WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.720 Okay, so I'm going to look for a little while this morning before the children come back 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:04.719 up. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:05.719 I'm going to... 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:07.280 We're going to look at this passage that we've been looking at. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:11.560 We're just going to go through the whole letter as a church right towards the end of 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:14.280 the year and take each section. 00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:18.240 As it comes, we recognize these sections as... 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:22.080 All of the Bible has been living and significant and important for us as a Christian, so that's 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:25.839 why it's central to our worship every day. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:38.880 So, Struan and Connell and Iona clearly look like their parents, and you can't deny them. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:43.920 When Struan and Connell run up from Kids' Church, if you've seen their parents, then 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.399 you'll know exactly. 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:47.640 Yep, that's... 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.039 They belong to them, that's for sure. 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.760 And as they'll grow more and more, I'm sure that'll happen more and more. 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.359 They'll be more and more like their parents. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.119 And that's a great thing. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:00.320 That's a great thing. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:04.159 They'll physically look like them, but they'll probably start imitating them in different 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:06.439 ways as well, because that's what we do as kids. 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:07.599 We imitate our parents. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.799 For good or bad, we imitate our parents. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:16.759 And when you get to my age, what you say to yourself is, oh my goodness, I'm turning 00:01:16.759 --> 00:01:21.439 in at my father or my mother, because that's what we see so often, isn't it? 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:29.759 In life, we see that the importance of our parental influence is so great in all of our 00:01:29.759 --> 00:01:34.599 lives, and we see it for good, and we do see it for ill, don't we, in life. 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:38.719 And it has this tremendous impact on us. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.120 Sometimes it's things we can't deal with like physically, we just look like them, we can't, 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:46.560 you know, we say, oh, I know who your dad is, I know who your mum is, or it can be just 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.560 in our character. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:54.840 And we know that childhood with loving parents is such a tremendously important thing. 00:01:54.840 --> 00:02:00.000 And they will listen, they will learn, they will be guided, they will be taught, they 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.960 will example their parents' behaviour. 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:07.920 And sometimes they will mimic their parents' mistakes, and we see that. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:14.000 And where there is a loveless family relationship, we see the impact of that as well. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.759 But often that imitation is implicit, and it's subconscious or unconscious in a child's 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:24.719 life, but nonetheless very significant. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:29.039 And John, who is right, the last of the apostles, the beloved apostle John, is here writing to 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.680 this young church. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:37.439 And it's really the theme of this letter to this young church is encouraging them and 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:41.599 reminding them as Christians that they are to become more and more like their heavenly 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:42.599 father. 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.719 That is really the emphasis that he's talking about, all the time he's talking about being 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:53.240 part of God's family, being children, dear children, little children, he uses that phrase 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:54.240 all the time. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:00.840 And he's reminding them that they are a family together who have a father, a heavenly father, 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:09.000 who loves them and the Son, Jesus Christ, who has come to be their redeemer and Savior. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.479 And that's hugely important for them. 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.039 And that's what he's emphasizing. 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:19.039 And he's encouraging them to walk in the light as Jesus is in the light, as God is the author 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:20.199 of light. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.439 And he's encouraging us to do that, that we become followers of Jesus. 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:30.599 We don't just confess Him and then ignore Him, that we become followers of Jesus and 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:34.799 are calling us believers is to become more like Jesus in our lives. 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:40.719 And that is what the Bible constantly teaches us. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:51.879 And there's, you know, it's belonging to a great home, a safe, having a beautiful identity, 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:56.840 having a loving divine parent who's done everything for us so that we might live with 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:57.840 them eternally. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.719 And that's really what this letter is all about. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:08.919 But imagine coming to the Thompson's home, the lovely new house, which we haven't seen 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:11.719 yet, but we hope to see soon. 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:17.319 And someone comes and lives with them who's a real nightmare, just a disaster, causes 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:24.399 all kinds of tensions in the family home, divisions, encourages, strewn and conical in 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:25.399 time. 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:33.439 I want to just ignore their parents and disobey them, introduces doubt into the family, starts 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:39.360 telling lies about what their parents are like or about each other as children and pitting 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.079 them against each other. 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:46.040 Can you imagine that in a loving family scenario that we see? 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.399 And then tries to take the children away. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:52.199 And that would be serious. 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:54.839 And that would require strong action. 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:59.120 And all of us, you know, we feel instinctively, we feel that we would protect that family, 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:05.560 we would protect the children, we would protect the parents from this insidious influence that 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:07.959 has come into the home. 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:13.120 And that's similar to what John's saying here as well to this church, this young family 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:15.399 of believers. 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:23.759 Because leaders had grown up within that church who actually heard the gospel, who knew about 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:30.000 Jesus, but who chose to change it and make it different and believe something else. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.399 And it was really damaging to the young church. 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:37.519 It wasn't light they were bringing in, it was darkness. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.599 They were saying things like, and we see it later in the letter, that they were saying 00:05:40.599 --> 00:05:43.319 that Jesus didn't really come in the flesh. 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.599 He didn't come to die for sins that, sins aren't really real, that you don't need to 00:05:47.599 --> 00:05:53.079 follow the Jesus that the apostle John and the other apostles and the gospel spoke about. 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:54.079 Just follow us. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:56.120 We are much more enlightened. 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:58.079 We have a much better idea. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:05.719 And they cause division and they cause disrespect and damage and really unhelpful criticism 00:06:05.719 --> 00:06:08.079 for this young church. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.079 So John uses strong language and he calls them anti-Christ. 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:17.759 And that's just, it means against or in place of, anti in Greek just means against or in 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:26.519 place of Christ and replacing Jesus with another false messiah and teaching that salvation, 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:32.639 that the way to heaven comes a different way and not the way that this young church had 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:37.680 been brought up to recognize and the many lives that had been changed by Jesus in that 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:38.680 church. 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:41.719 John says, no, no, that's got to stop. 00:06:41.719 --> 00:06:43.639 You can't go on with this. 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:48.319 You're bringing words of death, not words of life and it's destructive and you're not 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.879 really offering any kind of meaningful alternative. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:56.159 It's something that's really just about your pride and about your position and you're wanting 00:06:56.159 --> 00:07:01.599 to take over and have influence in an unhelpful way. 00:07:01.599 --> 00:07:05.680 So John is speaking in this section and throughout the letter as well. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:12.120 He's just wanting to emphasize to the church there and also to us, God through John to 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:16.639 us that the gospel is real, it's not make believe. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.680 The gospel that we believe that has transformed our lives as Christians is real. 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:22.360 It's not make believe. 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:28.199 So in the first chapter, John says, you know, I was in one verse two, he says, the life 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:29.199 was manifest. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:34.319 We have seen it and we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:39.199 And he's just, he's reminding his readers that he's one of the apostles who was an eyewitness 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.439 of Jesus, both his life, his death and his resurrection. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:50.279 And the Jesus himself set them apart as apostles to be the foundation of the New Testament church 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:56.039 and inspired them to proclaim the gospel and tell the gospel and write that gospel down. 00:07:56.039 --> 00:08:01.759 He speaks a lot about writing down the truth and the facts of the gospel and remembering 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:05.360 it and bearing it in mind and living it. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:11.600 And of course, that everything that Christ was that he came in the flesh and everything 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:19.080 that his resurrection from the dead proves, not just what he said, but also what he did, 00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:22.600 the resurrection proves that. 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:26.600 And what he said before he went to the cross, which was, I am the way, the truth in the 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.000 life, no one comes to the Father except through me. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.000 So John is saying all of that is true. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.679 It's not just something you can take or leave or throw away. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:37.480 It's just big stuff. 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:43.519 John says it's true because he says it's true because we've seen it to be true and 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:50.120 our lives have been transformed by the truth of a resurrected God, Son. 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:56.440 And if we think about that, John was probably, he was an old guy by now and he was the last 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:57.840 of the living apostles. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:03.800 And there's no real motivation for John to make this up, to say, you know, I've made 00:09:03.800 --> 00:09:06.720 this up and it's better than what you've made up. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:11.399 There was no, you know, the reality of the message talks about us not being at the centre 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:14.879 of the universe, talks about sin and being under God's judgment. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:17.600 It talks about the sovereignty of God. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.519 Speaks about a crucified saviour, a risen saviour. 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:22.519 Speaks about grace and holiness. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:31.199 And, you know, it didn't bring to anyone in these early days, didn't bring them wealth, 00:09:31.199 --> 00:09:37.840 didn't bring them power, it didn't bring them status or significance or popularity. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:44.720 John, as an old man, had probably witnessed most of his closest friends being martyred 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.319 as apostles, as disciples for their faith and he was the last of them still living. 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:57.280 So there was no human benefit for him to say that this was important if it wasn't true. 00:09:57.280 --> 00:09:59.600 And that is highly significant for us. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:04.200 The gospel he says is reminding us that it's real. 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:08.320 It's not make-believe, it's not just take it or leave it. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:10.440 And that's the focus of this section. 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:13.160 He's wanting them to hold on to the truth. 00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:18.720 And probably the key verses, verse 24, where he says, let what you've heard from the beginning 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.240 abide in you. 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:26.360 If you do what you've heard from the beginning, if it abides in you, then you too will abide 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.759 in the Son and in the Father. 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:32.480 So he's given us two things that are very important here quickly. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.800 He's not giving them quickly, I'm going to give them quickly. 00:10:34.800 --> 00:10:38.560 Something objective and something subjective. 00:10:38.560 --> 00:10:41.639 So he's saying, remember what you've heard from the beginning. 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:47.840 And that is always really important in the New Testament and in the Bible is that there's 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:52.560 something that they've heard, something that's been written down, something that's been recorded 00:10:52.560 --> 00:10:56.680 in the gospels, something that is historical and real. 00:10:56.680 --> 00:10:59.560 It's attested, it's happened. 00:10:59.560 --> 00:11:00.560 It was genuine. 00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:08.200 There's nothing that is better evidence of happening in the ancient Erestone, the story 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:11.120 of Jesus and his life and death and resurrection. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:18.560 It's Jesus of Nazareth who came and who came to be a Savior, a Redeemer of people, of you 00:11:18.560 --> 00:11:22.679 and me to take us from death to life. 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:28.440 And his message being that, you know, death isn't just a natural thing, it's a spiritual 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:35.480 reality and it comes from us rebelling against God and ignoring God who is the author of life. 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:38.080 And so it leaves us under His just sentence. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:41.800 But Christ came because we couldn't make ourselves right. 00:11:41.800 --> 00:11:44.800 Christ came to pay the price because of His love. 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:52.040 And He came to die in our place and take what is the just wrath of God against us now. 00:11:52.040 --> 00:11:53.720 That is revealed. 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:55.160 That is objective. 00:11:55.160 --> 00:11:56.160 It can be examined. 00:11:56.160 --> 00:11:57.759 It can be tested. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:11:58.759 It can be understood. 00:11:58.759 --> 00:11:59.759 It can be discovered. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.280 It can be rejected, clearly, as many people do. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:09.959 But that is the reality of what the New Testament teaches is there's an objective truth of Jesus 00:12:09.959 --> 00:12:11.600 that we are to be challenged by. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:17.720 Now, it's an interesting thing today in 21st century secular, postmodern Scotland and UK 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.000 maybe in the Western world even. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:25.759 There's a great shift when it comes to truth because truth used to be accepted as something 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:31.279 kind of outside of yourself, outside of ourselves, something that would challenge us as to our 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:36.519 perspective and that we would be molded to because it was objective and it came from 00:12:36.519 --> 00:12:38.559 the outside. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:45.879 But that has changed recently over the last maybe 30, 40 or 50 years so that truth now 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:53.240 is something that comes from within ourselves and that no one can question. 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:54.839 That truth is what I make it. 00:12:54.839 --> 00:12:56.679 Truth is what I believe it to be. 00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:58.279 Truth is what I think it might be. 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:04.959 It's not objective, at least in terms of religion and in some areas of life as well, maybe not 00:13:04.959 --> 00:13:06.039 everything. 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:12.519 But there's that really subtle but powerful change that it all depends on what we think 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:19.079 from the inside out and what we accept and our word is final and nobody can challenge 00:13:19.079 --> 00:13:20.079 that. 00:13:20.079 --> 00:13:26.919 But if you think about what a great way that is for every individual, you know, what comfort 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:32.120 is there if it comes from within ourselves that truth comes? 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:41.120 What comfort is there in failure or in loss or in guilt or ugliness or aging or poverty 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.479 or even in death itself? 00:13:43.479 --> 00:13:50.839 You know, this philosophy causes or weighs down on us to find a meaning of the existence 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:59.840 of our very beings within ourselves and that is a critically heavy burden to bear and it 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:04.080 provides ultimately no answers for us. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.440 So the truth comes with something very objective. 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:12.440 Jesus comes with something that is very objective outside of ourselves to be challenged by and 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:13.440 to think about. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:18.000 But there is also a subjective element to it and we can't forget that. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:25.480 And that same verse it says, let what you've heard from the beginning abide in you. 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:28.399 So there's something also very subjective about it. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:34.159 So we need to take that objective truth in our lives constantly as Christians and recognize 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:42.000 the need to have faith in that, to put our trust in that and to believe it and experience 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.080 the forgiveness which is what we've done this. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:50.759 Of course, isn't it, forgiveness to know His love and to know the anointing or just 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:57.160 the giving out of God's Spirit into our lives and hearts that transforms us so that we can 00:14:57.160 --> 00:15:01.400 love Him and we can love one another as He wants us to do. 00:15:01.400 --> 00:15:06.639 So there's this subjective element which is God's work as we entrust our lives to Him 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.480 and to Jesus as our Savior. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.160 He's transforming us. 00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:13.120 So it's relational. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:14.720 It's a spiritual relationship. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:20.159 So which is why John speaks about the children, you know, the churches as children and God 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:21.560 is their Father. 00:15:21.560 --> 00:15:27.279 And there's this great intimate and close relationship that we have the solid rock on 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:32.720 which to base our lives and our future and our hope, which is subjective, but it's based 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.519 on the objective truth of Jesus Christ. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:40.200 And that means that our fellowship as believers with the God the Father is real through Jesus 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:41.200 Christ. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:45.680 And Jesus is that foundation, it's never ending, it's this great identity, His love, 00:15:45.680 --> 00:15:55.400 His protection, His victory over our own feelings sometimes of inadequacy or failure and forgiveness 00:15:55.400 --> 00:16:02.840 and of course, the hope for the future both as we age and as we face death and into eternity. 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:08.520 So we have this fellowship with God and He says that this truth can be known through 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:12.120 the Holy Spirit in us in verse 25. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.720 It speaks about that, that we abide in Him. 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.279 The Spirit of God is in us. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:22.879 And that's something that is beyond then teaching. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:24.159 It's beyond knowledge. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.399 It's beyond objective truth. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:28.319 It's something subjective in our hearts. 00:16:28.319 --> 00:16:35.639 And that's why He goes on to say that I think in verse 27 He says, if I can find that, yet 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:40.639 no one, you don't need anyone, He says, if you have the anointing that you received from 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:45.360 Him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:52.039 And despite what you made, just cheer within yourself and say, hey, no need for any teachers, 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:53.039 no need for the preaching. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.919 I think what He's meaning there is not that because He says different things and the Bible 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.840 says different things about that in lots of places. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:06.039 And He's saying that no one can teach you what is that subjective reality. 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:07.279 It just can't be taught. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.480 It's something very real and something very... 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:15.440 We would say in Scotland, there's an old phrase which helps, I think, us to understand, it's 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:17.840 better felt than tell. 00:17:17.840 --> 00:17:20.360 And that's exactly what it is. 00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:22.200 You can't just know it in... 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:24.319 We can't just know it in our heads. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.880 We can't just receive it by teaching. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.040 We've got to accept that it's better felt than tell. 00:17:30.040 --> 00:17:32.080 We put our faith and trust in Jesus. 00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:35.840 It's not just a matter of knowing about the truth. 00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:41.240 It's about knowing and experiencing and putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ who is 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:42.240 the truth. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:49.240 So, just as we come to a conclusion then, let's revisit John's tough words in the light 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:56.520 of that because he says in verse 21 and verse 22, I write to you not because you do not 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:59.680 know the truth but because you know it and because no lies are the truth. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:03.359 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.079 This is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:11.799 And maybe we can understand the toughness of these words a little bit better in the 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:20.440 light of what he's protecting and in the light of the importance of the objective truth as 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:24.920 well as subjectively putting our faith and trust in Jesus. 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:31.840 So he's just, he's really speaking here about those who were teaching against Christ, antichrist, 00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:38.800 not so much a person as more of a belief system that they were advocating that was causing 00:18:38.800 --> 00:18:40.600 great problems within the church. 00:18:40.600 --> 00:18:46.600 And so he's really saying it's not okay for us to change the truth, to suit ourselves 00:18:46.600 --> 00:18:50.440 if it's true. 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:54.960 If it's not true, none of it matters anyway, isn't that right? 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:57.200 And John gets that. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:00.680 John gets that he's saying that it matters because it's true. 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:02.519 And if it's true, then we need to protect it. 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.440 And if it's not true, let's just throw it out the window anyway. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:10.840 And the baptism and the worship and the Bible and all the rest is a waste of time. 00:19:10.840 --> 00:19:17.240 It's that kind of fundamental reality that he says that we can't change what has been 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:18.240 revealed. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:25.120 We can believe it, we can reject it, you can pause it alternatives to it, but the truth, 00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:27.640 you know, by its very nature is exclusive. 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.279 Now, you know, it's absolute. 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:31.920 It can't be changed. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.720 You know, meaningless Google facts for you. 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:42.200 It takes 18 minutes and 19 seconds for light to travel from the sun to the earth. 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:45.599 And you can disbelieve that. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.880 You can reject it. 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:52.880 You can ignore it, but it's just a fact or the fact that it's impossible for a crocodile 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.920 to stick its tongue out. 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:58.560 Now, there's a fact. 00:19:58.560 --> 00:20:03.920 It's an insignificant fact unless you're faced with a crocodile face to face, maybe. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:08.280 Well, even then, I'm not sure if it may be a deal of difference, you probably want to 00:20:08.280 --> 00:20:12.400 make sure that as a person you can run very fast, faster than a crocodile. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.320 But you know, there are facts in the world. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:19.519 There are things that are true and things that are important, things that are not quite 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.159 so important but are true. 00:20:21.159 --> 00:20:29.240 And John is reminding us here that this is the claim of Jesus Christ that He is the way, 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:30.599 the truth and the life. 00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:32.919 No one comes to the Father but by Him. 00:20:32.919 --> 00:20:37.919 And we all face up to that and we need to protect that and we need to live it in our 00:20:37.919 --> 00:20:39.919 lives. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:45.600 And ask the question, do the alternatives that maybe you believe in, if you're not a 00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:49.160 Christian, do they stack up? 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:51.440 Do they provide answers? 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.480 Do they bring us hope for the future in this life and beyond? 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:01.720 Can they provide us the identity and the security and the future that we are looking for? 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:03.480 John thinks not. 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.720 So he calls those false teachers that were plaguing this early church. 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:08.720 He calls them liars. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:11.360 It's just strong language. 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:13.000 He says they're leading other people astray. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.160 He says they're counterfeit. 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:16.559 He cares because he cares. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:19.759 It's not because he doesn't love them and he's harsh. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:27.360 It's because he cares and he wants the children in that church, which is all the church, to 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:30.519 be protected. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:37.440 And so knowing faith in Jesus Christ is for us today as Christians, everything as well. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.120 It's absolutely everything. 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:42.759 Everything else pales in in significance. 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:46.480 All the other things that sometimes we regard as important, we need to watch that they don't 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.360 become idols for us or false messiahs. 00:21:50.360 --> 00:21:54.880 In whom or in what are we putting our trust as believers? 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.279 What is important to us? 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:58.279 What is significant? 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:04.840 Do we remind ourselves, as John wants us to be reminded of, of the importance of unity 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:10.919 around this gospel message, around this person Jesus and around the salvation he offers, 00:22:10.919 --> 00:22:18.199 the forgiveness, the opportunity to know his love in our lives, his life that becomes eternal 00:22:18.199 --> 00:22:24.279 in us so that even Jesus, even though we die, yet shall we live. 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:31.359 And recognize that for us as Christians, it's always a battle. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:33.079 It's always a battle to do this. 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:36.480 It's always a battle to protect the truth. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:44.359 There's always doubts and fears and alternatives and temptations that come our way to take 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:49.720 us away from Jesus and from His truth because it's a battle, because it's a struggle. 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:54.159 And sometimes even religious leaders do that today, as they did in John's time. 00:22:54.159 --> 00:22:58.720 They'll say, no, I don't believe the gospel that has been spoken for the last 2,000 years. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.720 There's something better. 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:00.720 There's something newer. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:02.759 There's something more flash. 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:06.599 There's something that'll give you wealth, health, prosperity in this life. 00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:08.559 Don't believe all the other stuff that you heard. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.799 It's old hat. 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:12.559 It's for old times sake. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.240 It's not relevant anymore. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:19.839 Then we find that those who peddle a different message and deny either that Jesus came in 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:26.359 the flesh or that he's the only Savior, they are anti-Christ in the same way that they 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:32.000 are leading people astray in the great, great burden. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.200 He's on them for doing so. 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.480 So we seek as Christians to know it. 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:39.319 We seek to live it. 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:40.319 We rejoice it. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:46.119 We come under its forgiveness and the grace of God and His transforming love. 00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:53.519 And we know it transforms families and individuals and brings friends together and enemies closer. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:24:02.440 And we pray that this gospel which will be symbolized in the baptism very shortly through 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:10.440 the washing of water, symbolizing the cleansing from sin and the life, water being the source 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:16.559 of life, meaning as of the Spirit of God who comes in, dwells in us by faith, which is 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:18.079 promised to the children of bleers. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.559 I'll say a little bit more about that in a moment. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:27.599 So we give thanks for sometimes, all the time, but we give thanks that sometimes in the Bible 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:34.599 are tough words because it reminds us that there's something worth protecting. 00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:39.119 There's something that we need to hold on to as believers and something that we share 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:44.279 because we know our lives have been changed, have been turned upside down for good by the 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:46.159 gospel ourselves. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:51.640 And we want to protect that what we have heard from the beginning, what's always been there 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:56.200 and live it with the strength and courage that God gives us. 00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:00.640 And I hope if you're here today, you're maybe not a Christian, that you'll be at least challenged 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:06.080 to think of the message that has always been that comes through God's Word in the Bible 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:10.880 about Jesus who loves us, who loves you and who gave himself for you. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:16.320 Let's pray briefly before moving forward to the baptism. 00:25:16.320 --> 00:25:20.520 Father God, we thank You for Your Word, we thank You for its truth, we thank You that 00:25:20.520 --> 00:25:29.040 we believe it to be truth and exclusive that we think otherwise we just should walk away 00:25:29.040 --> 00:25:30.960 and not pretend. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:36.520 And we thank You for who You are and for Your patience and grace and love and forgiveness 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:44.599 and we pray that You would bless Your Word today and remember us as a church family, 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:49.639 that You'd protect us, protect our unity, protect the way we love one another and also 00:25:49.639 --> 00:25:55.440 the way we love our friends and neighbors and help us to introduce them to the Savior 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:58.920 who's made such a difference to us in our lives also. 00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:00.400 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:07.400 Amen.