WEBVTT 00:00:07.528 --> 00:00:14.557 We have a children's church for children ages 3 to 7, downstairs for a Bible lesson. 00:00:14.557 --> 00:00:18.710 If any children are here and would like to go down, our teacher is standing at the door. 00:00:18.710 --> 00:00:25.853 Just go ahead and make your way out right now and then you'll be coming back up right after the sermon this morning. 00:00:25.853 --> 00:00:33.554 I guess they do this because they don't want any kids falling asleep during the sermon. 00:00:33.554 --> 00:00:49.893 Okay, for the Advent season we're taking a break from the Acts of the Apostles our study in the Acts of the Apostles and we're going to be looking at just the first chapter of John's Gospel for the next four weeks. 00:00:49.893 --> 00:00:55.423 And there's a sermon outline if you want to follow along this morning, our researchers have one. 00:00:55.423 --> 00:00:58.264 If you didn't get one and would like one, just raise your hand. 00:00:58.264 --> 00:00:59.387 They'd be happy to help. 00:00:59.387 --> 00:01:07.450 You Got a lot of complicated stuff to talk about today. 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:11.349 The outline will help you follow me a little bit. 00:01:11.349 --> 00:01:16.070 See, john chapter 1 is about Jesus coming into the world. 00:01:16.070 --> 00:01:31.359 While there's no detailed account of Jesus' birth in John's Gospel, like there is in Matthew and Luke, birth in John's Gospel, like there is in Matthew and Luke, john's first chapter is a way of telling us what Jesus' birth means. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:38.614 John chapter 1 is filled with theological truths about who Jesus is and why he was born. 00:01:38.614 --> 00:01:42.680 So let me read the passage we're going to look at and then we'll continue. 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:46.725 If you have a Bible, you want to turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. 00:01:46.725 --> 00:01:49.430 I'll read verses 1 to 11. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:55.185 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:01:55.185 --> 00:01:58.031 He was in the beginning with God. 00:01:58.031 --> 00:02:01.384 All things came into being through him and apart from him. 00:02:01.384 --> 00:02:02.787 Nothing came into being. 00:02:02.787 --> 00:02:09.205 That has come into being In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:02:09.205 --> 00:02:13.861 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. 00:02:13.861 --> 00:02:24.450 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John, and he came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him. 00:02:24.450 --> 00:02:29.061 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 00:02:29.061 --> 00:02:34.592 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 00:02:34.592 --> 00:02:51.598 He was in the world and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him and he came to his own did not know him, and he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. 00:02:51.598 --> 00:02:56.760 There's a lot of gold in this here passage. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:05.552 So to help us understand what Christmas means, I want to focus first of all on one word in this passage that John repeats seven times. 00:03:05.552 --> 00:03:08.096 It's the word light. 00:03:08.096 --> 00:03:11.949 Jesus came want to know what Christmas means. 00:03:11.949 --> 00:03:16.290 Jesus came as a light to the world which is in darkness. 00:03:16.290 --> 00:03:19.207 A light into the darkness is one way. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.725 Obviously, christmas is celebrated, has been celebrated for years. 00:03:24.725 --> 00:03:31.478 We see Christmas tree lights, we see fireplaces lit up, candles, all kinds of lights. 00:03:31.478 --> 00:03:33.044 Just take a drive through the neighborhood. 00:03:33.044 --> 00:03:34.269 It's light, light, light. 00:03:34.269 --> 00:03:38.344 It's a fitting metaphor. 00:03:38.344 --> 00:03:42.834 But this passage is going to tell us three things about the Christmas light. 00:03:42.834 --> 00:03:45.266 First, we need the light. 00:03:45.266 --> 00:03:49.250 Second, the true light has come. 00:03:49.250 --> 00:03:53.250 And third, how to receive the true light. 00:03:54.820 --> 00:04:05.711 All through John, chapter 1, john uses metaphors to describe Jesus, to help us understand what it means, what he means, what Christmas means. 00:04:05.711 --> 00:04:07.486 Metaphors help us do that. 00:04:07.486 --> 00:04:11.691 Light is the first metaphor John uses in chapter 1. 00:04:11.691 --> 00:04:14.862 He mentions it seven times In the Bible. 00:04:14.862 --> 00:04:16.930 Light can refer to a number of things. 00:04:16.930 --> 00:04:23.233 Literally, light refers to the brightness of the sun or the energy from a candle or a lamp. 00:04:23.233 --> 00:04:27.571 Metaphorically, light can refer to things that are good, pleasant. 00:04:27.571 --> 00:04:31.470 Light can sometimes refer to intelligence. 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:34.990 We have an enlightened understanding, so on. 00:04:35.661 --> 00:04:43.629 In this passage John is deliberately alluding to the creation account to begin his gospel from Genesis 1. 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:49.125 Listen to these together Genesis 1, 1 to 3. 00:04:49.125 --> 00:04:52.656 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 00:04:52.656 --> 00:04:54.401 The earth was formless and void. 00:04:54.401 --> 00:05:00.262 Darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 00:05:00.262 --> 00:05:02.586 And God said let there be light. 00:05:02.586 --> 00:05:04.773 And there was light. 00:05:04.773 --> 00:05:06.656 John, chapter 1. 00:05:06.656 --> 00:05:10.747 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. 00:05:10.747 --> 00:05:12.028 The Word was God. 00:05:12.028 --> 00:05:13.752 He was in the beginning with God. 00:05:13.752 --> 00:05:15.802 All things came to being through him. 00:05:15.802 --> 00:05:18.148 Apart from him, nothing came to being. 00:05:18.148 --> 00:05:22.502 In him was life and the life was the light of men. 00:05:22.502 --> 00:05:29.115 And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did Notice what John says. 00:05:29.115 --> 00:05:34.451 The Word was God and in him was life. 00:05:34.451 --> 00:05:40.422 The life was in God and the light of all men, all mankind. 00:05:40.422 --> 00:05:43.151 Life and light go together in John's picture. 00:05:44.521 --> 00:05:47.711 Human beings, he wants to say, need this light. 00:05:47.711 --> 00:05:57.586 Then John personifies the light Down in verse 9, he says something called the true light is coming that everyone needs. 00:05:57.586 --> 00:06:02.971 Also, these verses are telling us that our relationship with this true light is broken. 00:06:02.971 --> 00:06:07.329 He says the light shines in the darkness. 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:10.726 Darkness has not overcome it. 00:06:10.726 --> 00:06:19.447 The darkness that John refers to here is another metaphor for our hopeless state of sin and corruption in the world. 00:06:19.447 --> 00:06:26.509 The true light comes into a dark world and the darkness did not overcome it. 00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:35.374 Now, what's interesting here is the word overcome in Greek can also be translated comprehend. 00:06:35.374 --> 00:06:53.492 Some translations have one or the other and it's intentionally ambiguous this word the darkness has not overcome it, meaning it didn't defeat it, and the darkness didn't comprehend it, meaning it didn't understand it. 00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:01.014 John says there's a true light human beings need, but we are not only hostile to it, we don't even get it. 00:07:01.014 --> 00:07:04.249 We don't understand it, we're clueless. 00:07:04.249 --> 00:07:09.120 That's what he's saying. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.850 The world is a dark place and we don't know how to enlighten ourselves. 00:07:13.850 --> 00:07:15.774 But John tells us. 00:07:15.774 --> 00:07:18.286 That's why he says the true light has come. 00:07:18.286 --> 00:07:20.814 The world is a dark place. 00:07:21.817 --> 00:07:38.160 And if John's saying if there's going to be any light whatsoever, it's going to have to come from outside the human race, that's what Matthew was getting at in his gospel when he quotes Isaiah 9, which says the people living in darkness, speaking of Messiah, have seen a great light. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.228 Living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. 00:07:43.228 --> 00:08:00.747 This is Matthew's description of Jesus coming into the world, quoting Isaiah we are in darkness, and light has come into our world from outside us, one who is the true light. 00:08:00.747 --> 00:08:08.822 See, our culture will continue to resist and continue to commercialize and re-engineer Christmas. 00:08:08.822 --> 00:08:29.028 Some years ago, I heard one person's idea about the meaning of Christmas and he said this the meaning of Christmas is that love will triumph and we will be able to put together a world full of unity and peace. 00:08:29.028 --> 00:08:31.264 That's the meaning of Christmas. 00:08:31.264 --> 00:08:37.309 What he's saying is you know what, if we just all pull together, we can do it. 00:08:37.309 --> 00:08:40.710 We can fix what's broken in this world. 00:08:40.710 --> 00:08:42.687 If we just pull together, we can do it. 00:08:42.687 --> 00:08:54.089 But if you believe Matthew, isaiah and John, it's the exact opposite of the gospel, exact opposite of Christmas. 00:08:54.089 --> 00:09:05.409 Isaiah says that the message is not that a light from us has come, but a light has dawned upon us. 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:16.035 John tells us that the true light which lightens us is coming into the world from outside us, not from within us. 00:09:16.035 --> 00:09:18.500 It's really important to understand that. 00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:19.721 This is what John is saying. 00:09:19.721 --> 00:09:21.363 We need this light. 00:09:21.363 --> 00:09:26.167 We can't enlighten ourselves Now. 00:09:26.206 --> 00:09:32.511 If you put John 1, 1 and 2 together with John 1, 14, we learn some startling things. 00:09:32.511 --> 00:09:35.293 Listen to it again John 1, 1 and 2. 00:09:35.293 --> 00:09:39.157 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 00:09:39.157 --> 00:09:45.849 He was in the beginning, with God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:09:45.849 --> 00:09:54.491 We saw his glory, his light, if you will, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:09:54.491 --> 00:10:02.409 Now, what John is saying obviously is that Jesus he's talking about. 00:10:02.409 --> 00:10:06.355 Jesus is the word, which in Greek, is the logos. 00:10:06.355 --> 00:10:17.394 So because of that, I want you to listen to how I would word John 1 and 2 and 14. 00:10:17.394 --> 00:10:28.073 Now this is what John is saying In the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. 00:10:28.073 --> 00:10:35.293 Jesus was in the beginning with God and Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:10:35.293 --> 00:10:41.289 We saw his glory, glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:10:41.289 --> 00:10:47.787 First, we learn that Jesus is this true light, the word, the logos. 00:10:47.787 --> 00:10:53.527 Second, we learn that Jesus was with God in the beginning. 00:10:53.527 --> 00:10:56.767 He was God. 00:10:56.767 --> 00:11:00.744 He's not a God and the nightmare next to it. 00:11:00.744 --> 00:11:02.711 I love this, don't miss this. 00:11:02.711 --> 00:11:13.001 He was God, he was with God. 00:11:13.022 --> 00:11:32.466 The word with means a personal relationship with someone, like in Mark's gospel it tells us that Jesus chose 12 disciples and chose them so that they could be with him, meaning they're going to live together, they're going to have a relationship, they're going to talk, share life together. 00:11:32.466 --> 00:11:35.548 Notice the startling things this passage is saying. 00:11:35.548 --> 00:11:37.746 There's only one God, not three. 00:11:37.746 --> 00:11:46.990 Jesus is God and in the beginning Jesus is with God, in a personal love relationship with him. 00:11:46.990 --> 00:11:52.211 Even though the Holy Spirit isn't mentioned here, we learn that there is only one God. 00:11:52.211 --> 00:12:05.035 But inside that one God are three distinct persons the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who know and love each other from all eternity, love each other from all eternity. 00:12:05.035 --> 00:12:15.245 Only Christianity says that at the very heart of God is a dynamic love relationship From all eternity. 00:12:15.245 --> 00:12:23.865 In the very being of God there have been three persons who know each other, love each other and glorify each other, which means they adore each other. 00:12:23.865 --> 00:12:29.510 They have been loving and communicating with each other from all eternity. 00:12:29.510 --> 00:12:38.389 Inside God there's an exploding, dynamic, intimately powerful loving relationship. 00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:41.503 Let that sink in, because you know why. 00:12:41.503 --> 00:12:49.287 Therefore, the meaning of the universe, the meaning of life, is to have loving relationships. 00:12:49.287 --> 00:12:53.525 That's from the Creator Himself, in His image. 00:12:53.525 --> 00:12:55.900 That's the meaning. 00:12:55.900 --> 00:13:02.563 This truth is absolutely astounding when the Bible says that God is love and it does. 00:13:02.563 --> 00:13:07.224 We tend to think that means God is loving. 00:13:07.224 --> 00:13:14.003 No, no, it means so much more than that. 00:13:14.003 --> 00:13:18.686 God defines his very being as love. 00:13:18.686 --> 00:13:25.168 Before he made the world, god was already dynamically loving. 00:13:25.168 --> 00:13:31.366 His love was already being shared interpersonally within the Trinity. 00:13:31.366 --> 00:13:33.779 It's already there. 00:13:33.779 --> 00:13:35.004 That's his very nature. 00:13:36.157 --> 00:13:38.003 Now listen to verse 18 of John 1. 00:13:38.003 --> 00:13:41.965 We didn't read it, but it says really. 00:13:41.965 --> 00:13:48.461 What John's doing here is he wants us to use our imagination to understand Jesus, to understand the meaning of Christmas. 00:13:48.461 --> 00:13:58.710 He says in verse 18 that the son, the only begotten son of God was in the bosom of the Father from the very beginning. 00:13:58.710 --> 00:13:59.851 What does that mean? 00:13:59.851 --> 00:14:01.900 He's in the lap of the Father. 00:14:01.900 --> 00:14:06.879 It's a metaphor To help us understand. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:11.562 This is amazing. 00:14:11.562 --> 00:14:22.961 Now, if you were laying on a sofa at home, how many people in the world would you say could walk over to you, put their head in your lap? 00:14:22.961 --> 00:14:26.403 I would venture very few. 00:14:26.403 --> 00:14:31.706 If they did, it meant you had an intimate relationship with them. 00:14:31.706 --> 00:14:38.845 That's what it's saying about Jesus being with God from the beginning. 00:14:38.845 --> 00:14:56.370 This verse says that Jesus came to explain God to us, to explain him by expressing his love toward us and experiencing his love for us. 00:14:59.596 --> 00:15:20.707 If you want to understand who God is, what God is like, then imagine a time in your life when you felt the most love from someone, the time you felt most understood and accepted, the most adored, the most significant, and the joy of that experience. 00:15:20.707 --> 00:15:21.336 Imagine that. 00:15:21.336 --> 00:15:29.964 Then multiply that by trillions upon trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions and you'll begin to understand God's love. 00:15:29.964 --> 00:15:31.326 Just begin. 00:15:31.326 --> 00:15:33.111 Because it's always been there. 00:15:33.111 --> 00:15:48.100 Because it's always been there, we can't even slightly taste what the Godhead experiences, because we're selfish, we don't want to give, we want to receive, and that's the darkness. 00:15:48.100 --> 00:16:08.124 The times we've been most loved and most blissfully joyful have been fleeting because of that, because of our selfishness, our pride, our wanting everything for ourself. 00:16:08.124 --> 00:16:10.624 That's not in the Godhead. 00:16:10.624 --> 00:16:28.326 Imagine three persons who are perfect, not selfish in any way, who always love and glorify each other, serving each other, giving themselves to each other completely, from all eternity. 00:16:28.326 --> 00:16:30.461 That's God. 00:16:30.461 --> 00:16:39.298 The Godhead, you see, is pouring love and joy into each other's being. 00:16:39.298 --> 00:16:45.816 It's hard to get our head around that, but that's what John is getting at. 00:16:45.816 --> 00:16:48.652 We need this true light. 00:16:48.652 --> 00:16:51.210 Why did God create us? 00:16:51.210 --> 00:16:56.014 I believe Jesus gave us the answer. 00:16:56.014 --> 00:17:04.133 He created us so we could share what they experienced in the Godhead, their love. 00:17:04.133 --> 00:17:13.204 Listen to what Jesus prayed to his father before he went to the cross and died John 17, 26. 00:17:13.204 --> 00:17:25.698 He says to the father as he prays I have made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love which, with you, loved me, may be in them and I in them. 00:17:25.698 --> 00:17:33.336 Oh, how I want them to experience your love and to experience me in relationship. 00:17:33.336 --> 00:17:37.549 What does that have to do with Christmas? 00:17:37.549 --> 00:17:40.698 The light of the darkness, everything. 00:17:42.846 --> 00:17:47.144 Now, john not only wrote a gospel, he wrote three letters at the end of the Bible. 00:17:47.144 --> 00:17:48.632 Here's what he says. 00:17:48.632 --> 00:17:53.997 I think he's reflecting on his gospel and added a couple things. 00:17:53.997 --> 00:18:01.499 In 1 John 1, 1-5, john explains what he was saying in his gospel about Jesus. 00:18:01.499 --> 00:18:13.816 He says what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we've seen with our own eyes, what we've looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. 00:18:13.816 --> 00:18:17.669 And the life was manifested. 00:18:17.669 --> 00:18:25.273 And we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father was manifested to us. 00:18:25.273 --> 00:18:35.355 What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed, our fellowship was with the Father and his Son, jesus Christ. 00:18:35.355 --> 00:18:43.469 These things we write so that our joy may be made complete, and this is the message we've heard from him and announced to you. 00:18:43.469 --> 00:18:45.315 God is light. 00:18:45.315 --> 00:18:47.952 There's no darkness in him at all. 00:18:47.952 --> 00:18:56.113 And he goes on to describe how we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Jesus' name. 00:18:57.326 --> 00:18:59.491 What is the light John's talking about? 00:18:59.491 --> 00:19:12.286 The light is the infinite self-giving love of God that he wants us to experience through his son Jesus, in this dark world. 00:19:12.286 --> 00:19:21.740 At the bottom of every single bit of evil and suffering is a lack, a loss of self-giving love. 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:34.955 At the bottom of all of it, all the corruption, all the sin, all the war, all the loss, and and you know what? 00:19:34.955 --> 00:19:42.423 Burt Bacharach got it right with his hit song in 1965. 00:19:43.747 --> 00:19:47.285 I'm speaking to all people in my generation. 00:19:47.285 --> 00:19:53.417 What the world needs now is love, sweet love. 00:19:53.417 --> 00:19:55.509 Amen to that. 00:19:55.509 --> 00:19:58.050 But we got a problem. 00:19:58.050 --> 00:19:59.711 We live in darkness. 00:19:59.711 --> 00:20:03.545 We can't enlighten ourselves, no matter how much we pull together. 00:20:03.545 --> 00:20:05.030 Take a look at the world. 00:20:05.030 --> 00:20:08.153 People are trying to pull it together. 00:20:08.153 --> 00:20:11.594 Why can't we generate our own light? 00:20:11.594 --> 00:20:15.953 Because we're selfish, we're sinful. 00:20:15.953 --> 00:20:17.855 We're committed to me first. 00:20:17.855 --> 00:20:18.863 That's why Sin committed to me first. 00:20:18.863 --> 00:20:26.769 That's why Sin says me first you serve me, and you know what that's the end of love. 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:36.234 Love says you first, I'll serve you, and that's the beginning of God's love. 00:20:36.234 --> 00:20:39.090 We are in darkness. 00:20:39.090 --> 00:20:46.609 We need the true light to live Jesus, who came into the world so we can experience God's love. 00:20:46.609 --> 00:20:47.192 How do we get it? 00:20:47.192 --> 00:20:48.316 That's our last point. 00:20:48.316 --> 00:20:55.795 Actually, the rest of John's gospel answers that. 00:20:55.795 --> 00:21:00.029 How do we get this, this true light, this love? 00:21:00.029 --> 00:21:06.128 But there's a hint at the beginning, in John 1.1,. 00:21:06.128 --> 00:21:09.031 Why is Jesus called the logos? 00:21:09.031 --> 00:21:22.329 The word that's the Greek word, for Logos in Greek can mean word, logic, reason, purpose, multifaceted word. 00:21:22.329 --> 00:21:31.599 And John is deliberately, I believe, connecting a major philosophical debate in his time with this word logos. 00:21:32.786 --> 00:21:35.854 The Greek philosophers at that time believed there was a logic. 00:21:35.854 --> 00:21:40.996 Think, mr Spock, stoics Greek philosophers believed there was a logic. 00:21:40.996 --> 00:21:41.884 Think, mr Spock, stoics Greek philosophers. 00:21:41.884 --> 00:21:44.313 There was a logic to the universe. 00:21:44.313 --> 00:21:53.931 There's a mind, there's a reason, there's a purpose out there, a mind somewhere behind the universe To understand what they meant. 00:21:53.931 --> 00:22:04.375 Think of this you don't know how to use an appliance unless you know the reason it was made. 00:22:04.375 --> 00:22:14.298 If I take my watch and I start using it as a hammer, I'm not going to do it using it as a hammer. 00:22:14.298 --> 00:22:15.651 I'm going to ruin the watch. 00:22:15.651 --> 00:22:23.988 I'll ruin it because I'm not respecting its logos, its reason, its purpose for existence. 00:22:23.988 --> 00:22:29.214 I'll ruin it if I don't understand what it's there for. 00:22:29.214 --> 00:22:37.413 Unless I align myself with the logos of the watch, the watch will not fulfill its purpose and work properly. 00:22:38.287 --> 00:22:44.228 The Greek philosophers debated and debated and debated and argued about the logos of human life. 00:22:44.228 --> 00:22:45.030 What does it mean? 00:22:45.030 --> 00:22:45.933 What's its purpose? 00:22:45.933 --> 00:22:48.809 What's the purpose of the world? 00:22:48.809 --> 00:22:50.090 What's the purpose of the universe? 00:22:50.090 --> 00:22:53.172 They argued back and forth for years. 00:22:53.172 --> 00:22:57.032 What is the logos of life? 00:22:57.032 --> 00:23:03.055 Because they're searching for it, because if we align ourselves with it, we'll be fulfilled. 00:23:03.055 --> 00:23:13.275 To them, the longos was always, always an abstract principle, kind of a mind, a way to think about things. 00:23:14.846 --> 00:23:21.179 But then John comes along and absolutely blows that idea right out of the water. 00:23:21.179 --> 00:23:27.950 He said you know, guys, the logos is not some abstract principle or mind, it's a person. 00:23:27.950 --> 00:23:32.494 The logos was with God, was God. 00:23:32.494 --> 00:23:38.692 Don't you see, don't you see? 00:23:38.692 --> 00:23:59.742 John is saying that the logos, the meaning of life, is to have a personal love relationship with our creator through Jesus and because he came in the flesh, he's knowable. 00:24:02.290 --> 00:24:06.025 John says that the logos was the true light coming into the world. 00:24:06.025 --> 00:24:12.644 He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. 00:24:12.644 --> 00:24:14.588 What does that mean? 00:24:14.588 --> 00:24:20.460 It means Jesus Christ did come into the world and he knew he would be rejected. 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:25.173 They didn't just not receive him, they killed him. 00:24:25.173 --> 00:24:26.997 Why? 00:24:26.997 --> 00:24:30.550 Because of the darkness in our hearts. 00:24:30.550 --> 00:24:35.710 That's why Jesus came to overcome that darkness. 00:24:35.710 --> 00:24:41.413 Even though we don't understand it, it doesn't make any sense to us. 00:24:41.413 --> 00:24:49.490 He's going to take care of that darkness and take care of the barrier between us and God, a love relationship with him. 00:24:51.067 --> 00:24:56.489 So when Jesus went to the cross, note well, two things happened In the middle of the day. 00:24:56.489 --> 00:25:00.498 A deep darkness came down, matthew 27. 00:25:00.498 --> 00:25:07.438 This was only symbolic, to represent to us that the Son of God had just descended into the darkness. 00:25:07.438 --> 00:25:16.019 Then, in Matthew 27, 46, on the cross, jesus cried out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:16.019 --> 00:25:21.474 You know what's happening that love relationship from all eternity. 00:25:21.474 --> 00:25:25.689 He's losing it. 00:25:25.689 --> 00:25:26.609 He's been cut off. 00:25:26.609 --> 00:25:31.858 I can't imagine the pain involved in that. 00:25:31.858 --> 00:25:41.115 Jesus went to the cross to take the penalty for what our sins deserve the loss of experiencing the eternal love of God. 00:25:41.115 --> 00:25:43.854 That would be our loss if it weren't for him. 00:25:43.854 --> 00:25:49.310 Now, because of Jesus' selfless love for us, our sins can be forgiven. 00:25:50.285 --> 00:25:57.374 God's Holy Spirit can come into us, fill us with his love and help us become someone who loves. 00:25:57.374 --> 00:26:03.048 I think that's what Apostle Paul was getting at in Romans 5. 00:26:03.048 --> 00:26:10.647 You know we've come to faith in Jesus, the Messiah, and you know what God gives us his Holy Spirit for a reason. 00:26:10.647 --> 00:26:18.066 You know what that reason is so we can enter into the love experienced in the Trinity Romans 5.5,. 00:26:18.066 --> 00:26:28.115 The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us so we can know it, experience it. 00:26:28.115 --> 00:26:35.990 What do we need to do in order to step out of the world's darkness into God's marvelous light in Jesus? 00:26:35.990 --> 00:26:41.516 Believe in Jesus Over and over and over again in the New Testament. 00:26:42.085 --> 00:26:43.049 That's the trigger. 00:26:43.049 --> 00:26:45.729 What does that mean? 00:26:45.729 --> 00:26:46.752 How do you do that? 00:26:46.752 --> 00:26:50.174 First, it means recognize who he is. 00:26:50.174 --> 00:26:54.375 He's the Son of God, the Savior sent into the world. 00:26:54.375 --> 00:27:05.155 Second, then, recognize what he did he died on the cross to pay our penalty so we could be reunited with God. 00:27:05.155 --> 00:27:13.749 Then we must recognize, swallowing our pride. 00:27:13.749 --> 00:27:27.471 We need him Because Jesus said to the Pharisees, these religious rulers, in John 8, he says look guys, you're going to die in your sins unless you believe that I am he. 00:27:27.944 --> 00:27:31.086 And he meant the Messiah that's. 00:27:31.086 --> 00:27:33.413 Do you see your need? 00:27:33.413 --> 00:27:38.513 And here's how Jesus summed it up in John, chapter 6, verse 40. 00:27:38.513 --> 00:27:41.073 He says this is the will of my Father. 00:27:41.073 --> 00:27:46.056 Everyone who beholds the Son, do you see who he is? 00:27:46.056 --> 00:27:52.852 Do you recognize what he did for you, his selfless love for you? 00:27:52.852 --> 00:28:05.017 Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him as this Messiah, savior, will have eternal life. 00:28:05.017 --> 00:28:09.589 No condition I got to be good. 00:28:09.589 --> 00:28:10.933 I got to change my life. 00:28:10.933 --> 00:28:17.733 No, understand who he is, what he did, understand you need him and believe in him. 00:28:17.733 --> 00:28:25.131 You will have, receive eternal life, and I myself, jesus said, will raise him up on the last day. 00:28:26.933 --> 00:28:54.525 Now let me ask those of us who are here if we have believed in Jesus as our Savior, what should we do about John, chapter 1, knowing this about Jesus, scriptures are clear, shouting Become like him in love, in selfless generosity. 00:28:54.525 --> 00:28:57.907 Ephesians 5,. 00:28:57.907 --> 00:29:04.512 Paul writes 1 and 2, to the believers there he says Therefore, be imitators of God, beloved children, you know how you do that. 00:29:04.512 --> 00:29:17.088 Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 00:29:17.088 --> 00:29:23.712 Wow, something to think about this week as we prepare for Christmas coming up. 00:29:23.712 --> 00:29:26.813 Trust the Lord, we'll use it in our lives. 00:29:26.813 --> 00:29:33.067 And if you've never had an opportunity to just say to God, I believe in Jesus, do it now. 00:29:33.207 --> 00:29:34.211 As I close in prayer. 00:29:34.211 --> 00:29:35.454 Open your heart to him. 00:29:35.454 --> 00:29:43.472 He'll come in, he'll rush in with the Holy Spirit and let you experience, maybe for the first time, how much God does love you. 00:29:43.472 --> 00:29:52.097 Let's pray, father, thank you that you sent Jesus into the world to overcome our darkness and separation from you. 00:29:52.097 --> 00:29:56.111 I can't even get my head around that sometimes, but thank you. 00:29:56.111 --> 00:30:00.318 Thank you that in love, jesus took our sin. 00:30:00.318 --> 00:30:01.690 He didn't have any sin. 00:30:01.690 --> 00:30:07.278 He took our sin and gave his righteousness to us so we could stand before you. 00:30:07.278 --> 00:30:13.017 Help us to experience your love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 00:30:13.017 --> 00:30:16.974 Help us to love one another as you've loved us. 00:30:16.974 --> 00:30:19.049 I pray in Jesus' name, amen.