(mumbling)
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Like, what?
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How about yes?
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How about that?
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Maybe you've never really considered that God has something better for you.
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God has something more for you.
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And if you wanna get to a better place, you have to start here.
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You have to say, this is not what I want for my life, because this is not what Jesus wants for my life.
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This sin that I'm in bondage to, this debt, this whatever it is.
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It's not okay.
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It's not okay to live like this.
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And if Jesus is asking me if I want to be made well, He's not taunting me.
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If He's asking me, that means He's willing to get me there.
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But look, all I can tell you is it starts with this truly profound question.
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Do you want to be made well?
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You have to want to.
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And with all due respect, if your answer is no, then go back to doodle on your bulletin or something.
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Or maybe there's a magazine in the seat back you can read, but the rest of the sermon is not really going to apply to you if you don't want to experience everything that God wants for you.
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That's where it starts.
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You have to want to.
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Number two - five things you need to do to get better.
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is you've got to stop blaming others for your problems.
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You have to stop blaming others for your problems.
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You notice the man's response in verse 7?
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His response was in two parts, and both of them involved blaming other people.
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Did you catch that?
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Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?" He's like, "Well, Jesus, I'm going to give you a sermon right now." Two points. Point number one, "No one helps me." Okay, point number two, and I'm concluding.
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Everyone cuts in front of me.
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Blaming others for your problems.
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What this man did was settle into an identity that people love to embrace today, and it's victim mentality.
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I'm a victim, I'm a victim, I've been wronged.
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I've been wronged by somebody somewhere, somehow, somebody said something that I don't prefer, or somebody did something that wouldn't have been my choice, and now I'm a victim.
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And we just thrive on that stuff.
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And that was this guy.
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Here, God is standing in front of him, saying, do you want to be made well?
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Nobody helps me.
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Everyone cuts in front of me.
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All right, thanks for that update, Eeyore.
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Now listen, I'm not saying that other people's actions don't have a direct impact on our situation sometimes.
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Can we stop explaining to God that the reason we haven't let Him have control of our lives is because other people have control of our lives?
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Can we stop reasoning that out with God?
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Like, yeah, I see what you say in your word, God, but you don't understand what my co-worker's like.
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And our Lord is like, "Well, they must be a pretty important person.
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"If they have more of an impact on your life, than you're allowing me to have in your life.
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My work would be so much better.
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I'd be a better employee, but my co-workers have nothing to do with that.
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Or let's hit a little closer to home for some of you.
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My marriage would be so much better, but my wife is such a-- or my husband, you don't understand, I could be the best wife in the world, that my husband is such...
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How about this?
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God, if I'm going to get better, you're going to be the reason, regardless of what anyone is doing or not doing.
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For some of you, you need today.
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So you know what, I'm done.
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I'm done laying around like this guy, pointing to everybody else as being my problem while God's asking me if I want to get to a better place.
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I'm done with that.
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Number three, stop doing things your way.
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Stop doing things your way.
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Do you wanna get better?
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Stop doing things your way.
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This guy, this guy had one plan to get better.
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What was his plan?
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He goes, I can't move.
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Been like this almost four decades.
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I'm gonna get better.
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What was his plan?
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His plan was the magic angel bubbles, right?
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That was his plan.
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And you see, he pushed all his chips into that.
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He's like, I'm pushing all my chips into this.
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This is my plan to get better.
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When the angel comes splashing around, I'm going to get in that water.
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And then you're going to see, I'm going to skip out of here.
25:29-25:33
And at this point, the question was, yeah, how's that plan working out for you?
25:34-25:37
38 years later, how's that working for you?
25:38-25:44
And I love the fact that Jesus didn't offer to help him with his plan.
25:44-25:45
Did you catch that?
25:47-25:48
Jesus is like, do you want to be made well?
25:49-25:53
And the guy's like, yeah, yeah, I've got to get in the magic angel bubbles.
25:53-25:55
And Jesus is like, that's a great idea.
25:56-25:58
I'll tell you what, buddy, I'll stay right here with you.
25:58-26:03
And when the angels start splashing around, we'll beat the pants off these other people.
26:04-26:05
It's not even going to be close.
26:05-26:12
I'm going to scoop you up, and I'm going to throw you in cannonball, and you're going to come out an Olympian.
26:13-26:14
It's going to be awesome.
26:16-26:19
Jesus didn't go with this guy's plan, did he?
26:20-26:23
Jesus said, OK, you're going to get better, but you're going to get better my way.
26:24-26:25
Do you want to be made well?
26:26-26:31
Well, obviously, if your plan isn't working, maybe you're going about it in the wrong way.
26:33-26:37
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.
26:38-26:43
And if we're honest, that's a truth that hits a little too close to home for some of us.
26:44-26:57
Like, you know, Pastor Jeff, you mentioned earlier, the whole pornography thing. I've had this shame in my life, And I just can't seem to break that bondage.
26:57-26:58
Well, what has your plan been?
27:00-27:01
Has it worked for you?
27:03-27:04
I want to get out of debt.
27:04-27:06
I want to be in a better place financially.
27:08-27:10
Well, how has your plan to date worked?
27:13-27:15
And I would suggest to you that maybe you need a new way.
27:16-27:18
It hasn't worked yet.
27:18-27:19
Maybe you need a new way.
27:20-27:21
Well, what way is that?
27:23-27:24
Well, that's number four.
27:25-27:26
Do what Jesus says to do.
27:28-27:29
That's the new way.
27:30-27:32
This man did have a choice, right?
27:33-27:37
He could trust and do what Jesus told him to do or he could just lay there.
27:39-27:40
But he obeyed.
27:41-27:43
And I would ask you, do you want to be made better?
27:43-27:44
Do you want to be healed?
27:46-27:50
What is God's Spirit, through God's Word, telling you your next step is.
27:51-27:52
For you. For your situation.
27:53-27:54
For the thing that's crippling you.
27:54-27:57
What is God's Spirit through God's Word telling you?
27:57-27:58
Hey, here's your next step.
27:59-28:04
I have a feeling, for those of you who walk with the Lord, you know what the next step is.
28:04-28:06
You know exactly what the next step is.
28:06-28:08
You know what you should do.
28:08-28:09
You just haven't done it.
28:10-28:18
And if you're sitting here today and you're like, Pastor Jeff, I have no idea what the next step is for me, I would ask you, are you even seeking the Lord on this?
28:20-28:25
Are you even listening to what Jesus is telling you to do to get out of the place you're in?
28:27-28:30
Are you looking for that from Him?
28:31-28:34
Or are you just laying there making your excuses and pointing fingers?
28:35-28:41
You have to do what Jesus tells you to do if you want to experience the life He wants you to experience.
28:43-28:46
That's why in verse 8 he gives a three-part command.
28:48-28:54
And I love this because it's so simple, and it's progressive, and it's transforming.
28:56-28:57
Here's Jesus' three-part plan.
28:57-28:59
He's like, "Okay, your thing isn't working.
28:59-29:00
Here's what you're going to do instead.
29:01-29:08
You're going to get up, you're going to take up your bed, and you're going to walk." And you know those three things?
29:08-29:10
Those are the three things he's calling you to do today, too.
29:11-29:18
You're like, "But I'm... my legs are fine, I'm not a..." Look, it's the same three principles, the exact same three principles.
29:19-29:20
Drop these down.
29:22-29:24
Letter A, the first thing Jesus is telling you to do is get up.
29:25-29:26
Get up.
29:27-29:29
That's not in your power.
29:30-29:34
What that meant for this man and what this means for you is you need to trust His power.
29:35-29:37
Jesus didn't tell this guy to get up in his strength.
29:37-29:46
He said, "Get up in My strength that I'm giving you." Jesus provides His power through His Holy Spirit for everyone who will trust Him.
29:47-29:56
So you've got to start trusting the power of Christ in your life, and stop trying to trust your own power that's left you laying there for 38 years.
29:57-30:00
Get up in the power of the Lord.
30:01-30:05
Letter B, "Take up your bed." What does that mean?
30:05-30:08
That means make no provision to come back here.
30:08-30:10
Make no provision to go back to your old ways.
30:11-30:12
That's why Jesus told him to take his bed.
30:14-30:18
It wasn't like, "You're going to do better for a while, but leave the bed here.
30:18-30:33
Just in case this being well thing isn't working out so good for you, you can come back and lay by the pool." No, He was saying, "Take it. You're not going to need it here anymore." That's what the New Testament refers to as making no provision for the flesh.
30:35-30:38
That means you might have to cut off that relationship you know you shouldn't be in.
30:40-30:43
It means you need to stop going back to that place that keeps getting you into trouble.
30:44-30:50
It's no looking back, burn the bridges, this chapter of your life is over, you're not coming back.
30:52-30:55
So get up in the power of the Holy Spirit.
30:55-30:58
Take up your bed, make no provision for the flesh.
30:58-31:00
And what did Jesus tell them to do third?
31:00-31:08
He said, "Walk." Walk. That's moving forward, expecting continued success.
31:08-31:13
In other words, you're a forgiven, transformed, born again child of God.
31:13-31:15
So walk like it.
31:15-31:23
Stop walking like somebody that doesn't know the Lord, or His power, or His Word, or His goodness, or His wisdom, limping through life.
31:23-31:29
Walk like a child who has received the power and gift of God.
31:29-31:32
to walk confidently yet humbly before the Lord.
31:33-31:33
Walk like it.
31:34-31:37
That's what the New Testament refers to as walking worthy of the Gospel.
31:38-31:40
So do what Jesus says to do.
31:40-31:45
And then finally, number five, live in gratitude to Jesus.
31:46-31:48
Live in gratitude to Jesus. I love verse 14.
31:50-31:52
Jesus finds the guy again in the temple.
31:52-31:54
Did you see the first thing Jesus says to him?
31:55-31:55
Kind of cracks me up.
31:56-32:02
He's like, "See, you were well." The guy's like, "I am! Wow! You know, I forgot.
32:03-32:16
You know, those five minutes of walking kind of blocked out the last 38 years of laying, so thanks for the reminder that I'm still well." Like, did the guy really need reminded?
32:16-32:19
I mean, come on, come on. Did the guy really need reminded?
32:21-32:25
And the answer is yes, he did, because we all do.
32:25-32:37
I don't know about you, but I see very blatantly in my life that I have this tendency to experience God's grace and immediately go back to old attitudes and habits, forgetting what He's done for me.
32:37-32:38
How about you?
32:39-32:52
God shows up in a profound way and does something that only He can do, and we are so blessed at the presence and work of the Lord, and then we go about our business and we just forget.
32:52-32:53
We just forget.
32:54-32:58
you know we're back to laying by the pool complaining about everybody.
32:59-33:01
Living in gratitude keeps us from living in sin.
33:02-33:05
Living in gratitude keeps us from living in sin.
33:05-33:06
So live in gratitude to Jesus.
33:07-33:08
Do you want to be made well?
33:09-33:11
You can get to a better place.
33:12-33:14
You don't have to settle for where you are.
33:15-33:25
You don't have to hope that someday your way of doing things that have always ultimately failed are just going to magically bring about a different result because it won't.
33:27-33:45
God supplies the grace, the power, the wisdom, and the continued success of a transformed life and all you need to supply is the one thing that to this point maybe you haven't. That's your will. Do you want to be made well? Let's pray.
33:46-33:53
Father in heaven, we thank you for the simple yet profound nature of your Word.
33:54-34:15
Boy, we saw some things in here that just baffled my mind, that hits a little close to home when I really stop and think about it. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters here, and I pray for my brothers and sisters who are listening to this online, whether they're sick and couldn't join us today or They're listening on the other side of the world.
34:18-34:20
Father, so many of us can identify with that guy by the pool.
34:21-34:31
Something in our lives has crippled us, and we've been so content to just lay around and make excuses and blame everybody else for our problems.
34:32-34:47
Today, Father, I pray with fresh eyes we would see Christ showing up, asking us if we want to get to a better place, if we want to be made well, if we're willing to abandon what we've been doing and what we've known for what He has for us instead.
34:49-34:53
Father, I pray specifically that You would, by Your Spirit, change our heart and give us the will.
34:54-35:09
Father, I pray that we would leave here today no longer willing to be content, to settle, but instead, Father, our hearts are wide open to receive whatever it is You have for us.
35:10-35:15
Give us the faith to get up and to pick up our mat and to walk.
35:16-35:20
Through the incomparable name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray.
35:21-35:21
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:1-18

What was your big takeaway from this passage / message?
Why do you think some people do NOT want to be made well? (John 5:6)
Why do you think we naturally tend to point fingers and blame others for our troubles? (John 5:7)
How does living in gratitude keep us from living in sin? (John 5:14)
What specifically has God done for YOU that you could use reminded of?

Breakout
With which of the “5 things needed to get better” do you struggle the most with? Why? Pray for one another.

Daniel Thompson

February 9, 2020

Guest Speaker

Living in Exile

Daniel Thompson

February 9, 2020

Guest Speaker

Introduction:

Daniel 1

5 Responsibilities While We Are Away From Home:

Maintain Perspective. (Dan 1:1-4)
1. Heaven is our Home. (Dan 1:1)
2. God is in Control. (Dan 1:2)
Live as Undefiled. (Dan 1:5-8)
Colossians 3:5-10
Pray . (Dan 1:9, 2:17-18, 6:10)
1. Pray for Wisdom
2. Pray for Provision
3. Pray for Leaders

Jeremiah 29:7 - But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Test your Faith . (Dan 1:10-16)
Do your Job . (Dan 1:17-21)
Micah 6:8 | 1 Timothy 5:8 | Titus 3:1-2

01:10-01:12
There have been a lot of things said about home.
01:13-01:14
Home is where the heart is.
01:15-01:16
Home sweet home.
01:16-01:17
There's no place like home.
01:18-01:23
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
01:24-01:26
Home is where one starts from.
01:27-01:38
Or the more cynical out there say, "Home is the place where when you have to go there, they have to take you in." or as my coworker's Skype message says, home is where the Wi-Fi connects automatically.
01:39-01:45
Whatever your definition of home, I think that most of us see home as a place where we wanna be.
01:46-01:51
And when we are away from our home, especially when we don't wanna be, we can get anxious or irritated.
01:53-01:58
Webster defines exile as the state of forced or voluntary absence from your home.
01:59-02:01
And there are many reasons that people go into exile.
02:02-02:06
Sometimes it's a form of punishment, like Napoleon.
02:06-02:10
He was exiled from France because he kept taking over Europe, which is frowned upon.
02:11-02:19
And Dante Alighieri, think like Dante's Inferno, he was exiled from Florence, Italy because he wouldn't support the current Pope.
02:19-02:28
And Nelson Mandela was exiled from the mainland of South Africa because he wouldn't accept the injustice of apartheid and he wouldn't keep his mouth shut.
02:29-02:40
So sometimes it's a form of punishment, Other times it's to flee punishment, like Benedict Arnold, who realized that America was not going to welcome him back, and so he went into self-exile.
02:42-02:50
Or how the Rolling Stones told England that you can't always get what you want, like nearly a decade of back taxes that they owed.
02:51-03:03
Sometimes people go into exile to avoid danger, like Albert Einstein went into exile from Germany because the Nazi form of Jewish science was not something that he wanted to be a part of.
03:04-03:09
And the current Dalai Lama is an exile from Tibet because China doesn't share power very well.
03:10-03:14
Sometimes it's to avoid danger, but other times the danger is unavoidable.
03:15-03:20
Like Louis Zamperini from The Unbroken Story, which is an amazing story of heroism.
03:21-03:59
But he was the Olympian-turned-Army air bomber who was taken captive as a Japanese prisoner during World War II the Pacific Ocean. Or you go into exile because of unavoidable danger like the heroes in our story here in Daniel chapter 1. Today we are going to look at this example of how to live well while in exile. So our story begins as Judah, the southern kingdom of ancient Israel, falls into captivity at the hands of the Babylonians. And to orient us in time, we're looking at the last days of the earthly Jewish kings around 600 years before Christ.
04:00-04:06
And I selected this text at least in part because our main characters are some of my most favorite people recorded in the Bible.
04:08-04:12
First, we see Daniel, of whom I am a namesake, and his friends.
04:14-04:21
These boys were likely only teenagers when they were captured and yet we still talk about them today as incredible examples of faith.
04:22-04:25
Second, we get King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
04:26-04:31
I have decided that he is the first non-family person that I plan to find when I get to heaven.
04:32-04:38
I just find him very entertaining in the whole book of Daniel, but here in our story today, he doesn't really do all that much exciting.
04:39-04:41
But Nebuchadnezzar does kickstart our story.
04:42-04:44
So let me read verses one through four.
04:45-04:52
"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, "king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
04:53-04:56
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.
04:56-05:05
And with some of the vessels of the house of God, he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God.
05:07-05:25
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance, and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stay in the king's palace and to teach them literature and the language of the Chaldean.
05:27-05:34
When Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, he took the best prize of the stuff and he took the smartest and brightest youth from Jerusalem.
05:35-05:39
This is how Daniel and his friends and many others were taken into exile to Babylon.
05:40-05:52
So you might rightly ask, "Why do we need to learn how to live in exile?" I think it's very reasonable for you to maintain some healthy skepticism of how I'm going to make the concept of exile applicable to our lives.
05:53-05:57
I mean, in our modern age, what kind of exile could we possibly face?
05:59-06:03
Well, I would like to suggest to you that there are several types of exile that we do actually face.
06:04-06:10
First, on a cosmic scale, as Christians, while we live on this earth, we are away from our true home, which is in heaven.
06:12-06:16
Having been born in a foreign land, we await a day when we will first arrive in our true country.
06:18-06:23
This is macro-level exile that affects all who profess Christ as Lord and Savior.
06:24-06:33
And second, on a personal level, any one of us may find ourselves, whether at work or at school or even in our own families, as the only believer in sight.
06:34-06:42
In this micro-sense, we are in exile in the foreign world around us of people unwilling or unable to understand our desire to serve Christ.
06:43-06:48
Lastly, there is a mid-level exile that specifically applies to us as American Christians.
06:50-07:01
We find ourselves in a country that is becoming increasingly foreign to us, and not in a xenophobic sense, but in a way where we see the fundamental principles and values of our country's founding eroding away with each generation.
07:02-07:06
This type of exile leaves us as strangers in a strange land.
07:07-07:11
So as we look at Daniel, Think of whatever form of exile to which you can most relate.
07:11-07:15
The Apostle Paul reminds us all that we are ambassadors for Christ.
07:16-07:21
And with that in mind, it is my hope that you will learn from Daniel's example of how to live well while in exile.
07:24-07:37
This past fall, I spent two weeks in Thailand, and two weeks is the longest I had ever been away from Alicia in our marriage, and the longest I had ever been away from any of my girls since they had been alive.
07:38-07:43
But when you go to a foreign country, there are certain responsibilities that you have.
07:44-07:47
Like, I had to have my passport with me anywhere that I went.
07:48-07:54
Or I had to check in regularly with my family to see how they were doing and to get up to speed on what was going on.
07:55-08:00
Or this one, which I failed, which was to not bring my work phone to Hong Kong.
08:01-08:01
Oops.
08:02-08:07
But wherever you go, there's always certain responsibilities that you have to do while you're away from home.
08:07-08:13
So today we are going to look at five responsibilities while we are away from home in exile.
08:14-08:16
And there's definitely some overlap with these points.
08:16-08:21
This isn't so much as a five-step plan, but as tools for us to consider as ambassadors for Christ.
08:23-08:27
So our first responsibility in our exile is to maintain perspective.
08:29-08:29
Maintain perspective.
08:30-08:33
Look, let's face it, exile sounds pretty bleak.
08:34-08:54
was really only a boy when he was taken from his holy homeland by pagan oppressors, taken from everyone and everything that he ever knew. He had no real hope of ever returning home and as far as we know he never did. Similarly, it would be easy for us in our exile to say to hell with this world, get me to heaven now, forget about everything else going on.
08:55-09:03
We could look at our godless work environment, keep our head down, put our nose to the grindstone and just collect our paychecks, ignoring those around us.
09:04-09:12
Or we could pine about the good old days in our country and cynically fantasize about moving to Australia or something, depending on the results of the next election.
09:14-09:16
But Daniel reminds us that we have a higher calling.
09:16-09:19
We must maintain perspective of at least two things.
09:19-09:24
We must remember A, that heaven is our home, and B, God is in control.
09:25-09:26
Well, how did Daniel do this?
09:27-09:29
Look back at verses one and two.
09:30-09:33
As the author of this book, Daniel includes two important details.
09:34-09:39
In verse one, he reminds himself and informs us that he is from Jerusalem.
09:40-09:44
No matter where he goes, no matter what happens to him, he is from Jerusalem.
09:45-09:49
We too need to be regularly reminded that our true home is in heaven.
09:50-09:54
Wherever we currently spend our time, whatever goes on around us, heaven is our home.
09:56-10:02
This is a great comfort, but we don't need to wait for heaven to live as if we are already there.
10:03-10:14
Jesus told us, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The perspective that heaven is our home gives us hope for the future, yes, but it also gives us great purpose for right now.
10:16-10:18
The other detail that Daniel included is in verse 2.
10:18-10:22
He recorded for us that God is in control in the midst of what looked like chaos.
10:23-10:28
Daniel makes it very clear that it was the Lord's hand that gave Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar's hand.
10:29-10:32
Remarkably, God was in control during this Babylonian captivity.
10:33-10:43
With this fact understood, Daniel can move past the doubtful question of why is this happening, Lord, to the faithful response that says, "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord.
10:43-12:11
"Let it be to me according to your word." If we want to live well in our exile, we have to see God's hand in every situation which we find ourselves. We must know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. We must trust him with all of our circumstances, even those beyond our ability to control or understand. Our perspective about God makes all the difference, right? Small God, big problems. Big God, and our problems get small. So our first responsibility in exile is to maintain perspective. Secondly, in exile we are to live as undefiled. Let's read verses 5 through 8. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years and at the end of time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Meshach, Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Meshach he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself." This is the part where I had this whole thing planned out for Justin or Jeff, but neither of them are here.
12:12-12:16
So I'll just skip past that and get on to the real part of the situation.
12:16-12:26
Because we spent our time in Thailand, there were long stretches where we spoke only in puns, so I'll save you from those terrible dad jokes.
12:26-12:28
But let's recap Daniel's situation.
12:29-12:31
Daniel and his friends are taken into captivity.
12:32-12:34
They're renamed with Babylonian equivalents of their names.
12:35-12:39
And over the next three years, they were to be educated and indoctrinated in Babylonian culture.
12:40-12:41
Nebuchadnezzar was no dummy.
12:42-12:52
He took the best and brightest from each of the very different tribes that he ruled, and he would take care of all their needs and make them as smart as possible, all for the low price of Babylonian conformity.
12:53-12:59
The king very effectively consolidated the collective genius of the lands that he conquered and repackaged it in his image.
13:00-13:01
Political genius.
13:03-13:36
Daniel understood this political strategy or not, he resolved to not defile himself with the king's food or wine. So what's the big deal with this food and wine? Well, for these Jewish boys, there were at least two problems. First, with all the cleanliness laws and dietary restrictions, it was almost certain that this food was unclean and would inherently be not permitted by Mosaic law. Now that they were 500 miles away from the temple, which is the only place that they could get clean, they had a strong incentive to avoid unnecessary unrighteous acts.
13:37-13:40
The other problem is that this food and drink was likely devoted to idols.
13:41-13:54
In Exodus, before they entered the promised land, God had specifically warned his people that eating this food and engaging in idolatry would result in the people getting kicked out of the promised land, which is exactly what is being passed on to Daniel and his friends right here.
13:56-13:59
Daniel and his friends determined that this was the line that they would not cross.
14:00-14:07
With this stance on food, these boys were going to maintain their identity as God's holy people and their commitment to him.
14:09-14:11
See, compromise in and of itself is not wrong.
14:12-14:16
'Cause other than this food thing, these guys were pretty agreeable with the demands of captivity.
14:17-14:25
In his commentary on the book of Daniel, David Gozick points out that Daniel did not object to the name given to him because he knew who he was and people could call him what they wanted.
14:25-14:28
He did not object to Babylonian education because he knew what he believed.
14:29-14:34
But Daniel did object to the food from the king's table because eating it was a direct disobedience to God's word.
14:36-14:44
Each of us needs to decide before God and in accordance with his word, how are we going to keep ourselves from being defiled by the broken world in which we live?
14:46-14:49
What boundaries are we going to place upon ourselves to keep us from sin?
14:50-14:52
God commands us be holy because he is holy.
14:54-14:56
Holiness sounds complicated, but it can be simple enough to understand.
14:57-14:59
To be holy means to be set apart for a purpose.
15:00-15:07
And the Aero students already know where I'm going with this because my favorite example of holiness is a toothbrush.
15:09-15:10
And a toothbrush can do lots of things, right?
15:11-15:17
Like it can rub crayon marks off your walls, it can massage your cuticles, and it can scrub the tile grout on your bathroom floor.
15:17-15:19
And of course it can clean your teeth.
15:20-15:23
However, there is a very holy assignment to my toothbrush.
15:23-15:26
It can only be used to clean my mouth.
15:26-15:32
And if it were ever used for one of these less holy purposes, it would be unable to serve its primary duty any longer.
15:33-15:41
In fact, most people consider their personal toothbrush so holy that it must be thrown away if another person were to use it, or even if a stink bug were to land on it.
15:42-15:48
So our toothbrush can teach us about holiness because it is set apart for a very exclusive purpose.
15:49-16:57
In the same way, we are called to be holy, set apart to be God's ambassadors in this world. It is his desire that our lives would reflect his word in our actions, words, and thoughts. This is a very high calling, but thanks be to our gracious God that he has cleansed us from all our defiling deeds, past, present, and future. The blood of Christ is able to wash us white as snow to go from being an object that should be thrown away to the holy vessel which is set apart to do its holy job. The washing comes from God. That's his part. That's his job. Our job is once clean to stay clean. And even when we do defile ourselves with sin, to quickly repent and act like what we really are as God's undefiled servants. The Bible talks about this everywhere. But I'll just bring up Colossians 3 which says, "Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourselves of such things as these.
16:57-17:28
Anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and the image of its Creator. Put off and put to death the old, put on the new. We must stop defiling ourselves by acting like the sinful world around us. We must flee from the things and places that we know will distract and degrade our holy calling.
17:29-17:47
This is critical in our state of exile. If we look the same as everyone else, how will they see our God? If we go along with the current of this world, we will be swept out to the sea of hell. Or even if we are saved, when we go with the flow we are in no position to save others who are caught in the current.
17:49-18:00
So, our second responsibility is to live as undefiled. Number three, we must pray.
18:01-18:36
Look at verse 9, "And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of eunuchs. So at this point you should rightly call me out for cheating, because at no point in this passage does it say anything about prayer, and that is very true and we should never read anything into the text that's not there. However, Daniel lived in exile for a very long time, and I only have this one sermon to preach these points, so if you bear with my spygate of future chapters of Daniel, I think this point will make itself. If you read through the book of Daniel, which we're not gonna do today, you will very clearly see that Daniel is a man of prayer.
18:37-18:45
In chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that he wants interpreted, but he's not willing to share what the dream is, a nearly impossible task.
18:47-18:55
In verses 17 and 18, Daniel gathered his friends together to pray for an answer from God, and their prayers were answered very quickly that night.
18:57-18:59
And Daniel gets the interpretation of the dream.
19:00-19:09
Later on in chapter six, when jealous political rivals sought to disqualify Daniel, the only thing that they could trap him in was that he would not stop praying to God.
19:10-19:12
Prayer is actually what sent him to the lion's den.
19:14-19:22
So knowing how dedicated Daniel was to prayer, I find it very reasonable to claim that Daniel prayed here in chapter one somewhere in verses eight and nine.
19:23-19:27
See, Daniel's resolve not to defile himself came from his relationship with God.
19:27-19:48
For him to have the wisdom and commitment take this stance as one so young, he must have spent some time with God in prayer. And God's answer was to give Daniel favor with his captor, and God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of eunuchs. This entire situation happened as the result of prayer.
19:50-19:59
For us, we often turn to prayer as a last resort. I guess all we can do is pray, And here at Harvest, we know that that is a terrible thing to say.
20:00-20:02
Instead, we like to say the best thing that we can do is pray.
20:03-20:05
And that's especially true when we are in exile.
20:06-20:13
The only way in which we would be successful in doing any of these other four responsibilities is if we are connected to the source of our strength.
20:14-20:22
We must speak with God openly and often, because our exile is far more spiritual than it is physical.
20:23-20:26
So we must face these spiritual problems with spiritual solutions.
20:27-20:43
And in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul encourages us to put on the spiritual armor of God and to face the spiritual forces of darkness in this world. As he goes through each piece of the armor, he ends by telling us that each one is put on with prayer.
20:44-20:47
So we must pray as we are in our exile, but what should we pray for?
20:48-20:50
Well, the simple answer is everything.
20:51-21:09
But here are some starting points. A, we should ask for wisdom. The book of James tells us that when we ask God for wisdom, he will give it to us generously. He did that for Solomon, he did that for Christ, and he certainly did that here for Daniel and throughout this entire book.
21:10-21:41
We must ask God for how to navigate in this world in a way that honors him. Yes, we have his word, but prayer is the process of applying the principles of the Bible into the individual decisions that we make on a day-to-day basis. So first, ask for wisdom. Second, we need to ask for provision. In the Lord's Prayer, we are to ask, "Give us, Lord, our daily bread." This is daily and it is basic. We have needs and God has unlimited resources to meet them.
21:42-21:51
It is a matter of trusting him every day that he will continue to provide. Right here, Daniel receives literal provision through the vegetarian meal selection.
21:52-21:58
In our exile, we need to ask ourselves if we trust God to provide for us every day.
21:59-22:02
Do we trust God to provide for this world that seems so against him?
22:03-22:08
Do we trust God to provide for our workplace or our school or our family?
22:09-22:46
Do we trust God to provide for our country? Ask for wisdom, ask for provision, and lastly, pray for leaders. Right before the very popular verse, Jeremiah 29 11, in verse 7, God gives an interesting command that I'm not sure I remember reading before. It says, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Daniel worked for at least four pagan kings, and most of them thought very highly of Daniel. And this wasn't because he always did or said what they wanted.
22:46-23:09
This was because God gave Daniel favor with these leaders. Through Daniel's prayers, God extended favor to Daniel and to these kings. Well, at least the kings had favor whenever they humbly listened to God's warnings. But when we face the difficulties of our exile, How often are we praying for our bosses or our teachers or our difficult family members?
23:10-23:16
How often are we praying for our president and our government officials, whether they're elected or appointed, whether they're federal or local?
23:18-23:24
Our Harvest Prayer Services are a great opportunity to gather as a community and do exactly that.
23:26-23:30
Because no matter what the situation is that we face, the answer is to pray.
23:31-23:34
So it is our responsibility to pray while we live in exile.
23:36-23:39
Our fourth responsibility in exile is to test your faith.
23:40-23:42
Let's continue reading verses 10 through 16.
23:44-23:53
And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my Lord, the King, "who assigned your food and your drink, "for why should he see that you were in worse condition "than the youths who are of your own age?
23:54-24:01
"So you would endanger my head with the King." Then Daniel said to the steward of whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, "and I am Mishael and Azariah.
24:02-24:04
"Test your servants for these 10 days.
24:05-24:07
"Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
24:08-24:19
"Then let our appearance and the appearance "of the youths who eat the king's food "be observed by you and deal with your servants "according to what you see." So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days.
24:19-24:26
At the end of the 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than the youths who ate the king's food.
24:26-27:09
So the steward took away their food and the wine that they were to drink gave them vegetables. Though he does like Daniel, the steward in charge of him also likes his own head. And he's worried that if he lets these four skip out on the normal food, then it will be him that suffers if they fall behind in health. Daniel simply responds with the request to give it a try. In his combined boldness and reasonableness, Daniel is able to convince his caretaker to try his plan. This again reflects Daniel's wisdom and trust in God. For us, there are moments when after we have mentally prepared to maintain the right perspective, we have resolved to stay undefiled, and we have been spiritually nourished through prayer, after we have done all these things, we still need to be willing to put our money where our mouth is. We need to test God at his word. And the Bible is filled with examples of this, but the analogy that I always think of is the levels of faith as shown by a chair. If we look at this chair, we could say, "Will the chair hold my weight?" And the first level of faith is intellectual agreement. I could sit there and say, "Well, the chair looks like it's made out of strong materials. It appears to be holding everyone else in the room in their similar chairs, so it could probably hold my weight." The first level is intellectual agreement. The second level of faith is evidence-based conclusion. This is where we, this is where we measure whether this chair has the strength of materials. I could take tests on the metals and determine, yes, this chair can hold this much weight with it all assembled this way. Or I can look over there and say it's clearly holding Darren, so if it can hold Darren, then it can hold me. This is an evidence-based conclusion. But the third level of faith about whether this chair can hold my weight is what? Sit down in it. And so when I sit in this chair, I show that I really have this action-oriented commitment to my faith that the chair can hold me. And when we live in this third level of faith, we must live in the obedience to God, which includes repentance when we screw up. It is not just enough to know God's word and to commune with Him in prayer. At some point, we must act upon our faith and test God at his word. If we know that this dark world is in desperate need of Christ, will we test that by sharing Christ with others? If we know that love is a more excellent way, will we test that by sacrificially loving those difficult family members, coworkers, or classmates? So as we live in exile, we must test our faith.
27:10-27:12
And very similar to this is the last point.
27:13-27:16
When you live in exile, you must do your job.
27:17-27:18
Let me finish the chapter.
27:20-27:24
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom.
27:25-27:27
And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
27:28-27:34
At the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.
27:35-27:36
And the king spoke with them.
27:36-27:40
And among all of them was none found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
27:41-27:52
Therefore they stood before the king, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
27:53-28:00
And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus." See God is faithful in Daniel's faithfulness.
28:01-28:02
And the food test proved successful.
28:03-28:14
In fact, the boys looked so much better than the rest that the guard agreed to continue giving them only vegetables and water for the remainder of their three years of training.
28:15-28:20
And while this is a testimony to God's faithfulness, I actually think that these last few verses are an even better testimony.
28:22-28:24
Daniel worked hard for the remainder of his life.
28:25-28:28
God continued to bless Daniel and his friends through God extending grace to them.
28:30-28:31
Daniel lived a pretty amazing life.
28:32-29:24
interpreted crazy dreams. He predicted events hundreds of years into the future with incredible precision. In fact, so much precision that that's what the Book of Daniel is criticized for. It's too accurate. It couldn't have possibly been written before these events happened. And he saw visions of revelation that have yet to come. And for most of his adult life, he served in positions of near supreme authority. And even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they stood in the fiery furnace with the pre-incarnate Christ and saw God's faithful deliverance there. These guys did not waste their exile. They served Nebuchadnezzar in spite of his character. A pagan king who ransacked the temple and kidnapped Daniel and his friends and he likely killed members of their family. On top of that he's married to a foreign woman and who knows how faithful he was.
29:24-29:34
Nebuchadnezzar was an emotional powder keg and really used to blast out proclamations from the ancient equivalent of Twitter. He certainly didn't act very kingly.
29:34-29:38
People would say, "He's not my king." Sounds like familiar criticism, right?
29:40-30:51
Yet in all of that, Daniel served him anyway, and he was greatly blessed by his obedience to God and being an approved workman and a good citizen. We cannot take a holier-than-thou position when it comes to engaging in the world we live in. We must do our job like Daniel. And he's not unlike some of the famous exiles that I mentioned at the beginning. During his first exile, Napoleon created a plot to take over Europe again, and for a hundred days it looked like it might actually work. And while in exile, Dante wrote his Divine Comedy, which is his most famous work about Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradiso. Whether it's Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, the Rolling Stones, Louis Zamperini, and the Dalai Lama, all these people are famous because of the things that they did during their exile. On this earth, while we remain in exile, God has given us some jobs to do. And just like with Daniel, there is a priority here to ensure that we do these jobs without neglecting the higher priority ones. And in general, God has made us his ambassadors in this dark world. So our job is to represent him well. What does that look like? Well, I think I think Micah 6.8 captures that most succinctly.
30:52-30:56
We need to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
30:57-30:58
Are you doing this job?
31:00-31:02
In our families, God has called us to be providers.
31:03-31:15
1 Timothy 5.8 says, "But if anyone does not provide "for his relatives, and especially for members "of his household, he is denied the faith "and is worse than an unbeliever." That is a scary verse.
31:16-31:18
What ways are we to provide for our family?
31:18-31:21
Parents are called to provide financially and educationally.
31:21-31:24
Children are called to provide honor and obedience.
31:24-31:26
Husbands are called to provide love and understanding.
31:27-31:29
Wives are called to provide respect and support.
31:30-31:32
Children are called to provide unity and loyalty.
31:33-31:35
Are you doing this job?
31:36-31:39
In our church, he has called us to be disciples.
31:40-32:10
And here at Harvest, we say that a disciple of Christ three things. Worships Christ, walks with Christ, and works for Christ. Are you doing this job? In your workplace or your school, God has called you to be a worker approved by God. This means that we need to work with excellence using the gifts God has given to us. It means that we need to be trustworthy, being honest even if it costs us something. It means we must care for others and not move about our day indifferent to the needs of those God has placed around us.
32:11-32:16
Are you doing this job? In our country, God has called us to be good citizens.
32:17-32:39
This means we need to pay what is due. Honor, duty, taxes, all described in Romans 13. In our country, we have the freedom and the responsibility to vote. I've been saying to people at work, in the primaries our job is to vote for the best candidate, and in the actual election it's our job to vote against the worst, but we cannot sit on the sidelines.
32:40-32:45
Being a good citizen means that we need to speak out against injustice like Esther did.
32:45-32:59
In our world where we value money over meaning, we value convenience over compassion, and we value liberty over life, as a result, injustice abounds, often without a voice on behalf of those who are afflicted.
33:00-33:03
Or even when we do speak up, our approach condemns us as well.
33:04-33:22
Titus 3.1 says, "Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy to all people." Sure doesn't sound like our world.
33:22-33:24
So are you doing this job?
33:25-33:29
We need to model Christ-like behavior in all aspects of our life.
33:29-33:33
We need to do our jobs while we still have breath in our lungs.
33:34-33:43
when we reach heaven, we want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." So whether we like it or not, we are in some form of exile.
33:43-33:48
And everything that I've described so far today describes the exile of a believer in Jesus Christ.
33:49-33:54
However, there is another exile that's far worse, but also it has a more immediate solution.
33:55-34:00
For everyone who does not know Christ, you are in exile of your own making from your creator.
34:01-34:09
Like Adam and Eve when they sinned, hid and ran from God, we too are fleeing from the holy king of this world because of our rebellion to his rule.
34:09-34:16
If you live in exile from God, repent, turn around, come home to your heavenly father who awaits for you to return.
34:17-34:19
Confess your sin and submit to his rule.
34:19-34:23
Renounce the citizenship to your own kingdom and become a citizen of heaven.
34:25-34:28
End your self-exile by falling to the foot of the cross.
34:30-34:35
But for us as believers, because we are away from our true home in heaven, we remain in exile in this world.
34:36-34:40
As a result, we have some responsibilities that we need to own.
34:40-34:45
We must maintain the perspective that heaven is our home and that God is in control.
34:45-34:56
We must live as undefiled, both by avoiding sin and by walking in the reality that we are seen as white as snow in the eyes of God as a result of the cleansing blood of Christ.
34:57-35:03
We must pray because the wisdom and provision and authority to do any of this comes only from God.
35:04-35:09
And we must test our faith to prove to ourselves that obedience to God is the best way.
35:10-35:19
And finally, we must do our jobs in this world, in our home, in our church, in our job or school and in our country.
35:20-35:23
Let us make the most of our exile and finish well.
35:24-35:25
Please pray with me.
35:27-35:30
Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to look at your word.
35:30-35:34
Lord, I thank you for the fact that you provide power for us in our exile.
35:35-35:37
God, you have given us a holy purpose.
35:38-35:45
I pray, Lord, that we would live up to this calling, God, by the power of your word and by the spirit that lives inside of us.
35:45-35:52
Lord, I pray that you would convict us where we need conviction and you would change us to do more to live in exile.
35:52-35:56
God, I pray that we would look to you for our strength and our source of power.
35:56-35:58
All these things we ask for in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Daniel 1:1-21

Do you ever feel as though you are in exile? How so?
Of the responsibilities listed, which one encouraged you the most? Which one convicted you the most?
What job are you neglecting? How do you plan to fix this?

Breakout
In what ways are you “defiling" yourself? Pray for repentance there and for the proposed actions above.

Jeff Miller

February 2, 2020

Guest Speaker

Dare to [Not] Compare!

Jeff Miller

February 2, 2020

Guest Speaker

Introduction:

Genesis 3:1-7

1 John 2:16 - For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

  
    Comparison breeds Discontent . (Gen 3:1)
  
Comparison encourages Compromise . (Gen 3:2-5)
Comparison causes Disaster . (Gen 3:6-7)

Dare to NOT Compare!

Know the Word . (Gen 3:1)
Philippians 2:3 | Hebrews 13:5 | Ephesians 5:8 | Galatians 3:26, 4:6 | Ephesians 2:4-6
Take your eyes off the World .
1 John 2:15-17
Fix your eyes on Jesus .
2 Peter 1:3

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-01:01
You know retailers and advertisers when touting their their why their stuff is better than the other guy's stuff they encourage comparison There to compare that used to be a common phrase in advertising and it might still be Because they say it pays to comparison shop right auto dealers appliance manufacturers service providers And everyone else under the Sun wants us to compare features and prices and quality But sometimes it's tough for instance You go in the hair care aisle at the store. I don't know how women shop for hair care products because there are dozens of shampoo brands and Conditioner brands and then multiple varieties within each brand and even each product promising more shine Repair for damaged hair more volume dandruff relief improved personality You know greater income When you look at the labels, they all kind of have the same ingredients.
01:02-01:03
So how can you compare them?
01:04-01:06
Now guys, guys, we have it a little bit easier.
01:06-01:08
You know, you go up to pick a product off the shelf.
01:09-01:19
Oh, hair wash, conditioner, body wash, car wash, boat wash, engine degreaser.
01:21-01:21
Cool.
01:24-01:25
I'm exaggerating.
01:26-02:00
How about mattresses? Have you ever tried to shop for a mattress? There's now like a bajillion mattresses and you can buy them online and they get shipped to you rolled up in a box. And these mattress stores out there, they want you to compare. They urge you to compare. And they'll tell you if you can find the same mattress for a lower price anywhere else, we'll refund the difference. Or And they know nobody else in the whole world carries the same mattress as they do.
02:00-02:09
Now sure, every store sells Serta and Sealy and Beautyrest, but what the manufacturers do is they put different names and labels on them.
02:10-02:19
So that if you buy a Serta mattress at mattress discounters you can't go across the street to Mattress Warehouse and find the exact same mattress.
02:19-02:22
It is the exact same mattress, but it's got a different name.
02:23-02:37
And they say, "No comparison." You know, our economy thrives on, may even depend on urging people to compare products when there's no real discernible difference.
02:39-02:50
Our manufacturers present us with new choices, bold claims, and shiny packages to foster dissatisfaction with what we already have, to make us buy something else.
02:50-02:57
And pretty soon we have a bathroom drawer full of empty toothpaste tubes and half-used bottles of shampoo.
02:58-03:02
And here's the funny thing, the stuff we want to compare, we cannot.
03:03-03:06
But the things we should not compare, we do.
03:08-03:12
What I mean is there are comparisons we should seek to avoid at all costs.
03:13-03:19
And it's this, we should not compare ourselves or our circumstances with others or their circumstances.
03:20-03:22
Well, Rich, that's easy for you to say.
03:23-03:25
This is all, comparison's unavoidable.
03:26-03:27
Well, perhaps, but perhaps not.
03:28-03:30
I'm gonna make a bold, broad statement.
03:32-03:35
Our inclination to compare is behind all sin.
03:37-03:42
It is the seed of all sin, and it rapidly sprouts and bears the fruit of discontentment.
03:44-03:50
It is we think somewhere, someone, somehow, has something better than us.
03:51-03:56
And generally there are two ways we go with this when we make comparisons.
03:57-04:00
We go into an emotional and spiritual tailspin.
04:02-04:06
Or we begin planning and scheming on ways to get what they've got and then some.
04:08-04:12
Both ways often result in sin and some level of destruction.
04:13-04:18
That is, we're diminished spiritually, morally, physically, and financially.
04:18-04:23
Let's look at some hypotheticals. Take our toddler room.
04:25-04:31
Little Billy Dripnose is back there happily playing with a pile of blocks.
04:31-04:36
When he looks up and across the room he sees little Jimmy Full Drawers.
04:36-04:39
And he's got a shiny truck that makes noise.
04:40-04:46
Or how about teenager Judy Cheergood? She's in love.
04:47-04:50
She's found the love of her life, this is it.
04:51-04:54
She's certain she's going to spend the rest of her life with chumlee buckets.
04:55-05:00
And then she meets Joe Blonde, the three-sport varsity athlete.
05:02-05:20
How about that young couple we know, Bink and Muffy Sweetums, so happy in their economical bungalow, until they see the new housing development going up across town in a prestigious part of the city and that great interest only financing that's being offered.
05:21-05:28
Why, even on their pipsqueak income, this would be the house of their dreams and oh so affordable and the envy of all their friends.
05:31-05:34
And then how about middle-aged executive George Gogetum?
05:35-05:44
He's been mostly happily married to Jane, his wife, for 20 years and she's born him three children, but her figure just isn't what it used to be.
05:44-05:49
And there's a new gal at the office who sent him a LinkedIn invite.
05:52-05:57
Do you notice I didn't have to finish any of those scenarios because you could easily fill in the blanks yourselves.
05:58-06:04
In each case, the comparison inspired thoughts that led to actions that probably led to disaster.
06:06-06:12
So you see, the comparison we're talking about this morning produces discontent, compromise, and disaster.
06:13-06:14
That's our outline for this morning.
06:15-06:19
Comparison that produces discontent, compromise, and disaster.
06:21-06:34
It's comparison that flows from a worldly restlessness in our hearts, and it makes us think there's something better, something more, and if we could just get a hold of it, we would be so much happier, so much better off.
06:36-06:45
It's comparison in what the Apostle John calls all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.
06:47-06:49
He says that in 1 John 2.16.
06:51-06:56
And it's these desires, like everything else, that started in the Garden of Eden.
06:58-07:09
Our goal this morning is to learn why we are so prone to compare ourselves what the schemes of Satan are, what he uses to prompt us to compare.
07:10-07:15
And then we're gonna look at some remedies that will help us dare to not compare.
07:18-07:22
So our first point is that comparison breeds discontent.
07:23-07:26
And our text this morning is about the fall.
07:27-07:31
But let's look for a moment what Adam and Eve had before the fall.
07:32-07:36
They were already made in the image of God, sharing some of his characteristics.
07:37-07:40
They were living, thinking, speaking, reasoning beings.
07:41-07:47
They were holy and pure, able to see God face to face and walk with him in the garden in the cool of the day.
07:48-07:49
But they were also limited.
07:50-07:54
Unlike God, they were not all powerful, all knowing, or all seeing.
07:55-07:59
And they were subject to God, made to serve under and with him.
08:00-08:03
They were not really free to do whatever they wanted in the garden.
08:04-08:05
They were given commands to obey.
08:07-08:15
They were given positive commands, that is they were told, "These are the things you are to do." The first of which was be fruitful and multiply.
08:16-08:21
They were to work the garden, to exercise dominion, and rule over creation.
08:22-08:24
There was only one thing they should not do.
08:25-08:29
They were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
08:30-08:34
Here's the command from Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17.
08:35-08:58
And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil "you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, "you shall surely die." Now at some point in the creation narrative, Satan shows up, and he starts talking to Eve.
09:00-09:29
Genesis 3.1 says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?'" Now when the scripture says the serpent is more crafty than the other beast, it doesn't mean he spent a lot of time at Hobby Lobby. It means he was devious. He's He's up to no good.
09:31-09:34
The Hebrew word for crafty, or translated crafty, is arum.
09:35-09:44
It can also be translated as astute, which means Satan can study a person, know them, know what buttons to push.
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And how does he do this with Eve?
09:48-10:32
Well, notice how in that simple sentence, did God actually say, "You shall not eat of any tree in the garden." Satan very cleverly draws Eve's attention one tree?" Her response should have been, "No, no, no. God said we can eat of every tree in the garden." Did God say you can't eat from any tree? We can eat from any tree except that one. Seems like an innocuous question, but what it does is direct her attention to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He's insinuating that God is withholding something he plants a thought in Eve's mind that there's something more.
10:32-10:35
Why shouldn't I be able to eat from that tree?
10:35-10:39
Suddenly she's no longer content with all that she and Adam had.
10:40-10:47
Who she was, all that she was able to do, the multitude of trees in the garden that are pleasing to the eye and good for food.
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No, she's laser locked in on that one thing she does not have.
10:56-11:03
Here's the thing, we frequently reenact the garden every day in the choices we make.
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We're bombarded by media images, ideas, situations, circumstances that cause us to evaluate and reevaluate ourselves and our lot in life.
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And we can form ideas that very often come straight from the pit of hell.
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All those voices are in a way a form of the question, What did God actually say?
11:28-11:34
Because they cause us to lock in on what we're not, what we lack, and so we compare, and we become discontented.
11:35-11:42
We see something, someone says something to us, as a result we begin to wallow in self-pity.
11:43-11:46
Oh, I'm so stupid, I'm a worthless schmuck.
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Nobody likes me, everybody hates me.
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I think I'll eat a worm.
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Or our pride gets bunched up, gets riled up, We think, "You know, I deserve more. I deserve that too. I'm entitled to that." What we as believers in Christ fail to remember is this. In our salvation, we're restored to the pre-fall condition. Our innocence is restored. We're all sons of God. We have eternal life and the Holy Spirit living in us. In short, we are as righteous as Jesus Christ.
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Jesus tells us that all that belongs to him is ours.
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Whereas the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly.
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Yet somehow we find that insufficient.
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So often we succumb to that little whisper, did God actually say?
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And the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life carry us to the next step.
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which is that comparison encourages compromise.
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Let's look at verses two through five.
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And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.
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But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
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Notice that instead of reciting the actual command as God gave it, or instead of asking Adam to repeat it, even instead of asking God to repeat the command, Eve says, "I got this." Then she alters and adds to the command.
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First, she looks down her nose at what God actually granted.
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A multitude of trees pleasing to the eye and good for food.
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Granted them to surely eat of every tree of the garden.
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And she sniffs.
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We may eat of the fruit of the trees.
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What does that mean?
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All the trees?
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Some trees?
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Not others?
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Which trees exactly did God mean again?
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"Oh, everything seems kind of murky." And then she misstates and she obscures the true prohibition.
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The problem with the statement, "The tree that is in the midst of the garden," is that there's two trees in the middle of the garden.
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God only put one of them off limits.
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She ignores, deliberately overlooks the fact that there are two trees, including the tree of life from which they made.
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But the third thing she does after obliterating the truth is she adds a rule and appends the death penalty to it.
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God never said, "Neither shall you touch it." Why is this important?
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Isn't that a good thing?
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Look, if you're not touching it, you're not gonna eat it.
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That's good, right?
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But just stay away from it.
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to safeguard.
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What do people do when they see a sign that says, "Wet paper"?
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What do people do when they see a sign that says, "Do not touch"?
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"Stay off the grass"?
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Eve understands that this is a rule of her own making, and there is no penalty attached to it.
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And knowing that, knowing that it's a rule without any power over her, creates an inducement to push the envelope, so to speak.
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Because, oh, if there's no penalty for touching the fruit, oh, see, I can touch it, I'm not dying.
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Then perhaps the penalty for eating the fruit isn't real either.
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She has in one thought and action justified herself and rationalized away her sin.
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Eve considers what she has, which is almost everything, and compares it to what God has, really everything, and suddenly 99% is not good enough anymore.
16:20-16:22
Only 100% will do.
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100% is what I should have.
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As we said, Adam and Eve were already like God.
16:29-16:34
They bore God's image, but they realized they were not equal with God.
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He had knowledge of something they did not.
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So even though they were already like God, the serpent persuaded Eve that there was something more to gain.
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And there was no penalty for the pursuit.
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Eve wants equality, and equality meant having what she didn't need, which was knowing good and evil, just like God.
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We should compare, or should I say contrast, Eve's disobedience with Jesus' obedience.
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In Philippians 2, verses five and six we read, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who even though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
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Whereas Eve mangled the commandment to grasp at the fruit, to grasp at equality with God, Jesus kept God's commands as they are.
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He did not add to or subtract from.
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So what happens?
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What happens is comparison causes disaster.
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So look at verses six and seven.
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So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
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And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
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and the eyes of both were open, and they knew that they were naked.
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And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
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In the Hebrew, the word for naked is arumim.
18:18-18:22
It sounds very much like the word for crafty, arum.
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Recall that verse one told us the serpent was the most crafty of all.
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Now most scholars don't see much more here than a little bit of wordplay.
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They don't give it much thought other than the words sort of sound alike.
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But I would offer this.
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Before the fall, Adam and Eve were arumim, naked and unashamed.
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They bore the image of God.
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But after eating the fruit, they were naked and now ashamed.
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That is to say, crafty.
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In their guilt, they now bore the image of the serpent.
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I don't mean they look like snakes.
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I mean they would henceforth act like Satan and not God.
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The couple that was supposed to care for the creation is now wrecking it by tearing apart a living fig tree for leaves to cover themselves.
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The couple that was directed to exercise dominion over the creation are reduced to hiding in it.
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Everything about them and the creation has been devastating.
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We don't have time for it, but we know the rest of the story.
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God comes calling, "Adam, where are you?" And the blame throwing commences.
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The woman you gave me gave me the fruit.
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It's her fault.
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And the rest, as they say, is history.
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Do we need an extended analysis of the death and destruction that have resulted from that day cataloged in scripture, cataloged in human history?
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Do you need any analysis of our current world, bombarded as we are from every direction with false ideas and allurements?
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All a refashioning of, "Did God actually say?" All those things that breed discontent.
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You need an analysis of media, especially social media that beckons us to compare our lives and our circumstances with someone or something else and find ourselves wanting? No, you don't. Because you know that every act of comparison either leaves us diminished in our own eyes or sets us on a path of grasping for something we do not need. Comparison wrecks our hearts, causes us to lose sight of the Lord who loves us and sooner or later it exacts a heavy price.
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Remember that I said all the trees in the garden were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
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That is to say they were all equal in those respects.
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But to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan added a point of comparison.
21:08-21:18
He deceived Eve into thinking it was to be desired to make one wise, that is to become become like God, but no one ever becomes more like God by disobeying his command.
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No one becomes wise through sinning.
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No one ever gains from making foolish comparisons.
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I have a story about people who made a comparison.
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When Bethany and I were first married, we attended a church in Tacoma, Washington.
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in terms of size, it was about the same size as Harvest.
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It was a great church.
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We had retired missionaries, retired pastors, active missionaries, all who were part of the congregation.
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All ages of people, young people, growing families, wise saints in the Lord.
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And when we got there, they were going through a building program.
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They had bought some land, and they were raising funds to build a new building because their old church was like 90 years old.
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And it was an exciting time to be there.
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We left in 1990, but the church, they were successful in their fundraising, they built their new facility in the mid-90s, and things were going great.
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Somewhere along the line in the late 1990s, early 2000s, There was a couple whom I had a great deal of respect for.
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There was a couple, the husband, he got into a position of leadership in the church.
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And he said, "You know, why aren't we a mega church like this one down the street?
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We ought to be a mega church, and Pastor Tom, he's not the guy to get us there." And he started whispering and talking, and he got enough people in the church, Yeah, we ought to be a mega church.
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We're just stagnant. We're not growing.
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Well, they confused quantity with quality.
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Because Pastor Tom was a pastor's pastor.
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He was a great pastor, great preacher.
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But somehow he was no longer good enough.
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So, they got the board, fired Pastor Tom.
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the door at a time when his wife was struggling with breast cancer.
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The outcome, church was split, people were hurt, that church didn't last.
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It shut its doors in the early 2000s.
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been reopened in the last few years. Different people, different church altogether. But that's what comparison does. 2 Corinthians 10.12 says that when people measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
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So So what about us?
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Are we without understanding?
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No, we belong to Christ and there are ways we can dare to not compare.
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First of all, we must know the Word.
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The primary stumbling point for Eve was that she didn't know God's command and therefore she could not rely on it for offense or defense.
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She lost sight of who she was, and she poured contempt on everything she had.
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Well, let's contrast Jesus again.
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What did Jesus do when he was in the wilderness at the end of 40 days of fasting?
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And Satan showed up to tempt him with the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.
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Let's look.
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He tempted Jesus with the desires of the flesh.
25:16-25:28
If you're the son of God, "Command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone." Well then he tempts him with the desires of the eyes.
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It says the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, "To you I will give "all this authority and their glory.
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"For it has been delivered to me "and I will give it to whom I will.
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"If you then will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus doesn't say it's already mine.
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No, he uses the scripture.
25:52-26:01
Jesus answered him, "It is written, "you shall worship the Lord your God, "and him only shall you serve." And then Satan appealed to his pride of life.
26:02-26:09
He took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you're the son of God, throw yourself down from here.
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"For it is written, he will command his angels "concerning you to guard you, "and on their hands they will bear you up, "lest you strike your foot against a stone." And Jesus answered him, "It is said, "you shall not put the Lord your God to the test." And Satan fled.
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Therefore, beloved, we must feed on God's word daily.
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You have to read it, study it, memorize it, listen to it.
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If you have trouble memorizing it, look it up.
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Search diligently for answers.
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And I want you to listen to what I'm saying and how I'm appealing to Scripture to give us a ready defense and offense.
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So that when the deceiver appeals to your pride, so that overextending your budget to get stuff seems like a good idea, if he goads you to step on people to get a promotion or to sacrifice children and marriage for the sake of personal accomplishment, you can reply, "It's written I must do nothing "from selfish ambition or conceit, "but in humility count others more significant than myself, "and keep my life free from the love of money "and be content with what I have.
27:32-28:08
"For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." And when Satan reminds you, God actually say you're nothing but a worthless sinner? You can answer with, "You know that's comforting because God chose his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me." Then when Satan, when Satan wants to tell you that you're nothing but a worthless backslider, Didn't God actually say He's angry about your faithless backsliding?
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He's trying to set you on a path of despair.
28:11-28:17
You can answer, "No, no, in Christ Jesus, I'm a son of God through faith.
28:18-28:31
Because I am a son, God has sent the spirit of His Son into my heart crying, 'Abba, Father.'" When Satan insinuates that, "Oh, you're by nature a child of wrath like the rest of mankind.
28:32-28:44
We rebuke him with, "But God, being rich in mercy, "because of the great love with which he loved me, "even when I was dead in my trespassing, "made me alive together with Christ.
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"By grace I have been saved.
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"And he raised me up with him and seated me with him "in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." So we need to know the word.
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And the second thing we need to do is take our eyes off the world.
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Look at a verse that we looked at a part of earlier.
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1 John 2 15-17.
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The apostle says, "Do not love the world "or the things in the world.
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"If anyone loves the world, "the love of the Father is not in him.
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"For all that is in the world, "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes "and the pride of life is not from the Father, "but is from the world.
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"And the world is passing away along with its desires.
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"But whoever does the will of God abides forever." You see in that verse the reference back to the garden to what Eve was thinking, right?
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The desires of the flesh, oh, it's good for food.
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And the desires of the eyes, oh, it's a delight to the eye.
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And the pride of life is to be desired to make one wise.
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See that?
29:56-30:01
God reminds us that our bent to compare It's from the world.
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And what's happening to the world?
30:05-30:06
It's passing away, it's temporary.
30:09-30:23
In the Old Testament, the prophets and the psalmists often in rebuking idolaters, they remarked that those who worship idols became like them.
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He remarked that idols are lifeless, they're altogether worthless.
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and everyone who worships them becomes like them.
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Well, what do you want to become?
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You want to become temporary, in love with the world, and then pass away with the rest of it?
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Or do you want to do the will of God and become eternal?
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There is nothing in this world that profits us or improves us.
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On the contrary, comparing ourselves with others and their circumstances only diminishes us.
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We must therefore fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
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Fix your eyes on Jesus in whom you have all things.
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If you are in Christ, you are holy, righteous, united with him in his death and resurrection.
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In him you have all you need for life, joy, and contentment.
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You've been restored to the same spiritual status and right relationship with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall.
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You are, and you can live, innocent and unashamed.
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I want to consider for a moment all things.
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We Jesus, we have all things.
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What are they?
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How did we get them?
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Well, it's not about getting temporary things.
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Not about temporary all things, but rather about life-giving, eternal all things.
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2 Peter 1.3 says that God's divine power is granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Jesus who called us to his own glory and excellence.
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How did we get all things?
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Romans 8.32 says that God who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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You see, we receive all things God gave up Jesus for us all.
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I find it curious, interesting, illuminating, that in Genesis 1.26, when God made man, he said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness." But after the fall, in Genesis 3.22, God says, "Behold, the man has become like one of us "in knowing good and evil." Who is this one of us in the Godhead that knows good and evil?
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I submit to you that the one of us in Genesis 3.22 is the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And at Calvary, he hung naked and ashamed on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, burying our sin, burying our shame, and excruciating suffering and death.
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There are a multitude of trees in this world that allure us and call us to make comparison, whether it's something as inconsequential as a bottle of shampoo or as valuable as your soul.
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But we must turn our attention to a single tree.
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And if you have not yet believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, You must lock in on the one thing that you do not have and you need above all else.
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When the Apostle Peter preached the gospel in Acts, he reminded his hearers that they put Jesus to death by hanging him on a tree.
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And he later says, "Jesus alone bore our sins in his body "on the tree that we might die to sin "and live to righteousness." The tree of the knowledge of good and evil in which Jesus died has become, praise God for us, the tree of life through his resurrection from the dead.
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On the tree at Calvary, Jesus crushed the serpent's head.
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Our sin was destroyed and death was put to death.
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Regarding that tree, there is one command that all people in the world are called to obey.
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Acts 17.30, God commands all people everywhere to repent.
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So repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and your sins will be forgiven.
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You will have everlasting life.
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What more can anyone possibly need?
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Child of God, you have the incomparable Lord Jesus Christ who died your death, unites you with him in his life.
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He covers you with his garments of righteousness and he graciously gives you all things.
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And beloved, when you have all things in Jesus, there is nothing to compare.
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Let's pray.
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Oh, gracious Father, you have given us all things through Jesus Christ.
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Father, help us to carry your word with us to this day, to this week, into our whole life that remains before us.
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with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ alone.
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Let us leave off comparison.
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Let us leave the world behind.
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We put off the world we put on Christ, our incomparable Savior.
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And it's in His name we pray.
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Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Genesis 3:1-7

What are your big takeaways from the text and/or the message?
Why do you think we are so prone to compare ourselves with others?
Can you think of a time when you compared yourself to another person (besides Jesus) and it produced constructive thoughts and a holy outcome?
Why is knowing Scripture essential to overcoming the urge to compare?
What are some practical ways we can “put off” the world and “put on” Christ?

Breakout
Pray that God will enable you more and more to fix your eyes on Jesus, and to refuse to compare yourself and your circumstances to others.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Word

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Life

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Satan's Lies:

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Healing

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)

Living in Exile

Introduction:

5 Responsibilities While We Are Away From Home:

Dare to [Not] Compare!

Introduction:

Dare to NOT Compare!

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Satan's Lies:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed? 5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :(John 5:1-18)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

5 Responsibilities While We Are Away From Home:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Dare to NOT Compare!

Audio Transcript

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)