John, pt. 74 | John 12:20-26

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August 18, 2024 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice

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John, pt. 75 | John 12:27-36

John, pt. 75 | John 12:27-36

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If you would, at this time, take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to John 12.
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John 12, we will consider verses 20 through 26. John 12, verses 20 through 26.
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And this is our 74th message in this glorious gospel.
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Let's pray. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, we come to this portion of our time where we devote ourselves to the teachings of your apostles.
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And Lord, I just pray in the name of Jesus Christ, that you will, by your spirit, speak forth from this broken vessel to feed your people.
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Lord, we have come here to feast upon your word, upon your supper, with fellowship with one another, together, bearing witness with one another that we are your children.
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Please, Lord, do not let my inadequacy get in the way. Speak, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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Let's begin with the text, John chapter 12, verses 20 through 26.
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Now among those who went to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him,
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Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told
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Andrew, Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them,
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The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
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But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
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If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
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We can just stop right now. If anyone serves
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Jesus Christ, the Father will honor him. My theme for this Lord's Day is this, that the
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Messiah is for the Gentiles. He's not just for the
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Jews, he's also for the Gentiles, for God so loved the world, cosmos, not world oikomene, not the little piece of land by the edge of the
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Mediterranean Sea, but all of earth, red, yellow, black, or white.
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He has come, and he is for us. He has come for us. My proposition is this, the evidence of a true
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Christian conversion is following Jesus. Show me someone who's been a
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Christian for 20 years and they haven't went from A to B, they're stuck at A, they're the exact same person who they were dead in their sins before Christ, and I will show you a false convert.
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So often in the Christian faith, we hear people talk about assurance. Do we have assurance?
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Can we have assurance? When in truth, assurance is something you and I shouldn't have to question.
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We shouldn't have to question this. And so often in many conversations, we usually accuse one another of legalism or antinomianism.
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We accuse one another of their life being all law. Your teaching is nothing but law, where's the grace?
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Or we accuse one another of having no law at all. When an individual is saved, they are saved by God's grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
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There's no other way. You cannot keep the law to get to God. You cannot use the law as a way to establish your own righteousness.
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That's what the Jews did. To quote my good friend Braden, the wall was the rope by which they hung themselves.
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However, they ought to also live their life by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
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You're not only to believe in Him by faith alone, but you're to live your life in Him by faith alone.
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Galatians 2, verse 20 says this, this Paul speaking, I, Paul, having crucified with Christ, it is no longer
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I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I live, I now live in the flesh.
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I live by faith. You hear that? I live by faith. This life that he lives in the flesh, he lives by faith in the
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Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
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We are to live by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, trusting that what he has done, he has done for us and will accomplish his purpose in us.
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But my dear friend, if your life is not changed, this is evidence that nothing has happened to you.
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Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17 says this, still this is Paul speaking, I am not ashamed of the gospel, the gospel being the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
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He says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the
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Jew first, and also to the Greek. This right here is just that whole John 3, 16 thing, the world, red, yellow, black, and white.
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For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
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How are the righteous supposed to live? Come on, Baptists. We're some
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Pentecostals up in here, right? By faith. Who are the righteous? Those that are in Christ who live by faith are the righteous.
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Those that are in Christ will live by trusting in Jesus Christ.
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Our life would be one that is patterned after Jesus Christ. The faith that it takes to be saved is to believe that Jesus Christ lived for you, died for you, and was raised from the dead.
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The faith that it takes to live for Jesus Christ is to believe that He lived for you, died for you, and was raised from the dead.
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That which you put your faith in in the beginning is that which you keep your faith in throughout your whole life.
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That He lived the life that you could not live, and that He took upon Himself the punishment that you deserve on that cross.
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And if you truly believe that, that faith you have in Christ will take you from where you are or were and conform you into the image of Christ on the last day.
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This is speaking of that process of sanctification, right? By you trusting in Jesus Christ, He is conforming you, not by your deeds, but by the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Amen? In our outline today, we're going to see that following Jesus in faith is resting in His finished work, which is the anchor of our assurance.
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We're going to see their request, His response, and His instructions.
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So point number one, their request. Point number two, His response.
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And point number three, His instructions. And as we transition, we are days away from the last and final
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Passover. John sees Jesus and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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That Paschal Lamb was pointing to something greater, and that greater is here.
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Jesus spent three years, as we've been walking through John, we've experienced three Passovers.
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We're coming upon the last and final Passover. You say, oh, but the Jews still celebrate
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Passover today. This was the last and final Passover. Remember, it's a shadow pointing to a substance.
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It's that menu, right? They bring you the menu. When you order food, if you're me, you point to the picture of the food you want.
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They take your menu and they bring you back the plate of food, the substance.
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They don't bring you back the menu. Once the substance comes, the shadow leaves.
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The type points to the anti -type. In two -tier typology, the Paschal Lamb had fulfilled its purpose.
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The second tier, that which is pointing to, has come.
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This is the last and final Passover. That is the sacrifice of Jesus, Him being the
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Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And last week, we began this triumphant entrance,
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Jesus entering in as King. And we saw that He was riding on a donkey, humbled and riding on a donkey.
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He was not, He did not come riding in on a stallion. He came in to fulfill prophecy by being humbled, mounted on a donkey's colt.
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They saw Jesus, a large group, those who have traveled into Jerusalem. It's estimated the numbers is in the millions.
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They see Him and they began to sing a portion of the Hallel. They say, Hosanna, blessed is
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He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And right here, they say, blessed is
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He who comes in the name of the Lord, which is recognizing Him as Messiah. Who comes even as the
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King of Israel, they're recognizing that He is the King. And they're saying, Hosanna, which is the
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Hebrew word for save us. They're saying, here He comes, save us, save us, O King, please save us.
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You say, well, that's a really good thing to say to the King. Except for when they're speaking of save them, save us,
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Hosanna, they're not saying save us eternally. Save us from the wrath of God because we are sinners.
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They're saying, man, we are enslaved by Rome. Please come in as a conquering king, come in as a
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Judah Maccabee and save us from the tyranny that we are under. And Jesus Christ did not come to save them, to give them relief from Rome.
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He came as a substitute to live for those who are going to be
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His and to die for those who are going to be His. They were thinking earthly,
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He brings in the spiritual. Point number one, their request.
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Read with me verses 20 through 21. It says, now among those who went to worship at the feast were some
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Greeks. So these came to Philip, so Philip is one of Jesus's disciples who is from Bethsaida.
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Earlier, we saw in chapter one, that was Philip that went to Nathanael in Galilee.
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Let's see, hold on. Yeah, Philip, who was from Galilee, from Bethsaida in Galilee, excuse me, and asked him, sir, we wish to see
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Jesus. These Greeks, these worshipers of Yahweh, they would have been known as God -fearers.
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They would have in some way been converts to Judaism, right? They had taken some kind of a ritual bath.
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They had been circumcised. They have come to the feast. They have come to worship
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Yahweh, God, in the capacity by which they were given in the court of the
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Gentiles. They recognized Yahweh as the one true God, and they wanted to honor him with their worship.
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In the book of Acts, we see something similar to this. We first come across the
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Ethiopian eunuch, right, who was a God -fearer, but he wasn't a Greek. He's from Africa.
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You see right there that the message is being spread, that Jesus is for Gentiles.
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He goes back. As you study church history, he goes back, and Christianity populated
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Africa for a long time and came out of Africa. So Christianity is not a
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European religion. Can we get that straight? But in Acts chapter 10, we are introduced to a
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Greek God -fearer named Cornelius, and we saw that Peter was sent to Cornelius to proclaim to him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Cornelius, along with his whole household, are filled with the
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Holy Spirit. In Daniel chapter 9, the angel Gabriel reveals to Daniel how long the
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Lord is going to be dealing with the people of Israel. The length of time was 490 years.
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From that moment when they were released at 483 years takes us to AD 27, which will be the revealing of Jesus as the
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Messiah. This will be when Jesus was baptized. Beginning his earthly ministry.
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There's still a seven -year period that has to take place, and we see that it has taken place.
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We're not dispensationals. God has not caused a parenthesis in time. He has not split the statue at its feet.
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Jesus would have been crucified in AD 30 during the month of Nisan, and then the 490 years would have come to completion in AD 34.
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Sometimes in that time range. According to my calculations, Peter was sent to Cornelius, a
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Gentile God -fearer, in AD 34 immediately after the 490 years.
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These Gentile God -fearers in our text are seeking Jesus, and it seems to be a precursor of what will take place when
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God's dealing with the Jews would be over with. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
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But to those who did receive him, to them he gave the right to be children of God.
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My dear friends, if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not a child of God. Verse 19 seems to be commentary of what's taking place here in our text.
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Look at verse 19. It says, so the Pharisees said to one another, you see, that you are gaining nothing.
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Look, the world has gone after him. So not only are the
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Jews going after Jesus, right? He raised Lazarus from the dead. They're curious, they're following after, they want to see
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Lazarus with their own eyes, and because of this, some believe in him, but also
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Gentiles. We're going after him. My dear friends, salvation is the same for the
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Jews as it is for the Gentiles. It's faith alone, and Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
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The request made by them, they said, sir, we wish to see Jesus. We wish to see Jesus. This message of Jesus was spreading throughout the
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Gentile world, around the Jewish world, and these Jewish converts were asking to see
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Jesus for themselves. Point number two, his response.
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This is taken from verses 22 through 24, but let's just read verses 22 and 23 to begin with.
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Philip went and told Andrew. Now, Andrew is Peter's brother, for those that may not be aware.
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Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Here's his response.
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And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
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You might think, well, that's kind of a weird answer, right? Jesus, they wish to see you.
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The hour has come for the Son to be glorified. The hour here is not a literal hour.
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It's not a literal 60 minutes, nor is it just one thing. Again, this is something that very intelligent, more highly intelligent theologians than myself get wrong.
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And so I approach this text with fear and trembling. They would take these words too literal.
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Concerning the subject, I like to take people to the cross. On that cross, as Jesus gave up his spirit, he said these words, it is finished, tetelestai, it is finished, which means paid in full.
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Him as the sacrifice was fulfilled. Him as the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is fulfilled. That Paschal Lamb, the purpose of it, its purpose has been fulfilled.
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However, his priestly work, Jesus's priestly work was not finished.
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During his death in the burial of Jesus Christ, according to Hebrews, Jesus goes into the
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Holy of Holies in heaven and he sprinkles his blood on the mercy seat.
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And according to Isaiah 53, Jesus makes an offering for guilt, which is his blood for our sins.
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It says that the father will see his offspring and prolong his days, speaking about his resurrection.
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We saw last week in Acts chapter 2 that it's his resurrection that crowns him king, right?
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They nailed him on the cross. They have a little sign above his head. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the
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Jews. They recognize he's identified, he's recognized as king. But when he is raised from the dead,
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Peter says that this is what David was speaking about, that God was going to sit one on his throne and that his soul, that his body would not decay.
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And he's speaking about his resurrection, that when he came up out the grave, that's his coronation.
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In our text, Jesus, in our text, when
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Jesus says, the hour has come, it is speaking about, he is speaking about his death, his burial and his resurrection.
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Look again at verse 23. The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.
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And my argument would be that glorified or glorification equals resurrection.
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If you would turn with me to Romans chapter 8, we read this earlier in Sunday school. I told you for the last two weeks, my
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Sunday school class has been tap dancing on my sermon. And so if you heard some of this earlier, you need it again.
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Look at verse 29. It says, for those whom he foreknew, for those whom he known beforehand, you said, well,
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God knows everybody. Yeah, but not in the same intimacy. For those whom he foreknew, he knows intimately.
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He also predestined, predestined to what? To be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And later on, we're going to see that this firstborn of my many brothers is speaking of his resurrection.
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So it tells you what's going to happen. Verse 30 tells you how it happens. And those whom he predestined, so those he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
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Speaking of the resurrection, watch this. Whom he predestined, he also called.
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And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorifies.
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When Jesus Christ was raised from that grave, he was glorified. And you and I, in our future resurrection, when we come forth from the grave, where if we're alive, when he comes, we change in the twinkling of an eye, we will be glorified.
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We will be made like him in his image. To be glorified is to be raised from the dead, to have a glorified body.
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A body that not only transcends time and space, but a body that is fit for the kingdom of God, which
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Jesus is the king of. Not only does it speak about Jesus being glorified, his resurrection, it also, he speaks of himself as the son of man.
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By Jesus calling himself the son of man, if you know your Old Testament, you should be, your mind should be going to the ascension.
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The ascension is where Jesus goes to be with the father. Remember at his resurrection, he is crowned king.
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This speaking of his coronation, during his ascension is when he is handed his kingdom. You and I, you and I.
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His kingdom is not made of earthly material, such as a building, walls, right?
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It's here, but it's not yet. We're a part of it, we're in it, but it's not fully here yet.
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You have to be born again in order to see it. If you're here today, you say, I don't even know what he's talking about, looking around.
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It's because you need to be born again. We are in this kingdom that is here, but it's not yet.
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It has been handed to him. We have been handed to him by the father. If there is no kingdom, there is no king.
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We have a king, he was crowned at his resurrection, so there must be a kingdom. And he's ruling, and he's reigning, and he's putting all of his enemies under his feet.
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And we know this because the one who is given that kingdom is the son of man. Turn with me to Daniel chapter seven.
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Daniel chapter seven. If I'm going too fast for you, say, slow down, preacher.
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Look at verse 13. So Daniel has this vision.
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It says, I saw in the night vision, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.
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And he came to the ancient of days, God the father, and was presented before him.
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And to him, speaking of the son of man, was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages.
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He came for the Gentiles. That all people's nations and languages should serve him.
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His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed.
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We're looking around, we're like, oh, the world's going to get us. The world is going to be placed under the feet of Jesus Christ.
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How's that happen? Through the message of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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He did not send angels into the world to hypotasso to subdue it. He sent his son,
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Jesus Christ. And we win not because of our valor. We have victory because of Jesus Christ.
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All nations are going to serve him. Calling Jesus the son of God is confessing his incarnation, that the creator entered into creation, that the infinite became finite.
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When you say Jesus son of God, that's what you're saying. You're saying that the creator entered creation.
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Calling Jesus son of David, you are recognizing him as the Messiah. When we say
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Jesus Christ, in turn, we're really saying Jesus son of David. It was the son of David that was prophesied, that would come and lead his people, that would keep the commandment, that would earn the land and sit on the throne.
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And calling Jesus son of man is calling Jesus your king.
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Can the king tell you what to do, Baptists? The king can tell us what to do.
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By calling Jesus king, we are saying, you, king
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Jesus, speak to us. Tell us what to do. We are your servants.
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By Jesus calling himself son of David, he is proclaiming his kingship here.
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So the genesis of his response is, it's time for the anointed king to die, be buried, and raise from the dead.
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In verse 24, Jesus will be speaking about his death, burial, resurrection by using an allegory of agriculture.
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I've been practicing that word. For some reason, my street lingo, it's hard to say it. If I said that wrong, please forgive me.
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But you know, like the whole planting stuff, right? If I did great, that was all
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God. Look at verse 24 with me. Look at verse 24. Again, this is still his response.
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Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
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But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus is speaking of his death and burial as a seed sown into the ground.
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That if he does not die for our sins, because he's already lived for us, right?
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He's already earned righteousness for us. But if the seed of righteousness that was earned for us does not fall into the earth and dies, it will not bear any fruit.
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His resurrection is the first fruits of our resurrection. The other fruits that it's talking about here, him bearing fruit, is our resurrection like his.
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Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Chapter 15, we'll read verses 19 through 21 to begin with.
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Verse 19. So just quick context at this time, as people teaching that there is no resurrection of the dead.
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So Paul is going to use the fact that Jesus has rose from the dead to prove our resurrection from the dead.
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He says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most pitied.
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But if in fact Christ has raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, for as by one man came death, speaking of Adam, the spiritual death that leads to our physical death, for as by one man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
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In the Old Testament, God promised to destroy death. And in the
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New Testament, he tells us how he destroys death. This passage, 1
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Corinthians 15, is that passage that lets us know how it happens, right? And it's on the last day through the resurrection of the dead.
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The apostle Paul in this chapter uses the same allegory concerning the resurrection.
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Look in chapter 15, beginning in verse 35. He uses that same construction that Jesus is using when he's explaining to them.
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Verse 35, but some will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?
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You foolish person. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
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And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain.
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So it's calling that our bodies are a kernel. It's a seed that's going to be planted into the ground.
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But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body.
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For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another kind for animals, and another for birds, and another for fish.
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There are heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another.
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The glory of the sun, excuse me, there is one glory for the sun, and another glory for the moon, and another glory for the stars, for each star differs from star in glory.
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So it is with the resurrection of the dead, what is sown perishable. Can this body die?
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What is sown perishable will be raised imperishable. No more death.
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It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
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It is sown the natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
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If there is a natural body, what we have here, there is also a spiritual body.
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Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last
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Adam became a life given spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural.
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And then the spiritual. Still talking about this seed, this body that needs to be planted in order to bear fruit.
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The first man was from the earth, a man of dust.
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And the second man is from heaven. So the earthly is Adam. The heavenly is
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Christ. The spiritual is Christ. As was the man of dust.
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So also are those who are of the dust. When we are born, we are born in the image of Adam.
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The man of dust, our first federal head by whom all creation has fallen.
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The earth is groaning, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.
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As goes the king, so goes the kingdom. As was the man of dust.
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So also are those who are of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
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Listen to this. Verse 49, just as we were, we have born the image of the man of dust.
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When we were born, we born the image of the man of dust. But if you're a Christian right here, just as we born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
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On that day when Jesus does return and the dead rise, some are going to rise and they're going to be covered in dust.
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Representation of their father, Adam. But some of us who are in Christ, we're going to rise from the grave clothed in the man of heaven.
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Everyone is born covered in dust, but not everyone will be raised covered in Christ.
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The righteousness of Jesus Christ, the earthly versus the heaven.
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Hasn't that been what John's gospel has been about this whole time? Talking about the earthly versus the heaven.
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Jesus is using earthly things to explain to us spiritual things.
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He uses an earthly representation of a lamb being slaughtered to represent point to the man of heaven coming to be slaughtered as a lamb.
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By Jesus dying for our sins and being placed in the earth and coming forth glorified, he bears fruit.
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The fruit of our salvation, our justification, sanctification and glorification are being justified in his sight and being conformed to his image, the image of his son and are being fully in his image on that last day.
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The resurrection, the fruit of his resurrection first produces our spiritual resurrection are being born again.
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Then it produces our spiritual growth. Speaking of our sanctification and then it produces.
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It finds its fulfillment in the fulfillment of the harvest in our resurrection of the body.
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So his response to these people, to these Greeks, to his disciples to give to the
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Greeks is that when he is glorified, the world will come to him.
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Not every single person. But red, yellow, black or white.
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All ethnicities. Are going to come to God through Jesus Christ.
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Point number three. His instructions. Again, it's still a part of his response, right?
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Verses 25 through 26. He says whoever, whoever loves his life, loses it.
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And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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If anyone serves me, he must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also.
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If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. In his instructions, he lays out.
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What service looks like those who are legalistic in their view of Christianity.
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They use this text to abuse Christians. While those who hold to a no law and anti law view of Christianity must lead
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Christians to believe that it doesn't matter that you do not have to bear fruits of repentance.
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Both are wrong. We don't teach pietism here.
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We don't teach. We're not legalistic, nor are we antinomians. We want to give you what
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God has given to us. Grace. There is freedom in Christ, but that freedom cannot go against what is written.
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You cannot go against what is written. When Jesus says whoever loves his life loses it, he is speaking of the position of the unbeliever.
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These Gentiles, they're coming to him. These Greeks, they're coming to him. They're wanting to see
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Jesus. They too must fall as a colonel.
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To bear fruit, they must die to themselves. They must lose this life that they love so dearly.
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Unbelievers love for this life here on Earth is all they have. This is the only heaven that they'll ever see, and most of them think that the
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Earth is hell, that they say something like the Earth is hell. There is no hell. This is hell.
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If you do a lot of evangelism like myself, I hear that quite often. My dear friends, their hell is the only hell.
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Well, their heaven is the only hell we as believers will ever experience. And this hell that they don't, that they say is hell, this is the only heaven that they'll ever experience.
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When Jesus says whoever hates his life in this world, he is not promoting that people should hate their life.
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He is the life giver. He is giving you this gift. The word here for hate should be understood as loveless.
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When unbelievers become believers, they love less this life because they see a greater life after death.
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If I can use Erica for a second, Sam travels, right?
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That's your husband. So he leaves out, let's say, what day do you leave out?
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Monday, Tuesday. So by Friday, are you wanting to see your husband?
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Are you longing to be with your husband? The church is the bride of Christ.
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As the bride of Christ, we should be longing to be with our bridegroom.
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There's something greater than what we are experiencing here on earth. And what we are experiencing is great.
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But there's something greater. There's something greater, something that every one of us, if we could get a glimpse of, would walk away from this in a heartbeat.
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And if I fell over dead now, you wouldn't be able to bribe me to come back.
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There's something greater. And Jesus is saying, whoever loves this more than him, they're going to lose their life.
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It's not eternal. Whatever loves less hates his life here because there's something greater.
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We'll have eternal life when unbelievers become believers, they love less because there's something greater.
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The call to be a Christian is the call to die to this life.
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And we die to it by following Jesus. There's no such thing as a servant of Christ who is not actively following Jesus.
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You say, Jeff, but I sin. So do I. So do
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I. And I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.
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Do you hate it? Do you hate it when you transgress the king?
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Turn with me to Colossians chapter two. This will be our last text that we go to outside of where we're at.
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Colossians chapter two, verse six and seven. Paul speaking, he says, therefore, as you have received
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Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught.
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Abundantly, boundly in Thanksgiving. If you are actively living in sin, my dear friends, you have no assurance of calling yourself a
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Christian. You said, Jeff, but you just said you sin. I do. But if you actively live in your sins, you have no assurance of calling yourself a
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Christian because there is a difference between sinning and living in sin. For those of you that been around, he's all here he goes with that analogy, right?
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But but it's a good one. So I'm going to use it again, right? Imagine standing outside and you're standing by a swimming pool and it's 93 degrees, 193 degrees yesterday.
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It was hot on that asphalt witnessing the people. But just imagine you're standing outside and someone walks up and pushes you into a swimming pool.
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But man, this feels good. I'm going backstroke. You're enjoying it.
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You have. There's really no need to get out and be miserable. But let's just change it just a little bit.
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Imagine it's 30 degrees. You're standing beside a swimming pool and someone walks up and pushes you in the swimming pool.
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Staying from the cold is going to drive you to get out of the swimming pool.
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There is no backstroking. There is no soaking it up. There is no all this feels good.
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No, this is hurting my body. I need to get out. My dear friends, if you profess
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Christ and you can swim in your sins, you are not a Christian. But the moment you realize that you are in sin, you are doing your best.
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As if you were pushed into a pool when it's 30 degrees to get out of that sin. Because you are dishonoring your head.
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You are dishonoring your husband. Your assurance as a believer is faith in Jesus Christ.
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My dear friends, do you believe? However, do not leave here without hearing this.
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Those who have faith in Jesus Christ, follow Jesus Christ.
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And if anyone else tells you any different, they are a false teacher. They're using their tongues to set ablaze the congregation.
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They're cursing you. And I said that was the last time we'll turn, but I lied.
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I'm sorry. Turn with me to Joshua chapter 24. I didn't mean to.
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Joshua chapter 24, we'll read verse 24. It says,
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And the people said to Joshua, The Lord, notice the capital
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L -O -R -D. This is Yahweh. This is God's covenant name. The Lord our
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God, we will serve. In his voice, we will obey.
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This word here, this Hebrew word here for obey means to listen. To listen.
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Again, I'm gonna give you another thing that I say quite often. There's a difference between hearing and listening.
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Today, you're hearing the sound of my voice. You're hearing the gospel proclamation, but will you listen to it?
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Meaning that you'll go out and obey it, right? When I tell my daughter to clean her room, she raised her head right there.
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I say, Trinity, clean your room. She hears the words. Trinity, go clean your room.
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But if she doesn't do the cleaning, if she doesn't clean her room, she didn't listen.
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She didn't listen. My dear friends,
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Jesus is calling us to follow him. We hear this, but are we listening?
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Are we listening? You might be saying to yourself, so what are these people of Israel going to obey?
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What is it they're supposed to listen to? Look at verse 14 and 15. It says,
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Now, therefore, fear the Lord, fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness.
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Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river of Egypt.
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Talking about when he was serving the gods of Egypt and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the
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Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Rather be the gods of your fathers.
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I mean, the gods that your father served in the region beyond the river are the gods of the
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Amorites as they have just entered Canaan in whom the land you dwell.
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But as for me and my house, we will serve the
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Lord. They are vowing to turn from the gods of their fathers and the gods of the
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Amorites and to serve Yahweh, to serve the Lord. But as we know, and when we read the scriptures, they didn't listen.
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Your assurance as a believer is faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe we are to turn from the gods of this world, the god of this world, the devil, and serve
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Jesus Christ? John chapter 8, verse 12. Jesus says that he is the light of the world and that whoever follows him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
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He is saying in the same way that the Israelites followed that bright cloud by day and the fire by night, which was
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Yahweh, that they too are to follow him. They're to follow him.
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You and I are to follow him. And if we're following him, we will not be in darkness. But when we don't follow him, we will be in darkness.
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We will be in sin. We'll be doing backstrokes in our sin. If one of those
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Israelites decided that day when that cloud was moving to stay, they would be in darkness.
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My dear friends, Jesus is calling us to follow him. And in our text, Jesus is calling us to serve him.
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And we do that by following him, by looking to him, trusting in him.
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We turn from the gods of this world and we serve Jesus Christ. And if we do that, the father will honor us.
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Why? Because of Christ. Because of Christ.
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No other reason. Because of Christ. And when we do that, guess where we're going to be when we pass?
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With him. With Christ. We're going to the something greater. Now, how do we follow
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Jesus? I'm going to give you six ways to think about as we close. First, we believe in Jesus.
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Our faith is in him. He is our savior. He is who we look to.
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Number two, we love our neighbor. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to lie to him.
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You're not going to steal from him. You're not going to covet. You see what I'm saying? You're going to honor your neighbor.
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You're going to be a good neighbor. You're going to do good to him and not evil.
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Number three, we tell people about Jesus. This is what followers do. We tell people about Jesus.
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We don't want to have Jesus all to ourselves and not share him. We want everyone to know
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Jesus. Number four, we do not forsake the gathering of ourselves together.
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That command is a plus command. It's a command of Jesus Christ that we gather together.
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We are called to gather together. There's no such thing as a Christian that is not a part of a local church.
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The Bible knows of no such thing. There's no such thing.
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You cannot be a part of the body and not be connected to the body. Number five, we devote ourselves to the teachings of the apostles.
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Hence why we need to be a part of a local church. If you forsake the gathering of yourselves, the assembling together, you cannot devote yourselves to the teachings of the apostles.
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Number six, after doing all those things, we begin with believing in Jesus.
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Number six, we end with trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Because as 1
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John tells us, chapter three, chapter two, beginning of verse three, says, this is how we know that we have come to know him.
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If we keep his commandments, the one who says that I know him, but doesn't keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
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Chapter three, beginning of verse 23, says, and this is his commandments that we believe in the name of the son,
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Jesus Christ and love our neighbors as ourselves. My dear friends, that's how you follow
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Christ. And that's not pietistic. That's not legalism nor antinomianism.
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That's the scriptures. Now, why should you do these things? Because the seed that gives up what it once was, excuse me, because the seed gives up what it once was in order to bear much fruit.
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Do you want to be used by God? Then give up what you once were. I want to read one verse from the chapter that we're in and we'll come to it next week.
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So John chapter 12, look at verses 32 and 33 as we close. Verse 32 says,
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Jesus speaking, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
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He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die on that cross as the wrath of God was satisfied.
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He has lived the life that you and I could not live at that cross. He takes upon himself the punishment that we deserve in his death.
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The wrath of God that we deserve fell on Jesus and the mercy of God we don't deserve can come to us by looking to Jesus Christ.
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It's the righteous for the unrighteous, the just for the unjust.
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We cannot get to God on our own. We cannot get to God based on law word.
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We can only get to him through Jesus Christ. Timothy tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light.
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It means you cannot approach God. So God condescended in the person of Jesus Christ, born of the
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Virgin, suffered on a Pontius Pilate, and he has called us to look to him, to believe, to turn from our sins, to turn from that which we worship on this earth and to trust in Jesus Christ.
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And we do that by following him. If you do not, excuse me, if you don't believe you are righteous in Christ, you will never live as though you are.
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Can you have assurance? Absolutely. But if you don't believe, if you struggle with your assurance, if you don't believe that you're righteous in Christ, you will never live as though you are.
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Let's pray. Father, Lord, we thank you for your word.
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We thank you that you are our God. Lord, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you lead and guide us and bless us.
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Lord, I pray that that word has convicted the sinners and comforted the saints.
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And now God, I pray that you use it to conform us into your image. But not only the word, but also your supper.
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Lord, I pray that as we are about to partake in this meal, you use it to conform us to the image of your beloved son.
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I pray that those who have been living in rebellion this past week, who are swimming in their sins,
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Lord, that if they're unwilling to repent and confess that you keep them from the table. But Lord, if they, like me, who have been, who have fallen into sin, feels the quick shock, turns to you in repentance and faith, that you will use this meal to grow us into a greater degree in the likeness of your son,