There Is Another
Download MP3Tonight's scripture reading is from John chapter 5 verses 31 through 47. Hear the words of Jesus. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me and I know testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
Speaker 1:But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me, that the father has sent me. And the father who sent me has born has himself born witness about me. His voice, you have never heard. His form, you have never seen.
Speaker 1:And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Speaker 1:How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
Speaker 1:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's pray. Almighty God, we are desperate to hear from you, And so we ask that in this time, that by your Spirit, you would open our eyes and our hearts and our minds to receive you, and in receiving you, to find life. And so Lord, please speak to us, because your servants are listening. Amen. My name is Jeff, by the way.
Jeffrey Heine:If we haven't met before, I'd I'd love to meet you afterwards. I'm an associate pastor here at Redeemer, and it's a privilege to open up God's word with you this evening. As we just heard, we're continuing our study in John's gospel. We've made our way to chapter 5, and so we we're gonna be, continuing picking up from where Joel was last week in chapter 5. Over this summer, I did quite a bit of reading on the topic of knowing God.
Jeffrey Heine:And a lot of that was actually for, the theological talk back that we did in in the month of June on the topic of doubt. But, in reading these different books, different common questions were coming up, and the big one is, can we know God? And if we can know God, how? And then, further, what does it mean to know God? One of the books that I read, was, called Longing to Know by a theologian named Esther Meek, And and in her book, she summarizes how culture, our our current culture, really says that, truth is individually defined.
Jeffrey Heine:So whatever might be true for you, can be true for you, and whatever's true for me, can be true for me. And as long as they don't come into too much conflict, we'll be okay as a society. And she says that if we can know God, if that's if that's possible, and that what the Bible says about God is true, then we have these universal truths. We have things that are true, whether you believe it or not, and whether I believe it or not, it is just true. True for everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:And so after after this reading, I think I can distill down some and and they're quite simple statements, but but it kinda took a while to get there, and that is, can we know God? The answer, yes. How do we know God? Jesus. And what does it mean to know God?
Jeffrey Heine:What does it look like to know God? And I would say this. To know God is to be in awe of him. Awe. This supreme awe, I I would kind of tease out to be a love for him, a trust in him, and an obedience to him.
Jeffrey Heine:That we are in awe. That all of who we are is responding back in awe to God, and that's to know him. And I want us to hold that in our minds, that sense of awe, as we look at chapter 5. As we look at John chapter 5, and a reminder of where we are. So far, Jesus has done and said things throughout John's gospel that have turned Jerusalem upside down.
Jeffrey Heine:You might recall he cleansed the temple. A few weeks ago, we looked at him breaking the Sabbath and healing a man. And now he is teaching that he is equal with God. And it's because of this, because he's saying and doing these things, that these Jewish leaders now want this rabbi executed. He has to be killed.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 18 says this in chapter 5, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Now what's being described there is blasphemy. Blasphemy has pretty clear rules for judgment in the scriptures. For someone to curse the name of God, or to bring disrespect to the name of God, like saying, I am equal with God, and God is equal with me, is blasphemy. And in Leviticus chapter 24, verse 16, we read about the punishment for blasphemy.
Jeffrey Heine:It says this. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall come to him and stone him, the sojourner as well as the native. When he blasphemes the name, he shall be put to death. So last week, after Jesus had healed the paralytic man, and then these people, these Jewish leaders had confronted him, and John the evangelist says, and this is why they were seeking to kill him.
Jeffrey Heine:Last week, we looked at his beginning address to these Jewish leaders. These Jewish leaders who are who are coming to him wondering, who is this person who heals on the Sabbath, who breaks the law like this, and then says and talks about his equality with a father. And they are seeking to kill Him, because He has broken the law, not only in healing on the Sabbath, but blasphemy. This man was saying he was one with God, and that is blasphemy, unless it's true. This saying these things means that you should be executed, unless what's being said here is actually true.
Jeffrey Heine:So Jesus addresses these Jewish leaders, and he begins to back up his claim for his identity. And he does this in 2 parts. So last week, we we looked at Jesus describing his authority. And think back to the temple cleansing that we studied in John chapter 2. Remember the question that the Jewish rulers came to him after he had turned over tables and and chased the money changers out, and all the animals, he he drove them out with a whip, he did all of that.
Jeffrey Heine:They came to him with a question. That is, what sign do you give to be able to do this? What gives you the authority? What gives you the right to do what you just did? And so again, there's this question of, what authority do you have?
Jeffrey Heine:And last week, we looked at how Jesus says, the father has given me the authority over life and judgment. The Father has given me this kind of authority. This will be reiterated again at the Great Commission in Matthew 28, when Jesus says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And so, to these Jewish leaders, he says in verse 26 that we looked at last week, the authority for life, the authority over judgment, the authority over death, all of this has been given to me by the Father. And in teaching these things concerning his authority and his relationship with the Father, Jesus is is making an enormous truth claim.
Jeffrey Heine:He's claiming this huge concept, this huge reality saying, this is actually true. This isn't blasphemy because it's true, but he has to back it up. And to back it up, you will see in verse 31 look with me. Jesus's response here, as he is making his way through his address and he's coming to back up his truth claim, he comes to this point. Verse 31.
Jeffrey Heine:If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. You see, Jesus begins by saying that he cannot bear witness about himself alone. And this is in keeping with Old Testament teaching that you need multiple witnesses for a truth claim. So for something to be validated as true, you need multiple witnesses. He can't just say, I'm equal with the father, and that's that.
Jeffrey Heine:He needs another. He needs someone else to bear witness about who he is. In this teaching, we we see it in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 17/19, also in Numbers 35. There must be another to bear witness about him. And so look with me in verse 32.
Jeffrey Heine:There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. This another that Jesus is talking about, that's really what's gonna make up the the rest of his address here. But first, he wants to talk about John the Baptist. John the Baptist, in in verse 33. He says, you, meaning you leaders, you sent to John, you sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
Jeffrey Heine:We saw that back in John, John the Evangelist, John's gospel, in chapter 1, we see the Jewish leaders coming to John the Baptist, and inquiring who he is, and what he's doing with baptism, and who the Messiah is. And John has has been bearing witness to Jesus. Verse 34. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things to you that you may be saved. He, meaning John the Baptist, was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
Jeffrey Heine:What's being implied there is that for some time, the Jewish leaders were entertained. They were intrigued. They found fascinating this crazed man who lived in the wilderness, and he was proclaiming all these things. They were amused by him, and they put up with it for a little while, but now John the Baptist has been executed. At this point in the story, he has been killed.
Jeffrey Heine:And he said, For a while, you put up with that, but no more. But he testified, he he was bearing witness to the truth, and he uses that, the truth, to mean himself. This is the testimony of John the Baptist that Jesus is referring to when he said, I am not the Messiah, I am preparing the way for the Messiah. When he said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And when John the Baptist said, I have seen and born witness that this is the Son of God.
Jeffrey Heine:This is John the Baptist bearing witness to who Jesus is. He's backing up that enormous truth claim, But Jesus says, I have a testimony that is greater than John. I have a testimony that is not from man. I have a testimony from God. I have God as my witness to the truth of who I am, and what I have come here to do.
Jeffrey Heine:And so this is the heart of what we're gonna look at tonight. The testimony from God himself concerning the truth about Jesus, who he is and what he has come to do. And the testimony that Jesus is going to describe here involves the work of all three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. The, the Pope has someone that preaches to him. You you might have known that, but but if not, there's there's, there's someone whose job it is to preach to the papal household.
Jeffrey Heine:And the the, preacher to the pope, since 1980, has been a man named Father Cantalamasa, and he actually came here to Birmingham a few years ago, and he preached at Beeson's Chapel, and I got to hear him preach, and I picked up one of his books called Contemplating the Trinity, and he says this. We must not grow tired of trying to explore the Trinity's mystery, even though he infinitely surpasses our abilities. He says we shouldn't grow tired of trying, of striving to explore the mystery of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, And I think that if we deeply consider what Jesus is saying here in chapter 5, if we look at this tonight, and we really pay close attention to what's going on, that we have much to marvel at, much to be in awe of. And I believe that if we dig thoroughly into this, that the Lord will stir up in us a holy wonder at who God is as Father, Son, and Spirit. And let's be honest, we need this, right?
Jeffrey Heine:I know I need this. I'm constantly reminded in my own life, and I see it in the lives of others within our faith family, that we have lost a sense of wonderment at who God is. We've lost that sense of bewilderment, that unbeliableness about the gospel. We just file into church, and we file out of church, and the only thing that changes Sunday after Sunday is our wardrobe. But I want more, And I know that many of you also long for more than that.
Jeffrey Heine:And so let me ask you, where is your awe today? Is it strong? Is it vibrant? Are you amazed, or is it struggling? Now it might be helpful for us to even consider what what this awe is like, and one of the things that's helpful for us to even think about awe is to think about the shades of awe that we experience in our lives.
Jeffrey Heine:I remember a couple of years ago, right before Jess and I had our daughter, June, that we went to London on a little vacation. And while we were there, we went to the Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art there in London. You cross the Millennium Bridge, and you're at the Tate Modern, and it's this huge building with this beautiful artwork, and one of the rooms, they had just put in an installation of Cy Twombly's work. Now Cy Twombly was an American painter, born in Virginia, studied in North Carolina, and then moved to Italy. And he passed away just a few years ago, but he his art, it's usually just giant canvases, and, I actually have a photo.
Jeffrey Heine:This is a there we go. There's chess, and no, not good. Okay. And so this Also, this is Cy Twombly's work, and some of you are already saying, that's not art. It is, and if you think that your child can do that, I'd like to talk to you because this is worth 1,000,000 of dollars.
Jeffrey Heine:But standing in that room with these large canvases on on every side, I remember this sense of awe at this work, this shade of awe, this beauty, and the and the the intricacy, and the detail that's actually going on as this was painted, and then parts of it were whitewashed over, and then other things painted, and then pencil. He would write, mostly in Latin, sometimes in Italian. He would write all over it, and then paint over that, and then draw again. You can take it down. But all of this intricate detail going on.
Jeffrey Heine:I just remember standing there, and it just being so big around me. And you have those moments of awe, those shades, those shadows of awe, holding a newborn, Those moments of, like, kind of transcendent moments and conversations with a a close friend when you really finally break down some of those walls walls, and you and you're honest about something. These shades and shadows of awe. We have these moments, and they are to point us to a bigger, deeper, profound awe that we should experience when we seek to behold our God. I recently heard Pastor Paul Tripp say this about awe.
Jeffrey Heine:The deepest, most influential motivation of every human being, by God's intention, is to be awe of him. You should be able to come to me and say, why do you treat your wife the way that you do? And I say, because of awe of God. You should be able to say to me, why do you raise your kids the way that you do? Because of my awe of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Why do you spend your money the way that you do? Because of my awe of God. This grand, glorious, jaw dropping, heart rattling awe of the glory of God should be the thing that defines everything about my life. That is God's plan for humanity, not spirituality, humanity. End quote.
Jeffrey Heine:By God's design, by God's design, awe is to be the supreme motivation for everything that we do. Not guilt, not I owe God, not he put a down payment on my salvation, and I better keep the monthly payments of holiness up, or he's gonna repossess my salvation. Not that, awe, awe of who he is. And so let's listen to what Jesus is describing here to the Jewish leaders. He's describing this mind blowing interworking of the trinity and bearing witness to him.
Jeffrey Heine:So I will read 36 through 39, then we'll go back and break it down together. Sound good? Okay. Verse 36. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John.
Jeffrey Heine:For the works that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the father has sent me. And the father who sent me has himself born witness about me. His voice you have never heard. His form you have never seen. And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
Jeffrey Heine:You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. And so here in these verses, what we're seeing here is a threefold testimony. We are seeing a Trinitarian testimony. We are seeing the work of the son, the witness of the Father, and the word of the spirit, all at once bearing witness to who Jesus is, and what he has come to do. So let's look at them 1 by 1.
Jeffrey Heine:The work of the Son. In verse 36, he says, The very works that I am doing bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me. He's saying that the works that I have been doing, the works that I have been doing in my public ministry, this work bears witness to who I am, and that the father sent me. So what is the work that he has been doing? So far, just in John's gospel that we have been studying, we saw his first miracle in Cana, in John 2.
Jeffrey Heine:The healing of the official's son in John 4. The healing of the paralytic man in Bethesda, John 5, Jesus meeting with Nicodemus. We have seen the woman at the well, as Jesus meets with her and shows compassion and grace. He cleansed the temple, and he has taken on the Jewish rulers. And all of these works of healing, all these works of teaching, bear witness to the person of Jesus, that he has been sent by the Father.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's the first witness of the Trinity, the work of the Son. The second is the witness of the Father. We see this in verse 37. And the Father who sent me has himself born witness about me. His voice, you have never heard.
Jeffrey Heine:His form, you have never seen. Now the that last line there, you haven't heard his voice, you haven't seen his form. He's talking very specifically to that crowd that's in front of him, these Jewish leaders who are seeking to kill him, that they have not heard his voice. But three times in the gospel accounts, we see a scene, a record account of an audible voice of God. The first time we see that is in his baptism.
Jeffrey Heine:Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that at the baptism of Jesus, when he is baptized, the audible voice of the father is heard. And he says this, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Also at the transfiguration, recorded again in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Peter, James, and John, the disciples, on the mount of transfiguration, hear the audible voice of the father say, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And in John's gospel, later on in chapter 12, which will take us some time to get there, but we will get there one day.
Jeffrey Heine:And when we look at it, we will see that Jesus is praying, and he he is praying to the father, and he says, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jesus says to the crowd who hears this voice, that they think might be thunder, they think it might be an angel, and he says, This voice you have heard for your sake, not for mine. To bear witness to who he is. The French Reformation pastor, John Calvin, cautions that we don't just look at these scenes of the audible voice of God as the the only time that's being talked about here as the father bearing witness to the son. In his commentary on John chapter 5, he writes this, I explained therefore that God testified concerning his Son, whenever in past times he held out to Israel the hope of salvation. Every time he promised that the Kingdom of Israel would be fully restored, end quote.
Jeffrey Heine:So what is he saying there? Well, Calvin's saying that every time, every time that God held out the promise of redemption, the hope of restoration throughout the history of Israel, from the mouth of every prophet, he was bearing witness to Jesus. And Calvin's not alone in this reading. In fact, we see the Apostle Peter in his first epistle, he writes this, concerning salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. He's saying that the Father has been proclaiming this witness to the Son throughout the ages, throughout all of the prophets.
Jeffrey Heine:He was holding out this hope of salvation, and every time bearing witness to the Son. The Father bears witness to the Son in every word of promise, in every word of covenant, in every reminder of hope. The work of the Son bears witness that He has come from the Father. The Father bears witness to who the Son is, and what he has come to do. And then 3rd, the Word of the Spirit bears witness to Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Look with me in verse 39. This is kinda one of the surprising things. Maybe when you heard Melissa read it earlier, it was surprising to hear Jesus saying this phrase, you search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. It is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is saying that the scriptures, that is the word of the spirit, bears witness about him. The son has been given work to do in miracles and in teaching, and these things bear witness. And likewise, the father throughout history, as he led Israel through wilderness, into a kingdom, all along the way, through exile, through deportation, through return, through further exile, that all along the way, he's been declaring this witness to the sun, and now now the Spirit has borne witness to the sun. Think about this. The Jewish leaders who were standing before Jesus, who were listening to this address, should have been the first people in line to receive Jesus as Messiah, because they searched the scriptures, because they knew the scriptures so well, And they held each other to this law.
Jeffrey Heine:They knew the law, and they even wrote more laws, and they held people to those laws, because no one gives law more severely than a person who thinks that they are keeping law, and yet they're missing it. They search the scriptures, and yet they miss that they bear witness to Jesus. Again, I think that Calvin helps us in clarifying what's going on. He writes, the leaders having Jesus before their eyes, they despise and therefore reject him. And they show plainly that they have no love for the law.
Jeffrey Heine:And with which Jesus also reproaches them, they they boasted in their knowledge of the law. What I would say that this is, this this is a perfect example of finding religion and losing Jesus. And it happens. Perhaps it's even happened to you. Perhaps your testimony is one of great church attendance and church activity and church identity, but you refuse to go to Jesus for life.
Jeffrey Heine:And these leaders in John chapter 5, these were the kinds of folks Just to get just to give you a picture of who these kinds of people are, these were the kinds of folks that had scripture on Post it notes around their bathroom mirrors. Yeah. They're the ones who were voted most respected in their high school class. They went to church camp every summer. And even when they got to college, they went back to church camp as a leader.
Jeffrey Heine:That's who these people are. They did all of these church and religious things, but they refused to go to Him for life. They knew the religious activity, but they didn't know Jesus. They had the right look, they had the right answers, but they didn't recognize the Messiah right in front of their faces. And we have to ask the question, is that me?
Jeffrey Heine:Is that you? Because what we're seeing demonstrated here is that it is very, very possible to be religious, to do church things, to know the right scripture answers, and miss the Messiah. And we have to ask the question, is that me? And some of you some of you have plumbed the depths of that question. You have had whatever law, keeping, veneer of I'm a good Christian ripped out from underneath you through suffering, through sin being exposed, something something has brought you low.
Jeffrey Heine:And the grace of being brought low has shown you that there is only one place that you go for life. It's not in Christian activity. It's not church activity. It's the person of Jesus. Some of you have had to realize that it's not your theology that saves you.
Jeffrey Heine:That right good theology doesn't save you. And if you wanted to high 5 me for quoting Calvin earlier, because you think that this is how we find life, we both need to confess, that's not where life is. Our right theology doesn't save us. The person and work of Jesus Christ is our only hope. And so these men stand before the messiah accused.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 39. You search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, Yahweh, and you do not receive me.
Jeffrey Heine:If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Alright. So what is he saying? How does Jesus get to say, you do not have the love of God in you?
Jeffrey Heine:How does he get to say that? Well, because if they did have the love of God in them, they would receive the son. If they had the love of God, which he parallels earlier with the word of God, if you had that in you, you would receive me. But your rejection of me tells me the love of God is not in you. And that they've received glory from one another as they just call back and forth to each other.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm keeping the law, are you keeping the law? I'm keeping the law, are you keeping the law? And they feel really, really good about themselves. And he's saying, you give glory back and forth for this, and you honor one another. I don't get glory like that.
Jeffrey Heine:I get glory from the Father. And then he says this. In all that happy law keeping that you pretend to be doing, You don't know Moses. You don't trust Moses. You don't understand Moses.
Jeffrey Heine:You read Moses, but you don't get it. And then he goes further, verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you before the father. There is one that accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote of me.
Jeffrey Heine:But if you don't believe his writings, which their entire identity was staked on believing his writings. And Jesus says, If you don't believe his writings, then you're not gonna believe my words. Jesus says, I'm not the accuser here. I'm not the one that stands calling out your fault in all of this. It's actually Moses.
Jeffrey Heine:Moses, the one that you have set all of your hope. He's the one that says, you don't understand me. You don't understand the law. You don't get it. Moses accuses them, and he says this, that Moses wrote of him.
Jeffrey Heine:That's why here at Redeemer, we study the Old Testament on a kind of like a regular rhythm. We we get back into an Old Testament text. That's not because it's a clever or trendy way to preach, it's because we're listening to what Jesus says here when he says that Moses wrote of me. So we wanna know what he said. We wanna know what Moses said.
Jeffrey Heine:We wanna know what the prophets said about Jesus. And so that's why we study the way that we do. The Spirit of God, through shepherds and kings, prophets and slaves, In the Scriptures, he bears witness to Jesus. The work of the Son, the witness of the Father, and the word of the Spirit all testify to Jesus. This is an incredible passage.
Jeffrey Heine:It's intricate, it's complex. And in it, we see this glorious movement of the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, each condescending in grace and charity to convey to a sin broken world about the glory of God. Each bearing witness to the Son, because the time has come for the scriptures to be fulfilled, and the covenant to be established in his blood. And so he bears witness. Each bearing witness to the Son, that He has come to bring people back to God, and the Father and the Spirit present, bearing witness to who He is and what He has come to accomplish.
Jeffrey Heine:And he is the triune God is bearing witness so we might know God. We might know him, and in knowing him, be in awe of him, to love him, to trust him, to obey him with all that we are. So the question comes to us all. Does this stir up awe in you? Has it ever?
Jeffrey Heine:Was there a time when you were in awe that the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, would call you out of the tomb, out of the grave, out of darkness, the domain of darkness, and bring you into his kingdom of light, did that stir up awe in you, and does it still? You see, reclaiming our awe is hard work, and it's not merely intellectual work. It's not just listening to some sermon that's that's kind of trying to point out all these complex things. It's it's not just intellectual work, and also, I would argue that what we have just been doing together isn't merely intellectual work. It's seeking a posture of humility before the Lord for Him to stir up our affections, our desires, to stir up our hearts to be in awe of Him.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, we give so many things our awe that don't deserve it. It's bad enough that some of these things have our attention, but we also give it our all. We know way too much about things that don't matter. We have spent way too much money on things that break down and burn up, and we have lived far too many hours without an awe of God, and we need it desperately, because this is actually how we were created to live all of humanity, whether we believe it or not. Now, when I come to this point, after I had been kinda working through all this, the question that came to me was, okay, so now what?
Jeffrey Heine:And sometimes, like last week, the application that we got to experience was come and receive. Come to the table. This judgment that we're talking about, what is your only hope in life and death, that we confess in the Heidelberg Catechism question 1? What is your only hope in life and death? That you belong body and soul to your Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the only hope that we have. And how do we live into that hope? That we recognize our sin and our misery. That we recognize that we've been set free from our sin and our misery. And thirdly, that we live a life of thankfulness to God.
Jeffrey Heine:And that life of thankfulness is a life lived out in awe. But to give some helpful suggestions, what I hope to be helpful, let me describe 2 things that maybe we can we can seek to to play out in the coming week. To grow in our awe, postures of our hearts, a disposition of our souls perhaps, will be number 1, spend time with people who are in awe of God. Spend time with people when it comes to their singleness, or their dating life, or their marriage, their parenting, their jobs, their money, their time, that their response is, Because of my awe of God. Seek those people, seek that community out.
Jeffrey Heine:A community of people who are in awe of God. Side comment, let us pray to become a community like that for one another. Secondly, listen to the witness of God. Listen in prayer. Beg Him for all.
Jeffrey Heine:Plead with Him for all. And listen in prayer. Listen in going to his word and receiving the testimony, the testimony of the Father and the Son and the Spirit in the scriptures. And listen to this witness, the triune witness of the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Let's go to Him in prayer now.
Jeffrey Heine:Father God, we, we are a people of unclean lips, and we dwell amongst the people of unclean lips. And we are stretching beyond our position to even think of You, and to speak of you, and yet you call us child. You call us daughter. You call us son, And you do that because of Jesus, and because the Spirit has joined us to Him through faith and repentance, and nothing can separate us from your love in Christ. And so we ask, as your children, for all.
Jeffrey Heine:We ask that You would enlarge our eyes and our hearts and our minds to think of You, to regard you, to come to you as greater and more gracious than we ever imagined. I pray that by your Spirit, you would work these truths into our hearts, work these truths deep into our minds, and we would remember them, and that our awe would lead to a deeper love, a deeper trust, and a deeper obedience from our hearts. We pray these things for our great joy, and for your great glory. Amen.
