The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: The Word Became Flesh

Episode Date: April 11, 2021

The Son of God became a man so that men and women could become children of God. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. How we doing? Church, doing good. Welcome back. Grab your Bibles. We're going to be in for the rest of your life. The Gospel of John. That's what it's going to feel like. 28 weeks, word by word, verse by verse, through all of the Gospel of John.

And as you guys are finding you where they are and finding your spot in your journal and getting your, you know, getting ready to write notes and all that kind of stuff. Let me give you a little update on what happened last weekend on Resurrection Weekend. We had about 20,000 people physically in all of our campuses. We have eight campuses all over the place. And in addition to that, we had another 20,000 people worship. with us live online, like interacting and that kind of stuff. And up the 40,000 people, by the way, 40,000 people on a weekend is pretty cool. Take that COVID. Ha ha. And of the 40,000 people

worshiping with us, 185 of those people surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. Praise God. And of that 185, 21 of them were students and our student service on Wednesday, which is awesome. 27 of those of those who surrendered did so online. So praise. God that people worshiping online, serenity their life to Christ. And seven of those were men in Baker Correctional. We love you, fellas. We're so proud of you. Way to go.

So for the next 28 weeks, we're going to study the Gospel of John. I love it. I'm pretty pumped about it. I've taught it a whole bunch. And in addition to that, we're going to give you a supplement. On Mondays at 5 a.m., we will release a Devo by me to you that's a supplement to our study in John. 59 times in the New Testament, there are what we call one another. They're commandments about one another.

To love one another and forgive one another, pray for one another, bear one another's burden. Fifty-nine times we're told to do this. And one of the things that we learned in this pandemic and shutdowns and all this is that as a church, we need each other to one another, one another. And you can't want another one another if you don't have one another. You understand what I'm saying? So tune into that during the week, and it'll kind of line up with what we're doing in the Gospel of John.

And thanks for braven. Is it still raining out there? I feel like I hear it raining right now. Thanks for fighting through to be here today. And for those of you that felt called to worship online, we're glad you're comfortable. Here we go. Grab your Bibles, open up. At the front of, before it's like you get to the text,

mine says, the gospel according to John. That part matters, okay? Because it starts out this way with the, the, not another gospel, not one of many gospels, but the gospel. because what we're going to find out in the gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus is going to have the audacity to say things like, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

He says, I am the truth. You see, because there is just the truth. One of the ways to neuter the word truth is to put a possessive pronoun in front of it, like my truth or your truth or our truth, because I'm just here to tell you, there is no my truth, there is no your truth, there's just the truth. And if that triggers you and you need to save space, just pray about that. for a minute, okay? Because I'm going to tell you, you have your experience and you have your opinion for sure, but there is just the truth, and the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The next word gospel, the gospel means good news. And for news to be news, it has to happen, and then you have to tell somebody about it. And what happened is that Jesus Christ came, live a perfect life, died on the cross, not just for us, but instead of us, was buried, resurrected on the third day, and we'll come back to get all that is his. The God, gospel, according to, this matters, that God uses his people. There are four accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament. Just in case you knew the Bible study, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are what are called the synoptic gospels, because they share most of the same information. About 60% of what they share, or what they write is shared. Same events,

same chronology, sometimes even the same words. But in the gospel, according to John, 90% of what he shares is unique. Now, John writes this thing last. John does it when he's really old. He's probably in his 90s or it's probably in like 90 AD when he is looking back on what happened. And then John shares with us why he is doing this. In John 21, 25, John says this, this is way towards the end. He says now, there are also many other things that Jesus did, where every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. And then later in, or earlier in John 2031, he gives us the reason that he writes it. He says, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. And so what he's saying is, John is saying, I'm not trying to cover everything that Jesus did because there wouldn't be enough books to cover everything that Jesus did. I am writing these things so that you may believe, not so that you can have your best life now, not tips and tricks on how to be a better parent, or how you can achieve your goals, okay? But what matters most is you believing in Jesus. So we're just going to cover the things that have to do with you believing in Jesus. And that's going to be kind of the approach that we take here. Because we're going to teach through it in 28 weeks, but I could probably teach on the Gospel of John for the next four or five years. I mean, look,

we're 10 minutes into the sermon, we're not even to verse 1 yet. You hear what I'm saying? So, that is the angle that we're going to take. But God uses all kind of different people to bring different perspectives to the gospel. He uses Matthew to write Matthew. Matthew was a firsthand disciple. He's writing, he's a Jewish guy writing two Jews. God uses Mark to write an account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And Mark was not a firsthand disciple, but Mark probably interviewed Peter to get all of his information. God uses Luke to write the gospel of Luke, and Luke was a Greek He had a Greek background. He was a doctor, and he interviewed a whole bunch of different people, and he used to travel

around with the Apostle Paul, and his audience was to one guy, a guy named Theophilus. And he writes, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts to that guy, and then you get John. John was a firsthand eyewitness disciple of Jesus. He's a Jewish guy writing to an audience that includes both Jews and Greek thinkers, probably in the city of Ephesus is where they lived. John is the best friend of Jesus, at least according to John, in the Gospel of John, but we're going to take him out his word. And one of the things that I love about the Gospel of John is just how accessible it is.

Augustine says this, John is deep enough for an elephant to dive in and shallow enough for a child not to drown. So if you're brand new to this whole Bible study thing, then the gospel is so accessible in the Gospel of John that it will make sense to you, I promise. and if you went to Sunday school with Noah and you've been doing this Bible study thing for a long, long time, no matter how deep we dive into the gospel, you will never find the depths of it, the bottom of it because that's just how deep it is.

In fact, Martin Luther said about the gospel of John this, he said if all the books of the Bible save John and Romans were stolen away, Christianity would be okay. Because John tells us what happens and the book of Romans tells us why it matters. So now John, an old man, looking back through the resurrection on his time with Jesus writes these things that we may believe.

And as I've been praying for you for our 28 weeks together, I dare you to come all 28 weeks and not miss, okay? And I don't know if you've ever tried to do this. Have you ever tried to make somebody love something? You ever have a thing that you love so much and you just want them to love it? And you know if they would just love it like you love it, their whole life would be better.

Do you know what I'm talking about? But you just can't make people love something? I've been trying to make my wife Gretchen love sweet tea for 21 years. How could you not love sweet tea? I don't understand. It's delicious. It gives you a little sugar high. I mean, who doesn't love sweet tea?

It's like a nectar from the heavens given to us as God's common grace. And so for years, since we got buried in 2000, I've been trying to make her love it, but she don't love it. And then when we moved here in 2003, I walked into Angie's subs and I ordered a sweet tea there. And praise God, by the way, if you live like way over in Fleming, make the trip, okay? is worth it. And when you get a sweet tea from Angie's, they don't give you some little scarcity. Like, you know how orange juice comes in glasses, like a thimble size? No, man, they give you a big old, like half a quart or something like that, right? And I got that sweet tea, and I tasted it, and I'm like, baby, this is it. This is perfection. If you don't like this, then you're

never going to like sweet tea. And she tried it, and she don't like it. So pray for her. I don't know what's wrong with her. But I can't make her love it, okay? This, a couple years ago, I was preaching in England. Remember when we could travel? That was neat. And so, I was over in London preaching at some stuff. And while we were on this trip, man, my family and I went up to Oxford, and we did this C.S. Lewis four-hour walking tour. And I'm telling you, I love me some C.S. Lewis. He wrote mere Christianity.

He wrote Lion Witch and Wardrobe. He wrote a whole bunch of stuff. And we went to the Eagle and Child. That's this little pub. And C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien were in like a disciple group together. They would meet there and drink a pint, sorry, Baptist, and smoke a pipe. talk, they nerd out on things like medieval mythology. And at first, Lewis wasn't a believer, and Tolkien was. Think about this. C.S. Lewis was J.R. Tolkien's one more. And Tolkien shares the

gospel with Lewis. And one day, Lewis says he's walking back to his dorm room. He was a professor at Oxford. And when he left the eagle and child, that pub, and he was walking down this path. And when he got on this path, he was not a believer. And by the time he got off of that path where his where his dorm room was, he had surrendered his life to Christ. And we were on that path. And I'm walking on the path, and I'm like, kids, kids, come here, come here, come here, look at this. Look, this is where it happened. This is where the guy that wrote Narnia met Jesus. Somewhere between over there and over there, this is where it happened. He wrote mirror Christianity, do you understand? And I looked at JP and I said, boy, what do you think? He was like, pull my finger.

So they didn't love it like I love it. Now, I don't know how to put this in the words. I love the Word of God. I mean, I don't just like work with it, and it's not just like a workbook or a textbook for me. I'm talking about it's alive. It's living and active and sharper than a double-edged sword, and I want you to love it like I love it. And I wish I could just open up your mouth and jam it down into your soul and make it stick, but I don't know how to make you love it. But I don't know anybody that has a growing, abiding relationship with the Lord. It does not have like a love affair with the Word of God.

David says he meditates upon it day and night. That in the Psalms, David would say that basically he would like cuddle with the law with the Bible in his bed because he loved it. The way to know and love Jesus is through his word. And I hope over the next 28 weeks, you will love this word of God. So that's why we're studying. So John chapter 1, verse 1, here's where John is going to start. He's going to take it all the way back to the beginning. One one, it says this, in the beginning.

All right, now we've got to stop. So the reason that John is doing this, I think, for two reasons. One, he's talking to a Jewish audience. So the moment he says in the beginning, where does everybody's mind go? All the Jewish kids, their mind goes to Genesis 1-1, because that's how it started in the beginning. So they are all scooped in. And what John is going to do right out of the gate is he is going to tell you who Jesus is.

He doesn't start with a Christmas story. He doesn't start with a genealogy. He doesn't start with his ministry. He starts in the beginning. and what he wants us to know is that before there was a beginning there was Jesus. Genesis 1-1 says, in the beginning, God created. This is what John wants us to know. Now, I have a biology degree from 100 years ago, which is pretty worthless to me,

but it was interesting. I was going to be a doctor, but can you imagine me as your doctor? I don't know why you laugh, but whatever, hurt my feeling. So there's a lot of people that believe, I think this is crazy. I think this takes enormous amount of faith, that nothing happened to nothing, and out of that came something. That's crazy, because the first rule of physics is that something hasn't happened to something for something to happen, and we know that something is God, that in the beginning, God created, which matters. It matters a bunch. And the reason it matters a bunch is this, is that you are not some kind of cosmic accident that just climbed out of some soup a few billion years ago,

and now through a series of processes, here you are sitting in an old Walmart. No, no, no, no. You were created by God on purpose. And that feeling you have towards your child, towards your spouse, is not just some secretion from your pituitary gland for the propagation of your genes. No, no, no, that thing is called love. And the way we know love is real is because God is love

and you were created in his image. You were created to give and receive love. You see, in the beginning was the word. And if you'll notice in the English, that word word is capitalized, Greek word for it is Lagos. Now this is, Lagos is a Greek philosophy, a Greek idea. And the Greek philosophers had this term called Lagos, which meant like, it meant like consciousness. It meant the force behind all things that have been made. So for you Star Wars nerds, it's like the force.

And so John is like, all right, you're right. In the beginning was the force, the word. And what he's going to tell us by the time we get to verse 14. is that this word has a name and his name is Jesus. And so now all the Hebrew thinkers are with him and all the Gentile Greco-Roman thinkers are with him. And in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. To which you're like, hold on John.

Which one, man? You can't be both. You can't be with God and be God. You can either be God or you can be with God. How can you be with and be? And what John is doing is he is establishing this idea, this doctrine of the Trinity, from the very beginning because it matters like crazy.

That John and really the entirety of all the scriptures wants us to know that there is only one God. Shuma, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And that doesn't just mean like the number one. The Hebrew word is echad, which means one, not just in sequence, but one in essence. The way I like to say this is that God is not just like number one on our list of priorities, but God would be like the page

on which you would write all of your priorities. There's one God. And yet the word was God. and was with God. How is that? Because there's one God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In a perfect, submissive love relationship with himself. Now, if you think about that and you're like, well, I don't understand. Well, of course you don't fully understand. Because you ain't that smart. Me either. There's no way. Do you think the English, Greek, and Hebrew language could fully encapsulate the very essence of God who he is?

there may be a little lacking. There may be parts of it that we can't reconcile in our brain, but that doesn't make it untrue. Sometimes I've talked to people and be like, well, I can't believe this if I can't understand it. Listen, uh-huh. That's like taking the Dixie Cup to the Atlantic ocean and saying, I'm trying to get it in here. Darling, it ain't going to fit. Do you understand what I'm saying? And so what he establishes early on is there's one God in three persons. Verse two, and he, this is Jesus, was in the beginning with God. He, going to say this three different ways to make sure that we understand that Jesus is co-eternal with the Father. Verse three, all things were made through him and without him was not anything

made that was made. This is the third time now. He wants us to know there is creator and there is created. And everything that has been created has been created by Jesus. Therefore, was Jesus made? No, he was the maker of all things. Co-Eternal with the Father. One commentator I read said, if you could get down to the cellular level of everything that has been made, every plant, every animal, every human being, and you got down to the cellular level and you turned the tag over, it would say made by JC. Because he made everything. And he was not made. He is the maker of all things. He did not begin with the beginning.

He began in the beginning. He did not start when the start started. He started the start. that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God and everything that has been made has been made by Him. Now, this matters like crazy

because if you don't understand the character and nature of God then you will never be able to understand yourself because you were created in his image. This matters. One God and three persons in a perfect relationship. This is why, by the way, we have been wired for relationships

because we are image bearers of God. And God didn't make us because he needed us. God didn't look around heaven and go, what are we going to do with all this time and space? I know we'll create children that will sing us worship songs on Sunday and then disappoint us and disobey us all week long. That was not the point.

But out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, he creates us, image bearers of him. And this matters like crazy because if for a generation, you teach people that they are nothing but evolved animals, then why are we surprised when that generation grows up and acts like it? You were created on purpose for God and through God. In fact, in Colossians 1, Paul says it this way about Jesus' role in creation.

He says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Listen to this. All things were created through him and for him. all things, including you, were created through him and for him. This is why, by the way, you find the things of this earth a bit lacking. This is why, even when at work, you're crushing it.

You lay down on your pillow at night and you think, is this it? And the answer is, no, this isn't it? The reason that work cannot satisfy you is you were not created through and for work. You were created through and for him. the reason even if your marriage is cruising man and you're doing so good the reason that she can't complete you and he can't complete you is because she or he you were not created through him or for him through her or for her but god made you with an engine running on the inside of you and he is the gasoline for that engine he is the only thing that satisfies he says all things were created

through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of the cross. Out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, he creates us, and Jesus was right there in the beginning doing the creating. Verse four. It says this, in Him, in Jesus, was life, and the life was the light of men,

and the light shuns in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now, I know some people, especially if you're young, you're like, that sounds kind of binary. Ding, ding, ding, ding, there's going to be a lot of binary talk in the gospel of John. Light, darkness, Savior, sinner, heaven, hell. First of the people say, well, I don't believe in hell. You will, but I would love for you to believe it. before, so you don't go there and you go to heaven. Death, life. This is how God works. And I want you to see this, okay?

That John is going to give away the end right when he starts in the beginning. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it. So listen, maybe you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death right now. And maybe it feels like darkness is overtaking you. And what John wants us to know, because Jesus is the light, the darkness, will not overcome it. Maybe you're struggling with an addiction, and what Jesus will command us is this.

Though the addiction may be real, and it may be coming against you, the darkness will not overcome you. Maybe you've gone through a nasty divorce, and you feel like you're going to be alone forever, and I can promise you not, because if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, he says, I will never leave you or forsake you,

and the darkness may be creeping in, but the darkness will never overcome it. that no matter what you are struggling with, that struggle will fail because the light has shown in this world and darkness will never overcome it. Amen? That's better preaching than your respondents. Y'all better wake up. Here we go. So in him was life and the life was the light of men. He's saying in the beginning, in Jesus was life. And again, I think that the Jewish readers, their mind went back to in the beginning when God, created the heavens and the earth, and then he says, let us make mankind in our image. And the Bible says, after he has spoken everything into existence, when it came to his image bears, he slows way down. And he gathers together the dust of the earth. The Hebrew word for

dust or dirt is Adam, or to Adam. And the Bible says that he forms together like a shell of a man, but he is not yet a living creature until God breathes in his nostrils. The Bible wants us to know that God Almighty is face to face with Adam and he breathes the ruach of life into Adam. That word ruach can be translated breath or spirit or wind and then he became a living being, which means that the very first thing that the very first man saw when he opens his eyes is face to face with his creator. And it was imprinted upon his soul. And every single one of us have been trying to get back to that very moment. This week I watched a documentary that I watch every spring because it's turkey season and it's called My Life as a Turkey. Have you seen

my life as a turkey? It's 58 minutes long. Any about, no? Just me? Okay, that's why I'm here. All right, me and this guy, we should go turkey hunting. Okay? So, all right, there's this guy and he's a turkey scientist. So what he does for a living. But he's a graduate of Auburn, so what else are going to do? And so he gets these, uh, He gets these turkey eggs, man. And he's got them in this incubator, right? And as the turkeys are cracking their way out of the egg, he's right there with them.

And one of the things that he found out is that if you help them get out of the egg, then they don't build up the strength to survive so they die. Hashtag helicopter parents. But that's a different sermon, all right? And then as the turkeys bust out of the egg, the very first thing they see is him. And he's right down there in their face,

and he's like speaking turkey. Like that. Now, that's pretty good, one. I mean, don't lie. Y'all can't even appreciate the turkey calling that was just happening, but that's fine, okay? And so the turkey see him, they see this 50-year-old guy from Auburn with a mustache, and they think,

Mom! And for the rest of the documentary, man, he's mom. Like, this brother is just walking around into turkey woods, and the turkeys are just following right along, and it's unbelievable. And so what the scientists call this is, they call it imprinting, imprinting, that because he was the first thing that they saw, then his face and his voice was imprinted on them, and so they know him as parent.

And I thought, you don't need a Ph.D. for Auburn. I can tell you, man, John 1, Genesis 1, this has been happening from the beginning of time. That when the very first man opened his eyes, he sees his creator, and that has been imprinted on every single one of us. In him is life. Now I'm not anti all the other stuff of this world. You just can't find life there because in him was life. The life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Verse six, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now if you're new to Bible study, that's just not John, the son of Dezebatee, the guy that's writing this. This is a different John.

which kind of takes just a hard shift. Like if John turned in this paper to his eighth grade English teacher, she would give him a C-M-A-M-S and be like, you've got to stay on topic. We were talking about Jesus, the light and life of the world, and now you're talking about this other guy named John. Now, this John that they're talking about, maybe you've heard of his name John the Baptist,

but that's a little bit confusing. It's really like John the Baptizer. He's not like the First Southern Baptist. It's not like there was John the Baptist and Pete the Presbyterian and Mark the Methodist. That's not how it worked, okay? And we're going to talk about John the Baptist a whole bunch next week, so we'll give you more detail on him, but it just starts talking about him for a second.

It says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John, and he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe. That who might believe? That who might believe? All might believe? All might believe. So I got some good news for you. If you fall in the all category, you might believe.

No matter what you've done or how you grew up or what you used to believe or what you used to believe now, that all might believe, and all means all, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. By the way, that should be the job description of every Christian. Now, hard turn back to Jesus. Verse 9. It says, the true light, which gives light to everyone.

Gives light to who? Gives light to who? If y'all would get this on the first one, we could get through this a lot faster. Okay, come on. I'm going to do it one more time. I'm just giving you a warning. Okay.

The true light gives light to every. who was coming into the world. Why? Because everyone needs a Savior. Everyone needs a Savior. And I've talked to some people that say, but, Pastor, I don't think you understand the bad things I have done. I don't think he could save me. And to that, I would say, bro, who do you think you are?

Now, I'm not saying sin isn't a big deal. Sin is a really big deal. Sin is such a big deal that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had to die on the cross to make a full payment for it. However, your sin, no matter how atrocious it may be, pales in comparison to the grace poured out through the blood of Jesus on the cross, that everyone can be saved no matter how bad you are. And some of you think you're really good, which is comical at best, but I know you think that. But as good as you may be, good compared to

who? Not good enough. Because even the good among us need to be saved. Listen, man, sometimes Jesus saves us from sex drugs and rock and roll, and sometimes he saves us from Sunday school. It's just true. Because it's not about our moral behavior that earns God's favor over us. It is just his favor, which is called grace, that everyone needs to be saved. Verse 10, and He, meaning Jesus, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. You're supposed to read that and be like, oh, verse 11, it gets worse. And he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

Now, when John is writing this, he is for sure talking about first century religious Hebrews. That's for sure he's talking about. There was a group of very religious Jewish people like the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and they were experts in things like Bible study and rules and religiosity. Okay. And what's really, really sad is that Jesus comes to his own people practicing Judaism and his own people didn't even recognize it. And it can happen, man.

it's really sad. Pharisee actually means separated one. And so there was a group of men, and their job was to know the Bible so well, and their job was to keep all of the commandments so well that when the Messiah, when the Christ showed up, that they would be the first ones to recognize them and be able to point him out to everybody else. But the problem is they fell in love with the rules, and they missed out on the relationship that God was offering.

They were at parties and banquets with the very son of God. They were two feet away from the very presence of God. They could smell the breath of God, and they did not have the breath of God on the inside of them because they didn't recognize who he was because he did not fit in their religious box. Now, as sad as that may be 2,000 years ago, it's super sad when it happens today, too, in church. It is. So please, people, 1122, or whatever you do, don't miss Jesus. Don't miss Jesus.

Because I promise you, he's here. He's here because he shows up when his people gather in his name. And what I'm afraid of, it happens all the time, is that people can know church and not know Jesus. Like you can run the game, man. You can know where to park, and you can know how to get your kids checked in. You can use the right language. You can listen to the one of 17 Christian music radio stations we have here in Jacksonville.

You can have your minivan with the big fish for dad and the fit fish for mom and then like six fish for all your kids and then have little itty-bitty-bitty-guppies for all your compassion kids. You can know what part of the song to like lift one hand to or pledge allegiance to Jesus or go the double thing, you know. You can do that.

You can even know what part of my sermon to moo at. Like when I say something, you're like, mm, and take notes, not do anything, but I'm so good. You know, do that thing. And you can know church and not receive Jesus. Please, please, please don't miss Jesus.

Because he came to his own and they did not receive. In verse 12, but I love this transition, but here's your last chance. But to all who did receive him. To who? Oh, he's so good.

Best of all the services. Good job. But to all who did receive him. You know what you receive? You receive a gift. We're not saved by works. We're saved by grace, but all who did receive him who believed in his name. So to receive is to believe and to believe is to receive. They work together.

He gave the right to become children of God. who were born, that's an event. Not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That, let's kind of reverse engineer these two verses, okay? If you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Jesus, how did you become one of these? Is it because you are smarter than all the other pagans in the world, and you figured out that Jesus is the way, the truth in the life, and you have done a comparative analysis of all world religions, and understand that Jesus is telling the truth and all the world, all those dumb people just aren't as smart as you yet?

No. Do you think it's because you're better than somebody else? Do you think it's because you've got your morality up to a level where God accepts that? Absolutely not. You see, the only thing you brought to your salvation was the sin that required us to be saved. Yeah, tweet that. It's just true that we are saved by grace through faith, not because of our goodness or any works, but it is a gift of God.

which, by the way, is why, in the church of Jesus Christ, there is no place for anybody to look down on anybody else. There's no place for racism. There's no place for racism. There's no place where politics divide God's people. Why? Because for us to look down your nose at anybody else means you have to take your eyes off of the cross of Jesus Christ.

And there's no place for that. And then he says, oh, I love this verse. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Again, to all who would receive him. So if you fall in the all category, you could receive Jesus. No matter who your parents were, God doesn't save last names. He saves first names.

No matter what you've done, listen, if you've done some atrocious stuff, me too, man, join the crowd. Doesn't the cross out us all? We don't need a life coach. We need a savior. And to all who would believe. And this word believe, the Greek word is Pestuo. Can you say Pestuo? I think it would be a good idea in our study of the Gospel of John that every time John says believe that we would underline it.

Because it's the point of the whole book that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and in Him have life. And one of the things that I found, as I studied John, is nowhere in the Gospel of John is there a modifier to the word belief. It's not radical belief. It's not believe with your whole heart. It's just believe because we bring nothing to the transaction that Jesus is the one who saves. and this word believe in Greek is Pestuo. And the problem I have in English with the word believe, especially in the South, especially in and around Jacksonville,

is there's a whole bunch of people that believe that. And there's a big difference in believing that and believing in. Big old difference. This word Pestuo means to believe in, to trust in, to commit your whole life into. That's way different. different than believing that, than giving a mental assent to a bunch of realities that you agree happened. Very big difference.

As an illustration, currently, as far as my eyes can see here, you are pastuoing in your chair. Okay? You are pursuing. You are believing in your chair. And I don't know what you believe about your chair, but your current posture is evidence to me that you have trusted that chair to hold you up. Now listen, man, I don't know how much you know about chairs, but I am a chairologist at this point in my life. I've been pastor in this church since we started in 2012. I can tell you some stuff about chairs. I can tell you how much they cost. I can tell you how much weight they'll

hold. I can tell you how much distance from front to back they need to be so that we can get the rows here. I can tell you the kind of fabric that we put over them. I can tell you how much cush we give in it for an hour-long sermon. I can tell you what kind of backing we put on it to hold the Bible and all the stuff. All right. I can tell you how wide they are, which if we would tighten up a little bit, can reach some more people, but whatever, okay? I can tell you some stuff about chairs. But regardless, if you know everything there is to know about chairs, or you know nothing about a chair,

all that really matters when it comes to a chair is, do you trust it to sit on it or not? And even if you can't remember the moment that you put your faith in the chair that you're sitting on, I can tell by your posture that at some point you transferred the weight of your life onto that chair. Whether you sang in a song or prayed a prayer to it, whatever, you are Pistu-O-Oing in the chair.

John says, but to all who did receive him, who Pistu-Oed in his name. By the way, the reason we sang all those name of Jesus songs, like he's worthy of his name, His name, Yeshua, Jesus, means Savior. So when we sing he is worthy of his name, we are saying he is our Savior. So when it says believe in his name,

it means not just believe that he died on the cross, and that was a historical fact, but I'm trusting that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And for anybody that does this, he gave the right to become children of God. He doesn't merely forgive us of our sins, but he adopts us as his own.

Some of you believe or think that the gospel means Jesus died to forgive you of your sin. And that is true, it's just incomplete. Jesus did die so that your sins could be forgiven, but he didn't stop there. He did not just forgive you and say, good luck, try harder, do better, see you next week. But when we put our faith in Jesus, when we trust that when Christ died on the cross,

he gives us the right to become children of God. And what it's called when you take somebody who used to not be your child and then you make them your child, that's called adoption, that God, through faith in Christ, adopts us into his family. I know we've got a bunch of families here that have adopted kids. and I don't know if you've ever walked with a family when they adopt a kid or maybe you did it. It's one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel. And you think about this.

When parents adopt a kid, who chooses? Who chooses? The parents choose. The kids aren't at the adoption place and lining up a bunch of parents. They're like, all right, what kind of car you got? We'll take that one. That's not what they do. But it's the parents that choose the children.

And there's no tryout. It's not like you go to the orphanage and be like, hey, give me about eight of them, okay? We're going to run this March Madness Brackatology situation here. And whoever can cook and clean the best, that's going to be the keeper. That's not how it works. You just by grace, you choose them, you adopt them, there's no tryout, and then the parents pay full price. It's very, very expensive. Then a legal transaction happens, and they change the name of the child to the family name, and then they are, they are just like all the other brothers

and sisters, no matter how those brothers or sisters got there, and then they are full heirs to the inheritance. It is a picture of the gospel. Imagine, imagine. Some of you don't have to imagine. You just remember. Imagine you're in a court of law and you're standing before the judge and you are guilty and you know you're guilty. And they got you shackled up and the prosecutor, he's making his case against you and you know in your mind. He's right, man, everything he is saying, I've done, I've done. And then the judge slams down the gavel and says, not guilty. And you don't know why. It's by grace. And he says to you not guilty. But then he doesn't say good luck. No, no, no, no. What if? Imagine if the judge said, Bayliff bring him to me. And he

brings you there and he unshackles you and the judge looks at you and he doesn't give you a lecture. He gives you the keys to his house. And he says, I'm going to adopt you as my own. I got a really nice car sitting in a really good parking spot. I want you to drive this, gives you the address, and everything that I have is yours. This is what John. is saying. John is saying that the gospel changes the courtroom from a criminal trial to an adoption ceremony. Later, John's going to say this. And first John, he's going to say, oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished upon us that we would be called children of God. I hope you see what a big deal this is. That when we put our faith in Christ, we go from orphans and enemies

to adopted sons and daughters of the Most High King. Verse 14. very famous verse and he says this and the word became flesh and dwelt among us in the beginning was the word and the word was god and the word was with god and the word creates everything that is and then by miracle the word the second person of the trinity puts on flesh and he is born as a baby in a manger two thousand years ago and i'm going to tell you man the most important miracle in the Bible is for sure the empty tune, because without the resurrection, we're still dead in our trespasses. But to me, the most remarkable miracle is the incarnation. Because once you understand that Jesus is who he says he is, the author of life and preeminent and in him all things hold together,

then what big a deal is it for him to walk on water? I know it's cool, but if you created the water and all the water obeys you anyway, if you want to take a stroll on your water, you can just walk on the water. Or if you spoke into existence everything that is, for sure you, can take some fish sticks and some cheesy biscuits and split them up and feed whoever you want to feed. And if you are the resurrection in the life and your friend Lazarus is dead and you don't want him to be dead, you be like, come on man, get up here. I don't care if you stink it or not. Okay, you can call people up out the grave. But the fact that Jesus, co-enternal with the Father, the Word, who has been there from before there was a beginning, decides to step out of heaven

and become one of us and become a baby is remarkable. and I believe that part of the reason that he did it is because, so that he can know us and love us and experience what we experience. This is why Hebrews 415 says this, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. So if you're going through it, I got good news for you. Jesus knows how you feel. You ever been let down by a friend?

Yeah, so has Jesus. You ever been lied to by somebody close to you? So has Jesus. You got some family issues going on? So did Jesus' family show up when time he's preaching? They tried a baker act. He did like, the man's got a demon, okay? So if you got some family stuff going on,

Jesus knows how you feel. Have you ever been betrayed by someone close to you? You ever feel alone? Jesus on the cross says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He is not just some sort of. of distant God, but he is a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. It's a part of why he came to live a perfect life. Now, I've shared this illustration before, so I'm going to do a shorter version of it, I hope,

but it's the only thing I can ever think of that makes sense to me. When I was in college, I lived in this real crummy apartment, and right next to it, the apartment built next to it got condemned, so they tore it down. So it was just like this concrete slab. It's all it was, a bunch of cracks in it and stuff. And in my building was this little psycho kid. And this little psycho kid had a big wheel. So this is like in 1991 or two, something like that, okay?

How many of you know what a big wheel is? Remember the big wheel? Okay, some of you, like, you know, you precious young people, just Google it. I don't think they make them anymore because it was real low to the ground and there was a big wheel in your face so you couldn't see where you're going. And it was about bumper height, so you were sure to catch it right in the noggin, you know, like when you rode around into the street. And so, but by the way, that's why my generation is so tough.

Like we had lead paint and no helmets and all that. because all the dumb ones are dead. They didn't make it. So anyway. So there were these carpenter ants that were on the slab and they would come running around. This little psycho kid would come out

with his big wheel and he would run over the carpenter ants with his big wheel. It was kind of psycho. And I would see him on the way to and from class. And then once he ran over enough of them, they would like run and hide and wherever they go. And then he would go into his house

and he gets strawberry jelly and he would take the jelly and he'd put it all over the concrete slab. And then the ants would get on Twitter and be like, hashtag best jelly ever see on the slab and they would by the hundreds would come out and then psycho kid would wait back here on his big wheel and when they piled up he would come at them and it had like this power slide thing and he would run over the ants and like you know little pinchers and thoraxes

and heads would just go flying everywhere and he would ha ha ha with this evil psycho laugh okay now I've got no love for ants I don't you know but if I did if I saw if I had compassion on the ants and think well this isn't very good and I wanted to save the ants what would I I mean, if I rolled up on the ants and I was like, hear ye, hear ye ants. Be aware. In about two hours, schools out and psycho kid with this big wheel is coming back. So you're going to have to run and hide. And if the ants even showed up to my sermon, they would just be like, look at the size of that shoe.

Like, there's no way I could communicate with the ant. If I wanted to communicate with ants, I would have to become an ant. And grow up in a little ant village and learn ant things and learn how to talk like an ant and all of that. And then at just the right time, I could gather the ants together. and say, hear ye, hear you. I know that the taste of the strawberry jelly is sweet to your little pinch of things, but do not be deceived. Psycho boy will run over your little squishy head if you eat there, so follow me to the other side of the road called the Promised Land because his mama won't let him cross the street, let's go. Now, that's not exactly the doctrine of the

incarnation. There's some lacking there, I will admit. But it's close. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. In Eugene Peterson's version of the Bible called the message, he says it this way, and the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. St. John's County, that's why we just moved into the neighborhood. Baker Correctional Union, everywhere we have a campus, that's why, because the gospel moves into the neighborhood. Literally, in Greek, that word is tabernacled, and the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Actually, that's the theme of the whole Bible, God with us.

He creates Adam and Eve in the garden. and he walks around with his people. And then they sin and it separates God so he creates this tabernacle, the sacrificial system so that through the sacrifice and the shedding of blood God could be with his people. But that was temporary. And it was just the foreshadow.

And so Jesus, the Lamb of God, comes to take away the sin of all people who would believe in him so that we could be with him and then one day at the consummation of all things we will be with him forever. Then he goes on to say, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth, that Jesus is full of grace and full of truth.

It's not like a seesaw. That's how most of us are. If the grace goes up, the truth goes down. If the truth goes up, the grace goes down. There's no more full than full. Jesus is full of grace and he's full of truth, and we're going to see it at the cross. Verse 15, John bore a witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said.

He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. This is the fourth time the gospel writer wants us to know that Jesus is eternal. And then he says this. Verse 16. For from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.

I think what he is talking about here is the cross. Because at the cross of Jesus Christ, we see grace and truth fully poured out. Think about the cross as two intersecting beams. There is a vertical beam. And at the cross of Jesus Christ, we see the truth of God poured out. And here is the truth. The fullness of truth is this. You and I are sinners. And God, because he is a just judge, and all sin must be paid for, God makes payment for that sin by making him who is without sin to be sin for us. That's Jesus. This is 2nd Corinthians 521. That God made him

who is without sin to be sin for us. And at the cross, the Bible says that Jesus was crushed for our iniquities, that upon him was placed the chastisement of us all, that by his stripes, we were healed. And the reason that God can't overlook sin is because he is just, imagine, if whoever it is you love most

was treated horribly by someone else. And then imagine, you're in the court of law, and the judge says, you know what, don't worry about it, we're going to overlook this one. would say you are an unjust judge. God will not overlook sin because he is just. But not only is he just, he's also the justifier. So at the cross on that vertical beam, you see that Jesus is full of truth. And the truth is that you and I are sinners. But then there's also a horizontal beam and it is full of grace that Jesus took the penalty for our sin. And that anyone, anyone, anyone who would believe

that when Christ died on the cross, it counted for them that you would be saying. And that anyone, anyone, anyone, who would believe that when Christ died on the cross, it counted for them. that you would be saved. At the cross, we see the fullness of grace and truth, and for anybody who has received it, we have received grace upon grace. Verse 17, for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God,

who was at the Father's side, but he made him known. That he says that Moses gave us the law. And listen, the law is from God for sure, and the law, like the Ten Commandments and Following, they have a couple of purposes. That the law, the Ten Commandments, it's both a map and a mirror. It's a map to show us what it looks like to live righteously. But more importantly, it's a mirror for us to see that we can't pull it off on our own. That the law, the rules, they are the diagnosis.

And the cross is the cure. A couple years ago, my daughter, who's 11 now, she's the toughest Martin by far. It's not even close. She's a gymnast. She's awesome. She's tough. She doesn't cry for like physical pain stuff. And one day we were at one of those little bouncy house and jump around trampoline, concussion

cube things, you know. I think they're all built by like care spot in the ER places, okay? And I'm sitting over in the corner of mine. I'm all business and she's bouncing around with some friends and then something went wrong and she comes walking up to me and she's holding her elbow and she's like kind of, she's not full crime and she's like whimpering. She's like, Daddy, it hurts and I heard it pop. and I'm thinking, oh no.

Not only do I feel bad for her, I feel bad for me, because I know Gretchen's going to interrogate me, and be like, were you watching? I was praying for her, and then, you know, a demon did. I don't know what I'm telling him. So we get in the car and we go to the ER and they x-ray it. And when they bring me the x-ray, they say,

look, there is a problem that it was broken right in the elbow, right at the growth plate. Now, here's the thing about an x-ray. An x-ray is very important, but an x-ray does not have the, power to fix anything. All it has the ability to do is to tell you that something needs to be fixed. What John is saying is that's what the law is, that the law, the commandments of God, do not have the power to change your life. It's just an x-ray of your soul so that you can see,

uh-oh, I am a sinner in need of a savior. And so then she had to go through a process whereby they fix the problem. And the process that we go through is that God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life, to die a sinner's death, and he didn't just die for us, he died instead of us. And for anybody that would believe that when Christ pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and said, it is finished, if you believe that counted for me, then the good news is this, that when you receive that gift of grace and you believe in his name, you believe it counted for me, then you have been given the right to become a child of God. So I want to ask you, are you a child of God? And I know what some of you will say,

because it's just kind of popular in our culture today to say, aren't we all children of God? And the truth is, no, no. A transaction has to happen. An event has to take place. That we are all image bearers of God and we are all creations of God for sure. And every life is valuable, regardless of what you believe. But to become a child of God, you have to receive. the grace of Jesus Christ poured out at the cross. You have to believe that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for you. And then you go from

being an orphan, from really being an enemy of God, and then you are adopted as a son or a daughter of the Most High King. Here's the point. The son of God became a man so that men and women could be children of God. So have you ever become a child of God? Last week we had 185

people that were adopted into God's family. And that's great. And we celebrate all 185 of those. But a great number, according to the gospel, it's not 185. A great number is just one more. And so what if there was just one more person at one of our campuses are watching online, and you were ready to receive God's grace. You were ready to believe that when Christ died on the cross, it counted for you. And what would happen in that moment is you would have the right to be called a child of God, that you would admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus, I believe,

when you died on the cross, it counted for me, and I confess you as my Lord and Savior. I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. If you'd bow your head and close your eyes, not because there's anything super spiritual about that, but just so that you would not be distracted. And if you would say this very moment, I am ready to receive God's free gift of grace that cost his son everything. And I believe when Christ died on the cross, it counted for me. And I want to confess him as my Lord and Savior.

Would you lift your hand high in the air and say, Father, here I am? I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Amen and amen and amen. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, I thank you and I praise you. that it's not a hand in the air that saves us, but it's Christ's death and resurrection that brings us to life. God, I thank you. I thank you for the invitation to believe.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of faith that we can even respond. And, Lord, we love you, but we can love you because you first loved us by sending your son, Jesus Christ, to make the full payment at the cross that we can be adopted into your family. God, we join with heaven as we celebrate the men, the women, the students, who were lost and are now found. who were blind and now see, who were dead and now are alive. And we pray this, in Jesus' name, amen.

Church, would you please stand as we respond? We respond to the gospel by praying. Because if you are his child, just like when your child needed something, they would bring it to you. Why don't you bring whatever you want, whatever you need, whatever's on your heart to the Father? He wants to hear from you, just like you wanted to hear from your kids. And we bring our ties in our offerings, our first and our best. best. If you're regular here, hopefully you know how to do that. Most of us do that online. And we sing. And we're going to sing a song that our team wrote right here. And the song is called

It Counted for Me. And here's what I want you to do. When we get towards the end, we're going to sing the words, It counted for me for a long time. All right, but it's going to be kind of low. It counted like this. And then it starts ramp it up and ramping up. And then it gets to the park. You understand? You'll know. It'll be there. And you'll be like, that's the part he was talking about. And if you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it counted for you. for you. I don't care if you've ever raised your hand before. I want to go two hands up. Okay? I'm talking to you men. Uncross your hands. Get your hand out of your pocket. I want two in the air and I want you to declare that it counted for you. So let's pray. Let's bring. Let's sing. Let's respond.