Who is Jesus Christ?: Part 3

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Who Is Jesus Christ?: Part 4

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Who is Jesus Christ? Who is
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Jesus Christ? Profound question, isn't it? But we must have the right answer.
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And the Scriptures provide that. Not man's definition.
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It's God's definition of Himself. From His Word. Please bow with me as we seek our
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Lord in prayer this time. As we continue to worship Him. And as we come to the
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Word of God. To hear from Heaven. Our Father and our gracious God, we thank
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You today for Thy Word. Thy Word.
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Which in Psalms 119. The psalmist cried out.
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Thy Word is a lamp unto our feet. And a light to our path. The psalmist cried out to You, O Lord.
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Lord, this is my comfort. In my affliction. For Thy Word has given me life.
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Lord, we thank You. Lord, for Thy Word. And as James, the apostle, said.
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It's the implanted Word. That every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
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From You, Lord. Comes down. Comes down. From the
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Father of lights. The Father of lights. With whom there is no variableness. No shadow of turning.
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Because of Thy Word, Lord. You have brought life to us. Creative life. But most important,
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You have given us new life. New life. And regeneration.
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And as Your Word says, Lord. Of Thy own will. Your own will. You brought us forth by the
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Word of Truth. So now, Lord, as we open up the pages of Scripture.
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Your dear Son. The King in which You have set on the holy hill. At the right hand.
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Our Savior and our Lord and our God. The Son of God. As the
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Son prayed for His very own disciples. In John 17, 17.
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You can sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. So Lord, we pray.
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Lord, as Your truth goes forth. We pray that this truth will sanctify us.
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Sanctify us through and through. And that we may know more of You.
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And may the blessed Holy Spirit. Who is the Spirit of truth. Teach us all truth. There is not a pastor or a teacher on this earth,
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Lord. Even though they are gifts to the church. They are really not the teacher. Your Spirit is the teacher.
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Your blessed Holy Spirit is the teacher. And it comes from the Scriptures. So Lord, now as we worship
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You. May our worship be acceptable in spirit and truth. And we ask this for Your honor and glory.
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In Jesus name. Amen and Amen. John chapter 1.
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We are looking at verse 1 to 5. 1 through 5. Hear the
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Word of the Living God. In the beginning was the
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Word. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God.
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And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
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All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made.
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In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness.
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And the darkness did not comprehend it. Or a better translation would be.
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Did not extinguish it. Did not overpower it. That's really more accurate to the original translation.
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So as we've already learned. From verse 1 through 3. Jesus Christ. The second person of the
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Trinity. The eternal Word. Who was pre -existent, co -existent and is self -existent.
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The Logos. In the beginning. The Logos. In Greek was known as a force.
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And not a person. But here the scriptures speak very clearly that the Logos is a person.
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In the beginning was the Word. That He is equally God. Along with the
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Father and the Holy Spirit. And the Word, the Logos, was with God.
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And that He, the Son, the Word, the Logos. Was involved in the wonderful act of creation.
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Scripture says as we looked at this wonderful verse. Verse 3.
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Last Lord's day all things were made through Him. And without Him nothing was made that was made.
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Now, we come to verse 4 and 5. The Apostle John introduces by the
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Spirit. The reader, two very important words to us.
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That are actually the themes that occur throughout the Gospel. This fourth Gospel. These two words are life and light.
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Life and light. I'd like to take this time of worship here today.
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And the service for next Lord's day. To look at these two words. Life and light.
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There's a lot here. There's a wonderful connection between life and light. So in this passage of Scripture and throughout the entire
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Bible. And our text especially. Notice what the text says in verse 4.
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In Him. In Him. In Christ. Was life.
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Continued life. Life that continues. Never ends.
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And as John 20, 31. The last phrase of that ends.
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Believing as these things were written. That you may believe. Believing you may have life in His name.
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So in a sense we see John's Gospel begins and ends with an emphasis on life. Their book ends.
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Real life. Now we're talking about not bios here. Bios is the word where we get the biology.
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The physical life. It does include that. But we're talking about really real supernatural life.
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And real supernatural life requires a supernatural source. Doesn't it? And God is that supernatural source.
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And He's speaking of God's Son. Who is the agent. Who is that supernatural source.
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John says that this is a not just quantity of life.
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It's a quality of life. That's what he's speaking of. Has forever been present in the eternal word of life.
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Who is the person. Jesus Christ. It's all in the person of Christ. Isn't it? And that's actually
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John's thrust. That is his focus. That is his purpose of writing this
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Gospel. Let me give you a quote. Which I thought was really good.
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He identifies this. Pastor John MacArthur. I was looking into his commentary on this. And he comments on this beginning.
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And this is what he says. Quote. John uses the word life about 36 times in his
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Gospel. Far more than any other New Testament book. It refers not only in a broad sense to physical and temporal life.
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That the Son imparted to the created world through His involvement as the agent of creation.
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In verse 3. But especially to spiritual and eternal life imparted as a gift through belief in Him.
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In Scripture, MacArthur says. Light and darkness are very familiar symbols.
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Intellectually, light refers to biblical truth. While darkness refers to error and falsehood.
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Morally, light refers to holiness or purity. While darkness refers to sin or wrongdoing.
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Darkness, he goes on to say. Darkness has special significance in relationship to Satan. And his demonic cohorts.
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Who rules the present spiritually dark world. As the prince of the power of the air.
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Promoting spiritual darkness and rebellion against God. John uses the term darkness 14 times.
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8 in the Gospel. And 6 in 1 John. And out of 17 occurrences in the
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New Testament. Making it almost an exclusive Johanan word. In John, light and life have special significance in relationship to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The Word. End quote. And how true.
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How true. So in saying that in the introduction. Let's look at the biblical significance of life.
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Of life and light. Again, we're not going to be able to cover all this in one message.
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So we're going to break it up. And I want the Lord willing to continue this next Lord's Day. So first of all.
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I only have one point here. And the one point would be. Jesus Christ is life.
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And he's light. Life and light. So we're going to look at this one point basically. In these two messages in part 3 and 4.
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Pardon. So anyway. Jesus Christ is life, isn't he?
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Christ is life. Notice verse 4a. In him was life.
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So the one who created the worlds. In which Hebrews 1 speaks of. Has both life and light in himself.
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In himself. These verses also allude to the coming of Christ. And to the world in his incarnation.
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Which you see. Look at verse 9. Verse 9 says. That was the true light which gives light to every man.
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Coming into the world. The true light. John the
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Baptist is another witness of that. True light. Jesus Christ.
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There's another way of saying it. That was the true light coming into the world. Which enlightens every man.
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He enlightens. Jesus became man. In order to reveal the truth.
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That's what God desires for us to know. Is the truth of himself. Not the
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Christ of our own thinking. Our intuition. It's the
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Christ of God. The Christ in Scripture. And sadly to say the church is far away from that.
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It should not surprise us. Because we're far away from preaching the Scriptures. If you depart from the
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Scriptures. You're going to depart from the true living God. The true Christ of God. The only way we could know the true
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Christ of God. Is from this wonderful book. The Word of God. That contains 66 books.
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Of inspired writings. God breathed from God.
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So beloved. This is absolutely profound isn't it? It's incredibly profound.
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Jesus Christ himself is the very source of life. Physically and spiritually.
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The very source of light. Life and light.
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Notice the statement in verse 4b. The latter part. In him was life. And the life was the light of men.
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Now this is incredible because they parallel each other. From the very beginning man was to know that life.
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That was the purpose of his existence. To know God personally and intimately.
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To know him. To know God. But sin entered into the world and broke that relationship.
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It was severed. By sin. The knowledge of life.
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Of Jesus Christ was to be the light of men. And that actually is the being of that light.
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Was to give real life. To man. And I'd like to say this.
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Both abundant life. And eternal life. Now would us look at that. Abundant life.
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John 10 .10 Jesus says. It's a great chapter in John 10. Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd.
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And he says this in John 10 .10. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.
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He says I have come. That they. The they is the disciples.
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His people. His sheep. Actually in context of speaking of his sheep. The elect of God.
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That they may have life. And that they may have it more abundantly.
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Wonderful verse isn't it? It's a wonderful verse. Thieves if you think of it.
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Thieves take life. They rob us. But the good shepherd
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Jesus Christ came to give life. And to give it more abundantly.
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As many churches today. And many of them are false churches. They speak about this abundant life.
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And Jesus. They speak of it in terms of financial success. And everything external.
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But they are really poor within. As Brother Keith was talking about. In Revelation there.
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They are poor, blind, wretched and miserable. And in need of God. But what
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Jesus is speaking of. Is not talking about financial success. And external abundance.
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Or your best life now. Sad to say
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I've heard preachers actually preach this text. John 10 .10 in that context.
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False. Taking away. The truth from the scriptures.
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But that abundant life. What does it mean? It speaks of the great salvation.
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And deliverance that is only found in Jesus Christ himself. That great salvation.
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That is the abundant life. Rich in faith. Rich in God. All the riches of God in Jesus Christ.
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And it's not. It shows you how carnal people are. Thinking of the physical things that's all going to rot and burn.
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How poorly deceived they are. Speaks of not only the endlessness.
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But the quality. The quality of life. I've heard this term spoken of even by people in the world.
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I want more of a quality of life. Yes. And only that quality of life.
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Can be found in the person of Jesus Christ. The life of God.
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Jesus brings to us. God's life. Isn't this wonderful? That life that Jesus gives.
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Is God's kind of life. God's kind of life. Now how do we know this?
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Because if you look in John 4. Verse 4. In Him was life.
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The Greek word here is zoe. God's life. Zoe. It's not bios.
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The bios is again the physical. Just living day to day kind of life.
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But the life that it speaks of here. Is not the physical bios. It is the spiritual zoe.
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The spiritual God's life. That is only found in Jesus Christ.
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Through regeneration. As we receive His life. His life within us.
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It's a supernatural work. And it's a miracle folks. And it cannot be done by saying a sinner's prayer.
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It's an act of God. Isn't it? It is an act of God. We're going to see this. In John 10.
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Jesus says. I have come that they may have zoe. That they may have it.
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More abundantly. Isn't that wonderful? All this abundant life. Is all in Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ. To have life. And have it more abundant. I think about this life.
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The more we come to know Jesus. More personally. More intimately. The more of that life. We get to know.
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He's in us. He lives within us. Christ in you. The hope of glory. And now.
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He wants us to know Him. More deeply and intimately. This is the relationship. That we have with Him.
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So with Jesus Christ. Life on earth can reach much much of a higher quality.
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And then in heaven. And heaven eventually. By His grace.
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Be complete and perfect. And there we will see it. Him face to face.
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And it will be perfected. Think about what Paul says. You don't have to turn there. But Colossians chapter 3.
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Verse 3 and 4. Let me read it. For you died. For you died. Every time
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I see that. I think to myself. Am I dead? Am I dead? Have I died with Christ? Well absolutely. In Christ.
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I have died. For you died. And your life. Your Zoe. I look this up personally.
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That word right there. Is the Greek word Zoe. Your Zoe. Your life.
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Is hidden with Christ. In God. Isn't that a beautiful. Verse.
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Hidden. Your life. Your Zoe. Is hidden with Christ in God. Verse 4. When Christ.
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Who is our life. Our Zoe. God's life. Appears. Then you also will appear with Him in glory.
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Wonderful verse. So the Greek word here. For hidden. Indicates that God. Has accomplished this wonderful salvation.
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Through the blood of His cross. All in His Son. And through His substitutionary sacrifice.
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That in the past, present and future. That it is a reality to us. Isn't it wonderful?
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All through the cross. We can receive this light. And this life.
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In Him. Was life. In Him was Zoe. Jesus Christ.
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God's life. The life. That life. Was the light. Is the light.
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It's equal statement. Isn't it? It's a parallel statement. It's a Zoe. And light.
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In this particular case. It's the same. It's the very same. You cannot disconnect the two.
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When you have life and light. Jesus is that life. Jesus is that light.
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We will see this from scripture. The light of this revelation again. Is the life of God.
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And it is all in Christ. It's all in Christ. Jesus said this.
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I'm going to go through a few scriptures here. John 8, 12. He says. I am the light of the world.
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And he who follows me. Shall not walk in darkness. But have the light.
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Of life. Notice that. The light. Of life. And I like to think of it like this.
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As the sun. The physical sun. In which God. Jesus Christ. Created.
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Gives physical light. To the world. So Jesus. Is the true light from God.
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That gives spiritual light. To the world. He is that spiritual light.
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And this is actually. What he is referring to. That Jesus Christ is that true light.
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And Jesus said it. He says. I am the light of the world. And that light exposes sin.
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And people do not like to have that done. But that's the way light does. It exposes sin.
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The true light exposes it. It actually exposes the darkness. And it overpowers the darkness.
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I love that word overpowered. It just conquers it. It extinguishes it. And gives true sight to the blind.
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To those who grope in darkness. Look around you. The people are like dead zombies.
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Literally dead. People. Apart from God. From the life of God. Walking in darkness.
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Groping in darkness. Looking everywhere for satisfaction. Looking everywhere. That they can find their true meaning.
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Their identity. The reason why they are here. And the Christian knows this. But we know this because of the truth.
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Jesus Christ gives the true sight to the blind. Isn't it wonderful? Jesus Christ is that light.
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He is the Zoe. God's light. Manifest. And He comes in flesh.
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He has come in the incarnation. And that's exactly where John goes with this.
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The metaphor of light against darkness of a fallen world. Jesus Christ is that eternal light.
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He is the source. The eternal divine light. Manifest to the world of darkness in which we live.
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Fallen darkness. Evil. And that evil has come about because of sin.
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And God has dealt with it. In Jesus Christ. Amazing, isn't it?
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That the Creator, Jesus Himself, created all these things.
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And in His goodness and His love, comes into this dark world. And becomes and made man.
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Was made man in the incarnation. Was made flesh.
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The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Tabernacled among us. And we beheld
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His, verse 14, we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the
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Father, full of grace and truth. Grace and truth. All in Jesus Christ.
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And He is that very source of life. Jesus gave us physical life, in which we're so thankful for.
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He gives us our very existence, in which each and every one of us has. You are unique.
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We exist. We live and move and have our being in Him. But most important is that He gives new life.
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As Paul says, He gives a new creation. A regenerate. He regenerates. And every person needs to be regenerated.
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Needs to be a new creation. All things become new. Old things have passed away.
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There's a transformation that takes place. Through regeneration.
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And the purpose of that is to bring us into a relationship with Him intimately.
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And this is the very purpose and the true meaning of life, isn't it? John 17, 3. I quote this quite often.
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And I don't think I can overquote this wonderful verse. And Jesus is praying to the Father.
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And this is eternal life. That they may know you. There's the purpose.
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That they may know you. The intimacy. The only true God. There's only one true
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God. But He's in three persons. And then
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He says this. And Jesus Christ. The only scripture I know that Jesus is praying. And by the way,
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John 17 is the Holy of Holies there. It's the high priestly prayer.
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But it's almost like you would come to the mercy seat of that wonderful New Testament book.
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And we see Jesus and we hear Jesus and we can read what He's praying. The only true
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God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life consists of growing knowledge of the one true
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God. As opposed to all false gods. I like what
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Spurgeon said. He got it right here. He said, depend on it. My hearer. You never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship
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Jesus Christ as God. You can take that one to the bank. I can guarantee there's no one that will be in heaven that's not worshiping
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Jesus Christ as God. All of them. Everybody. All the saints of glory.
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All the angelic beings. Worship Him. The Lamb. The God. The Father of all.
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And Jesus Christ. The Lamb. Well, what about chapter and verse?
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Well, you know about Thomas. You know when he knelt down and after Jesus' resurrection he wanted to see
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Jesus for himself. And after Jesus appears and Jesus says exactly what
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He wanted to do. He wanted to touch Him and see Him for Himself. And Jesus says, put your hand in my scars where I've been pierced in my side.
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And then what does He do? He says, My Lord and my God. He worships.
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And Jesus does not refuse that because He's God. He is God. He never refuses worship.
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And there's so many verses here but here's one. John 14, 5.
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Turn with me there. Let's look at this. John 14. Isn't it wonderful? We can get a chance before we get there.
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We can go back and forth and we'll be doing this quite often as we go through John. John 14, 5.
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We'll begin at verse 5. Thomas. There's Thomas again, right? Said to him. He asked a question.
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Lord, we do not know where you are going. And Jesus just told him,
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I'm going to prepare a place for you. I will come again. I will come again. He promises that. And I will receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.
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And where I go you know. And the way you know. And Thomas is like, Lord, we do not know where you're going.
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How can we know the way? Great question. How can we know the way? Listen to what
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Jesus says. This is a profound revelation. Jesus gives one of the great
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I am statements here. I am the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father except through me. So what he's saying, without Jesus there is no other way to the
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Father. There's no other way. I don't care what religion they are.
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If they're not coming through Jesus Christ, they're not going to get to the Father. Jesus is not only the best way,
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He is the only way. He is the way. Without Him there's no going.
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Jesus is the truth. The revelation of God the Father, without Him there's no knowing. And He is the life.
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And without Him there's no growing. He's absolute truth. He's the living truth.
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He is the very, when you want to know everything about the Father, it's in Jesus. Jesus comes to represent the
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Father. He is the exact representation of the Father. He's not the
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Father, but He is the express image of the Father. He's the communication of God to us.
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And notice in verse 7, Jesus says, if you, let me back up a little bit.
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After Jesus mentions, no one comes to the Father except through Me. And if you had known
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Me, you would have known My Father also. Verse 7. And from now on you know
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Him, and you have seen Him. Jesus is basically saying, I'm one with the
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Father. I'm not the Father, but I am one with the Father. He's the Son, but He says, if you've seen the
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Father, you've seen God. You've seen Him. And now notice what Philip, now Philip comes in and said to Him, Lord, now it's
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His time for a question, alright? Lord, show us the Father. And it is sufficient for us.
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You don't see a question mark, it's basically a statement. But, notice how
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Jesus answers him. Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known
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Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.
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So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the
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Father, and the Father in Me, and the words that I speak to you, I do not speak of my own authority, but the
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Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the
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Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
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You know, actually, when I was looking at this, I was thinking, these words Jesus speaks of,
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I do not do myself. It's not my own authority, it's the Father's who dwells in Me.
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Actually, our Lord Jesus was graciously, but firmly rebuking Philip.
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This was a rebuke. And He needed it. You know why? Because He should have already known who
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Jesus really was through the revelation. Philip was being rebuked by the
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Lord because he should have known the answer to that comment. That's actually a comment.
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But Jesus again, He gives that sixth I am statement. I am the way, the truth, the life, and He declared
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He is the only way to God the Father because He is the truth of God. No other truth outside of Jesus.
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No other way outside of Jesus. Jesus is no other life outside of Jesus.
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Isn't it something? People, even in religious forms, and all these isms and everything in this world, they look everywhere, but in the right place to find
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Christ, and right here is where you find Him. And yet, you can go into bookstores, and this book you can get for hardly anything, at any cost, and very cheaply.
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Now reduced for just a few dollars, you can get the Word of God, and people out there just passing by, passing by, looking everywhere and everywhere, and not knowing where to find the life that's all in God.
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It's all right here in the Word of God. Jesus declared that He is the only way to God the
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Father because He is the truth of God, and He is the life of God, and that's what our text says.
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In Him was life. In Him was life. In Him was life.
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Where the Lord patiently tells them again and again He was revealing God the Father to them. He is the truth.
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He is the way. He is the life. It's impossible to escape the claim here that Jesus made, isn't it?
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And His claims was really incredible. It falls in one of two categories.
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He's a lunatic, a liar, or He's Lord. And I assure you
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He's Lord. He's Lord. He was claiming to be God in the flesh, and that's what
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His claims, and His claims are true. And that's what John leads up to. I just quoted it.
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John 1 .14 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the apostles, witnessed
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Him. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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The Son of the living God from eternity. He comes from eternity and enters into time, and He becomes a man with limitations.
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Incredible. Great is the mystery, Paul said. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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I love John 11 .25. Let me give you John 11 .25. Jesus said to her, this is after or during the time
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He would raise Lazarus from the dead. John chapter 11 is an incredible chapter. He says to Martha, I believe,
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I am, there's another I am statement, the resurrection and the life.
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All He had to do was speak Lazarus' name. Because He's life itself. He's the source of life.
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And when He spoke His name out of the tomb, even though He was there about to decay and start to decompose,
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He comes out. That's power, folks. Jesus had to say,
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Lazarus, come forth. And if He didn't say Lazarus, and if He said come forth, all the people out of the graves would have come in.
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It's going to happen one day. Incredible. I am the resurrection and the life.
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And then He says this, He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
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There's the life that's in Him. You know, we talked about how many times that the word life and light is given, but did you know the word believe is spoken of a hundred times throughout the epistles of this gospel of John in 1st and 2nd and 3rd
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John? A hundred times how important it is to believe, right? Christ came through His great light and He shines in darkness in a dark world.
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Go with me to John 12. Look at this. Back a couple of chapters.
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I love this. Once you start going to John, all of it's good, isn't it?
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John 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. You're talking about deep waters.
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But John 12 is wonderful. Notice in verse 30.
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Let me start with 35. Then Jesus said to them, A little while longer the light is with you.
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He's speaking of Himself. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.
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He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. Sounds like a very simple statement, but it's a profound statement, isn't it?
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Look around you today, people in spiritual darkness. They don't know where they're going. God's people know where they're going because we're children of light.
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Verse 36. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light.
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These things Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them. Let me read on.
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But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him. That the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke.
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Lord, who has believed? I report. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe.
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Oh wow, look at that. They didn't believe, now they could not believe. Could not.
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There's an inability there. They didn't have the ability within themselves. And we've got to remember this about this poor, fallen, lost, dark world.
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They don't have the power within themselves to believe. That's why we're to pity them.
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No one has the ability within themselves. When we came to Christ, it is not our own ability that brings us into salvation.
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It is the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that brings us. The drawing of the Father. The power of the
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Holy Spirit. That's why there's life in these words. And when we speak the word of God and we speak life, it's not our power, it's
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God's power. And that doesn't make us a little God. We're just a small piece of dust that's an instrument.
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Poor sinners being used in the hands of God. That should humble us. Should make us haughty.
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Lord, who has believed? I report. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He's quoting Isaiah 53, isn't he?
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Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said, this is the reason why. He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn so that I should heal them.
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These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless, in verse 42, even among the rulers, many believed in Him.
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Listen to this. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him. Lest they should be put out of the synagogue.
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Verse 43 tells us why. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
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I tell you what, every preacher in this nation needs to know this verse. Needs to memorize that verse.
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How dare anyone rob God of His glory. Then Jesus cried out.
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Notice what. He cried out and said this. What does He cry out? He who believes in Me.
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If you really were to put it, is it like Jesus is crying out, He who believes in Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent
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Me. He who sees Me, sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world.
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And whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. Let me read on.
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And if anyone hears My words, does not believe, I do not judge him.
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For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. That's why He came into the world, to save sinners, right?
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Excuse me. And then
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He says in verse 48, listen very carefully. He who rejects Me, can
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I tell you this, that is the ultimate sin, folks. Rejecting Jesus Christ.
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He who rejects Me does not receive My words, has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
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He's talking about the day of judgment. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the
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Father who sent Me gave Me a command. What I should say and what
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I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life.
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There it is. Everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the
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Father has told Me, so I speak. All that life. He is the word of life.
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The word of life. In Him was life.
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And the life, the zoe, was the light of men. In Him, Jesus Christ, God the Father grants eternal life.
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Jesus is that source of eternal life. And thereby we can obtain that eternal life by faith, and by faith alone in Him.
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And because of Him, in His person and in His work. All of Him, isn't it?
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All of Him. Go to John chapter 5. Let's look at this a little bit more.
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Look at... Let me begin with verse 24.
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Speaks of life. And the judgment are through the Son. The judgment through the
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Son. Verse 24, Most assuredly I say to you, He who hears My word, and believes in Him who sent
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Me, has everlasting life. And then He says this, And shall not come into judgment. In other words, that judgment has been taken care of because Jesus took care of the condemnation of the law.
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Requires a death. He gives life. The opposite of death, right?
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But has passed from death into life. Think about it.
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That is absolutely staggering. Yet we have literally passed in Jesus Christ from eternal death into eternal life.
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All because our life is hidden with Christ in God. Most assuredly, or verily, verily, and then
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He is saying this statement, Amen, Amen. As O .R .C. Sproul always says, Any time
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Jesus is saying that, we better have our ears attentive. I say to you,
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The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
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For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
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He's the source of life. Verse 27, And has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the
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Son of Man. He is the Son of Man. Powerful, isn't it?
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Let me read to verse 30. Do not marvel, don't be surprised at this, for the hour is coming.
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Folks, this is coming. This is coming in a second coming. It's coming in which all who are in the graves will hear
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His voice. This is absolutely profound. And come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.
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So one is to life, and one is to condemnation. I can of myself do nothing, as I hear
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I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the
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Father who sent me. I'm telling you, those verses are absolutely loaded.
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But there's a day coming when Jesus Christ and every single soul in the graves in this entire world will come forth.
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That's power. That's all authority. What's the one who created the universe? People say, how can that be?
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He can do anything, folks. He created all matter. He created time, space, matter.
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All that it is. All He has to do is speak the Word. Let me see how much time
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I got. My time is beating on here quickly. Now, beloved,
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I'll try to bring this down. As I mentioned to you, darkness hates this light.
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We see this in John 3, don't we? Go with me to John 3. We looked at this during Christmas.
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Verse 14, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He's speaking to Nicodemus, a
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Pharisee. And he says this, that whoever believes in Him, there it is again, believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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And Jesus goes on. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
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That's why He came, isn't it? To be a Savior. To sinners. That's condemned.
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He who believes in Him is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already.
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Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Notice what He says here now in verse 19.
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And this is the condemnation. That the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
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And everyone practicing evil hates the light. It shouldn't be surprising that people who practice evil hates the light.
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And does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen and that they have been done in God.
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That's true repentance. The conviction that comes from the light exposes our sin.
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You know, you beam light in a dark room, that one light exposes everything in it.
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And we've heard before even bugs are kind of drawn to that. But everything is exposed.
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The light will expose anything. I mention quite often when at some times of the hour in our living room the sunbeam light comes from our window pane.
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And you've seen this. And the light can shine through. And it actually gives you insight and a sight to see things that you've never seen before, especially dust particles.
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You can actually see the dust particles floating in the air. And then you see all of a sudden where you didn't see it before, dust is all over the place.
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It makes you want to go kind of stir crazy and start cleaning up everything. But that's what light does.
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It shines and it exposes everything. And that's what light does to us.
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It exposes our darkness. Go with me now to Ephesians.
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Go with me to chapter 5. Look at this. Look at verse 8 through 14.
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The apostle Paul says, here in this wonderful chapter he breaks it down. Walk in love, walk in light, walk in wisdom.
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Here it speaks about walk in light because that's our subject today. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
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Lord. Verse 8. Walk as children of light. Walk as children of light.
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That's the way we should walk, as children of light. And then he says this, and then he breaks it down and he tells us specifically, for the fruit of the
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Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Finding out what is acceptable to the
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Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather, what?
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Expose them. Expose them. We're to do it in love, but we are to expose them and give them the truth.
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And then he says this, for it is shameful, it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
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But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light.
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The light exposes them. The truth. For whatever makes manifest is light.
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Therefore he says, Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
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Give you light. That's the Lord. That's what
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He does. And Him was life. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overpower, did not overcome.
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Darkness has to go when light comes. Go with me to 2
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Corinthians. Chapter 4. Just touching on this, but really profound, isn't it?
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Don't you love the word of the Lord? Verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
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Notice what he says. Whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, there it is, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine on them.
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For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake.
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For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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Only the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ exposes people's sin.
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That's the only thing. If that's not being done, the gospel isn't being preached. And any wonder why churches, so -called churches are slapped full today.
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People are not being offended by God. I like what MacArthur says, I'm here to offend you. Amen. Because that offense comes through the truth.
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And actually that's real love. Is to lovingly give the light of the gospel.
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And it offends people. It exposes their darkness. For people to see themselves who they really are.
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We don't know our own hearts. But God knows. He searches the reins of the hearts.
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And aren't you glad that the gospel, it convicts it. It searches.
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It searches our hearts. And it doesn't do it, it's not because of people saying, that's mean.
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No, it's not mean. It is actually, a good surgeon will do work to take away what is killing you.
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And that's what Jesus is doing. It's like a good surgeon. He cuts, and he pries, and he wants to take out what is killing you.
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That we don't know ourselves. The darkness cannot overpower the true light.
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Let's look at this real quick in closing. Go with me to Luke 22. And this will be conclusion.
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And like I said, we'll pick this up Lord willing next week. Look at 22.
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Look at verse 47 through 53. Can I tell you, this is the hour of the power of darkness here.
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And the darkness will do everything it can to throw at what they did.
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It did everything they could to throw at Jesus to keep him from going to the cross, but it did not work.
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It did not overpower the true light. The true light overcame. Notice this in verse 47 to 53.
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While he was still speaking, right after he comes out of Gethsemane, and he's willing to drink the
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Father's cup, and he says, rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
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He tells the disciples that, and then he says, while he was still speaking at that moment, behold a multitude, and he who was called
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Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss him, to betray him with a kiss.
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But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?
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And when those around him saw what was going to happen, they said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword?
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You could actually, it said one of them, I would think this is Peter here. And then one of them, this is definitely
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Peter, because another gospel speaks of Peter, struck the servant of the high priest to cut off his right ear.
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This is awesome. And Jesus in verse 51, Jesus answered and said, permit even this.
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And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priest, the captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs?
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When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness.
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This was Satan's very best right here to try to thwart
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Jesus from going to the cross. This is when hell and all of its fury is going to throw everything they have to the
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Son of God to destroy the Son of God and keeping him from going to the cross. And this is the hour of darkness.
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It refers to Satan and all of his demons and all of his cohorts and the domain of darkness and the depraved fallen men of the world because he's blinded the minds of them in this world.
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They're going to do everything they can to bring against the light, the true light, Jesus Christ. Satan's world for now.
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Satan's realm in which all men are part and the prince of darkness in this kingdom and domain of darkness.
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But this darkness cannot overpower the true light. We know what happens.
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Even though they crucified him, but that was permitted in God's will to bring us salvation.
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Darkness thought that they had it. Satan thought he had it. Think of this. Throughout all the ages in the past,
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Satan tried everything to distinguish the light, the Messiah. He tried to destroy the messianic seed to come into the world.
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Satan tried it by killing all the babies throughout the ages to keep the Messiah from coming into the world.
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Ever since, God gave that promise in Genesis 3 .15,
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I believe, yes. Throughout the ages. And Satan tried everything he could to destroy
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Jesus, even in the temptation in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights, tempting Jesus to bow down to him and give worship to Satan.
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And he told him, get thee hence, Satan. And he gives him the word of God because it's the living word.
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And Jesus obeys the Father perfectly. Satan's greatest temptation was not only in the wilderness, but also here right after Gethsemane to get
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Jesus to bypass the cross. But Jesus, this is why He came into the world.
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This was His mission. This was the command from the Father. In the garden, as you know, to get
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Jesus to go to the other direction from the will of the Father. But Jesus submitted to the will of the
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Father. Aren't you glad? Because if He didn't, we would not be saved. Our Redeemer, our
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Lord. Darkness will do everything it can to stop Jesus. And all the forces of hell from going to the cross to overpower.
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But darkness cannot overpower the light. You see this, you can go into a pitch pitch room where you can feel darkness and light.
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One candle, that one candle will overpower that darkness. Isn't that wonderful? Go with me to Colossians 1.
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I want you to see this. When we see the story here, Colossians 1,
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Colossians 1. I'll get there. Thank you for your patience. Look at verse 9.
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For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all
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His wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the
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Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
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In the light. What has
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He done? He has delivered us from the power of darkness. He has delivered us,
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Jesus has delivered us from the power of darkness that conveyed us or transferred us into the kingdom of the
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Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones, dominions, or principalities or powers.
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All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.
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And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead that in all things
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He may have the preeminence. And there's a reason why we chose that for redeeming grace church, because Jesus, it is
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His church and He is to have preeminence because He is the head of the church. Aren't you glad?
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He's building His church. One more.
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1 Peter. 1 Peter 2, 4 -9.
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1 Peter. We went through the book of 1 Peter. Do you remember when we went through this wonderful, wonderful book?
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Chapter 2, verse 4.
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Coming to Him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men. He's rejected, but chosen by God and precious.
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Is He precious to you? You also as living stones are being built up, you and I, being built up in a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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Folks, this is what it's all about. To worship and to love our Lord. To worship our Lord Jesus Christ. To love
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Him. May every day that we live, we worship Him. No matter where we are, no matter what we do, we worship
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Jesus Christ. We worship Him. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious.
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Is He precious? And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.
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Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. But to those who are disobedient, it's different.
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The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
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They stumble being disobedient to the Word to which they also were appointed.
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And then He says this, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
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His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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Who once were not a people but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
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That's why we are God's special people. It's not because anything of us. It's because of His mercy.
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His compassion. That never fails. Never fails. Spurgeon said this, speaking of the text, has now obtained a mercy.
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The one who believes in Him will never be put to shame. All Christ has promised to be,
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He will be to those who trust Him. Christians will never have any cause to be ashamed of Jesus upon whom they believe.
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They shall never be driven to confess that they made a mistake in trusting Him and are therefore ashamed having been so miserably duped.
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And then he says this, to risk all with Jesus is to end all risk. Amen? To risk all with Jesus is to end all risk.
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I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather have Jesus than riches untold.
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I'd rather be His. Oh beloved, I'd rather be His. You now are the light of the world like the moon reflects light from the sun.
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A city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden, Jesus said. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand and gives light to all that are in the house.
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And Jesus said this, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.
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Good works don't save us, but this is the product, this is the fruit of it, of what is happening within us.
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And glorify your Father in heaven. Amen? This is our call, this is our mission.
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We worship our Lord, then we take this message to a lost and dying world that's in darkness, in darkness, and we give the true light of the glorious gospel.
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Amen? Amen? Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do now praise you and we thank you, heavenly
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Father, for the true light. Jesus Christ, your one and only Son, that overpowered the darkness, hallelujah, what a
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Savior, was triumphant in it, took our place as a substitution or lamb of God on the cross, and took the full penalty of our sin and the wrath of God.
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Oh Lord, we owe our life, our souls, our all to you.
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So Lord Jesus, you have now rescued us from the power of darkness, the evil darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the dear
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Son. Father, we thank you for your Son, for He has lavishly loved us and you have loved us in Him and brought us so graciously into the kingdom of light.
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So now dear Lord, may we take this wonderful gospel to a dark world. Boldly proclaim
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Jesus Christ for giving us new life in Christ and we owe everything to you
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Lord. We owe our allegiance, our life, our all.
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Lord, may we be a burning and a shining light in a dark world.
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And by your help and grace, may we live each day in a way that will be pleasing to you.
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Placing our self -life on the cross and denying ourselves daily and living and walking in the
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Spirit. And before your eyes, and before your face, to the praise of the glory of your grace, and we ask this in Jesus' name.