Are You Missing Jesus?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever been in a position where:
you knew what the right thing to do was…
but you ended up doing the wrong thing to look good to others?
Maybe you laughed at an inappropriate joke…
you knew it was inappropriate,
but you didn’t want to look like a “loser”.
Maybe you joined in the gossip…
because you didn’t want to sound holier than thou and offend friends/family.
Maybe you did not speak that truth in love…
because you didn’t want to potentially offend someone.
We are faced with many situations in life where:
we are forced to pick between doing what will earn favour before God,
and doing what will earn favour before people.
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Pilate is an example of this.
After examining Jesus closely,
he declared three separate times that Jesus was innocent.
He was even warned by his wife to avoid Jesus,
but he didn’t listen.
15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
He knew the just thing would be to let an innocent man go,
but he was more concerned about earning the favour of people than doing what’s right,
so he condemned an innocent man.
And then he tried to remove his own guilt and clear his own name…
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
But Pilate couldn’t cleanse himself of his guilt before God.
He had the power/authority/knowledge to do the right thing,
Instead he chose to allow an innocent man to be killed,
out of his desire for glory from others.
Because he cared more about pleasing man than God,
Pilate completely missed who Jesus actually was…
the Son of God!
Title
Title
Are You Missing Jesus?
Are You Missing Jesus?
Main Point of Sermon
Main Point of Sermon
PROP
In all of our decisions and how we live our lives,
we are trying to receive glory from someone.
Maybe we want others to think well of us,
maybe we only care about what we think…
But we should be most concerned about seeking the glory that comes from God.
FCF
Oftentimes we choose to receive glory from men rather than God.
We want people to think well of us, and respect us.
The problem is that when our desire is to please people,
we miss Jesus.
We show that we truly don’t believe God‘s word,
because we don’t surrender to Christ as our Lord.
And when we don’t really believe God’s Word,
we become like Pilate…
living with no conviction,
living out of fear of man, and
trying to wash our own hands of guilt and save ourselves.
What we need to learn is that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves,
and wash our guilt away.
Jesus, the Son of God, is the only One who can do that,
and we must look to Him!
But the only way we will turn to Jesus,
is if we care more about the glory that comes from God,
than the glory that comes from people.
Bill Board
Bill Board
What we’re going to see this morning is that:
Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You
Knowing the Bible Can’t Save You
Your Reputation Can’t Save You
Prayer for Illumination
Prayer for Illumination
Lord,
Scripture
Scripture
Announce
Announce
John 5:31-47.
Introduce
Introduce
We have been going through the Gospel According to John…
Last week Pastor Jonah preached a sermon on John 5:1-29,
where Jesus proved His divinity and authority.
Jesus declared His authority as given to Him by His Father,
and He proved it through healing the man who was lame for 38 years.
Transition
As we pick up this morning,
He is going to emphasize the testimony of OTHERS that He is the Son of God.
Context
This whole section is based on the framework of God’s Law,
which required multiple witness to convict someone.
6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Jesus is making the argument that there have been multiple witnesses that prove
He is God, and
was sent by God.
But the Jews completely missed Jesus!
They were doing all the right things,
listening to the best teachers;
searching the Scripture;
but they had the wrong motives,
which led them to completely miss Jesus.
Read
Read
31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
The first thing we see is:
1. Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You
1. Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You
I know that many of you are like me:
you love to listen to good preaching/teaching!
There are so many great/wonderful teacher/preachers out there,
and they are God’s gift to us!
The internet has made great teaching easily accessible.
But no matter how many great teachers you listen to;
NOT ONE OF THEM CAN SAVE YOU!
The best they can do is point you to the One who CAN save you… Jesus!
And that’s what the best teachers do.
As Jesus continues His conversation with the Jews,
He points out that John the Baptist was a teacher they rejoiced in,
and he faithfully pointed people to Jesus…
but the Jews missed Him!
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
John 5:31 “31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.”
Jesus’ own testimony is not valid by Jewish Law,
which required two or three witnesses.
John 5:32 “32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.”
Jesus here alludes to a valid witness that would validate His claims…
referring to God the Father.
Going to talk about this more later…
John 5:33 “33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.”
The Jews sent people to John to ask if he was the Christ, and
John pointed them to the coming Messiah, Jesus.
26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, .’
33 ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
John the Baptist was sent by God,
and was faithful to point to Jesus.
(Put main point slide back up)
1. Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You
1. Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You
But then Jesus says…
John 5:34–35 “34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”
Jesus isn’t basing His claim to be God on John’s testimony.
Jesus doesn’t NEED John to verify His claim to be the Son of God.
But God did in fact send John to point people to Jesus so that people would believe.
Jesus is calling them to believe the teacher they listened to and rejoiced in.
Summary
The Jews gladly listened to John,
and even rejoiced in his teaching,
but they didn’t believe his message,
because the rejected Jesus… who John was pointing to.
More than that, they were trying to kill Him!
Listening to Teachers Can’t Save You!
ILLUSTRATE
ILLUSTRATE
I love listening to Dave Ramsey,
but if I don’t follow his advice, what good is it?
Maybe you enjoy watching videos of how to get fit/eat healthy…
but if you don’t follow the advice, what good is it?
LISTENING to the best teachers won’t get you anywhere!
It’s only when you UNDERSTAND and APPLY their teaching that it’s useful.
Summary
It’s the same when it comes to listening to the best teachers/preachers…
If you don’t understand and apply their teaching,
you will totally miss the point!
And the point is Jesus!
APPLY
APPLY
We can run into one of two problems.
The first problem is:
We enjoy listening to teachers who don’t point to Jesus.
Bible teachers who don’t point to Jesus, are just preaching legalism.
We either feel overwhelmed/discouraged because we fall short… OR
We feel proud because we think we’re doing well.
The second problem is:
We enjoy listening to teachers but don’t follow their advice to turn to Christ.
We like their teaching, but don’t apply/obey it.
It becomes about performance/entertainment.
“I like this preacher better than that preacher”
We must find and listen to good teachers,
but we must be careful we don’t miss Jesus!
The Jews liked listening to John the Baptist,
but they completely missed the whole point of his message:
preparing the way for Jesus!
His role was to warn people of God’s coming kingdom,
and turn people back to God through repentance.
But the Jews totally missed Jesus!
They rejected Him and wanted to kill Him!
If we’re not careful, we can desire the same thing.
We don’t mind listening to teachers,
but totally miss the point of the preaching… Jesus!
How do we know if we’ve missed Jesus?
If your only takeaway from listening to good teachers is:
to try harder, and try changing yourself,
you’ve missed Jesus!
The message of the Gospel is not to try harder…
the message of the Gospel is Christ has accomplished the work!
He lived in perfect obedience to the Law when you and I couldn’t.
So we listen to good biblical teachers who preach Jesus, and then we…
Come to Jesus and confess our sins,
and He is faithful and just to cleanse us…
We come to Jesus and ask for help,
and He gives us His Spirit to give us the desire to walk in obedience to God…
We come to Jesus and ask for hope,
and He gives us the hope that we will be in heaven for all eternity!
Summary
Listening to teachers can’t save us…
only Jesus can save us…
and we should look to Him!
Next we see that…
2. Knowing the Bible Can’t Save You
2. Knowing the Bible Can’t Save You
What a joy and privilege it is to have God’s Word!
It has been such a joy to read through it again this year.
I know that many of you are following our Bible reading plan,
which you can find through our Church Center App,
as well as on our church website: goodnewschurch.ca
There are also suggested memory verses for each week.
It is important for us to be in God’s Word daily,
and hiding God’s Word in our hearts.
But we must beware the danger of thinking that:
reading and knowing the Bible will save us.
You can know the Bible inside and out, back to front…
You can have it all memorized…
You can have an Scripture for every scenario in life…
and still not be saved!
This is exactly where these Jews were:
they searched the Scriptures, and knew the Scriptures,
but they totally missed Jesus,
the One the Scriptures pointed to.
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
Jesus continues is verse 36…
John 5:36 “36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”
Jesus here continues to point to the witnesses that prove He is the Son of God, sent by God…
HIS WORKS!
God has given Jesus works to accomplish,
and these are meant to reveal that He is sent by God.
Jesus had just healed a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years.
This is what started this whole debate in the first place,
and that sign was meant to prove He had the authority,
because He IS God!
Jesus goes on to say in verse 37-38…
John 5:37–38 “37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.”
God Himself had borne witness to Jesus…
through the OT, bearing witness to a coming Messiah… Jesus…
through John the Baptist who bore witness to Jesus…
through Jesus’ baptism bearing witness that Jesus was His Son …
through Jesus’ works bearing witness to His power and authority …
These were all ways God bore witness about Jesus,
that God sent Him.
But the Jews showed that they truly didn’t know God,
because they rejected His Son whom He sent to them.
The Jews knew God’s Word,
but they didn’t know God the Father,
and therefore didn’t recognize His Son.
Jesus continues in…
John 5:39–40 “39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
The Jews were diligent to search the Scriptures,
thinking they could earn God’s salvation.
They were so concerned about the letter of the Law (legalistically obeying every command),
that they completely missed Jesus!
Jesus in essence says…
“The Law has been pointing to me…
Here I am… and yet you reject me,
and therefore reject the eternal life that I offer.
Summary
The Jews were faithful to read and know the Scriptures,
but it wasn’t enough to save them…
they still didn’t have eternal life!
They thought they could earn salvation by knowing and obeying the letter of the Law,
but they failed to understand the real purpose of the Law:
to Know God!
They came to the Scriptures with selfish motives.
They didn’t know God,
and therefore didn’t accept Jesus.
And Jesus reminds them:
Reading the Best Scriptures Can’t Save You!
The Scriptures were meant to point people to Jesus,
but many Jews missed Him!
They didn’t know the Father,
and therefore didn’t know the Son
who could give them the eternal life they were so desperately trying to find.
APPLY
APPLY
This is a warning to us as well!
We need to realize that we can be faithful to read God’s Word,
and yet completely miss Jesus!
You can read the Bible everyday…
You can study/meditate/memorize the Bible…
You can study theology/go to seminary…
and be lost and dead in your sin!
Why?
Because you missed Jesus!
The Bible is not like an object to put under a microscope to study…
The Bible is not a book full of good teaching that will help us live a better, more fulfilled life…
The Bible is not something to be manipulated to help you win arguments…
The Bible is how we come to know God!
It is His revelation of Himself to us…
It’s how we come to know who He is…
You can search the Scriptures and try to obey it to the best of your ability,
but that won’t save you!
You will wear yourself out trying to obey every command.
You need to realize the Bible is God’s testimony of Himself.
He calls His people to love and trust Him.
And God the Father sent Jesus as the fulfilment of His promises,
so that we would know Him even more.
When we truly understand this, we don’t come to the Law to justify myself,
we come to the Law to know and love God…
we come to know and believe in Jesus…
we come to humbly surrender ourselves to Him,
who already perfectly fulfilled the Law.
He already did what you and I could not,
by obeying God’s Word perfectly.
Stop trying to do what’s already been done!
You and I can’t do it anyway.
So yes,
read God’s Word…
study God’s Word…
meditate on God’s Word…
memorize God’s Word…
but not legalistically,
or because you have to…
Do these things because through them you come to KNOW GOD!
Before you open the Bible, or go over your memory verses,
pray that God would open your eyes to know Him!
Would it be your desire to pray:
I want to know you, Jesus my Lord
King of the Heavens, King of my soul
I trade my treasure and all my rewards
Jesus to know you, then know you more
Summary
Knowing the Bible can’t save you…
But when you come to God’s Word with a desire to know Him,
you come to know Jesus whom He has sent.
It is only through Jesus that we can have eternal life!
Next we see that…
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
We all have some desire to be thought well of by others.
Maybe you’re a people-pleaser like me…
We want people to think well of us,
so we learn to do things that we know others will like,
and they in turn give us the praise/admiration we long for.
Maybe you think that you don’t care what others think:
You’ve been burned/disappointed in the past,
so you’ve learned to protect yourself by pretending to not care what others opinion is of you.
But the truth is, deep down, you still long to be accepted/thought well of.
We all have this longing to have a good reputation,
but what Jesus wants us to understand is:
it doesn’t matter how good your reputation is…
it can’t save you!
In fact, your reputation can actually lead you straight to hell!
Let’s look at what Jesus says next…
EXPLAIN
EXPLAIN
John 5:41 “41 I do not receive glory from people.”
Jesus does not get His glory from people.
The word for glory here means: a state of high honour.
Jesus doesn’t need people to respect Him/honour Him/ think well of Him.
He gets His validation/glory from God.
Maybe you’ve had the experience before where a verse/passage of Scripture instantly changes your perspective…
that’s what happened to me this week with this verse…
it totally wrecked me.
41 I do not receive glory from people.
If you’ve ever listened to me pray,
I will often say something about us bringing glory to God.
Now it is true that we are to glorify God with our lives,
but we can’t ADD to God’s glory,
as if we can somehow make Him more glorious…
God IS glorious…
God IS majestic in holiness…
God IS righteous and true…
We cannot add to or make Him more of any of His attributes,
because He is already perfectly all of those things!
We bring glory to God by EXPOSING/REVEALING His glory,
and giving Him the worship He deserves because He is glorious.
We bring God glory when we come to know,
and testify to how awesome and great He truly is!
It isn’t wrong to pray for God to be glorified through us,
since there are commands all through Scripture to do just that,
but it would be helpful for us to pray…
“Lord help me to UNDERSTAND how glorious you are, and so give You the worship You deserve.”
“Lord help me to live in such a way that others SEE YOUR TRUE GLORY and worship You.”
What Jesus is saying here in this verse is that…
He doesn’t RECEIVE glory from man,
because He already IS GLORIOUS!
He doesn’t need man to honour or validate Him…
He knows who He is.
(Put main point slide back up)
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
Next Jesus says…
John 5:42–43 “42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.”
The reason Jesus knows they don’t have the love of God the Father,
is because they reject Him, even though He came in His Father’s name.
They gladly accept others who come in their own name,
but not Jesus, who comes in the name of God the Father.
D.A. Carson, in his commentary on John says…
“The irony is that they will receive others who come in their own name, who make no claim to be sent by God and who are not characterized by self-denial and submission to God’s will. Such false messiahs will be welcomed, while the true one is rejected. The contrast serves to underscore both their blindness and their perverse values.”
Then Jesus says…
John 5:44 “44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
Jesus is getting to the root sin in these Jews,
they care more about their reputation before one another,
than they do about their reputation before God!
This is what I meant when I said earlier that your reputation can lead you straight to hell.
These Jews were so fixated on receiving glory from one another that they couldn’t believe!
They’re not concerned about the truth,
they’re only concerned about what makes them look good to others…
And this blinds them to Jesus, who can give them eternal life!
Matthew records an example of the Jews and their desire to please man and not God…
23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
How could these Jewish leaders believe,
when their only concern was their reputation before men,
rather than their reputation before God?
Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century English preacher said…
“…the praise of men generally turns the receivers of it into great cowards.”
When you receive a lot of praise,
it makes you less willing to speak the truth,
because it might make you unpopular.
Their selfish pride blinded them to the truth of Jesus’ words!
(Put main point slide back up)
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
3. Your Reputation Can’t Save You
Continuing in …
John 5:45–47 “45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?””
The Jews were so careful to follow the law as given by Moses,
but Jesus says that they don’t really believe it.
They don’t believe it because they don’t believe Jesus,
whom Moses was pointing toward.
How did Moses write of Jesus?
Speaking of a coming prophet
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
2. The bronze serpent
In Numbers, God sends serpents among His people because of their complaining.
After Moses prays for them, God tells him to make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, and everyone who looks on it will live.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3. Water from the rock
Numbers also tells us how God gave the Israelites water from the rock.
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
There are many other ways what Moses wrote points to Jesus:
The temple and it’s sacrifices point to Jesus
Obedience to God’s Law from the heart points to Jesus
Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength points to Jesus
After rising from the dead Luke says…
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
The entire OT points forward to Jesus as the fulfilment of God’s purposes and plans!
In our passage, Jesus says
“Moses, on whom you have set your hope, will accuse you before the Father.”
The imagery here is of a trial that will take place before God the Father:
The Jews will defend themselves,
pointing to their strict obedience to Moses’ Law.
Then Moses will testify to what he wrote, and accuse them,
saying you missed the point of all my writing!
It was all pointing to Jesus, the Prophet, Priest and King…
the Son of God who would come to save and Shepherd His people!
Moses is going to be dumbfounded, shaking his head,
wondering how people missed that He was pointing to Jesus!
Summary
They didn’t believe Moses’ writings,
because they only cared about glory from one another.
They were not truly seeking the glory from God.
And if they didn’t believe Moses,
how are they going to believe Jesus?
They were happy with washing the outside of the cup,
and not being concerned with the inside!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
APPLY
APPLY
What about you?
Are you happy to wash the outside of the cup,
so that others think well of you?
You
read your Bible,
pray,
go to church…
because it makes people think that you’re a good person.
You know how to look like a Christian,
you can walk the walk and talk the talk,
so that others think you’re a Christian…
maybe you’ve even convinced yourself!
But it’s all external!
It’s washing the outside of the cup…
It’s white-washing the tomb…
the outside looks good,
but the inside is full of death and decay.
But since everything looks good from the outside,
everyone thinks you’re a Christian…
they think you’re a good person…
and maybe that makes you feel better about yourself.
What you need to know is that:
YOUR REPUTATION CAN’T SAVE YOU!
Just because others think your good,
and tell you your good,
DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU ARE GOOD!
Sometimes we think that the goal of Christianity is external obedience…
just follow the rules, and hopefully you’ll be good…
But that’s not the goal of Christianity at all!
God didn’t just send Jesus to make rule followers, and make them look a little better than others,
HE WANTS TO TRANSFORM PEOPLE!
God wants to cause us to be born again by His Spirit,
so that we have new hearts, and are clean from the inside,
and long to obey Christ our Lord.
ILLUSTRATION
ILLUSTRATION
We all struggle with this desire to be admired/thought well of by others.
Even me!
A couple weeks ago I preached a message on baptism,
and I knew that it would be hard for some of you to hear.
I preached our belief in Believer’s Baptism.
Baptism is for the believer,
and if you were baptized before you were a Christian,
you haven’t had a Believer’s Baptism.
I was worried about what you would think about me,
and was even worried that some people might leave.
But I had a choice to make:
Am I most concerned about what people think of me? OR
What God thinks of me?
Wrestling with that helped me to prepare/deliver that message more compassionately,
but my commitment is to be faithful to God,
not make you happy.
My commitment is to seek the glory that He gives,
not the glory that comes from people.
APPLY CONT.
APPLY CONT.
Why do you act like a Christian?
Why do you want to read the Bible, pray, go to church?
Is it because you’re seeking glory from people,
or is it because you’re seeking glory from God?
You need to know that:
Your Reputation Can’t Save You!
You may be able to convince others that you’re a good person,
but that doesn’t save you!
You can’t wash your own hands of your guilt before God!
Don’t miss Jesus!
He is the only One who can save you!
You should pursue a life of holiness and obedience to God,
because you love Jesus,
and your desire to receive glory from God.
This is what will give you the courage and conviction to be faithful and true.
Closing
Closing
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
Many of you probably know of John MacArthur.
He is a preacher I have long respected and been blessed by.
He passed away recently,
and he is in the presence of Jesus his Saviour.
Do you know why?
It isn’t because:
He pastored Grace Bible Church in Sun Valley California for over 50 years…
It isn’t because:
He wrote over 150 books, including the MacArthur Study Bible…
It isn’t because:
He was the president of the Master’s University and Seminary,
training thousands of pastors and missionaries worldwide…
It isn’t because:
He founded Grace to You Bible Radio,
reaching millions with his Bible teaching…
It isn’t because:
He had a great reputation as a well-known theologian…
The reason John MacArthur is in the presence of Jesus,
is because he repented of his sins and put his faith in Jesus!
He was a sinner like the rest of us,
but turned to Jesus,
and is now experiencing eternal life!
John MacArthur didn’t miss Jesus!
Point to Christ (How does the Gospel speak to this?)
Point to Christ (How does the Gospel speak to this?)
Christian
If you are a Christian here this morning:
you know you are saved through Christ…
stop trying to perform works as if to somehow earn your salvation.
Understand that the purpose of God’s Word is to continually point you back to Jesus,
over and over and over!
run to Him for strength…
run to Him for grace…
run to Him for hope…
Only Jesus can help you through the power of His Spirit in you.
Seek to follow His Word through the power that He gives you.
Non-Christian
If you are not a Christian here this morning:
maybe you think you’re a pretty good person,
because you go to church;
read your Bible a bit; and
don’t commit and crazy sins…
You need to understand that you can’t save yourself through your own works.
Listening to teachers can’t save you…
Knowing the Bible can’t save you… even
Your reputation can’t save you…
ONLY JESUS CAN SAVE YOU!
The whole Bible points to Jesus,
don’t miss Him!
Turn to Him today and He will save you,
and grant you everlasting life!
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper
We have the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Supper this morning!
If you have been baptized on the confession of your sin,
and faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour,
we invite you to join us.
You should have received a cup/wafer on the way in.
If not, please raise your hand and an usher will serve you.
If you have not been baptized,
or are not in good standing with the Lord,
we ask that you do not participate.
Partake Lord’s Supper
Partake Lord’s Supper
Wafer
Wafer
Join me in opening the top portion of the cup and taking the wafer out.
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
As we take and eat the wafer,
as you crunch it between your teeth,
remember Jesus’ body broken, bruised, and crushed for you,
as He gave Himself and died in your place.
Let’s Pray:
Father, we come to You in Jesus’ name,
and we thank You for His willing sacrifice of His body for us.
As we partake of this bread, help us to remember His body given for us.
Amen!
Let’s take the wafer and eat.
Juice
Juice
Join me in opening the cup of juice.
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
As we take and drink the juice,
remember Jesus’ blood that was spilled,
paying the price your sin demanded,
so that we could be forgiven through His sacrifice.
Let’s pray:
Father, we come to You in Jesus’ name,
and we thank You for Jesus perfect life,
and willingly shedding His blood to pay for our sin.
As we drink the juice, help us to remember His blood spilled for us!
Amen!
Let’s take the juice and drink.
