← ArchiveSunday, April 9, 2017DateApril 9, 2017Speaker—TextJohn 19Passages in this sermonJohn 90:36John 190:48Matthew 1013:29Mark 1014:00John 337:06Romans 1038:04Ephesians 339:50TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music playing He is our sovereign king. He reigns victorious over all.0:30If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope that you do, turn with me to John chapter 9. And if you have your phone with you and want to look it up, just scroll to John chapter 9 with me this morning. John 19. We have been walking as a church the road to redemption. And looking at Jesus Christ as he is making his way in the book of John to the cross.0:56And we'll see that, especially Friday. We're going to have a good Friday service. And we will end that service in darkness with, it is finished. We will celebrate communion, his body broken for us, his blood shed for us. And then next week at this time, we're going to stand here and say, it is finished and he is risen. What a glorious day that is going to be. Today we're going to look at the people's court.1:25Last week we looked at the Pilate's court. Jesus before the governor. And being judged and is he innocent or is he not? And is Jesus truly who he says he is? And there might be people this morning that ask that same question. Is Jesus really who he says he is? Can the Bible be trusted? Can Jesus Christ, is he simply a historical good prophet or is he more than that? And I was praying this week, how can I introduce this passage of scripture?1:52And there's a song that I love. That almost gets me every time. It's a song by Nicole Norderman and it's called Why. If you're not familiar with the song, it's a picture of a father bringing his young daughter to Jerusalem around the Passover feast. And so the city is swelling with people. And this is her question of her dad. So I said, Daddy, why are you screaming and why are the faces of some of them beaming?2:20Why is he dressed in that bright purple robe and I bet that crown hurts him more than he shows? Daddy, please can't you do something? He looks as though he's going to cry. You said that he was stronger than all of these guys.2:49Daddy, please tell me why. Why does everyone want him to die? And the song continues. And the last verse is Jesus Christ crying to God. And so we see God's response to Jesus. My precious son. I hear them screaming. I'm watching the face of the enemy beaming. But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own. Jesus, this hurts me much more than you know.3:17But this dark hour, I must do nothing. Though I've heard your unbearable cry. The power in your blood destroys all of the lies. Soon you'll see past their unmerciful eyes. Look there below. See the child trembling by her father's side. No, I tell you why. She is why you must die. And so my prayer for you this morning is that you won't just say, well, I believe God is God and Jesus is Jesus and that he died on the cross for sins.3:43That today it would be personal. That today as we open God's word, you say he died for me. He was deemed guilty for my sake. That today as we read God's word, that it becomes personal in your life. That the sacrifice, the trial, the cross, the resurrection is not just simply another historical fact. But that it is yours.4:14It is your story. So read with me in John 19, verse 5. And we're going to read through verse 16. John 19, in the New Testament, the fourth gospel. Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns in the purple road. And Pilate said to them, behold the man. Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him.4:44And Pilate said to them, you take him and crucify him. For I find no fault in him. And the Jews answered him and said, we have a law. And according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. And I would say to them, he did not make himself the son of God. He is the son of God. Big difference. Verse 8.5:14Verse 8. Therefore, a Pilate heard that saying he was more afraid. So he went again to his palace, called the Praetorium. And he said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered and said, we have no king but Caesar. Then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.5:44Father, as we have read your word, we pray this morning that this would not be mere intellectual assent. That we would not be here to become better people or to know simply more about the Bible. But that we would be here, Lord, with open hearts and open lives and say, Lord, transform us. Renew us. Sustain us. And Lord, may we find mercy and grace at your throne in our time of need.6:11So, Lord, this morning, may the cross, may the trial be personal because you died for us. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. The people's court. Not the TV show, the people's court. Look in verse 5 with me. Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, behold the man.6:40And so we are walking with the writer John here, one of the beloved apostles, towards the cross. And we are stopped by a scene not only involving Pilate now. So if you were with us last week, we saw that Jesus is before Pilate. And really what we see is Pilate is going in his house and out of his house. He's going back and forth, back and forth, trying to figure out who is Jesus. And now we see that he's trying to figure out a way of releasing Christ.7:08So Pilate is the governor in charge of the territory to keep the law of the land. And Pilate's trying to figure out a way to release Christ. So we have this interplay. And with Pilate, who is now with him? The people, really the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the religious audience. So Pilate says to them, Jesus is innocent. Now this is important for us for several reasons that we're going to see shortly.7:38So Pilate has already issued a not guilty plea. Not once, not twice, but three times. And as our president does, if the president issues an innocent verdict, if he pardons someone, how many pardons does it take from the governor for someone to be free? One. So why would Jesus, who is deemed innocent, still face murder, still face crucifixion?8:07You see, Pilate now is appealing to the compassion of the crowd. He's already issued his verdict. And look what he does. Look what this leader of Rome does with Jesus Christ before the people. We're going to read it again slowly in verse five. Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.8:33And Pilate said to them, behold, behold the man. You see, if you read the verses prior to this in John 19, we see this about Jesus Christ. That the soldiers had already beaten him. That they scourged him. Now there was three different scourgings in Roman times. There was, let's just call it the first, the second, and the third.9:02The first was a minor offense. You'd get beat. The second, you would get really beaten. The third, you would almost die. This is probably the first. And then before Jesus is crucified, they scourge him again, almost in death. So Jesus is already bloodied and weak from that. And yet then they put a robe on him, probably one of the soldiers' robe that was purple because crimson's hard to make in the ancient world. And they mocked him.9:32And then the text says that they would kneel down as they were kneeling down before a king. And that when they would kneel down and say, hail king of the Jews, that they would slap Jesus open-handed in the face. So Jesus is coming out before the crowd, bloodied, weakened, worn out, dehydrated. And Pilate said, I've already called him innocent, but if that's not enough, here is Jesus and he's weakened and he's worn, he's barely even living.9:55May your compassion set him free. And what is the answer of the people? Crucify him. Crucify him. Why would they say to someone? And Pilate is presenting Jesus before the people and he's saying, look, this man is not a threat. This man who you've called a rebel rouser, he's not a threat to the kingdom.10:23And yet we see, I think, subconsciously in the text, in the people's lives, Jesus is a threat to us. He's weakened and he's worn, but Jesus is a threat in our lives. And you say, well, pastor, what do you mean he's a threat? You see, in scripture, we don't just see that Jesus is meek and mild. He's a savior that is king. And this is not a savior that we just add to our lives.10:52He's the perfect sinless sacrifice of Christ. And he's a threat to everything in our lives. That Jesus Christ and his deity is a threat to our existence. You say, well, how does that work itself out? Here's a simple illustration that's going to make you really hungry and you're going to be let down because we're not going to have this shortly for lunch. We lived in New Orleans for 10 years. I've been here for a year and a half now. I love being back in the Birmingham area.11:20I grew up in Mississippi near Memphis. And we lived near in the seafood capital of the world, but we could not find barbecue. I just gave up. After year five, I said, I'm not going to go to anyone's house and have a barbecue because it's not a barbecue. It's a grill. I'm just not going to go to a barbecue. And my wife, who's in the nursery right now, will tell you, when we moved to Birmingham for a month straight, I ate barbecue every day. Because here in Mississippi, if you go to a gas station and they have great barbecue, right?11:48And we see that there's a lot of fights caused not really by the barbecue, but the sauce. You know, everyone says the secret's in the sauce. So everyone has good barbecue, but to make it really good, you've got to use your special sauce. Some people use ketchup or fancy ketchup or, you know, you have vinegar-based, you have hickory-based. I'm a vinegar person. I like vinegar on my fries. I like vinegar on anything. I just, you know, you can pickle anything and I'll eat it.12:18So I'm a vinegar person. But I think sometimes in our life, we want to treat Christ like we treat our barbecue. We say, you know what, my life's pretty good. And when I get around to it, Jesus is the sauce that will make it better. When I get around to it, I'm just going to add, you know, without Christ, the barbecue is still pretty good. It's better than nothing. But, you know, if I get around to it, I'm going to add Jesus and he's going to make it really good.12:46That is not the Christ that we see in the Bible. Jesus is a threat. Here's what the Bible says in food illustrations. We are not a slab of ribs waiting for Jesus to add some sauce in our life. We are the hunk of charcoal that's not fit to be eaten. And what the Bible says truly in our lives is that he makes us new. He doesn't make us better. He doesn't say, well, Josh, you're pretty good.13:16If you really want to live a great life, just come to me. I'll make you better. Jesus radically makes us new. I want you to listen to these scriptures and listen to the words of Christ. In Matthew 10, Jesus says, whoever denies me before men, I will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Now, listen to this. Jesus says, do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.13:44This is the Christ. This is the Christ that's presented to us today that says he's not a threat. He's weak. He can't overthrow the Roman Empire. And Jesus says, I have come to bring a sword in your life. In Mark chapter 10, we see a rich young man running to Jesus, kneeling before him and saying, Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, okay, good question. He said, well, why do you call me good?14:13Because no one is good but God. That's a strange question to ask someone who's seeking you, right? This man, he's running to Christ. He wants eternal life. And Jesus says, why do you call me good? Do you know what you're asking? And so he says, you've heard the scriptures. Do not murder, do not lust, do not commit adultery. And he says, since a boy, I have kept all those things. So this rich young man is thinking, this is awesome. Eternal life, the doors are about to crack open.14:41And I have that. And this is what Jesus says. Mark 10, 21, Jesus looking at him, loved him, loved him and said, one thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, take up your cross and follow me. And the scripture says, the man went away sorrowful because he had much. Third, I want you to hear this.15:11In 2 Corinthians, verse 17, chapter 5, the apostle Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ Jesus and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So how does this Jesus, who is mocked with a crown of thorns, a robe that is weakened, that is beaten, that is physically not a threat,15:39how does Jesus threaten our life thousands of years later? We see that Jesus brings a sword because there are things in our life that Jesus knows that only a sword can cut out. Some of us have sins in our life or we have friends in our life or we have addictions in our life or struggles that peace doesn't bring just by peace. That there are things in our life that Jesus knows that he needs to come attack with a sword and get those out of our life.16:09This is the Christ that we worship. He is a threat to the things that we are hiding. There are parts of our life that Jesus knows that we're clinging on to this morning, that when we let go, we're going to be sorrowful. And Mark 10 reminds us that he spoke to the rich young ruler because he loved him. He didn't say, you know what, I'm not going to tell you this because I want you to be happy. He said, I'm going to tell you this, it's going to hurt, but I love you.16:37That's a threat. That's a threat to my life. Jesus knows that there are old habits in my life that die hard. And I want you to know this. I'm not old by any stretch of imagination. Some of you have shoes older than me. Some of you might have shoes a lot older than me. But I've learned this in my life. There is nothing that I have given up for the sake of Christ that I regret.17:04Nothing. I didn't say I was joyful or gleeful. I didn't say there were things that I gave up that weren't sorrowful. There are things in my life that Jesus had to come with a sword and whack out. And that hurt. But I look back and say, God, thank you for getting those things out of my life. Lord, thank you that your son confronts me where I need to be confronted. Lord, thank you that your son is a threat. He's not just making me better.17:34He's making me new. This is the Jesus that loves us. Not only does he threaten our life, but Jesus threatens our sin. Some of you have come in here this morning with addiction to drugs and alcohol. And you're saying right now, well, Pastor knows who I am. He's pointing, he's looking at me. No, that's the Holy Spirit. I might not know who you are, but I want you to know that the power of Christ is a threat to your addiction.17:59Because I have friends sitting here right now that Jesus Christ radically broke the chains of alcohol and drug addiction. That is the power of Christ that threatens our sin. Are you going through a divorce? Jesus Christ is a threat to your divorce because God has given him the message of reconciliation. He's a threat to that. Are you living a life that's addicted to lust and all that goes with it?18:29Maybe you're here and say, I've cheated on my spouse and I could never be forgiven. Or I'm stuck in that cycle and I just, my eyes are, I feel like they're just burned out of my head because of what I've seen. Christ is a threat to that. Jesus is a threat to our sin. And I want you to know he's a threat, not because he makes you better, but because he makes all things new. And so that you this morning would behold the man of Jesus Christ.18:58Last week we were in Boston, Brad and I, and he looks more Bostonian than I do, I think. But neither of us sounds like we're from Boston. And I remember seeing people who are from South Carolina and Atlanta. And they said, you know what, we, we sold everything we had. And I brought my family of six up here to Boston because people are just so dark in their sin. And I said, we left everything for Boston because we love the city and we love Christ.19:27And we both came home thinking, you know what, Jesus is a threat to our comfort level. Because what God, what are you looking at my life and threatening right now? Because we both had to wrestle with, well, God, if you were calling me there, would I go? Often we want to say, well, bless your heart. Thank you for being so bold in your faith. And let me go back home where I'm comfortable.19:56Jesus is a threat to our lives. And may we not be comfortable sitting in a seat saying, Lord, fill this place up. But may we say, Lord, we want to, we want to worry about our sending capacity, not our seating capacity. Lord, send us out. God, threaten where I'm comfortable. Lord, you are a threat to my flesh. This is the Jesus Christ that lives within us. And so this morning, Pilate, verse 5, dramatically presents a Jesus that is sorry.20:24He's swollen, he's bruised, and he's bleeding from those that were cruel to him and ridiculous. And in a dramatic utterance, Pilate comes out in verse 5 and says this in the Latin, Ece homo, which means behold this man that you think is a threat. He's so weak. And God is looking at us this morning and saying, my son is a threat because he is the son of God.20:52So have you beheld the man, Jesus? May he threaten our comfort level and may he send us out on mission for Jesus Christ. Lord, be a threat to us this morning. We see in verse 5 that when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried, crucify, crucify. Why would they say that to someone who's weak? Why would they say someone that was innocent that had no power? Then we see in verse 11, Jesus answers Pilate and says this,21:22You have no power at all against me unless it has been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. Now, I found that was a very strange verse when I was praying over this scripture this week. So, Lord, you're saying there are greater sins and if there are greater sins and that means there are lesser sins. So, let's get a little messy this morning.21:52The Bible never says that Pilate is innocent. Three times Pilate says Jesus is innocent. He's saying, I agree with Jesus. He is no threat. He is innocent. And Pilate is struggling to release Christ. But the Bible never says that Pilate is innocent by agreeing with the innocence of Jesus Christ. And this is how it works out in our life. You know, I believe this text is a microcosm of who we are, our sinful nature and our sinful dealings.22:19I believe we have people here right now that you feel like you're Pilate, that you've agreed with Jesus. You know who he is. You know, you're in church. I'm thankful that you're here. I'm not here to berate you or make you feel bad. But you've just kind of grown up in church and you feel like you're a good person because you defaulted to the church. So, you feel like Pilate, right?22:49I believe that Jesus is innocent. And I can say that with harshness because I was that person. I grew up in the church. I didn't have a choice. I was born in the church. Nine months before I was born, I was in the church. I grew up in the church. And when I got old enough to sit in the back to hide from my parents, I was sitting in the back, kind of that area in the darkness there. And I just grew up thinking I was a good person. I grew up thinking there are some that have greater sins. And thank God I'm not them.23:19Right? There are some people that blow up churches because they hate God. And I'm not that terrorist in Egypt. So, I had the lesser sin. Here's what the Bible says to you and to me. Just because we have a lesser sin doesn't mean we are innocent of sin. And I remember the day that I was sitting in the back of a small town church in Mississippi. And God pulled back my heart and said, Josh, you think you're holy because of what you've done.23:44And by the world's standards, I haven't murdered anyone. I wasn't blowing up people. The worst thing I had done at that point was just maybe backtalk my parents a lot. Be stubborn a lot. Broken a couple bones. You know, I was just foolish things. The world says he's a boy. He doesn't know any better because boys don't start thinking until they're about 50 anyway. I mean, it's true.24:13And I remember the Holy Spirit gripping my heart and saying, although you have lesser sins, you have sinned against an infinite and holy God. So if you are here thinking that you are a lesser sinner, know that we stand together and we say, God, we are the chief of sinners. And that we are in need of a God that looks at us, that Jesus looks at us and says, you have no power, Pilate, unless it was given to you. That's what we need in Christ.24:42So if that's you, if you feel like you're Pilate, well, I know God who he is. I know he's innocent. Know that you're not saved until you believe in the resurrection, until you believe not with your mind, but with your heart. But I believe there's another group here this morning and you feel like you're the opposite. Look at verse 11. You feel like you're the one that delivered Christ and you feel like you're the greater sin. And here's what I want you to know about the grace of Christ.25:10There's a chance that we've had people here this morning that have had an abortion, that have been divorced several times, that have abused children. And there are people here that you carry the greater sins, that the world would define as greater sins, that you're carrying those all of your life. And that we just feel like because there are greater sins that God can't forgive those. I want you to know that Jesus Christ died for the people that were delivering him to the cross.25:41And so if you're here and you feel like that you have a greater sin, know that your sin is not beyond the love and the grace and the mercy of Jesus. And although you might count it greater, it is not greater than the mercy that is freely offered to you if you believe. And if you have found forgiveness in Christ and people are pointing your fingers and saying, you know what, we know what you did.26:07You look at them and you say, yeah, and Jesus does too. And he died for me. This is the power of Christ. And it is not enough to declare and agree with the innocence of Christ. It is not enough, as Pilate said, to declare that Jesus is innocent. We, this morning, must declare ourselves guilty. And when we declare ourselves guilty, Jesus says, I have died for you to offer you forgiveness.26:33Jesus confronts sin and every sin in our life. And Jesus forgives every sin in your life that is laid at the foot of the cross. I love that. But there is nothing that I have done. I know what some of you are thinking. Some of you are thinking, well, you're a pastor. You've never sinned. Oh, boy. If my wife wasn't in a nursery, we would be here hours to be sharing that. But we don't have the time.27:02But I want you to know that I stand up here, as Paul said, the chief of sinners. He said that every sin that I have committed, Jesus Christ has nailed to the cross and wiped it away. That is the power of the gospel. Behold the man, those who have delivered the greater sin. Verse 12, from then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friends.27:27Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. You see, Pilate had ample reason to worry about this threat. By this time, really, by Tiberius Caesar, he was very quick, the emperor, to look out for threats and suspicions. Later on, by the time of Vespasian, this phrase, friend of Caesar's, was actually a royal title.27:56That you could technically be a friend of Caesar. So here in this friend of Caesar, Pilate has to worry and say, am I going to lose my power? Am I going to lose my authority? And I believe for us that the question, are you a friend of Caesar or not, is a very real question. And that there are times that Jesus lets us wrestle with our fears and our friendships, that we may find grace and redemption in the cross.28:23Look up with me in verse 8, same passage. When Pilate heard that Jesus was the Son of God, he was more afraid. So Pilate was a very suspicious man. The Romans believed in many gods. And so I think Pilate is worrying, is this man a prophet? Is he supernatural? There's fear. And now my friendship and my allegiance to Caesar is being challenged.28:52What's going on here? And this is another challenge and a threat that Christ poses to us. Are you a friend of Christ or are you a friend of the world? And in that, what is keeping us back from living with Christ? You see, I believe that Jesus lets Pilate wrestle with his fear and his friendship. That way he would leave it an indelible mark.29:22I think Jesus lets us wrestle with things that we may find grace in that. And when we wrestle with God, God always leaves a mark. Go back in the Old Testament and look at Jacob who wrestled with God. He limped for the rest of his life. And I believe God wrestles and sometimes leaves us in silence. That we cry out, God, how could you let this happen? God, why don't you remove this, verse 8? And Jesus stays quiet. He lets us wrestle with that.29:52So I ask you this morning, what keeps you from fully trusting Christ? Are there people that you worry about that if I follow Christ, I have friendships that are going to be changed? If I seek Christ, the person that I'm in love with, the person that I'm engaged to or I'm dating right now, they're not going to like that. So I need to weigh the cost. Am I going to be a friend in this relationship or am I going to seek Christ?30:21I believe those are very real friends. I acknowledge the very real fears. I acknowledge those this morning. Those are very real strong ties in our life that keep us from following Christ. Maybe the question that Jesus is asking today is, what keeps you from sharing your faith? Is it because people are going to challenge your friendship? Well, I can't believe you're doing that. Why are you looking differently? Are you friend to us or are you friend to Christ?30:50We have a choice to make. What keeps us from radically living a life that the fingerprints of grace are upon us? Why do we look so much like everyone else if Jesus has transformed us? Because we struggle with, are we a friend of Caesar or a friend of the world? Some of you are saying, well, we don't live in the Roman Empire anymore. It's are we a friend to ourselves or are we a friend of Christ?31:17We know that Jesus has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of sound mind. And if you are struggling with fear in your life or friendships with the world, friendships with things in your life that are bringing your attention away from Christ, maybe friendships with churches or friendships with religion or friendships of things in your life that you love, but that they are competing for your love with Jesus.31:46I want to leave you with these words from an old song. Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care, precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee, take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield thee, thou will find a solace there. I want you to know this morning that Jesus delivers us from our fears32:15and our friendships that compete for his allegiance. And so if that is your struggle today, that God breaks you of that. As my heart was broken in Boston. That I don't think God's calling me there. But I had to ask the question, God, if you called my family away today, would we do it? Or God, do I love my home so much? Or Lord, one day if you call my kids to Afghanistan or to Egypt to be a missionary,32:46God, am I going to be okay with that? Knowing that they could die for their faith. Would I be okay with that? Or God, do I love my kid more than you do? The answer is no. But God, what competes for me living a radically sold out life? God, what competes for friendship with the Savior today? Verse 13, when Pilate heard that friendship, he brought Jesus out and he sat down in the Bema.33:17The judgment seats in a place called the Pavement or Gabbatha. And it was preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, Behold your king. Behold your king. Here's the irony.33:46This verse is dripping with irony. Pilate is asking a question that he doesn't even have a clue what he's asking. Because Jesus Christ is the king. Whether I acknowledge it or not, Jesus is sitting on his throne. God, he does not need me to put him on his throne. He is on his throne. And we see that, verse 15, they cried out and they said about this king,34:12Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him, they said. And Pilate asked, Shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest answered. The chief priest, the ones that come from the line of Aaron, who are instituted by Yahweh himself. The chief priest said, We have no king but Caesar.34:39And so the question that God's word asked us this morning is, Jesus, your king. You see, the idea that Christ can be savior and not king is not biblical. I can't say, Well, God, save me from the scary fires of hell, which I believe is a very real place, by the way.35:07God, you are savior. Save me from that. And one day when I get around to it, I'll make you king. We can't have either or. So Christ looks at us today and says, Am I king or am I not of your life? And I will repeat this as long as I live. There is nothing in my life that I have given up for Christ that I regret. And the competition for Jesus as king in your life is you.35:38It's not me. It's not our sin. It's not our addictions. There are a lot of things that vie for our attention. But the competition for my heart and my soul is me. And it's not until I can look at myself and say, Josh, you are guilty and you are worthy of punishment. And yet Jesus took that punishment that I can have forgiveness of my sin and say to him, he is king.36:07So I ask you this morning as Pilate leaves the praetorium and asks the people, Ece homo, behold the man, his name is Jesus Christ. So how do we respond? I want to leave you with one other Latin phrase to impress your friends at work. In verse 16, Pilate delivered him to be crucified. And in doing so, he would have said this in Latin to every criminal. He would have said,36:37Ibis in cruisum. Ibis in cruisum, which means you will mount the cross. And do you know this morning that Jesus mounted the cross for you? He mounted the cross for me. So you say, well, pastor, then how do I respond? In the glimpse of this great sacrifice of Jesus, how do I respond? First, we must believe. The Bible says in John 3, 16, that God so loved the world that he gave his only son,37:06that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. And you know the word that jumps out in that verse to me? It's not the word love. It's not sacrifice. It's not only begotten. It's the word so. The Bible doesn't say, well, God had to love you guys because he's God, right? You know, God didn't kick the door and say, well, I guess I'm going to love him now. That God so loved us. Ephesians says that God is rich in love, abundant in mercy.37:38That he loves us so much that he let his son die. Do you believe that? Not just think that's a historical fact, but has it become personal to you? If it has not, I pray today will be the day that you make that personal. That you know he died for you. So if you believe that, then how do you respond in that? Romans 10, 9 says this, that if you believe in your heart that God raised his son from the dead,38:04if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. So what is that confession? That means that Jesus is king. Lord means authority. It is saying, God, you have authority. And this is not a one-time event. It's not, well, if I just say magically Jesus is Lord, then I'm going to be saved. That boom, my life's going to be better. It is a, God, I declare today that you are Lord,38:32and I will continue declaring until the day I take my last breath. Have you done that with your life? Have you said, God, you are Lord. And God, there's a lot to work on here. But God, every day I want you to come with a sword and cut out the things that should not be here. And Lord, when you cut out that, I want you to pour your grace in those wounds and heal me. If you have not responded to God's grace, I pray as we open up our service shortly that you would respond.39:01That you would make a declaration that God is, he is Lord of your life and that you would find and receive salvation. Maybe you're here and you say, well, Pastor, that's a little too much. I'm not going to come forward. Well, take that green card and mark, I want to follow Christ. Or I want to know more. And we will call you. We will text you. We will email you. We'll visit your MySpace page. Whatever you want us to do. We will become all things to all men that some might be saved.39:31And if that's you, I pray that you would find redemption. Some of you are here and you say, well, Pastor, I know the Lord. I want you to know this truth in your life. I'm going to leave you. I'm going to go ahead and call our praise team forward. I want you to hear this truth in Ephesians 3. That God, if you are a believer in Jesus, that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,39:58to be strengthened with might in the inner man. My prayer for you this morning is that you would be strengthened in the inner man. That God would do a work in your life that you would not even expect. Verse 17, that Christ would dwell in your heart through faith. That you would be rooted and ground up in love. I believe that God wants our roots to be so deep that no matter what happens to us, that our roots would remain.40:26I believe that the world should look at us who believe and they say, look, the wind is blowing you. Why aren't you struggling? And you say, well, I am struggling. My roots run deep in Christ. That He, that you may be able to comprehend in your life the width and the length and the depth and the height of God's love for you. That you would know that the love of Christ passes knowledge40:54and that you may be filled with the fullness of God. That is my heart for you. That you would be rooted and strengthened and that we would thank God for His sacrifice and that we would live a life that nothing is off limits for Christ. If you need to respond to the gospel this morning, we're going to open our service up. I have friends to my right and to my left that they would love to pray with you and encourage you. And they're going to be here after the service. If you want to come forward after the service41:24and say, look, I've put my faith in Christ. I want to share with you. They would love for you to do that. And also during this time of response, we're going to have a young man named Joseph. Joseph, where are you? Are you here still? Right there. Joseph, I'm going to ask you to come over here to my left. Joseph's going to have surgery this week. And the Bible commands if anyone's sick that we pray over him. So we're going to have our elders and our leaders to anoint him with oil and gather and pray. So we're going to have a group to my left. If you see Shane, our friend here,41:53we're going to pray over him and love him during this time. But would you respond to the gospel this morning? His arms are open wide that we would declare that he is king. Let's pray. Let's pray.More sermons on John →
