1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,520 In the book, a second John, Second John. 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,200 So your Black Bibles, it don't even have the page on here, 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,560 right. So it's like 1223. 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,000 It is the book before second John is first John. 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:15,880 All right. So just throwing that out there. 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:19,520 All right. So for you guys that are 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,240 visitors, you guys that are new. So what we do at City Post is we 8 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:25,920 walk through books, we walk through passages, we walk 9 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,560 through scripture. And last the last couple of 10 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,650 months we were going through the book of First John and we were 11 00:00:31,650 --> 00:00:34,690 looking at that question. How do I know that I'm a 12 00:00:34,690 --> 00:00:37,050 follower of Jesus? Like how do I know I'm a 13 00:00:37,050 --> 00:00:38,530 believer in Christ? Does it? 14 00:00:38,690 --> 00:00:41,290 You know, I prayed a prayer, I walked to the front, I got 15 00:00:41,290 --> 00:00:44,690 baptized, I attend church. Like all of those things are 16 00:00:44,690 --> 00:00:48,370 secondary. But the the real test of what 17 00:00:48,370 --> 00:00:51,770 makes you a follower of Jesus versus what does it are the 18 00:00:51,770 --> 00:00:54,770 things that we studied in First John which is you carry the 19 00:00:54,770 --> 00:00:57,090 anointing, the holy spirits in you. 20 00:00:57,670 --> 00:01:01,470 But the main thing is that we now have habitual righteousness 21 00:01:01,470 --> 00:01:04,830 and not habitual sin. So if you are a follower of 22 00:01:04,830 --> 00:01:08,270 Christ and and and the sin in your life like it should bother 23 00:01:08,270 --> 00:01:11,710 you a little bit. So you do look for forgiveness. 24 00:01:11,710 --> 00:01:16,150 You do have a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ 25 00:01:16,190 --> 00:01:19,390 and also you have love, you have truth. 26 00:01:19,590 --> 00:01:23,110 You are the light of the world because those things kind of 27 00:01:23,110 --> 00:01:27,780 come to the surface when you have a relationship with Christ. 28 00:01:28,820 --> 00:01:31,300 And now we're going to transition to Second John and I 29 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:33,660 was kind of praying through like what do we walk through next? 30 00:01:34,060 --> 00:01:37,300 And it just kind of felt natural because Second John, what we're 31 00:01:37,300 --> 00:01:41,340 going to look at is that John is going to continue to encourage 32 00:01:41,580 --> 00:01:45,100 the believers of that time. And what's happening in Second 33 00:01:45,100 --> 00:01:48,580 John, is that the Gnostics or the false prophets are 34 00:01:48,580 --> 00:01:51,820 continuing to infiltrate the church. 35 00:01:51,980 --> 00:01:54,620 They're they're continuing to try to make their own converts 36 00:01:54,820 --> 00:01:59,900 with a false gospel, but they're using the hospitality of the 37 00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:06,220 Christians in order to do that. So because we have love, because 38 00:02:06,220 --> 00:02:09,300 we have the like, because the way that believers treat people 39 00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:11,820 are a lot different. Like there shouldn't be any 40 00:02:11,820 --> 00:02:15,300 Karens that are believers. I'm just saying right now, you 41 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:19,300 know if your food comes out not hot, you should not want to call 42 00:02:19,300 --> 00:02:21,140 911, right? Like so. 43 00:02:21,140 --> 00:02:26,500 Like we should act a certain way because of the love and the 44 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:28,380 light that we have through Jesus Christ. 45 00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:32,660 And what's happening is that these Gnostics and these false 46 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:37,980 prophets are taking advantage of the love that that the believers 47 00:02:37,980 --> 00:02:40,460 are showing. And John is going to continually 48 00:02:40,460 --> 00:02:42,900 encourage them saying, hey, remember the truth. 49 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,400 Remember the truth. We are walking in the truth. 50 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,880 We love the truth. The truth is in you. 51 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,040 So don't let something like hospitality. 52 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,840 Don't let these guys come in here and you support them 53 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,840 unknowingly. So we're going to talk a lot 54 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,000 about truth today. That's kind of the recap of 55 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:01,680 first John and where we're going. 56 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,280 So we're going to look at the 1st 6 verses and then we'll 57 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,040 break it down and then we'll go home. 58 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,120 All right. So if you have your Bibles, 59 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,880 let's go ahead and read verses one through 6 and then we'll 60 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:17,260 walk through it, says the elder to the lady chosen by God and to 61 00:03:17,380 --> 00:03:22,380 her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also 62 00:03:22,820 --> 00:03:26,540 all who know the truth. Because of the truth which lives 63 00:03:26,540 --> 00:03:30,780 in us and will be with us forever, Grace, mercy and peace 64 00:03:30,780 --> 00:03:34,540 from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ the Father, Son 65 00:03:34,780 --> 00:03:37,780 will be with us in truth and love. 66 00:03:38,660 --> 00:03:42,180 It has given me great joy to find some of your children 67 00:03:42,180 --> 00:03:45,620 walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 68 00:03:45,820 --> 00:03:50,460 And now, dear lady, I'm not writing you a new command, but 69 00:03:50,620 --> 00:03:53,180 one we have had from the beginning. 70 00:03:53,380 --> 00:03:58,500 I ask that we love one another, and this is love that we walk in 71 00:03:58,500 --> 00:04:03,740 obedience to His commands, as as you have heard from the 72 00:04:03,740 --> 00:04:06,580 beginning. His command is that we walk in 73 00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:08,420 love. So let's pray together. 74 00:04:08,420 --> 00:04:10,500 Father, we thank you so much for today. 75 00:04:10,780 --> 00:04:12,740 Thank you for those who are here, and thank you for those 76 00:04:12,940 --> 00:04:15,580 who are watching online right now and for those who are 77 00:04:15,580 --> 00:04:18,940 traveling this summer. And God, I pray that you speak 78 00:04:18,940 --> 00:04:21,620 to us through your word, that you give us ears to hear and 79 00:04:21,620 --> 00:04:23,940 that you just remove distractions and that we're able 80 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:27,460 to just focus on you just for a couple of moments. 81 00:04:28,100 --> 00:04:31,540 We know that life is busy and there's a lot going on, but help 82 00:04:31,540 --> 00:04:34,700 us to just focus on you because we know we see Christ will never 83 00:04:34,700 --> 00:04:36,420 be the same. And then we pray all these 84 00:04:36,420 --> 00:04:37,300 things. Amen. 85 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,000 All right. So let's go ahead and start with 86 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,520 verse one. All right. 87 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:43,800 So we got to start right away off the bat. 88 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,960 Verse one, the Elder. Awesome, right. 89 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,400 I was like, OK, that's the random Rick the Elder. 90 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,360 So John, anytime you start a letter and we see this in 91 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,680 Scripture, you kind of introduce yourself. 92 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,200 But this time not like in first John, but John, he's not 93 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,800 introducing himself as John the one who Jesus loved. 94 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,320 John the Apostle of Christ. He's going at it with a title. 95 00:05:07,620 --> 00:05:11,620 He's saying the elder. So what does that mean? 96 00:05:11,620 --> 00:05:15,740 So the elder is a New Testament term that you find in First 97 00:05:15,740 --> 00:05:18,580 Timothy and in Titus. And the elder is pretty much 98 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:21,860 someone that is in the pastoral office. 99 00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:27,420 So what John is doing is that he's writing the believers as a 100 00:05:28,020 --> 00:05:31,020 pastor. Now he's coming at them saying, 101 00:05:31,220 --> 00:05:33,620 like, you know me, like I've lived a long life. 102 00:05:33,620 --> 00:05:36,420 We saw this in First John. He's about 90 years old right 103 00:05:36,420 --> 00:05:40,830 now, but he's like the elder, he's he's coming at them from a 104 00:05:41,150 --> 00:05:46,950 a shepherding standpoint. So he says, the elder to the 105 00:05:46,950 --> 00:05:51,350 lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the 106 00:05:51,350 --> 00:05:56,270 truth and not I, but also all who know the truth. 107 00:05:57,790 --> 00:05:59,350 So what? Who's the lady? 108 00:05:59,670 --> 00:06:01,870 Who's he talking about? Is he writing to a specific 109 00:06:01,870 --> 00:06:04,310 individual? Is he writing to a person? 110 00:06:05,340 --> 00:06:09,900 So what we see here is that John is addressing not a specific 111 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:12,940 individual, He's not talking about a specific lady. 112 00:06:13,260 --> 00:06:17,420 He's actually talking to a fellowship of believers. 113 00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:19,700 And some of you guys were like, well, Ricky, that doesn't make 114 00:06:19,700 --> 00:06:20,940 sense. It says lady there. 115 00:06:21,700 --> 00:06:24,700 But remember, the New Testament was written in the Greek 116 00:06:24,700 --> 00:06:28,380 language. So the Greek word for lady here 117 00:06:28,380 --> 00:06:32,980 is Kira. And Kira was actually a normal 118 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:34,740 name that was used back in those days. 119 00:06:34,740 --> 00:06:36,440 It was. It was just very normalized, 120 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,320 almost like in Hispanic culture. Juan Luis, you see that 121 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:41,680 everywhere, right? In the Anglo culture. 122 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:43,320 Preston Schuyler. I'm joking. 123 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,240 All right. So Rachel's like my people. 124 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:47,360 All right. So. 125 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,880 So Kira is actually one of those, those names. 126 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,080 And actually Kira is in the feminine. 127 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:57,720 So, you know, in the Spanish language. 128 00:06:57,720 --> 00:06:59,600 Yeah. Feminino and masculine, Right. 129 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:04,590 So it's El Mano, El mana. So here he's using these words 130 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:08,190 in the feminine, so Kira. And then you also have words 131 00:07:08,190 --> 00:07:12,110 like Ecclesia, which is used to describe the church. 132 00:07:12,390 --> 00:07:16,270 But then also we see an Ephesians how how the church is 133 00:07:16,270 --> 00:07:19,670 the body of Christ, how it's the bride of Christ. 134 00:07:19,990 --> 00:07:23,790 And then we also see like our other churches, you know, we 135 00:07:23,790 --> 00:07:26,030 consider them like our sister church. 136 00:07:26,910 --> 00:07:29,030 So it's just used in the feminine. 137 00:07:29,270 --> 00:07:31,550 If you were in this culture, it would be Ecclesia X. 138 00:07:31,790 --> 00:07:34,310 That was a joke. All right, So that's not true. 139 00:07:34,550 --> 00:07:38,670 So it's it's used in the in the feminine voice here. 140 00:07:38,670 --> 00:07:42,790 And what John is saying is like he's talking to a body of 141 00:07:42,790 --> 00:07:47,590 believers and then look what it says, the lady chosen by God. 142 00:07:48,110 --> 00:07:54,750 So he's addressing their kind of how God chose them, like the way 143 00:07:54,750 --> 00:07:58,350 that he reveals his gospel to us through the Holy Spirit, how he 144 00:07:58,350 --> 00:08:04,530 chooses us and her children. So if the body is the bride of 145 00:08:04,530 --> 00:08:09,170 Christ, and the children are those who are in found in Christ 146 00:08:09,530 --> 00:08:15,450 that belong to God, whom I love in truth, not only I, but also 147 00:08:15,450 --> 00:08:19,570 all who know the truth, something that John is going to 148 00:08:19,570 --> 00:08:22,130 do repeatedly here. He's going to repeat the word 149 00:08:22,130 --> 00:08:25,210 truth over and over and over again. 150 00:08:26,010 --> 00:08:30,130 And the word truth here is a synonym for the gospel. 151 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,320 So he's talking about those who are found in Christ through the 152 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,640 gospel message through Jesus Christ. 153 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,360 So those found in truth. He repeats this again and again. 154 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,040 And he's also reiterating what he talked about already in First 155 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,920 John. So this is the love of Christ, 156 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:53,080 the obedience, the abiding Christ, the sound belief in 157 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,000 Christ. All of these truths are 158 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,040 expressed in Second John and that's where he's kind of going 159 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,040 here. Now look what it says in verse 160 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:02,960 2. Because the truth which lives in 161 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:08,880 us and will be with us forever. So he's talking about what we 162 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,400 learned in First John, how it abides in us. 163 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,920 So once you become a believer in Jesus, you know it doesn't go 164 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,000 away. Like there's none of this. 165 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,240 Like I was a believer for just a few months and I tested it and 166 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:22,680 now I don't want to do it no more. 167 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,120 Like you never had them in the 1st place. 168 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,880 If that's the case, because once you have an encounter with 169 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,960 Christ, your heart is changed forever and you continue to walk 170 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,760 in the anointing in the Holy Spirit. 171 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:39,560 You continue to live in Him, you continue to live in the truth. 172 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,560 Now also what I want to point out here is that the what does 173 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:46,400 the word truth mean? So when you look at the 174 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,160 definition of the word truth, truth and true actually come 175 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,200 from the same Greek definition. And it does not mean the 176 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,680 opposite of false. A lot of us are like, well, 177 00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:58,840 that's what truth is, right? Opposite of false. 178 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:03,680 Actually in this text, the word truth actually simply means not 179 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,480 hidden. It means to to reveal something, 180 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,520 it means not to hide. So what John is saying is like 181 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,960 the truth of Christ is it's not hidden to anybody. 182 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,040 Everybody should be able to listen to. 183 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:19,680 Everybody should be able to accept it. 184 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,560 So it's not the opposite of false, it's actually not hidden. 185 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:29,160 Means to reveal something. Now I want to touch on just two 186 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,560 things that that we see in humanity when it comes to truth. 187 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:39,880 So one, we either love the truth like we we jump all in because 188 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,800 we have something in us that wants to know the truth about 189 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,440 things. And two, we suppress it. 190 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,750 So let me give you example. So we love this. 191 00:10:51,750 --> 00:10:54,190 You know, I was, I was looking at some like social media. 192 00:10:54,390 --> 00:10:57,670 If you look at like, reels and TikTok and and all of these 193 00:10:57,670 --> 00:11:02,030 like, little like social media videos, there's always something 194 00:11:02,030 --> 00:11:07,110 that talks about revealing the truth, like the real story on 195 00:11:07,110 --> 00:11:09,950 what doctors don't want you to know about eating vegetables. 196 00:11:10,990 --> 00:11:14,110 And you're just like, what? I mean, it's like straight 197 00:11:14,110 --> 00:11:17,030 clickbait, right? You're like, I want to know. 198 00:11:17,470 --> 00:11:19,510 I mean it. It's like it makes no sense. 199 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,680 But they people, it just drives people to it. 200 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,560 You know, growing up and this is going to show my age, but like, 201 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:30,880 I remember like we would watch VH1, Behind the music. 202 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,320 Anybody remember that when they actually had music videos on 203 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,280 these channels? So it was like behind the music. 204 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,760 Blink 182, right? You're like ooh, I want to know 205 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,280 all the like how they wrote songs and all the drama of the 206 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,640 band. And then you'll see videos use 207 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:51,520 stuff like Untold Story or revealing even like on A&E you 208 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:57,240 have the dark side of the ring. WWE, like the real story of when 209 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,600 The Undertaker took on mankind and you're like ooh, I got to 210 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:05,080 know, you know, same thing. I mean, Making of a Murderer, 211 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:10,600 the inside story, the real story of Area 51, the truth of the 212 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,770 moon landing. You know, we have all these 213 00:12:13,770 --> 00:12:16,410 things, the secrets of Hillsong Mega Church. 214 00:12:16,410 --> 00:12:23,010 And you're like, ooh, I want to know the truth, the secrets of 215 00:12:23,010 --> 00:12:25,170 the Dallas Cowboys for choking in the playoffs. 216 00:12:25,210 --> 00:12:25,690 Right. I believe. 217 00:12:26,130 --> 00:12:33,050 Ooh, that's a new one, right? How do they do it year after 218 00:12:33,050 --> 00:12:36,530 year? What's the secret Hashtag deck? 219 00:12:36,570 --> 00:12:39,890 Alright, so So I had to throw some jazz. 220 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:46,200 We love this stuff because there's something inside of us 221 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:50,920 as human beings that want to know what's real. 222 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,480 Even when we watch these like these reality shows like The 223 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,880 Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Me Love and Hip Hop, right? 224 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,280 What we look forward to are the reunion shows because it's like, 225 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,640 know the truth of the season and you're like, oh, this is going 226 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,080 to be good. Here comes the hot mess. 227 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:09,400 How many drinks are going to be thrown? 228 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,400 I mean, like, we eat this stuff up. 229 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,840 It is straight clickbait. The problem is, just because it 230 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,800 says it doesn't necessarily mean it is. 231 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,760 But we. There's something inside of us 232 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,760 that wants to know what is real. You know, it sucks us in. 233 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,680 But on the flip side, we also have something inside of us as 234 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:36,780 humanity where truth could be staring us dead in the face and 235 00:13:36,780 --> 00:13:41,100 we deny its existence. I mean, a doctor could come up 236 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,100 to us and tell us like, hey, Ricky, like you have to stop 237 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:46,980 eating sugar or you might lose your foot. 238 00:13:48,020 --> 00:13:50,140 And I could look at the doctor like, bro, you don't know what 239 00:13:50,140 --> 00:13:52,180 you're talking about. I'm going like, you just keep 240 00:13:52,180 --> 00:13:54,980 going. Like you deny the truth. 241 00:13:55,820 --> 00:13:57,660 Like you're like, dude, you don't know what you're saying. 242 00:13:58,380 --> 00:14:01,340 I'm not sick. You're just trying to hustle me. 243 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,320 You just want me to Because a big pharma like you start going 244 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,280 down these, like, conspiracy theories when you have someone 245 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,760 who's trying to tell you the truth about your health. 246 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:16,320 And we do this all the time. We suppress the truth when it 247 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,840 hits us right in the face. I want to give you 2 examples of 248 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,600 this in scripture because some of you guys are like, man, we 249 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,320 don't do that. Yeah, we do. 250 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,640 You know, John, Chapter 18. And it'll be on the screen. 251 00:14:31,610 --> 00:14:34,610 I think about there was a couple of things that came to my mind, 252 00:14:34,610 --> 00:14:39,010 you know, when a pilot was meeting with Jesus at his trial 253 00:14:39,010 --> 00:14:43,530 and look at this conversation starting on verse 33. 254 00:14:44,250 --> 00:14:48,810 Pilot then went back inside the palace, some in Jesus, and asked 255 00:14:48,810 --> 00:14:51,290 him, are you the king of the Jews? 256 00:14:51,770 --> 00:14:53,890 Is that your own idea? Jesus asked. 257 00:14:54,250 --> 00:14:56,210 Or did others talk to you about me? 258 00:14:57,090 --> 00:14:59,960 Am I a Jew? Pilot replied Your own people 259 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:02,160 and Chief Priest handed you over to me. 260 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:07,360 What is it you have done? Jesus said my Kingdom is not of 261 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,960 this world. If it were, my servants would 262 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,480 fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. 263 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,480 But now my Kingdom is from another place. 264 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,840 You are a king then, said Pilate. 265 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,040 Look what Jesus says. Jesus answered. 266 00:15:22,570 --> 00:15:26,050 You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born 267 00:15:26,050 --> 00:15:29,210 and came into the world is to testify to the what? 268 00:15:29,730 --> 00:15:32,490 The truth. Everyone inside of the truth 269 00:15:32,570 --> 00:15:35,770 listens to me. Jesus, right there in pilot's 270 00:15:35,770 --> 00:15:39,770 face literally just told him why he's here and that he is the 271 00:15:39,770 --> 00:15:41,850 truth. And look how Pilot responds. 272 00:15:42,610 --> 00:15:46,730 What is the truth? He suppressed it. 273 00:15:47,970 --> 00:15:51,770 It's hitting him right there and pilots like, man, what is the 274 00:15:51,770 --> 00:15:52,850 truth? Retorted Pilot. 275 00:15:54,010 --> 00:15:57,450 With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and 276 00:15:57,450 --> 00:16:03,130 said, I find no bias for a charge against him, so here's 277 00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:07,130 Jesus, face to the Son of God, face to face with pilot. 278 00:16:07,370 --> 00:16:10,660 Pilot knows what went down. He sees everything. 279 00:16:10,660 --> 00:16:12,100 Pilot can't find any fault with him. 280 00:16:12,420 --> 00:16:14,820 Jesus like men. I'm here to fulfill the Father. 281 00:16:14,820 --> 00:16:17,940 I'm here because I'm the truth and those who lean on the side 282 00:16:17,940 --> 00:16:20,700 of truth will listen to me. And pilots like what's truth? 283 00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:22,300 Anyway, I'm done. Bye. 284 00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:25,580 He just straight up looked them in the face and denied it. 285 00:16:26,660 --> 00:16:28,860 But also we see this in Romans chapter one. 286 00:16:29,420 --> 00:16:34,260 If you look at Romans chapter one beginning in verse 18, we we 287 00:16:34,260 --> 00:16:36,780 go ahead and read this from scripture here. 288 00:16:36,940 --> 00:16:41,020 Sorry, just give me a second. Romans chapter one verse 18 and 289 00:16:41,180 --> 00:16:51,420 and Paul talks about how our our sinful nature kind of does the 290 00:16:51,420 --> 00:16:56,140 same thing to us. Romans 118 It says the wrath of 291 00:16:56,140 --> 00:16:59,780 God is being revealed from heaven against all the 292 00:16:59,780 --> 00:17:05,020 godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by 293 00:17:05,020 --> 00:17:09,770 their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to 294 00:17:09,770 --> 00:17:12,810 them because God has made it plain to them. 295 00:17:13,050 --> 00:17:16,369 For since the creation of the world, God's invisible 296 00:17:16,369 --> 00:17:21,010 qualities, his eternal power and divine nature has been made 297 00:17:21,010 --> 00:17:24,450 clearly. So has been clearly seen being 298 00:17:24,450 --> 00:17:29,090 understood from what has been made so that the people are 299 00:17:29,090 --> 00:17:32,490 without excuse. We'll keep reading verse 21. 300 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,960 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, 301 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:42,280 nor gave neither nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking 302 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,560 became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 303 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,360 Although they claim to be wise, they became fools and exchanged 304 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:55,480 the glory, the glory of the immortal God for images made to 305 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,370 look like a mortal man being and birds and animals and reptiles. 306 00:18:00,370 --> 00:18:04,010 Therefore God gave them over in their sinful desires of their 307 00:18:04,010 --> 00:18:09,250 hearts to sexual impurity for degrading of their bodies with 308 00:18:09,250 --> 00:18:12,850 one another. So if you look at what Romans is 309 00:18:12,850 --> 00:18:16,690 saying, Paul is saying like everything out there in 310 00:18:16,690 --> 00:18:21,570 creation, God is is showing his who he is. 311 00:18:22,690 --> 00:18:26,600 He's showing them his is his qualities. 312 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,040 He's showing them his creation. He's showing them everything. 313 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:34,080 And because of our godlessness and because of our sinful 314 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:39,400 nature, we suppress the truth. It's staring right at us in the 315 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,240 face. We see the glory of God and 316 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,600 because of our evil ways we say Nope, no thank you, I'm gonna do 317 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:47,680 me. Bye. 318 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,080 And what we see in Romans chapter one is that God gives 319 00:18:51,470 --> 00:18:54,830 people over to their sinful nature, as is wrath. 320 00:18:54,830 --> 00:18:57,790 And you know what's scary about this? 321 00:18:58,750 --> 00:19:01,510 Because you could be living life, your life could look 322 00:19:01,510 --> 00:19:04,630 great, you could be making money, be happy, have 323 00:19:04,630 --> 00:19:08,750 friendships, all that stuff, while you suppress the truth. 324 00:19:08,750 --> 00:19:12,150 And what's scary is that your success could actually be God's 325 00:19:12,150 --> 00:19:15,870 wrath on your life. Because at the end of the day, 326 00:19:15,870 --> 00:19:19,030 you're never going to find happiness and joy in those 327 00:19:19,030 --> 00:19:21,790 things. It's never going to fulfill you 328 00:19:21,790 --> 00:19:25,470 as a there's going to be a God shaped hole in you always and 329 00:19:25,470 --> 00:19:27,630 you're always going to need more and more and more. 330 00:19:27,830 --> 00:19:31,950 And God is the only one through Jesus Christ who could give you 331 00:19:31,950 --> 00:19:37,230 real and pure joy. So we suppress the truth as 332 00:19:37,230 --> 00:19:39,750 human beings. We even see it in scripture is 333 00:19:39,750 --> 00:19:43,670 what we do. Now moving to verse 3. 334 00:19:44,110 --> 00:19:47,270 Now John is going to start talking about what the letter is 335 00:19:47,270 --> 00:19:50,090 going to be about. So verse three, he hits them up. 336 00:19:50,250 --> 00:19:52,290 Look what it says. Grace, mercy and peace. 337 00:19:52,610 --> 00:19:54,970 From God to Father and from Jesus Christ. 338 00:19:55,210 --> 00:19:59,530 The Father's Son will be with us in truth and love. 339 00:20:00,410 --> 00:20:02,850 So whenever you study the Bible, you got to pay attention not 340 00:20:02,850 --> 00:20:05,450 just to the words, but the order that the words are in. 341 00:20:06,250 --> 00:20:09,450 And I find it fascinating in verse three that John writes 342 00:20:09,450 --> 00:20:13,690 grace, mercy and peace. Why not peace, mercy, grace. 343 00:20:14,210 --> 00:20:16,610 Why not mercy, grace, peace. Flip them around. 344 00:20:17,900 --> 00:20:19,780 See, what John is doing is that he's lying up. 345 00:20:19,780 --> 00:20:23,180 What it looks like to enter into a relationship with Christ 346 00:20:23,660 --> 00:20:28,300 through the sanctification. It starts with grace, for it is 347 00:20:28,300 --> 00:20:31,540 by grace you have been saved through faith, not of your work, 348 00:20:31,540 --> 00:20:34,980 So that way any man could boast it's all Jesus is doing. 349 00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:38,340 You don't have to work for it. So it starts with God's grace on 350 00:20:38,340 --> 00:20:39,980 our lives. So whenever we have a 351 00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:43,940 relationship with Jesus, he pours his grace on us because we 352 00:20:43,940 --> 00:20:46,380 don't deserve it. Which now comes mercy. 353 00:20:46,990 --> 00:20:48,630 Mercy is you get something you don't deserve. 354 00:20:49,430 --> 00:20:52,390 So we deserve God's wrath because of our sinful nature, 355 00:20:52,830 --> 00:20:55,830 but because our relation with Jesus, he's he's the payment of 356 00:20:55,830 --> 00:20:58,310 that wrath. So he takes it for us. 357 00:20:59,070 --> 00:21:03,590 And then as a result is peace. You experience a peace that 358 00:21:03,590 --> 00:21:06,590 knows no understanding. You can't understand. 359 00:21:06,590 --> 00:21:10,750 Like, man, like I'm able to chill during a crazy tornado in 360 00:21:10,750 --> 00:21:12,470 my life. Why? 361 00:21:12,790 --> 00:21:16,070 Because my foundation, I'm rooted in Christ because of 362 00:21:16,070 --> 00:21:19,990 mercy and peace. So grace, mercy, Peace from God 363 00:21:19,990 --> 00:21:23,270 the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father, Son. 364 00:21:23,670 --> 00:21:26,910 It will be with us. In what? 365 00:21:27,190 --> 00:21:31,110 Truth and love. You know why it's going to be 366 00:21:31,110 --> 00:21:33,590 with us in truth and love? Because that's exactly who Jesus 367 00:21:33,630 --> 00:21:37,270 is. Jesus is truth and Jesus is 368 00:21:37,270 --> 00:21:39,430 love. Those are the bookends of it 369 00:21:39,430 --> 00:21:41,630 all. And because Jesus is truth and 370 00:21:41,630 --> 00:21:46,500 love, he's able to give us grace, mercy and peace. 371 00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:50,220 I love that John does that. In fact, we got to move verse 4, 372 00:21:51,220 --> 00:21:54,860 verse four. It has given me great joy to 373 00:21:54,860 --> 00:21:58,900 find some of your children walking in the truth, just as 374 00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:01,940 the Father commanded us. You know, it's kind of what 375 00:22:01,940 --> 00:22:04,420 Steven talked about. You know Steven, because we 376 00:22:04,420 --> 00:22:05,900 planned this, right? This is crazy. 377 00:22:06,420 --> 00:22:13,570 So this is my mom's favorite Bible verse by by, you know, 378 00:22:13,570 --> 00:22:16,410 just letting you guys know. My mom has this verse all over 379 00:22:16,410 --> 00:22:20,850 her house and I never really understood it, but it's given me 380 00:22:20,850 --> 00:22:24,890 great joy to find that some of your children walking in the 381 00:22:24,890 --> 00:22:28,970 truth. So what is John saying to the 382 00:22:28,970 --> 00:22:33,650 fellowship of believers? There's great joy to find out. 383 00:22:33,650 --> 00:22:35,130 There's there's a, there's a truth to this. 384 00:22:35,130 --> 00:22:38,690 But it's also kind of a sadness here because look what it says. 385 00:22:38,690 --> 00:22:43,120 Great joy. Find what some of your children 386 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,320 walking in truth. You see the word. 387 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,200 Some means Not everyone is doing this. 388 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,960 So for for John, he's like man. There's no greater joy in life. 389 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,800 To see my children, my believers. 390 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,520 To walk in the truth. You see this word walk in the 391 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,720 truth. That's an active verb that means 392 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,600 continually walking in the truth. 393 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,200 Man, parents, this is a cheat code right here. 394 00:23:12,580 --> 00:23:16,740 Because if if you understand this verse that there's no 395 00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,380 greater joy for my kids. Now I'm. 396 00:23:19,380 --> 00:23:20,900 I'm stepping out of the fellowship part. 397 00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:22,260 I'm thinking of my children right now. 398 00:23:22,820 --> 00:23:27,380 If my children walk in the truth, if they walk in the truth 399 00:23:27,380 --> 00:23:30,820 of Jesus Christ, if I drive them to have a relationship with 400 00:23:30,820 --> 00:23:36,500 Christ, everything else in life follows suit if you start right 401 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:38,300 here. That's why I said this is the 402 00:23:38,300 --> 00:23:41,840 cheat code in life. You don't have to pull your hair 403 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,000 out wondering where your kids are going to study and what 404 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,240 they're going to do for a living and how they're going to like, 405 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:51,000 you know, make do like what loser is going to marry Elena? 406 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,760 I don't got to worry about that stuff, right? 407 00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:00,960 If she follows Jesus and she puts her life in his hands, the 408 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,560 Bible says that he's the one that directs her steps. 409 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,380 What greater man, what greater joy as a dad to know that my 410 00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:11,020 children are walking in the truth? 411 00:24:11,900 --> 00:24:14,060 And what's sad here is that John's like, oh, but some of 412 00:24:14,060 --> 00:24:16,020 them are not. All of them. 413 00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:22,300 My goal is all my kids and all my church man. 414 00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:25,140 There's no greater joy to know that you're walking in the truth 415 00:24:25,580 --> 00:24:28,020 just as the father commanded. Why is there joy? 416 00:24:28,460 --> 00:24:30,140 Because it's just as the Father commanded. 417 00:24:30,140 --> 00:24:35,620 That means that you are walking in obedience to the word of God. 418 00:24:36,740 --> 00:24:40,380 There's a joy in that. What it does not say is that I 419 00:24:40,380 --> 00:24:43,660 don't find any greater. There's no greater joy than my 420 00:24:43,660 --> 00:24:48,860 children going to church, or my children tithing more, or my 421 00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:51,260 children reading the Bible more or praying more. 422 00:24:51,820 --> 00:24:55,420 All these acts are great, but what John is getting to is like 423 00:24:55,420 --> 00:24:59,740 there's an obedience to Jesus. That's where the joy comes from. 424 00:25:00,260 --> 00:25:04,100 If you could just get this part right, everything else is gonna 425 00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:07,160 follow through. And what's sad is so many of us, 426 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,760 we think Christianity is like this religious thing where you 427 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,280 have to do all these, like, rules and regulations. 428 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,600 And I have to have like, no, like, man, that is so secondary. 429 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,880 Jesus is all about obedience to him. 430 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,760 He's about your heart. He he wants you to know him and 431 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,800 to be forgiven and to have a new life. 432 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:29,960 But you have got to surrender to him. 433 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,560 You have got to take that step. But man, there's no greater joy. 434 00:25:35,140 --> 00:25:39,140 And now, dear lady, so he's continuing, which he's talking 435 00:25:39,140 --> 00:25:41,940 about the fellowship. I am not writing you a new 436 00:25:41,940 --> 00:25:46,100 command, but one we have heard, we have had from the very 437 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:49,260 beginning. I ask that you love one another. 438 00:25:49,780 --> 00:25:51,580 It all goes back to love everybody. 439 00:25:52,260 --> 00:25:54,300 You could do all these things, but if you have love, you have 440 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:57,420 nothing. We see that in First Corinthians 441 00:25:57,860 --> 00:26:00,500 without love, all your words are like clanging symbols. 442 00:26:00,500 --> 00:26:04,020 They're just noise. All your actions mean nothing. 443 00:26:04,930 --> 00:26:07,290 Your righteous acts are like filthy rags. 444 00:26:07,290 --> 00:26:11,010 That's out of Isaiah. So John is reiterating. 445 00:26:11,010 --> 00:26:12,730 He's like man, this is nothing new. 446 00:26:12,970 --> 00:26:16,610 I've encouraged you this way. Continue to love one another. 447 00:26:18,090 --> 00:26:20,850 And in verse 6. And this is love. 448 00:26:20,850 --> 00:26:22,530 There he goes. He's defining it again. 449 00:26:22,770 --> 00:26:25,330 He's reiterating what we learned in first John. 450 00:26:25,890 --> 00:26:27,410 And this is love you want to talk about. 451 00:26:27,410 --> 00:26:29,210 Love is what is love? This is love. 452 00:26:29,330 --> 00:26:33,930 We walk in obedience. This commands as you have heard 453 00:26:33,930 --> 00:26:37,570 from the beginning. His command is that you walk in 454 00:26:37,570 --> 00:26:40,650 love. So what love is he talking about 455 00:26:40,650 --> 00:26:45,450 here is this sacrificial is agape love the love he's talking 456 00:26:45,450 --> 00:26:46,850 to. You want to know how you love 457 00:26:46,850 --> 00:26:50,530 Christ and love God. You walk in His commands, you 458 00:26:50,530 --> 00:26:53,530 obey what he says. That's first John 26. 459 00:26:54,170 --> 00:26:59,090 That's how we know that is what brings us joy. 460 00:26:59,090 --> 00:27:00,810 We walk in obedience to his commands. 461 00:27:00,810 --> 00:27:04,620 How do we know his commands? We have his word and he's giving 462 00:27:04,620 --> 00:27:07,420 it to us. And everyone here can read it. 463 00:27:08,340 --> 00:27:11,020 And I know that there's a little, there's some people are 464 00:27:11,020 --> 00:27:12,940 like, well, Ricky, like I'm not supposed to read it. 465 00:27:12,940 --> 00:27:14,540 They're supposed to tell me what it says. 466 00:27:14,820 --> 00:27:18,540 And I'm like, no, they're not. It's God's revelation to you. 467 00:27:19,180 --> 00:27:21,580 Read it. If you can't read, listen to it. 468 00:27:23,060 --> 00:27:29,340 There's apps, just hear it. So if we obey his word this is 469 00:27:29,340 --> 00:27:33,090 how how we show love is with this. 470 00:27:35,090 --> 00:27:39,090 So what I want to do is just for the last couple of minutes you 471 00:27:39,090 --> 00:27:41,970 know something that I I was praying through is in verse 472 00:27:41,970 --> 00:27:44,890 three. He talks about truth and we know 473 00:27:44,890 --> 00:27:49,290 that truth reveals means that that that you're getting you're 474 00:27:49,290 --> 00:27:52,570 revealing something something is is coming to light. 475 00:27:53,090 --> 00:27:55,970 You know when Jesus said I'm the way, the truth and the light. 476 00:27:56,970 --> 00:28:00,370 Jesus saying like I am revealing myself to all humanity, all 477 00:28:00,370 --> 00:28:05,260 mankind, this is the how, how God's going, I'm God's plan for 478 00:28:05,260 --> 00:28:09,300 the world's redemption. But I also want to talk a little 479 00:28:09,300 --> 00:28:13,580 bit about what truth reveals. What does truth actually reveal? 480 00:28:13,580 --> 00:28:15,580 Some of you are like, well, Ricky talk a lot about that. 481 00:28:15,940 --> 00:28:17,420 So. So I want to take a little bit 482 00:28:17,420 --> 00:28:22,140 of a deeper dive here as we apply this to our lives and what 483 00:28:22,140 --> 00:28:26,060 does this mean? So #1 Truth reveals truth. 484 00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:31,110 Truth reveals truth. Whenever you're confronted with 485 00:28:31,110 --> 00:28:35,710 the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is that we are sinners, 486 00:28:36,750 --> 00:28:39,710 that we deserve God's wrath due to our sin. 487 00:28:39,950 --> 00:28:44,510 But Jesus came and took our place, and now we have a 488 00:28:44,510 --> 00:28:47,470 relationship with God, not by anything we did, but because of 489 00:28:47,510 --> 00:28:49,870 all he did. And we are forgiven, restored, 490 00:28:49,870 --> 00:28:51,630 renewed. And he has given us this new 491 00:28:51,630 --> 00:28:55,670 life, that truth reveals something in us. 492 00:28:56,730 --> 00:28:58,890 When you when you put us together, So what? 493 00:28:58,890 --> 00:29:02,490 What does that truth reveal? Because this is out of verse 494 00:29:02,490 --> 00:29:04,370 two. We see this and and and you 495 00:29:04,370 --> 00:29:06,130 don't have to look it up. I'll just read it says whom I 496 00:29:06,130 --> 00:29:10,490 love in truth, who, who? You know the truth, and it will 497 00:29:10,490 --> 00:29:13,610 be with us forever. So I mean this is constant 498 00:29:13,610 --> 00:29:17,690 sanctification in us. So if truth reveals truth, if 499 00:29:17,690 --> 00:29:20,410 the gospel, what does the gospel reveal to us? 500 00:29:20,930 --> 00:29:23,610 So if the Gospels is the good news, the first thing that the 501 00:29:23,610 --> 00:29:29,320 truth reveals is the bad news. So as we look at our lives, when 502 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,240 we look at the truth of the gospel, then we have to look at 503 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,240 the truth of ourselves. And the truth is that we are not 504 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,960 good people. Like the truth is I'm a terrible 505 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,520 person. I'm selfish. 506 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:46,440 I'm prideful, like I don't love the way that I should. 507 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:53,120 All of these things are revealed when I when I look at the Gospel 508 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:58,580 message, I reveal the sinful nature of me, of myself. 509 00:29:59,140 --> 00:30:04,260 Romans 117 even says it For in the Gospel, the righteousness of 510 00:30:04,260 --> 00:30:09,060 God is what revealed, A righteousness that is by faith 511 00:30:09,220 --> 00:30:13,420 from first to last, just as is. Just as it is written, the 512 00:30:13,420 --> 00:30:16,860 righteous will live by faith because the righteousness of God 513 00:30:16,860 --> 00:30:20,620 is revealed to us. We look at how terrible we are. 514 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,480 Something you're like, man, Ricky, I'm not a bad person. 515 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,880 How many How many times have you failed yourself. 516 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,400 More than you. How many promises have you 517 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,040 broken to yourself. How many times? 518 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,840 Like, I'm starting Monday. I'm gonna go and start training 519 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:44,160 for the the Countdown couch to 5K, right. 520 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:45,920 I'll start somewhere. I'm gonna go Waterburger real 521 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,560 fast. I mean, like we we we tell 522 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:53,070 ourselves all these things and and like, we're not good people. 523 00:30:54,510 --> 00:30:57,870 And the truth is that we're sinful, we're terrible. 524 00:30:59,110 --> 00:31:01,350 That's humanity for us, compared. 525 00:31:01,750 --> 00:31:02,870 Well, what are we comparing it to? 526 00:31:02,870 --> 00:31:06,430 We need a standard. Well, when you compare yourself 527 00:31:06,430 --> 00:31:10,110 to a holy and righteous God, your sinful nature reveals how 528 00:31:10,110 --> 00:31:15,910 terrible you are. And the truth is that it. 529 00:31:15,910 --> 00:31:18,550 I'm just going to throw this out there for some of us. 530 00:31:18,550 --> 00:31:23,690 The truth is, is that we're not anxious, we're not depressed, 531 00:31:24,330 --> 00:31:29,170 we're not addicted. The truth is that we watch porn 532 00:31:29,170 --> 00:31:32,370 for four hours a day. We fill our mind with terrible 533 00:31:32,370 --> 00:31:35,930 things. We have abuse in our life that 534 00:31:35,930 --> 00:31:39,650 we have not managed yet. We still have unforgiveness in 535 00:31:39,650 --> 00:31:43,810 our hearts from something that our parents did to us or 536 00:31:43,810 --> 00:31:48,130 relationship. Some of us were molested, abused 537 00:31:48,130 --> 00:31:50,160 sexually. Like like, we're just going to 538 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,000 push it all out there. Let's just be honest. 539 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,120 So what ends up happening is that we start medicating 540 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:04,200 ourselves when the real truth is our hearts. 541 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:11,560 And the Bible points this out. And until you deal with the 542 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,360 truth of who you are, you're going to continue to medicate 543 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,000 yourself. You're going to continue walking 544 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,380 in circles. Jesus does the most loving 545 00:32:21,380 --> 00:32:25,940 thing, like so loving that some of us, we miss it. 546 00:32:27,220 --> 00:32:32,100 Because what Jesus does is that Jesus passes through the self 547 00:32:32,100 --> 00:32:35,380 medication and all the little surface stuff and he goes 548 00:32:35,380 --> 00:32:38,100 straight to the disease, which is our sin. 549 00:32:39,100 --> 00:32:40,700 We see this at the woman at the well. 550 00:32:41,900 --> 00:32:43,500 Remember that story? The woman at the well, he's 551 00:32:43,500 --> 00:32:47,730 talking to her and and and he's like I am the living water. 552 00:32:47,730 --> 00:32:50,410 If you drink of me like you shall never thirst again. 553 00:32:50,570 --> 00:32:52,450 And the lady's like, yes, give me the water. 554 00:32:52,450 --> 00:32:54,930 Hey, why don't you go get your husband? 555 00:32:56,730 --> 00:32:59,610 You see, Jesus could have easily stopped with the lady saying yes 556 00:32:59,610 --> 00:33:03,770 like I do want it? Let's sign her up for a church. 557 00:33:03,770 --> 00:33:07,090 Let's get her discipled. No, but what he does is that he 558 00:33:07,090 --> 00:33:09,250 knows that there's a deeper issue here. 559 00:33:09,610 --> 00:33:12,250 And the deeper issue is why do you have 5 husbands and the 560 00:33:12,250 --> 00:33:13,410 other one's still not your husband? 561 00:33:14,870 --> 00:33:17,670 What's behind all this? Why are you here by yourself? 562 00:33:18,470 --> 00:33:22,190 Does the same thing with that Kias everybody Jesus meets, he 563 00:33:22,190 --> 00:33:25,990 doesn't just like cuddle them and say, oh like I love, you 564 00:33:25,990 --> 00:33:28,830 know what he does? He gets to the root of the 565 00:33:28,830 --> 00:33:34,190 disease, which is a sinful heart, and he heals the disease. 566 00:33:34,310 --> 00:33:36,710 So that way you are now made a new person. 567 00:33:38,950 --> 00:33:41,510 So I'll be honest, man, for some of us, it's not that you're 568 00:33:41,510 --> 00:33:45,130 addicted. There's something so much deeper 569 00:33:45,130 --> 00:33:47,810 there that truth is going to reveal. 570 00:33:47,810 --> 00:33:52,530 But if you do not bring it to the surface, it's going to be 571 00:33:52,890 --> 00:33:55,450 hard for Christ to take that. You can't. 572 00:33:55,530 --> 00:33:57,810 He can't take anything that you don't bring to the altar. 573 00:33:58,690 --> 00:34:02,010 So you've got to present it. So think about this. 574 00:34:03,450 --> 00:34:07,490 Let's say that I'm playing at home with Elena and we're 575 00:34:07,490 --> 00:34:09,290 wrestling now let's do Olivia because we're wrestling. 576 00:34:09,650 --> 00:34:14,370 So we're wrestling on the couch and Livy pushes me down and I 577 00:34:14,370 --> 00:34:18,170 land on one of Elena's scissors by accident. 578 00:34:19,570 --> 00:34:23,130 So I run to Rachel and I have scissors sticking out of my arm. 579 00:34:24,050 --> 00:34:27,050 They just kind of protruded right through it and I'm like, 580 00:34:27,050 --> 00:34:28,610 hey Rach, I need a little bit of help here. 581 00:34:29,770 --> 00:34:31,409 I don't think I could just yank this thing out. 582 00:34:32,250 --> 00:34:33,929 And Rach is like, great, let me help you. 583 00:34:33,929 --> 00:34:36,650 And she goes, gets the first aid kit and then she goes and she 584 00:34:36,650 --> 00:34:38,449 just pours hydrogen peroxide on it. 585 00:34:38,610 --> 00:34:41,690 She puts Neosporin on it, and then she puts band aids on it, 586 00:34:41,690 --> 00:34:43,690 but she does not remove the scissors. 587 00:34:46,090 --> 00:34:49,010 And I'm walking around, I'm like, hey guys, we're gonna heal 588 00:34:49,010 --> 00:34:51,810 soon now some of y'all looking like, man, Ricky, that's so 589 00:34:51,810 --> 00:34:55,010 dumb. You know what the issue is? 590 00:34:55,010 --> 00:34:58,730 It's popping right out. Well guys, it's the same thing 591 00:34:58,730 --> 00:35:02,180 for our central nature. As we know what the issue is, 592 00:35:02,340 --> 00:35:05,620 the truth has revealed it. Many of us know what the problem 593 00:35:05,620 --> 00:35:09,260 is. We don't want to reveal it, but 594 00:35:09,260 --> 00:35:13,860 the truth has exposed it. And unless you give that to the 595 00:35:13,860 --> 00:35:19,100 Lord, unless you give that to Jesus, you will continually be 596 00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:24,180 walking in circles of self medication trying to figure out 597 00:35:24,180 --> 00:35:27,380 how to fix it. And the problem is, you cannot 598 00:35:27,380 --> 00:35:29,940 fix what's broken out of a broken system. 599 00:35:31,380 --> 00:35:34,860 It's going to keep you there. Which leads to #2. 600 00:35:35,700 --> 00:35:39,620 So if truth reveals truth about ourselves, truth also reveals a 601 00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:42,220 solution. It's not funny. 602 00:35:42,220 --> 00:35:46,420 Like we have the gospel. So, Ricky, I I know that I'm a 603 00:35:46,660 --> 00:35:49,500 terrible person. I know that I'm I'm like a 604 00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:52,380 sinful person. Like I've tried all these 605 00:35:52,380 --> 00:35:54,220 things. Like, what do I do? 606 00:35:54,220 --> 00:35:58,560 What's next? So what's we see? 607 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:00,360 The we see the answer in verse 3. 608 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:05,440 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ 609 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,400 the Father Son will be with us in truth and love. 610 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:15,800 You see, the answer is Jesus. Not just church, Not just no. 611 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:22,160 A relationship with Jesus is the answer to all of this. 612 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:27,490 He's the one that heals your heart now, is it like a genie 613 00:36:27,490 --> 00:36:29,450 and a bottle where it just all goes away? 614 00:36:29,450 --> 00:36:31,330 Like your life is great for the rest? 615 00:36:31,330 --> 00:36:33,530 Like forever? Absolutely not. 616 00:36:34,090 --> 00:36:39,450 We live in a sinful world, but we now have a solution that 617 00:36:39,450 --> 00:36:43,730 works. And he forgives us and he walks 618 00:36:43,730 --> 00:36:47,290 with us and he gives us comfort and he gives us peace. 619 00:36:47,530 --> 00:36:49,450 And there's some things that he does supernaturally that you 620 00:36:49,450 --> 00:36:51,450 can't explain. And that's only through the Holy 621 00:36:51,450 --> 00:36:53,050 Spirit. That's only through a 622 00:36:53,050 --> 00:36:58,360 relationship with Jesus Christ. Everyone else is going to fail 623 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,920 you. Every self help book is going to 624 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,000 fail you. Every great podcast will fail 625 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,200 you. Christ is the only one who will 626 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:10,640 never fail you. I will fail you, but Jesus 627 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,440 won't. Jesus is the only one. 628 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,160 He won't fail us. You know it's interesting. 629 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,240 Something I was thinking about, You know, way that this culture 630 00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:25,040 suppresses truth is that we cancel things. 631 00:37:27,610 --> 00:37:33,290 When something comes at us that we don't like, we ghost, we 632 00:37:33,290 --> 00:37:36,050 cancel it. We're like, I'm no longer going 633 00:37:36,050 --> 00:37:40,010 to take part in that. I disagree with it by now. 634 00:37:40,010 --> 00:37:43,450 I'm not talking about like that person was abusive. 635 00:37:43,450 --> 00:37:46,610 So because of the love of my of the victims, I'm not going to. 636 00:37:46,610 --> 00:37:49,050 No, no. I'm talking about things that 637 00:37:49,050 --> 00:37:52,130 come at us in our lives that we just push away. 638 00:37:53,210 --> 00:37:55,290 I started thinking, why do you think people disappear from 639 00:37:55,290 --> 00:37:58,490 church? It's not church hurt. 640 00:37:59,250 --> 00:38:03,850 Maybe there was something that arose that confronted them. 641 00:38:03,850 --> 00:38:04,970 And you know what I thought about? 642 00:38:04,970 --> 00:38:10,650 Like, I just felt we cancel. We we suppress what exposes our 643 00:38:10,650 --> 00:38:15,170 idols, and there's some idols that we have in our lives that 644 00:38:15,170 --> 00:38:19,970 we want to hold on to. So when something exposes that, 645 00:38:20,570 --> 00:38:23,440 we tend to cancel it or go away from it because we want to keep 646 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:28,080 this thing here. So the solution to all of this 647 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:30,960 is a real relationship with Jesus Christ. 648 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,200 And then the last thing. And then we'll we'll we'll be 649 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:35,400 done. We'll just spend a little time 650 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,760 and worship. The last thing is truth reveals 651 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,960 great joy. Y'all truth reveals great joy. 652 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,440 That's something John says. He's like men. 653 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,560 There's no greater joy than to know that some of my children 654 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:54,030 are walking in the truth. You want to experience great joy 655 00:38:54,030 --> 00:38:57,670 in your life. Submit your life to Jesus. 656 00:38:58,790 --> 00:39:00,870 I know you're like, Nah, Ricky like Nah, that's not it. 657 00:39:00,870 --> 00:39:03,030 No, no. Submit your life to Jesus. 658 00:39:03,550 --> 00:39:06,390 The end game is not a better life. 659 00:39:06,630 --> 00:39:09,070 It's not marriage. It's not sexuality. 660 00:39:09,390 --> 00:39:13,590 The end game is not money. The end game is you having a 661 00:39:13,590 --> 00:39:16,270 relationship with Christ, period. 662 00:39:17,190 --> 00:39:23,790 You come as you are, come to Jesus and watch the joy in your 663 00:39:23,790 --> 00:39:29,630 life skyrocket. And parents, your goal. 664 00:39:29,630 --> 00:39:30,870 I'm just going to talk. I'm be honest. 665 00:39:30,870 --> 00:39:33,790 Parents, your goal is this verse right here. 666 00:39:34,630 --> 00:39:36,390 Bring your kids to the foot of the cross. 667 00:39:36,710 --> 00:39:39,310 Bring them to Christ. Do everything you can and you 668 00:39:39,310 --> 00:39:42,110 pray for them no no matter how long it takes. 669 00:39:42,390 --> 00:39:44,670 You pray for them that they meet Jesus. 670 00:39:45,750 --> 00:39:50,510 Everything in life is secondary to knowing who Christ is and to 671 00:39:50,510 --> 00:39:55,110 be walking in the truth and pray for us and we'll have a little 672 00:39:55,110 --> 00:39:57,390 time of worship, little time of response. 673 00:39:57,390 --> 00:40:01,790 And listen, if you're here in this room and you're like, man, 674 00:40:01,790 --> 00:40:04,550 Ricky, like it's. I want that. 675 00:40:04,630 --> 00:40:06,950 I want that truth. I want that relationship with 676 00:40:06,950 --> 00:40:10,550 Christ while we worship, I'm going to be standing right here. 677 00:40:11,550 --> 00:40:14,550 Come see me. We're going to embarrass you. 678 00:40:14,550 --> 00:40:16,630 We're going to, like, call. No, like, let's talk. 679 00:40:16,990 --> 00:40:19,710 Let's have a conversation. Let's talk. 680 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,120 Come to know Jesus, it's the greatest joy that you ever 681 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,400 experienced. Let me pray for us, Father. 682 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:30,640 We love you and we thank you so much because God, you love us so 683 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:35,160 much that you expose the truth of who we really are. 684 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:41,160 And it's not pretty. But God, instead of you just 685 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,760 pushing us away, you actually invite us in. 686 00:40:46,100 --> 00:40:49,540 Not just invite us in, But Lord, even when we were enemies, you 687 00:40:49,540 --> 00:40:55,020 have made us your friends. Not that you just made us your 688 00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:56,820 friends. We also gave your life for us. 689 00:40:57,540 --> 00:41:01,500 We don't deserve that. So, Father, I pray that you help 690 00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:06,180 us experience great joy and have a relationship with you, Father, 691 00:41:06,700 --> 00:41:10,940 which only comes through Christ. So, Jesus, we love you, we thank 692 00:41:10,940 --> 00:41:13,860 you, and we praise you for all that you're doing in our lives. 693 00:41:14,060 --> 00:41:15,100 And yam, we pray all these things. 694 00:41:15,100 --> 00:41:16,960 Amen. This worship together.