Well, this morning I get the privilege to preach.
It's a blessing for me to be back up here and open up the book of John and look to see
what God has for us this morning.
I would say this passage is fantastic, is great for the church and the message of this
passage.
But I would say this, if there's any there here who are still investigating the claims
of Christ, who don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, this morning this is going to speak
directly to you.
So as we open the text, if you would turn with me to John chapter 10, we're going to
start at verse 22.
And I would ask if you can, in honor of God's word, would you stand with me as we read this
section of his holy word?
Starting at verse 22.
At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.
It was winter.
And Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe.
The works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because
you're not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand.
I and the father are one.
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, I've shown you many good works from the father.
For which of them are you going to stone me?
The Jews answered him, it's not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy.
Because you being a man, make yourself God.
Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law?
I said you are gods.
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken,
do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into this world,
you are blaspheming because I said, I am the son of God.
If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me.
But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works.
That you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father.
Again, they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.
And there he remained.
And many came to him and they said, John did no sign.
But everything that John said about this man was true.
And many believed in him there.
Pray with me.
Father, as we open your word, I pray that you would open our minds that we might understand it.
Father, you give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
And Father, you would stir deeply in our heart that our affections would be for you, Father.
That we would love your word and we would long for your truth, God.
That we might be transformed and be made like Christ.
I pray that you would do this work in our life.
And this morning, I pray that you would lead this time.
And I pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
And you can have a seat.
I want to start with just a short story about when I was very young.
My family, I have one sister, Tanika, and myself along with my parents were in Hilton Head for vacation.
And we were at a campground that at that time back in 1970 or 71, whatever year it was, in Hilton Head, there was a marina that was at this area where the campground was located.
If you go on the island and you drive on, it's very early on the left-hand side where that was.
And I remember this is that my sister was a lot different than me.
I tended to be quiet and not as talkative.
She had never met a stranger.
Easy for her to talk to people.
And sure enough, she found a friend somewhere close to her age, a girl who was wandering around the same area.
And she ended up with them on their boat.
They had driven, driven.
They had boated to Hilton Head and they had parked at the dock.
It turns out that the boat they were in was quite a big boat.
And she was invited to come on and eat.
And she came back and she tells us a story.
And she said, yeah, they were very friendly.
This guy, Mr. Turner, invited us in.
And we sat down and ate.
And it was just really great.
I enjoyed.
Tanika said, I really enjoyed our time.
Hopefully, I can go there tomorrow.
Well, it turns out she didn't know who this guy was.
To her, it was just another guy.
She was friends with this little girl and they were playing.
And she happened to be sitting on the boat that was owned by Ted Turner and was sitting at the table with Ted Turner's daughter at the time.
You know, she didn't know who he was.
All she knew was that he was nice and she enjoyed playing with his daughter.
I tell that story just to illustrate this.
Ted Turner's the founder of CNN.
He's the founder of TBS.
And he's the owner of the Atlanta Braves.
At least he used to be.
I don't know if he is now anymore.
But he was influential in his own way.
Now, I'm not touting him.
I'm not giving him praise.
I'm just sharing this story as an illustration that Tanika was with him but didn't really know who he was.
You know us exactly where we find ourselves in this story this morning?
If you will look at verse 24, you'll see that the Jews gathered around Jesus.
They saw him walk into the temple area and they gathered around him.
And I would say this is that they recognized him but they did not know him.
They recognized him as Jesus but they had no idea who he really was.
He, in truth, was the Messiah but they didn't understand that.
They didn't see it that way.
They didn't believe that he was the Messiah but he was.
They thought that they knew him but they didn't know him.
You know why it is that they didn't recognize him?
Because they had a misconception of who the Christ truly was.
Of who the Christ was going to be.
Of what the Christ would do when he arrived.
So we see their question.
And their question is this.
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
Why do you speak in riddles and why do you use parables?
Why do you deflect when we ask questions?
Why don't you just straight out tell us?
Are you the Christ?
You know what he said?
He said, I've already told you.
I've told you many times that I'm the Christ.
But you don't believe.
It helps us to understand the reason they would directly ask this question.
By understanding what this feast is all about.
This feast of dedication was a feast that recognized an event in the history of the Israeli nation.
The Israelites.
At the time frame around 165 BC.
It was a time when the Greeks were in charge, if you will.
They were the great power in that day.
And the Greeks had abused the Jews.
They had caused them to stop sacrificing at the temple.
They had taken a pig into the temple.
They had slaughtered the pig on the altar.
And desecrated the altar.
Desecrated the temple by doing this.
And they were doing it for spite.
Just to show that they were in charge.
And what happened within the nation.
There was an uprising of anger.
They had been under the thumb of the Greeks for some time.
And Judas Maccabee.
You probably have heard his name.
I don't know if you've ever read anything.
He rose up in righteous anger.
He gathered people around him.
And the Jews resisted the Greeks.
And conquered them in that area.
And they had relief from the thumb of the Greeks.
And they were able to start the sacrifices again.
They were able to rededicate the temple.
It was through the leadership of brave men to fight against the Greeks.
And it is celebrated here this time.
This feast of dedication is a remembrance of this leader who rallied the Jews.
And they defeated the Greeks.
And they rededicated the temple.
And that's what's being celebrated.
And so they asked Jesus this question.
Tell us, are you the deliverer?
Are you the one that's going to deliver us from the Romans?
From this oppressive rule of these Romans?
Do you know they had the story all wrong?
They expected that Jesus was God.
Excuse me.
That the Christ was going to be this ruler.
This physical king on earth.
They misunderstood all of the prophecies that pointed to this coming king.
This great king that was going to redeem Israel.
In their mind, that meant that they were going to be their own nation.
And they were going to be free from the oppression of these other ruling nations.
They thought he was going to have a physical kingdom.
You know the scripture never said that?
It was talking about the kingdom of heaven.
It was talking about a spiritual kingdom.
And so they asked this question with glazed eyes.
They're blind.
They don't even understand who the Christ is or who the Christ is going to be.
So when Christ says, I am he, they can't believe it.
They have this expectation of what he should be doing if he's going to be the Christ.
Will you deliver us like the feast that we're celebrating?
Like this time when we were delivered from the Greeks.
Are you going to do that now?
Are you the Christ?
Seeker.
I know there's some here that perhaps you're not a Christian yet.
It's a great question to consider.
Is he the Christ?
Jesus, tell us plainly, are you the Christ?
Are you the Messiah?
Are you the one that has been foretold in the ancient scriptures?
Are you the one that's coming to deliver us from our sins?
Are you the one that's coming to redeem?
Are you the one that God is sending for his people?
And that's a question that we should ask.
Each of us should ask.
This morning we're going to look at three witnesses that give evidence that Jesus is the Christ.
And we're going to look at four truths about salvation that we find in our text this morning.
Three witnesses that reveal, that give evidence that Jesus is the Messiah.
And four truths about salvation.
First, the witnesses.
What does Jesus say when he answers them?
Listen, he says, I told you and you don't believe.
I've already told you.
And it begs the question, Jesus, when did you tell them?
Well, let me remind you of stuff we've already read in the book of John.
Things that would have happened earlier before this event.
He says, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
And the statement, I am, is a statement that I'm sent by God and I'm equal to God.
He says it in the text earlier, I mean later.
He says, I am the Father and one.
But he said it before.
He says, I am the bread of life.
I am the one that God used to feed the people.
I'm the true bread that's come down from heaven.
I'm the true manna from heaven that if you eat, you live.
He said, I am the light of the world.
I am the one that comes to shed forth light, to reveal what is true, to point everyone to the Father.
He says, I am the door of the sheep.
None come in except through me.
He is claiming openly that he is the Messiah.
And he says again, I'm the good shepherd.
I'm the one that gives my life for the sheep.
He said it over and over and over again.
And listen, if you're trying to investigate the claims of Christ here, understand what he's saying.
He says, I and the Father am one or are one.
He says, I am the Messiah.
He says, I am the one that he sent from heaven to redeem.
You can't get around this statement by Christ.
He's telling these Jews that he is the Messiah.
And they're not listening.
We'll get to that later.
I'm going to skip to the second item here.
The second witness that he really is the Christ.
And it's down in verse 32.
It says this, I've shown you many good works from the Father.
The works witness.
The works bear witness in verse 25.
The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me.
How do they bear witness, Christ?
What do you mean they bear witness?
Well, let me ask this question.
Have you all ever watched Harry Houdini?
Have you ever seen him do his stuff?
Isn't it amazing?
I can sit and stare at it.
I know there's some trick somewhere.
There's got to be a trick somewhere.
But I can stare at it and I can't for the life of me figure out how that guy got free.
Or how he was able to get out of the predicament he was in.
It's hard for me to understand.
But I do know something amazing just happened.
When I was younger, there was a guy in my neighborhood whose name was Carlos.
Turns out, by the way, he's Bert's brother.
I used to live in the same neighborhood as Carlos.
And I remember when I was a 10-year-old kid, or maybe I was 11, somewhere in that age,
I would go around to Carlos' house.
He was always very friendly to me, so I felt comfortable spending time with him.
I remember sitting in his house at his kitchen's table,
and he was wowing me with his ability to shuffle the deck of cards.
And I could not figure out how he did it.
He would shuffle the cards, and he would deal blackjack.
So he'd deal himself, and he'd deal me.
Every single time, he had blackjack.
Every time.
And then I said, no, no, you're doing it.
These cards are, there's something funny about the cards.
He flips the cards over, spreads them all out.
They're just like any other deck of cards.
There's nothing unusual about them.
I said, you can't do it again.
He did it again.
He did it.
I said, you need to let me cut it so you can't stack the deck.
I don't know how you're stacking it, but let me cut it.
And he would let me cut it two, three, five times.
He'd let me do all this stuff, and I'd do it around.
He would shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
And he'd go poop, poop, poop, poop, poop.
And guess what?
He had blackjack again.
I could not figure it out.
How he did it to this day, I don't know.
I haven't gone and researched online and tried to learn the trick.
But I just want to say it was amazing that he was able to do that.
Let me tell you something that's even more amazing here.
Do you know what Christ has done?
He's done things that are far and above amazing.
I would say that Carlos was a card shark.
He actually dealt in Vegas, by the way, is what I was told.
Now, I don't know if that's true.
Ask him when you see him, but he said he did.
And the way he was able to do that, maybe he did.
I don't know.
But Christ, look what he did.
Do you all remember some of the things that Christ did?
That he turned water into wine?
Do you know what any other person has done that?
Do you know he had a nobleman come and said,
Hurry, hurry, my son is sick.
And he said, Please come, please come.
Heal my son.
And he said the word, and the son was healed.
He didn't even have to go there.
And then, when 5,000 followed him, they were in the wilderness,
and they ended up with five loaves and two little fish.
He fed 5,000 plus wives and children in the wilderness.
Anybody else you know have done that with that little bit?
And then, the blind man who'd been blind from birth,
he healed the blind man that he might see.
All of these spiritually teach us something about the Messiah.
But I want us to recognize that all of these are signs.
What is a sign?
In order to hear it from the mouth of Moses,
we can turn back to Numbers chapter 16,
and I'll look at Exodus 4.
I want you to hear what the Scripture says about signs.
Because Christ has given them the second witness.
He said, I've shown you these good works.
Don't you see that I'm the Messiah?
Don't you recognize these signs that I'm performing?
They illustrate who I am.
I'm the one that's been sent from God.
Do you not see it?
And Moses says this,
in reference to a...
What's the word?
An uprising of people within the camp of Israel
when they were in the wilderness.
This one named Korah and his family and a couple of others
rebelled against the leadership of Moses.
And Moses said, as he's confronting these,
he said,
Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me.
The Lord is getting ready to do something
that he's never done before.
And if it doesn't happen,
then you recognize I'm not from God.
But if it does happen,
then you know that there's no other way
that this could possibly happen unless God is in it.
And what happened?
The ground opened up.
Korah and his whole family descended,
and the ground shut back up.
It was a sign and evidence
that Moses was sent from God.
In Exodus chapter 4,
you remember that time in the life of Moses,
how he had run,
he had fled from Egypt,
he had lived 40 years in Midian,
he had his sheep,
and he was in the desert country,
and this bush flamed,
and out of the bush he heard a voice,
Moses, take off your sandals,
the place where you're standing is holy ground.
And that whole encounter with God,
God said to Moses,
I want you to go to Egypt,
and I want you to deliver my people.
And what do you say?
Oh, you got the wrong guy.
I can't do that.
I'm not able to.
Do you know who I am?
They won't trust me.
They won't believe me.
Nothing.
And it said in chapter 4,
it says this,
and Moses answered,
after he had said,
no, no, no, no, no,
he answered,
Moses answered,
but behold,
they will not believe me
or listen to my voice,
for they will say,
the Lord didn't appear to you.
And the Lord said to him,
what's that in your hand?
A staff?
He said,
throw it on the ground.
He threw it on the ground.
What happened?
Turn to a serpent.
He runs.
And then the Lord says,
go and touch it
and pick it up
and he touches the tail
and what does it do?
It turns into a staff again.
What else did he tell him to do?
Put his hand in his shirt.
Take it out.
What was his hand?
It's leprous.
He said,
I'll take your hand
and put it back in
and pull it out
and it's not leprous anymore.
And then what did he tell him to do?
He said,
the water that you take from the Nile
when you throw it down
will become blood.
He said to Moses,
he said,
you do these three signs
and they'll believe
that you're from God.
No man can do these signs
unless God be with him,
unless God has sent him.
The sign authenticates the messenger.
You know what Christ is saying?
Do you see the signs?
Do you recognize
that these signs are from God?
Don't you see
that no man can do these signs
unless God is in it,
unless he's the Messiah?
He's the one.
Don't you see?
Why don't you believe?
We'll speak about
why they don't believe here
in just a minute.
But these signs...
in John 6,
it talks about a large crowd
that followed him.
They saw the signs
he was doing to the sick.
And also in verse 14,
it talks about
the feeding of the 5,000.
And it says this,
when the people saw the sign
that he had done,
they said,
this is indeed the prophet
who is to come into the world.
The common people saw it
for what it really was.
That he was,
he had to be the Messiah.
No man can do this
unless they're the Messiah.
You remember what Nicodemus said?
You remember who Nicodemus is?
Nicodemus is the Pharisee,
one of the rulers,
the teachers of the people,
a part of the Sanhedrin,
of the council.
And he heard about
and saw these miraculous things
that Jesus was doing.
And he went to him by night
because it was already understood
that if you believed
this guy was the Messiah,
you'd be kicked out
of the Sanhedrin.
You would lose everything
that's associated
with that prominent position.
And so he went by night
under the cover of darkness
because he couldn't get over
the evidence.
the evidence that
he really was the Messiah.
And so he goes to him
and listen to what Nicodemus says
in chapter 3 of John.
He says this,
no one can do these signs
that you do
unless God is with them.
They have the fingerprint of God.
They're impossible.
They're miraculous.
I don't understand them.
They catch my eye.
I can't help but see
there's something supernatural
going on.
And I'm wanting to know
what it is.
How are you doing this?
Why is it that
the Jews can't see this?
Why are they blind?
Isn't it obvious
to you and me, Christian?
As we read this,
we see the words of Christ.
Never man spoke like this before.
Never man did this thing before.
Never is a man
turned water to wine.
Never is a man
healed a blind man
who was born blind.
Never is a man
fed 5,000 people
from five loaves
and two fishes.
It's impossible.
This has to be the Messiah.
And he gives another sign,
another witness
is referred to
at the end
of this section
in verse 41.
It says,
many came to him
when he left
and he went
to the place
where John baptized
and those who were there,
they came to him
and they said,
John did no sign
but everything
that John said
about this guy
has come true.
What did John say?
What did John say
about this guy?
Jesus.
You remember
what he said?
Early?
chapter 1
of John?
Here's what he said.
And you'll remember this.
Behold
the Lamb of God.
You can see John
beside the Jordan
and he sees Jesus
and he points to Jesus
and behold
the Lamb of God.
What else did he say?
And John bore witness.
I saw the Spirit
descend from heaven
like a dove
and it remained on him.
I saw it.
And when he's talking
to his disciples
he said,
did you see it?
Did you see it?
It's like a dove.
It descended
and it rested on him.
Never has that
ever happened before.
It's the validation.
The Spirit told me
that this was going to happen
and whenever I saw it
that's evidence
that this is the one.
That this is the Messiah.
I myself did not know him
but he who sent me
that is the Father
to baptize with water
said to me
he on whom you see
the Spirit descend
and remain
this is the one
who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit.
Who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit?
There's only one.
The Lord Jesus Christ
the Messiah.
The one who was foretold.
He goes on to say
I've seen it
I've borne witness
that this is
the Son of God.
Behold
the Lamb
of God.
And now
I want to look at
the four
truths
about salvation
that are so evident
and clear
in this passage.
Turn with me
or look with me
if you will
at verse 26.
It says
the works that I do
in my Father's name
bear witness
about me
but you do not believe
why?
See Jonathan
stole this last week
and
I'm going to share it again
because
the way that he worded it
is so powerful
to consider.
Notice
the order
which is extremely
important here.
Notice the reason
why they didn't believe.
We want a glimpse
at
the sovereignty
of God here.
I want you to see
what the scripture
says here.
Notice it says
you do not believe
why?
Because you're not
among my sheep.
That's why you don't believe.
You're not
one of my sheep.
Remember earlier
last week
when Jonathan preached
he preached about
this parable
he talked about
that it was common
for multiple shepherds
to enclose their sheep
together in one fold
one door
and the shepherd
would walk in
and would talk to him
or whistle
and all the sheep
that were his
knew his voice
and they only
followed him
and so when he spoke
he said
come on let's go.
What did the sheep do?
Did all the sheep
follow him?
No.
Just his sheep.
And we see it here again
you do not believe
because you're not
among
my sheep.
Isn't it interesting
that word my
connotates relationship
doesn't it?
And so it begs
the question
who are your sheep?
I want you to hear
what the word of God
says about this.
It says it
in multiple ways
in multiple places.
I'm just going to look
at three very quickly.
Revelation twice
and Ephesians once.
Notice what it says
in Revelation.
Revelation.
It's talking about
the bottomless pit
and destruction
and it says
the dwellers on earth
whose names
have not been written
in the book of life
from the foundation
of the world
will be cast there.
Listen again.
The dwellers on earth
whose names
have not been written
in the book of life.
What book of life?
What are you talking about?
Book of life.
You mean
there's a book
with names in it?
And that's going
to dictate?
Chapter 21
of Revelation
says this.
It talks about
this new
city.
This glorified city
and it says this.
But nothing unclean
will ever enter it
nor anyone
who does
what is detestable
or false
but only those
who are written
in the Lamb's book
of life.
Only those
whose names
are in the Lamb's
book of life.
Ephesians 1
says it this way.
Paul
when he's talking
about
those that are
in Christ
those that receive
salvation
notice what he says.
Blessed be the God
verse 3 of chapter 1
Ephesians
blessed be the God
and Father
of our Lord
Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
in Christ
with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly
places.
even as he chose
us in him
before the foundation
of the world
that we should be
holy and blameless
before him.
In love he predestined
us for adoption
to himself
as sons
through Jesus Christ
according to the
purpose of his will.
Paul is saying
that before the
foundation of the world
God chose
the believers.
God chose
his sheep.
God had a plan
and the plan
was to give
sheep to the son
and the son
would come
for the purpose
of gathering
his sheep.
John says
this
in chapter 17
of John
the high priestly
prayer
here's what he
says
this is Christ
speaking
sorry
John writing
Christ speaking
I have manifested
your name
to the people
whom you gave
me
out of the world
I have manifested
your name
to a subset
of people
to my sheep
only to my sheep
this is hard
to swallow
isn't it
it's hard
to understand
I openly
confess
that I don't
understand
the purpose
and the reason
behind it
but what I see
is it's clear
in scripture
that there's
certain sheep
that are called
by his name
that this took
place before
the foundation
of the earth
the names
were written
in the Lamb's
book of life
these sheep
were given
by the Father
to the Son
the Son
came to redeem
those sheep
and to call
them into
his kingdom
and we see
it here
it said
I have given
them the words
that you gave
me
I've given
them the truth
and what was
the result
of these sheep
hearing the truth
listen
it says
I've given
them the words
that you gave
me
and they have
received them
and have come
to know in truth
that I have
come from you
and they have
believed
let me paraphrase
he's praying
to the Father
he said
Father
the ones
whom you
gave me
the ones
who are
called by
your name
the ones
who are
my sheep
I spoke
the words
to them
the truth
to them
the truth
to them
and they
all believed
they all
responded
every one
of them
responded
they heard
it
and they
believed
they understood
and they
believed
and he
goes on
to say
I'm praying
for them
the sheep
I'm not
praying
for the world
that is
I'm not
praying
for every
person
that's
ever been
born
in every
city
in every
town
in every
country
I'm
praying
for my
sheep
so we
turn back
to our
passage
this morning
and I
want you
to see
again
you do
not believe
because you're
not among
my sheep
and the way
Jonathan
put it
last week
is belonging
precedes
believing
the order
is important
here
the reason
that they
believed
is because
they already
belonged
the reason
they believed
is because
their names
were written
in the Lamb's
book of life
the reason
that they
believed
John 6
would say
no man
comes to
the Father
except the
Father draws
him
you know
when that
drawing took
place
in the mind
of God
it took
place in
eternity
past
but it
happened
in real
time
here
is that
though I'm
not a
believer
until
personally
until
I'm
22
my name
was
written
in the
Lamb's
book
of life
because
God's
done
a work
in my
life
to
open
up
my
ears
and my
eyes
spiritually
speaking
that I
might
understand
the reality
of my
sin
that I
might
understand
the
separation
that is
between
me and
God
because
of my
sin
that I
might
understand
the need
for
forgiveness
from a
holy
God
that I
might
understand
that God
sin
is one
and only
as the
perfect
lamb
that
lamb
would
be
sacrificed
and the
blood
of the
lamb
would
cover
my
sins
would
purify
and
cleanse
me
from
all
sin
and I
would
be
saved
I'm
saved
by the
blood
of the
lamb
and the
only
reason
I
ever
knew
that I
needed
to be
saved
is
because
God
did a
work
in
my
life
he
opened
up
my
mind
and my
ears
and my
eyes
spiritually
to understand
my
separation
from him
he gave
me a
longing
for him
he drew
me to
himself
and he
said
you're
my
sheep
do you
hear me
calling
do you
hear me
calling
listen
I'm
asking
if
anybody
is
investigating
the
truths
of
scripture
to
determine
whether
this
be
true
let me
just
say
to you
this
morning
the
Lord
calls
do you
hear
do you
believe
that he
truly
is
the
Messiah
do you
believe
that he's
the only
way
the
truth
and
the
life
the
only
means
by which
you
can be
forgiven
the
pure
and
spotless
lamb
who
laid
willingly
lay
down
his
life
and
God
said
I
accept
that
offering
and if
you
and I
believe
that he
really
is
who
the
scriptures
say
he
is
when
we
also
believe
guess
what
we're
given
eternal
life
so we
read a
little
further
and I'm
about
done
four
truths
about
salvation
God
had a
plan
before
the
foundation
of the
world
God
chose
many
to be
the
sheep
that
Jesus
would
come
to
redeem
verse 28
Jesus
says
I
give
them
eternal
life
the
source
of
eternal
life
is
through
the
shed
blood
of
Jesus
Christ
Jesus
came
as a
Passover
lamb
to die
that we
might
have
life
and we
go on
it
says
and they
will
never
perish
you know
that is
true
for every
believer
let me
say it
this way
what can
separate you
Christian
from the
love of
God
what if
you go
out
tomorrow
and you
say
something
you
shouldn't
say
you
do
something
you
shouldn't
do
are you
going to be
separated
from God
are you
no longer
going to be a
Christian
do you
realize why
you're in the
kingdom
Christian
do you
realize how
you got
into the
kingdom
because God
did a
work in
your life
because God
gave you a
longing for
him
because God
brought you
into the
kingdom
and he
knew you
were coming
into the
kingdom
from eternity
past because
you're one
of his
one of the
ones that he
gave to
Christ and
Christ's work
is effective
and effectual
those whose
names are in
the book of
life will
come to him
why because
he puts a
longing in our
heart for him
he draws us
to him
it's his
work not
ours
you know
that you
can't destroy
his work
if he's
brought you
into the
kingdom you
can't do
anything to
take yourself
out of the
kingdom
if you're
truly in
if you're
truly born
again he
gives us a
new heart
when you
desire
do you
know it
Christian
have you
experienced
that
do you
think
differently
do you
long for
things different
from the
time before
you were
Christian
he changes
us he
gives us
this new
heart and
he tells
us to walk
in newness
of life
like children
of light
whom we
are
we're
his
he goes
on to
say
no one
is able
to snatch
them out
of my
hand
do you
understand
the security
that we
have
do you
understand
that you
just can't
make a
mistake
and mess
it all
up
you know
I was in
Regina and I
were riding
bikes in
Europe and
we rode into
Innsbruck
Austria
and by
God's grace
we had a
chance to
stay with
different people
in their
houses or
in their
backyard or
wherever
I mean we've
got a lot of
stories we
could tell
but this
particular time
we ran up
on this guy
who happened
to be a
priest in
training
and he
was at
his education
was happening
in Innsbruck
and we got
in a long
conversation
I ended up
staying in a
place near
where he
was
I think it
was in the
Regina help
me out
maybe this
I don't think
it was called
seminary
whatever it's
called
where he was
getting his
training
and we had
conversations
and here's
what I heard
him say
because I
point blank
asked him
I said
what happens
if you're
doing all
the right
things
and you've
confessed
to whoever
you need
to confess
to
and you
feel like
you're clean
because you've
confessed
and on the
way home
you say
something you
shouldn't have
said
you say a
word that
dishonors God
is that sin
yeah
are you going
to hell
and he's
he's like
well
yeah
I'm like
because you
said a word
you shouldn't
say you're
going to
hell
yeah
so if you
totally confess
it all to
your priest
and then you
on the way
home do
something that's
sinful
that one
sin
that means
you're not
going to
heaven
right
yeah
man
what a
brutal way
to live
you know
what the
word of
God
says
nothing
can
separate
you
Christian
from the
love of
God
because you
didn't
earn it
he's the
one that
did it
he did
it for
you
because he
loved you
and he
called you
from eternity
past
and he
put a
longing in
your heart
for him
he drew
you to
himself
and he
did this
work in
your life
that you
might long
for
desire
to know
him
and to
bow your
knee
to surrender
to him
to understand
the need
and the
place of
Christ
in your
life
he did
it all
it's
beautiful
he planned
it
he gave
some to
Christ
he accomplished
salvation
he secures
it for
every
believer
amen
let's
pray
lord for
us who
are in
your
kingdom
for us
who are
Christians
for us
who are
born again
for us
who have
come to
recognize
our sin
and our
separation
because of
our sin
that in a
sense lord
we could
not be in
your presence
because of
our filth
and our
dirtiness
and our
sin
but you
made a
way
through
your
son
Jesus
Christ
that you
would
send him
that he
might die
for his
sheep
that he
might purchase
life for
his sheep
lord I'm so
thankful that
you've helped
us to see
that it's
through Christ
we have
life
and you've
drawn us
into your
kingdom
god you've
given us
this great
salvation
greater than
we could
possibly
understand
father we
see glimpses
of it
especially in
revelation
than you
have in
the new
earth
the beauty
of being
in your
presence
unhindered
we will
see you
face to
face
god we
celebrate
the gift
that you've
given us
as far
beyond any
value of
anything this
earth has to
offer
god we give
you thanks
father I'm
thinking about
the one here
that's sitting
here today
who knows
that they don't
know you
yet
who knows
truly in
their heart
of hearts
that they
have not yet
totally understood
this whole
thing
father I
pray that
this morning
that you
would open
up their
mind to
understand
they would
father desire
to know
you I
pray that
you would
give them
eyes to
see this
truth and
I pray
god that
you would
draw them
into your
kingdom as
a gift to
them father
help them to
see this
morning god
we give you
thanks this
day for your
great gift and
we praise you
in christ's name
amen