The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Bridging Religion

Episode Date: August 18, 2019

Religion says that if you obey, then you will belong. The new covenant of grace (the gospel) says that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”

Amen and amen. How we do the church? Everybody good? Hope so. Grab your Bibles. If you got them, we're going to be in the gospel of John right where I said we'd come back to last week. And as you know, by that video and you've heard already, we're in the second week of this series on bridges. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen. And here's the most important part, a relationship with Jesus Christ. And so today we're going to talk about how John the Baptist points or builds a bridge from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant,

from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from a whole bunch of rules to a relationship with Jesus Christ. And before we get there, congratulations on making it through one week of school, and congratulations on being back, making it back to church. Hey, last week was a really big week for us. We launched our Fleming Island campus last week, and they're back again. So welcome once again, Fleming Island. And we had over 2,000 people attend Fleming Island last week. And even in this service right now, we've got people in overflow at Fleming Island. And so wherever they tucked you away, come back.

All right. So it's super awesome. But what's awesome is not, like the point of 1122 is not that a bunch of people would show up. The point of 1122 is that we point people to Jesus. And last weekend we had 157 people surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And based on that sputtering applause, I have an announcement to make.

I have a new favorite campus, and it's not you, San Pablo. You can all you want to, but last week I preached at Baker Correctional Campus, and that's my new favorite, okay? And let me tell you what's happening right now. There was 257 men that showed up, and they are exponentially louder than all of you in this place right here. You understand? And not only that, when I was preaching, they knew how to receive a sermon. Not one person had a little moo in a note, no, no, no. Like, we were all preaching together, and so somehow I'm going to figure out how to get them here to teach you how to receive a sermon rightly.

But in our two services at Baker Correctional last week, 30 of those men surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. And last week, it's already been happening here at San Pablo, but a bunch of our other campuses, we rolled out our middle school environments for Sunday morning. And we had 22, six, seventh, and eighth graders surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And all of that happened last week, which is awesome. Awesome, awesome. And it kind of lines up with what we're talking about here. We're going to go through a bunch of different passages to look at John the Baptist.

We mentioned him last week. And what John is going to say over and over and over. And again, it can get kind of confusing if you're new to Bible study. There's John the Gospel writer, and he's going to write about John the Baptist. Those are two different people. And just so you know, the reason that he called John the Baptist is because he was baptizing people. It was not a denominational thing. There's not like Mike the Methodist and Pete the Presbyterian and Luke the Lutheran and John the Baptist.

That's not how it worked, okay? He was baptizing people. We'll talk about that in a little while. And what he's going to say in so many words over and over and over is this. The point of my life is to point people to Jesus. And so while last weekend at 1122, it was the outside of Easter and Christmas, it was the largest attended weekend we've ever had. All of our campuses were full, et cetera.

that is not the point. The point of 1122 is not to fill up rooms with people. The point of 1122 is to point people to Jesus. That's why we exist. That's why there's a big cross out front of all of our campuses. That's what we do. And what John the Baptist is going to say is that's what the whole point of his life is to point people to Jesus.

And I would say if you are a believer, the point of your life is to point people to Jesus. Whether you're John the Baptist or John the Plummer or John the State of home mom or John the CEO or John the executive, whatever it is. It does not matter what your title is if you are in Christ. The point of your life is to point people to Jesus. And here's how John the Baptist does it. If you pick it up in verse 6, says this, there was a man sent from God, underlined sent, because that matters a bunch.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. And he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. John the Baptist once again is going to say, the point of my life is to point people to Jesus. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness to the light. When the Bible says that he was sent by God, that a part of God's plan to reveal the gospel to God's people was John the Baptist. And if you'll back up in your Bibles to the book of Malachi, okay?

You see, here's something else. That Baker, when I say grab your Bibles and go to John, guess what? They all go to John. you just stare smugly at me. That's why you're not my favorite anymore. Whatever, okay? So Baker and I will go back to Malachi. So if you go back to Malachi, I can't believe you.

Even after I shamed you, you're still just like, nope, saved by grace, maybe. All right, so if you go back to Malachi, what you've got to understand is that all of the Bible is about one thing and it ain't you. This is not about how you have your best life now. It's how you have your best life forever through the world. the person in the work of Jesus Christ. And so the whole book is about Jesus, the whole thing. He's on every page. And so though the name Jesus does not show up in the Old Testament, everything is about this coming Messiah who will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. So the whole thing is about. And so the way the Old Testament ends is this prophet named Malachi

says this in chapter 4, verses 5 and 6. Malachi says, behold, I will send you. Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Malachi says before the great day that the Lord comes there is going to come one who is going to get everybody ready for that great day and there's two things you got to know about him. He's coming in the spirit and power of Elijah and he's going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and children to their fathers. And then this next page in your Bible, see this page? Everybody look. If you're listening to online, it's the page in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And it's a blank page. This is 400 years of nothing. 400 years of we don't hear from God. Which, by the way, if you've been praying for something and praying for something and praying for something about, dear God, where are you? I've been praying since last Tuesday. You might want to give them a minute. You understand? 400-year gap between the last minor prophet and Jesus showing up on the seam. I don't know if you know this, but God just kind of runs things by his own.

own calendar. It's called eternity. And he ain't never in a hurry. He'll never be late, rarely early. But 400 years later, this is how Luke gives this account of John the Baptist coming along. This is Luke chapter one. We'll pick it up in verse 13. It says, But the angel said to him, this is Zachariah, do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. This is John the Baptist. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. In fact, he's so great before the Lord that when Jesus is describing John the Baptist later, he says he's the greatest born among women. Jesus would say, John the Baptist is the greatest guy who's ever lived. Now, I'm not saying you're not that awesome, but you're not that awesome compared to John the Baptist. That's what Jesus would say. Got it? So he is awesome. And he must not drink wine or strong drink. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

And check this part out. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord of people prepared. So for 400 years, everybody in Sunday school, everybody that read their Bible, was waiting, was waiting for this coming Messiah and that they knew before the Messiah got here, there was going to be one that was going to prepare the way. And then one day they begin to hear rumors.

They hear rumors about this guy who was way out at the Jordan that was like out in the country. And this guy was super eccentric, had a big beard. He ate like locust and honey, wore camel hair clothes, and he yelled at people. I don't know if you notice. You got a big beard. You spend a lot of time in the country and you yell at people.

People will come and listen to that. that. Trust me. People would show up and he had a very short message. His sermons were different. Basically, his sermon was this, repent, repent, repent, and get ready because the Messiah is coming. That was his whole message. Come get into water and let me wash you so that you will be ready when the Messiah gets here. And then when the religious people, like the Pharisees would show up, he would get worse. He would dig in on them and he would look at them and call them a brood of vipers. That's like cuss words to a religious Jew in the first century. You big basket of snakes. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, but we are the sons of Abraham. And he's like, I don't give

two cents, which you're the son of. If God wanted to make these rocks his sons, he would make these rocks, these sons. And he would just yell at them. A bunch of sinners repent. Kind of sounded like you bunch of wretched, blackhearted sinners. And the crowds would come and come and come. This is who John is. If you drop down to verse 15, it says, John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me, ranks before me, because he was before me. To which the people are like, no, John the Baptist,

aren't you older than Jesus, your first cousin? He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Except, remember last week? In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. His name is Jesus. Jesus is eternity years old, and I am 30.

He came before me. For from His fullness, we have all received grace, upon grace in this next verse. Verse 17 is a transition in your Bible. This is huge. Verse 17 is a transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. Verse 17 is a transition from rules to relationship. From the Sinai covenant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 17, for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Major, major transition. John the Baptist wants everybody to know. They're like when Jeremiah said, that God said, I'm going to do a new thing among you, this is the new thing coming.

That covenant and testament mean the same thing. And there was an old testament or an old covenant and it was based on the law and the law is an if then proposition. God said, I am your God, you are my people. And if you live like this, then there will be blessing. And then Jesus is going to come on, come on the scene. and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We talk about this all the time, that the law, the old covenant, the law is a gift from God, no doubt, no doubt. It is a map and a mirror. That the law of God is a map.

It is revelation about the character and nature of God, and it is instruction to us on what it looks like to rightly live before a righteous God. And then right on the heels of the law, there's not just the Ten Commandments, there were 613 of them. And right on the heel of those commandments were instructions about altars and a sacrificial system. Because not only is it a map. Now, it's not the kind of map like we have today. You see, the maps that we have on our phones, if you've got, you know, you punch you in the address and it says, turn left in 100 yards.

And if you don't turn left, what does she say? Recalculating. Which one time I looked at Gretchen, I was like, I wish you could be more like her. and when I screw up, you could just recalculate. Didn't go so good. All right. So, that is not the law. God's law, God's map, does not recalculate based on where we are.

In fact, you don't really break the law of God. You break yourself against it. This is just how it is. That is the law. And then, John says, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. You see, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not. God is good. You are bad.

Try harder. you next week. The good news of the gospel is not, if you can obey, then maybe you will be acceptable before God. It's actually the exact opposite of that. It is through the person and work of Jesus Christ that he purchases us in our very own sin and because he loves us and purchases us for anyone who would believe in him, then we are acceptable. And because we're accepted, it should drive us to obey. You see, in fact, you see at the cross, you see truth and grace. John says, truth and grace come from Jesus. You see, at the cross, you know, a cross is just two beams put together.

There's a vertical and a horizontal beam. And you can think about that vertical beam being representing the truth of God, the righteousness of God, the holiness of God. And a holy, righteous judge must judge sin. For him to overlook sin would be unjust and unrighteous. And at the cross of Jesus Christ, God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us. And he pours out all of his wrath on the sin that Jesus becomes on the cross. And yet there's a cross beam on the cross.

There's a horizontal beam that Jesus' hands were literally nailed to. And you could look at that beam and think about this. This is the grace of God. Saying to this world, this is for anyone who would believe. not who would get their act together, but anyone who would believe that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me. John is saying it's a new day. It's a new covenant. And John the Baptist is going to build a bridge from the old covenant, from thinking about God in religious terms, to the new covenant.

So thinking about what it looks like to have a relationship with him. He keeps going. He says, no one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. the words, Jesus teaches us what it's like to know God. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? Who are you? And he confessed. And he did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Now, he's getting him on a technicality, because he came in the power of Elijah. Now, why are they asking, are you Elijah? Because they know

the prophecy of Malachi. They are looking for this. And I think John is just kind of an antagonist. So on a technicality, he's like, nope. And then they say, are you the prophet? They are talking about the Messiah? Are you the serpent crusher? Are you the one that the Old Testament, like Isaiah, and all throughout the Old Testament, said that was going to come on our behalf? And he answered, no. And so they said to him, who are you? By the way, I hope you realize that if you do not conform to the pattern of this world. In other words, if you live by God's values, if you live a gospel driven life versus just running the rat race of this world, you will stick out. You will be different. And people will say, who are you? Like when the fruit of the spirit begins to bubble up in your

life and all of your office complex is very impatient with the new system that they're implementing and you demonstrate patience, they will say, who are you? Or the way Paul will say it in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says this. You want to change the world? Paul says, do it this way. Philippians 214 says, do everything without complaining or arguing. Do everything. So if you want to complain, say, should I complain about this? Go, does it fall into everything category? If it does, don't. And the result of that, he says, and you will shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. Okay, so I know some of you, your boss is the spawn of Satan.

I know, all right? And in your cubicles, everybody's just like, gank, gank, gank, gank, gank, gank. And the Bible says if you just decide, I am not going to complain. Even though you may have some legitimate things to complain about, the Bible says, if you just don't complain, you will shine like a star in your crooked office, and people will look at you and go, who are you? Now what John does here John does not define himself

by what he does he defines himself by who he is in his relationship to Jesus because that is the answer to who you are. They said, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of the one crying out

in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. In other words, that God has had a purpose and a plan for me and my job is just to be obedient to what he has called me to do and I am defined by my relationship with Jesus and he is on his way

and I'm not worthy to carry his gym back. So don't make much of me. I know there's big crowds right here right now. Don't make much of me. The point of my life is to point people to Jesus. Keeps going. Verse 24. Now, they had been sent from the Pharisees and they asked him,

then why are you baptizing if you were neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet. And John answered them, I baptized with water. But among you stands one, you do not know even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. Here's what John the Baptist is doing. He's trying to connect. Again, these are very religious people. They've been studied in their Bible their whole life. And what he's saying is, listen, listen, we're about to shift gears here. All of the promises of the Old Testament. All of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

All of the precepts of God from the Old Covenant are now going to be found in the person named Jesus Christ. All the things that God promised in this old covenant are going to be the yes in amen in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Verse 29, then the next day. Here it comes. The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him. So get this, John the Baptist is in the Jordan, bunches of people there to be baptized, to hear him yell at him, and then he looks up on the horizon and here comes Jesus, his first cousin. And the next thing that John the Baptist says is one of the most important verses in all of the New Testament.

He says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, the people there, the moment John the Baptist uses this phrase, the Lamb of God, Their mind went to at least three places immediately. First of all, they probably thought about the Passover. The Passover was the biggest holiday that they had. They had been celebrating this thing for thousands and thousands of years. The Passover is that moment where God chooses Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, Let my people go.

And so he does. And Pharaoh is like, no way. And then God sends ten plagues. And the tenth plague is called the plague of the firstborn. And God instructs Moses. Moses, go tell my people to take a perfect spotless lamb. shed the blood of the lamb and take the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorpost of your house because tonight an angel of death is coming through Egypt and whoever does not have the blood of the lamb

or the doorpost of their house the firstborn of their family will be taken but whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house the angel of death will pass over and in one sentence John the Baptist is like you remember that thing we've been celebrating all of these years the Passover meal the Passover meal, the Passover meal, the Passover meal. The Passover is a person. Behold, there he is. And whoever has the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of your heart, the angel of death will pass over you.

And then some of them are probably thinking of Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is a messianic prophecy from the prophet Isaiah about the coming Messiah. That he would be crushed for our iniquities and that by his stripes, we would be healed. And I think it's in verse 7. and he has led to the slaughter like a lamb. And then for sure everybody thought about the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, which is described in Leviticus chapter 16, you probably all read it this morning just for giggles.

But in Leviticus chapter 16, God sets up the ultimate expression of atonement in the temple system. And every year the nation of Israel would gather together and the priest would stand before them. And the people would confess their sins to the priest, and the priests would transfer the sins of the people to the head of this goat. And he would take this goat, and he would take it to the edge of the city and cast out the goat. And the goat would travel as far as the east is from the west. And the people would literally, tangibly see their sins walking away from them. And then he would take a perfect spotless lamb, the high priest would. And he would consecrate himself, and he would go into this room that was inside this room that was inside this room called the Holy of Holies.

And inside the Holy of Holies it represented the presence of God. We talk about it all the time. And in that room was the Ark of the Covenant. It was a box with the laws of God in it. And one time of year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would shed the blood of the spotless lamb and sprinkle the blood over the Ark of the Covenant. The top of it was called the Mercy Seat.

It was called, literally the word is Helostarium, which is translated propitiation. If you've been around Bible study, all the lights on your dashboard should be going off here. The idea is that every year when God would look at his people, he did not see his broken law, but his broken law was covered over by the blood of a lamb. And they did this year after year after year.

They would shed the blood of a lamb to cover over the sins of the Jewish people for one year. And then John the Baptist says, behold. I pay attention, quit looking at Instagram, behold. Listen to me. And he points. And he goes, there he is. That thing that we've been doing in the temple, all the promises, all the precepts, all the prophecies of God are in that man right there. All of it. Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world.

Not another Lamb of God that's going to cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year. This is one of the most important transitional verses from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then he keeps going. This is he of who I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he is before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. The other gospel writers let us know that Jesus walks down into the water and Jesus says John the Baptist baptized me.

And then John the Baptist was like, dude, I can't baptize you. In the beginning was the word and you were with God. should baptize me. And Jesus is like, shut up, just baptize me. It's not exactly what he said, but that's what happened. Then John the Baptist baptizes him, and the Bible lets us know that the heaven's part, God the Father speaks out loud, behold my son in whom I am well pleased, and the spirit of God descends upon Jesus like a dove. Remember last week we talked about the importance of the Trinity, one God and three persons. The Godhead is at the baptism of Jesus, and here's why it matters to me and you. Last week we also said, for anyone,

who believes, who receives, he has given the right to be called children of God. And if you were a child of God, if you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for you, then you are a co-air with Jesus that his righteousness has been imputed or credited or counted to you. So the way God looks at you, he's not frustrated with you. He ain't disappointed in you. He would look at you if you were in Christ and he would say, behold, my son or my daughter, in whom I am well pleased. And then Jesus gets to work. After he gets baptized, he's going to go and start teaching and preaching. And John the Baptist says, I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said,

He on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and born witness that this is the son of God. See, he's like, all you that grew up in Jewish Sunday school for the last 2,000 years, here he is, the serpent crusher, the Lamb of God, that all of those metaphors are found in this man, this God man. And then in the book of John, the next thing that happens, we're going to end up in John chapter 3. But the next thing that happens is Jesus goes out and he starts calling disciples to himself. Come and follow me, and they do. And then in chapter 2, he goes to a party, he goes to a wedding, and they run out of wine.

And this is his first miracle, he changes water to wine. You hear that Baptist? He didn't turn water to Welch's, all right? Turned it to wine. Like people were getting drunk, and he made more. Get that through your little Baptist's head, you understand? And I know that makes some of you uncomfortable, and I am so glad. Read your Bible.

Okay, then I'm not even going to talk about it. I'm just let you be all uncomfortable. Send me an email. Now, after this, then he actually whips everybody at the temple, literally, which I think is awesome. He goes to the temple, and they're abusing people in God's name. And the Bible says that he goes and makes a whip. and the disciples like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm about to show you what I'm doing.

And he comes in there and he whips them. I don't think he was praying for him with a whip. That's not what you do with a whip. Then he has this conversation. Now we're in John chapter 3. He has this conversation with a very, very religious person, a Pharisee. He's name's Nick Ademis. Came to it at night.

This is where Nick at night came from. And he comes to him at night. That's so dumb. You'll remember it forever. That's how silly we are. And he's like, all right, what do I have to do? Like, if I want to be in, if I want to go to heaven, See, Nick is thinking all Old Covenant

because religion is about what I do. A relationship with Jesus, the gospel, is about what he has done for you. And Jesus said, you must be born again. And then Nick's like, I'm supposed to crawl back into my mom. And Jesus is like, what? Are you? Stop, man. Stop. You're nasty. No, no, no, no, no. So then he shifts metaphors.

And then eventually he gives us this very famous verse, for God so love the world, that whosoever would believe in him, trust in him, Pistuo in him, would not perish but have eternal life. So when you get to John chapter 3, verse 22, the gospel writer of John, after all of these events have happened, he's going to reintroduce John the Baptist because I think what he wants us to know, after Jesus has had this conversation with this Old Testament guy, he wants us to know that there is a shift, there is a new thing, this is a new error, this is a new covenant.

Moses brought the law. It was needed as a map and a mirror. It is the diagnosis. But good news, the new covenant is the cure. Verse 22, he says, after this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. So Jesus and his crew was baptized.

We find out in other gospels that Jesus didn't do any of the baptizing, that he let the disciples do the baptizing. You know why? I think, because if Jesus did the baptizing, his line at Beach Baptism would be all the way out of Hannah Park, and there's Peter and Andrew all feeling bad because nobody's in their line. which you should think about about whose line you're trying to get into a bunch of pagans anyway. So,

it don't matter. John also was baptizing at Enon near Salem because water was plentiful. Now, why did they need plentiful water? Because in the first century, in Greek, the word baptized is baptizo. It means to dip, dunk submerge.

I could baptize the front four rows with this little bit of water, but they needed a bunch of water because they were dunking people. That's why I hear 1122, we dunk people. And if you haven't been dunked as a believer, next week we start baptism classes and you should get dunked at saturated.

So that's what's happening there. He's baptizing because there's plenty of water and the people were coming and being baptized for John had not yet been put in prison. We're not going to get that far. Now, a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John, these are his disciples,

and they said him, Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, they're talking about Jesus, to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing. And all are going to him. They're coming to John the Baptist to complain. Hey, John, our ministry used to be booming. And now it's not booming anymore, because everybody else is going with that other guy. Now, I know the heavens cracked open, and I heard God speak out loud and say,

this is my son and whom I'm well pleased, and the Spirit of God like a dub descended upon him. But what about us? Think about this for a second. What is wrong with the human heart that we are just comparison machines? Look, comparison kills. Comparison absolutely kills. It does. Just over and over and over.

In fact, you do this all the time to me. I'll be out of town, and somebody from our teaching team teaches Pastor Adam, Pastor Britt, Pastor Stone. And by the way, they're so good. Are they not good? They are so stinking good. All right? You think I'm going to put a chump up here? No way.

And then inevitably, I get back the next week and somebody comes up to him in there like, oh, Pastor Jobie. Pastor Stone, Pastor Britt, Pastor Adam, they were good. You better watch out. I'm like, watch out for what? We are on the same team. This ain't like teachers got talent and you only get one and we're getting voted off. That is not how. What is wrong with the human mind and heart that compares people like that?

This doesn't make sense. Or sometimes there'll be some new ministry in town. People will come up and be like, I heard a new church is getting planted. And I'm like, we've probably planted it. If I could figure out how to not lose parking, I would plant a church in our parking lot. No problem. We have an enemy. It is not another church.

Do you understand that? If Satan starts the church, we'll watch out. But we are pro every other Bible teaching church without a doubt. Now, can you imagine for a second? Can you imagine learning what Paul learned when he said in the book of Philippians, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation? Do you know that when you're truly content, you never compare yourself? Can you imagine waking up at it?

in the morning, scrolling through your Instagram, which is killing us, and seeing your friend on vacation and genuinely being happy for them instead of praying for a hurricane. Can you imagine? It happens to us like crazy. Comparison kills, man. Comparison kills our ability to enjoy God's good gifts to us. Listen, this happened to me just a couple weeks ago, okay? I'm at my house. I love my house. My house is awesome. Okay? When I first moved in my house, I thought it was a mansion. I called it the Martin Manor. I think it's awesome. About two weeks ago, this very famous person that attends our church that you would know was getting married, bought a new house in town. And he and his fiance asked me and Gretchen to come over to like pray for it, to bless it, to dedicate it to God's word.

It's an awesome thing to do. So we were happy to you. We hopped into the car. We went to his house and we pulled up to their house. I've never seen anything like that. I mean, it is like a, you could put my house in many of the rooms that his house is in. And I thought this was awesome. So we prayed like crazy, dedicated to the Lord. And then when I came back to my house that I loved when I left, when I got back into it, I felt like I couldn't stand up all the way. Why did my house get so little? But bump my head on my ceilings, man.

I only got 12-foot ceilings. He had 40-foot ceilins. Imagine the Christmas tree. You understand what I'm saying. What is wrong with the human heart? Comparison kills. John refuses to compare because he knows his role. First and foremost, he knows his role.

And the guy that they're trying to get him to compare to is Jesus. It's Jesus. And so he says this verse, if this verse could lodge in our hearts, it would change everything about us. John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. Man, that, if you're into memorize the scripture, we should all memorize that one. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. given him from heaven, that's where contentment is found. That's where contentment is found. You see, what this kind of gospel-centered contentment does is it squishes ego and sin security.

Ego says, God, I deserve more than you have given me. And insecurity says, God, I shouldn't even have what you have given me. And what the gospel says is, no, no, no, no, no, no. Everything you have is a blood-bought gift from God. Everything. And it's not for you. It is for His glory. And if you don't have it, it's because he has not given it to you. And you should thank him for that. And if you do have it, it's because his divine power has given us everything we need to accomplish, everything that he has called us to accomplish.

So in the kingdom, you don't walk with a swagger or a limp. You're just walking away. You're just walking away that edifies, glorifies, that magnifies Jesus. You walk in a manner worthy of the God. gospel of Jesus Christ. And listen, man, we all do this. I do this all the time. People ask about our church, what's going on there. How? Explain this. How does this church doing what it's doing? We had 12,000 people in attendance last week. People are like, how? And I'm like, because God breathed on it. That's it. Because God decided. I don't know. We honor him. Like, we try to honor him like

crazy. We preach the gospel. We stick to his word. We try to make much of him and all that we do in worship and word. But listen, we pray like crazy, but a bunch of churches do that. And for whatever reason, God has decided to give us the responsibility and stewardship of this gospel ministry. And the worst thing we can do is a church or as individuals is to compare ourselves to anybody else. Because listen, man, I do this. I listen to me preach. I go back and listen to me preach.

And in my mind, I want to sound like C.S. Lewis. And I want to sound like Spurgeon. I want to sound like some of my friends, Matt Chandler and J.D. Greer. and when I listen back, I sound like Larry D Cable Guy. That's funny right here. I don't care who you are. Don't encourage it, but listen. But my job is just to do what God has called me to do with what God has put in my hands.

That's it. And yours too. And the point of our life is just to point people to Jesus. You see, religion says if I do my part, if I obey the rules, then God owes me. Religion makes much of our activity. The good news of the gospel says everything we have is a bloodbought grace gift from God. That everything good in my life is from the Lord. And if I don't have it, it's because by his grace he has not given it to me. And that I should learn the secret of being content in all situations. So again, John's disciples are trying to make much

of him. And he's like, bro, it ain't about me. It's all about Jesus. He goes on to say, you yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ. but I have been sent before him. What he's saying is this. The reason his ministry is growing is because I've been pointing people to his ministry. That's the whole point of my life. And then he gives a one sentence parable. He says, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom,

who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He's saying, my great joy is to make much of Jesus. All throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the groom, and the church is referred to as the bride. And John is saying, I'm like a groomsman. And my job is to just point the bride to the groom

and make no fuss about myself. Because can you imagine, we've all been to weddings. I've done a million of them. Can you imagine if, like, you know, the preacher walks out and here comes the groom, and here comes the groomsmen all lined up. And then when I do it, I say, would everyone please stand? And everybody stands up, and they start to, you know, start the music. And in comes the bride, and what does everybody do?

Everybody looks at her. And after everybody gets one glance at her, everybody looks back at the groom. See that little wobble chain, you know, because he don't know what he's getting into. And it's beautiful. And she comes walking. Can you imagine if you were at a wedding? And the best man is standing over here behind the groom like they do, you know. And then once the bride made his way up,

there, can you imagine if the best man said, hey, excuse me, bro, how you doing? Can you imagine? Looking good, all in white, you know, what you're doing later on? You would be like, we're going to be on the news tonight. You would think, I don't think that's that man's friend. What John the Baptist is saying is, I'm like the groomsman. It ain't about me. My whole life is just to point the bride to the groom. That's it. That's it. That's That's my job. And religion is the groomsman standing over here going, look what I did. Look what I did.

Look what I did. I pinned this on myself. Look what I did. And the gospel is saying, no, no, no, no. This is like the marriage between the bride and the groom. It's not about what we do. This applies to our church too. Okay?

It applies to our church. I want to be very specific. When our services are over and you walk out of here, If you're talking about Jobi and not Jesus, then we're not doing this right. This is not built on any individual's personality. This thing is built on what Jesus has done for us. If you walk out of here and you're just thinking about how talented the musicians are or whether you like the song or not, you're completely missing the point.

The point is not about the song or the singers. The point is all about the Savior. that all we do, anybody that has the blessing to be able to get up here and help guide all of us together in this great wedding day, all we need to be doing is pointing people to Jesus. This thing is all about Jesus. It's not about me. It's definitely not about me. It's not about 1122 dumbest church's name in the history of church.

Okay, I'll go on record. Glory to God. I don't care because he uses the foolish things of this world to confess. found the wise. It's all about pointing people to Jesus. And then John the Baptist says a very famous verse. We love this verse. We have bumper stickers with this verse on it and t-shirt shops. He says this. He must increase. I must decrease. We don't really believe that. We don't, man. Who's going to say I must decrease? Here's how we want to say it. He must increase. We are all pro-increase of Jesus. He must increase, and I'm going to increase with you. Like, as I follow you and you are on the

incline, let me just incline there with you. And John says, nope, it's less and less and less and less and less of me so that there could be more and more and more and more of Jesus. Sometimes people will leave a review for our church and they say something like, well, I don't like Jobie. I always reply, Me either. I hate that guy. I do. I hate him. There's so many things that he is into that I do not want to do, that I am not into.

I can't stand him. I hope and pray by the power of the Holy Spirit that he rips away all the fleshly Joby that there ever was so that the only thing remaining is Jesus Christ. That's all I want. That's all I want. Amen? And I hope the same thing is true of you. He must increase.

We must decrease. By the way, this is why we start Daniel. fasting tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're going to start Daniel fasting to get ready for saturated. A fast, if you don't know what a Daniel fast is, go on our website. There's explanation here. Basically, if you like it, you can't have it. That's what it is. Okay, anything good. No strong drink, no meat, no cheese, no bread. It's just you got to eat like a goat. That's what you all right. It's just vegetables and fruits. The one thing I will tell you, though, is coffee is a bean in water. No problem.

All right. Anybody tells you you can't drink coffee? That's a cult. You should gather your things and leave. All right. So, but all we are doing is we're saying to our flesh, no, no, no, no, decrease, decrease, decrease, decrease. To make room for Jesus to increase, increase, increase. That's all it is.

John the Baptist is saying, it ain't about me. Listen, religion says, I will increase in my own righteousness and become acceptable before God. The gospel says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live But Christ who lives in me

And the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave himself for me John goes on to say He who comes from above is above all He who is of the earth belongs to the earth And speaks in an earthly way

He who comes from heaven is above all He bears witness To what he has been To what he has seen and heard Yet no one receives his testimony Whoever receives his testimony He sets his seal to this, that God is true. Here's what John the Baptist is saying.

John the Baptist is saying that Jesus is preeminent, that Jesus is before all things. Behold Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And that one God put on flesh, and his name is Jesus. And you cannot. He's talking to religious people that would say they believe in God. And he would say, you cannot simultaneously believe in God and reject Jesus. Because to reject Jesus is to reject God. And to accept God is to accept Jesus.

what he is saying. He goes on to say, for he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand. Now again, he's talking to religious people here. Remember at the very beginning of chapter three is said that the scribes and the Pharisees are showing up asking, who are you? And who is this one you're talking about? And remember, he is building this bridge. He's saying, listen, the law came from Moses, and the law is the diagnosis. And no one by works of the law can declare themselves righteous. That's what Paul says in Romans chapter 3.

And he's saying, but now there's a new day. And God has built a bridge from this old covenant based on law to this new covenant based on grace and truth. And then he closes it down by giving a gospel invitation. He says, whoever believes. in the sun has eternal life. And again, the Pharisees would be like, what do you mean believes in Jesus? We are the children of Abraham. We have been grandfathered in because of our pedigree. John the Baptist is saying, no, no, no, no, no. In the New Testament, God doesn't save any last names. He only says first names. Now, no doubt there is a blessing to having

a legacy of faith. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. But just because your grandma was a Christian does not mean that you are grandfathered in, that is not how it works. I say this all the time around here. Growing up in church does not make you a Christian anymore than put in your head in the oven, makes you a biscuit. That is not how it works. It ain't just, it's not about location. It's about, have you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

Whoever believes, trust, commits, pastuos, in the sun has eternal life. whoever does not obey the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God remains on him here's the point is that religion says if you obey then you will belong but the new covenant of grace that we call the gospel says whoever believes in the sun

has eternal life now listen last week so John the Baptist is talking to religious people last week I aimed the gospel invitation to all the rebels in the room which is a bunch of us at 1122 and we had 157 people between all of our campuses

including Baker and our student ministry surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus. Today, I want to aim the gospel invitation to church people, to church people. You see, here's why. Our church is for sure a movement for all people. And that means those of you

that are fresh out of rehab, are still in rehab. and those of you that grew up in Sunday school, that we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me just be straight up honest. Those of you fresh off of an addiction, those of you fresh out of jail,

those of you in places in your life where it seems like the thing is all busted up, you are in the right place. We love you more than I have words to explain. And you don't worry me that much because most of you have this posture of humility and you realize that you need a savior. Look, it's going to be okay.

Trust Jesus. Get surrounded by the family. We're going to walk you through this. You're going to be all right. Let me tell you who makes me nervous. Church people. You church people freak me out, man. Because from here, you look great.

You look great. And what I'm afraid is I'm afraid that you think your eternal address is heaven because of something that you did. like you grew up Lutheran or you were christened at this age or you took your first communion or one time you walked down an aisle and you prayed a prayer when you were 12 and all your friends were getting dumped so you got dunked too and you are hanging eternity on religion but honestly you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ it is the thing that keeps me up because our church is 1122 has a bunch of church people anybody that comes here because you love expository preaching If you know what expository preaching is, you scare me to death.

Because you might just be playing the game. And you might be hanging your eternity on what you have done. And eternity hangs in. You put in your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus illustrates this like crazy in one of his most famous parables. We call it the parable of the prodigal son. It really should be called the parable of the lost son. And you know this.

If you've been around church and this is who I'm talking to. Luke 15, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. and he says it's like this. There's a dad. He's got two kids. Younger kid comes and says, you're dead to me. Give me what I want. The dad does. He goes off. He squanders it away on wild living. By God's grace, he's at the

bottom of the barrel. And there's only you can only look up from there. The Bible says he comes to his senses. He comes back home. He's going to try to earn favor with his father. His father sees him while he's still a long ways off. Goes running to him, wraps his arms around him, takes the perfect righteous robe of the dad, wraps it around the boy. It's a picture of imputed

righteousness. Adops him back into his family, puts a ring on his finger, and then gives him sandals. Only sons had sandals. Servants didn't get sandals. And then he throws a gospel party to celebrate this boy of mine who used to be dead and now's alive. We love that part at church. But the real point of the parable is the next part. Jesus was talking to religious people that were hanging their eternity on their religious activity. And he says, and the dad had an older son. An older son hears singing and dancing in this party and he goes to one of the servants, because religious people don't talk to the father, they talk to other servants. And he goes, what is happening here?

And the servant said, y'all, your brother. Your brother's home. He was dead and how he's alive, and your dad is throwing a party. And the older brother is indignant. What? What do you mean? The dad comes out, and he says, what are you doing for the son of yours? He shamed your name?

He's been to rehab. He had an addiction. He gets drunk all the time. He embarrasses us all over town, and you throw a party for him, and I've been doing everything right. I attend church all the time. I was at elder-led prayer. I stayed for the deepening encounter. I came the next day.

I've sponsored the kids. I'm in two disciple groups. I do it all. I didn't go see 50 shades of gray until it came out at my house. And I've done all these things, and you didn't even, you never threw a party for me. You see, what that boy's doing, he is hanging everything on his activity and not on the grace of his father. And the Bible says that the father comes out and entreats him. I don't have enough English words to describe what that Greek word entreats me.

The Bible means that the father humiliated himself in front of his whole household. And he begged his older son, won't you please come in, won't you please come in? Won't you please come in? Everything I have is yours. Everything I have is yours. You wanted a goat to celebrate with your friends? We have this party that is for you. Please open your eyes and come in to this party because it is by grace that you are saved,

not by how good you think you are. 1122, that's what keeps me up at night. It's not the rebels that show up and meet Jesus. Praise God. I mean, you are in the right place. It's the religious people. And you think that's based on your activity, somehow you're in. I entreat you. I beg you today. Would you surrender your life to Jesus? It is a new covenant.

It is not a covenant of law. It is a covenant of grace. And whoever would believe, we just admit it, okay, it's not my religious activity. It's Christ's finished work on the cross. And whoever would believe, Pistuo, that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, that was the atoning sacrifice for your sin, not your good work. and that whoever would call on the name of the Lord that you would be saved. Now listen, we had hundreds of people, or over 150 get saved last week. I think it's like two or three this week. Because the religious heart is a hard heart.

But I believe there's a couple of you. Right now, right here, there's a couple of you. And you are ready to quit trusting your religious pursuit of Jesus and you are start, for the first time, you're going to trust that he came on a rest of you. you mission for you, not because of any good thing that you have done, but because he is good and he died in your place. And I want to give you the opportunity to surrender your life to Jesus. Would you please bow your head and close your eyes? And if that's you, now for sure, the gospel is

always open to anybody and everybody, but right now, I'm talking to church people. Are you here and you have banked your eternal salvation on something that you did? And right now, for the very first time, you were ready to receive Jesus as your Savior. The Lamb of God, who came to take away your sin, the sin of this world. And if that's you, would you raise your hand and say, Father, here I am for the very first time. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly, Father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, I thank you that you sent the Lamb of God, your son, Jesus, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. God, forgive us for becoming access. God, forgive us for becoming access.

of dental Pharisees, for comparing ourselves to other ministries or other churches or other people. And God, would you help us to understand that everything we have is a grace gift, bloodbop, through the person and work of Jesus. And may we trust you as Heavenly Father. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We do this every week.

religion says here's how many times you need to pray here are the words you need to use and this is the posture that you must take a relationship says he's your heavenly father if it's important to you it's important to him because you're important to him

cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you so when we respond in prayer and invite you to come down to the altars and pray it is a response to that relationship religion says you better tip God on the way out if you want his blessing. In a relationship, the gospel says, no, no, no, no, in a response to God for who he is and what he's done, I'm going to bring my first and best,

my first and best. Not because I'm trying to convince him of anything, but because he gave his first and best in Jesus Christ to me. Religion says the liturgy dictates now we sing, and you better sing because we're watching. A relationship with Jesus says he has put a song in my heart. I am overwhelmed by his grace and I must make much of the only one that's worth it. And so as we respond, this is not religious duty. As we pray and as we bring and as we sing, let us respond to that relationship with Jesus Christ.