Four Witnesses, One Verdict

Father, we come into your presence and we thank you for your grace, love, mercy, that you would give us your attention, that you would speak to us, that you would hear what's in our hearts.

Thank you for allowing us to worship you, allowing us to seek your face.

And Lord, we we pray that there would be no uh thought of self-sufficiency in our hearts, but everything would be complete, total dependency upon you.

Because we we can just get in our own way so much, and Jesus, you uh you are a complete and total answer.

You are a complete and total life, and we look to you and you alone uh to give us life, to give us everything that we need.

So it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Have you guys uh noticed the commercials recently?

By the way, the the sermon today is called Four Witnesses and One Verdict.

Four Witnesses and One Verdict.

Okay.

Um, you know, these commercials, it's like every one of them is selling you life.

You know, this truck will make you free from the confines of the paved road.

This app will make you rich.

And then at the very bottom of the screen, if you get a magnifying glass, it's magnifying glass out, it it says results not typical.

We live in a world full of witnesses who all want to testify about where life is found.

Money says it's over here, fame says it's over there, pleasure says just try one more time, and most of them are lying.

Football fans know the moment, especially Indiana fans.

She's weeping still, where you think it was a touchdown, and then the instant review starts reviewing the play, and he bobbled the ball and he didn't get his feet in bounds.

But you would never have known it unless the the review came and you got this um testimony from the camera that you wish was broken in that play, but it wasn't.

Well, she does.

After further review, the ruling on the field is either confirmed or denied.

And it breaks people's hearts, but the truth will stand, right?

Well, that's exactly what Jesus does in our text today.

He he just healed a man who couldn't walk for 38 years.

We've been looking at this, and the religious leaders are just furious because he did it on the Sabbath.

And Jesus says something even bigger as he's talking with them, saying, Yeah, I did it on the Sabbath because I'm God.

I am God.

He said, I am equal with God.

I literally can do anything I want, I am God.

That's the what Jesus has been saying in all these different ways.

And so under Jewish law, the Jews could be like, We don't believe you.

Because for a fact to be established, there had to be two or three or more witnesses.

And so what they're saying is, Jesus, all right, you're saying you're God.

We don't believe you.

And so today we're gonna see Jesus is gonna say, Alright, I'm gonna give you four witnesses that are gonna prove to you that I'm God.

Then what are you gonna do?

Take those apples.

And every and so we're gonna see um John the Baptist, his works, the Father Himself, and the scriptures.

Those are the four witnesses we're gonna see.

In every angle Jesus presents these in, we're gonna see Jesus is the Son of God, and the ruling on the field stands.

So, but what amazes me here is that Jesus isn't just building a case to win an argument, right?

He's not trying to protect his reputation.

Verse 34 tells us uh he says all of this that you might be saved.

He's he's doing all of this so that we, and even the people he's arguing with, can be saved.

The whole courtroom scene that we see here with Jesus is an act of love.

It's an argument of love.

He's saying, I love you.

He's laying out the evidence because he wants you to stop chasing the frauds that only come to steal life and instead receive the life that he gives, which is a true, real life.

So today we're gonna walk into this courtroom, hear the witnesses, and then we're gonna answer the one question that really matters, which is, will you come to him and live?

Because that's what he's uh he's offering.

That's what's at stake here.

So let's begin in John 5, verse 31.

John 5:31

He says, If I bear witness of myself, yeah, my witness is not true.

There is another who bears witness of me.

I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.

So Jesus is saying umself that that he knows he's equal with the Father, that he shares the life, he shares his life with the Father.

They're basically the same life.

But that doesn't count in court.

Uh, there needs to be two or three, so he's gonna call four.

And uh so why does John tell us about this?

Why does this even matter?

Well, if you fast forward to the end of the book, you see in John chapter 20, verse 31, all these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:31

So the reason why John gives us this argument, number one, so that we can believe we that our we will have faith or we will have confidence in Jesus.

Not blind faith.

We have four witnesses to base our faith on.

You know, we're not in a courtroom where they say, This is the truth, and you just have to believe it's true.

That's not how God works.

God's like, I I never said just believe.

I said believe because here's this witness, this witness, this witness, this witness.

It's not just whatever you think truth is.

So there's this thing in our society today, it's called relativism.

Have you guys ever heard of this relativism?

And so in philosophy, relativism is the idea that, well, what's true for you can be true for you, but what's true for me, uh this is my truth.

It's that it's that truth can be different based on your perspective.

And um it's just not true.

That can't be true.

You can't have two opposing things both be true at the exact same time.

So, but that's the general philosophy that's out there in the world is that, well, you can believe whatever you want because it's true for you, but God doesn't work that way, and the world doesn't work that way.

There is truth, and the truth is either Jesus is God and Savior, and he rose from the dead, and all this is true, or Jesus is crazy, and we should all go to the loony bin for even listening to anything he says.

Hey, amen.

So one of those is true.

And and it can't be, you know, anything else.

It's just those two options.

Well, we have proof about which one is true.

We'll get we'll get into that.

So he says, I want you to believe.

That's why I'm writing all this down.

That's why we have this argument today, this courtroom drama.

And then become the reason I want you to believe is so that you can have life in my name, he says, have life in my my life.

I want to share my life with you.

Do you want that real life?

I think you do.

I think you're hungry and thirsty for it, and it's only found in one place, not in all the frauds, all the substitutes we get sold on, the money, the fame, the power, the pleasure.

Um, he is the only source of life and satisfaction.

He's it.

So, what do we spend our life on?

You gotta ask yourself these questions as we come to Jesus, and as you're sitting in the courtroom and you're hearing, you gotta ask yourself this question.

What do I spend my life on?

What do I pursue?

Do I try to find my life through the stuff I have, the things I accomplish?

Where am I getting my value, my purpose, and how am I pursuing it?

These are all the questions that you get to wrestle with today.

And I don't, I can't answer any of those things for you.

You have to answer those things in the quiet, difficult, wrestling conversation with God.

Jesus says, I'm offering you a life, and here's how you find it momentary, every day, every moment, dependency upon me.

And we call that a life of surrender.

I'm not in control.

God brings me a job, God brings me a family, God brings me a wife, God brings me kids, God brings me everything that happens in my life, and in those things, I'm going to give them back to him.

I'm going to honor him.

I'm going to live with humility and faith.

And that's the life that we're called to live with him.

And this is so this is the truth that Jesus stands on.

This is the truth Jesus declares.

This is the truth we see in the Bible.

And he says, I know the witness, I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true, Jesus said of his father.

So in a world that lies and all the commercials that we see, Jesus offers a simple, direct, clear truth.

And he's unconcerned with how it makes you feel, and how the Pharisees are gonna get all mad at him and they're gonna try to kill him many times.

Because knowing the truth for Jesus is easy, it's so easy because he just tells you what he knows about his father.

He's just, yeah, this is my father, this is me.

And so it's through experience, he doesn't have to make anything up.

He doesn't have to remember what was it I was supposed to tell everybody when I came down to earth.

I I don't remember what the plan was, God, what was, you know, when everyone tries to get their, you know, the investigators, when you're investigating a crime, uh, you you you separate the witnesses right away, right?

Because you don't want them getting their story together.

Because when people try to make up a story, it's it all, but when you just have truth, you just say what you experienced.

You just are a witness of it.

And so Jesus, he it's easy for Jesus.

He has a relationship with his father, it's not a mystery, and he's not selling anything.

He's saying, This is what's real.

My father loves me, and I have a relationship with him where I depend on him and he supplies everything for me.

And guess what?

That's yours too, if you would like it.

That's what the purpose of life is.

Depend on me as your heavenly father, and you'll have the exact same thing that I have with my heavenly father.

It all works that way.

I know him, you can know him too, you're invited.

That's the simplest gospel message.

So now we get to verse 33.

It says, You have sent, uh, you have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

So he's saying, Hey guys, all you Jewish people who don't believe me.

You guys asked John, you sent to John, and he told you who I was, right?

Who did John say I was?

The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, right?

So yet I do not receive the testimony of man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

Verse 35.

He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

So John the baptizer, right?

He was the first witness Jesus calls in this courtroom drama drama.

And all these guys knew who John was because the entire nation was stirred up by his preaching out in the deserts.

They all loved him.

They they eat these guys even listened to John preach about God, and they were like, hey, I kind of dig this guy.

He's like, God's gonna come, God's gonna deliver us, the Messiah's coming, and they were they could get on board with that until John told them they were the problem.

Because they're like, we're not the problem, Rome is the problem.

Rome is the bad guys, we are Jews.

How can you we care about keeping all God's rules?

What do you mean we're the problem?

And John's like, you guys are a brood of vipers, and if you don't change, you're gonna go to hell because you don't know anything about God or God's ways.

That's that was John's, and and so when John said that, they turned their backs on him and they're like, Who's this crazy weirdo with a beirdo?

They liked him when his message was God is coming, God's gonna deliver us, the Messiah's coming, because they thought that message was gonna defeat Rome.

But when he said that their self-seeking religion was God's first target of the Messiah, they rejected him.

But whatever they thought, John was a messenger from God, we know that.

He knew who Jesus was, and he told everyone who Jesus was.

He was a good witness, he did a good job until they took him and beheaded him for that witness.

Um, so that's the first witness Jesus calls.

In that world, an irrefutable witness.

Everyone knew John was telling the truth.

Everyone knew John didn't care about what people thought of him.

Everyone knew John was killed for that reason.

All right, the second testimony is the testimony of good works.

Look what he says in verse 36.

But I have a greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.

So remember, all this started with Jesus healing a guy who had been lame for 38 years, and the leaders were all mad because he did it on the Sabbath day.

And this was just one of many, many, many miraculous things that Jesus did.

So, fast forward again to the end of the book of John, the last chapter, the last couple verses of John, he says this in John 21, verse 24.

John 21:24

This, the disciple uh John who who testifies these things and wrote these things down, and we know that his testimony is true.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the whole world itself couldn't contain the books that could be written.

Amen.

So that's how the book of John ends.

And what if we had a list of all those good works that Jesus did, what would they say?

What would they testify?

Well, they would tell us Jesus is good.

He was always going around doing good.

You needed something, he was good, he he met your need.

It would testify, number two, Jesus was God.

Jesus was good, Jesus was God.

Jesus is who we thought he was.

He was the Messiah, he was the one sent from God.

All these things.

That's what his good works testify.

The majority of the miraculous works that Jesus did were simple acts of compassion and mercy done for simple and needy people.

And and in these works, Jesus is bearing witness of the heart of God.

So the things he did, the works he did, miraculous or simple, they showed us how much God loved us.

So if you ever want to know what God is like, what all you have to do is look at Jesus and what did he do and what did he say.

That's why we read the word, that's why we study the word, we study the life of Jesus because he is God and He reveals what God is like to us.

So the Jews looked for this miraculous Messiah who was gonna wage war on Rome and set everyone free, right?

But they didn't weren't looking for someone who was meek and humble and selfless, right?

And that's why they generally missed Jesus, right?

They were looking for something else, but they rejected what Jesus was doing because he didn't do it the way they wanted.

So here comes Jesus healing a guy who hasn't walked in 38 years, and they're so poisoned with this self-centered mindset and this false expectation of who God is that they miss that good work.

And they they won't get the benefit of what Jesus is bringing.

They're they're gonna completely miss out on it.

He doesn't do it the way they want it, he's not helping them.

What they need most is to be delivered from Rome, they think.

They think that's their problem.

They think it's this outward thing that's in my life, that's the biggest problem in my life, but they don't realize that their biggest problem is that they're selfish jerks who don't care anything about God and don't represent God and they're not with God.

They're selfish.

And that was the problem that Jesus came to deliver them from.

But in order to be delivered from it, you have to realize that's who you are.

And so that's why God gives us these amazing things called the Ten Commandments.

Not given so you can try your hardest to keep them and be a good person.

The Ten Commandments were always given to show you how self-centered you are.

And what do we do with that knowledge?

With that knowledge, when you realize I break these every day, what do we do?

We run to Jesus, we cling to him and realize that he is our deliverer, he's our savior, and in spite of us breaking his law, he loves us and he's what he can wash us clean and we can live with all the benefits of being righteous, we can have the gospel be true for us, even though we didn't keep the law perfectly.

So these these guys, these Jews, they didn't receive his works, they couldn't understand them because they were so humble.

The works were so humble.

Yes, he did amazing things, but he did them in a way he he chose dumb people.

He chose the losers, he chose the people that the Jews despise.

The Jews are like, if I've really if if you want me to believe, come and help me do what I need.

And Jesus is like, Let me help the people who need more, who are the the lowest first, because that's how God works.

All right, so the third witness now is gonna be the Father Himself.

Look at this, verse 37.

The Father Himself, who sent me, has testified of me.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, but you do not have his word abiding in you, because whom he sent, him you do not believe.

So, in virtually every work and word that Jesus did, God the Father was testifying to Jesus' status as the Son of God.

What does that mean?

It means the Father testified that Jesus was him and his representative, his life was flowing through Jesus.

And he did this in two ways.

First, there was Old Testament prophecy where God would say, This is what I'm gonna do, and then Jesus came on the scene and he did it.

He he did all the things that God said, This is me, this is my heart, this is who I am.

Jesus became that in physical form.

And then at the baptism of Jesus, do you remember what happened?

So Jesus is there, John the Baptist, like, I'm not gonna baptize you, and Jesus is like, Yeah, you are, and John's like, Okay.

So baptizes him, and God rips open heaven, separates, you know, shows heaven and earth, rips it open, and he shouts, This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased, for everyone to hear.

How could he be any more clear?

And all the people who were there saw it, heard it.

This is this is the the Lamb of God, this is God's Son.

And so God testified clearly.

Why does God do that?

Why does why does it matter that God does that?

Because God was giving us his word or his promise or his testimony that Jesus was his son, so that we could trust in Jesus the same way we would trust in God.

So Jesus gets this title then of being the word of God.

So everything Jesus says is tied to who God is.

So now everything Jesus says, you can say that's what God says, because Jesus is God, but he also represents the represents the Father in his heart perfectly to us.

So that's the witness there.

The last witness, speaking of the word, speaking of Jesus being the word, the last witness is this one.

This is really crazy.

The testimony of the scriptures.

Look what he says in verse 39.

One of the saddest, most incredible verses in the Bible.

He says, You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me.

What an incredible verse.

So these Pharisees and these Jews, they focused on the Bible.

As young people, they would memorize the entire Old Testament.

That was their school.

And so most of them, almost all of them, had the entire Old Testament memorized by the time they were a teenager.

That was their way of educating.

Isn't that what we're supposed to do?

The problem was the word of God contained the promises of God and the truth of God and the heart of God.

But all that stuff in the Bible can be hidden through a very simple disease that we can get.

You can't hear all that stuff.

And the disease is called pride.

Pride.

Pride.

And it works the exact same way today.

The exact same way.

Pride blinds anyone from hearing the real truth of God.

So no matter how much you read the Bible, it doesn't matter at all.

You're never going to hear the truth of it if we have a heart of pride.

Because we interpret everything we hear through our own needs and our own desires instead of humility, which means we interpret it through what it really says, what God's word is, not what I need or what I want.

And that's the difference.

That's why God hides his truth.

He kind of buries his truth so that there's one thing that is required of all men to be able to hear the voice of God, and that is humility.

In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches it this way.

He says, verse 10, and the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables?

So here comes Jesus, and he starts teaching all the people in Israel, and he's using parables, and the disciples are like, This is really weird, because nobody can understand what you're talking about.

Why do you speak to them in parables?

He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

He says, I the reason I speak in parables is because I want you to understand my word and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus isn't speaking in riddles because he wants people to not understand.

He says he's speaking in riddles because he wants people to understand.

Well, that's kind of weird.

So how does that happen?

But to them it has not been given.

So it has there has to be something given to you so that you can understand.

Okay, verse 12.

For whoever has, to him more will be given, he who and he will have an abundance.

That's this understanding.

If you understand my word, you're gonna understand it even more as you keep looking to it.

But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him.

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

So there's a the reason he's speaking in parables is so that he can hide what the real truth is from certain people.

But why would he hide it from them?

And the answer is because of their hearts are not ready or willing to hear it.

Verse 14, and in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, Hearing you will hear, but and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive, for the hearts of these people have grown dull.

There's the the key right there.

Their heart grew dull.

What causes our hearts to grow dull?

Pride and self-sufficiency always.

So Jesus can say, I can speak any way I want, but you're never gonna be able to hear.

I'll give you understanding if it will come to me with humility, because God gives grace to the humble.

So it's with the heart that we hear God's word.

Not with the ears or the eyes, it's with the heart.

And when he speaks through his word, he's speaking to your heart, not your mind, primarily.

Verse 39 again, back in our text, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me.

Verse 40, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.

They're not willing to accept the message of the word of God.

And the message of the word of God is clearly Jesus is God, Jesus is the Messiah, and you have to believe in him, receive him.

And it's the same thing as receiving the Father.

They wanted to impress people, and that's that's what Jesus gets into next.

They wanted to impress people, and that's why they were religious, that's why they were doing everything they were doing.

It's because they loved when people looked at them and said, You guys are so holy, you Pharisees.

You're so you do such a good job.

Look how much you tithe, look how much you do.

They they wanted that honor from people.

Jesus made it clear that having life is found in fulfilling the commandment of come to me.

Come to me.

It's in my presence, it's a gift from me.

It's through interaction with me that you can have life.

Because Jesus is a person, he's a living person, he's full of power to save, and he has not placed his salvation in sacraments, in books, in priests.

He keeps his salvation in himself.

His grace comes from himself.

If anyone tells you I can give you grace, they're lying and they're a fraud.

Jesus himself gives grace.

The church doesn't even give grace.

Jesus himself gives his life and shares his life with you.

So in verse 41, Jesus says, I do not receive honor from men.

What does he mean right there?

He says, I I don't I don't need your testimony.

I don't care what you guys think of me.

I act, I don't act in self-interest, I don't even care what anyone thinks, I'm not vain.

Your opinion of me can't add one thing to me, and it can't injure me either.

I I'm speaking to you and I'm giving you this witness is because I love your souls.

That's the only reason I'm even in this conversation, is because I love you.

Wow.

That you might be saved, he says.

Verse 42, but I want you to know that you do not have the love of God in you.

Now, how do you think Jesus said this to them?

Do you think he was mocking them?

Do you think he was being unkind to them?

Do you think he was judging them?

I think this is like a doctor when he says, I'm I'm so sorry to tell you.

You're you're running out of life.

Right?

Now a doctor, a good doctor, is gonna say that with a bit of compassion.

Right?

And Jesus I think he said the exact same thing here.

He said, Guys, you don't have the love of God in you.

Look at the way you treat each other.

Look at the way you treat the poor.

Look at the way that you dishonor God with your thoughts and everything you do.

You don't have the love of God.

I have come in my father's name and you're not receiving me.

He's like, literally, I am my father or one.

I I come in his name.

I'm exactly the same person as he is.

And you're not receiving me.

That means you're you totally don't know him if you don't receive me.

How can you or sorry, if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from only God?

So the fatal error of these religious uh leaders in Jesus' day and ever since has been pride.

They care about what other people think, they long for prestige and honor from one another.

Oh, you're good, you're good, let's, you know.

And they were willing to sacrifice for that honor, they were willing to care about the honor that comes from people, but they they totally disregarded what God thought of them because God sees what's in secret, God sees the heart, and they refuse to deal with that part of their life.

So the the biggest obstacle between anyone and God is pride, vanity, and self-love.

They lived on each other's praises of each other.

Oh, I love when someone calls me awesome.

I love when someone calls me handsome, I love it.

And and they wouldn't acknowledge that Jesus could see past all that.

They hid themselves from him, they wouldn't acknowledge that they were dirty inside, and so what happened?

They couldn't receive his love, his grace, his power in their lives.

They traded the true love of God, because God wanted to love them, but they traded that for the fickle love of men, and that's what you call a stupid trade.

Don't make a bad trade.

God truly loves you.

Men are fickle.

Don't base your life on what men think of you, but what God thinks of you.

James gives us some insight on this in chapter four of James.

He says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

So he's talking about people who think they have a relationship with God, but they don't, and he says, your prayer life betrays you.

You're always asking for stuff that you want.

You don't think God sees that?

You don't think God measures like is can see what you really want?

And there's a difference between saying, I want stuff for me, and I want you, my heavenly father.

I want to know you, connect with you, be united to you.

I want to honor you, I want to hear you say, Well done, my good and faithful servant, I want to serve you.

That's where life is found, James says.

But you guys, you ask amiss because you want to spend it on your pleasures.

Adulterers and adulteresses, he calls these people.

He's like, You're married to Jesus, but you only want his stuff.

You only want his blessings.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Why do you care about anything the world can give you?

And why are you asking God for it to give you stuff that's in this world?

It doesn't matter.

Give it up.

God is more important.

Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?

That means God, He longs for your heart.

He longs for your love, your primary love to be for him.

But he gives, verse 6, but he gives more grace.

Therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

All that means, it's pride that makes us selfish and self-seeking.

It's pride.

I deserve this.

Have you ever had that thought?

I deserve a better life.

I deserve a blessing.

I deserve a happy marriage.

I deserve this.

I deserve that.

The root of all of it is pride.

And God says, the moment you can turn away from that and say, God, your will be done.

I will serve you and honor you no matter what comes my way, God says, that's the path to everything you need will be added to you.

Seek the kingdom of God first, and all these things will be added to you, right?

Pride is what keeps us from being able to see any of that.

Verse 7, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

What do you have to care about?

The presence of God.

Stop caring about the stuff and the things and the events and the circumstances.

It's the presence of God that matters.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded, double-minded.

I I'm thinking about this, but uh, and God, God says, don't just me.

Focus 100% on me, my presence.

I will be with you.

Verse 9, lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

There's the heart of God.

There's the message of Jesus.

Amen.

So we've been in the replay booth.

You know how the referee goes in and he looks at the replay?

We've looked at every angle of Jesus today.

John the Baptist testified, he's he's God.

The works testified, he's God.

The Father himself testified and said he's God.

The scriptures have testified, said he's God.

Four witnesses, every single one says the same thing.

He is the so only source of life Jesus is.

The evidence is in, the ruling on the field stands.

Alright.

But here's the thing in this courtroom: you're not the judge, you're not even the jury.

You're the one that's been invited.

Look at verse 40 again.

It says, But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.

You've been invited to come to Jesus, that you may have life.

These men had the Bible literally memorized.

They had all the evidence right in front of them.

They had the very word that they studied, and it was all pointing to Jesus, who was standing right in front of them, and they still wouldn't come.

Why?

Because they love the honor of men more than the honor that comes from God.

Pride.

It kept them from coming.

Pride kept them in their seats.

Instead of coming to Jesus and saying, Touch me, be with me, accept me, give me your grace.

Pride will do that to any one of us.

Pride will keep you in your seat.

It will keep you studying about Jesus with ever coming to him.

It'll keep you chasing the approval of people or the world through the next purchase or the next compliment.

The next thing that promises life in big letters and loud noises with the tiniest results are not typical underneath it in the fine print.

But Jesus offers something completely different.

No fine print, no hidden fees, no performance required at all.

It said in James that he gives more grace.

How much Jesus grace does Jesus want to give to you?

More.

That means whatever number you just thought in your head, more is the answer.

More.

He does not limit what he wants to give to you.

That's the good news.

You don't have to earn your way into the life of God.

You just have to stop pretending that you can.

He says, humble yourself.

Lay down your pride, lay down the trying, and just come.

Don't come to religion, don't come to a set of rules, don't come to a church or a church program.

Come to a person.

Jesus said, Come to me.

And when you come, he does not send you away with a list of things to do.

Do you know that?

He gives you himself.

And he says, I am now your life.

I give you everything.

His righteousness becomes your righteousness.

And every day after that, every moment after that, you just keep coming, keep trusting him, keep depending on him, keep surrendering to him.

That's the life that Jesus offers us.

The evidence is in that the witnesses have spoken, and the Son of God is standing here today with open arms saying the same thing he's always said, which is come to me that you may have life.

And the only question that remains is will you with all your heart come to him?

Father, your truth is the only truth that we need.

You filled him with energy and life and vitality.

You filled him with the power to live and to do your will and to serve you.

I pray, Father, that you would breathe life into each one of our souls, and each one of our hearts would be filled with the very life of Jesus Christ.

Your life sets us free.

Your life meets our needs.

Your life heals us of the pain and the scars.

Your life is our life.

Lord, we don't have to worry about anyone else or what anyone thinks of us.

Jesus, we come to you with all our hearts and souls and say, Thank you.

We worship you, we praise you, and we ask you would live your life through us today.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Would you guys stand with us as we sing to Jesus?

The heavens are your tabernacle.

You are thee, oin of heaven, of heaven land, oin of heaven, oil of heaven land, early in the morning.

Lord of heaven and void of heaven and earth.

Lord of heaven and when you die, when you and you show up at heaven, there's a question.

Are you gonna get are you gonna get in?

Is there and and there's one way we can answer that question.

And right now we've been talking about testimonies and witnesses.

I want the Holy Spirit to witness to you.

If someone asked you, how are you gonna get to heaven?

Is your response because Jesus alone died for me and gave his blood for me?

If that's your response, you can have all the confidence in the world that you are a child of God and you you won't even pass go, you're just going straight into heaven because that's your true home.

But if there's a witness in you that says, I trust in what I've done, I trust that I'm a better good person than I was a bad person, I trust in my own thing, I trust in myself in any way.

I want you to know the Holy Spirit is bearing witness to you right now.

Come to Jesus alone.

Let go of all of self and come to me alone.

Okay?

I want every single person here to know and have all the confidence that you are born again.

And that means your confidence is in Jesus alone, never yourself.

Amen.

If that's not you today, come and have a conversation with me, have a conversation with any person in here, and we will guide you to help you understand how Jesus freely gives us his life and eternal life.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you and keep you.

Go in confidence this week that you're a child of God and you're living in his will.

Amen.

Talk to you later.