"You do not have the love of God."

John 5:16-47

Welcome! Today we begin a series of messages from the book of John, chapters 5 to 11. The title of the series is “What did He say?!” with a question mark and an exclamation point. The idea behind the title of the series is that what Jesus said was shocking, beyond shocking. In fact, I would say that the things Jesus said were the most outrageous, most extreme, most blasphemous things anyone could ever say – except for the fact that, being said by Jesus, they are actually true. (If anyone else said them they would be blasphemous.) The fact that they are true does not lessen the shock of what Jesus said; instead, I might say that they are perhaps the most serious things ever said, the most profound, and, especially, the most important. They have immense implications for every person on earth, eternal implications, and I am excited that we will be exploring these things during this series.

Today’s message  begins with John 5:16 and goes to the end of chapter 5, and we will see that the things Jesus says here every bit as shocking and important as anything else we will see in the series. Now, the very first word of verse 5:16 is “so.” That means that it comes from something that has happened before, and so (there’s that word again) I think it will help to give a very quick summary of a few key events in the book of John given prior to this point.

Seed Throwers

Galatians 6

Good Morning! Today, we have reached the end of the book of Galatians and the end of our summer series on Law and Grace. Carl took us through an overview of the entire Law from the Old Testament during June and July. Over the last weeks, we’ve covered the first 5 chapters of Galatians. Now, we will close out the series with Galatians 6, but not yet.

Let’s take a moment to pray before we get going:

Father God, You know all things. We come to You this morning humble and needy like little children. I pray that You would illuminate the dark places in our hearts and minds. Flush out the lies which we have hidden and reinforced over the years. We desire to live as the free men and women which you have purchased us to be. Our eyes and our hearts are on You. Speak now we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Unyoked

Galatians 5

Let me ask you this, “What do you think about when you think about God?” Do you see Him as a scorekeeper in heaven? Do you think He’s up there making a mark every time you do good or making a mark every time you do something bad? Do you see Him as a grandpa sitting on His rocking chair just rocking the time away? Do you think He’s not really all that concerned with your life; He started everything and just let it go? Or do you see Him as a big question mark; maybe you’re not really sure if He exists?

How does our view of God practically affect us today? In Galatians five I think you will see that the Galatians were teetering on a wrong view of God and the false teachers had totally gotten it wrong. Do we believe that God has the ability to set us free? Do we believe that He even wants us to be free? Let’s take a look at this chapter.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

The Christians in Galatia had already been set free by Christ. God was commanding them to do two things: stand firm and to not let themselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It wouldn’t make any sense for a prisoner to walk back into the cell and close the door when he was a free man.

Heirs to the Estate

Galatians 4

Today, we are returning to our study titled Law and Grace. We’re in the “Grace” study using the book of Galatians. We took a little break last week for sharing time and communion. Now, we’re back in Galatians. We’re just beyond the halfway point. There are 6 chapters in the book, and we will pick up today in chapter 4. Before we jump in, let’s take a moment and pray.

Lord, I pray that You would show us Your grace today. We all benefit from Your grace continually, to some degree, whether we recognize it or not. I pray now that we would grow in our realization of Your grace. I pray that if there are things in our hearts and minds that are still captive to the elementary principles of this world, that You would show us and transform us. We want to live lives of freedom and grace. Our focus is on You. Teach us we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I said that we’re going to talk about Galatians 4 today which we will, but I do want to back up a few verses in chapter 3. The beginning of chapter 4 hangs on a thought that was introduced at the end of chapter 3. We’ll understand chapter 4 better if we go back and reread a few verses.