Law: Skeptics and Saints

Good Morning Church! Covenant Members, would you join me in welcoming all of our first time and returning guests? ( energetic applause) So good to see all of you and to be here. I hope you have been made to feel welcome today. This church is about walking out this life together in the RADICAL GRACE of JESUS CHRIST. It’s our heart that here a Concord, that you are made to feel “Known, Loved, and that you Belong.”

Scripture tells us in :‌ (ESV) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.That means you don’t have to get it all figured out before you come. You come and we figure it out together. Whatever season you are in, we know the struggles of this sinful world…but we also know that our God is bigger than our circumstances.

guest connection:

Keep it upbeat— Also, for our Guests we want to connect with you! With that said, I hope you received a program this morning you’ll notice in that program there’s more info about who we are and what we offer as a church. There you will find information about various ministries for the whole family. Also inside the program, along with the insert, there is a connect envelope. Later on in our service we will worship through a time of offering together. During this offering time we will give all of you a moment to fill out the connect envelopes (and they also serve as a place you can give any money or financial gift that you would offer to the Lord). During that time you will have an opportunity to connect and give and it’s really simple. Joe, our lead pastor will walk you through the steps. We desire to connect with you and help you get plugged in.

covenant connection:

Covenant Members,

We value Concord KIDS! Our KIDS are having a blast on Sunday’s with KIDS group & worship and this place is alive on Wednesday nights with KIDS AWANA!!!

Ask Delight, what this Wednesday’s theme is…then announce it to the church and encourage them to make sure there KIDS are there

We are so excited to see so much growth in KIDS…I mean it’s an exciting time as our KIDS building is starting to burst on Sun and Wed. with that said, there is a NEED to serve our KIDS. Covenant Members we are asking for you specifically to serve our KIDS on Sun. or Wed.

I want you to take out your Connect Envelopes and after you fill in your names and date right beside “KIDS” write I WILL SERVE! Then write your email and cell down and we will pass your info on to our KIDS Pastor, Brandon.

We need you to take the

He will be in touch with you this week. Whether you are willing to hold a baby or teach our KIDS about JESUS, CONCORD KIDS WILL provide you with the training you need. Make sure to fill out that connect card and we will collect it at the end of worship during our OFFERING MOMENT. Our lead pastor, Joe will tell you more about that later.

Call to Worship || Preparatory Prayer

Ask Congregation to stand

Lead them in an intentional prayer to focus our hearts and minds on how the Holy Spirit would move within us today

ESV10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

Cole, immediately start playing the worship song as you take over

Greg exits the stage

FORGIVEN || worship leader || Cole Pevey

Cole, says:

2 Songs of Pardon || Concord Worship

Cole prays: Thanking God for His presence through His Holy Spirit and how He reveals Himself through the person on Jesus who is “the Word.”

Ask Him to anoint the service as we continue to worship through His Holy Spirit inspired Scripture and song.

Band exits stage

Joe takes the stage during prayer

Sermon || lead pastor || Joe Brantley

Introduction

Good morning church. Open your Bibles to John chapter 1 (found in the New Testament)…if you are joining us today and you don’t have Bible you should find a white paperback one laying around under the seats, grab that one…if you don’t own a Bible, consider that our gift to you.

John 1:17 ESV

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We are continuing our study of this text because it is crucial to understand. Here’s what you need to know most of all this morning as we have unpacked truth after truth for this very text is there is still more to grasp and to behold. This is today’s truth that we all must see… (big idea)

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

pause… repeat…pause…repeat.

Here’s the shards of truth buried with in that general statement… “all of humanity.” That means whether you are a skeptic or a saint God’s law is actively speaking into your life and there is no “get out of jail free cards.” So, for you who are here that are on the fence about what this whole church thing means and are going, “Wait a minute, ugh uhhh, I didn’t sign up for that yet. I haven’t said yes to this whole church thing or this Jesus guy.” If that’s you welcome. I’m glad you are hear because you desperately need to hear what God’s Word has specifically for you. Because whether you are here in belief, kind of belief, on the fence, or you where drug here kicking and screaming, the truth is that God’s law applies to each and every one of us. That’s why it is so crucial that you don’t tune me out. Listen...

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

Exposition

That is why I’ve been explaining and expounding this text. And hopefully there is a tension and a holy type of wrestling that is going on in your heart that even if you have been in church all your life, you are examining your heart. Because no one gets a pass!

This text is not only crucial to us understanding John’s prologue () but it is also essential to understanding the whole Christian Gospel. The Good News proclaimed in God’s Word of His One and only Son holy and supernatural mission as tells us, that Jesus...

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John is teaching us ALL the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ when he calls Him the Word...

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

R. Kent Hughes explains it like this...

“‘In the beginning was the Word.” There never was a time when Christ did not exist because the word “was” is in the Greek imperfect tense, which means, “was continuing. In fact, the entire verse bears this sense. ‘In the beginning was continuing the Word, and the Word was continuing with God, and the Word was continually God.” Meaning “Jesus was always wasing! Jesus was preexistent. He was always continuing… ‘And the Word was with God.’ Literally, ‘the Word was continually toward God.” The Father and son were continually face-to-face...” then Hughes says it just gets bigger!

“‘And the Word was God.’ The exact meaning is is that the Word was God in essence and character. He was God in every way, though He was a separate person from God the Father. The phrase perfectly preserves Jesus’ separate identity, while also stating that he is God. This was his continuing identity from all eternity. He was God constantly…The simple sentence of verse 1 is the most compact and pulsating theological statement in all Scripture. Jesus was always existing from all eternity as God, in perfect fellowship with God the Father and (though not mentioned) the Holy Spirit. He is the cosmic Christ.”

That my friends is the Gospel, good news to both skeptic and saint. Why? Because that means God stepped down from heaven and into our mess and made a way for your sins to be forgiven.

Our biggest problem (society as a whole) is our FAILURE to realize what God has done for us in and through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Look right at me—do you want to know what the church is really about? It Is about Jesus!

And what we find in John’s Gospel is a thread runs from one end of the Bible to the other and v.17 ties it completely and perfectly in a bow fo us as the Holy Spirit stirs our affections towards Him—and He says, “Here…here is the good news, the saving knowledge that awakens or has awoke you from the death of your sins and trespasses and gave you LIFE!”

This text, if we can realize it, connects all the dots. It helps us to understand God’s purpose for us.

John 1:17 ESV

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Meaning because Jesus can save you from sin by grace through faith and this is truth…means we must understand...

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

Here’s what we miss, here’s where we take our eye off the ball; you and I can only appreciate each other as we see one another in the light of God’s most holy law.—So if that concept is still perplexing—LEAN IN! Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says,

“We will never know other people truly until we know ourselves.”

We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves and we will never know ourselves until we see ourselves as God sees us (like before Christ took on flesh) in the light of His law. Because we until you know that side of yourself you will never appreciate “the grace and truth that came through Jesus.”

God gave his law to Moses. But the truth we learned last week is that He had already put His law into our hearts when He created us. But, because of the fall and sin and rebellion, we forgot the law and wandered away from it so explicitly that He gave it again in the Ten Commandments.

Like I get it, you may feel really far removed from the enslavement of Egypt, but your hearts still long for the chains of an occupier that you do not belong to. We are still a forgetful people who need to be REMINDED, just like those Moses led out of Egypt, we need to be REMINDED of God’s law. WHY? Because even today you and I are prone to wander.

If we don’t get this we don’t get salvation. Let me help you out, from the very words of Jesus:

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matt 5:21

Like that changes everything…what???? anger equals murder? See we thought we found a loop whole “as long as I don’t kill anybody...” WRONG! God’s standards are so different. Yet we keep dropping ours and lowering the bar because we forget; because we are lazy…how can you understand what Jesus’ death meant for you if you don’t even realize you are in the death of your own sins?

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

The Gospel is seen through the lens of God’s perfect law and the perfect finished work of Christ on the cross. You can only be saved by grace—God’s unmerited favor—not by how you kept the law, because you can’t keep it. The one law you thought you could keep—not killing someone—Jesus turns that upside down and now your sitting in traffic at 5:30pm on a Friday and you become a serial killer. You stand before God as a law-breaker—it is only by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone are you pardoned form your death sentence. Because in the economy of God…everyone without Jesus is on death row.

Are you tracking?

Hear me, it is only those who have seen themselves condemned under the law who can rejoice in the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christians, we need to know this to understand the process of sanctification (becoming holy)…like that takes time…hence the word “process.” We must understand it.

But that is the standard—if we see just how depraved and evil we are then we see our need for a rescuing savior.

I’m going gross—we are like a baby in their diaper…content in our sin…it’s warm and it’s mine. That’s us in our sin. The aroma of God’s law brings to your attention the rottenness in which you are existing, and you are content with it. A baby doesn’t understand they are in filth; they don’t understand the darkness. However, if a 35 year old man, whose so dialed into my sermon…just goes…like right here…among us. WHATTTTT???? “Bring on the worship! It’s warm and it’s mine.” NO!!!!

It’s not healthy, it’s not right. You know better, that has been written into your make up since you where a baby by a caring father or mother or surrogate—who loved you enough to pick you up and clean you and not leave you in your mess.

That’s exactly what your heavenly Father has done through the law—exposed your filth—made you aware—you see your need to be cleaned. So you lift your hands to your Father in heaven and He doesn’t leave you in your mess. Instead not only does he pick you up, but He steps down from heaven and like a loving parent enters into your mess and takes on your filth, so that you might be clean. Eternally clean and redeemed.

You are not a baby. It’s not ok to stay in you mess. But listen to me…this world is teaching you that it is ok, live in it, stay in it.

Here’s what you need to know…it’s ok to not be ok in this place. But, it’s not ok to stay that way.

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

John 1:17 ESV

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

I’m laying it down for you right now, that the fundamental proposition that the whole trouble in the world today, at this moment is due, ultimately to our neglect of the law of God, a neglect sometimes based on sheer ignorance, both other times due to the arrogance of unbelief. Due to the deliberate rejection of the Bible, which is the Word of God. That neglect is the single cause of man’s falling away from God and consequently the falling away from what he was originally and from what God intended him to be.

Romans

Romans 13:1 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul, both skeptic and saint...

Romans 13:4 ESV

4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Romans 13:1–4 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Romans 1

The Law must be enforced; it must be applied; it must have sanctions. And the Bible tells us that we (people) are so rotten, so evil—it is the law that reveals the extent of this evil, as we have already seen—that it is no use appealing to them. They have low standards. Those enslaved to the world do not agree with the law, they do not agree that it is supreme. The majority of people in this country today do not believe in Jesus Christ. They are content in their sin, they will not rise to the example of Christ and follow Him. No—they are so rotten that they must be kept in order. They must be punished. The law must be applied. They must be hurt. It is the only thing they understand. They do not have it in them to respond to the glories of God. Evil must be restrained, otherwise the world would become nothing but chaos. That is what the Bible teaches; that is the essence of this whole matter of the law.

Proverbs 13:15 ESV

15 Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.

Prov

And it must be made hard. It must lead to ruin. That is one of the ways where we eventually have some hope that people will be ready to listen to the message of grace and truth that has come in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It was only when the Prodigal Son found himself in the far country, in the filth with the pigs that he began to realize the truth concerning himself.

Worship Team comes on stage

What about you? Hear this. Realize before the judgment of God is unleashed. Stop kicking against the truth. Stop fighting against the law of God. Because God has the power to deliver the final verdict, to see His law carried out. The final verdict upon lawlessness, unbelief and rebellion is banishment from the presence of God. When you realize that, then, and only then, are you ready to listen to the true message that tells you “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

God's law speaks to and applies to all of humanity.

Whether you are here today figuring yourself for a saint, or knowing that you are a skeptic. Press pause on this continuous loop of filth and sin playing over and over and your life. Instead reach up, reach out and cry to your heavenly Father and be delivered, rescued, clean, from your mess.

Responsive Worship || worship pastor || Cole Pevey

song 1

song 2

Connection and Offering Moment

› Joe leads congregation in a time of response through: connection, generosity and prayer

› BAND leads instrumental during 1-2 min time of prayer

› Joe comes back up front…the ushers come forward Joe prays over the offering

› Praise Songs for Generosity || Concord Worship

Sending Out

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