Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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June 23, 2024

00:45: Well, good morning, my brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the
00:51: Lord Jesus Christ welcome to the corporate worship of our God, please stand and Here God call you to worship through his word.
01:01: Oh Give thanks to the Lord call upon his name Make known his deeds among the peoples
01:08: Sing to him sing psalms to him talk of all his wondrous works
01:15: Glorify in his holy name Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the
01:21: Lord Sing to the Lord all the earth Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day
01:28: Declare his glory among the nations his wonders among all peoples
01:34: For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised He is also to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the peoples are idols
01:44: But the Lord made the heavens Honor and majesty are before him Strength and gladness are in his place
01:52: Give thanks to the Lord Oh families of the peoples Give the Lord glory and strength give the
02:00: Lord the glory do his name Bring an offering and come before him Oh Worship the
02:06: Lord in the beauty of holiness Let us pray. Oh Lord you are the king eternal immortal invisible the only wise
02:19: God You are the blessed and only sovereign the king of kings and lord of lords
02:25: Who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an unapproachable light?
02:31: Whom no man name has seen or can see To you be honor and eternal dominion
02:39: We bless the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ?
02:48: We praise the glory of your grace that chose us in Christ Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him
02:59: We thank you that in love you predestine us to adoption his sons through Jesus Christ We rejoice that we have been sealed in Christ with the
03:10: Holy Spirit of promise Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance? We worship and adore you father son and Holy Spirit Open the eyes of our hearts
03:22: That we may know the hope of your calling the riches of the glory of our inheritance and the
03:29: Surpassing greatness of your power toward us in Jesus Christ all of this you have brought about in Christ when you raised him from the dead and Seated him at your right hand in the heavenly places
03:44: Receive our worship and praise to the glory of your grace And we are bold to ask this for we come not in our own names
03:53: But in that name of our only Savior Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Please kneel as you are able
04:03: For the corporate confession of sin Let us join to get together in confessing our sins
04:19: Almighty and merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you and one another in both
04:28: We recognize that in Jesus our life has come Often we choose to walk in the shadows
04:36: Gracious God forgive our sins and remove from us the veil of darkness that shrouds our lives
04:44: Illuminate us by your word so we may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory
04:49: Please stand and receive these words of comfort from God's Word in our assurance of pardon
05:01: But when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those
05:11: Who were under the law? So that we might receive adoptions as sons
05:19: My brothers and sisters in Christ We have cause for great rejoicing for if you indeed be in Christ Your sins are forgiven
05:31: Amen Please take up the hymnal and open to him 53 praise to the
05:39: Lord the Almighty Him 53 Well, please take up the insert and look for our psalm of the week
09:09: Which is on the inside of the insert my voice to God allowed
09:14: I plea The tune that's listed at the bottom we were going to use he leadeth me
09:21: But our brother DJ has recommended sweet hour of prayer as a tune that we are more familiar with So we'll be singing
09:30: Psalm 77 my voice to God aloud. I plead to the tune of sweet hour of prayer
12:18: Amen, please remain standing from the reading of God's Word from Genesis chapter 9
12:29: Genesis chapter 9 So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and the fear of you and the
12:37: Dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth on Every bird of the air on all that move on the earth and on all the fish of the sea
12:44: They are given into your hand every moving thing that lives shall be food for you I have given you all things even as the green herbs, but you shall not eat flesh with its life
12:53: That is its blood surely for your lifeblood. I will demand a reckoning from the hand of every beast
12:58: I will require it and from the hand of man from the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man
13:04: Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for the in the image of God He made man and as for you be fruitful and multiply bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it
13:15: Then God spoke to Noah and his sons with him saying and as for me behold I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and With every living creature that is with you the birds the cattle and every beast of the earth with you that Of all that go out of the ark every beast of the earth
13:32: Thus I establish my covenant with you never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth and God said this is the sign of the covenant
13:42: Which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations I set my rainbow in the cloud and that show it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and all in the earth
13:53: It shall be when I bring the cloud over the earth that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh
14:02: The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh The rainbow shall be in the cloud and I will look on it to remember
14:09: The everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth and God said to Noah This is the sign of the covenant which
14:16: I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were
14:22: Shem Ham and Japheth and Ham was the father of Canaan These were the sons of Noah and from these the whole world was populated and Noah began to be a farmer and planted a vineyard then he drank of the wine and was drunk and became uncovered in his tent and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside But Shem and Japheth took a garment laid it on both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father
14:46: Their faces were turned away and they did not see their father's nakedness So Noah awoke from his wine and he knew what his younger son had done to him
14:53: Then he said to him curse be Canaan a servant of servants He shall be to his brethren and he said blessed be the
14:59: Lord the God of Shem and may Canaan be his servant May God enlarge Japheth and may that he dwell in the tents of Shem and may
15:05: Canaan be his servant And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and he died
15:12: This is the word of the Lord I Was impressed as we as our brother was reading that that we read this account
15:24: Providentially in the month of June. We know that the rainbow has been co -opted by the enemies of God that thanks be to God We have his word that tells us what the rainbow really means
15:35: Well, let's continue our worship by confessing our ancient Christian faith and the singing of the
15:41: Apostles Creed Who was conceived by the
16:02: Holy Spirit For under Pontius Pilate was crucified and ascended into the third day he rose again from he ascended into heaven is seated at the right hand of the living believe in the
16:45: Holy Spirit I believe the Holy Please take the hymnal up once more and open to him 693 blessed assurance in six nine three
17:48: Salvation Amen, please now make preparations for the prayers of the people.
20:18: Let us pray together Almighty and everlasting God in whom we live
20:32: Having preserved us from the beginning of our lives to this day, especially do we praise you
20:44: These mercies we bless and magnify your glorious name Humbly beseeching you to accept this our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
20:54: For his sake who laid down the grave For us your son our
21:00: Savior Jesus Christ Till now Oh Lord our desires and petitions
21:08: Granting us in this world knowledge of our truth and the world to come life everlasting
21:15: Amen, I Ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world
21:21: For our denomination for this church and for all ministers and missionaries pray for the church
22:50: I Ask your prayers for the poor the sick the bereaved the burdened and for the widows orphans and prisoners
23:14: Pray for those in any need or trouble Of the body
24:24: Father Father Seek to be justified
24:47: Father, we ask that in their dire state, behind bars, that they would look to you for freedom, and freedom for their soul.
24:54: And Father, we ask that you would comfort any of those who are serving sentences for crimes that either should not be crimes, or for crimes that they did not commit.
25:03: We ask that you would comfort them, that they would understand that you are the ultimate judge, that you will hold all accounts.
25:09: And Father, God, that they have mercy on you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
25:16: I ask your prayers for those who do not know Christ, and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him.
25:24: Pray that they may find and be found by him. I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them.
27:32: Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them. Pray that we may have grace to glorify
28:51: Christ in our own day. Finding ourselves in agreement with all these things, we join our voices together and say,
29:47: Amen. Please stand and take up the insert once again to our
29:53: Psalm of the Month. From heaven, O praise the Lord. Psalm 148, our
30:00: Psalm of the Month. Amen.
30:58: Amen. Please turn in your
32:42: Bibles to 1st John in chapter 2. This is
32:53: God's holy and infallible Word. My little children, these things
33:04: I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the
33:12: Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
33:27: Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says,
33:34: I know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him.
33:41: But whoever keeps his Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
33:48: By this we know that we are in him. And he who says he abides in him, ought himself also to walk just as he walked.
34:00: Brethren, I write no new command to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.
34:06: The old commandment is the Word which you heard from the beginning. And again, a new commandment
34:14: I write to you which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
34:24: He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
34:37: But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
34:50: Please pray with me now. Oh Lord, I pray that you would cause these, your people, to walk and abide in your light.
35:06: Oh Lord, we know that this is manifested first in our love for you,
35:12: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But in a very tangible way, our love for you is reflected and revealed in our ordinary love for the brethren.
35:26: Oh Lord, I pray that this virtue would abound more and more in us, that our orthodoxy would be matched with orthopraxy, and we would be those who are known by their love for one another.
35:41: And I ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. I have three points of emphasis
35:57: I'd like you to consider today. The first, and you should be able to derive this just from the text itself, the
36:05: Old Commandment made new. The Old Commandment made new.
36:15: Second, the darkness is past and the true light shines.
36:21: The darkness is past and the true light shines.
36:29: And third, the title of the message, Abide in the Light. Number one, the
36:37: Old Commandment made new. Number two, the darkness is past and the true light shines.
36:44: And number three, abide in the light. Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
36:56: And for us to abide in the light, to walk in his ways, we must love as he has loved.
37:08: For us to hate our brother is to walk in darkness until now.
37:17: What I was thinking about 1 John this week, one of the things
37:23: I thought I would bring in at this point in our time is the person of John the author.
37:30: And the reason I want to bring up these two fuller descriptions of who John the apostle is, is because I have always viewed
37:39: John in a very idealistic way. He is the disciple whom
37:45: Jesus loved. He is likely the youngest of the disciples.
37:52: He appears to have not been martyred for his faith, and he was held in high regard and esteem in the life of the church.
38:02: I'd like us to look at two quick texts about John. One of them is a little bit indirect, and one is very much
38:08: John. The first I'd like us to look at is Matthew chapter 20. Please turn there. The reason
38:15: I bring this up is because I think of Paul. I think
38:20: Paul, prior to coming to Christ, loved being a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
38:27: I think he took some value in being one of the best scholars in Israel, advancing beyond his companions.
38:35: I think that was satisfying to Paul. He was a part of the favored, some people think the most favored tribe in Israel, the tribe of Benjamin.
38:46: He has all of this pedigree. He has this tremendous natural ability and great diligence of character.
38:55: He has honor. He can live in both worlds. He grows up in Tarsus. He understands the
39:00: Greek world very well, but he himself is the Jew of Jews.
39:07: Paul counts it all as rubbish. He throws all that aside and says, I know Christ, so all these other things can be set aside.
39:16: I think of Peter and his brashness and boldness and even arrogance.
39:22: We get to him as an older man when he's writing his epistles, and he is a much more humble and very understated man.
39:33: He's no longer exalting himself, but he lives to exalt Christ.
39:39: So I want to give some backdrop like that for John here today. Let's look at Matthew chapter 20 and I'll begin reading in verse 20.
39:55: Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him.
40:06: I want to point out that the two sons of Thunder, James and John, John is likely the younger brother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
40:17: Zebedee is apparently a fisherman of some note. He is probably one of the wealthier fishermen in the area in the
40:26: Sea of Galilee. He is a place of honor and significance in the computer.
40:32: And our mothers and our fathers here can relate. We want good things for our children.
40:39: We want them to have a place of honor. We want them to succeed in their lives.
40:44: We want to protect them from trouble. We want to we want to groom them in the proper way to direct them on the path that they should go.
40:54: So Jesus responds to John's mother, what do you wish? And she says to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom.
41:13: Mrs. Zebedee was about honor for her family. You and I can be about the honor of our family.
41:21: We can want good things for ourselves and our children. Sometimes it can be misplaced.
41:31: Verse 22, Jesus responds to this request. You do not know what you ask.
41:38: Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
41:49: And they said to him, no doubt, very eagerly, we are able. We want the position of the right and the left hand of you.
41:57: Oh, God, when you come into your kingdom, oh Christ, when you come into your kingdom. He says to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
42:12: But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father.
42:22: Now, the sons of Zebedee, our author of this epistle, they're kind of put down.
42:29: They're rebuked by Jesus. And it's interesting. Now there's a bitterness that grows among the ten that are left of the apostles.
42:39: Look at verse 24. When the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
42:48: But then Jesus called them to himself and said, I should pause here.
42:55: When I preached this a number of years ago, I came to some conviction that that part of the resentment of the ten in this earlier stage of their discipleship is that they, too, wanted a place of honor.
43:13: They didn't think of it. Their mama didn't come lobbying for their position. So the resentment is not this virtuous anger, in my view, it is the ten were thinking,
43:25: I would like to have this place of honor. This ending fits with our message and it's going to help us get into it.
43:37: Verse 25 says, Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the
43:44: Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them.
43:53: Yet it shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
44:06: And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.
44:13: Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
44:23: You can turn optionally if you're going to be distracted and don't have the discipline, don't do it. But turn to Luke chapter nine.
44:32: Again, I want to give you more information about John. I don't know if he said to his mom, it's not a good idea to go talk to Jesus or did they conspire and say, hey, maybe
44:44: Jesus likes you. Maybe if you go and talk to him, maybe James and I can have a higher place. We think about the idyllic life of John and but we also forget that his brother,
44:55: James, the son of Zebedee, the other one was probably the first of the apostles to be martyred.
45:02: You see that in the book of Acts. So John himself is acquainted with sorrows and grief like his savior and like you and I are.
45:13: The last part of chapter nine,
45:18: I'm going to begin reading in verse 51. The dispute,
45:24: I should say in verse 46, it's a section again, who's going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
45:30: Jesus responds to them. Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me for he who is least among you all will be great.
45:45: The Christian ethic is upside down from the world.
45:52: We strategize and we maneuver and we labor for greatness and honor and prominence.
46:01: If you don't recognize that in yourself, you are in self -denial.
46:07: This is something that has to be mortified in our flesh. And I often think of John being the apostle of love.
46:18: Read Gospels, read the epistles. He's the love apostle.
46:27: Verse 51. Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
46:42: Jesus is now on the path to the cross, to the resurrection, to the ascension.
46:48: He's laser focused now. He's moving in the direction his public ministry is out and he's going to now do all of the work of the
46:58: Messiah. And he sent messengers before his face.
47:03: And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him.
47:10: You remember in the story of the one from the woman on the well, there is an expedient way to travel from Galilee to Jerusalem and you go through Samaria.
47:21: Samarians are half breeds are not really orthodox. They have strange doctrines. They are part of that rebellious northern 10 tribes that were dispersed.
47:32: The time of Solomon, verse 53, the
47:39: Samaritans did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.
47:48: And when his disciples, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saw this, they said,
47:57: Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?
48:07: I don't think John is yet the apostle of love. And this gives me some encouragement because the gospel transforms the lives of Christians.
48:22: We are not yet what we are going to be because of this great work of the
48:27: Holy Spirit in us. And so when we think and see our lack, maybe we should consider the future with some optimism and recognize that God is at work in us.
48:39: And we may be people who want to call down fire from heaven. And I got to tell you, part of me and my natural man,
48:46: I love that. I want to see the Samaritans smoked. I want to see him burnt up to a crisp because they reject our
48:54: God. But Jesus corrects John and he corrects me.
49:01: He says in verse 55. He turned and rebuked them.
49:08: And said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
49:23: And they went to another village. Let's go ahead and turn back to our text in 1
49:31: John, if you were with me. John was a man like us, a sin nature like ours, and God was able to use him in a very mighty way.
49:45: And I believe John's chastening by Christ is part of the backdrop.
49:51: This is, I believe, how in some ways John becomes the man that we know him to be.
49:59: Well, let's look at the text again. We're gonna be looking at verses 7 through 11. The language for us in English is a little bit awkward and there's some redundancy.
50:10: And what we should know about the Hebraic mind, much like our own languages and traditions in the
50:17: West, there's something powerful in repetition. John says some of the same things multiple times with slightly different tones, but there's kind of a simple message that he is grinding out for us here in the first epistle.
50:35: Look again at verse 7. Brethren, the Delphoi, those brotherly loved ones,
50:43: I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.
50:54: The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.
51:05: I have to establish this foundation, I believe, in John's gospel. And again, turn with me if you're able or just listen.
51:14: John chapter 13. This is an essential
51:21: Christian text. Parents, have your children memorize a couple of verses in this little section.
51:31: Adults, you too would do well to know this text very intimately. The language, the words you'll know once I begin reading them, is very clear to us.
51:47: John chapter 13. This is part of the explanation of how the old commandment is made new.
51:57: My first point, which I believe John is drawing out in our text, beginning at verse 31.
52:05: So when he had gone out, Jesus said, now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
52:14: If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately.
52:24: We beheld his glory. This is something that's very important to John. This is something that's in his first chapter in the epistle and very big in his gospel.
52:35: Verse 33. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.
52:41: You will see me. And as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now
52:46: I say to you, and here it is, a new commandment
52:53: I give to you that you love one another.
53:01: I can go throughout the Old Testament law and show you how this command to love one another is embedded in the very law of God.
53:10: The second table of the law is love your brother. How is this new?
53:18: How is the commandment, the old commandment that John speaks of in the epistle, how is it made new?
53:25: He says, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
53:36: The scholars could debate about who their neighbor is. They could argue with Jesus about loving enemies outside the covenant community.
53:52: But now with precision and clarity, Christ himself says the law of love, the commandment to love is now amplified, magnified, fully teased out and revealed in my love for you.
54:14: To love one another, that can be done maybe at a surface level that can be satisfying to the church, the community.
54:23: But now the standards have been raised. You and I are called to love each other in the way that Christ loves.
54:36: Not about you, but I feel some conviction. I don't love in this way.
54:43: I look more like James and John in their bad state than I do
54:48: Jesus in his perfection. So walking in his ways, abiding in the light,
54:57: Jesus really narrows it down. And John focuses on that both in his gospel and in our epistle, that this in its refined state is loving one another as Christ has loved.
55:12: So you and I have some room for growth and improvement. Now let's go back to our text in 1
55:21: John. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, verse 7, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.
55:40: The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment
55:47: I write to you, that thing which is true and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
56:01: When you think about redemptive history, there have been some dark days in the life of the church.
56:12: There is a 400 plus period of time before the arrival of John the
56:19: Baptist preparing the way. There's really in many ways a prophetic silence.
56:27: And if we look at the world in which Jesus arrives in the incarnation, we see a compromised, corrupt
56:35: Judaism and the wickedness of the Romans and the Greeks are legendary.
56:42: It's almost like a Genesis 9 kind of thing. We read their letters, there's great sexual immorality, there's horrible things going on, sacrifice of children, corruption at the temple, there's a great darkness.
57:00: But now at the arrival of Jesus Christ, and this is what we should be thinking of every Advent season, we think about the arrival of Christ.
57:09: The light of Christ now shines in the darkness. Christ has come and he cannot contain the brightness and the light of his glory and he comes.
57:24: Now, the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
57:34: As Mark was talking about the importance this morning of thinking about the cross in light of the resurrection,
57:42: I was thinking to myself in light of my text, it's important to think of the cross in the light of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ.
57:54: The light has come into the world, the king has retaken ownership and possession of his creatures and his created order, he lives and reigns today.
58:08: The light is shining in this dark world, this gospel cannot be thwarted, the kingdom cannot be restrained, it's going to touch the ends of the earth.
58:19: John wants to get this message out and he says, but there's an ethic, there's a morality that goes with it.
58:30: The darkness has passed and the true light shines.
58:36: We get this in a cosmic sense and maybe a categorical sense, we can posit it theologically, but we can also see it in a very practical way.
58:47: Don't turn there, but I think a linchpin verse for this idea, if you're taking notes, is found in 2
58:52: Corinthians chapter 4. This is Pauline doctrine, which you see some great synergy between Paul and John here.
59:02: 2 Corinthians 4, 5 and 6 say this, for we preach not ourselves,
59:10: I can tell you, I have nothing to say as a preacher. I've only got
59:17: Christ and his word. If you hear me preaching my stuff, tell me to get out. Paul says,
59:23: I'm not relying on my Pharisee of Pharisees and tribe of Benjamin stuff here.
59:28: I preach Christ and him crucified. We're not preaching ourselves.
59:34: There's a lot of preaching of ourselves going on in the world today, but true biblical preaching is to preach
59:40: Christ. And here's this very strong link.
59:49: And we preach Christ and ourselves, your servants for Jesus's sake.
59:59: So you and I should be tripping and stumbling over each other, trying to outdo one another in our love and service to each other.
01:00:10: Now, here it is. For God creation, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts.
01:00:28: After the darkness, there's light. The earth is dark and void.
01:00:38: And then there's light. There's dead and sins and trespasses.
01:00:44: There is no communion with God. And then the light of the world and the power of his spirit shines in the heart of his people.
01:00:57: The light switch goes on. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
01:01:10: Brethren, I want to appeal to your reasonable, rational, logical minds.
01:01:18: We who have Christ and are filled with his spirit, that the light has shined not only round about us, but in our dark recesses of our hearts.
01:01:32: If that be true of us, then how can we tolerate sin in ourselves?
01:01:38: As I've mentioned a couple of times in recent weeks, we are very capable of seeing the sins of the culture and the sins of others.
01:01:48: But we must see the sin in ourselves and put it to death. If the light has shined,
01:01:57: I don't know if you've noticed, since the creation of all things, that sun rises every morning.
01:02:07: The birds chirp in the trees, the plants grow, the crops come in, there's a harvest.
01:02:15: It seems to me if that be true of the created order, how much more so for the new creation?
01:02:23: If the light of Christ shines in us, his people, it would seem that the darkness would be completely and repeatedly overtaken.
01:02:35: And as I've argued already in recent months, we feel as though we can't have victory over sin and it's just not true.
01:02:45: We're not going to be sinlessly perfect, but the light always overtakes the darkness.
01:02:54: So in the grand theological, the biblical theological stage, think about the progression of the church from a place of darkness into light.
01:03:05: We have been conveyed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. We have been set free from the bondage of sin and made to walk in Christ's righteousness.
01:03:21: The darkness is passing away. The true light is already shining.
01:03:32: I'm not going to have time to get into this, I don't think, with greater depth. I may be able to work it in at another time.
01:03:38: I want to give you a framework for this and partly part of this has been,
01:03:43: I don't know who the original source is, but it's been bantered about for some time. I want you to think about how
01:03:50: Christ's love, us as the body of Christ under these four headings.
01:03:56: First, as heart, hands and feet.
01:04:04: I also want to think about head and mouth to some degree in relation to this.
01:04:09: Again, I'm not going to fully do this because it will take too long, but maybe we'll work it in in the coming weeks.
01:04:16: How did Christ love? This is really the question we're trying to understand. If this is the royal law, we're commanded the great imperative is to love as Christ has loved.
01:04:27: This is what actually abiding in the light means. This is what it means to walk in his ways.
01:04:33: We've got to get to the place where we have a handle and a grip on how did Christ love?
01:04:39: How did he do it? I think this heart, hands and feet imagery helps us.
01:04:47: First, we have a heart for God. Think about Jesus and his absolute submission to the will of God, the worship of God.
01:05:01: He was zealous for God's house. His affections were guided and directed by love for God.
01:05:11: In his humanity, he did that perfectly. And you and I are called to love in that same way.
01:05:20: We really love God. Our affections are stirred and kindled by genuine love for God.
01:05:30: We love his word. We love him. We love his commands. We learned that if we don't love his commands, we can't really say that we love him.
01:05:41: Very challenging concept for us. Second, I want to spend some time on this one.
01:05:50: It could be more developed. It's going to be quicker. Hands. Hearts on fire for God.
01:06:01: Zealous to keep his word. Zealous to know his word. What about our hands?
01:06:09: As you know, in the ancient world, most people had occupations.
01:06:15: The men, particularly, had occupations that required the labor of their hands. This is a second way
01:06:22: I like us to think about our love for God today, our love for Christ, to love as Christ is loved.
01:06:28: The labor of our hands are consecrated for his service. Our industriousness creates the increase to support the church and meet the practical needs of the widows and the orphans.
01:06:49: And that deficient eschatology we talked about this morning, the vocation doesn't seem to matter so much.
01:06:58: Missionaries and pastors or the people that have some kingdom significance.
01:07:04: But the whole of the Christian life, the reason we raise our hands at the doxology, we say to God with the weightiness of all that it implies, here is my life.
01:07:17: I belong to you. The way I make my living, the way I eat, the way I survive, who
01:07:22: I am as a person, I offer to you in worship and adoration. The entirety of my being is lifted up.
01:07:37: Our lives and livelihoods and all that we are belong to him.
01:07:46: You remember the famous passage and we think about the example of Jesus and his instruction.
01:07:53: Those two go hand in hand. In Matthew 25, he says, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
01:08:00: This is not possible without energetic, diligent hands. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
01:08:07: I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me.
01:08:13: I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.
01:08:23: In this book that we're in, 1 John chapter three, we'll be getting this in a few weeks, hereby perceive the love of God because he laid down his life for us.
01:08:36: And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. And I have to pause and ask the question, do you love these people in this room?
01:08:51: Not just your family. We know you love them that way. Do you love the people in this room with this kind of love?
01:09:02: Christ lays down his life for us. We lay down our lives for the brethren.
01:09:10: I'm here to tell you, this is a rare and precious commodity on the earth.
01:09:16: There is very little of this in the world. We don't love each other in this way.
01:09:21: We're commanded to. It's the best thing for us, but you have to acknowledge today that you do not love your brethren in this way.
01:09:34: It wouldn't take much for you to leave the church. What if I went a little deficient on my post -millennialism?
01:09:41: It's not going to happen. If I became an amillennialist, would you leave the church because of that? Wouldn't take much to drive you away because our commitment is not as strong to one another as it could be.
01:09:57: 1 Peter 4 says, use hospitality one to another without grudging.
01:10:06: As every man has received the gift, even so minister one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
01:10:18: Colossians 3, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long -suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.
01:10:32: If anyone has a complaint against another, if anyone has a complaint, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
01:10:46: How's your forgiveness? Do you hold a grudge? Keep a record of wrongs?
01:10:52: Do you know and remember all the slights? Christ has forgiven you of all of your sins, so you ought to forgive one another.
01:11:04: That verse section, very much echoing the theme of our text says, but above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
01:11:19: Do nothing through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.
01:11:32: I think Paul, Peter, James and John arrive at this.
01:11:38: I don't think they started there. I think they arrived here in sanctification. Do you esteem the people in this room better than yourself?
01:11:52: Let each of you look out not only for his interests, but also for the interests of others.
01:12:05: Be kind to one another, Ephesians 4, tender -hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
01:12:15: How's your kindness? How is your tender -heartedness? How is your forgiveness?
01:12:28: 2 Corinthians 1, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
01:12:34: Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Now here,
01:12:39: I want you to listen to this. This is a very important lesson, very underserved in the church today.
01:12:46: Why do we go through what we go through? Why do we suffer the way that we suffer?
01:12:52: Why do we have these trials that seem to have very little tangible purpose in our understanding?
01:12:58: Why does it happen? Scripture gives an answer. The God of comfort who comforts us in our tribulation and seems to have this kingdom growth and building each other up and loving one another end.
01:13:16: The text again, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
01:13:29: Your trials may be that you may be better suited to minister to others.
01:13:35: It's not just about you, maybe about others. Now I have more and certainly this is not an exhaustive list.
01:13:45: I'll move quickly on this last one. 1 Thessalonians 5, now exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint hearted.
01:14:00: So look at the very spectrum of this. What kind of man are you fathers and husbands?
01:14:06: Do you warn those who are unruly? Are you willing to stand up for the truth?
01:14:11: We warn them in the body. Will you tell another man who's being unruly in the body of the church?
01:14:17: Will you tell them to repent and turn from their ways? You have to have that kind of strength.
01:14:24: But also you are to comfort the faint hearted. So the prideful, the unruly, you pop them.
01:14:32: The faint hearted, you lift up. You uphold the weak.
01:14:39: You're characterized by patience with all. And you are seeing not only for yourself, but for everyone else in the church that you have been covenanted to.
01:14:53: You are to see that no one renders evil for evil, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves, your family, but the text says and for all.
01:15:10: So we're not living in isolation. We don't view the church, hey, it kind of gives me what I like in these particular distinctives.
01:15:18: It lines up with what I'm thinking. Our love and commitment for one another is much more expansive maybe than we understand.
01:15:31: The last thing I'll just touch on very quickly is the idea of feet. And in order to walk as Jesus has walked, to walk in the light, we have to use our feet.
01:15:45: And by metaphor, of course, we understand that we visit orphans and widows in their need.
01:15:55: But we have a duty and an obligation to be the heralds.
01:16:01: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. I think of that passage,
01:16:09: I think about the messenger sent from the conquering king and he's running up the hill to Zion to say, let's say, of David's great exploits.
01:16:22: And I imagine the dusty, dirty feet of the messenger kicking up the dust.
01:16:28: I can see it in my mind's eye. I can picture the man running and the dust being kicked up and his feet aren't actually clean.
01:16:35: But the people of God say, look how beautiful his feet are. They carry the good news of Jesus Christ and his salvation and his kingdom glory.
01:16:47: We have a great privilege to, with our feet, with our hands, with our hearts, our heads, our mouths, to declare the arrival and the victory and the triumph of the king.
01:17:06: Well, I've got one other thing to consider really quickly.
01:17:16: In verse 10, it says, he who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
01:17:30: If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
01:17:40: That's earlier in the book. But this question of abiding, staying, never leaving.
01:17:50: So the light of Christ has shown in our hearts. We've been made alive in Christ.
01:17:57: We are at war with sin. We are walking in his righteousness. We are engaged with the whole person, our head, our hands, our feet, our mouths, our hearts, but we have to abide.
01:18:12: We have to stay. It's a drawing from John. I wanted to close from his gospel, and I alluded to this last week in John chapter 15.
01:18:24: You don't need to turn there, but just listen to this idea of abiding and you on your own power, make the connection, connect the dots of all of these things that we've talked about today.
01:18:39: John chapter 15. I am the true vine.
01:18:46: My father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
01:18:57: And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.
01:19:02: If you're being pruned, take heart today. You're being made to love God and his people more that you might bear more fruit.
01:19:13: You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. And this idea of abiding is very
01:19:21: Yohannine. It's very deep in his book in the gospel and in the epistle. Verse four, abide in me.
01:19:31: We lay hold of Christ. We grab him by the collar in love and affection.
01:19:39: We cling to the hem of his garment and we will never let go. We're like Jacob wrestling with God and saying,
01:19:47: I'm not going to leave until you bless me. That's a Christian life. We're abiding in Christ.
01:19:53: Hold on to him. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.
01:20:03: Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine.
01:20:10: You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in you bears much fruit.
01:20:16: Without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.
01:20:34: Think about our text in first John and this verse. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.
01:20:45: By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit.
01:20:51: So you will be my disciples. As the father loved me, and let's pause here for some intertenitarian theology.
01:21:06: How much does the father in that perfection love the son? And how much does the son love the father?
01:21:14: It boggles the mind. The almost incomprehensibility of the love of God for the persons of the
01:21:24: Trinity. But Jesus says, that love that the father has of me,
01:21:31: I have shown and I demonstrate, I live. I have this love for you.
01:21:38: Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
01:21:51: These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.
01:22:00: That's the purpose of John writing his epistle, the fullness of joy.
01:22:06: So I'm saying to you today, you are wretched sinners. You do not love as you ought to love.
01:22:13: Repent, mortify it, put it to death. But that for you, that message you should receive as joy, because your father loves you and he wants you to go in the right direction.
01:22:25: This is good news for us. We've been made aware of our problems and our deficiencies that we might turn again in faith to Christ and we will lay hold of him and we'll cling to him and never again let go.
01:22:44: This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
01:22:51: Greater love has no one than this than to lay down his own life for his friends.
01:23:02: Bad guy comes in the back, several men will shoot him. Not heroism, basic human dignity.
01:23:14: What about the other kind of laying down our lives for each other? In a crisis, you're going to rise up.
01:23:20: But what in the ordinary business of life are you going to love each other? You're going to lay down your life and your interests for the good of the brethren.
01:23:27: How many people lay down their interests, setting aside their interests for the good of the church, good of the kingdom.
01:23:39: You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do
01:23:46: I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.
01:23:54: For all things that I heard from my father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.
01:24:10: That whatever you ask in the father's, ask the father in my name, he may give to you.
01:24:18: The grandeur of the section is closed with these things. I command you that you love one another.
01:24:31: Jesus Christ is the light of the world. In order to abide in the light, to know him with our head and our hearts, to walk in his ways, to serve, to use our very lives, our hands at his disposal, we have to love as he has loved.
01:25:00: We'll have more on this in the coming weeks in 1 John. Let's pray together.
01:25:12: Oh Lord, I want to abide with your people in the light.
01:25:23: The darkness has an appeal to sinners, oh Lord, and I pray that that we'd be the saints of the light, that we would love the light and flee from darkness and actually expose the unfruitful works of darkness.
01:25:43: Oh Lord, we thank you that you have given us minds and hearts and hands and feet and mouths with which we can employ in service to you and worship and praise and adoration, but also in love and action for the brethren.
01:26:04: Oh Lord, I pray that you would cause us to use our heads and our mouths and our hearts and our hands and our feet to bless your people, to support them, to come to their aid, to comfort them.
01:26:18: Oh Lord, we know that our own sin is a barrier to our effectiveness, so I pray that we would have a renewed zeal to put sin to death, that your power might work more freely in us.
01:26:32: Oh Lord, I pray that today your people would know what it means to be loved by God, to love you in return, and to love one another.
01:26:43: Oh Lord, we pray for the time together at the table that these truths would become very tangible for us, that we would taste and see that you are good, but we would also see that we are part of the body of Christ and we love and belong to one another, and I pray that you give us hearts devoted to one another, that we would derive the full benefit of communion with God, with you, and our communion with our people, your people, the church.
01:27:16: I ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Let us now continue our worship with a presentation of tithes and offerings.
01:27:55: Please stand and let's pray together. Oh Lord, we lift up our holy hands, the life that you've given us, and our very existence, and our vocation and callings, and we offer them to you in service, and Lord we ask you to to put us into service, and we pray that you would bless these tithes and offerings for the advance of your kingdom, that your work and ministry would be accomplished here locally in our church.
01:28:33: We pray for the blessing of your people from this industrious labor and giving.
01:28:39: We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's respond to these things by The Lord be with you.
01:29:32: Lift up. Let us give thanks to the
01:29:38: Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh holy
01:29:51: Lord, father almighty, everlasting God, because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.
01:30:15: Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name evermore, praising you and singing.
01:31:41: Please be seated. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we rejoice, and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and gladness knowing that you have united yourself to us, and that you have made your church the bride of Christ, and you've also united us one to another.
01:32:10: We ask, oh Lord, that this reality, the real sense of things, would be evident to us with an increasing greater degree of certainty every day and every
01:32:23: Sunday as we come to your table. Oh Lord, help us to know more and to see more of what union with Christ and the church means.
01:32:33: And we ask, oh Lord, that these creaturely elements of bread and wine sanctified and set apart for this holy use would be for us the body and blood of Christ offered for us.
01:32:47: We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Our Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
01:33:12: For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
01:33:19: Therefore, we proclaim the faith. Let's approach the table with great humility, excitement, zeal, and expectancy.
01:33:35: Let's approach to the table together in prayer now. We do not presume to come to your table, oh merciful
01:33:42: Lord, trusting in your manifold and great mercies.
01:33:49: We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same
01:33:55: Lord who always shows mercy. To drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, our souls washed through his most precious blood.
01:34:14: We may evermore dwell in him and he in us. Amen. Christ our
01:34:20: Passover was sacrificed for us, the gifts of God for you, the people of God.
01:40:44: I praise God, the only
01:41:38: Savior. Privilege it is to be with God's people and to feast at his table.
01:44:12: Let's make this commitment together in sincerity. Almighty and ever -living
01:44:18: God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your
01:44:25: Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your
01:44:34: Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which has worked in every good deed.
01:44:52: Now Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our
01:45:00: Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, we honor and glory now and forever.
01:45:07: Amen. Please stand. Praise God.
01:45:44: Receive now the blessing, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the