Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Something Greater - Luke 11:29-36

Welcome to the Roots.

If this is your first time, we're so glad they're

here joining us at the Roots.

It's all about Jesus.

We love God, we love people, We reach the lost,

and we make disciples. If you don't know me, my

name is Duncan. Hello, great to meet you. If I

do know you, what's up. I'm one of the fastest here,

and I have three amazing kids. We also have one

on the way, which is pretty exciting. And it's been

really cool because my kids, they're still all pretty young,

but they're getting older.

They're getting more independent, which means.

They get up at five point thirty in the middle

of the night and they're like, I'm ready to get up,

and I'm like, no, not go back to sleep because I'm

not ready to get up. But they're getting more independent,

which has been a huge blessing to our household. He's

been awesome watching them grow and be able to do

things like dress themselves, get out their own toys, fill

up their own water, kind of all the things of

that nature. Usually now where they want my help is

after they've made mess.

They want help cleaning it up. You know, it's like,

where are you, dad? Come on?

Like, uh, yeah, it's a good time. Calvin just says, no,

you that's what that's what he likes to say right now.

Or my favorite is when they can't find something. I'm

kind of the we become the detectives for our children,

or at least that's what they want from us, when

we ask them to get their shoes or get their

water bottle, and they normally respond with, I don't know

where it is. I don't know where it's at, and

as a parent, we say, you haven't looked yet, and

you have to actually go look for it. So then

the experience that I've been getting lately is that they

walk out of the room for about eight seconds if that,

walk back in there like I still can't find it, Like, well,

you haven't even tried to look.

And the reason I know.

That is because I can walk around the corner and

it's right there on the floor, in the middle of

the hallway or in the middle of the living room,

it doesn't matter.

It's usually out in the open.

The problem that we're having is that they didn't even

try to look. And I know that specifically growing up

when I was asked to get something by maybe my

mother from the refrigerator and I would open it up.

And if you're married, maybe you still have this problem.

You're asked to go look for something and you open

up the refrigerator and you look in there and you go, well,

I can't see it. Well, the response that I used

to get is what's gonna happen if I come in

there and I find it?

Usually that made.

Me stop and start to dig through the things to

find what was asked for.

It really made.

Me start to actually look. The problem was, or it

wasn't that I couldn't really see. That's not the problem.

It's not that I couldn't see. It wasn't that I

wasn't even trying to see, and so I couldn't see.

And now today Jesus has some words for the people

gathering around him.

That's what we're gonna be looking at.

And the words that he has for them are kind

of of a similar nature.

These people are. They're claiming to not see something. They

want more.

Evidence, as if the evidence they already have is insufficient.

And what we're gonna be seeing Jesus say today is

it's right in front of you. And because of that,

because of their rejection, because of their unwilling or their

willful blindness to what's right in front of them. There

is judgment and warning proclaimed by Jesus. Woo right, fun,

That's what we're digging into today. So what I'm gonna

do is I'm going to read the text for today.

We're going to jump in to that text break it

down together. So if you would please join with me

in opening to Luke chapter eleven. If you do not

have a Bible, we have them out on the connect desk.

Please go grab yourself one so you can follow along.

We also are going to have it on the screen here.

That's Luke chapter eleven, starting in verse twenty nine.

I saved the wrong spot in my Bible, all right.

Starting verse twenty nine, as the crowds increased, Jesus said,

this is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign,

but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

For as Jonah was assigned to the Ninavites, so also

will the Son of Man be to this generation. The

Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment

with the people of this generation and condemn them, for

she came from the ends of the earth to listen

to Solomon's wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment

with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at

the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah

is here. No one lights the lamp and puts it

in a place where it will be hidden or under

a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so

that those who come in may see the light. Your

eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes

are healthy, your whole body also is full of light.

But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full

of darkness. See to it then, that the light within

you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is

full of light and no part of it dark, it

will be just as full of light as when a

lamp shines it's light on you. This is God's worried

Let us pray, Father, God, be devote this time to

you in light of what your sun has done on

the cross by redeeming us and calling us according to

your purpose. We just asked that your spirit would be

here among us. Now as we open your word and

seek to learn from it and understand what you have

to say. We ask for God that it would fall

on the ready soil of our hearts to hear your word,

to receive it and respond to it Accordingly. We ask

for supernatural works. We ask to hear the words that

we need to hear from You, Lord.

So we give this time to you.

We devoted to you, Lord God, I has asked you

would help our I see on our ears here to

your glory in Jesus name. Everyone said, Amen. If you

are taking notes, today's message is titled something Greater. We

have been in a series titled Luke The Orderly Account

of Truth, where we've been going verse by verse through

the Gospel account as put forth by Luke the Doctor.

The purpose of this Gospel account is so that the

reader can have certainty concerning everything that has been taught

about Jesus. And as we've seen week after week, Luke

has laid out his historical findings in this Orderly account

of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,

our text today is coming off of an altercation that

Jesus had with the crowds around him. We went over

that last week where after Jesus drives out a.

Demon that was causing a man to be mute.

The people around him started to say that he was

casting out demons by the power of Satan. We saw

Jesus firmly rebuke them and tell them that their accusation

makes no sense because a house divided cannot stand, and

he told them that if instead he is casting out

demons by the finger of God, it means that the

Kingdom of God is upon them.

And we've we've seen it.

We've we've been kind of seeing this over and over

again as we've gone through the Gospel of Luke. We

saw time and time again where people want to know,

are you the Messiah?

Are you the one?

Several weeks ago, probably months at this point, we saw

when John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask the question,

just so we're clear, like we're supposed to check are

you the Messiah? Or should we expect someone else? So

then in response, Jesus starts healing everyone and then tells

John's disciples go back and report to John what you

have heard or seen and heard. The blind receives sight,

the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, The

deaf here the dead or rays, and the good news

is proclaimed to the poor. Now why this is important

is because these were all signs of the Savior Jesus.

When he was preaching in his own hometown and was

reading from the prophet Isaiah.

He had read the.

Spirit of the Lord is upon me, or is on me,

because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to

the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for

the prisoners, in recovery of sight for the blind, to

set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of

the Lord's favor. After rolling up the scroll, sitting down,

he follows all that up with today this scripture is

fulfilled in your hearing. So Jesus everywhere has been proclaiming.

He's been preaching the good news and performing these amazing

signs and miracles. But why all these signs. What was

the purpose of these signs? Well, to make it easy

for us. If we want to go to Seattle, I

follow the signs that point me to Seattle. If I'm

on a road trip, I follow the signs that point

me to the next gas station. The purpose of the

signs is to point me in the direction of the

thing I seek. That is the purpose of the signs.

Now I want to stop for a minute, because as

I was going over my message, I realized the irony

that my wife is probably going to be taking much

pleasure in and going through this because on Friday we

went to a baseball game. We went to the Rainiers game. Today,

you guys go to that. Yeah, it's a good time.

We were late.

And the reason we relate is because I am too

prideful to use a GPS.

That's just the reality. Do you know why? Because I'm like,

I can read, I can watch for signs. I kind

of remember the way to go. Now, here's the deal.

Tacoma has a lot of different x's, and the signs,

I mean they are pretty clear.

Kind of here's the deal.

So she's been asking me if I need to have

a GPS all this stuff.

I'm saying no.

So then I passed my exit and you can ask

everyone in that car how I was feeling. I was

very upset. I was very very upset. It was my

own doing, Okay. I managed to find her to take

the next exit and turn around and get back on

and take the right exit the next time. But then

even in all of that, we get close. I finally

can see the stadium. It's within eyesight, but now I'm

driving in the opposite direction, and I just had to

eventually was like, I don't know where I'm going. That's

what I admitted in the car, I don't know where

I'm going. And Patricia said, you're right, I've had the

GPS back here and you're supposed to take a rite.

Now.

She'd been waiting for me to ask for the direction.

She knew where to go all along. All I needed

to do was ask her. There's a message in that,

but it's not a message for today, Okay, so we're

going to move on.

What we're going to see.

Today is the equivalent of people asking for signs to

be shown, for signs to be shown the way, yet

they don't follow the signs, and instead what they say

is we want more signs, which is crazy if you

really think about it, how crazy is that. Imagine you're

on a road trip and you need to desperately find

a rest stop or a gas station, but every time

you come across us an exit sign, you don't take

the exit, and instead you're just going to wait till

you see another sign. Well, you're going to run out

of gas or much worse if you do not follow

the signs. These the signs are pointless if you don't

follow them to where they point and instead just want

more signs.

Does that make sense?

If we just want more signs, that doesn't do anything

unless we follow them.

Now, one of the reasons.

Jesus would draw such large crowds is because people wanted

to see Jesus performed signs.

It makes sense, But.

They constantly missed the point of those signs, and that

was those signs were pointing to who Jesus is.

Who Jesus was.

Now, last week we saw Jesus delivering heal a demon

possessed a man, and this was the people's response. Let's

look at it in chapter eleven, Verses fifteen and sixteen.

But some of them said, by beausible the prince of demons,

he's driving out demons others, and this is what we're

addressing today. Others tested him by asking for a sign

from heaven. This is they others tested him by asking

for a sign of from heaven after he just delivered

this demon possessed man.

Why, well, they wanted Jesus to prove who he was.

They wanted they're basically saying, prove it, right, you ever

win a game fair and square with someone and then

they're like prove it. You're like, I technically already won

this game, but you're just mad that I'm winning, And

so someone calls for a proven shop.

They wanted Jesus to prove who he was.

They wanted a greater, bigger, better sign, which is crazy

because when you read the Gospels, if you have read

the Gospels, it seems like every other page is Jesus

doing something miraculous and incredible, and yet these people aren't satisfied.

So the problem wasn't the lack of signs, but the

lack of vision and the blatant unbelief and rejection of

the signs that.

They were being given.

So now we get to our text today, and in

our text we're going to see a bit of a different.

Tone from Jesus.

Jesus has an intense indictment for the crowds around him.

So if you are taking notes, we're gonna write our

first point to look at our first section of scripture.

They sought a sign.

Jesus drew crowds like every modern preacher wishes they could,

which is ironic because Jesus does the last thing that

any modern preacher would think to do when given that

big of an opportunity. And then he looks at the

crowd and he starts to put them on blasts. So

let's look at it starting in chapter eleven, verses twenty

nine through thirty. As the crowd's increased, Jesus said, this

is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but

none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

For as Jonah was a signed to the Ninavites, so

also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

So Jesus looks at this crowd that's gathering and calls

them a wicked generation. Jesus calls them out. He says,

you're an evil, bad, wicked generation. He says, you ask

for a sign, or you seek for a sign, but

none will be given. To accept the sign of Jonah.

That as Jonah was assigned to the Ninavites. So the

Son of Man, which is a title that Jesus uses

for himself, would be a sign to this wicked generation. Now,

how many of you know the story of Jonah? Okay, well,

here's homework. Whether you do know it or you don't

know it, make a plan to go read it this week.

It's only four short chapters, pretty doable. It's in your

Old Testament. And then after you watch you read those

four short chapters, go watch the Veggietails rendition with your family,

buy yourself. You won't be disappointed. It's still a banger.

I'm just saying. I'm not kidding. We'll have a showing afterwards.

Just kidding, but I will remind us for those of

us who do remember, who don't remember, or don't I've

never heard the story. Jonah is a prophet of the

Lord and one day Jonah is given a message from

God to take or he's given a message from the

Lord to go preach to this wicked, unbelieving city of Nineveh,

which was this huge, gentile pagan city. So Jonah did

what every good prophet of the Lord should do and

got in a boat headed the opposite direction.

You hear that. He says, take this message, go tell.

Them, and Jonah says, I'm good, gets in a boat,

goes the opposite direction. So the Lord sends a storm

because Jonah's not going to get off the hook that easy,

and the people find out it's because Jonah was running

away from the Lord that the storm is going to

sink their boat, so they throw them into the sea,

calms the waters down, and Jonah starts to sink to

the depths. But then God, by his mercy, allows Jonah

to be swallowed by a huge fish. And Jonah spends

three days in the belly of a fish. And while

he's in the belly, he prays to God, thanking him

for saving his life.

It's a beautiful prayer.

Then after three days, this large fish spits him out

on the shore. Then once again the word of the

Lord comes to Jonah and says, all right, go to

the city, And this time Jonah does it. He goes

to the city. Jonah goes to the wicked city and

preaches to them, and the whole city repents, and God

relents on the judgment that he was going to bring

upon them.

It's pretty amazing.

Now, Jesus says, just as Jonah was assigned to the Ninavites,

so Jesus was his generation. And here and Lukey can

be understood kind of a couple different ways that Jesus

as in the way that he's a sign of Jonah

is that he's a prophet to his wicked generation.

But not only that. This isn't the only time that

Jesus has said this.

We see in Matthew Jesus say the same thing, but

he actually elaborates in the manner by which he's going

to be a similar sign to Jonah. Let's look at

it Matthew twelve, starting in verse thirty eight. Then some

of the pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, Teacher,

we want to see a sign from you.

He answered, a wicked and adult.

Justus generation asks for a sign, but none will be

given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For

as Jonah was three days in three nights in the

belly of a huge fish, so the son of Man

will be three days and three nights in the heart

of the earth.

Here Jesus says that it's in the.

Same way that Jonah was in the belly of the fish,

that Jesus himself would be in the belly of the earth.

And as we know, this is exactly what he did.

That he died on the cross to pay for our sins,

was buried for three days and rose back to life,

so that anyone who puts their faith in trust in

him and calls on him as their savior, will be

saved from the judgment and wrath do their sin. Jesus

tells them they are a wicked generation seeking a sign.

Yet none will be given except for one. But the

sign that they're going to be given isn't a small thing.

It's actually the greatest act. It's the greatest sign. It's

the greatest event in all of history.

But for his amazing news that this is to.

Us and in some manner to them, This text is

not a proclamation of joy and hope to these people,

but of condemnation and judgment.

If you haven't gotten that tone already.

They will receive this great, amazing signed, yet they will

stand condemned. Why well, that brings us to the next

part of what Jesus has to say. If you're taking

notes right, something greater is here, something greater is here.

We're gonna see Jesus bring up two examples from the

Old Testament where gentile unbelievers had signs from God and

then responded properly.

He's gonna say that, yet on Judgment Day, those.

Gentile unbelievers who ended up responding properly will stand up

in judgment to condemn the wicked generation of Jesus's day.

Let's look at it. Starting in verse thirty one, the.

Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment

with the people of this generation and condemn them, for

she came from the ends of the yearth to listen

to Solomon's wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Ninevelle will stand up at the judgment

with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at

the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah

is here.

So we have two examples that Jesus gives them.

The second one we kind of already covered in talking

about Jonah.

But who is this Queen of the South.

Well, in First Kings, chapter ten, we see an account

of when the son of King David, King Solomon, the

wisest man to ever live besides Jesus, was ruling Israel.

Solomon had been tasked by the Lord to build the

first Temple in Jerusalem and had been given wisdom beyond

anyone of his time. Under King Solomon, the nation of

Israel became so wealthy and so glorious that people from

all over the world came to see the splendor and

hear the wisdom of King Solomon. So in Chapter ten

of First Kings, we see this Queen of Sheba, a foreign, gentile, unbeliever,

come to hear Solomon and see the glory of the kingdom.

And we're gonna actually look at a portion of scripture

to kind of see a cool summation of how that

visit went. One King ten starring in verse three, Solomon

answered all her questions. Nothing was too hard for the

king to explain to her as a parent, that would

be such a dope gift to have. When the Queen

of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon in the

palace he had built, the food on his table, the

seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes,

his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the

temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. She said to

the King, the report I heard in my own country

about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I

did not believe these things until I came and saw

with my own eyes.

Indeed, not even was told to me. In wisdom and wealth,

you have far exceeded the report I heard.

How happy your people must be, how happy your officials

who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Praise

be to the Lord your God, who is delighted in

you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because

of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he has made

you king to maintain justice and righteousness. So this morning

Queen comes and sees the amazing kingdom and wisdom that

is ruled by King Solomon. And yet she does not

praise Solomon. She praises God. She rightly recognizes whom the

source of all these things have come from. So now

that we have the context for that and what Jesus

talking about, let's read once more of the text were

in starting verse thirty one, The Queen of the South

will rise up at the judgment with these people, or

with the people of this generation, and condemn them, for

she came from the ends of the earth to listen

to Solomon's wisdom. And how something greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment

with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at

the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah

is here. What Jesus is saying is a scathing rebuke

of his own generation. He points out two instances where

gentile unbelievers saw signs and messages from the Lord and

responded properly.

And yet now.

God's own people have been given something greater, and yet

refuse to see. They refuse to accept what is right

in front of them, that Jesus is greater than King

Solomon and his wisdom, Jesus being the the true king

and the true son of David full of al Wisom,

was right in front of them, and yet they're rejecting him.

They're saying it's not good enough.

But Jesus is greater than the prophet Jonah, who preached

to the Ninavites, that he is the prophet that the

prophet Moses had spoke long ago would show up. And

now he's here preaching to God's own people. And yet

this generation will stand condemned on Judgment Day by these

gentile nations who responded properly even though they had lesser signs.

The people of Jesus's day had something greater standing right

in front of them, Yet they rejected him and.

Refused to see. Jesus.

Giving them the title of a wicked generation is fitting

because there's a bright flashing exit sign that was right

in front of them, and yet they were unsatisfied to

follow it. Jesus saying, the ketchup is in the refrigerator door,

but they weren't even trying to look. So Jesus says,

they will be condemned on Judgment Day, and not about ketchup,

but about not.

Seeing who he is.

Now, it'd be easy to throw blame at them for

refusing to see what's right in front of them, but

as they say, when you point a finger, you have

three more fingers pointing back at you. So now, as

a thought experiment, if past generations of believers were to

rise up today, what do you think you would be

condemned for? This is the question that came to me.

I'm sorry to impose this all on you, but we're

all hanging out together.

What do you think you'd be condemned for?

Some of the examples that came to my own mind

is that, for hundreds of years, thousands at this point,

Christians has spent so much of their time, efforts, and

intentionality to do what they can to get the good

news to their neighbors, their friends, and their cities.

And yet it's.

Easy to make excuses and just scroll on my phone,

starting online debates with people that I don't even know,

and it's really not going to go anywhere.

It's going to accomplish nothing. How about the Queen of Sheba.

She traveled from the ends of the earth to come

hear the valuable, amazing, life giving wisdom of God. Yet

at times we can hardly get out of bed on

a Sunday and drive ten minutes to hear the word

of God. Or yeah, drive ten minutes to hear the

word of God preached, or maybe we just end up

choosing to prioritize differently and we think that there's something

better that we could be doing on a Sunday. How

about the generations of Christians who died and gave their

life because they knew that it was worth even dying

or to die trying to get the Word of God

into the hands of every day people like you and me.

And yet we let.

The same word of God that we've been blessed by,

been blessed to have because of what they've done, collect

dust on our shelf.

My last one.

The Nittavites put on sackcloth and ash. They fasted and

prayed when they heard the judgment coming do their sin,

and yet we are warned about judgment do our sin

every Sunday. And what's more, we have the way of

salvation shown to us and told us every single Sunday.

It's clearly preached to us every week, but we're unfazed

by it and are more.

Concerned with how our fantasy team is doing.

Right now, there's amazing things that are right in front

of us, and it's not for lack of access or

clarity that we neglect them, but because of a lazy,

rebellious hardness of heart. We must repent and take hold

of the greater things that are in front of us,

or else we too will stand condemned on that day.

And Jesus has pronounced this judgment on his generation that

they have rejected what is clearly in front of them.

He then gives a parable kind of pointing out their problem.

Jesus has said that this wicked generation asks or seeks

for a sign that they have been given something greater,

and yet will be condemned. And now he's gonna give

a parable teaching and warning about eyesight, which seems very fitting.

So our last point for today is simply check yourself

we're gonna start in our verse thirty three. No one

lights the lamp and puts it in a place where

we'll be hidden.

Or under a bowl.

Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those

who come in may see the light. Your eye is

the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,

your whole body also is full of light. But when

they are unhealthy, your body is also full or your

body also is full of darkness. See to it then,

that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if

your whole body is full of light and no part

of it dark, it will be just as full of

light as when a lamp shines its light on you.

Got that.

All right, Let's break it down. Jesus says, the point

of a lamp is for it to be lit as

to give light tracking. He then says, the eye is

the lamp of your body, meaning what well, the point

of your eyes is to see, it's to give lights

to your body that when you're seeing clearly, your body

knows where to go. If I were to tell you

to stand up, don't do it. If I were to

tell you to stand up and close your eyes and

walk out the exit, we would all start very slowly

and carefully, grasping around in the dark, running into chairs

and each other. But if I told you to stand up,

open your keep your eyes open, and walk out the exit,

you have no trouble at all. You know exactly where

you need to go, you know exactly how to follow it,

and it would be with very little trouble to do so.

So when Jesus says, if your eyes are healthy, your

body is full of light. But if your eyes are

unhealthy or bad, your body is full of darkness, he's

he's contrasting the two. He's saying, there's a a seeing

problem or a sight problem going on here, because if

your eyes are bad or unhealthy, your body is full

of darkness. That is that you were lost and that

you were not seeing clearly. You can have the sign

right in front of you and yet see nothing. Now,

while we do believe in the fact that all men

apart from Jesus are spiritually dead, blind and unable to

see the light without the sovereign, supernatural work of the

Holy Spirit removing the veil so that they can see

the light, I believe that this scripture isn't addressing that directly,

but is instead Jesus, pointing to the human responsibility side

of things, that if you do not see, it's because

you don't want to. That your blindness is the wilful

rejection of the greater thing in front of you, and

that's why Jesus says beware. He gives them a warning

to check themselves. He says, see to it that the

light in you is not darkness, that is, that you

were not deceiving. Or if you think that the darkness

is light, we got problems. You are deceiving yourself. So

examine yourself.

See to it.

He ends it all by saying that if you are

full of light with no darkness in you, that you

will be just as full of light as when a

lamp shines on you. That is, when you are seeing

clearly and no longer blind, you will be full of light.

You will know where to go, which I believe this

picture is the clear testimony of scripture that you are

either of the light or of the darkness. That if

you turn from your sin and unbelief, from your darkened

mind and turn to Christ, who is the light, it

lights up your life. It will change you from the

inside out, that you will be full and filled with

the light of Christ yourself.

I need to band to please come home, and I'm

gonna look at it. I wanted us to look at a.

Couple of verses speaking to who we are in Jesus Christ,

and some verses that help us examine ourselves in light

of the light. Let's look at one. Peter two nine says,

but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a

holy nation, God's precious possession. That you may declare the

praises of Him who called you out of darkness into

his wonderful light. That he has called us out of darkness,

that we would be a holy, chosen, special possession, belonging

to and declaring the praises of our great God. If

we are in the light, if we are seeing clearly,

we will look like that light. We have a couple

two other chunks of scripture. The show How to Examine Ourselves.

John three nineteen through twenty one says this, this is

the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people

loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil.

Hates the light and will not come into the light

for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever

lives by the truth comes into the light so that

it may be seen plainly that what they have done

has been done in the sight of God. These are

really cool verses that those they're really helpful in us

understanding what our issue is, what's our problem? As man

kind says, those who refuse to come to the light

do so because they love their sin. They love their darkness,

and they don't want that exposed. But of those of

us who step into the light, it is to have

our sin exposed and called out, but not for judgment,

but for sanctification, that is to be made holy. We

confess our sins, we put those things in the light

so as to be set free from our sin and

purified from our guilt. When I meet with people for discipleship,

one of the things I say is our goal as

Christians is to put everything in the light, because we

kind of start in this default pro position before we

come to know Christ. We got everything in the dark.

We're happy there, we get called into his marvelous light.

And the problem is that for I try, for as

long as I can to keep as much as I

can in the dark. Say, don't shine a light over here,

don't come snooping around over here. Jesus, I like my

sin in the dark, no one else can see it.

What's great about our Savior is that he does not

really tolerate that for very long, and eventually he starts

to call you out and call you to continuously put

those things on the table. So when I meet with people,

I've had this for myself for a very long time.

When I'm struggling to put things in the light, or

when i'm processing how this is what we're supposed to do,

I like to just picture a table. Everything else is dark,

but there's a table with a light shining on it.

And for me, my goal as a Christian is to

take everything of who I am and put it into

the light. That's every sin, every shortcoming, every failure.

I want to put it all in the open.

There's no more hiding before the Lord, because ultimately I'm

kidding myself if I think he doesn't see it. I'm

kidding myself. If I think that he doesn't know what

I'm hiding.

He does.

But part of the Christian walk, in learning to willfully

walk before him and with him, is to not try

and hide those things anymore. But put them open before

the Lord so that he'll deal with them. The reason

we don't progress in our Christian walk, in our Christian

life all the time is because we don't want.

To we go. I don't want to change. I don't

want that thing to actually be dealt with.

But we're supposed to put those things in the light

so that they can actually be dealt with. He's the

truth is nothing will stay in the darkness forever. Everything

will be brought to light one day before the judgment

throne of God, and there's no hiding forever. So really,

just start now, start putting those things in the light,

unless you be judged for way you kept in the dark.

Let lastly, a way to examine ourselves one more section

of verses is to always keep our eyes on the light.

To always keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the

measure and standard for the light that we are to

be full of. To examine and test ourselves is to

examine ourselves in light of the light. Okay, so let's

look at it first. John five five through seven. This

is the message we have heard from him, and declare

to you God is light in Him. There is no

darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with

him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and

do not live out the truth. But if we walk

in the light as he is in the light, we

have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus

his Son purifies us from all sin. That is, if

we claim to have fellowship with the God of Light,

yet we walk in darkness, then we're kidding ourselves. We

are deceiving ourselves. So examine yourself. Do you walk in

the light or in the dark. And this is an

intentional thing. We don't, unfortunately, accidentally just walk in the light.

That's not how we work. So we can't just assume

that we're walking the light. Because if you're not being

intentional and are just assuming you're in the light without

serious consideration or self examination, you most likely are deceiving yourself.

And what's worse is you know it. So examine yourself,

and when you see those shortcomings, there is good news

that Jesus' blood purifies us from all sin. That day

after day that we keep our eyes on him, we

look more like him. That day after day of putting

our life in the light and being intentional to walk

in the light while relying on His strength and guidance

to do so that we look more and more like

the light. So as you examine yourself, what will your

sentence be condemnation and judgment of your wilful rejection and

blindness to the something greater that is Jesus Christ before

you in this moment. Just as that generation will stand

condemned for not seeing and believing the sign given to them,

so this generation will stand condemned if it rejects the

Lord Jesus. So don't be deceived. If you pass on Jesus,

you will one day stand condemned. If you claim Jesus

or profess Jesus, but deny him by the life you live,

you will be condemned.

We claimed to be of the light. We should look

like the light.

We should let the seriousness of what Jesus says is

saying here sit heavy with us, because it's the truth,

and it's the bad news of our situation that we're unholy, unrighteous,

rebel sinners. But it's as we grasp that the gravity

of this bad news, of this bad condition, of how

much we fall short, is what makes the good news

so sweet and so freeing and uplifting and frees us

from what the sin that brings us down and weighs

us down. And that is the good news of Romans

eight one. Let's look at it says, therefore, there is

now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in

Christ Jesus. Now for everyone who believes in Christ, that

there is no condemnation.

Do you get that?

Are we hearing that in Christ there is no condemnation

because of what Jesus did on the cross, that sign

of Jonah, the three days in the grave, but then

raised to life, that all who look at Christ and

believe in.

Him will be saved. There's no condemnation.

And on judgment Day you will not stand condemned, but

instead you will stand with the Lord, having been redeemed

by his mercy and love shown towards you. Jesus had

very very serious words for his generation. And as we've

gone over this text, and as I've gone over this

textas last week, my hope, my prayer.

Is that, by God's grace.

That those words wouldn't represent anyone sitting in this room

right now. And if it does, we feel condemned. We

feel the condemnation, that we would respond properly with repentance.

So my plea is that you would not miss the

Lord Jesus, that you would not reject the gift of

salvation given in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That

we would be reminded to not miss those amazing things

given to us, and the most amazing thing being salvation

in the face of Christ. That we would be reminded

to walk in him and follow the signs and direction

that His spirit gives us towards the things that are greater.

And that ultimately, as we heed this warning, as we

hear this reminder, that we will consider it and that

we will do it. Would you please san