Washing Away the Darkness || Victory Church [Book of John #10]

God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good. It's getting me every time. Hey, guys, I just had the opportunity to get away this last week, and I played two days of golf down in Augusta. And if you were into golf, I did not play at that Augusta course, but I did play an absolutely beautiful course. And if you're curious how I did, I believe that the God who began a good work in me can carry it on to completion. It's terrible. Don't even ask. I'm terrible at golf. I'm new to this. But here's the deal. It did not take me long to discover this. And maybe if you've ever hung around a golf course, you know that people are immersed in golf. Like, watch the masters, know the players, they pay the greens fees, they buy the clubs, and then they buy the secret clubs that they hide from their wife. I've learned that's a whole thing. And they know the course, they know how to lay it up on the fairway, they know how this next green plays, like they are all in it. And then the clothes are like a whole world. And now that I'm new into this, I've discovered, I think most men play golf just so they can dress up fancy, right? Because they would be made fun of anywhere else, but they can dress up like, I have a white belt now. When did I become that guy? When did I become a white belt guy? I'm a white belt guy now. Immersed, absolutely immersed.

And then there's just Atlanta sports, which are now a thing. And they get us going. They tease us every single year. But now like the Hawks are a thing. And we need to, we need to pray for that team. They got, they're, they're thinking, making us think. And then the Falcons just had the draft and this is the year guys. We say that every year. We're like Cowboys fans. We're delusional. But maybe it is, I don't know. And then the Braves are on fire. And best investment this whole year, I got Braves vision. So I'm watching as many games as I used to watch when they were on TBS back in the day. And immersed, immersed, everybody say immersed. And then there's politics and people are immersed and everybody's yelling at each other about Iran. And everybody's screaming, release the files. And everybody's got their NASA moon landing conspiracy theories, immersed. And I looked up the definition of that word immersed. Immersed means to be completely involved, absorbed, or engrossed in something to be fully submerged, completely covered. When you are immersed in something, it's all around you all the time. It influences your conversation, influences how you see things, how you think it influences the people that you hang out around immersion. We are immersed. And from the people who just had a baby and their whole lives become about that baby to the guy who just got the new job and he prioritizes it above everything else to the, to the college student who goes away and they come back 10 years later with their doctorate, right? Like we, we as humans easily get immersed, everybody say immersed.

But here in John three that we're looking at and this conversation between Jesus and this super religious leader named Nicodemus, we learn that we're actually immersed in something much more sinister than those things. And if you were new with us, we're taking a year long journey through the book of John. And this is week 10 in this journey through the book of John. And over the last few weeks, we kind of pulled up a chair to this conversation between Jesus and again, this religious leader named Nicodemus who brings his doubts, who brings his questions to Jesus. And they're in that conversation. Jesus says very famously, he says, Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now if you're new to this Christianity thing, that's not a phrase that Christians just invented. Those are Jesus words. He says, Nicodemus, you look alive on the outside, but actually you're dead on the most important part of who you are. Your spirit is dead because of your sins. And so we need to have this conversation so you can actually step into eternal life. You must be born again. And then John shares with them how to do that. So I'm going to start kind of where we started last week and then we'll continue on. The most famous verse of the entire Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Come on, Jesus. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. And if you missed us last week, here's the big idea, guys. Here's maybe be revelatory for some of us. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world. Jesus came because the world was already condemned in our sins.

Jesus did not come to make you an enemy of God. Jesus came because you are already an enemy of God. And Jesus came to make you a friend of God and a child of God. That is good news. And through faith in him, you can be born again. That was last week. And today we're going to pick it back up. Here it is. This is. The verdict, light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil, big word. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John is using courtroom language here and he says this is the verdict. Got any Judge Judy fans? All right, all right, Matlock, Law and Order, Perry Mason, come on, my older guys, boomers. All right, he's using courtroom language. This is the verdict. The judge has smacked the gavel. The jury has gone into recess and they brought back the verdict. And this is the verdict, that God loved the world so much that he did not send a lamb, a bull, or a goat.

He sent his only son and Jesus Christ came on a heavenly black ops special forces mission to extract the captives who were held in prisoner and chains in darkness. Jesus is the only one who can break us out of the kingdom of darkness, but the sun brought light that exposed our dark living. And so we hated that sun. God loved the world, but the world loved the darkness. So most refused to come into the light, but the remnant, the one who did respond to the light and stepped into the grace-filled truth of God now live our lives in the warm embrace of King Jesus. That is the verdict. And what God is telling Nicodemus and us is that infinitely more than being immersed in golf or in politics or in a new baby or a new job, we're actually involved and immersed in something much more sinister, darkness. And here's the question. Here's the question that's gonna kind of guide us through the next few minutes today, okay? Is will we stay in the darkness or will we step into the light that Jesus brings? Will I stay in the darkness or will I step into the light that Jesus brings? Because here's the first thing we have to know. You and I were born immersed in the darkness. We were born immersed in the darkness. Here's what I mean.

Maybe this is your weekly reminder that your story has a villain, all right? The devil hates you, but he doesn't hate you because you're you. He hates God and he hates anything that God loves and the people who love God. And so he hates you because he hates God, but your story has a villain and he prowls around seeking whom he may devour. And he's done a really good job of corrupting culture, sowing death and division and rebellion and guilt and shame and darkness and anger and sadness and division everywhere provoking our sin nature. Spiritual darkness is all around us. We grew up in it. We were born into it. You have a sin nature. It didn't start with you. My son just turned 21 yesterday when he was a year old. Listen, I'm glad he's 21 now, but when he was a year old, I didn't teach him to be a punk. He just got that from Adam and it got passed through me to him. That's the sin nature, right? We have inherited that. We were born into that. We were born into the darkness. Therefore, darkness is natural to us. Here's what I mean.

Here's what I mean in case you don't believe that. Does it surprise you when you're watching your favorite show and then all of a sudden the sex stuff starts happening? No, you're like, you were just kind of waiting for it to happen, right? Does it surprise you that when there's another shooting somewhere in the world? No, it dismays you, it disappoints you, but does it surprise you whenever people in power around the world show their corruption? No, because darkness is natural. That's the natural state of this world. In fact, Summer and I, about a month ago, we went to go see a movie and I noticed about 15 minutes in something and I paid attention throughout the entire movie, the credits roll and I look at her and I say, there was not a cuss word in that entire movie. Why does that shock us? No, for real, right? Why? Here's what I'm saying. Darkness doesn't surprise us, light surprises us. Come on, sin doesn't surprise us, holiness surprises us. Why? Because we're born immersed in the darkness. It does not surprise you whenever you're listening to your favorite song and they drop the N word this and they call a woman that degrading sort of thing. What shocks you is you turn on Christian music

and you're like, oh, I actually kind of feel good in my heart. What is that? You know what I'm saying? Like, that's what's shocking to you. It's not shocking when you're watching something and all this sex stuff started happening. You know what's shocking today? Is when a man and a woman get married and they're virgins. You're like, what is that? What is that? It's not surprising to you when this sex thing happens. What is surprising is finding a young person who's not addicted to pornography today because we're desensitized to the darkness. Guys, it's all around us. It's everywhere. It's in the conversations. It's in the music. It's in the culture. It's in the movies. It's in our friendship circles. It's Friday night. It's Saturday night. Some of you last night. It's that. It's all around us. We're born into it. It's our native language. It's our thinking.

It's our hearing. It's all around us. And here's the problem. This is what God says in verse 19. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were... Our problem is this. We don't think that what we're doing is evil. Come on, guys. God calls our native living evil. We call it some areas I need to work on. Right? Because our hearts are deceitful. Our hearts lie to us. We say, well, I'm not that bad. You're not that bad because you're comparing yourself to the other people who are in darkness. But we aren't compared to other people in the darkness. We're compared to the light himself, Jesus Christ. And compared to that, we all woefully fall short of the glory of God. When you compare yourself to everybody else, you're going to go on the gradient. You're like, well, at least I'm not Hitler, right? You know, we all play that game. You know what I'm saying? Hitler did absolutely. He murdered people.

Well, the problem is you murder people in your heart. You murder people with your words and gossip about them behind their back. Come on, we blaspheme the name of Jesus by substituting it in for a cuss word. Come on, we lust after our neighbor's spouse. We covet our neighbor's things. We look for joy in sin instead of in Jesus. We are evil guys. And we're not only in a dark, evil world. We do dark, evil things. And Paul says it like this in Galatians 5. He says, when you follow the desires of your sinful nature, that thing you got from Adam, there's a sense that it's not your fault. Your problem was cooperating with it. Here's what happens when you actually follow your sinful nature. You fall into sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and in case your sin wasn't there, and other things like these. Some of you are like, woo, my sin was, oh no. And other job responsibilities unlisted. There it is right there. And Paul says, I warn you as I have before that anyone living that sort of life

will not inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, I'm not that bad. No, man, it's darkness, it's evil. And I just need to say it. I've felt this every single service. Some of you, when I just said, anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God, you got a little triggered, got a little agitated in your soul. Can I say it like this? That's because you love the darkness and you hate the light. And you think you're not that bad. The problem is you are really that bad. And some of you right now, you're really afraid that if I keep talking, your girlfriend's gonna catch the holiness bug and break up with you. And some of you are afraid if I keep talking, you're gonna have to give up your astrology and your witchcraft. Some of you are afraid if I keep talking, you're gonna have to lay down your anger. You're gonna have to lay down your addiction. You're gonna have to lay down your love of money. You're gonna have to lay down your pride if I keep talking. So guess what? I'm gonna keep on talking. Yeah. Because we need to hear the truth

because the truth will set you free, friend. God does not want you to be bound by darkness the rest of your life. You're not a good person in and of yourself. You're not, you're evil. And that's the kindest thing I could actually say to you. Because God calls it out, but he doesn't leave you in that place. And let's just go take one step further. Verse 20, here's what John says. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light. Why? For fear that their deeds will be exposed. Here's what he's doing. I wanna reframe kind of how we view our conversations with people, how we do maybe some of our arguments with friends and coworkers and neighbors. What he's actually saying is this, get that, for fear that their deeds will be exposed. What he's saying is the primary reason people refuse to come to faith in Jesus is not intellectual, it's moral. It's not how you think, it's how you live. Here's what he's saying. People, most people hide behind arguments. You ever gotten in a conversation with somebody and they're like, well, give me proof that Jesus rose from the dead.

Give me a digital picture of the stone rolling away, Jesus coming out, right? Then I'll believe. Jesus actually says that. He says, you guys wouldn't even believe if somebody rose from the dead. He's talking about himself. Why? Because it's not an intellectual argument. But here's what John is actually trying to say. The real reason that people refuse to come to faith in Jesus is because they don't want their deeds exposed, their evil deeds exposed. So here's the thought. Just like going in a nasty basement and flipping on the light and the roaches start scattering to the corners to get back into the darkness. When some of y'all stepped in here and we're having this conversation, the light of Christ comes in and starts exposing. your evil deeds and your sins start scattering to the to the corners and the crevices when the fiery eyes of Jesus show up and start illuminating your wickedness inside your heart your heart is not like oh I welcome that no your heart is like put the light out and the sin starts running away because you don't want your evil deeds exposed and then what happens is we start hiding behind arguments well give me proof that Jesus can do that because here's what's happening we fear the light because it tells the truth about us and the truth threatens our control over our lives and at the end of the day I don't care about Jesus I want to be my own God because if I actually let the light of

Christ into my life I would have to then confess that my sin has no value and I would have to abandon it so I watched a documentary years ago and I'm to that age now where years means like 15 years it was called expelled and give you a spoiler alert it's your own fault it was like 20 years old but it's basically this documentary showing how professors in higher education like university settings were being blackballed and fired for believing creationism instead of evolution and it's the creationism is this it's not even saying like I believe in Jesus I believe in the God of the Bible it's believing that there is some sort of intelligent design going on in this world and at the very end of that documentary Ben Stein who's a practicing Jew sits down with Richard Dawkins and if you know who Richard Dawkins is he's one of the foremost atheist brilliant man very hostile to the gospel and Richard Dawkins starts explaining to Ben Stein he's saying hey we believe I believe that we can explain from the first cell to today like you give me a cell 500 billion years ago and I can explain how we got here today how it turned into us and so Ben asked the next logical question well where did the cell come from because something can't come from nothing so where if you actually believe that one cell can turn into two can turn into a trillion turns into goo turns into a monkey that starts driving a car one day like then I have to ask you a question where did the cell come from who created that cell and here was his answer here was Richard Dawkins answer he said well what me and my colleagues what we actually believe is what's called seed theory where some point in the very distant billions of hundreds of billions of years ago that aliens came and they deposited a cell in our galaxy and they let it go and then here we are and as the credits roll here's what Ben says he says guys see here at the end of the day it's not creationism versus evolution it's God versus anti God because listen listen listen listen the evolutionist has no problem believing that aliens brought life they believe in a creator they believe in intelligent design they but they just refuse to call that life God it's not creationism evolution it's God anti God because if there is a God I must change how I live if there is a God

I have to bow if there is a God there's somebody higher than me who has a say so over my life if there is a God my tongue must confess that he is Lord and I am not Lord so I'd rather stay in the dark and hide behind why I don't believe in fairy tales and give me evidence on all that sort of stuff but you you worship your Santa Claus in the sky I'm gonna follow the science but here's what John is saying it's not actually an intellectual problem it's not an information problem it's a submission problem it's not that I can't believe it's that I refuse to bow because what my heart is actually saying I am my own God I determine my own destiny I will not give up pleasing my flesh and I love this here's what C.S. Lewis says about it he says an atheist can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman because you were not looking my friend here's what he's saying he said you actually don't want to find Jesus because the moment I find Jesus that means I'm not in charge of my life any longer because we love being in charge of our own life and if that's the case guys just admit it stop hiding behind a straw man argument stop hi well give me Evan no no no just say this I am my own God and therefore I don't want to come out of the darkness because I love the darkness and I hate the light and I don't want my evil deeds exposed let's have that conversation but don't hide behind this intellectual thing because some of us are in the darkness and we love it but the problem is this when we're living in the darkness we can't see and so we stumble around in the darkness and we hurt ourselves and we hurt other people we hurt the world around us, and then we say something like this. Why am I going through this, God? That's what our prayers look like. Here's my encouragement. Don't blame God when we live counter to the way he is blessed and we step into a curse. Because sin has consequences. And God has given us the owner, Manu.

Come on, he's the one who created the story. He gave us the Bible to show us how to live in his story. And when we live contradictory to the owner's manual, don't blame the creator of the story because you ignored his instructions. Here's what I mean. Ladies, don't blame God when you marry that guy who doesn't love Jesus and then he ruined your life. Because then you're gonna find me in the lobby and be like, why, God? And God's like, wait, hold on, what? Wait, hold on. Wait, now you want me involved in this relationship? You didn't talk to me back then, but now? You didn't want me in the Genesis, but now you want me in the Revelation? Come on. We just wanna go out and get married and then ask God to bless what we've already done. Don't blame God for that. Don't blame God when you chase the money and take a job that makes you work on Sundays and then you're like, God, why is my heart cold? I'm talking to the camera right now to the guy watching it Tuesday night on YouTube. I love you enough to tell you. Don't blame God when your health is a wreck because you eat 10,000 calories a day and don't work out. And you're like, why, God? I don't understand why my blood pressure.

You're Jehovah Rapha, I need your promises in my life. Why? Too many people want the benefits of God without leaving the darkness. Come on, come on, come on, come on. When we embrace the darkness and refuse to come into the light, don't be surprised. Listen, scripture calls it ever-increasing witness. In other words, our sin has a gravity to it. In other words, the sin you're doing today is not the sin you did five years ago, it's much worse. So don't be surprised when we embrace the darkness that your sin is worse, your addiction is worse, your relationships crumble, your health starts falling apart, depression crushes your soul. Don't be surprised by those things. All the way to the point that the ones who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be surprised by that, guys. But that's what it looks like when you're born in the darkness and you refuse to come into the light. But to those who are immersed in darkness, good news. Today, God is inviting you to step into the light. Amen. Because you may have been born into the darkness, but were born again to be immersed in the light. You may have been born into the swirl of culture and movies and music and conversations

in the world all around you in the darkness, but you can be born again to walk in the light. Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians 4. He says, for God who said let light shine out of the darkness, in other words, Genesis at the very beginning, made his light then to shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. In other words, he's come to illuminate our soul. And here's what it looks like. That means that when we are honest about our condition, and it sounds something like this. Honesty before God sounds something like this. God, I have been in the darkness. I am a sinner in need of a savior. I make a really bad God. And I'm just here to confess that I've tried to save myself and I cannot do it. That is not weakness. That's what it looks like to come into the light. That's actually strength. It's honesty before the Lord. And I encourage you, maybe the world around you would poke fun at you like that, but that is the best thing for your soul that you could ever do is begin in this place of just saying, God, I'm coming into the light. In other words, look at me. I'm gonna let you look at me.

And there are things that I've been in that are just broken. And God, I need you to look at that. And I'm bringing it to you because I've tried to fix it, but I can't fix it. That's honesty. And then it moves from honesty to trust. Here's what trust looks like. I believe you are God, tied to take away the sin of my life, the evil of my life, of my life. It was pinned to the cross, the evil in my life. And so, God, right now, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, that life is his. And so, God, I ask that you would give me that life to create a new me, God. And so, when we move from honesty to trust, then what happens is we've stepped into the light, and then the light of God steps on. on the inside of us. This is not some sort of Christ consciousness. This is not you arrived at this new level of revelation. No, this is outside of you that the kingdom of heaven now has moved inside of your life. And now the life of Christ has become your life and you are born again. You got out of your grave and now you are a new person. Colossians 1, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Good news. You and I are no longer people of darkness. Now through faith in Christ, we are people of the light. You're a child of the light. You're a child of the kingdom of God. You don't belong to the chains. You walk in victory over those things. And what we know is this, we can't take credit for any of that. That's what John 3, 21 is actually trying to say is when we get out of the darkness and step into the light, we take a look at our life and be like, I didn't do any of this. This is all God. It's just God's grace on my life. Come on, here's what I know. God's the one who called me. God's the one who saved me. God's the one who washed me. God's the one who redeemed me. I did not save myself. I'm like the one sheep who went astray. Y'all ever watched that video of the shepherd who goes, finds the sheep, gets them out of the hole, puts them down, the sheep jumps right back into the hole. Yeah, that was me. And that was you. Like we can't save ourselves.

We're completely incapable of saving ourselves. So Jesus stepped into the darkness and pulled us out of the darkness into his glorious light. He gets all the credit for it. And at the point that we say, well, yeah, I said yes though. That's what theologians would call provenient grace, which means he put the grace soup in your life, which then created the condition that softened your heart that you could even say yes to Jesus. Here's what I mean. Here's what I mean. Think about this. I was thinking about this in my own life. Think back, if you're born again, think back to the moment that you said yes to Jesus. Okay, here's what I'm gonna tell you is your testimony about that moment. Goodness gracious, that was all God. Because think about this, 10 minutes before, like when you walked into that room, when you started that conversation, if it was at a Starbucks or in a church service, you had no intention of saying yes to Jesus. You were mocking people 10 minutes before. You were sinning last night, whatever it was. And then you walk in there and the words start happening. And you find yourself nodding. And you're like, oh, why am I nodding? Like outside watching yourself.

And your heart's like, oh, I've been feeling something on the inside, what is happening to me, right? And then this moment comes and you're like, yes, I believe in Jesus. And you're like, what is happening? I used to make fun of people like me. And you look back on that and you're like, that was all God. That was all God. He took out a heart of stone. He put in a heart of flesh that could feel and love and be loved. And he brought man of darkness into life. He gets all the credit for it. I am saved by grace through faith, not my own works. Or else I could brag about it. So all I can do is brag on Jesus. Like he gets all the credit for all of it. For all of it. Which is why we still pray for our friends. Which is why we still pray for our neighbors and our coworkers and our mamas and our daddies and our brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces. Why? Because, don't be intimidated by how hard their heart is. They were like you were 10 minutes before you got born again. And I believe that God can take out their heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. That's why we pray.

That's why we fast. That's why we still tell the good news. All right? And so I just want to encourage you guys. You're born again to walk in the light. So view every single time that you sit down and open up the Bible. View every single time that you come in here. See it as another opportunity to walk further out of the darkness in that area and to step into the light. Every time we talk about something, don't harden your heart. Don't turn a deaf ear. Because that's you retreating and going back into the darkness. Whenever we talk about something, say actually yeah, I'm gonna cut that tie to that old part of my life. I'm gonna stop hiding that place. I'm gonna stop putting on some nice church clothes on a Sunday. But I still got this part of my life that I'm not gonna let Jesus touch. No. When the Holy Spirit puts his finger on that, I'm actually gonna come out of the darkness and I'm gonna hold that thing up and be like God, this is, I'm actually accustomed to this part of my life, but I know it's not supposed to be there, so be gentle. Why?

Because we refuse to be hearers only and not doers and deceive ourselves. That's the problem. Most of us are way overeducated beyond our level of obedience. So I want to caution you against listening to everybody in the Mama's podcast because then you trick yourself into thinking you're doing it, but you're only doing 5% of it, okay? But whenever you're exposed, whenever the light of God is exposed to, your sin is brought out, man, don't turn a deaf ear to that thing. Don't harden your heart. Just say Jesus, it's scary, but I give you full access. And when we do that, living in the light brings the reward of God. Here's what I mean. When we keep covenant with our spouse, the blessing of God comes upon our marriage. All the statistics say that, even the completely earthly statistics say that couples who stay together are actually happier than the couples who get a divorce. Now, listen, you got to process that your own way, but what I'm saying is this. God honors the covenant, and when we honor the covenant, the hand of God comes upon us.

comes upon that thing, I've just seen it. Listen, when we tithe, God's blessing comes upon our finances. And some of you would argue with that, but that's because one, you don't trust the scriptures. Two, you don't talk to the thousands of people out there in the lobby that I do who tell me their stories about what it looked like when they trusted God with their money, and the hand of God came upon their money. When I train up my children in the way that they should go, you better believe that God's hand comes upon that, comes upon my kids. Listen, when my wife picks up my phone and I don't panic, that's its own reward. Some of y'all, when your wife, and you're like, you're going, did I delete the thing? Did I clear my web browser? Did I have a deleted that conversation with that girl? When I'm the same person in every room that I go in, that's its own blessing, because I don't have to keep track of the lies that I've told which people. Just be an integrous person. When I sin and encounter the weakness of my flesh, but then I repent quickly, I get a clean conscious that's been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus, and now nothing enters my intimacy with God. Let me tell you guys, don't allow sin to rob you

of the beauty of a life with God. You can encounter God in the land of the living. There's really nothing quite like being born again and walking in the light. So listen, here's what it looks like. We are born into the darkness, immersed. We are born again to be immersed in the light, and baptism, water baptism, is the outward sign that we're now living in the light. And this is especially pertinent for us today, but it's not completely separated from this conversation. Really cool. Right after Jesus finishes his conversation with Nicodemus, we get literally the next verse, verse 22, here it is. After this, after the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized, and baptized. So after we learn that God has graciously stepped into the darkness and rescued us and brought us out of the chains and slavery and condemnation and death, he's brought us into his marvelous light, what's the next thing that Jesus does? He baptizes people, okay? So here's where we gotta level set, just real quick. You are born again 100% and only through faith in Jesus. Okay, let me, the baptism does not save you.

Water, I'm sorry, I hate to break it to you guys. We did not get this water from the Sea of Galilee. We didn't get some holy oil from the Garden of Gethsemane and some water from the Vatican. We just mix it all up and we said, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. No, that is Norcross Municipal Water System. I'm sorry, I mean, there's nothing magical about that water, okay? Water does not save you, blood saves you. The blood of Jesus is what saves you, that is it. That is it, that is it, that is it. The thief hanging on the cross with Jesus. Jesus says, today, you'll be with me in paradise. And it wasn't like the guys got him off the cross and then baptized him and then put him back on the cross. You know what I'm saying? Water does not save you, Jesus saves you alone, okay? But baptism is the next step. Everybody say next step. Next step. It's the next step after salvation. So when you were born again, you were rescued out of the kingdom of darkness, brought into the kingdom of the sun, but water baptism is in essence, the outward sign of the inward reality. You're showing outwardly what's already happened inwardly. And what you're saying is, I wasn't brought out of darkness to live in the light for one day, one week, one month.

No, when I go down in the water, that is me officially severing the old life. I am not who I used to be. The power of God is coming in to break off every tie, every identity, every false religion, all the brokenness, the shame, the guilt, the condemnation, all this stuff. I'm leaving it in the water and I'm coming out to be a brand new person, okay? And here's where we need the reminder. I hate to break it to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. This, if you get water baptism, I'm sorry. This week, you're probably gonna sin again. I'm sorry. So don't come up to me next week with tears in your eyes and be like, oh shoot, I need to be baptized again because I messed it all up. No, listen. You are not saved by the blood of Jesus and then you maintain it by your works. No, the blood of Jesus, past, present, and future. Your works bring death. They are filthy rags in the presence and the eyes of God, okay? It is the blood of Christ that covers you. This water baptism is the symbol. It's symbolic of saying, I am not who I used to be.

Now, here's the deal. You will still encounter the frailty of your flesh. You will still sin from time to time, but you need to hear it from me. No longer is that sin over you. You are now over that sin. You're walking in victory over that thing. You are not held bondage to it by the power of the Holy Spirit. You are living an incremental, incremental. exponential holiness, the one who truly began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion, because you were not who you used to be. And this is the reason that we baptize. Here it is, that God chose this word. In the Greek, baptizo, means to plunge, dip, or immerse. And when you are immersed in something, it becomes what you think about, what you talk about, what your friendship groups actually look like, how you base your past, your present, your future, how you spend your money, how you spend your time, what's your words, what are the things you set your eyes to. When you're immersed in something, it changes your whole life. And God chose that word immersion to represent our whole life with God. What I'm saying is, I'm submitting all of me to all of God, which is why we don't sprinkle. We don't sprinkle because we don't want you to be saved in spots. It's a preacher joke, okay? Here's what it's saying. We used to be immersed in darkness. Now, we're immersed in Christ and the light of God for the rest of our life. Because the truth is, you can have some knowledge of information about Jesus. You can even go to church on a Sunday. But until you're fully immersed in Jesus, your life will not fully change. All right? If you've never heard the story before, very meaningful for this moment. During the Crusades, they hired knights to go and fight on behalf of the church. Dark days, okay? Not revisiting that. But what they would do is, before they sent them off to go and kill people in the name of God, they would make them ride through a

river as a form of group baptism. Because now we're sending them off to go kill people. So they would ride through. And as they were riding through, very famously, they all pulled out their swords. And they held their swords above the water. Because they knew, I'm about to do some pretty crazy things with this sword that aren't gonna please God. So God, you can have all of me, except for this sword. And so, in essence, the sword was their instrument of salvation. The sword was the thing that they refused to give up. Which meant, let me be make a strong statement, it means their baptism counted for nothing. Because if I'm not gonna go all the way under, don't go under. If I'm gonna hold anything out of the water, don't even go under. And I've seen this. If we could take a 4D spiritual x-ray machine up to the water baptism thing. I've seen it before, when people go under and they hold their wallet out. God, you can have all of me, except for the money. They hold their watch out. God, you can have all of me, except for my time. They hold their eyes out. God, you can have all of me, except for what I do with my eyes, or my hands, or my feet. God, you can have all of me, except for my family. You can have all of me, except for my possessions. We hold the things out. No guys, all of you goes under. And you make a clean break with your past. In other words, whatever religious garbage you've been in up to this point, whatever religious relics you have, take it off. Don't go into that water up there with your yin yang. Don't go in the water with your hamsa hand, your evil eye. Don't go in that water with skulls on you. No man, that's the old you. That's the old you. You are not who you used to be. No man, that thing's gone. There's a clean break. I am not adding Jesus to be one of many gods. We are not Hindus. Come on. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through him. Not him and a million others. No, only Jesus. Only. When you get in the water, you're saying, only Jesus. Only Jesus. Now here's the deal. Some of you are like, man, that feels a little extra. Why God? Why isn't it just enough that I pray a prayer? Here's what I'd say. Some of us have been very public in our life in the darkness, and it's time to be very public in our life in the light. You used to be an evangelist for the

darkness. Now you need to be an evangelist for the light. You need to use the same energy you had for the darkness to now use that same energy for the light. You were very proud of the darkness. Don't be quiet about Jesus. No, this is going out there and being like, man, my whole life belongs to Jesus. He changed me. I'm a different person than I used to be. Come on. And here's how scripture would say it. I'll end with this. Colossians 2.12. For you were buried. Maybe you've never seen baptism like this. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized, and with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. Okay, what happened? When Jesus died on the cross, he was put in the tomb. The third day, stone rolled away, he comes back out. Life. When you go down into the water, you are buried with Christ, and then you come back out, going down with the old, coming back up with the new, to now live a new life in the light of Christ for the rest of your life. That's what baptism is. It's not this empty symbol sort of thing. No, no, no. You are literally living out in vivid illustration your death and your resurrection in Jesus' name. That is what baptism is. Baptism isn't like, well, my parents told me to do it. No, no, no. If you went through a confirmation and you're like 12, 13, you didn't even believe in Jesus, but now you do, you need to go into the tank for yourself and just make a very clear line. I, now, my parents aren't making this decision, I'm making this decision that I belong to Jesus for the rest of my life. And the old me has died and the new me has come back to life in Jesus' name. And I'd say it like this, guys. If you're still dealing with guilt from things that you did in your past, shame, if you're still dealing with the same sins you dealt with five years ago, 10, 15, 20 years ago,

I would maybe propose this. Could it be that you haven't given your old life a proper burial? Go down with the old and leave the old you in the tank and come back up, and here's what's gonna happen. This next week, the devil's gonna get in your ear and be like, hey, you used to do this and this and this, trying to guilt and shame you, and you can actually agree with him. Be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, the old Johnson used to do that. But guess where I left him? In the tank. I'm not who I used to be. I've been resurrected with Christ, and the kingdom of God now lives within me, not because of me, but because of him. It's only possible because of him. Why? Because at one time, we were immersed in darkness, and then we were born again to be immersed in life, and then we went into the waters of baptism to wash away the darkness and give our old life a proper burial. And this, guys, for some of you, this is your lying in the sand moment. This is your day of saying, I'm not going back. And here's what I love about baptism. This is actually your physical demonstration that you can look back on for the rest of your life

and say, I'm officially a new person, because I went down with the old and came back up with the new, and now I live for Jesus for the rest of my life. Many of us have already made that. Many more are gonna do it today. Let's bow our heads and let's talk to God about it. Jesus, we love you. And I thank you, God, just on behalf of everybody here. I thank you that you did not abandon us in the darkness. God, we are not people of the darkness any longer because the sun has come, the light of God has come to illuminate the darkness, to rescue the captives, and we no longer belong to the kingdom of the enemy. Now we've been brought into the kingdom of the dearly beloved son, Jesus Christ. We are new people. We are not who we used to be. And I believe that this is the question the Holy Spirit wants us to wrestle with just for a minute. What are we still trying to keep hidden from Jesus? What are we still trying to manage? Where are we still trying to be our own God and manage that thing? Because we need this revelation, guys. Whatever we are keeping hidden is actually controlling us. You're not controlling it, it's controlling you. And Jesus came so that we could have life and life to the fullest, not so that we could come in weak in, weak out, still in chains.

He came to set us free. And so today's the day to bring the ugly stuff into the light. Today's the day to come out of that cycle of sin, to come out of the cycle of self-medication through pills or the bottle or whatever it is, come out of the cycle of the search for love, come out of the cycle of clinging to sadness, come out of those intellectual arguments or self-idolatry of trying to be my own God. Today's the day we're coming out of the darkness or stepping into the light. And I love this, I love this about Jesus. I love this about Jesus, is that he will meet you in the dark, but he refuses to leave you in the dark. And right now, this rescue mission is in full effect for some of us inside this space. Thank you, God. So here's the deal. If you are ready to be honest with God, I'm gonna invite you to pray with me. Some of the family around you is gonna pray with you, and maybe it sounds like this. Let's pray like this, say, Jesus, I've been living in the dark, and my life is full of things that I'm not proud of. I am a sinner in need of a savior. And right now, I step into the light. Shine on me.

Whew. That's what honesty sounds like, guys. God, I've been trying to save myself, but I can't do it. So right now, we move from honesty to trust. Some of you just stepped into the light, but now it's time to invite the light of Christ to step into you. Let's pray like this, say, I trust you, Jesus, to save me. You are the son of God, died on the cross to take my sin, and you rose again. You're alive. So right now, all because of Jesus, I receive forgiveness for my evil, and I receive forgiveness for my sin. receive the love of God. I am clean and right now I'm a child of God. I'm a new person and I will live in God's light for the rest of my life. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Come on, let's celebrate that.