Faith Is Not Blind (John 5:30-47 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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Yes, the contents that are in there are going to brighten their faces and give them an amazing day, but also the very word of God is there to some children who may have never heard it before.

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Each one of those boxes represent a child. Let's make that box bigger. I think the challenge was 400,

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I made it five. First service I asked, did somebody say six? Let's build that because each one of these is a child and an opportunity.

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There are still boxes out there, but here's the thing, we've got two weeks left. Every blessing you pour out,

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I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in,

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Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be your name.

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Blessed be your name.

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Blocked with suffering, those who need the offering, blessed be your name.

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Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise.

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When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name.

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You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say,

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Lord, blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the

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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Lord we come before you this morning we are just honored that you chose us before the foundations of the world to redeem us to call us your child

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Lord we ask that this morning as we lift our voices to you and as we focus on your table that we will never forget your grace and your mercy your redemption where we focus on you this morning and you alone what love could remember no wrongs we have done omniscient all -knowing he counts not their sum thrown into a sea without bottom or shore our sins they are many his mercy is more but patience would wait as we constantly what father so tender is calling us home he welcomes the weakest the violent the poor our sins are many his mercy is more praise the

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Lord his mercy is stronger than darkness you every more our sins they are many his mercy is more bitches of kindness he lavished on us his blood was the payment his love was the cost we stood meet the death he could never our sins they are many his mercy is more praise the

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Lord his mercy is stronger than darkness you every more sins they are many his mercy is more pray that your heart is is tender and open to how

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God is leading you and how his redemption is allowing you to see just the sin and wretchedness that we all have as we come before the table we know that his wounds set us free from that bondage of sin his blood and his redemption was the bridge that needed to happen so that we could enter heaven let's sing together remembering the cross this morning on a hill of Calvary the light of all the world with the world on his shoulders the weight of all our shame on him a holy surrender the sky went dark the angels wept the father looked away final breath he bowed his the

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Lamb of God was slain by his set free by his blood be redeemed the great divine he crossed for me

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Oh praise the God of Calvary Calvary Oh to his mother the stone was he conquered and rose up from the grave by his wounds

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I am set free by his blood

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I've been redeemed the great divine he crossed for me

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Oh praise the God of Calvary if I never never lose sight of this place

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I will never never lose sight of your grace your cross is all all

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I need to see Oh praise the God of Calvary by his wounds

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I am set free by his blood

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I've been redeemed the great divine he crossed for me

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Oh praise the God of Calvary by his wounds

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I am set free by his blood

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I've been redeemed the great divine he crossed for me

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Oh praise the God of Calvary your cross is all all

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I need to see Oh praise the God of Calvary may be seated good morning it has been our tradition here at this church for many many years that we celebrate communion on the first Sunday of every month now although it is tradition

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I do pray that this morning it is not routine or that you're not indifferent to it but that we want to look at the scripture and really appreciate what he has done for us so I want to start with Isaiah chapter 6 in the year that King Uzziah died

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I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the seraphim each had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called to another and said holy holy holy is the

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Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke and I said woe is me for I am lost for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the

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Lord of hosts now there's something very very Jewish in this text that I want to kind of highlight we in English -speaking world may not see this but when

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I used to work in printing and publishing if we wanted to show emphasis in the text we would highlight we would make it bold would make it italic change the font size and you know this when you text somebody if you want to yell at them you put in all caps so that's how you want to show emphasis in this

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English -speaking world that we live in but in the Jewish mindset it was different the

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Hebrew mindset it was verbal repetition and you're familiar with this because Jesus taught that way

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Jesus was a Jewish rabbi he would use verbal repetition when he wanted to show emphasis now of course everything he said was important but when he wanted to show more importance he would say verily verily

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I say unto you or some versions say truly truly what he's really saying is amen amen

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I say unto you now I love to say amen when Jeff is preaching in the middle of a sermon but Jesus would do that before he said something to show emphasis that this is important listen now with verbal repetition in the scriptures there is only one attribute of God that is communicated to the third degree repetition to look at the text it doesn't say mercy mercy mercy doesn't say wrath wrath wrath doesn't say he's holy it says kadosh kadosh kadosh holy holy holy and if you notice that the seraphim had to cover their eyes in the presence of God currently

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I'm driving east when I go to work in the morning and the Sun is in my eyes and I have to block the

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Sun from blinding me but I wonder if I'm gonna sneeze in heaven because I always sneeze when the

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Sun shines in my eyes but the seraphim had to cover their eyes because of the presence was so holy and Isaiah in the presence of the

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Holy One says woe is me imagine that the Prophet Isaiah you think

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God chose him because he was perfect that he wouldn't say what he said and yet even on the

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Prophet's best day he says woe is me I am lost now that word woe in the

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Hebrew is interesting you might know this does anybody know what the Hebrew is in the scripture for woe

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Matt you know what it is you know this word you're gonna be surprised when you hear this but the

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Hebrew is boy boy you thought that that was a

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Yiddish word in you that's a Hebrew word and originally that it meant grief and despair it was a very heavy word and Jesus used this when he talked to the

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Pharisees he said woe unto you scribes Pharisees hypocrites you know it's a very heavy word to use and Isaiah in the presence of God said woe is me and it's amazing as you look through scripture this thread happens throughout scripture when you come into his presence you realize who you are

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Peter did that when he realized who Jesus was when Jesus did the miracle with the fish and the nets

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Peter said depart from me Lord for I'm a sinful man a prayer

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I'm so thankful the Lord doesn't answer when we say that but when we're in his presence we realize who we are and John in Revelation did the same thing when he saw who

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Jesus was in his vision he said when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and that's what happens to sinful man even

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John Isaiah Peter we realize who we are when we come into his presence now

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I'm not trying to drive you away from the community table I'm trying to get you to understand that this is serious that we take communion as believers

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Jesus said you do this in remembrance of me Paul says that you do show forth the

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Lord's death until he comes you know it is something that we're looking at in his presence being thankful for what he did now

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I want to give you hope because of all these different examples I've given we say woe is me

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Lord depart from me however looking at John in Revelation when

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John saw him I fell at his feet as though dead now one of my favorite words in Scripture but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not for I am the first and the last and the living one

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I died and behold I'm alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades so there is hope for us as believers to come before him because of what he did on the cross for us they were washed in his blood they were forgiven of our sins and we come to the table thanking him for he did and eating his body and drinking his blood and we are thankful this morning for that so if I could have the service come forward please as we distribute the elements we're gonna all take it together once they're all passed out bread first and then the juice

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Jesus said in John chapter 6 truly truly

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I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink let's pray father open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things from your word we pray that you would give us eyes to see ears to hear hearts that believe the truth about Jesus Christ I pray for any who are here today that have not yet come to saving faith

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I pray that you would open their eyes to see that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father but by him and we pray for us who already believe this that you would stir us up to go tell others the good news of what he's done so be with us now through the preaching and the hearing of your word in Jesus name amen in 1995 a

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Christian band named Big Tent Revival anybody here remember Big Tent Revival oh good a lot of you have known that group they wrote a song called

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Two Sets of Joneses it is one of my all -time favorites it's more of a story than a song although it's put to music and I remember hearing this song when

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I was in college in the early 2000s and well I just graduated and I I just loved the picture it painted of believing in Christ and building a family

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I wasn't married at the time but I could envision building a family and how important that is versus what the world has to offer which is sinking sand here's how the song goes this here's a song about two sets of Joneses so the idea here let me pause is that there's two sets of families each having the last name

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Jones but they're unrelated and they have different outcomes this here is a song about two sets of Joneses Rothschild and Evelyn Reuben and Sue just for discussion through random selection we've chosen two couples who haven't a clue

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Rothschild was lucky to marry so wealthy Evelyn bought him a house on the beach

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Reuben and Sue they had nothing but Jesus and each night they would pray that he'd care for them each

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Evelyn's daddy was proud of young Rothschild worked the late hours to be number one but just newlyweds their marriage got rocky he's flying to Dallas she's having a son

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Reuben was holding his Gideon's Bible and he screamed it's a boy so that everyone heard and the guys at the factory took a collection and again

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God provided for bills they'd incurred so what is the point of the story what am

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I trying to say is your life based on the rock of Christ Jesus or sandy foundations you've managed to lay well needless to say

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Evelyn left her husband and sued him for every penny he had and I truly wish that those two would find

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Jesus before things get worse than they already have and the rain came down it blew the four walls down and the clouds they rolled away and one set of Joneses was standing that day

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I love that song and I always have because it pictures a life that's built on the rock

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Christ Jesus and that was Reuben and Sue but also the converse if you build your life on sinking sand when the storms come there's no foundation and the walls of the house collapse so it's such a wonderful picture of how important it is to build your life on the rock but you know recently

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I got to thinking whatever happened to the two boys that were born

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I mean Rothschild and Evelyn they had a boy and he was flying to Dallas while she was having a son and Reuben and Sue they had a boy and he screamed it's a boy so I got to thinking it's been almost 30 years since that song was written in 1995 and times have changed a lot so could there be an epilogue to the story

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I decided to write it myself you ready for part two well

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Roth and Rube jr. both grew up Joneses but life was quite different for the two boys

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Rothy would wear his virtual goggles while Ruby made sticks and rocks into toys

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Rothy read books about equity inclusion by high school he chaired the diversity club

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Ruby shot guns because he loved to go hunting by high school he invented a new barbecue rub

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Rothy was troubled by American history and he hated himself for being a man maybe he'd be heroic for discarding his gender but after he did it he hated the plan

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Rube had gotten married just out of high school now he screamed it's a boy so that everyone heard and just like his dad who told him about Jesus when his son started reading he was reading the word now what is the point of my story why did

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I add chapter 2 Christ is the same and will be forever and he is still offering salvation to you and the rain came down it blew the four walls down and the clouds they rolled away and one set of Joneses was standing you know

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I thought about singing that to you which would have gotten particularly interesting at this point but I chose not to do that you're welcome the story does highlight the difference between a life that's built on the rock and for generation after generation after generation now for 2 ,000 years when you build your rock on Christ your life on the rock of Christ Jesus you're building on a solid foundation that won't crumble but I thought about the second verse of the story because times have changed a lot and back in 1995 there were people who were neglecting the message or even rejecting the message of Jesus altogether but today there's an entire generation of kids who are indifferent to the message they've never heard the gospel and they think that it's impossible that anything could be true as in absolutely true in the verses that I wrote

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I said that Rothy was wearing virtual goggles and that refers to the fact that he was rich and he had the the wealthy toys that little

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Ruby didn't have but I meant something else by that as well and that is there is a generation of kids who are growing up in virtual reality and in that they reject reality itself they don't know that there is a such thing as absolute truth that anything could be absolutely true for everyone because they've been raised in this bubble to believe that everybody has a private truth of their own and the only thing that would be counter to truth at that level would be somebody who is certain of their own positions the one sin of this culture is to claim that your truth is true for everyone that it is absolute that kind of certainty is an affront to this generation who thinks that there is no such thing as truth

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I was at Princeton again recently and I was talking to a philosophy student and he had all the look of a philosopher and as I tried to share the gospel with him

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I realized we were disconnecting at the level of epistemology epistemology means how do you know what you know how do you know things and I realized that I was coming from an epistemology that was an objective correspondence view of truth and he was coming from a postmodern subjective view of truth that ultimately did not have reality as a foundation and so I took it back a step and I said let's just trace this back to where we're disagreeing

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I said can you at least admit that you exist like Descartes I think therefore

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I am can we at least start there and say your very existence proves that there is existence and that you exist you as you sit here and having thoughts exist and the philosophy student said oh no

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I would not grant that oh boy we have a problem Houston we have a problem there was an epistemological foundational difference at the level of truth church do you realize that when you go out preaching a crucified and risen

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Christ you do so from the foundation from the solid rock of absolute truth and objectivity not a subjectivity relative to the person but an objective truth on which you can stand

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Jesus understood that and when he preached to the

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Pharisees who were rejecting his lordship he appealed to certain objective evidence reasons to believe and that is where we turn this morning in John chapter 5 verses 30 to 47 faith in Jesus Christ is not a blind leap faith is a reasonable trust placed in a trustworthy person based on the evidence which that person himself provides he provides us with four reasons to believe in him as Lord and guys as I thought about it

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I wondered do we really need an entirely new evangelistic strategy for this new generation and my conclusion is no we need the age -old gospel the message of Christ crucified and risen and to appeal to the very things that Jesus appealed to because although people are able to suppress the truth in their mind reality itself is hard to hold down and made in the image of God people in the imago

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Dei in the image of God have an awareness innately that they exist suppress that truth however hard they try and the facts of the gospel are facts that open eyes and what we need to do is master these truths and bring them boldly into the public square let's read it

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John 5 30 to 47 I'd like for you to try to find the four evidences to which

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Jesus himself appeals as we read John 5 30 and following I can do nothing on my own accord as I hear

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I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me if I alone bear witness about myself my testimony is not true there is another who bears witness about me and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true you sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth not that the testimony that I receive is from man but I say these things so that you may be saved he was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the father has sent me and the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me his voice you have never heard his form you have never seen and you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe the one whom he has sent memorize this verse church verse 39 you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life

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I do not receive glory from people but I know that you do not have the love of God within you

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I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me if another comes in his own name you will receive him how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only

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God do not think that I will accuse you to the father there is one who accuses you

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Moses on whom you have set your hope for if you believed

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Moses you would believe me for he wrote of me but if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words now the first four chapters of John are the presentation of the

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Son of God and I had 20 quotes from those sections but I'm gonna skip them because that would make the sermon about an hour and 20 minutes instead of short of an hour but to summarize the first four chapters present the

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Son of God with evidence again and again you'll see the reputation repetition of come and see come and see there are signs there are wonders that point to Jesus as the

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Son of God so he's presented but as you go to chapter 5 you have the introduction of opponents and this opposition is actually strategically placed from chapter 5 to chapter 12 for a very important reason now listen when we study the scripture we don't want to atomize the text we want to see scripture within a context and within a flow of an entire book

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John's point is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and here's how he does it for four chapters he presents the truth and the evidence for that truth namely his miracles and his claims but then beginning in chapter 5 he shows the opponents in the opposition why because critical thinking which is what our culture has lost is the ability to cross -examine claims and see if they hold up Proverbs 18 17 one man seems right until another comes and cross -examines him here in chapters 5 to 12 we have the cross and cross -examination of the claim

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Paul will write this way again and again in the book of Romans he will introduce a hypothetical objector to what he's saying and then he'll answer the objection and by doing that we come to a more robust founded secure understanding of the truth so the

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Pharisees they're objecting to these claims and Jesus will double down on the claim and then here what we have is him meeting the claim head -on and overcoming the objection how does he do it he appeals to four lines of evidence the first is his own testimony chapter 5 verse 30 and 31 the first line of evidence to establish this claim is his own testimony now you'll notice he says in verse 31 if I alone bear witness about myself my testimony is not true picture someone claiming that they can walk on air but nobody saw it there's no witnesses except the person himself who said

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I walk on air how much credence would you give to this person well there was a so -called prophet in Malawi recently who tried to overcome that problem he got some of his friends to record him walking on air so the video camera was placed at the bottom of a staircase and as this so -called prophet came down the steps it appeared that he took two more steps on air and then stepped down to the ground it was meant to be a marvelous sign that he's truly a prophet of God trouble trouble is with the cinematography of how he captured this you could see the shadows of the people who were holding him up on either side and worse than that you heard a click of the door after the people slip out and then the camera pans to the left and right to show you that there's nobody there it was pitiful such a sad attempt to convince the world that this is the great prophet of Malawi and he is the most famous man in Malawi interestingly enough calls himself major one but contrast that with the miracles of Jesus who walked on water but does not claim

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I walked on water well who's your witness me myself and I not the case at all the disciples in the boat saw him walk on water and they worshipped him and in fact they distanced themselves they were so overwhelmed by the holiness of that moment and these witnesses credible as they are were willing to die for the things that they saw and testified to now consider the words of Jesus he does in fact give testimony to himself doesn't he he claims here in the text and in the preceding verses leading up to verse 30 his unique relationship with the father that he does the very things that his father does he claims to see everything that the father does he makes very bold claims and that testimony then needs to be brought as the first line of evidence is it believable are the words of Jesus believable well here we have the analogy that CS Lewis makes and a good argument for the apologist

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CS Lewis was a great Christian who converted from atheism when he truly considered the claims of Christ and he said what do you think of a man who claims to be

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God I'm summarizing not quoting what do you think of a man who claims to be God such a one is either the

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Lord he claims to be a liar or a lunatic on par with the man who claims to be a poached egg

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CS Lewis had a way with words anybody who would claim to be

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God but wasn't is some kind of absolute lunatic like the man who claims to be a poached egg but consider what else

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Jesus said the words of Jesus have been passed down for 2 ,000 years and remain today the most profound words ever spoken if you were to ask what is the core ethical teaching that most people in the world regard as a summation of ethics the most famous ethical teaching in the world came from the mouth of Jesus and it is do unto others as you would have them do unto you doesn't sound like the mad rantings of a lunatic this is the man who said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you profound therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow worry about itself turn the other cheek all novel ideas that have changed the world when asked what is the most important commandment in the entire

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Old Testament Jesus was able to summarize the entire Old Testament the

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Hebrew Bible in two verses no one had ever done this before and he summarizes also the

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Ten Commandments with the first table of the law being vertical towards God and the second table of the law being horizontal towards man

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Jesus says love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself how profound is that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments sounds more like the words of a

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Lord than a lunatic he goes on to say in other places but many who are first will be last take note of that because many who are last will be first profound words of the

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Messiah Jesus taught us to render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is

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God God's the basis of the country in which we live in the separation of powers

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Jesus said let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her

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Wow that sure blew up their paradigm didn't it and this is the one who says

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I am the light of the world this is the one who says I am the way the truth and the life we need to take seriously the testimony of Jesus because this is a credible man credible testimony to himself that's the first thing but what was the second look at verses 32 to 35 the second evidence that Jesus appealed to which you also need to appeal to because if Jesus did it it's pretty good model isn't it there is another who bears witness about me and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true you sent to John and he is born witness to the truth not that the testimony that I receive is from man but I say these things so that you may be saved he was a burning and a shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light so we're talking this morning about this epistemology how do you know what you know how can you know something how can you therefore knowing the truth be saved your knowledge of the truth doesn't change the reality of it outside of yourself

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Jesus is Lord whether you believe it or not but for your sake in order that you may be saved he appeals to the testimony of John the

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Baptist because this testimony is reliable here is a man who went to the wilderness clothed in camel hair and eating locusts and honey and by himself preaching in the wilderness garnered the attention of an entire nation and everyone agreed that this is a prophet of God until the

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Pharisees finally rejected him and Herod had his head cut off as prophets are often treated because he began to say that Jesus is the

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Christ he bore testimony and you see this is significant because Malachi in chapters 3 chapter 3 verses 1 to 5 and the last verses of the

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Old Testament foretold that a forerunner would come on the scene an announcer who would say this is the

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Messiah and in fact Jesus says if you are willing to receive it he is the Elijah to come the final

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Old Testament prophet the one God sent to announce the appearance of the

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Son of God into the world John the Baptist was a unique man Jesus called him the greatest prior to the coming of the kingdom at Pentecost John the

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Baptist is a reliable witness and he's the second but notice that something is building in the text

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Jesus's own self -awareness and then

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John the Baptist but look at verse 36 the word but indicates there's there's an elevation here to something even more reliable it says in verse 36 but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the

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Father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the

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Father has sent me by his works he refers to his miracles that he walks on water that he multiplies the bread and feeds 5 ,000 notice that in the objections to Jesus nobody denied that the miracles were real nobody thought it might be a hoax it was plain and before their eyes the blind received their sight dead

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Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days and he walked out and everybody saw it the only thing that the objectors could say to this is that he does these supernatural things by the power of Beelzebub rather than by the power of God but it is in fact the power of God speaking through the works now

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I think that Jesus has in view something beyond the miracles that Jesus did look in the text more carefully verse 36 but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the

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Father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me in all the things that Jesus accomplished he was heading somewhere he was going somewhere and that place was the cross in fact as he died on the cross and we'll see this in John 19

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I believe it's verse 28 and 30 Jesus says to tell us die it is finished meaning it is accomplished the work that Jesus came to do was only on the side to do miracles to testify to him but supremely to go to the cross of Calvary and die the death that we deserve this work of Jesus on the cross was work done for me that I could not do for myself for me to pay for my own sin is death the wages of sin is death and it is to go to hell but Jesus appeared to do a work for me that I could not do and church this is the wisdom and power of God to bring men to salvation the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God the work that Jesus did dying in the place of sinners is power in the message of it he did not need to do it in front of every person who ever lived in order for it to testify for God's plan was that Jesus would die once for sinners and he put credible witnesses at the foot of the cross including

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John the one who remained among the twelve and Mary and some of the other women remained and others watched from afar it cannot be denied that Jesus was crucified history understands that but the power in the message and I've seen this again and again in witnessing is in the meaning the work of the cross when you tell someone why

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Jesus died it has power to convert them the message of the cross that Jesus died to be the payment for sin to accomplish the work that you could not do as a substitute to die in my place when you explain that meaning to someone this evidence is the word of God in power the power of the word goes forth to that person to bring life to the unbelieving heart and so we're building here you have the objective evidence considering whoever spoke like this man do you remember in John chapter 7 when the

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Pharisees who are very angry at this point because if you notice in the text Jesus is coming at them he's saying you don't even believe in Moses let alone me so they're ready to kill him in John chapter 7 they send out some soldiers and they say go and arrest him and bring him back here they're ready to kill him right there in the text but the soldiers come back and they say why didn't you arrest him the soldiers say no one ever spoke like this man before his word his very word is unique it's utterly unique and they couldn't even bring themselves to arrest him because his word was so powerful that's the first evidence his word the second evidence was

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John the Baptist that light shining that burning lamp a man completely captured by zeal for God and he identifies

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Jesus by the baptism notice he saw something he didn't just get this peaceful easy feeling and he knew that Jesus would never let him down no a sign was given to him

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God had told him the one on whom the Spirit descends like a dove this is the one this is the

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Messiah and so when John the Baptist saw that sign he knew Jesus was the

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Messiah and he preached it to everyone to the point of losing his head well he lost his head for talking about Herod and how

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Herod had been engaged in an illicit affair but he was a prophet and he testified to Jesus the third evidence as we just saw were the very works of God that is the miracles that Jesus did who did miracles like Jesus a lot of pretenders out there but no one's even come close and lastly most importantly because remember the text is building here it is the voice of the

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Father himself verse 37 and the Father who sent me has himself born witness about me his voice you have never heard his form you have never seen so he's not referring here to the

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Father speaking at the baptism where the Father speaks from heaven and says this is my beloved son only a few people saw that or heard that at the baptism of Jesus he's referring to something even more objective and universally available what is it when did the

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Father speak 39 and he's referenced it in 38 the word is not abiding in you and he says in 39 you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me what is the ground of our faith and church you need to know this if you want to go tell it on the mountains how do you know this how is this so true it is built on the

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Apostles and the prophets the Father spoke in the Old Testament bring up the graphic in the back if you guys don't mind doing that which

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I sent out in an email a couple of weeks ago this is a visual display and I find it astonishing across the bottom of the display are the chapters of the entire

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Bible represented in vertical lines you notice in the middle there there's a very long one that's

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Psalm 119 try reading that in a couple of minutes it's very long but the arcs that connect the chapters of the

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Bible creating this beautiful image connect references from one passage to another now understand something this

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Bible that we read was written by 40 authors on three different continents over 1 ,500 years under persecution

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Moses was not just sitting with his inkwell contemplating life he had come to Egypt and been run out and now he was in the desert writing this book the first five books of the

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Bible and the the arcs reference one passage to another so in Genesis 1 you have the perfect world created in the

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Garden of Eden and in Genesis I'm sorry in Revelation 21 and 22 the last two chapters of the

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Bible you have connections to that perfect world now restored by the redemption that Christ alone offers and there's connections between those there's references to the

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Garden of Eden do you see that or say you come halfway through here past past Psalms and you get to the book of Micah and in chapter 5 verse 2 it says but you

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Bethlehem though you're small among the tribes of Judah yet out of you will come the ruler of Israel well you move forward and in the

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New Testament it just so happens in Matthew that Jesus is born in Bethlehem and so draw an arc between Micah 5 2 and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem in the book of Matthew do you see how this chart works here's the astonishing thing there are more than 63 ,000 references of one passage to another in our

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Bible I find that astonishing I don't know about you here's the point the

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Jesus that we worship is not our opinion it's not subjective truth that we simply have passed on this is the objective reality and truth of God and our epistemology our way of knowing our foundation to our belief is the

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Word of God God spoke through 39 books notice the last three verses here in John chapter 5

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Jesus will say do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one who accuses you and this really ticked them off when they heard this

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Moses on whom you have set your hope for if you believed

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Moses you would believe me for he wrote of me he wrote of me when did

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Moses write of Jesus as early as Genesis chapter 3 when a seed of the woman will crush the head of a serpent and be struck in his heel the promise coming seed of the woman

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Jesus alone born to a virgin Mary the seed of the woman did crush the head of the serpent

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Satan when he died on the cross and yes he was struck through the heel when he was pinned to the cross through his heel

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Genesis 3 15 the very next chapter in Genesis 4 Cain kills Abel you remember that but do you know that right there in the

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Bible it says that the blood of Abel having been slain by his own brother

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Cain the blood of Abel was crying out to God from the ground and Hebrews chapter 11 will tell us or is it later

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Hebrews 12 look it up that the blood of Abel was prophetic to a better word you see the blood of Abel was crying out for God to judge and and to bring justice and vindication he was slain by his brother but the blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel it cries from the ground having been spilled from the cross mercy a better word grace to the sinner because he laid down his life for us willingly to atone for our sins and this theme of a coming

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Messiah becomes very specific Abraham is chosen from among the people and promised that all nations of the earth will be blessed through him and then from his seed

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Isaac the monogamous the unique one of Genesis 22 all the world will be blessed through him and then we see this family tree from from him from Isaac it's not

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Esau but it will be Jacob and out of Jacob's twelve sons it's none of the other twelve it's specifically

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Judah who will hold the scepter and continue that promise Genesis 49 10 do you see it's a narrowing of scope that we would recognize

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Messiah when he comes which is why Genesis 22 was so significant

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Genesis 22 Abraham had been given a promise listen to this that this one and only son would be the promised seed to carry on the blessing and bring them to the promised land and bless the whole world through him well now

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God says go kill him go sacrifice your one and only son whom you love and so they mount a donkey and they ride and on the third day they arrive at the mountain that they were told to go to and Isaac is told to carry the wood and he looks at his daddy says hey here's the wood and the fire and the knife but where's the animal for sacrifice and Abraham says

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God himself will provide the lamb and as they arrive on top of the mountain

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God stops Abraham from going through with it and he provides a substitute ram caught in the thicket and we're told on the mount of the

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Lord it will be provided you see Abraham's faith was being tested but something prophetic was being said about the only son because Jesus arrived on a donkey just like Isaac and Jesus carried the wood of his sacrifice to the top of the mountain and on the mountain of the

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Lord it was provided he is the Lamb of God that was promised the ram the blood of animals could only place hold until a time was fulfilled on the mount of the

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Lord it was provided the lamb Jesus Christ himself laid down and the father sacrificed the son his only son the beloved son whom he loves as early as Genesis 22

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Moses was writing about that event that day though it was thousands of years into the future and he wrote of it in Exodus with the

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Passover lamb marking the doorposts he wrote of it in Leviticus with the whole sacrificial system animals dying holding that place and he says in Leviticus 17 11 without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness in numbers

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Moses raises up a serpent on a pole that whoever looks up at the serpent on the pole as Jesus became sin for us in his body dying on the tree that one would be healed and in Deuteronomy he explicitly says there's coming a greater

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Moses a prophet and you must listen to every word he says Deuteronomy 18 15 to 20 Moses wrote about Jesus so church in closing we live in a culture that has lost its mind and it's sad it's sad to see little boys being raised to reject reality itself the very nature of their gender and told that if they take quote unquote gender -affirming hormones they will change and be something that they aren't listen hormones can't affirm anything they're just chemical but they can do damage and that's only exam an example of the abject insanity which is overtaken the minds of our culture my question to you is do you have compassion to bring the gospel to the lost the same gospel that brought you out of darkness into light can do the same for them and we need to go preaching that gospel and not just say the claims of Christ but ground those claims in the scripture are you willing to spend time digging into the

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Word of God to learn the basis of our faith this is what

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Jesus commends to us you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life but these are they that testify of me church the culture has gotten so dark and people are so confused that it's getting to the point where they know that they're lost many people are just giving up on life and you see the suicide rate climbing out of control many people have given up on the hope that they could ever have a loving marriage and children and a family that's intact they don't think living in the world that they're being trained in the diversity inclusion equity world the postmodern philosophy world they don't think that loving families and intact nuclear families even exist anymore the foundation has been destroyed what can the righteous do it's the age -old gospel we have what the world needs and so we should go tell them the good news let's pray father

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I want to thank you for all those who came to this building this morning to hear this message and for all those who will listen online my prayer is that any who have not yet trusted in Christ by your word this morning that they will do that open their eyes that they can see show them the truth reveal it to them father the word says that the devil the

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God of this age blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ that blinding is not a lack of objective evidence it is a moral blinding a suppression of what is true and what is manifest and so Lord we pray against that spiritual warfare against that lying spirit that blinds people to the truth of Jesus Christ we pray

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Lord that you would lift the veil and let them see open their eyes save them

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Lord you alone can grant the new birth and we pray for us as a church

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Lord that we would burn like John the Baptist that we would shine like a lamp renew our passion to go and tell people about the

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Lord Jesus Christ renew our compassion for those who are lost and losing touch with reality itself they're living in a virtual world a reality a make -believe world actually that doesn't exist and it's driving them insane

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Lord we pray that they would come to that fountain of living water that never runs dry and you would send us out to tell them where to find it thank you for this church and thank you for bringing us here sit under the teaching of your word to be trained in righteousness now help us to live by what we've heard in Jesus name

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Amen he is my life my strength my song this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love what depths of peace when fears are still when she sees there is the ground his body lay light of the world by darkness slain bursting forth in glorious day again and as he stands in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me he is mine mark with the precious blood of Christ no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath

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Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man returns calls me home here in the power of Christ I find my strength

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I find my strength I find my hope

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I find my help in Christ alone when fears assail when darkness fall

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I find my peace in Christ alone

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I give my I give my I sing my song to Christ the

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King to Christ alone to Christ to Christ he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ here in the power of Christ I stand go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold