WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.199 Well, you may be seated. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.200 I'm the key preaching from the stools. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:07.360 I'm still recovering from my foot surgery, so I'm also not strutting when you see me. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.400 I don't strut anymore. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:09.279 I'm too old for that. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:11.759 I'm limping, which is what older people do. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:13.839 So that's what's going on. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.800 But we're jumping into the season of Lent. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:21.920 Lent is the season leading up, the 40 days leading up to Easter. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.359 We're a little late to the party. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:28.239 We are finishing up Hebrews, but now we are moving into Lent. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:35.840 The series of passages that we're going to use come from this historic church teaching plan called the Lectionary. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.359 So that's what we'll be doing as we work our way toward Easter. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.960 Our text this morning is John chapter 3, verses 14 through 21. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:48.079 It jumps right into a conversation that Jesus is having with Nicodemus. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.159 Now, Nicodemus is this guy incredibly well educated, probably well off. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:01:03.439 He's a ruler in the Sanhedrin, so he's a religious guy, and he holds some power, he holds some prestige, he lives by the religious law, that old covenant. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:08.959 Do enough, obey, and then you'll be accepted by God. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:12.799 That's his life, and that's the system that he upholds. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:14.719 So he would have been praying his prayers. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:16.000 I mean, he wasn't going to miss a prayer. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:17.359 He wouldn't have missed a church service. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:19.120 He's not playing golf on a Sunday morning. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.239 It's too risky for him and his relationship with God. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.079 He would have ran the finance committee. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.359 He would have been the president of the PTA and the president of the Qantas Club. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:38.799 I mean, this guy would have been obeying as much as possible because that's what his relationship with God was dependent upon was more and more, better and better obedience. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:42.319 But, but something must have been off. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:43.680 Something was off. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.519 His way of life was no longer working for him. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:58.319 He was probably learning what so many of us are learning, and that's that a performance-oriented life eventually brings you to the end of yourself. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.359 So Nicodemus seeks out Jesus. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.840 He does it in the dark, which is interesting. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:10.800 Probably because he was a ruler of this religious system, and so he probably had some fear, right? 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:13.520 Like friends would find him or family could find him out. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:17.759 He might lose that lucrative, powerful position. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.719 But he was curious enough to find this Jesus. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:25.120 And Jesus tells him this story from Numbers chapter 21. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.439 It's a really strange story when you read it. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.680 And the story is about the children of God sinned. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:38.319 And so God sent a plague to them of venomous snakes. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.520 And these snakes bite them and they're dying. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.599 Now, this is a very strange story, like I said, but the story's teaching us something. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.879 And in a sense, the venom represents sin. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:55.280 Just like the venom is eating up their bodies, sin eats up our souls. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:02.560 And so Moses was told by God, tell the people to look upon a bronze image. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:10.960 Moses, go get a bronze image, like a little statue of the serpent, put it up on a pole, and then tell the people to look upon the pole. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.159 And if they look upon the pole, all they have to do is look. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.759 They don't have to get there, they don't have to touch it. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:18.879 Just if they look upon it, they'll be healed. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:19.599 Right? 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:25.919 So not more rules, not more obedience, not get yourself together, and then you'll be okay and whole and made whole and healed. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:26.560 No, no, no. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.560 It was just look. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:39.520 And the great lesson we get that Jesus is telling Nicodemus, think about it, a performance-oriented person of do more, get yourself together, get there, touch the statue, touch the statue. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:41.599 He's saying, No, no, no, all you have to do is look. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.360 Just look upon it. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.080 Trusting is to look upon. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:53.520 Psychologist Carl Jung is known for coining the phrase first half of life and second half of life. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:04:03.120 So from a psychological standpoint, he's talking about what worked at one point in your life no longer works later on. 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:05.039 Here's a great quote about this. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:10.560 One cannot live in the afternoon of life according to the program of life's morning. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:18.720 For what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening become a lie. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:32.399 So what he's saying in the world of psychology, which is so true about us, is what got you through childhood to survive, to cope, and even early adulthood? 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.800 To cope, to deal with those wounds, to earn a sense of identity or absolution or acceptance. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.360 What worked, it comes to an end. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.399 And then you need a second half of life. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.000 Now, Jung talked about that from a psychological standpoint. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:54.399 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about this because Jesus is talking about what it means to have a resurrected life. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:06.240 To die to the urge to self-justify, to die into Christ as to have life, for him to be your self-justification, for him to be your justification. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:12.399 Franciscan friar, Christian minister Richard Rohr, he turns this idea toward the Christian. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:30.399 He says this the unitive encounter with a power, capital P, with a power greater than you, resituates the self inside of a safe universe where you don't need to be special, rich, or famous to feel alive. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.000 Those questions are resolved once and for all. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:40.480 The hall of mirrors that most people live in becomes unhelpful and even bothersome. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:44.319 Now, aliveness comes from the inside out. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:48.639 This is what we mean when we say God saves you. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.079 Now that's a little poetic. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.399 Roar loves to use poetic language, confuse you just a little bit and get you to work a little bit. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:05.040 What he's talking about is salvation is from God to us, put in us, Christ Himself, and comes from the inside of us out. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:16.959 So what forms us as a person and as a follower of Jesus, secure identity, worthy, accepted, forgiven, loved, all of that is not what we produce. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:21.040 It's not that hall of mirrors, but it's the gift of God Himself. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:23.040 It's the gift of Jesus. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.199 So like I said in the welcome, it was a year ago today, right? 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:28.639 That all of this happened. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:34.639 A year ago yesterday was like when the governor spoke and everything changed in our society and your world. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.399 You missed out on some stuff. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:38.079 We lost a lot of stuff. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.399 I went in that day on March 13th. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:47.680 I walked into the barber shop in one world, and the governor was speaking while I was getting my hair cut. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.240 I came out of the barber shop to a different world on the drive home. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:07:01.839 We had an elder phone call about what we were gonna do, and we immediately decided we would cancel in-person church, and we thought that was pretty sure just gonna be two to three weeks. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.879 You know, we were pretty confident about that because we do so much. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:06.720 And we missed a lot, right? 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.800 Like our church changed and work changed and family and friends and our lives changed. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:21.920 And so much of what we relied on for peace and stability and joy, it was it was stripped away. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.160 We we we lost we lost some. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:26.240 But one thing never left, right? 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:32.639 And maybe you can take yourself back to like March and April, when like we really, really were stripped away of a lot of stuff. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.800 The thing that never left is that God always meets us right where we are. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:39.839 You didn't have to show up into a sanctuary for that to happen. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:41.759 Wasn't that good news? 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:47.199 Wasn't that good news that our church didn't stop because we couldn't get in a room together? 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:48.800 It it it didn't matter. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.800 That your faith didn't stop because you couldn't show up to a certain place. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.439 No, because God meets you right where you are. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:04.560 That's true in terms of location, and that's true in terms of wherever you are on the spectrum of the amount of faith you have or the amount of good deeds you have. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:07.759 God meets us where we are, not where we should be. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:15.439 And that's how we come into the resurrected life, because we're dying to self-justification as to die into Christ. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.839 Now hear the passage John 3, 16 and 17. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.879 Maybe you've heard it before. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.720 I don't maybe, I don't know, maybe. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:34.159 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:41.759 For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:51.759 So point number one is this your life story is enveloped into the redemptive story of God for you. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.360 I mean, can you imagine Nicodemus hearing this sort of one-way love? 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:11.360 I mean, a guy that's been enveloped into a religious system of get better and be better and do more, and then perhaps, perhaps maybe God accepts you, and then this is sung over him by Jesus. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:16.000 No, no, no, God so loved you that he's providing a way for you. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:20.559 I mean, this would have been like hearing Whitney sing for the first time, right? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.600 You know what I'm talking about? 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:26.000 Like the first time you heard her sing, I will always love you. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:34.320 I mean, I know it's been a while, bodyguard, I know it's been a while, but go lock yourself in a room and listen to that song, right? 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:39.519 Like the purity and the power of that voice, right? 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:41.679 I mean, that's that's what we have in this verse. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:51.840 And I know you've heard, just like we've heard that song a million times, we've heard this verse a million times, but if we just pay attention to it, it is it has the purity and the power. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:55.039 There's a new song out. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.879 Have y'all heard the song Driver's License? 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:01.120 You won't admit it unless you're 12 or 13, but the rest of you've probably heard it. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.559 Trust me, we know it in our family really well. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:06.080 We're listening to it a lot. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:07.600 Uh, a family of three girls. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:09.840 Here's the deal with the song Driver's License. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.559 I mean, can we admit it if you know it? 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:13.600 Okay. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:15.120 Is anybody just killing it? 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:16.159 Is anybody just killing it? 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:17.360 We are, just my family. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:18.480 Okay, I'll fill you in. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:19.840 I'll fill you in on this. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.480 So, Driver's License is a song that came out in January, early January, by Olivia Rodrigo. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:27.279 Okay? 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:31.600 She's on the TV show High School Musical, The Musical, the series. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.679 That's the title, the TV show. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:36.639 Maybe you're watching, maybe you're not, I'm not sure. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:42.320 Um so the song is about her breakup with this other actor in the show, Josh Bassett. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.919 And the song is about her getting her driver's license, driving up in the suburbs, drives by her house. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:46.799 It's a little needy. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.000 I mean, let's it's a little needy, but and it's dramatic. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:58.480 But that's the storyline of the song because Josh Bassett broke up with her, and now she's writing this and she's trying to kind of get through it. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.519 Now, you think, how ridiculous. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:02.960 Maybe you hadn't even heard of the song. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:04.879 Well, the rest of the world has heard of the song. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:12.879 It it hit number one on the billboard, number one on the billboard, the most dominant number one in the billboard in all of history. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.200 Rodrigo's the youngest artist to ever debut as number one. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.159 It was already certified double platinum. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:25.519 Rolling Stone, unless you thought it was just a joke, Rolling Stone said it's probably gonna win Song of the Year. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:40.000 It was number one in the U.S., and in case you just think it's a United States, like pre-teen thing going on, it was number one in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and England. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:40.480 Okay? 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.639 That's what this song is going on, and it's in my house a lot. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:52.960 Here's the power of the song that I've figured out as I've been being taught about this song from my children. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.600 Olivia was with Josh Bassett. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.000 Okay. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:04.159 Josh Bassett breaks up with Olivia, and then he goes and starts dating Sabrina Carpenter from Boy Meets Girl. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:04.639 Okay? 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:10.960 Now, Sabrina writes a song back against Olivia and releases that song. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.000 That song's not nearly as good, let's be honest. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:14.559 Okay? 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:16.320 Here's my point. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:17.919 There's a lot to the story. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.679 It goes further. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:23.600 It's a song that welcomes you into a story. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:23.919 Right? 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:29.039 Like, and that's why it's just it's cotton, it's just like fire, because it's a it's just a song. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:37.120 But it's a song that welcomes you into a larger story that you can't quite figure out and you're not quite sure. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:48.000 Is it just a bunch of teenagers and like publicity guys in a room, like creating this world for us to kind of want to pay attention to to listen to the song? 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:49.120 Or is this really happening? 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.879 You don't know, that's part of the story too, right? 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:53.519 It's a song that's welcome you into a story. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.080 That's what John 3.16 is, okay? 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:02.559 If I can attempt to even make a link here, is it's a song, but it's welcoming you into a bigger story. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:04.960 And the bigger story is what we've been talking about. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:13.200 The book of Hebrews we just came out of, is the kind of like the technical outworking of the old covenant, new covenant connection. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:31.600 This song in John 3.16, this lyric is a part of this huge story of the Bible, this meta-narrative gospel that we were created worthy in the beginning in Genesis 1, and yet we are fallen, and we're sinners in need of God's grace in Jesus, and we have a hope of heaven. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:36.559 This four-part meta-narrative gospel story. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:49.679 So it's one verse, but the reason why it keeps showing up at every baseball game and billboards all over is because it's one, it's the song that welcomes us into the larger story. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:56.559 Point number two is this we hold belief as a directional trust into Christ Himself, right? 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.000 I mean, the verse is like in him, in him, through him. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.879 So we don't believe in a system, right? 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:06.320 Like we don't believe in a theological system, that's not where we place our trust. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:09.200 We don't believe in a church, we don't place our trust in a church. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:14.399 No, the word here, belief, is trust, and it's a trusting into. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.600 Verse 16 says, whoever believes in him. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.279 So it could say this. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:23.679 It could be worded this way in English, entrusting oneself into him. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:30.240 So this is about the object and the resting place of our trust. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.440 It's not as much about our trust. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:36.080 That's an important distinction. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.720 It's about our trust, but only to get us into the object of our trust. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:41.759 Here's how A.W. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:46.879 Pink, the theologian, writes about this phrase in trusting oneself into him. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.799 He does not define the method, talking about Jesus here in this passage. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:15:02.480 He does not define the method or the manner of coming, and even if the poor sinner comes groping, stumbling, falling, yet if only he will come, there is a warm welcome for him. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.879 So it is in our text. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:07.360 It is whosoever believeth. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:16.639 Nothing is said about the strength or the intelligence of the belief, for it is not the character or degree of faith that saves, but Christ Himself. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.480 Faith is simply the eye of the soul that looks off unto Lord Jesus. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:27.519 Do not rest then on your faith, but on the Savior Himself. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:28.799 You see what Pete did? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.120 He tied it back into that Numbers 21, right? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:32.960 Like trust is to look upon. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:38.480 It's the eye of the soul to look upon, to entrust oneself into Christ. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.399 That's good news for any of us that feel like your faith is like, oh, really great. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.600 And then, like, eh, not sure, really great, not sure, really great, not sure. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:47.200 Like, isn't that securing? 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.440 To know it is about Jesus' movement in love toward you. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:55.440 Verse 18, whoever believes in him is not condemned. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:56.480 Wow, amazing. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:03.759 But whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.320 Point number three is this deep everlasting life. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:13.279 So we could say eternal life there and here. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:20.399 Deep everlasting life is the gift of the beloved identity where there is never condemnation. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:28.639 Condemnation is this word crisis, which means judgment or damnation. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:29.919 We know that word, right? 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:31.279 We know that. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:32.879 And that's what it feels like. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:38.000 Have you ever been under condemnation of a parent or a friend, a group of people? 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:42.080 Maybe yourself, write those messages of you're not enough. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:44.559 You'll never get it together. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.000 You'll never get there. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.879 That's a crisis. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.840 That's a crisis for your heart to feel that. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:17:02.000 What the passage is saying is God's movement towards you and the gift of Jesus is that that crisis never exists in your relationship with God. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.240 Like all of that sort of judgment of you not being enough, like that gap's been fully filled with the grace of God and Jesus. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.160 So God's love stands against that crisis. 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:21.599 The Heavenly Father is never shaming, never condemning, and never belittling of any person. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:32.400 He loves every person, even while the person, and this is where the text takes us, even while the person may not love him, and their life may create judgment upon themselves. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.359 Verses 19 and 20. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.680 And this is the judgment. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:44.559 The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:51.200 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:56.079 Point number four is this not believing Christ is enough is the darkness. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:01.200 The darkness in the condemnation is not believing Christ is enough. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.119 So this passage is a dire warning. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.359 Now, if we think about the direct context, he's speaking to Nicodemus, who's a religious man. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:10.480 A lot of society would say, boy, that guy has his act together, right? 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:15.759 Like, but even that, that moralistic self-justification, that's darkness. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:24.319 There's always going to be a hum of condemnation underneath that life, of trying to self-save by yourself. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:29.039 But verse 20 goes further and speaking of wicked things. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:39.039 So this extends past like the darkness of moralism, and it goes into truly the horror of human behavior, of hurting other people. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:47.759 And the text says, people who pleasure in wicked and they hate the light, they will be judged. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:19:00.000 And Jesus is urging people to turn from darkness, allowing the loving, welcoming light of God to expose them. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:08.480 To be exposed, to let that the love of your wickedness to be exposed so that you might be redeemed. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:12.799 Our final verse, verse 21. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:16.160 Turns it back to good news. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:26.559 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearer, seeing that his works have been carried out in God. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:37.599 So what we love to say around our church, we say it sort of on repeat, I didn't make it up, is that in the gospel, earning is over, even while in the gospel we still have effort. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:38.960 Right? 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:43.839 If you get on a plane to go to Hawaii, your earning is over. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:50.319 Like you're not flying yourself to Hawaii, even though while you're on the plane, you're still functional. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.119 So our text says our works are carried out in God. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:02.240 It's like we're on the plane being flown to Hawaii, even while inside the plane we're still alive and functioning. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:07.039 Our works or any of our good works are inside of God Himself. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:12.640 That He would create the motive for that, that He would create the fuel for that. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:19.599 Here's how pastor and author Tim Keller words all of this when he preached on this passage. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:24.720 But don't you see what it means to receive rights as children of God? 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.400 You're not on the spectrum. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:27.680 You're off the spectrum. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.319 Your identity is received, not achieved. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:36.960 Your identity is rooted in God's love for you and the fact that God is now your father, not just your boss, not just your king. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:39.200 He is that, but he's your father. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.519 There's an unconditionality, as it were, to his regard for you. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.559 And that is so different from any other kind of identity. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.519 You've got a new identity, and it's remarkable. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.799 It's nothing like anything you've ever had before. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:05.680 You get your identity in Christ, and then you realize you've become who you are, who you really are, who you were made to be. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:12.720 See, at first, at first you'll think you're secure in this world and with God because of what you do. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:14.640 Because you're good at something. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.279 Or you're trying to be, you're trying to be good at something. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:19.119 The first half of life. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.519 And then that'll run its course. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:22.799 You'll get to the end of yourself. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:28.799 And either you'll be in despair and condemned, or you will die to self. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:37.839 You'll be buried in Christ and raised to live in the newness of his justification for you. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.960 Where there's no condemnation because the conditionality has been removed. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:49.519 And you're living in the unconditional love and justification of God for you in the work of Christ. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.039 So there's no condemnation. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:53.039 God so loved you. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:58.079 And his love is not based on what you do, it's based on what Jesus has done for you. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:01.359 So you are fully loved and fully forgiven and fully accepted. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.880 You are whole even while you're being made whole. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.920 You're healed even while you are still healing. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:15.039 You have a secure, forever, imputed, righteous standing with God, a secure identity. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.119 Salvation, a wholeness with God. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:20.160 Let's pray together. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.160 God, thank you for the complete belovedness that we have in you. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:29.599 The right standing and the right relationship that we have with you that can never be taken away from us. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:46.079 Thank you for the unconditionality that that is, because it is not based in what we do, but it is based in entrusting ourselves to you for you so beloved us. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.480 We pray this in the good and powerful and rescuing name of Jesus. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.440 Amen.