Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] John 3. I'm going to flip there, too.
[00:00:06] Now, while we flip there, I got a question. I have a question today.
[00:00:11] Who knows in the sport of basketball what a role player is?
[00:00:19] Anybody?
[00:00:20] A couple people probably more than are raising their hands.
[00:00:25] A role player, plain and simple. To those of you who don't know, I'm always happy to educate people on basketball.
[00:00:31] That's one of my great prides with Katie, I get to teach her about basketball.
[00:00:37] A role player. He plays his role.
[00:00:39] Simple enough, right? He plays his role. He's not the star. That's kind of the context. Technically, being a star could be a role, but the way it's used is he's not the star.
[00:00:49] He typically does the little things that the team needs to be successful. In fact, he might even have a very niche little thing that he does really well, like shooting threes from the corner. And that's what he's going to do. That's what a role player does.
[00:01:04] But the best role players are stars at their little side roles. They're really, really good at them. They understand this is my lane and I'm going to perfect this art.
[00:01:17] When I think of role players, I think of a guy on your handout named Nick Collison.
[00:01:23] Who knows who Nick Collison is.
[00:01:27] Come on. Yeah, thank. Yeah, Good. Okay. At least he didn't retire more than, what, like 10 years ago? Maybe a couple years extra.
[00:01:36] He played all 15 years of his career for the same franchise. It began in Seattle and most of it was in Oklahoma City.
[00:01:45] He only averaged seven points a game and five rebounds per game. Those are not straight star numbers by any means, but he was always running, surely. I always thought this. He probably runs more mileage than any person in the league. He'd be running up and setting a screen back to the baseline, and he'd do that like five times a possession. You gotta imagine that's he's running miles and miles each game, always moving, creating space, setting screens, rolling, passing. A lot of you maybe don't know what all of those terms mean. He does a lot of little things.
[00:02:16] He was a professional at taking charges, which is when you let another player run right through you and you just stand there and take it. They started keeping track of that as a stat one year, and he drew 41 charges in that year. In a 71 game season, he led the league. He was a pro at this. He did the dirty work. He did it well. And in doing this, he helped stars like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook shine. He helped them shine. Because he did these little things that made the team successful.
[00:02:49] Like John the Baptist in tonight's passage, he decreased so that the stars could increase.
[00:02:56] This is what John does for Jesus. He plays his role.
[00:03:00] Because Jesus in the gospel of John, we're not surprised by this. He's the star of the show. He's the star.
[00:03:08] He is God. He became flesh.
[00:03:12] All that would receive him would also receive eternal life.
[00:03:16] He reveals God himself through various signs. Just a couple weeks ago, we talked about the first one, turning water into wine.
[00:03:24] But we must believe in Jesus for who he is. We've been warned. Not because we're amazed at his signs. We need to love him for who he is.
[00:03:33] But though these signs do testify that he is God, the main theme of John is to believe in the Word made flesh. It's that simple message.
[00:03:42] Look at him. Believe in him already.
[00:03:46] You need to be born again, and you need to be born again by the Holy Spirit.
[00:03:51] If you want to be born again, you need to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus. And if you have been born again, then you and you must live your life exalting him, lifting your eyes to him.
[00:04:05] So in last week's passage, the first part of John 3, Jesus spoke about how he'll be lifted up on the cross.
[00:04:12] And because he was lifted up in death, we now lift him up in eternal life.
[00:04:19] So the main idea of John 3, 22, 26. We'll read it in a second, is that a Christ proclaimer must make much of Jesus by making himself or herself lowly.
[00:04:32] We must make much of Jesus by making ourselves lowly.
[00:04:37] So look now, John 3. I'll start reading in verse 22.
[00:04:43] So after this. This is after his interaction with Nicodemus and his monologue.
[00:04:49] After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.
[00:04:57] John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized. For John had not yet been put in prison.
[00:05:08] Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.
[00:05:14] And they came to John and said, rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, look, he's baptizing and all are going to him.
[00:05:23] John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.
[00:05:36] The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.
[00:05:47] Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.
[00:05:54] He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.
[00:06:02] He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. Yet no one receives his testimony.
[00:06:11] Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.
[00:06:17] For he whom God has sent utters the words of God. For he gives the Spirit without measure.
[00:06:24] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
[00:06:29] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him.
[00:06:41] This text is mostly a monologue by John the Baptist.
[00:06:46] The Baptist was a prophet, by the way. I'm going to call him the Baptist. Sometimes to clarify if we're talking about John the Baptist or the Apostle John who wrote the book, so sometimes we'll just call him the Baptist. The Baptist was a prophet who prepared the way for Jesus.
[00:07:03] His whole life and ministry was lived to exalt Christ.
[00:07:08] He was a role player.
[00:07:10] If you're in Christ, then that is also your calling.
[00:07:14] You're not exactly the same as John the Baptist, but we have the same calling to exalt him in what we do. We want to be good role players to make Christ shine in this world.
[00:07:25] He is the light.
[00:07:27] So remember that John tells us that he is the light. He doesn't need us, but he is chosen to call us, to work for him, to help shine the light.
[00:07:39] So we're going to think about three ways that we can exalt or lift up Christ.
[00:07:46] So first, if we make much of Jesus, point number one, we will lay aside our tribes.
[00:07:52] If we make much of Jesus, we will lay aside our tribes.
[00:07:58] So to set the scene, Jesus and his disciples head out of town. They're baptizing followers that come to him. And at the same time, John the Baptist is out in the wilderness doing the same, which is what he had been doing.
[00:08:11] Baptizing verse 25 introduces us to a discussion, more of a dispute or a debate. May not necessarily be, you know, high tempered, but it could have been a civil. We don't know. We don't want to psychoanalyze some sort of dispute, debate, conversation.
[00:08:29] A nameless Jew is arguing with some of the Baptist followers about purification.
[00:08:34] What was probably in view here was that certain Jewish purification rituals looked like baptism Maybe that could lead to confusion, could have been about that. But from this discussion about purification, a related question is brought up to the Baptist in verse 26. So it kind of transitions to this new question.
[00:08:56] And I think this question could just be an honest one, or it might indicate jealousy.
[00:09:03] Again, we don't want to psychoanalyze. We don't know exactly the heart, the intent of the question.
[00:09:09] But here's what these verses show us. I think.
[00:09:13] I think one lesson we can draw from this is that being tribalistic is bad.
[00:09:20] It means that you put the needs and beliefs of one group above facts and fairness.
[00:09:27] It gives you an us versus them mentality.
[00:09:33] Even myself, I feel conditioned by our society to view things, us versus them. There are good guys and there are bad guys, and it's every sphere of my life makes the other people the enemy. This is an us versus them mentality. It is not good.
[00:09:51] Even if the Baptist followers are not being tribalistic, even if they're asking just an honest question. I'm bringing this point up because we go there so quickly.
[00:10:01] We tribe up, we link arms with the people who agree with us, and the other side becomes the enemy because it makes us feel more unified and superior.
[00:10:12] We make our lives when we do this all about us, when it should be about the one who came from heaven and became flesh.
[00:10:23] So I'm not accusing John the Baptist followers of being tribalistic they may have been.
[00:10:27] I am saying that the way the Baptist thinks of Jesus, if we thought like John the Baptist, tribalism would be extinguished completely because we'd be so consumed with exalting Christ and wanting his name to be on the top that we would not see everyone as an enemy that disagrees with us. We would exalt Christ.
[00:10:53] Your tribe can look a number of different ways when you're older. Maybe now even your tribe could become a political party. That's probably at least how the average adult would think about this.
[00:11:10] Nothing your party does is wrong. Everything the other side is always wrong.
[00:11:15] And there is right and wrong. I'm not saying everything is equal. But this is a tribalistic mentality where we end up spending most of our energy justifying things that our team has said.
[00:11:28] Your tribe can also become your friends.
[00:11:32] I remember in high school, I was so loyal to my friends.
[00:11:37] Even when they did wrong things and I was asked about it, I would never say anything.
[00:11:43] I didn't want to be a snitch. I wanted to be a good friend. I was loyal to them above these teachers and administrators and whatever else.
[00:11:51] Specifically one Time a guy I knew, he took a bobblehead, a Mr. Bean bobblehead.
[00:12:00] That's just a fun fact from our English teacher. He stole it from his room. And I knew this was in high school.
[00:12:08] And just a little later, I was no longer with him. He broke it and threw it in the trash.
[00:12:15] The office called me in and showed me a video of us walking out of class and him turning around and opening the bag and me looking in, clearly indicating that I knew.
[00:12:25] Still, I refused to tell them anything because he was in my tribe, even though I was eventually punished for this when I could have gotten away, you know, guiltless, because I didn't do it personally. But tribalism is like this and it is wrong.
[00:12:45] It leads us to do irrational things and it doesn't. It leads us away from glorifying Christ and doing what is right.
[00:12:54] Tribalism like this can also bleed into church life.
[00:12:59] You might like your church so much that you become competitive and dislike others that maybe seem different from ours.
[00:13:09] And to be sure, there are churches even in our city that are not true churches. But there are so many more that are true churches that do and believe things that I maybe think are ridiculous. But Jesus loves them too.
[00:13:25] They are his people too. We can rejoice that there are other believers, even if they do things a little differently.
[00:13:34] And so we shouldn't seek to elevate our church alone, whether it's this one or a future one you go to. And we shouldn't one day look for the best church by seeing which one is the most influential or the largest, or which one has the most programs or the best small group setup.
[00:13:54] Students, as you go out, I assume many of you will go out at some point from here.
[00:14:01] Look for a church that doesn't spend so much time and money on graphic design, fancy camps, events, cutting edge videography, photography, music. Look for a church instead with a pastor that puts more into his love for you then into his sneaker game or something else superficial doesn't mean all of those things, like having shoes or videos are bad, but prioritized in the right order.
[00:14:29] Look for a church that makes exalting Christ truly its top priority because we're playing on the same team.
[00:14:37] Look how John the Baptist exalts Christ.
[00:14:41] He seems himself as. He sees himself as on the same team as Jesus. When asked this question, he doesn't feel any jealousy or weirdness. He says, yeah, I am happy that he is baptizing that people are going to him. Verse 28 the Baptist says that it was well known that he had said many times, I'm not the Christ, I'm not the Christ. He came to prepare the way for the Christ. And this way he is a role player.
[00:15:10] What it means for him to be successful then is not to amass followers and influence, but to amass followers and influence for someone else. For namely Christ.
[00:15:24] Jesus is the team he is on.
[00:15:28] The goal is to send more people to him for baptism.
[00:15:33] If we are for Christ, then we are on that same team.
[00:15:38] So we too should make much of Jesus together. Not make much of our preferred tribes, but to make much of Jesus even among those around you, maybe in this room that you've never spoken to. Remember, we are on the same team.
[00:16:00] If we make much of Jesus. Point 2.
[00:16:03] We will lay aside our prides.
[00:16:07] We'll lay aside our prines.
[00:16:14] There's only room at the top for one.
[00:16:18] The podium of a track meet has room for one runner in the first place spot.
[00:16:23] Unless it's like a relay or something.
[00:16:26] This one person, first place pedestal, this is where Christ belongs in your life.
[00:16:33] If you put yourself in the top spot, then you're stealing that glory from God.
[00:16:40] If we don't lay aside the pride within us, then we are like.
[00:16:43] I've heard it put this way, like crabs in a bucket. You guys heard this before.
[00:16:49] If you put a crab in a bucket, it can easily get out. So they say. I've never done this, personally, I don't have much access to crabs, but once you put more than one in there, none of them can get out. Why? Because they claw and grab each other and pull each other down.
[00:17:05] Because they're trying to get out now. They're not doing it with like, ill intent, like, oh, I can't let him get out. They're just trying to get out. And they end up pulling each other in.
[00:17:16] But when we do this sort of thing in life, it's out of spite, selfishness and pride. Because, honestly, we want to be well thought of. We want to be at the top. We want to be influential or just liked or popular or something of the sort of. And that's our pride driving us.
[00:17:38] What the Baptist says in verses 27:30 helps us to see that we must kill our pride first to lift up Christ.
[00:17:49] There are three ways that Christians can model their lives after John the Baptist in this way. First, this comes from verse 27. Recognize that all things come from God.
[00:18:01] Recognize that all things come from God.
[00:18:04] You have nothing from yourself.
[00:18:07] All your possessions, your family, your friends, even your life comes from him.
[00:18:18] As we prayed Earlier, God is gracious to bless us with all of these things.
[00:18:24] These are examples of the many gifts of grace that we receive from freely from him.
[00:18:29] But once you recognize that you owe your beating heart as you sit in this room to God, it simply just must humble you.
[00:18:41] The next beat is a gift of grace to you. He could stop it. He was never forced to give it to you. And yet he lovingly did.
[00:18:51] We are dependent on him.
[00:18:54] We just are.
[00:18:56] John the Baptist sees that any of the people he has baptized were only brought to him by God.
[00:19:03] And more importantly, God has now given the greatest gift. He's there. Jesus christ has come. He's arrived.
[00:19:11] So people must go to him. That's natural.
[00:19:16] He's come.
[00:19:18] You know, John is saying, I don't care if people come to me.
[00:19:21] I don't care if people come to me. If I see tons of people come to Christ, or if I see for myself, if I see tons of students come here, or if my youth group is bigger than like, another guy I know in town. It doesn't matter. What I, as a Christian, should care about is whether people are going to Christ at all.
[00:19:39] That's what we want because we are on his team. We want people to go to Christ much more than we want them to come to us.
[00:19:50] So recognize that all things come from God.
[00:19:54] The second way that Christians can model their lives after John the Confess that Jesus is the Christ. Verse 28.
[00:20:02] Just a couple, two, three weeks ago or so, Ryan, Pastor Ryan preached from James that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. That's James 4:6.
[00:20:14] The ultimate humbling is a humbling of a sinner before God when he or she puts his or her faith in Christ.
[00:20:24] What this means is confess that you're not the main character in your life. And then you will see that the plot of your daily life must conform to what Christ calls you to.
[00:20:37] When he's the main character, He. He dictates the plot line.
[00:20:42] So confess that this Jesus, the person of interest in the gospel of John, is the one who came so that all who do receive him, who believe in his name can become children of God. Chapter one, verse 12.
[00:20:57] And when I say confess him, I'm not just saying pray a prayer and profess that you believe in him one time. I have in mind spiritually putting on a jersey, a jersey that you wear boldly all the time, so that whoever you cross paths with, you can clearly see what team you play for.
[00:21:19] It's evident by your life, your conduct, your holiness, your love. For Jesus becomes a metaphorical jersey in this way that shows people whose team you're on, that is what it means to confess him daily that he is Christ.
[00:21:39] Now, the third way that we can live or model our lives after John the Baptist comes from verse 29. Rejoice and be glad that Jesus has come.
[00:21:51] Be glad that he has come.
[00:21:55] John the Baptist's bride and bridegroom metaphor is very biblically and theologically charged.
[00:22:03] We see this all over the Bible, Song of Solomon, Matthew chapters 9 and 25. Many other places make out Christ to be the groom or the bridegroom, the husband and the church, the bride or the wife.
[00:22:16] And the Baptist is playing into this theological theme, saying that the groom or the bridegroom is. Is here.
[00:22:25] He is here. He's gathering and preparing his bride.
[00:22:30] So you're asking this question, like, why is he doing. He's here. That's what we should be consumed with. So what is John the Baptist's role in this? Well, his role, as he says, is the humble role of one who rejoices to see the groom.
[00:22:46] He stands there rejoicing.
[00:22:49] You know, just over a week ago, Katie and I celebrated four years of marriage. And one of the things we did was we watched, like, the little short wedding video, like a wedding highlights video that somebody, I can't remember who somebody made.
[00:23:06] And we watched it with our daughters.
[00:23:09] Annie demanded to watch it over and over and over. And she keeps talking about it. So she liked it. And it was great to see that. You know, there's so many memories, you know, things. Memories kind of fade. I forget different aspects. So it's great to see who was there, what was happening, even just in little short clips.
[00:23:25] But one part of it that I remember well, but I was reminded by the video was this clip, you know, my groomsmen doing, like, some kind of cheesy, like, patting on my shoulders, smiling, rejoicing with me that I had just gotten married.
[00:23:41] Like, especially at that time, my best friends in the world doing that.
[00:23:45] They were genuinely happy. They didn't have to fake it.
[00:23:50] The moment wasn't about them at all.
[00:23:54] They were role players. They were off to the side, standing outside during this wedding. You know, people aren't looking at them largely. They were just happy to be there.
[00:24:04] That moment wasn't about them. They were full of joy completely for someone else.
[00:24:11] And all the friends, coincidentally, in that clip, have taken their turns getting married with the rest of us doing the same for them, rejoicing, just purely in someone else.
[00:24:24] It is humility to Celebrate someone else. But for the Christian and Christ, it's just natural. It's who we are to rejoice and celebrate that the groom has come and is coming again.
[00:24:39] It is second nature.
[00:24:41] Just like my groomsmen didn't have to put on a brave face and fake it till you make it. Genuine joy in Christ springs from the heart. When you love the groom, when you love him, it just wells up within you to rejoice.
[00:24:58] So lay aside your pride.
[00:25:00] Trust in Jesus christ. Humble yourself so that you can exalt Christ.
[00:25:06] This is what John means when he says in verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease.
[00:25:13] You must decrease so that Christ may increase.
[00:25:18] It's not that he's already the greatest. It's that we need to magnify him as such in our lives.
[00:25:26] Now. Point number three, if we make much of Jesus, we will lay our eyes on Jesus.
[00:25:34] So we decrease by making Christ the main player in our lives.
[00:25:38] When our desires contradict the principles of His Word, we submit to Him. In submitting to Jesus, I liken it to spiritually kneeling before him, asking him to direct our lives.
[00:25:51] Verse 31, he says, he who comes from above is above all.
[00:25:57] So I want to just note that for a second. How many times have you noticed that Jesus is described as coming from above, going up, or coming from above just in this gospel?
[00:26:11] Is this not intended to draw our eyes up to him as we kneel, to exalt him thematically through the gospel?
[00:26:23] He's implicitly telling us by reminding us that he's from above, he's from heaven, he's going to be lifted up, he's going to be raised up. All of this imagery that lifts us up.
[00:26:33] He's reminding us to make much of Jesus, to lift our eyes to him in his glory.
[00:26:41] And he speaks.
[00:26:43] Jesus does the true realities of heaven because he is from above.
[00:26:48] Verse 32 tells us that he's a witness. Now, what makes someone a good witness? Students, what makes someone a good witness?
[00:26:56] It's simple.
[00:26:57] He has seen and experienced what he's witnessing to. He understands it. He's been there.
[00:27:05] The man Christ across the river baptizing people. The man who might not have looked much different than John the Baptist has special credibility to speak on heavenly things because he has been there and he is now there.
[00:27:23] And what has he seen and heard?
[00:27:26] He is one with God for all eternity. God the Son is one with the Father and the Spirit for all eternity in a bond of perfect love between the three.
[00:27:38] There's a difference between watching An NBA playoff game from my couch and being in the Paycom Center.
[00:27:49] There's a difference between listening to an artist like Taylor Swift on Apple Music and being there for her concert, is there not?
[00:27:59] There's a difference in these, in that one is more vivid and real and near. Because you're present there, you're seeing it, you're hearing it in a different way.
[00:28:10] So Christ in the flesh could say that he came from above. He was with God. He was God. Remember chapter one, verse one. He so perfectly knew God. Yet verse 32 tells us something shocking of this wonderful witness from above who experientially and personally knows God because He is God. And yet verse 32 tells us no one receives his testimony.
[00:28:34] That is surprising. And yet again, it's a consistent theme in the gospel. It's already been mentioned in chapter one that and no one is receiving him.
[00:28:46] He was rejected by people who got to see him.
[00:28:52] Nicodemus, the religious expert and eyewitness to his miracles. Even he could not receive him, at least at that time.
[00:29:02] Verse 32 and 33 show us another example of a theme too, along with this that we've seen already and we'll continue to see throughout the gospel.
[00:29:12] Here it is.
[00:29:13] There are two categories of people.
[00:29:17] Those who receive Christ and those who do not.
[00:29:21] Those who are under grace, those who are under wrath, those who are in Christ, those who are in the world or in Adam.
[00:29:30] We've already seen this in chapter one, verses 12 and 13, chapter three, verse 18. Now here again in verses 32, 33.
[00:29:39] So you have to ask this to yourself, do you believe or not?
[00:29:44] Do you believe or not? Have you received Jesus or not?
[00:29:50] Now, there's not a litmus test for how you know if you've received Him. There's not like a quiz online you take. If you believe in him, then you have received Him.
[00:30:00] If your faith is genuinely in Christ, you have received him.
[00:30:05] Verse 18 tells us that this means then you will not be condemned. And then verse 33 tells us that in believing in him, you are saying to the whole world that God is true.
[00:30:18] So Christian students, testify with your words and your actions that God is true.
[00:30:25] When we live out of step with him, we're testifying that he's false.
[00:30:30] But God is not a liar.
[00:30:33] Testify that he is true and do not doubt Christ, but lay your eyes on him, trusting Him. No matter what may come in life, you can have confidence that you know God because you know Jesus and Jesus has truly revealed him.
[00:30:50] So looking to Jesus is the most reliable Way to know God.
[00:30:55] Verse 34 reminds us for God sent Jesus and Jesus spoke the words of God and God pours the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We see without measure into Jesus.
[00:31:09] So we see again another Trinity, another trinitarian formula of Father, Son and Spirit. The strongest statement possible that Jesus christ is God himself.
[00:31:20] And looking to Jesus then is to actually behold our God. To see him face to face is to look in Jesus face.
[00:31:32] And I just want to stop there and think for a second what it means to look in Jesus face, to see the face of God.
[00:31:43] Remember, perhaps the greatest person from Old Testament history is Moses.
[00:31:52] Moses wanted to see God's face and he was denied because God said he would die if he saw his face.
[00:32:04] And now you, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 year old, you, through Christ can see the face of God and live.
[00:32:16] That is the grace of God.
[00:32:18] You, no matter where you have been, if you trust in the Lord, you can see the face of God and live. You can behold Jesus christ.
[00:32:27] If we want to live lives honoring to Christ, then we have to start with this.
[00:32:33] A vision of Christ.
[00:32:35] This is how you're transformed into his image. By laying your eyes on him, trusting his testimony about God and living for him and in Christ alone. Then you can take comfort.
[00:32:49] Verse 35 says that all things have been given into Christ's hands. Eternal life and eternal punishment, salvation and judgment.
[00:32:59] Your future, your home life, your school life, your friends, your bullies, your anxiety, your identity, your feelings, your loneliness. All of this is in his hands.
[00:33:11] It's like that simple but profound children's song that says he's got the whole world in his hands. You know that song? He's got the whole world in his hands.
[00:33:24] And because all things are in his hands, verse 36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
[00:33:32] You can believe in the Son even tonight.
[00:33:36] All of these wonderful realities will immediately be yours. Because the work of Jesus and His testimony of God is totally and completely reliable.
[00:33:47] So remember that and start there. That's where John starts this last sentence. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. He starts there.
[00:33:57] But he doesn't leave it there without giving us the inverse.
[00:34:02] John does this a lot because he's emphasizing that there are people under grace, people under wrath. There are two people, converted, unconverted. And so he says, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him.
[00:34:15] There are those who receive him and those who do not.
[00:34:19] There are those who believe in him, they will have eternal life. But there are those who will never believe.
[00:34:25] And those who never believe do not obey the Son and shall not see life.
[00:34:29] They shall not see life because the wrath of God hangs over them like the darkest of storm clouds and the storm will never lift.
[00:34:39] Obedience to the sun, then, is mentioned here. Not because obedience keeps you out of the storm as you try to run for your life to stay ahead of it, but because Christians just do obey. It's just who we are, we obeying.
[00:34:55] And importantly, we obey him more than just by obeying commands. We obey him by loving him, believing his testimony and receiving Him. And then we obey all that he commands us in his word.
[00:35:09] So Christian students obey Christ.
[00:35:12] That is what we do because he's won us the freedom to do so.
[00:35:17] The students on the fence, though students who have not yet received him as it is. You shall not see life is what we see here.
[00:35:27] The wrath of God hangs over you.
[00:35:31] But if you receive him, the clouds roll back, the winter turns to spring.
[00:35:38] The warmth of the sun of righteousness warms your heart and gives you everlasting life. That's the promise.
[00:35:46] So lay your eyes upon Jesus.
[00:35:49] Look full in his wonderful face as the song says, and the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
[00:35:58] Become less and make Christ more. Let's pray.
[00:36:04] Father, we thank you for your word and for the promises afforded to us in Christ.
[00:36:10] We thank you for your Son and ask that you would edify us in our small group time. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
