John, pt. 69 | John 11:28-44

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June 30, 2024 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Pastor Jeff Rice Tullahoma, TN

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If you will, at this time, take your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to the
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Gospel of John, chapter 11.
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We will consider verses 28 through 44.
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The Gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 28 through 44. And this is our 69th message through this glorious Gospel.
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Let me open up with prayer. Our God and Father, Lord, we love you.
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We have gathered together today to worship you. And Lord, we come to this portion of our service where we gather together to hear from you.
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Not to hear from me, though I pray that you will speak through your manservant, but Lord, as one of the primary means of grace by which we are grown in holiness, is through the explanation of your
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Word. And God, I pray that I will do due diligence in presenting what you have here, and that you will speak through me to them, that they may walk away today more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ than they were when they came.
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Or if someone is here today who is not in Christ, they will hear the voice of Jesus and follow
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Him. Be with us, we pray, in Christ's name, amen.
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You might be thinking, Jeff, that's an unusual, large portion for you to preach with one sermon.
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Are you sure you can do it? And the answer is, maybe. There is no definite here, right?
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The theme for this Lord's Day is the two natures of Christ. And I forgot to mention, if you want to take notes on the back of your bulletin, you'll see that we kind of have the theme here.
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We're going to start helping you out a little bit to keep notes. And that's why it's such a large portion, because we've covered these things throughout this gospel.
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John is repetitively teaching us certain things about Jesus Christ.
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Things that we need to know. Things that are essential to the Christian faith.
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If you don't believe this, guess what? You are not a
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Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. The two natures meaning that Jesus is both
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God and man, truly God, truly man. Everything there is about God, Jesus is, and everything there is about man,
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Jesus is. Jesus holding him as this infant, holding all things together by the word of his power, and if you cut him, he'll bleed.
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He's truly God, and he's truly man. And as you read these gospels, you see the different sides of him.
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And him being truly God and truly man, that's not saying that he's half God and half man.
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This is not Greek mythology. He's not a demigod. He is God in the flesh, manifested before the people to see him, to touch him, to interact with him.
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And my proposition is this, in order for Jesus to express his human emotions while accomplishing the work of God, he had to be both
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God and man. And in today's message, I hope to lay out a clear understanding of the two natures of Christ and how it is that Jesus as a man can have emotions, and at the same time,
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Jesus as God hold all things together. Again, Hebrews 1, verse 3 says this concerning Christ, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
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And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
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Everything that is, is being held together by the word and power of Jesus Christ.
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Sometimes I think we fall short concerning who
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Christ is in our worship, in our outline today.
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We're going to see how the God -man who is the Christ is able to empathize with us and exercise his authority at the same time.
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He does so in two ways. First is through his humanity, the humanity of Christ.
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The second way is through his divinity, the divinity of Christ. So point number one, the humanity of Christ.
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Point number two, the divinity of Christ. And as we transition, let's remember that Lazarus has died.
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Lazarus has been dead for four days according to the text. This is where we are.
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And Lazarus's body is in the process of decomposing. Re -mortis has set in, his body has stiffened.
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There is no heartbeat. Blood has stopped flowing. And at 72 hours, he's coming upon that time to where his body is no longer stiffened.
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It's rottening. He's decomposing. There lies
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Lazarus. This event, the resurrection of Lazarus, is more likely the
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Wednesday before Holy Week, to put it in perspective for you. So this puts us eight days from the
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Passover, the death of Jesus, and 11 days from the resurrection of Jesus, and we're halfway through the book of John, just so you know where we are.
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We're going to spend a year or so focusing nearly on a few days in the life of Jesus.
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How amazing is that? Oh, what God uses to conform us to his beloved
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Son. Let us also remember that the resurrection of Lazarus is a type of a future resurrection which
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Christ is the first fruit. I mentioned, been trying to drill into the people here, the difference with types and antitypes.
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And the best one is the menu. The best way to understand this is the menu. If you're at a restaurant, they bring you a menu.
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And again, if you're like me, you like pictures. And I see something that I like, and I point to it, especially if it's somewhere weird, and I can't read the writing, right?
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I don't understand what I'm reading here. I don't know what it's saying. I point to it and I say, I want this. And they take my menu.
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And whenever the food is done, they don't bring me back the menu. They bring me back the substance.
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And what we're seeing here today in the resurrection of Lazarus is a menu. And how this pales in comparison to what this is a picture of.
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It's not only just the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because that's the first fruits of our resurrection on the last day when
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Christ returns. And we, you and I who are in Christ, will rise from the grave if we have died.
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And if we have not died, we'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be like Him. Glorified.
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So just know as we're coming upon this, this event is a picture of what's going to take place, but greater in our future.
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Last week, we looked at the theology of Martha and how she believed in the resurrection on the last day that she had good theology.
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But we walked through a ton of text. And I said, well, did Mary understand all of this?
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And the answer would probably be, well, no. But she believed. Good theology isn't necessarily perfect theology.
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And I made the joke that if we all had perfect theology, we'd be Reformed Baptists. But she's right. And I'm just playing.
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I know that there's some things I'm missing, and Lord be with me. Look with me in verses 22 through 24 of John chapter 11.
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This is Mary speaking. It says, but even now, Mary's speaking, I know that whatever you ask from God, speaking to Jesus, God will give you.
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Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him,
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I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
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My dear friend, this is a doctrine, a Christian doctrine that if you do not believe, my friend, you are not a
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Christian. There's a movement out these days called full preterism who denies this resurrection.
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They say it was only spiritual. That it took place in 70
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AD. But Paul says, listen, if we're not raised bodily, then
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Christ has not been raised bodily. And therefore, there is no gospel. What we believe is futile.
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We should be pitied among all men. And we're still in our sins. We have to guard these truths.
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And Martha also believed that Jesus was the Christ, the son of God. Now, does she have all the information concerning that?
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Well, no, but she believed. We, in hindsight, looking back at what has happened and have the clear revelation given to us.
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Can sometimes boast in our knowledge of God. But Martha believed.
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Martha believed. She had good theology. Look at verse 27.
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So she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world.
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And we find out in Matthew 16 that that belief that Jesus is the Christ is the foundation upon this faith that we're in.
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When I just baptized Robert, that was the first question I asked him. Robert, do you believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the son of the living God? If Robert would have said no, he wouldn't have been baptized.
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It's the foundation. If you don't believe that, you're not a Christian. If you don't believe that he was the one prophesied to come to accomplish the purpose of God, my dear friends, you're not a
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Christian. And you don't have to have all the intricacies of the knowledge. You don't have to have know all the facets of the diamond, but you must believe that there's so much of Christian theology that we can believe, but not necessarily be able to articulate.
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Well, we are to believe it to call Jesus the son of God.
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Martha is calling Jesus God. There's only one God, one being.
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And to say that Jesus is the son of God is to connect him to the one being of God.
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He is God in being, not person, but in being. There's one being, one
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God, and this one God who is one being has revealed himself in three persons.
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I have children here today. When you have children, that child is a human being, but it's a separate person, but they're human being.
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And the human being that they are is not the human being that I am, but we're human beings. This is not how it works in God.
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There's only one being of God. And he has revealed himself into three persons.
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And they're not fighting over who gets the most being. They are the being. There is no hierarchy.
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There is no one trying to out God the other. And Jesus is the son of God, meaning he is
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God. Mary has good theology. So point number one, the humanity of Christ.
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And we're going to see this from verses 28 through 37. 28 through 37.
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And here in verses 28 through 37, we're going to see the humanity of Christ in two different perspectives.
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The first perspective is Jesus being cautious. Jesus being cautious.
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The second perspective is Jesus showing empathy. Jesus showing empathy.
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These two human characteristics are seen in Christ. So concerning the humanity of Christ, subheading
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A, the first perspective, Jesus being cautious.
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Let's read verses 28 through 31 to begin with. Verse 28.
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And when she said this, she being Martha, what she said was, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
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Christ, the son of the living God who has come into the world. When she said this, she went and called her sister,
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Mary, saying in private, The teacher is here and is calling for you.
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And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
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When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw
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Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
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Chapter 10 ends with the Jews picking up stones to stone
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Jesus for him being a man, making himself equal with God.
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Look back at that chapter 10 and look at verse 29. We'll read to verse 33.
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Chapter 10, verse 29 to 33. Jesus speaking, My father who has given them to me, speaking about his sheep is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.
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Verse 30, here's where he gets himself in trouble. I and the father are one.
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The Jews pick up stones to stone him and Jesus answered them,
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Have I not shown you many works from the father? For which of them are you going to stone me?
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The Jews answered him, It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but you,
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I mean, excuse me, stone you, but for blaspheming, blaspheme. Because you being a man make yourself
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God. They see the humanity of Jesus, but they cannot see with their eyes the divinity of Jesus.
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They were expecting a human Messiah, but not a divine
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Messiah. After Jesus found out that Lazarus, the one whom he loved was ill, he waited two more days and then told his disciples that they were going back.
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And they, his disciples questioned him because they were just trying to kill him.
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They were just trying to stone him. They had months earlier picked up stones to throw at him because him being a man made himself equal with God.
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The sin of blaspheming was to be put to death by stoning.
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And they didn't see Jesus as divine. They saw him as a blasphemer.
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And his disciples were worried that they were going to stone Jesus. Read with me verses six through eight of John 11,
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John 11 verses six through eight. So when he,
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Jesus, heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
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Then after this, his disciples, after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again.
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The disciples said to him, Rabbi, that means teacher, the
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Jews were just seeking to stone you and are you going there again?
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And the response of Thomas I find remarkable concerning going back to Judea.
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And I believe that this is the response that we as Christians should always have when it comes to following Jesus.
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Look at verse 16. So Thomas, so excuse me, so Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.
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Are they going to stone Jesus? Then they're going to have to stone me.
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That was the attitude in that moment of Thomas. We fell in our understanding of what it means to be a
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Christ follower. I say that to our shame, to my shame.
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We sometimes let the comforts of this life keep us from being a true follower of Jesus Christ.
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Is that your day to day response? It's not. It hasn't always been mine. Let us go that we may die with him.
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It's to our shame, ladies and gentlemen. There should be no doubt whatsoever when it comes to the humanity of Christ.
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He calls for Mary. He's able to speak.
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Mary goes to meet him. It took him two days of traveling.
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Do you see the humanity there? He's a physical person who is walking from one area to another area.
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It takes him two days. Like all this is showing us how he is a human being.
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We were able to see Christ as we read these scriptures as a man. They were able to see
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Christ in person as a man. And sadly, most commentaries will not point out that Jesus is being cautious in this text.
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Now, I don't believe he's being cautious because he's afraid he's going to die before his appointed time. However, we have to deal with the text.
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We see that they were trying to kill him and the Bible tells us that many times he had to escape from them to keep that from happening.
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We'll just look at the one that we were focusing on a second ago. Go back to John chapter 10 and look at verse 39.
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John chapter 10 verse 39. It says, again, they sought to arrest him.
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What were they arresting him for? For making himself equal with God. But he, speaking of Jesus, escaped from their hands.
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Concerning the humanity of Christ, subheading be the second perspective,
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Jesus showing empathy. This is taken from verses 32 to 37.
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Let's just look at 32a to begin with. 32a.
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Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him.
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Stop there. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 1. 1
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John chapter 1. We're going to look at verses 1 through 4.
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1 John chapter 1, 1 through 4. Note that this is the same author of the gospel of John.
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This is Jesus's disciple. Kind of begins the same way that the gospel begins within the beginning.
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This time he says, that which was from the beginning. Speaking of Christ.
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Speaking of Jesus, he was from the beginning. Right here, which we have heard.
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They were able to hear him. Which we have seen with our own eyes.
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Which we have looked upon, meaning that they saw him interacting with people. And that which we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.
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They were able to walk up and touch. He who was in the beginning.
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John, we see him resting his head on the breast of Christ. He's real.
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You could touch him. So this portion is telling us this is the life was manifested and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life.
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Speaking of Christ. Which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us.
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And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ.
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And we are writing these things so that we may so that our joy may be complete in you.
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Yesterday has read it myself or out on the streets evangelizing. That's what we were doing, right?
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We were telling people. About Christ, because we want them to have the same fellowship with Christ that we have with Christ and so that we can share in that joy to deny the humanity of Jesus.
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It's to deny God. Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 22.
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John still writing says who is the liar, but he who denies that. Jesus is the
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Christ. This is the Antichrist.
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He who denies the father and the son. Verse 23, no one who denies the son has the father and whoever confesses the son has the father also to deny that Jesus is the
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Christ. It's to deny the father. And you have no part with him to deny that he is.
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The Christ is to be an Antichrist. Go to chapter 2. 2
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John chapter 1 verse 7. 2 John chapter 1 verse 7.
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John, still the writer says. For many deceivers have gone out into the world.
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Those who deny. I mean those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ right here in the flesh.
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But what is this? Such a one is a deceiver and the Antichrist.
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If you deny that God took on flesh, became flesh, left eternity, the eternal entering into creation, the infinite putting on finite, you are
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Antichrist. You have no part of Jesus. You have no part with God.
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That's how important this doctrine is. Of him being God and man, truly
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God, truly man. To deny that. Makes you
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Antichrist. And Luke chapter 7.
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Mary is at the feet of Jesus weeping. She begins to wet his feet with her tears.
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Wet and wiped them with her hair and she and she anointed him with ointment.
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And Luke 10. She is at his feet listening to his teaching while her sister
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Martha is distracted by serving. I just want you to notice all these interactions that are taking place with the man
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Christ Jesus. And as we get to John chapter 12, Mary takes a spence of ointment and anoints his the feet of Jesus and wipes them his feet with her hair again.
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She seems to be always at the feet of Jesus. And to that I say what better place to be, right?
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To be at the feet of Jesus. Go back to verse 32. Let's read verses 32 and 33 together.
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It says now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him.
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She fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had had been here, my brother would have not died.
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Basically echoing what Martha had said, knowing that he could have kept him from dying.
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Verse 33 when Jesus saw her weeping and the
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Jews who had come with her also weeping. He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
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Now concerning Mary weeping, the Greek word here for weeping is understood to be wailing out loud.
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Like she's physically crying out loud. She's screaming out loud from the pain that she is feeling.
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It gives the understanding of weeping with sigh of pain, a sign of pain like she's screaming out loud as if she's in pain.
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If you've ever had someone like a sibling to die, it's a different kind of pain and it is a pain.
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It's unlike getting, you know, getting punched. That's easy.
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That's simple. You might not even scream or cry, but to have the news, to get the news that your sibling has died.
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She's in pain. She's she's wailing out loud. Mary is in agony over the death of her brother.
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And Jesus is witnessing this. The Greek word for deeply moved as it's speaking about when
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Jesus said he was deeply moved means to snort with anger, to have a sigh or a cringe.
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It was a it actually means to snort out loud groaning.
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And it's been often used to interpret the sound that a horse makes when it groans.
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Today, it could be mistaken as a growl of anger. Jesus here is showing emotions.
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He sees Mary in pain, wailing out loud. He he's he's witnessing this and he himself groans in such a way that it might even resemble its anger.
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Like he's being moved. And look in verses 34 and 35.
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It says, and he speaking of Jesus said, where have you laid him?
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They said to him, Lord, come see. Verse 35 shortest Bible verse in Scripture.
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Jesus wept. Concerning Jesus webbed, the
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Greek word here is different from the weeping of Mary from the weeping and pain of Mary.
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It's the echo. It means to shed tears. This verse could literally be translated.
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Jesus shed tears, but then they would have to add another word. It won't be the shortest verse in the Bible. So we just Jesus. Well, right.
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But it can be actually translated. Jesus shed tears. So unlike Mary, who is wailing out loud in pain,
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Jesus, after this, this groan, this emotional feeling that came over him, over the death of his friends and over his friends mourning over the death of their brother begins to shed tears.
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Turn with me to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12.
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Look at verse 15. Paul tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice.
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And to weep with those who weep. Jesus doesn't tell us to do something that he himself doesn't do.
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I made this word picture before I'll keep on making it.
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A great leader is someone that doesn't tell you what to do without doing it with you himself.
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Right. And how I've experienced this in the roofing business. The guy that taught me how to be a man, the guy that taught me how to never put stuff off to answer my phone,
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Danny Barnhill. He never told me to do something and then take off and go spend his day at a bar golfing.
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He told me this is what we're going to do today. And him being the boss got up there with me and we did the work together.
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That's a true leader. Right. Amen.
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Jesus is a true leader. He weeps with those who are weeping.
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My dear friends, when when you're in pain, he weeps with those who are weeping.
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Hebrews chapter two. Turn with me there. Chapter two verses 14 through 15.
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Magnificent chapter speaking about the humanity of Christ. I'm going to encourage you all to to read this.
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Verse 14 for we have come. Hold on, I'm wrong.
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I'm in chapter three. OK, here we go. Verse 14 or therefore the children share flesh.
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And since since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself speaking of Christ, speaking of Jesus, he himself likewise partook in the same things.
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What is that flesh and blood? That through death, speaking of his death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death.
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That is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
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Remember on the last day, Jesus is going to put all of his enemies under his feet once and for all.
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The last enemy is death. No more dying.
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Isaiah chapter 53 tells us that Jesus would be a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.
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That he would know what it's like to mourn. He would know what it's like to suffer, and therefore he empathizes with us.
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Our God understands pain. He shares in the feelings of one another as we see here with Mary, because he actually knows suffering.
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You can't mourn with those who are mourning and not know suffering yourself.
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How can you speak into a subject that you know nothing about?
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These are the words of God. The words of Christ. And they are to help us, to guide us, to lead us, and to conform us to his image.
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And it speaks about things that are taking place in our life. Suffering, loss. And we know that he knows that suffering.
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And my dear friends, our God cares. He's not apathetic. Our God is interested in us.
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And I ask myself this question, and I ask it to you. Do you understand that? Because I don't.
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I don't. I don't understand it. But why, Martha? I believe it.
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You don't have to have perfect theology. You don't have to have all the answers to the questions. But do you believe it?
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Do you believe that he can empathize? I mean, that he empathizes with us. That he knows suffering.
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I believe it. I can't explain it. But I believe it. I know it's true. Jesus had to become flesh in order to die for mankind.
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And in dying for those given to him, he destroys the one who has the power of death.
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That is the devil. And that is a now and not yet. Satan was bound at the cross, kept from deceiving the nation.
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The gospel is able to go forth. Christ, through that death, burial, resurrection, and ascension is putting all things under his feet.
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And one day, death will be under his feet.
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And that's what John 11 is about. It's giving us a picture, a type, a shadow of what's to come in our future.
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And again, going to the last day, which we will touch on again a little bit later. Look at verses 36 and 37 of John chapter 11.
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So the Jews said, see how he loved him. Speaking of Lazarus.
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But some of them said, could he have not opened? Could he who not opened the eyes of a blind man have also have kept this man from dying?
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Some saw his love, while some saw what he allowed to happen.
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Is that how we are? Concerning love, the
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Greek word here for love is philio. And it means to be a friend.
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It's speaking about brotherly love. And the
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Jews were thinking too small concerning what Jesus is going to do. They thought that Jesus should have kept him from dying same way as Martha and Mary.
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But Jesus had a different plan. Point number two, the divinity of Christ.
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It's taken from verses 38 to 44. Now let's remember
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Jesus. One being. Two natures.
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One Christ. So the man Jesus, right? When he was here.
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You could walk up and touch him. He's the second person of the
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Godhead. The Trinity was born. Of the
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Virgin. Became flesh. With two natures.
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Human nature and the divine nature. And here we're going to see the divinity of Christ in two different perspectives.
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The first perspective is the glory of God. The second perspective is the authority of God.
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These two divine characteristics are found in Christ.
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Now concerning the divine, the divinity of Christ subheading a.
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The first perspective, the glory of God. Verses 38 through 40.
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Yeah, verses 38 through 40. Then Jesus deeply moved, came to the tomb.
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It was a cave. A stone laid against it.
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Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
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Lord, by this time there will be an odor. We have the King James.
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It says he stinketh. Many people like it for he has been dead four days.
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Jesus said to her. Did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?
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Now the question is, is when did. He speak to her about seeing the glory of God.
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Look at verse 22 and 23. I read a portion of this earlier.
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Martha speaking, but even now speaking to Christ, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
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Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. The glory of God.
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Is that she will see her brother rise again. Jesus is speaks of the same glory earlier in this chapter.
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Speaking to his disciples, look at verse four of Chapter 11. But when
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Jesus heard of it, he said, heard of it. Speaking of the one whom you love is ill.
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Speaking of Lazarus, he said this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified through it.
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The Greek word here for death. It has to do with the death of the body.
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And he's saying that it's not going to end in death. And again, that's a type of our resurrection.
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Ultimately, the death of our body is going to be conquered in place under the feet of Christ.
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Speaking about the resurrection of Lazarus, Mary's brother, Martha's brother.
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That through this sign, this miracle. Jesus receives glory as God because who but God can awaken a four day
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O decomposing corpse. Mary is about to see the glory of God in the voice of Jesus Christ.
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The voice that said, let there be light is about to say, Lazarus come out.
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Oh, by the way, that's the same voice that called your name in salvation through the gospel.
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And it will be the same voice that calls your name, that causes your your body to come out of the grave or causes you to change within the twinkling of an eye.
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When the mortal puts on immortality on the last day.
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Ladies and gentlemen, what we're about to witness in this text is truly remarkable and it fails in comparison to what is to come in our future.
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As you read this, you think, oh, look how powerful he is. He's more powerful than that.
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Well, not only is he going to take decomposing corpses, he's going to take ashes and bring them back.
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When the mortal puts on immortality concerning the divinity of Christ, subheading be.
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The second perspective. The authority of God versus 41 through 44.
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So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted his eyes and said,
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Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I say this.
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On the account of the people who are standing around that they may believe that you sent me.
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And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus, come out.
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The man who had died came out. That are preached by itself.
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The man who had died came out. His hands and feet bound with linen straps and his face wrapped with a cloth.
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Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.
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First notice the authority of God. Jesus tells them. To do the things that they were able to do.
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Verse 39, take away the stone. Verse 44, unbind him and let him go. Like they really didn't need someone to tell him to do that.
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He's telling them given he's using his authority is exercising his authority to tell them to do things that they are able to do.
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Whoever they were, they heard his commands and they did what he said, and I would say that there's no way that they could not have done what he said.
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He also commanded us to you and I to do things that we are able to do, such as being here today at church.
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It's a command in Scripture to not forsake the gathering of assembling yourself together.
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He wants us to gather together corporately to worship him. He commands us to do that.
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He tells Lazarus to do something that he is unable to do. Lazarus is dead.
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Lazarus in and of himself is unable to come forth. There's there's a lot of people when they when they speak of this, they'll say that that Jesus had to say
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Lazarus's name so that all the dead would not come forth because that that cry that command to come forth to come out would awaken everyone.
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But I say, well, that's that's not in the text. That's really good. That's a good insight.
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But that's not in the text. He's showing us what salvation looks like and what resurrection will look like in salvation.
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He when when we speak the gospel, if you are his, he calls your name according to 1st
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John, chapter 10. John 5, John 10. His sheep hear his voice.
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And that's also what it's going to be like on the last day when the voice.
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The call, the last trumpet comes the voice of the archangel like the voice of the archangel and Jesus calls our name.
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We will come forth. However, these things, the can do's and the cannot do's are not mutually exclusive.
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They can only roll away the stone and unbind him and Lazarus can only come forth because God is sovereign over everything.
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Jesus is king. And if he gives a direct command, you are going to listen.
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And you Christians can only repent and believe and you can only keep his commandments such as coming to church.
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Such as loving one another and you can only take your next breath because God is sovereign.
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These things are not mutually exclusive. They are true because who God is.
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Notice the prayer verses 41 and 42. So they took.
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OK, yeah. So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father,
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I thank you. That you have heard me past tense.
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I knew that you have always hear that you always hear me.
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But I said this. On account of those standing around that they may believe that you sent me.
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Christ himself does not let this sign event take place without acknowledging and giving glory to the father.
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How much more you and I sola deo gloria.
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How much more you and I when people compliment us or when people whatever it is that we're doing in life that God has called us to do when we do these things and and people notice it.
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We are to give that glory to God. Christ is not going to let this miracle take place in front of these people without first acknowledging his father and giving glory to him.
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This miracle, this sign was preordained by God for Jesus to show his glory and for him to be glorified through it.
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And for them to show a type of something greater to come in our future.
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When we do what we are told to do we are only doing what we're told to do as servants. Let us receive these compliments, receive these glories.
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I've told you many times that I get up here and I preach and there's nothing greater than when I step down for someone to say man, that was such a good message.
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Like that makes my day. But I want to be able to receive that and give the glory to God.
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I don't want to relish in it. I'm not being fully immersed in the compliment.
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But man, let me tell you something. Preachers work hard for these sermons.
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I'm staying up from eight o 'clock to sometimes one o 'clock in the morning because I work a full time job to put these messages together.
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And it's good to hear man that blessed me. But oh, what a wicked servant
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I would be. It's not receiving and say, bless God.
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I'm glad he's using it in your life. Let us receive what's given to us and at the same time give the glory to God.
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We are only servants doing what we are told to do. Keep his commandments.
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He has spoken. He is King. Lastly, notice the command verses 33 and 34.
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When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus, come out.
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The man who had died came out. His hands and feet bound with linen straps and his face wrapped with a cloth.
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Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.
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Before the command was given, Lazarus laid in the tomb wrapped with a cloth, decomposing. He was rotting away.
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And then the command of God to come forth. Lazarus could have not, not obey.
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OK. All of a sudden, the rotting stopped.
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His blood started to flow, heartbeat, pulse. Now it doesn't tell us how he came out, right?
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Was he hopping? Was he shimmying? We don't know. Whatever you want to believe about that, hallelujah, hallebat, go for it.
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We do know this. The dead man who was decomposing came forth. He came out.
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He obeyed the command. And here we are shaking our fists sometimes at God. Well, I'm not sure if I have that gift.
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I don't know if he called me to that. It's a command. We're commanded as Christians to gather together.
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We're commanded as Christians to reach the world for Jesus Christ. We're commanded.
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It's a commandment. If you love him, you keep his commandments. I do not read.
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Listen, brother, I love hanging out with you. But don't we did yesterday? It's flesh eating. It's hard.
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Like I got burns. I've been needing a haircut and to trim my beard for a while now.
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I don't know if you can tell. I need it, brother. I don't have the time.
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I'm consumed with Christ. I'm consumed with him. I want everyone to experience this joy that I have knowing that my body is going to yes, die, decompose right away.
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But when Christ come, it's coming out of the grave and I'm going to be with him for eternity. And I want to take everyone with me.
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He heard the voice of the son of God and came forth. And that's the type.
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That's the type. There's coming a day where the anti -type is coming and it's going to be a reality.
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As sure as Lazarus came from that grave, we are going to come from the grave.
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But right now there is the now and not yet shadow even of this event. And it has to do with salvation.
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Outside of Christ, people are dead in their sins and they are dead in their sins and he has called us to do something about it.
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They are wrapped in the bondage of Satan. They are his slaves according to 2
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Corinthians 2. They are slaves of Christ. They are in bondage.
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And in salvation, the voice of Jesus, the voice of the good shepherd calls his own sheep by name and it's only through the gospel.
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You can't love a person to heaven. You can't hug them to heaven. They have to hear the gospel.
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They have to hear that Christ Jesus lived the life that they could not live. That he took upon himself the punishment that they deserve in his death.
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That he was buried and on the third day he rose again. That although we broke God's law, God has paid our fine.
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That what Christ did is sufficient. That it saves.
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And if you are his, you are called by his name to come forth and you came forth.
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And if you're not a Christian, why would you remain a slave? Why would you remain in the bondage of Satan?
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If you are his, we have to tell people so those that are his can come forth.
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All we're doing is removing the body. We're removing the linen around their hands and their feet.
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We're taking the burial clothes off of them when we're out preaching the gospel. Whether it's on the street or in your home, catechizing your kids, whatever it may be, it might not all look the same, but we're all called to reach the lost.
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We're all called to take those who are trapped, who are dead in their sins, wrapped in the slavery of Satan, and to unbind them with the gospel.
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Every one of us. And we're not to do this. Yeah, I just don't know if I got that calling. I don't know,
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God. We're to be obedient. We're only doing what we're told.
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If you have the ability to do this, that is to come forth at the gospel call, please know this, it is by his grace through faith.
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These are gifts given to you by God. And if you have not come forth, come forth today.
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Today is the day of salvation. Jesus is the God man. He had to be
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God in order to keep God's law. We as men are born in Adam, unable to fully keep
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God's law. Jesus had to be God to keep God's law and to earn righteousness, not for himself, but for you and I as a substitute.
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And he had to be man to make that sacrifice on that cross so that the wrath of God that was heading for me fell upon Jesus.
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Imagine as the acts of God's wrath is coming down to destroy humanity, to destroy you.
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Jesus on the cross takes your place. That's the gospel.
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He was buried and rose again. And he did this as a substitute in your place. You and I cannot keep
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God's law. We broke God's law. We deserve wrath, the wrath that we deserve
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Christ absorbs so that we can have eternal life. My dear friends, come forth.
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We're available to anyone who wants to talk. Let's pray.
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Our God and father Lord, it is good to be in your house today, to be around your people, to proclaim the victory that we have in your one and only son,
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Jesus Christ. Well, we pray that you do use us, that you use us moderately
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Lord, that we can experience a true revival.
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Lord, that begins in the pulpit that spreads to the home and to their neighbors or help us to love you.
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And Lord, as we come to this portion of our service where we partake in the ordinary means of grace concerning the supper.
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Well, we pray that you use this to grow us to the image of your son, to grow us in holiness.
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But Lord, I ask if there's any here today who have not come forth that you keep them from the table.
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I pray if there's any here today who have come forth, but they're living in rebellion, they're unwilling to repent, that you will not allow them to partake in the supper.
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But Lord, for people like myself who are sinful, who are both saint and sinner, who struggle and battle with the flesh, but know who you are and confess daily to forgive of our sins, asking for forgiveness,
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Lord, that you will use this to grow us in holiness. We look to you alone in all things.