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Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Okay we begin with a prayer. Lord God bless your word wherever it is proclaimed.

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Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith.

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May your word pass from the ear to our hearts, from our hearts to our lips, from our lips to the life that as you have promised your word may achieve the purposes for which you send it through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Amen. All right we are officially now into the thick of it when it comes to the book of Exodus.

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Last week we began with Exodus chapter 1. Today we are partway through chapter 2 and what we're doing as we're working our way through this text is we are making note of the fact that Old Testament and New Testament work together.

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You got it's almost as if you need to be paying attention to your cross -references when you're reading the scripture and the reason for that simple is you should.

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You should be paying attention to your cross -references because in very real ways all of this is pointing to Christ.

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The story that we find ourselves in and the salvific work of God on our behalf.

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So that being the case where we last left off Moses, Moses had murdered an

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Egyptian and he got found out.

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Moses is going to end up on Egypt's most wanted television program every single

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Saturday. That's right. Hosted by John Walsh. That's right. The ancient

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Egyptian version of him. His painting and portrait are in every

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Egyptian post office. Yeah he's at the top of you know the most wanted but here's what it says kind of backing up and noting here.

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One day when Moses had grown up he went out to his people looked at their burdens and he saw an

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Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his people. He looked this way and that way seeing no one he struck down the

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Egyptian hit him in the sand and when he went out the next day behold two Hebrews were struggling together and he said to the man in the wrong why do you strike your companion he answered who made you a prince over a prince and a judge over us.

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Well the answer is nobody did. Moses is acting on his own recognizance.

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Did you mean to do you mean to kill me as you kill the Egyptian so then Moses was afraid not surely the thing is known and when

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Pharaoh heard of it he sought to kill Moses but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well.

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Now the story gets really interesting. We're going to get up to our text today from the

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Old Testament. Here's what it says now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

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The shepherds came and drove them away. Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock.

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Shepherdesses apparently experienced workplace harassment back then and when it would if the shepherdesses were watering their flocks the shepherds mistreated them so here's

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Moses he shows up basically says that's all right ladies I'll take care of this for you and so in some one way or another he ends up licking the other shepherds and making it so that these women can have their flocks watered without being harassed by these other guys so when they came home to their father

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Ruel he said how is it that you have come home so soon today they said an

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Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock and he said to his daughters well then where is he why have you left the man call him that he may eat bread and he's probably thinking quick call the man over maybe

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I can give one of you away as a wife so Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave

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Moses his daughter Zipporah she gave birth to a son and he called his name

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Gershom for he said I have been a sojourner in a foreign land so Gershom sounds like the

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Hebrew word for sojourner during those many days the king of Egypt died the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery they cried out for help their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning

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God remembered his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob God saw the people of Israel and God knew now important little note here

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God has remembered us as well and note here it says remembered Zakar this is the same word used in the

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Noahic Covenant when Noah comes off the ark God says I make a covenant with you and with all the creatures of the earth that I will never again flood the whole world with a flood and covenants always have a sign of the covenant oftentimes a sign so that you can remember what is promised in a covenant and so the sign of the

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Noahic Covenant is the rainbow the rainbow when we see the rainbow we sit there and go oh yeah

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God's promised never to flood the whole earth with a flood not so much so with the

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Red River Valley of the north and we would prefer that he not send those floods in the summer so the idea then is is that you know

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God sees the rainbow and remembers the sign of the new covenant well we just saw the sign of new covenant today the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ and when we see that we remember

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God's promises to be merciful and forgiving to us and God remembers his promises to forgive you to not destroy you and so here important little note here

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God heard their groaning God remembered his covenant with whom Abraham God cut a covenant with Abraham remember that it's in book of Genesis see if I can find this real quick I think we are in yep here it is it's

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Genesis 15 take a little little bit of a note you got to pay attention to your biblical covenants in the book of Galatians Paul reminds the

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Christians that the covenant of note for us as Christians is not the

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Mosaic Covenant Mosaic Covenant has come to a close the covenant of note for us

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Christians is the Abrahamic Covenant that's the one of note and here's here's the notes on the covenant after these things the

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Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision fear not Abram I am your shield your reward shall be very great

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Abram said Oh Lord God what will you give me for I continue childless and the heir of my house is

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Eliezer of Damascus and Abram Abram said behold you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir behold the

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Word of the Lord came to him this man shall not be your heir your very own son shall be your heir and he brought him outside and said look toward the heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them and then he said to him so shall your offspring be and he believed the

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Lord and God credited it counted it to him as righteousness and in Romans chapter 4 this is invoked as being identical to the same kind of faith that we have as Christians we believe

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God that he forgives our sins for Christ's sake he credits that to us as if it were righteousness because it is we're credited with the righteousness of God and so he said to him

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I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess but he said

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Oh Lord God how am I to know that this shall that I shall possess it and he said to him bring me a heifer three years old a female goat three years old a ram three years old a turtle dove and a young pigeon he brought all of these cut them in half laid each half over and against the other but he did not cut the birds in half sounds like quite a mess so we have all of these animal halves and this is one of the reasons why when covenants were made back then it's called cutting a covenant you see to get the cutting part it's right there so the birds of prey came down on the carcasses and Abram drove them away and as the

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Sun was going down a deep sleep fell on Abram so notice his job in the cutting of the covenant at this point he's just to be quiet fall asleep

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God will take care of the rest behold dreadful and great darkness fell on him and then

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Yahweh said Abram know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in land that is not theirs and will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400 years but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterwards they shall come out with a great with great possessions as for you you shall go to your father's in peace you shall be buried at a good old age and they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the

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Amorites is not yet complete and when the Sun had gone down it was dark behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces on that day

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Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham saying to your offspring not off springs to your offspring

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I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates the land of the

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Canaanites the Canaanites the Kadmonites the Hittites the Perizzites the Rephaim the

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Amorites and the Canaanites the Gershites and the Jebusites now

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Paul makes a big deal about this in the book of Galatians that the promise given to Abraham was not for the offsprings but for the offspring singular this is invoking then pointing to Christ that's how

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Paul develops this so God has made this covenant while he's making all of these promises where's

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Abraham snoring just snoring he's gone just totally incoherent unconscious but God makes these promises to him this is a one -way covenant and so the idea then here is is that Paul under the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit in the book of Galatians interprets this for us so we understand how this rightly points to us as Christians as you know via Christ the one whom it's pointing to to the offspring singular and we kind of take that up so here in Exodus chapter 2 then

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God has remembered his covenant God heard their groaning

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God remembered Zachar his covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob God saw the people of Israel and God knew

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God knew so who's going to be doing the saving who's going to be doing the real heavy lifting here

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God is God is remembering his covenant and now one of the most important chapters in all of scripture absolutely one of the most important ones

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Moses was keeping the flock of his father -in -law Jethro the priest of Midian and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness came to Horeb the mountain of God Horeb and Sinai are synonymous by the way same exact mountain

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Jabal al -Az is where it is at it's actually in Saudi Arabia we'll talk about that more later so the angel of the

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Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush he looked and behold the bush was burning yet it was not consumed and Moses said

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I will turn aside to see this great sight why the bush is not burned when Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see

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God called to him out of the bush Moses Moses and he said here

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I am and they said do not come near take your sandals off your feet the place on which you are standing is holy ground and he said

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I am the God of your father the God of Abraham the

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God of Isaac the God of Jacob Moses hid his face he was afraid to look at God who's he talking to God and you'll notice the text says that the angel of the

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Lord appeared to him this is the passage that helps us understand that when we see in the

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Old Testament stories the angel of the Lord showing up this is a theophany it's God showing up and we're gonna be even a little more specific because remember that we there is one

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God and three persons one God Father Son Holy Spirit not three gods one

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God how many members of the one

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God how many persons of the one God were incarnate born of the holy born of the Virgin Mary one and that's the

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Sun so we're gonna find out who's actually doing the talking here because when you start doing the cross -reference work it gets to be oh so fun

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I am the God of your father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob Moses hit his face he was afraid to look at God smart man then

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Yahweh said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters

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I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of the

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Canaanites the Hittites the Amorites the Perizzites the Hivites the Ballytites the Uptites and the

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Jebusites and now behold the cry of the people of Israel has come to me I've also seen the oppression with which the

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Egyptians oppressed them come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt but Moses said to God who am

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I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt he said but I will be with you isn't it fascinating here doesn't

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Moses understand it's all about having a purpose -driven life and there's God revealing his purpose to him and he says not that's okay

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I'll pass he says I will be with you and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt you shall serve

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God on this mountain then Moses said to God if I come to the people of Israel and I say to them the

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God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name what shall

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I say to them God said to Moses I am who

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I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you hmm

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I am yeah I am what oh we'll talk about that in a second it's quite the name if you think about it so I mean just pause there for a second think about it so what is the name of God I am it's it's like an incomplete sentence

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I'm what every time we say I am you expect like something else to follow you know

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I am overweight you know I am no longer young I am tired

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I am sick I am feeling well I am poor I am rich I am you know he this is what we expect so I am it's like this incomplete thought right no it's it's it's actually kind of all verb without direct object mm -hmm yeah all right so let's take a look at the

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Hebrew on this I am the verb without any inflection is here the name for God which is which we translate as Lord is

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Yahweh all right and so the idea is is that the name of God Yahweh has something to do with ya they're related as far as their semantics are concerned and which kind of begs the question if Yahweh it doesn't in some sense mean the self -existing one the one who is kind of that's the really the thought behind the you know where this is all going

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I is the is one I is the ising one so it's yeah bad

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English to kind of make the point all right so most so God said to Moses I am who I am he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you

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God also said to Moses say this to the people Israel Yahweh the God of your fathers the

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God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever thus and thus

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I am to be remembered throughout all generations so this is an important name here God wants us to know this

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I am stuff make a note of it write it meditate on it think on it and let's take a look at the implications regarding this name as it relates to the

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New Testament we're gonna look at a ton of biblical texts one from the

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Gospel of Matthew and another a bunch of them from the Gospel of John we're in Matthew chapter 14 and this amazing story of Jesus walking on the water and we're going to note something in the

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Greek that gets lost in translation in the English Matthew 14 immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds this is the feeding of the five thousand after that he dismissed the crowds he went up on a mountainside to pray by himself to pray when evening came he was there alone and the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said ah it's a ghost and by the way at this time there was a there was a folklore for the fishermen on the

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Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee had a tendency to take the lives of fishermen you know it when it would get white capped it would easily capsize a boat and people would drown and the way that the lore went is that if you saw a ghost that was the ghost of the last guy who drowned and if you saw that ghost that means you're gonna be the next guy that's how the that's how the lore goes right yeah exactly and I would have gotten away with it if hadn't been for those rotten kids yeah they scream out it's a ghost they cried out in fear

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Jesus immediately spoke to them saying take heart here's the

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Greek a go e me take heart

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I am take heart

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I am do not be afraid that's what he said take heart

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I am do not be afraid and there it is

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I am and by the way a go e me is kind of a weird funny way of doing things if you were just in normal conversation the

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Greek word a me would be sufficient okay if I were to say

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I am tired I would just say a me tired right I'm tired a go e me is like emphatic that's like saying

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I I am tired so he says

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I I am that's how it gets translated in Greek I I am it's emphatic is a strange form what's going on here is

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Jesus saying he's the I am from Exodus 3 how much you want to bet he is how much you want to bet he is now we're gonna spend a lot of time in this chapter

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John chapter 8 John chapter 8 we're gonna start at verse 12

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I know and I just it would be better for them to just translate it

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I am I yeah there are a few of some of the older ones that translated just as I am that's the thing is that our modern translators sometimes just kind of just run roughshod over this they want it to be readable but the problem is is that this is intentionally written in such a way that if you're reading it in Greek you're gonna go you're gonna trip on the words and you're it's that's the way it's supposed to be yeah exactly uh -huh yeah yeah all right

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John 8 I'm gonna make a little bit of a note Jesus is not politically correct and I'm gonna make another note

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Jesus is not Norwegian Jesus has no problem getting in people's face and it's not because he's trying to be ornery for the sake of being ornery he speaks the truth and confronts people for their sake we're going to see a little bit of a verbal battle between the

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Jews and Christ and it's going to intensify as the story unfolds and the back -and -forth is going to get stronger and stronger and at the end of this

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Jesus keeps kind of making his point about who he is and then when we get to the punchline it becomes absolutely clear what he's saying no way around it and the result is going to be fascinating but let's read

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John 8 12 Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world let's take a look at the

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Greek and there it is I I am again that emphatic form

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I am the light of the world now he could have just said a me -ta -fos to Cosmo I am the light of the world instead he said a go a me -ta -fos to Cosmo hmm it sounds like Jesus is intentionally invoking

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Exodus 3 but we'll let this one slide I am a go a me

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I I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk walk in darkness but will have the light of light man that sounds like Jesus is talking like he's

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God I mean what would you think about me if I tried this on you know

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I am the light of the world anyone want to follow that light I promise we're not going over the cliff you got you guys just don't seem confident when

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I start talking like that what's wrong with you whoever follows me will not walk in darkness and he takers yeah

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I know there goes my chance of being the

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Messiah now you're laughing because it's ridiculous but who is

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Jesus making himself out to be I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life so the

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Pharisee said you're bearing witness about yourself your testimony is not true so Jesus answered even if I do bear witness about myself my testimony is true for I know where I came from and where I am going but you do not know where I come from or where I am going you judge according to the flesh

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I judge no one yet even if I do judge my judgment is true for it is not

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I alone who judge but I and the father who sent me in your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true

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I am the one who bears witness about myself and the father who sent me bears witness about me they said to him therefore where is your father

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Jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you knew me you would know my father also these words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come now notice what it says there no one arrested him arrested him for what yeah it's blasphemy so this text itself tells us that when

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Jesus said I I am the light of the world he was claiming divinity for himself and the expectation was they should have arrested him that's what the text is saying story continues so he said to them again

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I am going away and you'll seek me and you will die in your sins where I am going you cannot come so the

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Jews said to him will he kill himself since he says where I'm going you cannot come he said you are from below I am from above you are of this world

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I am not of this world I told you that you would die in your sins for unless you believe that and there it is a go we me unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins

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I know the ESV says I am he let's just leave it with the Greek unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins think about that unless you believe

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I am and there it is again the emphatic a go we me this is the divine name from Exodus 3 and Jesus is literally saying to everybody unless you believe that I am you're gonna die in your sins which is a bad result for your life huh so they said to him who are you

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Jesus said to them just what I have been telling you from the beginning I have much to say about you and much to judge but he who sent me is true and I declared to the world what

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I've heard from him they did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father so Jesus said to them when you have lifted up the

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Son of Man then you will know that I am there it is again when you have lifted up the

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Son of Man you will know that I am this chapter is like chock -full of hi -yah yeah what did the centurion say truly this man was the

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Son of God when you have lifted up the Son of Man you will know that I am and that I do nothing of my own authority but speak just as the father taught me and he who sent me is with me he has not left me alone for I always do the things that are pleasing to him as he was saying these things many believed in him so Jesus said to the

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Jews who believed in him if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you know the truth and the truth will set you free so Jesus is equating his words with the

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Word of God if you abide in my word you will know the truth the truth will set you free which kind of begs the question free we're not slaves so they answered him we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone how is it that you say you will become free

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Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin so now we start to see the connection between Exodus and Jesus Jesus is the

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I am John 8 where Jesus is talking I am all over the place right now the motif of slavery and freedom comes up and Jesus is saying

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I'm going to set you free they say how how are you gonna set us free we're not slaves oh yes you are everyone who practices in is a slave to sin so the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever so if the

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Sun sets you free you will be free indeed who is it that's setting the children of Israel free in the book of Exodus that's way too vague

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I am and who is the I am too vague

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Jesus yeah Jesus that's the thing that's the whole cut it's kind of the whole point who's

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Moses talking to he's talking to Jesus so the

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Sun sets you free you'll be free indeed I know that you are offspring of Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you

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I speak of what I've seen with my father and you do what you've heard from your father get ready here comes the insult they answered him

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Abraham is our father and Jesus said to them yeah right that's so adorable but if you were

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Abraham's children you would be doing the works of it that Abraham did but now you seek to kill me a man who's told you the truth that I heard from God that is not what

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Abraham did you are doing the works your father did they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality we have one father even

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God Jesus said to them well if God were your father you would love me for I came from God and I am there it is again

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I came not of my own accord but he sent me why do you not understand what

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I say it's because you cannot bear to hear my word you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from a beginning and death from the beginning does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies but because I tell the truth you do not believe me which of you convicts me of sin if I tell the truth why do you not believe me whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God notice how blunt how firm

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Jesus is how well doesn't pull any punches he just calls the spade the spade so the

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Jews answered and this is where it gets really funny are we not right in saying that you are a

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Samaritan and have a demon Wow now comes the ad hominem

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Jesus was speaking the truth about them now they are just pulling out the lies you're a

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Samaritan no Jesus is no Samaritan he is the actual direct descendant of King David and the heir to the throne of David he's no

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Samaritan and no he is not demon possessed he is the one who casts out the demons so they said are we not right in saying that you're a

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Samaritan and have a demon Jesus answered I do not have a demon but I honor my father and you dishonor me yet I do not seek my own glory there is one who seeks it and he is the judge truly truly

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I say to you if anyone keeps my word he will never see death who's

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Jesus talking like again there God so the Jews said to him now we know you have a demon

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Abraham died so did the prophets yet you say if anyone keeps my word he will never taste death are you greater than our father

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Abraham who died and the prophets died who do you make yourself out to be notice with each round this gets a little bit more intense and they are beginning to see exactly what

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Jesus has been saying all the way back from verse 12 he's talking like he's the

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I am he's speaking as if he's God and it's finally starting to settle in and they're getting more and more agitated with each time around the track so are you greater than our father

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Abraham who died who do you make yourself out to be Jesus answered if I glorify myself my glory is nothing it is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our

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God but you have not known him I know him if I were to say I do not know him

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I would be a liar like you but I do know him and I keep his word your father

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Abraham rejoice that he would see my day he saw it and was glad pause for a second here where in the book of Genesis does it say that Moses not

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Moses but Abraham long to see the days of Jesus there's no text that says this how does

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Jesus know this he was there they immediately pick on up on the fact that this is extra biblical information this is something about Abraham that is not written in the

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Torah Jesus is talking about Abraham as if he knows him and he knows stuff about Abraham that well has long ago been forgotten in the sands of time but he is remembered it that's the way he's speaking your father

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Abraham rejoice that he would see my day he saw it and was glad so the

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Jews said to him you're not yet 50 years old and you've seen Abraham and then here comes

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Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you before Abraham was I am this is

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Exodus 3 stuff right here and the light bulb goes on verse 59 so they picked up stones to throw at him but Jesus hit himself and went out the temple why did they pick up the stones to stone him to death because they believe that he had blasphemed making himself equal with God now listening to that discourse do you think that Jesus was making himself equal with God yes or no yes from the word go he was from the word go he's speaking as if he's

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God if you keep my words you will never taste death if you keep my words you will have life they will know the truth the truth will set you free set you free from slavery to sin and all these kinds of things and and they're going it sounds like he's saying he's

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God oh yeah oh yeah and at this point

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Jesus punctuates it before Abraham was I am there's only one way to understand it he's claiming to be the guy speaking from the burning bush there it is so what do we do with that yeah they were suppressing it yeah they were suppressing it mm -hmm yeah

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I want you to think about that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be and if you truly believe that he is who he claimed to be and I listen to what

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I'm saying for you what impact does that have on your life he sets you free right it makes all the difference in the world but what if you really like your sin huh yeah we've all been there now all of a sudden now we want to keep

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Jesus over here now what if believing Jesus well that's going to result in like the whole empire that you've created for yourself and the whole power structure that you operate in to make that all just blow up and go away uh -huh there's a cost to believing this and it's a big one oh of course

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I agree no doubt about that let's see this is not how these Jews and Pharisees are thinking do you remember when

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Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead what is the reaction of the

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Jews we'll take a look at that because there's another series of I am statements okay we we looked at this a few weeks ago but let's re -examine this again

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John 11 1 we'll go around this track again pick up a little bit of notes here and it's never a drudgery to keep walking back over the same text and kind of seeing what you can see now we're going to look at this text from the

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I am statements certain man was ill

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Lazarus of Bethany of the village Mary and her sister Martha it was

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Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was ill so the sisters sent to him saying

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Lord he whom you love is ill but when Jesus heard it he said this illness does not lead to death for it is the glory of God so that the son of man may be glorified through it now

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Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus and when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was then after this he said to his disciples let us go to Judea again and the disciples said to him rabbi the

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Jews who are just now seeking to stone you and are you going there again and Jesus answered are not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him and after saying these things he said to them our friend

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Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him disciples said to him Lord if he's fallen asleep he will recover and Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep then

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Jesus told them plainly okay boys listen Lazarus has died oh okay and for your sake

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I am glad that I was not there so that he that so that you may believe but let us go to him so notice that all of this is so that they may believe but let us go to him so Thomas called the twin said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him just absurd this is like overcooking your piety by about half okay it sounds so pious and it just is nonsense

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I love the fact that the dumb things the disciples said and did are actually recorded for us so now when

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Jesus came he found that Lazarus was already in the tomb for four days Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off many of the

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Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother so when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went and met him but Mary remained seated in the house

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Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died this is true but even now

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I know that whatever you ask from God God will give to you Jesus said to her your brother will rise again

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Martha said to him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day

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Jesus said to her a go

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Amy I am the resurrection and the life now this is important the resurrection is not an event the resurrection is a person do you see it

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Jesus is the resurrection well isn't it kind of a play on words because really he did yeah but see the thing is

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Jesus is now point you know remember I am I am has sent you I am what now

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Jesus is filling in the blanks and watch what he does we're going to see this in the gospel of John so in John 8 we have before Abraham was

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I am and now we're getting I am the resurrection and the life and the grammar forces us to stop thinking of the resurrection of as an event and start forcing us to see the resurrection as a person as the

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I am himself and that's really the gist of it Jesus is our all and our all and so this forces us to think differently

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Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die do you believe this think about it for a second

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I've made this point before this where you make the point anyone who believes in me will never die do you believe this remember the roll call today aren't they all dead or are they yeah they're alive

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God has got the God of the dead he's the God of the living Jesus says you will never die do you believe this and you sit there and go but my eyes and my experience say this and Jesus's words are colliding with that what am

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I supposed to do your eyes can deceive you your experience can deceive you

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Jesus is the truth so who are you going to believe what are you going to believe so she said to him yes

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Lord I believe that you are the Christ the Son of God who is coming into the world when she had said this she went and called her sister

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Mary saying in private the teacher's here and is calling for you and when she heard it she rose quickly and went to him

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Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him when the

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Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there now when

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Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet saying Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died sounds like an echo when

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Jesus saw her weeping the Jews who had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved and we talked about this the last time that he's this is an agitation inside of him and he was deeply moved in his spirit greatly troubled he said where have you laid him they said

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Lord come and see Jesus wept so the Jews said see how he loved him but some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying and then

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Jesus deeply moved again this is an anger agitation he's not mad at the people he's mad at the circumstances created by the devil he came to the tomb it was a cave a stone lay against us

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Jesus said take away the stone Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there will be an odor for he has been dead for four days and Jesus said to her did

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I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God huh notice here stop thinking with your eyes stop thinking with your experience

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God's word is true Jesus is truth I am the way

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I am the truth I am the life I am the resurrection what he says is true not your circumstances so they took away the stone lifted up his eyes and he said father

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I think that you thank you that you've heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said this on account of the people standing around they may believe that you sent me and when he had said these things they cried out he cried out with a loud voice

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Lazarus come out the man who had died came out his hands and feet bound with linen strips his face wrapped with a cloth

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Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go as if somehow he had been bound and enslaved or whatever right so he's setting the captive free many of the

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Jews therefore and here's the response many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and had seen what he did believed in him but some of them went to the

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Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done so let's pause there for a second and just kind of think about how this goes down so there's some

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Pharisees and they see all this and they're going no oh what whoa so they go and report to headquarters they got a hoof it there because they don't have cars right they got a hoof it there and they get to headquarters and the

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Pharisees you're not gonna believe this I don't even know how to describe what

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I saw there was Lazarus he died like four days ago and oh man the smell was awful but Jesus said

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Lazarus come out and the guy rose from the dead it was amazing and the Pharisees who claimed to worship

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God claimed to worship the same God that Jesus is here's their response so the chief priests and the

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Pharisees gathered the council and they said what are we to do for this man performs many signs if we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him and the

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Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation what serious you're worried about the

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Romans the guy just raised somebody from the dead it's been dead for four days and you what notice they are utterly blind

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Jesus was right they are of their father the devil they have no love for God they have love for God with their words they have love for God with their clothing they love for people say oh rabbi rabbi teacher teacher they could care less about God so what do they want to do with Jesus so one of them

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Caiaphas who was a high priest that year said to them you know nothing nor do you understand that it's better for you that one man should die for the people not that the whole nation that not that the whole nation should perish he did not say this on his own accord but being a high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not only for the nation only but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad so from that day they made plans to put

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Jesus to death what do you do with that this shows you just how blind and sinful we all are and that it's a miracle that any of us believe and in these two chapters that we looked at we got two very clear

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I am statements several of them in chapter eight culminating before Abraham was

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I am and they get it and then Jesus saying I am the resurrection I am the life we'll end with just a quick survey of some of the rest of them in John chapter 6 35

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Jesus says I am the bread of life and he uses the ego in me there I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst he reiterates it in John 6 48

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I am the bread of life we just read John 8 and all of the I am statements there

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John 10 I am the door if anyone enters by me he will be saved and we'll go and we'll go in and out and find pasture verse 11

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I am the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live

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John 14 6 Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except for through me and John 15 1

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I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser yes

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I was thinking the old testament is type of shadows yeah Christ so it kind of makes sense to think that I am being left as an incomplete sentence yeah exactly

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Jesus finishes his thoughts he puts out the incomplete sentence in exodus 3 and then when he's on earth incarnate born of the virgin

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Mary now doing his work in ministry and teaching and preaching on his way to the cross he fills in the blanks

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I am the resurrection I am the bread of life I am you got it well here's the idea is where's

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Lazarus right now well his body is moldering somewhere in Judea right now okay he's been dead for a couple thousand years at least his body has but he's with Christ and so the idea is is that you can talk about raising a body from the dead and it's okay to talk about it as a resurrection but the true resurrection we're pointing to is not a resurrection where our body is brought back to life and then we die again the true resurrection we're looking for and the thing we've been promised with eternal life is that when he returns he's going to call us from the grave in a much better fashion than Lazarus because when we are raised we'll be transformed we will have new bodies that will never die that'll be that'll be when

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Jesus returns and what a great day that's going to be I'm going to tell you there's going to be a crazy party right out there and some of y 'all will be there if Jesus tarry some of us are going to be there for that party secular psychologists psychiatrists religion department teachers who take the words of I am

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New Testament say that Jesus was the most extreme narcissist that ever lived exactly you make the

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Old Testament connection and now you're you're dealing with who Jesus is the best way to put it is that Jesus doesn't ever stand up and say listen everybody

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I'm God I want you to bow down and worship me instead what he does is he says

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I am and you sit there and go that sounds like God was speaking in Exodus and so this is inviting us to ask the question who is this

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Jesus really now C .S. Lewis had kind of a way of dealing with this I thought was fascinating and people have added to it but his general concept is you read

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Jesus and you are left with really only a couple of conclusions he's either the

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Lord that he claimed that he is or he's a total narcissistic liar or a crazy crazed mentally ill lunatic no sane human being talks this way

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I mean you all chuckled and shorted and make me feel terrible when you know when I started trying to apply these words and try them on and see if you'll go for it it's ridiculous so which is he is he who he claimed to be or is he a liar or a lunatic the other option that people have added is that this is all legend yet this is that Jesus never really historically spoke this way if you were to take a film crew back you could never find

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Jesus talking this way and so this is just legend that grew up around the Jesus story uh -huh yeah why were they being taught all the rules and regulations of man had developed instead of the words that God had given

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Moses yeah the Pharisees were heretics in the truest sense I mean the I am was

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I mean they heard they they knew that was yeah all tradition yeah

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I am oh that's actually written Torah yeah yeah and they have it uh -huh so that kind of tells me it happens in every generation you're not oh yeah every single generation what is the devil quickly trying to do it's like okay that pastor over there is preaching the gospel we got to get rid of that guy and then well okay

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I wasn't able to get rid of him so what we'll do is we'll make sure the guy who comes after him is a total idiot and and he'll just teach nonsense and cover up all that stuff that that other pastor was preaching that's how that works yeah uh -huh oh yeah it's it's it's it's the here's they know perfectly well that Jesus is exactly who he claims to be the miracles and signs that he's performing he could not be doing it if God were not behind it and they know this perfectly well and what do they do they blame it on the devil oh he does it he does it by the power of Beelzebul and didn't

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Jesus says well you're just blaspheming the Holy Spirit uh -huh and if you read the text some believed some believe and see

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Jesus is the dividing line period the question is not do you believe in God the question is who do you believe

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Jesus is and what do you believe he's done it's what it comes down to it's all about him it's not about pastor roseborough it's not about whether the lutherans have it right or the baptists it's about who's

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Jesus who does he claim to be and do you believe him even on his crucifixion day standing before whoever uh -huh and they ask him again what does he say he finally well he doesn't say anything but then i think at the very end does he say i am he i am well when