Jeff, is this yours?
Okay, I'll put it here.
I won't put it there.
It'll interfere.
Okay, here we go.
Sorry.
Well, what are you going to do next?
Pray.
Never underestimate the significance or the importance of prayer in the preaching of the Word of God.
A Bible truth is that all of us in this room, every one of us, have issues and challenges that complicate the process of life.
Wouldn't you agree with that?
Every one of us.
And there's not a part, there's not a moment of our present existence that is not kind of troubled a little bit by the reality of our ongoing struggle with indwelling sin.
Everybody here.
And I am so very thankful for the clear, explicit teaching of the Word of God that preaching, which is a very important part of church life,
is something that relies first upon the clarity and the undeniable authority of the Word of God.
I am not up here to do anything less than to make the Word of God clear.
You didn't come here.
You didn't come here to hear my opinions.
By the way, my opinions change periodically, as yours do.
You are here in some sense to hear what does God say.
And thankfully, we have Bibles to help us know that.
We are also dependent upon the enabling of the Spirit of God because apart from the Spirit of God,
we all have ten ears.
We don't hear very well.
Is that true?
How many of you?
We don't hear very well.
It was a little while ago.
Is Judith in here this morning?
Ah, we're...
You know, she's my darling, my bride.
But a while back, she said to me, she said,
Honey, I don't know if you're having early signs of Alzheimer's or you're just not listening well.
Now, that was a very challenging thought to me because I had two very uncomfortable choices.
Now, some of you out there are young and you think, what's the deal with that?
But for me, it was like, oh, let's see.
And so I opted for that I'm not listening very well because, you know, the Alzheimer's case is like a whoa.
So it's like, we don't listen very well.
And the natural tendency is that we're all here this morning listening to ourselves more often than we ought to be.
Wouldn't you agree with that?
We're listening to ourselves.
We're listening to the world.
We're listening to our own moodiness.
Our inclination to not put Christ at the center.
And this morning, as we take the text in hand, I'm going to appeal to you that you who know Christ would do something in the flow of preaching.
Number one, that you would pray for me as I preach.
But number two, that you would pray that the Holy Spirit would help you listen.
Now, I'll tell you ahead of time what the outcome will be if that earnest and humble prayer.
How many of you understand what I just said?
If that earnest and humble prayer is prayed, it will be that in the week that follows, you will be a better listener to Jesus.
Don't you like knowing ahead of time what happens when you do the right things?
I mean, really.
Wouldn't it be nice next week to be able to walk in here and say,
Hey, listen, as a result of the Word of God making a difference in my heart,
and as a result of the enabling of the Spirit of God,
I am not so caught up with myself.
And in those moments where my heart has been inclined towards sin,
the Spirit of God has brought back to my mind the sweetness of the Scriptures
and has rescued me from that natural inclination that I have.
Now, know ahead of time, the purpose of preaching is to put you on the spot
where you respond with humility to what God has to say.
Not just now, but the whole week long.
Wouldn't that be nice?
How many of you admit that if you were listening more often to God,
your life would be less messy?
Smile at me so I know you know I'm talking to you.
My life would be less messy.
Earlier this week, boy, I hate to tell stories on myself,
but it just shows the progressive, the carnality of the heart.
We have window shakers.
How many of you know what window shakers are?
We're in the remodeling stage.
When I get to heaven, it will be all done.
But before that, I'm always remodeling.
And we don't have central air.
We have little window shakers we bought off of Craigslist,
and they're insufferably loud.
They do keep the house moderately cool.
But I was downstairs, and Judith was upstairs,
and I was trying to get her attention.
She came down the steps and said,
You're yelling at me.
I said, I am not!
Now, that was the air conditioners kind of prompting that, you know.
And then, truthfully, you know, I'm 66 and a pastor,
so, you know, I knew, stopped him.
That's not good.
But later on, I was driving somewhere to take care of something,
and I found myself beginning to struggle with anger.
Does anybody else have a problem with kind of working on their anger still,
still working at that?
You know, it's like I was just, I mean, I was livid inside.
Now, you know, settled and wasn't saying anything outside, you know.
But inside, and I thought to myself,
it was just a couple, about three or four minutes of driving in the car,
and I was just beside myself, and I thought to myself,
I could hear the Spirit of God say to me this,
the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.
And then I heard the Spirit of God.
Now, what do I mean by when I heard the Spirit of God?
I don't know how to hear the voice in the right ear, you know,
because the left ear is a little deaf.
But I, here's what I believe the Scriptures say in John 16.
It says, the Spirit brings to mind the Scriptures.
That's his job.
And so the Spirit of God was prompting me, saying,
Tim, not only do you need to remember that passage in James,
but there's all kinds of texts in Proverbs that tell us that an angry man
is just a, you know, kind of a walking disaster.
And they're, bang, bang, bang, bang.
I thought, you, stop while you're ahead.
You follow that?
I bring that up because this morning,
the center of our passage is this issue.
Listen to Jesus.
And the truth of the matter is, is every single one of us here,
whether we are saved or not, whether we've come to faith or not,
we need to hear what Jesus has to say
because it is a matter of life and death.
It is a matter of eternal blessing or eternal heartache.
And there's not a one of us in here this morning
that does not need the help of the Holy Spirit
to enlarge our heart and open our ear
to hear the sweetness of the communication
of the glorious Savior that came into this world for me and for you.
With that as kind of a background and an outline or an opening,
and I'm kind of sympathetic to David,
who's back there trying to figure out,
when does he start so I can snap up a slide,
I want you to know that what we're looking at this morning
in John chapter 5
is kind of the after effects of what happened
when Jesus came back to Jerusalem.
You remember, he came into Jerusalem,
he cleansed the temple, a lot of pushback on that,
and he went off for a period of time back to his area in Galilee,
he stopped at the well at Sychar,
and many came to know Christ.
But then he comes back to Jerusalem,
and immediately upon arriving back in Jerusalem,
he kind of walks down to the pool at Bethesda,
and he heals someone.
He heals someone.
And it's very interesting when you kind of look at the healing situation,
Jesus walks up to a guy and says,
hey, what's the deal with you?
Do you want to be healed?
And the guy hasn't even figured out who he's talking to
or who's in front of him or what is needed.
He says, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I can't get down to the pool.
And Jesus says, take up your bed and walk.
And the guy does.
He listens to Jesus.
And so here he is, kind of,
just imagine this.
He is walking through the streets of Jerusalem,
carrying his bed with him,
and there are Pharisees who are saying,
see that guy?
Hey, how come you're taking your bed and walking like that?
And the guy, he says,
the guy who healed me said, do it.
I mean, after all, the person who heals you
has a right to tell you what to do.
Would you buy that?
And so here the guy is.
He's marching down the streets, carrying his bed.
That was not something you did on the Sabbath.
And they were kind of really wigged out about this.
Look at what happens in verse 17.
Jesus, when he had interaction with them,
he said, yeah, how come you're telling him
to carry his bed on the Sabbath?
You know, and Jesus says, hey,
my dad's on the clock right now, and I am too.
I mean, that was just like a slap in their face.
Do you follow that?
And so what we read in verse 18 is this.
It says, this is why the Jews were seeking
all the more to kill him,
because not only was he breaking the Sabbath,
bad thing to do,
but he was even calling God his own father,
making him equal to God.
What we find from chapter 5, verse 19,
to the end of this chapter,
is a very careful and pointed response
that Jesus gives to his religious challengers
to make it clear that he indeed is the Son of God.
One of the things that a lot of people seem to believe today
about Jesus is that, I mean, not people who've come to faith,
but a lot of people kind of,
Jesus was a pretty nice guy if he existed at all.
And he kind of, you know,
trundled along through life
and was a little misunderstood,
but after all, he was really about just doing good things.
And, you know, he's really not a bad guy to follow
and model our lives after,
but he really wasn't into kind of letting people know
that they had a major problem with sin
and he came to be the Savior.
That's not true at all.
Jesus very intentionally made the issue of his mission clear,
both to the spiritual leaders of the day
and to all who would listen.
And we're going to see that here this morning
because we have religious leaders
who come to him and say,
yeah, and who are you?
And Jesus said, well, I'm glad you asked.
Let me tell you.
So the first thing we want to see
is as he points out there in verse 19,
he says this,
Jesus said to them,
truly, truly,
and by the way,
when you hear the word truly, truly,
what is it?
What is it?
It's a literary device,
the same as using a highlighter
or a yellow marker in your notes.
What is that for?
Pay attention.
Get this.
Pay attention.
This is important.
And so here's Jesus as he starts in.
He's going to say,
listen, I'm equal to the Father
and so let me help you understand that.
He says,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
the Son can do nothing of his own accord,
but only what he sees the Father doing
for whatever the Father does,
the Son does likewise.
Jesus responded to his critics
who were really upset
that he called himself God's Son and equal
by pointing out that his actions
and his Father's actions
were exactly the same.
How many of you heard the saying,
like Father, like...
Come on.
There we go.
Yeah?
Like Father, like Son.
And there's an element of truth to that
in broad terms.
I mean, our fathers affect the way we think
and the way we act,
and we hope that's favorable.
In this case, certainly was.
Jesus makes the point.
He says,
I do nothing,
absolutely nothing,
except what my Father once done.
I want you to fix that in your minds.
So the takeaway from that is this.
Jesus healed
when the Father wanted him to heal.
Now look at the passage again.
Jesus said,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
the Son can do nothing
of his own accord.
Now the implication is not
that Jesus was kind of
some robot over here,
and when the Father said,
you know,
that's the way it kind of played out,
you know,
it's like,
you know,
going over here to the pool
and doing the guy.
Jesus was just saying,
listen,
my dad and I are like this,
okay?
And I'm doing what he wants me to do.
I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do,
and I'm doing it exactly the way he wants it done.
Look at verse 19
so that we understand this.
When he says,
I can do nothing of my own accord,
but only what he sees the Father doing,
there are two pieces in this
that I want you to understand.
For one,
he's saying,
I do exactly
the things God wants done
for the reason he wants it done.
I do exactly
what the Father wants done
for the reason
he wants it done.
Jesus had walked down
to the pool at Bethesda.
He had walked past
hundreds.
I don't know how many were there,
but we can guess
it was a gathering place
of many, many
very infirm
and troubled people,
and he walked past
all these others,
and he goes to the man,
and he says,
hey,
do you want to be healed?
Right here.
He passed the others.
He says,
do you?
The reason God,
that Christ healed
that particular man
was because
that was the man
that God the Father
had intended for Jesus to heal,
and he did it
according to the Father's will.
Furthermore,
not only is it a matter
of doing something
for the same reason,
but it's also doing it
exactly the Father's way.
doing something
for the same reason
and doing it
the same way.
How many of you
eat on the backside
of your fork?
Hello?
Anybody out here?
If I were in England
or in India,
how many of you know
that English do not eat
with the scoopy part up?
they eat with the scoopy part out.
Now,
how that works,
I don't know.
Well,
I do know
because they always use
a knife
to push the food
up on the backside.
How many of you know
that food wants
to crawl down the fork
when you have it
upside down like that?
So,
where do kids learn
to eat
with the scoopy part
of the fork
aimed the wrong way?
At home.
Right?
They do it the same way
their dad does it.
And here is Jesus saying,
I do things
for the same reason
as my father
and I do them
exactly the same way.
Imagine the absolute smack
that this was
to his critics
who are all
kind of bent out of shape
about the fact
that Jesus was healing
on the Sabbath
and here's what he says
to them.
Let's get this straight.
He says,
I healed on the Sabbath
because that's what
my dad once done
and I did it
exactly the way
he wanted it done.
On the Sabbath.
So,
here's the question.
As we grow
to be like Jesus
and is he interested
in you growing
to be like Jesus?
What's the answer?
Come on,
everybody look up
because I think
this is important
to understand.
If you are here
this morning
and you are a child
of God,
do you understand
that he's left you here
instead of taking you home
so you grow
to be more like Jesus
over time?
Stop and ask yourself
the question,
am I still as moody
and as self-centered
and as easily irritated
as I was 10 years ago?
If that's the case,
there's a problem.
Everybody agrees,
don't you?
You understand that?
If you're,
how many of you know
what an OI is?
This is maybe a new word
for some of you.
The word OI
refers to
offendability index.
Write that down
on your notes
so you don't,
you can use it
with other people.
Don't apply it to yourself.
This is for others.
A high OI
is people who have
a high offendability index.
If your offendability index
is not kind of diminishing
going down,
there's something wrong.
Would you agree with that?
You see,
as we grow to be
more like Jesus,
we become more gentle.
We become less irritable.
We're not as bent out of shape
about as many things
as we used to be.
I understand
that's the way
you used to be.
But as we grow in grace,
there should be indications
of the fact
that we're changing.
And so,
here is Jesus
responding to his critics
and he says,
hey, let's get this clear.
I'm doing exactly
the way my dad
wants things done.
So how often
are the things
that you do
and the reason
for you doing them
like Christ?
How often are you
responding and acting
and doing things
exactly because
Jesus wants them done?
That's a fair takeaway,
isn't it?
Let's look at the second point,
verse 20.
Equal in communion.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him
all that he himself
is doing.
Now,
everybody knows
Jesus loves me,
this I know.
There's another little song
that goes along with it.
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children
of the world,
red, yellow,
black, and white.
You follow that?
Jesus loves a lot of people.
God loves a lot of people.
What was Jesus saying here?
It goes back to that sign,
my father and I are like this.
He was saying that
his relationship
with his father
was one of unbridled love.
Jesus was not simply
claiming affection
and a tolerant love
that a superior
has for a subordinate.
He was speaking of
the kind of love
that comes in a
intimate communion
where both parties
are completely open
and free
and sweet
in their relationship.
And I want you to understand
that no Jew
would ever have made
this claim
that I am in this
sweet,
unbelievable
love relationship
with the father
in which
as a result of that
I know
what he knows.
Turn back in your Bible
just for a moment
to Deuteronomy
chapter 29, 29.
Deuteronomy
chapter 29, 29.
Here is Moses
preaching his
concluding sermons.
And in 29, 29
he makes an interesting
statement.
It says this,
the secret things
belong to the Lord
our God.
How many of you
have had to come
to grips with that?
There are some things
about God
that you haven't
figured out yet.
In fact,
can I tell you
a little secret?
You never will.
I remember earlier
this morning
as I was praying
and having time
with the Lord
I came up a chrono.
How many of you
have kind of
wrapped yourself
around a particular
thought and it
just kind of,
it's like looking
at the sun.
It's too much
after just a couple
of seconds.
I remember,
forget what it was,
but it was like,
oh man,
let's get,
Jared,
where are you?
Jared?
Jared speaks
about his brain
hurting sometimes.
It was one of those,
I was having a brain
cramp thinking about
these two beautiful
theological truths.
and here's what it says.
It says,
the secret things
belong to the Lord
our God,
but the things
that are revealed
belong to us
and to our children
forever.
That we may do
all the words
of this law.
There's some things
about God
that you and I
don't get,
but what Jesus
was saying is,
hey,
I do get them.
And I get them
because we are
in sweet and intimate
communion.
And my relationship
with the Father
is of such a nature
that I understand
the picture
clearly.
As I was meditating
and praying
about this passage,
I got to thinking,
what would it have
been like
to have just been
able to sit in
when God the Father
and God the Son
were talking about
the plan of redemption?
Do you follow that?
I mean,
we know that
our salvation
was planned
before the foundation
of the world.
And can you imagine
the conversations
between God the Father
and God the Son?
And man,
I have this wonderful idea
of how to save
fallen mankind.
You know,
those wretched,
miserable rebels
who hate me
and hate you?
Here's my idea.
Why don't you go down
there and die?
And Jesus says,
right on.
Man,
that's phenomenal.
And I'm with it.
And I love it.
And I'm,
see,
Jesus is saying,
go back to that passage
in John chapter 5.
He says,
hey, listen,
the Father loves me.
And he has shown me
all that he is doing.
as Jesus marched
towards the cross.
He was not walking
towards the cross
with a quiet resignation.
It tells us in Hebrews chapter 12
that for the joy
that was set before him,
he endured the cross.
Do you follow that?
He anticipated the blessing
and he came
with an understanding
of the work
of the Father
in its details.
He says,
let me tell you something,
Pharisees.
My dad and I
are like this.
There's one other thing
that I want you to see there.
It says there
in the latter part
of verse 20,
it says,
in greater works
than these
will he show him
so that you may marvel.
Well,
what are those two works?
One is,
Jesus makes it clear
and we're dealing now
with the matter of
equal in authority
and glory.
Okay?
Equal in authority
and glory.
And so,
we're recognizing here
that Jesus is telling him,
you want to know
who I am?
I am God the Son
and I have the right
to speak the way I do
because my Father
and I are close.
What are the two things
that he speaks of here
that are miraculous,
significant works
that are going to cause
people to marvel?
One,
the Son will raise
the dead to life.
Jesus made this statement.
He says,
I am the resurrection
and
whosoever believes in me
shall not
die,
perish.
Memorial Day,
my sister and I
went out
to where
my dad is buried.
He's buried
quite close
to where Tom Parsons
is buried
and quite close
to where
Hal Burchett is buried.
And I remember
walking past
Hal's grave,
sweet man
that served
our fellowship
as just an
unbelievably godly
deacon
and Tom Parsons,
what a blessing
he was to us
in our fellowship
in so many
different ways.
And I remember
walking past
Hal's grave
and walking past
Tom's grave
and past my father's
and thinking to myself,
hey listen,
the day is coming
that this little
place of ground
is going to be
ripped apart
and Jesus is going
to raise him up
from the dead
and we are going
to go wow.
You got that?
I don't know
what we're going
to say on the way up
but probably
Tim's going to say
wow.
And I was like,
yes.
Jesus said it.
He says,
I am the resurrection
and the life.
And here he is
telling the Jews
ahead of time,
he says,
listen,
you're going
to see some things
that are going
to make you go.
What was that?
He says,
you watch me.
I'm going to raise
people from dead.
And he did that,
right?
He did that.
Widow
with a bunch
of people
trundling her little
boy out to the
cemetery where
they're going
to bury him
and Jesus stops
the whole crowd.
I mean,
can you imagine
standing out
in the middle
of 270
when the hearse
is going by
and says,
stop.
Open the car door,
walk out,
get this guy
out of here.
I'm going
to heal him,
raise him up.
And here's
Jesus,
raises that guy.
And do you know
that his spectacular
displays of power
were of such a nature
that his enemies
could do nothing
except try to plan
to undo the evidence?
Turn in your Bibles,
if you will,
to John chapter 12
just for a moment.
John chapter 12.
Jesus made it clear,
I'm going
to raise the dead,
that's what he says
there in chapter 5.
But look at
John chapter 12.
John chapter 12
is kind of a follow-up
to what happened
in John chapter 11
where you'll remember
that Lazarus,
Jesus' friend,
died.
Remember how
that plays off?
Back there
in John chapter 11,
Jesus makes it clear
that he's the
resurrection of life
and raises Lazarus
from the dead.
Well,
here's how the
religious leaders
handled the evidence
of Christ's power.
John chapter 12,
verse 10.
So the chief priests
made plans to what?
Read it.
Kill,
to put Lazarus
to death as well.
When you don't like
the facts,
destroy the evidence.
How many of you
got that one?
The best way
to not get in trouble
when you've done
something wrong
is get rid of
the evidence.
Do you follow that?
And here's Jesus
heals someone.
They couldn't deal
with the evidence
and say,
let's figure out
how we're going
to destroy the evidence.
Well,
Jesus said,
going there in
John chapter 5,
he says,
let me tell you
something.
As the Father
raises the dead
and gives them life,
so also the Son
gives life
to whom he will.
The Son,
Jesus,
will raise the dead
to life.
Secondly,
the Son
will judge
all mankind.
Let me have you
think with me
just for a moment
back to the passage
in Genesis chapter 18.
And just for the sake
of time this morning,
understand that in
Genesis chapter 18
is where God reveals
to Abraham
that he's going
to trash,
he's going to destroy
the city of Sodom
and Gomorrah.
And he's going
to destroy them
for their wickedness
and for their
sexual misbehavior.
And here is Abraham
who knows that Lot
is in that city
and he starts out
his little appeal,
he says,
shall not the judge
of the whole earth
do right?
That's his,
God's the judge
of the whole earth.
Now,
we have some
wishy-washy theology
out there that,
have you ever heard
somebody say,
well,
I'm not the judge?
That's true.
You don't have the right
to send anybody to hell.
Clear that one
out of the air.
But do you have
the right to call
a rotten watermelon
a rotten watermelon?
The answer is yes.
Huh?
Do you have
the responsibility
of identifying
what is right and wrong
according to the authority
of the word of God?
Yes,
we don't condemn.
We don't,
we're not the ones
who execute the judgment
but we are the ones
who can recognize
right from wrong.
And here's Jesus saying,
let me tell you something,
I'm not just the one
who recognizes
right and wrong,
I'm the one
who will be the judge.
And when Jesus said
what he did,
look at that,
verse 23, 22,
the father judges no one
but has given
all judgment
to the son.
I want you to think
about this very carefully.
I want you to look at me.
Here's the deal.
The day is coming
when all humanity
will be judged.
And those who have resisted
the grace of God
and refuse to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ
are going to find
that the one who judges
their unrepentant
and rebellious spirit
will be the very one
who died for their sins.
That's pretty significant.
That is a profound,
that's a profound
indication of the sympathy
and the tenderness of God.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
He gives to the one
who came to be our Savior
the right of condemning
those who refuse
what he did for them.
Turn in your Bibles
so you follow the thought here
over to Acts chapter 17
verse 31.
Acts chapter 17
is Paul preaching
in the Agora
in Athens.
The Athenians did not have TV.
They didn't have Netflix.
But they found entertainment
in sitting around
and just jawing
about various, you know,
philosophical
and theological ideas.
They were great at debate.
They go on and on
about everything, you know.
And they heard,
hey, Paul's in town.
You know what?
He believes in the resurrection.
You're kidding me.
So they had Paul show up
and he preached
a wingdinger of a sermon.
Started out pretty gentle,
but let's get down
to verse 31
because that's where the real,
he pulled the trigger
on the truth.
He says,
it's not that he didn't
pull it earlier,
but here he says,
because he has fixed a day
on which he will judge
the world in righteousness
by a man whom he has appointed
and of this he has given
assurance to all
by raising him from the dead.
The very one.
God the Father.
Sent.
To this world.
To die for my sins
and for your sins
will be the one
who judges you
in the eternal day
if you reject him now.
And it says in the book of Hebrews
what a sober thing it is
to face the wrath of a God
who in his holiness
judges sin
and who his mercy
has sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to be our Savior.
when you walk away
from that blessing
and say,
I am not going
to yield my life
and my own
eternal destiny
to anybody
but myself.
So let me have you close
by looking at verse 24.
Truly, truly.
And by the way,
what does truly, truly?
That's yellow marker.
That's an ink line
underneath the verse.
You know,
it's a truly, truly.
Jesus is saying,
hey, get the point.
I say to you,
whoever hears my word
and believes him
who sent me
has eternal life.
Is Jesus talking to you
this morning?
And the answer is yes!
He is.
Those who hear
and believe have life.
Those who refuse
will be judged
for all eternity.
whoever hears my word
and believes him
who sent me,
that's God.
The Father who sent him
has eternal life.
He does not come
into judgment
but has passed
from death
to life.
I want you to stop
just for a moment.
If you're sitting here
and you do not know Jesus,
here's what I want you to do.
I want you to think with me.
I want you to think
just for a moment,
just kind of,
you've lain in bed
at night
and thought about
some of the wicked,
despicable things
that you've done.
We've all done that.
Here's what the Bible says.
Romans chapter 8
says this,
there is now therefore
no condemnation
to them who are
in Christ Jesus.
Do you understand that?
Why is it that
there is no condemnation?
It's not because
God just kind of says,
eh, no big.
No, sin's not a problem
for me.
It is a supreme problem
for God.
And yet,
He sent Jesus Christ
to die in your place,
to die your death,
and to satisfy
the penalty
of a holy God
against your sin.
And He has provided
salvation
if you will come
with humility
and brokenness
and say,
I stand justly condemned
before a holy God.
But I believe
what Jesus did.
He came in my place
and He died my death
and He has satisfied
my debt
and I believe in Him.
And those who believe
in Christ,
they move from death
to life.
Death
to life.
I want to encourage you
this morning
as you listen carefully,
I want you to understand
that at the heart
of your faith,
if you're here this morning
and know Christ,
is that if you are
a child of God,
one of the things
that characterizes you
is that He has opened
your ear
and given to you
the ability
to hear Jesus better.
Isn't that right?
So a practical question
this morning is
stop and think.
Do I hear Him better today
than I did
a year ago?
Is there less
dissonance?
Is there less
selfishness?
Is there less
bitterness?
Is there less
covetousness?
Is there less
anger?
If you are His child,
one of the things
that I can tell you
is that the grace of God
will work
to help you grow.
And my appeal to you
would be this.
If you're His child,
be one who seeks
that growth
rather than resist it
because guess what
I can tell you about
when you resist His grace
when you're His child?
He's going to get you
there anyway.
And so I would appeal
to you this morning,
hey listen Lord,
I want to grow.
I want my life
to indicate
an ear
to the
Word
of Christ.
I want you
to bow your heads.
And as Jeff
comes up to lead us
in our closing song,
I want to quietly
ask you
a very pointed question
without anybody
looking around
this morning.
I want you to stop
and ask yourself
the question,
do I know
Jesus Christ
as my Savior?
That's not complicated.
Yes or no?
Do I want
to continue
resisting
the prompting
and the pleading
and the gentleness
of the Spirit
of God
that is working
to convict me
of my sin?
Do I want
to keep resisting
that?
Or will I
with humility
and brokenness
humble myself
and say,
I recognize
I am
a sinner,
bankrupt
and broken
and one
for whom
Jesus died
and rose again?
will you
in the face
of the reality
of the condition
of your soul
respond in faith
and say,
Jesus,
I need you
to be my Savior
and I trust you
to save me?
And if that's
the prayer
of your heart,
I would plead
with you this morning
to humble yourself
and slip up your hand
and say,
I trust
Jesus
as my Savior.
Slip your hand up.
Lord Christ,
we are thankful
for the fact
that the Word
makes the issue
of heaven and hell
clear
and your Spirit
is actively
at work
bringing people
to a point
of saying yes
or no
to the clarity
of Scripture.
thankful
also,
Lord,
that your
winsome
and gentle
Spirit
continues
to deal
with us
after we
leave this
place.
And I would
plead that
you would
draw those
who are here
that need
Jesus
to the cross
and that
you would
convict those
that are
His children
and your
children
to grow
in a
desire
to hear
your voice
more plainly
and more
clearly
and to
be more
like
you.
We ask
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.
Let's stand
together as we
sing our
closing song
and as we're
singing this
it might be
that Spirit
of God
has prompted
your heart
this morning.
There's something
you need to
respond to.