When Worship and the World Collide - John 12:1-11 (September 12, 20201)

well as i anticipated getting back into the normal rigors of the preaching ministry here at grace life church with all that's happening in the world today i sense that this was one of those moments where a sermon outside of the normal flow of john's gospel would be needed there are so many issues in our day today that need to be addressed and i began the week looking at a number of different portions of scripture and considering a number of different issues that might be this might be addressed in more topical fashion and then at the end of that reflection i thought you know what let me just take one more pass at john 12 verses 1 to 11 and just see what's there and as i read john 12 1-11 it occurred to me that the content of this portion of scripture is incredibly relevant and and incredibly applicable even to a number of the issues that are taking place in our day and time and so we're going to be in john 12 this morning we're going to be in verses 1 to 11 and let's go ahead and begin now by reading this portion of scripture john chapter 12 beginning in verse 1. jesus therefore six days before the passover came to bethany where lazarus was whom jesus had raised from the dead so they made him a supper there and martha was serving but lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but judas iscariot one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said why was this perfume not sold for 300 daenerye and given to the people the poor now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had the money box he used to pilfer what was put into it therefore jesus said let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial for you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me the large crowd of the jews then learned that he was there and they came not for his sake only but that they might also see lazarus whom he had risen from the dead but the chief priests planned to put lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the jews were going away and were believing in jesus we are now within less than a week of the crucifixion of christ his hour has nearly come and the sun is setting on his earthly ministry in the preceding chapter we know that jesus raised lazarus from the dead and as a result the religious leaders had conspired to put him to death and even here in chapter 12 we we find that the resurrection of lazarus plays a an important role it's a a miracle that has a lingering effect even into chapter 12 in the events of this chapter the people were abuzz with the news many had flocked to jerusalem for the passover many were seeking out both jesus and lazarus and many were at least superficially believing in jesus in fact in the flow of john's gospel it's the raising of lazarus that sets the stage for the triumphal entry when jesus is hailed as the king of israel and so it's the raising of lazarus that really helps to set the stage for the response of the people as jesus enters jerusalem on palm sunday but before all of that we find ourselves at a home in the town of bethany in a moment when worship and the world collide because the lavish and spontaneous worship of one disciple exposes the worldliness of another and where even the worldliness of the religious leaders of israel are on full display and as we come to this passage we're going to let it speak to some of the issues of the day not because this portion of scripture is primarily here to do that but because it legitimately does speak to a number of matters that need to be addressed and so we're going to honor its authorial intent and unleash it on some current events and here's what we're going to see no need to jot these down just yet we're going to see true worship true miscalculation truth told and then truth suppressed and so if you're taking notes jot down first true worship this comes out in verses 1 and following it says there jesus therefore six days before the passover came to bethany where lazarus was whom jesus had raised from the dead that it was six days before the passover likely places our lord's arrival late on friday afternoon just prior to the onset of the sabbath the jews counted days from sunset to sunset so the sabbath would have commenced on friday evening and ended on saturday evening upon his arrival they likely rested and then once the sabbath had ended they reclined at a table on saturday evening and enjoyed a meal together verse 2 so they made him a supper there and martha was serving but lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him you'll note here that martha has taken up her usual place of service she was an incredible woman of service and as we saw back in john 11 she is a woman with rock solid theology so she had the full package not just being a woman devoted to service but also a woman of the word lazarus was also there you'll note that john by way of the spirit of god identifies lazarus as being one of those who were reclined at the table with jesus and that's obviously no worthy because in chapter 11 he was dead in a tomb had been dead four days and jesus had risen him from the grave and so we have a man at the supper alongside jesus who sometime a few days or weeks ago was actually dead in a tomb rotting and that really makes this supper somewhat noteworthy because as we know from matthew and mark this supper took place at the home of simon the leper and it's almost certain that simon was no longer a leper because lepers didn't attend social functions they didn't host social functions and so no doubt jesus had healed simon of his leprosy and so you've got the son of god a man risen from the dead and a man healed from leprosy all at the same supper this was quite a supper the conversation would have been rather intriguing and then at some point during this supper something comes over mary and she engages in a remarkable act of worship look at verse three mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume this was a marvelous and costly expression of love and affection and we need to paint the scene just a little bit that they were reclined at this table meant that they were lying on their side on one elbow with their head toward the table and their feet away from it mark indicates the perfume was contained in an alabaster vial mark 14 3 and it's even possible that mary had acquired this alabaster vial of costly perfume for this very purpose mark also indicates that mary broke the vial and poured it over the head of jesus matthew notes that in addition to his head it was poured over his body and we know that john here for a particular purpose that we'll see in a moment emphasizes that it was actually poured over the feet of jesus and so this this bottle of perfume was emptied over the entire body of jesus a pound refers to a roman pound equaling 12 ounces and this is costly perfume it came from northern india it was a fragrant oil extracted from a plant in the mountains of that region it was pure and as we'll see in a moment it's worth about 300 denarii which is equal to about a year's wages that mary poured it on the feet of jesus and then wiped his feet with her hair expresses great humility and humility and devotion this was an act of humility just think in john 13 for a moment how when the disciples enter the upper room with jesus and it's time for someone to wash the feet of the disciples none of the disciples take up the towel to do that jesus then does washes their feet as a an example for them and so to to take upon that role was really to take upon the task of the lowliest slave and so mary as an expression of her worship of christ and her deep humility pours this this perfume over the feet of jesus and begins to actually wipe his feet with her hair she reflects the heart of john the baptist who didn't deem himself worthy to even untie the thong of the sandal of jesus john 1 27. and that she used her hair was very unusual women in that culture did not let their hair down and so for her to let her hair down in public for this act of worship was really a denial of social custom it was it was putting aside any sort of shame and scorn that may have come to her for doing so as she committed herself to this wonderful act of worship it expressed love it expressed affection it expressed humility it expressed devotion and it expressed a sense of urgency mary was not going to wait to see if she got another opportunity to worship christ in this way she had this moment this was the moment she was going to seize and so she made this moment the moment that she would anoint jesus for his burial and really she may have had some sense some perception of the imminency of the death of jesus so she may have appreciated to some level in some extent that jesus was in fact just days away from his own death and as a testimony to this exceptional act of worship the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume everyone in that home knew what had taken place it was undeniable and so there was testimony in the air of this wonderful and glorious worship in fact on account of this matthew and mark indicate that jesus declares truly i say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her this was god pleasing worship this was worship that that is met with the affirmation of jesus christ jesus christ puts his stamp of approval on this act of worship and we would do well to take note of its qualities it was humble it was heartfelt it was sacrificial it was costly it was urgent it recognized the supremacy of christ over everything and it was with a complete disregard for social custom or public shame and i think it's fair to say that as we consider the qualities of that worship as being worship that brings honor and glory to god as being worshiped that jesus himself testifies as being pleasing worship that worship is fairly rare today this is not the the norm [Music] that we see today by those who claim the name of christ worship today is rarely humble rarely earnest rarely sacrificial rarely costly rarely with a sense of urgency rarely recognizes the supremacy of christ and is rarely with a complete disregard for what the public might have to say about it i think it's accurate to say that most churches in the world today in the world are not currently gathering to worship the lord jesus christ in the world they're concerned about the cost by way of the punishment that could come they're concerned about their testimony the way they'll be perceived by the world around them they're concerned about their health seemingly prioritizing health physical health over spiritual health and they're banking on being able to worship christ at some later time they're assuming that another day will come another time will arrive when they can actually engage in worship and so they are delaying present worship as they bank on and hope for later future worship this kind of worship is rare but though it's rare it isn't extinct i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship here at grace life church i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship at fairview baptist church i think we can see the marks of this kind of worship at grace community church but there's one church in particular that i want to highlight this morning bible chapel pastored by jacob ryum trinity has been found in contempt of court twice for its worship the first time cost them 83 000 the second has them on the hook for 135 000 now what are many going to say about that many are going to say that is utter foolishness but be careful because that's effectively what judas said and i don't think you want to be in judas's shoes when i look at the worship of trinity and i'm not the lord that's ultimately his judgment i see a commitment to the honor and glory of christ i see a commitment to the absolute supremacy of christ over all rule and authority i see urgency to worship christ to seize the day this day as the day to come together and worship him i see costliness a willing to to suffer personal shame scorn sacrifice even financial penalty and so in that we see even an absolute disregard for the world's approval that's the kind of worship that we see with mary it's the same expression of worship that we see reflected by mary right here in john 12. it is in my estimation christ exalting worship worship that makes much of him worship that puts his worth on display really we could just call this true worship true worship second if you're taking notes jot this down true miscalculation true miscalculation and here we see the effect of true worship on a worldly heart look at verse four but judas iscariot one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to poor people now stop for a moment you and i have the vantage point of hindsight we've read this portion of scripture we we know that judas is a betrayer judas has already been announced as a betrayer back in john 6 and so we understand that judas is an apostate but the rest of the disciples didn't even by the time judas is in the process of betraying jesus they have no idea that judas is going to do what he's going to do we're going to see that in john 13. and the disciples went along with judas judas here and john is the one that spoke he is the leader but the other gospels indicate that the rest followed with him yeah yeah why wasn't that given to the poor they said and what john brings out here is that judas wasn't concerned for the poor at all he was concerned for who himself and that comes out in verse 6. now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had the money box he used to pill for what was put into it so judas is a virtue signaler he effectively virtue signals concern for the poor when in reality he's concerned about himself he's a thief and he's looking at the money that could have been sold for that perfume and he would have had at least a portion of it had it got its way into the money box that's where judas is at his apostate heart is now beginning to come out he doesn't love christ he isn't committed to the honor and glory of christ he was in it for himself he was beginning to see the writing on the wall there was no immediate kingdom he wasn't going to have an immediate place in that kingdom there was not going to be a payday in this for him just a life of self-denial cross-bearing and obedience to christ and by the end of john 13 he's prepared to betray jesus for what 30 pieces of silver and so mary brings this out god uses mary's worship to draw this out of judas mary lavishly worships the lord anointing him with perfume worth about a year's wages and judas deems it a waste and betrays him for 30 pieces of silver that's a stark contrast and it's a contrast that's instructive this is what worship does when christ is truly worshiped it brings the worldiness of folks of the hearts of folks out onto the table it brings it out into its full expression and i think we can see it happening in our day because as churches put their money where their mouth is as we saw a moment ago with trinity in their worship of christ there are those who speak out against them and when they do they sound a lot like judas and so either they are a judas or they've been led astray by a judas like the disciples and have made a terrible miscalculation let me give you an example this comes from a gentleman named paul carter very outspoken speaks often for the gospel coalition canada when it was announced that charges would be brought against training bible chapel here's what paul tweeted quote what a disaster this was a major topic of discussion in premier ford's press conference today whatever this was supposed to accomplish it has failed more than failed it has backfired loudly publicly embarrassingly backfired please please please reconsider unquote i don't think that's aged well i don't think that's going to age well trinity has committed themselves to the worship of christ and there are naysayers who come alongside and want to ultimately cast embarrassment scorn and shame upon them again that sounds more like judas than it does marry and in many cases churches that have complied with the government have received government subsidies you can see this online there are lots of churches that record money as having been received from the government in year 2020 it's financial systems assistance they've effectively sold the headship of christ over his church for a serb check i interact with a number of folks who want to interact with me about why their leadership is forcing compliance upon the congregation one question you might want to ask your leadership is this have you received money from the government have you received financial assistance from the government because i would say if you have then you are compromised you have just sold the headship of christ over his church to the government you are now in a position where you would be a hypocrite to take money from the government and then defy their public health orders their compliance has been bought in some cases and if they speak out at that point in time i think it's safe to say they're compromised and again bearing more resemblance to judas than to mary i remember being in prison in my jail cell listening to a radio station talk radio and hearing a pastor in the greater edmonton area speak out negatively against us in our church so some sound like mary or something judas well mary worships the lord in exemplary fashion judas speaks foolishly and draws the other disciples into an awful miscalculation and though we've already cited our lord's judgment from matthew and mark it's now time for him to speak here in the context of the gospel of john and so if you're taking notes jot down third truth told truth told verse 7 therefore jesus said let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial and the language here is tricky it sounds like there's still some perfume left and that jesus is telling judas to leave her alone that she might save what remains for his burial but it's clear from matthew and mark that mary emptied the vial this was poured over his head his body his feet she emptied it and so in effect jesus is saying that the perfume has served its purpose it's as though he's saying what he did in mark 14 8 she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial and then jesus says this verse 8 for you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me that is a statement of fact and one that in no way minimizes acts of benevolence for the poor there's no question that acts of benevolence for the poor are a legitimate expression of compassion and benevolence but here the issue is one of priority mary has worshipped the lord at a critical point in his earthly ministry just days removed from his death and so she has demonstrated the right priority in giving worship to the lord jesus christ they would always have the poor but they would not always have him and it's the statement about poverty that i'd like to comment on for a moment we can conclude from this statement that our lord makes that poverty is an unavoidable reality in a fallen world all efforts to eradicate poverty will inevitably fail and that's especially true when government is involved government is incredibly and enormously inefficient in everything that they do all you would have to do is look at your health care system inefficiency waste that's the government and so anytime the the government is involved in anything it's not going to go well that is that is sure but the matter i want to address is critical race theory or crt and this is just a 30 000 30 000 foot look at it and it's really connected to our lord's statement about poverty because critical race theory is concerned with equitable outcomes it's not about equal opportunity it's about ensuring that there are equitable outcomes crt wants to ensure the current social systems in place don't result in disparities among classes and ethnicities now that might just sound a little bit like socialism to you which is not a new idea and so it might sound somewhat benign it isn't crt has essentially redefined the essence of racism it has shifted racism away from a personal attitude of superiority about one's own ethnicity to systems social structures and institutions and it does this with a view toward destroying those systems it deems to be systemically racist and it just so happens that all of the systems social structures and institutions of western society are in their estimation systemically racist the economic system the vocational system the educational system the judicial system law enforcement everything crt believes that the western world is ultimately rooted in and founded upon an inherently racist system which essentially makes everyone in the system in particular those who are deemed to be among the category of the oppressor racist and the reason these systems are deemed to be systemically racist is due to the fact that there are clearly disparities i mean jesus has said that that poverty is inevitable you will always have the poor with you that's just built into the framework of a fallen world what crt does is it essentially takes something that is impossible to eradicate and on the basis of its presence in any given society determines that that society must be racist because it's the only way to account for these disparities the very fact that poverty exists is deemed evidence of racism and so crt wants to solve all of that and it wants to do it by disintegrating western civilization as we know it everything that is currently happening in the western world is all in an effort to entirely restructure our society and freedom personal autonomy and civil liberty is deemed to be the byproduct of an inherently racist system a system that oppresses some and benefits others and so what crt does is it views society through the lens of the oppressor and the oppressed everyone falls into one of these two categories and what puts you in one category over another is typically either your gender or your ethnicity why do i say ethnicity and not race because there is but one race it's called the human race and among that one race there are many ethnicities and so until recently you might have thought that racism on a broad and wide scale was a thing of the past it was it's just been redefined and it's been redefined along systemic lines that's why a year ago as major cities in the u.s were coming undone and you had bedlam and anarchy rioting in the streets people breaking into stores and and running out with goods the reason nothing was done about that is because to do anything about that had law enforcement actually imposed itself on that it would just prove the system is racist the writing was essentially deemed to be a just response to an inherently racist system and so what was happening there was essentially what you would call reparations individuals who had deemed themselves to be oppressed in society we're essentially taking back a portion of what they believe is already theirs and so law enforcement essentially stood by and just watched it happen had they involved themselves as they should have involved themselves they would have been deemed racist now why do i bring this up even here in the context of the local church because this is being embraced by many in evangelicalism it's not just staying outside in the world even though that too affects us it's being brought inside the church there are those in evangelicalism that believe that crt is a neutral tool and that it's useful and that we should take what is useful from that tool and apply it to our our churches and and to really every sphere of life in order to ensure that we weed out any of this systemic racism any of this built-in bias that's a byproduct of being a part of an inherently racist system and the way this is sort of cloaked is that we all have blind spots in our lives and we have these blind spots in our lives because we're a part of this inherently racist system and so we need crt to come alongside and help us because the word of god is insufficient on its own and employ this tool in order to be able to to weed out any expressions of of racism in our lives so the whole thing is cloaked in humility it's cloaked as this very christ-like humble thing that is being done to bring this tool inside the church and use it for the quote-unquote betterment of the church and really what it is is yet again another example of the church embracing another worldly and godless ideology even just to put a a verse to this and and the the precedent for even addressing matters like this in the context of preaching i want you just to listen for a moment to second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 and following paul writes this for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses a word that refers to ideological fortresses we are destroying speculations and every laffy thing raised up against the knowledge of god and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of christ preaching is intended to destroy ideologies with the hammer of god's word now a lot more needs to be said about crt but make no mistake about it it is an inherently wicked ideology it is not neutral it is wicked to the core there is absolutely nothing redeemable about it and if we were to pull back the curtain on crt i'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet but what i think we would find is that behind that curtain is the the framework that will ultimately be used to persecute the seed of abraham both his physical seed and his spiritual seed jesus in john 12 here declares the truth for you will always have the poor with you and that statement has vast implications for dealing with the issue of crt and that leads us forth to the truth suppressed the truth suppressed look at verse 9 the large crowd of the jews then learned that he was there and they came not for jesus's sake only but that they might also see lazarus whom he raised from the dead now remember bethany is just two miles from jerusalem so when they catch word that jesus is in bethany they want to see jesus and they want to see lazarus they want to see the evidence of this man who had been raised from the dead and we know already back from 11 john 11 56 that they were seeking for jesus look at that john 11 56 they they were seeking for jesus and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple what do you think that he will not come to the feast at all and so when they hear that jesus is in bethany along with lazarus they go to see him and lazarus because they want to see the evidence of what they've heard has taken place in the resurrection of lazarus verse 10 but the chief priests plan to put lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the jews were going away and were believing in jesus so what do the governing authorities want to do they want to destroy the evidence they want to put lazarus to death lazarus was evidence of jesus's power to raise the dead and so they don't just want to kill jesus they want to kill the evidence that he can raise the dead and you see this actually even at the end prior to the resurrection of christ how the pharisees put in place parameters to try and guard and protect the tomb so that when you know no excuse or no no no falsehood could be raised that jesus had risen from the grave well it just ended up proving the fact that he did because the guards went back to the leaders and said he's risen from the dead and and they said well don't tell anybody this and they paid them not to just a comment about the the faith expressed here no comment is made about the integrity of the faith expressed by this crowd and there's really precedent for even raising that question we know throughout john's gospel that there are superficial expressions of faith we saw it back in john 2 jesus clears the temple performs many miracles many are believing in him and jesus is not entrusting himself to them because he knows what's in the heart of man he knows it's a superficial faith we saw in john 6 after he fed the thousands they wanted to take him and make him king and by the end of john 6 they're walking away because his teaching was too hard so we know that there's superficial faith that we realize that even here it likely is that because even though they're going to herald him as king as he enters jerusalem for the triumphal entry by the end of the week they're they're calling for his crucifixion so this is no doubt a superficial expression of faith but it was enough to make the chief priests want to suppress the truth and i think we can look at that and just see the very same thing taking place in our own day can't we the governing authority of israel the sanhedrin was not just a religious governing authority it had political components as well we saw that back at the end of john 11 that when they put jesus or at least created the plan to put jesus to death and it was motivated by a political desire political aim and we're seeing the same thing in our day that just as the governing authorities of israel wanted to control the information made available to the people so too does our government they want to control the narrative and anything at a step with their narrative is deemed to be misinformation or disinformation and the government the mainstream media and big tech are all in on it the the whole system is in cahoots together as they ultimately control the information that has gotten to the public in order to pull the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting people this is what tyrannical governments do this is why when you look at the u.s the the the freedom of the press is so critical you take away the freedom of the press and go to a state-run media much like ours is here in our country and you end up with nothing but a a false narrative being continually brought to the people of the nation to indoctrinate them to see the world a certain way and once they see the world that certain way the government can then control them and their behavior because they've be they've drunk the kool-aid as it were and this isn't just happening in our country it is happening on a global scale they want to control people and so they control the information they have access to we can see our federal government is already trying to put in place legislation that would give them the kind of power that would even shut us off from the alternative avenues of information that we have access to today but even then it raises the question why are the masses so easily deceived why are people believing what they're hearing from the mainstream media why are they believing what they're hearing from the governing officials why are they doing so especially when there's still access to good information let me give you a couple of reasons one they've refused to honor god or give him thanks and have been given over to a depraved mind romans 1. they have a depraved mind they're unable and in capable of seeing straight they have no anchor in the truth for them up is down left is right and good is evil they have a depraved mind that's what happens when you reject god and when you remain settled in that rejection over a long period of time god just continually gives you over to the depravity in your heart it's a removal of his restraining grace to let your human heart do whatever it pleases two they have a poor anthropology that's the doctrine of man they believe man is inherently good that is incredibly problematic man is inherently evil and if you believe man is inherently good then you're going to believe what that your government is inherently good and that it has your best interests in view that is utter folly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that governments are filled with corruption they have been since time began it's the way it's always been and what's amazing is that our country at one point seemed somewhat aware of the possibility that our government wasn't entirely honest and truthful and so people with this poor anthropology have become far too trusting of government believing government has their best interests in view and three and this is really important this is satan's world system and satan is the father of lies and the world's ideologies are expressed in a manner that disguises their true intent i mean all you would need to do is look at anything that is being said by government and the mainstream media and they they express their their positions and their ideologies in language that is so sanctimonious that it sounds as though it is right and for the best interests of mankind and good when in reality it's the exact opposite just look at what they're saying and you can know that what's really true the real intent is the exact opposite of what they're saying and anything that opposes the ideologies that are being propagated in accord with satan's world system are deemed to be the exact opposite they're deemed to be misinformation disinformation anti-science you know all of this and so with no ability to discern and think clearly and with a poor anthropology and with the language being used to describe the ideologies of the day being cloaked in such sanctimonious garb you have an easily deceptive people who are low hanging fruit for governments to come along pull the wool over their eyes and make them think that government has their best interests in view and i think this is akin to what we see paul described in second thessalonians chapter two turn there for a minute thessalonians chapter 2 is definitely dealing with future events but those future events don't just arrive in a vacuum and i think we can see how many of the events of the end times could easily become a reality in our day as we see aspects of what will take place in the end times already in shadow form coming to fruition so this comes in a context that announces the coming of the man of lawlessness the man of lawlessness is the antichrist this is one who will come and who will demand worship you will have to worship this one revelation indicates that you'll have to receive a mark of the beast in order to buy and sell you will have to worship the beast the beast and the man of lawlessness are the same and so when that takes place there are two verses that describe what will happen and i think we can see shadow forms of that already taking place in our day look at verse 11. for this reason god will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged you did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness and so in accord with the arrival of the man of lawlessness god will send upon the people of the entire world a deluding influence they will look to the man of lawlessness and they will offer to him worship and it's all because they believed what is false would not believe the truth but instead took pleasure in wickedness though i don't think we're seeing the fulfillment of that today i do think we're seeing something like it something akin to it taking place at present and so really we can say this that just as romans 1 declares that what is happening at present is god's judgment that it is god's judgment and really with the reality of the judgment of god so evident you look at the world today you can see the judgment of god upon our nation upon the nation south of us upon the the whole world it is really almost a down payment on the certainty of coming eternal judgment god is putting his glory on display in the judgment that we're seeing take place in the world and so if you are not in christ then you need to see this judgment for what it is as evidence of a coming judgment one that is everlasting in nature it is appointed unto man once to die and then comes the judgment and all of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of god and so if you have not believed on the lord jesus christ then what you are doing is you are refusing the the only way to be saved from your sin and you are leaving yourself in a position whereby you are under the judgment and condemnation of god for every violation of his righteous standard you need a savior and there is only one savior there is only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved jesus came lived the life that you couldn't he died the death that you deserve he suffered under the wrath of god for all who would ever believe on his name he died went into the grave and rose on the third day he is seated at the right hand of god he will return to bring the very judgment that we're describing and if you would turn from your sin and believe on him you will be saved delivered from the wrath to come your sin will be forgiven you will be clothed in the righteousness of christ be given everything you need to stand holy and blameless before god and you will have the hope of heaven such that as the world continues to implode all around you you have utter eternal certainty before god in christ and so i would encourage you i would urge you to look to christ this day and believe on him judgment is on the way judgment is already taking place and you do not want to die in your sins and enter eternal judgment and so believe on him and be reconciled to god through him this is what happens when worship and the world collide it's polarizing jesus brings division the darkness rages and the light shines all the more brightly that's evident right here in john's gospel jesus is six days removed from his crucifixion when darkness will have its initial moment and then jesus will atone for sin rise from the grave ascend to heaven and the gates of heaven open wide as the gospel is taken to the four corners of the earth and salvation is offered to all who would ever believe on him and so though it's dark right now we can take courage the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining john 2 8 and greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world

Channel: GraceLife Church of Edmonton

Views: 1,441

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: LfNuv9HEX4U

Length: 56min 27sec (3387 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021