SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we've come to do that today.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a word that we use very often in our normal everyday lives, the word adore, but it's befitting that we come to we use that word to describe our posture towards you.
SPEAKER_01: We've come to just uh save all our affection, our hearts' affection and our mind's attention, and to focus them on you and to bow them down before you.
SPEAKER_01: And in bowing down and adoring you, it causes us to see everything else that we've loved and the way we've loved it in a new light.
SPEAKER_01: And so let our lives reflect this new understanding we're going to gain and gather from your word this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, say something today that has our name on it and say it in a way that we understand so we can get our head around it and our heart around it and our hands on it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what this is all about, God.
SPEAKER_01: And so speak.
SPEAKER_01: Your people are listening.
SPEAKER_01: We pray and we listen in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to 1 John chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Not the gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John's kind of towards the back of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Just uh if you see maps, you've gone too far, turn back to the left a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh 1 John chapter 3, I want to talk to you today.
SPEAKER_01: It's the fourth Sunday of Advent.
SPEAKER_01: The theme of our service is love.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk to you this morning about the indicting nature of the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: The indicting nature of the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: And by way of explanation, the word indict it means to make a formal accusation.
SPEAKER_01: Like you hear an attorney who will say, Well, my clients have been indicted, but they've not been proven guilty.
SPEAKER_01: When you indict someone, it's basically we think we got enough evidence to prove the case that we have.
SPEAKER_01: And so this time of year, especially when we talk about the love of God, and people say, Well, my God's a God of love, and I get that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to take that away from you.
SPEAKER_01: But I do want to warn you that when you say, My God is a God of love, you are saying more about yourself than you are about God.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, that means a lot more for us.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we need to understand what it means.
SPEAKER_01: And so the love of God, it formally accuses us of some things that we're going to see in the Bible this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And relax, not to beat you up or put burden on you, but to invite you to think differently, and I would say biblically about the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: So are you up to that this morning?
SPEAKER_01: First John chapter 3, verse 1, he says, See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, and so we are.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
SPEAKER_01: But we will know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone thus hopes in him, purifies himself as he is pure.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: Sin is lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
SPEAKER_01: No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.
SPEAKER_01: No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
SPEAKER_01: Little children, let no one deceive you.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: For the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God.
SPEAKER_01: By this, circle those two words, underline those in your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
SPEAKER_01: For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
SPEAKER_01: We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.
SPEAKER_01: And why did he murder him?
SPEAKER_01: Because his own deeds were evil, and his brothers righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
SPEAKER_01: We know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love the brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does not love abides in death.
SPEAKER_01: Every one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
SPEAKER_01: By this we know love.
SPEAKER_01: What I mean when I say the indict of the love of God, what I mean is that there's things that in our lives that the Bible uh accuses of uh in certain areas, and in in a good way, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_01: Let me list off five of them from the passage we read this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is the love of God indicts our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 1, where John says, see what kind of love the Father has given to us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, right off the bat, when he says see, and then he says, what kind of love, those two words, what kind, now, when John wrote the epistle of 1 John, the New Testament, it was all written in Greek originally.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he says see, and then the word what kind, actually that that the literal translation from the Greek is, what country?
SPEAKER_01: What country?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the way God loves us is so beyond and bigger and better than anything we can know in this life.
SPEAKER_01: What country does this come from?
SPEAKER_01: So John has this sense of amazement and this overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Greek word patapas.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, hey, behold, what country?
SPEAKER_01: Where does this kind of love come from?
SPEAKER_01: And so right off the bat, John tells us, hey, when God, when you talk about the love of God, you're talking about something that we do not have a frame of reference for here in this life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you want to see it, don't turn there.
SPEAKER_01: But in the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, about verse 14, Paul writes to these to the church at Ephesus, and he says, I want you to understand the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand the height, the depth, the depth, the width, and all this stuff of the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says this that surpasses knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know something that is so incredible, it's outside the realm of your capacity to understand it, which is why I got an email yesterday from a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_01: They just graduated seminary, and he and his wife are going to the Grand Canyon to celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: That's our wrote him back.
SPEAKER_01: Stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and read Ephesians 3, 14 to 21, where it talks about, he says, I pray that you would comprehend the love of God, this height and depth and the width and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Because I said you'll never read that the same ever again.
SPEAKER_01: And John has that same kind of mentality and mindset here when he says, Hey, what country does this come from?
SPEAKER_01: But then he goes on and gets to our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, and so we are.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, we are God's children now.
SPEAKER_01: Now hear this, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: He says, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the motivation comes from.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself today, what motivates you in the Christian life?
SPEAKER_01: What motivates you to live like the Bible talks about?
SPEAKER_01: Because the love of God indicts our motivations is insufficient because if we're motivating ourselves because I don't want to have a bad reputation or I don't want people to find out or I'm afraid any other motivation than simply this, that we are right now the children of God.
SPEAKER_01: But then he says this, we are not.
SPEAKER_01: We are not, excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: He says, beloved, we are God's children now.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, and what we will be has not yet appeared.
SPEAKER_01: Now think about those two things for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We are God's children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, don't give up on yourself.
SPEAKER_01: If you're sitting there in that chair today and kind of thinking, you know what, I'm not really good at this whole thing, and I kind of do good, then I'll fall back.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, hey, we're God's children now, but who we are going to be has not yet appeared.
SPEAKER_01: And when he appears talking about Jesus, the Bible says this, we will be like him.
SPEAKER_01: We will be like him.
SPEAKER_01: Now you can't back away from that or shy away from that.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says there's this progressive nature to Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: And as this year winds down, you ought to look back on this year and you ought to see yourself kind of maturing and growing spiritually, and you're different spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: You're a little more Christ-like than you were last year.
SPEAKER_01: Because he says, hey, he says, hey, we're the children of God now, but what we will be, in other words, this is not as good as it's gonna get.
SPEAKER_01: So don't check out yet.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the motivation.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone, verse three, who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that, hey, our the thing that motivates me to purity, the thing that motivates me to do the right thing and say no to the wrong thing is that he's gonna appear.
SPEAKER_01: And because my hope is in that, and I'm gonna be like him, then I'm making myself pure while I'm waiting for him to appear.
SPEAKER_01: And Advent is a great time for us to ask ourselves, hey, what motivates me spiritually?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of when when I just think I don't care what I do, what motivates me?
SPEAKER_01: Because the love of God indices, number one, our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it indices our sin.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: Sin is lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: And you know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
SPEAKER_01: No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.
SPEAKER_01: And no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
SPEAKER_01: Little children, let no one deceive you.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: For the devil's been sinning from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: No one born of God.
SPEAKER_01: Pay careful attention to verse 9, because, beloved, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: What the Bible does not say, the Bible does not say that a Christian will not sin.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible does say this, however, that a Christian doesn't just keep on sinning.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: He says, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't make a practice of sinning because he cannot do that.
SPEAKER_01: It's not out of effort or out of duty or out of spiritual discipline.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because God's seed, that's a reference to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: God's seed abides in him.
SPEAKER_01: And so when the love I say the love of God indicts our sin, let me just ask this question.
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever envision your life void of sin?
SPEAKER_01: Well, not really.
SPEAKER_01: You should.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just ask yourself, what would I do if sin were not a part of my life anymore?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible teaches right here, unapologetically, he says, first of all, up here in about verse 5, he says, you know that he appeared in order to take away sins.
SPEAKER_01: And then down in verse 7, he says, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's easy this time of year to get real sentimental and real kind of Jesus as this ambient, glowy little baby in the manger.
SPEAKER_01: And all along the Bible tells us that the reason that he left heaven and came to earth was one word in mind: destruction.
SPEAKER_01: Destruction.
SPEAKER_01: You should, matter of fact, you should put that on your Christmas stocking.
SPEAKER_01: When everyone's got Noel and seasons, greetings, and Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: You should just put it over your mantle.
SPEAKER_01: Destruction.
SPEAKER_01: That's a conversation piece.
SPEAKER_01: And people come over.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Ozzy Osborne, what is this?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to remind myself, I want to stab my conscience and awaken my awaken my thoughts to the reality that the reason that God took on skin and was born and laid in a manger is He came to destroy the works of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: And so I don't have to live at the mercy of my sinful appetites the rest of my life and hating myself because I can't seem to make myself stop sinning.
SPEAKER_01: He came to destroy that which is going to destroy me.
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, let's have appetizers.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing we use all these words, and there's nothing wrong with these words, but the Bible is very, very clear.
SPEAKER_01: Now I brought a couple of pictures to help us understand destruction.
SPEAKER_01: And the first one is this picture here.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: That's a city somewhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Take that in.
SPEAKER_01: Look at that.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's a picture of the same city.
SPEAKER_01: That's Aleppo.
SPEAKER_01: See what destruction does?
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible tells us very clearly that the reason the Son of God appeared, the reason Christ took on flesh and came into the world as a babe, laid in a manger, is to do that to your sin.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't live at the mercy of that which will destroy you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say that the indicting nature of the love of God, again, he's not saying the Christians don't sin, he's saying they don't keep on sinning because God's seed, the Holy Spirit, abides in him.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself today, how does this affect the way you think about sin and salvation?
SPEAKER_01: If the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work, is that being destroyed in you?
SPEAKER_01: Is sin losing its hold on you, losing its claim on you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you find yourself able to not be tempted by things that used to tempt you?
SPEAKER_01: Or, like many, that's there's a reason he's John says to him here, hey, beloved, let no one deceive you.
SPEAKER_01: Or have you kind of figured out this way of doing Christianity that kind of always involves a relationship with sin?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, God knows I'm only human.
SPEAKER_01: Or we're going to get married one day, so this is okay.
SPEAKER_01: We kind of get all around all these different things, which is why John uses to begin verse 10 these two words.
SPEAKER_01: By this, which brings us to the third thing that the love of God indicts us, it indices our standard.
SPEAKER_01: Our standard.
SPEAKER_01: How do you define Christianity and what it means for a person to be in a relationship with Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Because when John says, hey, by this, these two little words, he's introducing us to a standard for how we think about what it means to be in a relationship with God and what are the outcomes that are produced because of this relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: By this, very subtle, very innocuous, very simple two words, but he is interjecting and laying down a standard that says, hey, this is how you know who knows God and who just goes to church.
SPEAKER_01: By this, verse 10, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
SPEAKER_01: Again, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so the standard is righteousness, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: It's not, well, I did my best.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because God's seed abides in us.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been converted, you've been born again, you've been changed from the inside out.
SPEAKER_01: God lives inside of you by his spirit, and he is heaven sent and heaven bent on producing righteousness in you.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he says, hey, by this, he really what he indicates this thought that kind of says, Well, you know, I sin and I'm not perfect, and none of us are perfect.
SPEAKER_01: You're not perfect, are you?
SPEAKER_01: And like, really?
SPEAKER_01: This this is where we're going?
SPEAKER_01: Think about it this way it's impossible to go on sinning, otherwise, righteousness could never be the standard.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible for a believer just to keep on living in sin.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, righteousness couldn't be the standard.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: It would be hateful, it would be the most hateful thing God could ever do.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about my God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot have a God who is a God of love if He hates you so much to make this impossible thing the standard.
SPEAKER_01: So either the Bible believes that righteousness is the standard and it's what's expected of us, not out of effort, but out of identity.
SPEAKER_01: Or God cannot be a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: You can't have it both ways.
SPEAKER_01: You can't go all through the year saying, Well, my God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: And this God of love says, Hey, by this it is evident who are the children of God.
SPEAKER_01: Fourth thing that the love of God indicts is our definition of love.
SPEAKER_01: Our definition of love.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
SPEAKER_01: We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.
SPEAKER_01: And why did he murder him?
SPEAKER_01: Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we know that we have passed out of death unto life because we love the brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does not love abides in death.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16, by this we know love.
SPEAKER_01: They laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody got anybody in your life by a show of hands this morning that you would just say, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: It's really hard for me to love that person.
SPEAKER_01: Can I see your hand?
SPEAKER_01: Hold it up real high.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: Tastes like chicken.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, some of you men are kind of like, well, I mean, it's my wife's mother, but I'll raise my hand anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And some of those people that you don't love are coming to your house to eat your ham for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna drink your beer and sleep in your bed.
SPEAKER_01: Whoa! By the way, this is free.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel, I'm serious.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is perpetually, it is always imposing upon you ironies that you don't want to embrace.
SPEAKER_01: That's just what it does.
SPEAKER_01: I spent this past year writing a check every month to send to my brother to take care of my dad to pay for a home health care nurse.
SPEAKER_01: And one day I'm writing the check and I started laughing, and I'm like, why am I laughing?
SPEAKER_01: It clears the mail, God said, You're taking care of a man who never took care of you.
SPEAKER_01: Because the gospel does that, it imposes upon you things that you would naturally choose, and you're able to do it because of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only reason.
SPEAKER_01: That is the only thing.
SPEAKER_01: So these people, when they come to your house, your sister-in-law, who you can't stand, and God knows that you can't stand her.
SPEAKER_01: She's gonna eat the last piece of cake.
SPEAKER_01: Just like she did last year.
SPEAKER_01: And she's not gonna bring anything because she's gonna say, well, it was too far and it wouldn't keep.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, it's 28 degrees outside.
SPEAKER_01: Put in the trunk, it'll be refrigerated.
SPEAKER_01: And when she talks, the hair on your neck is gonna stand up.
SPEAKER_01: And God's gonna say to you, what he's saying to you right now, hey, if you hate her, you're like Cain, you're a murderer.
SPEAKER_01: Aren't you glad you shaved your legs for this?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, how was church?
SPEAKER_01: It was great.
SPEAKER_01: The God told me I was a murderer because I can't stand my brother-in-law.
SPEAKER_01: He's a mooch that can't keep a job because he's got a perpetual drug habit, yet we all gotta bail pitch in and bail him out.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to tell him off.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying don't tell him off.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying you gotta love him.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because the Bible says that.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to pick and choose who we want to love.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me just ask you this.
SPEAKER_01: People that raise your hand said you had a hard time loving uh some people in your life because I'm your pastor and I care about you.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a practical way to get better at loving those people.
SPEAKER_01: You ready for it?
SPEAKER_01: Meditate on your sin.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I can't write that down.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it like this: there are behaviors that only love explains, and there is love that only forgiveness explains.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: There are behaviors that only love explains.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a love that only forgiveness explains.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, write down Luke chapter 7, starting in verse 36 to the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: I'll summarize what happens for you.
SPEAKER_01: There were the guys in the Bible that were called Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: They're very religious, kind of do-gooders.
SPEAKER_01: They thought they were better than everybody.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them said to Jesus, Jesus, would you like to come to my house for dinner?
SPEAKER_01: That's a bad idea, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus does not have manners.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: He's like the drunk uncle at the family reunion that cannot keep his mouth shut.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like, did you just say Jesus is like the?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can't, my point is, you can't control Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So he comes to dinner, and you can't control what happens when Jesus comes to dinner.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to dinner and they're sitting there, you know, having appetizers and orders.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, We're gonna sit down in 15 minutes, so everyone get ready, and all of a sudden, boom, the door flies open, and a real sinner comes in.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, she's a woman of the night.
SPEAKER_01: Best we could tell she was a prostitute.
SPEAKER_01: She just heard Jesus teach at the temple, and she's got a flask.
SPEAKER_01: You know what a flask is?
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all are like, yeah, I got it in my boot right now.
SPEAKER_01: And she's got a flask, and the Bible says it's full of this perfumed ointment, like, like, like tootie fruity Vaseline that you've melted down and poured into a flask.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, well, that's not what I put in there, but okay.
SPEAKER_01: And she's got it, and she's just like, uh, and she goes over and she kneels down and she starts, and these people are all out where you are.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is standing there talking, and there's a woman behind him, she's pouring this scented oil on his feet, and she's sobbing, and she's wiping his feet with her hair, and they're all thinking the Bible says, check me on this.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, and they were thinking to themselves, if this man were a prophet, he would know that this woman's a sinner and she's touching him because everybody knew this woman.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, the Bible says this, knowing what they were thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Now ask yourself this, especially if you're given the pretense and, like, hey, good idea.
SPEAKER_01: If you really believe that God knows what you're thinking, how would you act?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, said to them, Hey, Simon, can I tell you a story?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, Rabbi.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is just like, I'm gonna smoke these fools down here in about two minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, hey, one guy got in trouble, owed another guy 50,000 bucks.
SPEAKER_01: Another guy owed five bucks.
SPEAKER_01: Both of them had their debt forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Which one do you think is more grateful?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, teacher, the one that owed 50,000.
SPEAKER_01: And for the first time ever, there's a person, woman back here slathering perfume on his feet and weeping.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, for the first time, looks at her and says, Hey, she's been forgiven much, so she loves much.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, she owed 50,000.
SPEAKER_01: You owed five bucks, you ungrateful religious jerk.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say that part.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta squint to see that in there.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what Jesus, here's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, hey, there are behaviors that only love explains.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a kind of love that only forgiveness explains.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to get better at loving people, you need to remember that you owed 50,000 bucks.
SPEAKER_01: And you couldn't pay it.
SPEAKER_01: And your debt got forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said to me, hey, is it hard?
SPEAKER_01: I know you see a lot of people in counseling and people just sin.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And do crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever get mad at them?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
SPEAKER_01: Because I remember my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, easy.
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to become more loving over the holidays, just think about your sin.
SPEAKER_01: And don't meditate on it.
SPEAKER_01: Just kind of remind you.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I tell you every once in a while, you think I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you, because you were born so wicked and sinful and depraved, you should be burning in hell.
SPEAKER_01: But God is rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_01: He made you alive and forgave you of all of your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Now tell me, because you got forgiven of all your sins, past, present, and future, he took away sin.
SPEAKER_01: He came to destroy the work of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: On what basis can you not love other people?
SPEAKER_01: Having been loved this way by this love that's so mind-blowing that John says that what country is this from?
SPEAKER_01: How can you have that living inside of you and not love other people?
SPEAKER_01: The last thing the love of God indicts in us is our indifference.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, are you still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: This is why you should read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He says, But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
SPEAKER_01: Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you another question to think about while you're eating lunch.
SPEAKER_01: How do you love?
SPEAKER_01: Do you love in word and talk or in deed and truth?
SPEAKER_01: Because the church by nature produces talkers.
SPEAKER_01: And the gospel by nature produces doers.
SPEAKER_01: Who love indeed and truth.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean I say that the Bible, the love of God indicts our indifference?
SPEAKER_01: The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
SPEAKER_01: And here the Bible teaches us that we know what it's like to be loved.
SPEAKER_01: We have a frame of reference for it.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, the Bible never asks us to do things that we can't envision.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have a frame of reference for.
SPEAKER_01: He says, hey, we know love because he's laid down our life for us.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes on to say the rest of it.
SPEAKER_01: So we know we have a frame of reference for what it's all about.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a matter of not just knowing it, but doing it.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, hey, let's not love in word and talk.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not just talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, he says, hey, if you see, if you have this world's good and you see your brother in need, how and you close, the NIV says you close up your bowels of compassion.
SPEAKER_01: Then ask this great question.
SPEAKER_01: How does the love of God dwell in you?
SPEAKER_01: There's some people around here that somebody said to me the other day, man, you're just a really generous person.
SPEAKER_01: People ever say things to you that you know aren't true.
SPEAKER_01: And you just kind of like, well, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01: Someone said, Man, you're really generous.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, No, I just remember my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And it was like, ooh, weird.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Did I just make it awkward?
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, what?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, every time I hear you're doing stuff, I see you all say, Where's he in you?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I try to be a generous person, but it's not about me being generous.
SPEAKER_01: It's about me being a person that was very sinful and very selfish, and God forgave me.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says right here in verse 17, it just kind of lays it out on all of us.
SPEAKER_01: If you have the world's good and you see your brother in need and you close your heart against him, how does the love of God abide in you?
SPEAKER_01: Because the love of God is more compassionate and more consequential than that.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I just confess, before we get out of here today, can I confess my sin to you?
SPEAKER_01: If this is a sin, I didn't think it was gambling, I thought it was a sure thing.
SPEAKER_01: At the first of the football season, one of our men that sets at the first service sits right here.
SPEAKER_01: He's a rab Cowboys fan, and uh Tony Romo just got his back hurt and I said, Hey, you in for a bad season?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I'll tell you what, I bet you$50 that the Cowboys have a better record than the Texans.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, we got Brock Osweiler, dude.
SPEAKER_01: We paid like$180 million for that nine-foot giant.
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding yourself?
SPEAKER_01: I was just thinking all this, and I thought, this is not gambling.
SPEAKER_01: So I stuck my hand out and said, I'll take your$50.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Who's gonna be your quarterback?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Dak Prescott, he's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, who is that?
SPEAKER_01: A couple weeks ago I did the math and I just realized there ain't no way the Texans can win more games than the Cowboys.
SPEAKER_01: So I borrowed 20 bucks from my wife, so I had put my 30.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm coming to church last week to pay the guy off.
SPEAKER_01: And he walks up to me and he hands me a check.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Here, put the 50 you owe me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm thinking, does he even remember this?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he remembers.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hand me a check and says, put the 50 you owe me with this and bless somebody.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I didn't see that coming down.
SPEAKER_01: And so I went to give the check.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I said, I stuck it on my desk on Monday, picked up and take it to our financial secretary, and he had made the check out to me and not to the church.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh, the Lord moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just put the, and I was like, Lord, I'm just gonna see who needs this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna bless somebody.
SPEAKER_01: And then I was at the hayride on Friday night.
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to a lady, I was texting a lady in our church whose friend, there's a family that comes, they don't go to our church, they come to the hay ride every year.
SPEAKER_01: Every year they come, bring their kids.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, great, you ain't gotta go to our church to go to this.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be a blessing to our city.
SPEAKER_01: And so he said, Hey, they got a kid that's in the hospital, down in Texas Children's.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What's going on?
SPEAKER_01: We had surgery, he's in the hospital last week, probably gonna be in the hospital all this week, and there's a good chance he could be in the hospital on Christmas Day.
SPEAKER_01: How many of y'all had ever had a kid in the hospital?
SPEAKER_01: Because I see your hand.
SPEAKER_01: You you are you're thinking about this in ways other people aren't.
SPEAKER_01: Because and I was just like, I mean, it just came over me.
SPEAKER_01: I was angry and I didn't know who to be mad at.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, and I said, Hey, what hospital?
SPEAKER_01: She said, Texas Children.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'll go down and see him on Monday.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Oh, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, Is he into anything?
SPEAKER_01: Because we were sitting in a hospital, it's miserable because you hear the TV out of that little handheld device right there by your ear, and you're like, yeah, I can't stand this.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Well, he's into Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Legos.
SPEAKER_01: And very clearly the Holy Spirit said, Why don't you go to Toys R Us after church today?
SPEAKER_01: Get that check, put your 50 with it, and get the biggest Star Wars Lego play kit they have, and just take it down there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I got online, they have the Millennium Falcon.
SPEAKER_01: They got the Death Star.
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm gonna go, I'm just gonna say, hey, what's the biggest Star Wars thing you got in the store?
SPEAKER_01: Because I want it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, sir, it's under a glass display.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care, break that thing out.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't gonna steal, I'm gonna pay for it.
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm not even gonna wrap it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna take the box and just walk down the hall at Texas Children's.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why I'm not gonna wrap it, because I ain't a woman, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is free.
SPEAKER_01: This is free to you women.
SPEAKER_01: Stop wasting your money on cards and gift bags and tissue paper.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want tissue paper, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you do, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is free.
SPEAKER_01: Little Christmas tip.
SPEAKER_01: Take the$5 you were gonna spend on a card, the$2 on the tissue paper, and the$7 on the bag, and get us a bigger present.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need frosting.
SPEAKER_01: We want cake.
SPEAKER_01: So my wife's like, Well, you gonna wrap that?
SPEAKER_01: Shut up, woman.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna wrap this.
SPEAKER_01: This is a boy.
SPEAKER_01: He don't need to be wrapped.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just walk in there and just lay it on his bed, and hopefully it's so big I need a forklift.
SPEAKER_01: Beep, beep, beep.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just set that thing down and say, hey man, I'm sorry you're gonna be in the hospital the week of Christmas, but I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you, wanted to bless you and give you something to do in the hospital besides stare at the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Not because I'm generous, but because I remember who I used to be.
SPEAKER_01: And my debt was$50 million, and it was forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, after the first service, people coming up to me, handing me stuff, and I'm like, we're gonna get the Death Star, and we're gonna get uh, and one guy said the Millennium Falcon's 400.
SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
SPEAKER_01: And so you think I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else handed me something, and I'm kind of like, somebody handed me a band-aid, I don't know what that's for, but I'll take it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: And then somebody said, What are you gonna do if you get more?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon.
SPEAKER_01: Just walk in there and just put him on his bed.
SPEAKER_01: No, why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I tell you that.
SPEAKER_01: Because when the Bible says, if you see your brother in need, anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
SPEAKER_01: That's not a statement about me.
SPEAKER_01: It's a statement about God's love lives inside of me and it indicts my indifference.
SPEAKER_01: When I want to say to a kid like that, well, I am so sorry you're in the hospital, we'll be praying.
SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
SPEAKER_01: Get off your blessed assurance and do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: That's a living Bible translation.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the last question I have for you.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna listen to a Bob Dylan song.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, you didn't just say that.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I did.
SPEAKER_01: What's the last thing that you did that you didn't want to do, but the love of God made you do it.
SPEAKER_01: What's the last thing?
SPEAKER_01: You're like, I just couldn't help myself.
SPEAKER_01: It just overwhelmed me.
SPEAKER_01: Paul described it like this in 2 Corinthians 5.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, the love of God compels us because we're convinced that Christ died for all.
SPEAKER_01: And we believe that Christ died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again.
SPEAKER_01: See, the love of God is very indicting.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts our indifference, our oh, our pat answers.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I pray for that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts our really small definition of love.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts our standard of what it means, how we define what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I said some words when I was 12, and I I've lived the same life ever since.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts that.
SPEAKER_01: It indicts our infatuation with sin.
SPEAKER_01: It makes it unnecessary, and it indicts our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: Any motivation beyond, hey, I'm I'm the child of God now, but I'm not who I'm gonna be.
SPEAKER_01: And we hear peers, I'm gonna be like him.
SPEAKER_01: So I have my hope in that reality.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm purifying myself.
SPEAKER_01: I'm taking responsibility for my spiritual well-being.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't blaming the church, the preacher, my wife, my kids, my boss, the traffic during the holidays.
SPEAKER_01: That's on me.
SPEAKER_01: So when you say my God is a God of love, it's a true statement.
SPEAKER_01: And it's one of the most indictings that will ever come out of your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest today, we just like to teach what the Bible says and then give us some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: And so Clyde and Lindsay are going to come and just kind of sing this over us.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to think about the love of God and what's it indicting you.
SPEAKER_01: What is it formerly accusing you of today?
SPEAKER_01: Not to stir up guilt, but to wash all the unnecessary off of you and to liberate you and I into the kind of life Christ came for us to have.
SPEAKER_01: If the Bible says the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work, then we shouldn't be compliant in our own destruction by sinful choices.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just think biblically about the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we understand today from your word and from the lyrics to a great song.
SPEAKER_01: When you said, when John says in 1 John 3:1, see what love, what country, what world does this come from?
SPEAKER_01: We hear Bob Dylan saying, You hadn't seen nothing like me yet.
SPEAKER_01: And you're a God that speaks, that's that plain spoken, that straight up, that honest, and that available, and you love us that way.
SPEAKER_01: You went crawling down the avenue with the cross on your back.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it like this: in that God demonstrated his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, cause us to think that way about you and your love for us.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, just brood over your people.
SPEAKER_01: Let us take with us what is necessary today.
SPEAKER_01: Let everything else fall to the wayside.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when you came in, you're given a worship folder that has information about our church.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love for you to take that with you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh on the far right, though, this little tear-off part.
SPEAKER_01: Uh ask for some personal information.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, you had a chance to fill that out.
SPEAKER_01: And if you would, just tear it off and drop it on these wooden boxes by the doors on your way out.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and if today's the day for the rest of us that you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you would do that as well, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We'll be available down front if we can talk with you, pray with you, answer any questions you may have.
SPEAKER_01: Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Because you are loved like that.
SPEAKER_01: You can love like that.
SPEAKER_01: You're not murderers.
SPEAKER_01: You're the sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_01: And you're dead and dead.
SPEAKER_01: Live and love in the manner in which you were created.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.