[0:00] We're in a section of John that has kind of shifted in focus. We see that building up to this sort of time period in John 12, it was all about Jesus doing these signs that are significant into proving who he was.
[0:25] And here we have a passage where it is not Jesus doing the sign and doing the talking, it's actually God himself from the heavens.
[0:39] We see that his earthly ministry is starting to come to a fold. He's within days of his crucifixion, he's entering into Jerusalem.
[0:51] And this passage marks a pivotal moment in the ministry of Jesus where the hour has come. John takes us for a first person glimpse into Jesus's arrival into Jerusalem for the Passover.
[1:12] And so last week we saw the scene within this little house about two miles away from Jerusalem in Bethany with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha with Jesus at a dinner table.
[1:27] And Mary anointed Jesus's feet with oil, very expensive ointment. And that was in essence a symbol of preparing their lamb for sacrifice.
[1:44] And this week we see that the sacrifice then is entering into Jerusalem. We see the hour today that Jesus says is here.
[1:55] That we see all these things are coming together in this passage. This hour of Jesus's life ushers in an hour that we should be able to see his hour and observe our hour in this life here and now.
[2:15] There's going to be three hours that we're going to see in this passage. And we're going to break this up into three sections as John has perfectly broken the sections up into.
[2:26] We're going to see the hour of exaltation. We're going to see the hour of glorification. And lastly, we're going to see the hour of witness.
[2:38] And most of all, the hour that marked the sacrifice of Jesus Christ ought to propel the church into living lives of sacrifice just as Jesus Christ did.
[2:51] Not to us, but to his name is the reason we live our lives of sacrifice. I want to pray as we enter into this large chunk of passage.
[3:06] And I want to jump into the hour of exaltation. But let's pray before we begin this time here. Let's pray. Father, we pray for you to awaken our minds and our hearts this morning.
[3:24] There is no song and dance that I can do on this stage that can wake your people more powerfully than your word alone. Father, let your word powerfully speak today that, in fact, we do have a word from the Lord today.
[3:40] And that you desire to speak to your church. Help us to be awakened to that fact. Let us not undermine that. Father, let us come encounter with the living God through your word.
[3:56] And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The first section that we're going to be seeing today. Well, let me give you the sermon title real quick for any note takers.
[4:07] I'm a creature of habit, aren't I? And so we don't want to go without the sermon title. It's called The Hour Has Come in this passage.
[4:22] And we see in the first section, we see the hour of exaltation. And just as it was read this morning, thank you, Ben, for reading the passage. John takes us to the next day.
[4:36] You have a transitional statement of saying, the next day, a large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. And John focuses our attention and the original readers of this book upon the crowd.
[4:55] The crowd is taking center stage. John is saying, look at the crowd in this passage. Look what they're doing.
[5:09] And this is revealing something that the disciples didn't really understand looking upon the crowd in verse 16. And it will be brought into their understanding a little bit later.
[5:22] But look at what this crowd is doing in verse 13. This crowd was clearly excited that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They were waving palm branches.
[5:35] As we know, in all the Palm Sunday rituals of churches, the kids come down the aisles with the palm branches saying, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
[5:49] We see that they were waving these date palms that are heavily in supply. They're plentiful in Jerusalem, even to this day, as a sign of hope.
[6:00] The sign of hope. And they were saying, Hosanna, which means save. Please. It means give salvation now.
[6:13] And they say the one who comes in the name of the Lord, referring to that this is truly the Messiah who has come. Hosanna in the highest.
[6:26] Our Messiah is here. Hosanna in the highest. However, as we expand the lens of prophetic scripture, we see that something that what the crowd is doing lays a little bit more significance than just celebrating that the Savior is just simply coming in.
[6:48] We see that this Savior is coming to make a shift in redemptive history. Not a political shift. Not a cultural shift. But redemptive shift.
[7:02] We see that this. What's going on in the crowd. That's unknown to the disciples is the reference of what they are singing is a song out of Psalm 118.
[7:17] This is part of the Psalm section called the Halal. Our worship team a while ago. I thought she was sneezing.
[7:28] But Kimberly was indicating that this was a section of the Psalms from 113 to 118 called the Halal. This is Psalms of Thanksgiving.
[7:39] And this was a psalm that was specifically sung at the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. It was a psalm that was sung at the Feast of Dedication and also the Passover here.
[7:54] It was known to be sung and they were singing that. Well, you see, there's irony in the passage. Within the context of that psalm, Psalm 118, God exalts a stone.
[8:10] And this exalted stone in the psalm, as the narrative plays out in Psalm 118, is actually a stone that the builders reject.
[8:25] This is quite relevant in the depiction between Jesus Christ and the Sanhedrin, isn't it? That Jesus Christ is gaining this popularity at this time period.
[8:37] And while the crowds cry out these words of acclamation and praise rooted in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ capitalizes upon his own time of significance to speak in a way that his actions actually fulfill Old Testament Scripture.
[8:59] Here comes Jesus riding on a donkey. You can see the, you know donkeys, they're not too big. When a grown adult rides a donkey, his feet are dragging along the sides.
[9:16] If not, probably hiked up like this as the donkey's like, you know, puttering along into Jerusalem. This is a reference and fulfillment of Zechariah 9.
[9:27] And Zechariah 9 actually has two sides of the coin. It speaks of not only a donkey, somebody coming on a colt, but somebody actually coming on a war horse as well.
[9:40] These people were probably baffled to see this Messiah, who they're waving the palm branches, coming puttering along on a little donkey.
[9:53] They want a war horse. This is a political figure. This is their superhero to come and to save them, to bring salvation.
[10:08] Now, John, the author of this gospel, makes it clear not to miss the reference of what is occurring here. He even detailed and provided the cross reference in Zechariah 9.
[10:20] And Jesus makes a statement that this king's victory, this Messiah's victory, is not going to enter in on a war horse. It's going to enter in in humility.
[10:32] It's going to be entered and his victory will be by his humility, by his weakness, not by veracity. And Jesus entered through the gates.
[10:44] Think of the imagery, church, here. If you have been in this series for any length of time, think about what's happening here. Remember that Jesus being the true shepherd, that the gatekeeper opens up and the approved laborer enters through the gate.
[11:01] Here is the true shepherd entering in to Jerusalem through the gates. And this is on his own time.
[11:14] This is according to God's will that was foreordained before history. To present himself on this Passover time.
[11:26] To offer himself as a lamb. To gather his people under one shepherd. This is the melody of the Old Testament that's at play here.
[11:37] This is the Old Testament that's saturated in God's promise to Abraham. Like in Genesis 12, all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
[11:49] To prepare people for the coming king. And calls him a light to the nations in Isaiah 42.6. And through him, God's salvation will reach the ends of the earth.
[12:04] Isaiah 49.6. But we see something like a problem here.
[12:15] It's clear to John, writing about this. He's got the cross-reference. He's got the fulfillment. The crowd doesn't have understanding of what's actually taking place.
[12:26] The disciples are blind to that as well. And the mix of understanding of what God was doing. Was misunderstood.
[12:39] And they're testifying. They were coming. The interest of the crowd, as John lays it out clearly, what their motives was. The crowd in verse 17. That had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb.
[12:51] And raised him from the dead. Continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to him was that they heard he had done this sign. And this leaves the Pharisees reckoning with the reality that their popularity is decreasing.
[13:12] This almost takes me back, when I look at something like that, it takes me back to the beginning of John. When John the Baptist was gaining popularity. And then Jesus came and he was losing popularity.
[13:25] This is exactly what's taking place here. They are reckoning with the reality that the world is going after Jesus in verse 19. The hour of exaltation.
[13:41] Church, we should see something in this passage that is so important for our day today. We should see something so relevant to our situations and our lives today.
[13:57] One thing this passage makes clear is that not every person who exalts the name of Jesus has the right understanding of what that means.
[14:14] Or the right motives. This calls for proper exaltation. Exaltation. Exaltation from a narrative's perspective of what God has been doing called biblical theology.
[14:32] Understanding how God has related to creation all throughout these pages in various seasons and times. John helps us clue it in. Clue into that fact.
[14:44] That this biblical theology is the root of our proper understanding. And there's going to be people waving Jesus banners, waving their palm branches and thinking Jesus is going to save them.
[14:57] They have no idea what they're talking about. And this is true. This passage makes it true. And so I believe that according to this passage, the greatest threat to the church today, I don't think is false teachers.
[15:16] I think it's probably the biblical ignorance of followers of Jesus Christ. Who are unable to distinguish from that which is biblical and that which is false.
[15:29] If you ever worked in a bank, there's a great deal of training that it takes place of being able to identify a true verified bill currency.
[15:47] To distinguish what the true, actual true bill is and what a counterfeit looks like. And how often we neglect in our own lives the same attention to detail of what God has been doing and who Jesus truly is.
[16:08] And how often his church can be duped with, quote, followers who are unable to distinguish a fraud from the original.
[16:19] And this stems from a problem in the church. The church is just simply not growing their people according to biblical theology, according to holiness.
[16:30] They are not training the church. And the church, I believe, in America truly does need to wake up. Because we got a whole plethora of Christianity. It's almost like you're stamped with, if you're a conservative political minded, it's like you're imported as you're a Christian automatically.
[16:47] And we've kind of mixed the two, political and spiritual in that to be a conservative political side. That means that you're a Christian. But it does not. It never meant that.
[17:00] The church needs to wake up and understand that Jesus did not come to overthrow political leaders.
[17:11] If you've got a problem with your leader, look at biblical theology. Because often when God has provided for the world a wicked ruler, it's to judge a nation.
[17:22] And biblical theology will tell us that. God is sovereign over the rulers, isn't he? And Jesus Christ's victory is not political and neither is our hope.
[17:37] This passage makes that true. So let the hour of our lives exalt Jesus Christ in accordance with his word and what he's been doing.
[17:48] And allow the motive of God's word to drive the essence of our exaltation. We see a second hour. We just saw the hour of exaltation.
[18:01] We see the passage continue in the hour of glorification in verse 20. And man, I have no idea.
[18:13] Sometimes when I'm reading the word, I will just start crying. And verse 21 caused that to happen because of what God has been doing all throughout this gospel.
[18:30] It has been all about the Jewish people. It has all been about the Israelites of what he's been doing and his promises. And John narrows into this crowd in verse 20 just a little bit and indicates that there weren't only Jews gathered at this celebration.
[18:51] But in fact, there were Greeks. There were Gentiles gathered. And he says in verse 21, this is the tearjerker.
[19:03] Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Does that hit anybody like it hit me? People, those who are outcasted in society, that are marginalized in society, that are outside of all God's promises throughout redemptive history.
[19:28] At this moment, John details their very words. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Says these Greeks who had a desire to meet Jesus.
[19:42] We're talking about what God's been doing. This is the message of the true shepherd, right? Back in John 10, 16. That Jesus said, I have other sheep that are not in my fold.
[19:55] I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
[20:10] At this moment, Jesus makes it clear that the tide has now shifted. By all the commotion of the Jewish people, everyone raising palm branches.
[20:26] And now, through the actions of the Greeks. Verse 23 clues us into the hour that has now come.
[20:37] Look, in verse 23. Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. The hour that the Jewish people wanted to inaugurate back even in chapter 2, verse 4.
[20:57] The hour that had not come in chapter 7, verse 6, 8, and 30. The hour that Jesus said was not yet here in John chapter 8, verse 30.
[21:09] It was not here then, but it is here now. Now is the time. The hour inaugurates a path of suffering.
[21:20] The hour has always revolved around suffering. The hour has always revolved around the cross. And Jesus entering in through the gates of Jerusalem says, the hour is here.
[21:35] And he uses in this passage a simple analogy of the death of grain that ushers in the life of others through the seed that the grain offers. I don't know if any of us are farmers or know what this is actually talking about.
[21:49] This is simply saying that a grain that stays alive their entire life actually doesn't provide life to anyone else until that grain is knocked down and the seeds scatter.
[21:59] And Jesus is saying that it is better. And Jesus is saying that it is better that he die in order that others may receive the life that he gives. And Jesus explains the very means of glory that would bring the disciples' confusion into perspective.
[22:17] The disciples are scratching their head at this point. But when they see the hour, when they see the cross, all of their understanding will be brought into fruition.
[22:27] And they will know exactly what God has been doing throughout the pages of redemptive history. And so that was the coming of Jesus.
[22:38] And look what John does significantly in verse 25. There seems to be a shift. He begins a statement.
[22:50] Truly, truly an important statement. I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear for you. Whoever loves his life loses it.
[23:05] And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there will my servant be also.
[23:17] If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Whoever loves his life. Anyone who serves me. Anyone.
[23:30] You see that he opens this up at the end of this passage. And actually ushers in, as we'll continue the passage through its entirety today. Into us looking into a mirror into our own lives.
[23:45] Of what this means for us. According to this passage, how we respond to Jesus of what God has been doing around this hour.
[23:57] Verse 25 and 26 definitely indicates that his death is to be a model of imitation in our own lives.
[24:10] He just mentions the death of grain. He just mentions the death of grain in the passage. And now he's saying whoever loves his life loses it.
[24:21] But whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. That says to me, do as I do.
[24:35] In this passage. That this death that he models is worthy of imitation in our own lives from a spiritual sense. And trust me, you can go to different persecuted areas of the country.
[24:48] And you can see that they are following very vividly, realistically in Jesus' footsteps. Because their blood is being shed for the name of Jesus.
[25:02] But for us in the Western culture and hemisphere. We believe that this is most prevalent in a spiritual sense of dying.
[25:12] Have you guys ever audited your time throughout the week? You'll find that when we sit down and look at how each one of our hours are spent.
[25:35] iPhones actually help us. They give you a little screen time statistic. But I guarantee that everyone in this room, even on the live stream.
[25:47] If you sat down and audited your time. That it would probably broadcast a lot of what you love. And if I were to make a stretch.
[26:00] And a caricature. I would imagine there's not. There's a big out of balance. Of our time spent in God's word. In prayer.
[26:11] With the church. With scrolling on reels on Instagram. Work. Being isolated from any Christian community that God has called you into.
[26:28] God knows your time audit. Very detailed. God knows every minute.
[26:39] And every second of what you love. And I believe that there are sadly many Christians who claim that they have proximity. Of the grace of God.
[26:51] That Jesus is within reach because of his grace. But their lives actually contradict that claim. Of that proximity. You see followership church.
[27:01] Involves not just proximity of grace. But intimacy. With grace. It is a balanced. Time audit.
[27:12] If I spend any social media on. On the phone. I hope that I'm spending social media for the glory of Jesus Christ. Maybe posting something that will encourage others. Not just vegging out on our phone.
[27:24] Or throwing on Netflix or Peacock. Whatever your thing is. And spending all of our time being consumed in things that just aren't eternal. Followership involves more than just proximity to grace.
[27:39] But intimacy with grace. And John clues us into the worthiness of Jesus Christ being the glory of our lives. And everything within. Look at the sacrifice.
[27:51] Look in verse 27. What is up ahead? What do we see about what lays ahead? About this hour.
[28:02] My soul is troubled. This word troubled. Meaning that my soul is in horror.
[28:15] My soul is in anxiety. My soul is in great agitation. About what this hour means.
[28:29] And Jesus simply says in this prayer. It wasn't rejecting the hour. It was merely affirming his devotion. He says something similar to what foreshadows in the garden.
[28:41] Where Jesus was arrested. He says simply. If there's another way in this passage. To redeem humanity. To you oh Lord.
[28:52] Make it known. And it's as if he closes his prayer at this time. That not my will but yours be done. Jesus is devoted to the cross.
[29:04] Regardless the horror. Regardless the agitation. Regardless the anxiety. And you see he says glorify me. And the gospel.
[29:16] Is not just. About death. And resurrection. The gospel is also. About. What's been happening thus far.
[29:26] His life. And God makes himself. Known. Loud and clear. That his glory. Jesus is asking for his glory.
[29:37] To be revealed. Jesus affirms that with a thundering voice. In verse 28. A similar to the voice. Of his baptism. Similar to the voice. At his transfiguration.
[29:49] And also here. He says. Father glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it. And I will glorify it.
[30:02] Again. This should indicate for us church. That God's name is glorified. Not only. Glorified in what lays waiting ahead. Around this hour.
[30:12] But also what trails behind. The path of the footsteps. That lay behind Jesus. In his life. A life. Of a surrendered.
[30:24] Will. A life devoted. To obedience. Is the glory of God's name. A way of living. That the world. Simply despises.
[30:36] And rejects. A way of living. A life surrendered. That the world picks up stones. Wanting to hurl them at you. And kill you.
[30:46] Because it's a message. That they simply don't want to hear. And what does this mean. For us church. The road.
[30:57] To eternal life. Is stained. In the blood of Jesus cross. And if Jesus. Looks back upon.
[31:08] The blood stains. That lay behind him. Might we also. Take seriously. Knowing that our lives. Must figuratively speaking.
[31:19] Be stained. In blood. As. Well. Indicating. That we are giving. Ourselves. To obedience. To God. And not the comfort.
[31:31] Of this world. Let me read a little excerpt. From John Piper. He says it perfectly. If you ever want to hear it perfectly. Just listen to John Piper. He seems to always hit it on the head. He says.
[31:43] In this passage here. The destination. Is eternal life. And you can miss it. By loving your life. That is. By making. Your goal in life. To be safe.
[31:54] And secure. And comfortable. And surrounded. Only by pleasant things. That is the pathway. To perishing. Or. Jesus says.
[32:05] You can take another path. And arrive at eternal life. That path is called. Hating. Your life. In this world. Hating your life. In this world.
[32:15] Means that you will. Choose to do things. That look foolish. To the world. You will deny yourself things. And take risks. And embrace. The path of suffering.
[32:27] For the sake of. Love. This. Jesus says. Will lead to eternity. Eternal. Life. Not death. John Piper. Isn't this exactly.
[32:42] What Jesus Christ answers. In the confused crowd. Discussing. The thunder. Have they. That they heard. If you could just imagine. The scene playing out.
[32:52] He talks about. His death. Through the analogy. Of a grain. He says. God glorify me. And a loud thunder. And then everyone's around. Like. What the heck was that? Oh.
[33:04] It sounds like angels. No. It's thunder. You know. You could imagine. It's interesting. Every time you have. Like the audience's perspective. It's usually wrong. In the gospel of John. They're. They're making perceptions.
[33:14] That are. That are. That are. That are. That are. That are. Just misunderstood. And he goes into detail. Answering them. When I am lifted up. Literally.
[33:25] In humiliation. Dripping in blood. God intended. As the precise means. Of my glorification. And so also. You will glorify me.
[33:36] At this time. It's at. This. Blood stained. Cross. The road of eternal life. Will draw all God's people. To himself.
[33:47] And guess what? Not only that. The serpent. His head. Will be crushed. The skull crusher. Will say.
[33:59] It is. Finished. So while this is a horror. By every stretch of the reality.
[34:11] Jesus is saying. When I am lifted up. In humiliation. Stripped of my clothes. My flesh is going to be ripped. They will put a crown of thorns. In mocking me.
[34:22] And so mocking my father. I will be completely humiliated. But this is. Only. The means. Of which. I will. Be properly. Glorified.
[34:33] And the disciples. Misunderstanding. Will brought. Be brought. Into understanding. The crowd. Who thinks that. I am trying to. Save them. From Roman oppression. We will see that.
[34:44] I am. Saving them. From demonic. Oppression. The skull crusher. Has come. And church.
[34:54] If God validates. Jesus is. That Jesus is. The glory. Of his name. What must. Our. Lives.
[35:05] Need to adjust. That Christ. In us. Is also bringing. Similar glory. To his name. As well. Jesus. As well. I am. I am sure. That we probably. Brought.
[35:16] All sorts of. Baggage. With us. No. I am not talking. About baby. Bags. And diaper bags. I am talking. About. Sin. I am talking. About. The weight. Of the world.
[35:26] Upon us. That we bring. Into our gatherings. Don't leave. Here. Today. With the same. Baggage. Which you came. Jesus Christ.
[35:37] Is calling you. To hate. All of that. to leave your baggage at the foot of the cross and take up a life of suffering. Because that's the baggage that he bore, that he carries, that anyone who comes to him will bring peace.
[36:02] Those who are weary, who labor, heavy burdens, he will give them rest. There is no baggage that we must carry in this life.
[36:15] And Jesus calls to surrender it all, even if the world hates you for it. Jesus Christ is calling you to hate this world, and if the Sermon on the Mount says anything, it definitely says a lot.
[36:29] It says it's one thing, that you cannot serve two masters in this life. I love how R.C. Sproul God rest his soul.
[36:44] Miss that guy. R.C. Sproul was known for making a simple statement that has such tremendous implications. He says that right now counts forever.
[36:57] Right now counts forever. What you do right now, as insignificant or as significant as it is, counts forever.
[37:09] And I would encourage all of us to honestly evaluate, maybe just our past week, of what our lives have glorified this past week.
[37:20] If I really want to challenge you, evaluate your entire year. Do we see sacrifice? Do we see obedience?
[37:31] Do we see blood? Die to yourselves, your little dreams, your white picket fence lives, your routines, your security, your reputation, your selfish living.
[37:47] The cross calls us to die as well. And then you can live in the joy that's truly worth living. How do we hate the world? We follow Jesus.
[38:02] Simple as that, but as difficult as that is. Because if we're following Jesus, we're following his sacrifice. A horrific sacrifice, even at times.
[38:15] How do we love the world then, appropriately? God is calling us to hate the world. How do we love the world? We, by our following Jesus, we glorify Jesus.
[38:30] Properly for the world to see the hope of this world. This is our hour of glory, glorification. So as this passage wraps up, John's attention is still upon the response.
[38:49] And we see the hour of witness in verse 34. And John turns back to the crowd's response. And it seems as if they heard, they knew something about what the law says, indicating, the whole of Old Testament scripture.
[39:08] Some say that the law, when it's referred to as the first five books of the Bible, but this is indicating the whole of scripture, what God has been doing, even through the minor prophets and all.
[39:20] Because they say that the Christ remains forever, according to the law. How can the Son of Man be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man?
[39:33] And John ends with a narrative, a tragic narrative. Those who thought they knew, they thought they knew how everything was supposed to unfold, they were the ones who just simply could not see.
[39:50] This was a tragedy. They were blind in this passage. And so Jesus enters into that light and darkness illustration before he departs.
[40:03] And this is significant. Jesus is the light in our darkness. This is a narrative that John reinforced way back in John chapter 1, verse 4, leading to John 8, leading to John 9, leading to John 11, that Jesus is the light in our darkness.
[40:25] And he's saying that in this passage, the incarnate Son of God is among you for a limited time. Walk while you have me, Jesus Christ, or darkness will overtake you.
[40:40] Has anyone ever tried to walk through their house in darkness? Some of us might be really good at it, but you go to a stranger's house, you go to uncharted territory in complete darkness, this will bring about a lostness, a disorientation.
[40:54] You don't know where walls are until you hit them. You don't know what you're gonna trip over until you trip over it. And this is what the world, this is the condition of the world.
[41:06] The world is lost. They're in darkness, and Jesus is the light in the darkness. And this is true for us today, that Jesus Christ is here and now.
[41:20] But he's not gonna be available forever. We know that right now, according to revelation, that there are gates that are open even today for people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, to trust in them.
[41:40] but we know that just as the light is here right now for those who want to accept that truth, those doors are gonna shut.
[41:54] And for anybody who didn't heed the opportunity, that made excuses that said, ah, maybe tomorrow, maybe after church, or something, those types of things, it's not always promised to have that other opportunity.
[42:13] In the last and final invitation that's recorded, this is the last invitation that's recorded in the Gospel of John, that Jesus makes a petition to believe in the Messiah, the Son of God.
[42:25] Believe in the light that you may become sons of light. He is calling for the church, the believers, to become light bearers. My son loves that kid's song, this little light of mine, right?
[42:41] You could sing that all around Youngstown, right? Do just what Jesus is saying. We are light bearers. We are sons and daughters of light.
[42:54] And so, in that, God is calling for us to have hours right here and now of witnessing to be witnesses of that light.
[43:08] Not only witnesses of proper exaltation, not just witnesses of glorifying him, of shouting praise to God for the world to see, but being witnesses of him. And when you are witnesses of Jesus Christ, it's not just, well, preach the gospel when necessary, use words.
[43:25] No. The gospel includes lots of words and our actions won't always communicate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ unless we use the words that are required.
[43:40] And so, John says, you are to be witnesses to Jesus Christ. John ends a section with the departing of this light, a glimpse of the darkness to come when he's crucified, when he's laid in a tomb, the darkness that is going to surround the world until the light breaks forth from an empty tomb.
[44:03] If that's a spoiler alert for you, I'm sorry, but this is the gospel. The tomb was empty and the light broke through the darkness and the light is still shining today.
[44:15] If you're not in Christ, boy, what are you holding back from? What is holding you back? But if you have accepted that light, church, God has not only called you to bring glory to his name by hating the world, but also shining with the light of Christ in the darkness corners of this earth, in your workplaces and where you may be positioned.
[44:39] And in a sense, it's practical application that John provides for us to glorify Jesus, to shine in the darkness. Because how else will Jesus shine in the world today unless we are vessels united with the mission of the gospel?
[44:55] So let's end on a couple points. Is Jesus Christ, if we had a mirror here today, if I had a mirror talking to myself because I'm included in this, I'm not exempt from this word of God, is Jesus Christ worth the sacrifice in your life?
[45:19] Think about worthiness. Is Jesus Christ worth the sacrifice in your life? Is Jesus worth abandoning the things of this world, hating them, having no place in them, and all the things that come attached to that?
[45:41] Church, there's no greater love than the love of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ gave himself for us horrifically. For us.
[45:55] Think about the cross. There is no greater love than the model that Jesus Christ has provided for us at the cross at his hour. If you're not in Christ, are you persuaded that God loves you?
[46:11] The cross, the hour of Jesus Christ hanging, dripping blood, was a testimony of his love for you. He's inviting you to come out of darkness, of sin, and death, and come into light.
[46:28] And the world apart from Jesus Christ is simply in darkness. This is a sad reality, but it's a reality nonetheless. It's not my opinion. It's God's reality that the Bible communicates that the world is lost in darkness.
[46:41] And Jesus is calling and offering you an inheritance, a new status, that no matter what you have done, no matter the violations that you have incurred upon God's holy and righteous, perfect standard, he is offering to you an inheritance, a new status, a legally clear record to wipe your slate clean, and that you are imparted with the righteousness of Christ to be blameless before a holy and perfect God.
[47:24] Accept Jesus Christ today as your Lord and Savior and don't delay another minute. let our exaltation be to the King of kings.
[47:41] Let our glorification be towards the Son of God and let us be witnesses to the light of Christ.
[47:52] The sacrifice of Jesus Christ ought to propel his church, Steel Valley Church here today, to live lives of similar sacrifice. This is the word from the Lord today.
[48:05] Let's pray.