Introduction

• Many, many years ago, I was fortunate to go on an Outward-Bound adventure in the Pisgah national forest.
  • It’s a surprise I lived, I wasn’t very much of an outdoorsman, but my friends all were, they convinced me to go.
    • Convinced me it’d be good for my soul.
      • They were right.
    • But one of the really cool things about hiking is that you get to these great vistas, where you can see everything.
    • I can only imagine what it must look like from Everest.
      • How small everything must appear.
    • But what if you could go up even higher, like to space.
      • Haven’t you seen those images taken from space?
        • I’m sure they don’t. capture just how breathtaking it must be from up there.
          • Looking down, seeing the whole world.
        • Our passage gives us someone that has an even better vantage point.
          • Jesus
            • Jesus is called, the One from above all.
          • The passage goes on to clarify, the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth but the One who is from heaven is above all of them.
            • Now look, I know this has a good time for some, a bad time for others following the election.
              • This passage is what unites us.
                • That despite whatever candidates we endorse, there is one who is above all of this earthly stuff.
                  • One whose dwelling place was heaven, but he chose in humility to come and save us.
                    • Paul puts in this way in Philippians 2: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
                  • This is the One who is above all, the One to whom we must listen.
                  • Jesus is described as the One who comes from above and is above all.
                    • This isn’t just a statement about His origin but about His authority and nature.
                    • Unlike prophets and teachers who are earthly and speak from an earthly perspective, Jesus brings a heavenly perspective. He embodies the divine.
                  • Illustration
                    • Imagine you’re in a courtroom awaiting a verdict. Many people offer opinions on your case—family, friends, onlookers—but only one voice matters: the judge’s.
                    • Jesus is like the judge whose word carries ultimate authority. His perspective is final.
                      • And what is Jesus’ perspective on you?
                        • “We are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
                          • That’s what Psalm 139 says.
                          • Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.”
                        • Jesus’ perspective on you is that you are beloved. Your name was inscribed in the book of life before the foundations of the earth, that’s what the Bible says about you.
                      • And the because of what John is saying here, we know that the Bible must be true and fully worthy of our love.
                        • The Bible are God’s Words and Jesus is God’s Word so the two are equal.
                      • This isn’t the only mention of Christ’s superiority.
                        • Colossians 1:15-17, Paul writes: “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth…He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
                      • So many of us have a priority problem.
                        • We want to put everything else before Jesus but that’s an inversion.
                          • Jesus is supposed to come first.
                            • First in our hearts.
                            • First in our actions.
                              • Why?
                                • Because Jesus, not being from the earth, is WORTHY OF OUR ADORATION.
                              • That’s what we’re called to.
                                • Adoration
                                  • We should adore Christ because He is the manifestation of God’s infinite love and the ultimate expression of divine grace. As the One who is “above all” (John 3:31), He left the glory of heaven to dwell among us, offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. His teachings illuminate the path to righteousness, His compassion heals our deepest wounds, and His resurrection secures our hope for eternal life.  Adoring Christ acknowledges His sovereignty, responds to His boundless mercy, and aligns our hearts with the transformative power of His love. In worshiping Him, we find our true purpose and the fullness of joy that only He can provide.
                                • Ax we adore Christ, we change.
                                  • Our hearts grow with more and more love, and we become the people Christ wanted us all along to be.

BRIDGE – In our adoration though, we must receive Jesus’ testimony as true.

• Verse 33 tells us that – “Whoever has accepted Christ’s testimony has certified that God is truthful.”

Matt

• I have a good buddy who was raised in the church.
• I mean, seriously, his parents took him every Sunday without fail.
• But, like many of us, he drifted away. Now, he’s fairly well hostile to the faith.
• We’re still close friends and so we still talk a lot from time-to-time about this.
• I asked him at our last meeting what really drove him to the point that he’s at.
  • He told me it was Youtube videos he’d watched.
    • I asked them if there were any famous scholars or world renown thinkers he was listening to.
      • Nope, just people like you and me.
    • What a sorrow.
      • Matt has received the testimony of every Tom, Dick and Harry over and above the recorded testimony of Jesus in the Scriptures.
        • We’ve just got to accept our Bibles as true.
      • Billy Graham
        • I love this part of the museum, where he accepts the Bible as the Word of God.
        • Billy Graham was exposed to lots of different philosophers and modernist insights into the Bible which discount its importance in our lives.
          • He made a decision by FAITH to accept the words of the Bible as being authoritative and true.
            • I think such a leap of faith is required for us all.
              • I’m not asking you to let go of reason, just temper it with faith, that’s all.
            • Because it’s only when we receive Christ’s full and total testimony, that we can really grow in Christ.
            • Some people will reject Christ, that’s Biblical as well.
              • John 1:11-12 – “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
                • Did you hear that good news?
                • To all who believed Him, believed in His name, He gave the right to become Children of God.
                  • Do you believe in Jesus?
                    • That determines you in a way, you are determined to be a child of God.
                      • A creature of light.
                    • I had breakfast yesterday with a dear, 25-year friend.
                      • The great thing about our friendship is that we are able to be truthful with one another about everything.
                        • In that space, there have been hard words shared over the years, in both directions.
                          • Words of insight and words of correction.
                            • That is to say we’ve called each other out on occasion for doing the wrong thing.
                          • What a blessing to have that kind of friendship.
                            • We all have that level of friendship with Jesus, He tells us that much in the Gospel of John.
                              • John 15:15 – “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
                            • We can take to Jesus everything in us, the good and the bad.
                            • 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. We can take Jesus’ at

His Word, we are His friends when we accept His testimony.”

• And what does His testimony teach us?
  • That God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whosever believe in Him would not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.

Everlasting Life

• Yesterday we celebrated the life of Melody Mathews.
• The pastor did a phenomenal job.
  • Reminding us that we are not to grieve as those that have no hope.
    • That doesn’t mean we don’t grieve but we grieve differently.
      • We have HOPE.
        • HOPE IN JESUS.
        • Means hope in eternal life.
      • When we receive Jesus’ testimony we have eternal life.
        • If we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord.
        • And believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead, we have eternal life.
          • We know it right that very moment.
            • Accept Jesus Christ and you will have the sure knowledge of your eternal future in Him.
          • Jesus tells us we’re sinners but that we are yet beloved by Him.
            • That love changes us.
            • Makes us yearn to be Holy.

And being Holy beats the alternative.

There is a downside to all this.

• You can choose NOT TO BELIEVE as my dear friend has done.
• Listen to verse 36 – ^“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
  • Already but not yet eschatology of John.
    • The decision is made here and now, your enteral future is known to all the world.
      • Do you believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, or will the wrath of God continue to fall into your life and into your enteral future?
    • John 17:3: “Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
  • 1 John 5:11-12: “And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”