John 1:6-13 - ”People of God Reconstituted” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Our scripture reading this morning from

the Old Testament is from Exodus chapter

19:es 1-6.

On the third day, new moon, on the third

new moon, after the people of Israel had

gone out of the land of Egypt, on that

day they came into the wilderness of Si.

They set out from Rafidim and came into

the wilderness of Si and they camped in

the wilderness.

There God, the Lord called to him out of

the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall

say to the house of Jacob, and tell the

people of Israel, you yourselves have

seen what I did to the Egyptians, and

how I bore you on Engle's wings, and

brought you to myself. Now therefore, if

you will indeed obey my voice and keep

my covenant, you shall be my treasured

possession among all peoples. For all

the earth is mine, and you shall be to

me a kingdom of priests and a holy

nation.

These are the words that you shall speak

to the people of Israel.

Our New Testament reading is from

John

verse one chapter 1:es 6-13.

There was a man sent from God whose name

was John. He came as a witness to bear

witness about the light that all might

believe through him.

He was not the light but he came to bear

witness about the light. The true light

which gives light to everyone was coming

into the world. He was in the world and

the world was made through him.

Yet the world did not know him. He came

to his own and his own people did not

receive him. But to all who did receive

him, who believed in his name, he gave

the right to become

children of God,

who were born not of blood, nor of the

will of the flesh, nor of the will of

man, but of God. This is the word of the

Lord. Thanks

>> be to God.

All right.

So, I did a minor in sociology and one

of the things they taught me way back

then, and I'm talking 30 years ago, um,

was that there's these things called

markers.

Everyone has markers. And these are

things that mark you out

different to one group or similar to the

group you're in. And they're very, very

important. And they're often in the

terms of fashion. Fashion marks us out

of who we think of ourselves. And when

you have these markers like fashion or

the way you eat or the car you drive,

these are all markers. You're trying to

say something about yourself. These

markers then are how we interpret how to

interact with you. That's how things

work. And markers, most of us don't even

realize we have them cuz it's, and by

the way, everyone does. We have to

communicate more than verbally. And so

before you run into someone, they see

you, they see the markers, and they say,

"This is who I'm talking to." All right,

that's what the sociologists say. Now,

let me give you a couple examples of

markers from the political world for a

second. This gentleman, I think we all

know who he's going to vote for. Now, if

you see this gentleman, you haven't had

one conversation, but what do you think

the odds are that he would say Camela

Harris is awesome?

I mean, you get a pretty good idea,

right? You get some idea. He's got the

American flag. He's got the MAGA hat.

He's got uh uh I think a gun thing in

his chest there. He's carrying a certain

look. Now, it's not 100%. Markers are

never 100%. He may have lost a bet by

his liberal buddies and he had to wear

this. Who knows? But the point being,

markers are generally true. And he wears

that intentionally so you know who he

is.

Okay. Then now you go down the street

and you see a lady sitting in her car

and she looks like that.

I don't think she votes the same way.

They got the nearest nose piercing.

You've got the pink hair. You've got I

voted on her nose for some reason.

That person also has all of those things

just like the last one. And I guarantee

almost 100% she's not saying rah rah

Trump.

Can we all agree with this?

>> You wear these things. And I use this ex

extreme example to show you that these

markers are there so that if you're in a

world of of of people who are heavily

into politics, you tend to see this and

you know, okay, I'm going to stay away

or I'm not going to, you know, like if I

ran into her, last thing I'm going to

talk about is immigration, right? Like

there are things you learn and you know,

but it's not just political. And by the

way, my point isn't to say one's better

or the other. I'm saying they actually

use the same tool. That's all I'm

saying. But guess what else uses tools?

Religion.

Okay. So, let's say you went into a

church and the lady came down and she

was wearing that. Now, for those of you

who can't see it, it's the rainbow flag

with all the symbols of all the

religions down the stole.

You are going to know if you know

anything that she's going to have a

certain view of scripture. a certain

view of humanity and community and she's

probably going to be more involved in

social justice. That's what you're going

to probably think and you're going to

think probably mainline church. Right

now, let's say you go down to the next

church and you see this guy. Well,

number one, I just noticed this. That

guy's got probably got a lot of women in

his church. That's a good-look guy. Holy

wow.

But he's a little more traditional.

You're probably going to expect more

liturgy, right? He's got the the robe,

but that's all intentional. They dress

like we all dress like we are. And it

tells you who they are before he has

uttered a word, you know. He may even

speak Latin, this guy, in a very sexy

way, you know,

and then this guy shows up and he's

wearing a mohawk. Uh he's he's he's got

a nice sleeve tattoo, a couple of them

there. You can assume he's going to have

another very different style than the

other two. And you have assumptions that

this guy's probably an anti- uh

establishment. He's not going to be as

into high church. I guarantee there's no

bells and smells at this guy's church,

right? It tells us things. And then I

left the worst one for last. This one.

All you're going to get out of this is,

man, this guy has no fashion taste. Like

I don't know what else he does, but this

guy is bad. I I'm not denying it. But

she buys my clothes, so that she just

shot herself. Okay.

Okay. No, you got yourself.

The point being, these markers are

really important to us. We live our

lives. We look around and these markers

make a huge difference.

Here's the interesting thing. We also

use them to hate each other, to separate

ourselves from each other. That's the

negative side. Once they become a sign

of I'm in and you're out,

then that

is no longer Christian. And this is what

Paul sorry, Jesus is going to be killed

because of this.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you

have given us such wisdom.

We pray that you help us by your spirit

and open our eyes and our ears in Jesus'

name. Amen.

The Jews of Jesus time are called second

temple Jews. And they had a bunch of

markers and they were markers as much to

show they weren't Romans who they hated

as much as they were Jews. They would

temple observance, the food they ate, um

circumcision, big one, right? Those kind

of things you keep hearing Jesus being

attacked on. What you don't understand

is that they didn't believe that Jesus

was bad cuz he was leading people to

hell. They didn't even believe in hell.

But that they as bloodline Jews were the

people of God. Okay? And as bloodline

Jews, they needed to have these markers

for it to work out. So when Jesus went

against them,

he was going against God himself. So let

me explain one thing. Jesus Christ came

and the reason he was oppressed was

because he refused to embrace the

markers.

And why he did that was because it was

keeping everyone who didn't fit the

markers out.

Now, when you get to John's gospel, this

is foundationally

what it's about. And in this text right

now is one of the most offensive text to

a Jew then, not so much now because we

have changed as you could have ever. So,

let's go back and realize why did John

write this gospel? Now Jesus did many

other signs in the presence of the

disciples which are not written in this

book. But these are written so that you

may believe Jesus is the Christ, the son

of God, and that by believing in him you

may have life in his name. That's the

purpose. So how does he do it here?

Well, he starts with John.

He says there was a man named John. He's

talking about the Baptist from God, sent

from God. And he came as a witness to

bear witness about the light, all that

might believe through him. And then he

says this again. He was not the light

but came to bear witness. He says

witness three times. He's trying to make

a point. What is his point? Witness

means courtroom witness. This word

and that means what John's trying to say

is there is a trial going on. It not may

not be overt. And Jesus final end of the

trial of course is in front of Pilate.

But who's under the uh pressure right

now of the witness?

The Jews. God is there judging them as

much as they think that they're judging

Jesus. So Paul has come and he's bearing

witness to the light. Jesus is the true

light which gives life to everybody. And

this light and this light words means

morality or truth or life. Okay?

Remember he's using the creation mandate

formula and how he's telling this story.

Remember in the beginning is how it

starts. So of course he uses the word

light but he uses it differently which

gives light to everyone. That's a key

one because when Jesus is walking down

those streets those early days they

didn't believe God would ever give his

light to everyone but only to those who

were good Jews bloodline who had the

markers. So right away he's going to

give light to everyone. And he was

coming into the world. Now this is

interesting because he is trying to say

something Paul or John that is

difficult. He's trying to say to them

that he uses this word cosmos world two

ways. He has to say cuz it's true that

Jesus was the creator of all things. We

just saw that. So the world is good. So

he's going to use the world as good

sometimes. But then he's also going to

use the world as that which is outside

God with rebellious humanity. Post

Genesis 3, he uses the same word. So we

have to be listening for it. Now when he

says the true light which gives light to

everyone was coming into the world, he's

obviously talking about the good created

order. Okay?

Then he keeps going. He was in the

world. In other words, but notice he was

not of the world. He's in it because the

world also has negative connotations,

but he's in it in the sense of his

spirit is here. He's always been around

and the world was made through him. So,

the world is good. Yet,

the world did not know him. And that's

the negative side. So, this creator God

who created the world, who's in the

world, and yet the world, which means

humanity and those made in his image,

did not know him. And by not knowing

him, they became evil. Okay? Because the

only way you're good according to

scripture is to bear the image of God.

If you are not bearing the image of God,

you're going to miss the mark, sin.

And you're going to do things that are

less than good. And then pretty soon it

becomes evil. And what he's saying here

is God is good. God is in this place,

but the world has turned its back. This

is the foundation of the problem. He's

saying the world did not know him. They

had no idea how to be human and they

were like the beasts because they no

longer could bear his image.

Then it goes on, "And then he came to

his own." And that's why the Old

Testament so well read. Thank you,

Janelle.

They were his people, the Jews. Remember

today I will be your God and you shall

be my people. Right? They came to his

own people and yet his own people and

this word changes to not from knowledge

to welcome men to your home. They did

not receive him. They did not open their

doors to him.

Which always was the judgment in the Old

Testament prophets. They say one day

God's going to come and you will you

open yourself for him. Well, this is the

time. This is the judgment. the witness

is there

and they will not receive him.

And then he comes up with this last text

which by the way is one of the most

difficult texts for a Jew to hear to

this day because Jewish people to this

day some there's lots of Jewish

Christians by the way but I'm talking

Zionists.

What he's going to say here throws

everything out.

He says, "But to all." Don't miss that.

All, that's a big word. Not to the

elect. Sorry, my Calvinist friends.

But to all who did receive him, welcomed

him in. Open the doors of their houses

for him.

But to all who did receive him, who

believed in his name. This word name,

his name means authority. Who he's

about. It's not just, oh, I believe that

Mike's Mike. If I was to say, I believe

in Mike's name, I believe in his

character and what he's about. That's

the way we would talk about it. Who

believed in his name, he gave the right

to become children of God. Children of

God was the only title that Israel had

up to this day. They were the only ones.

And now he's wiped open. All could

become children of God. And what are the

standards that you must do? What are the

markers you must have? Then

he says, who were born and then he gets

into the negative, not of blood. In

other words, Jewish blood doesn't

matter.

It doesn't matter what your bloodline

is. It doesn't matter your genealogy or

your he might have said today DNA.

That has nothing to do with becoming a

child of God.

Not of blood, nor of the will of the

flesh.

Nor the will of the flesh means the

things we do, the markers we keep, the

circumcision,

the food laws, the temple observances,

the festivals. You see, he all of a

sudden he throws that all away. Those

deep religious markers, he says that's

not what's going to do it. And then he

goes, "Nor the will of man." This is

interesting. In the ancient world, they

believed life came through the man. So

when there was procreation, it was the

man that brought the life. That was the

will of man to bring a child. We know

that's not good science, but that's what

they believe. He says it's not by that

either

because this new creation does not come

from the man anymore.

There's one thing that makes you a child

of God.

Ready for this? And it has nothing to do

with any of us

but of God.

That's it.

You become a child of God because he

chooses it.

And there is nothing in us that would do

it right or have the right bloodline or

the right parentage or anything. None of

that matters.

It is 100% of God. Good thing the church

has always taught that, right? You're

allowed to laugh at that.

So, the foundation of this text, if you

haven't figured it out yet, is really

the foundation of the gospel.

In these three sentences, he nails all

three components. He's doing Romans 1:8

Romans 1:8

in this little section.

First of all, he talks about total

depravity.

He says, "And the world did not know

him." Now, this word total depravity

comes from a doctrine that says we are

depraved to the point we can never save

ourselves. Now, it's a misunderstood

doctrine. It's also uh it's also um uh

what's the other one? It is uh original

sin is another term for it. And what

this means is there is nothing within us

so that we have been sullied so that

none of us can by ourselves get to know

God because we have this our natures are

inclined to it. Okay. And how did he say

that? How is he how did he say we were

totally depraved and the world did not

know him. Do you see that? That was the

foundation line in one sentence. He's

done total depravity

that none of us can do it because none

of us know him by nature. None of us

want to know him by nature.

Now, this is a really really funny uh um

people get very worked up about this

doctrine, especially in our world where

we're told from day one, you're all

right. I you know, you ever remember

that SNL skit? I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm

going to I'm a good person. Our whole

society teaches kids when they're two

one years old up that you're just fine

yourself. find yourself. It's good.

You're good.

What Paul and John and all the other

guys say is nope.

And it's become really controversial

because we have pride and we think we're

pretty good. That's the truth. Now, if

you want to wonder how good humanity is,

I don't have to take you that back that

far. Remember co

how are the how are the people buying

the toilet rolls?

How about the hand cleaning? You

remember that?

You know, we always feel pretty good

when everything's going okay. You ever

notice that? But watch until something

stressful happens and then watch

humanity break down.

We live in a particular time, in a

particular age where we have things

every day to eat and drink. Could you

imagine if our world ran out of food?

How do you how how nice do you think

people would be? how good would come out

of them.

You know why? Cuz we don't by nature

know God.

So that reality comes out, the anxiety

comes out and all of a sudden we being

God becomes more important than

anything.

And then what happens is we destroy each

other if they get in our way. Now go

back and do some history. I'll give you

20 minutes after church. Go and read any

history about any empire and ask

yourself, were they good?

And I have won my argument.

Original sin, says Chesterton, is the

only doctrine that has been empirically

validated by 2,000 years of human

history.

I cannot get over that people think

humanity is good. It's funny.

We're not.

But this is the foundation of when

you're sharing the gospel is people have

to realize who they're not. And if they

think they're really kind of good and

they can pull this off themselves,

you're never going to break through.

Because that's the first assumption.

So what do most people do because of

that assumption? By the way, there is

another option rather than just being a

pagan. They do try and get back with

God. And they do it through their ends,

their means. We call it religion.

Religion is humans activity to try and

bring themselves back to God.

And this

is darkness.

You see, the Bible pulls no punches. And

I want you to know something about

Israel in the first century. So just so

you think I'm I'm anti-Semitic, I'm

going to tell you that was the highest

form of religion that ever existed.

There's no other religion with the rules

down, with the festivals down, with the

markers, right? And all of those things.

And what those Jews were trying to do,

by the way, is they were trying to get

God to show his hand by doing good

things. How many people do that in our

world?

They thought if God, if I could please

God, good things would happen.

That's religion.

If I do this and this and this, then I'm

a child of God.

And what happens when they do that? And

they have all of these markers like

circumcision, like like food laws, like

healing on the Sabbath or Sabbath

observance. Those were all markers. Why

does Jesus get killed? Because he bangs

down the markers because those markers

by the time Jesus came had become evil.

Because it said not just I'm in,

but you're not.

I'm going to heaven, you're going to

hell. It was the equivalent.

Those markers when you came in the

church or the synagogue, they were the

things you looked at. And the more they

had, the higher up they were, right?

Hierarchal.

Now, there was a man named Paul who used

to go by a different name, Saul. Do you

remember that? Now, I want to tell you

something about Saul. Saul had the

markers.

Saul would have been way up in the in

the temple court if he would have stayed

a Jew. He was one of the brilliant,

brilliant minds and he had everything go

right. He was even born at the right

time. He wasn't just a Jew by bloodline.

He was born on the right day.

He was incredible.

Now, do you want to hear his testimony

about those markers? Let's look at this.

Though I myself have reason for

confidence in the flesh, that means out

of my own works

also. If anyone else thinks they have

reason for confidence in the flesh, I

have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day of the

people of Israel, the bloodline of the

tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews

as to the law, a Pharisee. Now, a first

century Jew would be going, "Wow," on

their religious checkboard, he was all

of those things. Oh, boy. This guy, he

I'm going to get him to pray for me.

He's so spiritual.

as to the zeal. And then he shows the

crack,

a persecutor of the church,

as to righteousness under the law,

blameless. In other words, he did, even

when he sinned, he got his sins forgiven

in the temple. He was blameless. He did

everything right. He had all of it under

the law, blameless. But

whatever gain I had, he says, I count it

as a loss for Christ.

So he was everything and he lost

everything and he says it was best for

Christ. Indeed I count everything as a

loss because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. So all

that stuff he said he put it in the you

notice what he's done here is he's

saying knowing Jesus religion and he

separates them and he says I got rid of

it even though I was the most religious

person around

for his sake I have suffered the loss of

all things and count them as ready for

this this was the stuff that you threw

out your window for the dogs this

rubbish and it also was often human

feces he just said that all those

markers he had were human feces species.

Rubbish, it says here, cuz our

translations want to be nice. In order

that I may gain Christ

and be found in him, not having a

righteousness of my own, nor will of

man, nor bloodline, nor of the flesh.

Did you see how how Paul embraced this?

But that which comes through faith in

Christ, the righteousness from God that

depends of him. That's what he wants.

And he's saying to us what John's saying

to us.

Don't forget when John says, "And his

own didn't receive him." What John's

saying is that religion leads to

darkness.

Cuz his own were the most religious. So

he says the world didn't know him. Total

depravity. And number two, his own

didn't know him. And religion can't

save.

Here's why.

When you're religious and you think you

can do the right things to get to know

God, guess who you don't need?

God.

If you can pull it off and do the things

you need to do to get right with God,

you don't need a living God. You just

need a set of rules he might have given

you,

a set of markers.

In other words, if that's your way, you

are just as much an unbeliever of God as

the pagan down the street.

Carl Bart, we begin by stating that

religion is unbelief.

Huh? That's pretty powerful because

religion doesn't need a god to believe

in. Just needs a system,

the markers.

It is a concern indeed. We must say that

it is one of the great it is a concern

indeed. We must say that it is one of

the great concerns of a godless man.

You always hear in churches the first

part preached. We're evil. We're sinful.

We can't. But you don't hear often

religion is just as dark and will kill

you.

I'm telling you right now, the biggest

thing to fight and the hardest thing to

fight as a pastor is religiosity

because it's so nice to have those

markers. Cuz I'll tell you why we like

the markers. We like the markers.

Whatever they are, whether it's I speak

in tongues or I have the gift of the

spirit or I have this theological thing

or I wear a suit jacket or whatever,

whatever, whatever that marks us out.

You know why we love it? Because of our

ego.

You see, it's really, really hard

if you have any control in you to say,

"I'm actually saved by God alone."

It's really, really hard. Especially,

let me tell you, when you've gone to

Regent College and you've got two

degrees and you've got this and that and

the other thing, and you got the

Reverend Emmery before, it gets worse

because those are all markers. And by

the way, they're all crap.

They're crap.

There is nothing better standing up here

than sitting down there.

Nothing.

I remember my good friend Dr. Fee, a

professor at Regent, well known in the

Pentecostal church, and they said, they

would say to him, "Oh, Reverend Fee,"

and he'd say, I I'd walk up to him and I

said, "You like being called that?" He

goes, he goes, "I don't care if they

call me it, but if I start caring, then

I've already lost it.

Religion is much more dangerous, I'm

going to argue, than paganism

because it's blinding.

Loosely nubigan

here's the terrible paradox of human

existence is seen in its most piercing

reality. Religion

in its purest and loftiest form is found

to belong to the area of darkness.

Not those who are blind, but those who

confidently say, "We see are found to be

in the realm of darkness."

Had a gentleman come up to me and he

told me, "Oh, it's so sad that person

died because I know they're in hell.

You see, the problem with John's gospel

is you can never say that. You can't

because if the line is that you're a

child of God because of God and nothing

else, then you tell me how you know.

I will never say that.

What about the thief on the cross? I

thought to myself,

there's a wonderful a preacher who did

this thing where he's got like the thief

on the cross. He ends up in heaven.

They're like, "Why are you here?" And

he's like, "I have no idea. I just

talked to some guy and now I'm here."

I mean, he didn't get baptized. He

didn't believe the right things. Didn't

have the right markers. He was a

terrorist, actually.

And all of a sudden, he's up there.

The reason why the good news doesn't go

out because I believe if we got the good

news out there that this is God alone

and his action then people would go wow

but we say but you need to

and I know it gets out there that we do

that because I've run into people who

said I'd like to come to church but I'm

I know I'm bit shamed because I haven't

been living the life

every time I tell them everyone in the

pew hasn't been living the life so let's

just come on in and join

This is what makes this so important.

Salvation is by grace alone. Paul says,

you know why you and I are saved?

It isn't cuz one day you woke up and you

just got yourself in a fevered prayer

thing and said, "I'm going to accept and

receive Jesus today." That's not why

you're saved.

It's not because you had some spiritual

experience on a high mountain

or because I was raised by the right

people. That's not why you're saved.

You're saved because Jesus Christ, God

in fleshed, came and carried a cross for

you and hung on it

on Goltha

33 years ago. The 33 AD. Not 33 years

ago. Anyways,

That's it.

That's fully it. So, how much And I like

it, Sean. You took one of my quotes, by

the way, buddy.

The only thing we bring to our salvation

is our sin. Yeah. No, go away. Um, that

was supposed to be a high point.

That's the truth.

We, you and I are here today and saved

because of what he did.

And that's it.

And you deserve to be here no more today

than the day you first realized it.

Do you believe that

religion is refu?

We are not called to be religious

Christians.

We're called to be children of God who

welcomes us in alone. What that means?

You ready? This is the hard part. You

know that person you're utterly

convinced is not going to heaven. You

know that enemy that you have that hurt

you?

You might be there.

Might be forgiven

because his right to be there is the

same as yours.

Being born into the family god is quite

different from being born into a human

family. Natural descent avails nothing

which means that heritage and race or

even the Jewish race are irre irrelevant

to spiritual birth.

New birth finally is nothing other than

the act of God.

If you have new birth in you, folks,

it's cuz he chose it.

Is this good news or no? I was waiting

for I haven't heard Andrew do. I need a

man in here. Come on, buddy. Work with

me. Now you got me into it. Um,

love it, by the way.

>> Oh, you can. Don't be shy. Not me all

the time. Um,

this is the foundational truth. So, why

don't we embrace it more?

You know why? Because we sin

and then we think, "I got to do

something right to set it right." We

don't like grace because we want to have

control.

We don't like grace because it can make

us more spiritual than others. We don't

like grace because we feel like we can

control the relationship with God.

That's the truth.

And the truth is you can't.

But good news, he can and he will.

This should be at the end zones, not

John 3:16. This should be done the end

John 3:16

zones

in football games. For by grace you have

been saved through faith, and this is

not your own doing. It is a gift of God,

not a result of works.

so that no one may boast.

He wants us to go out and share that

message. Folks, remember at the

beginning what was his purpose that this

is out there so that we may believe and

he wants us us sinners, us saved by

grace alone to go out and now share that

with our friends, our families and

others.

Not out of guilt but kind of gratitude.

If you feel it's a guilt thing, don't do

it because it'll come across.

But if you really get this stuff, how

incredible it is, you will be joyful and

they'll say, "Why the heck are you

joyful?" Because I couldn't do anything.

I knew I couldn't do anything and he did

it.

We're called to witness, be witnesses of

God's grace.

So, how do we do it? If we can do

nothing and there's no religion, well,

I'm going to tell you first thing, have

this attitude. You want to have an

attitude, this is the attitude to have.

While other professing Christians are

congratulating themselves, I have to lie

humbly at the foot of the cross and

marvel that I am saved at all. Charles,

that was see uh that was Spurgeon, the

prince of preachers. The guy had

hundreds of thousands of converts in his

preaching. That's why he was used

because he believed it.

He never looked above someone because he

knew who he really was. That's the first

ch hoop before you start sharing. Cuz if

you come in and you think, "I've got it

figured out and you don't or I'm

spiritual and you need my spirituality,"

they'll sense it and they'll run away.

And they should.

You aren't bringing anything into those

conversations, by the way. So, you

shouldn't be upset if that conversation

about God doesn't work because it wasn't

about you to begin with. And if it

doesn't work, it does work and they get

baptized and saved, take no credit.

It had nothing to do with you. Oh, and

that's stupid theology I hear going,

"Yeah, yeah, you know what? Go around

and uh preach the gospel and if you have

to you use words, use them then." What?

That is so dumb.

How are you going to do it? to mime the

gospel like

the Bible says how do we believe but

believe by hearing and hearing the word

of God right

but a man who comes as a starving person

who's helping another person look for

bread is the way of evangelism

there's a great picture painted in the

ma middle ages here and this is all

based on John's gospel and that's John

the Baptist sitting on the right. And

notice what he's doing. He's got the

sheep below him and he's pointing away

from himself

to who?

Jesus.

You want good evangelism? By the way,

I'm going to be speaking of this next

week. Try the ve I'm doing one of the

breakout rooms on proclamation.

Point away from yourself to Jesus

Christ.

Get them to see the King of Kings and

the Lord of Lords. He's the one who died

for them. You didn't.

He's the one whose bloodshed.

He's the one that bring them light and

life, not you or me. Point away to Jesus

Christ.

Now, a lot of people talk about loving

your neighbor right now. It's really,

really big. I see Christians attacking

each other right now online because of

all the immigration stuff. And some

Christians, oh you bad mega people. And

then other ones, oh you social justice

Marxists

because they're all saying we need to

love each other by doing some political

things.

What they misunderstand, and by the way,

I'm not asking you to believe a

political opinion. I'm saying what I'm

seeing. But here's what they're missing

as far as I can tell.

is that when he says for us to love to

one another, what's the greatest form of

love we can give to a person dying

is life.

To a person in the dark,

light

to a person without the one who has

everything.

Matt Chandler says, "The single most

loving act we can do is sharing the good

news of Jesus Christ, that God saves

sinners."

If you want to know the most loving

thing you can do is share that

more than anything else. And when they

ask you how it happened to you, act like

the thief on the cross. I don't know,

but now I'm here.

because he sat down and he looked on us

and he said my you are my children

and we said yes and that's it.

Let's stop wearing markers that make us

I don't even know what a Presbyterian

marker is anymore. Like do we have a

marker anymore?

I don't even know what our church

markers are.

But I'll tell you what, this church is

full of people just like every other

church.

people that God came and died for and

have been saved and that's the only way

we're in.

And if we believe that the best part of

this, you ready for the best part?

You can be friends with everybody

because you're no better.

You can love everybody and you can

worship in gratitude because it's not

about you.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

amazing grace. We thank you for your

love.

We ask you to pour out your spirit upon

us.

Lord Jesus, we pray that you'll remind

us today that we can walk out because

even if we've blown it, even if we're

feeling terrible, even if we've had a

bad day, even if our life's not going

right right now, that you are our father

and we are your children

>> and that that's eternal.

Put that into our deepest part of our

soul. remind us of that and protect it

from the evil one, Father, so that we

might be free

in Jesus' name. Amen. So, we're going to

do communion now. Anyone who believes