0:01 [Music] I hope you were listening. Can somebody, a child, tell me why did Jesus die on the cross? Yes. Sorry. For our sins. Yes, that's correct. 0:18 Anybody else have another answer? Yeah, that was said. Uh, yes. So, we wouldn't have to die. Yep. Because he loved us. Yes, we could. Yeah, we could live with him. 0:38 Now, I give you a clue. The answer is in our memory verse. Yes. Yes. So that we who live should no longer live for ourselves. I think the answers you all gave are correct. And that's probably the answers you'll hear 0:56 in a lot of Christianom. Yeah. He died to forgive my sins. Died that we can live with him. Uh died to take us to heaven. But very easy for us to forget. He died so that I should never please myself. It's a rare message in Christendom, I 1:14 believe. But it's right there. He died so that we who live, if you are alive, this is the reason Jesus died. so that you no longer live for yourself but for him who died and rose again on our behalf. I want to live for him. I thank 1:31 God that he's gripped my heart with that reality that this is why Jesus died. When you think about Jesus death probably go through a lot of different feelings, sentimental emotions maybe you read in the scriptures or watch a movie about uh Jesus death. But 1:51 I tell you more recently in the last few years whenever I think about Jesus death when I even when I see a cross you know a lot of churches have a cross um and when I see that yeah I remember Jesus sacrifice but I also remember my 2:06 response to it. It's the other side of the coin. Jesus died. Oh he suffered so much. But he doesn't want us to just sit here and feel sorry for him. The suffering that he went through the father carried him through it. It was 2:19 not too much for Jesus to bear. Do you believe that? Yes. 1 Corinthians 10:13 was true for Jesus as well. No temptation has overcome you, but such as is common to man, including the son of man, Jesus, who his rest and his comfort and his 2:38 assurance in everything he faced was this. The father will not allow me to be tested more than I'm able to bear. There was there would have been certain things that would have been too much for Jesus to bear at a certain time in his 2:52 life. I believe that otherwise he could not have been a faithful high priest, somebody who can sympathize with my weaknesses. And so the father was watching Jesus. He says, "Okay, I can test Jesus so much because I've given 3:06 him this amount of grace for that test." at the age of 12, at the age of 18, at the age of 21, 27, 30, 33. And at 33, Jesus was not tested more than he was able to bear. And so he was at rest. The only thing that he was 3:25 uncertain about was, "Father, do I have to break fellowship with you? Is there a way?" And that's the one thing that I wonder if Jesus thought, "Will this be too much for me to bear?" It's not anything you or I ever have to face. When Jesus was 3:39 forsaken by the father on the cross and he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me is something that you or I who are in Christ will never have to experience. Those who are outside of Christ and die in their sins will be 3:53 forsaken by the father." That's what hell is. Jesus had to experience that. And so when he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Perhaps there was a sense of, "Will this be too much?" But you know that verse comes from that 4:07 quote comes from Psalm 22 where it says, "You will not abandon my soul in Hades." Jesus had that as his comfort, his rock, his hope. I'm going to talk about hope today. Um so remember this children. I hope that by coming to River of Life 4:24 Christian Fellowship at least you hear some of these rare verses you don't hear often and that is this is why Jesus died to so that I who am alive if anybody asks you you ought to be able to give this answer why did Jesus die because 4:40 Santo is still alive and cannot live for himself not even once that means if there's a temptation to say a harsh word to my wife I say I can't do it why because Jesus Jesus died and rose again. If there's a temptation to look and lust 4:55 after a woman, why can I not lust? Because Jesus died. You see how the death and resurrection of Jesus changes my everyday life? It's not just a one-time thing that I'm thankful for, but it says, "Lord, I cannot gossip now because you died. 5:13 Let me see Calvary when I'm tempted in that situation to say that word of gossip or that lustful thought or that bitter unforgiving attitude. Let me see Calvary and remember that's why you died so that I who live shall no longer live 5:29 for myself. Yeah. I was having a conversation with one of my children this week. Um and we were we're talking about how do you know God's voice? Whether it's your own thought or is just the voice of or is it the voice of God? 5:47 It's a question I I hope you have asked yourself. I've often wrestled with it myself. How do I know whether this is the voice of God or just my own idea? Cuz I'm a pretty good person. And I mean in a worldly way. I'm not a, you know, 6:01 one of those bad people that the world thinks of as bad people. And I'm I'm being uh somewhat facitious here in the sense that I know that even that goodness that the world might see, well, he's a pretty good person. People at 6:14 work think he's a good guy. Perhaps we all have that reputation, a respectable reputation. And we recognize that that's garbage. That's filthiness in God's nose. You're sticking a filthy rag if you think that somehow my being a 6:29 good man by the world's standards is anything to him. He says, "Get it out of my face. It stinks. So I'm accepted by Christ on the basis of Christ's righteousness alone. But it's easy for us because we are maybe we have worldly wisdom and we have 6:45 good ideas. We've maybe gotten some education. We've got some worldly wisdom. Then it becomes especially important that we discern what's our own earthly morality, worldly wisdom, which James calls demonic actually. And when we see that as demonic, I say, 7:05 I dare not make a decision based on the fact that I have some idea or some worldly wisdom cuz that'll lead me to hell. It's demonic. The wisdom that's from above is quite a different thing. And uh one of the things that we were 7:24 talking about with my children was this that you know it's it initially it may be difficult to know God's voice clearly when you're a newly born Christian but as you walk with God more you get to know his voice and to discern it. And I 7:40 was saying how uh if if my wife or one of my children was down the hallway talking, I would immediately know that that's one of my children compared to say one of their classmates or another child from the street. I think I know most of your children's 7:56 voices as well in this church. It's like a family. So, but I'm if it was some other visitor, let's say, or somebody that I don't know well and their child, a group of children over there, I would be able to distinguish my child or my 8:10 wife's voice above all the other voices. That's because I live with them. I hear their voice every day. I hear my voice wife's voice every day. I hear my children's voice every day. And if you're walking with God, you're walking 8:24 with Jesus every day and you start your Christian life that way, the time will come where you start to distinguish this is the voice of Jesus. I've been walking with him faithfully. I know his voice over the voice of the other things that 8:38 sound like Jesus. Children, you know how the devil will speak to you? He won't speak to you in wickedness and evil because he knows that you won't fall for that because you're you're hearing the words of Christ and you want to be a disciple of 8:52 Jesus. But he will speak to you in a voice that sounds very much like it could be Jesus. 2 Corinthians 11 says this that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. If you saw an angel of light standing right here, not an angel of darkness, an 9:09 angel of light standing next to me saying something or in your mind you hear an angel of light saying something different from what I'm saying or from what the word of God says. Most importantly, there's a greater danger 9:22 that we might fall for that. A lot of people in Christendom are falling for angels, angels of light. And yet the scriptures explicitly warn us that the devil will disguise himself as an angel of light. So it's very important. But 9:36 the point I'm getting to is this, and this is where we finished our conversation for that time. It's a conversation to be continued. And that's this. That then it's important that we know what is certainly God's voice. Because I don't want you to just believe 9:50 that what I'm about to say is God's voice. I'm not God and I'm a faulty human being. There's still sin in me that God has to cleanse me from. I'm not yet perfected like Christ. So, you shouldn't take what I say or any of us 10:04 elders or teachers here in this church. There's only one thing that we're absolutely certain is God's word, the voice of God, and that's this book, the Bible. This the only thing that we can be absolutely certain is the voice of 10:18 God. And that's why it's so important that you read it. I hope your Bible reading is going well, church family. The summer's already what 3 weeks gone or a month gone and pretty soon the school will start up again. I'm not 10:31 trying to spoil it for you children but uh use this time especially children and parents. I hope we're helping them. Ask them often. Um again you don't have to follow the plan that we're doing but get in the habit of reading God's word every 10:46 day. That's the point I I was making with my children. I wanted to share that with you as a beginning. Read God's word every day. every day read a little bit. That's how you will train your ear to know God's voice. And then you'll find a situation. 11:01 For example, some my children think they're going to be missionaries. One of them thinks they are going to go to North Korea um to be a missionary. And how do we know is it is it am I going to go or another one wants to wants to go to some 11:15 part of India to be a missionary there? How do we know if it's a good thing? Does the Lord really want me to go there or is it just some nice thing to do? And uh and uh in those good things, it's important that we know. And we were 11:29 talking about how there's no verse in the Bible that says, "Okay, yeah, you should or you shouldn't." You know, you can't just, oh yeah, no, it's not going to be like that. So, why do we read God's word? Why has God given us his 11:42 word? So, um written 2,000 years ago, and it's not like he's rewriting new words. the physical words, the literal words that God has given are the same. Some of it 3,000 4,000 years old and some of it uh the New Testament 2,000 years old 12:01 hasn't changed. And God hasn't given us his word in a way that we find, you know, go to such and such an answer. I have a a standing response to some some people ask me a question. They're like, "Hey, what should I do in that 12:14 situation?" And we say that's a revelation 23 is where the answer for that. As you know, there's no revelation 23. And God has intentionally not written a revelation 23 which would have been a very long chapter with the answer 12:29 to who should I marry, what job should I take and uh what what to do in this particular type of sickness or uh and all these things and it's not there. So then how am I to find an answer in God's word? See, I've seen that I've learned 12:47 through experience reading God's word that through God's word, we learn his ways. You know, it says in uh in in the Psalms, I think Psalm 103, that that uh the Israelites saw God's acts, but Moses knew God's ways. That's because Moses 13:07 was up there on the mountain. It says he spent 40 days and 40 nights, I believe, in the mountain. I think he didn't eat or drink. God fed him, but he was hearing God's voice every day. And that's how he learned this is God's way. 13:19 And when we know God's ways, we find an answer for the practical situations in life. Like for example, should I take my child to the doctor now or should I wait? Is this something God will heal on his own without medicine or you know or 13:35 um should I go visit the doctor or um should I send my my children to school outside the home or homeschool them things like that there's no literal answer but to know God's ways and then when we know God's ways we find 13:50 that God gives us each as leaders an answer for us fathers and mothers in the home how to lead the home because I know God's ways Moses was able to speak to God's people. Have you been reading Exodus? It's been a it's been a good 14:04 journey for me to read this last couple weeks. Uh what all is there in Exodus? A lot of richness. But I see how at one point the Moses the children said, "Don't don't have God speak to us. We're scared of him." And it's no wonder that 14:17 they didn't know God's ways. It's no wonder when there was a situation of uh bitter water, they're like, "Ah, Lord, why this bitter water?" You know why? You know why Moses didn't complain, but the people did? Cuz Moses knew God's 14:31 ways. The people just knew God's actions. Oh Lord, you've been good for me. You've taken us out of Egypt. You've given us this. You've given us that other thing. And I hope, dear brothers and sisters, in what I'm saying that you 14:44 have a burden and a longing to know God's ways. What is God like? What's his nature like? See, I know my wife's ways. She knows my ways. I know my children's ways. I know their temperament. I know their nature. And God wants you to know 15:00 his nature and not only to know it, but to partake of it. That's really what it means to know it. Where his nature becomes yours. And then when a voice within you speaks, you know it's the voice of God because you're partaking of his nature. And 15:18 children, while you're young, you don't have to make big decisions like whether you'll go to North Korea as a missionary or not. God will give it to you at that time. But until that such time, you know, you going being a missionary or 15:31 being a servant of the Lord doesn't happen overnight. It comes through faithful faithfully listening to God's voice every day. If you want to be a a minister of God's word, if you want to be a servant of God, and that applies to 15:42 all of us, men and women, boys and girls, God wants you to serve him. But he wants you to serve him out of love for him. You know that verse, let me look at it with you. In Matthew chapter 4, Matthew 4, Jesus said when the 16:18 uh devil came to him in Matthew in the last temptation, he said all these things. Verse 9, I will give you if you fall down and worship me. And that's the test that all of us face in in the world. Will you fall down 16:34 and worship me? It won't be some idol or some evil looking figure that the devil will come and fall down and worship you. Have you pictured what the devil will look like when he came to Jesus? I've seen drawings of the temptation of Jesus 16:51 in Matthew chapter 4. And there's Jesus with usually long hair and white robes and a beard and a halo around his head. And then there's the devil with his horns and a tail and and a you know pointed beard and red. That's how I've 17:04 seen almost every drawing of it. What do you think G the devil looked like in the desert? An angel of light. There was a I I wish somebody who's an artist will draw this for us. a a painting of Jesus being tested in the 17:20 wilderness cuz that's how the devil comes to us. There's Jesus looking just like us. No halo or nothing. I don't know if he was wearing white or not, but he looked just like any other Jew. And there he was in the wilderness and there 17:35 was the devil like an angel. If you saw Jesus, an ordinary man in the wilderness and the devil's standing to him next to him like an angel with wings and and looking, the devil's capable of making himself look like an angel. Who would 17:51 you think is the holy one there in the wilderness? Jesus looking just like an ordinary man. And he looks famished. Um I think this was at the end of the 40 days, right? Or at some point there he's famished. He looks beat down. 18:07 He's he's really like tired and his probably his eyes are heavy cuz he was a man just like us. And if you could look 2,000 years ago, if you could go back in time and look at that situation, Jesus just tired and hungry and all he can think about is 18:24 food. And he's waiting for the father to give him an indication. Okay, you can eat now. And then there's this angel of light next to him saying, hey, it's time to eat. I'm saying it's time to eat. Just turn the stones to bread. You have 18:38 the power to do it. An angel of light telling Jesus, "Turn the stones to bread." Do you think Jesus was tempted to think, "Is this the father's voice?" Oh, he had to have been tested. It was a temptation for him because it 18:52 would be a temptation for me. And there was Jesus wondering, "Is this the father?" But he knew the father. For 30 years, he'd been walking with the father, listening to the father's voice, listening to the father's voice, 19:04 listening to the father's voice every day, setting an example for me and you. Why did Jesus have to learn to listen to the father's voice? Why did Jesus have to learn to listen to the father's voice? Did the father's voice come automatically for Jesus when 19:21 he was 2 years old? No, it didn't. Because it doesn't come automatically for us. He learned obedience in the things he suffered. It says in Hebrews chapter 5, that means Jesus, it was a suffering for him. For him who had 19:34 lived for all eternity before the foundations of the world and the father and the son and the holy spirit in in sweet communion and perfect unity. Thank you. Um my children know my ways too. Um let me take a little bit of water 19:50 here. um the father and the son, the holy spirit living together for all eternity. They knew each other. They were one. They were of one spirit, one one one three persons, one godhead. And there for all eternity, the father and the son 20:08 and the holy spirit had talked and and experienced communion. And then one day the Jesus had to empty himself. We read in Philippians chapter 2, he emptied himself and became a bond slave. Let me read this in Matthew chapter 4 20:26 first of all. And I want to show you that verse in Philippians 2. Um Philip uh Matthew 4:9. All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me, says the devil, looking like an angel of light. And Jesus said to him, "Go Satan. I know 20:43 you are Satan. For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only." That means all our service, whether it's as a missionary in a faroff country or a missionary right here in Loveland or wherever you live, 20:56 in your job, in your home, with your children, wherever you might be, we're all called to be witnesses. And that service to him must come out of worshiping him. What is worship? Have you thought about that? Do you know what worship is? 21:14 It's very simple. We sing in that hymn, Father of Jesus, loves reward. What rapture will it be? Prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee. This is worship where you're just content to Lord, I don't have anything to do for you today. 21:32 I just want to hear your voice. I just want to gaze on you, on your beauty, and be taken up with who you are. Have you done that recently, church family? Otherwise, our church meetings, our being godly homes and raising our 21:45 children is service to him that doesn't come from worship. I long and I I really try more and more to do this to begin each day saying, "Lord, I want to gaze on you and to be taken up with your beauty and your glory and who you are because I find that 22:00 Christendom around me is taken up with works and miracles and activities and church programs and witnessing and all these things that may be good." And most of that service comes from a lack of worship. And I tell you, as I've 22:13 been listening to the voice of God and worshiping him, worshiping him more, gazing on him, I'm able to discern whether a preacher I'm about to listen to really has started his service from worship or not. Does this sound like the voice of God 22:27 that I know because I'm walking with him and I'm taken up with worshiping him more than any other service? I I'll tell you honestly family that the longer I've been an elder here in the church, the less I'm like lusting for 22:42 it, the less I'm holding on to this position as an elder that God has called me to. I'm only in it because God's called me to it. I have no desire to be first. In fact, I want to be last. That's what it means to be an elder. I'm 22:53 not seeking prominence. I don't lust to preach. If God wants me to speak, I'll speak. But I'll tell you this. I want to be more and more a worshshiper of him and to and out of that worship for my service to come. And so let be like that 23:07 as husbands as fathers that were worshiping him and serving him. But I was saying about Jesus in Philippians chapter 2. Let's turn there. that Jesus the son and the father and 23:26 the holy spirit were together for all eternity and um can you keep a Philipp finger in Philippians 2 I want you to see a verse in Galatians chapter 4 we'll come back to Philippians 2 see I believe I I as I've gone to know the heart of God a 23:43 little bit this is kind of how I imagine a situation in the garden of Eden all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 when God promised that the heel of this seed uh that the seed of Eve would crush the serpent's head. Read 24:03 that. Genesis 3. Your seed will crush his head and he will bite your heel. The serpent will bite your heel. But your heel will crush his head. It was a prophetic word about Jesus. We know that, right? Jesus was the one through whom that prophecy 24:18 was fulfilled when he defeated Satan on the cross. completely defeated him. And I imagine a conversation all the way back in the Garden of Eden where immediately Jesus tells the father and Jesus knows I'm the one that's going to 24:31 come to this earth and crush the serpent's head. And Jesus tell the father, "Shall I go now? Let's go. I want to redeem mankind now itself. Why not? Let's go right now. Let's let's start the work of redemption right now." 24:44 And there would have been no Old Testament. There would have been no law. There would have been no flood and people falling away. It wouldn't have been destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus would have come and made a way of 24:54 salvation right away. But it says in Galatians 4:E 4, let's read verse three first. So also we while we were children were held in bondage under the elemental things of 25:11 the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son. What was that fullness of time? I mean, from Adam, if you do the math according to scriptures, about 4,000 years or so. Um, the fullness of the time, and I know 25:30 God's heart is one that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of sound, that all should come to know him. God is not willing that any should perish. God was not willing that those 25:41 people should die in the flood. God was not willing that Sodom and Gomorrah should be burned. That's the same God that was there in the Old Testament. And the burning heart of God that didn't want anybody to perish would have wanted 25:53 to come down right away and say, "Let's just redeem right now." But there was a fullness of time. And in a sense, I believe Jesus submitted to the father even then as a son and said, "Okay, Lord, I don't know was it every day Jesus said, "Can I go 26:12 now?" You know, it's kind of like the children say, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" No, I just answer that question. Are we there yet? Because I'm so eager and I think and I'm Please bear with me. I'm not trying to 26:24 put into scripture what may not be there, but I know the heart of Jesus. This is the Jesus I've come to know that Jesus was like, "Father, when can I go and redeem mankind?" And there was a waiting that Jesus experienced there. In 26:37 the fullness of time, the father sent his son born of a woman, born under the law. Verse 5, so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And there was something that God 26:52 had a perfect plan. We'll understand it when we get to eternity. But the point I was trying to make was that Jesus was demonstrating to us especially for us who live on this earth that waiting on the father that leaning on 27:06 the father. Now back in Philippians 2 when this fullness of time came in Galatians chapter 4:4 we read in verse 6 Philippians 2:6. Now he says verse first of all verse five that I'm about I'm I'm about to tell you 27:25 something about Jesus but the reason I'm telling you this is so that you will have the same attitude have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus what attitude so there's something about what Jesus did when he came down from heaven as God 27:44 and became a man that I must have an attitude of so he says have this attitude which in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be 28:01 grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men, which means that he emptied himself of that ability to automatically know what was in the father's mind. He automatically knew what was in the 28:20 father's mind before he came down to this earth. There he was, the father and the son, the holy spirit. There's one. They're all thinking the same thing at the same time. But then he emptied himself and came down to this earth and had to 28:33 set an example for me where he had to say, "Father, I have to bring my mind in tune with yours. What is your mind? I have to learn it." Aresh. Do you think I'm preaching heresy? Now, some Christians may say that that they 28:47 believe that the that Jesus automatically had a will that was the father's. And that's just a lie from the devil because it leaves me with no example. Otherwise, Jesus would not have had to say in the garden of Gethsemane, 28:59 "Father, is it your will? If it is your will, let this cup pass for me." Yet, not my will, but your will. which means there was a difference there or there was the potential for a difference between Jesus will and the father's 29:14 will. This is what Jesus emptied himself off the automatically having the same will as the father because he had to be an example for you and I. Now you and I, we're born with self-will. We're born with a desire that's contrary to the 29:28 will of the father. The flesh sets its will against the spirit. Sets its desires against the spirit. And the spirit sets its desires against the flesh. So here here I have a flesh whose will is fighting against the will of 29:44 God. Whose voice is fighting against the voice of God. And the voice of God is fighting back against the flesh and against my voice against my will. And Jesus had to become a partaker. He says um he had to be made in the 30:01 likeness of men. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came with a flesh like ours. With a will like ours that could now say that's why the devil could tell Jesus, "Hey, turn the stones to bread." And Jesus's will said, "Should 30:16 I? Should I not? What is the father's will?" And he had that test. Otherwise, it would have I mean, if there was if the father's will and Jesus will were the same, then the devil was wasting his time. The devil knew he wasn't wasting his time. Turn these 30:30 stones to bread, Jesus. you would be operating in your will as a perfectly sinless 30-year-old. Jesus was a perfectly sinless 30-year-old at that time. And if he had acted on his own will, it would have been an act of sin. It would have been 30:49 an act that's contrary to the will of the father. And then Jesus came and said, "Lord, what's your will?" The essence of Jesus' victory, the essence of Jesus perfect life was more than just that he never committed sin. It was that 31:02 he always only did the will of the father. He always only did the will of the father. That's the secret and that's the life that you and I are called to to always only do the will of the father. I started by talking about my children and 31:18 and uh how will you know children and how will we know older children if you're a 30-year-old child or a 40-year-old child 50 60 70 year old child maybe how will you know if you're like a child see what does a child do child comes to the father and says dad 31:35 what should I do in this situation and that's what god wants us to do for always simply be children of our heavenly father As children of the heavenly father, we go to him and say, "What should I do?" So Jesus, we read, let's read the whole 31:52 thing. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the 32:09 likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. What was that obedience? Yes. When he was 2 years old, it was being obeying Joseph and Mary. When he was 12 years old, it was obeying Joseph 32:24 and Mary. But throughout his life, it was obedience to the father. Obedience to the father. Obedience to the father. What is the father saying? I'm just obeying him. What are you doing today, Jesus? I'm just obeying the father. He's 32:36 speaking to me. And that's why, dear children, dear brothers and sisters, it's so important that we know God's word. This is the only way we will know. I shared that that um uh that 30-minute message with you all that was shared 32:52 with me with us um about the distractions. I was really convicted about it. I see that the devil is bringing all kinds of things. If it's smartphones or YouTube videos or articles about about good things, uh Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, 33:10 um all these other things that are going on and there's always something new and the devil is vying. Do you see that Instagram or Facebook or all these other things could be the angel of light? You say, "Well, what's wrong with that? It's harmless. I learn 33:25 a lot through it." But it could be the angel of light standing next to you saying, "Bow down and worship me." Listen to what that person on Twitter has to say before you listen to what I have to say, God. Before before what God has to say, 33:43 an angel of light. You might say, "Well, it's not an R-rated movie. It's not a it's not pornography. It's not those bad things." Yeah, but that devil's not going to come to you with that. He's going to come to you with Where's my 33:53 phone? Twitter, social media. read this thing, read that other thing, and then they'll you can click that link and it'll take you to that other thing. By the time it's time now, all right, I got to get on with my day. And this book 34:06 remains closed with dust gathering on the shelf. Listen to God's word. Listen to God's voice. I only do the things that were pleasing to me. I'm obedient. That's what Jesus said. He humbled himself by becoming obedient. This is the humility 34:22 of Christ. You know why Jesus had such grace in his life? Because he humbled himself by becoming obedient. This is the humility that Jesus manifest. A simple obedience. I want to show you one more verse. I actually I don't think I'll say what I 34:39 had planned to say. I'll end now. But I want to show you one more verse. So we see it in John chapter 8. John 8. Um these I've been meditating on these chapters recently. John 5 678 34:59 etc. You read in John 8 about actually even from John chapter 4 um begins with uh there um the woman at the well a five-time divorced woman and um God using her hopeless situation as she was. And uh John 6, he feeds the 5,000. And 35:19 John 6 is actually one of my favorite chapters where the large crowd come to him for food. Well, they came to listen to him and then he gave them food. And then after they ate the food, he said, "Listen, I know you guys had a good meal 35:29 and all that, but now I'm going to tell you what it really means to follow me." And he taught them and taught them and taught them. And by the end of it, he was left with 12. Started with about, I don't know, 10,000, maybe 13,000. It says 5,000 men 35:44 plus women and children. Maybe it was about 20,000 really if you think about it. Have you ever seen a congregation go from 20,000 to 12? What would every preacher do if they saw the church growth? This is true new covenant church growth goes from 20,000 36:01 to 12. And then Jesus looks at the 12 that are there and all these empty spaces around him. Where did all the 20,000 go? Or 19,988. Where did they all go? and 12, he says, "Do you also want to go?" He's not trying to hold on to say, "I'm afraid 36:17 you might leave too, so okay, I won't offend you." No, he says, "If you want to leave, too, that's fine. If you're only here for the good food, this isn't the church." That's what Jesus was saying. But do you want to be my 36:29 disciple? Have the words of eternal life penetrated into your heart where you say, "Lord, I don't care what you say to me. I know that there's life in these words." That's what Peter said when he heard Jesus say Jesus gave the 36:44 invitation for those few to leave and Jesus and Peter said Lord you could rebuke me and say get behind me Satan I can't leave because I've tasted the words of eternal life when the Lord rebukes you through a word you hear in 36:59 scripture or through through a teaching what is your response to it is it ah fine I'll find some other teacher that'll tickle my ears or is it Lord these are words of eternal life these will help me. So John 8. So read John 6 sometime and John 7 is 37:16 where he says if anyone thirsts, if anyone longs for me in a way that they only want to listen to my voice, let him come and my words will become rivers of living water from his innermost being. Jesus said in John 8, the testimony of 37:32 his life, we read in verse 25. See, the the the the uh Jews were wondering, "What kind of authority do you have? Who are you?" Jesus said to him to them, "What I've been saying to you from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge concerning 37:48 you. But he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world." Do you see that? That even Jesus was saying, "I don't have a sermon to preach to you." Where did Jesus come up with all those 37:59 wonderful teachings in Matthew 5:6 and 7? Was it through some database of earthly wisdom that he had? No. Jesus was hearing from the father and the father said, "Say this." And he said, "Okay, I'll say that." And yet today we have in Christendom so 38:16 many preachers that are preaching wonderful sermons that they've gone to seminary to study and they've got this knowledge filled up in their head and out of that they're vomiting out sermons. And yet Jesus's sermons were a 38:28 constant flow, a river coming down from the mountain. Now, how fathers, how shall we teach our children? Would it be through some experience you have of being a father? And you say, "Well, I've been a father. I've been a father for 38:42 about 13 13 and 1/2 years. Am I teaching my children out of 13 and a half years of wisdom?" OH, IT WILL KILL OUR CHILDREN. It will be death. And that's why after 13 years of being a father, I'm I'm less I have less ideas of what 38:57 to say to my children. And I'm going back to the source and saying, "Lord Jesus, fill my life with your words. Let there be this constant stream coming into me that I can give to my children." not vomit out some idea that I have, but 39:10 a well of water within me, springing up to eternal life, so that rivers of living water are flowing into my children and into my wife and into my husband and into my brothers and sisters and to my neighbors and to my co-workers. What does it mean to have a 39:26 word in season and out of season? If I asked one of you to say, "Hey, can you come and share a word today?" and says, "What man, you didn't give me any notice." What would you do? Would you say, "Hold on. Give me one week's 39:37 preparation." Or is there a stream flowing into you constantly where you're not waiting for one of us elders to preach the message because you're Lord, Lord, you're feeding me. And yes, we will faithfully teach you, but I I I 39:50 hope there's a stream that's coming into you where you're reading God's word, and it's becoming a well of life within you, springing up to eternal life and rivers of living water. Fathers, we need this. It's not up to us elders to raise your 40:04 children in the fear and instruction of the Lord. You must do it. Mothers, you must do it. It must come through that stream of life. I hope God has been speaking to you this week and you haven't been waiting for something 40:17 special to happen here on Sunday morning. Yeah, I will give you a word, but hopefully by God's grace, it'll be that same stream. But you must be hearing from God every day. He has something to speak to you. Jesus goes on to say, 40:34 "So Jesus said, 'When you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative." Nothing. See, I I kind of got this picture. You know how there's um um these um um hand uh puppets. Yeah, 40:51 that's the word I was looking for. where the the puppet is just, you know, you put your hand inside the puppet and the puppet moves and you see the the the mouth move and uh I picture Jesus like this. How did Jesus get up there on the on the sermon on the 41:06 mount and speak? The father's authority was in him and he spoke. Jesus didn't have to do this before he came down to this earth, but the father opened his mouth as it were. Not through some, you know, weird metaphysical thing 41:21 where the Holy Spirit took control of his mouth and moved it. I'm not talking about a physical thing. I'm talking about a spiritual reality where Jesus exercised his mouth. He had to open his mouth, but the words came from life with 41:33 him. This is utterance. This is the uncction of the Holy Spirit where Jesus spoke and the father was was speaking to him and speaking to him and speaking to him. That's the picture of God when he says the son can do nothing of his own 41:45 initiative. The puppet cannot move its mouth on its own. It needs the hand to come in and move it. Are you like that in your job, in your workplace? Are you like that with your children at home? Are you like that with your wife, with 42:00 your husband? Are you like that with each other? Do you have some smart idea? Oh yeah. Oh, Santos speak spoke on that. Or this Bible study. This is the message we heard. So here's something I can add to it. Or is it father? What should I 42:12 say now? And when the hand says shut your mouth, it's shut. The son can do nothing on his own initiative except as the father leads. But I do nothing on my own initiative. But I speak these things as the father 42:29 taught me. And he who sent me is with me. And he has not left me alone. You know, we singing that song, no never alone. No, never alone. He's promised never to leave me. Here it is. He has not left me alone. But most people stop 42:44 there. Is there a comma in your Bible after he has left not left me alone? I hope there is. There is in mine. He has not left me alone because I always do the things that are pleasing to him. This is why the father was always with Jesus. And this is why Jesus 43:01 had authority. And do you want to have authority in your home? I hope you do. fathers, husbands, mothers, wives, children, God wants to give you authority. How will it be that the father's not left me alone? If you want 43:15 to cast if if somebody has to cast out a demon, I heard once a story about a young boy who in Africa um whose father was a missionary there and somebody came with a demon-possessed person. And this young boy, his father was out, and there 43:27 was the demon to be cast out. And he cast it out cuz he had faith. His father had done the right thing. Now, I'm not saying children you go look for demonp possessed people to cast out. No, but in those situations where you want to have 43:38 nothing to do with the evil one, it must be on the basis of the authority that God gives you. The father has not left me alone. Why? Because I only do the things that are pleasing to him. And as a result of him speaking these things, many came to 43:55 believe in him. And he as he spoke these things, many came to believe in him. This is how many will come to believe in Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, it's not that we have this doctrine or that doctrine or this special tract or oh I'm ready to do 44:10 this or ready to do that. Oh, let's be ready to give the gospel to be a witness to whoever comes our way. But it's on the basis of this that the father has never left me. This is our witness. I only seek to do the things that are 44:22 pleasing to him. So the father has never left me alone. And we will be his witnesses wherever he sends us. Amen. [Music]
