Theological Status: Theologically Sound
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Philadelphia
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
🧐 Overview
Sermon Summary: This Christmas sermon explores the profound paradoxes of Jesus: He is a God who is both infinitely powerful and intimately present, fully divine yet fully human, and the perfect embodiment of both grace and truth. It challenges listeners to move beyond making excuses for their lives and instead accept the free gift of being made right with God through faith.
Big Idea: Two things can be true. [00:03:28 ▶️ 📄]
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon is a sound, topical exposition of John 1:14, effectively articulating the core tenets of Christology: transcendence and immanence, the hypostatic union, and the necessity of both grace and truth. The application powerfully contrasts human self-justification with divine justification by faith alone. While the core message is orthodox and well-delivered, there are minor theological imprecisions in describing the Trinity and human composition that offer opportunities for coaching toward greater precision.
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Philadelphia — The sermon presents sound doctrine with a clear and affectionate call to the Gospel, focusing on the person and work of Christ and the doctrine of justification by faith.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Biblically Sound
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Soteriology | ✅ PASS | The sermon clearly articulates the doctrine of justification by faith alone, correctly distinguishing between human works (self-justifying) and God's gracious declaration (justified). The call to salvation is grounded in this monergistic framework. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | Scripture is presented as the authoritative source of truth. The sermon uses the text as the foundation for its theological claims, even in a topical format. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | The sermon rightly interprets John 1:14 in its Christological context, connecting it to the broader witness of Scripture concerning the person and work of Christ. It avoids moralism and focuses on the redemptive-historical reality of the incarnation. |
| Theology Proper | ⚠️ WEAK | While affirming God's transcendence and power, the description of the Trinity as 'three separate entities' (00:13:14 ▶️ 📄) is imprecise and leans toward Tritheism. Though the speaker immediately qualifies this and acknowledges the mystery, this lack of precision represents a weakness that requires refinement. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | Neither communion nor baptism was observed in the provided transcript. |
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
Primary Text: John 1:14 (Topical (Safe))
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 8 | Referenced: 11 | Alluded: 0
Passages Read Aloud:
Key References: John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, 1 Timothy 6, Hebrews 1:3, John 8:58, John 8:59, John 10:10, Mark 2:5-7, Romans 4:5, Romans 8:33, and 1 more...
Christological Connection: Redemptive Trajectory: The sermon extensively connects to the person and work of Christ, focusing on His transcendence, immanence, full deity and humanity, and His role in providing grace and truth, culminating in justification.
🧱 Sermon Outline
- God is both transcendent and dwelt among us. [00:06:12 ▶️ 📄] : Jesus is beyond creation, limitation, and comprehension, yet He became flesh and lived among us.
- Jesus is fully God and fully man. [00:12:25 ▶️ 📄] : Jesus claimed to be God, which was blasphemous to the Jewish people, and this claim is central to His identity.
- Jesus is full of grace and truth. [00:18:12 ▶️ 📄] : Grace cannot exist without truth; truth without grace leads to legalism. Jesus embodies both perfectly.
- Justifying vs. Justified [00:25:09 ▶️ 📄] : Humans tend to live 'justifying' (blaming, making excuses), but only Jesus can declare us 'justified' (just as if we'd never sinned).
🗝️ Key Topics & Themes
- Transcendence : God's nature as being beyond human comprehension and creation.
- Immanence : God's nature as dwelling among us and being present.
- Incarnation : The Word becoming flesh in Jesus Christ.
- Deity of Christ : Jesus's claim and nature as fully God.
- Humanity of Christ : Jesus's nature as fully man.
✅ Commendations
Christology | Excellent Defense of Christ's Deity
The sermon provides a clear, compelling case for the deity of Christ, effectively using the C.S. Lewis 'Liar, Lunatic, or Lord' trilemma to press the necessity of a decision. This moves beyond a sentimental Christmas message to the core of the faith.
Soteriology | Powerful Distinction between Justifying and Justified
The contrast between the human tendency to 'live justifying' (blame, excuses) and the Gospel offer to 'live justified' is an exceptionally clear and pastoral application of the doctrine of justification. It makes a profound theological concept accessible and convicting.
Gospel Application | Balanced Presentation of Grace and Truth
The explanation that 'Grace without truth becomes license' and 'Truth without grace becomes legalism' is a critical and well-articulated biblical balance. It rightly shows that grace requires the objective standard of truth to have any meaning.
📝 Other Corrections & Notes
- You are one-third dirt, you are one-third breath, and you are one-third Word of God. → Correction: This is a poetic but theologically inaccurate description of human composition. Biblically, man is a unified being of two parts, body and soul (dichotomy), not a tripartite being of dirt, breath, and 'Word.' While man is created and sustained by God's Word, the 'Word' is not a constituent part of his nature. (Genesis 2:7)
- Every religion just about across humanity... agree that Jesus existed. → Correction: This is a rhetorical hyperbole. While the overwhelming consensus of secular and religious historians affirms the historical existence of Jesus, it is not accurate to claim 'everybody' or 'every religion' agrees. Precision in such claims strengthens the argument. (N/A)
🧠 Questions for Reflection
Use these questions for personal study or small group discussion:
- The pastor presented Jesus as being either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. Based on what you heard, which of these seems most plausible to you, and why?
- The sermon contrasted 'justifying' (making excuses) with being 'justified' (made right with God). In which of those two categories do you see yourself living most often?
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
The Scripture says, In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
[00:00:11] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,
[00:00:14] and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy tell somebody good news today tell somebody great joy today good news to you great joy to you today
[00:00:37] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
[00:00:42] And this will be a sign for you, that you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
[00:00:48] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth.
[00:00:58] Peace to those with whom He is Lord.
[00:01:03] Aren't you thankful, church, for a God who came?
[00:01:07] Aren't you thankful for a God who dwelt with us?
[00:01:11] Father, I pray that in these next moments, our hearts would respond to the Word.
[00:01:21] You know, you were built for the Word of God.
[00:01:26] You were built for this moment.
[00:01:29] I want to tell somebody here today that you didn't come to hear a nice little Christmas homily.
[00:01:36] That your physical body, the Bible says that God created you from dust, He formed you out of dust, He breathed into your lungs, and then He spoke over you.
[00:01:47] You are
[00:01:48] You are one-third dirt, you are one-third breath, and you are one-third Word of God.
[00:01:55] So your body is made up of Word.
[00:01:58] So as we read the Word this morning, what is dead in you is going to come alive because of the Word of Christ.
[00:02:07] So, God, we pray that the Word would resonate.
[00:02:10] We pray that the Word would go deep this morning.
[00:02:13] We call to life things in people that they've given up on, that they thought were behind them.
[00:02:20] We call those things to life by the light and life of Jesus today.
[00:02:26] And it's in His name that all God's people said, Amen.
[00:02:29] Come on, can we thank Jesus one more time for all that He's doing in our lives?
[00:02:34] God bless you, you may.
[00:02:36] You may be seated.
[00:02:38] Hey, can we just thank our string quartet this morning?
[00:02:41] Just an amazing job.
[00:02:43] Love you guys.
[00:02:44] You're welcome every Sunday.
[00:02:45] I'm just going to throw that out everywhere.
[00:02:47] So love some strings.
[00:02:51] So this is a phrase, John chapter 1.
[00:02:54] We're going to be in Luke chapter 1 and John chapter 1.
[00:02:57] This morning but this is this is a phrase and this is going to be in just a moment I'll give you the title of the message but this is a phrase this is a very 2020s phrase you see it all over the place it's kind of a makes its way across social media Instagram and TikTok but not just that like
[00:03:13] You hear sportscasters say this during a sporting event.
[00:03:18] You hear it make its way through the therapy world and psychologists.
[00:03:24] But it's just, it's a phrase that has made its way through life and it's this.
[00:03:28] Two things, say two things.
[00:03:30] two things can be true it's basically a way of saying that sometimes life is complex that sometimes there are realities that may seem to be competing realities but they are not necessarily competing realities let me can i just give it to you in plain christmas terms in christmas language so two things can be true two things can be true at christmas number one you can say i want
[00:03:57] to eat healthy during Christmas season and, say and, I just ate nine Christmas cookies.
[00:04:05] Come on, two things can be true.
[00:04:08] Two things can be true.
[00:04:09] Pastor, I love a home that is lit up with Christmas lights and I'm not getting on that ladder again.
[00:04:17] Two things.
[00:04:19] Two things can be true.
[00:04:21] At family gatherings, I love my family.
[00:04:24] And, say and.
[00:04:26] They drive me crazy.
[00:04:27] Don't say amen to that.
[00:04:28] They're sitting right beside you.
[00:04:31] Two things can be true.
[00:04:34] Pastor, my kids do not need any more toys.
[00:04:43] I can't even walk through their room without stepping on plastic.
[00:04:48] And,
[00:04:50] The grandparents are gonna buy them more toys than all of Walmart can contain.
[00:04:57] Two things can be true.
[00:04:58] I'll be home for Christmas, warms my heart, and I don't wanna travel 10 hours to get there.
[00:05:04] Two things can be true.
[00:05:06] I love Christmas parties and the festivities and the music and the camaraderie and I can't wait to be at home on my couch in my sweatpants.
[00:05:19] Come on.
[00:05:20] Two things can be true.
[00:05:24] Let's go.
[00:05:25] We read the narrative through the Gospel of Luke, but I want to go to John and I want you to look for
[00:05:31] Two things that are true in this passage, and I know you're listening to this, and you're saying, Pastor, but Jesus says, I'm the way and the truth and the life, and there's one truth, and you're already preaching heresy on Christmas.
[00:05:42] Don't preach heresy on Christmas.
[00:05:44] I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you how this is true.
[00:05:47] There's one way, there's one way, but there's also two things that can be true.
[00:05:51] John 1, one verse of Scripture.
[00:05:54] Verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[00:05:59] And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[00:06:08] Let me give you in triplicate two things that can be true.
[00:06:12] Number one, it's on your notes.
[00:06:14] God is both transcendent and
[00:06:18] dwelt among us.
[00:06:20] The Bible says that the Word became flesh.
[00:06:25] What does it mean that Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God, but He is God?
[00:06:31] What does it mean that He was not begotten of the Word, but He is the Word?
[00:06:37] It means that God is eternal, supreme, and transcendent.
[00:06:41] To say that Jesus Christ is transcendent means that He is beyond us in every way.
[00:06:48] Jesus is beyond creation beyond limitation beyond comprehension he's not just bigger than the universe he pre-existed it he is not merely wise he is wisdom he doesn't just give life and possess life he is life John 1 3 says in the beginning was the word all things were made through him Christ is not just in creation creation is in Christ
[00:07:16] Colossians 1 16 all things were created through him and for him and in him he holds all things together first Timothy 6 he dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen nor could see Hebrews 1 3 he is the radiance all of the glory of God and upholds the universe by the word of his power
[00:07:42] A couple of theologians said it like this.
[00:07:44] A.W.
[00:07:45] Tozer made this comparison.
[00:07:48] That God is not the highest being on a scale of beings.
[00:07:52] So that's not even...
[00:07:54] God is the Holy Other and the Bible says that it is that word, the eternal word.
[00:08:17] the supreme word the transcendent word the omniscient word the omnipotent word the holy word the holy other word that dwelt among us the one who spoke galaxies into being learned how to speak to his mother the one who sits on the throne of heaven lay in a feeding trough the transcendent god became touchable you say pastor wise you give me a lot of theology and a lot of
[00:08:46] Words transcendent.
[00:08:48] I've never even heard that.
[00:08:49] Why does it matter?
[00:08:50] Here's why it matters.
[00:08:53] I want you to imagine that you were a villager living in Great Britain in the 1800s and your child came down with a disease.
[00:09:02] And you knew that beyond a miracle your child was probably going to pass away within 24 hours.
[00:09:07] It was a common disease that was making its way throughout
[00:09:11] You had also heard that there was a physician, physician from Cambridge a couple hours away.
[00:09:20] He was a great physician, an amazing physician, a powerful physician, a wealthy physician, and that physician had come up with a cure.
[00:09:29] In fact, word had gotten to the village that they'd tried this cure
[00:09:32] On a hundred babies in London and all of those babies had survived but the problem was your child only had about 24 hours to live and it was a three days journey even if the swiftest of riders hopped on horseback even if they traveled day and night they wouldn't get all of that see in that situation the power was available but you don't just need power you need presence
[00:10:02] Now think of it on the other hand.
[00:10:04] Let's say that your next door neighbor was your best friend.
[00:10:06] You grew up all your life together.
[00:10:09] You got in trouble together.
[00:10:10] You tended sheep together.
[00:10:12] You fought off bullies together.
[00:10:14] And he's been with you every single step of the way.
[00:10:16] His wife has brought over meals.
[00:10:18] He's laughed with you.
[00:10:19] He's cried with you.
[00:10:20] He's sat in silence with you.
[00:10:22] He's been with you.
[00:10:24] Your neighbor, your best friend is offering his presence and you're so grateful for it but you don't just need presence, you need power.
[00:10:33] Church, that's why Christmas matters.
[00:10:37] That's why it matters that Jesus is all supreme.
[00:10:41] That's why it matters that he created the universe.
[00:10:45] That's why it matters that he is God because you don't just need a nice little Jesus to show up in your life and say everything's gonna be okay.
[00:10:53] You need God.
[00:10:54] You need the Creator of heaven and earth.
[00:10:57] You need somebody that is all-powerful.
[00:11:01] But you don't just need somebody that is up there, out there, that is not interested in what you're walking through.
[00:11:08] You need Emmanuel, God, with us.
[00:11:11] That's the story of Christmas.
[00:11:14] That's Christmas!
[00:11:15] God with you!
[00:11:16] God with you!
[00:11:17] Even when Jesus ascended back to heaven, the Bible says that he did not leave us, but he sent another, the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:26] Maybe you're in church for the first time in a while, and you felt something during that music, and I tell you it wasn't just lights, that's the Holy Spirit, God with you!
[00:11:37] God with you this Christmas.
[00:11:39] God with you in the middle of your divorce.
[00:11:41] God with you in the middle of your cancer treatment while you're putting on a good smile and holding it together for your family but you're really weak and when your family leaves you're crying out to God for strength.
[00:11:54] God with you.
[00:11:55] God with you in the middle of your diagnosis.
[00:11:57] God with you in the middle of your insecure job situation.
[00:12:01] God with you, Emmanuel.
[00:12:04] God with us.
[00:12:05] He's with you.
[00:12:06] There's nothing in your life that you're going through that God's not big enough to handle and there's nothing in your life that you're not going through that He is not with you through.
[00:12:16] God is transcendent and He dwells among us.
[00:12:22] Say two things.
[00:12:23] Two things.
[00:12:25] Second thing is that Jesus is fully God and fully man.
[00:12:30] We touched on it, but this is extremely important to realize.
[00:12:35] There's one little phrase.
[00:12:36] It's not even an entire verse.
[00:12:38] It's just part of a verse.
[00:12:39] It's the second part of that verse.
[00:12:40] And it says this, As of the only Son from the Father.
[00:12:47] So the Holy Spirit is not explicitly mentioned in this particular passage, but here we've got a little bit of a glimpse into this concept that's called the Trinity.
[00:12:59] And so it's not God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:02] I mean, you can say that, but that's not technically correct.
[00:13:06] It's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:10] That's an idea of the Trinity, three in one.
[00:13:14] Three separate entities and yet they are all fully God and theologians through thousands of years have tried to explain it and have not done a very good job so I'm not going to try to on a Sunday morning but just that's the thing that we it's this mystery it's this beautiful mystery that we that we wrestle with.
[00:13:34] But here you have this idea that it's the Son, but he's also from the Father, but he's also, he's not just the Son, he is God.
[00:13:44] Let me explain it to you this way.
[00:13:47] Think through the Gospels, through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
[00:13:49] If you read through the Gospels, what ultimately got Jesus killed?
[00:13:56] Now, I know that technically nobody killed Jesus.
[00:13:59] Jesus says that nobody takes my life from me, but I lay down my life.
[00:14:03] as a voluntary offering but just in the human standpoint what what got Jesus killed it wasn't it wasn't his miracles not everybody loved all of his miracles but a lot of people did especially when they got fed especially when good things happened but so it wasn't his miracles that got Jesus killed it wasn't even his teaching pharisees didn't love all the teaching but they
[00:14:26] Kind of swallowed it and put up with it.
[00:14:29] It wasn't either of those things.
[00:14:30] What ultimately got Jesus killed?
[00:14:33] It was that Jesus claimed to be God.
[00:14:39] You got to understand in John 8 58 how blasphemous this phrase potentially was.
[00:14:46] The Jewish people, the name for God, when God revealed himself to Moses, the name there was Yahweh.
[00:14:56] It was, I am that I am.
[00:14:58] And the Jewish people in that day and culture felt that that name in and of itself was so holy that they wouldn't even utter that name.
[00:15:08] They wouldn't even speak that name.
[00:15:10] and so when people were asking Jesus who he was and he says this in John 8 58 he says before Abraham was I am you've got to understand the statement he not only did nobody even spoke that name and now Jesus was not only speaking that name he said he was that name
[00:15:37] The Jewish people immediately tried to stone him in verse 59.
[00:15:41] In John 10.10, he says, I and the Father are one.
[00:15:48] In Mark 2.5-7, Son, your sins are forgiven.
[00:15:52] And then it says, Who can forgive sins but God alone?
[00:15:57] Verse 10, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
[00:16:03] Here's the question that each of us are going to have to answer at some point in our lives.
[00:16:09] Who was Jesus?
[00:16:12] Who was Jesus?
[00:16:13] There's nobody.
[00:16:15] I mean, there may be a couple of absolutely crazy people, but atheists say that Jesus was a historical figure.
[00:16:24] Everybody believes that.
[00:16:26] Every religion just about across humanity, almost 8 billion, 8.2 actually billion people on the planet agree that Jesus existed.
[00:16:35] What you have to figure out is, is Jesus who he said he was?
[00:16:43] And so you can say something like this.
[00:16:45] Well, yeah, I love the teachings of Jesus.
[00:16:48] He had great moral teachings.
[00:16:49] Do unto others and love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:16:53] And that's great, but that doesn't mean he was God.
[00:16:57] Or you could say that Jesus was a great prophet and he gave some good prophetical oracles and maybe even believe in his miracles.
[00:17:06] But if you don't believe he's God,
[00:17:09] Then there's the problem.
[00:17:11] C.S.
[00:17:11] Lewis says it like this.
[00:17:12] He says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone from really saying the foolish thing that people often say about him.
[00:17:20] That I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his claim to be God.
[00:17:26] That is the one thing we must not say.
[00:17:29] A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
[00:17:35] He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell.
[00:17:43] You've got to make a choice.
[00:17:45] Either this man was and is the Son of God or else he's a madman or something worse.
[00:17:51] But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher.
[00:17:57] He has not left that open to us.
[00:18:00] He did not intend to.
[00:18:02] Jesus is either a liar, he's a lunatic, or he's Lord.
[00:18:08] Who is he?
[00:18:10] Jesus.
[00:18:12] And then the third thing is this that in the idea that two things can be true, Jesus is full of grace and truth.
[00:18:21] Jesus is full of grace and truth.
[00:18:24] Have you found that some people only want grace Jesus?
[00:18:30] and some people only want truth Jesus have you found this here's here's your clue that people only want grace Jesus I think I don't have any scientific data on this I think this is possibly the most misquoted taken out of context verse in the Bible have you heard somebody quote they don't know anything else about the Bible but they know this verse judge not
[00:18:58] Judge not.
[00:19:00] Judge not.
[00:19:01] Here's what that's code for.
[00:19:02] That's code for you're calling me out and I don't want to be held accountable for the wrong things that I'm doing in my life.
[00:19:07] A lot of times.
[00:19:08] Come on.
[00:19:10] Now does the Bible say judge not lest ye be judged?
[00:19:13] Yes.
[00:19:14] Is it meant for the purpose that most people use it for?
[00:19:18] No.
[00:19:19] Why?
[00:19:19] Because some people only want grace, Jesus.
[00:19:23] They want forgiveness but not repentance.
[00:19:26] they want blessing without obedience they love the verses about mercy but pastor don't preach on holiness and i'm going to get offended and go to another church that doesn't talk about holiness and they want jesus as comforter but not as king they want compassion but not commands they want jesus to hug everybody but they don't want jesus to confront everybody
[00:19:47] here's why that can't be if you don't have truth grace as an entity cannot exist it can't how many of you want grace i got this is not a trick question here how many of you need grace how many of you needed grace this morning before you it was sunday why do you need grace on a sunday stop fussing at your family on a sunday
[00:20:13] Sometimes we need Sunday grace, right?
[00:20:17] We need a double dose of grace on Sunday.
[00:20:19] I don't want to live, I don't think anybody wants to live in a world without grace.
[00:20:25] What a horrible existence that would be.
[00:20:28] But grace could not exist without truth.
[00:20:33] Why?
[00:20:33] Because if there is no truth, there's no need for grace.
[00:20:37] So let's say that you are a college student and you're taking your finals and you're taking chemistry and you're in pre-med and you need that chemistry grade.
[00:20:47] You need at least a 92 on that chemistry final in order to continue your studies and you've been studying and pulling all-nighters and got all this caffeine and Red Bull and you're in there and you needed a 92 and you got a 91.
[00:21:02] and you go to your teacher and you are asking, I need grace.
[00:21:06] Now disclaimer, I wasn't very good at chemistry, especially in seventh grade at Franklin Middle School when I put two chemicals together and I blew up the chemistry lab and nobody knows that and I'm sorry, Principal Persanchek, I never confessed to that.
[00:21:21] I probably owe Franklin Middle School some money.
[00:21:26] I saw, you forget, some of you, like, do you forget about things for decades and then you're doing something?
[00:21:31] I was like, oh man, I blew up the chemistry lab in seventh grade.
[00:21:35] They had to close down the whole wing.
[00:21:38] Anyway.
[00:21:43] That's why I'm not a physician.
[00:21:47] But if you needed a 92 and you got a 91, you're going to your professor and you're asking for grace.
[00:21:54] And because there is a right answer, say that you had to put the, I don't know, is atomic weight of an element a thing?
[00:22:00] I just, okay, good.
[00:22:02] So you needed to write down the atomic weight of boron.
[00:22:04] Is boron an element?
[00:22:05] Good, all right.
[00:22:06] And so, and you missed it.
[00:22:08] If there was a right answer, if there was truth, there would be the possibility for her to give you grace.
[00:22:16] If the question was framed in a way in which there were no possible right answer, then grace wouldn't be possible.
[00:22:23] So if the question were framed like, what's your favorite color?
[00:22:27] and you put boron or you put green and she just didn't like that because her truth was that, do you see why this is dangerous?
[00:22:37] Do you see why these phrases are dangerous?
[00:22:39] Well my truth, well I'm just speaking my truth.
[00:22:42] No, there is no my truth, there is the truth.
[00:22:46] Because if we want to take away the essence of what truth is and reduce truth to a feeling then what you have actually done is you have sucked the world free from grace.
[00:22:59] And people think that they're leaning into more grace but they're actually leaning into no grace.
[00:23:05] That's why we need truth and grace.
[00:23:08] Some people only want grace, Jesus.
[00:23:10] Some people only want truth, Jesus.
[00:23:13] They're on Facebook.
[00:23:15] They're called social media theological watchdogs.
[00:23:18] They love calling out wrong but struggle to lift people up.
[00:23:22] They love to quote commandments but forget compassion.
[00:23:25] They preach hell but never offer hope.
[00:23:27] Their Jesus overturns tables but never eats with sinners.
[00:23:31] They defend doctrine but sometimes damage people.
[00:23:34] I put it on your notes like this.
[00:23:36] Grace without truth becomes license.
[00:23:39] Truth without grace becomes legalism.
[00:23:44] I've used this before but but I think it applies if you would have if the United States Treasury minted a new coin I know we don't carry many coins we don't have much much cash in our society but if they had a newly minted coin and there was some value in the coin not because necessarily of the that it was made out of precious metals but just because of what was minted on there if you took a some sort of laser machine and you cut that coin in half
[00:24:11] That coin would not lose half of its value.
[00:24:15] It would lose all of its value.
[00:24:18] See, the gospel without truth doesn't lose half its value.
[00:24:22] It loses all of its value because you don't need Jesus.
[00:24:25] The gospel without grace doesn't lose half its value.
[00:24:28] It loses all of its value because you have truth, but now you don't have a way to get back to God.
[00:24:33] That's why it's so important that we understand that Jesus was fully God and fully man.
[00:24:39] and that he preaches a gospel of grace and truth so we have all of these these two things that can be true that are true that Jesus is transcendent and he dwelt among us that Jesus is fully God and fully man that Jesus is full of grace and truth all of those are two things that can be true but it funnels into only one of these only one of these can be true and I want to
[00:25:09] Put these two words up.
[00:25:10] The two words are justifying and justified.
[00:25:15] Justifying and justified.
[00:25:18] And so these words come from the same root, but they mean very different things.
[00:25:25] So let me explain it to you like this.
[00:25:26] So you can only live, if all of those other things are true, then
[00:25:31] There's only one possibility, only one way for you to live.
[00:25:35] The first way would be justifying.
[00:25:37] This is our tendency.
[00:25:43] Justifying is made up of two things.
[00:25:45] It's made up of, I'm gonna blame somebody else, and I got excuses.
[00:25:50] like like you didn't have to learn that when your parents came in the room and found you playing with your siblings and you were doing something wrong you probably didn't raise your hand and say it was me what would you do we're just we're born to make excuses we're born to just justify things it's funny though because um i enjoy at times like reading reading books or listening to podcasts of successful people across different whether it's
[00:26:18] In the medical field or education field or great ministers, great preachers or whatever.
[00:26:24] And I especially enjoy the stories of when they've overcome a lot in their life.
[00:26:29] Like they didn't come from wealth or notoriety, but they've become what we would call great in their lives.
[00:26:37] And a lot of them will give, you know, attribute their success to different things.
[00:26:40] I've never heard this not once.
[00:26:42] I've never heard this.
[00:26:44] I've never heard one of them say you know I spent all of my life blaming people and then I just found the perfect person to blame and once I blamed that person I just overnight success my business took off I just I just my business took I started I started making millions once I found the right person to but I've never heard that I've never I've never heard that somebody's story from like rags to riches where you know I've just been making excuses all of my life
[00:27:14] and I finally found the perfect excuse and once I found that once I found that perfect excuse but that's the way we're wired right most people we live we live justifying it's my parents fault I'll get it right someday it was just one time at least I'm not as bad as or or this it's just how it's just how I'm wired it's just how I'm wired I took the Enneagram and
[00:27:36] and the Enneagram says I'm this way and so that's just my and I'm not against those I'm not against like personality profiles and all of those things but as much as they reveal about us they can become excuses for us because then we just think well I'm just I'm just that way and and I'm just and so we we live our lives blaming other people and we live our lives making excuses we can live justifying or we can live justified
[00:28:03] And I've given you a lot of theology this morning.
[00:28:05] This is another theological term, but justified.
[00:28:09] I was told this in Bible college and it always stuck with me that the way that you remember what justified means is that it means just if I'd never
[00:28:19] Sin.
[00:28:19] Justified never sin.
[00:28:21] And so we try to do the justifying.
[00:28:24] Only Jesus can proclaim us justified.
[00:28:27] Romans 4, 5.
[00:28:29] And to the one who does not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteous.
[00:28:37] Can we stand all across this house today?
[00:28:40] Romans 8, 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
[00:28:44] it is God who justifies Romans 3 24 by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight Romans 3 24 and we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ
[00:29:05] Jesus.
[00:29:06] Church, Jesus is eternal and he is transcendent.
[00:29:10] He is fully God and fully man.
[00:29:13] He is full of grace and full of truth and that's why we come to him today saying that he is eternal.
[00:29:21] He is wonderful.
[00:29:22] He is beautiful.
[00:29:24] He is all of those things.
[00:29:26] Come on, can we just lift our voices, lift our hands to the eternal one, the transcendent one, the glorious one.
[00:29:35] In this holy moment with heads bowed and eyes closed, who is Jesus to you?
[00:29:43] Is He Lord?
[00:29:48] Is He Lord of your life?
[00:29:51] Is He the I AM?
[00:29:53] Is He personal?
[00:29:55] Is He your Savior?
[00:29:58] With heads bowed and eyes closed, how many of you would say something like this?
[00:30:02] Pastor, I'm not perfect.
[00:30:04] But through the grace and blood of Jesus Christ I am justified.
[00:30:09] I am righteous.
[00:30:10] He is Lord of my life.
[00:30:11] Would you just slip up your hand and take a moment and say thank you Jesus.
[00:30:15] Thank you for coming as a baby in a manger.
[00:30:18] Thank you for living a sinless life.
[00:30:20] Thank you for dying on the cross.
[00:30:22] Thank you for being raised to life.
[00:30:23] Thank you for ascending to the Father.
[00:30:25] Thank you for the promise of not leaving us as orphans but sending the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:30:30] Thank you
[00:30:31] that you will return to judge the quick and the dead and thank you that when I stand before you someday I will not stand according to my own works according to my own merit according to what I have or have not done but I stand declared righteous I am justified by the blood of Jesus Christ thank you Jesus thank you thank you Jesus thank you Jesus you can put your hands down
[00:30:56] If you weren't able to raise your hand this morning with heads still bowed and eyes still closed, this morning, this can be your moment to move from justifying to justified, to move from excuses to a savior, to move from blaming to the blameless one, to say, Jesus,
[00:31:14] I don't want to just know you as a teacher I don't want to just know you as a prophet I want to know you as my personal Lord and Savior and so if that's you in the house just as a point of reference I'm gonna count to three when I get to three I want you to lift your hand high and say I want to give my life to Jesus Christ this morning one pastor I'm done with excuses two pastor I'm done blaming other people three if that's you just lift your hand
[00:31:40] all across this house and say I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ as I pray this prayer out loud would you just pray it silently at your seat just say something like this say dear Jesus I come to you I know that I'm a sinner but I ask you Jesus to come into my life I ask you Jesus to come into my heart
[00:32:05] and help me to live wide awake to the love of God and fully alive to my purpose and it's in Jesus name that we pray and all of God's people said Amen.
[00:32:20] Amen.
[00:32:21] Come on church can we celebrate with those who have gone from death to life this morning.
[00:32:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Well, I hope today's service made a real difference in your life.
[00:32:32] Hi, I'm Noemi, the new online ministry director here at Multiple Concord, and I just want to thank you for joining us today.
[00:32:38] It truly means so much that you chose to worship with us online.
[00:32:42] If you made a decision to follow Jesus, we are celebrating with you.
[00:32:46] It's the greatest decision you could ever make, and we would love to walk alongside you as you take your next steps.
[00:32:52] Simply download the Multiply Concord app and tap next steps.
[00:32:56] There you'll find resources, encouragement, and a team ready to support you as you begin this new journey with Him.
[00:33:02] Thanks again for being part of today's service.
[00:33:05] We can't wait to connect with you soon.
The Scripture says, In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
[00:00:11] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,
[00:00:14] and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy tell somebody good news today tell somebody great joy today good news to you great joy to you today
[00:00:37] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
[00:00:42] And this will be a sign for you, that you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
[00:00:48] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth.
[00:00:58] Peace to those with whom He is Lord.
[00:01:03] Aren't you thankful, church, for a God who came?
[00:01:07] Aren't you thankful for a God who dwelt with us?
[00:01:11] Father, I pray that in these next moments, our hearts would respond to the Word.
[00:01:21] You know, you were built for the Word of God.
[00:01:26] You were built for this moment.
[00:01:29] I want to tell somebody here today that you didn't come to hear a nice little Christmas homily.
[00:01:36] That your physical body, the Bible says that God created you from dust, He formed you out of dust, He breathed into your lungs, and then He spoke over you.
[00:01:47] You are
[00:01:48] You are one-third dirt, you are one-third breath, and you are one-third Word of God.
[00:01:55] So your body is made up of Word.
[00:01:58] So as we read the Word this morning, what is dead in you is going to come alive because of the Word of Christ.
[00:02:07] So, God, we pray that the Word would resonate.
[00:02:10] We pray that the Word would go deep this morning.
[00:02:13] We call to life things in people that they've given up on, that they thought were behind them.
[00:02:20] We call those things to life by the light and life of Jesus today.
[00:02:26] And it's in His name that all God's people said, Amen.
[00:02:29] Come on, can we thank Jesus one more time for all that He's doing in our lives?
[00:02:34] God bless you, you may.
[00:02:36] You may be seated.
[00:02:38] Hey, can we just thank our string quartet this morning?
[00:02:41] Just an amazing job.
[00:02:43] Love you guys.
[00:02:44] You're welcome every Sunday.
[00:02:45] I'm just going to throw that out everywhere.
[00:02:47] So love some strings.
[00:02:51] So this is a phrase, John chapter 1.
[00:02:54] We're going to be in Luke chapter 1 and John chapter 1.
[00:02:57] This morning but this is this is a phrase and this is going to be in just a moment I'll give you the title of the message but this is a phrase this is a very 2020s phrase you see it all over the place it's kind of a makes its way across social media Instagram and TikTok but not just that like
[00:03:13] You hear sportscasters say this during a sporting event.
[00:03:18] You hear it make its way through the therapy world and psychologists.
[00:03:24] But it's just, it's a phrase that has made its way through life and it's this.
[00:03:28] Two things, say two things.
[00:03:30] two things can be true it's basically a way of saying that sometimes life is complex that sometimes there are realities that may seem to be competing realities but they are not necessarily competing realities let me can i just give it to you in plain christmas terms in christmas language so two things can be true two things can be true at christmas number one you can say i want
[00:03:57] to eat healthy during Christmas season and, say and, I just ate nine Christmas cookies.
[00:04:05] Come on, two things can be true.
[00:04:08] Two things can be true.
[00:04:09] Pastor, I love a home that is lit up with Christmas lights and I'm not getting on that ladder again.
[00:04:17] Two things.
[00:04:19] Two things can be true.
[00:04:21] At family gatherings, I love my family.
[00:04:24] And, say and.
[00:04:26] They drive me crazy.
[00:04:27] Don't say amen to that.
[00:04:28] They're sitting right beside you.
[00:04:31] Two things can be true.
[00:04:34] Pastor, my kids do not need any more toys.
[00:04:43] I can't even walk through their room without stepping on plastic.
[00:04:48] And,
[00:04:50] The grandparents are gonna buy them more toys than all of Walmart can contain.
[00:04:57] Two things can be true.
[00:04:58] I'll be home for Christmas, warms my heart, and I don't wanna travel 10 hours to get there.
[00:05:04] Two things can be true.
[00:05:06] I love Christmas parties and the festivities and the music and the camaraderie and I can't wait to be at home on my couch in my sweatpants.
[00:05:19] Come on.
[00:05:20] Two things can be true.
[00:05:24] Let's go.
[00:05:25] We read the narrative through the Gospel of Luke, but I want to go to John and I want you to look for
[00:05:31] Two things that are true in this passage, and I know you're listening to this, and you're saying, Pastor, but Jesus says, I'm the way and the truth and the life, and there's one truth, and you're already preaching heresy on Christmas.
[00:05:42] Don't preach heresy on Christmas.
[00:05:44] I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you how this is true.
[00:05:47] There's one way, there's one way, but there's also two things that can be true.
[00:05:51] John 1, one verse of Scripture.
[00:05:54] Verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[00:05:59] And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[00:06:08] Let me give you in triplicate two things that can be true.
[00:06:12] Number one, it's on your notes.
[00:06:14] God is both transcendent and
[00:06:18] dwelt among us.
[00:06:20] The Bible says that the Word became flesh.
[00:06:25] What does it mean that Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God, but He is God?
[00:06:31] What does it mean that He was not begotten of the Word, but He is the Word?
[00:06:37] It means that God is eternal, supreme, and transcendent.
[00:06:41] To say that Jesus Christ is transcendent means that He is beyond us in every way.
[00:06:48] Jesus is beyond creation beyond limitation beyond comprehension he's not just bigger than the universe he pre-existed it he is not merely wise he is wisdom he doesn't just give life and possess life he is life John 1 3 says in the beginning was the word all things were made through him Christ is not just in creation creation is in Christ
[00:07:16] Colossians 1 16 all things were created through him and for him and in him he holds all things together first Timothy 6 he dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen nor could see Hebrews 1 3 he is the radiance all of the glory of God and upholds the universe by the word of his power
[00:07:42] A couple of theologians said it like this.
[00:07:44] A.W.
[00:07:45] Tozer made this comparison.
[00:07:48] That God is not the highest being on a scale of beings.
[00:07:52] So that's not even...
[00:07:54] God is the Holy Other and the Bible says that it is that word, the eternal word.
[00:08:17] the supreme word the transcendent word the omniscient word the omnipotent word the holy word the holy other word that dwelt among us the one who spoke galaxies into being learned how to speak to his mother the one who sits on the throne of heaven lay in a feeding trough the transcendent god became touchable you say pastor wise you give me a lot of theology and a lot of
[00:08:46] Words transcendent.
[00:08:48] I've never even heard that.
[00:08:49] Why does it matter?
[00:08:50] Here's why it matters.
[00:08:53] I want you to imagine that you were a villager living in Great Britain in the 1800s and your child came down with a disease.
[00:09:02] And you knew that beyond a miracle your child was probably going to pass away within 24 hours.
[00:09:07] It was a common disease that was making its way throughout
[00:09:11] You had also heard that there was a physician, physician from Cambridge a couple hours away.
[00:09:20] He was a great physician, an amazing physician, a powerful physician, a wealthy physician, and that physician had come up with a cure.
[00:09:29] In fact, word had gotten to the village that they'd tried this cure
[00:09:32] On a hundred babies in London and all of those babies had survived but the problem was your child only had about 24 hours to live and it was a three days journey even if the swiftest of riders hopped on horseback even if they traveled day and night they wouldn't get all of that see in that situation the power was available but you don't just need power you need presence
[00:10:02] Now think of it on the other hand.
[00:10:04] Let's say that your next door neighbor was your best friend.
[00:10:06] You grew up all your life together.
[00:10:09] You got in trouble together.
[00:10:10] You tended sheep together.
[00:10:12] You fought off bullies together.
[00:10:14] And he's been with you every single step of the way.
[00:10:16] His wife has brought over meals.
[00:10:18] He's laughed with you.
[00:10:19] He's cried with you.
[00:10:20] He's sat in silence with you.
[00:10:22] He's been with you.
[00:10:24] Your neighbor, your best friend is offering his presence and you're so grateful for it but you don't just need presence, you need power.
[00:10:33] Church, that's why Christmas matters.
[00:10:37] That's why it matters that Jesus is all supreme.
[00:10:41] That's why it matters that he created the universe.
[00:10:45] That's why it matters that he is God because you don't just need a nice little Jesus to show up in your life and say everything's gonna be okay.
[00:10:53] You need God.
[00:10:54] You need the Creator of heaven and earth.
[00:10:57] You need somebody that is all-powerful.
[00:11:01] But you don't just need somebody that is up there, out there, that is not interested in what you're walking through.
[00:11:08] You need Emmanuel, God, with us.
[00:11:11] That's the story of Christmas.
[00:11:14] That's Christmas!
[00:11:15] God with you!
[00:11:16] God with you!
[00:11:17] Even when Jesus ascended back to heaven, the Bible says that he did not leave us, but he sent another, the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:26] Maybe you're in church for the first time in a while, and you felt something during that music, and I tell you it wasn't just lights, that's the Holy Spirit, God with you!
[00:11:37] God with you this Christmas.
[00:11:39] God with you in the middle of your divorce.
[00:11:41] God with you in the middle of your cancer treatment while you're putting on a good smile and holding it together for your family but you're really weak and when your family leaves you're crying out to God for strength.
[00:11:54] God with you.
[00:11:55] God with you in the middle of your diagnosis.
[00:11:57] God with you in the middle of your insecure job situation.
[00:12:01] God with you, Emmanuel.
[00:12:04] God with us.
[00:12:05] He's with you.
[00:12:06] There's nothing in your life that you're going through that God's not big enough to handle and there's nothing in your life that you're not going through that He is not with you through.
[00:12:16] God is transcendent and He dwells among us.
[00:12:22] Say two things.
[00:12:23] Two things.
[00:12:25] Second thing is that Jesus is fully God and fully man.
[00:12:30] We touched on it, but this is extremely important to realize.
[00:12:35] There's one little phrase.
[00:12:36] It's not even an entire verse.
[00:12:38] It's just part of a verse.
[00:12:39] It's the second part of that verse.
[00:12:40] And it says this, As of the only Son from the Father.
[00:12:47] So the Holy Spirit is not explicitly mentioned in this particular passage, but here we've got a little bit of a glimpse into this concept that's called the Trinity.
[00:12:59] And so it's not God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:02] I mean, you can say that, but that's not technically correct.
[00:13:06] It's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:10] That's an idea of the Trinity, three in one.
[00:13:14] Three separate entities and yet they are all fully God and theologians through thousands of years have tried to explain it and have not done a very good job so I'm not going to try to on a Sunday morning but just that's the thing that we it's this mystery it's this beautiful mystery that we that we wrestle with.
[00:13:34] But here you have this idea that it's the Son, but he's also from the Father, but he's also, he's not just the Son, he is God.
[00:13:44] Let me explain it to you this way.
[00:13:47] Think through the Gospels, through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
[00:13:49] If you read through the Gospels, what ultimately got Jesus killed?
[00:13:56] Now, I know that technically nobody killed Jesus.
[00:13:59] Jesus says that nobody takes my life from me, but I lay down my life.
[00:14:03] as a voluntary offering but just in the human standpoint what what got Jesus killed it wasn't it wasn't his miracles not everybody loved all of his miracles but a lot of people did especially when they got fed especially when good things happened but so it wasn't his miracles that got Jesus killed it wasn't even his teaching pharisees didn't love all the teaching but they
[00:14:26] Kind of swallowed it and put up with it.
[00:14:29] It wasn't either of those things.
[00:14:30] What ultimately got Jesus killed?
[00:14:33] It was that Jesus claimed to be God.
[00:14:39] You got to understand in John 8 58 how blasphemous this phrase potentially was.
[00:14:46] The Jewish people, the name for God, when God revealed himself to Moses, the name there was Yahweh.
[00:14:56] It was, I am that I am.
[00:14:58] And the Jewish people in that day and culture felt that that name in and of itself was so holy that they wouldn't even utter that name.
[00:15:08] They wouldn't even speak that name.
[00:15:10] and so when people were asking Jesus who he was and he says this in John 8 58 he says before Abraham was I am you've got to understand the statement he not only did nobody even spoke that name and now Jesus was not only speaking that name he said he was that name
[00:15:37] The Jewish people immediately tried to stone him in verse 59.
[00:15:41] In John 10.10, he says, I and the Father are one.
[00:15:48] In Mark 2.5-7, Son, your sins are forgiven.
[00:15:52] And then it says, Who can forgive sins but God alone?
[00:15:57] Verse 10, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
[00:16:03] Here's the question that each of us are going to have to answer at some point in our lives.
[00:16:09] Who was Jesus?
[00:16:12] Who was Jesus?
[00:16:13] There's nobody.
[00:16:15] I mean, there may be a couple of absolutely crazy people, but atheists say that Jesus was a historical figure.
[00:16:24] Everybody believes that.
[00:16:26] Every religion just about across humanity, almost 8 billion, 8.2 actually billion people on the planet agree that Jesus existed.
[00:16:35] What you have to figure out is, is Jesus who he said he was?
[00:16:43] And so you can say something like this.
[00:16:45] Well, yeah, I love the teachings of Jesus.
[00:16:48] He had great moral teachings.
[00:16:49] Do unto others and love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:16:53] And that's great, but that doesn't mean he was God.
[00:16:57] Or you could say that Jesus was a great prophet and he gave some good prophetical oracles and maybe even believe in his miracles.
[00:17:06] But if you don't believe he's God,
[00:17:09] Then there's the problem.
[00:17:11] C.S.
[00:17:11] Lewis says it like this.
[00:17:12] He says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone from really saying the foolish thing that people often say about him.
[00:17:20] That I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his claim to be God.
[00:17:26] That is the one thing we must not say.
[00:17:29] A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
[00:17:35] He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell.
[00:17:43] You've got to make a choice.
[00:17:45] Either this man was and is the Son of God or else he's a madman or something worse.
[00:17:51] But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher.
[00:17:57] He has not left that open to us.
[00:18:00] He did not intend to.
[00:18:02] Jesus is either a liar, he's a lunatic, or he's Lord.
[00:18:08] Who is he?
[00:18:10] Jesus.
[00:18:12] And then the third thing is this that in the idea that two things can be true, Jesus is full of grace and truth.
[00:18:21] Jesus is full of grace and truth.
[00:18:24] Have you found that some people only want grace Jesus?
[00:18:30] and some people only want truth Jesus have you found this here's here's your clue that people only want grace Jesus I think I don't have any scientific data on this I think this is possibly the most misquoted taken out of context verse in the Bible have you heard somebody quote they don't know anything else about the Bible but they know this verse judge not
[00:18:58] Judge not.
[00:19:00] Judge not.
[00:19:01] Here's what that's code for.
[00:19:02] That's code for you're calling me out and I don't want to be held accountable for the wrong things that I'm doing in my life.
[00:19:07] A lot of times.
[00:19:08] Come on.
[00:19:10] Now does the Bible say judge not lest ye be judged?
[00:19:13] Yes.
[00:19:14] Is it meant for the purpose that most people use it for?
[00:19:18] No.
[00:19:19] Why?
[00:19:19] Because some people only want grace, Jesus.
[00:19:23] They want forgiveness but not repentance.
[00:19:26] they want blessing without obedience they love the verses about mercy but pastor don't preach on holiness and i'm going to get offended and go to another church that doesn't talk about holiness and they want jesus as comforter but not as king they want compassion but not commands they want jesus to hug everybody but they don't want jesus to confront everybody
[00:19:47] here's why that can't be if you don't have truth grace as an entity cannot exist it can't how many of you want grace i got this is not a trick question here how many of you need grace how many of you needed grace this morning before you it was sunday why do you need grace on a sunday stop fussing at your family on a sunday
[00:20:13] Sometimes we need Sunday grace, right?
[00:20:17] We need a double dose of grace on Sunday.
[00:20:19] I don't want to live, I don't think anybody wants to live in a world without grace.
[00:20:25] What a horrible existence that would be.
[00:20:28] But grace could not exist without truth.
[00:20:33] Why?
[00:20:33] Because if there is no truth, there's no need for grace.
[00:20:37] So let's say that you are a college student and you're taking your finals and you're taking chemistry and you're in pre-med and you need that chemistry grade.
[00:20:47] You need at least a 92 on that chemistry final in order to continue your studies and you've been studying and pulling all-nighters and got all this caffeine and Red Bull and you're in there and you needed a 92 and you got a 91.
[00:21:02] and you go to your teacher and you are asking, I need grace.
[00:21:06] Now disclaimer, I wasn't very good at chemistry, especially in seventh grade at Franklin Middle School when I put two chemicals together and I blew up the chemistry lab and nobody knows that and I'm sorry, Principal Persanchek, I never confessed to that.
[00:21:21] I probably owe Franklin Middle School some money.
[00:21:26] I saw, you forget, some of you, like, do you forget about things for decades and then you're doing something?
[00:21:31] I was like, oh man, I blew up the chemistry lab in seventh grade.
[00:21:35] They had to close down the whole wing.
[00:21:38] Anyway.
[00:21:43] That's why I'm not a physician.
[00:21:47] But if you needed a 92 and you got a 91, you're going to your professor and you're asking for grace.
[00:21:54] And because there is a right answer, say that you had to put the, I don't know, is atomic weight of an element a thing?
[00:22:00] I just, okay, good.
[00:22:02] So you needed to write down the atomic weight of boron.
[00:22:04] Is boron an element?
[00:22:05] Good, all right.
[00:22:06] And so, and you missed it.
[00:22:08] If there was a right answer, if there was truth, there would be the possibility for her to give you grace.
[00:22:16] If the question was framed in a way in which there were no possible right answer, then grace wouldn't be possible.
[00:22:23] So if the question were framed like, what's your favorite color?
[00:22:27] and you put boron or you put green and she just didn't like that because her truth was that, do you see why this is dangerous?
[00:22:37] Do you see why these phrases are dangerous?
[00:22:39] Well my truth, well I'm just speaking my truth.
[00:22:42] No, there is no my truth, there is the truth.
[00:22:46] Because if we want to take away the essence of what truth is and reduce truth to a feeling then what you have actually done is you have sucked the world free from grace.
[00:22:59] And people think that they're leaning into more grace but they're actually leaning into no grace.
[00:23:05] That's why we need truth and grace.
[00:23:08] Some people only want grace, Jesus.
[00:23:10] Some people only want truth, Jesus.
[00:23:13] They're on Facebook.
[00:23:15] They're called social media theological watchdogs.
[00:23:18] They love calling out wrong but struggle to lift people up.
[00:23:22] They love to quote commandments but forget compassion.
[00:23:25] They preach hell but never offer hope.
[00:23:27] Their Jesus overturns tables but never eats with sinners.
[00:23:31] They defend doctrine but sometimes damage people.
[00:23:34] I put it on your notes like this.
[00:23:36] Grace without truth becomes license.
[00:23:39] Truth without grace becomes legalism.
[00:23:44] I've used this before but but I think it applies if you would have if the United States Treasury minted a new coin I know we don't carry many coins we don't have much much cash in our society but if they had a newly minted coin and there was some value in the coin not because necessarily of the that it was made out of precious metals but just because of what was minted on there if you took a some sort of laser machine and you cut that coin in half
[00:24:11] That coin would not lose half of its value.
[00:24:15] It would lose all of its value.
[00:24:18] See, the gospel without truth doesn't lose half its value.
[00:24:22] It loses all of its value because you don't need Jesus.
[00:24:25] The gospel without grace doesn't lose half its value.
[00:24:28] It loses all of its value because you have truth, but now you don't have a way to get back to God.
[00:24:33] That's why it's so important that we understand that Jesus was fully God and fully man.
[00:24:39] and that he preaches a gospel of grace and truth so we have all of these these two things that can be true that are true that Jesus is transcendent and he dwelt among us that Jesus is fully God and fully man that Jesus is full of grace and truth all of those are two things that can be true but it funnels into only one of these only one of these can be true and I want to
[00:25:09] Put these two words up.
[00:25:10] The two words are justifying and justified.
[00:25:15] Justifying and justified.
[00:25:18] And so these words come from the same root, but they mean very different things.
[00:25:25] So let me explain it to you like this.
[00:25:26] So you can only live, if all of those other things are true, then
[00:25:31] There's only one possibility, only one way for you to live.
[00:25:35] The first way would be justifying.
[00:25:37] This is our tendency.
[00:25:43] Justifying is made up of two things.
[00:25:45] It's made up of, I'm gonna blame somebody else, and I got excuses.
[00:25:50] like like you didn't have to learn that when your parents came in the room and found you playing with your siblings and you were doing something wrong you probably didn't raise your hand and say it was me what would you do we're just we're born to make excuses we're born to just justify things it's funny though because um i enjoy at times like reading reading books or listening to podcasts of successful people across different whether it's
[00:26:18] In the medical field or education field or great ministers, great preachers or whatever.
[00:26:24] And I especially enjoy the stories of when they've overcome a lot in their life.
[00:26:29] Like they didn't come from wealth or notoriety, but they've become what we would call great in their lives.
[00:26:37] And a lot of them will give, you know, attribute their success to different things.
[00:26:40] I've never heard this not once.
[00:26:42] I've never heard this.
[00:26:44] I've never heard one of them say you know I spent all of my life blaming people and then I just found the perfect person to blame and once I blamed that person I just overnight success my business took off I just I just my business took I started I started making millions once I found the right person to but I've never heard that I've never I've never heard that somebody's story from like rags to riches where you know I've just been making excuses all of my life
[00:27:14] and I finally found the perfect excuse and once I found that once I found that perfect excuse but that's the way we're wired right most people we live we live justifying it's my parents fault I'll get it right someday it was just one time at least I'm not as bad as or or this it's just how it's just how I'm wired it's just how I'm wired I took the Enneagram and
[00:27:36] and the Enneagram says I'm this way and so that's just my and I'm not against those I'm not against like personality profiles and all of those things but as much as they reveal about us they can become excuses for us because then we just think well I'm just I'm just that way and and I'm just and so we we live our lives blaming other people and we live our lives making excuses we can live justifying or we can live justified
[00:28:03] And I've given you a lot of theology this morning.
[00:28:05] This is another theological term, but justified.
[00:28:09] I was told this in Bible college and it always stuck with me that the way that you remember what justified means is that it means just if I'd never
[00:28:19] Sin.
[00:28:19] Justified never sin.
[00:28:21] And so we try to do the justifying.
[00:28:24] Only Jesus can proclaim us justified.
[00:28:27] Romans 4, 5.
[00:28:29] And to the one who does not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteous.
[00:28:37] Can we stand all across this house today?
[00:28:40] Romans 8, 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
[00:28:44] it is God who justifies Romans 3 24 by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight Romans 3 24 and we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ
[00:29:05] Jesus.
[00:29:06] Church, Jesus is eternal and he is transcendent.
[00:29:10] He is fully God and fully man.
[00:29:13] He is full of grace and full of truth and that's why we come to him today saying that he is eternal.
[00:29:21] He is wonderful.
[00:29:22] He is beautiful.
[00:29:24] He is all of those things.
[00:29:26] Come on, can we just lift our voices, lift our hands to the eternal one, the transcendent one, the glorious one.
[00:29:35] In this holy moment with heads bowed and eyes closed, who is Jesus to you?
[00:29:43] Is He Lord?
[00:29:48] Is He Lord of your life?
[00:29:51] Is He the I AM?
[00:29:53] Is He personal?
[00:29:55] Is He your Savior?
[00:29:58] With heads bowed and eyes closed, how many of you would say something like this?
[00:30:02] Pastor, I'm not perfect.
[00:30:04] But through the grace and blood of Jesus Christ I am justified.
[00:30:09] I am righteous.
[00:30:10] He is Lord of my life.
[00:30:11] Would you just slip up your hand and take a moment and say thank you Jesus.
[00:30:15] Thank you for coming as a baby in a manger.
[00:30:18] Thank you for living a sinless life.
[00:30:20] Thank you for dying on the cross.
[00:30:22] Thank you for being raised to life.
[00:30:23] Thank you for ascending to the Father.
[00:30:25] Thank you for the promise of not leaving us as orphans but sending the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:30:30] Thank you
[00:30:31] that you will return to judge the quick and the dead and thank you that when I stand before you someday I will not stand according to my own works according to my own merit according to what I have or have not done but I stand declared righteous I am justified by the blood of Jesus Christ thank you Jesus thank you thank you Jesus thank you Jesus you can put your hands down
[00:30:56] If you weren't able to raise your hand this morning with heads still bowed and eyes still closed, this morning, this can be your moment to move from justifying to justified, to move from excuses to a savior, to move from blaming to the blameless one, to say, Jesus,
[00:31:14] I don't want to just know you as a teacher I don't want to just know you as a prophet I want to know you as my personal Lord and Savior and so if that's you in the house just as a point of reference I'm gonna count to three when I get to three I want you to lift your hand high and say I want to give my life to Jesus Christ this morning one pastor I'm done with excuses two pastor I'm done blaming other people three if that's you just lift your hand
[00:31:40] all across this house and say I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ as I pray this prayer out loud would you just pray it silently at your seat just say something like this say dear Jesus I come to you I know that I'm a sinner but I ask you Jesus to come into my life I ask you Jesus to come into my heart
[00:32:05] and help me to live wide awake to the love of God and fully alive to my purpose and it's in Jesus name that we pray and all of God's people said Amen.
[00:32:20] Amen.
[00:32:21] Come on church can we celebrate with those who have gone from death to life this morning.
[00:32:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Well, I hope today's service made a real difference in your life.
[00:32:32] Hi, I'm Noemi, the new online ministry director here at Multiple Concord, and I just want to thank you for joining us today.
[00:32:38] It truly means so much that you chose to worship with us online.
[00:32:42] If you made a decision to follow Jesus, we are celebrating with you.
[00:32:46] It's the greatest decision you could ever make, and we would love to walk alongside you as you take your next steps.
[00:32:52] Simply download the Multiply Concord app and tap next steps.
[00:32:56] There you'll find resources, encouragement, and a team ready to support you as you begin this new journey with Him.
[00:33:02] Thanks again for being part of today's service.
[00:33:05] We can't wait to connect with you soon.
