James White - The Great I Am

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If you'll turn your Bibles with me, please to the gospel of John chapter 8 the gospel of John Chapter 8 we will primarily be

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Focusing upon John's gospel in our study today Just a couple of things just a reminder as we get started

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We will have baptisms after the service today That's always a a joy to see people giving their profession of faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ and Zach asked me to Mention that he forgot to mention that we had another baby saved this week

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Every time I I hear that in the back of my mind, I'm thinking we can never let ourselves get used to hearing that It is it is a miracle from the

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Lord and it is a blessing Given the hardness of hearts in our days whenever the

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Lord is pleased and To show mercy in that way. We must truly be thankful for what he is doing.

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So For those of you who have that Opportunity to be going out there.

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God bless you and realize that what you're doing will have eternal consequences

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It truly truly will so we thank you for that work that you do The gospel of John Begins with the assertion in chapter 1 of this one who is called the

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Logos the word In the first verse we are told that the word has eternally existed

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We are told that the word has existed in fellowship

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With God the Father as we will see in verse 18 or as we would see we turn to verse 18

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Then we are told that the word is as to his nature very deity This is the lens through which the

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Apostle wants us to be looking at the rest of the gospel And so it's not overly shocking and surprising that when you get to the end of this gospel

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You have Thomas who? Unfortunately has earned the name doubting

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Thomas down to the ages. I'm not sure if that's really a Fair thing to be honest with you

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But he is not with the Apostles when Jesus first appears and so when

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Jesus does appear he has supernatural knowledge of what Thomas had said earlier and He invites

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Thomas to put forth his finger and to touch the wounds By the way, it doesn't tell us that Thomas ever had to do that doesn't say that he did

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Doesn't say he didn't but it doesn't tell us that he had to have that kind of level of proof Instead Thomas's response when he sees the risen

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Lord is he says my Lord and my God my Lord and my

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God and Jesus's response to this is To say because you've seen me.

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Have you believed Thomas blessed are those who having not seen have believed I was listening today to a debate that took place between an acquaintance of mine and a

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Muslim apologist most of you know that I have done many debates against Muslims around the world and as I listened to the objections being presented to the

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Christian faith by the Muslim I was reminded once again of the centrality to the entirety of the gospel of who

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Jesus truly is Because the Muslim started off by saying, you know, we have a lot of things in common

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We teach people to love Jesus Christ We teach people that he was a prophet and I couldn't help but thinking about the fact

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That having read the Quran many times Having spent a number of years studying Arabic become quite rusty since then but working through particular texts as I wrote the book

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What every Christian needs to know about the Quran I? Could not help but think about the reality

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That the Jesus that a Muslim knows Because the vast majority of Muslims have never read the

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Bible the vast majority of Christians have never read the Quran So we talk right past each other generally the

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Jesus that Muslims know is not a real person

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If you just read the Quran you would see that the Jesus of the Quran is an argument

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He's an argument for monotheism literally Unitarianism not monotheism and he's an argument for the prophethood of Muhammad But he's not a person that you could ever know.

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The only the only time that Jesus in the Quran ever says anything from a identifiable physical location is when he speaks from his cradle as a child a story derived from a

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Semi -gnostic gospel that the writer of the Quran didn't realize wasn't even a part of the New Testament That's the only time

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Every other time Jesus just is a disembodied voice just sort of floating around out there somewhere it would be impossible to love the

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Jesus of the Quran because he's not a person and Yet this apologist was saying we teach people to love

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Jesus the Messiah even though they don't know what Messiah means and There's no way to really love this individual from where they are sitting and that's a sad thing to realize

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It's a sad thing to realize indeed and so when we come to the gospel of John what we discover is a series of texts

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Woven through the gospel now one of the beautiful things about John's gospel is you you will find themes that will start in The third chapter and then reappear in the seventh chapter and then in the 14th chapter and then in the 20th chapter

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And and there are these themes and they they they're woven together with each other

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It's truly beautiful when you sit back and take a look at it But one of the threads that you find in John in particular is

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Jesus's use of a particular phrase Now everybody tells you never use

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Greek or Hebrew in the pulpit, but this is apologia So we're weird. Our whole name is a mispronounced

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Greek word I've given up on that by the way, you know,

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I still have a few people who pick on me for that Why don't you keep telling them? It's apologia says cuz

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I go to the church and I want them to not hate me So not working but I you know, at least you don't want to try

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So The term that he uses many of you already know is a go

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I mean a go I mean Hi a go

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I mean I am I am now a go I me is simply a

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Strong way of saying I am so for example in John chapter 9 when

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The the blind man has been healed the people are going is this really that guy and he goes

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I go I me I am That's me. I'm that guy so it can just be a strong sense of affirmation

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But it's clearly not the way that John is using it in these texts when we look at them and see

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This thread that he is weaving through the gospel. That's our task today and our goal is to have a better understanding of The testimony of Scripture concerning who

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Jesus is And so we begin in John chapter 8 a Very important chapter, you know, what's gonna happen at the end, but try not to in mentally skip there quite yet because in John chapter 8

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Jesus has this this conversation with the Jews and After a portion of that conversation in verse 30

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It says that Having said these things many believed in him

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But what's interesting is many of those who believed in him by the end of the chapter

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They are picking up stones to stone him You got to keep that in mind Now there's a reason for that Throughout the gospel of John when

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John wants to talk about true saving faith He uses present tense verbs and participles

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They refer to an ongoing faith a living faith But in verse 30, he uses what's called the aorist which is just a simple statement of an action sometimes it's in the past, but it's just a simple statement of an action and when

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John does that he's normally referring to a false faith a faith that will not last and That's what happens here

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Some people hear these words of Jesus and they're like, wow, that's great. But then as Jesus presses

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The claims of who he is and what he's come to do upon them

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By the end of the chapter, they're picking up stones to stone him We have to keep that in mind

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But we want to specifically look beginning of verse about 21 Jesus is talking about going away and they will seek him, but they will not find him where he's going

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They cannot go and they're going what's he gonna do kill himself. Is that how he's could go someplace that we we cannot go

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And in verse 23 and He was saying to them You are from below.

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I'm from above You are of this world. I am NOT of this world

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Therefore I said to you That you will die in your sins for unless you believe

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Hati ego. I mean that I am you will die in your sins and Notice the response immediately in verse 25.

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Therefore they said to him. Well, who are you? Who are you?

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They sense that there is a claim being made here and They want a specific type of answer

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To the claim that is being made here But I want you to hear what Jesus said Unless you believe that I am

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You will die in your sins step back for just a moment step back from any

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Linguistic issues or anything else think about this for a moment We Are so accustomed to having an exalted view of Jesus That very often we miss some of the weight of the amazing things that he says

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Can you imagine Moses saying? Unless Moses says you believe that I am you will die in your sins what?

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What? The identity of Moses is an object of belief of faith

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No David never said it and Moses was even made to be like a god to Pharaoh because he was given the power, you know, the the rod and all the all the miracles that take place in Egypt and things like that but these words would never fit in Moses's mouth because here is someone who is saying your eternal destiny your salvation from sin

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Is dependent upon believing a particular thing about me

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Now they believed he was a man. He's standing right in front of him So he didn't reduce him to you know, some type of mythology and They probably would have believed him if he claimed to be the

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Messiah straight up and out Or a prophet.

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I mean, especially after John chapter 11, you know raises Lazarus from the dead clear enough

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But that's not enough That wouldn't be enough

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He says unless you believe that I am You will die in your sins.

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Well, so who are you claiming to be? Well, we know that in the rest of the chapter if Jesus had wanted to Throttle things back to de -escalate to calm things down He didn't do that He did the exact opposite He goes in he starts saying you you you claim to follow

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God you think you think But if if you loved God, you'd love me And you can't even hear my words because you're not of God So things escalate rather quickly in the rest of the chapter and you know what happens toward the end you get toward the end and Jesus starts to make discussions assertions about himself and he says in verse 56

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Abraham our father rejoiced to see my day and He saw it and was glad my day

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Again we're used to having the highest view of Jesus But here what these words would have meant to the people that he was talking to Abraham Saw the days of Jesus my day.

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That's a high claim When did that happen? Well, we'll think about that for just a moment

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Because the Jewish response is you're not even yet 50 years old Abraham saw you saw your day. What in the world are you talking about?

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And Jesus response Jesus said to them

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Truly truly. Amen. Amen Truly truly I say to you

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Before Abraham was I am a go I mean before Abraham was

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I am and Therefore the Jews took up stones that they might stone him

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There are only a few things that carry the death penalty That could possibly fit into this context and we all know

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Why they picked up stones to stone him? They understood him to be committing blasphemy

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Now it would be interesting for a moment Before we continue looking at this use of I am

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It would be interesting for a moment to think How did Abraham see

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Jesus's day Well, there have been a number of Suggestions made and I'm not gonna try to Go through all the possibilities today.

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But let me just suggest one that really strikes me as Being the most probable

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Don't have time to even go back and look at it but in Genesis 18 and 19 you have the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and remember three men

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Came to Abram remember One stayed with him

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Two went down to see if the outcry was as it had been heard in Sodom and Gomorrah and then as the story unfolds

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The two men that have gone down to Sodom and Gomorrah are angels But the third man

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Who is with Abram? speaks with Abram as Yahweh and Abram addresses him as Yahweh and he's identified in the text as Yahweh There's a lot we could say about this

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But one thing that is obvious according the Gospel of John who is it who has made the father known?

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Who is it who is exegeted the father according to John 1 18? It's the monogamous.

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They asked the unique God who is in the bosom of the father who is has that that intimate? Relationship with the father that no created being could ever have

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He is the one who is who has revealed the father and So who was it that Abraham bargained with?

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and Who was the Yahweh who in Genesis chapter 19? It says that Yahweh Rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah out of Yahweh in heaven

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The Yahweh on earth Who walked with Abraham rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah from Yahweh in heaven.

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You got to deal with the text You've got to see what's there. And by the way, may

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I point something out? That means it was Jesus that brought that judgment ever thought about that Jesus meek and mild

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The Jesus that the progressives of our day would tell us would never punish sin rained fire and brimstone on Sodom Gomorrah.

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I Don't know how many times I've said it in my ministry But I'll say it again when you look at the cross if you don't see the holiness of God and his detestation of sin first You'll never understand the depth of the love that is seen in the cross

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When you look at all of what Scripture says So is that what Jesus is referring to here?

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Is that when Abraham saw his day and rejoiced? I Think it's quite possible

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Now some of you might have study Bibles and I've seen a number of study

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Bibles that do this and they'll have a note especially at John 8 58 and The note will say something like see

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Exodus 314 Well, what's the next is 314?

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Well, that's where you have Yahweh revealing his name to Moses on the mountain

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And Yes in the Greek translation of the

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Old Testament Ego, I me occurs there, but it's the phrase ego. I me ha own.

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I am the one being And so I have emphasized for a long time that if you want to be careful with This text and with the others we're gonna look at Then you need to Go back to Not exodus 314 immediately

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But you need to go through the book of Isaiah And you need to recognize that Isaiah and some of the minor prophets this phrase

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Ego, I me in Hebrew. It's on a who This phrase is used as a name for God You can't just jump straight back

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You need to establish the connection and uses So here in John 8 58

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Jesus says before Abraham was came into existence.

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I am No matter what you do with him you have to recognize that the

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Jesus of the gospel of John claims an eternal existence

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In contrast to that which is created in that which is made This would fit with other texts of scripture hebrews chapter 1

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Verses 10 through 12 take the passage about god's immutable character his immutable

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Nature and applies it to the sun So it fits But jesus brings the conversation to The final point by saying before abraham was

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I am Now there are other uses Of I am one of them

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Comes at the night of jesus's betrayal. So turn with me to john chapter 18 now I'm not going in order from what for one simple reason

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And we'll see when we get there what that is and hopefully it'll be a good enough reason john chapter 18

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I think all of us should Strive to have a level of familiarity of the scripture to know that when we look at major books such as gospel of john

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We know where jesus's public ministry ends in chapter 12 his personal ministry to the disciples begins in chapter 13

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Goes to the high priestly prayer in chapter 17 now chapter 18 and onward we have jesus's betrayal

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And crucifixion death burial and resurrection And so in chapter 18 you have the disciples they've gone across the book brook kidron

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And we have the betrayal we have judas coming With the soldiers to arrest jesus

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And so when they come Jesus says to them in verse 4 knowing all things that were coming upon him

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He went out and he said to them. Who are you seeking? They answered him jesus the nazarene

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He said to them ego. I mean And judas also the one betraying him was standing with them

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Therefore when he said to them ego, I mean They fell back upon the ground

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They went back and fell back upon the ground Now that would have been an interesting enough thing to see take place

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But jesus then I imagine after they struggled back up to their feet and dusted themselves off Therefore again, he said to them.

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Who are you seeking? And they said jesus the nazarene and he said to you. I said to you that Ego, I mean

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Now how many times do you have to say the same thing? There is obviously

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An effort being made on the part of john to Make it very clear

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That there's something about what jesus said. That is very important And so He repeats it more than once Who are you seeking?

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Jesus answer is ego. I mean And then he wants to emphasize judas is with them

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And When he says ego, I mean They are knocked to the ground now i've had some conversations with people who

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Deny the deity of christ and i've always found it interesting I've asked why do you think the soldiers fell back upon the ground and one of the most

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Interesting and entertaining answers i've ever been given was well

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They were in the presence of such holiness That they fell back upon the ground

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And I go Yeah, that happens every day In fact, uh police officers have special Rear -end protection devices so that when they have to go arrest particularly holy people and they fall back upon the ground

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They don't hurt themselves and and the soldiers do this and you guys have something like that something to sort of help you out

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Okay. Yeah Um It's ridiculous These are soldiers they're just they don't judas knows but the rest of them they

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They wouldn't even they would not even know in all probability The use of anahu or ego.

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I me in the jewish scriptures And jesus says

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I am And they all end up on the ground You think john's trying to tell us something?

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I think he's trying to communicate something. He repeats it three times That jesus said ego.

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I me the same phraseology he used in john 8 58 That caused the jews to pick up stones to stone him

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You really have to be trying to avoid it to not see what john's doing here

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When jesus says I am these men go down Now could jesus have stopped them from arresting him, of course he could have that wasn't jesus said it is necessary that I go to jerusalem

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He wasn't trying to stop it but in the midst of it here is a recognition a divine act of power

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That demonstrates when jesus identifies himself who it is who's being arrested And that he is in charge of this situation

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Here is more of the thread here in the gospel of john but the one that to me

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Is absolutely Well, i'll be honest with you

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I made it through Bible college and part of seminary

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Before I ever realized what was in this text and it wasn't because anybody in any class told me about it

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Turn with me to john chapter 13 got to go back a little bit john chapter 13 establishment of the lord's supper the events in the betrayal and Many years ago

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I met a man Who was an expert in jehovah's witnesses

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He was an expert in all things watchtower As a christian but He was not a churchman

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He was not a part of the church. He didn't serve in the church and So much to our chagrin and surprise he became a jehovah's witness

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And for quite some time we exchanged a fair amount of Correspondence And I remember very clearly i'm going to date myself here just a little bit

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I remember very clearly one night Kelly, and I lived in this little apartment over off of camelback 325 west pasadena, in fact and She was already in bed asleep

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I had this. I don't know why I remember this Flickering little desk lamp that I had

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And I already was a computer geek. Oh, yes. I had a compact portable pc 8088 two

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Two five and a quarter inch floppy drives No hard drive

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But But the maximum ram bill gates ever thought we would ever need 640k.

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Oh, man Six inch green screen I think my vision has been permanently damaged

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By staring at that six inch green screen for the hours that I did And I was writing to this guy

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And I don't remember now whether I was looking at john 13 Or whether I was looking at isaiah chapter 43

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But somehow I I looked at something I said i've seen this somewhere before And this was before bible programs this was before you had all that neat fun stuff that you could do

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You couldn't do word searches and anything like that There were no bible programs that had that capacity as at that time.

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So this was back in the olden days And I opened up my greek septuagint and my greek new testament

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And I started looking back and forth and over time I discovered the connection between john 13 19 and isaiah chapter 43

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Now that I think more about it. I think I was I started in isaiah 43 and then said i've seen this someplace before A couple things to keep in mind isaiah 43 10 is a verse that many of us in this church have memorized

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We've memorized primarily the last portion of it Because it's so effective and so important in dealing with mormonism

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You may be familiar with before me there is no god formed And there shall be none after me

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It cuts the mormon eternal law of progression right in half But I had memorized the whole verse

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And what came before that was you are my witnesses declares jehovah

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Yahweh and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe and understand

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That I am he Before me there is no god formed and there shall be none after me

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So that's where jehovah's witnesses get their name isaiah 43 10 if you ever wondered that's where it came from You are my witnesses declares jehovah

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But it's right there in that verse that yahweh says And this is in the context in isaiah 43 of prophecy

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All through the the trial the false gods isaiah 40 through 48. What do you have going on there?

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God demonstrates that he is god because he knows the future The false gods do not

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And so it's in the context of that prophecy That god is saying to israel you are my witnesses i've called you into the court on my side

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So that you might know and understand and believe that on a who hebrew

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Ego, I me I am in greek Before me there is no god formed and there will be none after me

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There is truly only one on a who only one ego. I me And then you go to john chapter 13

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And you go To the material leading up to the supper what we're going to do in just a few minutes

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And what happens in john chapter 13 well in verse 19

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We're speaking here about judas Betrayal Jesus's knowledge

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Of that betrayal and he says From now on i'm telling you before it takes place

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In order that you may believe When it does take place so when it happens you may believe

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That you may believe Hati ego. I mean That I am now you would literally have to assert

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That jesus did not know the old testament text and he just somehow stumbled into Saying something similar to isaiah 43 10

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I hope no one really believes that As I look at my greek new testament here,

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I notice that they do have The reference in the side column to isaiah 43 10 isaiah 46 10 etc, etc

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Maybe your study bibles have the same thing But here in the context

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Jesus is saying to his disciples I'm going to tell you what's coming.

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I'm going to tell you What's going to be happening? So when it does happen you may believe

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That I am the same phrase that's going to knock the soldiers on their backs

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In just a matter of hours The same phrase that caused the jews to pick up stones to stone him in john 8 58

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He says to his disciples I'm going to tell you what's coming. So when it happens

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You may believe That ego I mean I am I remember

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I think it was Wow, I think nine years ago now, in fact the guy that I debate is dead

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You know, you're getting older when you You know, you're getting old when there you have an entire list of people you've debated debated who are now dead.

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It's Been at it for a while, uh when when that happens But I was debating an open theist an unusual open theist an open theist for if you've not encountered the phraseology before Is a person who believes that god

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Has all knowledge Of what he's going to do in the future

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But he does not have knowledge of what free creatures will do in the future And so for example an open theist

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Would say that on september 10th 2001 God knew that there was a plan in place for the attack on the twin towers

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But he didn't know whether it would work or not because there were lots of very variable things I mean Flying a jet plane isn't an easy thing to do and you've never done it before you could miss

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Um, you could chicken out. There's all sorts of stuff But he knew the plan was in place, but that means he did not know there's lots of christians who died in those towers

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But he didn't know if they were going to die That also means that when god created the heavens and the earth he had no idea you would ever exist

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Not exactly a comforting view but it's out there As I was debating an open theist

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And I brought up this text because his assertion was

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Judas Did not have to do what judas did And all the way up to the last moment judas could have simply said no i'm not going to do it

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And I said, but what about when jesus announced that this was going to happen? And he did not have any problem in saying

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Jesus could have been wrong about that It's the open theism Can't deal with how you define a false prophet

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And can't deal with the biblical understanding of what a false prophet would be and what a true prophet is

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So much so that even looking at this text he would go yeah jesus said it but And so I pressed him on I said so Jesus says to his disciples i'm going to tell you before it happens.

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So when it does happen you may believe that I am But it might not happen and therefore they wouldn't believe he's

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I am and that's okay with you And amazingly enough he said yes

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It's a sad thing open theism but the point is here at the very

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Instant where jesus is ministering to his disciples They're about to go through those dark dark hours

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Where the one that they thought was the messiah was going to be buried in a tomb

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He had told them he was going to rise but they had seen him die It seemed so final and yet in the midst of that You had had this ministry to them and when everything he told them came about Then they did understand they did believe

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And of course the holy spirit of god was central in making that to come alive in their hearts

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And so I think it's very important to remember that When we look at these uses

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We see that john is attempting to show us

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Through the words and actions of jesus Who jesus truly is so as I have

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Had the opportunity in the past and I I hope to have the opportunity in the future to do more

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And I'm sure there are many in the united states that are interested in doing that as in other countries But one of the primary messages that I have had for the muslim people

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If you go online And you track down the first debate that I did with adnan rashid

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Adnan is a big Pakistani fellow. And when we first debated,

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I didn't know him, he didn't know me. He was primarily used to yelling at Christians at what's called

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Speaker's Corner in London. And it was a fairly fiery debate.

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A number of years later, we debated twice in Dublin, and between the two debates, we had lunch together.

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And I got, without audience sitting around, to explain to Adnan why

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I do what I do. And to demonstrate to him that I cared about him, changed everything.

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Changed the debate that night. We've done debates since then. He's just a big

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Pakistani teddy bear. Don't tell him I said that. And, in the midst of that debate, you look it up, the

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Christians and the Muslims had auto -divided. It's not like we put signs out that said,

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Christians sit on this side, Muslims sit on that side. No, it just happened. So the Muslims were over on this side.

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I think it was because Adnan was seated over on this side. But I simply turned to them.

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I just left the Christians out. You all just became Muslims, didn't know that, huh? And I just turned to them, and I said, you've been taught that Jesus is a prophet.

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You've been taught that Jesus is a mighty worker of miracles.

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But I want you to understand something. Jesus said in John 8, 24, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

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The Jesus of the New Testament is your creator. He is your maker.

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All things created by and for him. He is before all things. In him, all things soonest they can. They hold together.

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That's what's on my shirt, soonest they can, if you're wondering. Hold together in him.

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No creature. That can't be said of any creature. And I looked right at them, and I said, every breath of your mouth, every beat of your heart comes from his hand.

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You must deal with him. You cannot dismiss him as a mere prophet. I'm going to tell you something.

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They didn't know what to do with that. They didn't know what to do with that. That should be the reason why we seek to bring the gospel message to Muslims.

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That should be the reason why when Jehovah's Witnesses come by the door, that we're not annoyed but our hearts are broken.

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I've gone to their district conventions. They're like going to a funeral.

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There is no joy. The songs are sung with, well,

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I know when I first started coming here, Jeff would always say when we do the catechism, and do it with joy.

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Let's not sound like we're at a funeral. Well, that's so we don't sound like we're a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses, because that's what it sounds like.

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There's no peace. There's no joy. We cannot look at these individuals as someone to just win a debate with.

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They've been given a Jesus that cannot save. We've been given a

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Jesus that not only saves us, but we recognize is the one who holds all things together.

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And so, I know we've memorized the Shema together, and we've memorized certain terms, and now everyone's going to know

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Ego Aime and Anahu, right? We're going to be, anybody out there?

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Okay. There's somebody. There's somebody. Good. I know you're going to memorize those terms, and you've written all these things down, and maybe some of you are even hoping that someone's going to come knocking on your door

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Saturday morning, and you're going to have an opportunity to talk to them. That would be great.

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But I want to make this application. Tonight we're going to see people walking through the waters of baptism, and they are going to say, by that act, that they have been united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

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Who have you been united to? A creature? A prophet?

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Some preexistent being of some kind? Who have you been united to? How is it that you have peace with God?

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What's the cost of that peace with God? How can a mere creature provide you with that peace?

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When you come up here and you partake of that bread, you partake of that wine, you're doing so in obedience to Christ, who said, do this in remembrance of me, the gospel's triune.

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It finds its origin in the decree of the Father, its accomplishment in the work of the

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Son, its application in the work of God the Holy Spirit. It's triune.

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And so when you come forward, you are saying, this is all of God. Not God plus lesser things that have been thrown in.

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This is a divine work. I have been redeemed by the work of the eternal

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Logos who became flesh, who took on flesh so that he might be the perfect sacrifice.

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Never ever allow this moment when we partake to become something that's just rote.

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It's just bread. It's just the wine. And we are literally saying that the one who upholds us, who created this vast universe, entered into his own creation.

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First and foremost, to demonstrate his love, mercy, and grace, that you and I as his creatures, he demonstrates his love and his mercy to us.

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And given that Christ commanded us to do this long before you took your first breath, then he had to know who you were.

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He's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And that payment was made before you took your first breath.

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If that doesn't amaze you, I don't know what will. It's astonishing the grace and love that God has demonstrated toward us.

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I hope this study is helpful to you, but I hope especially this evening it will cause you as you see baptism, as you partake in the supper, knowing that in both instances you are obeying

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Jesus's command, that you will give thanks because everything resounds to his glory, none to ours.

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Let's pray together. Our great triune

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God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for the beauty of the gospel.

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We thank you for the decree of the Father, the self -emptying and humility of the

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Son, the indwelling and comforting of the Spirit.

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We ask that we would be given opportunity to bear witness of who

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Jesus Christ is in this coming week, in these coming days, both in the way that we live and as we proclaim the gospel to those all around us.