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THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE | Pastor Josh (I Am Who I Am) · Northwest Students

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Right. So, like I promised to a couple
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of you when you were quoting The
0:05
Princess Bride. Have you guys seen the
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movie The Princess Bride?
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>> Has anyone not seen The Princess Bride?
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>> A couple of you. Okay. Okay. Fair
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enough. Most of you have though. Okay.
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So, I will just tell you it is it is a
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very famous movie. It's a great movie.
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Ava and I watched it fairly recently.
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It's like very cheeseball, but it's
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awesome. So, it's this very famous movie
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from the8s that's about this love story
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between like a princess and a farm boy,
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which is why it's called The Princess
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Bride, right? And it's got like every
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single classic fantasy trope in it,
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right? It's got like pirates and sword
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fighting and magic and riddles and an
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evil prince and monsters and betrayal
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and love. It's like so cheeseball and so
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fun. Yes, Ava.
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>> The prince was like Lord Farquad. The
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prince looks like Lord Farquad.
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>> He does. He does have like a Lord
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Farquad fit on. That is true. Anyway,
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anyway. Anyway, so I know that a couple
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of you said you haven't seen it, but I
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am going to spoil it right now, so just
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like sorry.
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>> It's a movie from 35 years ago, so
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you're going to be fine. So anyway,
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there is this scene toward the end of
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the movie. All of you who have seen this
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movie will know this. There's a scene
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toward the end of the movie where the
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main character, Wesley, has been
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captured by the bad guys and he gets
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tortured to death. Right? That's like a
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huge spoiler in this movie. And so then
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the good guys get a hold of Wesley after
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he's been tortured to death, right? And
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when they get a hold of him, they're
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very sad because their friend has just
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been tortured to death, right? And uh so
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one of them is like, "Hey, I know this
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dude who can do miracles. Maybe he can
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fix this situation and he can bring
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Wesley back from the dead and we'll be
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okay." And so they go and they go to
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visit the miracle dude, right? And in
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the movie, his very creative name is
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Miracle Max. And at first it seems like
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Miracle Max isn't going to be able to
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help them, right? But then as he is
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looking at Wesley and he's examining his
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body and there's this very famous line
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in the movie where he says, "Yes, okay,
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Wesley is dead, but he's not fully dead.
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He's only mostly dead." And he said, and
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he says in the movie, he says, "Mostly
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dead means he's slightly alive." And
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that is how the writer of the movie is
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just like, "Yeah, for sure. We'll
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totally bring this dude back from the
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dead to defeat the bad guys and get the
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girl." and do the whole thing, right?
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There's like very little logic in that
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movie, right? But anyway, so I bring up
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that scene in the movie because even in
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this fantasy movie called The Princess
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Bride, where there's like magic and
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monsters and anything in the world is
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possible, right? There is this sense
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that death is final, right? Like the
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writers of this movie, even in this
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cheese ball movie, have to come up with
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what is like kind of a dumb excuse for
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why this character who is dead in the
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movie isn't actually all dead. Because
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if he's all dead, then that wouldn't
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really make sense for them to be able to
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bring him back from the dead and he gets
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up and starts walking, right? Like, and
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we'll see that in in other shows or in
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real life, too, right? Like, do any of
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you watch like medical dramas or
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anything like that? No. Hannah in the
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back. Okay, Gavin, kind. So, so if you
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watch like medical dramas, right, like
3:10
General Hospital or I don't know, House
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or like any of those shows, so there
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there'll be a scene where like the
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medical patient where they're their
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heart stops beating and all the doctors
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will rush in and they've got like
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electric paddles and they like yell
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clear and they try and get the heart
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going again, right? And if they want to
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add some real drama, they're they'll be
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like, "It's been 3 minutes since this
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person's heart stopped or it's been 4
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minutes," right? And the longer that
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goes on where they're talking about it
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and they're like, "Man, this person
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isn't isn't getting up." We know from
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watching the show that the likelihood of
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them waking up gets smaller and smaller,
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right? And we know that someone waking
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up after like four or five or six
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minutes or 6 hours from the dead that
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that just doesn't happen, right? And and
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so we know especially like that's with
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like modern medicine, right? But if you
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go back to like Jesus's day, right, we
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that would have even be been less
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possible, right? Where they don't have
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all of that. And even today in like the
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movies we watch, we're like, it wouldn't
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make sense for Wesley to just get back
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up, right? So, so hold on to that idea
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because we're going to come back to it
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in just a sec. So, if you've been with
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us for the last like handful of weeks,
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we've been going through this series
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that we're calling I am who I am. And
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each week we're walking through one of
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these seven I am statements that Jesus
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makes about himself. Right? These are
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seven metaphors that we say every week.
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Seven metaphors that Jesus gives us to
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help us understand his identity and
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mission. Right. So, I know that in the
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last weeks I've been offering you guys
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an opportunity to like call out what was
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the first one we hit, what was the
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second one we hit. Here's my challenge.
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If one of you thinks you can give me all
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four that we've hit so far, four. Five.
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All five that we've hit so far, I will
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give you a chance right now.
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Nobody. Kate thinks he's got it. What's
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that?
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>> I'm too dumb.
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>> Does it include money? Bro, just go for
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it. Right. Okay.
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>> I'm still
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>> Okay, fair enough. Can anybody hit me
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with the first one that we did? Week
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one.
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>> I am the bread of life. Okay. Week two.
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>> I am the
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gate.
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>> No, I mean that was one of them, but
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what was the gate one?
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>> I'm like the gate for the sheep.
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>> Gate for the sheep. Okay, that was week
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three. Uh, anybody got week two?
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>> One thing is the first verse is actually
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in the
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>> That's not one of the names. Anybody got
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week two? I am the blank of the blank
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>> light of the world for sure. And then
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this last week, we had Meredith up here.
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And what did she teach on?
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>> I am the good.
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>> I am the good shepherd. Yeah, for sure.
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So, we've got him so far. The bread of
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life, the light of the world, the gate
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for the sheep, the good shepherd. And
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tonight, we're going to be hitting the
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fifth, the sixth, the fifth of the I am
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statements in John's gospel. That is, I
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am the resurrection and the life. I am
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the resurrection and the life. Okay.
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Have any of you heard that one before? I
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am the resurrection and the life.
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>> A couple of you for sure. Uh, and before
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we jump into that, okay, I'm going to
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tell you a couple things about this I am
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statement. First, there is a lot of
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Bible tonight. So, if you do not have a
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Bible of your own, which I see Joel
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does, uh, in the back of the room, I've
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got a stack of ESVs, a stack of NLTs.
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NLTs is what we teach out of every night
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on Sundays. ESVS is what Pastor Jay
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teaches out of on Sunday mornings. Um,
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but we're going to be reading about 45
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verses in John chapter 11. So, if you
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don't have a Bible of your own, I would
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recommend definitely grabbing one of
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those NLTs. Okay, so that's that's the
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first piece. Second piece is that the
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scene that we're going to be talking
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about in the Bible is the biggest
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miracle that Jesus has performed in the
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entire Gospel of John besides his own
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resurrection, right? Like Jesus is going
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to raise a dude from the dead in this in
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this story, but Jesus is going to raise
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a guy from the dead who hasn't just been
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dead for like 4 minutes since his heart
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stopped or for 4 hours since his heart
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stopped, but for 4 days since this dude
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passed away. And and just for reference,
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I looked up uh online when I was
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prepping for this message. I looked up
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what the longest anyone has ever been
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revived after their heart has stopped
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beating, like in in modern history. And
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there was the the longest recorded case
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was a dude who was revived after eight
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hours and 42 minutes. And that's with
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like the literally the most advanced
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modern science that that you know
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possibly exists. The most advanced
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technology that we could have and the
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most advanced stuff that the doctors
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were able to give him. 8 hours and 42
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minutes. Jesus is about to raise a dude
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after 4 days of him being dead. And this
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miracle is so significant in the gospel
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of John, right? This miracle is the
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reason why John says the religious
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leaders decide that they're going to
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have Jesus arrested and killed. Like him
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feeding the 5,000, okay, whatever. Him
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walking on water, oh, okay, whatever.
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Him, you know, doing some other
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miracles, that's all fine. But like
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Jesus raising a dude from the dead and
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the religious leaders go, "Okay, we're
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going to have him arrested and killed."
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In fact, this miracle is so significant
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in John's gospel that the religious
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leaders are like, "Hey, that dude
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Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead,
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let's just like have him arrested and
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killed, too."
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>> They're like, "You know what? That dude
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Lazarus, who everybody is seeing walking
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around alive after he already passed
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away, everyone, if they see him, they're
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going to really believe that Jesus is
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the son of God. We cannot let that
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happen." So, we'll jump into it. So,
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this is John 11 verse 1. And if you
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didn't want to grab a Bible or you don't
8:23
have one of your own, we do have some of
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the the verses that'll be up on the
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screen. So verse one, it says, "A man
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named Lazarus was sick. He lived in
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Bethany with his sisters, Mary and
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Martha. This is the Mary who later
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poured the expensive perfume on the
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Lord's feet and wiped them with her
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hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick. So
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the two sisters sent a message to Jesus
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telling him,"Lord, your dear friend is
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very sick." So these two sisters, they
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send a message to Jesus asking him to
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come and heal their brother. Right?
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These are three people who Jesus knows
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very very well. They're very good
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friends of his during his ministry.
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Right? And if you uh normally read out
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of the ESV or another translation, uh
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you might see that the the sisters uh
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when they send their message to Jesus,
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they don't say, "Hey, it's your very
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dear friend." They call Lazarus the one
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you love. They say that this is that's
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the relationship that Jesus and this
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dude have that this guy Jesus and him
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are such good friends they call him the
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one you love and Jesus would know who
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they're talking about. In another one of
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the gospels uh we see another scene of
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Mary and Martha and so if you know like
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other gospel accounts you you probably
9:29
recognize those names. So there's this
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scene earlier uh in one of the other
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gospels where Mary uh Jesus is teaching
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in their house and Mary is sitting at
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Jesus's feet and learning from him and
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Martha is like using her gift gift of
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hospitality to be serving the needs of
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Jesus and his followers. So like they
9:44
know Jesus, right? They know that he's
9:47
this incredible teacher. They know that
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he's he's a miracle worker. They know
9:50
that he heals the sick and the blind.
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They know that he casts demons out of
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people. They know that if Jesus would
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just come to their house, come to their
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brother's bedside, it'll all be okay.
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Verse four says, "But when Jesus heard
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about it, he said, Lazarus's sickness
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will not end in death. No, it happened
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for the glory of God, so that the Son of
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God will receive glory from this." So,
10:16
although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and
10:19
Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the
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next two days. is if you got to go to
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the bathroom, you can just go.
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>> No, I don't. It's a question about the
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I know that people need to go to heaven,
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but if he I know he was trying to
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resurrect him, but why? Because he could
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have been saved in heaven and not be
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persecuted or done that again.
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>> I love where your your head is. I love
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that question and that is a lot to
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unpack right now. So, why don't you save
10:50
it for a small group and then you guys
10:51
can talk about it there. But that's
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that's a great question, Harper. I
10:54
really appreciate that. So So Jesus
10:55
tells them, "Hey, his sickness isn't
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going to end in death, right? He says,
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"This happened for the glory of God, so
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the son of God will receive glory from
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this." Jesus is kind of speaking in like
11:03
a riddle when he talks to them, right?
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Like I read that and I'm like, that
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sounds kind of weird, right? Because he
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says it's not going to end in death, but
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Jesus knows that Lazarus is going to
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die, right? But he says the sickness
11:14
isn't going to end in death. He knows
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he's going to die, but he knows he's not
11:19
going to stay dead. It's not going to
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end in death. So why does Jesus do it
11:23
that way? Right? Harper kind of asks
11:25
that question, right? But Jesus could go
11:27
to Bethany right when he hears it. He
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could snap his fingers and heal him like
11:31
the moment that he hears that this guy
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is sick. But instead, he lets Lazarus
11:36
experience the pain of dying. He lets
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the sisters experience the pain of
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losing their brother. Why does Jesus do
11:43
that? Well, Jesus tells us, he says that
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this is done for the glory of God. So
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the son of God will receive glory from
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this. You hear that? He says it's for
11:54
the glory of God. Have you guys ever
11:57
heard of main character syndrome? Do you
11:59
know what that is?
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>> Yes.
12:01
>> Yes. Anybody like, "No, I've never heard
12:02
of main character syndrome."
12:04
>> I think I think I heard.
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>> Really? That's something else. That's
12:08
something else. So main character
12:10
syndrome is apparently Cad's story. Main
12:12
character syndrome is where a person uh
12:15
thinks and acts like they're the main
12:17
character in like a movie or a novel,
12:19
right? Like I dude, Cade says he does
12:22
that. I I do honestly the same thing a
12:24
lot of the time. Like y'all, I think
12:25
that that might be one of the biggest
12:26
problems of like American Christianity
12:29
is that a lot of us, maybe most of us
12:31
have like some amount of main character
12:34
syndrome, right? Like we'll hear like,
12:36
"God loves you and he sent his son to
12:38
die on the cross for your sins." will be
12:39
like, "Well, yeah, of course God loves
12:41
me and he sent his son to die on the
12:42
cross for my sins." Like, I'm pretty
12:44
great. I'm pretty awesome. And if there
12:47
is one thing that I want you all to take
12:49
away from tonight, I want you to
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remember this. This is going to be hard
12:53
to hear for Cade. You are not the main
12:56
character. I am not the main character.
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Genuinely, God is. And if you are a
13:03
follower of Jesus, then that means that
13:06
your life has one purpose. To give God
13:08
glory. And sometimes the way that God is
13:12
going to get glory is by saying yes to
13:15
the prayers that we give him, right? By
13:16
healing the sick, by opening the eyes of
13:18
the blind. And sometimes the way that
13:20
God will get glory is by not doing those
13:23
things. I had breakfast with a guy the
13:26
other week and this last month his heart
13:29
has been just completely set on fire for
13:31
Jesus. Like super super exciting to talk
13:34
to him. And he told me, "Dude, I have
13:36
seen more stories or more videos on Tik
13:39
Tok of like atheists and agnostics and
13:42
and just people who have never been to
13:44
church going to church for the first
13:46
time, hearing the gospel for the first
13:48
time, giving their lives to Christ
13:51
because of what they saw happen to
13:52
Charlie Kirk a month ago." Like Charlie
13:55
Kirk lived his life wanting to bring
13:58
glory to God. And what we can see right
14:01
now, what we have an opportunity to see
14:02
right now in real time, is how God is
14:05
using his death, a horrible tragedy, no
14:08
matter how awful that is, he's using it
14:11
to bring glory to God as we see
14:13
thousands and thousands and thousands of
14:15
people encountering God through this
14:17
experience. So, just for the sake of
14:20
time in this text, we'll skip a few
14:21
verses. Jesus hangs back an extra two
14:23
days. He finally tells his disciples,
14:25
"Okay, we're going to go to Bethany."
14:26
The disciples are nervous because
14:27
they're like, "Hey, Jesus. Last time we
14:29
were in that area, the people tried to
14:31
kill you because of your preaching." And
14:33
Jesus is like, "No, dude. We're going
14:34
anyway." And then verse 16 says that
14:36
Thomas, who's one of his disciples,
14:38
Thomas, nicknamed the twin, said to his
14:40
fellow disciples, "Let's go too and die
14:42
with Jesus." I think that's awesome,
14:45
right? Like, I love that. I love that
14:46
there is this bold, outrageous faith
14:48
that Thomas has, right? He thinks that
14:50
if he follows Jesus back into Judea that
14:53
it means that they're going to all just
14:55
get attacked by a mob and killed. And
14:56
he's like, "All right, bet. Let's go. If
14:58
Jesus is going, I'm going going. I'm
15:00
ready to die." Like, how many of you
15:03
guys would be willing to do that? How
15:06
many of us would be willing to do that?
15:07
Sponsors, too. Like, I had a
15:09
conversation with another young guy, a
15:11
believer, but he's he's not serious
15:13
about it, right? Um, and I asked him,
15:15
"Bro, if Jesus showed up and told you to
15:19
leave like all your career plans, all
15:21
your big ambitions, like everything you
15:23
want to do with your life to just like
15:24
leave your nets and follow him, would
15:27
you do it?" And that guy goes, "Well,
15:30
yeah, if Jesus told me, like if Jesus
15:34
Christ himself, like if Jesus Christ,
15:37
the Lord Jesus, the son of God, like
15:39
showed up in a vision and was like,
15:40
"Hey, go be a missionary." then like,
15:42
"Yeah, I'd do it if Jesus did that."
15:45
Right? And I thought, "Bro, you are like
15:47
doing a lot of work to tell me that the
15:50
only way that you would let God
15:52
interrupt your plans and interrupt your
15:53
life is if like literally Jesus showed
15:55
up and was like, "Go come follow me,
15:58
right?" But honestly, how many of us are
16:00
like that, right? Like how many of us
16:03
can often only be willing to follow
16:05
Jesus as far as it's convenient for me?
16:08
only as long as Jesus doesn't ask me for
16:10
too much of my time, for too much of my
16:12
attention, for too much of my money, for
16:14
too much of my energy. Like y'all, I
16:16
want us all to be like Thomas, right? I
16:19
want us all to be Thomases. I want us to
16:20
be locked in and just like, "Wherever
16:22
you go, Jesus, I'm going. I'm ready to
16:25
die." Not because we're going to die,
16:27
but because if we're ready to die for
16:30
Jesus, then that means we'll be ready to
16:32
live for him, too.
16:34
So verse 17, it says, 'When Jesus
16:37
arrived at Bethany, he was told that
16:40
Lazarus had already been in his grave
16:42
for 4 days. Four days Lazarus has been
16:47
in the grave. John wants us to know that
16:49
Lazarus is not like Princess Bride style
16:51
like almost dead or kind of dead or
16:53
mostly dead. He is like all the way, no
16:56
coming back, buried for 4 days in the
16:58
ground, dead. Verse 18, it says,
17:02
"Bethany was only a few miles down the
17:04
road from Jerusalem, and many of the
17:06
people had come to console Martha and
17:08
Mary in their loss. When Martha got word
17:11
that Jesus was coming, she went to meet
17:13
him." But Mary stayed in the house.
17:16
Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if only you
17:18
had been here, my brother would not have
17:20
died. But even now, I know that God will
17:23
give you whatever you ask." Jesus told
17:26
her, "Your brother will rise again."
17:29
Yes. Martha said, 'He will rise when
17:31
everyone else rises at the last day.
17:35
So, so Jesus arrives in Bethany and
17:37
there's already this big crowd of people
17:39
who are at the sister's house mourning
17:40
the loss of their brother with them. And
17:42
and one of the sisters, Martha, she
17:44
comes outside to Jesus and we can we can
17:46
hear in her words how disappointed she
17:48
is that Jesus has come too late, right?
17:51
We can we can hear that just like
17:53
everyone else, she thinks that not even
17:56
Jesus can overcome her brother's death.
17:59
And and I think that it is so powerful
18:02
to see in Martha that she still has
18:06
faith even when the answer to her prayer
18:09
has been no. Right? She says, "Even now
18:12
I know that God will give you whatever
18:14
you ask. Even now I know that my brother
18:17
will be alive again when God establishes
18:20
his ultimate kingdom on the earth. Like
18:23
even now I know that God is good even in
18:27
my grief. That's powerful to me. Verse
18:31
24 or 25
18:33
Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection
18:37
and the life. Anyone who believes in me
18:40
will live even after dying. Everyone who
18:44
believes in me or believes who lives in
18:46
me and believes in me will never ever
18:49
die. Do you believe this, Martha? Yes,
18:53
Lord. She told him, I have always
18:55
believed you are the Messiah, the son of
18:58
God, the one who has come into the world
19:00
from God.
19:03
Y'all, there is so much like rich, meaty
19:07
theology, so much God talk that are in
19:09
those three verses, right? We could just
19:12
spend a whole other week just in that
19:14
couple of verses unpacking it. But I
19:16
think what is so powerful is right after
19:20
Jesus has told her, "Hey, your brother
19:22
Lazarus is going to come back from the
19:23
dead." Martha says to him, "Yeah, he's
19:25
going to come back from the dead like in
19:27
the future when everybody comes back
19:28
from the dead at this future event at
19:31
the end of history that the Jews called
19:33
the resurrection, right? And Jesus says
19:36
to her, "I am the resurrection.
19:40
I am the resurrection. He doesn't just
19:43
say, "Hey, I'm the guy who's gonna like
19:45
trigger the resurrection or I'm the guy
19:47
who's going to cause the resurrection."
19:49
He says, "I am the resurrection."
19:54
The reality of this future resurrection
19:57
that is going to take place, the reality
19:59
of that resurrection is all wrapped up
20:02
and tied into relationship with Jesus.
20:07
Jesus is saying, "Yeah, I'm the one who
20:09
is going to bring about that future
20:11
resurrection when I come to establish my
20:14
kingdom on the earth." But he's also
20:15
saying, "I'm the one who's going to
20:17
resurrect myself in just a couple days."
20:21
He's already said that just a chapter
20:23
earlier in John chapter 10. We didn't
20:25
talk about it last week, but he says, "I
20:27
can lay my life down and I can pick it
20:29
up again."
20:31
You guys, I've been telling you every
20:33
week in every one of these I am
20:35
statements that Jesus is tying his
20:39
identity to the identity of God. And
20:42
maybe nowhere in the entire book of John
20:45
does he do that more than here. He says,
20:48
"I am the resurrection and the life."
20:53
And what happens next is we're going to
20:55
see him prove it. There's there's a
20:57
pastor friend of mine who says that uh
21:00
he talks about how every time we see God
21:02
answer a prayer by doing something
21:03
supernatural, every time we see him heal
21:06
someone, every time uh we we see a demon
21:08
cast out, anytime we see something
21:10
supernatural that God does, it is a
21:12
picture of the future kingdom of God
21:15
where it's not just sometimes that God
21:16
heals. It's not just sometimes where
21:18
someone might be brought back from the
21:20
dead, but it will be all of us. It will
21:23
be all of us who are in Christ who will
21:26
never die, who will never get old, who
21:28
will never get sick, who will never lose
21:31
a loved one, never ever again. That is
21:34
the future kingdom. That is the
21:36
resurrection.
21:38
And what comes next in our story is just
21:40
like how if somebody gets healed today,
21:42
it's a picture of that future reality.
21:44
What we see in the story is that Jesus
21:47
is going to show his followers a picture
21:49
of that. He's going to show us a picture
21:51
of that. So, we'll skip ahead a couple
21:53
verses. Jesus sends Martha to get her
21:55
sister Mary. And Mary just falls at
21:58
Jesus's feet. And she says the same
21:59
thing Martha said. She says, 'Lord, if
22:02
only you had been here, my brother would
22:04
not have died.
22:07
And that's another thing that I want us
22:08
to notice in this passage is that Jesus
22:10
responds differently to Mary, right? To
22:13
Martha, she comes she talks to him
22:15
theology, right? She talks she she talks
22:17
God talk. So Jesus talks God talk. But
22:20
to Mary who comes to Jesus and she just
22:22
speaks out of her broken heart, Jesus
22:26
responds with a broken heart.
22:30
Verse 33, when Jesus saw her weeping and
22:33
saw the other people wailing with her, a
22:35
deep anger welled up within him and he
22:38
was deeply troubled. That word word that
22:42
the the NLT translates anger is kind of
22:44
like a a squirly word, right? Jesus
22:46
knows what he's going to do. He already
22:48
knows that he's going to heal Lazarus.
22:51
But Jesus is angry at the fact of death.
22:55
Jesus is angry at the brokenness of the
22:59
creation that he has made. Jesus is the
23:01
one who John tells us made the entire
23:04
universe, but he did not make the
23:07
universe intending for there to be
23:09
death. And he's going to do something
23:11
about it. Verse 35 or 34, it says,
23:15
"Where have you put him?" He asked them,
23:18
they told him, 'Lord, come and see. Then
23:21
Jesus wept.
23:25
Jesus wept, not because he didn't know
23:28
if he was going to be able to raise
23:29
Lazarus from the dead or not. He wept
23:32
because Mary wept. He wept because
23:36
Martha wept. He wept because he loved
23:39
his friend Lazarus.
23:43
The Bible says that Jesus is not this
23:45
far-off God who doesn't really care
23:47
about our situations, who can't really
23:49
sympathize with our grief or or or the
23:51
hurts that we feel or the embarrassment
23:53
we feel or the loneliness that we feel.
23:55
Right? Jesus came to earth to experience
23:59
all of those things.
24:01
Jesus came to earth to weep at the
24:04
graveside of his friend, to weep with
24:07
his friends who were weeping.
24:09
I spend a lot of time on Sunday nights
24:11
trying to paint this like big picture of
24:14
God, right? A big picture of God, a big
24:16
picture of Jesus. But we also can't lose
24:20
sight of the fact that Jesus, our Jesus,
24:23
is a God who weeps. He is the God who
24:27
grieavves with us, who mourns with us.
24:31
We'll keep reading. It's verse 36 right
24:33
through the end. It says, 'The people
24:35
who were standing nearby said, 'See how
24:39
much he loved him.' But some said, 'This
24:42
man healed a blind man. Couldn't he have
24:44
kept Lazarus from dying? Jesus was still
24:47
angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave
24:50
with a stone rolled across its entrance.
24:52
"Roll the stone aside," Jesus told them.
24:55
But Ma Martha, the dead man's sister,
24:57
protested, "Lord, he has been dead for 4
25:00
days. The smell will be terrible." Jesus
25:03
responded. Jesus responded, "Didn't I
25:05
tell you that you would see God's glory
25:07
if you believe?" So they rolled the
25:10
stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to
25:12
heaven and said, 'father, thank you for
25:14
hearing me. You always hear me, but I
25:17
said it out loud for the sake of all
25:19
these people standing here so that they
25:21
will believe that you sent me." Then
25:24
Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out." And
25:28
the dead man came out, his hands and
25:30
feet bound in grave clothes, his face
25:33
wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them,
25:35
"Unwrap him and let him go." So, I got
25:40
to wrap up, right? I told you that
25:41
there's a lot of Bible tonight. If I was
25:44
a better preacher, I'd give you like
25:45
three tight application points and then
25:47
like leave you chewing on them as you go
25:49
off into small group, right? But I don't
25:50
have any of that. Here's what I got.
25:53
Jesus says,"I am the resurrection and
25:57
the life." Jesus makes what is maybe the
26:00
clearest statement in the entire gospel
26:03
of John about his divine identity. And
26:07
then he follows it up with what is the
26:10
clearest picture of his godness by
26:13
raising Lazarus from the dead. The
26:14
clearest picture up until this point at
26:16
least. And in between that statement
26:19
about his godness and that picture of
26:22
his godness, we get to see the clearest
26:24
picture of Jesus's humanness when he
26:27
weeps at the grave of his friend.
26:31
That is Jesus. That is our Jesus. Truly
26:35
God and truly human. And maybe you need
26:40
to remember one of those pictures more
26:42
tonight, right? Maybe you need to hear
26:44
that Jesus is God. Jesus is the one who
26:47
has the power over life and death. Jesus
26:50
is the one who the scriptures say has
26:52
defeated death and hell. And when Jesus
26:54
comes in his kingdom, when he comes with
26:57
every single person who has ever passed
26:59
away, uh who is in Christ, all sorrow
27:01
and all hurt will be done away with.
27:04
That he is the God who died on the cross
27:07
in order to restore you to life with
27:09
him. So that just like Lazarus came out
27:11
of the tomb, you will come out of the
27:13
tomb both spiritually right now and also
27:16
in the end when Jesus comes back in in
27:19
person physically.
27:21
But maybe you need to hear that Jesus is
27:23
human and Jesus can sympathize with our
27:26
weakness and our pain and our grief.
27:29
That Jesus has experienced loss and
27:32
betrayal and humiliation the way that we
27:35
have. that Jesus is a God who is near to
27:39
us.
27:40
But either way, as we wrap up here, I
27:43
hope that you will be remembering both.
27:45
That is our Jesus, truly God and truly
27:49
man. That is our King.
27:52
So, let's pray.