1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:09,680 We focused in on a theme that really matters—faith that lasts, and a faith that lasts is really 2 00:00:09,680 –> 00:00:12,920 the only kind of faith that’s ever worth having. 3 00:00:12,920 –> 00:00:21,400 No one is saved by a passing interest in Jesus Christ, and so we have looked together at 4 00:00:21,400 –> 00:00:27,959 three characters, drifting, defiant and doubting, and I think that we’ve seen something of 5 00:00:27,959 –> 00:00:34,040 ourselves in these characters as we have listened to what God has to say to each of them from 6 00:00:34,040 –> 00:00:37,180 Hebrews and chapter 6. 7 00:00:37,180 –> 00:00:41,639 And in this last session that we have together this morning, I want to introduce you to a 8 00:00:41,639 –> 00:00:49,040 fourth character, and my prayer from the heart is that each and every one of us will be increasingly 9 00:00:49,040 –> 00:00:50,040 like her. 10 00:00:50,040 –> 00:00:53,439 She is not drifting. 11 00:00:53,480 –> 00:01:01,240 The basic principles of the Word of God are clearly established in her life. 12 00:01:01,240 –> 00:01:07,699 She knows that she is a sinner and she knows that she needs a Savior and that she has a 13 00:01:07,699 –> 00:01:12,279 Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ, so she’s not defiant. 14 00:01:12,279 –> 00:01:17,220 She’s not among those who are saying no to the Lord Jesus Christ, not among those 15 00:01:17,220 –> 00:01:20,260 who refuse His Lordship in her life. 16 00:01:20,260 –> 00:01:26,199 She’s not crucifying again the Son of God to her own harm or holding Him up to contempt 17 00:01:26,199 –> 00:01:28,360 and she is not doubting. 18 00:01:28,360 –> 00:01:34,680 She believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and she knows that she belongs to Him and she 19 00:01:34,680 –> 00:01:39,580 is thankful for it and so I’m going to call her today disciple. 20 00:01:39,580 –> 00:01:49,760 And again, my prayer for every one of you is that you will be a true, lifelong disciple 21 00:01:49,820 –> 00:01:52,800 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 22 00:01:52,800 –> 00:01:58,919 And here’s what I want to say to you from John in chapter 6 in this last session. 23 00:01:58,919 –> 00:02:10,160 If you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you really follow after Him, you will come 24 00:02:10,160 –> 00:02:17,839 under great pressure and it will keep coming at you all of your life, I promise you. 25 00:02:18,039 –> 00:02:22,839 And you need to know how to stand against it. 26 00:02:22,839 –> 00:02:30,160 Now John chapter 6 tells the story, the whole chapter tells the story, of the day that Jesus 27 00:02:30,160 –> 00:02:32,559 lost His crowd. 28 00:02:32,559 –> 00:02:37,440 The story begins in fact, the previous day, the beginning of John 6 is the story of when 29 00:02:37,440 –> 00:02:43,639 Jesus fed 5,000 people miraculously from five loaves and two fish. 30 00:02:43,639 –> 00:02:48,899 It was a stunning unveiling of the glory of the Lord. 31 00:02:48,899 –> 00:02:53,820 And people were so impressed that John tells us verse 15 of chapter 6 that they wanted 32 00:02:53,820 –> 00:02:59,559 at that moment, in the desert after the miracle to take Jesus by force and make him king. 33 00:02:59,559 –> 00:03:03,160 In other words, they wanted to politicize Jesus. 34 00:03:03,160 –> 00:03:07,940 They wanted to capture Jesus for their own agenda, and Jesus will never be captured for 35 00:03:07,940 –> 00:03:10,360 anyone’s agenda. 36 00:03:10,360 –> 00:03:12,800 And so He slips away. 37 00:03:13,100 –> 00:03:16,899 And he goes to the other side of the lake on the boat. 38 00:03:16,899 –> 00:03:21,360 And the next morning, these people who have been miraculously fed, they come looking for 39 00:03:21,360 –> 00:03:23,100 Him, they don’t find Him. 40 00:03:23,100 –> 00:03:27,020 And so John records how there’s a little flotilla of boats that are there. 41 00:03:27,020 –> 00:03:31,160 It’s a kind of aquatic uber service from the first century. 42 00:03:31,160 –> 00:03:36,259 And all these people get on the boats, and they come across the other side of the lake, 43 00:03:36,259 –> 00:03:38,779 and they come looking for Jesus. 44 00:03:38,779 –> 00:03:43,119 And when they find him, on the other side of the lake, Jesus begins to teach them. 45 00:03:43,119 –> 00:03:44,679 He says, verse 27, 46 00:03:58,339 –> 00:04:03,139 Now these people then had eaten the food that perishes, the bread and the fish, they’d 47 00:04:03,160 –> 00:04:08,639 eaten that the previous day and Jesus begins to speak to them about what lasts forever. 48 00:04:08,660 –> 00:04:12,740 What endures to eternal life. 49 00:04:12,759 –> 00:04:18,739 Now what happens next as you follow the story of the chapter, is that the crowd that were 50 00:04:18,739 –> 00:04:28,820 so impressed by Jesus at first, so enthusiastic about Jesus at one point, they take offence 51 00:04:28,820 –> 00:04:34,140 at what he then says to them and I want you to notice particularly the three things that 52 00:04:34,320 –> 00:04:40,359 Jesus says that really offended these people. The first is the uniqueness of the incarnation. 53 00:04:40,359 –> 00:04:48,239 Verse 41, the Jews grumbled about him, about Jesus why, because he said, I am the bread 54 00:04:48,239 –> 00:04:54,899 that came down from heaven. Now you see that’s something that no one else in the history 55 00:04:54,899 –> 00:05:00,179 of the world could ever have said. That puts Jesus in category of his own with no peers 56 00:05:00,179 –> 00:05:05,000 and no rivals. I am the bread that came down from heaven. Who else in all of the history 57 00:05:05,000 –> 00:05:11,880 of the world could ever have said such a thing. That makes Jesus unique, and they don’t 58 00:05:11,880 –> 00:05:18,359 like that. So they say is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know, 59 00:05:18,359 –> 00:05:23,859 how can he now say I have come down from heaven? So the uniqueness of the incarnation, that 60 00:05:23,859 –> 00:05:27,640 Jesus is unlike any other person that has ever lived, that offended them. 61 00:05:28,299 –> 00:05:33,739 Second, they were offended by the necessity of the atonement. Jesus says to them verse 62 00:05:33,739 –> 00:05:41,380 56, Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him. Now the 63 00:05:41,380 –> 00:05:46,299 flesh and the blood of Jesus of course, are a clear reference to the sacrifice of Jesus 64 00:05:46,299 –> 00:05:53,399 when he stood in our place and bore our sins and died for us on the cross. And it is by 65 00:05:53,459 –> 00:05:59,700 believing in or feeding on as Jesus puts it here, on him that we become his and the life 66 00:05:59,700 –> 00:06:07,320 that is in him comes to be in us. And, verse 60, when many of the disciples heard it, that’s 67 00:06:07,320 –> 00:06:14,320 what he said about the atonement, they said, oh, this is a hard saying. Who can listen 68 00:06:14,760 –> 00:06:21,760 to it? So, they did not like the necessity and the centrality of the atonement of Jesus 69 00:06:25,239 –> 00:06:32,239 dying on the cross for our sins. It offended them. And then the third thing that offended 70 00:06:33,440 –> 00:06:38,440 these folks, who initially were very impressed with Jesus was dependence upon grace. Look 71 00:06:38,459 –> 00:06:45,420 at it. It’s very clear, verse 65. Jesus said, this is why I told you that no one can come 72 00:06:45,420 –> 00:06:52,420 to me unless it is granted him by the father, and after this many of his disciples turned 73 00:06:54,899 –> 00:07:01,899 back and no longer walked with him. Now friends, the world seems to be always 74 00:07:01,899 –> 00:07:08,899 changing, but in the most profound ways the world never changes. In the most profound 75 00:07:08,940 –> 00:07:15,940 ways the world is always the same and today in the 21st century in your generation and 76 00:07:16,380 –> 00:07:23,220 in mine, the world is still offended by the same three things that caused offence right 77 00:07:23,220 –> 00:07:28,559 back there in the first century. We live in a culture that boldly proclaims, 78 00:07:28,559 –> 00:07:35,480 that we are all able to be our own saviour and therefore our own lord and therefore we 79 00:07:35,480 –> 00:07:40,179 don’t need the unique One who comes down from Heaven. In fact we deny his uniqueness 80 00:07:40,179 –> 00:07:46,519 at all. That’s what the culture does. The culture loudly proclaims that in our hearts 81 00:07:46,519 –> 00:07:50,500 we are all essentially good. If you dig down deep enough you’ll always find good at the 82 00:07:50,500 –> 00:07:56,399 bottom of the heart and therefore why in the world would we need an atonement for sin? 83 00:07:56,420 –> 00:08:02,339 And our culture loudly proclaims that we all have our own truth, that it all lies within 84 00:08:02,339 –> 00:08:09,760 us, and therefore essentially life is a journey, and why would anyone need, therefore, to depend 85 00:08:09,760 –> 00:08:16,100 upon God, if the truth already lies inherently within you? 86 00:08:16,100 –> 00:08:20,799 And so this vast crowd of people who have experienced a miracle, remember just the previous 87 00:08:21,079 –> 00:08:25,480 And so this vast crowd of people who have experienced a miracle, remember just the previous 88 00:08:25,480 –> 00:08:28,640 day – they’ve eaten the loaves and the fish, then they’ve come across on the little 89 00:08:28,640 –> 00:08:33,059 boats to seek Jesus – they’re so interested in learning more, and He speaks to them and 90 00:08:33,059 –> 00:08:39,059 when it gets to what His message really is – the uniqueness of the Incarnation, the 91 00:08:39,059 –> 00:08:43,479 necessity of the Atonement, and our absolute dependence upon His grace – they say, 92 00:08:43,539 –> 00:08:47,400 We are so out of here. 93 00:08:47,440 –> 00:08:52,320 And this vast crowd of people, thousands of people – thousands – who have shown some 94 00:08:52,320 –> 00:08:55,880 interest in Jesus, now are offended, and so verse 66 – 95 00:09:00,280 –> 00:09:04,919 disciples – notice that word, people had followed Him. People you never would have 96 00:09:04,919 –> 00:09:13,679 expected this from. They turned back and they no longer walked with Him. 97 00:09:13,679 –> 00:09:21,359 Now friends, you really don’t need me to tell you that we are living at a time when 98 00:09:21,359 –> 00:09:28,520 unprecedented numbers of people are abandoning a faith in Jesus that they once professed. 99 00:09:28,520 –> 00:09:37,179 The secularization of the culture in which we live is progressing at an astonishing pace. 100 00:09:37,179 –> 00:09:43,940 And what that means is that your experience throughout your lifetime is that you will 101 00:09:43,940 –> 00:09:49,260 be shaken to the core, by people who once professed faith, and you thought were really 102 00:09:49,260 –> 00:09:52,460 the lords, and they walk away and they don’t want anything else to do with it. And it will 103 00:09:52,460 –> 00:09:58,419 shake you. Every time it happens to someone you know, 104 00:09:58,419 –> 00:10:04,140 and someone that you love. And remember for the disciples, this was more than simply a 105 00:10:04,140 –> 00:10:16,359 cultural pressure. These events took place in Galilee, a rural area, Bethsaida, a very 106 00:10:17,359 –> 00:10:26,359 small town. And so what we’re talking about a very small population and many of the people 107 00:10:26,359 –> 00:10:31,719 who walked away would have been neighbors, extended family members of the disciples. 108 00:10:31,719 –> 00:10:36,179 It’s one thing to talk about the drift of the culture. It’s another thing when people 109 00:10:36,179 –> 00:10:43,919 you know and love walk away from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 110 00:10:43,979 –> 00:10:49,940 And how are you gonna stand when that happens to you? 111 00:10:49,940 –> 00:10:54,979 Now this scene and I want you to try and picture it with me for a moment in your mind’s eye. 112 00:10:54,979 –> 00:11:05,059 This scene of thousands of people, thousands walking away from Jesus by the shore of the 113 00:11:05,059 –> 00:11:07,080 lake. 114 00:11:07,080 –> 00:11:11,020 It speaks so powerfully to us today. 115 00:11:11,020 –> 00:11:17,820 The vast majority of people in our culture today, absolutely convinced that we can all 116 00:11:17,820 –> 00:11:20,640 be our own savior. 117 00:11:20,640 –> 00:11:24,119 Absolutely convinced that we’re all inherently good. 118 00:11:24,119 –> 00:11:28,320 Absolutely convinced that we all have out own truth. 119 00:11:28,320 –> 00:11:30,539 And here are you. 120 00:11:30,619 –> 00:11:34,880 When you’re going to take a stand believing in the uniqueness of Jesus, the uniqueness 121 00:11:34,880 –> 00:11:37,099 of the incarnation. 122 00:11:37,099 –> 00:11:40,299 The necessity of the atonement. 123 00:11:40,299 –> 00:11:43,760 And dependence upon grace. 124 00:11:43,760 –> 00:11:47,960 You can see you are going to be under enormous pressure, it’s going to last all of your 125 00:11:47,960 –> 00:11:49,239 life. 126 00:11:49,239 –> 00:11:53,460 Now picture the scene then of the thousands walking away. 127 00:11:53,460 –> 00:11:58,260 I mean, they’re not walking away quietly, they’re walking away in disgust. 128 00:11:58,260 –> 00:12:02,539 They’re spitting in the ground as they go. 129 00:12:02,539 –> 00:12:05,000 They’re outraged. 130 00:12:05,000 –> 00:12:10,679 And you’re standing with the disciples, and you’re seeing thousands walk away. 131 00:12:10,679 –> 00:12:14,940 And you say, wow look at everyone who’s no longer believing! 132 00:12:14,940 –> 00:12:16,320 How many of us are left? 133 00:12:16,320 –> 00:12:19,260 And you look around and how many are left? 134 00:12:19,260 –> 00:12:20,840 Twelve. 135 00:12:20,840 –> 00:12:26,059 And you say, well how can so many people be so wrong and so few people be right? 136 00:12:26,059 –> 00:12:29,500 You’re gonna feel that pressure in your life. 137 00:12:29,500 –> 00:12:39,919 So, John 6, verse 67, at that moment Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away 138 00:12:39,919 –> 00:12:41,460 as well? 139 00:12:41,460 –> 00:12:45,580 Now this is the question. 140 00:12:45,580 –> 00:12:54,179 How are you going to stand firm when vast numbers of other people are turning away? 141 00:12:54,200 –> 00:12:56,880 How are you going to have a faith that lasts? 142 00:12:56,880 –> 00:13:05,960 How are you going to move beyond drifting, away from defiance, and beyond doubting and 143 00:13:05,960 –> 00:13:12,159 live as a disciple of Jesus? 144 00:13:12,159 –> 00:13:18,559 And I wanted in this last session, therefore, just to leave with you very simply the marvelous 145 00:13:18,559 –> 00:13:21,539 answer that Peter gave to Jesus’ question. 146 00:13:21,580 –> 00:13:25,219 Do you want to go away as well? 147 00:13:25,219 –> 00:13:26,780 Notice three things very simply here. 148 00:13:26,780 –> 00:13:32,280 The first is, here’s how you will stand for a lifetime with Jesus. 149 00:13:32,280 –> 00:13:39,239 Because you know the richness of life with Jesus, the richness of life with Jesus. 150 00:13:39,239 –> 00:13:46,200 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? 151 00:13:46,260 –> 00:13:50,719 You have the words of eternal life. 152 00:13:50,719 –> 00:14:00,340 When I was in high school in Scotland, we had a math teacher, delightfully eccentric, 153 00:14:00,340 –> 00:14:06,380 who would give us an equation or whatever to work on and a certain amount of time for 154 00:14:06,380 –> 00:14:08,619 us to work on this thing and to resolve it. 155 00:14:08,619 –> 00:14:13,659 And he would always say the same thing after he’d finished doing his thing upfront and 156 00:14:13,659 –> 00:14:16,140 then got us to do an exercise together. 157 00:14:16,140 –> 00:14:22,200 He said, you’re going to have to get going on this because you’re short on time. 158 00:14:22,200 –> 00:14:23,820 And he said that every time. 159 00:14:23,820 –> 00:14:25,580 I mean, every day, you know? 160 00:14:25,580 –> 00:14:30,380 So of course, we helped him out as a class, you know, as soon as he said the first part 161 00:14:30,380 –> 00:14:33,460 of the tagline, you know, you’re going to have to get going on this. 162 00:14:33,460 –> 00:14:38,179 We don’t shout out because we’re short on time. 163 00:14:38,179 –> 00:14:45,479 And that phrase is embedded in my mind forever. 164 00:14:45,479 –> 00:14:51,979 Without eternal life, we would be short on time. 165 00:14:51,979 –> 00:15:00,419 Put yourself for one minute in the shoes of a person who doesn’t have eternal life. 166 00:15:00,419 –> 00:15:06,739 If you don’t have eternal life, I feel sorry for you. 167 00:15:06,739 –> 00:15:09,979 Your life is so short. 168 00:15:09,979 –> 00:15:14,739 And you will always feel that it is slipping away. 169 00:15:14,739 –> 00:15:18,700 And if the only good you’re ever going to enjoy is the good that you get hold of, now 170 00:15:18,700 –> 00:15:22,940 you are going to live with the fear of what you might miss. 171 00:15:22,940 –> 00:15:24,440 FOMO will be written all over you. 172 00:15:24,440 –> 00:15:29,580 Fear of missing out because you’ve only got this very, very little life. 173 00:15:29,580 –> 00:15:37,580 And with so little life, if something should happen to you that harms or spoils your life, 174 00:15:37,580 –> 00:15:41,280 you will feel ultimate loss. 175 00:15:41,280 –> 00:15:46,239 This life is all that I have and now it’s been spoiled! 176 00:15:46,239 –> 00:15:51,719 Without eternal life, you will inevitably be drawn to one of two alternatives. 177 00:15:51,719 –> 00:15:57,820 One would be to throw yourself into a life of indulgence. 178 00:15:58,080 –> 00:15:59,080 Try everything. 179 00:15:59,080 –> 00:16:02,679 Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. 180 00:16:02,679 –> 00:16:06,260 I’ve only got a little life so I’m just gonna try everything! 181 00:16:06,260 –> 00:16:09,979 Or, if you don’t do that, you go the other way. 182 00:16:09,979 –> 00:16:17,739 You will live with fear, caution, grasping onto this little life that you have, desperately 183 00:16:17,739 –> 00:16:21,919 trying to make sure that you don’t let it slip through your fingers. 184 00:16:21,919 –> 00:16:27,479 Now, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, 185 00:16:28,340 –> 00:16:31,559 think about the reality of your position in Christ. 186 00:16:31,559 –> 00:16:38,679 You have eternal life! 187 00:16:38,679 –> 00:16:48,320 You have life, stored up, inexhaustible, neverending. 188 00:16:48,320 –> 00:16:54,280 Pleasures greater by far than all the joys of life and love that you can experience here 189 00:16:54,280 –> 00:16:57,200 lie ahead of you. 190 00:16:57,200 –> 00:17:02,739 When you live your life here knowing this is your position, you will be in an entirely 191 00:17:02,739 –> 00:17:05,239 different place. 192 00:17:05,239 –> 00:17:12,140 If you know that you have eternal life, you will feel that you can give the life that 193 00:17:12,140 –> 00:17:15,680 you have now freely to the One who gave His life for you. 194 00:17:15,680 –> 00:17:20,640 You will be freed from this terrible fear. 195 00:17:20,640 –> 00:17:25,400 The haunting fear that somehow you might be missing out. 196 00:17:25,400 –> 00:17:34,800 And if something should come into your life that spoils, or harms, or hurts, or wounds, 197 00:17:34,800 –> 00:17:39,500 and you no longer have the life that you thought that you would have in this world, well you 198 00:17:39,500 –> 00:17:41,560 will grieve. 199 00:17:41,560 –> 00:17:47,640 But you will grieve knowing that you have an inheritance that can never spoil or fade 200 00:17:47,640 –> 00:17:50,119 and it’s kept in heaven for you. 201 00:17:50,119 –> 00:17:56,260 And when you feel that your ears are slipping away you will say, I am getting nearer to 202 00:17:56,260 –> 00:18:01,099 incomparable joy. 203 00:18:01,099 –> 00:18:10,380 The towel is a really important symbol and a very wonderful one here at Taylor. 204 00:18:10,380 –> 00:18:17,420 Jesus took the towel and He washed the disciples’ feet. 205 00:18:17,420 –> 00:18:19,680 The disciples’ feet. 206 00:18:19,680 –> 00:18:25,739 I mean, it’s not that difficult to love and serve people who are with you and for 207 00:18:25,739 –> 00:18:28,199 you. 208 00:18:28,199 –> 00:18:34,119 What’s really hard is to love and serve people who don’t understand you, to love and serve 209 00:18:34,439 –> 00:18:40,060 people who let you down, to love and serve people who don’t show up when you need them 210 00:18:40,060 –> 00:18:41,479 the most. 211 00:18:41,479 –> 00:18:46,420 I mean, you think about it, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, that means He washed 212 00:18:46,420 –> 00:18:53,079 the feet of Thomas who doubted Him, He washed the feet of Peter who denied Him and He washed 213 00:18:53,079 –> 00:18:56,560 the feet of Judas who betrayed Him. 214 00:18:56,560 –> 00:18:58,760 How did Jesus do that? 215 00:18:58,760 –> 00:19:03,880 Well actually, John tells us how Jesus did that. 216 00:19:03,880 –> 00:19:10,079 It says very clearly, John 13 in verse 3, Jesus knowing, so we’re being pointed to 217 00:19:10,079 –> 00:19:15,780 something that Jesus knew in the depth of His being, knowing that the Father had given 218 00:19:15,780 –> 00:19:23,280 all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going back to God. 219 00:19:23,280 –> 00:19:28,500 You see that’s how He rose from the supper, laid aside His outer garments and took a 220 00:19:28,500 –> 00:19:32,459 towel and tied it around His waist. 221 00:19:32,459 –> 00:19:33,520 How did He do it? 222 00:19:33,579 –> 00:19:37,160 He knew He was going back to God. 223 00:19:37,920 –> 00:19:43,300 And knowing this, He gave Himself to washing the disciples’ feet. 224 00:19:43,300 –> 00:19:51,000 Now I’m saying to you that in the same way when you know that you have eternal life, 225 00:19:51,000 –> 00:19:56,739 you will be free then to pour out your life in service for Jesus Christ. 226 00:19:56,739 –> 00:19:58,380 That’s the key. 227 00:19:58,380 –> 00:20:01,660 You got to know how rich you are in Jesus Christ if you’re gonna pour out your life 228 00:20:01,660 –> 00:20:03,339 in service. 229 00:20:03,339 –> 00:20:07,219 You got to be able to know and say, as it says in the New Testament, all things are 230 00:20:07,219 –> 00:20:08,579 yours. 231 00:20:08,579 –> 00:20:13,500 Life, death, the present, the future, all things are yours and you are Christ and Christ 232 00:20:13,500 –> 00:20:14,500 is God. 233 00:20:14,500 –> 00:20:17,180 You are rich in life! 234 00:20:18,599 –> 00:20:22,619 And when you know that you are more rich in life even than you can fathom, you will be 235 00:20:22,619 –> 00:20:32,420 free to go out and to give yourself in serving the Lord Jesus Christ for a lifetime irrespective 236 00:20:32,420 –> 00:20:35,660 of what it costs. 237 00:20:35,660 –> 00:20:39,780 And then there’s a second thing that you need to know as well and it’s in Peter’s answer 238 00:20:39,780 –> 00:20:41,160 here. 239 00:20:41,160 –> 00:20:48,099 You need to know first the richness of life with Jesus, but remember too, the poverty 240 00:20:48,099 –> 00:20:50,560 of life without Jesus. 241 00:20:50,560 –> 00:20:52,979 Siw Notice what Peter says here. 242 00:20:52,979 –> 00:20:54,400 Jesus says, well, what about you? 243 00:20:54,400 –> 00:20:56,060 There’s thousands going away. 244 00:20:56,060 –> 00:20:58,339 The culture is secularizing. 245 00:20:58,339 –> 00:20:59,339 What about you? 246 00:20:59,339 –> 00:21:01,900 You want to leave me too? 247 00:21:01,900 –> 00:21:06,420 And Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? 248 00:21:06,420 –> 00:21:14,160 Oh you see the point of what he’s saying, Lord, what’s the alternative to you? 249 00:21:14,160 –> 00:21:15,780 To whom shall we go? 250 00:21:15,780 –> 00:21:24,640 If you will not live for Jesus, for whom and for what will you live? 251 00:21:24,640 –> 00:21:33,540 I want to read you a testimony of a student who grew up in the church that I serve. 252 00:21:33,540 –> 00:21:37,040 I know him very well and love him. 253 00:21:37,040 –> 00:21:43,780 And he wrote his testimony to me, and I quote it with his permission, it’s moving for 254 00:21:43,780 –> 00:21:48,339 me to read as I think of the journey that he went on. 255 00:21:48,339 –> 00:21:51,140 So, let me just read this testimony to you. 256 00:21:51,140 –> 00:21:53,819 I’m sure you will relate to it well. 257 00:21:53,819 –> 00:22:01,260 He says, I knew from the time I was about 12 that there was something inside of me that 258 00:22:01,260 –> 00:22:04,459 wanted to run my own life. 259 00:22:04,459 –> 00:22:10,699 I felt something like a mass of impulses and a desire for power. 260 00:22:10,699 –> 00:22:17,939 In college I heard all the time about how these impulses were there to be let loose. 261 00:22:17,939 –> 00:22:23,219 I heard from therapists and counselors and an endless tidal wave of professors that the 262 00:22:23,219 –> 00:22:26,599 denial of the self was the same as repression. 263 00:22:26,599 –> 00:22:33,079 They told me I was damaged by my faith, that my faith made me naive. 264 00:22:33,079 –> 00:22:34,640 The attitude was very simple. 265 00:22:34,640 –> 00:22:39,459 Deep down you know that nothing you do matters, so you might as well have some fun before 266 00:22:39,459 –> 00:22:42,079 you disappear forever. 267 00:22:42,079 –> 00:22:46,560 My graduate-level work had me reading a lot of post-modernist writings. 268 00:22:47,020 –> 00:22:53,099 I learned that all the good things in the world are actually oppressive power structures, 269 00:22:53,099 –> 00:22:58,099 that God was a patriarchal lie to be killed off right away, that there is no such thing 270 00:22:58,099 –> 00:23:02,260 as evil, and consequently no such thing as good. 271 00:23:02,260 –> 00:23:06,380 For the first year of this reading I simply ignored it, but I couldn’t reject it all 272 00:23:06,380 –> 00:23:12,000 forever especially as I was becoming alienated from my colleagues who saw me as an obscurantist 273 00:23:12,000 –> 00:23:14,160 fool. 274 00:23:14,180 –> 00:23:17,040 Given time and given pressure it eventually started to sink in. 275 00:23:17,040 –> 00:23:20,780 The darkness offered freedom and unlimited pleasure at no cost. 276 00:23:20,780 –> 00:23:27,579 I could say, do, or be anything I wanted and there would be no God to judge me. 277 00:23:27,579 –> 00:23:34,540 So I became an atheist in the summer of 2016, and in the face of this nihilistic and bleak 278 00:23:34,540 –> 00:23:39,140 out-fluke on the world my entire value structure shifted. 279 00:23:39,140 –> 00:23:41,859 I decided to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. 280 00:23:41,939 –> 00:23:43,739 And what else was there to do? 281 00:23:43,739 –> 00:23:47,939 The symptoms of a sinful spirit vary. 282 00:23:47,939 –> 00:23:53,900 My mode of being was focused on drowning my pain with the noise of pleasure but as I’m 283 00:23:53,900 –> 00:23:59,939 sure you could have foreseen, a hedonistic lifestyle fixed precisely nothing and only 284 00:23:59,939 –> 00:24:01,180 created more problems. 285 00:24:01,180 –> 00:24:07,280 I was possessed by impulse because I gave it control over me. 286 00:24:07,280 –> 00:24:11,280 And I still somehow felt morally superior to everyone else around me. 287 00:24:11,300 –> 00:24:18,160 I was prideful and arrogant and all my friends were cheering me on for how far I’d come. 288 00:24:19,380 –> 00:24:23,680 I’d overcome the foolishness of the Christian lifestyle, beaten back the superstition of 289 00:24:23,699 –> 00:24:30,119 objective morality, and liberated myself from the bonds of puritanical moralising. 290 00:24:30,119 –> 00:24:35,119 But that cheering stopped when I left the echo chamber. 291 00:24:35,119 –> 00:24:41,099 I graduated and immediately went straight to the abyss. 292 00:24:41,160 –> 00:24:45,560 Like the majority of my fellow graduate students I was chained to alcohol, cigarettes, and 293 00:24:45,560 –> 00:24:47,680 antidepressants. 294 00:24:47,680 –> 00:24:52,339 I destroyed relationship after relationship. 295 00:24:52,339 –> 00:24:57,560 I believed that anyone who thought they loved me simply didn’t know me. 296 00:24:57,560 –> 00:25:01,180 At a certain point I didn’t believe in love at all. 297 00:25:01,180 –> 00:25:05,640 I thought that if only these people who said they loved me knew how terrible I was, they 298 00:25:05,640 –> 00:25:06,640 would abandon me. 299 00:25:06,640 –> 00:25:08,579 So I tested people. 300 00:25:08,579 –> 00:25:14,160 I tried to see how bad I could be before they would give up on me. 301 00:25:14,160 –> 00:25:19,880 And after I had killed off whatever good relationships I still had, I realized that I had nothing 302 00:25:19,880 –> 00:25:23,079 else to destroy and I felt worse than ever. 303 00:25:23,079 –> 00:25:28,520 I shuffled around in that darkness for several months wondering why this had happened to 304 00:25:28,520 –> 00:25:29,520 me. 305 00:25:29,520 –> 00:25:31,839 What had I done to deserve all this pain? 306 00:25:31,920 –> 00:25:38,619 I still had this belief that I picked up at university, that everyone but me was responsible 307 00:25:38,619 –> 00:25:39,760 for my problems. 308 00:25:39,760 –> 00:25:42,180 It was society’s fault. 309 00:25:42,180 –> 00:25:44,439 It was my parents’ fault. 310 00:25:44,439 –> 00:25:45,880 It was God’s fault. 311 00:25:45,880 –> 00:25:52,359 Yes, even though I didn’t believe in God, it was still somehow His fault. 312 00:25:52,359 –> 00:25:58,880 I hated everything, especially myself. 313 00:25:58,880 –> 00:26:07,479 There were only two ways to go, suffer meaninglessly for the rest of my life, or commit suicide. 314 00:26:07,479 –> 00:26:18,739 Those were my options, and I thought about them every single day for a year. 315 00:26:18,739 –> 00:26:23,619 I’m asking you this question. 316 00:26:23,619 –> 00:26:28,099 Where will the desires of your heart take you if you walk away from Jesus? 317 00:26:28,800 –> 00:26:36,040 What power will rule your soul if Jesus is not the Lord of your life? 318 00:26:36,040 –> 00:26:42,099 What fruit will come from your life if Jesus Christ does not nourish your soul? 319 00:26:42,099 –> 00:26:46,680 Lord, to whom shall we go? 320 00:26:47,939 –> 00:26:52,699 Only you have the words of eternal life. 321 00:26:52,699 –> 00:26:55,819 Now this story has a good ending, I expect you might like to hear it. 322 00:26:56,000 –> 00:26:59,599 Let me read it to you. 323 00:26:59,599 –> 00:27:06,439 The turning point came for my friend when someone sent him a video. 324 00:27:06,439 –> 00:27:12,800 And he says, I watched it probably 10 times on the day that I got it. 325 00:27:12,800 –> 00:27:15,199 Clarity. 326 00:27:15,199 –> 00:27:17,579 I was the problem. 327 00:27:17,579 –> 00:27:20,180 I remembered a time when things made sense. 328 00:27:20,180 –> 00:27:25,680 I remembered when I believed in the good and when I believed that the world could be redeemed 329 00:27:25,680 –> 00:27:33,099 and I suddenly realized quite clearly that faith was what was missing from my life. 330 00:27:33,099 –> 00:27:35,920 My conversion to christianity came gradually. 331 00:27:35,920 –> 00:27:40,459 First I pledged myself to whatever God was the god of love and truth. 332 00:27:40,459 –> 00:27:45,500 I still didn’t like Jesus and had a lot of hang-ups with christianity. 333 00:27:45,500 –> 00:27:53,719 The second thing I did was to try and ask forgiveness from the people I’d hurt. 334 00:27:53,760 –> 00:27:59,819 It wasn’t always forthcoming, but I started to learn that when love fails through faith 335 00:27:59,819 –> 00:28:04,560 and humility it can almost always be resurrected. 336 00:28:04,560 –> 00:28:08,239 I lost and regained this faith in the god of truth and love again and again, and for 337 00:28:08,239 –> 00:28:12,459 a month I tried to get a job, anywhere. 338 00:28:12,459 –> 00:28:18,180 My money was disappearing I felt desperation sinking in once more. 339 00:28:18,219 –> 00:28:24,780 I don’t remember what caused me to pray to Jesus for the first time, but I did. 340 00:28:25,599 –> 00:28:33,719 I desperately begged Christ for something to hold onto, and I asked for his forgiveness. 341 00:28:33,719 –> 00:28:36,979 I told him I couldn’t do this on my own. 342 00:28:36,979 –> 00:28:42,119 I told him I was sinking fast and I didn’t want to go back to the abyss I’d been in 343 00:28:42,119 –> 00:28:45,359 the year before. 344 00:28:45,939 –> 00:28:50,719 And that exact same day, I got three calls about potential jobs. 345 00:28:50,719 –> 00:28:58,979 I remember praying a few weeks ago, last paragraph, telling God again how sorry I was that I’d 346 00:28:58,979 –> 00:29:05,839 abandoned him, and the answer that came was, I never left you. 347 00:29:05,839 –> 00:29:08,520 And he didn’t. 348 00:29:08,520 –> 00:29:12,520 He’s been with me through this whole thing. 349 00:29:12,520 –> 00:29:17,359 And sometimes it brings me to tears to think of the things that I did, and then to remember 350 00:29:17,359 –> 00:29:21,420 that I am forgiven. 351 00:29:21,420 –> 00:29:29,319 And the only reason is the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God that’s a reality to 352 00:29:29,319 –> 00:29:34,780 me now, and it’s growing, too. 353 00:29:34,780 –> 00:29:40,319 Lord, to whom shall we go? 354 00:29:40,319 –> 00:29:50,079 Only you have the words of eternal life. 355 00:29:50,079 –> 00:29:57,959 You’re going to have to stand, friends, when a tidal wave of humanity is moving away from 356 00:29:57,959 –> 00:30:03,380 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and here’s how you’re going to do it. 357 00:30:03,380 –> 00:30:09,400 Because you know the richness of your life in Jesus, and because you are persuaded of 358 00:30:09,400 –> 00:30:21,020 the poverty of life without Jesus, and because you have seen the unsurpassing glory of Jesus. 359 00:30:21,020 –> 00:30:25,040 Peter says, you have the words of eternal life. 360 00:30:25,040 –> 00:30:31,640 And we have come to know and to believe that you are the Holy One of God. 361 00:30:32,020 –> 00:30:37,739 Jesus, there is no one like you. 362 00:30:37,739 –> 00:30:41,020 Not even close. 363 00:30:41,020 –> 00:30:46,579 No joy that this world can offer comes close to the joy of knowing you. 364 00:30:46,579 –> 00:30:53,819 No honor that this world can bestow can come close to the honor of serving you. 365 00:30:53,819 –> 00:31:00,079 You are God in the flesh, the Holy One with us. 366 00:31:00,339 –> 00:31:03,959 You’re asking us, do we want to go away? 367 00:31:05,040 –> 00:31:07,780 Lord, to whom shall we go. 368 00:31:07,780 –> 00:31:12,660 You have the words of eternal life. 369 00:31:12,660 –> 00:31:15,739 Will you pray with me please, let’s pray together. 370 00:31:15,739 –> 00:31:26,060 Father, at the end of this spiritual renewal series, we pray, form in us by the power of 371 00:31:27,060 –> 00:31:31,180 spirit a faith that lasts. 372 00:31:31,180 –> 00:31:42,199 Where there has been drifting, let there be the stability of knowing why I need Jesus. 373 00:31:42,199 –> 00:31:47,140 Where there has been defiance, let it cease. 374 00:31:47,140 –> 00:31:55,660 Deliver me from the rebellious hearts that would crucify again the Son of God. 375 00:31:55,660 –> 00:32:01,359 And where there is doubting, let the joy and peace of assurance grow. 376 00:32:01,359 –> 00:32:12,380 Lord, save us from drifting, save us from defiance, and save us from doubting. 377 00:32:12,380 –> 00:32:19,500 Establish in us, we pray today, a faith that will last a lifetime. 378 00:32:19,500 –> 00:32:31,239 And then, welcome us into the joy of Your presence forever, through Jesus Christ our 379 00:32:31,239 –> 00:32:36,319 Lord, in whose wonderful name we pray, and everyone together said, amen.