WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.879 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.480 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.160 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantProquay.org. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:24.399 Because at the heart of this story is a baby who was born of glory. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:26.719 He came into this world to rescue us. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:31.519 The Bible tells us that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:44.240 That means that we don't live at the mercy of our habits and our hurts and our hang-ups, that we're not spiteful, vengeful, small-minded people who have a list of everyone who's wronged us and we're going to get them back. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:50.000 Now the Bible says that because we've been loved unconditionally, we can love other people unconditionally. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:51.679 That messes with their heads. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.280 It makes them wonder because they know what wretches we are. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.399 They know how small and how petty we can write things on Facebook about them. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:06.560 And so, Lord, when people know what we're capable of, then the fact that we love unconditionally makes them wonder. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:08.079 Now, how did he get that way? 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:10.799 Because I know what a weasel that guy is. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:17.840 Lord, we're not afraid of who we used to be because we're aware of who we are. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:23.200 And we are who we are today because you found us and you unwound us. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:25.120 That's our confession today. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:30.400 So we sing out with joy and we sing for joy and we sing with joy. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:38.239 And now, Lord, as we continue this Advent journey, speak to us about the responsibility of this little big word called love. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:40.000 We're praying and we're listening. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:41.840 We do both of these in Jesus' name. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:43.840 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:44.640 You can have a seat. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.879 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to 1 John chapter 4. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.040 1 John chapter 4. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.400 It's kind of towards the back of the Bible. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.000 If you don't have a Bible, it's well in your row. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:55.840 I'm on page 1,023. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.680 And if you don't own a Bible, take that one with you as our gift to you today. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:01.280 We'll get another one, okay? 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.359 If you're our guest today, we're on this journey. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:05.200 We celebrate what's called Advent. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.080 Advent is a word that just means coming or arrival. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.759 And it's the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas, and each Sunday has a theme. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.960 We started off talking about hope, and then we talked about peace. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:16.800 And then last week we talked about joy. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.080 And today, the fourth Sunday of Advent typically is about love. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:25.199 And so talking about love in this day and age is kind of like the pre-flight instructions on an airplane. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:26.240 Nobody listens. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.159 You're kind of fumbling around, getting your magazine, whipping your kids so they'll be quiet. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:35.199 Or if you're set if if you're on a plane with me, hopefully you're giving your kids Benadryl. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:39.680 And if not, I've got some in my carry-on I can give your kid, okay? 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.879 But anyway, when you talk about love nowadays, that's what it's kind of like. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.080 You're kind of like, yeah, yeah, I shaved my legs for this, okay? 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:49.439 So I want to talk to you this morning about the responsibility of love. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:58.560 And to prove that miracles never cease, I want to do it in a real timely fashion and get you out of here in plenty of time to practice what we preach. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.120 Oh, I don't quite know how to take that. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:07.120 And some of you, one guy in the first service said, Amen. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.759 And then under his breath said, I don't believe it. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.520 Here's what the Bible says the responsibility of love. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.840 1 John chapter 4, starting in verse 7. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.560 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.759 And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.080 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:33.840 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:35.520 In this is love. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:41.759 Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.719 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:48.400 No one has ever seen God. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:53.680 If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.560 The responsibility of love involves three things. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.000 Number one, it tells us this that love is an experience. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:01.280 Love is an experience. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:02.400 It's not an assignment. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:07.280 It's not like this task on your list of religious duties or responsibilities. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:09.199 What do you mean love's an experience? 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.960 Before it's an effort that we make, it's this experience we have. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.079 It's hard to love until you've been loved. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:20.959 I know that some of you, how many of you people in this room, men talking to you, ladies who get a hop pass? 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:29.439 How many of you men, before you married your wife, you dated some other girl, you were just you had a brain cramp, you were not knowing what you were doing, it was an out-of-body experience. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:34.000 But not only did you date somebody else, but you told that other person at some point that you loved them. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:35.199 Could I see your hand? 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:36.560 Hold it up real high. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:38.000 Come on, taste like chicken. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:39.839 I see some of you out there, you cowards, you're doing this. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:40.560 Look at your wife. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.639 Leave your hand out, don't put it down. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:44.240 Hold it up real high. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:45.040 There you go. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:49.120 Some of you are looking at your wife like, baby, no, don't take this personal. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.639 Hey, your wife right now is thinking about the guy she dated before she dated you, okay? 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:56.000 So get over yourself. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.120 All right, put your hands down. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:58.560 Let me ask you another question. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:04.000 Now that you've been with your wife as long as you have, has your understanding and definition of love changed? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:05.199 Let me see your hand. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:08.079 Yeah, look at now you're like, yeah, yeah. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.319 See, honey, you changed this for me. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:14.399 Your wife's thinking right now, you didn't have your hand up earlier, you weasel. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:16.079 You Freddy cat? 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:17.519 No, that's the thing. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.439 It kind of changes because what? 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:20.800 Love is this experience. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:29.279 I remember when I was in the eighth grade, I called the radio station because I was a moron, and I yelled into the phone because I thought it would be it would be so loud. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:31.120 It would get over on the radio station. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:36.639 I cut my hands around the phone and I yelled into the phone, I love Debbie Enders. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:40.720 And all that happened was my brother came out of his bedroom who had to go to shift work. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:44.959 I mean, he had to go to work first thing in the morning and beat me to a bloody pulp. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:49.040 All our members, my brother, going, You idiot, they can't hear you. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.800 And I was like, okay. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:53.759 Love makes you do crazy things. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.319 When I say that love is an experience, here's what I mean. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:57.680 Because you see, hear it again. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.680 He says, Beloved, let us love one another. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:04.720 Because you can read what the Bible says and not get what it means. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:08.399 It's not because the Bible's mysterious and it's written for perfect people or smart people. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.160 It's written for people who are willing to think about it and then and then live it out. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:13.600 Hear verse 7 again. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.680 Beloved, let us love one another. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:16.959 For love is from God. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.040 And whoever loves has been born of God. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:24.240 Now that sounds like, hey, the only thing required to be a Christian is just to be a loving person. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:25.839 Not what the Bible says. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:27.920 It kind of deepens it with the definitions. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.040 But he said, whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:34.720 Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.959 Why do I say love is an experience? 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:41.040 Because before we make this effort, we gotta understand what we're saying. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:45.279 So it's it's important that we understand what the Bible means when it says what it says. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:51.040 So to help us get at that, let me define three little words or one word and a couple of phrases. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:52.720 First thing I want to define is love. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:56.079 When the Bible says, beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:59.680 Now, the Bible's definition of love may not be your definition of love. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:00.639 You say, What do you mean? 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.079 It's the Greek word agapayo, agapaio, and it means this. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:10.879 This kind of love is to love dearly, to be contented at or with, to love without conditions. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.480 To love without condition. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:14.879 When I say love is an experience, here's what I mean. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:19.439 Because that's why John goes on and says, hey, beloved, let us love one another for loves of God. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.920 And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:22.399 Why? 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:28.720 Because you cannot love unconditionally until you embrace the fact that you're unconditionally loved by God. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:30.319 Let me say that again. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:40.720 You cannot love unconditionally until you embrace and experience the fact, not in your head but in your heart, that you are loved unconditionally by God. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:42.560 It's one of the reasons Jesus came. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:46.720 If you ever, if you if you're going to make a New Year's resolution, resolve this. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:48.720 Resolve to read the book of John. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.800 This is the epistle of John, but the gospel of John, like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.240 Start reading in John chapter 1. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.879 Some of you, well, this past week we read through the book of Philippians. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:00.639 Some of you emailed me and said, Hey, this is easier than I thought it was. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:10.079 But if you start reading like in the book of John, and you just kind of read through, one of the things you'll see is over and over and over, Jesus comes to tell people, God loves you unconditionally. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.120 You say, What do you mean? 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.120 John chapter 3, we'll get to that in a minute. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.680 But John chapter 4, he meets this woman at a well. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.160 She's getting water, and Jesus says, Will you give me a drink? 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.759 And the woman's like, Hey, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan, okay? 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.279 You go to Cedar Heel. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:24.720 I want, I go to Katie. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:27.040 Whoopsie. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.519 Oh, I did it again. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.120 Anyway, it's old school Britney Spears right there. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:36.480 Most of y'all ain't got that. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.559 It's just a football game, okay? 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:39.279 Lighten up. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:43.519 But anyway, uh, this woman's kind of like, Jesus, you know, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.639 And Jesus says, hey, if you knew who it was, they'd ask you for a drink. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.039 You would ask me, and I would give you the gift of God. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:53.600 And she's kind of like, uh, uh, uh, and in her mind, she's like, you don't know who I really am. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.840 I'm kind of, I've kind of screwed my life up. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.720 And Jesus reads her mail and says, hey, he says, hey, give me a drink. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.600 I'll tell you what, what I'm about to do in you is so good, go get your husband. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:05.679 And she's like, well, uh, see, that's the problem, Jesus. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:09.919 No one wants to blow smoke in Jesus' face. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.759 So you always do the smoker turn away. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:14.080 That's the problem, Jesus. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:15.039 I don't have a husband. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:16.720 And Jesus says, I'll take it from here. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:18.240 You're right, you don't have a husband. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.799 You've had five husbands, and you're shacked up right now with a man that's not your husband. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:24.240 Row. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.399 And what Jesus says to her changes her life. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:34.799 So much so that towards the end of John chapter 4, she runs into town and says, Come meet a man who told me everything I've ever done before. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:36.639 And he still loved her. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:46.559 If you read further into John, you get over to John chapter 8, and Jesus is teaching one one day, and the Pharisees come, the religious guys that wear funny hats in the Bible, they come and they run in. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:53.600 They got this woman caught in the act of adultery, they throw her at the feet of Jesus and says, Jesus, that Moses commanded us in the law of stone skinks like this. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:54.559 What do you say? 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:56.879 And Jesus just writes in the dirt. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.840 We don't know what he what he wrote, but everybody's split. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.159 And Jesus looks at her and said, Who condemns you? 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:03.759 And she said, No one, my Lord. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:05.360 And Jesus said, Neither do I. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.200 Go your way and sin no more. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:11.120 You don't find that lady in John chapter 10, kind of going, Hey, Jesus, remember me? 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:13.440 I'm that scaky one from chapter 8. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:18.000 I know I was naked back there, but I did good, but then you know tequila makes my clothes fall off. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.159 Blake Shelton sing about it, you know? 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:26.000 And I kind of got a little, you know, it's Christmas, and I kind of got crazy, and well, you know, can we do it again? 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.639 You know, you never find her anywhere else in the Bible. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.120 Why? 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:32.240 Because before love is a command, it's an experience. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:37.360 And the Bible says, so when the Bible talks about love and it says it's Agatha, it's this unconditional love. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.039 Here's what I want you to know. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:44.480 If you if you write anything down write this, we love others the way we understand God to love us. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:50.960 The way you love others is an indication of what you really believe to be true about the way God loves you. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:57.919 And so before we try and take this love to anyone, let's just embrace the fact that God loves us unconditionally. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:05.039 If you're this is the first time you've been in a church and you you came today kind of thinking, oh great, how long is this gonna be? 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:06.080 Relax. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:12.480 God's not mad at you, he knows everything you've ever done, and he has not changed his mind about you. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:13.679 He loves you. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.519 Even when you knew better and you did it anyway, he loves you. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:18.960 He's done conditional love. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.679 Told my daughter, my 17-year-old daughter last week was finals. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:27.120 Apparently, that's a big deal in school, and everyone's gotta get there and go, ah! And I looked at her and said, What am I thinking? 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:28.320 She goes, You don't care. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:32.960 I said, No, no, no, I care, but I don't care what you make on a final, I care about you. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.919 Well, Dad, my friends just say that's crazy. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:37.759 Your friends are idiots, okay? 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.000 Put that on Instagram. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.679 Well, Dad, Instagram is for pictures, not text. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:46.000 I'll write it on a poster board. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:47.360 You can take a picture of it. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:55.519 She goes, but I mean, I go to school and my friends they stop me and they go, What'd your dad say last night? 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:01.039 And I said, You tell him my dad said I don't care if I flunk out of school, he's always gonna love me. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:06.720 And they're like, This is a strange man you have for a father. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:11.840 Now, see, here's the thing: being loved unconditionally affects the way you love other people. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:17.759 So, see, to understand what we mean when we say love is an experience, you've got to understand, first of all, what the Bible means when it says love. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.159 It's not I like you until you disappoint me or until you disagree with me or until you sin. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.799 No, I'm gonna love you to the day you die and never change my mind about you. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:29.360 Now, let me say this because it's the holidays. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.720 The people we put most conditions on are our family. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:38.000 That's why some of y'all are bracing for your sister-in-law to show up for the holidays. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.360 Because her sorry self gets on your last nerve. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:42.960 Yeah. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.480 See, again, you some of y'all are kind of like, well, and you just said it out loud right there. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:49.919 Yes, I did. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:51.600 That's exactly right. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:57.759 By the way, you love others the way you understand God to love you. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:03.279 Second thing you've got to understand is he says right there, John says, Hey, let us love one another for love is from God. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:12.639 Whoever loves unconditionally, this kind of love, not affection or not, I got a crush on you, but loves unconditionally, has been born of God and knows God. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:14.240 Those are two phrases you gotta understand. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:17.440 What does the Bible mean when it says it's been born of God? 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:23.919 Well, if you're in 1 John, just flip back to the left or it'll come up on the screen to the gospel of John that I was telling you to read through. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:27.840 Because this is one of those, when it says, hey, whoever loves has been born of God. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.000 Well, whoa who what do you mean? 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.360 This is what the Bible says in John chapter 3, verse 1. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.039 There's a very religious man named Nicodemus. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:41.279 The Bible says this there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:49.200 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher, come from God, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:55.759 Jesus answered him, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:59.600 Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.799 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:10.320 And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:14.720 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:17.600 Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:22.960 The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.600 So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:32.879 Now, I don't have time this morning to get into all that, but when Jesus says to him, unless you're born of the water and of the spirit, you're not going to see the kingdom of God. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:33.919 What's he talking about? 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:41.120 He's saying to a very religious man who'd gone through all the rituals that the church had, baptism and all this stuff, which is when he says being born of water. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:42.240 That's what he's talking about. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:48.320 He says, Hey, you can go through all the rituals the church tells you from the time you're a little kid, and you still can't know God. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.279 You can be religious and not have a relationship with God. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.200 Ask yourself this question. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:55.360 First of all, let me ask you a question. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:56.879 Do you remember being born? 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.799 You were there and you don't remember it? 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:03.440 Of course you don't. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.519 I mean, it wasn't your idea. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.240 The Bible says by the same token, being born again. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:13.679 See, being a Christian is having this experience that is so life-transforming. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:19.679 It's not just, hey, I'm checking all the boxes that the church says I gotta check, you know, I got baptized when I was a little baby or whatever. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.720 Whatever the church says I gotta do, I gotta believe this, gotta go to that class. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:29.039 You can go to all those classes and all those rituals and still never have a born-again experience. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.600 And so if you're here today, just relax. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:40.960 Jesus didn't come to make us more religious, he came to so work in our lives that the only way we know to describe it is to say, it's like I was born all over again. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.320 I got a fresh start. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.000 That's what forgiveness feels like. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:52.799 So when John says back in 1 John, hey, beloved, let us love, for lovers of God, and anyone who loves has been born of God, and then he says this, and knows God. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.000 And knows God. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.159 You say, those are the I want you to understand love. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.200 I want you to understand what the Bible means when it says has been born of God. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:03.759 And then thirdly, I want you to understand what the Bible means when it says and knows God. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.360 Because that's not our natural state. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.840 If you're in John 3, just turn back one page to John chapter 1, verse 9. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.519 This is this is Advent. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.360 This is Jesus coming into the world. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:19.679 John 1 9, the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.840 He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.120 See, it's man's natural state to not know God. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.919 He kind of, when Christ comes into the world, he enlightens everyone. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.440 That doesn't mean, oh, we we're all Christians, we're all God's children. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:36.320 No, we're not. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:37.360 No, we're not. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:44.480 We we become aware when the Bible says he enlightens everyone, it's why when you do wrong, you know it without anybody having to tell you. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:46.000 Have you noticed that? 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:54.320 I don't care if you steal a pencil from work or a box of paper clips or something in you, your chest gets kind of hot and you're kind of like, ugh. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:55.759 Ask yourself this question. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:00.799 If you don't believe there's a God, how do you know when you've done wrong? 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:10.240 I would tell you, and the Bible would tell you, it's simply because of right here, what John 1 9 says, the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:14.559 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.680 Same word that John uses in 1 John, he uses here. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.519 Verse 11, he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:31.599 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:34.799 That's when the Bible talks about and knows God. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.240 That's what he's talking about. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:40.400 Otherwise, if you don't think about yourself in terms of, hey, do I know God? 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:41.599 Have I been born again? 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:51.839 Has God done something in my life that was so transformational and so changed, so so life-changing to me that I was like, hey, it's like starting all over again. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:59.519 Here's what happens: you accomplish a lot in life, you have kids, you find jobs, and you still live with this deep sense of unfulfillment. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:00.319 And here's why. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:06.640 It's not that you need to uh you need to acquire another company or you need to buy more property in West Texas or whatever you do. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:14.559 Here, that deep sense of unfulfillment is not you accomplishing anything, it's you receiving what Christ has accomplished on your behalf. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:22.720 Because you live with this gnawing sense that there's more, and there is, which is why I tell you today that love is an experience. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.920 The responsibility of love starts with love as an experience. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.079 Secondly, love has been demonstrated. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:32.640 God never asked us to do anything we don't have a frame of reference for. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.559 Okay, let me say that again. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.720 And God never asks you to do what you don't have a frame of reference for. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:44.880 When the Bible says, husbands love your wives, it continues and says, as Christ loves the church. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:51.599 This is what you do, and here's your frame of reference for what it looks like to do this by the same token. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:54.720 In 1 John chapter 4, look at verse 9. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:55.519 He says this. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.640 Twice he begins sentences with this phrase, in this. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:09.839 He's kind of pointing, he's holding up this and saying, verse 9 he says, In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:13.200 That's the essence of Advent, right there in one sentence. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:19.359 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:20.559 Now hear that phrase. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.759 That God sent his only son into the world. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:24.559 Think about it. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:28.640 If you only had one son, is this what you would choose to do with him? 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:34.960 If the Bible says he sent his only son into the world, then where did he come from when he sent him? 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:48.000 The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, he left heaven and came to earth so that people on earth could leave earth and go to heaven. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.160 It's no simpler way to say it. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.400 See, Jesus wasn't something that God kind of conjured up at the last moment. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:57.839 He's always existed. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:03.279 Way back in Genesis, when the Bible, when God speaks and says, Come let us make man in our image. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.839 That plurality, that's God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.599 He sent his son, the only son into the world. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:12.079 Why? 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:13.759 So that we might live through him. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:22.559 If you ever lay in bed and you feel like it all hinges on you, and you feel this consistent sense of pressure on you, man. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.920 You gotta embrace the incarnation that God sent his son. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:26.480 Why? 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:28.240 So that you could live through him. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:30.640 Translation, the pressure's off. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.599 That's what Advent's all about, right there. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.839 But the Bible tells us in verse 10 something else. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:36.480 Look at it. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.839 Verse 10 says this, it says, in this, there's that phrase again. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:40.400 Why? 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:42.400 Because love has been demonstrated. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.319 Verse 10, in this is love. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:52.240 Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the payment. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:21:03.759 Propitiation is a big Bible word that just basically means that the wrath of a wronged God, uh, uh, uh, of an offended deity has been satisfied. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:09.200 The wrath of an offended deity has been satisfied. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:19.039 So the Bible says, and this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his son to be the payment, the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:23.359 So two things the Bible tells us when we think about that love has been demonstrated. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:31.119 Number one, God sent his son, his only son, into the world so that we could have a different way of doing life, not through us, but through him. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.160 Secondly, he sent him to be sacrificed. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:39.680 The Bible will tell you all through the Bible that Jesus was fully aware of why he came. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:46.720 It's not like as this thing got kept going and he got to be age 33 and started making people angry that he was like, Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.839 People aren't people aren't voting for me, people aren't accepting what I'm doing. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:53.440 No, Jesus came fully aware of why he came. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:56.160 And so, what's the big deal about that? 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.759 That's why, all through the New Testament, when you read, Jesus. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.079 We'll talk about my time had not yet come. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.759 My time had not yet come. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:05.440 My time had not yet come. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:06.079 Why? 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:11.839 Because he came to die on the cross as payment for your sins and my sins. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:18.559 So as you go into this holiday season, one of the greatest gifts that God's ever given you is the possibility of being forgiven. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:27.119 You don't have to live with this sense of dread hanging over you that, man, I bet God is so ticked off at me for all that I've done. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.720 God loves you and He's always going to love you. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:36.319 And the way you love other people is an indication of what you really believe about the way God loves you. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:45.440 The Bible says it like this in Romans chapter 5, verse 8, it says that God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:49.200 He didn't wait for you to get your act together and then died for you. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:58.799 He, when you were still, when you and I, when I was still in sin, before I did it anything, Christ died on the cross for my sins. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:04.480 Here's the way I explain it to people when I'm sharing the gospel, just out on the street or in a restaurant or whatever. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.400 God doesn't ask you to take a shower in order to take a bath. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.480 And some of you are like, what do you mean? 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:15.680 He doesn't say, get cleaned up so I can clean you up. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.519 If you could clean yourself up, Jesus never would have had to die. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:25.359 But God sent his son from heaven to earth so people on earth could go to heaven when they died. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:25.839 Why? 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:27.920 Because we can't clean ourselves up. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:33.279 All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.319 Third thing about the re the about this whole love thing. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:38.720 And thirdly, love is a responsibility. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:40.240 Look at verse 11 and 12. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:41.440 You still with me? 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:43.119 Look what verse 11 says. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:44.720 1 John chapter 4. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.720 This is where it all comes down to when I talk about the responsibility of love. 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:51.359 Love is a responsibility, and it's not heavy. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:52.480 Look at verse 11. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:57.599 The Bible says, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.599 No one has ever seen God. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:04.319 If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.960 Now there's things in the Bible, when you read them, you should read them and think, why is that in there? 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:15.440 This is one of those cases because the Bible, out of, it's kind of like out of the blue, John says, no one has ever seen God. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.079 Who's been talking about that? 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:21.279 It's kind of like some random divine ricochet. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:22.400 No one has ever seen God. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.480 Okay, milk's on sale at Kroger for$2. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:25.920 What else? 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:27.839 No one has ever seen God. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.359 But look what he goes on to say. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:33.839 If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:39.039 Now, if you read that just on a tactile, just kind of a first blush, you go, his love is perfected. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:39.599