The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 14: Freedom

Episode Date: July 11, 2021

The gospel sets us free. We all serve something. Jesus is the only one that brings freedom in our surrender to Him. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. Hope you're ready for this. Grab your Bibles. We're going to be in John chapter 8. I keep looking, especially lately. The last few weeks have been kind of intense, right? And so it's going to get intense again. I don't know what to tell you.

It just is intense right now in the Gospel of John. So if you're looking to just come be entertained and then go to the beach, you might want to leave now. Cause what we're talking about is light and freedom, light and freedom, which is pretty appropriate coming off of Fourth of July, right? Because what do we do? We celebrate our freedom. by blowing up stuff with colorful lights, which is pretty cool.

And I hope you did. I hope you didn't blow you up because this is the land of the free, although my HOA has yet to get that memo because I had to go to Georgia to blow up what I wanted to blow up. But anyway, that's a different sermon. So here we go. John chapter 8, we're going to pick it up in verse 12, but it says this. Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.

Now again, every time we hear these I-Am statements, we don't hear them the way the first century Jewish people would hear them. because we hear a statement like that, and we hear it as a positive statement. But I'm just telling you, there was an emotional, there was a theological, there was a religious grenade that went off in their head every single time Jesus said, I am. Because what he was doing is he was equating equality with God. And every time he says it, he's going to do seven I am statements, which means seven in the Bible is the number of completion.

What he is saying is, I am completely God. And what he is referencing is Exodus chapter 3 when Moses, Moses was tending sheep working for his father-in-law. He was sure that he was disqualified for ministry because he murdered a guy. But apparently in the Bible, that doesn't disqualify you as long as you get some time in repentance. See Paul, see Moses. And so he's working for his father-in-law. So you know this isn't exactly his life plan. And he's a shepherd, which was a terrible job.

All right, you just sit out in the woods and watch some dumb sheep, all right? Pastor and shepherd means the same thing. but I'm not saying that about you. And he's out there. And then he sees a burning bush. Okay? If you've been around Bible study, he's heard this story.

And he sees this burning bush. He comes walking up to it because it's burning but not consumed. And then the bush talks to him. Moses, Moses, take off your shoes. Can you're standing on holy ground? And if I'm Moses, I'm thinking, I've been here for 40 years.

Have I been missing this for 40 years or did it just become holy ground? And then the bush, it's God speaking through the bush. And God tells Moses, go and tell Pharaoh, the most powerful man on the planet, let my people go. and then Moses has asked this question,

who should I say sent me? Because I can't just roll up into Pharaoh's house and be like, all right, I was talking to a burning bush and he said, let go of all of your slave labor. And Pharaoh's going to be like, no, no, no, you were burning a bush, but not talking to a bush. I think that's what's going on. And so God gives him his covenant name.

Yahweh. You tell them that Yahweh sent you. It's four letters in Hebrew. And it's supposed to sound like breathing. Like you breathe in, you breathe out. Yahweh. That's my name. Like I'm as close as your next breath.

In fact, every breath you have is a gift from me and that he breathed the ruah or the breath of life into the very first human beings. That's what he's saying. And so God's name is translated in English as I am that I am. And so now you get to Jesus walking around in Jerusalem. And he says, hey, you want to see God?

Well, look at me because I am. and it would just, it would blow their minds because he was equating equality with God. That's what was happening here. And then he says it this way, I am the light of the world. Now this is a big deal. Do you remember what was happening? He was at the feast of the booths for the festival of the booths. This is that eight-day camping trip where they came to Jerusalem and they all slept in tents.

And remember two weeks ago, he says, is anyone here among you thirsty? And the reason that he was doing that is because the last day, on the feats of the booze, the high priest would take a big ladle of water and go out to the pool of Salon and pour out to water to remember that God provided and protected the nation of Israel when they left Egypt. And as everybody's looking at the little water show, Jesus says, anybody here thirsty? Come to me and I will put in you rivers of living water. And then, last week, the Pharisees are like, oh, we got somebody that's thirsty. We found this woman caught in the act of adultery. And the old covenant, the Bible, the Old Testament says,

that she deserves to be stone to death. What say you, Jesus? And Jesus says, okay, you want to play the judgment game? We can go. I'll go first. Whoever's perfect, cast the first stone. And then one by one, they begin to leave because they know if they play the judgment game,

then they are going to be on the other end of the rocks. And then this woman braces for impact, but instead of feeling the judgment of religion, she gets run over by the grace train of Jesus Christ. And he says, who here condemns you? And she says, no one, Lord, a confession of faith. And then he says, then neither do I condemn you. Now go and leave your life of sin.

And now he's back to preaching again. We're still at the festival of the booths. And what would happen after they did the water thing, after what would happen there on the festival of the booths, is that people would light these candelabras in the court of the women. I don't have to come to go through all the like, you know, different people had to go to different sections of the temple. But the court of the women would light these candelabras,

and then the women would take the candelablers around and they would begin to light up candles and candlest. Elabros all over Jerusalem. And so here's the thing, man, is that before electricity in Jerusalem, when the sun went down, the day was over. Have you ever not had electricity? And when the sun goes down, it gets real dark. You ever been in the country when the sun goes down?

I know some of you have it. That's half your problem. If we could just get you out in the woods a little bit, my job would be so much easier. And so now, like a candlelight service at church, right? It's all lit up. Now everything is being lit up at the end of the feet. of the booze, and then Jesus says, oh, you want some light? I got your light. I am the light of the world. It's a really big statement. He's saying, I am the light of the globe. Most religions believe

that God is for one group of people. And Jesus says, no, no, no, not the one true God. The one true God is for all people. I am the light of the world. And this bothered the religious people because they know verses like Psalm 271, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall I fear. And Jesus is like, bingo, you got it. I am the Lord and I am your salvation. This is what's happening. And when Jesus claims to be the light, here's what he's saying, think about what light does for us. Light shows us the path, right? You can obviously see where to go in light. That light makes things grow. That light warms us. That sometimes light will hurt your eyes. You ever notice that when your eyes get used to the darkness? And then light hits them. It's a little painful, isn't it?

go to the matinee and then go out the side exit and you just open the door and you're like, whoa, this is sunny Florida. We see oftentimes what can happen is we can get so accustomed to the darkness that we live in that it feels like a smack in the face when you come against the light of the Word of God. So when you get offended here, that's not me slapping you. I mean, I'm happy to because we all probably need it occasionally. But it's the truth of the Word of God that can almost cause a painful reaction to us. That Jesus has his light.

And in fact, the book of Revelation says that, when we get to glory, that there will be no need for the sun in heaven, because Jesus himself will be the light, that we will be warm by him, we will be able to see by him. I am the light of the world. And then he goes on to say, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. What happens in darkness? You stumble. You can't see things. Parents, you ever step on a Lego. It's always in the middle of the night, right? And then it makes you question the very existence of your decision making about your kids. Amen?

What happens in the darkness? Where there is darkness, there's often fear. Your kids will come to you. You'll be like, mom, dad, can you come with me into the room? Because there's a monster here in the dark. And parents, whatever you do, this little free parenting tip, don't you lie to them and tell them that there are not monsters. Because if you begin to deny the little monsters in the dark in their room, then they'll deny monsters for the rest of their life. and the monsters get bigger and bigger and bigger.

What you tell them is, no, no, no, no, you shine light and the darkness flees, or you just walk with your father because he can overcome whatever monster you encounter in your life. Amen? Jesus says he is the light of the world. And whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And so the Pharisees said to him, they're not going to like this.

They say, well, you're bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. In the book of Deuteronomy, you had to have at least two witnesses. in order for your testimony to hold up in a court of law. Jesus is going to bring that up in just a second. And Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true.

For, I know where I came from, that's heaven, and where I am going, also heaven. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge but I and the Father who sent me. This is what got him in so much trouble.

He's going to consistently say that he is the Son of God and that he and the Father are one. Then he says, in your law, it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. I think he's talking about his baptism. Remember several weeks ago, John the Baptist,

standing in the Jordan, crying out, repent and be baptized. Jesus shows up on the scene, and he rightly says, Behold the Lamb of God, who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. Then Jesus walks into the Jordan, and John the Baptist, his cousin, baptizes him. And two things happen. One, the heavens open up. God the Father speaks out loud, behold, my son, and whom I am well pleased. Testimony number one.

Secondly, the spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove. Testimony number two. What Jesus is saying is, when God the Father speaks out loud and says, Behold my son and whom I am will please, then you don't have to put this thing up for vote. I am who I say I am. That's what he said. And they said to him, therefore, where's your father? And Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father.

If you knew me, you would know my father also. What Jesus is going to do over and over and over as he encounters these very religious, very deviant, people that believe the Old Testament. What he's going to do over and over and over is say that you cannot simultaneously claim to serve God and reject Jesus. He's going to do this over and over. Now, this is going to be very offensive to the 21st century. But again, like I've told you before, I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. Okay? Jesus is going to make sure that we know that to know God is to know Jesus and you cannot separate the two. You cannot separate the two. You cannot say I love God, but I don't believe in Jesus. It is impossible. In fact, if you were to go to a local

university here, to the religion department and all of its diversity, what everyone would tell you in those departments is this, is that every major world religion is fundamentally the same and superficially different. Fundamentally, there's a God, there's some stuff we got to do, and people get together, and you've got a book, and we sing songs, and we say prayers, and we try to do better, and then superficially, there's a bunch of differences. Jesus would say that is absolutely wrong, that the claim of the gospel as compared to any other religion is fundamentally different and superficially similar. So some of the superficials are, yeah, man, there are people, and we do have books, and we do sing songs and have some liturgy. But fundamentally, Jesus is saying that he has come on a rescue mission from God to live a perfect life, die on the cross in your place to take a

way your sin. And what you think about Jesus determines your relationship with God, period, end, dot. There is no other way. Now, if that offends everybody but my one amenter, he keeps going. He's going to, he's going to, they're offended. I cannot, listen, man, he's talking to religious, pious, good people. Like way better than you. I've seen your Instagram. I'm talking about these people tithed on, on the spices they had in their spice rack, and they tried to obey all the law and do all the right things. The problem was they didn't know Jesus. And so Jesus is just going to turn the screws.

Verse 20. He says, these words, he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. John is going to let us know that Jesus is still in control even of when he gets arrested, tried, crucified, etc. Verse 21. So he said to them again,

I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. And where I'm going, you cannot come. Again, please hear me here. He is telling religious, good, devout, temple-worshipping people that he's going to heaven, and unless they surrender their life to Jesus, they don't get to come with him. Okay?

You see, here's the crazy thing. The gospel tells us that we are saved, not by our works, but we are only saved by the finished work of Jesus. Jesus Christ, that that is our only means of salvation. And what's crazy is these religious people thought that by their righteous activity that they would earn a right standing before God. In other words, they thought if they are good enough, then a good God would let them into heaven because of their goodness.

Now, here's what's crazy about the claims of the gospel, okay? The fact that the gospel tells us to repent of our sin, honestly, every person. believes that. Everybody believes that you should turn away from whatever it is that you think sin is, all right? I mean, whatever, we don't all agree on what sin is, but everybody agrees, we should stop doing the bad things that we think that are bad. I mean, listen, if you are a hardcore, just vegan, I mean, you think that's what it's about, okay? All right. And then one day, boy, you get a whiff of bacon and you just go crazy and you eat all the bacon. And you're like, I should never do that.

All right. Well, everybody agrees if that's what you think, then of course you should repent of the things that you think you shouldn't do. Here's what's crazy about Christianity. Not only are we called to repent of our sins, we're called to repent of even our righteous deeds, even our good works.

If we think those good works are going to somehow earn us salvation for God, that God is actually offended when we think that we do good enough, therefore he owes us salvation. You see, the Bible says it this way. Very offensive. I'm trying to find all the offensive verses I can in one sermon. Here we go.

Isaiah, you're going to hate this. I don't care. Isaiah 646, we have all become like one who is unclean and even our righteous deeds are like polluted garments. The Hebrew for polluted garments is literally used menstrual cloth. Do I need to tell you what that means? Now here's why it says polluted garment, because have you ever seen a translation committee, a biblical translation committee?

There is a high degree of dockers and penny loafers and pocket protectors and their parts, and they're very, very godly men and women, super smart, okay? But they know these verses have to be read in church, and this would be used menstrual cough. Explain that to somebody if they don't know what that means, okay? So it would be like, Mama, imagine, on Mother's Day, if you're child, was like, Mom, I have you a present and brought to you used menstrual cloth. You got it? Like, followed you around and brought that to you as a gift.

You would not open that gift and be like, oh, well, it's the thought they gown. No, no, no, no. You would say, husband, come judge the children because they are evil. All right, that's what you would do. You would be offended. You'd be like, ah, you don't understand a gift. Okay. When we buy our own deeds say, God, we can do good enough things in order to take care of our own sin

and earn a right standing with you. it is by definition self-righteous. And so what the gospel tells us is that not only do we need to repent of our sin, we even need to repent of our good deeds when we think it earns us a right standing with God. Now the crazy thing about it is, is if we do those good deeds for our salvation, God is offended, but when we understand that our salvation is a free gift from Jesus, and then that compels us out of gratitude to do good deeds, those same good deeds are received as worship.

This is what he's saying to the Pharisees. And so he says, where I'm going, you can't go unless you surrender to me so that your sin debt can be paid. That's what he is talking about. Verse 22. And so the Jews said, well, will he kill himself? Since he says, where I am going, you cannot come. And he said to them, you were from below, I am from above.

You are of this world. I am not of this world. Jesus is like, look, man, you're not even playing the same game I am playing. I mean, let's look at this. Let's talk about politics. That'll be fun. Very generally speaking, there are two groups of people, all right, in our country. It's pretty much everywhere.

There's one group of people, the conservatives, and they're primarily, they look back. They go, we got to get back to the good old days. Why? Because everything was better, man. People treated each other better, and the ice cream was colder, and gas was like a nickel. We got to go back and we've got to do that again. We've got to get back there. That's primarily that group.

Then there's another group, the progressives are the liberals, and they're looking forward. They're like, no, no, no, we can't go back there. Okay, it wasn't better for everybody. We ain't going back there. We're going to this way. In fact, we're going to just, those words don't even mean those words. We're going to make it up. We're going that way.

That's where we're going. You got one group looking forward. You got one group looking back. And Jesus comes and says, stop. I did not come to look back. I did not come to look forward. We came to look up. We're on a whole different kingdom, man.

We're members of a totally different kingdom. the rules are all different. Jesus did not come to take sides. He came to take over. He says, you follow after me. That's where your hope will be found. He said, you're from down here. I'm from up there.

We're playing a totally different game. And then he's going to dig in right here. I told you, I told you, you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. That's what he's saying. I told you that you will,

apart from Jesus, you will die. in your sin. That's an offensive thing to say, is it not? Pretty exclusive. Here's what he's saying, apart from the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, what are you going to do about your sin? I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to die in your sin. Anyone that says that Jesus is a good moral teacher has never read the teachings of Jesus. They haven't. They've heard some stories about him, like playing hops sauces with kids and pet and sheep and, you know, that guy telling stories. But Jesus himself is the way.

looking at devout people and says, unless you surrender to me as Lord and Savior, you ain't going to heaven. You're dying in your sins. Here's what he's saying. Baptist, you can help me out here, okay? I know we probably got some here, and you're going to know the answer to this. All right, I know you were good for something. Ready? Here we go. Here's the pop quiz. What can wash away my sin? All right, it makes you nervous to know how Baptist we have in a house. I mean, good gracious. I bet the roof came off Fleming Island, all right, but whatever. All right, but you're right. You're 100% right, man. The only thing that can wash away your sin is the blood of Jesus,

not your righteousness, not your good deeds, not how many good things you try to do. It's not your good works, because your good works from this day forward can't do anything to take care of your sin in the past. In Romans 323, the apostle Paul says, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, literally that phrase falling short is missed the mark. It's an archery term, all right?

All you bow hunters ought to like this. And the idea is this. If you were in a bow archery competition and you had to go three for three in the first round to make it to the second round. If you missed the first shot, no matter what you do, if you can hit bull's eyes for the rest of your life, you don't get to move on because perfection was required to go on to the next round. And there's nothing that you could do about your previous miss unless you lose, use somebody else's score.

So your good works are not going to do anything about your previous sin. The other thing that's just true is you're not graded on your intentions, because your intention and your heart does nothing to pay for our previous sins. If you were to borrow my truck and you had an accident, you wrecked it, that's why you're driving my truck. But anyway, and you came back to me, and you're like, I am so sorry. and because I am a Jesus follower and in full of grace, I would say, you know what, don't worry about it. I forgive you.

The fact that I forgive you means that you don't have to pay to fix my truck. Who does? I do. No matter how much you cry about it and whine about it and feel sorry about it, your intentions do nothing to make that truck right. And God is a holy and just God and all sin must be judged and all sin must be paid for. And here's the deal. I know you think you're a good person. First of all, you're not as good as you think you are.

But even if you're super good compared to most, God does not grade on a curve. He grades at the cross. And there's only one of two options. Either Jesus pays for your sin or you pay for your sin. This is what he's saying. If Jesus pays for your sin, that means that you believe in him, you trust in him, you believe somehow when he died on the cross,

he pushed up on his nail-pier's feet and says, it is finished, that counted for me. He takes the payment for my sin. I get credited his perfect righteousness. Not only that, not only am I forgiven, I am you are, we are adopted into his family, and we are made co-heirs with Christ, and one day we live in glory with him forever and ever. The other option is you can say, I will self-atone and I will make my own payment, which means you will eternally be separated from God.

This is what he's talking about. You see, God doesn't grade on a curve. He grades at the cross. Either Jesus pays your bill or you pay your bill. This is what he's saying to the religious people. And so they said to him, Who are you? Who are you?

And Jesus said to them, just what I've been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. And they didn't understand that he'd been speaking about his father. Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, lifted up means when I go to the cross,

this will make more sense to you. And this phrase, the son of man is a title of the Messiah that comes out of the book of Daniel. They would have known exactly what he is talking about. He's saying, when you crucify the son of God, me, then you will know that I am he. So there's another I am. Freaks them out. They don't like it. And that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things

that are pleasing to him. And as he is saying these things, many believed in him, many trusted that he is who he says he is and he's going to keep his promises. That's what that means. And so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed, if you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Boy, politicians love, to hit this verse, don't they? I'm talking about politics a little bit. So if you don't get offended today, just come see me at the end of the service

and I'll try to offend you personally if I don't get to your group, okay? So I'm trying to get us all. Yeah, people say this all, you know, during political campaigns, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But they skip out the first half of the sentence. Because what Jesus wants us to know,

he says if you abide in his word and you follow him, if you truly his disciple, then you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. and the truth is not a fact. The truth is faith in Jesus. The truth is a person.

That's what he's saying. And so how do you know the truth? How do you know the difference between a truth and a lie by abiding in His Word? Church, let me ask you, are you abiding in His Word? Are you spending time in His Word? Because I'm telling you, we live in a culture that lies to us every single second of every day. There is a lie buzzing in your pocket multiple times, even while we're trying to share the truth right here. And if the first thing you do is wake up and let the lies start coming in,

you're going to have a hard time understanding the truth. If you pick up and look at this thing first, it better be your Bible app. I'm just telling you. And in fact, there are so many lies we can't even point out all of the lies. When I was back at Beach United Methodist, we had a guy there, it was a volunteer. He was awesome. His name is Doug Davis, and he was a retired Secret Service agent. And he told me, I didn't realize this back then, that Secret Service agents,

not only do they protect folks, but they are the ones that primarily try to arrest people that counterfeit money. I didn't know this. And so he told me, though, what they would do is there were so many counterfeits of bills that there's no way that you could keep up with all the new counterfeits because everybody had a new one coming out all the time. So instead of studying all the counterfeits, what they would do is they would study what an actual dollar bill looked like in a five and a ten and a twenty. and they would get to know it so well, front back, corner to corner, what it felt like, what it looked like, when you held it up to the light, all of those things,

they knew it so well that when a counterfeit came around, then they could just smell it. Nope, that's not real. This is what the Word of God is like for us, that when you get to know the truth of the Word of God, that you would know it so well that whenever the lies of the enemy are spewed your way and it's only all day every day,

then you could just feel that. Nope, that does not smell like Jesus at all. He says, you will know the truth. And by the way, in John 14, 6, we're going to find out that Jesus was talking about himself. In John 146, he says, I am the truth. That you will know Jesus, and Jesus will set you free. Now, here's the thing. We love freedom.

I mean, we've staked our whole society on it, right? And we should. But when we talk about freedom in the United States, we're talking about, like, autonomy, independence, political freedom. Which I'm for those things, without a doubt. But what we're really saying is that the world's definition of freedom is I do what I want, no matter the consequences. I do what I want, and you can't tell me what to do. And while that's okay politically, I'm just telling you the enemy is like perfect, because I got some consequences for you. You see, because here's the thing about when we step out on our own, reject the way God designed us to live and say, you can't tell me what to do, I do what I want.

I'm telling you, freedom always feels like fun at first, but it'll get you. I'm telling you, it'll get you. Every step of freedom has a direction, and that direction has a destination. And the enemy, the enemy loves it. The enemy wants us to say, yeah, man, come on, do what you want, do what you want, do what you want. I've told you this many times, because I want you to be able to see your Bible this way. According to the scriptures, the enemy only has three things he can throw at us, three temptations. lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Okay? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And he's like a good bass fisherman. Any bass fisherman in the house, any bass fisherman, praise God. How about bass fisherman with a boat? You with a boat? Okay. So, when you go bass fishing, what do you do, man?

What do you do? You throw a lure. Why? Because it's a luring. But every lure has a hook. And under that lily pad, there's two bass, right? There's big billy bass, and there's the other one. And you start that thing out, man, and you might throw a big old spinner bait,

and you throw it down there and you threw that thing. and Big Billy Bass looks at the spinner bait, and he's like, man, he ain't even trying to eat a helicopter with a skirt on. That's crazy. It doesn't even look real. So what do you do? You don't just throw that all day.

You clip that off, and you get you a little top water plug, right? A little hula popper. You tie that thing on, you throw it out, and then you get that bloop. Blum. And the bass looks at it. He's like, that looks like a sparkle hot dog. I ain't even, that's crazy. Why would you eat that?

But the bass, the bass. Mike's through him might be like, oh, yeah, and he goes after it. And then the one bass looks at the other bass. It's like, how do you even consider yourself a bass doing those kind of things? But then you clip that one off, and then you tie on, I mean the secret weapon around here. Get that dark purple or that black worm and you throw that little jiggly thing out there and you just jiggle it, jiggle it, jiggle it. And he's like, oh, yes, I know, and you got him. That's sin.

That's it. Here's the crazy thing, man. Temptation is tempting. And if something isn't tempting, then he will just throw some other thing in your face that is tempting. and every lure has a hook. And the world's definition of freedom is, I do what I want. Okay, but that leads somewhere.

Now, here's what's crazy. When Jesus is talking about freedom, he's talking about a different kind of freedom. When Jesus says that he's going to set us free, here's a definition. I do what I want, not regardless of the consequences. I do what I want without consequences. And here's why.

because he changes what I want. That's different. That's different. Because what we want and what we get is him. And no longer, through the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, no longer do we fall for those tricks because we understand everything we want

and everything we need is found in him. That nothing, nothing, nothing is better than him. That's what he gives us. John Piper, I love me some John Piper, okay? He says one of his definitions of heaven is this, is that you wake up every day, you do whatever you want, and you go to bed, glorifying God with no regrets. Why? Because he changes you from the inside. That doesn't mean that all your temptations go away, but that's what true freedom is. C.S. Lewis says,

kind of paraphrasing here, I don't have time to read his whole quote. He's basically saying, He is, God made the world to work this way. If you put second things first, you'll lose everything. But when you put first things first, which is Jesus, not only do you get first things, but then you're actually able to enjoy the second things because those second things stir up to worship for the first thing. That is freedom. That's the kind of freedom Jesus is talking about. And then he goes, they answered him. Well, we are offering of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say we will become free?

All right. Here's what they're saying, again, religious people. They're saying, listen, by birth and behavior, God owes us salvation. By birth and behavior, God owes us salvation. And Jesus is going, nah, man, that's not how it works. It's not about your birth and it's not about your behavior. It's about being reborn in me. It's not about birth.

It's not about behavior. It's about belief in Jesus Christ. You see, they thought that they just inherited it because of who their great-granddaddy was. That's not how it works. You see, the reality of the gospel is this, man, it's a single-file line into heaven. It's not do you know somebody that knows him, it's do you know him? And it's not about your behavior. It's about his finished work on the cross.

And I've told you this before, that going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than sticking your head in the oven, makes you a biscuit. That's not how it works. It is not outside in. It is inside out. And not only that, here's what's crazy. They were wrong. They're like, we've never been, we've never been. we've never been enslaved.

Like, you dummy, we're at the festival of the booths. This is to celebrate when God got you out of slavery from Egypt. And not only that, check the local paper. You are in Roman occupied territory right now. Here's the crazy thing about the blinding work of sin and sinfulness in people's lives. Is that oftentimes that people that are in trapment don't even know that they're trapped. They're like, I'm just fine. No, you're not.

You're not fine at all. You are not free. And so Jesus answered them. Again, they're like, we're sons of Abraham, and Jesus answered them. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. They're like, oh, we're not slaves. You're like, you sure?

Because what happened is, is you reached out to grab onto it, and what you don't realize is it has a whole world. of you. And rebellion, I'm telling you. And if some of you're like, I don't feel like that, give it a minute. Give it a minute. All right? Because rebellion, rebellion against God, it always feels like fun and freedom at first. And it can only lead to death and bondage. Only lead to death and bondage. It happens every single time. I've told you this about a million times, but I'm going to tell you about a million more. Okay, we used to have two dogs. We used to have some boxers. We have two dogs now too, all right, two little schnauzers. I should have named him

Worth and Less, all right, but we had these boxer dogs. And I got the first one. His name was Samson. He was awesome. He was by himself. We thought it's not good for him to be alone. So we gave him a mate. And then, and then just like the Bible, all hell broke loose. That's what happened when they got together, okay? I mean, we should have known his name. Samson, Delilah showed up. It was awful. Her name wasn't that, but whatever. Okay. So when it was just him, he was fine to be out in our apartment by himself, but when we got heard, they tore a whole couch piece. It was terrible. So what we had to do is we had to put them in a crate. And we go to the little pet store and we told them, hey, we need a crate. And first of all, like, I cannot believe you

hadn't crated your dogs. Man, shut up. So whatever. And then, but they were like, oh, well, let me just assure you, the dog loves the crate. I mean, they love it because it's back deep in their DNA from when their great grandparents were wolves and they were cave dwellers and they are liars. Let me tell you the truth about that. We got the little book and we were like, crate, and when we said crate, they didn't just run and lay down into the crate. They would go under the bed. They would crawl under the bed. We'd have to grab them by the, you couldn't grab by the tail. We'd cut that off, you know. You got them by the legs, you're dragging them. You're like, oh my gosh, what are we doing? They hated the crate.

A pop quiz. We'll see who's been around a while. But you know what? They loved. They loved cheese. Front row's been here a minute. All right. Cheese. They love some cheese. Hated the crate. Love cheese. Every day when we were about to leave, all we would do, is we'd take a piece of cheese and we would throw it into the crate, and they would see the cheese, go to the crate, they'd lose their mind, they'd dive in, just, oh, my God, got some cheese, I love cheese, you love cheese, me too, and they've got crap, we're in the crate.

Every day, every day, multiple times a day. Dummies, that's what I thought. What a bunch of dumb dogs never learn, and then I'd walk out in this world. The enemy would be like, you want some cheese? I'm like, I'm kind of like cheese, all right, that's what we are. That's what Jesus is saying, that sin equals slavery, freedom comes from faith. And Jesus wants to set us free.

The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. All right, listen, if your child does not get his job done, you don't fire him from the house. If your employee does not get the job done, you get a new employee. This is what he's talking about. Because if you are a son,

then the job has already been perfectly accomplished by, his son, Jesus Christ, this is what he's talking about. He says, the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. Jesus wants us to understand that we should see God not primarily as a master and we are servants, but primarily we are sons and he is our father. And ladies, when the Bible says that you're sons

in the first century, he's upgrading females. It's not downgrading. Look, if one day the men, if we're brides, then you get to be a son, okay? It's just receive the language. And so God says, listen, man, if you're a servant and you don't do right, we kick you out. But when you're in your son, you're part of the family forever. In Luke chapter 15, when this guy in this story, he's got two kids, and his younger son comes to his dad and says, hey, forget you, you're dead to me.

Give me what's coming to me. And the father gives him his inheritance. And then he goes off, and the Bible says he squanders it away on wild living. And then at one point he gets to the place where he thinks, uh-oh, maybe I can come back to my dad. and maybe I can work out a deal and I can work on his estate, just so I'll have somewhere to stay and something to eat. But the Bible says that when the father sees his son from a long ways off, what does he do?

He hikes up his robe and he runs to him and he throws his arms around him, and he gives him three things. He gives him his robe, his righteousness, so that the people don't see the filth of the son. They see the clean robe of the father. And then he gives him a signet ring. He gives him his name. He re-adops him back into the family.

And then he gives him shoes because servants didn't have shoes, only sons had shoes. So he gives him status. This is what Jesus is offering. So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. You will be completely free. Can you imagine that kind of freedom? He's talking about internal freedom, external freedom, primarily he's talking about eternal freedom.

Can you imagine being free from what you think about what everybody thinks about you? Can you imagine being free from the rat race? that's got you caught up trying to just buy the next thing or live in the right place or get your kids in the right school district. And all of those things, can you imagine being free from worrying about what everybody online thinks about you?

Because if the sun sets you free, you are free indeed. This is why the Apostle Paul, the freest man to ever live, he's in prison and he's writing this letter to the Philippian Church, and he says this. He says, for me to live as Christ

and to die is gain. That's freedom. He says, if you let me live one more day, Lord, I'm not going to be caught up with the trappings of this world. I don't care about my house and my car and my hair and what people think and all of that. I don't care. I'm going to spend all of my life just trying to draw people unto you for me to live as Christ. And the jailers maybe come by and be like, man, if you don't shut up, we're going to kill you.

He's like, check please, I'll take it because for me, death is an upgrade. All right? You put me in first class. I'll be face to face with him. I don't have to worry about the rest of this world anymore. I will be free in him to live as Christ to die as can. Can you imagine that kind of freedom. This is what Jesus is offering to these people.

He says, I know you're the offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. And they answered, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. We find out in the book of Romans,

the apostle Paul says, all the children of Abraham aren't actually children of Abraham. aren't actually children of the promise because it was not a genetic inheritance. It was an inheritance of faith. That's what he's talking about. Because the works that Abraham did, he did at least three things.

First of all, he put his faith in God and it was accredited to him as righteousness. The second thing he did is he trusted God to the point of surrendering his whole life. God says, I want you to take your only begotten son and I want you to sacrifice them to me on a hill that I will show you. And Abraham believed that God is who he says he is

and he would always keep his promises. And if he promised that he would bless the entire world through this boy, then somehow, even though I'm sure Abraham has way more questions than we have today, he trusted God on Mount Moriah and he brought his son up there willingly. And then God says to him, nope, I'm going to give you a substitute. And the substitute on that same mountain a couple thousand years later

was going to be his son. The book of Hebrew says that Abraham put his faith in God and God counted him as a friend. Here's what Jesus says to a bunch of religious people. If you really were children of faith, then me and you would be friends. That's what God wants from you. If me and you, if you really were children of faith, then you would trust God and you would surrender your life to Jesus.

But now you seek to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God, this is not what Abraham did. You were doing the works your father did. And they said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. You know what they're doing? They're taking a shot at Jesus' mom. That's a different level, man. You can say whatever you want to about a brother.

You talk about his mama? You had a totally different level, okay? That's what they're doing. We have one father, even God. And Jesus said to them, look at this. If God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God, and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

Anybody that tells you that they know God, but they reject Jesus. Jesus is saying they don't know God. because you cannot reject the father or you cannot reject the son and somehow know the father. This is the most important thing you will ever deal with in your entire life.

It's not just what do you feel about God but what do you do with this man named Jesus? We're going to get there at the end of John. Pilot is going to bring Jesus in front of a crowd of people and say what should I do with this man named Jesus? And they say crucify him, kill it. And Pilate said, his blood's on your head

and he says, I wash my hands of this. You do not have that luxury. Every single one of us will come before God the Father and ultimately answer that question, what did you do with this man named Jesus? And I can tell you, there are only two options. You can receive him or you can reject him. Because to ignore him is to reject him. And what Jesus is saying is, if you do that, you will die in your sins.

Jesus says, why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. you are of your father the devil he's telling religious Jewish people your father is the devil I think he's getting back at what they said they said we know you know we weren't born in immorality like your mama he's like oh you want to talk about mammas guess who your mama is sleeping with the devil that's what he's saying okay you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar in the Father of Lies.

But because I tell the truth, you don't believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Ouch. Out. Again, man, if he said this today, people would be like, oh, I'm triggered.

I need a safe space. and he's like, all right, you pray about that, but you better figure it out before you die. Because if you die without me, it ain't going to be a safe space. You're going to be triggered forever and ever and ever and ever. I mean, Jesus is like super binary. He's like, you've got one or two choices here. There's team Jesus and there's team devil.

That's it. See, what religious people want to do is religious people want to draw a line and say there's the good people and there's the bad people and they're always on the good side. And they're saying to Jesus, you're on the bad side. And Jesus's like, all right, there is only two. And the good people are over here and the bad people are over there. lonely on the good side because it's only Jesus.

And Jesus says, the way this works like a big red rover game. I'll call your name, you come on over here. But if you reject that, then you will not be on Team Jesus forever and ever and ever. You see, the enemy lies to you. And he's crafty. He's been at it for a long time. This is why, in the garden, when Adam and Eve are on the scene walking with God, what does the enemy do?

He comes in and he begins to ask this question. Did God really say that? You see, the enemy always wants us to question primarily three things about God. The will of God for your life, the Word of God, and the work of God. The will of God that God would want to save you. The Word of God. Does that what it really means? This is an old book, and you have Google.

Surely you're smarter than God. And the work of God. When Jesus died on the cross, you really think that counted for you? And when he speaks to you, he is lying because it's the only accent that he has. This is what Jesus is saying. and they are caught up in their own self-righteousness. And the Jews answered him, they're going to just call him names. Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?

And Jesus answers, I don't have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it. And he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. And the Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.

Are you greater than our Father Abraham who died? And Jesus is basically going, yep, I am. And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself to be? What Jesus is basically saying is, you know what? You finally got one right. You were right. Every prophet has died.

And everybody that starts a new religion, they're dead. But Jesus is going to go to the cross, die in our place, and on the third day be resurrected from the grave. a sin to the right hand of God the Father, and one day he's coming back for his. This is a unique claim because if you are a Christian, we don't follow a teaching. We don't follow an ideology. We follow a risen Savior who rules over his kingdom. That's what he's talking about here.

And then Jesus is going to get real pointed. He answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. but you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say I did not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

This is the fundamental question. Do you know him? Do you know him? He's talking to devout religious people that don't know him. And that's going to earn them a one-way ticket to an eternal separation from him. Not do you go to church,

not are you becoming a better version of you, not do you pray, not do you tithe, not do you go to disciple group, but do you know him? He gives a big old warning in Matthew chapter 7. We studied this last year in the sermon on the mouth. In Matthew chapter 7, he says, hey, listen, there is going to come a day of judgment. And on that day of judgment in Matthew 721, he says,

not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. And we find out that the will of his father is to believe in him. In other words, on that day of judgment, we're standing in line. There's gonna be some surprised people in line. There's gonna be some people to be like, I'm totally in, man, totally in. Yeah, I went to 1122, had a sticker,

volunteered at hopes, sponsored a compassion kid, probably see him up here. I mean, I do it, man, I do all the stuff. I did the prayers, I lifted my hands sometimes during the worship when it was super good, you know, real dark, it was awesome. But then there are some people, they're gonna be like, what you mean, I'm not in?

That's what he says. He says, not all who say to me, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my full, Father in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and ultimately when when Jesus is like no no no no you're not coming in here with me they're like whoa whoa oh oh you might want to recheck yeah because I don't think you understand who you're talking to I prophesied in your name

we got any prophets in the house anybody prophesying right now huh okay you would think the prophets would be in wouldn't you how about how about the second one There's some people on their resume, they're like, I don't think, don't you remember that time I cast out a demon in your name? Anybody doing exorcisms this weekend? Okay? I'm going to go ahead and confess I've never cast out a demon in all my ministry years. I sent a seventh grader home from camp one time. That's the closest I've ever come to. Casted out a demon. But you would think if you're casting out demons and prophesying that you, if that's on your resume, you should be in. But look what he says. He says, I will declare to them, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, your workers of lawlessness. This is why the Church of 1122 ain't about buildings and traditions and religious activity. It's a movement for all people,

for whoever believes, for all people to discover and deepen this, to know him, a relationship with Jesus Christ. He says, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. And so the Jews said to him, you're not yet 50 years old and you have seen him. You're not yet 50 years old. and Abraham, and Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. And then their heads exploded, not literally because he could do that, but just emotionally, theologically, they didn't have a category for it.

So it makes them so angry, so they picked up the stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, and he went out of the temple. So I don't know how this works, but we're the sovereign king of the universe, everybody standing there with the rock, and he's like, I am not the rabbi you're looking for, and they're like, he's not the rabbi you're looking for it. and then he left. I don't know how well, but he did.

Okay. And here's what he's saying. Your good works will never save you. It won't. I know you're religious. I know you're pious. I know you're devout. Okay.

But if you want a right relationship with God, what it takes for you to be made right is that your sin debt must be paid for. God is a holy and a just God and all sin must be paid for. And sin is such a big deal that it requires the perfect payment. And so Jesus came,

lived a perfect life, and then went to the cross and did he not only died for us, he died instead of us. And whoever believes that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. When he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet, and he said, to tell us die, it means it is finished. Literally, it means paid in full.

The you will be saved, forgiven of your sin, adopted into the family of God, made a co-air with Christ, and one day will walk with him in freedom forever and ever and ever and ever. that's what the invitation is. You see, I think all of this text, I could sum it up this way,

the gospel sets us free. The gospel sets us free. We'll all serve something. But Jesus is the only one that brings freedom in our surrender to him. You see, what Jesus is doing here, he's not just sharing information, he's sharing an invitation.

You're going to be a slave or you're going to be a son. Because Jesus is the only one that when you find him, he'll never fail you. And when you fail him, he'll forgive you. Because that's what he did at the cross. So it just comes down to this. Do you know him? Do you know him?

Have you ever gotten to the place in your life where finally you admit it, all right, God, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And I believe, I trust that when Jesus died on the cross, when the Son of Man was lifted up, that somehow that counted for me and I could be saved.

I could be saved in the past from the penalty of my sin. That God, the gospel continuously saves me in the present from the power of sin in my life. And then one day, one day when I'm glorified in the twinkling of an eye and I'm face to face with him forever, we will be saved from even the very presence of sin. That's called justification and sanctification and glorification. And that might be complicated, but following Jesus is not.

It's as simple as ABC. It's as simple as I admit it. I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. B, I believe. I trust that when he died on the cross, it counted for me. And so, see, I confess him as my Lord. I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now.

If you'd bow your head and close your eyes, even if you have heard this hundreds of times in your life, he was talking to basically church people here that for whatever reason didn't get it. But if today, for the very first time, you were ready to admit it, I'm a sinner in need of his Savior, and I believe somehow when Christ died on the cross, that counted even for me.

If that's you, then in this moment you confess him as your Lord. And the Bible says that you will be saved. And so if you're ready to do that, would you raise your hand high in the air? Would you lift it up and say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Praise God. There are hands going up everywhere. And I'm just here to tell you it's not a hand in the air that saves you.

It's Christ finished work on the cross that saves you. Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you. And I praise you for the men and the women, the students, that in this very very, moment are experiencing your salvation in their life. God, in this very moment, they are putting their trust in you and you are putting your spirit of freedom inside of them. God, I thank you that this is love, not that we love you, but you loved us and you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to come as the propitiation, the payment that satisfies your justice so that we may be adopted into your family as co-heirs with Jesus. And Lord, for those of those of us,

us who have known you for a while, would you remind us that you are the light? Would you remind us that you did not give us a spirit of fear, but you gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind? God, would you remind us that we are not primarily tools in the hand of God? We are primarily sons and daughters in the family of God. God, we love you and we need you. And Lord, we pray that every single person within the sound of my voice, no matter when that is, when we walk away from this time with you that we would walk in a freedom that comes only from you. That the whole world would see it. This place would be turned upside down in Jesus' name.

God, we pray this because you're a good father and you hear the prayers of your children. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, do you please stand as we respond. Please stand as we respond. We're going to sing, we're going to bring, we're going to pray. We're going to pray like it matters because God is a father, and he invites us as children to come and pray. We are going to bring our ties and our offerings, not as some sort of religious duty, but out of an overflow of gratitude because God gave us his first and His son, Jesus Christ.

And we are going to sing. And we are going to sing about the reality that for whoever believes that death was arrested, that the chains can fall off of us. And I heard all you Baptist singing a little earlier. to invite you to continue singing. And there's going to be some parts of this song where it talks about freedom. And I want to invite you to declare your freedom by lifting your hands as high as you can and you declare, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. So let's bring and let's pray and let's sing. Let's respond.