Hard to hear Heavenly Father how grateful we are and how glad that you are the one who Sets up kings and puts them down That you ordain all things that come to pass and That we can depend upon you for nothing comes to us apart from your fatherly hand We thank you for the opportunities you have given us in this great country We pray that the voice of your people would be heard This week as we go to the election booze and dear Lord. We look to your guidance in all of our lives and Now we are so thankful that this morning once again you've called us to be together You have called us out of the world To come together and to fellowship with one another to hear your word and to be built up in our most holy faith We ask now that you would be among us that you would encourage us and instruct us and challenge us and even review us by your holy word May we hear the words of Jesus and May we see him in Jesus name. Oh, man. Yes. Oh, we have an announcement
You know, this is also many news
So now we're back to where they are trying to use those time believing services, which is tonight Tonight is down the night. We're setting up this progress. We're working through the show This is your to-do network each family got one last month And it's the first Sunday of every month One tonight with the audition. I check the two pages. It's a wonderful format Reader-seer is here for this the church play You realize you have a lot of talent in this church and so tonight Getting on the stool kind of like us
The children are also in the drawer
We have suffering here first last week. We have suffering And had this room back in
And we were in there and we were home
I He's been looking for this
The reason I knew little people could understand my story was I had read it the other time when he was four and One day he had lied and then he said to me He said mommy my back hurts He said it's not good
And then I finally realized he said oh no no it's not good
And so we figured out how to get this surgery and it was wonderful but children and big people are not good enough for this post A lot of adults I need to grow up with this post So this is one of them from the fellowship committee and session to get families together This with your family we have one family and a lady in here From fellowship committee we're all wearing our band-in It's a great way for adults to get to know one another You do not have to know one thing if that's where you do Not one. Our color we get to do with the year ahead He teaches you how to grow and how to do and how to do everything that you might not know to do So we have multiple shoes and it's the all 4.36 on hanging marks of one three miles, two miles past the University of California So directions are the best way to do it But we hope you come, we don't do these things before we do a schedule We do these things with a facilitate family, we don't like it
Delo is waiting for a demonstration Let's see, is it on Kyle? Okay, thanks Okay, today we're in John's Gospel chapter 13 I hope we can get through chapter 15 today, at least ends of 15 We have come to the point in John's Gospel where the public ministry of Jesus is finished Chapter 12 brings us to the end, you remember the coming of the Greeks at Passover time to see Jesus Becomes a sort of turning point and since Katie was not here last week, I'll ask her to say what went on at that time when the Greeks came to Jesus and Jesus said That my hour has come, thank you He finally said his hour had come and we suggested there was a connection between those two things That the Gentiles coming to him, the Greeks coming to him was in effect the sort of turning point, the sign And now Jesus is willing to say his hour has come, the hour for him to be glorified With chapter 13 then, we are at the time of the feast of Passover, Jesus last supper with his disciples
Jesus ministry then continues with his disciples, his public ministry is finished The last practically half of this book pointed out last week is given over to this last day, last 24 hours or so of Jesus' life And then the resurrection appearances, so important it was that time And these next several chapters, 13 through 17 are sometimes called the farewell discourse or farewell discourses of Jesus to his disciples 13 one begins with the Passover at hand and Jesus knowing his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end Now in John's recording of these events, you would notice that there are many things from the synoptic gospels left out And many things that John adds that are not in the synoptic gospels, and I'm sure this is one of the reasons why John wrote his gospel For instance, you won't find any record of the institution of the Lord's Supper as a sacrament here in John's gospel I think that's surely because this was already going on in the churches when John wrote and they didn't have the need for that kind of instruction They celebrated the Lord's Supper and they knew the gospel stories from the other gospels But John does give us a number of things that are unique to his gospel and among them are this story recorded right here in the beginning of chapter 13 And that is the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet As a demonstration of his love and service for his disciples You remember the story, I'm sure most of us are quite familiar with it Jesus gurning himself with a towel and going around to his disciples one by one and washing their feet This was of course something that would have been done in those days by the most menial of servants Jesus, the master, becoming the servant of his servants To show them how to serve one another He tells them that they must do this to one another You remember Peter then objecting at first that the Lord would not do this to him And Jesus gently rebuking him saying that if he doesn't allow this, Peter will have no part of him Peter's response might not my feet only but my hands in my head And Jesus saying that those who are clean have no need of washing except for the feet And then going ahead to wash the feet of all his disciples Yet there is one disciple there whose feet Jesus washed That Jesus knows when I heed his words One whom Jesus indicates here he is not chosen For the scripture must be fulfilled from Psalm 41 verse 9 He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me It's kind of striking I think sometimes to think about the fact that Judas was there Judas was there and Jesus washed even Judas's feet before he dismissed Judas We're given many indications even before this passage that Jesus knew of course who it was Who would betray him Jesus knew all along And we're given several indications here as well in chapter 13 verses 10 and 11 And then verse 18 as well where Jesus says I'm not speaking of you all I know who I have chosen It is that the scripture may be fulfilled he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me And then in verse 21 I think a very poignant passage When Jesus had thus spoken he was troubled in spirit and testified truly I say to you one of you will betray me And we have this again a very pointed scene of the disciples questioning one another And something again that's not recorded in the other gospels This very intimate scene that we've already remarked on before one that gives a sort of keynote to this whole gospel Because here is where we read of this beloved disciple who is lying next to Jesus And again you remember those kind of feasts in the ancient world they reclined to eat they didn't sit up on chairs So the one lying next to Jesus evidently leans back on his breast so that no one else can hear And asks at the instigation of Peter who it is who will betray him And Jesus gives the sign by saying it is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it John is known throughout the early church then as the one who leaned upon Jesus breast This incident then giving a sort of character to the whole gospel and the one who leaned on Jesus breast as a sign of special intimacy to Jesus Well the traitor then is dismissed Jesus tells him to go and do what he's going to do quickly Even at that point the disciples most of the disciples didn't understand, didn't know exactly what was going on with Judas John knows of course because he's asked Jesus And we have again this probably significant indication in verse 30 After receiving the morsel that is Judas immediately went out and it was night We pointed this earlier on in our study this little detail it was night Well of course it was night but why does he even have to point that out It reminds me of the statement made in Luke's gospel in Luke 2253 A scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when the chief priest and the officers come to get Jesus And Jesus says when I was with you day after day in the temple you did not lay hands on me But this is your hour from the power of darkness And it was night John says almost to point out the fact of Judas doing this under cover of darkness being sort of symbolic for the dark deed that he is about to commit Well now the traitor has departed and Jesus is alone with the remnant of his true disciples And in verse 31 Jesus begins to speak about his glorification That is coming up we've heard him speak this way before about his crucifixion And in verse 34 fairly well known verse a new commandment I give to you that you love one another Even as I have loved you that you also love one another And by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another We often hear a remark then and we should that Christians love for each other should be a mark to outsiders a mark that we are truly Jesus disciples And it's well to take that to heart
In first John, John later I think elaborates on this and goes even a bit further And says that it's not only a mark to others to outsiders that we belong to Jesus But it's also a mark to ourselves, a mark of assurance to us that we are believers First John 3, 14 says this, we know that we have passed out of life, excuse me, passed out of death Into life for some of us maybe we're teetering there Because we love the brethren, he who does not love abides still in death And at verse 17 chapter 3, but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brethren in need Yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him So you see that this is not just something that unbelievers are supposed to be able to see in us But it's really a way, it's one of the ways John says that we can assure our hearts It's one of the ways by which we can see that the spirit has truly been at work in us Is our love for one another, do you love the brethren? Do you love the Christian community with all our faults? Sometimes it's easier to avoid our Christian fellowship, to avoid those Christians with whom we might disagree Those with whom we might have had a falling out But this is truly supposed to be a mark of a Christian, our love for one another And another point and aspect of this I think is how Jesus says we ought to love each other And this is difficult, I cannot stand before you as somebody who's put this into practice But he says how should we love each other? He gives us the instruction How? As he has loved us He has loved us, that's right, as he has loved us, what kind of love is that? A giving love, a giving love, how much are you supposed to give? 70 times 7 for forgiveness, how much till it hurts, right? How far did Jesus love extend for us? To his death, to his death, as I have loved you, so you ought to love one another And that's not just an idle conclusion, you know, that he may have in mind loving one another and even unto death Again, we go to 1 John, John writing later to the church chapter 3 verse 16 By this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren For the brethren I don't know, if any of us will ever actually be called upon to do that, I shudder at the thought We probably all think in terms maybe of our family, I think I would gladly give my life for my wife or my kids The rest of you guys, hey, I'm sorry, it's a little bit harder to entertain, well, it's a lot harder to entertain For some of you more than others But no greater love, half a man than this, Jesus says, that he laid down his life for his friends Well, it's a hard saying, but it's a good one for us to contemplate, the character and the extent of Christian love Well, some enigmatic statements that Jesus has made now find their resolutions as we go on in the text of verses 33 and then 36 and 37 You might remember back in chapter 7 when Jesus had told some of his opponents among the Jews at one point, where I'm going, what? You cannot come, where I'm going, you cannot come, there was all this confusion, where is he going to go? Is he going to go to the Greeks that we can't follow him? And now Jesus says the same thing, first of all, to his disciples, little children, verse 33, yet a little wild and with you, you will seek me and as I have said of the Jews So now I say to you, where I am going, you cannot come Well, this enigmatic statement then finds further explanation, verse 36, Simon Peter is wondering about this and says, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow afterward, very significant exception now. He does say that they will follow him, or they can follow him, they will follow him afterward Peter, through the form, of course, says, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you And once again has to suffer Jesus's gentle review, Jesus knowing that Peter would deny him, not once, but three times before the next morning But the conversation continues, and we come to chapter 14 verse 1 Again, I think this is one of those beautiful and comforting verses in John's Gospel that perhaps many of us are familiar with chapter 14 verse 1, let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, or you believe in God, believe also in me, in verse 2 In my father's house are many rooms, or in the old King James mansions, not as we think of mansions, but little rooms, or little houses, rooms And he goes on to say that I go to prepare a place for you Well, familiar words perhaps, but remember again that this comes in the context of this conversation between Jesus and his disciples about the fact that he's going away And will they be able to follow him? Jesus is saying, yes, you will be able to follow me, but not now, Peter asks, where are you going? And Jesus follows within my father's house, there are many rooms, and I go to prepare a place for you Now the mystery, the enigma is solved, Jesus is going to the father, that's where he's going That's where he's going, where the Jews cannot follow, and where his disciples yet may follow, is a place for them at the father's heavenly abode This I think has been used rightly in comforting, the bereaved, in comforting those who are approaching death, that Jesus has prepared a place for them So that they might be with him, verse 3, I will come again and will take you to myself, that's where I am, there you may be also I take this to be a promise of Jesus coming to the believer at death, to take him or her to be in those heavenly mansions, heavenly rooms And this brings us to, I think, a very important point The Christian's hope is fix upon Jesus, not just on Jesus as our redeemer, as the one who makes salvation possible for us and affects salvation for us But fix upon Jesus in another way, Muslims don't talk about paradise in terms of being with Muhammad Buddhists don't talk about Nirvana or whatever in terms of being with Buddha But the New Testament talks about heaven in terms of being with Jesus, that's quite striking Remember Jesus' words to the thief on the cross, today you will be not just in paradise, but with me in paradise You will be with me in paradise You remember Paul's words to the Philippians, chapter 1, where he's in prison and he knows really not what's going to happen, what he even wants to happen Because if he stays, he'll be fruitful ministry, but his desire, he says, is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better To depart, not just to depart, not just to go to heaven, but to be with Christ Second Corinthians 5, where Paul is talking about death again and about our heavenly abode The abode is mentioned again in verses 6 through 8, he says to be present in the body is to be absent from the Lord Again, it's being with the Lord Last week we pointed to the book of Revelation where there are so many beautiful images about heaven And there in chapter 14 verse 4, we read of the disciples following Jesus, following the Lamb, wherever he goes Even in heaven, even in the afterlife, our following or discipleship of Jesus doesn't end And we follow him wherever he goes I think that's quite profound and I think that's quite striking and comforting Just think, our hope is to be with Jesus, with Jesus And if that's not amazing enough, what I find even more amazing I think that this is the way that Jesus wanted it We're going to read a little later in chapter 17, sometimes called Jesus High Priestly Prayer At the end of that prayer, he finishes up that prayer to the Father By saying in verse 24, Father, I desire that they also, who now has given me, may be with me, where I am To behold my glory which now has given me and I love for me before the foundation of the world Jesus wants us to be with him Jesus wants us to be with him and that I find a very humbling and awesome flaw Well, Thomas and Philip back to the story, Thomas and Philip are still confused Thomas doesn't know the way, he still doesn't quite understand what Jesus is talking about Verse 5, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way? This is the opportunity for Jesus to make that another astounding comment Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth in the life No one comes to the Father but by me If you had known me, you would have known my Father also, henceforth you know him and have seen him Philip too is confused, Lord, show us the Father, we shall be satisfied Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long? And yet you do not know me, Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father How can you say, show us the Father? Jesus is the way to the Father, he claims that he is the only way to the Father And he says that those who have seen him have seen the Father and know the way to the Father If you know Jesus, you don't need to know any other way, there is no other way If you know Jesus, you have known the Father, he who has seen Jesus has seen the Father In verse 12, verses 12 through 14 Another perhaps difficult set of verses, Jesus goes to his Father And yet promises that the disciples will be able to carry on Jesus' work And do even greater things than he has done Is that difficult to believe? What do you think he might have in mind? By saying that greater works than these he will do, that is the one who believes in me Is it possible to entertain a thought like that that Jesus disciples might do greater works than he did? If they ask anything in his name, he will do it Any ideas about it? I think he has been wondering if you met him in an individual sense In a one person really concentrated to the Lord, or in a corporate sense of the body 2000 years of church history and how it is the unbelievable things Corporately that have been done have certainly surpassed what Jesus did And I find myself wondering which sense he is Whether he means this individually or corporately for the church as a body Maybe throughout all of history Jesus did say earlier on in chapter 6, verses 28 and 29 You remember this is when some of the crowd are saying What must we do to be doing the works of God? When we think of works of God, we probably think that Jesus is talking about here miracles Tremendous signs from heaven of the miraculous And yet I don't really think that is what he has in mind, at least not miracles in the usual sense He says to them in response in verse 29, chapter 6 This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent This is the work of God And think about all the times we have commented about the miracles of Jesus Which were actually signs And the abiding importance of those miracles was that they taught something about Jesus And so perhaps this is what Jesus has in mind here The greater works have to do really with bringing more and more people to a knowledge of saving knowledge of Christ That we believe in him whom God has sent Perhaps that's the focus, the intent of what he is talking about Greater works show you do That's right, absolutely Absolutely That's right, Jesus said many times that his ministry was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel That he did have sheep not of this fold And he would call them, they would hear his voice but they were going to hear his voice through the voice of his disciples And when Jesus left there was a very small band of faithful disciples left And it's really through them, it's through that apostolic witness that we all have come to faith And we all hear the word and the voice of Jesus So that's absolutely right It was through the apostolic, these apostles plus Paul and their ministries That the whole Christian mission has been begun and has carried on And has been left authoritatively for us in the scriptures in the New Testament In fact, I think in chapter 14 verse 26 You might even say that Jesus gives a sort of authorization for the New Testament Verse 26 This is in the context of promising the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you I think that is in a sense Jesus' authorization of the apostolic witness, the apostolic gospel And testimony to Jesus I think that does have specific reference to the apostles It has, I think, an application to us, no doubt But I think speaking specifically to the apostles who heard his voice Who would then have the spirits aid in recalling what Jesus has taught And not only recalling, you can think of several times in John's gospel Where John comments that at the time Jesus' disciples didn't even understand it It was only afterwards, after the resurrection, after the giving of the Holy Spirit That they even understood the things that they heard So not just the remembrance but the understanding of the meaning was given by the Holy Spirit And given infallibly to the apostles Well, we've already mentioned this next great promise And in this whole discourse you'll notice things keep coming up Back and forth, being repeated over and over Things like Jesus leaving them And what that means, him sending the counselor, the comforter, the Holy Spirit Comes up in this chapter, chapter 15, chapter 16, over and over But here he introduces them to the Holy Spirit known under the name of the counselor or comforter or helper Various ways that word has been translated into English In Jesus' physical absence, he will give them the Spirit to leave them and guide them into all truth Going on in verse 27, Jesus says once again that he's going to leave them But he will not leave them alone and not leave them in turmoil but he will also give them peace He says not as the world gives peace, do I give you peace? Any ideas, what do you think he means by that? Not as the world gives peace Okay, does that resonate with everybody? Sure, I think it must Not the kind of peace in terms of outward circumstances But an inner peace, a peace that abides with us throughout no matter what and into eternity In fact, a little bit later on in chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus will end this discourse by saying I have said this to you that in me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world So in the world, he doesn't mean that we're going to be exempted from tribulation No, as long as you're in the world you will have tribulation We'll talk a little bit more about that in a while But this peace I give to you, not as the world gives Transending, any kind of peace, any kind of tranquility Any kind of absence from trouble that the world can give us Now, I think that there must be some kind of connection between what he just says about peace and what he goes on to say in verse 30 I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming He has no power over me, but I do as the Father has commanded me So that the world may know that I love the Father Do you think there's some connection between this promise of peace and the mention of the ruler coming, the ruler of this world? I think so, I think so Earlier on in chapter 12 Jesus has pointed to the coming of this ruler and at that point you remember what he said He said, now is the judgment of this world Now is the ruler of this world cast out So he's given an indication of what's going to happen when he encounters the ruler of this world Here he mentions it again and mentions it in the context of leaving the disciples with peace His peace, not as the world gives peace Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, he'll say later in chapter 16 Jesus will overcome the world and will cast out the ruler of this world And thereby he will win for his people the greatest peace possible Peace with God and safety from the devil's snares First John 518 speaks about the believer and says that the evil one does not touch him It's not touching What a marvelous thing, what a marvelous assurance to have That the evil one cannot touch us Well yes, we may be battered about by his evils, by his designs, but in the ultimate sense he cannot touch us And is that kind of peace that the Lord leaves with us At the beginning of chapter 15 then Jesus tells his disciples a parable He's almost through speaking in parables with him, but not yet He tells him a parable about a vine I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit And he goes on There is, I think, a rich Old Testament background for this Does anything any text from the Old Testament come to mind? Yes, Mark. Isaiah 5? Yes, I think that's one in particular. There are a few others Psalm 80 speaks about God bringing forth a vine from Egypt and planting it and so forth But this is a, you know, it's not an uncommon theme in the Old Testament Comparing Israel to a vine, a vine or a vineyard The Isaiah passage is a very quotable one, a very memorable one Where Isaiah talks about my beloved had a vineyard on a very pleasant hill And he dug a ditch around it, he put up a fence, he did all this For his vineyard and what happened? The vineyard produced wild grapes And what will then the owner of the vineyard do while he will come and destroy that vineyard And then the punchline comes at the end where Isaiah says For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting He looked for justice but behold bloodshed for righteousness that behold a cry God is going to come in judgment upon his vineyard because it did not produce good fruit With that in mind, think of what Jesus is saying now, what is the true vine? Israel? Jesus. Again, Jesus replaces the norms, the institutions of the Old Testament He is the true temple where God dwells among his people He is the true Israel, he is the true vine He is the vine that will produce good fruit from now on If one wants to be part of Israel, one has to be connected to the vine One has to be connected to Jesus Jesus is the true Israel and to bear good fruit we must abide in him And those who do not bear fruit, those who do not remain in him are cut off But those who do remain bear much fruit And this is why he has chosen his disciples and chosen us that we might go and bear fruit In the next section Jesus reiterates the law of love that we should love one another As he has loved us versus 12 through 17 And where he says greater love, half no man than this, that's a man lay down his life for his friends Verse 16, you did not choose me but I chose you And appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide So that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you This I do believe has, again, special reference to the apostles I think when he says you did not choose me but I chose you Specifically he is talking about the apostles because of what he said in chapter 6, chapter 13 This terminology of choosing these disciples and not choosing Judas and so forth Of course it is also true for us We have seen Jesus talk about what we call the doctrine of election several times before And those that the Father gives him will come to him And those who come to him he will know wise cast out But raise them up on the last day But here I think specifically he is speaking to his apostles And that their fruit should abide And in a real sense we are living proof of that And we just mentioned the work of the apostles That foundational work given for the church that will bear fruit until the end of time For these returns Verse 18 through chapter 16, verse 4, gives us an essential part of the Christian's perspective If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you If you were of the world the world would love its own But because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you Remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master If they persecuted me they will persecute you If they kept my word they will keep yours also But all this they will do to you on my account because they do not know him who sent me And going on, in verse 25, it is to fulfill the word that is written in their law they hated me without a cause But when the counselor comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth He will bear witness to me and you also are my witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning I have said all this to you to keep you from stumbling or falling away they will put you out of the synagogues Indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God And they will do this because they have not known the Father nor me I have said these things to you that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them It is always good for us to remember that we serve a crucified man But our Lord when he came to this world ended up crucified We want to try to develop a Christian perspective on the world, a Christian worldview And that is a very comprehensive thing Part of that worldview is of course that this world belongs not to the devil, this world belongs to God God made this world, God made this world good And God has given us a mandate way back in Genesis to tend the soil, to have dominion over the earth And this world belongs to God and therefore it belongs to God's people And God's people therefore ought to be involved in the world, we mention the election coming up I think it has not been the church's position when the church is thinking rightly It has not been the church's position simply to abandon all these worldly processes to unbelievers That has certainly been the position of the reformers and the reformed tradition Yet we also have to keep in mind at all times that this world is not going to be paradise until the Lord returns That there will always be opposition, that we don't put our hope in princes, in the political process, in running and governing this world We serve a crucified Savior and the world will hate us We were seeing just several weeks ago, after the Republican Convention, there was one of these new shows, one of the, I don't know, PBS or some show And one of the reporters was interviewing Ralph Reed Now, you know, I don't give me wrong, I'm not here to endorse everything that Ralph Reed says But it was a very revealing interview to me, the man who was interviewing him was so angry with him I guess there were some Christians of the Republican Convention who were wearing some kind of pen that said Christians for a doll or something like that, Christians for Republicans And this reporter was just completely overwhelmed with this, how can you equate Christianity with politics and so forth? And I mean, you could look at him, you could see his jaw clivering, I mean, the man was so full of rage at Ralph Reed, and Ralph Reed was stayed completely calm, cool as a cucumber and answered him I thought admirably well, but I wish he had said something to him like, John, why do you hate me? Why do you hate so much? Because you could see him seething with rage Well, perhaps we don't see it too much in our lives Occasionally, we'll see the rage of unbelievers against believers and against Christ But it's there, it's there underneath if it's not on the surface And in many places in the world, brothers and sisters, it's going on Christians are giving their lives for Christ There's a terrible persecution that's been going on in Sudan for a long time and our government has done absolutely nothing Christians in Indonesia have been suffering, we just heard a report in chapel December the other day About Indonesia, we had some singers acquire from Indonesia come a while back And it was pointed out later that just recently in Indonesia, 20 churches had been burned and several Christians had been killed Evidently by Muslims If they loved Jesus, they would love us But no servant is greater than his master And if they hate me, they will hate you Jesus himself cites Psalm 35-19, they hated me without a cause Let's try not to give the world a cause to hate us, except the cause of Christ Any discussion, comments? I've touched upon a number of things and I know I've missed a bunch of things here As you noticed, that was when I avoided For good reason, I don't know Some people have said that equate it with a sort of full cleansing where cleansed by Christ And yet we have ongoing sins And like the dirt that attaches to our feet, we go on sinning and we need to confess those sins And find forgiveness daily for our own cleanness But nevertheless, we have been washed and we have no further need to be cleaned, cleansed all over again Christ's death cleanses us once and for all And yet there's an ongoing forgiveness from our sins Now, that may be about the most plausible one I know of Do you have something else? Well, that's one Yeah, anything else? But
I mean, all of a sudden, it's not cheap anymore, it's not that In photo, there's anything all of a sudden, it's kind of a symptom of the next root for something like that It's sort of a symptom, it's sort of a problem Isn't it fascinating? Jesus is the great divider And I'm sure most of us have had similar experiences We can talk about almost anything else, but the name of Jesus comes up Well, I then, senses go up and people look around, go observation Yes, Jim That sort of thing is the one The thing in our culture is where the curse works is bringing the stock value You can see it out on the go The name of Jesus is still full, and it's still the light That's right Good point, good point A very long abiding swear word I don't think anybody can talk about it constantly, but they're talking about a couple of times The reason Jesus made the thing is, it's pretty chromatic And that's in the middle of the whole city That's in the way of how I take from us As far as the light of the use or the light of the use That's right, and that's good for us to remember What's that? Amen, amen That's right, nobody says old Buddha, oh Muhammad, that's right That's right, even old Moses That's right, a good point, does you know good? That's how Buddha's dead, good point Jesus is alive The name of Jesus carries a sting And I think it's good for us to remember We serve a crucified Savior, we serve a swear word We serve what the world sees as scum Something they swear with That's our Lord Yeah, yeah Well yeah, the question should we use Uphemisms like Gosh or Golly in place of the Lord's name And I guess I do think you might have to ask the assessor of the seminary Or ask a pastor, well about this But I think I go along with it I think it's good for us not to say anything that even remotely sounds like the Lord's name Or say G's or G-Wiz or something like that I think it's just good just to avoid anything that sounds like taking the Lord's name in vain If we must use words when we're frustrated, you know, come up with something completely different And a lot of people say we shouldn't even do that You know, we should never because even that is questioning God's will So forth, I don't know That may be true, but I must confess I transgress that when a lot, but I try to Use a different sort of Yeah, right, can I have my kids play with your kids? Yeah, power of words, that's right, good, yeah Yeah, yeah I know there are parts of the word that will take place with that by God's name Or something that you can read about to Well, I always like Charlie Brown's solution, rats, you know, I always like rats, rats Or, let's see, or poo, poo, you know, bother, oh bother I like that one, that's pretty, it is a bother, you know, when we're bothered It's a bother, that's very descriptive and it's not bad Anything, yes, yes, we are over time But for a year, in case we'll make an exception I think it's doubly devastating for us in America, because, you know, we do have such a tremendous Christian influence through in our history It's like more of an insult, something that we seem to have lost Yeah, well that is, yeah Well, I think the only, you know, real solution to that, of course, is to go to Scripture And show them how throughout history, throughout the Scriptures, Old Testament New Testament We have constant reminders that God is the one who sets up kings and deposes them God is working even mysteriously through and in the evil acts of human beings You know, when Solomon becomes king and he lays this burden upon the northern kingdom and they rebel The prophet tells him, you know, this is what God ordained to happen This is why God is behind us The Scripture, over and over again, and the ultimate example of course is the crucifixion of Christ, the most heinous crime ever perpetrated And yet even that, Peter says, in Acts, that this was according to the determinant council and will of God So we have, even the worst of crimes are not outside God's control And God is the one who is bringing all things together for the good, those that love Him So I mean, you know, just take them to Scripture, I think, because the only way will make any progress Yes, David, one last one
That I'm not out of control, this is not something unforeseen, excellent point, excellent point Jesus assures them, we have the word of Jesus assures that he knew this would happen And things are still in his hands Okay, let's go to prayer We do give you praise, our Lord, that you are stronger than all, that no one is able to snatch us from your hand And that you are the Lord who ordains all things, that you stand behind history, and you stand ahead of history We pray that you would energize us to serve you, to serve each other Jesus' name, Amen