Jesus: The Light of the World Part 3 - John 8:31-38

0:54A crisis will happen, and all of a sudden they'll start saying prayers. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. Some kind of pressure hits you and you start reading your Bible a little more. You start talking religiously. You may even get active in your church, right? Maybe it's a health issue, sickness, job loss, any number of things can drive a person to what I call temporary religion. Or even some will clean up their act. Maybe they want a specific girl they want to go out with, or they want a specific guy, or whatever.

1:30Number of reasons why an individual might want to have some kind of reform on the exterior. But once the circumstances change, once the panic resides, guess what? I've witnessed zealous professors go back to their old ways. There's another phenomenon that I've witnessed, and that is the sinful cycles, sinful cycles among believers. Why do believers, and I mean real believers, why do true believers often slip back into this pattern of sinful behavior? Why do they seem to go through life in this never-ending cycle of drift, defeat, depression, guilt, and then maybe some renewal, cry out to God, and then go back through this drift, defeat, depression? Why is that?

2:42Why does that happen? You see, we need more than reformation or surface reformation. We need an inner transformation. We need continual transformation. That is the life in Christ. You see, transformation occurs when we truly come to Christ and we stay with Christ. That's the kind of life that Christ calls people to follow him to a life of inner transformation. And how do we go from mere reformation to transformation? Well, that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. That's what we've been talking about the last couple of weeks. We go from mere surface reformation to inner transformation by believing Jesus is the light and by quickly following his light and then continuing in that light, which is the emphasis of our passage this morning.

3:54Message this morning, light of the world. This is the third installment. We've looked at first, two weeks ago, we looked at the verses 12 through 20, and the emphasis being to follow the light. Last week, we looked at verses 21 through 30 with the main emphasis on hasten to follow the light or hastening to follow the light. Today, we want to look at verses 31 through 37 with the emphasis upon continuing in the light. Look at verse 31. Let me read the text this morning.

4:30So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed, If you continue in my light, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. You see, look back at verse 12. When Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world, he wanted people to follow him. As he said in verse 12, then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.

5:42So it's not enough just to recognize Jesus as the light. It's not enough just to hasten to follow him. It's to continue following him. That's the emphasis that Jesus puts this morning. Our text. But before we go any further, look back at verse 30. Look at verse 30 and notice who Jesus is speaking to. In verse 30, as he spoke these things, many came to believe in him. So, in verse 31, so therefore Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him. Jesus is speaking to a group of people who had come to believe in him. But as we shall see as we go on, their belief was only superficial. These so-called believers will end up being called children of the devil in verse 44, and they will pick up stones to kill him in verse 59. Their belief is superficial. And that's what launches Jesus into this exhortation that he gives in our verses this morning. And what this tells us is the syntax alone of the word belief is not enough to distinguish a true disciple from a false disciple. In fact, same word James is going to use in chapter 2 and verse 19, speaking of the demons, they believe, and yet their belief is certainly not that of a disciple, but one who is an enemy of Christ.

7:30So, there is a certain level of professing belief in Christ that a person can have and yet, deep down, still be hostile to Christ. Is that you? Where are you? Are you a true disciple? In fact, just because you look religious on the outside, just because you look like you've maybe reformed a few areas of your life, does not mean that you are on that process of inner transformation, that your life has been transformed and continues to be transformed. In fact, just because you see churches around the landscape in the United States does not mean that we're all true disciples of Christ, right? In fact, one research group that I saw last week recognized that just because there's a lot of churches in the area doesn't necessarily mean that the people are Christian. In fact, this survey or the research said that the city that has the second highest number of religious institutions per capita is Seattle, Washington. In other words, they have some of the most churches. But that same study says, but you know what? A full one-third of the church. Of its residents have no religious affiliation at all. So, just because there's a bunch of churches doesn't mean that there's inner transformation going on.

9:13Now, we live in a time where there are plentiful churches in the United States, and yet we seem to be less Christ-like today than ever before. Just because we have an outward display of religion does not mean that we are truly followers of Christ. Look, Jesus is no universalist, he made that clear in verse 21 when he said, Where I am going, you cannot come. Jesus does not believe that all are going to go to heaven. And if you, and if that is your thinking, or if there's denominations that teach that, they are completely incompatible with the Christ to Scripture. He is no universalist.

9:59There is superficial faith in our world. There is superficial faith, maybe perhaps even in this room. That was a reality in John's day. It's a reality in our day. So, the question comes down: how do we know who the true followers of Christ are? And maybe more specifically, how do you know if you are a true follower of Christ? I can. Can assure you that I only have one mandate, that the church only has one mandate, and that is to make disciples.

10:42Jesus never flooded his ranks with a bunch of unbelieving, superficial confessions or professions. He was constantly going at him to winnow down the numbers. Are you really in the faith? Are you truly a disciple of Christ? And if so, how do you know? How do you know? Well, this morning, I want you to see three characteristics of a true disciple. And then I want to give you one simple exhortation to ensure that you are one. Three characteristics of a true disciple, and then one simple exhortation. First, characteristic of a true disciple is that a true disciple continues to be taught by Jesus. Look back at verse 31.

11:39And notice that the end of that sentence: if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. He gives us a test of true disciples. This is a very simple, straightforward, if-then statement, a condition, and then a result. If you continue in the word, In my word, the idea of continue, that is, to abide, to dwell, to live with, to stay with. It speaks of Jesus staying in a certain region in chapter 7, verse 9. John again uses that same language in 15, verse 4 to refer to a branch abiding, connected to a vine. That's what it means to continue, to stay, to remain. So if you remain, if you abide, if you continue. And what do you have to continue? And look back. It's right there in the text. In my word. That is, in my word. That is the whole of my teaching. And the idea is to remain under this ongoing instruction or ongoing tutelage of Jesus. It speaks of a perpetual relationship of him being the teacher and you being the student.

13:01If this condition is met in you, then the result is met in you. You are truly disciples of mine. Notice that it does not say, and you will become disciples of mine. Look back. Look at the very verbs are important. It does not say, if you continue in my room, then you will become disciples of mine. No, it says, if you continue in my word, you are truly disciples of mine. Continuation does not produce disciples, it reveals them.

13:41It's what we call the doctrine of perseverance, right? We in Baptist circles sometimes like the phrase, once saved, always saved, right? Okay, I agree with it, but it puts the emphasis in the wrong place. When you come to the scripture, there's not this, well, yeah, once you're saved, yeah, don't worry, don't worry about what you're going to do. Just go right ahead. Once you're saved, you're always saved, you know. And sometimes we place that emphasis in the wrong place. I fully agree with the doctrine: once you are truly born of God, you can never become unborn of God.

14:13But the emphasis is constantly upon the continuation, the perseverance. It's what the old reformers used to call the perseverance of the saints. Who's really in the faith? Those who persevere. Who are really disciples of Christ? Those who persevere, those who keep listening to him, right? Very simple concept. A test does not reveal, right? At least for the most part, I mean, a test does not cause, it reveals, right? You take tests, right? A lot of tests going around this time of year, right? And when you take a test, what's the purpose of it? Well, typically, it's to reveal what you know about a subject matter, right? It doesn't produce knowledge, it reveals what you know, right? That's the idea of a test.

15:00And Jesus at this moment is testing those who professed belief in him. Is their profession real? And listen, every single person who professes to follow Christ will be tested. And the test is going to come in various shades, varied times, different issues. And the question is going to become: do you remain? Do you continue? That's what it reveals. By the way, I looked up for all you Aggie students out there, did you a favor? November 16th is the deadline to cue drop.

15:46For those of you who know what that means, if your semester is going a little rough and you just don't like this professor or you don't want to continue with the subject matter for whatever reason, November 16th is your day to get out, okay? After that, it's permanent, right? That's the idea. You can drop your course and you can get a big cue, but at least they won't put it into your grade point ratio. Well, what Jesus is saying, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. True disciples don't cue drop because they don't like the professor or they don't like the subject matter, they remain. They continue. That's the idea.

16:36You know, look, you know, this shouldn't come as a shock to any of us, but beginning is relatively easy, especially in this country. Beginning to follow Christ can come very easily. I recently told you this story, so I won't go into all the details, but people ask me what kind of sports I was involved in in my high school years, my junior high years. And one of the things, I say, well, I ran track, right? I ran track. And they say, well, what was your event? Well, I ran the mile.

17:14Oh, you ran the mile? Yeah, I ran the mile. And those of you who have heard my story before, remember that fateful day? I don't know why I went out for track. The coach just said, hey, do you want to run track? I said, sure, I think I went to a whole two practices. And then I show up the day of the track meet and out there in the bleachers, great day in the spring, nice, sunny mountain air, nice to be outside, picnic. Everybody's got food everywhere. So I'm up in the bleachers, just eating away. I have no interest of what's about to hit me, no idea. And so the coach comes up and says, You want to run the mile? Sure, I'll run the mile. No problem. And let me finish off this pizza and down another Dr. Pepper, and I'll be right out there, you know. And so I get out there, and as you know, I take off running, and if the race had been over, I'd be able to get a lot of time. The first lap, it would have been great. But then, I mean, two or three laps into it, I am feeling really bad. And I'm like, this isn't fun at all. So I pull over to the side, give back everybody my food that I ate, the food of theirs that I ate in the bleachers. And the thing, the funny thing was, I wasn't even ashamed. I was like, that isn't fun at all. And I just went back to the stadium, and that isn't fun at all, right?

18:30Well, it's not how a person, but it's not how a person begins that distinguishes them, but it's how they continue, right? It's how we continue. And yet, is it true that I can say that, well, I ran track? Yeah, it is true. What was your event? The mile? Well, that's true. Can you really think of me as a mile runner? That was my only time ever. And yet we do that all the time with our Christianity, right? I'm a follower of Christ. And yet, yet you're following Christ doesn't amount much more than my mile run.

19:11And yet, we'll call ourselves believers. We'll call ourselves true disciples, yet we do not continue. You're not a you're not. We need to change our thinking about this. The beginning is relatively easy, just like the beginning of. Mile race is relatively easy. I mean, there can be the fascination of the supernatural. I mean, there's many reasons why following Christ can be attractive. We can be drawn by the enthusiasm of a crowd. We can be excited about something new. We can be afraid of hell and be driven to heaven, right? And the promise of heaven looks very attractive. Yeah, let's go. We don't want to go to hell. There could be a desire to please others. You know, maybe you know someone's been praying for you, and there's this desire to please others. Then there's the food, the fellowship, and the fun of Christian company. And maybe for some, that's where they want to belong. They want to desire, they desire to belong somewhere. And so it's easy to start with Christ. And then there are many who get just so overwhelmed with life. They want a better life. They're tired of everything. So they want to give Jesus a try.

20:27There are those who are tired of the consequences of their sin. They're tired of their own bad habits. They simply want more out of life. And so they're attracted to Christ, at least for a while. But then let the newness of the profession wear off. Let the freshness of the feelings go away. Let the devil really sift you through some of the hard trials of life. When you face the real Difficulties that are vital to Christianity, when you understand the real demands of true repentance and humble submission and sacrificial service, that's when it's like, yeah, this just isn't fun anymore.

21:20Yeah, the test of true discipleship is continuing. It's continuing. And finishing the race is a work of God. It's not a work of man. Continuing reveals the work of God, not the work of man, the failing strength of man. So, first characteristic of a true disciple is that a true disciple continues to be taught by Jesus. Second characteristic of a true disciple is that a true disciple comes to know the truth. You see, because a true disciple continues to be taught by Jesus, guess what happens? A true disciple comes to know the truth. Look back at verse 32. And you will know the truth. Stop there.

22:09And y'all will know the truth. It's the plural, y'all. And it speaks in the future. You will come to know because you continue under the teaching and tutelage of Jesus, you come to know the truth. You see, a true disciple is on a trajectory. Of growing maturity, growing in a mature grasp of the truth. And what is a truth? Well, the truth is all that God has revealed about Himself, all that is in His Word, all that is revealed about the person and work of Jesus.

22:52That is, that is what truth involves. You know, the true disciple, the real disciple, will come to the Word of God, will humbly receive the assessment that the Word of God says about your life, will embrace that assessment, will submit to that or agree with that assessment, and submit to the remedy and obey the Word. True disciple will come and even obey its mandates and its commandments. You know, many of us, I feel, have a very shallow view of the cross because we really don't know the truth.

23:54You see, let me ask you a question: Do you tend to forget your little sins? And cannot seem to let go of your big ones. In other words, do you seem to be able to get along fine? Like, okay, you commit a little sin. Okay, Lord, that wasn't right. And you're able to move on in peace, but these big sins, you just really can't ever get rid of. They still come back. You know what? Both of those come from a shallow understanding of the cross. Number one, none of your sins are little. They all speak of an unrighteousness that is characteristic of fallen man.

24:38But when you cannot let God take away the guilt of your sin, your big sins, you have no understanding of the depth of the cross because you haven't been taught by the truth. You see, when you come and you follow Christ, you understand, you come to know the truth, and you come to know the power of the cross that can dwarf even the foulest sin and the most abundant sin across this whole globe. Who can take the whole of humanity and take all of their sins and cover it completely? That's the power of the cross. And you come to know that when you study the depth of the infinite holiness of the Son of God, and this is the one.

25:30This is the one who we preach. This is the one we proclaim. And this is the one that comes bringing a relationship and the joy that comes with it. The power in the cross, the covering of sin, the relationship, and all that that speaks, the infinite value that the Father has placed upon you and the relationship, the continuing abiding relationship that comes out of that. You see, when you continue to be taught by Jesus, you come to know the true depth of his sacrifice, and you come to know the true depth of the Father's love for you.

26:22See, a true disciple comes to know the truth. Third characteristic of a true disciple is a true disciple experiences true freedom. And this is born out of the last. In fact, they're all built upon one another. A true disciple is one who continues to be taught by Jesus. And because he or she is continually taught by Jesus, they come to know the truth that he proclaims. And then a true disciple experiences the true freedom that comes out of knowing the truth. Look back at verse 32.

27:00Will make you free. Again, future. It will make you free. As you follow Christ, you come to know the truth, and then that truth comes to set you free. But the question is: what is true freedom? And that is going to be the question that Jesus is going to answer in the following verses. Look back at verse 33. Look at their question. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? In other words, we are this elect nation. We are this favored people.

27:40We are a free people. How is it that you say we will become free? For us to become free, we have to be enslaved. And guess what? We are so special in God's eyes that we've never been subject to anyone. That's an interesting statement, really, when you think about Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome. And you can go down the road, you can go down the list. No, there was some subject, you know, maybe they're thinking, but something's wrong with their thinking there. But Jesus doesn't spend much time on that. He takes them directly to the nature of true slavery.

28:21You see, before you can understand true freedom, you must understand true slavery. So, who is the true slave? And who is the true tyrant? Look back at verse 34. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The one who is committing sin, that is producing sin, manufacturing sin, one who sin is coming out as a work of his being, that individual is a slave of sin. His taskmaster is the God of sin. And because he is producing sin, guess what? That says who he's related to, who his boss is, who his chief is. That's what Jesus is basically saying. You know, if you are committing sin, if this is the pattern of your life, then guess who your master is?

29:18True slavery, true slavery is being under the yoke of sin. And we talk a lot about freedom and slavery in this country. In fact, we're going to the polls next week, right? But the form of government really is independent in this equation. In this country, we talk a lot about freedom and slavery. We talk about oppressor and the oppressed. We talk about the villain. We talk about the victim. And yet, in all of these, we seem to miss the nature of true slavery. And the true tyrant. It's interesting what Augustine said about the slavery to sin in his days. Listen to what he said. And this, and keep in mind, there's a lot of rampant slavery in the Roman Empire at his time. And he says, this: At times, a man's slave, worn out by the commands of an unfeeling master, finds rest and flight. To where can the servant of sin flee? Himself he carries with him wherever he flees. An evil conscience flees not from itself, it has no place to go, it follows itself. He cannot withdraw from himself, for the sin he commits is within. He has committed sin in order to obtain some sort of bodily pleasure, but the pleasure passes away, and the sin remains. What delighted is gone. The sting has remained behind. That is evil bondage.

31:10You see, false believers are not aware of their slavery. Notice that the so-called believers in Christ that day had a wrong idea about the whole nature of true freedom, and they were completely unaware of the intense hold that sin had on them. Does sin have a hold on you? Let me look back here and look at verse 35 and look at the future of the slave. Look at what happens to the slave. By making a simple analogy, this is what Jesus says in verse 35: the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son does remain forever. So here's the picture of the slave, right? What happens to the slave in the household? The slave serves, and then the slave is dismissed.

32:01Romans 9 says, there are vessels used for common purposes, and there are those used for honorable purposes. And Christ, by declaring Himself to be the light, calls you to be one of those vessels of His, to follow the light, to walk in His light, to be one of His vessels of mercy. Look at the nature of true freedom. So, if the Son makes you free, guess what? You will be free indeed. You see, the Son remains forever. And I believe in this passage, the Son He's speaking about is the Son, Son. So, if the Son, if Christ makes you free, the One who's going to remain forever, guess what? You will be free indeed.

32:54Free indeed. So, what kind of freedom does Christ offer? What is true freedom? I like to tell my kids, go do whatever you want, just want what God wants. And that's the idea of what freedom is. A person is free when they do whatever they want and they want what they ought. That's what true freedom is. And one who continues to follow the Son is the one who abides forever. You know, I asked at the beginning of this message: how do we end this repeated cycle of sin? And I'm talking about believers here.

33:48How do we end this cycle of sin in our own life? How does the addict get out of that cycle? How does the person who struggles severely with depression, how do they get out of this cycle? How do you get out of it? Well, the answer is right here. Continue to think the thoughts that Christ wants you to think. Continue following Him. Continue in the light. Don't let the worldly thoughts, even that arise from your own heart, be what drives who you are. Let His thoughts, you go where He goes. That's how we. We break this.

34:33We go where he goes. He will never lead you into bondage. You are free. As you continue with him, keep going. It's that life of inner transformation. He calls you to a life of inner transformation, and that comes from following the light, continuing to follow the light. Look at the it's important that you understand this concept. Look at the reason why people are enslaved. Look back at verse 37. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. And this is going to start a whole storm of discussion about the kind of children. Are they children of Abraham? Who's the true children of Abraham? And he's going to go on, and we'll look at that in the weeks ahead. But right now, I want you to see why these people are enslaved to their sin. And it's clear they're enslaved to their sin because they're seeking to kill him. That's their desire. That is about as evil as somebody who did nothing wrong to them, only good to them, and yet in their hearts they're wanting to kill him. And so, why?

35:48Why practically? Why is it that people remain enslaved? And the answer right there is that my word has no place in you. These people were enslaved to their sins simply because the words of Christ had no place in them. And we are enslaved today or live a life in slavery because we do not make room for Jesus' words in our life. And I believe that's why people who are genuinely saved can continue in patterns of sin over extended periods. I think in a long time you're going to see some improvement because of the nature of God, but you don't have to live that way. But I believe the reason people stay in this cycle more than they should is because they've made no place for God's word to be in them. So we've looked at, and that's what I want to talk about, because ultimately the mandate is to make true disciples, for us to become true disciples, to be inner-transformed, to be continuing in our discipleship. And so that's where we want to go. I want to look at how do we become. I want to give you one simple exhortation. So we've looked at three characteristics of a true disciple. A true disciple continues to be taught by Jesus, comes to know the truth. A true disciple experiences true freedom. And then one simple exhortation.

37:22Make room for Jesus. Make room for Jesus' words in your life. That's the exhortation. Very simple. I remember some years ago I went out to a pastor's conference, and some friends of mine who wanted me to come to their house invited me to come and stay a few days, and so I went. And what I didn't know is prior to me getting there, they completely repurposed their room, a bedroom. They took a bedroom, they completely fixed it up, they put all new carpet, they wanted to make sure I had new bedclothes, they completely new paint. And the day before I got there, or the day before I arrived, the woman of the home said, you know what? He has no place to study. So she rushed off really quickly to get a desk and put it in the room so that I would have a place to study. In other words, they made room for me, and they wanted me to stay there a long time. So they made the room nice, they gave me a place, and I did, I stayed there, and we had great fellowship. But that's what the idea of making room for Christ's word in your life. It's being welcoming, it's making provision for him to be there, for his thoughts to be in. Your week, to be in your day, to be in your moments. Make room for Jesus' words. That's the way of the true disciple. And if you don't make room, guess what?

39:14You're hardly going to fellowship with him, right? A discipleship involves this teacher-pupil relationship. Now, in the days of Jesus, you remember that involved going where he went. He was itinerant. He went around. So if you were going to be a disciple of his, guess what you had to do? You had to free yourself from other distractions and other duties and other obligations and other pursuits, and you had to go spend long hours with him. That was the way you did it.

39:48And I know it's different back then, but the principles are still the same. Make room for Jesus' words in your life. Take your week. You got seven days. Take the next week. Here we are at the Lord's Day. Come back next. Look at your schedule. Is there room for Christ in your life? Is there room for your mind meditating, thinking upon his words? And I'm going to. How do you do this? Well, let's just take your week. Just think, let's break this down to your coming week. And let's talk about several ways to make room for Christ's thoughts to come into your mind during this week.

40:30First of all, I'd say you need to make room to routinely expose your minds to his word. You need to make some time. This isn't just going to happen. You need to make room to routinely expose your mind to his words. And these may be words you've never heard before. But make room. And one good place is to start here. We set aside the Lord's Day, right? To come, to expose our minds, to dwell in, to think on. It's what we're doing right now. It's exposing and thinking and revisiting. I'm going to get very personal. And I'm going to say this humbly and lovingly. But some of y'all's church attendance is pretty pathetic.

41:21I want you to consider your discipleship. Are you exposing? We set aside the Lord's Day for the purpose of exposing our minds, thinking, and growing in knowledge. I mean, what does that say about you if you have no time, if you have so crowded out your Lord's days with other activities? What does that say about the seriousness of your discipleship? And I don't say that to shame. I just, the mandate is to make disciples. And I don't want you deluded in your mind, thinking you love the Lord, you're a true disciple. But you make little to no time for exposing your mind to his words. A disciple learns. Fundamental to being a disciple is exposing your mind to the truths of our Lord.

42:17I'd say, take the Lord's Day. I mean, I understand that some people, some of you have to work on the Lord's Day, some of you people have to, you know, you'll study on the Lord's Day. I'll say, set it aside completely. And I recognize that sometimes you need to take a job somewhere, but let that be temporary. I promise you, if you will commit the Lord's Day to Him, He will honor it. And I don't mean just blow off six days of the week and then come back to the Lord's Day and say, Well, I'm not going to study for my exam because I want to be holy, right? No, no, no. Just learn the discipline of setting that. Get that right. Expose your mind. Expose your mind. And I realize I'm saying some things that a lot of you may think, oh, that's kind of extreme, right? Well, somebody's got to tell you. Set the Lord's Day aside. Put that block in place. Expose your mind, fellowship with the believers. Come, sit under the teaching. That's a great way to start your week off, right? Come and rest in Christ, rest in His truth, let that shape you, and let that start your week. And then I'm going to say, I would say, go ahead in the morning, spend some time, whatever you can. I mean, I realize we all have different schedules and different things. So these aren't absolute axioms, right? We all have different situations. We must apply this principle. But the idea is to have some meaningful time routinely exposing your mind to his word.

43:52And that could be mornings and evenings. It can maybe be some place, you know, some evening get-together, something with friends, believers, in the word yourself personally. You get the message, right? That's what a true disciple is. If you're living in the day when Christ was here, you went with him. You freed yourself from all the distractions and occupations and other things, and you went and you followed and you learned from him. Do the same. Do the same in our day. Second, meditate on his words. Make room to routinely expose your minds to his word, your minds to his words, but then meditate on his words. That is, entertain his thoughts.

44:30Do not let the ungodly thoughts occupy your mind. And this is going to impact your entertainment options. Yeah, I admit. It's going to. Let me tell you what the demands of discipleship involve: letting his thoughts drive our thinking, letting his thoughts flow through our minds. And I'll say this: be careful not to go anywhere in your mind where he does not. not take you where his thoughts that's when we get really depressed listen there can be ungodly thoughts that come from the outside but there are ungodly thoughts that come from the inside as we sit and navel gaze and look at ourselves don't go anywhere in your thought life where Christ does not lead you and where is he going to lead you to the thoughts that have been revealed scripture so expose your minds make sure you you allow that time in your week expose your minds to or letting let you know put some time to entertain his thoughts meditate on his thoughts and then three allow some time to obey his words let me tell you something obedience takes time if god calls you to encourage one another that's going to take time if god call you to serve one another that's going to take time if he's going to call you to take his gospel and community that's going to take some time allow in your schedule room for christ's words we sometimes are so shocked at christmas that there was no room for them in the end look at our weeks look at our look at our look at the next seven days and just ask yourself how much time have i allowed what provision have i made for christ's thoughts to come into my mind and dwell there and then i will say enjoy the walk with him enjoy the walk with him He wants us to expose our minds to his words. He wants us to meditate on his words. He wants us to obey his words so that we will enjoy the walk with him. That's how you fellowship. That's how you walk with your God. And that is what he is called. When he said, I am the light of the world, he is calling you to walk with him. That's what he's doing. So make room. Make room for him.

47:01I love what Jesus said in John 14:21. Let me just read to you these words. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and will disclose myself to him. If you will commit yourself, say, God, help me. I want to follow. I want to be a true disciple. I will make, please come, please come. I will make provision in my week for you. Please come. He'll come. In fact, look what he goes on to say in verse 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him.

47:48That's why he says, follow the light quickly and continue. Because my father and I want to come and make our abode. With you. We want to walk with you. We want you to know us. That's what he's saying. Well, so a true disciple continues to be taught by Jesus. A true disciple comes to know the truth. A true disciple experiences true freedom. And one simple exhortation that comes out of all this: make room for Jesus' words, as you would any guest. Do you want his words and his thoughts to be your guest in your life? Make room for him.

48:38Well, the true disciple is the one who is making more and more room for Jesus' words in their life. And they will continue to experience that inner transforming work and the true freedom and joy of life that comes out of it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as you say, make room, make room, make room. We're reminded of the words of John, make straight. Get ready, the Lord is coming. Father, and as we read these words, we see in it an implicit call. You announce these truths so that our hearts would open, so that our hearts would turn to you.

49:30And say, come, welcome. Come in. Father, forgive us for the many times when we have preferred the error over the truth, where we have been satisfied with shallow Christianity, superficial Christianity, and the cycle of sin. Father, forgive us. Help us by your grace that it's not going to be a work of us at all to continue. Father, we ask you, we desire, to walk in your ways. Please help us to make room, help each of us to know specifically what that looks like this week, so that we will be this time, next week, a little more grown up.

50:21In your grace, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.