WEBVTT 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:09.439 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:14.480 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:16.800 Amen. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:17.679 Let's pray together. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:30.640 Lord, when we sing great hymns like that, what we're saying is that 10,000 years is not going to be enough time to tell you how much we love you, how much we appreciate you, how much we understand how merciful and how good you are. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:32.479 And so we anticipate that. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:37.119 And so when we gather for worship, we're not waiting for them to worship you. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.640 We're going to do that now. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:40.079 We're going to lift our voice. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:53.520 As men, we're going to learn songs that we by nature don't understand, but we're going to think about it because hymns are full of good nutrient, dense thickness, and good doctrine that shapes the way we think and the way we feel. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:56.240 It gets our attention and our affection. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.159 And Lord, if you're worthy of anything, you're worthy of that. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.840 And so today we open up your gospel and we begin to look into John. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:12.400 And so we ask your Holy Spirit to illuminate what's there and to magnify and make much of Jesus today from the Bible. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:21.599 So that when we leave here, we can make much of Jesus and the way we think about him and the way we relate to him and the way we love him and the way we talk about him in our city. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:27.040 So that our city gets filled up with the fragrant aroma of big King Jesus. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:28.480 That's what we ask you to do. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.840 We ask it as your sons and daughters, and we ask it in Jesus' name. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.680 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:34.959 You could have a seat if you have a Bible. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.519 I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 1. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:42.000 John chapter 1, if you're our guest today, we're starting to go through the Gospel of John. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:46.799 And today I want to talk to you about why God came into the world and why it matters. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.439 Why God came into the world and why it matters. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:54.239 And while you're finding John 1, I want to confess, uh, begin with a confession. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:59.120 One of the hardest things for me in college, and especially grad school, uh, was writing papers. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.200 It wasn't the act of writing papers. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.079 It's just uh there were certain requirements. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.560 I had some classes, the paper had to be 15 pages. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:13.120 There were some classes that had to be 25 pages, and then some upper level graduate school courses, it had to be a 40-page paper. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:24.639 Uh and I remember early on I had a 25-page paper requirement, and I did all my research and laid everything out and started writing in the first draft, got it written, and I got done. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.159 I had 14 pages. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:31.520 And so I had to go back and just add words to every sentence in the thing to kind of build it out and make it last. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:35.360 And so it was overwhelming because I was just like, what in the world am I doing? 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.120 There's no way I'm gonna get 25 pages. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:42.479 So what I had to do was scratch that, start over, and go back and do more research. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:43.680 And it was miserable. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:45.680 I was just like, I hate this class. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:47.520 But in grad school, you couldn't drop. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:48.479 You had to have it. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:53.919 And so I had to learn to think about, hey, I I I gotta meet the requirement. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.120 Now, why do I tell you that? 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.080 I tell you that because in John's gospel, he doesn't waste a word. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.439 There's no serial filler. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.400 He doesn't go, hey, I got 14 pages, I'm supposed to have 25. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:06.159 I better go back and add some these and tha's and ands and commas and what. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:06.960 No, no, no. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:07.680 Every word. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.120 You talk about nutrient dense, dense, and rich. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:13.280 John's gospel is exactly that. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:18.479 And you'll see that this morning as we talk about why God came into the world and why it matters. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.120 John chapter 1, verse 1, the Bible says this. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:25.520 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:27.360 He was in the beginning with God. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:31.680 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.479 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.000 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not overcome it. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.639 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:44.800 He came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.080 He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:51.840 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:56.000 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.199 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:09.680 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become 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. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:13.199 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:18.160 Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:25.920 John bore witness about him, and he cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:29.759 For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:33.839 For the law was given through Moses, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:39.759 No one has ever seen God, the only God who's at the Father's side, he has made him known. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.920 Now, when I say that John doesn't waste a word, that's exactly what I mean. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:53.040 It's so dense and it's so packed together, and every word, every sentence, every paragraph, there's a reason John records it here as he does. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.199 And so I want to make five points this morning from this passage that we just read. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:01.199 And the first one I want to make is that God comes at us in ways that we recognize. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.839 God comes at us in familiar ways. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:16.399 And so uh be careful that when you become a Christian, that you don't just try to divorce yourself from everything you've ever experienced because God uses that as a frame of reference to come to us sometimes, you say, and and communicate things to us. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:17.519 You say, What do you mean? 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:23.680 The people that John is writing to are Jewish people uh that they're very uh uh religious. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:27.360 Uh they don't have a relationship, but they're very religious, and they value intellect. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.000 They have this Greek mindset that they value intellect. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:35.839 Matter of fact, uh to understand this passage, you have to understand the background of the people John's writing to. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:41.040 So, as a matter of background, I want to tell you four things about these people that John is writing to. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:53.199 The first thing is this Greeks believed that the universe was governed by this order of nature, they called it, and they use this word to refer to this moral principle uh or this reasoning ethic. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.040 And the word they use was logos. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.560 Logos, uh, which which is a Greek word for word. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:06.720 As early as the sixth century, there was a philosopher named Heraclitus who described the Logos as the stabilizing principle of the universe. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.920 It was all it was this all-pervading principle or this rational principle of the universe. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:20.160 It was, they just they didn't know what to call it, and so they called it logos because they valued intellect and they said the thing that holds everything together is the Logos. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:29.360 We don't know the Logos, it's vague, it's unknowable, it's out there in the nether regions, but we know that something, as we look around, something holds all this together. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:34.399 And they referred to it as this highest principle of reasoning, and they called it Logos. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:42.319 Second thing, a well-lived life in their mind was defined as a life that conformed to this rational and moral order. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:50.639 A well-lived life was this was defined as a life that conformed to this rational and moral order. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:07:01.360 That's why for some of you in this room, you're not Christians yet, but you have this, every once in a while, not all the time, but every once in a while you have this aching sense that something's missing in your life. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:09.680 Now, the reason I say some some of the time and not all the time is because if you're not a Christian, that doesn't mean you're unhappy all the time. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:11.040 Not at all. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:20.720 Uh people that are unbelievers, they have enjoy some of them have very enjoyable lives, but even for those that like you see on TV and you're like, oh man, they're not missing God at all. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:21.519 They're millionaires. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:31.519 I promise you, there's points in time in their life where they just kind of lay in bed and they have this gnawing hole in them that kind of says, Is there more than what I believe and what I experience? 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:32.639 Absolutely. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:38.480 Because their life is not conformed to this rational and moral order. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:40.079 We call it higher power. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:41.439 Some people call it karma. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:43.680 For the Greeks, they called it this logos. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:50.160 Third thing I want you to know about them is that for them, life was about contemplating this order and trying to discern what it was all about. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.480 Lots of talking, lots of discussion, big emphasis on intellect. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.680 There's a parallel uh in the Bible for these kinds of people. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:10.000 The Apostle Paul at Acts 17 is in the city of Athens, and he's kind of walking around the city one day, and he sees all these idols, all these statues to these different gods, and he sees this one, and the inscription on it says, to an unknown God. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:14.560 And Paul gets up and he uses that as an inroad to talk to these people about Christ. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:18.319 He says, Hey, as I walked around your city today, I observed that you're very religious. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.399 I saw all these different idols, and I saw this one that said to an unknown God. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:24.160 And then he turns the table on them. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.319 He says, What you worship is something unknown, I will make known to you. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.120 That's what John does here in John chapter 1. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:40.320 You don't get three sentences in and you stumble over the fact that John has come at them in some very familiar ways and he's arrested their attention. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:42.240 But before we get to that, I show you that. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:45.120 Let me just say the fourth thing you need to know about them. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:55.440 One of the reasons they put so much energy into contemplating this logos is because they also thought of God as detached from the world when it came to our struggles and fears. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:58.000 So figuring this all out was up to them. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:08:59.360 That's the key point. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:03.200 Figuring this all out, in other words, now track with me here for a little bit. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.600 This is this is not a scientific lecture, okay? 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:13.600 But I'm building a platform so we can get on it and we can look at John chapter 1, verse 1 from a whole new perspective, okay? 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:18.720 Uh and so basically these people he's writing to, they know that there's something out there. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.759 They don't know what it is, but for them, it's a principle. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:31.600 It's this reason, it's intellect, and they don't know what to call it, so they call it the Logos, this governing, uh uh reasoned principle that holds everything in the universe together. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.840 And life was about conforming to this. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:35.120 Think about it for a minute. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:41.840 What if your life, um, a successful life, was defined as conforming to something that you could never understand? 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.720 It's just kind of like, hey, I don't know if I get it. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.279 I don't know if I'm measuring up. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:55.440 I know it's out there, but I live with this constant sense that I stink, I fall short, I'm never going to measure up. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:56.399 That's what they were like. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:58.960 And so for them, they sat around and thought about it all the time. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:07.360 Matter of fact, back to Acts 17, Paul said about the Athenians, he said they enjoyed nothing but sitting around and thinking and talking about things all the time. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:15.039 Because their life consisted of figuring this thing that was unknowable, figuring it out, and building their life all around it. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:19.440 And and the the the kicker for me is that it all depended on them. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:22.240 They had to figure this out because God was detached. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:26.240 I mean, it was like calf rope, and God kind of got it going and was like, you're on your own. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:27.360 It's deism. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:29.679 And they didn't think God created the world. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.720 They just said, hey, and they didn't think about God. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:34.399 For them, Logos. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:35.519 We figured out. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:36.879 Now, why do I tell you all that? 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:43.440 I want to build this platform, I want us to stand on that and look down and hear the first thing John writes to these people. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:44.240 It's verse one. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.519 Hear it again, having said all that, in the beginning was the word. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:49.919 Or is the Greek word is logos. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.960 In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.600 All of a sudden, their ears perk. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.600 I mean, he drops a bomb on them, and they are like, What? 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:06.159 No way! And John just keeps writing because why? 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:12.399 Because God comes at us in ways that we recognize, he comes at us in these familiar ways. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:27.600 And so if you're here today and you're not quite there, you're not quite a believer in Jesus, you say, I don't, I don't believe the claims of Christianity, just keep listening and listen in ways that are familiar to you because God will speak in ways that are familiar to you. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:36.879 And by coming at them in a language that they recognize, John is taking Christianity out of the realm of the intellectual elite, and he's making it available to everybody. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.840 He takes it out of the realm of the intellectual elite. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:45.039 Now, for us nowadays, we don't think in terms of the intellectual elite like they did back in in John's day. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.600 We think in terms of the moral elite. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:48.799 The moral elite. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:50.320 Some of you in this room think this. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:56.799 You think I've done so much bad, there's no way I could ever live the Christian life because I am such a screw up. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:58.639 That's just that's just human nature. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:06.000 We all beat ourselves up about what we've done in our past, what we continue to do in our present, and what we think we might want to do in the future. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.080 And so we just disqualify ourselves. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:12.000 Well, John writes to these people and he takes it out of the realm of the elite. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.000 And here's why that's such a big deal. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:28.720 If this abstract principle is not, it's if this whole logos is not an abstract principle that is so deeply mired down in complexity that only the really educated and intellectual people can ponder it. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:41.759 If it's not that, and it really is a person who makes himself available through relationship, which is open to anybody, then game changer alert, all of a sudden this goes from whosoever can to whosoever will. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.480 Do you hear the difference in those two things? 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:46.720 It goes from whosoever can. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:51.919 Hey, if you sit, if you've got time to sit and ponder and think about this, let me ask you a question. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.159 How many of you in this room have enough time to think about all the things you want to think about? 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:57.919 Thank you. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.159 Some of you are like, man, I can't get a deep breath. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:05.120 My kids like, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, Scotty, Scotty, Scotty, Scotty, how does that sound? 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:05.840 How does that feel? 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:06.799 Shut up. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:08.639 But you don't say that. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.799 No, you put your hand on the phone and go, mommy's on the phone. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:14.159 I'll be done right now. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:23.600 If you go in my wife's office, there's a magnet on her refrigerator, and it's this sweet dressed-up woman, she's on the phone looking at her kids, and the caption says, Because shut up, that's why. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:26.720 That's how we talk to our kids, okay? 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:27.279 No. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.840 I mean, it's just like these guys had nothing. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:33.519 They just sat around and thought about it and thought about it and thought about it. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:38.879 And a lot of people just said, hey, they thought about it five minutes and realized I don't stand a chance. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:40.639 I can never get this figured out. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:46.080 So I'm just gonna live like it doesn't matter to me because if it's whosoever can, I can't. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:53.840 And John changes the narrative and said, it's not whosoever can based on ability, it's whosoever will, and it's based on willingness. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.679 That's that's why I say he didn't waste a word. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:04.960 He says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and there's a progression to the incarnation. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:12.159 When we say incarnation, that's the idea of God leaving heaven and putting on flesh and come to live here on the earth. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:13.200 That's the incarnation. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.399 Here's the progression to this uh to the incarnation. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.240 It's first of all, the word existed. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:24.080 The word existed, and by the way, when he says the word here, he's not talking about the Bible, he's talking about Jesus. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:25.840 He's talking about Jesus. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:27.519 He says the word existed. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:32.559 Secondly, uh, the word was with God, uh, not identical, but they're one. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:35.600 And thirdly, the word was God. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:37.360 The word was God. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.799 Why is that such a big deal? 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:42.320 Remember, John is writing to a Jewish audience. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:49.759 He's a Palestinian Jew who's come to faith in Christ, come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that people can, sins can be forgiven. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:51.120 Our sins can be forgiven. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:53.440 We don't have to keep some religious rules. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:58.399 We can be in a relationship with this personal God who wants to know us in a personal way. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:00.080 Game changer for John. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:06.320 He writes to people who are like him that he went to high school with and says, Hey, hey, it's not about us. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:07.200 It's about him. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:11.759 It's not about what we can do in the present, it's about what he's done. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:13.600 And they're like, oh my gosh. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:14.799 Now, here's the big deal. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.639 It goes from, hey, the word existed uh to the word was with God. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:20.799 And then thirdly, the word was God. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.679 Uh, Jews are radically monotheistic. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:33.039 They would get up every day and recite the Shema, which is the same, it's quoting Deuteronomy 6.4, which says this, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:34.559 The Lord our God is one. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.639 They begin every day reciting that, they begin their worship services reciting that. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:44.320 And John comes along and he's not saying, listen to me, he's not saying, uh, hey, now there's two gods. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:45.360 He's in no no. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:51.440 He's saying the God that we believe in, this one God, he is expressing himself in his son. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:16:02.080 So when he says, Hey, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, what John is saying unequivocally and unapologetically is Jesus is the Son of God. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:09.919 And so, because of that, there's a deep, deep importance on everything the Bible ever says about him. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.399 Second thing the text tells us is that God is most recognizable in Jesus. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:17.759 He says in verse 2, he was in the beginning with God. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:22.799 So this logos, this is not a thing or a concept or a principle, but a person. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:27.919 He existed with God before anything came to be, said differently, he was pre-existent. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:36.240 So John is not telling us a bunch of religious uh uh uh information about him, he's telling us historical information about him. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:37.600 Why is that a big deal? 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:41.519 Because Jesus was not created by God, because he existed with God. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:46.799 Now think for just a minute, and I'll bring this down in about four minutes, I'll bring this down to where we live. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:48.080 Are you still with me so far? 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.080 Some of y'all are like, uh, okay, is there gonna be a quiz on this? 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:53.600 Is this gonna be on the test? 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:54.480 No, no, no, no. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.480 Remember, John doesn't waste a word. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:01.679 He says what he says to lay the foundation here for what he's going to say next. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:05.119 And he says what he says here to lay the foundation for what he's gonna say next. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:10.640 And if you could just follow the progression, all of a sudden it's like, oh, I get that now. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:20.400 And what happens is that things that used to offend you, yeah, that just made you uh intellectually angry, all of a sudden they bring you great comfort. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:21.839 Stay with me. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:29.279 When I say that God is the most recognizable in Jesus, a lot of people you hear nowadays, people say this, well, I I believe in Jesus. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.039 I believe he was a good teacher, a moral example, or even a prophet. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.640 Uh, they're relating to Jesus like he was just another created being. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.839 And John says from the get-go, no, no, no, Jesus is the Son of God. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.200 Matter of fact, that is the thing that got Jesus in trouble. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:49.599 Uh John, don't turn to it, but just write down John chapter 5, verse 18. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:51.119 Now we're in John chapter 1. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:59.119 So it takes only four chapters for Jesus to make people so angry that they would pull their beards out and they would rip their clothes. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:06.400 Have you ever been so mad at somebody that you just ripped your shirt and was like, Bah! That's the way people would respond to Jesus. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:08.240 John 5.18 says this. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.440 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:18.799 Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:23.200 Now I want to draw your attention to those five words, we're seeking all the more to kill him. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:30.000 In other words, they had been seeking to kill him before, and now their desire to kill Jesus had gotten bigger. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:31.839 We're seeking all the more. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.680 What does Jesus do in four chapters that makes people so angry? 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:41.599 Because we don't live in a day and age where we get how offended they were, and they would just be like, What? 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.640 Because what Jesus did in John 5 is he heals a guy on the Sabbath. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.480 The Sabbath where you're not supposed to be doing anything, just laying there on your mat. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.680 Jesus comes rolling into the town like big and rich. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:00.240 He walked into the room passing out hundred dollar bills because it thrills and it kills like the horns on my Silver Rado grill. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.079 And people are going crazy. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.559 And he heals somebody, and they're like, What? 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.880 You can't do that on the Sabbath? 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.599 And Jesus is like, hey, this guy's messed up and I can make him better. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:12.960 Why wouldn't I make him better? 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:19.359 And they were just and they would tear their shirts and they would go home and go, he's not doing it right. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.000 It's like this if you're married, men. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:27.759 Sometimes your wife says something, and you think in your mind, there is no way you can actually feel that. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:28.960 But she does. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.920 And you're kind of like, Do I say what I'm thinking? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.799 Or do I just do that? 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:36.400 Yeah, just do that. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:37.200 That's the answer. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:44.160 But every once in a while, my wife and I have conversations, and she says stuff, and I'm just, it's, it, it's in there, and I'm doing good. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:54.079 But remember when you were a kid and you had those little cars men, and you put them on the ground and you roll them backwards, and they go, and then you have to let them go. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:55.920 That's me. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:03.759 My wife will say something, and I'll think, there's no way you can logically get to that place where you feel like that about me. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.720 I am awesome, and you're just missing it. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.119 But I'm gonna say that, and I'm struggling off, listen, this is my posture. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:12.640 I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:17.519 And she'll say, and I'm like, I don't see where you get that. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:22.880 And she'll say crazy stuff like you don't have to understand this, you just have to help me process it. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:37.519 And every once in a while, if we're in a room where there's a clock, I'll just glance over and look at the clock because I just think we're we're we're just we're getting on the word train, and this is gonna be 45 minutes of just a pride swallowing siege. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.599 And I and I'm still not saying anything. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:43.839 I'm just yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.079 And then she'll say, and she talks like this is actually real. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.000 And I'm thinking, this is impossible. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:53.680 You, how did you get? 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.720 I said this, and you got this from this. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.920 The fact that you got this from this is not my fault. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:01.519 Why do I have to be here? 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:07.680 And occasionally, I just I just like I can't take it. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.079 And I just and I say that. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:17.119 And I say, Inla, I'm not a yeller, I don't yell, I'm just like, hey, you're feeling something that I never intended. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:19.839 Why do I have to help walk you back to reality? 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:21.839 Oh, you think I'm in non-reality? 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:29.279 Oh, no, I think the golf tournament came on 40 minutes ago. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.279 And we, who why do I say that? 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:33.839 Look at me. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.160 Because that's the way people responded to Jesus. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:40.319 Religious people would just rip their clothes and be like, shut up. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:42.400 No way. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.319 And Jesus would be like, Why? 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:45.440 Why? 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:49.920 Because he's God is most recognizable in Jesus. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.759 That's why Jesus would say things if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.359 And people will throw dirt in the air because that was a sign of mourning. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.759 They were just like, Oh no, and by the way. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.400 Way. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.920 That is the thing that got him killed. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:06.240 Not that he broke the religious rules, he kept telling people, I'm God. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.559 He said, I only do what I see my father doing. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:16.559 Third thing I want us to see in the text this morning is that all of humanity is morally responsible to God. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.839 All of humanity is morally responsible to God. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.119 It's verse 3. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.079 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.880 Now, the Bible is not written for smart people. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:34.960 It's written to about a seventh grade level of education. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:40.640 And so because I spent two of the best years of my life in the seventh grade, I understand it very clearly. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.319 Listen again to what the Bible just said, okay? 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.799 He says, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.039 This is why I say to you, all of humanity is morally responsible to God. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:59.440 Because what you'll hear out in our city and our culture is you'll hear people say, Well, we're consenting adults, we're not hurting anybody. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.200 You do what you want, I do what I want. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:02.160 It's up to me. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:03.920 And I'm like, well, that's great. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.880 You could operate under that, but I want you to know that understand this, because God created everybody and everything you see. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:16.000 Therefore, God has the rightful claim upon everybody and everything that exists today. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:26.240 This is why, whether you're you consider yourself religious or non-religious, you consider yourself, you could be sitting here thinking, I'm immoral, I'm atheist, I don't give a rip about this. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:36.799 You need to think about your standing with God, where you are in relation to God, even if you're the most immoral, indifferent spiritual person that anybody knows. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:37.759 And here's why. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:46.720 Because God operates with this in mind, and the world operates with this conclusion in mind, and it always has and it always will. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:47.920 Let me say that again. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:24:01.759 You should think about, regardless of where you are on the spiritual spectrum, you should think about where you are in relation to God because God operates with this principle in mind that all of humanity is morally responsible to God. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:02.319 Why? 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:04.640 Because He created you. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.240 He created not just you, but everything that you see. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:13.759 And so, as creator, He has moral authority over everything that He created. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.920 Now, I say things like that, and some of you are like, I don't have a degree. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:18.880 Could you stop? 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.119 Let me bring it down and apply it to us. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:24.400 I got a phone call one time, middle of the night. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:26.160 Lady said, Can you get to our house? 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:28.720 My husband's got my son down in the driveway. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:29.680 Oh, I'll be right there. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:30.799 Tell him to hold him down. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:33.119 And I get up, get dressed, get over there. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:36.240 What has happened is the son is a home from college. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:37.279 He's a sophomore. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:39.920 He's home on the weekend for the summer. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:45.519 And the dad's already talked to him and said, Hey, listen, you're welcome in our home when you're out of college and everything. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:54.319 But even though you're 20 and you're you're you're you're you're in college, when you live at our house, you're under my roof, you're under my moral authority, you follow my rules. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.680 And he said, Here's the thing your mom does not sleep. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.000 She emotionally holds her breath until you get home. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:06.000 And so when you come home late, my wife doesn't sleep, therefore I don't sleep, so you and I got a problem. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.240 And the son said, I got dad, I got it. 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:09.599 He said, Okay, I'm not mad at you. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:11.440 I'm just, you're getting kind of loose with this. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:13.279 You act like this is a stopping shop. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:18.720 You come in, we do your laundry, your mom fix you food, we give you money, and you do as you please. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:24.400 Three nights later, he gets home at about 2.15, 2.30 in the morning, and he's hammered drunk. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:28.079 And dad's waiting in the entry hall with a Batman pose. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.519 And he walks by his dad and he says, Hey, none of your business. 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:33.200 I'm 20, I can do as I please. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:39.200 And dad turns around, takes three steps, gets him by the neck, and choke slams him right there in the entry hall. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.359 And mom, oh, call Pastor Neil. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:43.920 Yes, if that happens at your house, please call me. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.519 Yeah, because I want to come over. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.400 I don't care what time of day or night it is. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:57.039 I get over there, and the dad's sitting out on the steps, and he's like, hey man, if you come over here to read me the ride act, I ain't gonna listen to it. 00:25:57.119 --> 00:25:59.279 And I said, I didn't come to read anybody the ride act. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:00.079 Tell them what happened. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:04.400 He said, Hey, I'm tired of my son disrespecting me in my home, disrespecting my wife. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.640 So he popped off to me, so I put him in his place. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:08.880 I said, I come over here, shake your hand. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:16.160 Walked in here, and the kid, and the son's in there with the mom and the kid, I said, Hey, you don't want any of that old man up there on the steps. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:17.680 That cat's old school. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:19.839 He ain't gonna whip you with a belt. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:22.640 Oh, well, I mean, he caught me off guard. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.839 Yeah, when people get choke slammed, they usually don't see it coming. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:32.079 And the mom is like, you know, tell him, tell my husband's uh pastor, that that's inappropriate. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.960 I said, the great inappropriate thing here is that your son acts like he's not morally responsible to anybody. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:40.640 You say, What do you mean? 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:41.759 Can you imagine? 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.200 Some of you men right now are thinking, I'll tell you what if my son did that to me. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:47.680 I wouldn't call you, I'd call the sheriff. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:49.519 Because somebody going to jail. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:51.519 That's you know why you feel that way? 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:56.720 Because it offends you when your kids act like they're not morally responsible to you. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:03.519 And so for you to act like you're not morally responsible to God makes you the biggest hypocrite you know. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:11.119 See, remember when I told you a few minutes ago, if you follow, we're gonna do this, and then we're gonna go to this, and then we're gonna go to this. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:12.400 Now we're there. 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:17.039 Now, y'all are like, I don't get that low guy, shut up, I don't care, I'm sleepy. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:18.079 Is there more coffee? 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:19.599 Wait, chokeslam is kid. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:20.880 Yeah, I'm with that. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:22.880 Why? 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:32.799