When Jesus meets the unworthy

Father, we often do not know the state of our own heart.

We flatter ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin.

We don't really know, Father, the devices and desires of our own hearts.

So, Father, we are so thankful that you know everything there is to know about us and still you love us.

We thank you, Father, that your Holy Spirit moves to bring your word to our heart, the center of who we are, the command center of our lives.

And we ask, Father, that you would do that wonderful work in our lives this morning of bringing your word to the center of who we are,

that we might know Jesus, that we might love Jesus, that we might trust him,

that we might know how great a thing he accomplished for us in his life and in his death upon the cross and resurrection.

We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, when I was ordained back in those days, by the way, we're having problems with lighting because the way they set the light up.

Just start waving at me if I keep walking into the darkness and you can't see me.

Unless you don't like seeing me, and then you can just stay like this.

Just stay there, whatever.

And I'll just sort of look and figure out who's picking the most move.

Anyway, never mind.

So, I spent a couple years in a suburban church and then in the diocese that I was part of back then.

The way it worked is when you get ordained, you get paid a very tiny bit of money and you get a bit of a raise.

As long as you keep breathing, you keep getting small raises.

And so, basically, there were a lot of churches in the diocese that their entire model was having...

Well, it was sort of a...

What it was, it was sort of a vampire model of organizing your church.

Every couple of years, they'd say,

What we need around here is some new blood.

And so, they'd hire you because you were cheap.

And actually, it was very funny.

When I went to my first church out in the country, they basically said to me right of the way,

It's so good to have you here.

You're cheap.

We know you're only going to be here a couple of years because then you move into a higher pay bracket and you'll have to move along.

So, we like you right now because we need you to do the things that we do and we need you to be cheap.

And that's just the way things worked.

In fact, we did eventually move, but we didn't move.

The church had grown.

They could have continued to afford me, but God called us to this particular church.

One of the things we struggle with in life, if we think about it,

is coming to realize that at some point in time in our lives, people don't need us.

It can be very hard for moms and dads when the kids all leave and the kids don't need you anymore.

And in a far more personal and far more threatening type of way, it can also be very hard.

In a room of this size, there are probably several of us who've been divorced.

And maybe we're still living with divorce.

Maybe some of us have remarried.

But we've lived with this great problem, this great tearing in our lives because the person who loved us found somebody better.

Or at least that's what they thought.

And we're no longer needed.

We're no longer loved.

I was talking a couple of years ago to a couple of people, and they were all sharing about a particular movie.

And this particular movie, which I had also seen, it was about a young guy who had a very deep relationship with this young woman,

but he never wanted to marry her because he was always worried about how he could ever marry one particular person when he might meet somebody better later on.

And one of the young women was saying it was too painful for her to watch that movie.

About halfway into it, she had to leave.

Because it was touching at a very, very deep fear in her life that at that time that she would never marry.

And the reason she would never be able to marry wasn't that she wasn't able to commit,

but that all of the fellows that she'd had any dealings with were always basically looking for something better.

And so it's a very deep-seated, this complex of issues of struggling with the fact at some points in our time, in our lives,

people leave us because they don't need us anymore.

It doesn't seem like they love us anymore because they don't need us.

And we're this pattern of people always looking for something, or just being open to something better,

whatever that means, and leaving us alone.

And the love breaks, the love ends, and it's just hard sometimes to live our lives that way.

Some of us here this morning might, in fact, still be living with very deep wounds connected to this.

Believe it or not, the Bible text that I read a little bit earlier

actually speaks in a very powerful way to our fear.

And it's one of the curiosities of our heart that many of us, when we read the text,

don't actually realize that it's actually addressing something very deeply,

something deep in our heart that we worry about.

So it'd be a great help to me if you would open your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

And for those of you, I don't know what's up on the screen above me.

Oh, we already have one of the paintings.

What we're doing is we're going through John's gospel, and we're up to John chapter 5,

John 5 · chapter mention

and here's how the text goes.

After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

And just pause, if you're a guest here, one of the characteristics,

if you read the Old Testament, one of the characteristics of the Old Testament is

that there are several times of worship that are also called feasts.

I mean, literally, one of the ways that you worship God is by eating a lot

and drinking a lot, all to the glory of God.

That's just the way God set it up.

And this is one, it could have been several ones.

John decides not to tell us which one it is, but it's for one of those.

And Jesus goes to Jerusalem to be right where the temple is so that he, as a good and observant Jew,

can take part in the feast.

We'll read it again.

Verse 1.

After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now, there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda,

which has five-roofed colonnades.

Colonades?

I don't know how to pronounce it.

In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.

One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years.

Now, just pause for a second.

And those of you who are following along, some of you, if you have a King James version of the Bible,

you say, George just skipped part.

And others of you who are very keen readers notice that it goes from verse number 3 to verse number 5.

Now, this is actually just an important little aside.

The title of this sermon series is Knowing Jesus, John's Intimate Biography.

And one of the things about this, which we now call the Gospel of John,

which is really just one of the four ancient biographies of Jesus,

written by an eyewitness and, in fact, a person who was with Jesus for all of these different things.

He was with Jesus his entire public ministry.

One of the things that Christians have a concern for is to actually know what the original text actually is.

And over time, archaeologists keep finding more and more ancient copies of manuscripts, copies of the Bible.

Because up until the printing press, every time somebody wanted a copy of the Bible,

some person had to sit down and write it out by hand.

And then they would give it to a person.

And one of the common misconceptions of the Christian faith is either that we can't know what the original writing was,

or that somehow or another some crazy monks or the crazy church went and moved things around and changed things around,

take out the bits that they didn't like and add parts that they did like.

And those are complete and utter misconceptions.

It's not what works at all.

That, in fact, there's scholars throughout the world, Christian, non-Christian,

who find these ancient manuscripts.

And there's actually a scientific method whereby you can look at all of the manuscripts,

and you can date them.

And as archaeologists find more and more and more ancient manuscripts,

Christians who just want to know what the actual text says,

adjust the text.

And one of the amazing things about it is if you go and take a King James version of the Bible,

and you take ours, and a modern version will have some of the bits taken out,

you'll see that not a single important doctrine of Christian belief has ever been affected

by the newest archaeological findings.

Not one.

That the copyists, because they desire to copy accurately,

and because it was actually a craft, a trade, where you were trained,

they actually did a remarkably good job.

But occasionally, you find a small difference.

Now, what part was left off?

A part about an angel coming in and stirring the water.

It doesn't affect anything to do with the gospel or Christian doctrines.

But because Christians desire to know what the Bible actually says,

these adjustments are made as time goes on.

By the way, so whenever, if you talk to a Muslim and they say you don't know what's in the Bible,

last time I had that happen to me, I just smiled.

I thought, oh, I am so glad to myself.

I thought to myself, I am so glad you raised that particular question.

And I started to explain it to him, and I started to talk to him about how, in fact,

the Koran is not, in fact, questioned in the same type of way that the Koran,

it's uncertain what exactly...

Anyway, at some point in time, he just decided he would change the topic.

But the point is that we as Christians can have...

And actually, not just Christians.

Anybody can have a very, very great confidence.

You might still think it's nonsense, okay?

But with every passing day, our confidence that this is actually what John wrote

gets stronger and stronger and stronger.

Science and archaeology makes our confidence in this higher and higher and higher as time goes on.

Anyway, that was a long...

Where were we?

Verse 5.

Okay, we're talking about our fears of being abandoned.

We'll read verse 5 again.

And one man was there by the pool who had been an invalid for 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time...

See, Jesus is showing divine knowledge.

Jesus says to the man, do you want to be healed?

And the sick man answered him...

Now, in English, it's hard to communicate what just happens right now.

But in the original language, the man gives a sarcastic answer.

The man doesn't say,

Oh, Jesus, I'm so glad you came here.

I've heard stories about you.

I know you can heal me.

I've been praying to God that you would come here

because I know you can heal me.

I've heard all about you.

Please heal me.

No, the guy's answer is he basically flips Jesus off.

He says...

You know, basically he's saying,

Dude, I'm here all by myself.

I can't get in the water to be healed.

Like, why are you asking me this stupid question?

That's what's being...

But in English, it's not as obvious.

But that's actually the heart of...

In fact, it's part of the shocking nature of this story.

As the story goes on, this man becomes revealed as more and more of a miserable, ungrateful, sarcastic, backbiting, betraying guy.

That's how the story unfolds.

And so it begins.

So Jesus says to him, Do you want to be healed?

The sick man says,

Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up,

and while I am going, another steps down before me.

Duh.

No, the duh's not there, but it's implied.

Duh.

And how does Jesus respond to him?

Does Jesus say to his disciples,

Gosh, this...

Like, why is this guy flipping me off?

Like, I'm trying to be nice to this guy,

and he just gives me this sarcastic answer.

Doesn't he know what I can do for him?

Is that what Jesus says?

No.

What is Jesus?

Jesus heals him.

The guy's not expecting Jesus to heal him,

doesn't believe that Jesus can heal him,

doesn't ask Jesus to heal him.

In fact, his response is a sarcastic putting him away.

What does Jesus do?

Verse 8.

Jesus said to him,

Get up, take up your bed, and walk.

And at once, the man was healed,

and he took up his bed and walked.

And by the way, partly what John is doing,

and if you've been here for the other sermons,

John keeps putting in little bits of historical detail.

In fact, if you go on the Dig and Delve website

from a couple of years ago,

Craig Evans shares how there's a variety of different

Israeli Jewish archaeologists

who use the New Testament to find more sites in Jerusalem

because of its accuracy.

So these Jewish archaeologists read the New Testament

so they can go looking where to find things

that were destroyed over the years.

And so in this particular story,

what is being emphasized is the wow of the miracle.

This guy's been an invalid for 38 years,

and Jesus, just by his mere willing it,

heals the man to the extent that he can stand up,

pick up his mat, and walk away.

It increases the wow, the nature, how big the miracle is.

So how is the man going to respond to this?

Remember I've sort of said to you,

as the story goes on,

it shows how miserable this guy is.

He'd be one of these guys that if you were in a hospital

or if you were a social worker,

after you've dealt with him,

you'd go, gosh, I don't like that guy.

Maybe you'd go home and tell your husband or your wife

about how miserable and unthankful the person was,

had to deal with this person.

We came, we gave him free medicine,

we fixed him all up,

and all he did was give us lip.

And that's what happened.

Look, continue reading the rest of verse now.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed,

it is the Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.

Now just pause.

Andrew, could you put up the first point, please?

I'm not going to go into it very much,

but just so you know,

Jesus does not tell the man to do anything

which goes against what the Bible says.

He tells the man to break a religious tradition,

not a command of God.

I'm not going to go into it very much,

but it's not, Jesus doesn't say,

you know, go ahead,

I know the Old Testament says this,

but go ahead and do it anyway.

It's just a tradition that they have.

There's nowhere in the Bible that it says,

nowhere in the Old Testament that says,

you can't carry your mat on the Sabbath.

Okay?

But they have a tradition around it.

Anyway, so these, the religious leaders,

they say to this guy,

they don't know anything about him being healed.

Okay?

All they see is a guy carrying,

they're mat on the Sabbath.

They're like the religious police.

They, they're busy bodies.

And these religious busy bodies go up against the guy

and says, you're not supposed to be doing this.

Verse 11.

So how does the man answer him?

Well, the man says in verse 11,

the man who healed me,

that man said to me,

take up your bed and walk.

Now, just notice there,

there's two things here.

The first thing is,

he basically tries to pass the buck.

He wants to get out of trouble.

So he's going to put it on Jesus.

Like that's a really good,

grateful way to express your gratitude.

And he tries to put it on Jesus.

It's not my fault.

Whoa.

No harm, no fault.

Oh, just was him over there,

somewhere over there.

He was going to tell me,

you should go get him

because you should be mad at him,

not me.

And, and how do the,

how do the religious leaders say,

respond to that?

Verse 12.

Now, we're not going to go into it very much,

but one of the things about the gospel

is the gospels are the most profound critique of religion

in all of literature.

You don't have to read Christopher Hitchens.

You don't have to read Dawkins.

You don't have to read those people to have a critique of religion.

You just got to read the Bible.

And, and here all the way through this text is a profound critique of religion.

And religion is any type of, you know,

organizing your,

your life around worship or meaning in any type of way that excludes the gospel.

Can be Christian churches.

Can end up becoming really just religious places,

not actually places where the gospel is centered.

So how do they show this critique?

So this guy says,

uh,

okay,

I'm,

I'm carrying this because a guy healed me and told me to walk.

And,

uh,

and they asked him verse 12,

who is the man who said to you,

take up your bed and walk?

Like,

see,

this is the subtle critique of religion.

They don't say,

really,

you got healed.

Really?

Like,

what did you get healed of?

They're not even interested in that.

You know,

it's really funny because if in fact a miracle had happened,

only God could do this.

You'd think that religious people would be interested in God.

But religious people aren't really interested in God.

They're interested in their traditions.

Because you see,

often religion is used to inoculate us against the true and living God.

So they don't even ask any question at all about the miracle.

They just said,

who is the man who said to you,

take up your bed and walk?

Verse 13.

How does the man respond?

Now,

the man who had been healed did not know who it was.

For Jesus had withdrawn as there was no crowd,

as there was a crowd in the place.

Just pause.

So who's this guy?

Jesus comes up.

You want to be healed?

You know,

sarcastic answer.

Jesus heals him.

He's not even grateful.

He doesn't say,

for 38 years I've been lame.

You just healed me.

Who are you?

The guy's completely and utterly uninterested.

He just leaves.

When something comes against him by the religious police,

he tries to say,

don't blame me,

it's this guy's fault.

Verse 14.

It gets worse.

Afterward,

Jesus found the man in the temple and said to him,

see,

you are well,

sin no more,

that nothing worse may happen to you.

The man went away

and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

In other words,

okay,

you want to find the guy?

His name's Jesus.

Like,

he betrays Jesus.

He betrays Jesus.

Now,

here's a very,

very good question.

Why on earth did Jesus heal that guy?

I mean,

how many of you are wondering that?

Like,

why on earth did Jesus heal this guy?

Sarcastic,

absolutely no faith,

completely and utterly ungrateful,

passing the buck,

getting Jesus in trouble,

betraying him.

Why on earth would Jesus heal someone like that?

Now,

why do Christians ask that question?

The reason we ask that question

is that we want to sneak in

the belief

that the reason we are Christians

is because we're worthy.

You see,

for those of you who are guests,

this is an evangelical church.

Evangelical Christians

are supposed to know

that we're saved.

How are we made right with God?

By grace alone,

through faith alone,

in Christ alone.

That God doesn't weigh up

how many good things I have in my life.

He pardons my offenses.

In fact,

if you could put up

the next point,

Andrew,

and the next point,

I thought,

it's just a quote from the Bible.

But God shows his love for us

in that while we were still sinners,

in other words,

completely and utterly unworthy,

far from God,

turning our back on God,

walking away from God,

Christ died for us.

He dies for us

when we're bad.

He dies for us

when we don't want him to die.

He dies for us

when we think

we are like little gods.

He dies for us

when we are still sinners.

And we know

that this is the case.

But in fact,

if you could put up

the next point,

Andrew,

that would be great.

I keep sneaking in

the belief

that I am worthy

of God's love

and power

because of who I am

and what I've done.

See,

that's why we find

this text very,

very,

once you actually see

what's going on

in the text,

Jesus heals

a completely

and utterly

massively

unworthy

person

that if we were doing,

and in fact,

it's even actually

sort of emphasized

by the fact

that one of his complaints

to the God,

to Jesus,

is,

for 38 years

I've been lying here

and I don't have

any friends or family

that want to help me.

Like,

his personality problems

have been going on

a long time.

Some of you have

heard me this story,

this is quite a few years ago,

I did a,

I was asked by a funeral home

to do a funeral

for a man

who dropped dead at work,

one of those brain aneurysms

that just,

he's just,

all of a sudden

he just dies.

And I do the funeral

and the guy was,

I don't know,

in his mid-40s.

So you think

that a guy

who's in his mid-40s

who dies

in a large government office

at work,

how big do you think

the funeral would be?

And he has a wife

and three kids.

You think it's going

to be a big funeral?

Okay,

six people at the funeral.

Six people at the funeral.

His ex-wife

and his three kids

aged,

I think,

roughly,

you know,

20,

18,

and 13.

13-year-old was a girl.

Not a single tear

was shed at the funeral.

And there's only that

six or seven people

at the funeral.

And I said to myself,

what type of man

was this

that could die

in such a manner?

And only these six

or seven people

would come to the funeral.

And his 13-year-old girl

daughter

would not shed

a single tear.

What type of a man

was this?

And I never know

because,

in fact,

it was a funeral home funeral.

There was no reception

afterwards.

Everybody just went

their separate ways.

I came,

I did the service,

and I went home.

I never have the answer

to that.

Maybe this guy

that Jesus healed

is something like that.

And in our heart of hearts,

even for Christians,

we wonder,

why would God

heal a man?

Why would Jesus do that?

And the reason

we ask that question

is that we think

it's connected

to worthiness.

Because you and I

keep sneaking in

to our walk

with Jesus

that

I actually am

sort of worthy.

nothing personal.

I'm a little bit

more worthy

than the rest of you,

you know?

And I don't know,

maybe there's 140 people

in here,

and probably every one

of the 140 of us,

we're Canadians,

okay?

So we're not going to say

I'm more worthy

than 139,

but as Canadians,

we might say

I'm more worthy

than 100 of you.

Right?

Because we'd know

it'd be too sinful

to say 139

of you aren't

as worthy as me,

but I'm more worthy

than 100 of you,

and every one of us

is saying that

in our heart of hearts.

And we think

that when things

go wrong

in our life,

that maybe we are

having trouble

in our marriage,

or we're having

problems with our kids,

or we're having

trouble at work,

or we have

health problems,

and all of a sudden

we feel as if God

is very, very far

from us,

and the reason is

is that

there has snuck

into how

we understand

and see ourselves

is that somehow

or another

whatever blessings

I have is because

of some type

of worthiness,

and now

I no longer

have that external

success

that the saved

should have,

and so we don't

want to be around

other Christians

because at the end

of the day

it is very,

very hard

for you and me

to believe

that I am saved

by grace alone,

through faith alone,

in Jesus

alone.

And part of it

is because we

don't know

who God is.

John's gospel

is about,

one of the things

that John's gospel

is all about

is that Jesus

introduces God.

Those of you

who have been here,

what I've been saying

almost every week,

I need to start

saying to Canadians

that in terms

of the God

that most Canadians

believe exists,

I am an atheist.

I believe in the God

that is introduced

by Jesus.

And I believe

that Jesus introduces

the God

that really exists,

that truly does exist,

that is unknown,

apart from Jesus.

If, Andrew,

could you put up

the next point?

And one of the things

which God,

Jesus reveals

about God

is that God

has no need love.

He is only

gift love.

God

has no needs.

So part of my

need love

is,

you know,

human,

we human,

you know,

we know what need love is.

We want to be needed

and we love it,

you know,

when our kids are young

and they need us

and sometimes

that just

bothers the heck

out of us

but other times

we just so love it

and we really know

we love it

when they no longer

need us

and they don't

want us around.

And we like to think

that there's something

about us

that's worthy

and that the other

person really needs

that will keep us

together

and that's fine.

You know why

it's fine on one level?

Because in fact

the matter is

that human beings

are just one

unending need.

I am one

unending need.

I needed my parents

to conceive me

for me to exist

and I think

I'm a god.

I couldn't even

bring about

my own existence.

No human being

can.

and everything

every second

every microsecond

I am one

unending need

for oxygen

for gravity

for food

for people around

I needed to learn

a language

I didn't invent

it myself

if you do invent

a language yourself

it's sort of called

not learning

how to speak

it's actually

not a good thing

but a problem

you just keep

making up

your own language

the only person

in the world

who speaks

that language

that's called

failure

to learn a language

not a sign

that you are God

okay

we all know that

we're one

unending need

and part of the mystery

part of the things

which other religions

whether it's Islam

or Buddhism

or Hinduism

and especially

atheism

cannot account for

it's easy to account

for the fact

that human beings

are selfish

in love

and they want

a type of

self-centered

need type of love

the hard thing

for all those religions

to explain

is the fact

that there's

sometimes

that we do rise

to gift love

just

with nothing

expected in return

there's many

many years ago

we had this

in fact

when I was

the students

connected to the church

used to call it

the slum mobile

I had this

really terrible

big old

12-seater van

and we

took this

12-seater van

all rusted

and everything

like that

but it ran

and we took

it to Nova Scotia

had a bit

of a holiday

and way back

there was some

problems

and we pulled

into a garage

and the guy

looked at me

the Ontario plates

nine kids

looked at the van

and Ontario plates

Nova Scotia

and he said to me

you know what

I'll look at this

right away

for you

and he looked at it

right away

and he fixed it

and he said

you know what

no charge

hope you make it

back safely

I'll never see

that guy again

that was just

pure gift love

all of us

have been recipients

of just pure gift love

but the fact of the matter

is God has no needs

he just

he is only gift love

he only gives

he does not need

anything from human beings

and to try to understand

that God doesn't need

my worthiness

he doesn't need

my strength

he doesn't need

my abilities

he doesn't need

anything in me

at all

that his only

relationship to me

is pure

pure

pure

gift love

and on one hand

as a human being

who wants to feel

needed

who wants to feel

worthy

it almost feels

like I'm naked

in public

to think that

God relates

to me only

and utterly

and completely

by gift love

and there's no

need love

in him at all

and it feels

like I am

naked

and powerless

and it doesn't

feel good

but that is

the

God is unfailing

God is unfailing

and God is the

only being

in the universe

who has no needs

and if he

puts his love

on me

as a gift

there is nothing

more secure

than to be

connected to the

God

who is only

gift love

and has no

needs

his love

will never

tire

his love

will never

come to an end

his love

will never

find someone

better

because he's

not looking

for better

he doesn't

need anything

he's just

love

there is no

more secure

relationship

than we can

have

than with the

God

who truly

does exist

who's revealed

by Jesus

Christ

that is only

love

only gift love

with no

need

could you put up

the next point

Andrew

in this is love

in this is love

not that we

have loved

God

but that he

loved us

and sent his

son

to be the

propitiation

for our sins

in this

is love

not that we

have loved

God

but that he

loved us

and sent his

son

to be the

propitiation

for our sins

this is such a

powerful text

if you think

about this text

one of the things

which is so

remarkable about

this text

in the previous

miracle

how did the

miracle work

in the previous

miracle you can

go back and

read it

the guy comes

he says to

Jesus

Jesus I really

need you to

heal

my son

and his

son is 35

kilometers away

and he says I

really need you to

come and heal

my son

and Jesus

just looks at

the nobleman

the high

official and

just says go

your son will

be healed

and the guy

believes Jesus

and goes

and finds out

the next day

that the moment

that Jesus said

that and that he

left the son

was healed

but in this case

there's nothing

like that

remember how

does the miracle

work

the guy doesn't

know who

Jesus is

the guy doesn't

care who

Jesus is

the guy has

no hope

doesn't believe

that Jesus

can heal him

has no expectation

makes no request

whatsoever

the guy isn't even

asked to do

something before

he's healed

Jesus just

heals him

and after he's

healed the guy

can get up

and the guy is

completely and

utterly ungrateful

completely and

utterly unthankful

all these bad

things

everything that

is done for

the man's

healing is

done by Jesus

why

because he is

gift love

and so it is

with our

relationship with

Christ

Jesus does

everything to

heal the man

the man does

nothing

he must do

everything to

give us eternal

life

I can do

nothing

he must do

everything to

defeat death

I can do

nothing

he must do

everything to

deal with

death's cause

which is sin

I can do

nothing

he does

everything when

I am completely

and utterly

unworthy

he does

everything out

of gift love

and not need

love

this my

friends is

the gospel

this is

Jesus

this is what

he does

for you

and for

me

all he

says

is you

just put

your hands

out

our arms

aren't even

long enough

to reach

Jesus

his arms

reach ours

it's his

holy spirit

coming into

us

that gives

us this

life

he does

it all

we do

nothing

that is

the gospel

that is

the gospel

and we

are to

be gripped

by his

unfailing

love

his great

victory

please stand

if there

is any

here who

has not

yet given

their life

to Jesus

hopefully

you now

have heard

that if

you are

waiting to

make yourself

worthy

that's not

the way

to go

if you

feel

that your

life has

been so

wrecked

that Jesus

would never

even pay

any attention

to you

now you

know that

that's not

true

there is

no better

time than

right now

to say

Jesus

could you

be my

savior

and my

lord

I now

know

that I

am unworthy

that you

do everything

and that you

do everything

to make me

right with

God

that I

might receive

eternal life

and live with

you forever

you do it

all

and there's

no better

time than

now to

make that

transaction

with God

in the name

of Jesus

and say

Jesus

I am not

worthy

you have

done it

all

it's all

your love

please take

me as

your child

come into

my life

and never

let me

go

there's no

better time

than now

to pray

that prayer

and for

all of us

who are

Christians

there is

no better

time than

just to do

a bit of

business

with Jesus

and say

Jesus

I confess

I've been

slipping in

to think

that it's

about my

worthiness

my abilities

my power

and

Lord

I just

thank you

that it's

all you

all your

love

all your

grace

all your

power

all your

salvation

it's all

you

your

endless

gift

love

grip me

with who

you are

grip me

with who

Jesus

is

let's

bow our

heads

in prayer

father

if there

are

those

here

who

are

still

searching

or

seeking

or

maybe

they

came

as

skeptics

father

I ask

that your

holy

spirit

would

move

gently

but

powerfully

in

their

hearts

if

there

are

those

here

father

who

can

feel

Jesus

knocking

at

the

door

of

their

hearts

father

I ask

that

your

holy

spirit

would

move

in

their

lives

that

this

would

be

the

time

that

they

respond

to

that

knocking

and

open

the

door

and

look

your

son

in

the

eye

and

say

Jesus

I

am

not

worthy

please

come

and

be

my

savior

and

live

within

me

forever

and

for

father

for

those

here

like

myself

who

are

followers

of

Jesus

we

confess

before

you

once

again

how

we

sneak

in

our

worthiness

and

we

thank

you

father

for

Jesus

we

thank

you

for

his

unending

gift

love

we

thank

you

father

that

our

eternal

life

our

salvation

the

putting

away

of

our

shame

and

our

sin

the

clothing

of

Christ

righteousness

that

it's

all

him

father

make

us

disciples

of

Jesus

who

are

gripped

by

the

gospel

learning

to

live

for

your

glory

and

all

these

things

we

ask

in

the

name

of

Jesus

your

son

and

our

savior

amen