April 3, 2022 - Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, welcome to the corporate worship of our

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God. Please stand. Blessed is everyone who fears the

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Lord, who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you.

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Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children like olive plants all around your table.

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Behold, thus shall be the man blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you out of Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

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Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel.

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Come now, let us worship him. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we with great joy come into your presence.

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Being called to your table, to your fellowship, to your love.

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We ask that through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, our worship would be pleasing and acceptable.

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That your name would be hallowed here, that your people would treasure you above all things.

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And that we would go out and perform fruitful service in the building of your eternal kingdom.

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We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please kneel as we confess our sins together.

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Let us now join together with one voice in the corporate confession of sin. Almighty, merciful

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God. We confess that we have sinned against you and one another in both our acts of love.

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Yet often we choose to walk in the shadows and ignore the light. Gracious God, forgive our sins and remove from us the veil of darkness which shrouds our lives.

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Illuminate us by your word so we may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory.

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Amen. Amen. Please stand. Who is a

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God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.

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He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

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He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities.

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He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. For all of you who are in Christ take heart today in him you have the forgiveness of sins.

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Amen. Take up the hymnal now and turn to number 34.

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This is one of my favorite hymns. And it has a different kind of somber ancient

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Hebrew feel. And I love that part of it. And I love the character of Abraham. So let's sing with great joy the somber tune.

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The God of Abraham prays, number 34. In the name of Jeremiah from the

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Lord sing. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of the

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Lord all you of Judah who enter in these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the

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Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

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Do not trust in these lying words saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the

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Lord are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place or walk after other gods to your hurt, then

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I will cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.

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Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations?

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Has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even

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I, have seen it, says the Lord. But go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what

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I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. And now because you have done all these works, says the

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Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer.

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Therefore, I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to this place which

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I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, the whole posterity of Ephraim.

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Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to me, for I will not hear you.

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Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven.

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And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger, says the

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Lord? Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces? Therefore, thus says the

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Lord God, Behold, my anger and my fury will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.

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Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.

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For I did not speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

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But this is what I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.

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Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

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Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

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Yet they did not obey me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

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Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

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So you shall say to them, This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their

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God, nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

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Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights. For the

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Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the

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Lord. They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to pollute it.

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And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which

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I did not command, nor did it come into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the

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Lord, when it will no more be called Trophet, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

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For they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them away.

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Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate.

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This is the reading of the word. Thanks be to God. Let us now confess our faith by singing the

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Apostles' Creed. Please take up the insert that says,

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The King of Love My Shepherd Is. The tune is very familiar, but I'm just going to ask

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Alyssa to play through it one time for us. Great hymn from Cantus number 44 there,

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The King of Love My Shepherd Is. I will be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

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And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

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Amen. Pray that we may glorify God in all that we do, as we live and work in the creation that displays his power, and be pleased to dispose all things to his own glory.

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Lord, hear our prayers. As we go about our work that you have given us, that we will glorify you in all things.

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Father, I pray that we do what is right, and seek what is holy, and we seek after you in everything that we do, that we would love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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Just to your people as we gather this day, that you would be with us, build up your church, and would edify the saints, that you would be glorified.

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Pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed, and the kingdom of grace advanced. Ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it, and the kingdom of glory hastened.

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Lord, hear our prayers. Paul said that the

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God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, and we pray that by your spirit, using your people, accompanied with the word of God, that you would use us to push back the gates of hell with the gospel of peace, the forgiveness of sins, that we would be heralds of your kingdom, and that as you have delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light, so you would do to others who are around us by your grace, through your spirit, and for your glory in Christ's name.

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Amen. Pray that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins, and we are encouraged to ask this because by his grace, we are able from the heart to forgive others.

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Lord, hear our prayers. We confess that we very often fall short of your command.

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We often sin against you in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and we pray,

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Father, that you would remind us today of the grace we have in Christ. Assure us that we are forgiven, and we pray for peace of mind, and that we would live in peace with you.

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Help us to live lives that reflect your glory, away from these sins, and we may no longer sin against you, but live in light of the forgiveness we have in Christ.

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Father, we thank you for what you've done for us, sending your Son to die for us, and be raised again.

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Be with us, Father. Pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.

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Lord, hear our prayers. We pray that you would give us the grace to hate our sin, that we would seek out the dark corners of our inner selves that are affected by sin, and seek it to be destroyed by your grace and the work of Christ in us.

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We pray that you would deliver us from evil, as we just prayed the

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Lord's Prayer, that you would protect us, lead us not into temptation, but keep us walking side by side, the

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Spirit in your Word, guided by your Word, protected by your Word. We pray that you would sanctify us through your

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Word and through your Son, Christ Jesus. We pray that as we go into the world, that we would be beacons of light, that we would push back against the sins of the world, that our families, our households, would not be affected by the sins of the world, but that we would be doing our diligence to faithfully be obedient to you.

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We pray that you would always keep us in your hand, and we know this is sure, because we are assured of our salvation in Christ, in him alone.

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We praise your Son's name. Amen. Our Father, taking encouragement and prayer from you alone, in our prayers we praise you, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to you.

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And to testify of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say together, Amen.

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Please stand. We have a new Psalm of the Month. DJ, any words of wisdom for us?

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You sent out the recordings. We use this tune not often, but several times in our weekly psalm singing.

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So once a lesson plays through, it should be faintly familiar at least.

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It's just an opportunity, as this is the month that we're going to be celebrating Easter, this is just an opportunity to be in our psalmody, kind of remembering and sanctifying the

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Lord's passion in our singing. Meditate on that through the month, as we sing through it.

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It shouldn't be too complicated. Just meditate on the

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Word, meditate on the passion of our Lord, and as we sing through it, we should be able to catch on pretty quickly.

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Psalm 22, of course, has got a messianic and paschal feel. And that word, obviously, paschal, has to do with the

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Lamb being slain and slaughtered for the sins of the people. This is a trial that happens in David's life, but it speaks to the grander trial that our

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Lord would endure on the cross. So, appropriate Psalm for the month of April. I'm going to ask Alyssa to play through one time for us before we begin.

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This is God's holy and infallible Word. John 11.

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Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister

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Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the

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Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother

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Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to him, saying,

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Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,

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This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the

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Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved

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Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

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Then after this, he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him,

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Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you and are you going there again? Jesus answered,

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Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

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But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

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These things he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.

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The disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking rest and sleep.

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Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe.

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Nevertheless, let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples,

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Let us also go that we may die with him. So when

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Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and many of the

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Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

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Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went out and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house.

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Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now

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I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give 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 at the last day.

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Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.

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And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him,

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Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is to come into the world.

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When she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you.

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As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him.

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Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying,

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She is going to the tomb to weep there. And when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him,

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Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Therefore, when

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Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

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And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see.

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Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him. And some of them said,

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Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also kept this man from dying? And Jesus again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb.

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It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, Take away the stone.

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Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench for he has been dead four days.

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Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?

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And they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said,

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Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me.

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But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.

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And when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes.

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And his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,

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Loose him and let him go. Then many of the

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Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went away to the

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Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said,

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What shall we do? For this man works many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him.

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And the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.

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May the Lord be pleased with our study and his word. May the Holy Spirit supply unction and comfort and conviction to us.

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Please pray with me. Lord, we rejoice in the resurrection of Lazarus and all of the implications herein.

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We ask, O Lord, that you would be magnified and enlarged in our sight, that we would see more of your glory, that we would have greater faith, and that we would have greater hope and comfort about our future.

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I ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

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The title of the message today is Lazarus is Dead. We have now come to two

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Sundays away prior to the commemoration of Jesus' crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

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We continue this pattern we've done recently of considering one of the landmark events in Jesus' ministry, and that is the death and resurrection of Lazarus.

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You remember, and we've just heard, that Lazarus is the brother of Mary and Martha and a close friend of Jesus, and he is gravely ill.

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Messengers from Bethany travel beyond the Jordan to notify him and plead for his aid.

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They make even an emotional appeal, Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick.

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We learn in the study of this that the sickness, death, and miraculous resurrection of Lazarus expands in context the revelation of Jesus' kingly and messianic offices.

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But there's something more. He's proven to be God in the flesh here in John 11.

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He reveals both his supernatural omniscience and omnipotence.

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He knows all things and has power over life and death.

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At the end of John's gospel, Thomas, the doubting one, the cynic, the one who needed more evidence, makes an empowerful confessional statement after seeing the risen

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Christ. He says, concerning Jesus, My Lord and my

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God. He says it emphatically. And this follows

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John's chief purpose in writing. He writes these things that we might believe. Nearly everyone in here is a professing

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Christian. I don't know anyone who's denying the faith who's here. All of us believe in Jesus.

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But today, we need to renew our commitment to believe in him. Not because our salvation is in jeopardy.

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We need to hear this story that we're so familiar with with a sense of childlike wonder.

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We need to see it with fresh eyes again. To see the drama and the magnitude of this event where a man who has been dead for four days walks out of the grave alive.

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John's hearers would believe in the fullness of Jesus revelation.

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The word who made the worlds, the incarnate word made flesh comes and dwells among us.

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He lived sinlessly and perfectly fulfilled all righteousness.

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He suffered and died on our behalf. He was raised on the third day, appeared to the disciples and to over 500 brethren at once.

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And brethren, he triumphed over sin and death and the resurrection. And so we now begin to be again caught up in the rising swell of his glory and say with Thomas, Lord, I believe you are my

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Lord and my God. For those of you who are taking notes today,

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I have basically six little sections. It's not going to be very long for each of them.

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It's a long narrative. I'm not going to read everything again. But if you want to take some notes, here are some things that may be helpful to you.

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First, very simply, the sickness and death of Lazarus. The sickness and death of Lazarus.

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Second, this is often overlooked in this section. The danger of returning to Judea.

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The danger for Jesus and his disciples in returning to Judea. Number three, the confidence

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Martha had in Jesus. The confidence Martha had in Jesus.

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Jesus is seventh. Number four is Jesus' seventh I am statement. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

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Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And number five, the raising of Lazarus.

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And number six, the significance of Lazarus' resurrection for you. No need to go through that again.

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I'll touch on these probably each time on the way through. Let's consider this glorious narrative.

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First, the sickness and death of Lazarus. Look at verse four.

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It says, When Jesus heard about Lazarus' death, He says,

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This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the

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Son of God may be glorified through it. So things happen, and one of the things that's even cited in our text is the healing of the blind man.

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You'll remember from John 9, this is a very dramatic healing of a man with congenital blindness.

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He's born blind and Jesus heals him. The story, the narrative of Lazarus being raised,

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Lazarus' sickness and death is for the glory of God. That the

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Son of God may be glorified through it. We need to look at providence differently and understand that sometimes bad things happen, that Christ may be exalted through it.

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That His glory against that dark backdrop of horror might be brightly displayed.

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And that's what's happened here. Now, there's something

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I want to point out to you and in my opening comments I said that Jesus' humanity and His divinity are both in view here.

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And it's very impressive to consider Jesus' human love that He had for Lazarus.

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The description in verse 3, Lord, behold the one whom you love is sick.

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In verse 5 it says, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

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Our Lord came to live that sinless life, but He very much invested

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His humanity and His love and His heart in people. And for practical application for us, you and I need to love in this way.

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We need to give ourselves away. We need to really care deeply and profoundly about people.

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Jesus weeps, mourning the loss of His dear friend whom He knows

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He's going to raise. He felt the full weight and sting of human emotion of losing

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His friend Lazarus. And all of this is very impressive to me when

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I think about our Lord and His humanity. Our standards are very good in some of these things, of course.

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And I wanted to point out to you this now because we're not going to probably have time for it later. Originally I was going to do it a bit later in the message.

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Two questions. Why was it requisite that Mediator Christ should be God? And that's going to be an answer given first.

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And the second, why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man? I'm going to give it to you in reverse order since we're thinking now of the humanity of Christ first.

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Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man? I want you to listen carefully.

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It was requisite that the Mediator should be man that He might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling of our infirmities.

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Something's happening in our lives and it's sad, but we are now, my wife has lost both of her parents to death.

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My parents are aging. You are entering into a stage where it's closer to that time when people that you love are going to die.

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We have a Mediator who has experienced the weightiness of loss.

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He knows what it feels like to lose someone you love, so He is more able to be our

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Mediator, more able to intercede for us. The last phrase, which is astounding and wonderful, it says one of the reasons that Christ should become a man so that we might have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.

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As Martha and Mary petition our Lord Jesus Christ to save their brother, or if you'd only been here, save our brother, you would have saved him.

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We too must run to Christ with that confidence because He has come to be our

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Mediator and we plead our cause with Him and we ask Him to deliver us and rescue us from all of our trouble.

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Sometimes He does. And other times He says, you must suffer these things that my glory might ultimately be on display.

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Well, I'm going to read the first question. And this theme of Jesus' humanity and divinity,

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I believe is prominent in John 11. It's certainly prominent in John's Gospel. Why did

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Jesus need to be God in order to be our Mediator? The answer. It was requisite that the

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Mediator should be God, that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death, to give worth and efficacy to His sufferings, obedience and intercession, and to satisfy

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God's justice, procure His favor, purchase a peculiar people, give

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His Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation.

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When I was thinking about this, it was true. And I know about it. I've done a lot of study in the hypostatic union of Christ.

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And I have a simple statement for our children. How could Jesus be the only one who serves both of these sides of the equation?

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One who has perfect standing in heaven and a perfect identification with us on earth.

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Well, there's only one who's done this. It's just that simple. The Holy Spirit didn't take on humanity.

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He didn't do it. The second person of the Trinity did. He alone in this role, not compromising

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His divinity, not compromising His humanity, He alone could be our mediator because He is both

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God and man. It's just that plain and just that simple, that glorious.

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So as we consider Jesus and His relation to Lazarus, there's a very much a human side to this.

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We usually read through these things and we kind of miss some of the richness of Jesus's humanity.

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But He doesn't go right away. And the divinity of Jesus shines through.

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How does He know that Lazarus is already dead?

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The messengers came to report that He's sick. But Jesus already knows He's dead because He's God.

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There wasn't a phone, there wasn't an email, there wasn't a text sent to Him. The information He received was that Lazarus was ill.

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But in verse 14, He clarifies all this and says, Lazarus is dead.

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He says, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to Him.

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We often try to soften the language of death and say, our loved one has passed on.

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Our loved one is in a better place. But I say to my children, I want you to say at my funeral or have that pastor or whoever it is say it.

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I want you to say emphatically that our daddy is dead. Because that's the reality.

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He's dead. The moment of our death, we begin to rot.

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It's not pleasant. It's not pretty. I was in the room in the presence of a guy who was invited by a family.

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He was not a Christian. I was pleading for his salvation. He was in bad shape. I was there.

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And he died while I was there. And his body immediately began disintegrating in that moment.

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I'm not saying this to make it grand. This is the reality. Death is ugly.

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It's a dirty, smelly business. And all of us are going to face it.

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There's a danger in returning to Jerusalem. Let's look at beginning at verse 6.

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He stays two more days in that place, allowing Lazarus to die. In verse 7, and after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again.

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And the disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again?

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This is point two. There is a danger for Jesus to return to Judea because he's now a wanted man.

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And what the disciples don't realize, and what we are kind of going through and rehearsing in our weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday, is that Jesus previously has said, my time is not yet at hand.

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The time is not fulfilled. But now it's coming into sharper focus.

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The time is at hand. It is fulfilled. This happens in a very few days before that final procession, which we'll consider next week, into Jerusalem, where Jesus comes to observe the

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Passover and himself becomes the Passover for us.

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But listen to the language again. Lazarus is dead.

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I'm glad for your sakes I was not there. Why, that you may believe.

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Nevertheless, let us go to him. It's interesting here. Peter is likely not in the presence of the company right now.

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And I don't know the circumstances. It's very interesting because he is the spokesman of the apostles. Apparently, Thomas also had this role, which is quite striking when you consider the end of the gospel, when

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Thomas was so doubtful. But Thomas says, and this statement on the front end seems very curious.

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He says to his fellow disciples, let us also go. Let's go with Jesus to Judea, that we too might die with him.

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Again, Thomas knows what's waiting in Jerusalem.

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He expects to be killed alongside Jesus when the

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Jews get a hold of him. And this is why the complexion of this story is a little different, maybe, than what we think of at first glance.

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The Jews have already conspired and decided that Jesus must die. This illuminating statement, let us also go with him that we may die with him.

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Jesus was wanted and his disciples are going to die with him, he thinks.

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But he has no idea how true that is. Jesus is going to die on the cross and Thomas is going to die there with him, but he doesn't understand it fully.

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You and I long never considered, never born. We too died with him on the cross.

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We went to Jerusalem and died with him. United to Christ and the likeness of his death and his sufferings.

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Let's shift to the third component. Verse 17, when

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Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. So it turns out that, as we already see,

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Lazarus is already dead and he's probably dead before the messengers arrived.

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Jesus just waits. This isn't going to be a resuscitation.

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The rotting, decomposing corpse of Lazarus lies in the tomb.

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He's going to be raised. Notice the love surrounding

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Mary and Martha. They really know how to mourn in the Middle East.

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You'll see this in countries like Africa and the Caribbean. People let it all out in the

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West. We reserve our emotions and go into depression for 10 years or whatever. They howl and they wail and they scream and they cry and they fall on the ground.

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This is what's happening all around Jesus. The death of Lazarus.

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They're trying to provide some comfort to Martha and to Mary. In Martha, in verse 20, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she runs out to him to meet him on the way.

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He's not yet in Bethany. And she says to him, this is the confidence that she had in Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

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But even now I know whatever you ask of God, God will give you. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

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I don't know if you caught this. I'm impressed by Martha's orthodoxy and theological sophistication.

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Because apparently the learned people of the Jews couldn't decide among themselves which position they held to.

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The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. The Pharisees did. Martha definitively believes in a resurrection of the body on the last day.

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Very powerful. She knows some theology. I know there is a future hope.

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I know that someday he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But Jesus utterly changes the complexion of the conversation and says,

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I am the resurrection and the life. Not only does

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Jesus have the power to raise from the dead, but it's inherent, intrinsic in his person.

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If there be resurrection, it comes from Jesus. If there be life, if there be salvation, it comes from Jesus.

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But it shouldn't surprise us. He's the one who says, let there be light. And there's light.

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The one who holds the worlds in orbit. Who creates the sun, the moon, the stars.

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I am the resurrection and the life. We can't just talk about Jesus and what he's done.

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We have to be united to Christ. We can't in a general way believe in resurrection and salvation.

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We have to really intimately believe in Jesus. What a powerful statement he says, who he who believes in me.

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Though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

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Do you believe this? Maybe this is the question that we all have to be asking ourselves.

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Do you really believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Do you really believe that if you put all your trust in him, though you might die, yet you will live?

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This is contrary to all of our natural senses. When people die, there's no bringing them back.

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Apparently there is. And the other side of the coin, verse 26, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

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Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today? He says here that you really will never die.

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Your family will gather around your bed or the hospital or wherever it is. And they're going to say definitively he's dead.

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But apparently in this kingdom of God, you're still alive. But there's some transference, some change from your state that you're in now to there.

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But your person will go on forever in Christ. Do you believe these things?

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And then she says this astounding, wonderful statement. Yes, Lord. And we need to affirm with her,

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I believe that you are the Christ. The son of God who is to come into the world.

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I believe you are Christ. Now the drama now really picks up pace and.

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We're slothful in our reading of Scripture sometimes because we read over this and we're not moved.

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This would be utterly remarkable to behold. And because we're so saturated in images and entertainment, we lose some of the punch of this.

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Because these things just don't happen. Blind men don't get their sight when they're born blind.

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Chapter nine. Rotting corpses don't get up out of the grave. But apparently they do.

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So Jesus now moving closer and closer. Mary has the same confidence. Verse 32.

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She fell down at his feet. She really believes. And it's true that if Christ had been there and decided his brother would not have died.

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But notice the humanity of Jesus again in verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping.

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And the Jews who came with her weeping. He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

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I'm so glad I have a savior. Who knows what trouble is.

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I am relatively stoic. And I need to grow in this.

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But it gives my tenderizing heart great joy. To think that I have a savior who would look upon the situation and feel the weight of it all.

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And he says, Lord, where have you? He asked them, where have you laid him? And they said to him,

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Lord, come and see. Now, again, this is spectacular.

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Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knows the end from the beginning. Verse 35.

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Jesus wept. The righteous, holy man's response to this situation was weeping.

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And Jesus did it. And the Jews respond. They can see the love, the genuine love that Jesus had.

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He said, see how he loved him, they would say. They began to murmur among themselves.

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Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? And Jesus, again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb.

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It was a cave. A stone lay against it. And Jesus said, take away the stone.

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Martha's personality rises up. She cleans the house. She knows how things work.

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Lord, by this time there is a stench. For he has been dead four days.

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I hope there was a stench. I hope when they rolled the stone back there was a horrible stench that came out of the cave.

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I can almost smell it now, thinking about it. And he said, did

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I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?

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And they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifts up his eyes and says,

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Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by,

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I said this. Why? That they may believe that you sent me. Do you believe? The story of Lazarus transcends the testimonial and evidentiary benefits of attesting to Jesus' messianic and divine office.

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They are bigger than that. There's more to it than that.

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He cries out. Can you imagine the scene? He cries out, Lazarus, come forth.

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I was at a funeral with my wife now, probably 20 years ago. There was a man we knew not very well.

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He was my brother -in -law's father. Open casket in the front.

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He looked kind of waxy. Didn't look real. You could tell it was him, but he looked a little different. And I whispered to my wife,

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I said, can you imagine if Hank stood up right now and got up out of that coffin?

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I'm going to talk about the old movie scenes of all the ladies fainting. There would be fainting and weeping and vomiting and terror and people would be running out of the building.

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If that were to happen. But this is the scene.

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The one who has power over life and death. It's no small thing for him to say, Lazarus, come forth.

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Lazarus has only one option. He who died came out. Bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

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Can you imagine them unwrapping the mummified, the outward wrapping of Lazarus?

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Probably the stench may have hung in the air from that. But the stench no longer resides on Lazarus.

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When we think about the story, we think, isn't this great that Jesus has done this?

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We get to the last point here before our application. It's what is the significance of Lazarus's resurrection for you?

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I believe truly that Lazarus is a type. A representative of all

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Christians. Lazarus was loved by Christ.

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He was one whom Jesus loved and all who are loved by Christ experience a resurrection from the dead in the new birth.

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When we were dead in our sins and our trespasses. He made us alive.

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We were rotting from the death we were living. He made our necrosis turn into pink.

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He's raised you now today. You have come forth out of the grave. You've come out of death and Adam.

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You've come out of your spiritual death. And he's given you an abundant life and life.

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There's some period of time between this great act. However, he's done it in the womb.

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When you were 50, whenever it happens that your body is going to perish and be put in the ground.

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But in a couple of weeks, we're going to learn that there's a first fruits of the resurrection from the dead.

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His name is Jesus. And Martha's faith about something in the future is realized in what

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Christ will do. All who are united to him, their bodies will not remain in the grave.

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They're going to be raised again. And the miracle of Lazarus is played out in the life.

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And a little bit smaller, less dramatic way in the life of every Christian who's in Christ.

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We need to rejoice in what God has done for us.

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The way that crowd and Mary and Martha must have rejoiced when Lazarus came out.

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And we need to lay aside our grave's clothes. And all of that stuff that went before us and walk in that newness life that he's given to be clothed in fine linen to be those who are ready and clothed to appear at the marriage feast of the lamb.

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Well, I have a couple of words of application for you. We'll conclude here. What an amazing thing to consider.

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Number one, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and he has made you alive today again.

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Look unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith and behold the glory of God.

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He's been set before us again. Behold, look at his face and see the glory of God in Christ.

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Consider both the humanity and divinity of Christ. In his humanity, we see the perfect expression of love.

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He's perfectly righteous. He's a sympathetic high priest. He's tempted in all points, just as we are yet without sin.

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He comes to his friend's house who has died and he cries.

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He's hurt in his spirit. He's the only mediator between God and man.

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Why is that? Because he's the only one who is both God and man. And in his divinity, we're here.

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We see his omniscience. He knows all things, his great power, his omnipotence. But we also see the perfection of divine love to call sinners out of the grave.

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They're just dead in there. They just have their sin in there. They're just rotting in there. And the love of God comes and raises them.

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And finally, the account of Jesus raising

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Lazarus from the dead, of course, has important testimonial, evidentiary value to the person of Christ.

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It has significance for us today and every Christian everywhere. Like Lazarus, you are dead.

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And by the supernatural power of Jesus, you are made alive.

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Lazarus would eventually die again, but he'll have the joyful experience of having his body raised again.

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The glorified one in the future. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.

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If you believe in him, though you may die, you still live. And all of us who are alive today, living and believing, whoever lives and believes in him shall never die.

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Do you believe this? Do you really believe this? The only response, the only appropriate response to this is the words of Thomas at the end of John's gospel.

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Lord, I believe you are my

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Lord and my God. Where else can you go for salvation?

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To whom could you turn? It's only

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Christ. It's only Christ. Please pray with me.

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Lord, we thank you for these things that help our weak faith.

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I'm so thankful that you love Lazarus and Martha and Mary.

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And that you love your people, that you have a tender affection for your people. Lord, I'm thankful that hard providence is often the occasion for your glory.

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I pray that we would have greater faith and trust your governance over all things.

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Oh Lord, I pray that we would see our sin rightly. That we would realize that we were dead.

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And that in Christ you have made us alive. I'm so thankful for this supernatural power at work.

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And the condescending love that falls and showers your people. Oh Lord, I pray that we would be motivated to go and shout and herald the good news of salvation.

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Which can be found in no other. There's nowhere that we or anyone can go for salvation except to you, oh

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Lord. I pray that we would carry this message, this keregma, this keruso on our lips.

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That we would bring it, preach it, that others may be raised from the dead.

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And we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Let's continue our worship, giving of the offering.

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Young men, get to the front. I'm going to ask you to stand, that we might sing the Gloria Patri. Please stand, let's pray together.

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Oh Lord, you are the resurrection and the life. We confess, we affirm the truth, the reality of how things are.

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We thank you for the abundant life you have given us. The work you've given us to do.

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I pray that we would be good stewards of all that you've entrusted us with. And that this church would be a great light for your gospel.

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Beachhead for the advance of your kingdom. We ask this in Jesus' name. Let us now, zealously, joyously, thinking of the one who raises the dead.

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Let us give glory to God in the singing of the Gloria Patri. Let us give thanks to the

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Lord. It is good and right so to do. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should, at all times and in all places, give thanks to you, oh

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Holy Lord, Father Almighty Everlasting God. Because you sent your beloved

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Son to redeem us from sin and death. And to make us heirs in Him of everlasting life.

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That when He shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may, without shame or fear, rejoice to behold

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His appearing. Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your most glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

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Thank you for this great salvation. Thank you for the offering of your body and your blood for our redemption and atonement.

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And we ask that whatever efficacy you tie to the people of God gathered in your name, whatever glory there is, whatever nourishment there is in partaking of the

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Lord's Supper, I pray that it would be ours to the full, that you would give it to us in that way.

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And Lord, I pray that through these tangible elements of bread and wine, we would discern the body and blood of Christ crucified for us.

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I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which

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He was betrayed, took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body.

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Likewise, He took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

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Drink from it, all of you. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the

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Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.

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Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

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Let's approach the table appropriately by praying together in unison. We do not presume to come to this your table,

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O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

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Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear

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Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink of His blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him and be in us.

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Amen. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feasts, the gifts of God for the people of God.

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Thanks be to the Lord. Trust in these holy mysteries, that we are living members of the body of your

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Heirs of your eternal Kingdom. And, O Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things.

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That what had been imprinted on our hearts may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.

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And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

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Lord. To Him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit be the honor and glory now and forever.

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Amen. Please stand. Make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

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The Lord lift up His countenance to you, upon you, and give you peace.