First, let me ask that you turn in your Bible to John chapter 1, and then I want you to join me in prayer.
!
There is not a habit, a ritual, something that is scribed out as a preface, but it is the glad confession of your supremacy and your sufficiency,
and our absolute dependence upon you to work in making the word that you have given to us that is settled in the heavens clear and understandable and appreciated in the lives of your children.
So the declaration of the word is of the Lord, and the application and appreciation of the word is of the Lord, and we are dependent upon you today.
And we ask that you would be pleased to bless us with the work of the Holy Spirit, both in the preaching and the application of the word to our lives.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you, Aaron.
Now.
I called on Aaron earlier in the week.
I said, Aaron, would you mind doing a favor for me?
I think it has a place.
And he said, well, I've never played that before.
I said, you can handle it.
And I do appreciate Aaron doing that.
And there's a reason for it.
You know, when we hear those notes, what do we think?
We think that they are an introduction to the President of the United States coming out
because that is pretty much the fanfare that is played at any time when he is making a public appearance.
And it's kind of a signal that he is going to be out immediately.
We use similar signals that I don't know that they're always accepted,
but we do things like blinking the lights in the lobby.
You know why we do that?
Come on down.
You know, come in.
Okay.
Another thing we do, and I have been tempted to pipe music out into the lobby before we get started
because you're kind of cued that you're not going in until some music is happening
and then kind of drift in as you feel inclined.
And I thought, we'll play the music early and surprise you one time.
But here's what I know.
I'd only get away with it once.
And then what you would do is just kind of wait it out.
And so those kind of preparatory signals would not make much sense.
But the reason I had Aaron play this little line is I want you to understand clearly
that Jesus did not come into his public ministry unannounced and missed.
Now it's true, and we make much of it, and I think rightfully so,
that his birth was with relative anonymity.
He arrived in a little old town, and he ended up actually in a manger.
But I want you to understand that while his birth was that way,
his public ministry was not something that was characterized by stealth or secret.
And as we look at John 1, verse 6, and carry down to verse 13,
what I want you to understand.
Aaron, you can go sit with your honey.
She thinks you should be up there.
Hi, Megan.
I mean, you know, you're married, right?
Is he turning color just a little bit?
Okay.
As we look at John 1, we look at verse 6 through 13.
I want you to understand that the God of this universe is not into secrets and surprises
and catching us unaware.
Everything he does, his justice, is something that is communicated clearly so that men are without excuse.
When ultimately they reject the sweetness of the gospel, they will never be able to say,
I didn't know.
I didn't hear.
And so this morning, as we look at this passage, we want to understand that Christ's coming was prophesied in the Old Testament.
It was announced by John the Baptist.
And yet, as we will see, John's ministry and the coming of the light, the Lord Jesus Christ, was largely rejected.
Does that mean that the darkness wins?
No.
Because as we are going to see later on towards the end of our lesson this morning,
what it says there in verse 12 and 13 is,
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.
I'm excited to be able to tell you that the darkness doesn't win, and that is a reminder of that reality.
Well, let's dive into the text and mark, first of all, John's great work.
We find it there in verses 6 through 8, and it says,
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
Now, the Bible makes it rather clear, if you read through any of the synoptic gospels,
that John was a rather unusual man.
For one, his dress and his diet was something that set him apart from the crowd.
But we find the thing that was most significant about him was not his dress and his diet,
but it really was the ministry that he had.
The scripture makes it very clear that he was Christ's forerunner,
or he was Christ's introducer or front man,
the one who came in front to make it very clear that someone important was coming.
I want you to understand that John's ministry was not something that he took upon himself simply as a career choice,
because it tells us there in verse 6,
there was a man sent.
The office and role that John engaged in was something that he received by divine appointment.
And I want you to understand that John was called by God to go before the Messiah
and to announce Christ's coming.
Just like if we heard that hail to the chief,
and we were in Washington, D.C., kind of sitting in a press club there,
waiting for the president to come out,
we would know that says, all right, all right, here he is.
John served in that capacity.
I want you to understand that in doing what John did,
he was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.
And I want you to look at a couple different passages to fix that in your mind.
Go back, if you would, to Matthew chapter 3,
and then also in Luke chapter 3,
and basically both of the passages are fairly similar.
But I draw attention to them so that you can see that this issue of John's ministry
was something that the Spirit of God considered to be very important
and wants us not to miss it.
John chapter 3, verse 1 through 3.
In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah,
when he said,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Make his path straight.
And then over in Luke,
we find a very similar statement made by Luke.
Luke chapter 3, verse 2 through 5.
During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John,
the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Make his path straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
I want you to understand,
if you were to read through the Gospels
and get an idea of John's ministry,
what you would recognize is this,
is that John came and made it undeniably clear
that he was not the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
but he was the forerunner.
He was coming in advance and making the ministry of Jesus that was coming to be clear.
He called people to repentance,
and in calling people to repentance,
he made it quite clear that what they had been involved in,
in their behavior and practice,
and the religious culture that they were living,
it was not adequate.
The superficiality of their performance in their religious Jewish issues was not sufficient,
and it was a call,
it's time to repent and make things right in your heart.
I want you to thank me just for a moment about the message that John preached.
We find that John made it very, very clear that the Messiah's coming
was one that required things to be changed in the environment in which he was speaking.
Now, I want you to understand that when he makes this statement,
and look in your mind, just go back to the passage in Luke,
I'm going to reference it.
It says,
Make his path straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked become straight.
It is talking about an ancient practice that characterized
when a king would come to visit some little berg.
What would happen is that the king,
anticipating showing up at Columbus, so to speak,
would send out his advance man,
and his advance man would come into the community and say,
By the way, King so-and-so is going to arrive on August the 29th,
and he is going to come from Port Columbus,
and he's going to come down such and such a path,
and we want you to be ready when he comes.
I think about, over the years,
the number of times that, while I've been here,
we've had a president or one of the presidential hopefuls
show up here in Columbus,
and guess what happens when a president
or someone who is campaigning to become president
shows up in Columbus?
Guess what happens?
How many of you have been caught in the traffic before?
You know, you decide you're going from point A to point B,
and you find out that there are all these police officers
that are being paid double time or whatever else it is,
and they are blocking off the traffic,
and you want to go this way, and guess what?
No, you're going this way.
Well, in the old days,
in order to have things ready for the king,
what they had to do was take care of potholes.
They had to kind of straighten out the road,
you know, get everything right.
The king was going to go from point A to point B,
and it was going to be a smooth path.
It was going to have no bumps in it.
Everything was going to be just zip,
and so the village would all kind of come out
and fill in the potholes
and make everything just perfect.
By the way, if they didn't, guess what happened?
The king would be bumping along, you see.
And pretty soon, heads would roll.
That was the ancient world.
And so Isaiah says,
I want you to know that there will be a messenger
that is going to come in front of the Messiah,
and the Messiah is going to expect that things be in order.
I want you to understand that John 1.8
makes it very clear that John's coming
and John's life was all wrapped up in his ministry.
It says there in verse 7,
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light
that all might believe through him.
John's focus was in no way upon himself.
Every time John had an opportunity,
he made it clear that the hero of the story
was the Lord Jesus Christ who was coming.
He was the one who would be the Savior of the world,
and John's ministry was always pointing attention
to the coming Messiah.
In verse 8, it says,
He was not the light,
but came to bear witness about the light.
One of the undeniable truths about a faithful witness
is that the witness is not the hero of the story,
and John never allowed anybody
to attach any of the significance or glory
to what he was doing to himself.
Now, it's interesting to stop and think about this,
that John's ministry was atypical
from many of the prophets
that were used in a very dramatic and significant way.
I think about two in particular.
One would be Elijah,
and the other would be Moses.
In both cases,
along with their public ministry,
there were also some pretty dramatic what?
Miracles.
John was significant
only in his messianic preaching
and his call for repentance,
and it was so powerful
through the power of the Spirit of God
that he brought profound conviction.
Remember?
People coming out to be baptized,
people one after,
just droves of them coming out,
and so some of the religious leaders in Jerusalem
sent people down to say,
All right, John,
are you that prophet?
Are you the one who is the forerunner?
Are you coming to...
He says,
Hey, listen,
no, I'm not that prophet.
Talking about what Moses had predicted
about the coming of the Messiah.
He says,
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make straight the way of the Lord.
All of John's life,
all that he was engaged in,
was wrapped up in pointing to Christ.
And I just wonder,
stop just for a minute
and think about your own life.
So how significant is the issue
of you making clear
the ministry and significance of Christ
for your heart and life?
How central is it?
I want you to stop and think for a moment.
Go, if you would,
to 2 Corinthians.
Let's cut over there for a second
and just mark what Paul has to say
about the ministry of believers.
He says that we are ambassadors for Christ.
There in verse 20,
2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20,
it says,
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
God making his appeal through us,
we implore you.
Now listen to me.
What does it mean to implore?
It means to beg with an earnestness
because in practical terms,
we implore when we know
what the outcome is going to be
if individuals refuse the gospel.
someone shared with me earlier today
the blessing that an individual
who has been prayed for
for many, many, many years
came to know Christ this Thursday.
Came to know the Lord Jesus Christ
against the backdrop of cancer
and an understanding of their life
being very frail and very tentative.
And in that space,
God's spirit brought conviction.
And I guarantee you,
over the years,
those who have loved this individual
have pled and pled and pled
and God graciously saved him.
So here it says that
we implore you in Christ's stead,
be reconciled to God.
So as you think about the ministry
that John the Baptist had
and go back there, if you will,
to John chapter 1,
you mark that John came.
What did he do?
He says, hey, listen,
I am here to let you know
that the Messiah is coming
and when he comes,
he is to be listened to
and attended to.
Well, you would think
that when you had
hail to the chief being played,
that people would at least act
like they expect the president
to come in
and show due deference and respect.
When you look there in verse 9,
it says the true light,
which enlightens everyone,
was coming into the world.
He was in the world
and the world was made through him,
yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own
and his own people
did not receive him.
And so the second thing we see
is first of all,
John's ministry of making Jesus clear
and his coming evident.
But secondly,
we want to understand
that the light of Christ was rejected.
You can't say that John
didn't make the coming
of Christ clear.
His ministry, public,
every aspect of what he was engaged in
was driving towards the point.
The Lord Jesus,
the Messiah is coming.
And when Jesus showed up
on the scene,
remember what John the Baptist said?
We're going to look at it later.
It says,
Behold the Lamb of God
that comes to what?
Take away the sins of the world.
That's the one.
And I want you to understand
that John the Baptist
did his job faithfully.
And in the face
of doing his job faithfully,
we can be certain
that no one in that day
would ever have been able to say,
I didn't know
that that was the Messiah
and that his coming
was of any significance to me.
You can imagine,
given the unbearable burden of sin
and the darkness of the world
that was in that day
and we see it in our day as well,
you would just stop to think
that just the streaming indication of light
would draw people to it.
It says there,
He was not the light
but came to bear witness about the light.
There is a light
and the light is valuable
and you are to be drawn to it
and yet,
when the light came into the world,
the light was not received by the world.
The light showed up
and yet it was intentionally rejected by all.
So I want you to stop and recognize
that what the Bible is telling us
to this point is that
some 2,000 years ago,
the Lord Jesus Christ
burst into the blackness
of a sin-torn world
and He brought hope and salvation for all.
That's what He did.
And when John wrote,
He gives light to everyone,
what He was making clear
is that the Lord Jesus came
to allow the gospel ministry
and the impact of salvation through Him
to be available to all people.
Now I want you to recognize
that the hope of salvation
in the thinking of Jews
was limited to guess who?
Jews.
And their idea was that,
well, okay,
if you want salvation,
guess what you have to do?
You have to become a Jew.
The hope of salvation
through the finished work of Christ
was not something that was limited
to the circumcised Jew
that wore robes
and bells on their robe or whatever.
The promise of salvation
was to all who came by faith,
convicted of their sin
and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ
died in their place
to pay the penalty for sin
and to satisfy the judgment of God.
The amazing thing that we find
in this passage is this.
The world that desperately needed
and still needs salvation
and the Jews as well
who had received incredible blessings
through being Abraham's children
both equally rejected the light.
Look at what it says there.
He came into the world
and the world was made through him
and yet the world did not know him.
It's not, I don't know him.
It's just saying I don't want him.
And verse 11,
he came to his own.
He came to the Jews.
And what was the response of the Jews
when they recognized
this is the one that has come
according to promise,
according to prophecy,
they said I don't want him.
I don't want to have anything
to do with him.
And as we saw last week in John
and also in Romans,
fallen mankind does not simply
reject the light out of ignorance
but rejects the light
out of an intentional hardening
of the heart that says
I do not want what Christ has to offer.
Sinful men willingly choose
to reject the light
because of the blackness
and darkness of their heart.
I remind you of what it says
in John chapter 3.
It says that they refuse the light.
Why?
Because their deeds are evil.
They don't want to come to grips
with the reality
of the condition of their soul
and when the light turns on
instead of saying I need that light
I desperately recognize
the condition of my heart.
They say hey I don't want that.
I refuse it.
So let's take up the final piece
of our study this morning
and understand what we find there
in verse 12 and 13.
Here's the reality.
God sent John the Baptist
as the forerunner,
as an announcer to make it clear
to the unbelieving world
I am sending my Messiah,
the Savior of the world
and he is available to all.
He's the light.
He's the life.
He's the one in whom alone
you have opportunity
of complete deliverance
for all of your sin
and the hope of eternity.
And in the face of that
beautiful, wonderful message
the unbelieving world
and unbelieving Jews said
hey I don't want anything
to do with that.
No thank you.
Well, does darkness win?
Does darkness win?
You look there in verse 12
it says,
But to all who did receive him
who believed in his name
he gave the right
to become the children of God
who were born not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man
but of God.
And so as we look at
verse 12 and 13
what we are seeing here
is the absolute undeniable miracle
that salvation is.
I want you to listen
to the sweet truth that follows
because some have received him
that's what it says
and some will receive him
still in this day.
Some have believed in him
and those who have believed in him
have become the children of God.
So let me put together
verse 12 and 13
11 and 12 this way
say that verse 11
announces what faith does
and verse 12
tells us how faith comes.
Verse 11 says
what faith does
verse 12 says
how faith comes.
It would be easy
to look around
in the world today
and all you got to do
is listen to the news
and everywhere you turn
you are just almost overwhelmed
by the unbelievable darkness
and cruelty of the world we see.
Isn't that right?
It's not just in Syria
and Iraq
where people are suffering
for their faith.
It's not just in the Sudan
and places where
where women are being
grossly abused
because they're believers.
These are not just
the only places
where the darkness
of sin exists
and the brutality
of the heart
of unregenerate men
and women
comes to the fore.
Everywhere you look
you see the ugliness
of the darkness
of men's souls.
And as you look at that
you understand
man it is a horrible world
that we live in
and yet we understand
as it says there
in verse 12
it says
verse 11
and 12
it says
but to all who did receive him
who believed in his name
he gave the right
to become the children of God.
It's amazing at all
that any
any at all
get the message
and receive the truth
and come to the light.
and because of this response
to the truth
they become the children of God.
To receive and believe
is to respond
to the truth of our sin.
To receive the truth
means to accept it
and say
I believe that that is right
about me
and I am in a desperate condition
and I can't do anything about it.
Not too long ago
talking with an individual
about the issue
of their salvation
and the reality
of the condition
of their soul
and as we really got down
to the nitty gritty
it came out that
well this person's idea
was that
hey listen
I'm doing the best I can
and the best that I can
is good enough.
Well I want to tell you this
if mankind
could get to heaven
on the basis
of their own good efforts
then Jesus would never
have had to come
and his dying on the cross
was an absolute waste
and exercise in futility.
Jesus came
because we cannot
save ourselves.
And I want you
to understand
the blessing
that comes
with being God's child
turn over if you will
you're in John chapter 1
but turn if you will
to 1 John chapter 3
1 John chapter 3
towards the very end
of the Bible
but listen to what it says
in 1 John chapter 3
verse 1
and 2
it says
see what kind of love
the Father
has given to us
that we should be called
the children of God.
and so we are
and I want you
to recognize
this morning
when that passage
penned by John
says
see what manner
he was kind of saying
wow
look at that
that we should be called
the children of God.
Does it get any better
than that?
And the answer is
no.
No.
there was a day
when each of you here
that at one point
did not know
the Lord Jesus Christ
were a child of Satan
were doomed
to eternal destruction
were under the slave
grip of Satan
and were doing
pretty much everything
he wanted you to do
and God in his kindness
and his mercy
came to help you
see the darkness
of your condition
and he opened your eyes
and he gave life
to a dead heart
and he brought salvation
to you
and he made you
his child
he blessed you
and John says
hey let me tell you
something
those who did receive him
who believed in his name
he gave the right
to become the children
of God
well we understand
what faith does
it receives
but let's also think
about how this comes about
how does faith come
so as you look
at verse 13
you find three
very interesting
statements
that the apostle
makes that we need
to mark
he says there
he says
who were born
not of blood
there are some
different opinions
of what blood
has to do
with this issue
and some would say
that it has to do
with physical birth
I would take it
to mean
that this statement
is talking about
the fact that
salvation
was not something
that came about
because of a certain
ethnicity
why do you think
what do you think
the Jews thought
about salvation
they thought
that because
they were Jews
they had what
salvation
one of the rabbis
taught that
Abraham camped
towards the very end
of the slide
down towards hell
and when he saw
someone skittering
down towards
eternal hell
and he noticed
that the person
was circumcised
he'd snatched that guy
because Jews
didn't go to hell
and here is
John saying
hey listen
let me tell you
something
salvation is not
something that comes
because of your
ethnicity
now we're sitting
here and we're
thinking well
I'm not a Jew
but you know
it's pretty easy
to get caught up
in the idea
well why am I saved
oh I tell you
what I love
those testimonies
I grew up
in a Christian
home
so
that's a good
thing
but do people
get to heaven
because they grew
up in a Christian
home and the answer
is not on your
life
not of blood
secondly we find
there it says
nor of the will
of the flesh
that word flesh
is talking about
the emotions
and so
salvation is not
a birthright
it's not a matter
of emotional stirring
and I want to
make it clear
for a person
who is passionate
about preaching
the gospel
and has no hesitation
of being moved
emotionally
when I appeal
to people
to come to Christ
I want you
to understand
nevertheless
that salvation
is not
an emotional
decision
I've been moved
to all kinds
of things
and we need
to be very careful
that we understand
that ultimately
the issue
of salvation
is not just
a matter of
having had
an emotional
experience
now some of us
grew up
in an environment
where if they
didn't have
an adequate number
at the altar
guess what
they would
do
well let me
give you a little
rendition of it
now as we are
singing verse 19
of just as I am
okay
and if nobody
comes for I want
the organist
this morning
I want to get
on those keys
I want you to
play it quietly
and there's some
of you out here
that if you don't
come I'm coming
down
you know
listen
can you be
moved emotionally
to make decisions
and the answer
is you bet
you
but in the
unbelieving world
we have three
days in which
to reverse
our decision
how many of you
understand that
I can sell you
a vacuum sweeper
that you think
is going to take
you to heaven
but three days
later you may
decide you don't
want it
and you can
say no
emotion
doesn't save us
furthermore
it says there
in verse 13
nor of the
will of man
that's talking
about
the intellect
so
why did you
come to Christ
well
I was figuring
it out
I read the
Bible
it just
made sense
to me
bada bada
bing
I decided
I'd be a
Christian
you follow
that
I'm
all for
apologetics
but nobody
has ever
come to
Christ
simply
on the
basis
of an
apologetic
argument
do you
follow
that
dead
men
do not
come
to life
just
because
the
intellectual
argument
for the
reality
of God
is so
persuasive
that they
are
absolutely
crushed
by the
weight
of
intellect
no
so
how are
men
saved
let me
read it
to you
who were
born
not of
blood
nor of the
will of the
flesh
nor of
will of
man
but
of
God
let me
have you
look at a
companion
passage
I'm
fired up
about
this
so just
bear with
me
turn in
your
Bible
can we
ever get
away from
the book
of Ephesians
I don't
think so
Ephesians
chapter 2
the idea
that salvation
is something
that we
can be
manipulated
emotionally
into deciding
about
or we
can be
persuaded
intellectually
into deciding
about
has no
basis
in the
scriptures
because in
the Bible
it makes it
clear that
salvation
is of
the Lord
Ephesians
chapter 2
we start
out with
some pretty
ugly news
it says
but you
were dead
in the
trespasses
and sins
by the
way
verse
number 9
of just
as I
am
does it
do
anything
for a
dead
carcass
lying in
a
funeral
home
and the
answer
is
no
putting
Josh
McDowell's
evidence
that demands
a verdict
on top
of the
casket
does that
cause the
person
to rise
up
no
but the
God who
saves
was the
one who
spoke
and brought
life
from death
and here's
what it
says
you were
dead in
trespasses
and sin
kind of
skipping
ahead
it says
there in
verse 5
by grace
you were
saved
and then
in verse
7
and verse
8 it
says
for by grace
you have
been saved
through faith
and so that
we don't
get confused
with the
natural
tendency
of
kind of
taking a
little bit
of credit
to
ourself
here's
what it
says
in verse
8 the
latter part
and this
is not
of your
own
doing
it is
the
what
the gift
of God
not the
result of
works
so that
no may
boast
god
and if we who are sitting here this morning
stop to consider the reality of our salvation
and the fact that we who once were the children of slavery
once the children of Satan
to recognize that we enjoy personal relationship
with the Lord and creator of this universe
it is because salvation is of the Lord
and he in his grace saved us
so what obligation does that bring to us
do you know what it does
first of all to be individuals who with gladness proclaim
the wonder and majesty of our Savior
we ought to spend the rest of our life
in a spirit of thanksgiving say wow
I can't believe he loves me and he's given me salvation
and I want the rest of you to find out about the one I love
secondly
because we have been saved by his grace
we also have a burden and an obligation
to live lives that do not complicate the gospel
do you follow what I'm saying
hey listen
if you live like a skunk
Monday through Saturday
you don't have much power to do anything
other than drive people away
from the sweetness of the gospel
if your vocabulary is a shame to the Lord Jesus Christ
where you work
don't expect to have much of an impact
on people who desperately need Christ
and we who have been saved by the Lord Jesus
have a longing
to see the one who has loved us
and the one who has saved us
high and exalted and lifted up
and we want to be able to say
that's the one I love
that's the one who can save
and so let me close
with this question
first of all
do you know him
are you sitting here today
as one who by the grace of God
has come to know the Lord Jesus Christ
then here's the truth
you have been saved for a purpose
like John the Baptist
of saying
come to the Lord Jesus
that you might have forgiveness
for all of your sins
and if you're here today
and you do not know Christ
you may have grown up
in a Christian home
you may have been baptized
you may know all the Bible verses
but here's the truth of the matter
you have never had
the transforming power
of the gospel
change your life
bring conviction
and then deliverance
and salvation
and you've never been able to
in reality say
Jesus is my savior
and I know him
I would plead with you
this morning
where you sit
you humble yourself
and say
I need Jesus desperately
I'm fooling myself
and I'm not going to do it anymore
and you plead with him
to save you
where you sit
let's bow our heads
our father God
this morning
we are very thankful
for the blessing
of your word
that makes it clear
that the Lord Jesus
is the light of the world
we're thankful
that salvation
is something
that you do
first of all
by convicting us
of our sin
and bringing us
to the point
of seeing the absolute
darkness
and bankruptcy
of our soul
and in the misery
of that conviction
you graciously lift up
the truth
that the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world
to save sinners
and he paid the penalty
for my sin
and for all of our sins
and he offers salvation
to whosoever
will call upon
the name of the Lord
and I would plead
with you father
this morning
that you would honor
your son
by drawing to the cross
those that are here
that are broken
in their sin
and desperately need
the Lord Jesus
we ask this in Jesus name
Amen
I'm going to ask
that you stand together
as we sing in closing
let's stand
and if you're here
this morning
and the spirit of God
is addressing an issue
you need to care for
publicly
it might be
that you're here
and you need Christ
as your personal savior
I don't know
the condition of your heart
but the spirit of God does
and if you're here
and you need Christ
to save you
then you humble yourself
and cry out for him
to do that
and if you want to share
that with us
you come forward
and have somebody
pray with you
and encourage you
from the scriptures
it might be
that you're here
and you are
a child of God
but you've not connected
to a body of believers
and let me tell you something
being part of the local church
is important
and you're willing
to humble yourself
and say
I'm willing to take that step
you come forward
it might be
that you need to be baptized
in obedience
you've come to faith
but you've never publicly
made that an issue
that you have acted upon
with baptism
and I encourage you
to take care of that
as we sing this song
in closing
what can take a dying man
and raise him up to life again
what can heal a wounded soul
what can make us white a stone
what can fill the emptiness
what can mend our brokenness
brokenness
mighty awesome
wonderful
is the holy cross
mighty is the power of the cross
what can lead the cross
what restores our faith in God
what reveals the Father's love
what can lead the wayward home
what can melt a heart of stone
what can free the guilty ones
what can save and own