Forgiven and Known

It's a joy to be together this morning, isn't it? This song, this is a celebration. The Lord changes everything, that in Him there is hope, there is peace, there's second chances. All together, wherever you're at, let's just take this as a chance at a time this morning to just turn our hearts to the Lord and celebrate who He is. Come on, sing this with me. I was breathing but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my sin till I met you. Oh, I was breathing but not alive. It was my sin till I met you. Oh, you called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness to the open sky. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness to your glorious day. Now your mercy has saved my soul. Thank you, God. Now your freedom is all I know. The only you, Jesus, when I met you. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness to your glorious day. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. This part right here, this is the gospel. Come on, we're just singing. We're just celebrating this morning. I needed rest. My sin was heavy. But chains break out of the weight of your glory. I needed shelter.

I was ignored. Now you called me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing. Now your love is the air that I'm breathing. I have a future. My eyes are open when you called my name. I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. Thank you. Come on, let's declare these words of our circumstances this morning. When darkness tries to roll over my walls When sorrow comes to steal the joy I hold When brokenness and pain is all I know Oh, I won't be shaken, no, I won't be shaken My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love She no longer has a place to hide Oh, I am not a captive to the light I'm not afraid to leave my past behind Oh, I won't be shaken, no, I won't be shaken My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love When I stand in Your love There's power that can break off every chain Oh, there's power that can empty out the grave Yeah, there's resurrection power, I can say There's power in Your name, power in Your name Oh, there's power that can break off every chain There's power that can empty out the grave Yeah, there's resurrection power, I can say There's power in Your name, power in Your name My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love Oh, I won't stand in Your love My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love Oh, when I'm standing in Your love When I'm standing I'm standing in Your love

Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus He's never let me down He's faithful through generations So why would He fail now? He won't Oh Oh I've still got joy in chaos I've got it ♪ I've got peace that makes no sense ♪ ♪ So I won't be going under ♪ ♪ I'm not held by my own strength ♪ ♪ Because I've built my life on Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's faithful in every season ♪ ♪ So why would He fail now? ♪ ♪ He won't go, He won't go, He won't fail, He won't fail ♪ ♪ Rest in my firm foundation ♪ ♪ The rock on which I stand ♪ ♪ With everything around me shaking ♪ ♪ I'll never be more glad ♪ ♪ When I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's faithful through generations ♪ ♪ So why would He fail now? ♪ ♪ He won't go, He won't go, He won't fail, He won't fail ♪

♪ Rain came and the wind blew ♪ ♪ When my house was built on you ♪ ♪ I'm safe with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through, come on sing that with me. ♪ ♪ Rain came and the wind blew ♪ ♪ When my house was built on you ♪ ♪ I'm safe with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it rain ♪ ♪ Rain came and the wind blew ♪ ♪ When my house was built on you ♪ ♪ I'm safe with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through, oh I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ Cause I'm standing strong on you, oh I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ Cause my house is built on you ♪ ♪ Christ is my first foundation ♪ ♪ The rock on which I stand ♪ ♪ With everything around me shaking ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad when I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ My faith in Jesus, he's never let me down ♪ ♪ His faith goes through generations ♪ ♪ So why would he settle down, he won't, no ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't fail, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't fail, he won't, no, no, he won't, oh ♪ ♪ He won't fail, he won't fail, no he won't, no, he won't, no, no ♪ Will you join me in the reading of God's Word together? Let's read a Revelations 4 11. You are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things. And by your will, they were created and have their being. If you're new to the faith journey going, who wrote that?

Like, what's that even mean? Would you reach out to us, email, do something? We love walking with people that are new on the faith journey. But if you're like me and you're embracing those words, you probably got to a phase in your life when you chose to knock everything off the pedestal of your life. You knocked people off, you knocked your job off, you knocked things off, you knocked yourself off. And you chose to put Jesus on the throne of your life. There's so much peace and freedom when you realize that Jesus is the only one worthy of worship. I am an instrument of exaltation. And I was born to lift your name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song, a phrase that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. You are the infinite God of the ages. Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs and things not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy?

Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, there is no one, only you, Jesus. Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne of earth, holy, holy. Righteous one who shed his blood, he proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, be lifted up, holy, holy. Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne of earth, holy, holy. Righteous one who shed his blood, he proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, be lifted up, holy, holy. Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne of earth, holy, holy. Righteous one who shed his blood, he proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, be lifted up. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else? Who else is worthy?

Who else is worthy? There is no one. There is no one. There is no one, only You Jesus Father, You are worthy of all of our worship, of all of the praise and the honor and the glory God, we give it all to You, because You and You alone deserve it God, we thank You for who You are We thank You for coming into this space and filling us up, God We thank You for Your presence We love You, just continue to move In the name of Jesus, Amen It's been awesome to worship with you guys this morning Before you have a seat, turn to someone around you, give them a fist bump, say hello, and then you can be seated Interesting fact, there was just a survey done in America that said 40% of families go into debt trying to pay for school supplies, to send their kids back to school Going back to school is really expensive and there are families in the St. Louis community and here at The Crossing that are looking for people to step up and be generous and say, I'll help your kid go back to school That has always been the heart behind our backpack collection We've done this for years, and if you want to right now, you can grab your phone and text the word BACKPACK to 488099 you'll get the list, and the first two weekends in August you can bring the supplies, you can bring one pen, a notebook, fill a whole backpack do whatever you want to do If your family is in need, going this is a tough time, we need help go to the website and just click the link that says request a backpack By the way, I was at Walmart yesterday, they are stocked and ready to go Good sales, just so you know, Walmart is ready to go Another very interesting and sobering fact I don't know if you guys know this, but for years

we've loaded up a car full of backpacks, driven them downtown to one of our partners One of our friends is on the front lines of fighting human trafficking and Katrina said to me this year, she's like, Jude, I don't know if you know this but when we rescue boys and girls off the street sometimes the only possession they own is a backpack and then the school supplies on top of that help us assimilate them back into school quickly So, it doesn't matter the situation, or the story, or the circumstance there are a whole bunch of students that need our help So, if you don't mind, join us that week, the first or second weekend in August and bring those supplies By the way, your generosity does not go unnoticed When we moved here from the East Coast in 94 we were a little itty-bitty church at Marquette High School and I, as somebody brand new, noticed the generosity and the giving was different amounts, different stories but the heart was the same So, we just want to say thank you Thank you for being a church that serves, and loves, and gives radically But there's more Perfect cuts, and the only tears you'll cry are tears of joy But there's still more It has the strength to pull this fully loaded 80,000 pound tractor trailer But I know you want more This machine is my new husband Can you beat that? It quenches, it drenches, it gratifies, and satisfies What would you pay for this crystal clear wonder? You know you're not going to spend $400 for it You pay only $498

$2498 Not $225 Only $1288 Or even $180 It's all yours for just $49.95 But wait, there's more We'll double it and send you two more sticks free This is truly an amazing offer Okay, so I have lots of questions One of them, why would anyone ever need to see through bread? It just doesn't, it's just kind of ridiculous I don't know about you, but when I hear soundbites like that Like this is truly an amazing offer Act now! But wait, there's more I hear that, the skepticism kind of rises up in me. It sort of sounds too good to be true. And maybe you're one of the many here at Chesterfield or across our sites. So hello to Fenton, Mid Rivers, Grants Trail, those of you joining us online. By the way, my name is Ben. If we haven't met, nice to meet you. But maybe you're here and you're thinking, because you're still checking things out, Ben, I feel that way about the church, like all this talk about peace and hope and forgiveness, that sounds too good to be true. And it's okay to wonder that. But there's another response that we have to this idea of more, and it normally goes like, more? Are you sure? I don't think I can handle anymore. So I told this story a handful of years ago to make a different point. But about 10 years ago, I was finishing up my master's.

I was working for a church in the summer in Colorado Springs. Loved the church, loved those people. I learned so much. One of the things that I learned is that words mean different things to people in Colorado than they do, at least where I grew up, in St. Louis. Like when I hear the word animal, I hear pets, dogs, cats, maybe a fish. So when this sweet family from the church asked me to watch their animals for the week, I got a dog, five dogs, and four cats, three goats, two donkeys, and an entire chicken coop. So I guess I'm a farmer now. And that was not a good idea for anybody. Things went south real fast. The goats got out. They immediately started eating food they're not supposed to. Every time I tried to steer them away, they just kept hitting me with their horns. The chickens flew the coop. They're running around being chickens. I got to worry about them. The donkeys, well, the donkeys and I developed a sort of mutual respect, like a live and let live sort of thing. But these goats, people, have you ever tried to move a goat? I'm telling you, I understand why Jesus uses goats when talking about hell. Now, all the animals got back to where they were supposed to be. No goats were harmed in the making of this illustration. But have you ever been there? And I don't mean on a farm in Colorado getting hit by goats. I mean, have you ever gone into a situation expecting one thing and getting another? I mean, maybe you're in a season where it feels like you can't take it anymore. Maybe God's not answering the prayer how you want. Maybe it's something going on with your health and illness that you just can't shake. Maybe it's pressure at work. Maybe it's pressure to find work, missing loved ones, conflict with loved ones, or just the anxiety that can come

from living in a constantly changing world. Or maybe, maybe you're in a great season right now. You're experiencing God's blessings, but it's the middle of summer. Things are busy. There's a lot going on. Even the good stuff can start to stack up on top of each other and start to become stressful. What if I were to tell you that the answer to all of that goes back to words that Jesus said in John chapter 10? I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. Other translations say, have it to the full. My translation, Jesus came that we might experience a life that is more than we can ever ask or imagine. It's not a life without trouble. The storms will come, but through it all, Jesus is our firm foundation. We move through life with him. Now, if you want to know the punchline for today, and really it's the punchline for this entire July series, there is more to life with Jesus than you think. And it's so personal. It's so practical, and it still has the power to change our world today. You ready? Let's pray. God, I'm so thankful for your faithfulness. I'm thankful for how your Spirit is moving in this place. God, so Jesus, no matter where we are in the journey, from those barely in the door to those who are ready to go and ready to worship, no matter where we are, Jesus, show each of us what it looks like to take that one next step, God, towards you and towards this life that is more. I ask all of this in the name of my Savior. Amen. All right, we're going to jump into our stories. If you have your Bibles, if you want to pull it up on your phones, we're going to be in John chapter 7. We're going to start in verse 53. John is the fourth book in the New Testament.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And as we turn there, I just want to celebrate the incredible weekends we've had these last few weekends. Like, Jarrett Stephens, the word he brought, amazing. Or, how about that powerful experience our team put together last weekend over the 4th of July? It was so good. We've learned so much about hope. We've talked about the freedom that we have because of Jesus. And our story today gives us just one more look at what life with Him is like. So here we go. John chapter 7, verse 53. Well, before we even start, at least in my Bible, I see a note that reads, the earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7 to 53 through 811. So what do we do with that? I mean, maybe, maybe you're here and you're wondering why we shouldn't even trust a Bible that has a footnote like that. It's a fair question. That's the right question to ask. And believe it or not, details like that, they actually show, at least to me, why we can trust Scripture. Because these translators, they were honest. They don't try to hide these details. One, because this only happens a handful of times in all of the Bible. But also, there's good reason to think that this really was a real event in the life of Jesus. Now we can't go into everything, but within a generation or two after Jesus, a church leader might have mentioned this woman. Throughout just about every age of the church, theologians and pastors have studied and preached on this passage. And we'll get there. We'll get there.

But there's nothing in this passage that Jesus does that would contradict what we see in the other Gospels. So there's definitely more. Come find me if you have more questions. But with all that said, let's jump in people. I'm going to skip 753 and go straight to chapter 8. At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him. And he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman called an adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now, what do you say? They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. So there's so much that we can talk about in this story. And when I read passages like this, I find myself imagining what it would be like to be the different characters. Like this woman. She was brought before Jesus in possibly the most vulnerable state. She got caught breaking a commandment that was punishable by death of the people around holding the stones. They were part of their community. She most likely knew who they were. So there was shame and guilt. And just for the record, these weren't like little stones as much as these would hurt. No, these were rocks. These things could do some damage and these people were out for blood. Now, I don't think any of us in here have ever been on the wrong end of an angry mob who wants to stone us to death. But we know what stones feel like.

Have you ever been accused behind your back? And maybe you never got a chance to defend yourself. Maybe someone just jumped in and started chewing you out without getting all the information. Maybe, maybe it was a Jesus follower who wronged you. You opened up about something. Maybe a sin issue or a struggle in your life. And instead of getting understanding and grace and accountability, you are met with a lecture with a huge side of shame. I know that I've been on the wrong end of throwing stones and I've thrown stones myself. I mean, sometimes, sometimes we throw stones at ourselves. We start to think that Jesus is at the front of the mob holding a stone ready to throw it at us. But is that true? Jesus straightened up and asked her, Women, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one, sir, she said. Well, then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin. So we skip some verses. We'll get to how Jesus responds to the mob in a minute. But we can't blow past what he says to the woman in this story. You see, the good news of this story is that Jesus is not a part of the angry mob. He doesn't look the other way at our brokenness. Like this woman, he tells us to leave our life of sin. But he doesn't do it with a stone in one hand and condemnation in the other. In a short time, Jesus, he would go to the cross for this woman. And by the way, for the angry mob too. And everyone in this room and everyone in around the world, he went and he paid the penalty for all sin for all time. And his resurrection launched a victory party that is still going on.

today, and that's why forgiveness is possible. And there's no way this side of heaven to truly capture the magnitude and the mystery of God's forgiveness, but we can start here. It's personal. It's intentional. It involves the king of the cosmos meeting you in such intentional ways and he'll put people and experiences and situations in your life to draw you to him. Going to church, reading stories like this is one of those things. And the same Jesus who met this woman, he longs to meet you today. He sees you. He loves you right where you're at. He knows we're not perfect, but he wants us to trust in him. And when you turn to him, you are no longer condemned, but forgiven. That's why the Apostle Paul describes forgiveness in this way. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you've been keeping God at a distance today, this verse is for you. This life of forgiveness could be yours. If you're a follower of Jesus, this verse is for you. It is short. You can memorize it or how about just this week, we read it every morning before we leave for the day and just see how the Spirit begins to work in you.

Because when Paul says no, he means it. Like when God forgives us, when we turn to Jesus, he doesn't forgive you for everything except that one regret from your past. He doesn't forgive you at that moment to then go on to keep keeping score about sins in the future. No, when God forgives you, he separates your sin as far as the East is from the West. And that means it no longer defines us. It also means that as we leave our life of sin, we don't do it alone. Jesus, he goes with us. It's by his power that we resist temptation. We lean on his grace every step of the way and we just take the next step and the one after that and the one after that. If you're here and you have questions about what your next step with Jesus is, or maybe you just are wanting to learn more about how the Gospels fit into the larger narrative of Scripture or what Jesus said or what he's calling us to do or what are practical things that you can do to grow. If that sounds interesting at all, we're starting a new class Tuesday night. It's called Next Steps with Jesus. I'm teaching it. Come hang out with me. But I think what I'm trying to say is at its core, forgiveness is an invitation into a relationship and it does all go back to surrender. We give our lives to him. We receive his grace and with that God's presence begins to

settle in and we start to feel a subtle yet steady peace that passes all comprehension. That's this life that is more. That's the life that Jesus longs for us. And if he no longer condemns us, why would we ever condemn ourselves? There are lots of reasons, but one of them is I think we forget just how much God loves us. It's like the fact that the God of the ages chose to make my heart, our hearts, his dwelling place. We should never forget about that kind of love, but we do. Why is that? I think that's something we should talk about. If you're new to The Crossing, we do this all the time. So be sure to pull each other in. If you don't want to participate, that's okay. Oh, and if you are still checking things out, you can say, I'm not sure God's love or God even exists. That won't throw us at all. But now talk to each other. What keeps you from remembering how much God loves you? I would love to hear some of your answers. Who's got something? What keeps you from remembering?