Calvary Baptist Church - Canyon Texas - David Crump, Pastor

1 John 4:7-14

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

V 7 –love comes from God. People who exhibit Christian love have been born of God and know God.

Love comes from the new life that we receive at salvation and from fellowship with God.

1 John 2:3-6

3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

V 8 – if you don’t love, you don’t know God.

People who carry out violence and whose speech is full of hate and say they do it in the name of God – do they know God? No.

Love is intrinsic to the character and nature of God. If you know Him and follow Him, you will walk in His love.

V 9 – God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

We forget, but we were destined for justice. Our sin would bring us death. There was no escaping, nothing we could do. We were born in sin and committed sin ourselves. The wages of sin is death.

But God showed his love among us. He sent His one and only Son that we might live.

V 10 – this is love: God loved us when we didn’t love Him.

Jesus did not come in response to our love for God. God went first. He initiated. He took a risk.

He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

Christ’s death satisfied God and His demands for justice and righteousness.

Christ’s death so satisfied Gods’ demand for righteousness that now grace and mercy are abundantly available to us.

V 11 – Since God loved us, we should love each other.

V 12 – Among believers, this invisible God lives (abides) in us and His love is complete in us.

V 13 – There is a mutual abiding – we abide with Him and He with us – for believers.

The phrase “He has given us of His Spirit” is literally, “He has given us out of His Spirit.”

When you and I love, we are drawing love from God’s Spirit.

Love is the product of the Spirit’s work in you and me.

V 14 – “We have seen” – The indwelling God, whose presence is manifested in the midst of a loving Christians, becomes in a sense truly visible.

Though no one has seen God, believers who abide in Him have seen the Son as He is manifested among loving Christians.

Christians who have seen this manifestation can testify to this truth: “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Our love for people comes from abiding with Christ. There is no other way. You cannot work hard enough to love people. It only comes from living and walking with Christ for a long time.

Our love for people is to be like God’s love for us. His love is courageous. He loved us first, took a risk, did not wait for our response.

We were not seeking him, loving him, looking for him, trying to make things right – Then he broke through the silence.

This is the kind of love we’re supposed to have for others – love that breaks through the silence.

Is there silence in your marriage? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence, courageously and selflessly and demonstrates love.

Is there silence between you and someone else because of hurt feelings or unforgiveness? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence to bring reconciliation.

Is there silence between you and friends – about things that matter? You talk about EVERYTHING else but God? Christ’s love in you breaks through the silence and causes you to spur each other on in faith.

There is a Hebrew word that is especially difficult to translate into English. The word is chesed.

It is used in the Old Testament to describe the attitude that two parties to a covenant should have toward each other. It is not used to describe general kindness towards people.

It is the loyal, persevering love that a man should have toward his wife and a wife toward her husband.

It is also used to describe God’s love toward His people. It describes not just the love of God for His people, but the loyal, steadfast, persevering love of God.

Chesed is translated in the NIV most commonly as “love,” “kindness,” and “unfailing love.”

Chesed – “loving loyalty”

Exodus 33:18-20

V 18 – show me your glory

V 19 – all my goodness and proclaim my name

V 20 – you cannot see my face

Exodus 34:5-7

V 5 – proclaimed his name, the Lord.

V 6 – abounding in “chesed”

V 7 – maintaining “chesed”

God's loving-kindness is that sure love which will not let Israel go.

All Israel's persistent waywardness could never destroy it.

Though Israel be faithless, yet God remains faithful still.

This steady, persistent refusal of God to wash his hands of wayward Israel is the essential meaning of the word.

V 7 – yet He does not leave guilty unpunished – God is Holy, cannot overlook sin.

God’s passion for righteousness is so strong that he could not be more insistent in his demand for it.

But God's persistent love for his people is more insistent still.

The story of God's people throughout the centuries is that her waywardness has been so persistent that, if even a remnant is to be preserved, God has had to show mercy more than anything else.

On one hand, God loyally loves His people, but on the other, His people would never be faithful.

There would be a solution. The solution would come from God.

God would bring to resolution the problem of our sin contrasted to His holiness and His loving loyalty toward us.

This is the great glory of God. Love and holiness.

Country Music, steel guitars and Brenda.

I love Brenda. Brenda loves Country Music, so I love Country Music.

Do you love God? God loves people. So you love people.

Love God. Love People.

The Life of the Cross

We have misunderstood the message of the cross if we think that the only thing that is asked of us is to say yes to God’s love. The longer you hang around the complete message of the cross, the more you find that it compels you to act. The cross compels us to respond in obedience and service that is rooted in love.

Jesus didn’t just teach us to have a new private spiritual life. He showed us a new way of life altogether. He showed us how we are to live and interact with each other.

You know about His death, but do you know how He lived?

Does your life reflect how he lived?

He taught us not to hate, worry, lust, be consumed with the things of this world.

He taught us:

Luke 9:23-25

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Our lives should reflect the way Jesus lived. More than simply contemplating the work of Christ on the cross, we must also be students of Christ’s life and teaching. We can only mirror what we see. If we are not looking at Jesus, we’re not going to be able to act like Him.

John 14:12

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Philippians 2:1-8

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in very nature[a] God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature[b] of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Move from the work of the cross to embracing the life of the cross, the life of loving God and loving people. As we do, we move from being people who don’t even look at Jesus, past being people who try to model Jesus, and become people through whom Jesus lives.

John 14:23-24

23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Love for Jesus leads to obedience.

Are you living the life of the Cross?

Does your Christian walk reflect knowing only the death of Christ and nothing of His life?

We are not only saved by Christ, but are to follow Him.

Becoming

Worship

Everywhere we go, everything we do, every thought, every relationship is to be affected by the work of Christ on the cross. In everything, we are to reflect the glory of Christ.

We are changed by reflecting, contemplating, beholding and remaining in Jesus Christ.

Last few weeks:

• When I see how Christ loved me, I see how selflessly I am to love others.

• When I see how Christ forgave me, I see how I am to forgive others freely.

• When I see how Christ gave himself for me, I see how I am to love my wife sacrificially.

• When I see how Christ gave everything for me, I see how generous I am to be.

• When I see how far Christ went to seek and save me, I see how I am to be leading others to know Him.

The way I love others, forgive others, love my wife, love my kids, how generous I am, how willing I am to share what I’ve found in Christ with others – these all reveal how much or how little I’ve let the Holy Spirit mature me, grow me.

But I am not asking you to modify your behavior. That wouldn’t last 2 weeks.

I am asking you to consider how you worship.

John Piper – “Desiring God”

Stages of worship.

The lowest stage of worship is the barren soul that feels no longing for God, but is repentant for having so little love for Him.

It’s like a wanderer in the desert who has seen a river with water flowing, but has wandered away into desolate places. He wishes he hadn’t wandered off.

Psalm 73:21-22

21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,

22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

Psalm 32:3-4

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped

as in the heat of summer. Selah

We are like this before we come to Christ.

But we find ourselves in this place at times in our lives, like we’ve wandered away from God. We regret having wandered off and we don’t even look forward to a reunion with Him because of our guilt or fear or anger at God.

We don’t know if we’re ready to return – or if He’s ready for us to return.

But the Bible reminds us that we don’t have to remain there.

Psalm 51:17

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

In that place, in brokenness and grief over our ungodliness, we find God to be gracious and forgiving.

Leads to the second stage of worship:

In the second stage, we don’t feel connected to God, but we have a longing and desire for Him.

It’s like our wanderer in the desert remembers the coolness of the river, the thirst-quenching water. He longs for it. He thirsts for it. He changes his course for the river.

Psalm 63:1

1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,

my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Leads to the final stage of worship:

In the final stage of worship there is joy in the presence of God. There is the joy of gratitude for His grace, wonder at His majesty, hope for a future with Him, and admiration for Who He is.

It’s like our wanderer in the desert jumps in with both feet, feeling the coolness of the river, drinks in the life-giving water, whoops and hollers that He’s arrived at his destination. And has found relief from his wandering.

Psalm 63:3-7

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth.” – John Piper

Where are you in worship?

Have you wandered from God? We all do for various reasons –

• we get too busy,

• we get angry with God, or

• we wander off into sin.

He paid the penalty for your sin because you never could. He loves you. He wants you back.

Are you at a place where you’ve recognized your life has been lived too far from Him?

He desires to show you grace and mercy. He desires to show you His goodness.

Becoming

Seeking, Reaching, and Finding Him

Everywhere we go, everything we do, every thought, every relationship is to be affected by the work of Christ on the cross. In everything, we are to reflect the glory of Christ.

Through the cross of Christ, God is restoring a people to reflect His glory.

How do we reflect His glory? We begin by reflecting, contemplating, and beholding Jesus Christ.

Psalm 139:1-4; 5-12; 13-16

God planned and created your inmost parts. Your personality, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and interests were all created by God. And He ordained the days of your life.

Acts 17:22-23; 24-28

God determined when and where you should live. So that you might seek him, reach out to him and find him.

God put people into your life to help you find Him, because He wants to be found by you.

God put you in people’s lives to help them find Him because He wants to be found by them.

Where you work and live was planned by God. It was no accident. There is purpose for you there.

The people at your work; they have souls. Your neighbors have souls. Your classmates have souls. The lady at the checkout counter has a soul.

You and I have the opportunity to guide people to God or to encourage those who have already found them.

God placed you into their lives because He wants to be found by them. And your job and my job is to help them find their way to Him.

We are loved, forgiven and accepted by God. We did not have to earn it; it was done for us through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

We are declared to be holy by the work of Christ on the cross and being made holy by the work of Christ continuing in our lives. We are just becoming what we have been declared to be.

How are we changed? How do we grow spiritually?

We are changed by reflecting, contemplating, and beholding Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18

18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (or contemplate - behold) the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Why is there so much in the scriptures about us reflecting and being light? We understand why Jesus is called the light. God is said to live in unapproachable light, but why did Jesus say, “You are the light of the world?” Why does Paul write, “Live as children of light?”

We may not feel very bright. Why so much in the scripture about us being light? We’ll have to go back to the beginning to see.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

We were created in the image of God. We are created to be His image-bearers.

Isaiah 43:6-7

6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-

7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made."

We were created in His image. We are created for His glory. But in the fall, we became unable to fulfill God’s design to bear His image.

Through the cross of Christ, God is restoring a people to bear his image and reflect His glory.

Ephesians 4:17-24

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

The gentiles have become futile in their thinking, darkened in their understanding, separated from God.

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

You were taught to put off your old self and be made new. And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

We are to live our lives in such a way that the glory of Christ is seen in every aspect.

Ephesians 4:32 forgive, just as Christ

Ephesians 5:1-2 love, just as Christ

Ephesians 5:21 submit to each other out of reverence for Christ

Ephesians 5:22 wives, submit to your husbands as unto the lord – yield your rights, not because your husband takes the place of the Lord, but as an act of submission to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:25 husbands, love your wives just as Christ

Ephesians 6:1 children obey your parents in the Lord

We live in the shadow of the cross. Everywhere we go, everything we do, every thought, every relationship is to be affected by the work of Christ on the cross. In everything, we are to reflect the glory of Christ.

Here’s how change happens. I read in the scriptures that I’m supposed to forgive like God, through Christ, forgave me. My life doesn’t demonstrate that. I’ve been holding on to anger. I go to God, confess my unforgiveness and ask for His help. I reflect on how God forgave me and it begins to change me.

That is how we put off the old and put on the new. It is how we begin to reflect the glory of God.

We are to live all of our life in the shadow of the cross of Jesus Christ. We are meant for His glory.

Have you been living in a way that demonstrates the cross of Christ?

We are to become what we already are. We are declared to be holy by the work of Christ on the cross and being made holy by the work of Christ continuing in our lives.

The very heart of Christianity is this: we are loved, forgiven and accepted by God. We did not have to earn it; it was done for us through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The old covenant was weak in that it was not accompanied by spiritual transformation. Because of this, it was inadequate, temporary, and imperfect. So it wasn’t obeyed and did not bring life. It was written on hearts of stone, not with the Spirit on the heart. .

So God promised a new covenant; one that was to be better and more glorious than the first.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

The new covenant came with the ability to change people. God would write his law, not on tablets of stone, but in their minds and in their hearts and they would be transformed.

The old covenant was inadequate and temporary, but the new covenant is effective and permanent.

So we don’t forget, how did we get the new covenant? Jesus said that his blood was the “blood of the new covenant, which was poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24)

The new covenant came through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

The suffering and death of Christ guarantees the inner change of his people. We are forever transformed by the sacrifice of Christ.

The problem for many Christians is that they think they mature as believers by following the laws of the old covenant. Do this. Don’t do that. Try to be a good person. A good Christian doesn’t do those things. Be more disciplined: read your Bible, pray, share your faith.

But the problem is this: that’s how the old covenant was structured and it didn’t work because people couldn’t do it.

Your experience – mountain-top experience. Followed by a promise to God to do better having quiet times, sharing your faith. Then three weeks later, you’re back to the same way you were. You go away for a little while. Then another mountain-top experience, another promise to do better, another three weeks…

What you are doing is a perfect pattern of the old covenant.

We’re not under the old covenant.

We’re under the new covenant. The new covenant came with the ability to change people. God would write his law, not on tablets of stone, but in their minds and in their hearts and they would be transformed.

So if the way that we mature is not through more effort or discipline, how are we changed?

2 Corinthians 3:18

18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (or contemplate - behold) the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We are changed by reflecting, contemplating, and beholding Jesus Christ.

• When Paul tells Corinthians to be generous. He tells them think of the generosity of Christ. His generosity is to be their motivation.

• When he tells men how to treat their wives. He says love them sacrificially, like Christ loves the church. Our motivation to love our wives is the love of Christ.

• When he tells people to submit to authorities, just like Christ made himself a servant.

He never says good Christians do this, not that. He never says shame on you if you do that.

He says reflect, contemplate and behold Christ. That is how you mature as a believer. That is how God’s law is written on your heart and you are forever transformed from the inside – by reflecting on Jesus Christ.

John captured what Jesus said about having a fruitful life.

John 5:5

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

“Remain in me and you will bear much fruit”. The word for remain means to stay, dwell, live with. If you do those things, you’ll have a fruitful life. Don’t try doing it on your own – “apart from me you can do nothing”.

We are not under the old covenant. We do not live by dos and don’ts. We cannot discipline ourselves into maturity or shame ourselves out of sin.

Reflect and remain. Contemplate on Christ. Remember all that He has done. The Spirit will take Christ’s work and write the law on your heart and you will be forever changed.

Becoming

What You Already Are

The Scriptures teach that we are to work out our salvation.

We are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

But do we ever rise to that totality of love and devotion?

We cry out regularly like the apostle Paul in Romans 7, “What a wretched man am I.”

We get frustrated with our progress.

We feel like we’ll never get better or figure out our place or calling or that we’ll always struggle with our sin.

The truth is that our change, spiritual growth is a painfully slow process.

The apostle Paul talked about his spiritual goals in Philippians.

Philippians 3:7-11

Philippians 3:12

12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (ESV)

That very statement is the key to endurance and joy.

“Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Or “Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

All my reaching and striving is not to belong to Christ. We already belong to him.

All my reaching is not to earn God’s favor. We already have it through Christ Jesus.

All my effort is not to become acceptable to God. I have already been accepted by Christ.

All my reaching and striving is to complete what is lacking in my likeness to him.

One of our greatest sources of joy and endurance is that in the imperfection of our progress we have already been perfected.

“14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14

In the same sentence we are “being sanctified” and we are already “perfected”.

Being sanctified means we are imperfect and in process.

We are becoming holy – but are not fully holy.

And it is precisely these – and only these – who are already perfected.

The joyful encouragement is that the evidence of our perfection before God is not our experienced perfection, but our experienced progress.

The good news is that being on the way is proof that we have arrived.

The Bible pictures this again in the old language of dough and yeast.

In the picture, yeast (leaven) is evil. We are the lump of dough.

7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)

Christians are unleavened. There is no leaven, no evil. We are perfected. For this reason we are to “cleanse out the old leaven.”

We have been made unleavened in Christ. So we should now become unleavened in practice.

In other words, we should become what we already are.

The basis for all of this: Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

The suffering of Christ secures our perfection so firmly that it is already now a reality.

Therefore, we fight against our sin not to become perfect, but because we are.

Not to earn the love of God, but because we already have it.

Not to become acceptable to God. We have already been accepted by the sacrifice of Christ.

Like Paul, “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

The Highest Price for the Greatest Gift

Did Jesus suffer and die for you personally?

Is this the way we should understand the suffering and death of Christ? Or should we understand Jesus’ sacrifice only in the context of the whole world?

In John 3:16, the giving of Christ is God’s demonstration of His love for the world. We can all agree that Christ’s suffering and death was, among other things, His love for mankind.

The question is, really, are we individually, personally valued by God? Or is His love only for the whole of us, not personally, not individually?

Let’s look at the understanding of one of the early believers who witnessed Christ first hand.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Paul was captured by this fact: Christ “loved me and gave himself for me.”

He took the act of Christ’s sacrifice very personally. He said, “He loved me. He gave himself for me.”

This is the way we are to understand Christ’s suffering and death. His suffering and death has to do with me. They are about Christ’s love for me personally.

It was my sin that cut me off from God, not sin in general. It was my hard-heartedness. I was lost and perishing. When it came to my standing with God, I deserved divine justice, not mercy. All I can do is plead for mercy.

Then I see Christ suffering and dying. For whom? The scriptures say:

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25b)

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28)

And I ask, “can I be one of the many for whom he gave his life”? Can I be one of his friends for whom he laid down his life? Can I be part of the church for whom he gave himself up?

His answer is yes.

“Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43b)

My heart is swayed. I am amazed by his great love for me. The thought that he would willingly give up his perfect life for my far-from-perfect attempt at life is more than I can fathom.

The depth and beauty of what he did on my behalf overwhelms me. I am in awe of his great love and mercy for me.

I say, like Paul, “He loved me and gave himself for me”.

He paid the highest price possible to give me the greatest gift possible. What is that? It is the gift he prayed for at the end of his life:

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.” John 17:24a

We have seen enough that our lives have been forever changed by Christ’s amazing love.

We are now caught up in his cause.

But the best is yet to come. He died to secure this for us.

That is the love of Christ.

Easter

Where We Meet God

The Crucifixion

Matthew 27:33-44

The Death of Jesus

Matthew 27:45-56

The Burial of Jesus

Matthew 27:57-61

The Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-9

John 2:18-22

18Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

20The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Why did Jesus draw the connection between the Jewish temple and his own body?

The temple was the dwelling place of God in rare times when the glory of God filled the holy place.

But in Jesus, the presence of God does not come and go. He is God.

The Bible says about Jesus, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)

Where we meet him, we meet God.

He came to take the place of the temple as the meeting place with God.

With the coming of the Son of God in human flesh, ritual and worship would undergo profound change. Christ himself would become the final temple. The earthly temple would pass away, but he would remain.

Referring to himself, Jesus said, “I tell you, that one greater than the temple is here.” (Matthew 12:6)

God met his people in the temple through many imperfect human mediators, but now it is said of Christ, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5).

If you want to see God.

If you want to meet Him.

If you want to know what He’s like, there is only one place we must go, that is Jesus Christ.

Do you want to see God?

Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Do you want to know what God is like?

Jesus says, “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)

Do we want to receive God?

Jesus says, “Whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” (Matthew 10:40)

There are times in our lives that we wake up and realize our need for God.

We find ourselves in need of God’s forgiveness,

We have a need for hope for the future,

We go through a circumstance that takes us beyond our limit, we need strength.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.” (Hebrews 10:19-20)

You can meet God. He is approachable. He is knowable. You can receive his grace and forgiveness. He is within your reach by faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is where we meet God.