Testimony Concerning the Son of God

Yes, I apologize that you just have me and not.

Man, Aiden, your hair is growing.

It's looking.

Sorry.

I'm not jealous.

I'm not jealous.

Man, I'm sorry that it's just me.

We hope that Micah will be here with us.

Guys, you've been sending me really mixed messages.

You guys meet Micah, and last week we had J1 preach,

and he came over to our house afterwards,

and him and Emily were both there,

and they're like, oh, Micah's just so perfect in every way.

And then Jay looks at me and goes, James, he looks just like you.

And I'm like, ah.

Does that mean, yes, it does.

It does.

Thank you, Micah.

Yeah, there's a lot of jokes about his hair and my hair,

but, guys, there's low-hanging fruit.

But I'm so grateful to be here.

Actually, even these last few weeks,

just having Gabe ministers in the Word,

and then having Aaron and Jay,

and I'm not going to lie.

I mean, Rusty is probably a good way to put it.

I came in this morning, oh, my goodness.

Some of the kids are sick, and figuring this out,

figuring that out.

And I'm like, my heart is all over the place.

And then I was blessed.

I was blessed just by being in that small room,

praying with the leaders, and just,

I need this gathering.

I need these people.

This is how my heart is steadied,

being amidst the people of God.

And hearing the prayers of my brothers and sisters

was what really kind of stilled me.

And so I'm thankful for you all

for just being here,

being here and being part of this.

And this is an incredibly important week.

Why don't you just put up the slides?

Actually, can I hijack this?

Do you think that'll work?

Sorry, I'm being the rebel here.

Does that work?

Okay, not yet.

Maybe that was a bad idea for me to suggest that.

I was meditating over this week's passage,

and we're in 1 John,

and it's also Palm Sunday,

which I was talking to a few people about.

This week is the week.

This week, don't worry about it if it's too hard.

This week is the most important week.

It is by this week we are saved.

It is by this week that we have life.

And I don't know how much,

how aware we are of that,

this Holy Week,

and everything that's going to be happening this week.

And it really ties in with the passage

that we've got happening in 1 John.

Alex just read the triumphal entry

from Matthew chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

If you've got your Bibles,

I invite you to bring it out.

So,

journey with me today.

Grateful for you all last week is Aaron,

and oh, I'm on.

Is this me?

Is this my,

huh?

Yes.

Oh.

Let's see if this works then.

Oh, but it's tiny.

Should it be this tiny?

Close it and try again.

Close it.

And then try again.

If not, don't worry.

Then you can just control it from your end.

Whoa.

So clever.

Palm Sunday is the day that Jesus

enters into Jerusalem.

And he enters in with all this fanfare

and all these people celebrating him,

shouting for him.

Hosanna,

Hosanna in the highest.

And these palm trees just waving at him.

And even though it's so filled with celebration and joy,

no doubt in Jesus' heart,

he's like,

man,

if only they knew

what was about to happen this week.

And as you see,

he journeys in,

and there's the donkey,

and there's this final bit.

He says,

the crowds are asking.

No doubt you and I would have been.

Have you done this when you see a big,

I heard Mirror were in Pacific Place the other day,

and there's just the crowds there,

and then everyone's like,

oh, what's happening here?

What's happening here?

Another example is

on weekday mornings,

the kids and I,

oh, it's gone again.

Oh, that sucks.

We will try one last time, Bonnie.

If it doesn't work,

you can take it back.

Does that sound good?

I didn't know if you knew this.

The MTR has this early bird offer.

So at 7.15,

if you go through the turnstiles,

it's cheaper.

So the kids and I,

we get into the MTR around 7.10,

and we see just people

just standing in the middle of the concourse,

not going through the turnstiles.

Has anyone seen that?

No, none of you are up that early.

And we were like,

what's going on here?

Why is everyone just standing

and not going in

through the turnstiles?

And so then I'm always nosy,

so they're like,

hey, what's happening?

Is this like a,

what's going on?

He's like, oh,

it's just because we're all cheap

and we all just need to wait

for two more minutes

and then we'll have the early,

but Gabe's like the green.

That's what he does.

And so I was like, wow.

No doubt the crowds

would have done the same thing.

You've got all these people shouting,

Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Everyone's welcoming this guy,

Jesus of Nazareth.

There would have been people

who were on the back going,

who is this?

What's happening?

I hadn't heard about this.

And then,

so the question is,

who is this?

Verse 10,

and the crowd said,

this is the prophet Jesus

from Nazareth of Galilee.

Isn't that the point of debate

since that moment then?

Who is this guy?

Who is this Jesus?

We've all been asking that question.

For those of you

who've been doing Alpha

on Monday nights

and it's been so fun

just being with everyone there.

Isn't that the same question

that we just asked on Monday?

Who is this Jesus?

There's no doubt

that Jesus existed,

by the way.

We all are agreed

on Jesus existing.

But the question is,

who is he?

Who is he?

This guy that,

well,

those who don't believe him

will still shout his name

when they,

when they stub their toe

on the table.

People who follow the calendars,

which nearly all of us do here,

he split time in half.

The question isn't

whether Jesus existed.

The question is,

who is he?

And this is the,

this is the point of the question.

If this Bible is to believe,

be believed,

then there's only really

three scenarios

that C.S. Lewis

and many, many apologetics

people talk about this.

Three options that we have

in terms of who Jesus is,

which is,

is he a lunatic?

Does he,

does he just believe these things?

He's delusional

or is he a liar?

Is he a fraud

or is he actually Lord?

There are no other options.

Those are the only three options

that we have.

Who is this Jesus?

Now,

if we fast forward to one John

and if you turn with me there,

we're nearly done with one John

and actually next week is Easter

and then the week after,

we actually have the honor

of having Juju come up

to summarize the whole book

of one John for us.

So looking forward to that.

Essentially,

in one John five,

the same question comes up.

John is trying to address

the very same thing again.

Even after everything

that's happened now,

the same question remains.

Who is this Jesus?

And this is what he says.

This is he who came

by water and blood,

Jesus Christ,

not by the water only,

but by the water

and the blood.

And the spirit is the one

who testifies

because the spirit

is the truth.

This whole book of John

is saying,

hey,

I want you to know

this Jesus guy.

And then really,

the question is,

well,

who is this Jesus?

And so here,

as he's coming up

to his finale,

he sees it important enough

to address that question again.

Do you truly know

who the real Jesus is?

Because you need to know

who he is.

He's either lunatic,

he's either liar,

or he's Lord.

And if he's Lord,

then that has massive,

massive implications

for your life.

The question really is,

do you and I really know

who the real Jesus is?

The Jesus that we have,

is he the real one?

Or is it one that

church tradition

and Sunday school

has built up

as to who Jesus is?

During COVID,

I use the example,

hey,

many of us growing up

in a culture

that is filled

with Christianity

are vaccinated

with a mild version

of Jesus.

Remember we had

those vaccines

and the Pfizer's

and all those kinds

of things?

Vaccinations,

how they work

is that they inject

a weak or mild version

of that virus

into your body

so it will stop you

from getting the real thing.

Right?

And so the thing

that I had on my heart

all the time was,

have we,

have we basically

been injected

with a mild,

weak,

dead version of Jesus

that's stopping us

from getting the real thing?

That's the challenge

that I had in my heart.

I know of Jesus,

I know about Jesus,

but is it the real Jesus?

Who is the real Jesus

to me?

Do you know

the real Jesus?

John here,

as he's coming

into his finale,

he says,

this is he who came

by water and blood,

Jesus Christ,

not by the water only,

but by the water

and the blood.

Now,

Florence and I

were talking about this

over this week

as she was preparing songs

and we were like,

this is a hard passage.

This is a hard passage

to understand.

And actually,

a lot of scholars

are at odds

over what this actually means.

But just to put it simply,

really,

what we're seeing here

is that Jesus

is the Christ,

which is the chosen one,

the one who will save

the world.

And why?

Why do we know that?

It's because the spirit

testifies that he is.

And how does he do that?

One,

through water,

which is what?

Is there any guesses

to what that might be?

Sign.

Baptism.

The baptism.

Yes,

do you do.

The baptism,

that moment

at the beginning

of Jesus' ministry

where he goes

and gets baptized

by John the Baptist

and the heavens open.

God doesn't open the skies

that often

in the New Testament.

But the two times

that he does,

the two times he comes

and says something,

he opens and he says,

this is my son.

This is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased.

That's one way

to testify

that this guy

is the real deal.

The second is,

of course,

the blood.

What is that?

It's the crucifixion.

And we're going to focus

a little bit on that today

because I think that has,

again,

massive ramifications

of why we're even

sat here today

by the blood.

Now,

often,

and I've talked about this,

we have a pick and mix,

kind of pick and choose

kind of Christianity

these days.

We like the Jesus

who is good.

We like the Jesus

who is kind,

who is loving,

who comes and heals

our hurts and our pains,

who gives us purpose.

He's just the kind,

loving Jesus.

And we often try

and avoid the issues of sin.

We try and avoid

the issues of the blood

because once it gets

to the blood stuff,

it's a little bit gory.

It's a little bit like,

oh,

that makes me uncomfortable.

But here's the question

that I wanted to ask

us today.

What does the,

why does Jesus

have to die?

Why does Jesus

have to die?

Have a think about that.

I might even pick on you.

Why,

in your eyes,

did Jesus have to die?

John here is saying,

hey,

it's not just by the water,

it's by the blood.

And I'll tell you the context

of why he's saying that

because there were people

in the church

at that moment

who were saying,

hey,

Jesus was a good man.

And you may have heard

these things said

by people as well.

He was a good man.

He had good teachings.

I heard this even during Alpha.

But,

there's the but.

But actually,

the whole death thing

is the bit that I don't

really truly understand.

Or actually,

there were some people

during this time

when John was writing

his letters to the church,

there were people

who believed that

Jesus was just a normal man,

a good man.

He became God

when the spirit descended

on him at baptism.

That's the water bit.

But,

then they said

that actually

he stopped being God

just before he died

because God can't die.

So,

their beliefs

were that actually

the moment

just before

he was crucified,

the spirit of God

leaves him

and Jesus becomes

a man again.

That was their kind of

angle as to what this was.

And John's insisting

saying,

no,

no,

no.

Jesus had to have been God

even at the crucifixion,

even all the way

up until the point of death,

he would have been God.

The question is,

why?

Do you know

the answer to that question?

Let me ask a few people.

Kuban,

let me start with you.

Start,

I mean,

again,

no pressure on getting

the right answers here,

just,

in your eyes,

why did Jesus have to die?

I think he had to die

because as the perfect being,

he had to be offered

as a sacrifice

for everybody else.

It was not perfect.

Yeah.

Boom,

there's two words there

that actually pop up.

One is sacrifice,

that he actually had

to sacrifice himself.

And two,

of course,

is substitution.

He had to die

in our place.

If you were to be asked

by someone else,

why did Jesus have to die?

What thoughts would come

to your mind?

Paul,

what do you have?

Committed to justice.

Committed to justice.

Committed to justice.

Wow,

that's good.

Tell me a bit more about that.

Expand on that.

Well,

like,

punishment needed to be paid.

Hmm.

So,

he needed to be gracious.

He had to be

committed to making sure

that punishment wasn't paid

and he was the only one

who could do that.

Paul's talking something

about justice,

just this idea

that actually,

Romans 6,

23 says this,

the wages of sin is death.

And so,

there was a wrong.

And every time

there is a wrong,

every time there is

a wrongful action,

there is a consequence.

There is a price

that has to be paid.

And Jesus,

being the one

who actually is blameless,

is the one who steps in

to pay for that.

And that's what we're saying.

That's a debt

that we have no ability

to pay at all,

but Jesus is the one

that comes and steps in.

Again,

that's completely true.

One final one.

Over there.

Kelly,

what do you got?

I think just echoing

what both of them said,

like,

there's just no other way

for us to have

patience

to be done

unless the perfect sacrifice

unless there's

a perfect sacrifice.

Yeah.

And because of the justice

and because of the great love,

that had to be done

in order for him

to be done.

Wow.

There was a price

that he was paid

and it had to be

a perfect sacrifice

and out of love.

And really,

Kelly sums up to us

really what Paul

starts to say here.

And this week,

next week,

we'll look at this passage.

This is key here.

For I delivered to you

as of first importance

was I also received

that Christ died.

Why did he die?

For our sins.

We'll unpack

what that actually means

later in accordance

with the scriptures

that he was buried

and that he was raised

on the third day.

It is all about

what actually happened

from the moment.

If you rewind

the question of

why is there death

in the first place?

Why would you say

that there is death

in the first place?

We weren't created

to die.

What was the original

source of death?

We go all the way

back to the Garden of Eden.

We go all the way

back to the Garden of Eden

where God creates

man and woman

and they're supposed

to live in communion

with him.

But then what happens?

The apple happens.

And what happens

with the apple?

Basically,

there's these two trees.

There's one,

which is the tree of

life,

and the other one

is the tree of

knowledge of

good and evil.

At that moment,

God says,

hey,

eat from this tree.

Eat from this tree

and you're going

to enjoy just the garden.

You're going to flourish

the way that I designed

you to be flourishing.

But then the snake

comes in and deceives.

And what does the snake

ask Eve?

Did God really say that?

What he's saying is,

can God really be trusted?

Why don't you eat

from the tree of

the knowledge of

good and evil

so that you can decide

what it is?

So basically what it is

is the tree of life

represents trusting

in God's wisdom.

And then the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil

is saying,

I don't trust

in God's wisdom.

I'm going to choose

to decide what's

good and evil myself.

I'm going to choose

trust in man's wisdom.

The problem then becomes

the moment they did that,

that's when sin

entered into the garden.

When we lose that trust,

we were designed

for communion

and relationship forever.

And yet in that moment,

they chose sin.

Essentially,

that's what sin is.

Sin is turning away

from God's way

and saying,

God,

I can't trust you.

I can't trust you,

so I'm going to have

to take matters

into my own hands.

So then Adam and Eve

were banished.

And actually,

that's what part

of the passage here

God tells them,

you may surely eat

of every tree of the garden,

but of the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil,

you shall not eat.

For in the day

that you eat of it,

you shall surely die.

In that moment

of rebellion,

in that moment

of mistrust,

they have to leave

the garden.

And then what guards

the garden?

Just this swinging,

fiery sword.

There's no way

for them to get

back into the garden

where there is

eternal flourishing.

They now have

to wander outside.

And because they

ate this,

they now will surely die.

That's why death

came in.

If you think about it,

God designed us

to be in perfect

communion with him.

But the moment

we turn our backs,

we leave,

then we are no longer

in communion.

You could argue

this whole story,

this whole Bible,

if you could sum it up,

yes,

the word love is there.

What does that love lead to?

That leads to reconciliation.

This gospel message

is one of reconciliation.

From that moment

that Adam and Eve

were banished from the garden,

from that moment,

now God starts his plan

of salvation

to reconcile.

That's what he's trying to do.

And in the Old Testament,

you see tons of examples

of how he tries to reconcile.

He gets them to create

a tabernacle.

And he's saying,

guys,

you can't come into my presence

anymore without dying,

but there is one way.

We're going to have a tabernacle,

we're going to have a tent,

and we're going to have

an inner part of the tent

called the Holy of Holies,

and before you come

into my presence,

you're going to have

to sacrifice,

what Kenny just said,

sacrifice a perfect animal.

Basically what they're saying

is you have to put

your sins onto that animal

and banish that animal,

that goat,

into the wilderness,

and then,

only then,

can one person come in.

And so this starts

this whole thing

of just animal sacrifices,

trying to get to the point

where they understand

that in order to reconcile,

the debt has to be paid,

because the wages of sin

is death,

Romans 6.23.

Unfortunately,

this starts then

just a cycle

of all these animal rituals,

and the Israelites

and mankind

still do not get it.

God is trying

to pursue mankind,

but unfortunately,

we still keep running away.

You fast forward

to the New Testament,

that's when actually

God says,

actually,

I'm going to tabernacle

with you.

I'm going to tabernacle

with you.

John 1.14,

the word became flesh

and enters the world

in light,

enters into the darkness.

It's this continuation

that God wants

to be with us.

Of course,

then,

that comes into the issue

but there still needs

to be a price

that is paid.

And of course,

God,

Jesus,

offers this ultimate,

ultimate way

of doing it.

And what is that way?

Here,

for our sake,

he made him to be sin

who knew no sin

so that in him

we might become

the righteousness

of God.

this is what

we're going to focus

on today

because when we

think about

why we're here

it's because

someone paid a price.

It's because

there was a death

that was paid.

The question for us is

do we think about

that enough?

And if there's a week

to think about it more,

it is this week.

But maybe a question

just to kind of help us

kind of get there,

what is your relationship

with death?

And actually,

when I

we first had Micah,

then I went to work

with Young Life guys

and I was reflecting

that that's the word

that's been on my heart.

When the moment

I met Micah,

the thing that I couldn't

help but think about

was death.

And it was a thing

that I've actually

been processing myself

for this long time.

And actually,

why is that word

so prominent

in my mind?

And I maybe

rewind it all the way

back to when Joe and I

and our dad died

and that's just

the word

that has just

always been there.

When my mind is blank,

and as a guy,

I can confirm

that my mind

is often blank.

When Christina

asks me,

what are you thinking?

I'm like,

quick,

think of something.

I can't let her know

that I'm actually

thinking of nothing.

And that word

just keeps coming up.

Death.

And I couldn't even

help but think it

when I saw my child.

I mean,

of course,

I witnessed my wife

die to herself

to push this baby out.

That's part of it.

I was like,

man.

And then when I saw him,

this life

and this beautiful,

actually,

babies are just

this paradoxical existence

where they're ugly

and beautiful

at the same time.

They're literally both.

Can we call that out?

I don't mind.

Have you seen a picture

of baby Micah

in his first few days?

It's okay.

You can tell me he's ugly.

He looks really ugly.

But he's ugly

and beautiful

at the same time.

I mean,

the thing that I

couldn't help but say

to my son

was that,

Micah,

my son,

one day you will die.

But that's not

going to be the end.

Life and death,

it's baked into

who we are.

It's baked into

the seasons

that we live in.

Winter is dying

and gives way to spring.

A parent

lays down their life.

Christina lays down

her sleep

and dies to her sleep.

And so a baby

can be fed.

What's your relationship

with death?

I just want to spend

a moment.

Before we process

more about what

Jesus' death means,

let's just start

with the fact that

do we realize

that from that moment

in the garden

we've been set

on a path towards death?

To set the mind

on the things of the flesh

which is what Adam and Eve did

which is what you and I do,

Romans 8,

it leads the death.

What's your relationship

with that?

And I shared with

some of the guys

in your life

and I think

I've shared this

with before.

Alexander the Great,

his dad,

King Philip II

of Macedon,

he hired a servant

who had one job

which is every morning

when King Philip

would wake up,

he would go to

King Philip

and tell him,

King Philip,

one day you will die.

Can you imagine

that being your job

and that's it?

Imagine just forgetting

that job.

So we have one job.

Wake up,

King wakes up,

you tell him

that one day

he will die.

Why?

Because King Philip

wanted to be reminded

of his mortality,

wanted to be reminded

that he won't live forever.

Sometimes me,

maybe you,

we get so engrossed

in the things of this world

and the things of this life

and the worries for tomorrow

that we don't take a step back

and go,

man,

one day we will die.

But that is not the end of it.

I just want to spend 60 seconds

just in a bit of a reflection

just to kind of set as a primer

for us

as we go into why Jesus died

is what is your relationship

with death

just in general?

You know,

let's go from there.

Whether you close your eyes

or whether you stare

into blank space,

whatever it is,

let's just spend

a brief moment doing that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

himself to the sword for us. You see, if we lose sight of that, that's when we get consumed with

everything else in the world. When we lose sight of the cross that we have now turned into just

a nice little bit of jewelry that we have, but we don't realize what we're hanging here.

Someone once said that actually, if Jesus had come to earth in a different century,

it wouldn't have been a cross. It would have been an electric chair and maybe we would have all had

electric chairs hanging around our necks. But do we understand what even this is? The most brutal,

humiliating form of punishment during the time that Jesus came and he did it for us. The question is,

why did he do it for us? But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died

for us. I know that all of us here, many of us here have heard that message multiple, multiple times.

But I'm praying today that the Holy Spirit would remind us of that in a new way.

Mostly because there's probably something that we have to do to respond to it.

This is what Tim Keller says. The cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love.

Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable. It is wrong. Jesus's death was only a good example if it was more than an example.

If it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us?

There was a debt to be paid and God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born.

God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.

I want to lead us into a time where we come and fixate our eyes on the cross.

Sam, you can jump on.

Actually, St. Teresa of Avila says this.

Fix your eyes on the crucified and nothing else will be of much importance to you.

Billy Graham says the cross shows the seriousness of our sin, but it also shows the immeasurable love of God.

I realized today as I was prepping this message that there really is nothing more than the power of the cross for us.

The danger is I speak too much with lofty words and speech and the power of the cross is taken from it.

Until we realize that we're all sat here because of what someone did for us.

That actually everything else is really meaningless.

But the question really then becomes, okay, well, what's the response?

Okay, Christ died for us.

I think sometimes we skim over that too quickly.

But you see, when you fix your eyes on the cross,

you remember, at least I remember Jesus' words that he who wants to follow me,

whoever wants to follow me,

must deny themselves and take up their own cross.

And just as a mother like Christina laid down her life to die to herself,

to give life to a child,

we're actually encouraged that we're also called to die to ourselves in some way.

John Mark Homer says the,

maybe the more easily understood word to die to ourselves is surrender.

Just as Christ surrendered himself on the cross for us.

The question then comes is,

is there anything that we need to surrender to him?

Is there anything that you need to die to in order that you may live?

Now, the message of the gospel is not just a sad one.

It's not just that someone died,

but it's in that death that we have life.

And I'm convinced all of us here in the room,

at least most of us have something that we need to let go.

There's something we need to die to

in order that we can access the full abundant life that Christ has offered us.

There's something that we need to surrender.

I can think of no better week for us to be doing this.

We're going to be going into a time of communion as well.

But before that,

while we,

while we just have this moment of just quiet reflection,

can we just ask the Lord,

how must I respond to your cross?

What is the cross that I have to take today?

What is the sin that I have to acknowledge today?

And I know that I've chosen this sin time and time again.

And I know that somehow I need to get out of it.

Because if I don't,

it will lead to death.

That's the beauty paradox of the faith of the good news.

Can we do that?

Can we just spend a moment?

There's a few things I really want to do today.

I want to lead communion.

I want to have this time of solar reflection.

And I want to be able to pray for each other.

And if we do those things,

I'll treat this time as a success for us.

Let me pray for us to begin.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

Much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

And Lord Jesus, we want to spend this time now to ponder the cross.

Thank you.