The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Hebrews 4 (partial)Opening call to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and undeserved favor
1 Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard.
3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest”; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works”;
5 and in this place again, “They will not enter into my rest.”
6 Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was preached before failed to enter in because of disobedience,
7 he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day.
9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
14 Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession.
15 For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
Jesus opens the minds of the apostles to understand the scriptures, and says repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem
Referenced as the point where Jesus began saying the Christ would suffer and rise on the third day
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times!
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed.
5 The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread.
6 Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They reasoned among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
8 Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’
9 Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
10 Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
11 How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
19 I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”
20 Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23 But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
28 Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Jesus calls his followers friends, not servants, because he has made known everything from the Father
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21 But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He who hates me, hates my Father also.
24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.
25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1 John 1:1-4 (paraphrased, verses not individually cited)
John's eyewitness introduction declaring what was seen and heard from the beginning, proclaimed so readers may have fellowship
1 That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life
2 (and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.
God is light and in him there is no darkness; walking in the light brings fellowship and cleansing from sin by the blood of Jesus
5 This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
John writes so his readers may not sin; if anyone sins we have an advocate in Jesus Christ who is the propitiation for our sins and for the whole world
1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
2 And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
Closing exhortation to be diligent to make certain of God's calling and choosing, walking it out so as not to stumble, with entrance into the eternal kingdom abundantly supplied
10 Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.
11 For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray opened this passage aware that he had just finished preaching through the entire New Testament the week before, and was now turning toward what comes next. He landed in 1 John 1, following the thread from the end of Luke where Jesus tells his disciples that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. The message was about what that proclamation actually looks like when it starts with us.
What was said
Before getting into the letter itself, Pastor Ray grounded the whole thing in who wrote it. John was an eyewitness. He sat next to Jesus at the last supper. He heard Jesus pray in the garden that everyone who would later come to believe through the apostles' testimony would be brought into the same unity the disciples had. When John writes "what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you," he means it literally, and the reason he gives is fellowship, the same fellowship Jesus prayed for, extended across every generation that puts faith in him.
The first and only flat statement John makes about God in this passage is that God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. Pastor Ray put it in a wooden word-for-word translation from the Greek: "God light is and darkness in him not as none." That double negative is the foundation everything else rests on. God is entirely good. He has no shadow of ugliness or evil in him. Every conditional statement that follows assumes that as settled.
The first conditional is this: if we claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness, we are lying. Pastor Ray was straightforward here, sharing that he had woken up anxious in the night before this very service, not because he has stopped believing God will provide, but because in the dark at three in the morning the question "how are we going to do this" can feel very heavy. He said the point is not to be the person who tells everyone they have no struggles. The point is not to pretend. Walking in the dark while claiming the light is a lie, and lying is its own additional sin.
The practical truth on the other side of that first conditional is that when we do walk in the light as God is in the light, we have real fellowship with one another, and we have the assurance that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Pastor Ray was careful here: salvation happens at the moment of trusting Christ, but the ongoing assurance comes as we keep walking it out. He pointed back to the opening song of the service, "who can stop the Lord Almighty," and said that same almighty power is available to us as we walk.
The second conditional is that if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. Pastor Ray connected this to the word "confess," explaining that the Greek means to say the same thing, to agree with God about what he calls sin rather than softening it or ignoring it. He gave an example: that flash of genuine malice toward someone, the thought that wishes them harm. When we agree with God that thought is evil and ask forgiveness, he is faithful and righteous to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. He quoted J.I. Packer's definition of repentance as taking all that we know of our own sin and handing it over to God, noting that as God purifies us we tend to see more, which is why John's verb tense points toward an ongoing, progressive act of confessing rather than a single event.
The third conditional closes the sequence: if we say we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar, and his word is not in us. Then John shifts and calls his readers "my little children," which Pastor Ray said he found genuinely tender. John writes all of this not to condemn but so that his readers may not sin. He was direct about the all-or-nothing thinking that tends to follow a relapse or a failure: the sense that one slip erases everything and you might as well quit. John's answer is that the walk is steady and daily and sometimes hour by hour, and when anyone does sin, there is an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is himself the propitiation, the full payment, for sins. Not only for those who are already reading the letter, John adds, but for the whole world.
Pastor Ray closed by telling the congregation that the coming weeks will be a series on repentance, including at least one history lesson aimed at building confidence in the scriptures people carry in their hands or on their phones. He asked for prayer as he builds that plan, and he left the altar open for anyone who wanted to come forward.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
John writes that he is proclaiming what he personally heard and saw so that his readers may have fellowship with him and the other apostles. What does it mean to you that the Christian faith rests on eyewitness testimony, and how does that affect the way you hold on to it?
Pastor Ray said he woke up anxious in the night and described knowing in his waking moments that God has always taken care of him, while still struggling in the dark hours. Have you experienced that gap between what you know to be true and what you feel in a hard moment, and what has helped you through it?
Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are doing? Glad to see you. Very glad to see you.
Would you stand with me? I I would love to sing together and worship in song together. An encouraging word from Hebrews four to lead us into worship, it says this. Let's come boldly to the throne of grace. Catch this, though.
Really. Boldly. Not timidly or it's come boldly to the throne of our gracious God, and there we'll receive his mercy, and we'll find his grace, his undeserved favor that he's given to us, poured out so generously to help us when we need it most. That's good news. What do you say we sing?
This is amazing grace.
The the king above all kings. Who shakes the holder, who shakes the holder with holy thunder, who leaves us breathless and on wonder the king glory, the king above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is amazing grace. My cross.
You would lay down your life, that I wouldn't be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. In all of its brilliance. The king of glory, the king above all kings. Let's sing of his grace.
This is amazing grace. You would bear my cross, you would lay down your life, that I'll be the king who conquered grain. Worthy is the mammal slay. Worthy is the king who conquered grain. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.
Hey. Can you hear me now? I have a few announcements. We'll see what they are together. Super exciting.
Happy happy good times budget and workshop. You know what? We had one last week. You do not have to have attended last week to attend this week. I heard that this was super exciting and happy happy.
It was really really good. There were a lot of folks a few folks that showed up ready to kinda teach and few others that showed up ready to learn and Nick said he was gonna holler out something if I forgot it.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. We had somebody donate gift cards. So this week, we'll be raffling off to attendees a $50 gift card so you can start out your budgeting workshop ahead of the game. This week, we're gonna be working on and talking about retirement. And if you missed last week, you're not missing everything.
We also have all of our materials are gonna be on the church website, firstbjackson.org, and you scroll down to the super exciting happy happy good times budgeting workshop, and then you can click on there and get all of the stuff. Also, I'd like to encourage you if this is something you wanna do and you don't wanna attend, feel free to contact me, and I can set up a time to go over this with you. I think it's exciting, and we want people to feel free to ask questions and discover together how we can make it, take away some of the stress in your finance finances.
Nick and Richard and Jeremy feel very strongly that they're using their gifts and helping other people to do this. So thank you all three for doing that, leading that. Next, oh my goodness. What's happening at Oahuana, Carl?
Well, this, obviously, there's a recognition party just to to say thank you to our volunteers. That's May 5. Sunday, May 5.
Cinco de Mayo. Yep. Volunteer recognition party. Okay.
That's right.
But as far as Tijuana goes tomorrow, we've just got three more club nights and the TNTUs are cutting out derby cars. We need some helpers. We need some helpers to to cut some of those out, but
it's it's coming tomorrow, 05:45. 05:45 tomorrow night right here. In this room, it'll start out and then move all over the church from there. Volunteers for connect hour. This month is full, but next month is not yet.
If you'd like to help out by filling in during the between hour, the connect hour, 10:00 in the morning down the hall, providing breakfast. We provide the the funds to buy the breakfast, you just kinda get it set up. Connor and Maria are doing that this morning, so that's fantastic. If you have any questions, you can call Addy on that. There's a men's lunch study, happens at lunchtime, no lunch will be provided.
You can bring it if you want lunch, okay? But it's really good. We're in first Peter, we've gotten through most of the first chapter in the first couple weeks, but you do not have to worry about being behind. We'll catch up to speed. It's a really good time for guys to get together in the Fellowship Hall on Thursdays, 11:55 and it'll be over at one.
Addie, not Addie, sorry. Amy has an announcement. Do you wanna come forward and share? Yeah. Alright.
Red microphone is on.
Thank you. Alright. Okay. Hi. I'm Amy.
I'm the children's director here at Firstbeat, and it is an a privilege to do what I do. Y'all are a little frightening, kids. Can do. Sorry. Amen.
Yeah. Sorry.
I'm just be gonna honest and real. So one thing that when my husband Philip and I do it that came to my heart and reminded me was when Jesus said, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them for the kingdom belongs to such as these. And we have an amazing group of teachers, volunteers downstairs that show up every Sunday. We have pastors who support Awana's, which is just breaks my heart.
I mean, not breaks. It melts my heart every Monday when I come. If you wanna experience something quite miraculous, come on Mondays and just sit in this room. Don't even just show up and watch what happens with these children. It's amazing, and it's led by our pastors.
So another outreach that we do here for our children is VBS. That is a huge thing that we do. You can see the dates. Please register your children. It is going to be quite amazing walking through the steps of Jesus when he was a child walking through his hometown.
It's going to be amazing and meeting the people that were there in his hometown, the shop workers and just understanding what it was like. And I think our kids can will so relate and it will help them to just feel the love of Jesus. And that is the thing that we want them to feel here is love, to feel safe, and to know Jesus. There is a little thing. If you can't, I want your kids to come.
We also need some volunteers. So again, we have so many people that serve. If kids are like, oh, nope. Not gonna be there. Crowding kids.
That's okay because I have lots of things that I and BBS needs help with prior to BBS. If y'all are good at cutting, if you're good at decorating, if you're good at hanging stuff, stapling, we could use anyone and everyone, your guests. So I've just decided next Sunday between both services so that the service and the next service people can come. If you wanna just come in here, by showing up, you are not committing to do anything. Just show up.
And just hear what it is and be like, nope. Never mind. Thank you. And no hard feelings. Believe me.
So I just want you all to know it's a decorating meeting, but it's also find out what else. Maybe it's just like, hey. What do you need me to bring to donate? That would be even something else. K?
Sorry. I think my time
That's perfect.
And there's my phone number if you can't make it next Sunday. You can even call me. So k.
Thank you very much, Amy Jordan. Appreciate it. What's next? Potluck for Gene DeMarsh. This happened in May 17.
That's Friday, May 17. Not April, May 17. We're already past April 17. Yeah. That stands to reason.
Friday, May 17, 05:30 in the fellowship hall. Gina is 96 years old, and she has been here at this church for a long time. And she'll be moving to Bellingham, Washington and we wanna just say good goodbye to Jean on her way out. So potluck, no gifts please. That's coming.
Congregational meeting will also be on Cinco de Mayo the May 5 between services to vote. There are some constitutional changes recommended by the elders. Copies are available if you want them, but that's when the congregational meeting will be. And that's the next song. Does anybody have anything deletions, admissions, suggestions?
No. Well, just stand up and y'all say howdy, we'll bring you together with this song. Welcome.
Before And who can stop the Lord Almighty? Let's sing this together. And who can stop the Lord Almighty? Hate. Who can stop the Lord?
Who can stop the Lord? Oh, my hate.
Just thinking as we sang that song to think of God as the lion of Judah, power to overthrow the grave, and yet the lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Isn't that amazing to be both and at the same time? It's just incredible. Lord, thank you. This is this verse says from Revelation, all glory and power to you forever and ever.
Look. He comes in the clouds of heaven, and everyone will see him. It's not we're we're not gonna be mistaken. When it happens, we'll know. Lord, would you prepare our hearts, our minds for that day, but also for this day right here with you as we worship you.
May we do so in spirit and in truth with joy, peace in our hearts. In Jesus name. Amen.
You. You call the sun to rise, and you lay it down to rest. You hold this heart of of mine, and you hold my every breath. Such an awesome God, mighty, so awesome God, so selfish. You're so generous, so faithful you are.
Nothing comes close, and nothing comes close to generous, so faithful you are. Such an awesome God, so mighty, so holy, so wonderful, such an awesome God, so selfish. You're so generous, so faithful you are. Is found. He's my dyed, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid ground, burned through the fiercest drowned storm. What hides all the undeads of peace? When fears are still, when striving sees my There in No guilt in life and no fear in Love it. Love it.
Love it. Would you have a seat for just a moment here? This is the worship through giving part of the the service, and I wanna invite the ushers to come on forward and get to sing a song called savior and Fred from John 15. Jesus says this. He he says, I no longer call you servants because the servant doesn't know his master's business.
Instead, I call you friends. Let that sink in just for a moment. For everything I learned from my father, I've made known to you. Before we sing, Ray, may I ask you to pray?
God almighty, I thank you this morning for for your presence here with us. I thank you for your omnipresence that you're not just here with us. You're here and there. You go before us. You're preparing the hearts for all who would receive your word, Lord.
May we be carriers of that word. May we be carriers of your good news. May we recognize that in the anxious moments in the middle of the night. May we recognize it when we wake up in a stir. May we recognize it in the daytime while we're walking and seeing people as they pass.
May we have a very real understanding of your omnipresence and your Holy Spirit's superintending place in our heart. I pray Lord that we would be submitted to and committed to walking out your will done in your way, whatever that looks like. And we don't know what that is right now, lord. We're giving right now in faith. This time of offertories to give in faith to say, lord, I want you to use this as you would use it.
Would you do your will in your way in this community beginning from here and to the very uttermost parts? Thank you Lord for the for the ministry of reconciliation that you have entrusted us with. I thank you that you are making all things new. Would you use us as a part of that process? Lord, I know you will.
We're plan a. You don't have a plan b. This is the way that you say that you will grow your church. Lord, may we be submitted, humble servants. Would you take all that is given here, Lord, whether it goes in these plates or where it's metaphorical for what we're given from our hearts and in our minds, in our conversations, and in the time spent.
I pray that you'd take everything that is given, Lord, and that you would multiply it and bless it to do your kingdom's work. In Jesus name, amen.
Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without end, just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. I lost stand alone. I was walking the road I had paid with my sins and mistakes. But you came along and gave me a song that'll sing for the rest of my day.
Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without end, just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. And year after you, you stayed by my side. You've proven you're true to your world. Sweet it is to be given love without it just to know and live in your goodness.
Jesus, my savior and friend. Oh, Jesus, my savior and friend.
Children's Church. Children's Church downstairs and there they go. Don't you love that sound? I do. I love it.
Sounds of life. Alright. So I mentioned last week that and it kind of overwhelmed me. I didn't expect for it to overwhelm me, but it kind of overwhelmed me in both services. I cried like every Sunday.
That in Luke, so last week in Luke, it was the last passage in Luke and we with that, I finished going through the whole New Testament. And it overwhelmed me, and I didn't expect that. And then, my answer to all of y'all is, what are we doing next? What are we doing next? I don't think you meant what are we doing next after we finish the New Testament, but all of a sudden last week I thought, what are we doing next?
First time I've considered that because I was trying to work through the whole New Testament. We do break off from time to time and do a little bit. We did a relational series, but I was trying to have Easter fall at Easter, so I was filling in between, felt the need. But this week, what stood out to me, where we need to go, I'm building a plan. I'd ask for you to be praying for me about that plan.
Okay? I've got some maybe, for me at least, unorthodox ideas coming up. So maybe a history lesson here and there to give us confidence in our Bibles. The ones that you carry with you on your phone or with you on your shelf. I wanna give extreme confidence in God's word in the language that you're understanding it in.
Okay? That's what I want to do and I'd like to because of this from last week and because if you're going through methodically and you hit stuff even handedly like I hope that we've been doing for twelve straight years, going through methodically, you hit things as often as scripture hits them. Right? Humility comes up in most every sermon because it's everywhere in the Bibles, everywhere in the New Testament. In order to receive God's grace, you have to receive it with humility because God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
Right? So as I'm considering all of these different things, one thing that is very very important and comes up especially right here at the end of Luke. It says, then he opened their minds. That's the apostles. He opened all of his apostles, disciples.
Apostles, I say because apostles means ones who are sent out, and so he opens the minds of those that he were sending out to understand the scriptures. It was very important that they understand, in their case, the Old Testament. Some of them would be writing the New Testament before very long. Right? So he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
So Matthew, when Matthew quotes from the Old Testament, he heard from Jesus what those scriptures were about and his mind had been opened to understand them. So they opened their Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures and then he said to those guys and ladies that were there. Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Now, he'd been saying that since Matthew 16. He'd been saying this for a long time, probably two years or maybe more than two years.
He's been saying this and he said, thus it is written and it came to pass. You've seen it now. You've seen that Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. He is saying this as the resurrected savior, Christus Victor. He's saying this as Christ, the one who has conquered death.
And then he says this, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Jesus name, in his name, to all of the nations beginning from Jerusalem. So that's where they were up on the hill just before his ascension, and he says, this is the starting place and this is what should be proclaimed. So in the next few weeks,
I
don't know exactly how long it's going take. It won't be twelve years, I don't think, But it'll be a while. We're going to go through repentance. In some ways, I don't do a whole lot of step by step help self help sermons because helping yourself, we need God's help. Right?
We need to access God's help. So repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed what? In his name to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. And behold, I'm sending the promise of my father, thus the Holy Spirit upon you. Stay in the province in the city until you're clothed with power from on high.
So that was last week from Luke, that's just about the last thing. There's one little concluding paragraph about the ascension, but when we hit that and the repentance is where we're going next. I have said multiple times up here that one day, we're probably gonna have to do a sermon series on the 12 steps. And you'll hear me mention the first, second, third one all the time, the fourth one sometime, or just in passing, say that's the fifth step. And I won't even elaborate at all, But what I want is for us to all know we can we can be confident that the Bible is good, true, and accurate, that God loves us dearly and it is for our good, that he wants us to be humble before him and present our whole lives.
He does not waste anything. So if you will present to him your shortfall, he will take care of you. That's the point over the next few weeks. Repentance is a part of that and for that, I'm gonna go to first John one. And I usually, I do white slides when I've covered it before, but now that I've covered the whole New Testament, who knows what's gonna happen.
Alright? I have presented from first John one before four, five, six years ago, but I wanna go through a bit of this. This rather quickly and then I'm gonna slow down when we get to verse five. Now, if he has said to his apostles, all authority has been given to me on heaven and earth and I am extending it to you, now you be going and as you are going, you be making disciples by teaching them and baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you. Now, when he says, repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be preached in my name.
This is one of the guys who is listening to that message. Okay, John. John wrote the gospel of John, but he wrote these letters of John. This is the first of those letters and he said, what was from the beginning? Now, was from the beginning?
Jesus. God. What was from the beginning? What we have heard? What we have seen with our eyes?
It's real. What we've looked at. What we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, Jesus. And the life that was manifested and what we've seen and we testify because he told us to. Are you with me so far?
Everything's good so far? We proclaim to you this eternal life which was with the father. It was manifested us. We saw Jesus. We know about it because we heard it directly from him.
I'm an eyewitness to that. He told me to tell you this and I'm telling it to you. What we've seen and what we've heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us. So the introduction we're getting here is just one long sentence in Greek. It looks like a run on sentence in English or a lot of lot of sentences in English.
What we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have Now, I can't overemphasize the eyewitness nature of this. John, the beloved, lived longer than the rest of the apostles, the rest of the disciples. He's the youngest one, probably the one he calls himself the beloved. He he was sitting next to him at supper, right? The last supper.
He is wanting you to know that this is trustworthy. What we have seen, what we have heard, we're proclaiming it to you. Why? So that you may have fellowship with us. Do you remember the high priestly prayer that Jesus prays in the garden and he's praying?
He's got Peter, James, and John with him. He's asking them to stay awake. They can hear him to report back to us before they fell asleep. When Jesus prays, he says, Lord, I pray for these that you've given to me of the ones you've given to me. I've lost not one.
I pray that you would cause them to be in absolute unity. Lord God, father God, not just for them, am I praying, But also for everyone who'll come to believe because of their testimony. So that you may have fellowship with us. The church, the church triumphant is everyone who's ever put their faith in Jesus from all of the ages. Okay, from all of the ages.
So this is fellowship with the apostles, it's fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is his goal for presenting this letter. What we have seen, we heard, we claim to you so that you may have fellowship with us and so that our joy may be made complete. They're absolutely full of the eternal abundant life that God has given and they can't wait to share it because they know the transforming power of God. So that's his little introduction.
Then we've got this. First of all, that claims to know God are tested by our attitudes towards sin. If you claim that you know God, you can know whether you do or not by aligning with what he calls sin, not with what you think is sinful. Okay? Not with emphasizing the things that to me seem the most normal But what he says is sin.
I need to be sensitive to that. One true statement about God in there, which will hit, and then three conditional if then statements, and they have some practical truths that go with them. If this, then this is the truth. If that, then this is the truth. And then a very clear purpose statement at the end, and another truth statement about Jesus to close.
So that's where we're going. That's the road map for today. This is the message. Okay. John, after the little introduction and telling you why, I wanna I want for us all to be together, unified, just like Jesus prayed.
Now, this is the message. What we've seen, what we heard, we proclaim. Remember, that's the main clause. This is what we know. We have heard it from him and we announce it to you.
There's a theme here that God is light and in him, there's no darkness at all. You can hide in the darkness. Right? We're tempted to hide in the darkness. But in God, that God is light, he shines light on it, And in him, there's no darkness at all.
So that's one true statement about God. John makes it unequivocally. God is light. There's no darkness in him at all. This is the message.
Hold on to that. God is good. That's what he's saying by the light. He wants to bring everything into consideration out of the darkness, out of the shadows, out of the anxious places where we want to hide. I I like the way that the Greek says it.
This is fun. God light is and darkness in him not as none. Isn't that great? God light is, that's a straight up wooden translation in the order that it's written. God light is and darkness in him not as none.
It is double negative and I love him. So that's the one true statement about God. I said we'd start off with, if you think, if you sit in judgment of God and you say, well, God shouldn't have done things the way that he is. You're saying that he is in some way evil or wrong. John wants you to start out knowing God is light.
He is good. He doesn't have any shadow of darkness or ugliness. There are a lot of us that sit and go, if I was God, I wouldn't have done it that way. Thank God you're not God. He has a perfect plan.
He is light. There's no darkness in him. If we say, here are those three if then statements I was talking about with the practical truths that go with them. This is the first one. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we walk in the darkness.
If we say that, oh yeah, I'm super Christian. I'm doing just fine. All is well. I don't struggle with that at all, brother, but I'll pray for you. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet in the darkness, we are not fellowshipping with him.
We're ignoring what he says. Are you with me? Each one of us will be convicted in a different way about this probably, because each one of us has our own moments of darkness. Each one of us has our own temptations that some of the rest of the world might not even be tempted by at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we're still holding on to our little secret sins and we're walking in darkness in that area, we lie.
That's also a sin by the way. We lie. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet our walk does not show that, we lie and we're not practicing the truth. Before I got up here this morning and the prayer came out, I woke up anxious last night. I don't usually wake up anxious.
It's not a normal thing that happens all the time, but when I do, boy, it's a clamp down and it's really hard. And I and I know that God has taken care of me. I know that he has. And I'll give him the credit in my waking moments every moment. I know that God has always taken care of me and since he's always taken care of me, will
he take care of me?
I trust that he will. But in the moments, in the darkness, when I wake up and I think, how in the world are we going to do this? So I'm just saying, I'm not super Christian that never struggles. I struggle with some stuff too. I want to be practicing the truth that collectively, we can talk to one another and say, brother, you are going through the hardest time right now and I recognize that and it's excruciating for you and I know it and I'm praying for you.
I love you. Actually, one of the cures that I have found and scriptural too is when you wake up in the anxious, if you start thinking about other people and start praying for those other people, a lot of those anxieties will just kind of go away. Lord, there's a relational difficulty that I know about that maybe I could do something about. I don't know. But if you leave me, I promise you I will do it.
Lord, would you show me how I can be a help in this situation? And then your other situations kind of go away. Right? If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth. He doesn't say it's impossible to walk in the light.
He's asking us to walk in the light. He just wants us not to pretend and lie about it. But if we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we're walking in darkness, we lie, we don't practice the truth, but this is the corresponding practical truth. If we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, Christ constantly walked out in submission to the spirit, the light of God in his life. And John walked with him, and he saw him and he's been empowered by the same Holy Spirit that Jesus was submitted to.
Now, we are going to have some moments where we fall to the right or to the left and we're gonna be tempted in ways. Jesus was tempted all that way. He was just without sin. It is possible though to follow after Christ and to have victory. It is possible to be sober from whatever your issue is.
It is possible to walk in victory and he says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship. We have fellowship with one another. Yes, that's good. That's the first practical truth. Since John's opening statement was, I'm writing this so that we may have fellowship with one another like true, actual, helping each other out kind of fellowship.
Koinonia. We have fellowship with one another and we have the assurance that the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. Now, you are saved at the moment when you trust in Jesus and I know that that is true and there are times when you may sin after that fact. There will be times when you sin after that fact. This is saying, the assurance comes when you are walking it out.
Does that make sense? God gives you the power. He's almighty. We sang it this morning. What's going to stop?
Who will stand against the Lord almighty? He's almighty. He has all the power that we need in order to walk. The higher power, there is the higher power. Not a higher power.
The higher power is available. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin, past, present, and future, and we can have fellowship with one another. So that's first John one five through seven. Now here's another if then statement. If we say then that we have no sin.
I don't have anything that I need to repent of. Oh. And we are deceiving ourselves. If you feel like you've come a long way since you first accepted Christ and you're walking in the path and you're doing pretty good. Be careful, lest you fall, says Peter.
But if we say we do not have any sin, then we're deceiving ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, confess. I say this one all the time. Homo means the same and means to speak or to say.
If we are speaking or saying the same thing about our sins as God says about our sins, when we have that malicious moment of I can't stand that woman or man, as the case may be. Can't stand them. I hope they get hit by a bus. That's malice. Okay?
No. My goodness. I'm just imagining here. Okay? I don't hope anybody gets hit by a bus.
But if we agree with God that that is an evil, evil thought. That is an evil, evil wish. That is an evil, undesirable condition of the heart and I say, lord, forgive me. He does. That's what this says.
If we confess our sin, this is the practical truth that comes from that first statement. If we have no if we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves. The truth is not found in us. But if we confess that sin, if we agree with God about our sin, he's faithful and he's righteous to be forgiving our sins and he does that and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So this takes it even further than instead of, God forgive me for saying I wanted that gal to get hit by that bus.
He does. And that is a step towards purity. It is an admission of my own frailty. It is an admission of my own need for a loving and caring God who cares about the person I hope gets hit by a bus. It is an admission of my guilt and it's a humble state before God.
Do you ever have a thought that you think I cannot believe I even thought that? God forgive me. He does and it leads us to walk in purity. It leads us to walk in the light and that's what we're talking about. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's righteous to be forgiven our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now, multiple other places in the Bible, it says how he forgives sin, he throws it as far as the East is from the West and remembers it no more. He takes it and throws it into the sea of forgetfulness and remembers it no more. Though you may have sins that are red like crimson, he will make them as white as snow. In Isaiah, he says he takes. He's almighty God.
It's hard to imagine him being able to forget. Right? But he takes the sins that are before him and when we agree about it, he forgives us and puts them behind him. That's pretty cool. And it's as far as this is from West, it's eternal infinite.
That's the way that he does it when we agree with him about our sins. Now, the first of the 12 steps is, I have a problem that I can't do anything about. He can and he says that he will. That covers the next two steps if you're keeping up, but there is a higher power who can restore me to sanity. The third step is I'm gonna let him.
We'll cover these in more detail at some point in the future. Here's a show in the Greek tenses and moods. This is their r mcb translation of the Bible, the Ray McDaniel version and it's the if, however, we should be confessing our sins. If we should be confessing our sins, faithful he is and just that he may forgive us of our sins and he might cleanse us and the might does not imply that he might do it. It is contingent upon our heart.
It's contingent upon our humble acceptance, our humble acceptance of our wrongdoing and our agreeing. If we should be saying the same thing about our sins, faithful he is and just that he may forgive us of our sins, and he might cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness. He makes us more and more pure as we humble ourselves before him. He can help clean up stuff. Now, I saw the faces of a couple of people last week when I gave J.
I. Packer's definition of repentance. It says, repentance means taking all that I know of my own sin and giving that over to God. Given all that I know of my sin and handed it over to him, and then as I walk, I will see more things and I will continually be doing that. Hence, the verb tense is up there, if we should be confessing progressively.
Because we will see more as he purifies us, we get a greater eye for understanding our lack. If we say, here we go. If we say, this is the third of those three conditional statements. If we say that we have not sinned, that's a past tense. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar.
Okay? Let God be true in every one of us, a liar. If we say that we have not sent, then we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. This is another way of knowing whether or not you are in the faith. If you say, I live perfectly in line with God and my conscience.
God says you don't. He says that as soon as you will humbly admit these things, he will forgive them and yes. But if you say that you didn't ever sin in the first place, even though the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to you, if you say you never sinned in the first place, then you're saying he's a liar, and the word is not dwelling in you. And then John, oh, how how cute this is. What a sweet little statement.
He calls anyone who'll be reading this letter, my little children. My little children, take me a move. I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. One of the hard things about getting over an addiction or getting over a simple habitual pattern in your life is you feel all or nothing sort of thinking. Like, I've got this ugly thing and I I just I know I should get rid of it.
I know I should do something about it. And you try everything that you can do, and then you slip up. You have a relapse. You have a little slip. And when you do, you just think, oh, heck with it now.
I blew it. All of those years, all those times, all that. And John is saying, no. It is a steady walk. It is a day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute at times that we are able to get through with the help of God, by humbly admitting our need and our shortcoming to him.
My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. It's a very clear purpose statement. If you want to walk in holiness, then these are the things that you need to do. Those if thens. My little children, I'm writing these things to y'all so that y'all may not miss the mark.
That's what sin is, is falling short. And when you do fall short, it is great to be in community with whom you have fellowship so that they can lift you up, so that they can restore you gently in wisdom, so that they can restore you. And if anyone sins and they will. Okay. If anyone sins, we have an advocate.
Think about this. Our capital a advocate with the father is Jesus Christ, the righteous. He was absolutely righteous, and this third practical truth is this, he himself is the very propitiation, the payment for our sins. The penalty has been paid in the blood of Christ, sacrificially given, absolutely innocent, not required of him, but required for us. He's made that and for all who will put their faith in him, he's the propitiation for our sins.
Hold on to that and think, he breaks the power of canceled sin. He can set us free. And it's not only for us. John says, I know that mine have been forgiven. I know that if you're reading this chances are, you're looking for your sins to be forgiven.
He has made provision. Not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Carry this message starting in Jerusalem and carry it to the very uttermost parts, which Jackson's a pretty good ways from Jerusalem. We carry it from here forward to wherever we go. We can carry it knowing that we have fellowship with one another and the church triumphant throughout all ages, with Christ, with the father by his access point, and his grace is sufficient for the rest of those in the world.
Anus Dei, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So, over the next few weeks, we're going be talking about repentance. Don't let that scare you away, please. Okay? It's going to be biblical, I promise.
There will be a couple of history lessons that I hope are interesting. I honestly, I wanted to present one this morning and I just didn't finish the thought. I couldn't make it finish. So, it's coming next week. It'll be finished by next week, I'm pretty sure.
So next week will be a history lesson about how we can be confident in the scriptures we hold in our hands. We have to be serious about what God calls sin in order to be able to agree with him about it and to be able to repent from it. Would you all pray with me? And I'm gonna ask the band to come back up. God almighty, I pray that as we undertake this study of of repentance in particular, but as we take fearless and searching moral inventory of our lives, Lord.
That we may have been walking mostly in the light, but we dip over into the shadows sometimes, Lord. I pray that as you convict our hearts, that we would not feel condemnation from the evil one, and that's his plan. He wants us to feel condemned. But you've said that as we see our sin and agree with you about it, that you will cleanse it. You bring it into the light.
Lord God Almighty, may we walk in the light. May we radiate your light. Lord God Almighty, who can stop the Lord Almighty? If you say that you are for us and we believe that you are for us, Lord, why would we ever hide from you? In Jesus name I pray.
Lord, particularly for that time between the moment we feel conviction and the time that we actually do something about it, that we take a step to tell a brother or sister our struggle, that we take a step to even admit it and pray it to you, Lord. In between the time that we're convicted of our sin and we actually get set free from it, that rattle time that is so difficult. I pray Lord that you would hold us, hold us through it, that you would hold our hand, that you would not allow our foot to stumble. In Jesus name, I pray that you would take our hearts, convict them of our sin, and cleanse them in that moment when we recognize it and agree with you. And lord that we would have certainty that we are walking in the light.
In Jesus name, amen. Would you stand with us and we'll close. The altar is open. The altar is always open but I say it out loud today. The altar is open and if you want to come forward and pray about something specific today, you can come up and pray.
If you want to talk to me, I'll turn off the mic and I'll stay as long as we need to. Alright? Amen.
My deep and boundless peace. To this I hope, my hope is only Jesus, for my life is only bound to his. Oh, how strange and divine I can sing. He's mine, yet not I go through Christ in yet not I but through Christ.
Has
fate I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future show the price it has been been paid for Jesus bled and suffered for my part and he will to I hope
Amen. First Peter oh, second Peter one ten through 11 says this, therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling. That's what this passage is about. Right? It's not just for you, it's for everybody else too.
It's calling to share this and it's choosing you for as long as you practice these things, walking it out in the light just as he is in the light. You're not going to stumble. He's got you. He's almighty God. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our lord and savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you right at the right time, just what you need to say, he will provide it.
