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Andy Stanley- Bystander Part 6 Coexistence · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Now here's something we've all wondered about. I've wondered about it, so I'm
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not pointing my finger at you. This is universal. This isn't a Christian
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thing or a religious thing. This is just a human thing. We've wondered
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and you may have asked the question differently than this, but we've all asked
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some version of this question. Why would why would a good God allow bad
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things to happen? Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?
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This is a universal question, and for some of you this question, or
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when you begin to wrestle with this question, it marked the end or the
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beginning of the end of faith for you that this question or some version of
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it may have undermined faith completely. In fact, your faith may be right
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now gradually dying a slow death around something that's happened in the world, or
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something that's happened to somebody you love, or just something that's happened in general,
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and you just can't reconcile good God and bad things, and so consequently
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you're watching your faith slowly die, or maybe the faith of someone that you
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love, or maybe it died a long time ago because of some version of
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this question. But the interesting thing about this question is when we ask it,
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and we've all asked it, I've asked it. When we ask this
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question, let's just be honest. When we think about the bad things in
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the world. Isn't it true that we're focused on the bad out there and
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not the bad in here? So let me ask a kind of a follow
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up question. Have you don't raise your hand? Have you ever done anything
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bad? Yeah, and don't really don't raise your hand on this one.
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Have you ever wanted to do something really, really really bad but you knew
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you'd get caught And the only reason you didn't express your badness and your evil
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is because you did not want to go to prison. But if you thought
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you could get by with it, you might have done it anyway. Don't
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again, don't raise your hand, right, And I'm guilty of that as
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well. But it's so interesting that when people begin to wrestle with the existence
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of a good God as it relates to evil, it's always the evil out
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there, it's never the evil in here. In other words, I've never
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heard anybody make this case. Maybe you have. How could a good God
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allow me to happen? Here's another version of it, if if God was
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good, he would have done something about me by now somehow when we started
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internalizing back and then we go at this. But wait, no, no,
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no, I'm not talking about my version of bad or the evil I
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might do. I'm talking about the big bad things. But once you begin
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to look at the big, big bad things as opposed to the little bad
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things in your heart or the things that you've done, you have changed the
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subject and you've changed the question, and suddenly you're in the world of how
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much would would a wood chuck chuck? If a wood chuck could chuck,
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would in this way of thinking, and I don't want to we can't cover
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all the bases today, but I just want to just drop this in because
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it points to where we're going today. This way of thinking ultimately leads to
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what's called an unfalsifiable premise, which actually makes the argument meaningless because if you
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chase it down to its logical extreme, and I understand it's so emotional,
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we never get to the logical extreme because it's just an emotional question. But
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when you get to the end of the question, here's what you end up
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with. I don't believe I don't believe God exists because I exist. The
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only way Thats why it's unfalsifiable. The only way you could convince me there
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is a good God is for me to no longer exist. But then I
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wouldn't be around for God to convince me. You follow that, Yeah,
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but again it's so emotional. I don't think me saying that makes it go
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away. But I think if John were here, Matthew Mark Luke, John
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who wrote the Fourth Gospel, John who followed around Jesus, around John who
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saw everything Jesus did and heard everything Jesus taught. I think if I think
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if John were to show up and would have heard what I just said,
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or would you know, hear the conversations you have about how do we reconcile
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good God and evil in the world. I think God would John would say
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wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on, hang on,
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Because I John, he would say, I saw something that might help you
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with that dilemma. I saw God in a body co exist with evil men,
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evil men, And when I say evil, I mean evil like you
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can barely even imagine evil. And the God that I saw in a body
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did not prove that he was God by eliminating all evil. He did something
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else. The God and a body that I saw did not eliminate evil.
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He actually and he didn't even eliminate the evil in me. He loved me,
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and then he went to work eliminating the evil in me. John,
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who spent time with Jesus, would say, I know it's a big emotional
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thing. I know it's a big emotional question. I'm not sure I can
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sort it out for you. All I can tell you is this, I
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saw God and I saw evil. I saw good God and I saw evil,
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and they can coexist. But it's nothing like you might imagine. We're
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in part six of a series Bystander where we're tracking along with the gospel writer
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John and his journey with Jesus. The subtitle is John and the Rabbi from
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Nazareth and John and his Gospel doesn't simply tell us what happens. John says,
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here's what happens, but here's what happened. But I have an agenda.
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I want you to arrive at the same conclusion about Jesus that I did.
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I want you to arrive at the same conclusion about Jesus that I did.
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And the only way to help you arrive at that conclusion is to tell
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you what I saw. But I can't tell you everything I saw. There's
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too much to write down. I can't tell you everything Jesus said. There
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would be too much to write down. So John organizes his account of the
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life of Jesus around what he calls signs. We would call them miracles.
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John says, no, they're not just miracles. A miracle is a standalone
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event. A sign is an unusual event that points to something. And John
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is so clear throughout his gospels. He says, I'm not trying to point
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your direction. I don't want you to fasten your affection and direction on the
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miracle. I want to make sure that you look toward what the miracle or
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the sign pointed to, and that was Jesus. Because jesus miracles were not
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random acts of kindness. They were specific events in order to substantiate what he
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said about himself. So today we come to in our order, the sixth
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Some people call this the seventh, but the sixth sign in the story of
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Jesus. Now real quick, catching you up if you haven't been in a
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part of this series throughout jesus ministry, and this is what makes reading the
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Gospels a little bit confusing. Throughout jesus ministries, He's constantly making the trip
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from Jerusalem north to the region of Galilee. Jerusalem is in Judea. North
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of Judea is Galilee. He's from Galilee. And he's constantly going back from
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Jerusalem and Judea to Galilee, back and forth, back and forth. His
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friendly people, his family, the folks who embraced him earliest, were in
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Galilee. But whenever he came to Jerusalem, and to the Temple in particular,
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that it was always conflict and where we left off last time, Jesus
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is in the vicinity of Jerusalem, he goes to the Temple, which always
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made his disciples or his apostles so nervous. And while he's there once again,
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he gets into an argument or a conversation with the temple leaders and they
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ask him the question they've been dying to ask him, And they say to
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Jesus, Jesus, how long how long will you keep us in suspense?
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Are you or are you not the Siah? Are you claiming to be the
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Messiah or are you not? Just tell us plainly, And Jesus responds like
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this, he said, I did tell you but you don't believe me.
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And I haven't just told you, I haven't just preached it. I've done
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more than that. The works I do, the things I do, the
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miracles I perform, the things that are unexplainable that I do in my father's
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name, testify about me. In other words, I didn't just tell you,
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I've shown you. I didn't just tell you. I showed you.
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I've given you evidence. You just won't embrace it. And they wouldn't embrace
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it because, as we said last week, they maybe like some of us,
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were willfully blind. They would not look at what could be seen,
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they would not try to discover what could be discovered. And Jesus preached,
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and he taught openly, and he performed his signs and his miracles openly,
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and they just couldn't bring themselves to arrive at the conclusion he wanted them to
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arrive at. So Jesus decides at this point in the series of in the
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life of his ministry and in his life, at this point, at this
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point, Jesus decides to go all in. He decides to go all out.
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Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes just a little bit of a distance away to
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where people would know where he is and knew what he was, and they
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would know what he was up to. And Jesus performs the sign. In
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fact is we're going to discover. And this is what makes this story so
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disturbing. Jesus actually manufactures a sign in that community so that no one would
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have any doubt he is who he claimed to be. And the sign was
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so indisputable that it forced the hand of those that were wilfully blind and just
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could not embrace or accept the fact that Jesus was who Jesus claimed to be.
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Here's what happened. Now. A man named Lazarus was sick, and
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he was from Bethany, about a day and a half day's walk, about
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a day and a half away from Jerusalem, if you were walking in the
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village of Mary and her sister Martha, who were friends of Jesus. So
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the sisters Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus and they said Lord. The
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messenger said, Lord, the one you love is sick. So they send
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a messenger and Jesus is about one day's walk away. He's about a day
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away. They send a messenger. The messenger shows up, he finds Jesus
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and the disciples, and the messenger says, Mary and Martha sent me.
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They told me to give you this message. The one that you love is
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sick. Imagine being so close to Jesus that someone doesn't even have to tell
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you, tell him your name. They just would say to Jesus, the
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one you love is sick, and they would know that Jesus would know immediately
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who you were talking about. That's amazing. So the messenger says, the
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one that you love is sick. When Jesus heard this, and if you
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grew up in church, you've heard this story, it's so unusual. When
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Jesus heard this, Jesus said, this sickness that Lazarus has will not end
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in death. But the fact of the matter was, by the time the
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messenger got to Jesus and the disciples, Lazarus was already dead. He died
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while the messenger was on the way. Jesus continues, No, he says
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to the men around him, No, it is for God's glory, to
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which if you didn't know this story and you were hearing it or reading it
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for the first time, you would say, wait, wait, wait,
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what sickness for God's glory? So Jesus believed that bad things could happen to
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good people. And it not only does it not disprove God, but somehow
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it underscores the existence of God. Sickness for the glory of God, to
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which John would say, yes, but we're just getting started. Jesus finishes
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the statement this way, so that because there's a purpose, so that God's
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son, Jesus may be glorified through it. In other words, this is
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amazing, this sickness, this evil, and this particular sickness and evil.
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And I think that's why Jesus manufactured this particular sign. It was a sickness
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or a disease, or an evil or a bad thing found in nature.
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It wasn't simply the bad behavior of another person. Now he's delved into the
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issue of nature, and why do all the things and nature work against us?
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And why are there so many natural disasters? And how could we possibly
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believe in a good God when nature seems to be our enemy at times?
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This sickness, this evil as it relates to Lazarus, was actually left unattended
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on purpose because Jesus had a purpose in it. And in this story,
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Jesus for his disciples and for many of us, for many of you,
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creates a brand new category, sickness for the glory of God. Now,
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that is so uncomfortable, that is so not intuitive. That John knows his
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readers and the people who are following along this story are going to immediately think
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what And so he jumps into the story and he makes an editorial comment so
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that we won't just close the book and go, that's ridiculous, now Jesus,
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John tells us, Now, Jesus actually loved Martha and her sister and
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Lazarus. And why does he tell us this Because it doesn't look like he
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does. He says, no, don't, don't, don't check out too
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soon. Jesus actually loves these people. But wait a minute. You know
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Lazarus is sick, and somehow it's for the glory of God. And this
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isn't making sense. And John's like, I know, I know it was
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confusing to us to believe me. Just hang with me. Jesus actually loved
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these people. And John tells us that because it didn't look like it,
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and sometimes in your life it doesn't look like it either, does it.
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This is why I believe Jesus manufactured this sign. It wasn't simply as we're
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going to see for the benefit of the people sitting around that circle. It
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was for you, and it was for you, and it was for you,
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and it was for you and it was for me. So John says,
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when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two
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more days, which is astounding to the people around him, because Jesus has
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healed total strangers. Why would he not get up and rush off to heal
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his friend Lazarus. And the answer was he was up to something. He
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was staging a sign with a purpose in mind. And then he said,
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So two days go by, the messenger goes back to Bethany, Jesus and
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the guys who are just hanging out and doing whatever they're doing, and suddenly,
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unexpectedly, he stands up and he says, okay to his disciples,
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let us go back now to Judea, and let's go specifically back toward Bethany.
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Now. Immediately, his guys are confused because the last time they were
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in that area it didn't go so well. In fact, as he's about
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to say, the last time they were in their area when they were at
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the temple during that conversation I mentioned earlier. They picked up stones to stone
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Jesus. And the problem with being around someone who's being stoned is people aren't
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always accurate. So you do not want to be around someone who's being stoned.
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You step back, and so they realize if his life is in danger,
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their life is in danger. And they kind of tip their hat to
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this in this next statement. John's there and he's part of them. They
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said, But but, Rabbi, they said, in case you have for
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we know you're Jesus and all, but in case you've lost some memory,
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a rabbi, they said, a short while ago, the Jews there tried
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to stone you, and yet you were going back. The real issue is,
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and you want us to go with you? Could you possibly either not
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go or could you go without us? So there's all this tension, and
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then Jesus does his Jesus thing where he seemingly changes the subject. This is
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why I believe these are actual narratives. These are actual conversations. These are
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the part that nobody would write into the script because they're so off script.
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These are the moments that the disciples were so confused, and oftentimes where is
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confused as well, but this is the brilliance, this is the beauty.
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This is Jesus bringing Heaven to earth. And a moment of crisis, and
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Jesus turns to them as they're trying to talk him out of going, and
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he says, are there not? Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
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What? Yeah? Are there not? Wait? We were just talking.
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Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone? He says, Come on,
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guys, you know that anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble,
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for they see by this world's light. It it is when a person
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tries to walk around at night. It's when a person walks at night that
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they stumble, for they have no light. And they're like, thank you
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for that. There's not any new information. What does that have to do
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with anything? And as this narrative unfolds, and as this manufactured sign unfolds
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in history, the point of what Jesus says here becomes clear. The twelve
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hours he was talking about were twelve hours of opportunity. Here's what he's saying
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to his guys, gentlemen, you need to follow the light of the world.
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You need to follow the light of the world. While the light of
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the world is in the world. He said a similar thing last week when
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we talked about healing of the blind man. This is his message. You,
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guys, you have a unique opportunity. You are in the physical presence
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of the light of the world. And if you are in the physical presence
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of the light of the world, you follow the light of the world while
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the light of the world is in the world. Because the light of the
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world is leaving the world. And when the light of the world leaves the
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world, it will become oh so dark. Gentlemen, he was saying,
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you will never see more clearly than you see right now. And if you
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stay here out of fear, you'll miss the opportunity of a lifetime. If
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you stay here out of fear, you'll miss an opportunity to see the light
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of the world wearing light to a situation that will change the way people think
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about life and death forever. And he would say to them, and he
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would say to all of us, if you refuse to follow the light of
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the world, you'll stumble around in darkness. You'll stumble around in a world
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that has no meaning and has no purpose and has no result that you'll look
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forward to that You'll stumble around in darkness trying to make sense out of a
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world that really doesn't make sense. You'll stumble around in darkness trying to make
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sense out of good and evil. You'll stumble around in the darkness trying to
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figure out, how do I even know what evil is? I'm comparing it
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to a god that I don't even believe in that apart from the author of
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life, this is his point. Apart from the author of life, you'll
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never understand life. You will eventually find yourself back into a corner of despair.
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Whereas Richard Dawkins, I think accurately says, where there is at bottom,
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Where there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil,
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no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. And Jesus will stay into
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his apostles, and Jesus says to us, follow me, Follow me.
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I am the light of the world who came into the world to bring light
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to your world. And apart from the author of life, it will all
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seem meaningless, and you will stumble around in the darkness trying to piece together
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things that you'll never peace together. After he had said, hey, you
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want to go, After he has said this to them, he went on
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to tell them plainly, Okay, guys, I know our friend Lazarus has
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fallen asleep, but I'm going to Judea and I'm going through Bethany to wake
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him up. So who's in Guys, who wants to go with me?
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Well, they don't want to go, so they start giving Jesus medical advice.
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If you have ever given God medical advice when you're praying, you let
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God know about what the doctors could do and the surgeons, and God's going,
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I got this. So they began to get they're just like us.
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They begin to give Jesus medical advice. Lord, they say, because they
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don't want to go. Lord, if he's asleep, you just said he's
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asleep, and you're going to wake him up, you shouldn't wake him up.
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Okay, See, Jesus, when people are sick and they fall asleep,
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they're getting better. The fever's broken, So let's not wake him up.
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Lord. If he sleeps, he'll get better. In other words,
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we don't want to go. Well, thank you for that, Andrew and
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thought of that. We'll just stay here and make smores and just let him
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get better on his own, right. But Jesus, John tells us,
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because he's writing this after the fact. Jesus had been speaking to them.
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Jesus had been speaking to them about lazarus death, but his disciples thought he
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meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, Okay, guys,
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Lazarus is dead. Do I sit that. Wait a minute. You just
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told us two days ago this sickness will not end in death, and now
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you're telling us he's dead. But if you haven't been listening, listen to
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this. What comes next? What comes next in the story is so horrible
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for Mary and Martha and Lazarus. What comes next in the story is terrible
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for them, but it is wonderful for you. It is wonderful for the
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future generations that would hear this story. He continues, he says, And
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for your sake, I mean, this is horrible. This is so harsh.
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Nobody would put these words in jesus mouth. And for your sake talking
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about the disciples, but I think he's talking about for your sake and my
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sake as well. And for your sake. I am glad I was not
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there. I am glad I was not there to keep my friend from going
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through the agony of dying and his sisters watching him by. I'm glad I
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was not who would say this, who would put these words in Jesus' mouth.
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I'm glad I was not there. He said to his disciples, for
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your sake, and for your sake, and for the sake of every parent
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who's ever buried a child, And for the sake of every husband who's every
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bearer ever buried a wife. And for the sake of every child who's buried
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a parent way too early. For the sake of every friend who's buried a
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friend, or a friend who's buried the child of a friend. For all
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of us. Jesus manufactures a sign, He says, so that on the
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other side of this, so that on the other side of this moment,
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where Jesus is actually this is why it's so disturbing, Where Jesus is actually
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creating a brand new category. This was new to them. For many of
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us, it's new to us because this was brand new to the world.
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Again, the light of the world had come to shed light on one of
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the dilemmas that mankind had wrestled with for thousands of years. How do I
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reconcile the idea of a good God in an evil world. How do I
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reconcile the idea of a good God in a world that doesn't cooperate? And
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Jesus said, I'm glad I was not there, so that you may believe,
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but let us go to him. And then one of the more humorous
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parts of the New Testament, basically because they don't want to go right,
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so Thomas speaks up and he says this to the rest of the tide goes
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okay, let us also go that we may die with him. Translated,
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Lazarus is dead, Jesus is gonna die, and we're gonna all go be
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dead together. So let's just all go die. This is not gonna go
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well. We know it's not going to go well. Right Meanwhile, back
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in Bethany, you know what that conversation is like. Right back in Bethan,
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he s'ys, where's Jesus? I mean, Jesus didn't get here in
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time to save Lazarus. But we're gonna leave him laid out here. You
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know, We're gonna wait two or three days, because that's kind of what
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they did. But finally that third day is coming to an end and they've
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got to put him in a tomb. And Jesus misses them, and Jesus
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misses the entubent, and Jesus misses basically the funeral. John says, I
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was there. It was so embarrassing. By this point, we really didn't
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want to go. We weren't sure of what to fear most, the embarrassment
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of seeing Mary and Martha or the fear of losing our lives, he says.
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But on our arrival, here's what happened. On our arrival, Jesus
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found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb the four days and when Martha,
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lazarus sister, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out
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to meet him. Lord, she said, and she says what we say
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again, this is so honest. And if you've ever said something like this
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to God, or you've ever expressed something like this in her prayer, it's
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appropriate. And if you've ever been afraid to you should know in this moment
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you get permission to because people who were close to Jesus expressed exactly what we
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feel in moments like this. And she said, Jesus, if you had
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been here, my brother would not have died. This is partially your fault.
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God, you could have, but you didn't. Isn't it good to
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know there's nothing wrong with your faith when something doesn't go your way? Bad
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things happen to good friend of Jesus people all the time. In this case,
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Jesus actually manufactured a sign for your sake and for mine. But she's
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like us in this way well as well. She's trying to cling to whatever
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faith she has. It's like, Jesus, you should have been here.
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I shouldn't be angry with you. You're Jesus. I believe you've been sent
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from God, but you could have stopped this from happening. I'm so conflicted.
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I'm so upset. But but I have shreds of faith in you.
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But I know that even now, even though you are so late, I
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know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. And Jesus
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smiles and he says to her, your brother will rise again. Well,
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now she assumes that he's going into preacher mode where there you know, somebody
24:00
walks up and gives you a verse in the times of crisis, and you're
24:03
like, you know what, later, that's not what I need. Right
24:06
now, somebody says, hey, you need to listen to this sermon.
24:07
Okay, I don't want a sermon. Somebody says, well, you know,
24:10
the Bible teaches, Hey, I'm in crisis mode. I've lost somebody
24:14
I love. I don't want a Bible, I don't want a sermon.
24:17
I don't want theology, and so she thinks that Jesus is trying to go
24:21
into some sort of theology to give some sort of theological spend on this crisis
24:25
to make her feel better. Martha said, I know, I know,
24:26
I know, I know, I know my theology. You know I've been
24:30
to synagogue. Okay, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection on the
24:33
last day, but I'm not concerned about the last day. I wanted you
24:37
to get here so we didn't have to wait for a last day. And
24:42
what comes next is so breathtaking. We miss it because we're not there,
24:49
and we miss it because very few of us have could have ever felt the
24:52
emotion and the frustration perhaps that Mary and Martha felt in this moment. Jesus
25:00
looks at her and says, look at me. I'm not here to give
25:04
you a sermon. I'm not here to talk about theology, and I'm not
25:11
even here to correct your theology, and I'm not asking you to put your
25:15
trust in what you've always been taught about death and the afterlife. He looks
25:22
at her and he says, look at me. I am the resurrection and
25:29
the Life. This is in a category. Jesus says, you are looking
25:33
at the resurrection in life personified. I am the living embodiment of everything you've
25:41
hoped for. What you think about me is the most important thoughts you'll ever
25:47
have. I am the resurrection and the Life. The light has come into
25:52
the world. Pay attention, because when I leave, it will be dark.
25:56
But don't you know that I will leave a testimony and a record of
26:00
the fact that the light of the world touched down, and the light of
26:03
the world brings hope in hopeless situations. I am the resurrection in life.
26:08
I'm telling you nobody would put those words in Jesus, in Jesus mouth and
26:14
John as they are taking it all in, and Peter's they are taking it
26:17
all in. Who would say that? And then he says to her,
26:21
the one of any generation at any time, the one who believes in me,
26:26
and the little Greek phrase, the one who places their trust to me,
26:29
not simply believes that, but you see the signs you believe that,
26:32
But ultimately you place your trust in the one who places their trust in me
26:34
will live even though they die. And a little bit of a tongue twister,
26:40
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. There's no way
26:45
she could have taken all of this in. There's no way that most of
26:47
us can take all this in. Just as he said Lazarus wouldn't die,
26:49
but he died, Jesus says, you'll die, but you won't. Because
26:57
Jesus could not have been any more clear this moment that death is simply adore,
27:03
that death is simply a transition. And then he looks at her,
27:07
and I think he smiled, and he sees the pain, and he sees
27:11
the confusion, and he sees where theology meets the real world, and he
27:15
sees this as a person. They've had relationship, He's eaten in their home.
27:18
She and her sister and Elazrath had supported him financially. And he looks
27:23
at her and he says, do you believe this? Do you believe this?
27:29
And this was so hard for her to believe. It's so hard for
27:30
me to believe. Sometimes come on, it's so hard for you to believe.
27:33
Sometimes Mary felt the same way, and so she musters up as much
27:38
faith as she can find. In the moment, she says, yes,
27:44
Lord, Yes, Lord, I believe. I don't understand, and I
27:49
don't know how all this comes together. And I don't know why you were
27:52
late, but I've seen too much. I don't understand everything, but I
27:56
really realize I don't have to understand everything to believe thing. And then she
28:00
just goes to her default. The one thing she's certain of. I'm not
28:04
sure what's going to happen. I'm not sure how it's going to happen,
28:07
but I'm convinced of this. I believe that you are the Messiah, the
28:11
Son of God who has come into the world. Jesus. I believe somehow,
28:15
in some mystical, marvelous way, you are the light of the world
28:17
that's come into the world. But that's all I know. In this moment,
28:22
Martha goes back to her house. She tells Mary that Jesus is on
28:26
the edge of town. She goes out and meets with Jesus. They have
28:29
a similar conversation, and the text says, and John gives us all this
28:33
detail, because this is slow motion. John says that when he saw her
28:37
weaving, when he saw both of them weaving, and the Jews who had
28:41
come along with her, because they went with her out to see Jesus,
28:44
he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And he asked, where have
28:49
you laid him? And they said, come and see, and Jesus went.
28:56
And then this extraordinarily tender moment. Maybe this was the reason that Jesus
29:00
manufactured this sign. In this extraordinary moment, Jesus arrives outside the tomb,
29:07
knowing what he's going to do, and he pauses and he enters into the
29:12
emotion of the moment, divine empathy, and Peter was there, and I
29:21
think maybe it's why Peter wrote what he did. Later, many years later,
29:23
Peter would write two letters to the church, and in one of those
29:26
letters, Peter would say this to Christians. He'd say, look, it's
29:30
okay to cast your cares upon him, because you can know with confidence he
29:33
cares for you. You can cast your cares, you can cast your uninsured
29:37
prayers, you can cast all your disappointments, all your unresolved hopes and fears
29:41
on him because you can know with confidence he cares for you, to which
29:45
we would say, Peter, how do we know he cares for us,
29:47
to which Peter might say that day standing outside the tomb, not knowing what
29:52
was going to happen, but then seeing what he ultimately did. I'm telling
29:55
you, in that moment, Jesus entered into the pain and and the tears,
30:00
and the fear and all of the human emotion there was in that moment.
30:03
I'm telling you. You may not see it, and you may not
30:07
feel it, but I saw it. He cares for you because I saw
30:11
him care for Mary and Martha. I saw him care for a community.
30:15
I saw him not rush to the resolution, but he entered in with mankind.
30:22
You can cast your cares upon him. I saw it. Peter would
30:25
say, you can know with confidence he cares for you. And that's why
30:32
what John records next is not a trivial detail. I'm so grateful that whoever
30:37
chopped the New Testament up in chapters and verses so it's convenient for us to
30:41
find our way through. When they got to this next statement, they gave
30:45
these two words its own, their own verse number. Because John says,
30:51
what happened next is that Jesus paused, knowing what was about to happen,
30:56
and Jesus wept, and the Jews would come from Jerusalem to comfort Mary,
31:06
and Martha said, see, you see, it was so evident. Do
31:10
you see how he loved him? Do you see how he loved him?
31:14
But some of them said, yeah, he may love him, but could
31:17
not he who opened the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from
31:19
dying? I mean, there it is again, there we are again in
31:23
the story. Why didn't he do something about this? If he could have,
31:27
right, if he could have, he would have. But since he
31:30
didn't, he can't. But as it turns out, he could have,
31:36
he just didn't. And I'm convinced he didn't. For your sake and for
31:41
mine, he chose instead. And if you haven't been paying attention, please
31:45
don't miss this. This is just the brilliance of Jesus in this painful,
31:49
painful moment, in this moment, in this moment, Jesus, Jesus condenses.
31:56
Jesus condenses all of eternity to the span of a single afternoon. Jesus
32:04
takes all of eternity and he condenses it to the span of this single afternoon.
32:08
The pain, the disappointment, the fear, the anger, the unanswered
32:15
prayer, the faith anyway, the tears of God, and then finally the
32:22
resolution your entire life experience as you wrestle with the goodness of God and the
32:28
pain in the world, all condensed for all mankind, for every generation that
32:31
would follow. Jesus condenses the entire experience to a few hours in one afternoon,
32:37
so that future generations could live with hope. John continues, Jesus once
32:50
more deeply moved, came to the tomb, and then he shocked everybody.
32:55
Take away the stone, he said. The mourners fell, so Mary and
33:01
Martha dass but Lord, But Lord said Martha, by this? Do I
33:12
say this? By this? By this time? Because see you're late.
33:16
You're so late. By this time. There will be a bad owner if
33:22
he's been dead for four days. And Jesus said, did I not tell
33:25
you if you believe you will see the glory of God? Can I pause
33:30
here and say something to all of us on behalf of Jesus? Did he
33:35
not tell us in this moment that if you believe that you will see the
33:39
glory of God, you say, I want to see it now? That's
33:43
the point of this story, all of eternity, your entire life, my
33:46
entire life, condensed to the span of an afternoon. I need to see
33:52
it now. And Jesus says to you, And he says to me,
33:55
did I not tell you? Did I not demonstrate for you that if you
34:00
believe, if you trust in me, you will see the glory of God.
34:07
So Mary and Martha give the men there permission to move the stone,
34:14
and everybody, I guarantee you this is in the text. Everybody took a
34:19
step back, they removed the stone, and then Jesus looked up and he
34:28
prays, this is my favorite prayer of Jesus is the New Testament. Let
34:32
me tell you what he says before I read it to you. Basically,
34:36
in this prayer, Jesus says, Dear Eavenly Father, you and I know
34:40
what's going on, and you and I are so connected at the hill.
34:44
In fact, we are indistinguishable. It is so important for me that this
34:49
group and future generations know just how connected we are. Father. He said,
34:58
I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always
35:01
hear me, but I said this, I'm praying this out loud for the
35:05
benefit of the people standing here, and the benefit of future generations that they
35:09
may believe that you sent me. You see, the most important question to
35:15
wrestle to the ground is not the question of good and evil and God and
35:16
evil. The most important question for any of us to wrestle to the ground
35:21
is who is Jesus. Because that Jesus is who Jesus claimed he was.
35:24
Then all of those things get reconciled and explained in Jesus. And when he
35:31
had finished this prayer, when he had said this, he called in a
35:35
loud voice, Lazarus come out. And John, who dictates this to us
35:43
as an old man, is remembering this moment, and he thinks to himself,
35:46
and we couldn't believe what we saw. The dead man I'm telling,
35:51
he says, I was there. The dead man came out. His hands
35:53
and feet were wrapped with strips of linen, so it was him. This
35:57
wasn't a trick, and a cloth was still around his face. And nobody
36:00
moved. In fact, everybody took another step back, and Jesus said,
36:05
come on, take off the grave clothes and let him go. And everybody
36:08
finally woke up and came to their senses and they rushed Lazarus, and they
36:13
freed him from the bonds of death, and he was alive. And then
36:16
a statement that John didn't need to make, but he did anyway. He
36:22
said, Therefore, this is kind of a duh, this is kind of
36:24
you could have guessed this was coming. Therefore, many of the Jews who
36:28
had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.
36:30
I bet they did, don't you. And get this, Many who had
36:36
come, and here's John's formula. Here's what John wants you to take away.
36:38
Here is the gospel. Many who saw believed, many who saw believe.
36:44
Before they saw it, they just couldn't believe it. And this is
36:46
John's message. He says, Look, I don't want you to simply believe
36:50
in Jesus because of belief. I'm not asking you to have faith in faith.
36:53
I'm not asking you to follow Jesus because of faith. I just want
36:57
you to know what I saw. Because if you saw what I saw,
37:00
and if you hear the story of what I saw, and if you trust
37:01
me as somebody who's giving a testimony that's true, then perhaps you'll arrive at
37:05
the same conclusions I did not simply about what Jesus did, but about who
37:08
Jesus was. Skeptics skeptics. Most skeptics agree skeptics who don't believe Jesus was
37:15
anybody special. Skeptics agreed that Christianity could not have grown to the numbers that
37:20
had grown by the third century if there had not been an explosion of activity
37:24
and an explosion of followers early on as toward the end of Jesus' life.
37:30
And why would so many Judeans embrace Jesus ultimately as their savior and as Messiah
37:37
because of faith? No, because of what they saw, which leads us
37:44
to John's little formula that if you don't take anything else away from the Gospel
37:47
of John, it simply this that seeing led to believing, which led to
37:52
trusting. That it was seeing that led to believing that led to trusting.
37:58
It was seeing that led to believe Evda, he's who he claims to be,
38:00
that led them to ultimately place their trust in him. And John's agenda
38:05
isn't simply that you would know the story. John's agenda isn't simply that you
38:07
would know what he said he saw, And it's not simply that you would
38:10
believe that had happened. It would be that, ultimately that you would place
38:14
your personal faith in Jesus and who he claimed to be because of what he
38:19
did on planet Earth. The light had come into the world for the benefit
38:24
of the world. The light had come. This was such indisputable evidence.
38:30
It turns out that those who were willfully blind decided they finally had to step
38:36
in and do something, so much so that they called a meeting back in
38:38
Jerusalem. So many people left Bethany, and they flooded through the gates,
38:43
and they said, there's an indisputable raising from the dead. There is no
38:46
way to get around this. This wasn't done in the corners of the empire
38:50
or the corners of the nation. This was done in a community where people
38:52
had gathered for a funeral for a famous person. And now there was no
38:57
getting around it. Jesus had done something extraordinary, and his enemies gathered and
39:01
decided this has to end, and this has to end now. And not
39:06
only did they decide to have Jesus arrested and executed, they decide to decide
39:10
to have Lazarus executed as well. Here's what they said in their meeting.
39:16
Someone later leaked this to John. They said, if we let him go
39:22
on, What an arrogant thing to say. If we let him go on
39:25
like this, I'm sure John chuckled as he dictated or wrote this down,
39:29
as if they let him do anything. Jesus said, nobody takes my life
39:34
from me. I lay it down, I take it up. Nobody lets
39:37
me, nobody allows me. All authority is in me, all of the
39:40
sacrifice I made on purpose, with a purpose, with you in mind.
39:46
But in their meeting, as they tried to grapple with the undeniable reality of
39:51
what had happened just two miles from Jerusalem, if we let him go on
39:52
like this, everybody will believe in him. They had no idea, did
39:57
they. Two thousand years later, over a the third of the world's population
40:01
believes in him. If we let him go on like this, everyone will
40:05
believe in him, then the Romans will come and take away our temple and
40:07
our nation. Right, there's so much for us to lose. They had
40:14
no idea all that there was to gain, Because God don't miss this.
40:19
Part had come to dwell alongside evil, and God had come to dwell alongside
40:28
evil men and women, and the light was so bright, and for some
40:36
they were attracted, and for others they were repulsed. Later, John would
40:39
say it this way, the light has come into the world, but some
40:44
people they just loved the darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
40:52
But God didn't eliminate the evil. John says, no, this story didn't
40:58
get like that. He actually placed it on the shoulders of his son,
41:02
so that you would not perish but have eternal life even though you're evil.
41:14
For God so loved this evil world. For God so loved the evil people
41:20
in this world that he sent his perfect son, the light of the world,
41:24
so that by placing your faith in him, we would not be lost
41:29
to God but could have the very life Jesus came to promise and to give.
41:36
John would say, I'm nobody special, I'm just a bystander. And
41:40
why God allowed me to live in the days when the light of the world
41:45
was in the world to brighten up the world, I do not know.
41:47
But I know you have to hear my story because if you'd seen what I
41:52
saw, you believe what I believe. If you'd heard what I heard,
41:55
you would believe what I believe. If you had seen what I would see,
41:59
and you would draw, hopefully the same conclusion. I drew that Jesus
42:01
was, in fact God in a body, the light of the world,
42:05
in the world for God's purposes, for all mankind, and eventually he would
42:10
get his story out and he would remind us toward the end. I didn't
42:14
simply write this so that you would know what would happen, and so that
42:16
you would know what happened. My agenda was clear. These things are written
42:22
that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, if you're Jewish and you've
42:24
been waiting for Messiah, and if you're not Jewish, that you would know
42:28
he was, in a unique way, the Son of God, and that
42:30
by believing, you may have life in his name. If you had seen
42:37
what I'd seen, you would believe what I believe. And once you decided
42:40
to believe what I believe, you would place your faith in him and have
42:45
life in his name. That's the invitation of the Gospel. And I think
42:51
John would say, it's so good, it's so powerful. For us,
42:54
it was so real after reading my account. I hope that you but want
43:00
it to be true, even before you're convinced that is true, and I
43:07
hope that you won't miss the final episode of Bystander next week, because next
43:13
week we're going to conclude with the final part of the story in the Gospel
43:16
of John and the story of Easter all rolled in to one. For those
43:22
of you who are on the verge of losing faith because of difficulty in your
43:27
life, I just want to say to you, don't give up, don't
43:30
give up, don't give up. You're not the first, you won't be
43:32
the last. And the Light of the world came into the world and manufactured
43:37
a sign just for you.