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Impossible Jesus (John 3:25-30) | Matt Daniel
00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer from Pastor Rod
00:28 A Humorous Encounter at the Airport
02:39 The Message: Accept No Substitutes for Jesus
04:07 John the Baptist's Testimony
06:14 Identifying Fake Saviors
09:16 Humility Before the Real Savior
13:49 Delighting in the Savior's Work
21:49 Conclusion and Prayer
Transcript
What's up podcast listeners.
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:Hey, I just want to let you know,
before you listened to this podcast.
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:This didn't go so well, I
recorded it, but things went wonky
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:all throughout the recording.
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:So it's not all there.
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:But it's still worth listening
to even what is there.
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:So you'll do yourself a favor by still
pursuing it and listening some of it.
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:You may not even notice
that some of it was cut out.
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:So I hope you'll enjoy it.
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:Please forgive my recording problems.
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:But what is here is toward
listening to give it a listen.
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:Here it comes.
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:Well, if everyone can turn in your
Bibles to John three, we're going to
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:look at a couple of verses here tonight,
specifically verses 25 through 30.
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:I'll give you all a
second to open up there.
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:It's a really interesting experience
when someone comes up to you and
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:says, you remind me of someone.
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:That can either be a really good
thing or a really bad thing.
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:A couple months ago, I was on a work trip
and I was coming home from Nashville.
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:I was exhausted.
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:I was ready to be done.
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:I had a bunch of flight delays and I
was just tired of being in the airport.
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:Um, and so I'm going in to check a bag
that I didn't think I would have to check.
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:And I, I hand it to the lady
who's about to put it on the
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:conveyor belt and she stopped me.
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:She looked me in the face and was
like, you remind me of someone.
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:You know, you look
exactly like Chris Pratt.
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:And I was like, thanks?
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:Like, which one?
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:Like, am I, am I Star Lord or am I Andy?
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:I feel like there's a
big difference, you know?
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:There's a massive difference
about which is, okay, thanks boys.
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:I appreciate the front row here.
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:That's, that's the thing is,
you know, you, you never know.
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:But, as I said, you look
just like Chris Pratt.
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:Chris Pratt.
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:It was a very odd experience, but
it would have been an even more odd
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:experience if that lady would have gone
home that night to her family or to her
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:friends and said, you guys will never
believe who I met at the airport today.
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:I met Star Lord.
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:I met Chris Pratt in person.
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:I checked his bag.
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:It was the best experience of my life.
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:It would have been really odd
because I don't know if it's obvious.
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:I am not Chris Pratt.
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:I'm not even close.
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:I feel like I'm like a
dollar store Chris Pratt.
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:So if people were to look to me to
be Chris Pratt, to be this amazing,
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:talented actor, or to be someone
that was super funny and just had
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:a good time with everybody like Mr.
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:Pratt, they would be super
disappointed because I'm not him.
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:I'm, a cheap substitute.
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:I'd be, I'd be a stand in.
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:You see, when it comes to Jesus,
this is something that I want us to
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:put a pin in and think about for the
duration of this message tonight.
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:When it comes to Jesus,
accept no substitutes.
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:When it comes to Jesus,
accept no substitutes.
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:This thought is going to be super
evident in our passage, and it's going
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:to govern everything that we talk about.
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:All the points that I'm going to
make tonight, everything that you're
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:going to see in the scriptures, is
going to lead you to the inevitable
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:conclusion that when it comes to Jesus,
Do not accept a single substitute.
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:Hopefully you're there
in your Bibles by now.
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:We're going to be looking
at John 3, 25 through 30.
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:So I'm going to read the passage and
then we'll dive into talking about it.
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:It says, now a discussion arose between
some of John's disciples and a Jew
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:over purification, and they came to
John and said to him, rabbi, he who
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:is with you across the Jordan, to
whom you bore witness, look, he is
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:baptizing and all are going to him.
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:John answered.
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:A person cannot receive even one thing
unless it has given him from heaven.
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:You yourselves bear me witness that.
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:I said, I am not a Christ, but
I have been sent before him.
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:The one who has the bride is the bride
groom, the friend of the bride groom.
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:So
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:what we see as we get started in this
passage is you've got the disciples of
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:John the Baptist who have been following
him for his ministry, coming up to John.
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:And with this hint of envy, of
frustration that Jesus is getting
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:so much attention, they're saying,
look, John, everyone's going to Jesus.
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:What are you going to do about it?
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:think one is getting
more of what you want.
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:That's certainly a fake savior, saying,
to whatever degree I possibly can,
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:then I'll feel good about myself.
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:I'll have joy that lasts.
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:That'll be good.
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:Right?
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:Like how much, how much
you're willing to work hard.
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:That as long as, long as I work
crazy hard and I do all of the things
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:that I wanna do, I'm just, I'm just
gonna grind, then I'll be happy.
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:I'll earn literally everything.
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:That's certainly a fake savior.
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:Self-trust and self-love.
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:These can be fake saviors too.
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:The fact that you can say, I don't
really need anybody else if I got me.
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:Doesn't matter.
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:What anyone else might think,
whether good or bad, doesn't matter.
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:No one else matters but me.
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:If you put yourself above literally
everyone else, we all kind of understand
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:that this is how we're hardwired.
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:We see the world through our own eyes.
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:Leaning into that is something that can be
like biting into that impossible burger.
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:It's not ultimately satisfying being
good enough, being good enough.
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:Certainly saying, well, I mean, I've come
on, like I'm a, I'm a pretty good person.
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:All things considered.
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:You know, I feel, come
on, I'm not that bad.
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:Even better, I'm not as bad
as those other people, right?
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:The lateral comparisons.
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:You know, those people are,
those people are terrible.
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:Over there, they got no teeth and
they're being silly all the time.
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:They're disrupting class
and doing just weird stuff.
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:Come on, I'm better than them.
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:You compare yourself laterally and make
yourself feel better about who you are.
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:So yeah, I feel good.
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:Maybe having an excellent reputation.
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:But what I, what I want to show you
as we tie it all together here, every
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:single one of these points, these things
that can stand in as fake saviors, what
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:they all have in common is that they
have self exaltation or self worship
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:as your highest good, that your highest
good is to put yourself first and to put
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:yourself above everyone, including God,
including your family, including your
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:friends, that if you pursue yourself
as the highest good that you could
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:possibly achieve, then you'll be happy.
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:That's what all of these
fake saviors have in common.
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:They say, I come first.
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:It matters if I increase,
it matters if I do well.
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:See what's hard about this is that's
exactly what, when we go back to
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:the text, we're going to see that
John rails against self exaltation.
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:John is going to say,
what are you guys doing?
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:Come on, look back at the text with me.
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:Let's, let's, let's look
at John's response here.
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:Again, they say, Rabbi, he, who's with you
across the Jordan, whom you bore witness.
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:Look, he's baptizing.
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:All are going to him.
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:Do you hear the envy in their voice.
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:Do you hear their desire
to stay in the limelight?
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:Do you hear their desire to exalt
themselves, sticking with this godly guy,
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:who's bearing witness to God, that he's
a prophet, he's really well thought of.
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:Do you hear them wanting their shine,
wanting their moment, wanting to stay as
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:the best of the best, to be seen that way?
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:But what does John say?
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:Look again.
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:I want to particularly focus on this last
verse, but I'll read a couple leading
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:up to it as well, where he says, Look,
a person cannot receive even one thing
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:unless it is given him from heaven.
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:You yourselves bear me witness.
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:I said, I am not the Christ.
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:It's not me, but I have
been sent before him.
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:The one who has the
bride is the bridegroom.
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:The friend of the bridegroom who
stands and hears him rejoices
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:greatly at the bridegroom's voice.
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:Therefore.
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:This joy of mine is complete.
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:He must increase, but I must decrease.
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:That's what John ends
with in this passage.
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:That his followers say,
shouldn't you be increasing?
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:Shouldn't you take your followers back?
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:Shouldn't you be just the most hype
and cool dude in all the universe?
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:And John says, you're talking
about me in comparison to Christ?
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:No.
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:He must increase, but I must decrease.
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:You see, if we claim to trust Christ,
if we claim to follow Him and to be
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:His disciple, but we're walking with
this arrogance and this pride of
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:saying, well, I want to put myself in
the limelight and be the most popular
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:and exalt myself above all else.
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:And if your biggest concern is with
your own reputation, And your own
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:worthiness, you're going to miss Christ.
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:You're going to bite into one
of these cheap substitutes.
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:You're going to miss the
forgiveness that he offers.
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:If you don't say with John, he
must increase, but I must decrease.
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:That's point number two.
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:I want you to write it down this way.
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:Humble yourself before the real savior,
humble yourself before the real savior.
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:Again, we have the idea of, we know that
there are cheap substitutes out there.
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:We know that.
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:But in order to come to the real,
it has to be an act of humility.
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:It's not something we can do with
a bunch of pride in our hearts.
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:No one enters the kingdom
of God with a swagger.
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:They enter with a limp.
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:I hope that you get to have the
experience someday of being in
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:a wedding other than your own.
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:Because it is one of the most joyous and
fun occasions that you can be part of.
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:Cause if you can be in that wedding party,
that inner circle, it is so much fun.
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:Whether you're a groomsman
or, or a bridesmaid, it is
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:an incredible amount of fun.
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:And a couple months ago, I got to
be the best man for my best friend
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:in California for his wedding.
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:Now, the number one rule of what you
cannot do as a best man is make the
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:wedding about yourself is make the wedding
about how great your speech is, how much
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:fun you are to be around with everyone.
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:The point as the best man is not
to exalt yourself, but to honor
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:the couple who's being married.
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:It's to point away from yourself
saying, yeah, I'm, I'm not the
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:one who's getting married today.
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:I'm not the bride, the bridegroom.
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:I meant to point to the married
couple and say, hey, honor them,
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:enjoy them, appreciate them,
shower them with affection.
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:They're the ones who
deserve our honor today.
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:I mean, think about the text of
what's happening in our verses.
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:We have the disciples of John saying,
why is everyone given honor to Jesus?
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:Why is everybody doing that?
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:And John's like, You guys aren't
the ones, you guys, the bride
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:has, the bridegroom has the bride.
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:I'm not the Christ.
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:I'm not the one who's getting
married, so to speak, in this analogy.
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:I'm the bridegroom.
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:Or I'm not the bridegroom.
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:I'm the best man.
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:There we go.
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:That's what he's saying.
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:Sorry.
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:He's saying I'm pointing to them.
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:I'm pointing to Jesus.
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:I'm pointing to his
relationship with his church.
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:I'm not here to get all the shine.
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:John gets all the shine.
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:That Christ's glorification is necessary.
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:He gets that, but the followers think that
they still need to stay in the limelight.
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:They don't think that they
should be fading out of it.
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:And I think that's just one of the
most important things to understand
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:on this point, where we're humbling
ourselves before the real Savior because
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:we understand that God opposes the
proud and gives grace to the humble.
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:That you either get salvation
at the cross or not at all.
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:That this life is not about you
putting yourself up and saying, Yeah,
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:I mean, I guess God's got to increase,
but my reputation matters more.
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:I'm at this wedding feast, but I
got to make it about me, even though
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:I'm not the one getting married.
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:Again, this, this humility that
John displays is so critical
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:for the Christian life.
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:And it has to be our mantra, this one of
humbling ourself before the real savior.
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:So what does true humility even look like?
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:It's something that's important
to know about, but what does it
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:look like in the biblical sense?
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:I think first true humility
starts with confession.
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:It starts with a confession
that saying, I am a sinner.
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:I need a savior.
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:There is nothing more humble and basic
than being able to say this and mean it.
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:This is the foundation of
what we're talking about.
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:This is who I am.
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:I'm not the top dog.
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:I'm not the coolest
thing since sliced bread.
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:And I need a savior.
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:I can't do it on my own.
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:I need a real savior.
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:I need someone that's
really gonna make change.
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:Not someone that's gonna, you know,
wet my appetite and, you know,
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:be able to, you know, not really
worry about the real savior stuff.
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:It's like, at least I got a
little bit here, you know?
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:And after this confession,
true humility requires a
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:It's actually complete.
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:It's full satisfaction.
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:See, this joy is complete
because the joy is in Christ.
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:It's in who He is and it's in
what He does for His church.
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:So I want us to write this down
this way, for point number three.
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:If we're thinking about not having to
humble ourselves through gritted teeth
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:and through anger, point number three,
delight in the Savior and His work.
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:Delight in the Savior and His work.
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:I am a pretty massive Christmas fan.
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:Which, like, most people are.
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:So I know that's not that interesting, but
I mean, the The tree is up in my house.
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:It's decorated.
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:There's All the decor is out.
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:Basically, as soon as it turned November,
it was like, Alright, are we doing this?
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:Like, we're gonna make this happen.
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:It'll probably up through March.
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:You never know.
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:But That's the thing is with,
with Christmas, it's a time that's
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:characterized by joy, right?
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:Most people are going through the
holiday season and they're singing all
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:the songs about having, having joy in
their hearts and all of this great stuff.
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:But there's a reason that we can't sing.
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:Well, I mean, I guess you
can, but you're crazy.
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:You can't sing Christmas songs
in July when it's super hot out.
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:It's not the, it's not the season for it.
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:So no matter how excited you get
about Christmas, no matter how
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:much this season of joy brings
you, it doesn't end up lasting.
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:There's no element of completion.
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:You can't say, well, my joy is complete
because it's Christmas because as
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:soon as it's not Christmas, your
joy is not really complete anymore.
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:You see, your joy is only as
stable as the object of your joy.
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:If your joy is grounded in your, in your
circumstances in terms of what's happening
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:here around you immediately, you're
going to be tempted to bite into these
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:impossible saviors to say, yeah, I'll,
I'll, I'll accept the cheap substitutes,
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:but the mind shattering truth of the
gospel is that when we talk about saying
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:he must increase, but I must decrease.
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:The truth of the gospel is that
before you even had an idea of what
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:that could possibly mean, Christ
was decreased on your behalf.
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:You'll go here later.
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:I don't have time for it right
now, but just write it down.
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:Philippians 2, 5 through 8.
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:The idea that though Christ is very God of
very God, He's the Son, He empties Himself
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:and takes on the form of a servant.
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:In a certain sense, this is
the ultimate humiliation.
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:This is the ultimate act of humility.
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:That before we are in any sense
called to humble ourselves
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:before Christ, He moved first.
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:He was the one who humbled Himself.
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:He was the one who came to us in
our weakness and in our frailness.
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:And He took on flesh.
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:And so in a certain
sense, Christ did that.
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:He didn't come for the increase
of your own personal glory.
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:He didn't come so you could be the
best of the best, but He did come
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:for the increase of your good.
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:He did come so that ultimately, through
Him being decreased and the work that
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:He does for the church, that you can be
increased, that you can have eternal life,
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:that you can have joy that is complete.
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:Let's just look at a couple
reasons why you should delight
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:in Christ because of this.
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:I know I've already started on this, but
there's so much that we can say here.
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:And this is really the turning
point in the Christian life, where
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:you go from gritting your teeth,
thinking about this God, to trusting
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:in Him and delighting in Him.
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:So why should you trust in Christ?
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:Number one, He is the
image of the invisible God.
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:He's the image of the invisible God.
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:Amen.
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:Amen.
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:He's the disclosure of all that God is.
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:He's the one who shows what God is
and who He is, what He's really like.
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:And that is super important for us, to
know that this God is not twiddling His
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:thumbs out in the cosmos while we're
just sitting here hoping that things
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:go well for us, but that He broke
into space and time for your good.
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:You should also delight in Christ
because He's fully God and fully man.
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:He's the only one qualified to
be the mediator for our sins.
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:The only one who can go between us and
God and have any sense of satisfaction
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:because of our sins.
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:This is really good news that God
would take on flesh like this.
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:Again, Philippians just mentioned it.
327
:You should also delight in Christ
because He's gentle and lowly,
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:because He's gentle and lowly.
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:He's not.
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:A tyrant, he's not someone that
if you knock on his door, he
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:says, go away, get out of my face.
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:Don't come near me, you sinner.
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:He says, come to me, all you
who are weary and heavy laden.
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:If you have any burden in any sense,
come to me and I will give you rest.
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:Take my yoke.
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:It's easy.
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:It's burden is light.
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:But the freedom that's found in
Christ because He is gentle and
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:lowly is something that is worth
delighting in and being excited about.
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:Christ also tells the truth.
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:I mean, I wasn't going to go write down
every single truly, truly statement
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:in the Bible, but you get the point.
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:Like when He's saying truly,
truly, He's telling it how it is.
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:He's not telling you, hey, you
know, uh, you might think that
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:you're in your sins, but like,
you're actually cool to stay there.
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:He's also not telling
you, Hey, you know what?
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:You should, You can just expect
to have your best life now.
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:Nothing bad is ever
going to happen to you.
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:You can manifest all the things
that you would ever want, And I
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:will just give you all this stuff
like a divine vending machine.
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:It'll be great.
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:No, He tells it how it is.
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:That when you read the Scriptures,
And you, you understand these words
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:from Him, You know that what He's
saying about your life is truthful.
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:That His Word is not going
to fail you in any way.
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:We should also delight in Christ
because He atones for sin.
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:Because Christ atones for sin.
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:Because He is the only one
who is able to make sufficient
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:payment on the debt that we owe.
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:And that He did.
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:He was willing to do that.
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:Finally, we should delight in Christ
because He prays for His people.
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:Because He prays for His people that
Christ doesn't just save you and
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:then leave you and say, Good luck.
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:But as a Christian, you know that even
in your deepest, darkest moments, you
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:know that the one whom you can call
upon at any time is praying for you.
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:He's prayed for you, that
your faith may not fail.
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:Even if your prayers and strivings
may feel super weak at times, you know
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:that the prayers of your Savior are
strong and that they're effective.
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:All of these reasons, and so many more,
are things that move the needle for us.
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:As a Christian, it goes from gritting
your teeth to delighting in this
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:God, to where to be humble is no
longer a chore, but it's a blessing.
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:It's the vehicle through which you get
this complete joy because you experience
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:all of these benefits and you trust
in Christ who is all of this and more.
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:You see, when you delight in
Christ, the one who's given from
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:above, you get that lasting joy.
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:And you reap the benefits
of union with Him.
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:But you cannot get the joy that
we're talking about until you
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:reject all Christ's substitutes.
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:All of the impossible
Jesuses that are out there.
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:And you finally confess, He must
increase, but I must decrease.
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:So, with that being said, when it
comes to Christ, accept no substitutes.
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:Pray with me, please.
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:Our Father in heaven, thank
you for your word, which is so
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:effective and so useful to us.
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:We know that it does not fail
us in any way, but that you have
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:given it, that we may know the
truth, that we may know you, God.
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:And so I pray that.
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:You would help us in our small
groups tonight to recognize the, the
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:substitutes and the idols that cling
so closely to us, that sound the best,
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:the things that we're more willing
and more desirous to, to trust in you.
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:And I pray that you would give us
the, the strength and all of the
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:courage to, to shun those things
and to totally reject them, God.
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:And I pray that we would be humble.
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:We will be people that are marked
by the confession that you, Lord,
396
:must increase, but we must decrease.
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:Pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.
