WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.940 I wanna jump into our text together, First John Chapter one is where we're gonna be this morning. 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:11.740 And if you weren't here last week, don't worry, you haven't missed anything out of First John. 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:18.900 We really just touched on the basis for why First John was written, so you can go back and listen to that through our YouTube, our podcasting, 00:00:19.080 --> 00:00:21.650 download the app, or go to our Alpine Bible Church website. 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:27.140 But we kinda set the idea of who John is and why we should even care about what John is writing. 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:29.920 But if I really just summarize John's life. 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.000 John was an apostle that followed after Christ, one of the 12 disciples that Jesus took under his wing. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.320 He was likely the youngest of the disciples. 00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:42.560 And if you look at just the summarization of his life, he's writing this letter towards the end of his life. 00:00:42.940 --> 00:00:49.720 He could be approaching somewhere near 100 years old when he's writing this letter, and John's life, I think, is best summarized this way. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.000 He did whatever it took to reach people for Christ. 00:00:54.300 --> 00:01:00.600 And if I put a little caveat to that I would say he did whatever it took short of sin to reach people for Christ. 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:05.780 John loved Jesus, and because John loved Jesus John loved what Jesus loved, which is people. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:13.580 In fact, we looked at that term that's used to refer to John in John 13, John 19, John 20, where John is referred to 00:01:13.580 --> 00:01:15.580 in scripture as the loved of the Lord. 00:01:16.740 --> 00:01:20.820 And John looks like, in scriptural text, that he is literally, he was Jesus's best friend. 00:01:22.300 --> 00:01:29.260 And so when you read the book of First John you see the love of God communicated in the life of John to us. 00:01:29.320 --> 00:01:36.940 And how do I know, how do I know that John was one that did whatever it took to reach people for Christ, that really loved the lord, loved others. 00:01:36.940 --> 00:01:38.140 His life demonstrated it. 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:43.760 Remember we talked about last week, at one point John was persecuted for his faith where he was boiled alive at another point in his life. 00:01:44.100 --> 00:01:47.440 He was exiled to isolation on the island of Patmos. 00:01:47.800 --> 00:01:49.660 He saw his brother James martyred. 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:52.840 He was the first of the 12 disciples to be martyred, his brother James was. 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:54.700 He saw all of the disciples martyred. 00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:56.660 He was the only disciple that wasn't martyred. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.180 And here he is towards the end of his life almost 100 years old, and he's continuing to encourage the body of Christ to pursue after 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:05.060 the lord with their lives. 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:13.400 I mean when I get 100 years old, if I even live that long, I have no plan to, I ate too much bacon for that, but if I were to live 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:18.980 that long, like at some point I might just say, you know what, let the next generation take care of this. 00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:26.700 I am good with the fight that I have fought, but here is John continuing with his fight for the Lord, for the cause of Christ, 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:27.800 and for the benefit of people. 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:35.820 And when you get to the book of First John, First John is actually a pretty blunt book, which is a little bit different than what we typically see 00:02:35.820 --> 00:02:36.660 with John's character. 00:02:36.660 --> 00:02:39.240 John is a very gentle disciple in comparison to others. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:43.640 Now when we saw the beginning of his life he was referred to as the son of thunder, right? 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:51.760 But being referred to by Jesus as the son of thunder, his life being radically transformed by Christ, he takes on this gentle 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:53.120 loving spirit for people. 00:02:53.140 --> 00:02:58.740 In fact, people will often turn to the book of First John and read chapter four where it talks about God is love, right? 00:02:58.740 --> 00:02:59.820 We love that passage. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:07.160 But the book of First John, by its totality, really communicates against false teaching as a very powerful book 00:03:07.160 --> 00:03:14.520 in understanding how detrimental false teaching can be in our lives, but the impact, rather, that Jesus should 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:15.600 have on us. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:23.700 And when John is writing this book, most scholars believe that what he's writing against is this former teaching called gnosticism. 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:31.920 And when John is writing this teaching, one of the things I love about this book is that John never really identifies the false teaching. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:39.840 Rather he recognizes what the false teaching is saying, and rather than just talk negative against false teaching, what he talks 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:41.990 about is what were to be in Jesus. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.340 Like, I think that's very important for us as a church. 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:48.560 You're gonna encounter false teaching in life anywhere you go. 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:51.020 I mean every commercial, I think, is built on it. 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:54.280 It appeals to the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:59.400 It's trying to get that sensual side of you to say I deserve this and buy it. 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:00.900 That is just life. 00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:03.340 But here's what we wanna be as a church. 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:06.620 And we can talk all day long about things we're against. 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:13.080 But in talking about everything you're against, you can still never live for the reason for which God created you. 00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:17.290 We're far more interested in where you're going rather than where you've been. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.680 God cares about where you're going. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.440 God cares about you. 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:29.080 And John recognizes some of the teachings that's around him, and he begins to use this letter to address those teachings I think in the form of 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:29.880 early gnosticism. 00:04:31.260 --> 00:04:35.000 But even in that context he doesn't really identify the false teaching. 00:04:35.020 --> 00:04:38.140 What he identifies is what we should be in Jesus in light of the things around us. 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:45.140 And so John starts to communicate to the church where we are to belong and how we are to live. 00:04:45.140 --> 00:04:52.400 And somewhere along the way, guys, I think in our society today we started to believe into the idea that 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:57.740 in order to be compassionate towards people you have to let go of your conviction. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.310 And I don't think you have to compromise your conviction to still be compassionate. 00:05:04.140 --> 00:05:05.360 Jesus did that masterfully. 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:08.300 He loved people where they were at. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.560 He met them where they were. 00:05:11.020 --> 00:05:12.390 He cared about them unconditionally. 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:15.980 And he cared about them enough to stand for truth in them. 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:17.560 Because truth transforms our life. 00:05:18.380 --> 00:05:25.440 It's not that they use truth to belittle people or to bash people but we use truth to serve people because it's Jesus that sets 00:05:25.440 --> 00:05:25.800 us free. 00:05:27.300 --> 00:05:34.460 Now when you think about gnosticism I want you to understand a little bit about gnosticism before we jump into this text, because you'll see that the teachings of gnosticism 00:05:34.460 --> 00:05:37.060 peppered through the way John addresses this book. 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.440 But gnosticism at the time of John was an early movement. 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:43.660 It hadn't gained its momentum yet. 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:46.710 But the word gnostic comes from the word knowledge. 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:49.960 And so gnosticism is this belief in knowledge. 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:51.800 Now Christianity, God created you with a mind. 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:52.990 He wants you to use that mind. 00:05:53.220 --> 00:05:55.580 But what gnosticism would teach is that they had secret knowledge. 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:00.080 It's sort of like the better version of whatever you believe because we have it, it's secret. 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:01.340 So come to us, right? 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:04.270 So that was what gnosticism leaned toward. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:09.640 And gnosticism believed that the physical world was evil but the spiritual world was good. 00:06:09.700 --> 00:06:12.060 Now that led to some different forms of gnosticism, that. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:19.600 But they believe that the physical world was evil, the spiritual world was good, and so when gnosticism encountered Jesus they had to come up with the idea of 00:06:19.820 --> 00:06:20.860 okay now how do we deal with that? 00:06:20.900 --> 00:06:27.960 Because our belief is physical world bad, spiritual world good, and so what they started to teach is that Jesus didn't really come in a physical form, 00:06:28.340 --> 00:06:30.110 that Jesus sort of spiritually appeared. 00:06:30.840 --> 00:06:38.020 And in teaching that they would even say things like, "When Jesus walked he didn't leave footprints." Because he was the spiritual awareness 00:06:38.020 --> 00:06:39.250 in front of you. 00:06:39.580 --> 00:06:45.960 And so John, recognizing this, begins to teach the church of the significance of Jesus's coming for us and what it represents. 00:06:47.580 --> 00:06:53.300 And in all of this what he desires for you and me is the idea we talked about last week in verse four. 00:06:53.340 --> 00:06:54.320 I'm writing these things. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:56.320 Like if you ask the question, okay, why did John write this letter? 00:06:57.260 --> 00:07:01.020 I'm writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:09.960 He's rooting the idea of joy for us in the identity of who Jesus is because the joy of what life is really finds its origin in 00:07:09.960 --> 00:07:11.080 the creator of all things. 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:19.640 And in emphasizing this and knowing that gnosticism deals more with the spiritual, looking at the physical world as evil, John recognized that this was 00:07:19.640 --> 00:07:24.140 an affront to Jesus, and he wants us to walk in light of that. 00:07:24.140 --> 00:07:26.660 And so when you read in the beginning of this letter look what John says here. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:33.780 He says, "That which was from the beginning, "which we have heard, which we have seen 00:07:34.280 --> 00:07:41.580 with our eyes, "which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, "concerning the word of life." He's putting Jesus 00:07:41.580 --> 00:07:44.080 in a very tangible form, right? 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.300 Isn't just spiritually arrival, he physically came to Earth. 00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:55.380 And verse two, "The life was made manifest, "and we have seen it, and testify to it "and proclaim to you the eternal 00:07:55.380 --> 00:08:02.520 life, "which was with the father and was made manifest to us, "that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:09.700 you, "so that you too may have fellowship with us; "and indeed our fellowship was with the father "and with the Son Jesus Christ." You see within these 00:08:09.700 --> 00:08:16.180 first three versus that what John is doing is he's identifying God in this very tangible way. 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:20.240 He continue to go back and refer to these senses of hearing and seeing and touching Jesus. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:21.380 That Jesus was physically here. 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:24.460 And so we can look at that and think, but why is that a big deal. 00:08:26.380 --> 00:08:28.980 Spiritually he came or physically he came, either way he came. 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:29.860 Why is this a big deal? 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:35.919 Well this has everything to do with the sufficiency of the sacrifice that Jesus made for you. 00:08:37.380 --> 00:08:40.000 If you think in terms of the Old Testament. 00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:45.200 In the Old Testament the Jews would go into the temple and they would make a sacrifice, bulls and goats and lambs. 00:08:46.900 --> 00:08:53.960 But in Hebrews chapter 10 verse four it tells us that bulls, goats, and lambs really can't suffice with the sacrifice that you need for the sins of your 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:54.140 life. 00:08:54.460 --> 00:08:55.290 So what did those represent? 00:08:56.780 --> 00:08:57.190 They were symbols. 00:08:59.060 --> 00:09:02.560 And the Old Testament, the idea of worship in the Old Testament was all symbolic. 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:07.300 And all the symbolism in the Old Testament was intended to point us to the significance of Jesus. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:16.060 And so it says in Hebrews Chapter 10 verse four they continue to make these sacrifices and the writer of Hebrews is saying, look, but these sacrifices can never suffice for the 00:09:16.220 --> 00:09:18.100 sufficiency for which you need for your sins. 00:09:20.010 --> 00:09:20.960 But what will? 00:09:22.880 --> 00:09:23.340 An equal exchange. 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:29.960 A pure life for a sinful life. 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:35.480 One who was tangible coming for one who is tangible. 00:09:38.300 --> 00:09:39.360 Spiritual can't die for physical. 00:09:41.620 --> 00:09:44.520 Blood and bulls can't die for human beings, they don't match. 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:47.860 But Jesus needed to physically come for you. 00:09:49.680 --> 00:09:55.100 That exchange is what makes him sufficient for your life. 00:09:56.380 --> 00:10:03.380 It's kinda like saying today, if you go out to eat after the service for Father's Day rather than paying with regular cash you choose to give them 00:10:03.380 --> 00:10:05.400 Monopoly money, right? 00:10:05.400 --> 00:10:06.480 I mean that just is not gonna work. 00:10:07.780 --> 00:10:08.760 And it's the same thing for Jesus. 00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:16.120 John is emphasizing the physicality of the arrival of Christ in our lives and the significance of what that means for us 00:10:16.420 --> 00:10:19.350 so that we can root ourselves in the historical reliability. 00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:24.460 Like what John is saying, remember, in this time period John is the last living disciple. 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:31.680 The eye witnesses of Jesus's life are beginning to pass away. 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:36.830 John may be one of the only ones left that walked this earth with Christ. 00:10:38.780 --> 00:10:44.930 And he wants us to understand that the idea of Jesus coming wasn't just some spiritual idea, it wasn't just this made up thought. 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:53.520 John walked with Jesus, the eyewitness of all that Christ was. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.840 Demonstrating this man who may be now near 100 years old who continues to give his life for Christ. 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:03.600 Like, John's not writing this book because he wants something from you. 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:08.200 But rather, he wants something for you. 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:17.360 To be rooted in the significance of who Christ is and his reliability for our lives. 00:11:19.520 --> 00:11:26.560 I see living in Utah for over a decade now, I 00:11:26.560 --> 00:11:33.860 think I'm like 15 years living in Utah, one of the things that I see in people is if 00:11:33.880 --> 00:11:37.790 you ever believe something that you realized wasn't what you thought it was. 00:11:39.420 --> 00:11:44.480 There's this panic mode in people to not be duped again. 00:11:44.520 --> 00:11:45.040 Does that make sense? 00:11:46.260 --> 00:11:49.560 And in that panic mode you wanna examine everything in life. 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:56.820 Like, if it comes to looking at Christianity like we're talking about today, you wanna look under every rock and crevice to make sure that 00:11:56.820 --> 00:12:03.200 what you believe is accurate and you're not gonna trust in anything again until you know that something is true. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:10.130 Well, let me just say this, when it comes to faith in anything, to know all there is about it, is an impossibility. 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:19.060 And when we talk about the idea of faith, 'cause I want us to be aware that, when we talk about faith in our society today, some 00:12:19.060 --> 00:12:20.420 people use faith like it's blind ignorance. 00:12:21.380 --> 00:12:23.640 I don't know, let's just have faith, let's just figure it out. 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:25.800 We can't know everything. 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:32.840 Like, if someone ever tells you, if you have questions about what you believe or what someone's teaching about faith and their 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:36.800 answer is well we don't really know, we'll just kind of figure it out in the end, man, don't listen, don't listen to that. 00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:42.050 I think when it comes to faith God gave you a mind, God wants you to use the mind. 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:47.300 For some reason we think logically in everything in this world, but when it comes to faith we treat it as if we're supposed to guess at it, right? 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:48.460 Let's just hope we're right in the end. 00:12:48.760 --> 00:12:50.740 I don't think God intends for it to be that way. 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:55.760 But I also don't think God intends for you to know everything that you need to know before you start your journey with him. 00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:56.660 That is impossible. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:05.200 In fact, I was concerned about this in coming to know Christ that as I came to know Jesus it would become so familiar to me that I would just get bored 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:09.220 with the thought of learning about God, but what I found in my Christian faith is the exact opposite. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:14.300 The more I've grown and the more I learn, the more I understand scripture, the more hungry I am to wanna know more. 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:21.020 It's just this unattainable appetite that I have that I just cannot satisfy in wanting to know God. 00:13:21.060 --> 00:13:22.960 The more I know about him the more I want to know. 00:13:24.560 --> 00:13:30.600 And so when it comes to faith, what I'm saying to us is it's not this blind ignorance, but you have to start somewhere. 00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:32.940 And so where do you start that journey. 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:35.440 Well John is rooting us here in this. 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:38.360 It's in the historical reliability of Jesus. 00:13:38.420 --> 00:13:45.500 In fact, Paul summarized it this way in First Corinthians 15 verses 13 to 19, if Christ has not been raised from the grave our faith 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:46.080 is in vain. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:52.820 Everything in Christianity roots itself in the identity of who Jesus is and what he did for us in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. 00:13:53.140 --> 00:13:56.100 If that isn't true, then don't follow Christianity. 00:13:58.760 --> 00:14:03.720 But if it is true, that transforms our lives. 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:06.740 You don't have to know everything. 00:14:08.540 --> 00:14:15.320 When you start this faith journey, John wants us to understand that it's rooted in the identity of who Jesus is. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:22.640 If you can find that foundation to rest on, then you begin to walk a journey with God to grow in the understanding 00:14:22.640 --> 00:14:24.790 of all that God is in your life. 00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:32.920 Jesus coming in physical form is our foundation. 00:14:35.060 --> 00:14:37.080 The beauty is for us, it doesn't end there. 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:46.620 After the early disciples, followers of Jesus, first century eyewitnesses of Christ died, they depended on these eyewitness accounts. 00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:53.840 Like Paul even said in First Corinthians 15, since I already referenced it, he said in verses three and on he appears to 00:14:53.840 --> 00:15:00.940 the disciples, he appears to Paul, he appeared to 500 people at one time, and the reason Paul is saying that is because he wants the individuals he's 00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:05.660 writing to go ask the eyewitnesses about Jesus's life because they're walking the earth. 00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:08.420 Like, if you don't believe me, Paul's saying, go ask people. 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:10.420 He's appeared to hundreds of people at one time. 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:12.440 Jesus in his resurrection, he didn't hide. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:14.080 He walked around for 40 days teaching people. 00:15:15.400 --> 00:15:17.280 And so the eyewitness accounts were there. 00:15:17.560 --> 00:15:24.720 But what happened in the early church is they began to find out now the eyewitnesses are dying, how do we defend this faith, and we began to recognize that this 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:26.300 faith is rock solid. 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.680 Like, there's more than just the eyewitness accounts to depend on with Jesus. 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:37.840 I mean, you can go back in scripture, find Old Testament manuscripts older than Jesus himself declaring the coming of Jesus, exactly how he 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.120 would come, where he would live, how he would die. 00:15:40.340 --> 00:15:47.440 I mean, how do you account for that when you have scripture hundreds of years older than Jesus specific to the time when Jesus would be born 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.200 being declared for us. 00:15:50.260 --> 00:15:52.600 And so individuals started to defend the faith. 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:55.980 There was one individual, just to draw your attention to the church history, named Origen. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.470 Some people even argue whether or not this guy was even Christian. 00:15:59.040 --> 00:16:05.240 But he just started to see the validity of what Christianity stood on, and he started to write this. 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:07.930 He was known in church history as one of the great apologists for Christianity. 00:16:08.660 --> 00:16:15.720 When this guy, he has a crazy life, but when he was 17 years old his father was taken away and martyred because of his faith 00:16:15.800 --> 00:16:16.060 in Jesus. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:23.420 In fact, history writes that his mother, when his father was taken away, she saw her son, Origen, panicking. 00:16:23.420 --> 00:16:30.460 And so she went and actually hid his clothes so that if he tried to run and try to save his father, which she knew would lead to his death, he was gonna have to do it 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:30.760 naked. 00:16:31.640 --> 00:16:34.800 And I don't know what he was wearin' before, but that's what history writes about him. 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:40.870 So she hid his clothes so he wouldn't run away, but he goes on and he starts to write these writings about the defending Christianity. 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:48.960 And he was such a I don't know how I wanna describe him, but his life was so dedicated to 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:56.020 Jesus, and I'm not encouraging this at all, he refused to own a bed, he slept on the floor, he never wore shoes, he even castrated himself, which 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:02.700 I don't know why, what biblical reason, there is no biblical reason for that, but Origen was just so dedicated to the Lord. 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:08.640 Like he saw sexual temptation for him as something he didn't want to be involved in, so he went extreme in this area of his life. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.319 But he writes and defends the faith. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:18.380 And there was even a point in church history where the emperor, at the time, named Decius, there was a plague that hit Rome, and 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:24.740 the emperor at the time named Decius, they looked at Christianity as the reason why bad things would happen to Rome. 00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:31.800 You think, in Roman days when they worship gods that if anything bad happens because one of the gods were angry, well the Christians only worship one god, 00:17:31.800 --> 00:17:38.880 so they're the ones that made the other gods angry, and so the Christians would get all the persecution when bad things happen because they thought all the gods of Rome 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.580 were angry at them because they all weren't worshiping God. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.560 And so Decius gets this idea. 00:17:43.560 --> 00:17:50.600 He said you know what, Origen has been so influential in how he's defended the Christian faith, rather than persecute all the Christians, let's go get 00:17:50.600 --> 00:17:52.920 Origen and let's torture him until he recants. 00:17:54.280 --> 00:18:01.380 And for three years, every day, they tortured Origen to the point where 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:02.860 he would just about die. 00:18:04.600 --> 00:18:05.250 And then they would relent. 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:14.800 And they thought if we could just get this defender of the faith to recant Christians everywhere will recant. 00:18:15.360 --> 00:18:19.380 But Origen stood on the validity of who Christ was. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:27.080 And he ends up being released at the end of three years, not because he endured the torture to the end of the torture but because Emperor Decius died. 00:18:28.740 --> 00:18:34.530 But shortly after he was released he succumbed to the torture which he endured and died for his faith. 00:18:35.580 --> 00:18:38.180 He's referred to in history as the original Superman. 00:18:38.520 --> 00:18:40.320 He actually has the title Man of Steel. 00:18:42.760 --> 00:18:46.780 I say all this to say Christianity is more than wishful guessing. 00:18:48.300 --> 00:18:49.280 It has a solid foundation. 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:53.780 And when you start that journey with the Lord, you don't have to know everything. 00:18:54.520 --> 00:18:55.740 In fact, that's impossible. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.110 And that's what the journey is about, learning to know God more. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:05.520 But the foundation starts from the identity of who Jesus is and his death, burial, and resurrection. 00:19:07.100 --> 00:19:12.190 If that foundation is solid everything else will come into alignment. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.840 Christianity has a foundation. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:23.000 In fact, when Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke he started this way, it seems good to me also having followed all things closely for some time past, 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:25.980 to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. 00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:31.360 Theophilus paid for Luke, a doctor, to travel around to write about Jesus and this gospel. 00:19:31.460 --> 00:19:35.600 And he says that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. 00:19:36.320 --> 00:19:43.800 Theophilus heard these things about Jesus and wanted it confirmed historically that it was indeed true and so Luke is sent out through the funding of Theophilus 00:19:43.800 --> 00:19:46.720 to guarantee what he had heard about Christ. 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:50.290 There is a solid foundation. 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:57.050 When it comes to putting your faith in Jesus, you don't need a great faith. 00:19:58.560 --> 00:19:59.660 You really only need a little faith. 00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:03.920 But it should rest in a solid foundation. 00:20:08.100 --> 00:20:15.160 We talk about faith like really it's the primary thing about life, but really the truthfully it's not so much 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:16.780 the faith as it is the size of your God. 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:20.580 It's not the size of your faith, it's the size of your God. 00:20:21.020 --> 00:20:28.100 And in Luke Chapter 17 Jesus even said it this way, and the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain 00:20:28.100 --> 00:20:36.400 of a mustard seed, "you could say to this mulberry tree, "'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' "and it would obey you." You 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.280 ever seen a mustard seed. 00:20:39.320 --> 00:20:41.440 I mean, it's like the definition of dinky. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:47.600 And he's saying just the faith of a mustard seed. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.800 It's not about the size of your faith, but about the size of your God. 00:20:53.800 --> 00:21:01.060 I've heard this illustration used in relation to this that someone once asked, like if you were to travel 00:21:01.060 --> 00:21:08.120 across a massive lake covered in ice, would you rather travel across a lake with two inches of 00:21:08.120 --> 00:21:10.200 ice and all the faith in the world? 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:16.890 Or would you rather travel across that lake in two feet of ice with just a little bit of faith? 00:21:19.020 --> 00:21:23.240 Two inches of ice, all the faith in the world, or two feet of ice and just a little bit of faith. 00:21:23.300 --> 00:21:23.920 I can tell you what I'm takin'. 00:21:25.020 --> 00:21:27.040 I am travelin' across the lake on two feet of ice. 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:28.640 And here's why. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:36.770 If you travel across the lake on two inches of ice, as soon as you hear the crack what happens to your faith? 00:21:38.040 --> 00:21:38.200 It shatters. 00:21:39.830 --> 00:21:46.400 But when you make that journey on two feet of ice and you see the dependability of what it is, what happens to your faith? 00:21:48.020 --> 00:21:49.180 It explodes, right? 00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:52.560 This foundation is trustworthy. 00:21:54.600 --> 00:21:59.320 When it comes to the idea of who Jesus is, John doesn't wanna play games. 00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:06.000 He wants it clear in the mind of the church, because this is the foundation of who you are. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:14.810 And when that foundation is secure and you're able to rest in what that foundation is what happens to your faith? 00:22:15.660 --> 00:22:20.090 It soars in his identity because it's not about the size of your faith. 00:22:21.100 --> 00:22:23.250 But rather the size of your God that you trust in. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.680 How secure is that foundation? 00:22:29.020 --> 00:22:36.100 So when you think about what John is saying in this text, this identity of the physicality of Jesus and that becoming important because 00:22:36.100 --> 00:22:39.840 it has to do with the sufficiency of the sacrifice he makes for you. 00:22:40.820 --> 00:22:46.060 His exchanging of his physical life for yours so that you could be set free in him by his death on the cross. 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:48.340 That matters, right? 00:22:49.060 --> 00:22:56.440 And so he then roots that thought in verse four, and we are writing these things to you so that our joy together 00:22:56.440 --> 00:22:58.220 could be made complete. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:22:59.200 Now what does this mean? 00:23:00.180 --> 00:23:06.140 There's something about security of a moment that helps you rejoice in that time. 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:13.900 Like when you lack in your life, when you lack purpose, when you lack love, when you lack hope, when you lack security, there's too much of panic in 00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:15.720 your life to find joy and peace. 00:23:17.790 --> 00:23:25.300 But when your identity is secure, when you have ultimate purpose, never-ending 00:23:25.300 --> 00:23:29.760 love, perpetual hope, eternal security, and that wrapped up in Jesus there is joy. 00:23:31.760 --> 00:23:38.940 When you read at the end of First John it says on 5:13 that I'm writing these things to you, John says, again, so that you may know you have eternal 00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:39.240 life. 00:23:40.600 --> 00:23:43.840 I don't think verse four and verse 13 are exclusive from one another. 00:23:43.900 --> 00:23:51.120 In fact, I think it becomes the foundation of joy that the security of who you are in eternal life in Jesus is the very basis for which you have joy, because no 00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:56.000 matter what happens to you in life, the security of knowing everything is gonna be okay. 00:23:58.080 --> 00:23:59.450 There is a place for rejoicing. 00:24:00.540 --> 00:24:07.800 Now you think in terms of gnosticism, believing that the physical world, that the physical 00:24:07.800 --> 00:24:08.870 world is sinful. 00:24:09.020 --> 00:24:16.120 The gnosticism is gonna have a hard time seeing them if Jesus's physical flesh, and we've been teaching he's spiritual, but he did come physically. 00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:23.100 Like, how do we see a good God if he's in the physical form, because we believe the physicality of God is a bad thing because the physical world is bad. 00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:30.420 Well, in First John five, Chapter one verse five it says this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:33.700 that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 00:24:34.060 --> 00:24:38.440 If we say we have fellowship with him yet we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:42.660 Now you don't wanna be called a liar, but we wanna walk in this truth. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:45.520 This is where John is emphasizing that the importance of walking in this. 00:24:45.560 --> 00:24:46.940 And how does he refer to God here? 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.160 That God is light. 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:54.720 What does that mean? 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:58.500 Well in a modern world we rarely do things in darkness today. 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:02.720 You had the convenience of just flipping on the light, right? 00:25:02.840 --> 00:25:04.520 But light is the basis for everything. 00:25:06.100 --> 00:25:11.720 It is revealing, it is healing, it is life giving. 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:18.240 I mean, before you do anything with your day, most likely it starts with turning on the light. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:26.660 But in darkness it is concealing, it is blinding, it is death. 00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:35.870 When you think about the way the Bible uses the word light, light in scripture it represents knowledge, 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:39.340 purity, and authority. 00:25:40.080 --> 00:25:45.300 I'm gonna show you that in just a minute, but light represents knowledge and purity and authority. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.240 And I'm gonna do a, we'll call it a magic trick for a second. 00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:53.320 But when you think in terms of light being pure, would you guys get the lights for just a minute. 00:25:55.300 --> 00:25:55.820 Welcome to the dark. 00:25:58.320 --> 00:26:01.900 When you think about in terms of light being pure, here's my magic lighter. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.800 You see the end of the lighter. 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:09.460 Notice the one thing that doesn't cast a shadow. 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:12.600 It's pure light. 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:14.620 You see it? 00:26:16.340 --> 00:26:17.280 Light has no shadow. 00:26:17.280 --> 00:26:18.450 You guys can turn the light back on. 00:26:19.600 --> 00:26:20.900 Light has no shadow. 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:24.500 Light is pure. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:31.940 By using the idea of light, what John is saying is that God is pure. 00:26:32.660 --> 00:26:34.320 Our God is holy. 00:26:35.140 --> 00:26:42.200 He and this passage wants us to recognize and just begin to elevate the identity of who God is in 00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:42.540 our life. 00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:45.160 God is the origin of all things. 00:26:47.120 --> 00:26:48.420 God is light. 00:26:50.820 --> 00:26:51.680 And here's the reality. 00:26:52.860 --> 00:26:54.580 We start to talk in terms of God. 00:26:55.800 --> 00:27:00.680 The tendency in our human nature is to never fully recognize the goodness of who God is. 00:27:00.780 --> 00:27:07.530 In fact, I say that every time we start to describe God we're always at risk at diminishing who he is in his glory. 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:11.750 I think the best way that you can see God is Jesus. 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:16.060 Colossians 2:9 says in him the fullness of God dwelled in bodily form. 00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:18.040 So do you wanna know what God's like, look at Jesus. 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:25.640 Because when we're left to our human terms to describe God for the way that he is we will diminish his glory. 00:27:26.340 --> 00:27:33.090 In fact, there's a reason the Old Testament when God gave his name to Israel and he said his name was Yahweh that the Jews referred to utter that name. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:41.240 It was so sacred, holy, and other that they didn't even wanna speak the name of God because they knew to begin to speak about the name of God and describe God was to diminish 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:42.090 him in his glory. 00:27:43.780 --> 00:27:45.400 We do that as human beings. 00:27:46.900 --> 00:27:49.850 We are always at risk at diminishing God's glory. 00:27:50.560 --> 00:27:57.600 Now I'm gonna describe God for a minute, which, again, I've just told you anytime that we do this we're always at risk undermining 00:27:57.600 --> 00:27:59.040 the goodness of who he is in this world. 00:28:00.060 --> 00:28:07.320 But when you think in terms of God is light and how he diminishes glory, let me just give you just a fairly ridiculous question that we often ask, but 00:28:07.360 --> 00:28:08.980 the innocence of this question is okay. 00:28:09.620 --> 00:28:15.280 The innocence of this question, I don't think, diminishes God in his glory, but when we begin to understand the backdrop to this question we'll see how it happens. 00:28:15.320 --> 00:28:19.980 So common question sometimes people ask, I think we've probably all asked it, where did God come from? 00:28:21.280 --> 00:28:22.200 Innocent question right? 00:28:22.940 --> 00:28:28.180 Innocent question, I mean, it's an important question, because what we're doing is we're being observable with the world around us. 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:32.040 Like everything that's exist, everything that's been created has an origin, right? 00:28:32.760 --> 00:28:40.000 And so because we're familiar with everything that exists, we then assume within the parameters of everything that exists, the same questions upon 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:40.560 God, right? 00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:45.060 Who made God or where did God come from? 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:53.380 But when you think in terms of that question it confines God to creation, because 00:28:53.380 --> 00:28:59.460 we're assuming by asking the question where did God come from or who made God that he's like everything else because everything else has an origin. 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:06.680 Therefore, because we conceive of everything in this world through our lens of experience that God must be somehow relatable in 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:08.900 this way, which there is some relatability to God. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:14.060 But when you think about the things that exist in this world, there are three things that you need, time, space, and matter. 00:29:14.860 --> 00:29:20.410 You need a time for which to exist, a space for which to come from, and a matter that makes up the substance which exists. 00:29:20.820 --> 00:29:26.260 Now if you think in terms of time, space, and matter what's interesting about time, space, and matter is you can't have two without the three. 00:29:26.760 --> 00:29:28.280 Like there's no existence without all three. 00:29:28.780 --> 00:29:31.890 Like if you have space and matter there's no time for anything to come into existence. 00:29:32.380 --> 00:29:35.680 If you have time and space without matter there's no substance for anything to be formed. 00:29:36.120 --> 00:29:39.960 If you have time and matter without space there's no place for things to exist. 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:48.600 But when it comes to everything that's created, at some point you have to have an origin of all things, an 00:29:48.600 --> 00:29:51.500 uncaused cause for which things come into existence. 00:29:51.600 --> 00:29:55.460 For example, in the thought of atheism, let's say. 00:29:55.560 --> 00:30:02.860 In terms of atheism the substance that first begins all things, they talk in terms of matter and let's not worry about time 00:30:02.860 --> 00:30:05.110 and space, but we talk in terms of matter. 00:30:05.180 --> 00:30:10.180 But the question you've always gotta answer is how can something come from nothing? 00:30:12.580 --> 00:30:19.640 And when it comes to the idea of God, he himself is the uncaused cause, which means he's not defined 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:22.540 within time, space, and matter like everything that's created. 00:30:22.860 --> 00:30:28.220 Rather, he's defined outside of time, space, and matter because he's responsible for all things that are created. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:36.120 So before God there was no time, space, or matter, and so there's no time for which he could come into existence, there's no space for which he would exist 00:30:36.120 --> 00:30:39.770 in or be confined to, and there's no matter for which creates his substance. 00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:41.560 God is outside of all of those things. 00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:48.920 And so we ask the question, where did God come from, it becomes impossible because with those things that cause things to exist, God is outside 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:49.660 of those things. 00:30:49.740 --> 00:30:50.440 He doesn't create those things. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.600 It's like asking this question, how tall is the color blue? 00:30:55.100 --> 00:30:56.300 Or how much does your thought weigh? 00:30:58.260 --> 00:31:00.500 You can't define blue that way. 00:31:00.860 --> 00:31:02.620 And you can't weigh your thoughts, right? 00:31:04.340 --> 00:31:08.160 And God can't be defined within the substance of creation in order for creation to exist. 00:31:08.380 --> 00:31:10.940 You have to have an uncaused cause outside of creation. 00:31:10.940 --> 00:31:13.180 So even the question itself, who is God? 00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:14.400 Where did God come from? 00:31:14.600 --> 00:31:15.000 Who made God? 00:31:16.840 --> 00:31:17.960 It's an impossible answer. 00:31:18.280 --> 00:31:21.680 Even to try to define it diminishes who his glory is. 00:31:23.520 --> 00:31:24.500 God is light. 00:31:26.860 --> 00:31:33.860 This is why in Exodus Chapter three when God gave the definition of who he was Abra, or not Abraham, Moses says, before he goes to 00:31:33.860 --> 00:31:40.940 Pharaoh, God, I'm gonna go to Pharaoh I'm gonna say that you declared let my people go, in the midst 00:31:40.940 --> 00:31:43.800 of a flame God declares his name. 00:31:43.860 --> 00:31:44.450 And what does God say? 00:31:45.840 --> 00:31:46.120 I am. 00:31:47.940 --> 00:31:48.360 I am. 00:31:48.360 --> 00:31:50.000 You ever thought about doing this in your life? 00:31:50.180 --> 00:31:51.080 Like define God. 00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:53.780 Who is God? 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:58.320 Pages and pages and pages could be written. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:03.620 But the way God defines himself, the uncaused cause. 00:32:05.940 --> 00:32:07.960 I never came into being, I simply am. 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:13.730 Because all things that are created finds its purpose for existence within him. 00:32:14.420 --> 00:32:19.340 But he is the only thing, within him, so everything created finds a purpose of existence outside of yourself. 00:32:20.500 --> 00:32:21.080 It's found within him. 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:25.140 And he is the only thing that finds his purpose for existing within himself. 00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:27.830 Because he defines all things. 00:32:29.360 --> 00:32:36.560 I mean, you wrestle with that thought, that is a mind boggling thought, but why would I start with such a nerdy way of describing 00:32:36.580 --> 00:32:37.640 God or defining God? 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:40.480 Well, in Genesis Chapter one I think it's the way that God defines himself. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:48.800 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and God said, look, "Let there be light." And 00:32:48.800 --> 00:32:49.340 there was light. 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:57.920 Knowledge, holiness, the authority of God declared from the beginning just as John 00:32:57.920 --> 00:32:59.130 is saying in this verse. 00:32:59.220 --> 00:33:08.340 Look, gnosticism may see the physical world as evil, but God, God in physical form, he is pure, he 00:33:08.360 --> 00:33:08.640 is holy. 00:33:10.800 --> 00:33:14.300 The idea of God transcends beyond our imagination. 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:20.430 We can't conceive of the true glory for which he possesses. 00:33:22.820 --> 00:33:24.420 But Jesus explains him. 00:33:26.120 --> 00:33:27.460 In him the fullness of God dwells. 00:33:29.040 --> 00:33:36.200 That's why when you look in verses seven and to the end of this chapter it becomes so important, because while in verse five and six you 00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:41.710 see this transcending God of light, beyond our imagination. 00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:47.360 In verse seven it then starts the idea of this eminence of God. 00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:47.860 Look at what he says. 00:33:47.900 --> 00:33:55.260 When we pick up in verse six, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 00:33:55.260 --> 00:33:55.860 the truth. 00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:58.830 This walking in darkness is denying the truth of who Jesus is. 00:33:59.880 --> 00:34:07.100 But in verse seven, but if we walk in light, as he is in light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood 00:34:07.100 --> 00:34:09.580 of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:13.440 You see, the sufficiency of who Jesus is and coming in his physical form. 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:16.699 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:34:17.940 --> 00:34:22.550 But in verse nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:34:22.860 --> 00:34:26.340 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:34.420 So in the midst of seeing this God that transcends all things, in a very personal way he comes for us in this 00:34:34.420 --> 00:34:41.960 world and gives his life to cleanse us, and it says in these verses, it talks about the fellowship with God, that God, in his transcendence 00:34:41.960 --> 00:34:45.380 desires to be imminent with you, have personal relationship with you. 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:52.199 So the sufficiency of who Jesus is in your life becomes the paramount understanding for walking with God daily. 00:34:53.380 --> 00:34:58.480 Now I'll tell you in verse seven to 10, there is a debate here, and I'm gonna tell you I don't know the answer to. 00:34:59.780 --> 00:35:03.820 For seven to 10 people have looked at this and said, okay, is God writing this to Christians or not Christians? 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:07.740 When you get to chapter two verse one, I think he refers to the beloved. 00:35:07.780 --> 00:35:09.320 I think he's very clearly talking to Christians. 00:35:10.620 --> 00:35:16.410 But in chapters one verses seven to 10 people debate as to whether or not John's actually talking to Christians here. 00:35:16.940 --> 00:35:24.160 People will go to this word fellowship and say, well he's talking about fellowship so he must be talking about interaction with believers, but I don't think this term fellowship is even talking about interaction 00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:24.500 with believers. 00:35:26.240 --> 00:35:32.800 I think John here is really giving, most likely giving a blanket statement for anybody in the church, whether they're believers or not. 00:35:32.820 --> 00:35:40.060 Anybody that's come to the church, I'll just say, not necessarily part of the body but gathered with the church, wherever they are, he's declaring the truth of God to 00:35:40.060 --> 00:35:47.220 see in this transcendent God of light, this God of all authority and power and purity and knowledge, but that he's also personally 00:35:47.220 --> 00:35:49.340 made himself known, and this is how we come to know him. 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:59.340 That whether you start your journey with Jesus today or you continue your journey with Jesus today that for all of us that journey is the same, that 00:35:59.340 --> 00:35:59.760 we sin. 00:36:01.500 --> 00:36:05.340 And that sin interferes with our fellowship of God. 00:36:05.580 --> 00:36:07.230 But God paid for that sin. 00:36:08.340 --> 00:36:13.250 And in coming and confessing that sin before us we enjoy that fellowship with him for which we were created. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:16.040 There's reconciliation. 00:36:17.860 --> 00:36:24.860 The reason I don't think fellowship has to do with Christians is because look at what it says in verse six, if we say we have fellowship with him, so it's talking 00:36:24.860 --> 00:36:31.180 about your relationship with God, and in verse seven it says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. 00:36:31.300 --> 00:36:32.460 And the debate is over this one another. 00:36:33.260 --> 00:36:37.440 And I think this one another is actually referring to one another as in you with the Lord. 00:36:38.580 --> 00:36:39.780 We have fellowship with one another. 00:36:40.240 --> 00:36:44.200 Like our fellowship, we, have fellowship with the Lord when we walk in this light. 00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:48.940 Understanding who Christ is. 00:36:50.580 --> 00:36:55.380 Mustard seed faith and the greatness of this God. 00:36:55.880 --> 00:37:00.560 And in verse nine I think it gives us one of the most important verses in our walk with God. 00:37:00.660 --> 00:37:07.900 It says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins 00:37:09.290 --> 00:37:10.700 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:37:12.660 --> 00:37:20.160 I think that word all there, that's a pretty powerful word in this sentence, right? 00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:22.740 Cleanse from all unrighteousness. 00:37:24.240 --> 00:37:30.060 Like when you blow up, when you mess up, when you sin, how does God look at you? 00:37:32.020 --> 00:37:32.580 Does he hate you? 00:37:34.120 --> 00:37:35.140 Does he wanna punish you? 00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:38.860 Does he wanna cast you aside and pretend like you don't belong? 00:37:40.300 --> 00:37:40.520 No. 00:37:43.020 --> 00:37:50.200 Verse nine says he loves you, wants to forgive you, wrap you in his grace, and continue this journey with you which 00:37:50.200 --> 00:37:51.420 he has created you for. 00:37:53.620 --> 00:37:57.520 If we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us. 00:37:57.600 --> 00:37:59.420 Now, believers, let me just tell you this. 00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:02.230 I don't think it's in terms of salvation here. 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:10.340 I think it's in terms of fellowship, meaning if you're a follower of Jesus and you've come before the Lord and you've confessed your sin before God and 00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:14.800 Christ has rescued your life, he is your savior, I think that salvation is secure. 00:38:16.420 --> 00:38:22.310 But what happens in our life in sin is that sin affects our relationship with God, our fellowship with him. 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:25.820 We always belong to him once we embrace him. 00:38:27.220 --> 00:38:29.000 Your sealed in the spirit, the Bible tells us. 00:38:30.140 --> 00:38:31.660 But you're not always close to Jesus. 00:38:31.680 --> 00:38:33.580 Your relationship with God fluxes, right? 00:38:33.580 --> 00:38:36.740 It's some days you're closer than others and what's the reason. 00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:37.510 Well it's sin. 00:38:39.740 --> 00:38:46.740 And so he's saying in this passage, look, if you do mess up in your walk with God, God doesn't want you to go away and castrate yourself like Origen, that's 00:38:46.740 --> 00:38:47.620 not what God wants. 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:50.890 God wants you with him. 00:38:52.180 --> 00:39:00.620 And when you recognize where you've fallen and you come before God and you say, God, I've sinned, but 00:39:00.660 --> 00:39:06.450 you are holy and you are pure and you are good and you are gracious. 00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:14.760 And with my mustard seed one more time I'm gonna rest on the foundation of who you are. 00:39:16.220 --> 00:39:21.830 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:39:23.640 --> 00:39:28.980 Because of who Jesus is, this is why he could cover our sin. 00:39:30.600 --> 00:39:34.780 His physical life is necessary for you. 00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:39.780 Christianity is about that journey of a mustard seed. 00:39:41.260 --> 00:39:48.300 And when you read verses seven to nine in this passage of scripture, John wants you to appreciate the idea that 00:39:48.300 --> 00:39:55.370 while God is transcended in our understanding, he is also imminent for you, 00:39:56.040 --> 00:40:02.440 that what God desires in coming to this earth, is for you to have that relationship with him. 00:40:03.520 --> 00:40:04.580 You don't have to know everything. 00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:12.160 But the journey starts on one thing, the validity and reliability of who Jesus is. 00:40:13.780 --> 00:40:20.820 And if you rest yourself on that and the feet of faith, and the feet of ice I guess, for your faith, 00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:29.230 your faith will continue to flourish and grow in the journey of what it is to know God and to light in him all of your days.