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John 11 | Resurrection + Life · The Salt Company - Denton

0:00
SPEAKER_00: But again I'm so glad you guys are here in New Space.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Excited to be here.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a new space, but it's the same old salt company.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're doing the same deal.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're having a good time.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: We got you know Chick-fil-A.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: That's not every week, okay?
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Chick-fil-A in every week, but uh for you guys, um, you know, you just gotta ask patiently or ask um you know and and you shall receive.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: So, guys, excited for you uh to be here tonight.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time uh in the house with us, welcome.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: My name's Owen on staff here.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I'm I'm I'm especially excited for tonight um because yeah, highly anticipated on our staff team within our church, uh going into a new space.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's so many new things when you move uh buildings, you got new people, you got new uh atmosphere, uh new dynamics.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: And hey, we're just we're just gonna figure it out together, okay, guys.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is in this together.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: If it's awkward, don't worry, it's awkward for everybody.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Um it's gonna be uh a good time.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: But hey, but before we get into anything tonight, can we just quickly uh thank Haman Baptists?
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, we don't own this building.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh there have been a lot of uh gracious people who have said yes uh to the living assault company meeting here so can we just like give it up on real quick?
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We got the we got a couple homin baptist people in the house, um, which we're so grateful for.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, the Lord's been gracious to us uh beyond what we can even think or imagine here.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: So, guys, here's what we're gonna do.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get into like Zach said, we are continuing in our series uh through John, and more specifically through the I am statements of John.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's seven statements uh in the book of John that Jesus makes throughout his ministry, and and what they do is they let they give us a deeper look and a deeper understanding of who Jesus is, okay?
1:31
SPEAKER_00: And then it applies directly to our lives almost, which is just crazy.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's our goal for tonight and for the entire series is to get a better understanding of who Jesus is and how the character of Jesus affects the way that we view and how we live our lives.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that that's what we're gonna do tonight.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: Tonight we have a very unique one.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's it's gonna be a good time.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: It's good, man, it's a little bit of a sad story.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Tears are gonna be shed um tonight.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: And if there's one thing that you gotta know uh about me is uh I'm a crier, okay?
1:56
SPEAKER_00: If I like am in conversation with you and I start crying, gotta just keep talking, trust me, I'm listening to you.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Especially in the baptisms, okay.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: When people are up there telling their stories, like, man, I yeah, I was once dead, and now Jesus made me I'm like, I'm that they're crying with them, okay?
2:09
SPEAKER_00: It's like, dude, you're not even getting baptized, what are you doing?
2:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, but I just mean I I care and I feel.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody cry for like movies?
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Does anyone cry during movies?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: What was the last movie that you cried to?
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Anyone?
2:21
SPEAKER_00: A duck's purpose.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: I got two Dug's purposes.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: That's a brand new dead was was one that someone cried to.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: That's that's very interesting.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I love it.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, like I said, I'm a crime.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I remember the last time I crummed in a movie, but I do know the first time I've ever crummed uh during a movie.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: And guys, believe it or not, okay, here we go, here we go.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's bring it back, let's bring it back.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you about the first time I've ever combined.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, here we go.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Guys, first time I've ever commed during a movie, believe it or not, uh calamity with a chance of meatballs.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but uh it was mainly because I was scared bubbles I felt for them, okay?
2:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're on this mission to save the whole world from all of the the big bad food, and they're in the peanut brittle.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Guys, you know this scene?
3:00
SPEAKER_00: It's scary.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: It's there's this girl, she's got a peanut allergy, and she's surrounded by peanut brittle.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh my goodness.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, she's got a peanut allergy, which is just great.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: But she's in there, she's like starting to swell up, and I feel bad for this girl.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like during these movies, we feel so like we feel connected to these characters.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: When they when they cry, we're crying.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, when they feel lost, we're feeling we're feeling lost too.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Last night, my wife and I, we uh we watched a movie, Pearl Harbor.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Anyone watch that?
3:24
SPEAKER_00: No?
3:25
SPEAKER_00: It's a good movie, guys.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's a good movie.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: It's on Netflix.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's it's really good.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Last night, Maggie's crying during some of those scenes.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm not gonna spoil it for you, um, but it's good.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but man, seriously, we we get connected to these to these characters, to the story arcs, and it's like, man, when they feel lost, we feel it too.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, when they cry, we cry.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: It's just an instinct, okay?
3:45
SPEAKER_00: And tonight, guys, in our story that we see in John 11, that's where we're gonna be, we're gonna see that's this exact this exact situation happens.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's almost it's a unique I am statement because uh really it's it's a different side of Jesus that we have not quite seen yet.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's studying throughout Saul Company through the book of John.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: We haven't really saw this side of Jesus yet, and we're gonna see a side of him that that's more of his humanity, a little bit more of the weakness that's in, but the gentleness that is in Jesus, because the same thing happens.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Because when when we suffer, man, he suffers with us.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: When when we cry, he cries with us.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited for you guys to look at this.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Let's open up our Bibles.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: John 11 is where we're gonna be tonight.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: We've got a hefty piece of scripture, so we're just gonna rip right through it, okay, uh, throughout the whole night.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: It says, now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: So the sisters sent a message to him, Lord, the one you love is sick.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here's what happens.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: There's this guy, his name's Lazarus, okay, and he's got two sisters, Mary and Martha.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And guys, this family, they've got a history with Jesus.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they know Jesus, Jesus knows them.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: They would have interacted a little bit.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: It says that uh Mary at one point was on her knees, just uh anointing the Lord's feet, washing it with her hair, which was a normal practice back then.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if I see anyone like out outside uh washing feet with hair, I'd be asking questions, okay, right away.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but back then, it's a little bit of a normal thing.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: So these aren't just strangers, okay?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: They know Jesus.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows them.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: And well, Lazarus, man, this guy, he gets sick, okay?
5:19
SPEAKER_00: And sickness back then, uh not exactly what uh we deal with today.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it it progresses pretty quick, and then uh Mary and Martha are like, okay, Lazarus, meaning our brother, he's sick.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've tried all the things so far.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: We gotta pull in some of the big guns.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: So where do they go?
5:34
SPEAKER_00: They go to the dude who performs all the miracles, obviously.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they they call up Jesus, like, hey dude, we need to get you uh, you know, get get your rear end to Bethany, and we gotta we gotta get you guys to heal this dude.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we need you.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: So that's what they do.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 says that Jesus had heard about this.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: But here's what he says He says, This sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of Man, or for the Son of God may be glorified through it.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Then after that, he said to the disciples, let's go to Judea again.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, not exactly how we expect Jesus to react here.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Certainly.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, not me.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm not expecting Jesus, like, oh, you hear about your sick friend.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna just like chill for two days, uh, and then we're gonna see, see what happens.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Like clearly, we we have this guy that Jesus cares uh a lot about.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it it before it says, Lord, the one that you love is sick.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Normally when you love someone, it's mean you're going after him, right?
6:32
SPEAKER_00: You're like, man, that's I I gotta go help him.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: That's what I would have expected Jesus to do, but he doesn't quite do that.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Lazarus, he doesn't have Tylenol.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay, CVS isn't like uh a quick trip down the road.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like when he's sick, he's sick.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: So something's gonna happen here, surely.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and instead of having any sorts of uh sense of urgency, Jesus just kind of takes the more relaxed approach here.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: He's like, you know what?
6:56
SPEAKER_00: It'll happen.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Whatever happens, happens pretty much.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we see.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And we get into a territory where Jesus, man, he says something here that kind of like perks my ears up.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and it should perk, you know, perk yours up too, a little bit, because we start talking about something that I don't think anyone really likes.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, reread verse 4 with me, real quick.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: See if you can see it.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: It says this this sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Or in other words, here's what it's saying: is that there's a sickness or a suffering that is a righteous sickness, a righteous suffering that will one day, through our suffering, proclaim uh a greater glory of how God has been working in our lives to save us, to redeem us, to bring us out of that suffering.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, I'm good, like never talking about that suffering, you know, just for the heck of it.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: It's like, mmm, not big on that, okay?
7:45
SPEAKER_00: But here's where I want us to go a little bit deeper now, because we see later in this story is that Jesus is working in ways that the disciples, man, they can't even see.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, or like the sisters, can't even see.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: He is writing a story that the onlookers of uh of John 11, man, they can't even start to begin to read.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: So he so here's what happens next.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna summarize the next few verses just for the sake of time, but here's what happens.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus, he gets word of Lazarus being sick.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: He says, Okay, we're gonna chill here for two days.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: Finally, here's what happens is Jesus gets his disciples, he says, guys, we're going back to Judea.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna visit this family, okay?
8:21
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples, they question him, like, real quick here, which honestly, if if you've been here, you know it's like Jesus does a lot of miracles.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: People want to kill him, okay?
8:30
SPEAKER_00: And just a couple days ago, this is the exact situation that they're in.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: So the disciples are like, wait, you want to go back to Jerusalem?
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Back to Judea, the place where everyone wanted you dead?
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, are you sure?
8:40
SPEAKER_00: We're we're going back there.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: And basically, Jesus he just says, Yes.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Lazarus, he's our brother, he's fallen asleep.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
8:46
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples, which this should be somewhat encouraging for all of us, man, they're slow to understand this, okay?
8:51
SPEAKER_00: They're dumb.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: They're like, he's asleep, you know, which tells us one thing, hey, uh, you don't gotta be smart to follow Jesus, okay?
8:57
SPEAKER_00: All you gotta do is be faithful, which is good for us because I'm I'm a little smart.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm the only one, but who knows?
9:02
SPEAKER_00: But the the disciples, they think that Jesus that Lazarus has literally fallen asleep.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, he's sick.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: He should be sleeping.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're chill.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: Let's not go where we're gonna die.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, he's gotta, he's gotta get down on like uh on their level.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, tell them like a fourth grader.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like, guys, Lazarus, he's not asleep, Lazarus is dead.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that that's what I'm talking.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: They don't understand what's happening.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: So here's what he does.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: He says, guys, we're gonna go back.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna perform a miracle.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: These people are gonna believe that I am the Messiah.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: There's a sickness that Lazarus has that's gonna proclaim a greater glory.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Right?
9:36
SPEAKER_00: So so here's what they do.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: They they pack it up, they're ready to go.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are like, Yep, we're going to die.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm dying with this guy.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: And here's where we are, back, verse 17.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: You can keep reading with me.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: It says, When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Bethany was near Jerusalem, less than two miles away.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: Yet even I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm not exactly sure what kind of like suffering might be in the room tonight, what people might walk through these doors with suffering.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: But I know there's there's there's some serious suffering that's going around.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Like suffering that a lot of us can't even begin to imagine.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Some suffering that has people confronting Jesus in the exact way that Martha does and that Mary will do here in just a little bit.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, Jesus, if you were here, my brother wouldn't have died.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: You realize that?
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, Jesus, if you were here, like my parents would have gotten the divorce.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Because if you were here, Jesus, if you were here, the cancer never would have came back.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, if you were here, man, my boyfriend he wouldn't have dumped me.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: It's like, Jesus, if you were here.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of suffering that a lot of you guys, some of you guys might be going through tonight.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Have the same response of, man, where is God in all this suffering?
11:35
SPEAKER_00: It is in our suffering that we immediately start to ask that question.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, how can a good God ever allow such pain and suffering in this world?
11:43
SPEAKER_00: How could a good God who supposedly loves us allows us to suffer in such a painful way?
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And trust me, so I come back.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: I've been there.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, these are questions that not only you are asking tonight, but my I I have I've asked those questions.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: There have been times in my own life where I start to look for God and the suffering, it's like I can't really see him.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: But it's in our suffering that we man, we experience the result of sin in this world.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Like that is the reason that we suffer.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Man, back at the at the start of the Bible, man, there's this story between Adam and Eve, and they disobey God, and sin enters into this world, and we are still feeling the effects of it today.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I hate it.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: I hate it.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: I hate the sin that's in this world, okay?
12:27
SPEAKER_00: I hate that we have to suffer.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: I hate that there's death in this world, I hate that there's divorce, I hate that there's war in this world, I hate the lying, I hate the infertility, I hate the gossip.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: I I just hate it.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing good about sin in this world.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it just stinks that we have to experience it.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: But it is in every season of suffering.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: And I can remind myself of the story of Lazarus.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, in verse 4, it says that this sickness will not end in death, but it's for the glory of God.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: So that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Guys, there's purpose in your pain.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: The suffering that you are going through is not uh for nothing.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a delay in Jesus stepping into our lives is not a denial of him healing us.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: And what the enemy will use for evil in our lives, God will most definitely use for good.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Because it's in our suffering that faith is built, it's in our suffering that trust is gained, and it's in our suffering that perseverance prevails.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon, he says this uh about suffering.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have learned to kiss the wave that tosses me against the rock of ages.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: I'll say it again, because I think you should write it down.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: It says, I have learned to kiss the wave that tosses me against the rock of ages.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: Or in other words, it's saying this.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: I thank the suffering in my life because it points me back to Jesus.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: This is why James in in James 1 can can say this.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: He was stoned for his belief in Jesus.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: He suffered, you know, ultimately to the point of death.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: He says this in James 1.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: It says, consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Why?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: How can a guy like James say that?
14:26
SPEAKER_00: That we can count our suffering a joy because there is light at the end of the tunnel.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: There's a greater Christ-likeness at the end of the suffering.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: So there's gonna be times in your life when the suffering we experience starts to feel overwhelming.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Like the darkness just never goes away.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: You wake up, it's dark, you go to sleep, it's dark.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: We might not understand exactly why a lot of these things are happening, but gosh, would we kiss the wave that tosses against the rock of ages?
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Could we be reminded of the light of the end of the tunnel that we will one day be made perfect in Jesus?
15:05
SPEAKER_00: How good is that?
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's keep let's keep reading.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32, here's uh what we're gonna see.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: We can skip down to 32.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: It says this as soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Mary responds in the same exact way as Martha.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, questioning, where's God in all of the sudden in all of the suffering?
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you were here, Lazarus wouldn't have died.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: That's all that's all she's got to say about the deal.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Why were you not here?
15:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's see how Jesus responds.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Verse 33.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: It says, When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Where have you put him?
15:49
SPEAKER_00: He asked.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Jews respond, come and see.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And here's where we get to see probably the shortest it is the shortest verse in the Bible, but potentially has the most theological depth in it.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: In verse 35, it says this Jesus wept.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Memory verse for next week, okay?
16:07
SPEAKER_00: John 11, 35, Jesus wept.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Everyone should have it, okay?
16:11
SPEAKER_00: But seriously, here is we get a raw look into who Jesus is.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: A piece of Jesus that we haven't really seen yet.
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SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he weeps, right?
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SPEAKER_00: The God of the universe weeps, the savior of the world weeps.
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SPEAKER_00: And some of you guys might be asking, where is God in all of my suffering?
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SPEAKER_00: I I can't see it.
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SPEAKER_00: He's weeping alongside of us.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: Because here in the story, Jesus meaning he knows that he's about to raise Lazarus.
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SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert, if you haven't read John 11, he raises him.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus knows that he is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus, I mean, he's experiencing this real pain in the moment.
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SPEAKER_00: He experiences it.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, these are real tears, real pain.
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SPEAKER_00: The death that he's experiencing is real.
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SPEAKER_00: He's weeping over the death of his friend.
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SPEAKER_00: He is weeping over the heartache that Mary and Martha are experiencing right now.
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SPEAKER_00: Guys, this just goes to show us like the importance that we have a God who has emotions.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus didn't just enter into this world as a stoic God who just is never smiling, right?
17:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like he never shows emotions, he knows everything, so he feels nothing.
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SPEAKER_00: No, that that's not the God that we have.
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unknown: Right?
17:23
SPEAKER_00: We have a God that's experienced the loss of a friend.
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SPEAKER_00: He has felt deeply, he has loved dearly.
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SPEAKER_00: In Hebrews 4, it says that we have a God who can sympathize with our weakness.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
17:34
SPEAKER_00: Because he has experienced every pain that we might experience, he has experienced every suffering that we might go through.
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SPEAKER_00: Which during the times of suffering, guys, we get a comfort that no one else is able to get.
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SPEAKER_00: We can look at Jesus and we can know if Jesus wept, it means that we can too.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus wept, it means that we're not alone.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, if Jesus wept, it means he knows our pain.
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SPEAKER_00: He knows the grief and the suffering that we're going through.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: It's in the times of suffering that we can go to Jesus and we can be comforted.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus has walked down the road of suffering, he can walk alongside us.
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SPEAKER_00: He has gone to the very end.
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SPEAKER_00: He can wipe away tears because he has already cried them.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I'm confident that if if this is like marks your heart right now, okay, brokenheartedness.
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SPEAKER_00: If that's you tonight, I'm confident the best place that you can be is here.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because in Psalm 34 it tells us the best place that you can be if you are brokenhearted right now is right here.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Because it says this in verse 18.
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SPEAKER_00: It says, the Lord is near the brokenhearted.
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SPEAKER_00: He saves those crushed in spirit.
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SPEAKER_00: The Lord is close to those who are brokenhearted.
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SPEAKER_00: And guys, we we've got to consider the the opposite of this, okay?
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SPEAKER_00: It'd be like uh irresponsible of me if we didn't.
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SPEAKER_00: Um, but seriously, maybe this season of your life not marked by suffering, right?
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SPEAKER_00: You may maybe not by broken hearted, so which, hey, great for you.
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SPEAKER_00: I love it.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's let's celebrate that, okay?
19:04
SPEAKER_00: But you know, the the the the this but this might be the best week of your life, okay.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: The girl says yes to going on a date with you, you ace your kinesiology exam.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you get you get free chips at uh Chipotle, it's like life couldn't get better, okay?
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's you, which is great.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: But this sermon is just as much for you as it is for the person who you know just lost a parent this week.
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SPEAKER_00: This is not something that you just put in your your back pocket for the future.
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SPEAKER_00: No, this is for you now, because there are lessons to be learned in the suffering of others.
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SPEAKER_00: If you wouldn't say that you are brokenhearted right now, here's your job tonight.
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SPEAKER_00: The application for you is this right here.
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SPEAKER_00: If you wouldn't say that you're brokenhearted, your job coming out of this sermon is to find the person in your life that is and it's to be there for him.
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SPEAKER_00: Because when you're near the brokenhearted, in turn you are near the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: That's the place that I want to be.
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unknown: Okay.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: All night.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: It might look like sacrificing an hour of your parents' phone service.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't pay for it anyway.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Pick up the phone.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Right?
20:10
SPEAKER_00: They just need someone to talk to.
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SPEAKER_00: It's sacrifice.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: It's going to the dude's house who hasn't left in three days because he just can't get over the breakup.
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SPEAKER_00: There's healing for those who are brokenhearted, life to those who feel like they've lost it.
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SPEAKER_00: And we see this played out in our story of Lazarus and in John 11.
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SPEAKER_00: Go to verse 38.
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SPEAKER_00: It says then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
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SPEAKER_00: It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
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SPEAKER_00: Remove the stone, Jesus said.
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SPEAKER_00: Martha, the dead man's sister, told him, reminded him, Hey, hey, Jesus, there's gonna already be a stench.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: The King James Verse says, stinketh.
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SPEAKER_00: He's gonna stinketh, okay?
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SPEAKER_00: He's been dead for a while.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this to her.
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SPEAKER_00: He says, Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?
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SPEAKER_00: So they removed the stone.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you heard me.
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SPEAKER_00: I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here, I said this, so that you may believe you sent me.
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SPEAKER_00: After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.
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SPEAKER_00: The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen stripes, and with his face wrapped in a cloth.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Unwrap him and let him go.
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SPEAKER_00: So guys, the suffering that we go through as believers, I mean, it's got meaning.
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SPEAKER_00: And everywhere there's purpose in our pain.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the comfort to us in the midst of our suffering.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: But it's all coming to the greatest thing that Jesus has done for us is that he doesn't make suffering our end.
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't make suffering our end.
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SPEAKER_00: The end of my story, the end of your story, it does not have to be marked marked by suffering.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it can be filled with life, right?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus, I mean, he raises Lazarus from the grave, and we get a glimpse into what reality is supposed to be.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Because in reality, guys, we we were never meant to see death.
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SPEAKER_00: Death was never supposed to be a part of our story.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: We were never supposed to experience death in the first place.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: But here we get Jesus displaying his power over death by calling a man up out of the grave, back to life.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, it is his display of power that confirms his position as Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: It is the fact that Jesus can call a man from the dead that says, yes, that man is the Son of God.
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SPEAKER_00: He is the Messiah.
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SPEAKER_00: And here I can imagine that Mary and Martha, even Jesus himself, man, they would have been overjoyed.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Man, a brother gets brought back to life.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a best friend gets brought back to life.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: If you've been to Salt Company, or maybe this is your first time, you gotta know this.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: Is that guys, it might be great to see Lazarus come back to life, but it's not the celebrate, it's not the resurrection of Lazarus that we celebrate because one day Lazarus dies again.
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SPEAKER_00: But in fact, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus because about 2,000 years ago he came to earth to fulfill the payment of our sin.
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SPEAKER_00: In full.
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SPEAKER_00: The sin that we feel every single day.
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SPEAKER_00: The reason that we have suffering in this world, he felt it.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: He dealt with it.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: No longer do we suffer without a purpose, and no longer do we fear the end of death.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we don't have a God who weeps, but we have one who is bled.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a God who cried, but we have one who died for us.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is no longer our end.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Because for Jesus it was his end.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it was the mission of Jesus that he would live a perfect life that we were unable to live, to die death that we deserved.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: And to raise victorious over sin, Satan, and death.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Guys, he didn't just taste death, he defeated it.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just go a little bit, no, he went the distance.
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SPEAKER_00: There's no amount of suffering that you can experience that Jesus did not also feel.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Because the key verse here for us in the section, I haven't even brought it up yet, is the I am statement that that we're reading tonight.
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SPEAKER_00: Verse 25.
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SPEAKER_00: You can go back and read it.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking to Martha in this.
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SPEAKER_00: He says, This I am the resurrection and the life.
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SPEAKER_00: The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
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SPEAKER_00: Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe?
24:29
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the offer of Jesus that He's given to us right now.
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SPEAKER_00: He offers eternal life to those who believe.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: And this is the simplicity of the gospel.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is this is as as easy as it gets.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, it's like it's not uh it's not a gotcha, it's not a scam, okay?
24:46
SPEAKER_00: It's like Jesus says, you can have eternal life.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Do you take it?
24:50
SPEAKER_00: The answer is either yes or no.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: He offers us a resurrection in life.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: If you believe in him, death will not be the end for you.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: He offers all of us hope beyond the grave, eternal life.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Guys, if not if you haven't done that, you've not already tasted and seen the saving love of Jesus and grace of Jesus, then I pray that tonight, man, would why not?
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Will that not be the night for you guys?
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you're a believer in the room, here's here's what I got here's what I gotta say to you.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, our call, if you're not uh suffering, man, find someone in your life that is.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Walk alongside them, care for them, see them through the suffering, be near to the Lord because you are near to the brokenhearted.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're an unbeliever, I pray that you would walk up out of your grave.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is standing at the tomb entrance, calling your name to walk out, to be unbound by sin, to live free, to live a life that's eternal, eternal with him.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Because Lazarus has learned this lesson.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'll leave you guys with tonight is that Lazarus, man, he learned the lesson that life is short.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay, seriously, life is short.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: We don't really get to choose when it begins, when it ends, but life is short.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: There's one thing that's certain in life.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's taxes, but it's also death.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Because life is short.
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SPEAKER_00: Death is absolutely certain in this life, and what we do with Jesus has eternal impact.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't done that tonight, if you haven't sacrificed or given your life over to Jesus, man, would tonight be the night?
26:25
SPEAKER_00: I pray that it would be.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: We'll pray and then we'll we'll worship some more.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm thankful for tonight.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for being faithful to us in the past, how you have provided for Salt Company, and Lord, how you how you've gone before us and provided for us in Highland Baptist.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for this space.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: I pray that the gospel would be proclaimed here and that people would come from death to life, that dead bones would be raised to life because of your words in John 11.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that if there's a person who is hearing the call of Jesus, maybe they're still in the tomb, bound by the sin that's in their life, Lord, I pray that that person would listen.
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SPEAKER_00: Listen to you calling after your name.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that they would walk obediently and say yes to the free gift of eternal life with you.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for the suffering that's in the room tonight.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would be with us.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: It says in your word that you are near to the brokenhearted.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would provide comfort to the students, to me who might be suffering, who's brokenhearted.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would show us the truth of your word, the promises that you give to us, that one day we will be made perfect with you in heaven forever.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray this in your name.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Amen.