The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 19: The Gospel

Episode Date: August 15, 2021

As long as we come to God on our own terms, we will never be saved. Salvation comes to those who come to Him on HIS terms. His terms demand that we surrender by grace through faith. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. If you got your Bible, so I hope you do. John chapter 12 is going to pick it up. We're going to dive right in. I've got a lot to say. I've been a little long in the last two, but I'm in a good mood, which is really dangerous, okay? There's a lot of good things happening in our world right now.

A lot of bad, too, but there's a lot of good. There's football in the air. Praise God for that. Kids are back in school. Can I get a witness for there? Praise God for that. Saturated is coming up, and it's almost deer season. Some of my favorite things, not in that order.

So anyway, let's go. John 12, 12. He says, the next day. and the day before what he's reverencing is what we talked about last week, Mary, pouring out worship on the feet of Jesus and honestly way to go last week and so far this week and pouring out your heart for worship. So the next day, a large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. And so they took branches of palm trees and they went out to meet him crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

Now, this is what we commonly refer to in church as Palm Sunday, that Jesus is going to get on a cult, we'll get there in a minute, he's going to come into Jerusalem, and all of Jerusalem gathers together, they take their cloaks or coats off, they get palm branches, they wave them, and they cheer, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord? And I'm just going to tell you, I got some mixed emotions about it. How many of you went to church, grew up into church, and you did Palm Sunday? Like, you got the palm branches when you came in, and you waved them and waved them. Okay, a lot of people, do that. And I've got some mixed emotions as to whether we should do that or not. Because on the one hand, they recognize him as king, they recognize him as Messiah, and so they're having like this victory march for him. But on the other hand, what we're going to see if we dig in just a little bit here, that they're very, very short-sighted. Because when they declare him king, what they're actually thinking is that he is going to come in and give them what they want politically that week. that he's going to kick Rome out and that Israel is going to be the superpower that they always hoped and dreamed they could be once again. And when he does not give them what they want,

then the crowd changes. You see, the reality is that God calls us not to success, but to the cross. And you got to be careful. You can get all caught up in the momentum. You can get all caught up in the moment and miss out on Jesus. And a part of the reason I'm a little angsty about Palm Sunday is I was on staff at a church when I was in seminary. And it was our church's tradition that the children's choir would sing on Palm Sunday. Remember those little nightmares? And all the little kids would line up and they get everybody a palm and a palm and a palm and a palm. And then when they lined up, how many of you think they were worshipping Jesus, Hosanna, with their palms?

Oh man, they were hitting each other with it. And then the poor choir director volunteers would lose their salvation over the activities of the little. Look here, Timmy. Quit hitting him and praise the Lord. That's what was happening, okay? And I think what's happening here is this crowd of people are just all caught up in the moment, but most of them don't even know who they're praising. You see, they say Hosanna, which means Lord save us.

And I think the most important word in that is the us. Jesus, why don't you come and do what we've been hoping and praying that you would do for us? They're quoting Psalm 118, 25, and 26. It says, Hosanna, which means, Lord save us. Lord grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord from the house of the Lord, we bless you. It is a Psalm of victory over the enemies. And Jesus is coming to establish victory over his enemies.

His enemies just aren't Rome. His enemies are not flesh and blood. His enemy is sin and death and Satan and condemnation. And he is going to put Satan in his place, but that does not mean that he's going to put these people up politically and elevate them. Here's how we know that what's going on is that this group of people is missing the point. If you go over to Matthew chapter 21 is this. It says most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and they spread them on the road.

This is Matthew's version of what happened. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. That's all legit things to say. But look what it says next. It says, when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. So everybody there. They got their palm branches.

They're yelling. They're Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. And then the next thing Matthew tells us happens is they say, who is this? They don't even know who they're singing to. Have you ever been caught up in a crowd like that? Like, you weren't really invested at the beginning. But by the end, you got moved. You got caught up in the momentum, man.

It's easy to happen. You ever get caught up in the crazy of a crowd? Of course you have. man, we're Jags fans, all right? Big hopes and dreams, but trust me, this is prophecy. We're going to win more this year than we did last year, all right? It's about to turn around. But anyway, a bunch of years ago, I take this pastor friend with me to a Jags game.

Long time ago, 10 years maybe plus. Guys from Jamaica, he has no idea about our team. He doesn't even know how the game works. He's asking him, why don't he keep stopping? He thought we were playing international kickball. We ain't playing that. We're playing football, right? And so I'm trying to explain it to him.

So in the beginning, he has no idea what's happening. I think it was a Thursday night game, and it was tense. We were playing the Steelers, and they had those terrible towels. You know why? Because they're terrible. And the reason I mentioned this is I mentioned the Steelers a few weeks ago, and some of you people emailed us, all right? Because you hateful, that's why.

Not Jags. We're humble, praise God, all right? We're humble people. Well, anyway, we're at the game. Remember it was 9-3. We shut them down. We only won 9-3. And at the beginning of game, my friend had no idea.

what the event he was at. But at the end, when we stopped him at the end, he's hugging this lady, he's never met before, and he's jumping up and down going, we won! In a Jamaican accent, we won, we won, we won, that's what he was doing. I'm like, bro, we didn't win nothing. They won, and we were watching.

That's what happened, okay? I think that's what's happening on Palm Sunday. Because they're saying, Hosanna, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, and then they go, who is this? They don't even know who he is. So that's Exhibit of A. Exhibit B is this,

Sunday they praise him. And then they don't get what they want, a political takeover. And on Friday, the same crowd gathers, and Pontius Pilate, after Jesus has been arrested, brings Jesus in front of the same crowd, many of the same people who on Sunday said, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and the pilot says, what should I do with this man named Jesus? And the same people say, crucify him killing. Church, the question is this.

Do you praise him with your mouth on Sunday and then betray him with your life all week? the answer is yes and my answer is me too that's why we need a savior that's why he came not so that we would just do better not so that we could just march in victory he came not for political freedom he came for eternal freedom he did come to put the enemy in his place but the enemy is not rome the enemy is sin and death the enemy is condemnation and that's why he came and that's why we need a Savior. He is the king. He's just the king of glory, and his kingdom is not of this world. And so, he comes in, the palm branch. This is better preaching than y'all are responding. Sorry to wake you up. I don't know what happened to you. You can go back to sleep if you need to, but I got

stuff to do. Verse 14. And Jesus found a young donkey, and he sat on it just as it is written. What we're going to see over and over and over in Zechariah 9 and Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 53 is that John wants you to know that this whole Bible is about one thing, and it ain't about you, and how you could be a better version of you. The whole thing points the one thing, and his name is Jesus. And so all the way back in the Old Testament, in the old covenant, all of these things that were written, hundreds and even thousands of years before Jesus ever shows up on the scene, Jesus individually confirms, affirms, and fulfills every single prophecy about him. And so he quotes

Zachariah chapter 9 It says fear not daughter of Zion Behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's coat Now There were two There were two processions going on that day History tells us that not only was Jesus

coming into the city to give his life as a ransom for many But also that Pontch's pilot would have been processing into the city on the other side of the city And while Jesus comes humbly on a donkey, Pontius Pilate comes with a whole bunch of pomp and circumstance. He would come with an army. He would come with swords. He would come on a war horse just to show

everybody what a big deal he is. And little does Pontius Pilate know that a couple of thousand years later, with all of his power and all of his might and all of his pomp and all of his circumstance, he would be but a footnote in the story of the real king who comes from riding humbly in on a donkey. You see, by the way, I need you to know. that our lives should be like the donkey. We don't know the donkey's name. I'm sure he wasn't very impressive, but the donkey's job was to just lift up Jesus

and have everybody look at Jesus. You see, we learned this in the gospel according to Shrek. Remember Shrek? Who's your favorite character? Donkey, right? All right. We should be like the donkey.

Not that smart, but we point to Jesus. By the way, one of the things that's interesting here, which we can do, is when John quotes Zachariah 9, he leaves out one word. It doesn't just say, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's coat. It says, humbly sitting on a donkey's colt. And what's so easy for Christians to do when we get all caught up in the rah-rah of the victory march is that we can forget about the humility of Jesus.

And what begins to happen is that we can fall in love with the gift and forget the giver of the gift. We can fall in love with an answered prayer and forget the one that we are praying to. Don't ever, ever, ever do that. Jesus could have come in, spoke a word, smoke everybody, but instead humbly. He comes in on a donkey.

Now again, if you read the rest of Zechariah chapter 9, this prophecy, what it looks like is a victory march that the king that Zachariah is talking about is going to come in and take out his enemies. And Jesus is going to do that. He's just going to do it eternally, not politically and temporarily. Now, sometimes I've talked to some of my pastor friends of mine, and they don't buy into my suspicion about Palm Sunday. And they go, why do you think that the disciples don't understand?

Okay. Exhibit A is because the people in the town said, who is this? Exhibit B is because on Friday they'll crucify them. Exhibit C. Here we go. Ready for this. Verse 16. His disciples did not understand.

I think they don't understand. They don't know what they're being caught up in. His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Jesus was glorified, then they remember that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. In other words, it is virtually impossible for us to understand the scriptures without gospel lenges in order to read it. That's what's going on there. By the way, one day there will be a true and ultimate Palm Sunday. In Revelation, chapter 7, verse 9, the Bible.

The Bible says that every tribe and every tongue and every nation will be gathered around the throne room of God. By the way, that's why we are a movement for all people to discover deep in our relationship with Jesus Christ, because this gospel is going global. It's not for just A people, it's for all people. He's not just the God of a group. He's the God of the globe and even the cosmos. And the Bible says that every tribe, tongue, a nation will gather around him.

We will sing unto him and we will have palm branches to worship him with. Why? Because in that moment, he will have come and made all things new, and he is the king of kings. and he is the Lord of Lord. So it is right to call him king. Amen. And the crowd that had been with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb

and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness. And the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign. All throughout the gospel of John, John doesn't use the word miracle. When a miracle happens, he uses the word sign. Because when Jesus would do a miracle,

it was not to just demonstrate his raw power, but it was to point to his redemptive love for his people. And when he brings Lazarus out of the tomb, it means a bunch. It is a sign pointing to something greater than that event. And the greater thing is that Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. That's what he told Lazarus' sister. And it's also for us to know that Jesus would be the firstborn from among the dead. That's what Colossian says.

That word firstborn is prototocco. We get the word prototype. that Jesus was the prototype of the resurrection. So if we are in Christ, just like he was resurrected from the grave, we too with him will be resurrected from the grave. This is the sign that he did. A sign isn't the deal, it points to the deal. It's like when my friends drive up 95 North and they get to Dylan,

where I grew up, Dylan South Carolina. They take a picture of Dylan and they send it to me every time. The sign, not the actual place. They're about the same size. And I tell everyone to keep driving, it'll get on you, okay? But the sign, it was pointing to something greater that Jesus is the resurrection in the life. Verse 19, so the Pharisees said to one another,

you see that you were gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. The world has gone after him. The head Pharisees are looking at the J.V. Pharisees, and they're like, your plans aren't working because, look, the whole world is turning to go after him. I think he's referencing verse 20. We'll get there in a second, but I need you to see this.

that wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And wherever the spirit of religion is, there is control. And Jesus came that we might be free in Him. Verse 20. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. See the Pharisees comments above. The whole world is turning to them. These are non-Jewish people.

What's beginning to happen now is that the gospel is going global. And so the Greeks want to see him. And so these, they came to Philip, who was from Bessata in Galilee, and they asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Now, if you'll pay attention to here, this is a major shift. Because up into this point, Jesus has only revealed himself to his disciples, and then he leaked it to a woman at the well in Samaria. Not a holy man, not a high priest, but a woman at the well on the wrong side of the tracks with a shady past. And now it's even getting into the Judean countryside and some Greek people, non-Jewan, Jewish people, they are even coming to see Jesus.

You see this message, this gospel message is going global. That Jesus is already doing what he told us to do in Acts 1-8, that you will be a witness in Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea, and then to the very ends of the earth. And so Philip, Whitney told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And what they told him is, hey, there's some Greeks, and they want to see you. And then here's his response. And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. God. This is a big deal. If you were reading the Gospel of John straight through, and it didn't

take you 19 weeks to get to the 12th chapter, if you were just reading it straight through, and you got to this, the hour has come should blow your hair back. Because remember, over and over and over and over, he keeps saying, my hour has not come, my hour has not come. Because for the first 12th chapter so far, multiple times people have tried to like usher him to the front. They wanted to make him king at one point. The very first miracle that he did at the wedding at Canada, remember his mom, Mary came to him and said, son, they're out of wine. And he said, woman, what does this have to do with me? Remember, and I told you men, don't memorize that verse. That's not what it means. Don't use it out of context. He said, for my hour has not come. But now that the gospel is going global, he says,

all right, it's on. This is why I have come. Not for just one group of people, but for everybody on the globe. The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. And the way that he is going to be glorified is not by claiming glory for himself and taking over Jerusalem. He is going to be glorified by being obedient to the will of the Father and going to the cross and on the third day be resurrected. So they come to him. They're like, all right, Jesus, the Greeks want to meet with you. And he says, okay, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. And I think Philip was like, sweet. So is that yes or no? Do it,

with you? Like, I don't understand. Are they the wheat? Am I the wheat? Can you just, I don't understand what you're saying. Okay, here's what he's saying. Jesus is a brilliant teacher. This little wheat falling into the ground thing is a Greek parable. A Greek parable. And the primary place that this Greek parable was used was in the Greek army. And so the army leaders would talk to the soldiers during their training, and they would say, unless wheat falls into the ground and dies, then it can't bear fruit. And they would say this, that if, unless you, unless you are willing to give your life for the sake of this nation, this nation will never be what it could be. And so if you were on the battlefield and your brother next to you spills his blood, consider it seed

and fertilizer that our nation may grow. And he uses that thing that would have been common knowledge to the Greeks. And he says, you've heard this, but let me tell you, what it's talking about is really three things. First and foremost, Jesus is talking about his own life. That Jesus lived so that he could die. And he died so that we could live. and unless he goes to the cross and pays our sin debt, then none of us could live.

He's also talking about you and I, that in order for us to truly live, we have to die to ourself, put to death our flesh, repent from turning our back on God, and then come to him and trust him for life. So he's talking about himself, he's talking about you and I individually, and then I also think he is talking about the church. because I think a part of what he's saying,

Philip comes in and says, all right, there's some people that are not like us and they want to meet you. And part of what Jesus is saying, I think, is this. All right, listen, Philip, and the church, here's what's going to have to happen for people outside of us to be invited into this movement. That we are going to have to continuously die to ourselves,

die to our preferences, die to our traditions, die to the things that make us comfortable. Because what matters more than anything else is people meeting Jesus, not the way we want to do church. You see, this drives the philosophy of how we do 1122, that this movement is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. That the way seed works is if you keep it in the barn, it doesn't do anything.

If you just continuously gather it up and gather it up and gather it up and don't do anything with it. It will not do what seed is supposed to do. It is supposed to be scattered out into the field, and it is when that seat is scattered and dies unto itself that it is reborn. And so this is why we do church the way we do. Our primary strategy is not to just build one big megaplex

the size of the TIA bank field and say, all, everybody, come here. That's not what we do. First of all, individually, we ask every single one of you to be praying for your one more. because we're not trying to grow a big church. We're just trying to reach one more person in the name of Jesus.

And guess what? If somebody invited you here today, if you don't normally come and somebody bribed you or talked you into it or tricked you, whatever. You know, say, let's go to breakfast. They threw your hot pocket and pulled in here. Okay, whatever you're here. Let me tell you why.

Here's why your buddy invited you. One, because they know I'm going to share the gospel and they believe it's the most important thing you'll ever hear. And secondly, they love you. No, I know they didn't say that. It feels weird, right? right now, right? Seriously, you love me? Yeah, Ted will love you? You gonna go to church? That's awkward.

So they invited you to be here. That is why every single one of us need to be praying for and inviting our one more, because you want to deepen your relationship with Jesus? There's no better way than trying to help somebody else discover theirs. It's what drives us. Also, it's why we put campuses everywhere we can. Because we got people from all over the city and now multiple states that are meeting Jesus through the ministry of 1122. So wherever we find a little pocket of that, We just move into the neighborhood. And not only that, the brand is Jesus, not our church's name, that we have planted 387 churches around the world since we opened the doors here.

Praise God. Local, autonomous churches. And in addition to that, we have a goal of sending out 100 missionaries over the next 10 years. And right now we have 27 missionaries on the mission field sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't just gather the seed together, you've got to scatter it. Now, you see, when we gather together as the saints, as believers in Jesus, and we worship in here, it changes what happens out there.

That's why we continuously gather and scatter. But I'm going to tell you, the difference between being buried and being planted is understanding what God can do with the surrendered life. The difference between being buried and being planted. on the outside at first, it looks like the same thing, man. And sometimes you step out by faith, and it feels like you're just getting covered up with your circumstances. You feel like it's just somebody dug a hole and threw you in it,

and it's shovel upon shovel upon shovel, and you're looking around and you're thinking, I don't understand. But when you understand that you're not covered up, what's going to happen by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in those circumstances is that you have been planted, and God is uncovering something in you that he wants you to use for His glory and your joy.

That's what Jesus is saying it's all about. And then he gives commentary to it and he gets very personal. He says, whoever loves his life loses it. Think about that. Whoever loves his life loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. And if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am there will my servant be also.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. whoever loves his life will lose it. I'm going to tell you something that's just true. It's hard to be a Jesus follower in America. Not because of the difficulties, but because of the ease and convenience. It's hard, man. And the reason is because there are people,

there are companies, there are institutions and culture that spends billions of dollars a day to get you to love. love this life, to love the trinkets, to love the stuff. I'm telling you, it starts at a very, very young age. And every time you look at a screen, whether it's in your living room or it's in your pocket, there's somebody spending billions of dollars a day to just get you to hop on the merry-goat round of normality. They want you, man, come on, study hard in high school, not too

hard, just enough to get into a college that's good enough for you. And then get a degree so that when you graduate, you'll never use it, and you'll live with your mom for a little while, and then you get a job that has nothing to do with your degree, but eventually you'll make enough money to get enough stuff to just kind of numb yourself. And eventually, at first it's fun. When you first hop on the merry-go-round, you're like, look, I got the unicorn. But about 40 years of those lapses, you're like, this is dumb. Because it's dumb, man. You thought the car would satisfy. You can't even see what you look like driving it. It's kind of dumb. He's all the big house. It's just your house, man. The clothes that you love right now, you will mock yourself 10 years from now

looking at the pictures of you today, today. And Jesus is saying, don't go for that nightmare of the merry-go-round of normality, where you just wake up every day and you eat something and you drive something and you sell some stuff and you get home and you watch something and you eat something and you think, is this it? And the biggest prayer you've got is, thank God, it's Friday. You were created for so much more. One of the most influential sermons of our time, I think, was preached 21 years ago by Dr.

John Piper at this Passion One Day event that Louis Giglio was hosting, and there were tens of thousands of like 18 to 25 year olds there sitting on a field. And he's talking about this. And then he wrote a book called Don't Waste Your Life based on this sermon. If you have not read that book, don't waste your life, then read it. And if you don't read it by next week, then punch yourself in the face because you're wasting your life. I'm telling you, okay? And he says that Dr. Piper says that they just received word at their church that two, women from their church had died. And the newspaper said two missionaries died tragically.

And he says, is this really a tragedy? Ruby and Laura, they're in their 80s. One was a medical missionary, one was a traditional missionary, and they're taking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to a group of people that don't have food to eat, and their breaks go out, and they go over to the cliff, and they're to glory. And the paper says, tragedy. And he asked this question, is that a tragedy? And then he says, I'm going to tell you what a tragedy is, and he picks up a Reader's Digest. For you, 1825, that's like Wikipedia or, I don't know.

It was these little dumb stories for old people in the bathroom. That's what it was, okay, so. And he reads this Reader's Digest about this young couple in their 50s, and he was so successful, she was so successful, they retired early, they bought the motorhome of their dreams, and now they spend their days riding around in the motorhome, playing softball, and collecting seashells on the eastern seashore. And he says, that's a tragedy.

Because I'm telling you, those two 80-year-old missionaries spent their entire life just trying to point people to Jesus, glorifying Jesus. And I'm going to tell you what the motorhome people are doing. They're just trying to find one more thing to entertain themselves until the day they stand before their king and have to give an account for their life. And what are they going to show?

Seashells? and then he says, don't waste your life. Church of 1122, don't waste your life. Don't waste your time and don't waste your talents and don't waste your money, don't waste your opportunity, and don't waste any day that the Lord has given you just taking another lap and the merry-go-round of normality. It's not that merry.

But get involved in the rescue mission that Jesus has commissioned us for. And look, man, there's no problem being successful. Make all the money you can. Be the boss, man. win the trophies do all the thing, and then use all of that to treasure the one above all the temporary treasures of this world. That's what he called us to do. Tim Keller says, Jesus is the only one when you find him will satisfy, and when you fail him, will forgive you. Our world offers the exact opposite. We live in a world that when you

achieve everything it offers, it will dissatisfy you, and when you fail it, it will cancel you. And there's a group of people here and they're looking for true life. And Jesus is saying true life, true forgiveness, true freedom is only found in me. You want life? Die to yourself. Be reborn in Christ. Now Jesus is going to start getting into how that is made possible. Verse 27, he says, now is my soul troubled.

And the reason the soul is troubled is in just a few chapters later that week, that Thursday, he's going to go to the Garden of Gethsemini and he's going to pray. Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. And the cup that he's talking about is the wrath of God that will be poured out on the sin of humankind. And 2 Corinthians 521 says that when Jesus goes to the cross, he doesn't only bear our sin. He becomes our sin. And so his heart is troubled.

His soul is troubled because of the price that he's going to pay. And what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? Nope. He's not going to say that. He's going to say, not my will, but your will be done. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Jesus tells us the purpose for which he was born, the purpose for which he died.

Everybody loves from John 316. You've got to go one more and also pick up John 317. He tells us the purpose for which he came. He says, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jesus is saying, this is the purpose for which I came, to save you for the glory of God. That Jesus came as a substitutionary atonement. You know what the word substitute means?

Remember you're in school, you show up in school, be some rando person you never met before or not you're a teacher? Substitute. You're like, sweet aunt, doing nothing. A substitute. Atonement is just a Bible word that means to pay for. That Jesus came as the substitutionary atonement. Why? Because in the beginning, God, out of an overflow of God's love for God's self,

creates image bearers, humankind, to be in relationship with him and to bear his image. That God create, he speaks everything into existence. And then he goes, that's good, but he wanted to do more than good. So he creates Adam, the very first man. He gathers together the dust of the ground, and he breathes the ruach of life, the spirit of God into Adam. And Adam opens his eyes and he's face to face with his creator. And that moment is imprinted on the heart and soul of every son and daughter of Adam.

This is why the things of this world will not satisfy. Because you are created by an eternal God with an eternal soul. And the temporary things just can't fill that spot in you. And then he gives him a wife, Eve, and everything goes super good for like a half a page in my Bible. And then they sin. Both of them, they sin. They sin by rebellion and they say, forget you, God, we do what I want. You ain't a boss of me.

I eat what I want. I do what I want with who I want when I want. And the reason that they got tricked or tempted into it is because the enemy comes and the enemy is a liar. And the enemy always wants us to question the word of God and the work of God and the worship of God. He wants to kill those things. And so not only do they reject him by rebellion of saying, I do what I want, but then they also reject them by religion. Once they are aware that they're naked and ashamed,

they run and they begin to make fig leaves to cover over their sin and shame. They think, we don't need you to help us, God, we can do this on our own. And yet God, because he loves them, comes after them. He judges them by kicking them out of the garden, but he also gives them a hope and a promise. One is a picture is that he sheds the blood of an animal

and uses the garments of that animal to cover over their sin, and then he tells them directly. Eve, one day, there will be an awful thing. spring from your line and this enemy will bruise his heel, but he'll crush his head. Jesus is almost to that point in redemptive history. And then God sent his only begotten son, Jesus, born of a virgin, that matters a lot. And he lives a perfect life. He's tempted in every way that we are tempted, and never one time does he choose his own

way. He always is obedient to the Father, and thereby he earns a right standing before God. He lives a perfectly righteous life. And then he's arrested, he's tried, and he goes to the cross. And at the cross, he makes the payment, the atonement for our sin. At the cross, the wrath of God is poured out onto the perfect son of God for you and I. And he pushes up on his nail-pierced feet, and he says, it is finished. To tell us I is the Greek word.

It literally means paid in full. and what's paid in full is your sin debt and my sin debt. And I've had people say to me, I've had people say to me, well, why don't God just forgive? I mean, why does Jesus have to die for people to be forgiven? I forgive people all the time. Or I love this one. Well, the God I serve forgives everybody.

Well, of course he does, because you made him up in your head. But the God of the Bible is perfect and holy and just. And it would be unjust for God to look at sin and be like, now, don't worry about it. It would be, and God is just. and because he is holy, because he is perfect, because he is just, all sin must be paid for. But because he is love and because he is gracious, he made the payment. And again, some of you may be new to church and you may be saying, are you trying to say I'm a sinner?

I'm trying as hard as I can for you to understand the reality of that truth. And I know, I know, I know your kindergarten teacher told you you were a snowflake and you were puppy's breath and you're a skittal. All right, Skiddle. She's a liar. You're the worst, man. Don't believe me. Ask your roommate. Am I a sinner?

Been meaning to tell you. Sinner. Or just look in the mirror, okay? If for just one second, we suspended the perfect law of God, let's don't even hold ourselves that standard. What if we only held ourselves to our own standard? What if the only thing God judged you on was whether you did what was right in your own eyes or not? What if the only, what if you, we walked around with a voice recorder and every time you said,

I'll never, I should, I will, I promise. And those were the things he held you accountable for. How are we doing now? See, every single one of us are sinners that need a Savior. And Jesus, Jesus pays our sin debt. John, same author, a little later, he's going to write another letter called First John. And he says this, and this is love. Not that we love him, but he loved us and sent his son as the propitiation for our sin.

Propitiation means the payment that satisfies. that Jesus at the cross made the payment that satisfied God's justice, the law of God, that paid our sin death. And then whoever would believe, then he takes the penalty for our sin and we get credit for his righteous life. That's what it means when he says, for this purpose I have come. He says, Father, glorify your name. Not by him marching into Jerusalem and kicking Pilate off the throne and him sitting down, but by him going to the the cross and putting death to death in the grave and being resurrected on the third day. He says, Father, glorify your name.

And then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. And the crowd stood there, and they heard it said that it, and they, let me read that again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. And others said an angel has spoken to him, and Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Here's what he's saying.

All sin will be paid for. And there's only two payment options for every single one of us. You can self-atone. You can pay for your sin. And the way that you do that is an eternal separation from God. We call that hell. The hell of hell is not just eternal fire and all that, though the Bible, that is how the Bible describes it.

The eternal hell is an eternal separation from the source of all things that are love and light and good. his name is Jesus. You can self-atone. Or the other option is you can take the substitutionary atonement that he did not come to condemn you, but if you are not in Christ, you stand in your own condemnation. This is why he says, now will the ruler of this world be cast out. That means we won. That means at the cross when he says it is finished. He's also meant Satan is finished. This means that from this day to our last breath, because of what Christ has done, we are in victory formation. I pray to God. We see a bunch of those this year here. Here in

in Jacksonville. Every time you see one, I want you to think of this verse. We have one. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. And he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. When he's talking about being lifted up, he's talking about to the cross, and he will draw all kinds of people unto himself. So the crowd answered him. We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. And he's like, yeah, that's true, but crucifixion comes first. How can you say that the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the son of man? It's a very straightforward question. And so Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while. Walk while you have the light, less darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness

does not know where he is going while you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. Remember John talks about this from the beginning, that Jesus is light and he is the life of the world. And what he is saying basically is this. There is a kingdom of light and there's a kingdom of darkness. Which one are you in? The kingdom of light is about warmth and clarity and direction. And the kingdom of darkness is about confusion and pain and fear. And that he came to redeem us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the glorious kingdom of light. And what he is saying is, is, I have given you enough information right now for you to decide to follow after me. And when Jesus has said these things, he departed and he hid himself from them.

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. He's going to quote Isaiah 53, Lord, who has believed what he heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Here's what John wants us know. Here's what the whole Bible wants us to know, that faith is a gift, that faith is a gift, that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, it's not because you're smarter than everybody else. It's not because you figured it out, and the rest of the world's dumb,

and you're smart, so he picked you. It's not because you're better than anybody else. It's because God revealed to you that you were a sinner and you need a savior. You see, there are three jobs happening in the Bible right then, and there are three jobs happening in this very moment right now. It is my job to preach the gospel. It is your job to decide to follow Jesus as your Savior, and it is God's job to save, and all three of those things are true simultaneously. Paul will say it this way in Ephesians 2, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. What Jesus is saying is, in this moment, I have told you everything you need to know

to decide to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Therefore, they could not believe, for again, Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Did you hear that? If you take your Bible seriously, verses like this, you need to read them and go, wait, what? Hold on. God, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal, don't you want them to understand? Don't you want them to see? Don't you want them to turn? and what Jesus is talking about, the reason the referencing Isaiah is this,

is that God doesn't want you to simply believe that he is who he says he is. He wants you to believe in him. He wants you to trust in him. He wants you to have faith in him. That God is looking for children of faith, not merely understanders of doctrine. Even the demons understand the doctrines.

But they have never surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You see, the reality is this, if you think Jesus is just the best choice practically regarding eternity, because hell is hot and forever's a long time, you got to go somewhere, might as well go up, not down. It will never be enough to sustain you when he doesn't act the way you think he ought to act. But when you taste and see, when you experience that Jesus is true life, then you'll never be able to deny that you used to be dead and now you're alive. You see, that's different, man.

That's different than just some church attendance and agreeing with the things I say. You see, there's a real popular thing going on right now in evangelicalism called ex-vangelicalism. There's a whole bunch of people, famous people, that were like, they used to make money being a Christian, and now they're saying, I have deconstructed my faith. I don't even believe that Jesus is who he says he is anymore.

That I grew up in the church, and I used to believe, and used to travel and even preach, I just don't, I don't, I've evolved beyond those things. And it's called deconstruction. Let me tell you who never, never deconstructed their faith. Lazarus, I'm just going to tell you, man. There were a lot of people around that said Hosanna on Sunday and then crucify on Friday. But Lazarus, I can promise you, if you checked in with him 30 years later, hey, you're still following Jesus?

I am. Can you explain all this? Here's what I'm about to explain. I was dead, and the brother said, come on out. And I hopped up out the grave. You can explain whatever you want to. I'm with that guy. Let me tell you who else never deconstructed his faith?

The Apostle Peter? Because he's standing on the mountain of Transfiguration and he saw Jesus glorified. And then he saw him years later, crucified dead on a cross. And then he went to the grave. He looked in. He was like, he ain't in here.

There he is. And then he had breakfast with him on the shore with the resurrected Jesus. Let me tell you who else never deconstructed. The Apostle Paul. Why? Because he's on a horse, on the way to Damascus. And the Lord shows up,

thumps him off his horse. like a bright light, and he says, who are you, Lord? And he follows him to the day that he died. Let me tell you who else will not deconstruct. This guy. You know why? Because I was lost, and he found me. I was blind, and he made me see.

I was a dead man, and he brought me back from the grave. I can no more deny the reality of Jesus than I can deny the reality of the sunrise tomorrow. It just is what it is. You see, he's not looking for church attenders. He's looking for children of faith. Verse 41. Mark Bible nerds, I wish I had time to get into it, but I've been too long already.

Just look up Isaiah 6, Isaiah 53. Isaiah saw him in his throne room and his glory, and he saw him on the cross as the suffering servant. Good luck with that. Have fun with that all week. Verse 41, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities believed in him. But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of

the synagogue. for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. Church, there's a warning there. Are you more concerned about the applause of man than you are God's opinion of you? I mean, there's no such thing as a closet Christian, man. How long do I have to scroll through your Instagram

to see if the one you claim to be Lord is actually important enough to make it on your feet? Are you more concerned about the lights? Are you more concerned about those other kind of things? Now there are some people that have done a really, really good job of saying, I don't care what you think. Though none go with me, I have decided I follow after Jesus. That's what the Apostle Paul is going to say in Romans,

that I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Warning. Verse 44, and Jesus cried out and sin. He's over it. He's just going to tell them straight up. Whoever believes, those are my two favorite new words in the Bible, okay? whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me and whoever sees me sees him who sent me

I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness if anyone hears my words and does not keep them I don't judge him for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge in other words you already stand in your own condemnation if you don't surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He says, the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day, for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say, what to speak,

and I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say, as the Father has told me, this is what got him killed, that he claimed to be one with the Father. So he says, whoever believes, again my new favorite words in the Bible you know why because if you fall in the whoever category you could be saved if you fall in the whoever category you could be saved some of you are really good I know I married one I married one that's into the rules and she's good at being good she likes the rules she you know what I mean like the CDC comes out with some stuff she's checking

it I turn it off all right so I'm good at being bad that's what I do And yet her good works don't save her, and my bad works don't condemn me forever, but we both need a Savior because it's not our works to save us as his works. So whether you're good or bad, he can save you. Whether you're religious or irreligious. Some of you're the first time you've ever been to church. You got duped in to be here, no problem. You don't know the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament, no problem. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ that when he died on the cross, he accounted for you, then you'll be saved.

that you don't have to fully understand to fully surrender your life to Christ. And then others of you, man, you were born in the church. Like born in the choir room, came out with a robe and glory. But RAs ain't going to save you. And First Communion ain't going to save you. None of those religious activities

are going to make you right with God. You have to have an alien righteousness. Jesus has to do for you what you and I cannot do for ourselves. And no matter what political party you're in, no matter your ethnicity, no matter your country of origin, honestly, no matter what you think about mask and vaccination,

whether you're mask or no mask or no vaccine. One day we're going to be in a line before the king of the kings, and he ain't going to be asking you what your political stance on anything is. He's going to ask you one question, what you do with Jesus? And whoever claims him as Lord, whoever believes. Whoever believes, not just a mental assent, not just believes that, but trusts, put your faith in. says, all right, God, I get it.

I get it. I admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe, I trust that when Jesus had paid in full somehow, somehow that counted for me, and now I give up. I die to myself. I surrender my life to you. That's what it means to call him your Lord.

Let me ask you, are you in the kingdom of light or in the kingdom of darkness? Because all these different groups came to Jesus looking for something. The Jews were looking for a political freedom. The Greeks were looking for a sign. the religious leaders were looking for control. And some people were looking for life. And they found it in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Here's the point.

As long as we come to God on our own terms, we will never be saved. Salvation comes to those who come to him on his terms. His terms demand that we surrender by grace through faith. So I just want to ask you, have you ever done that? It is a very appropriate thing today. on this side of the resurrection to cry out to God personally, Hosanna. Lord, save me. Not just make me better, not just help me be a better version of me,

but Lord, I need you to save me. I admit it. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. And I believe I trust that when you died on the cross and resurrected on the third day, somehow that counted for me. And God, I confess you as my Lord. I want to give you the opportunity to do that.

Because listen, man, when I put my faith in Jesus, I was a high school kid. I grew up in the South. And if you would have asked me, do you believe in God? I'd be like, of course I believe in God. I live in the South. I believe in God, NASCAR, and SEC football, and opening your Christmas on presents on Christmas Day.

All those kind of things are very important to me. Sweet tea, grits. I believe in all those things. And I had heard that God loved me and sent his son to die on a cross. I heard it every year. I went to church religiously one time a year on Easter.

That's how much I went. And I heard that message. The only message I'd ever heard. And then one night at this camp, my football coach is up there. And he shares that good news one more time. Now, I don't know how to explain it. I just can't deny it.

That the scales fell off my eyes. My heart just beat in a different way. And I knew, I mean, at the personal, tangible, experiential, undeniable level, I knew that when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for me and I surrendered. Have you ever done that? You could do it right now. Right now, in your, whether you're at home, one of our campuses, it doesn't matter. You could cry out, Hosanna, Lord save me and he will right now. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if you would say, pastor, that's me, that's me. That's me. I've never put my faith in Jesus. Whether you've been coming to church a long time

or this is your first time, it don't matter. But in this very moment, if you're ready to admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And you were ready to confess him as Lord. Would you lift your hand high in the air? Would you lift it and say, Father, here I am.

I surrender my life to the Lordship of Christ. Praise God. Praise God. I see those hands going up, and I just want to acknowledge that God is hearing your prayer because of what Christ did on the cross. And it's not your hand in the air that saves you. It's what Christ did on the cross.

It saves you. Praise God. Our good and gracious heavenly Father, God, we love you. And this is love. Not that our love for you originated with us. It originated with you. And then you demonstrated by sending your son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus paid it all.

And Lord, I thank you that even in this moment, that we can join together with the angels of heaven and celebrate the men and the women, the students, that are putting their faith in you. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond to the gospel? The gospel demands a response.

This is the time where we bring our first and our best, our ties and our offerings to God as an act, an expression that he's the most important thing in our world. This is the time when we pray. There's a lot of prayers that need to happen right now. There's a bunch of stuff going on in our world, in your world, and it matters to God because you matter to God. So won't you come and pray?

And I would just, after the last three services, say this, if you're all young and fit, praise God for you, would you kneel on the carpets to allow those that need a little extra to make it to the altars? But won't you come? I mean, seriously, won't you come and load this place up and cry out to God? And we're going to sing. With all of our voices, like one prayer, we're going to sing the gospel as a response. So let's pray, let's sing, let's bring.

Let's respond.