Success Still Leaves You Empty | Book of John | Week 7

Let's lift our voices this morning, it is worthy of our praise. Come on. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ All right, we sing. ♪ Remember those walls that we called sin and shame ♪ ♪ They were like prisons that we couldn't escape ♪ ♪ But He came and He died and He rose ♪ ♪ Those walls are rubble now ♪ ♪ Remember those giants we called death and grave ♪ ♪ They were like mountains that stood in our way ♪ ♪ But He came and He rose and He rose ♪ ♪ Those giants are dead now ♪ ♪ Oh, this is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ He bore the cross, He took pain, let heaven proclaim ♪ ♪ This is our God, King Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Remember that fear that took our breath away ♪ ♪ Faith so weak that we could barely breathe ♪ ♪ But He heard every word, every whisper, yes, He did, yeah ♪ ♪ Now those haunters pickin' the wilderness ♪ ♪ Tell the story of His faithfulness ♪ ♪ Never once did He fail and He never will, no ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ On the cross, He could break, let heaven and earth proclaim ♪ ♪ This is our God, He's Jesus ♪ ♪ Who pulled me out of that pit, you sing, He did, He did ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sin, come on, nobody but Jesus ♪

♪ Who pulled me out of that pit, He did, He did ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sin, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Who gets the glory and praise, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Who gets the glory and praise, nobody but Him ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ Oh, the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim ♪ ♪ This is our God, King Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim ♪ ♪ This is our God, King Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, this is our God, oh ♪ Come on, you can do it. Hey, good morning, my name is Joe. I'm on the team around here. And we've been in the book of John for the past few weeks. And I would love for all of us to read this verse together. John 8, 32 says, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. We know that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. And Jesus already paid a debt on a cross and came back to life so that we could live in His freedom, so that we could experience His grace, His mercy, amen. Anybody thankful for God's amazing grace in this place? I know I am. So come on, we're gonna continue to worship. We're gonna sing a song you might be a little familiar with. So let's lift our voices, here we go. Oh

The amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm found Was blind, but now I see Singing Hallelujah There's no chains on me Thank you, Jesus You have set me free You welcomed the end, called me by name Was dead in my sin, now I'm dancing on that grave Hallelujah It really is amazing grace Hallelujah It was grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed Oh, we're singing Hallelujah There's no chains on me Thank you, Jesus You have set me free You welcomed the end, called me by name Was dead in my sin, now I'm dancing on that grave Hallelujah It really is amazing grace It really is Alright, come on

I'll testify of what He did He gave me life, I'm born again My heart is free, my soul is safe It really is amazing grace I'll testify of what He did He gave me life, I'm born again My heart is free, my soul is safe It really is amazing grace It really is It really is amazing grace It really is We're singing Hallelujah There's no chains on me Thank you, Jesus You have set me free You welcomed the end, called me by name Was dead in my sin, now I'm dancing on that grave Hallelujah It really is amazing grace It really is amazing grace It really is It really is amazing grace Hey! My chains are on I've been set free My God, my Savior Has raised on me And I can pray His mercy reigns

Amazing love Amazing grace My chains are on I've been set free My God, my Savior Has raised on me And I can pray His mercy reigns Amazing love Amazing Grace Oh, you're amazing, God What God would carry every sin And through my resistance pull me in And when I wander lead me back into His arms What God would take away this shame Holy, you are worthy The highest praise belongs to you What King would freely give His life That every child would be made right What King would wash away the shame that I deserve And trade His righteousness for mine Holy, you are worthy The highest praise belongs to you Holy, you are worthy The highest praise belongs to you Yes, He does The highest praise belongs to you Your presence is enough for me Your spirit is the air I breathe Your presence is enough for me

Holy Spirit, you are all I need Holy, you are worthy The highest praise belongs to you Holy, you are worthy The highest praise belongs to you The highest praise belongs to you So God, in this moment, God, we agree with every word that we just sang God, all the praise and all the glory and all the honor belongs to you And so when we come into this place, God, we just affirm together Being in your presence is the only thing that matters right now We got a lot of things going on in our lives But we say, hey, when we're in your presence, we are reminded You are the God that saved us You are the God that watches over us over us, you're the God that protects us, you are the God that loves you, and so because of that, we give you all of our praise, all of our worship, all of the honor. It's in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Flatiron, so good to be together today. Hey, take a second, say hi to somebody next to you, then you can have a seat. All right, all right, hope you guys had a great Valentine's evening last night, and we are so glad that you showed up for church today. If you're new here, my name's Jesse, and I'm one of the pastors here, and just so glad that you're here, and we would love to connect with you if you're new. There are two great ways to do that.

One is, all you gotta do after service, visit the New Here area. We've got a team, they love meeting new people. They've actually got a free gift for you. They can answer questions that you've got. They can help you find a next step here, or if you're like, I'd rather not connect in person, it's as easy as just connecting on your phone. All you gotta do, you text the word next to 80857, and when you text next to 80857, we'll send you a few text messages a week of hope, encouragement, scripture. What we wanna do is we wanna help you focus on what matters during the rest of the week. We'll also make sure that you know about all the important things coming up in the life of our church, one of which is coming up in just a few months, and that is the Unfiltered Men's Conference. Fellas in the room, can I hear it? If you were here, see, they get it. If you were here last year, you know Men's Conference has the ability to strengthen us, unlike many other things. We do Men's Conference because you know, if you've been around Flatirons for some time, you know we are so passionate and dedicated to speaking into the hearts of men, to help them become the men, the husbands, the fathers that God has called them to be. Unfiltered is an important part of that. The ladies had their turn, which she is,

just a couple weeks ago, and it's the men's turn coming up, all right, ladies. May 15th and 16th, so it's a Friday night, Saturday. We've got some incredible speakers. Joby Martin from Church of 1122 in Jacksonville will be in the house. Scott Nickel from Southland Church will be back with us, and then Jim, as well as some of our other team members. It is going to be a night designed to inspire you and equip you to live out your calling as men. So you can scan the QR code right up there if you want to. Tickets are available today. Now, we're doing something that we've never done before, and we're doing early bird pricing. So guys, I want you to hear me. For the next four weeks, you can get $30 off a ticket, okay, if you act within the next four weeks. Tickets are $99 for the next month. After that, it goes up to 129. But here's the thing, if you are active duty, military, or a veteran, if you're a first responder, if you're a full-time student, we just want you to know we appreciate you, so your pricing is $79 forever, okay? Now, this is the honor system, so there's no code, okay? Don't be that guy, be like, I'm taking one night class, I feel like a full-time student in my heart. Like, no, no, no, no. So it's an honor system, don't be that guy. Make sure you sign up for Unfiltered.

It is going to be a time that's going to strengthen you and inspire you to be the men that God's called us to be. So we've got one other thing to do today. We're gonna celebrate a milestone together. Before we do that, check out this video. Hey, Flatirons, Robin and I and the family, we're coming out next week to be with you guys, but we just wanted to kind of send a video message to say we are so excited and blown away that we get the opportunity to partner with you guys and move out there and be a part of this great church called Flatirons. This is Kim, right here, and I'm Aaron, and we're together on not just temple campus, but a whole church that we call Earth Rite, and we're all taking this on with our family, with our company, and with money, and with our friends and families. Thank you, God, that you led us to great places, and God, thank you, guys, for that. Congratulations, what a day. And a special shout out, nice job in Earth Rite. Studios, what a great honor. Will you guys join me in honoring Jim and Robin, 20 years of service here at Flatirons. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. I know. Thanks. Sit down. Say, I would—Aunt Gary's on it right here. Come on. Let's go. Jim, we are so grateful. Robin, we are so grateful for the last 20 years. As you've called this place home, how you've led us, how you've shepherded us, how you've prayed for us, the vision that you've cast for us. It's not just changed Flatirons. It's not just changed us. It's changed Denver, Colorado, and it's changed places around the world. So we're just so grateful. Up here to celebrate this, we've got different members of our elder team and our lead team. I've asked Scott Forsyth, one of our elders, to just share a couple words of gratitude on behalf of all of us. Hey, brother. Hey, how are you? Good. I know, right? Jesus was bald. You can't prove me wrong. Jim, on behalf of the elder board, the lead team, the church staff, and our entire church family, thank you for carrying the mantle of leadership with integrity, humility, and courage. One of the things I love most about you is what you see is what you get. For better or worse. You're the same man on stage as you are in person, raw and real, and chasing after the heart of Jesus. You've never come up on stage and told us how we should live our lives. Like, you have all the answers. You've chased after the heart of Jesus and asked us to journey with you. I want to also recognize you didn't carry the weight of leadership by yourself. You had the help and support of your family. Jordan, Allie, and most importantly, your beloved Robin.

And Robin, I would be remiss if I didn't say that when you shared your story with courage, it changed the trajectory of this place. That's what faith in action is, and we thank you for that. And thank you for sharing him with us these past two decades. We are grateful. Guys, to just celebrate the moment, we got you guys some gifts. And Robin, we all know, it's so apparent that Jim doesn't leave this place alone. You lead it alongside him from a different seat with a different voice. But your humility, your wisdom, your discernment, your vulnerability has changed us and make us better. So, we got you a gift. It's just a little necklace for you, a pendant, just to say thank you for 20 years. We love you so much. And then, Jim, the truth is a cowboy cannot have too many belt buckles. And so, we got you a belt buckle. It's custom designed. Look at that, look at that, come on. That's awesome. So good, thanks. Jim, on behalf of the thousands of people who have been baptized at Flatirons, tens of thousands who have called this place home, over these hundreds of thousands who have been impacted by you, what I love most about you is the way that you teach our team and our staff and the men of our church what it looks like to prioritize your marriage over your job, over your ministry. And you love Robin more today than you loved her 20 years ago, 40 years ago. You set an example for me, so thank you for your leadership there. So, we've asked, yeah, we can celebrate that. Yeah, Robin liked to give a speech. Robin, would you like to share something with our church? I've asked Justin Searle, he's one of our elders, just if he'd have a word of prayer on behalf of all of us.

Hey, church, pray with us. Hey, Lord, we stand here with open hearts and open hands, and we profess before you this is your church. It's not ours, Jim would say, it's not his, it's your church. And yet, still today, we're honoring 20 years of faithful service from the man who has become the face of Flatirons, a man who is a world-class leader, visionary, communicator, teacher. And, Lord, he has faithfully served you and just relentlessly chased after the hearts of men and brought the awesome life of Christ to a lost and broken world. And so, as we follow you, as we follow him into this next season for this church, be free. We know you're going to take us to places we can't even dream of. We're so excited, Lord. We want to lift up the Bergen family. We want to lift up the Bergen family. We want to lift up the Bergen family. We just pray blessings abundantly flow over this family We want to lift up the Bergen family. and we pray that you place a hedge of protection around them. It's with gratitude that we pray in your son's name, Jesus Lord, amen. Amen. Amen. Would you guys give it up one more time for Jim and Robin. Thanks, love you. You want to do it?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. I love you. Thanks. Sit down. Let's just close a prayer. So last night, that totally caught me off guard. The video, it's like, who is that kid? You know, it's like, I was like 30 pounds ago, that's what that was. But the thing that got me was my dad was in that video. All you men, you owe my dad just a debt of gratitude. We're gonna go long in the script. I remember sitting at a restaurant with my dad. I've had eye surgery and I said, dad, I don't even know how you became a Christian. I don't know anything about. And he began to unpack his childhood of abuse and military saved his life. That's why I honor our first responder, a veteran, because the military saved my dad's life. He came back and met my mom and then had me. But he was talking about it. We were in the car one time and he said, you know, Jim, I've been a pastor my whole life and I've always taught forgiveness,

but I've never been able to forgive my dad. And I said, that's what made you a great pastor. Because this is where Me Too comes from. Before it got hijacked, we had it first. I just wanna say that because it's like, anybody got pain, anybody got stuff that's hard to get over, it's not an event, it's a journey, right? And so he was like, I'm gonna go to the hospital. He was the inspiration for the first men's series we ever did called Grow a Pair. That's a great, the best title of a series ever. So I know my dad's watching from heaven and I'm just very grateful. We sang a song last week, it had a line in it, I wish we would've done today. Look at what the Lord has done. So I don't know what I've done, I don't know what you've done, but together the Lord has done some amazing things. And he ain't done yet, amen? All right, come on, let's go. All right, so, woo, get your Bibles out, here we go. So also, if you don't have one of the study guides, a new shipment came in. So if you lost yours or you didn't get one, out in all of our lobbies right now, you can go get one of those, go get it right now. So it's gonna be a little departure from the study guide if you look at, if you have your study guide with you. And I blame, here's why, I blame it on, I'm ADHD.

I'm on 72 milligrams a day, it's not working, but I think it's gonna work out for us. We've been hidden one week, one chapter a week for the last six weeks, but there aren't enough weeks to cover the entire book of John between now and Easter. So our teaching team, they got together and picked out strategic passages that are like, we gotta cover these, and they gave them to me, and I approved the schedule, and then it was sent out to all the teachers, including me, but I didn't read it, because I'll remember, and I didn't remember. So if you have your guidebook at the end of last week, week six, it's on John six, if you turn the page, it jumps to John eight, well, I didn't jump to John eight, I studied John seven, so we're gonna be in John seven. And I have to admit this, later this week, read John eight, because it's a great, it's been easier to actually teach on that, because it has all those famous statements from Jesus, like, if you're without sin, cast the first stone, John eight, all right, and we just said it together in worship, if you abide in my word, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, and then he blows people's minds, he actually is talking to these religious people, and he goes, I've actually met Abraham face-to-face personally, and then he uses a phrase that says, I am God, and then they tried to stone him to death, and he had to run and hide, it's a great, it's a great chapter, so that's good,

and I'll try to hit it in the future, but I spent the last 10 days studying chapter seven, and to be honest, as I looked at seven, I thought, there's just not a lot going on here. Like, it's one of those chapters that if you read it, like, if you're reading through the Bible, you're reading through John seven, you go, maybe it'll pick up in eight, and it does, but here's what I've noticed, right, last year, when we were studying through the first 11 chapters of the Bible, we admitted, there's some parts of the Bible that are just weird. Can I, right, like, I don't even know what that means. It's unexpected, so I just call those the skip-over parts, right, I don't know what that's about, so I just skip over them and start reading again, but if you'll slow down, all right, and dig into those, like, skip-over parts, they end up sometimes being the best parts that without them, you can't explain other parts of the Bible that seem random, but they go back, they can be traced back to the weird parts. I'll give you a real quick example. Genesis chapter six, I'm gonna go through this really, really quick. It says that the, listen close, because it's gonna blow your mind, like, if you weren't here, like, the sons of God have sex with the daughters of men, and the offspring of this improper mixture are known as.

was the Nephilim, which the Jewish people in Jesus' day believed were now the unclean spirits that were tormenting them that Jesus cast out. Every time he cast a demon out, they recognized him from the Old Testament. We know who you are and are you gonna destroy us? My dad's a pastor. He never preached on Genesis 6. Did anybody hear that as a kid? No, it's scary, it's weird, right? It's weird, but it's cool, but it's weird. But you miss all that if you just skip over it. And same with the boring parts of the Bible. The not so exciting parts, I don't even get this, right? But maybe if we knew a little bit more about what Jesus was doing and why he did it and when he does what he does and why John, the author of the book of John, says, I'm gonna stick that in there, I gotta include that, then you'll go, oh, actually, it's very important now that I understand it and not boring. That's John chapter seven. So if you have your Bible with your app or whatever, and you're gonna get a pen out or a pencil because you're gonna write in your margins of your Bible, I prayed about it, Jesus is okay with us writing in his book. Okay, so John chapter seven. I didn't even pray about it, it's just okay. Here we go, all right?

Everybody keeping up? Because I'm wired, all right? So John chapter seven, after this, and I'll tell you what this is, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee, that's in the north, he would not go about in Judea, that's in the south, here's why, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. And whenever you hear the word Jews in here, I'm not talking all the Jews people, there's just an element, there's like a religious party, they're going after him. So some people are searching for Jesus because he can do great stuff, he can perform miracles and he gives free bread to people and stuff like that. That was last week, but some people are searching for Jesus because they want to kill him. Not because of what he did, but they were kind of all bent out of shape about when he did it. Like in chapter five, two weeks ago, Jesse taught us about the man that laid by the pool for 38 years and Jesus asked him, do you want to get well? And then Jesus healed him, but he healed him on the Sabbath, which the religious leaders had twisted one of the 10 commandments, the true intent, meaning of that law, and they accused Jesus of sinning by breaking God's law on the Sabbath, all right? John five, look at this, he says, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him

because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but here he is, right? He was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God and that's what we're gonna talk about today. See, breaking the Sabbath was just the excuse they came up with to get rid of Jesus, but the real problem was who Jesus was claiming to be because here's the reality, okay? This is kind of like a line in the sand. From this point on, Jesus makes it crystal clear, there's no middle ground when it comes to me. You either have to believe in who I am and who I say I am and who I claim to be, or you don't. He doesn't allow us some kind of in, kind of out. This is where we're gonna land in a little while. It goes like this, who of you decided that Jesus really is? I tell you, I've been spending a lot of time with black gospel churches, inquirers, all right? And at the end of this, we're having an altar call, so some of you can become Christians today. Can I get an amen? All right, wake up. Did not get out of bed to stare, right? So here we go now. So now let's go to verse two, here we go. Now the Jews' feast of booths was at hand. That's hard to say. The Jews' feast of booths was at hand. Now, confession, right?

That's one of those throwaway things for me. You read that and go, I don't know. I'm sure John put that in there for a reason, but I'm sure it means something. I don't know what it means, so I just skip over it. But this is the thing. It's one of the main components of this story as to why Jesus is gonna do what he does when he does it. Hold on to that, or you spend a lot of time at the end. So let me give you some context. I'm gonna totally nerd out on Bible history. Some of you are gonna dig this. Some of you are going like, move on, but we're not gonna move on. So some context, right? Israel, if you looked at the country of Israel, you've seen it on the news. It's a long, skinny country, and it's divided into three sections. Galilee is in the north, the third, right? That's where Jesus was raised in Nazareth after he got back from Egypt when he had to flee, right? And then Samaria is right in the middle, splits it in two. That's where that well is, where Jesus talked to that woman about living water. And then in the south, you have Judea. That's where Bethlehem is. It's right outside of Jerusalem. And when people talk about going to Jerusalem, even though they go down south to go to Jerusalem,

they always talk about going up to Jerusalem because the temple is built on a very holy site called Mount Zion, okay? It's right there in the middle of Jerusalem, still there today, right? Now file that away. Jesus is in the north in Galilee, probably Nazareth, with his family, and this is gonna bend some Catholics out of shape, and Mary and Joseph have other children. They do, that's what the Bible says anyway, all right? And Jesus is hanging out with his biological brothers, okay? I'm not talking about brothers in Christ. There are no brothers in Christ yet, okay? They're just his brothers, okay? So verse three, so his brothers said to Jesus, leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples, your followers, also may see the works that you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Then John puts this in there, look. For not even his brothers believed in him. You see what's going on here? John mentions Jesus' brothers that grew up with him. Didn't believe he's the son of God. You gotta let that sink in. Right, in the book of Mark, in the middle of one of Jesus' teachings,

somebody came in and interrupted Jesus and said, hey, Jesus, your mom and your brothers are outside. They wanna take you home. They think you're out of your mind. But this time, what we're reading, that they aren't encouraging Jesus to go save the world. Go to Jerusalem, save the world. They're literally throwing crap at Jesus. Hey, big brother. Hey, big famous miracle worker. Why don't you go to Judea? Go to Jerusalem. Let's go public, all right, let's go big. They have a big festival going on there. Why are you hiding? Show yourself to the world. Are you scared? Now, why are they doing this? Because they don't believe in him. Let's just take time out, because I sit down when I take time out, all right? So this is something that I would have skipped over, but this could be, that right there, that paragraph could be a message on its own. Here's what I mean. What happens when you decide, and some of this is our story, you decide to follow Jesus and the closest people in your life, like your parents, your husband, your wife,

your brother, your sister, your kids, your closest friends will go, I'm not into that. I don't support you. They even disagree with you. Don't do that, or at least don't get weird. Don't go overboard. It's okay if you're into Jesus a little bit, but don't let it change your life or change the person you've always been. What? Isn't that the point? I mean, I wanna surrender every part of my life, every piece of my life to Jesus, don't you? My life, my plans, my future, what I do with my body, what I do with somebody else's body, my money, my career, my dating life, my sex life, my entertainment life. I grew up with this song. It goes like this. All to Jesus I surrender. Anybody else? Old school? All to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily live. I surrender all. Wow, Ty. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender. It doesn't say some, most, a little bit.

That's not the song. But you know what? A lot of us have experienced this. When we decide, listen, all right? When we decide, this could be, again, this whole sermon, that by faith Jesus is the Son of God and he's God in the flesh. He died for my sin. He rose from the dead and we put our faith in him as Lord and Savior. Now I follow him. Just write this down. Not everybody in your life is gonna like it or understand it or vote for that. What are you gonna do? What are you doing? Here's the answer. One of two deals on the table, right? You're either gonna hang on to him by faith even though it's gonna be a really lonely season or you're gonna cave in. You're gonna dumb down your definition of what it means to follow Jesus. And this is where I started and where we're gonna end. Jesus does not allow middle ground. He's either Lord and Savior or he's not. By the way, we'll get back to that. If somebody says, man, you're a fanatic. I look at the definition.

It just means you love something more than they do. So say thank you and move on, right? Now, hey, big brother, why don't you go be famous? Look at this. Here's Jesus' response. Jesus said to them, my time has not yet. Now underline yet. My time has not yet come. Your time's always here. The world, underline that, cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify. I'm bringing testimony about it that its works are evil. So you go on up to the feast. I'm not gonna go up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come. It will come but after saying this, Jesus remained in Galilee. Now look at this. But after his brothers had gone to the feast, then he went up also. Not publicly but in private. He stays back, hangs back for about maybe three, four or five days, right? And then he heads to Jerusalem. But remember this phrase from last week? Jesus knew what he was about to do. He's got a plan. Now, I love Jesus for so many reasons. I especially love Jesus when he gets sarcastic

and a little passive aggressive. Right, right? Like Jesus says, my time to announce who I am and what I have to offer to the world will come. But it's all about timing and today's not the day. But brothers, this is your time because this is your world, right? Because all you do is live for this moment. You live for right here, right now. World hates me because I'm about to expose the world for how evil it is. But you, the world loves you because all you care about is this world. And the word world here is the same one we find later in Romans chapter 12. Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world. Okay, it means the operating system. This is how I judge, this is what's right and wrong. This is how the world does it. The world says this is what's good and this is what's evil. That's what the world runs on. Jesus says, at the right time, I'm gonna expose it. But you, brothers, listen. It loves you because it owns you. For the record, I don't wanna be too hard on him. At least one of Jesus's brothers puts his faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord later, eventually writes a book in the Bible called the book of James, all right? So that's toward the end of your Bible.

So let's move to Jerusalem, all right? And as you read through this, and you're gonna have to read through this on your own this week because I don't wanna cover a lot of stuff and then get to the end of this. But I'm gonna summarize it really quickly. But what you'll find as you read through this chapter is that John has kind of like identified five different camps as to. where people have landed about who Jesus is. Like there's all these opinions on him, and I think he's this, I think he's this, I think he's this, and they're all fighting with one another and arguing about who is Jesus, all right? So as we move through these five different conclusions, here's what your challenge is for you. Which camp do you land in? Not back then, today, okay? So if you're taking notes, here's camp number one. It's in verse 12. We find some are saying Jesus is a good man. He's a good man. They'd watched him or they'd heard about Jesus doing some cool stuff, performing miracles, teaching really good moral, good lessons. He emphasized loving God and loving one another. Who could be against that? Jesus is a good dude. Really, really good man.

An example that we should try to emulate, all right? A moral example. He's kind of like Gandhi or Mother Teresa or Yoda, whatever that is, but that didn't work for Jesus. I made up Yoda, all right? Because Jesus claimed to be God. And this forces us to choose, either worship him or reject him. But saying that Jesus, but he's a really, really, really good man is most likely a way of politely dismissing him. That's why Jesus says that's not a compliment to tell me that. In Mark chapter 10, a man runs up to him, look at this, and he says, hey, good teacher, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. In other words, you call me God, don't just call me good. So if you say somebody's a good man, they better remind you of Jesus, right? C.S. Lewis, the great author, theologian, he reduced Jesus Christ's claim to divinity to one of three logical possibilities. He was either a lying charlatan, he was a madman, or he was the one true Lord, which is he a liar? That's not good. Lunatic, that can't be good. Or he's Lord. But good isn't good enough unless you're referring

to Jesus as Lord God, all right? Camp number two, Jesus is leading the people astray. Same verse, some people are saying he can't be a good man, he's deceiving the people, he's teaching them to violate the religious laws, like thou shalt honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, and he's breaking that. And he's telling other people to do it. But their logic was this, since our religious rules come from God and Jesus violates them, he cannot be from God. Here's the problem, all right? The verdict is, they came up with the wrong verdict on this premise right here. Their religious rules were not actually given by God in the Old Testament. They tweaked them. And here's the problem that Jesus saw back then and sees in the church today. It goes like this, modern religion had become man-made traditions that violated God's will. Sometimes I think God stands in front of some churches and goes, don't go in there, I didn't say that, right? There's this whole argument between Jesus, read this this week, and the religious leaders, because Jesus says, you know, you'll circumcise a baby boy on the Sabbath, well, are you breaking the Sabbath, though? But you're trying to kill me because I healed an entire man's body on the Sabbath? Again, here's what, some of our problem. Jesus doesn't fit into our definition

of what we want him to be. He's not acting like we think he ought to act, therefore I don't believe in him, all right? Camp number three, this is a good one, he was demonic. All through, he has a demon, he has a demon, he's like, all through the gospels, he has a demon, he's a demon, right? Jesus actually flips that script and says, the religious leaders, he says, you're just like your father you know who your father is? The devil, he's a liar from the beginning. And also, why would a demon-possessed man cast out demons? A house divided against itself will fall. Abraham Lincoln quotes that in a famous speech. So, how about this, Jesus is a prophet, all right? He's like a reincarnated super version of Moses, all right? But I've read the Old Testament, and here's what you find with prophets who are messengers from God, they say this, this is what the Lord says, thus says the Lord, I have a message from the Lord for you. Jesus doesn't say that, you know what he says? I say to you, I say to you, because my words are the words of God. And they were stumped, all right? They couldn't explain how this man could teach like this with authority, but he taught, but they couldn't point to an education system to explain why he knew everything. It's like he's just hearing from God,

but that can't be true, because if he's hearing from God, then we'd have to believe him, and we don't wanna do that. Camp five would be this, he's the Christ, he's the Messiah. Some people were there, some people were almost there in that crowd, even though they were close to believing, they allowed the stuff they couldn't explain, like was he born, Jesus is from Galilee, but he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. They didn't do any research, they just didn't have answers, all right? And that kept them from calling Savior. They had to wait, this is where some of us are, they had to wait to have all my answers before they would believe. And again, that's where some of us are. You're stuck on your belief because you're going like, I just can't, I don't know if I can believe in Jesus. I can't believe in a God that lets this happen, or why did that happen? I can't explain that over there. And then we get stuck, and until somebody can explain everything, I'm not gonna believe. You know what that means? You're never gonna believe. Because there's some questions that you are not gonna get an answer that satisfies this side of heaven. That's called faith. All that to say, all the people were arguing with the leaders and with each other and with themselves,

who's Jesus, is he the one or not? And Jesus looks at them and he says this, and I'll paraphrase it, if you were listening to God, really listening to God, you would know who I am, where I'm coming from. But here's a gut punch, you don't believe because you don't want to believe. That's it, you don't believe because you're gonna, I just, I don't want to believe that stuff. Because if Jesus is telling the truth, it will have huge implications for your life and everything that you've been leaning in your life against will have to change and you are not open to that, so I don't believe. And then Jesus shows up at the temple on the last day of the Feast of Booths because he told his brothers, at just the right time and just the right place, I'm gonna be there and this is the day. Now, why is this feast important? Okay, more Bible nerd stuff, ready? Okay, so most of the holy days and festivals that you find in the Bible from the Jewish religion are to remember certain events that happened when Moses led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt through the wilderness, eventually to the edge of the Promised Land. The most famous one is probably Passover, when the angel of death passed over the households that had the blood of the lamb painted on their doors,

which we can look back and go, well, that was symbolic of the blood of the lamb of God, Jesus, right? And then the Day of Atonement, we talked about that a few weeks ago, the yearly cleansing of the temple and of the community. The Feast of Booths, all right, was a week-long camping festival, like in Jerusalem. Every Jewish male who lived within 20 miles of Jerusalem was required to go to Jerusalem and build a tent, construct like a, out of branches and live in that tent for seven days to remember how the Israelites lived in tents during the exodus as they traveled through the Promised Land. Now, one time a day, all the pilgrims would go into the Jerusalem, into the temple to celebrate God's past physical provision for them in the desert, how he took care of them, and to anticipate God's future promise of salvation. So something happens, we're gonna look at in a minute, but they tied that together with what God was gonna do to ultimately save them later. So for the first six days, all right, I know this is nerdy, but you're gonna go, oh, it's not nerdy anymore, right? For the first six days, the people would gather in the temple courts, the priest would circle, like walk all the way around this big high platform, and then he would ascend it, and he had a pitcher of water and a bowl up there, and he'd pour that water into the bowl.

This was to commemorate God's provision of water for the Israelites, Exodus 17, read it later, okay? During their journey from Egypt, the people were camping in the desert, and there was no water, it's a desert. So they complained to Moses, where's God now? I mean, he split the sea, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but where's God today? Like, is he gonna save us, is he gonna show up or not? Moses said, it would've been better for us to stay back in Egypt, rather than die of thirst in the desert, and they start to get stones to kill Moses, so Moses prays, someone's gonna throw stones at you, pray, all right? And Moses prays to God, and God says, hey, just take your staff, and then there's a big rock over there, I want you to just hit it one time, and I promise, water will pour out, will gush out, like a river, and provide for the people, and that's what happened, so that's what they're commemorating, all right? So Exodus 17 says this, and he, Moses, called the name of the place. He didn't call it water, he called it masah, which is Hebrew for quarreling, and marbah, which means testing, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, is the Lord with us or not? Is the Lord gonna take care of us or not? Now, while the priests poured the water, all right,

the people also anticipated the coming of the Messiah, by reciting these words from the book of Isaiah, it goes like this, come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. That was written hundreds of years before Jesus. Now, they were all anticipating this, but the promise of God fulfilling that, well, it hadn't happened yet, and the people at that festival were still spiritually thirsty and waiting for God to fulfill his promise and fill them up, so if you went to sleep, wake up. The heart of this festival is, years ago in the desert, and up to that very day, people are arguing and complaining, where is God, can God save us, will God save us, will he send someone who can quench the thirst in our lives? Remember, Jesus said, hey, brother, my time has not yet come, I'm waiting for the right time, the right moment, and day seven of the festival is the perfect moment. See, on the seventh day, the final day of the festival, they did what they'd done all week long, except a couple exceptions, right? First of all, instead of circling the platform one time, the priests circled it seven times, while the crowd watched in anticipation, and then as he started up that platform, they started yelling and chanting, and as he held that pitcher higher and higher and higher,

according to the people's shouts, to increase intense anticipation, and then he poured out that bowl, just before he poured it out. Evidently, that's the moment Jesus goes, now. Now's my moment. Look at this, verse 37. On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried as that priest was getting ready to pour out the water. If anyone's thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. You wanna talk about dramatic, like mic drop moment, all right? And Jesus is interrupting the festival. He's announcing it's fulfilled. I'm the rock. I'm the rock, and I'm gonna be struck down so that rivers of spiritual life may pour out of me and into the hearts of everybody who puts their faith in me. I'm not here as a good man. I'm not just a good teacher or a prophet. I am the one God promised back in the desert who can give you what you need. Come to me and drink, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Now look at verse 39. Now this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive in the future.

For as of yet, the spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John, the author, he writes this 40 years later, and he looks back, and he lets us, the reader, know Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit who would be given to the believers after Jesus is glorified, referring to his death, his burial, and then his resurrection. Rivers of living water. I just gotta pause. What would that be like to experience rivers of living water like flowing into you? Paul writes in Romans about, he describes the coming of the Holy Spirit in a person's life that Jesus makes possible. He says, the spirit will be poured out, and he uses the same word, the Hebrew word, it will gush out, it will hail is the word he used, like water from the rock in the desert. That's what the Holy Spirit's gonna do. He's just gonna pour out, all right? In Romans 8, God's spirit enables you. Listen, this is what happens, all right? You're gonna want a piece of this, I promise. God's spirit enables you to experience God's love for you. You don't really believe God loves you and his spirit is gonna move inside of you and go, he really does. The spirit will convince you how much God loves you.

He will assure you deep in your heart that you are God's beloved child. The spirit communicates God's love for you so abundantly that you can give his love freely out to other people. It will rush out of you. Does that describe anybody? Does that describe you? Do you want it to? Can you picture your life like, I got so much love because I'm so loved. Everybody just, it just gets all over everybody. You say, well, I know, but I want, how does that become a reality in your life? Write this down. Jesus says, come to me. That's it, just come to me. It's just easy to go, hey, hey, I'm just gonna admit to you, God, I'm thirsty. I've tried every other well, they don't satisfy. So I'm coming to you and then drink, personally receive his Holy Spirit into your life. And the word drink, one time, all right? You just have to ask him into your life one time and God's spirit will live in you forever. If you mess up, he doesn't leave. Everybody else leaves, he doesn't leave. Simply ask Jesus the Christ. Don't ask Jesus the good man, he can't help you. The moral teacher, he can't help you. Ask Jesus, hey, Jesus, you are the son of God,

the Christ who died on a cross for my sin, rose on the third day. I ask you, will you forgive my sin? I'm sorry. And will you give me your spirit? And he will come into your heart and he will stay there and he will assure you that you are God's beloved son and daughter. Have you done that? Have you done that? Have you done that? And here's my, why would you leave this room not doing that? Why? Because you don't have it all figured out? That's category three. I got questions. Who doesn't? Ask him to be your savior and drink him in. And a word study, right? Drink as a lifestyle, right? So the word come in there and drink for all you grammar people are both in the present tense which can be translated keep on coming, keep on drinking. Church should be a drinking party. Can I get an amen? Amen. Seize your drink, be satisfied. May your savior satisfy my soul. And keep drinking to be filled and changed as the spirit flows out and gets on everybody around you.

Okay, so I'm gonna make a couple of hard turns here, okay? So I had, that was the end of my sermon. Let's close the prayer and sing a song, right? I had it all turned in because I had to go out of town this past week. I went to Vegas. I must be transparent with you. I didn't do well. But anyway, so I was out of town and I was at a hotel and I did something I've never done before and I was always kind of judgmental about other people who did this. This sounds like I'm getting ready to set up a big confession. I was in Vegas and I did something. But that just stays in Vegas. But here's, all right, it's not that, it's not that, okay? So no, here's what I did. I got some shame around this, all right? Because I've been so critical of people that do stuff, especially pastors, right? I took my finished sermon and I plugged it into chat GPT. I had that app on my phone forever, but I thought that's the devil, just get behind me, all right? But I asked chat, I started to say, I asked him, but it's not him, it's in it, all right? So what it considered to be my three strong. strongest points and takeaways from my sermon. It's crazy, right? And like in six seconds, this is what it came up with.

You can't keep Jesus in a safe category, he forces a decision. Whoo, it gets better, look at this. Your real resistance to Jesus is in doubt, it's fear of what he'll change. How about this, when Jesus doesn't just help you survive, he becomes your source. I was like, that's a computer. I couldn't have said it that, that's, right? Because it nailed it, but so that got me thinking, okay? So this addresses me, okay? All through John seven, people are arguing about who Jesus is, right? He's a good man, he's a teacher, he's a prophet, he's dangerous, he's crazy, he's a savior, right? But what I keep realizing is this, nobody in that crowd was confused by what Jesus said. What they got stuck on is what it would cost them if what he's saying is true. And I get that, because if Jesus really is who he says he is, then he doesn't just add something to our life, he rearranges them. Like this would be in the Bible, Jesus doesn't give us an option of fitting him into our lives. We must figure out how our lives fit into him, amen? See, and that's all my life, how am I gonna lead my home and my marriage? What am I gonna lean on when I get exhausted, right? Where I go when I'm empty.

So John seven is people arguing with each other and arguing with themselves, but Jesus is different. He'll never argue with you. You'll not become a Christian because you lost an argument. He simply invites, just come. Jesus stands up at a festival and he announces, gives an invitation, if anybody's thirsty, let her come to me and drink, that's it. He doesn't stand up and go, hey, get your stuff together. He doesn't say try harder, be better. He just says, come to me. And we hear that and go, I don't know what to do with that. What does that even mean? I'll give you an example, all right? Some of us, I'm getting your business right now, some of us are really, really tired. We just call it busy, right? Some of us are empty, but we tell ourselves and everybody, we're fine. And some of us, to go back to the metaphor here, some of us have been pulling water from wells that were never meant to satisfy us, but we keep going back to them. So I'm gonna, two more turns and then I'll land the plane, okay? This week I had a chance to have some conversation with two young dads to talk about how do you balance work and life and marriage and family? And I guess they were asking me because I'm old and they're young, all right?

They figured, you're wise, whatever, all right? But during that conversation, and I'll get back to you in a minute, and I was reflecting, and here's what I'm realizing about myself. Maybe you can relate to this. I was gonna say maybe some of you husbands or dads or fathers, you can relate to that, but that's who I was talking to, but I think this applies to every human being that's listening to my voice. And this ties back into what Jesus is offering us. But here's my aha moment as I'm sitting in my hotel room. Most of my life, I've been trying to manage my thirst instead of admitting I'm thirsty. I'm fine. I look for satisfaction in my job, and that'll crush ya. In money, in control, I wanna be a good dad, I wanna be a strong husband, I wanna be a really good leader and none of those things are bad things, but none of them can do for me what I really need deep down in the hidden part of my soul that's thirsting. All right, one more hard journey and I'll tie all this together, right? So a bunch of you, and I really appreciate, if you ask me, hey Jim, how's your back doing after surgery in November? And I give them the typical answer, good, I'm fine. And it is healing, all right, right, but it's messing with my head.

My back doesn't really hurt, it's messing with my head because the doctors told me before surgery, Jim, it's gonna be six months before you feel anything close to normal, but I'm like, you don't know me, I'll be back in three. And I am not. I can't rush it, I can't go faster, I can't pretend I'm fine, I can't run. If you're gonna get hit by a car and I need to run and save you, you're gonna get hit by a car. I'm sorry, I can barely make it down those steps. I got a security guard that's ready to catch me at any moment. But the biggest takeaway for me is this, and this hits hard for whenever I'm by myself and I'm in my head, and here it is. There are some things, this may be why you came, there are some things that are gonna happen in your life that no matter how hard you try or how strong you think you are, it's just gonna be harder than you thought. It's gonna last longer than you thought it was gonna last, it's gonna be more painful than you thought it was gonna be. You signed up for it for better or worse, you just didn't know worse felt like this. Right, and it's gonna be exhausting. And you're gonna wanna just give up and quit. Maybe you feel that right now.

You tired? I'm in your business, aren't I? Are you tired, are you, I'm dry, I'm thirsty, I'm trying to hold it all together. And nobody knows it. Nobody knows I'm running on fumes because I can't let them know because they're all dependent on me. But you know, you know, you need something to happen in your life. You need something to change because in your head, you are having those internal conversations. This is hard, this is terrifying, this is painful because you're running on empty. Now listen, listen to this because I think this is what you're looking for. This is what I'm holding on to in order to keep going. It goes like this. Jesus is not offering you another, a new rule. Ever since January, I scroll through my Instagram and it's to do these five things in your life, I'll instantly get better. And we got that like every 30 seconds. No, he's not offering you that. He's offering you a new source of life, a source of life, of peace, of strength, of hope, of deep peace and assurance because you know in your soul, no matter how crazy this world gets,

you are, and it's crazy, isn't it? But you know I'm connected to the one who is my source of identity and value and worth. Everything you're trying to prove to yourself and others has already been answered and settled because you are connected to Jesus. He loves me and he's with me. So I just wanna ask you, no pressure, no hype. Are you thirsty? Not for more of the same. Not for more stuff. You got enough stuff. You got so much stuff, you just pile it on others. I'm not talking about one more distraction. Not for a shortcut to whatever, right? But are you hungry for peace, for real life, for forgiveness, for something that finally satisfies and doesn't go away tomorrow? And I didn't use these exact words, but I was trying to talk to those young dads the other day. This is why I was trying to communicate. You can spend your whole life running from one well to another, money, work, success, approval, distractions, and get them and still be empty. Even if you get them, you'll just wake up the next day and go, I gotta do more. Jesus isn't offering you another quick fix. He's offering you a new source, a life that doesn't dry up when pressure hits your life.

He's inviting you, just come to me. So right now, here we go. If you've never trusted Jesus as your savior, ask him. Don't make a deal with him. Don't try to prove just, hey, I just need you. I'll show you a prayer, right? And you might wanna take a picture of this because I'm gonna pray this prayer, but you have to pray this prayer. But here's some words to it. How about this prayer? Jesus, you said that if I'm thirsty, I can come to you. Well, I'm telling you, Jesus, I'm thirsty. I believe, as best as I know, who you are. You are who you say you are. And I believe, as best as I can understand, you died for me and rose again. I wanna know more about that. But I give you my life. Fill me with your spirit. If you've never had the conversation with Jesus, have it. All right, campers, let's stand up. We're gonna sing a song called, Oh, Come to the Altar. I mean, we're going old school. We're borderline Baptists today, all right? Once Baptists, all, well, anyway. So I'm gonna ask some people, some of our elders, some of our leaders, our prayer team at all of our campuses, would you just come and stand along the front?

The stage isn't an altar, but it's very symbolic, all right? And if you need prayer today for anything going on in your life, as a couple, as an individual, it could be health, it could be relational, just come up here. You don't have to tell them, I just need you to pray for me. And they'll do that, right? You don't have to, again, they're not, again, they're not here to counsel you. They just wanna say, you're not alone in this, and remind you that God's Spirit is in the room, and with you right now. But, and you can do that wherever you're sitting. You don't have to come to the front of a room. But here's what I know, is that sometimes, when you make, like, I need my life to change, you have to, like, symbolically move from this space to a new space, kind of symbolize, I'm leaving that old patterns of this world allegiance, I'm leaving that behind, and I'm moving towards Jesus, the well, the rock. Some of you know what? You're gonna pray that prayer in your heart in a minute, and you're gonna come forward, and you say, well, you pray with me, and you're gonna ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. You've been on the fence for a long time, you still got questions, you always have questions. If you want Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and you want that river of life to fill your soul,

come on. In all of our campuses, we have tubs of water, tubs of water set up at every campus. Some of you are going, you know what, I'm in, and I need, so this doesn't make me married, it just reminds me I got a wonderful other half. This doesn't make me a good man, it just reminds me of what my priorities are in my life. Baptism's the same way, Jesus doesn't need it. He knows your heart, you need it. I need to look back at a moment in my time where I was like buried with Christ. I've been crucified with Christ, and that old piece of whatever, he is dead and gone. And then I've been resurrected. I've been born again, born from above. So if you wanna get baptized today, you know, it's the warmest February in history of the world. You're never gonna have a, right, right? And I always say this, if you get pneumonia and die, you're going to heaven, you're fine, stop whining. And I'm gonna say that every time, every baptism. But I love the words, are you hurting and broken within? Overwhelmed by the weight of life, of your sin. And Jesus says, come to me if you're thirsty. Come to me and I'll give you rest. Come to me and I'll satisfy your soul. If anybody needs that today, wherever you are, you can be on the other side of the world. Come, Jesus says, come to me,

and he'll meet you right here, amen? So God, in this moment, right now, I pray that your spirit, I was gonna say we'd fill this room, but your spirit's been here waiting on us for a long time. But I pray that we'd open up our hearts and listen and say, Jesus, you're more than a teacher, you're more than a good man, you're more than an example, you're more than a prophet. I believe that God, you left heaven and came to earth. Because you knew I needed help and rescue, that's how much you love me. And in this moment, I'm telling you, I'm thirsty, and I need you in my life. I need my guilt and shame washed away, and I need your spirit to live in me. So, spirit, do whatever you wanna do, and move. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. That's you, come on down. Amen. Come on God, good job, amen. Amen. Amen. God, we pray you come on down. Ma'am, if you don't feel your legs are breaking I want you to bear a piece of bread with your left hand and lift your right hand to the Word of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a Savior we have. He is wonderful, He is so so good. Oh, what a Savior.

Isn't He wonderful? Sing alleluia. Christ is risen. ♪ His hand ♪ ♪ We bow down before Him ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ Oh what a Savior. Oh what a Savior. Isn't He wonderful? Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen. Oh we bow down. ♪ We bow down before Him ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ Oh we lift Him. ♪ Oh come to the altar ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are open wide ♪ ♪ Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Oh come to the altar ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are open wide ♪ ♪ Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Christ ♪ ♪ The precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Christ ♪ ♪ The precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ Amen.