1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,400 This is City Post Church, we're about three things, build 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:09,000 equipped and send all under the lordship of Jesus Christ, a 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,300 small Church Plant in Fort Worth Texas, who decided to do things 4 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:16,000 a little differently. I would almost I had to Crystal, 5 00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:19,000 I love City Post because of the people. 6 00:00:19,300 --> 00:00:22,100 It's where I belong, we truly preach the word. 7 00:00:22,100 --> 00:00:24,100 I love City Post because of the community. 8 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:25,800 We've been able to build to do ministry. 9 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,800 Like Jesus perlite to push back Darkness. 10 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:39,400 This is City, Post podcast. Hey so this morning we're going 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,100 to continue our track in first John so go ahead and get their 12 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:45,100 first John. Now some of you guys are like 13 00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:46,800 man what's freaky doing on the stage? 14 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,300 So what we're trying to do is we're trying to like ask some 15 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:51,600 people. You know you just kind of creep 16 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,600 a little bit more to the front so I won't spit on you. 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,200 So it's all right. But we're going to be in first 18 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,600 John and we're going to continue our track and first John before 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,300 I jump into that. So I moved to Texas when I was 20 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:08,800 going into To middle school. I was going into eighth grade. 21 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,600 I went to Daggett. Anybody here go to Daggett. 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,000 Got like one or two. Yeah. 23 00:01:14,100 --> 00:01:18,300 Now I wasn't in like the honors. I was in the traditional, so 24 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:19,500 just want to throw that out there. 25 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,200 Ernesto reminds me of that every single time I see him. 26 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:24,700 Hey, go ahead and put that picture up. 27 00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:27,900 So this was me in the 8th grade. Look at that. 28 00:01:28,900 --> 00:01:30,500 Lady. Killer right there. 29 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:35,100 Watch out right? I don't know what you heard 30 00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:41,100 about me anyway. So so when I was in the eighth 31 00:01:41,100 --> 00:01:45,400 grade coming from south Florida there like if you want to make 32 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,700 friends you got to go play football and I was like, okay is 33 00:01:49,700 --> 00:01:53,400 that a thing in Texas? It's like yeah, like if that's 34 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,800 like your passage to manhood, you know, so if you didn't play 35 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,600 football forgive me but that's how you made friends. 36 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,400 So I played football at Daggett and yeah, we look like TCU 37 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:06,700 against Georgia, almost every game. 38 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,100 But I made a lot of friends, and then from there a lot of those 39 00:02:12,100 --> 00:02:15,500 guys, they were like, hey, you should come to the Hispanic 40 00:02:15,500 --> 00:02:17,800 Society. That's like, we're all of us are 41 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,900 kicking it Coach G. That's what we call them. 42 00:02:21,500 --> 00:02:23,400 He's the, like, the leader for that. 43 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,900 He was a retired army General, that decided to give back to the 44 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:30,500 community. So he would go teach at Daggett 45 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,500 and he led the Hispanic society and they did an annual trip to 46 00:02:35,500 --> 00:02:38,200 the Outdoor Learning. Enter anybody here? 47 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:39,800 Remember, the Outdoor Learning Center. 48 00:02:40,500 --> 00:02:43,600 That's like, we're like the hood kids went on field trips. 49 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,600 So like other schools, they went to like water parks and theme 50 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,500 parks. We just went to a park, right? 51 00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:53,300 So we would go to Outdoor Learning Center and he would do 52 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:58,300 an overnight camping trip with students from Daggett, which is 53 00:02:58,300 --> 00:03:01,700 crazy if you think about it. And all I remember, was it was 54 00:03:01,700 --> 00:03:05,100 cold, y'all, like there was no reason to be out there. 55 00:03:05,700 --> 00:03:07,700 I'm not an outdoorsy. Or is like camping. 56 00:03:07,700 --> 00:03:11,000 Let's go camp guy. Like I'll do it to be nice and I 57 00:03:11,008 --> 00:03:14,600 like the challenge. But so I went out there and he 58 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,900 does this game every year and he's known for it where they 59 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:22,600 played capture the flag at like 10:00 at night. 60 00:03:24,300 --> 00:03:27,800 With eighth graders, like in this huge field, like it's 61 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,100 bananas. Now that I think about it. 62 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,300 So he takes us out to this field. 63 00:03:33,300 --> 00:03:37,200 He divides us up into groups and he's like, here's the catch. 64 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:40,500 You're not allowed to use a flashlight, and we're all 65 00:03:40,508 --> 00:03:42,400 looking at each other. I mean, we're eighth graders 66 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,200 y'all and I'm like, shoot, I'm Kim. 67 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,300 I bet flashlight my pocket. That's no. 68 00:03:46,300 --> 00:03:49,000 I know how this goes. And so he turned. 69 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,300 So we all turn off the flashlight. 70 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:52,500 And, of course, those knuckleheads that like flash to 71 00:03:52,500 --> 00:03:55,200 eyes in your face, Yes, because it's funny but what he was 72 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,100 trying to explain to us is like, the way you're going to play in 73 00:03:58,100 --> 00:04:02,000 the way that you win is your eyes have got to adjust to the 74 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 darkness. So if you don't have any light, 75 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,100 what ends up happening is your eyesight, kind of gets the 76 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:11,400 handle of like whether the moonlights breaking through or 77 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,400 like the stars, if it's cloudy, but your eyes really adjust to 78 00:04:15,408 --> 00:04:17,700 the darkness and then you're able to see. 79 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,300 Now, the problem is if somebody throws a flashlight in your 80 00:04:21,300 --> 00:04:25,400 face, You go dark. You have to start all over 81 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,500 again. And of course we had a kid named 82 00:04:28,500 --> 00:04:31,800 George that would do that because we're eighth graders. 83 00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:36,600 It was non-stop just letting you know, and so we never really got 84 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,300 used to it. But I was thinking about this as 85 00:04:39,300 --> 00:04:42,400 we were going, as I was looking at some pictures, some old 86 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,300 pictures. See, what Coach G was telling 87 00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:49,200 us. He was trying to teach us how to 88 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,800 manage the darkness. He wasn't teaching How to use 89 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,900 the light? He's like, in the darkness, this 90 00:04:56,900 --> 00:05:01,900 is how you go through things. This is how you get through it. 91 00:05:01,900 --> 00:05:05,400 This is how like you're able to like manage when you can't see 92 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,000 anything. He didn't get around us and say, 93 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,100 hey Ricky, use the light and the light is going to show you where 94 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:13,700 to go. See there's a difference there. 95 00:05:14,100 --> 00:05:18,400 There's a difference between managing the dark and living in 96 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,500 the light and using the light appropriately. 97 00:05:20,900 --> 00:05:22,800 There's a huge difference and what we're going. 98 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:27,800 To look at today is that John is going to continue to push on the 99 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:29,500 gnostics? Because I remember that's who 100 00:05:29,500 --> 00:05:33,000 he's writing to on, okay? You got Jesus wrong. 101 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,500 That's what we learned about last week. 102 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,300 You got him all jacked up because y'all don't think he's 103 00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:41,400 under percent man, 100% God. So this week, we're going to 104 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:46,900 look at what they thought about him as far as morality go. 105 00:05:46,900 --> 00:05:50,500 So yes, they had a jacked-up view of Jesus but because of 106 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:52,300 that they have a jacked-up view of sin. 107 00:05:53,300 --> 00:05:56,600 And they're thinking, you know, what we could do whatever we 108 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,800 want to because it's our body. So they had this war view of Xin 109 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,900 because of their dualism. They had that philosophy where 110 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:06,400 they thought, anything that happens to the body is 111 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:11,900 inconsequential, no big deal, but that's not how this works. 112 00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:14,900 So they're going around telling everybody they're enlightened 113 00:06:14,900 --> 00:06:17,700 and that they get a revelation from God and they're doing all 114 00:06:17,700 --> 00:06:21,100 this stuff but the way they live their life does not match up 115 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:23,900 with what they're saying. That's all Familiar to anybody, 116 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,400 right? I mean, we deal with this all 117 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:31,300 the time but there's something so much deeper here that John is 118 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:35,900 trying to point us out too. Because the truth is that if you 119 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:38,800 are a follower of Christ, if you claim to be a follower of 120 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,800 Christ, then you have a heightened awareness of sin in 121 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,600 your life. That means like sin is not numb 122 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,500 to you, you don't just live life, like everything is okay, 123 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,200 and you can just do whatever you want. 124 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,700 If you're a follower of Christ when you do Do sit. 125 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,300 There's this something in you. That's like, man. 126 00:06:56,300 --> 00:06:59,300 Like this is not okay. I send against the holy and 127 00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:03,300 righteous God. See, a lot of people that I talk 128 00:07:03,300 --> 00:07:06,200 to, when it comes to Christianity, a lot of like, 129 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,900 man, Rick, you know, the I've done so much terrible things in 130 00:07:08,900 --> 00:07:12,300 my life, there's no way I could go to church, there's no way, I 131 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:15,000 could be a follower of Christ because of all the terrible 132 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,700 things and I'm just thinking, like, congratulations. 133 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,300 That's exactly the kind of thought that you need, God is 134 00:07:22,300 --> 00:07:26,000 working on your heart. You need to have an awareness of 135 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,400 seeing you need to realize that you're jacked up, join the club. 136 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:36,300 We're all jacked up here, all of Humanity's jacked up because we 137 00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:39,800 live in sin. The danger is when you don't 138 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,000 think you're jacked-up. The danger comes when you don't 139 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,300 think like you sin. You just go through live. 140 00:07:45,300 --> 00:07:47,100 This is me. This is what I want to do is who 141 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:50,500 I am and That's when John's like no, no, those are The Fakes. 142 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,500 Those are the ones that don't know. 143 00:07:52,900 --> 00:07:56,400 Christ. See believers. 144 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,200 They acknowledge the sins in their lives. 145 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:02,200 The ones who don't acknowledge the sins in their lives, or the 146 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,500 fake ones. Those are the ones that Jesus 147 00:08:04,500 --> 00:08:08,900 talked about separating, the wheat from the fake wheat. 148 00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:11,800 Those are the Pharisees. Those are the giudices. 149 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,400 Those are those are in honestly, I'm just going to be real just 150 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,000 keeping it honest, that's about 50% of the church. 151 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,600 Church in America. Because when we look at who the 152 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:25,600 followers of Jesus are, these are the ones that are like, man. 153 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:27,700 I've sinned against the holy and righteous god. 154 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,100 So let's walk through this. We're only going to look at 155 00:08:30,100 --> 00:08:32,900 three verses today because that's all we got time for. 156 00:08:33,700 --> 00:08:36,200 So look at verse 5. Let's go ahead and jump into it. 157 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:41,000 Verse 5 says this, because this is the message we have heard. 158 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:47,800 So this is the message we have heard from him and declare to 159 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,200 you, God is light. And in him, there is no Darkness 160 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,600 at all. If we claim to have fellowship 161 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:59,300 with him, and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live 162 00:08:59,300 --> 00:09:03,600 out the truth verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as 163 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:08,400 he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and 164 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,200 the blood of Jesus, his son purifies. 165 00:09:11,700 --> 00:09:15,900 Sighs us from all sin. All right? 166 00:09:15,900 --> 00:09:17,900 So let's go ahead and see what this is about. 167 00:09:17,900 --> 00:09:21,600 Remember, John is still writing to the gnostics last week. 168 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,200 He talked about getting Jesus Christ. 169 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,500 Jesus is 100% man. He is 100% God. 170 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:31,100 I saw him, I felt him. I heard from him. 171 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,100 Not just that, but I could testify to him. 172 00:09:33,100 --> 00:09:36,200 I experienced him. So, yes, he's real. 173 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,100 And I'm there. Now, we're going to talk about 174 00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:42,400 your morality, how you live your life? 175 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,400 You're walking around saying, I'm enlightened and you're 176 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,400 looking at everybody and you're kind of like raining down on 177 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:52,800 everybody's parade, but yet your life does not look like one who 178 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,600 follows Jesus. So you're walking around with a 179 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,600 false sense of Salvation. So, look at verse 5, he says 180 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:04,300 this message, we have heard from him and declare to you. 181 00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:06,500 All right? So let's break this down. 182 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:11,700 What's the message the message? Is that God came down and he 183 00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:16,400 lived a perfect and sinless Life In the Flesh and then he also 184 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,000 gave his life for us. That's the good news. 185 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,600 That's the message and you don't earn it. 186 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:23,900 You don't have to do anything for it. 187 00:10:23,900 --> 00:10:27,300 All you have to do is accept it. Give your life to Christ ask for 188 00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:30,000 forgiveness, and he will come and live through you. 189 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,400 He will change your heart. The message that he's talking 190 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,700 about was in verses 1 through 4. That's exactly what we saw last 191 00:10:36,700 --> 00:10:38,300 week. Who is we? 192 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:41,700 We are the apostles who are with Jesus. 193 00:10:41,700 --> 00:10:45,400 Those three years. Who is? 194 00:10:46,700 --> 00:10:51,600 Him him is Jesus. So he's saying, the message that 195 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:56,400 we who have been with Christ have heard from who him? 196 00:10:57,100 --> 00:11:00,500 I declare to you, what's John saying here, because Paul does 197 00:11:00,500 --> 00:11:02,200 the same thing of Galatians chapter 1. 198 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,000 He's like the message that I got is not something that's made up 199 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,300 by, man, I didn't receive it from some teacher. 200 00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:12,100 I didn't receive it from a rabbi, my mama didn't pass it 201 00:11:12,100 --> 00:11:14,400 down to me. My uncle didn't tell me this. 202 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:16,300 My buddies didn't do it. I didn't get it. 203 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,500 From a school? No, I got it. 204 00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:22,200 Directly from Christ. This is the message. 205 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,400 I'm Paul even goes on and says, listen anything. 206 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,200 That is the fake gospel, man. God have mercy on your soul 207 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,500 because this is the message. John is the oldest living 208 00:11:32,500 --> 00:11:33,700 Apostle, right? Now? 209 00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:37,500 That was walked with Christ. He's it. 210 00:11:38,700 --> 00:11:42,000 And what he's saying, is the message that we declare to you, 211 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,600 I'm not making this up, he gave it directly from his lips to me 212 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,200 to tell to you guys. And remember verse for from last 213 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:51,300 week. So that way your joy may be 214 00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:54,300 completed. So, what's the message? 215 00:11:54,300 --> 00:12:00,000 What is the message that he wants to give God is what God 216 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,200 say? God is what light, that's the 217 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:09,000 message God is light and in him, there is no Darkness at all. 218 00:12:09,100 --> 00:12:11,400 Man, this is so significant right here. 219 00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:15,400 So what John does is immediately in verse 5, he starts off with a 220 00:12:15,408 --> 00:12:18,800 standard, okay? So you guys want to live a moral 221 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:20,200 life. You think you guys are great 222 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,500 morally. Everybody is good. 223 00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:23,900 Okay. But then what's the standard, 224 00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:27,400 how do you measure it? So what's your standard of good? 225 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,600 Well, like I haven't killed, anybody have no, not like 226 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,100 there's got to be a standard that you measure your goodness 227 00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:36,400 and your morality and the great things that you do in this 228 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,100 world. By what's the standard of good 229 00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:44,900 that standard must be perfect. So the standard is God, so he's 230 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:47,900 getting this message from the highest standard ever, which is 231 00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:51,200 Jesus. And in God, I mean in in John, 232 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,200 what John does here, is that John? 233 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,300 He uses metaphors and images Is that are, like flashes to the 234 00:12:57,300 --> 00:12:59,800 mind of the reader. If you read the book of John, 235 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:03,500 you see a lot of this. So what does he use to describe 236 00:13:03,500 --> 00:13:07,200 Jesus here? He uses light said, God is 237 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,800 light. Only John does that? 238 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,300 And I want y'all to understand something like, so I like 239 00:13:14,300 --> 00:13:15,100 hip-hop. Okay. 240 00:13:15,100 --> 00:13:17,800 I like rap. I don't like the rap now. 241 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:22,200 Like I'm not a big Turn Up rap guy like the yeah yeah, 242 00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:23,900 whatever. That means nothing to me. 243 00:13:23,900 --> 00:13:28,000 I'm too old for that. But I like Lyricist, I like, 244 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,800 guys that like Drop Like lyrics, like tell stories like, like do 245 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,700 like play with words. And when we were at passion, San 246 00:13:35,700 --> 00:13:41,400 Juan and Anthony had this ongoing battle, who was The 247 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,600 Goat, Who was the greatest of all time? 248 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,900 And what's on? Why would say is like, now Drake 249 00:13:45,900 --> 00:13:50,400 is but they would Anthony would say is Kendrick Lamar and I'm 250 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:52,100 like, yeah, Kenny Laurie's free, good. 251 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,400 But if you, if you think about this, listen like what he say. 252 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,400 So like in someone kept using this example, he's like, no, 253 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,300 Drake is right? He did the whole like like last 254 00:14:02,300 --> 00:14:04,800 name ever first name greatest. Like a sprained. 255 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,300 Ankle boy, ain't nothing to play with. 256 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:08,700 I hear that. I'm like oh snap bars. 257 00:14:08,700 --> 00:14:11,700 No, that's not how I act. That's not my reaction to it. 258 00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:15,100 I'm like that's cute. You know, that's that doesn't 259 00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:16,500 tell me nothing. I don't know who you are. 260 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:20,500 They came on 2016. You see the thing is what Drake 261 00:14:20,500 --> 00:14:23,200 is saying? Like, that's very introspective, 262 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:25,700 that's who he thinks he is. He thinks he's the greatest, 263 00:14:26,100 --> 00:14:29,300 he's thinks he can measure up but then when you hear a real 264 00:14:29,300 --> 00:14:32,700 Lyricist or a poet and I mean, use propaganda as an example, 265 00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:37,400 he's a Christian artist, he'll say something like they're going 266 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,200 out here, canceling Quinceaneras. 267 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:40,800 Because little mamas fixing to be one. 268 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,100 You see the reaction there. Everybody's like, who that hit? 269 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,500 I'm telling like, yeah, and I was real, we lived it. 270 00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:53,200 You see, that wasn't just introspective, that's also 271 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,200 retrospective. That means is not what I'm 272 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,400 seeing right now, but that's what I experienced in the past 273 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,300 and it's also prospective which means that this is going to have 274 00:15:02,300 --> 00:15:04,900 an impact on the future. You see? 275 00:15:04,900 --> 00:15:08,700 So what John is doing here when John says God is light, 276 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:13,800 everybody's like who Because that's not just introspective, 277 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,500 God. Experienced in the past, I mean, 278 00:15:15,500 --> 00:15:18,600 John experiencing in the past he witnessed his resurrection, he 279 00:15:18,608 --> 00:15:22,400 hung out with him and he was with him as he ascended the 280 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:26,000 future and what the gnostics are saying is like, no, we're 281 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,300 enlightened, that's introspect. That's a Drake. but what John is 282 00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:34,700 saying, is all of the above That's propaganda. 283 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,100 See the difference there. John is dropping these, is he 284 00:15:39,100 --> 00:15:42,100 dropping bars, is so weird, but John is he's dropping these 285 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:44,700 metaphors. He's, he's describing these 286 00:15:44,700 --> 00:15:47,400 things and then he says, God is light. 287 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,800 And in him, there is no darkness and I'm just going to run 288 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:53,200 through these real quickly because this message is the 289 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,400 Apex. God is like John uses this a 290 00:15:56,408 --> 00:16:00,000 lot, John 15. So, in the book of The Gospel of 291 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,200 John, John 1:5, the light shines in the Darkness, John 16 witness 292 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,300 to testify to the light John 3:19. 293 00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:11,800 This is the Judgment that the light has come and Men. 294 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,700 Loved the darkness rather than the light. 295 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:18,700 John 320 everyone who does evil hates the light. 296 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,700 John 8:12. I am the light of the world God 297 00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:27,300 is light is a drumbeat in John's life, this is his major theme, 298 00:16:27,300 --> 00:16:29,600 this is what he is giving his life to the. 299 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,200 Let everybody know that John, I'm that God that Jesus is the 300 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,300 light. Of the world and that there's no 301 00:16:35,300 --> 00:16:37,800 sin in him. These are some Seminary words. 302 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,000 God is light, is what we like to call a positive assertion and 303 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,400 every time you have a positive assertion, you have a negative 304 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,400 denial. So God is like positive 305 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,500 assertion. There's no darkness in him - 306 00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:54,200 denial. These are things that go 307 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,300 together. So, I want to talk a little bit 308 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:58,500 about. What does it mean for God to be 309 00:16:58,500 --> 00:17:03,200 light. So, two things, God is light 310 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,000 number 1. That means that there is no sin 311 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,599 in God. There's no sin in God, period. 312 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,099 That means that God is perfect. He's perfect. 313 00:17:12,099 --> 00:17:17,000 And what everything has been his character, his words, his deeds, 314 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:21,200 his actions, his thoughts, his motives, everything about God is 315 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:24,800 Flawless, there's no fault in God. 316 00:17:25,099 --> 00:17:32,100 All he says, does acts is what perfect, any answer God gives to 317 00:17:32,100 --> 00:17:36,100 you is perfect. His will for your life is 318 00:17:36,300 --> 00:17:39,400 Providence for your life, his provision for your life. 319 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,100 The unfolding of events in your life, everything. 320 00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:48,700 Life is perfect and I got to any Garth Brooks fans here. 321 00:17:49,900 --> 00:17:52,500 You gave I was like nah, wrong crowd. 322 00:17:52,500 --> 00:17:55,700 I know. Speaking of Middle School, 323 00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:57,800 right? When I was in Middle School? 324 00:17:57,800 --> 00:17:59,800 There was always, this song called unanswered. 325 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:03,300 Prayers by Garth Brooks that he always close sometimes. 326 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:07,900 God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers, And I'm 327 00:18:07,900 --> 00:18:09,800 like, Garth. I understand what you're saying. 328 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,800 Maybe if you got your heart broken, maybe with some chick 329 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,200 that you loved. But that ain't God. 330 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:17,300 Because all of God's answers are perfect. 331 00:18:17,700 --> 00:18:19,500 It's not that they're unanswered. 332 00:18:19,500 --> 00:18:22,800 Know, God knows what he's doing because he's all Sovereign. 333 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,400 So when you don't see anything working, guess what God is 334 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,700 working? When something is working, guess 335 00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:30,200 what? God is working? 336 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:33,400 He's always doing something he's always working. 337 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,300 Why? Because he's perfect. 338 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,000 And you know what? And I know a lot of us don't 339 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,000 like talking About this. You know, what else is perfect 340 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,700 his Wrath? We don't talk about this stuff. 341 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,500 His vengeance is perfect. It has to be perfect. 342 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,100 Because if it's not expressed and he can't be perfect. 343 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,100 So his wrath do sin in our lives is perfect. 344 00:18:56,100 --> 00:18:59,400 His vengeance is perfect. That is God. 345 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,400 That's the god that we serve. So, number one, there is no sin 346 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,900 in God. Now, we're going to look at what 347 00:19:05,900 --> 00:19:08,800 John is talking about. Here he goes after the moral 348 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:09,600 now. He's going to go after the 349 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:15,400 intellectual piece. Number 2, There's no error in 350 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,400 God. There's no error in God. 351 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,200 That means there's no untruth. There's no, there's no Miss 352 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,900 statements, there's no falsehoods, there's no Miss 353 00:19:24,900 --> 00:19:27,100 information, there's no fake news, right? 354 00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:29,900 There's none of that stuff comes from God. 355 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:33,800 Listen, you will never hear God. Say words like my bad, I 356 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,600 apologize. Lo siento. 357 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:38,500 I'm sorry, I messed up on this one. 358 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:40,300 I love. There's a t-shirt. 359 00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:42,700 That's like, you know, I am somebody because God Don't Make 360 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:45,300 Junk. Yes. 361 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,300 You know why? Because he's perfect. 362 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:52,600 So even though our perception, and our perspective of things 363 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,200 might shift the way the culture moves, my shift, some things. 364 00:19:56,900 --> 00:19:59,500 God doesn't shift because he's perfect. 365 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,300 Matthew 5:48 says, your heavenly father is perfect. 366 00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:08,600 So the gnostics claim to have this Divine Enlightenment in 367 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,200 them, so that means that they have like the lights coming from 368 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,100 me. So they might go around say like 369 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:20,000 Hey, I received a revelation from God and he wants me to tell 370 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,300 you guys all of this stuff. And let me just throw this out 371 00:20:23,300 --> 00:20:28,400 there, we have his word. This is how he speaks to us. 372 00:20:28,900 --> 00:20:31,200 So if somebody comes up to you and they're like, hey Rick, I 373 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:32,800 got this thing. I need to tell you, God put on 374 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,700 my heart if it does not match up with this or if it contradicts 375 00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:39,800 it, no, they just had a vision, they didn't have a vision at a 376 00:20:39,808 --> 00:20:42,900 Daydream. You that's fake. 377 00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:46,300 If it does not align with his word that listen, you just 378 00:20:46,300 --> 00:20:48,700 trying too hard, you're trying to be like the gnostics. 379 00:20:48,700 --> 00:20:53,700 You're trying to be so relevant. And John says, Nope, God is 380 00:20:53,700 --> 00:20:56,100 light. If you're not aware of your sin 381 00:20:56,100 --> 00:21:00,100 in your life, then you are far from fellowship with him which 382 00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:04,000 moves into the verse 6. So now he's going to go after 383 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,300 the false teachers. He's going to go after those 384 00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:08,400 guys that are like infiltrated. The church walking around 385 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,300 neighborhoods calling people out. 386 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:12,800 Look at verse 6. He's like, listen, if you claim 387 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,600 to have fellowship with him and yet, walk in the darkness, we 388 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,600 lie and do not live out the truth. 389 00:21:21,500 --> 00:21:25,300 See, I like how he uses the word we because he throws himself in 390 00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:28,700 that Circle as well. See, we're all accountable. 391 00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:30,100 Like I said we are all jacked up. 392 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:35,600 People, we're not perfect. So we have got to walk in 393 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,800 fellowship with him. So John is he's going after 394 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,900 those those teachers those false teachers that say, one thing but 395 00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:46,800 their lives look different. They're all talk, but there's no 396 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,300 action. Fill in the blank. 397 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,000 See their living life, they have like salvation. 398 00:21:53,500 --> 00:21:56,800 But honestly, they don't have a false sense of Salvation, which 399 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,600 is so dangerous. And what John is saying, is 400 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,300 like, if you are a follower of Christ, then your life must show 401 00:22:03,300 --> 00:22:06,500 that you experience a transformative. 402 00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:09,800 Jesus, I almost couldn't say that word, right? 403 00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:14,900 Like Christ transforms you It's not about like just going to 404 00:22:14,900 --> 00:22:16,900 church, it's not about singing songs. 405 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,000 It's not about like I used to cuss, I don't cuss no more. 406 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,400 No, like this is so much deeper here. 407 00:22:23,300 --> 00:22:27,300 Jesus transforms the heart of, man, he's the only one that 408 00:22:27,300 --> 00:22:30,900 could do that in a Christian. Doesn't just talk about it, but 409 00:22:30,900 --> 00:22:35,100 he backs it up verse 6 is these are for the false converts. 410 00:22:35,100 --> 00:22:38,200 These are like for the people that claim to know him but they 411 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,600 don't, these are the religious folks that John is calling out. 412 00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:43,400 So if we claim to have Fellowship, Ship. 413 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,400 Now, you guys remember last week, we talked about this 414 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:50,000 Fellowship, Koinonia you know, both parties, same thing, 415 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:55,000 salvation if you claim that fellowship with Christ, but yet 416 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,700 you walk in the darkness, that means that you're a liar and 417 00:22:59,700 --> 00:23:03,700 you're not living in the truth. So what does it mean? 418 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:07,700 And what I want us to understand here is that this is deeper than 419 00:23:07,700 --> 00:23:12,100 Behavior. This is deeper than habits 420 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,200 Because what Jesus does is that because he's the light of the 421 00:23:16,208 --> 00:23:19,800 world he gets beyond the surface. 422 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,900 So he digs through like your bad habits, your behaviors that 423 00:23:24,900 --> 00:23:28,600 generational sin, the fatherless homes, the abusive situations, 424 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:33,000 all of these things that cause us to reject him. 425 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,600 God bear he digs deeper than that and Delight. 426 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,900 What the light does. It exposes the need that you 427 00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:44,900 have for a Pure because we're sinners. 428 00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:49,500 You see walking in the darkness? What does that even mean? 429 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,900 Now when we say walking in the darkness a lot of us distinct 430 00:23:52,900 --> 00:23:56,800 like oh you're just a bad person like you do evil things, you get 431 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,700 drunk all the time. You do drugs you you know, you 432 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:04,600 beat people up, you steal you Rob but John that that that's 433 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,200 too easy, that's too shallow, that's to surface-level. 434 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:14,200 John is going deeper here. because what he's saying is 435 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,600 that, if sin doesn't bother you, then there's something wrong 436 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,000 He's talking about walking in darkness means that you have 437 00:24:22,100 --> 00:24:26,500 become numb to your sin. There's nothing in your life 438 00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:31,500 that says I want to know Jesus. I want to get to know him, I 439 00:24:31,508 --> 00:24:35,300 want to worship him. I want my family to get to know 440 00:24:35,300 --> 00:24:37,800 him. I love being with him. 441 00:24:39,300 --> 00:24:43,200 And more importantly, my my sin is not exposed. 442 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,200 I don't have this conviction of sin in my life, there's 443 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,600 something wrong there. And if that's you, that means 444 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,300 that you're not walking in truth. 445 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,600 So you can't claim to be a follower of Christ. 446 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,400 If there's nothing in your life, that shows it, and I'm just 447 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,000 going to say this out loud. Listen this goes beyond Church 448 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,600 hurt. This goes beyond somebody hurt 449 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,900 my feelings. This listen, I've been a part of 450 00:25:06,908 --> 00:25:09,900 that too. I've been part of some jacked-up 451 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:14,700 churches. But nothing in my life because 452 00:25:14,700 --> 00:25:18,900 of my relationship with him will be like, well, I'm just not 453 00:25:18,900 --> 00:25:22,500 going to be about that anymore, I keep it moving like. 454 00:25:22,500 --> 00:25:24,600 Okay Lord, that wasn't it. What's next? 455 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,400 Show me where you want me to serve? 456 00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:31,300 You see when we get to that point of walking in him and in 457 00:25:31,300 --> 00:25:37,100 the light our conversation changes, it goes from Like, 458 00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:39,400 where do you want me? Where can I go to be 459 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,600 comfortable? Where can I go to? 460 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,600 If you give me things too, where do you want me to go serve? 461 00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:47,200 Where can I be of use? God, where are you leading me 462 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,600 to? Those are the differences here. 463 00:25:50,900 --> 00:25:54,300 So we got to practice the truth. John is pointing out that this 464 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:57,400 is a lifestyle. This isn't some like thing that 465 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,900 you learn. But the agnostics they see it as 466 00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:05,100 ungodly living. They, they see it as believing 467 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,000 that they could do whatever they want to in life and then we go 468 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,400 into verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as 469 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:17,500 he is in the light, shout out DC Talk, we have fellowship with 470 00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:25,000 one another and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from 471 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,600 all sin. You guys catch that from what? 472 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,100 Awesome. You see what we need to 473 00:26:31,108 --> 00:26:36,600 understand that Jesus died for every single sin in this world 474 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:39,600 so that way, no one could be excluded from his forgiveness. 475 00:26:40,500 --> 00:26:43,600 He died for the murder just like he died for the rapist. 476 00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:47,100 He died for the child molesting monster just like he died for 477 00:26:47,100 --> 00:26:49,000 the person that lied on their taxes. 478 00:26:49,700 --> 00:26:52,200 He died for everyone. So that way everyone can 479 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:57,900 experience his forgiveness. For we have all fallen short, Of 480 00:26:57,900 --> 00:27:02,100 the glory of God, we're all Sinners, but he died for us. 481 00:27:02,100 --> 00:27:05,900 All you see the real ones? The authentic followers of 482 00:27:05,900 --> 00:27:08,600 Christ. Look at verse 7, says they walk 483 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,000 in the light because he is in the light. 484 00:27:11,300 --> 00:27:12,900 You see. So they're not pointing to their 485 00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:15,500 selves. When you walk in the light you 486 00:27:15,500 --> 00:27:19,200 defer back to the light. Have you ever flashed the light 487 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,800 at a mirror? What happens to it? 488 00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:25,900 If you shine a flashlight to a mirror that the light reflects 489 00:27:25,900 --> 00:27:29,900 back to somewhere else, we are to be his mirror. 490 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,100 So when Christ shines his light in us that second Corinthians 491 00:27:34,100 --> 00:27:36,400 4:6 the Light of Christ in our lives. 492 00:27:36,900 --> 00:27:40,000 We don't take it and say, yeah, look at me, look how good I am. 493 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,800 No, it's look what God did in my life to transform me. 494 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,000 I'm deferring it back to him. That's the way it should look 495 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,900 like, but I walk in the light. Why? 496 00:27:49,900 --> 00:27:52,500 Because he is the light nothing that I did. 497 00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:55,200 Did you didn't do anything. He's the one that did 498 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,000 everything. We have fellowship with each 499 00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:59,700 other. Remember, we talked about that? 500 00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:01,000 Because we have fellowship with the father. 501 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,400 We can have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, 502 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:11,600 his son purifies us from all sin, all sin, which is pretty 503 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,200 incredible. So, as we just closed for today, 504 00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:18,600 just just three things I want to talk about when it regards to 505 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,400 light, because John is claiming he's like, listen. 506 00:28:22,700 --> 00:28:25,000 G God is light. We know what that means. 507 00:28:25,100 --> 00:28:28,100 We saw what that means. God is light and in him, there 508 00:28:28,100 --> 00:28:32,900 is no Darkness. So you're not enlightened 509 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:35,900 because God is light. So what your the way you're 510 00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:39,400 living your life, there's no proof of the Light of Christ in 511 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,600 you and you need to realize that real quickly because you're 512 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:48,300 going to be pretty disappointed. When you go stand in front of 513 00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:50,500 God and glory and he says I have no idea who you are. 514 00:28:52,100 --> 00:28:55,700 So we got understand is so what does light do? 515 00:28:56,100 --> 00:29:02,000 Number one, light reveals sin, light reveals sin, what John is 516 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,800 talking about here. Walking in light is not about 517 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:11,300 living a specific way. It's about exposing your sinful 518 00:29:11,300 --> 00:29:16,200 nature, and the closer that you have a relationship with Christ. 519 00:29:16,900 --> 00:29:19,700 The deeper that light goes and the stronger. 520 00:29:19,700 --> 00:29:23,500 Your relationship with Christ is the more the junk in your life 521 00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:27,300 is going to be exposed. We've kind of like, what coach 522 00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:32,400 D, we've come become accustomed to managing in the darkness. 523 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,200 We've gotten so used to our eyesight, we've gotten used to 524 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,400 living in darkness that we think it's okay. 525 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,800 And then you get hit with that light. 526 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:42,700 You're like, whoa, wait a second. 527 00:29:42,700 --> 00:29:44,200 It's not that's not the way it looks. 528 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,700 And in that light, just penetrates deeper and deeper. 529 00:29:47,700 --> 00:29:52,300 So the closer that you walk with Christ, a stronger relationship 530 00:29:52,300 --> 00:29:54,800 comes with Christ. The more that junk is going to 531 00:29:54,808 --> 00:29:59,600 be exposed in your life, why? Because God is not going to burn 532 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,900 up anything that you don't offer him at the altar. 533 00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:06,100 So yeah, you're like well God knows my heart God knows me. 534 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,400 He knows like what I'm bad at. He knows what messes me up. 535 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,600 Yeah. But are you willing to go to him 536 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,500 and say God forgive me of this. Are you willing to verbally? 537 00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:21,500 Say it out loud? You know why we don't say it 538 00:30:22,500 --> 00:30:25,700 pride? Man pride is a heart man. 539 00:30:25,700 --> 00:30:30,400 Prides an amazing thing. We're prideful individuals man. 540 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,800 That's our heart, the heart gets what the heart wants. 541 00:30:32,900 --> 00:30:37,000 We learned about that at Bible study and what I want to 542 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,300 understand to, why does light expose our sin? 543 00:30:41,300 --> 00:30:45,200 Because God is a holy God, there is no darkness in him. 544 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:49,400 I think of like Isaiah chapter 6, you know, he talks about. 545 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,800 Holy holy, holy what was he saying? 546 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,500 Is like you're not just holy your holier than that. 547 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,500 And then you're also the holiest being in the entire universe. 548 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:05,000 Verse, there's no one holier than our God no matter what so 549 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,600 because God Is So holy, there could be absolutely no darkness 550 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:13,500 in his presence so that light needs to expose that sin in our 551 00:31:13,500 --> 00:31:16,300 life. So that way we look at our 552 00:31:16,300 --> 00:31:19,200 hearts and say, man, we are in need of a savior we're in need 553 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,800 of forgiveness, we're in need of Hope and then we ask him to 554 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:24,300 forgive us and you know what he does. 555 00:31:24,700 --> 00:31:28,400 He does it he forgives us. It's so great. 556 00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:32,400 Eight. So the closer that we live with 557 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,400 Christ, his slight reveals our sin, and what I want us to also 558 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,300 understand tools that God's restrictions are our 559 00:31:39,300 --> 00:31:42,800 protections. So when we read this word and 560 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,400 we're like no man, the Bible says ABC and D were like, man. 561 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,600 That's not what the culture says God is like no I love you. 562 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,500 So I'm trying to protect. I want the best for your life. 563 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:57,100 That's why I have given you my word. so we want to live in 564 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,700 wisdom and forgiveness and true freedom and if we want to do 565 00:32:01,700 --> 00:32:07,600 that, Then we have got to get to a place where we allow God to 566 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,500 shine his light on our life and exposed our sin. 567 00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:15,400 Our Darkness, the things that we know we have. 568 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,400 And the things that we don't know, we have David says it 569 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:19,600 best. He's like search me o. 570 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,200 God, show me my my fault. He's my bad. 571 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,400 Like the ways that I've jacked it up, that word, search means 572 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:33,100 to dig dig deep in a lot of us need to ask God to dig Lord. 573 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,300 What a my fault? What am I sitting in? 574 00:32:35,300 --> 00:32:38,400 What's stopping me from having a great relationship with you see, 575 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,800 that's how followers of Christ. Think those who walk in the 576 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,000 light, that's what it looks like. 577 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:48,600 So number one, light reveals sin but number two, light reveals 578 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:54,100 truth, light reveals the truth. Why does he say that? 579 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,000 Because if you look at verse 6, He says, listen if you're not 580 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,700 walking in the light, if your life looks different, you're 581 00:33:01,700 --> 00:33:04,900 lying. So, what does that mean? 582 00:33:04,900 --> 00:33:07,900 So, if you claim to be a follower of Christ and you're 583 00:33:07,900 --> 00:33:12,600 not a follower of Christ, every time you tell somebody about his 584 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:14,700 word, every time you tell somebody about church, every 585 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:17,100 time you sing these songs, you're living a lie. 586 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,600 Cuz you don't even believe it. Like hey, you should do this 587 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,800 ABCD like no but you're not a follower. 588 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:29,800 You know, it's like it's like, people that try to give you 589 00:33:29,808 --> 00:33:34,000 parenting advice, but their kids are bad like, hey, man, you 590 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,400 should really put like your kids are terrible. 591 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,800 Like, don't talk to me about that, right? 592 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,100 Yeah, or like single people. I give advice to married people. 593 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,800 Like you ain't there, you know. Or like people that try to teach 594 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,800 you to work out but they're like, super out of shape, like, 595 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:56,500 bro, you're bigger than me. Like you tried to tell me to 596 00:33:56,508 --> 00:34:00,200 lose weight, you lose weight, you see like it just doesn't 597 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,600 make sense. And what the light does, it 598 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,900 doesn't just reveal the sin in your life, because you think, 599 00:34:05,900 --> 00:34:09,300 you know, and that sin comes out, but it reveals the truth in 600 00:34:09,300 --> 00:34:13,199 your life and for some of us, the truth is that you're not a 601 00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:15,800 follower of Christ. The truth is that you're not 602 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,800 walking in the light. The truth is that there are 603 00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,100 there is some sin, in your life. Life that you have not handed it 604 00:34:22,100 --> 00:34:26,400 over to Christ. The truth is that I need to read 605 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,000 God's word, more. I need to be a I need to follow 606 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,500 him closer. And that's what happens. 607 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:41,199 And then the last thing and went with this, Is that light light, 608 00:34:41,199 --> 00:34:48,300 reveals reality, light reveals the reality of the situation? 609 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:54,400 So, I know, y'all are thinking y'all are smart folks. 610 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,400 Y'all are thinking, Well, Ricky whatever happened to the 611 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,600 Capture, the Flag game, who won. At the beginning. 612 00:35:05,500 --> 00:35:09,800 And the truth about all this is that during that game, we 613 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:14,100 actually never even got to play it because everybody kept 614 00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:16,600 flashing their lights at each other's faces because we're a 615 00:35:16,607 --> 00:35:20,800 bunch of eighth graders. So as coach G is trying to 616 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,900 explain the rules and separate us and tell us how to play the 617 00:35:24,900 --> 00:35:29,500 whole entire time. Everybody's like, hmm, and you 618 00:35:29,500 --> 00:35:33,400 can't see. So the whole time people are not 619 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,500 able to play, why? Because they're mixing light 620 00:35:35,500 --> 00:35:41,500 with Darkness. and when you mix light with Darkness, there's 621 00:35:41,500 --> 00:35:49,900 frustration, there's confusion. There's hopelessness. 622 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,500 It's difficult. You can't achieve what God is 623 00:35:55,500 --> 00:35:59,200 wanting you to do, because you're mixing light with 624 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,900 darkness. And I think for some of us 625 00:36:01,900 --> 00:36:05,500 today, we've got to kind of take an inventory of our lives and 626 00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:09,300 say, Lord am I walking if I claim that you are the light of 627 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:11,400 the world of I claim that there's no darkness in you. 628 00:36:11,500 --> 00:36:14,300 But I've I claim that I'm a follower of Christ. 629 00:36:15,100 --> 00:36:20,100 Are you walking in me and through me, or am I still in the 630 00:36:20,100 --> 00:36:23,200 Darkness? No, I love about first John, is 631 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,100 that there is no gray area where first John, it's like it's black 632 00:36:26,100 --> 00:36:28,600 and white. It's either. 633 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:30,400 It is what it is or it is. What's not? 634 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,000 There's no? Like well the culture says know, 635 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:34,700 what will my life? I've experienced. 636 00:36:34,700 --> 00:36:37,500 No, like you either walk with Christ. 637 00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:40,900 Are you don't period? And you have got to make that 638 00:36:40,900 --> 00:36:47,000 decision. Like the reality for many of us 639 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:52,000 is that were walking in a world where our light is super dimmed, 640 00:36:52,900 --> 00:36:56,100 we're walking in a place where it's like, you're kind of in the 641 00:36:56,100 --> 00:36:58,900 shadow and the Darkness, but you're like trying to be in the 642 00:36:58,900 --> 00:37:02,300 light and what John is saying is like that's not going to work, 643 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:08,100 you can't mix the two together. Because light always overtakes 644 00:37:08,100 --> 00:37:11,700 the darkness, it's impossible for it to happen. 645 00:37:15,100 --> 00:37:17,700 So, how do we live this out? You know, we had a great example 646 00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:20,900 that passion. I remember like they asked 647 00:37:20,900 --> 00:37:23,200 everybody take their cell phones out, and I'm not going to do it 648 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,000 here because some of y'all don't know how to use her cell phone. 649 00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:33,200 But if you turn your flashlight on on your cell phone, you know, 650 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,100 like that top corner. Is pretty simple. 651 00:37:37,900 --> 00:37:41,200 You just like walk around, you could just turn it on but what's 652 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,000 Wild is that if you put it on selfie mode, Your light 653 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,900 automatically turns off. Why Apple gets it? 654 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,700 Because you can't shine your light and want to look at 655 00:37:53,700 --> 00:37:56,800 yourself at the same exact time? It's impossible. 656 00:37:57,900 --> 00:38:00,500 You see? So when we say God is lie, when 657 00:38:00,500 --> 00:38:04,800 we claim that God is light That means that he is living in us 658 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:06,900 were followers of Christ or his light shines, through us. 659 00:38:06,900 --> 00:38:08,300 It's not you. It's him. 660 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,100 We deferred back to. But the moment that you start 661 00:38:12,100 --> 00:38:16,000 looking at yourself and everything's about you, your 662 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,800 light turns off, So how do we do this? 663 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:26,500 We make sure that he shines a light in us, but that means that 664 00:38:26,500 --> 00:38:28,100 we have to have a relationship with him. 665 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,400 We have to get close to him and we got to want to be with him. 666 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:35,200 That's what the real followers do. 667 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:41,300 So I want to ask you today this morning, can you honestly say 668 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:44,900 I'm a follower of Christ. So I have the confidence to do 669 00:38:44,900 --> 00:38:47,300 that. I went to some little different 670 00:38:47,300 --> 00:38:51,000 this morning. So as we close in worship, where 671 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,300 a time of response and if that's you and you're like manrique, I 672 00:38:55,300 --> 00:38:59,100 don't I don't know. If you want to be short today as 673 00:38:59,100 --> 00:39:02,200 we have a time and worship where I'm going to ask you to come in 674 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,400 front, like, come see me. I'm gonna be over here. 675 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,800 What will go to the side? Will pray together. 676 00:39:08,100 --> 00:39:11,900 We also have Robert back there. If your hand, we have my dad 677 00:39:11,900 --> 00:39:17,100 back there, so if we have Rachel in the back, just going to back. 678 00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:19,100 So maybe the front might be a little too intimidating. 679 00:39:19,300 --> 00:39:21,700 Go back there. If you just want somebody to 680 00:39:21,700 --> 00:39:25,200 pray with you, we have people that want to pray with you. 681 00:39:26,300 --> 00:39:31,300 But don't let this time go by with you, not knowing whether 682 00:39:31,300 --> 00:39:33,900 I'm a follower of Jesus or not and you just walk around. 683 00:39:33,900 --> 00:39:38,700 Guessing God is, John is very clear but also there's other 684 00:39:38,700 --> 00:39:40,800 things in your life that you want to straighten out. 685 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,800 Maybe whether it's baptism where maybe there's just some that 686 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,300 you're fighting with just want to talk to somebody my folks in 687 00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:48,800 the back that want to do that with you. 688 00:39:49,300 --> 00:39:53,300 So please pray together father we love you and we thank you so 689 00:39:53,300 --> 00:40:04,100 much. and Lord, I pray that Your lytics exposes. 690 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:13,100 The truth exposes our sin and reveals who you are and Lord. 691 00:40:13,100 --> 00:40:17,500 We also know unearthing that light does is that once were 692 00:40:17,500 --> 00:40:22,900 able to see, we're also able to see what you have done in our 693 00:40:22,900 --> 00:40:26,200 lives. And because you've done so many 694 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:28,200 good things in our life because you saved us, because you 695 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,400 forgiven us, because you've given us Freedom Way able to 696 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,100 worship you. And were able to remember the 697 00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:35,500 things that you have done for us. 698 00:40:36,100 --> 00:40:39,800 So God As we sing as we respond to you, father, I pray for 699 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:44,700 anybody in this room. That your heart convicts Jesus. 700 00:40:44,700 --> 00:40:46,800 We love you. We probably sings in your holy 701 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:48,000 and righteous name. Amen? 702 00:40:48,500 --> 00:40:49,200 Sing together.