But First, Death

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

You know, again, I want to say welcome to everyone, especially in the auditorium here, the worship center, and the overflow. Thank you for being there. We’re an overflow. But let me just say something to you. I do not ever want to get over the fact that God saved me. I never want to get over that. I never want to lose the feeling of being saved by Jesus. I never want to get over the fact that he reached down into the pit of despair and he picked me up, and he transformed me from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Ligh. And that I have eternal life. And every day’s a gift. Every day is a privilege. It’s every day I get an opportunity to glorify him. I mean, Josh, I want the spirit of the Lord, the fire, the Lord to be in my bones, to be in my soul, to be in my heart, to be in my mind, to be in my energy, to be in my strength. And in folks, I am in love with Jesus. And I never, ever want to get over that has nothing to do with the sermon that’s just free material this Easter Sunday. Okay, Now we’re going to be in John chapter 11, and we are finishing up a sermon series that we started several weeks ago called The Magnificent Seven. And as we look at John, Chapter 11, in a moment, I want to give you the setting. I want to give you the context because if you understand the context, then you’ll understand what we’re about to read. Jesus received a phone call. Jesus is in Jerusalem, which is two miles away from another city called Bethany. We’ve found out a moment more about that.

And Jesus receives the phone call from Mary and from Martha, and Jesus receives the news that his friend Lazarus has died. Now Jesus doesn’t show up at the arrangements for the funeral. Jesus doesn’t even show up for the visitation of the funeral. Jesus doesn’t even show up for the funeral. Jesus doesn’t even make it to the graveside service. Jesus shows up when the funeral is over, and all the casseroles are gone. He shows up. Look what it says in John Chapter 11. It says this.

John 11:17-26b(NKJV)

So when 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 Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Spoiler alert Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead later on that day. Would you pray with me? Father, we’re thankful that we could be active participants in what you’re seeking to do right here, right now. And each and every one of us, regardless of where we’re at spiritually, we can we can identify with someone in the story. For some people, they relate to Martha. We have questions for you. God, why were you not here for this? Why did this happen? If you cared for my brother, why did this happen? If you’re all-powerful, why didn’t you prevent this? Some of us are here this morning, and we relate to Mary. We’re just sad. We’re just hurting. We love you, but we’re lost for words. We are heartbroken. And we just need you to be there for us. Others of us. We can relate most of all in this story to Lazarus. There are things in her life that are dead then that that cannot live on their own. You can’t wake up from deadness. You cannot stir yourself up from deadness. You cannot pick yourself up from dead deadness. The only thing that can raise you from the dead is the voice of Jesus Christ and God. Whatever it is that we need here this morning, we know that you can meet our needs, and we pray that you would meet our need for your glory, for your Honor. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus. And everyone agreed and said, Amen. Now, there’s something magnificent about the number seven, Josh. It’s everywhere. Wherever you look, it’s. It’s there. There are seven days in a week. There are seven books in the Harry Potter series. Tom Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, is what they tell me. I don’t know if it’s true or not? But seven is found everywhere. There are seven musical notes. There are seven stages to the journey of grief. Seven is found all throughout the Scripture; seven laps around the city of Jericho, and the walls come tumbling down.

Seven is a number of completeness. My favorite reference to seven is the Gospel of John in the Gospel of John. I would encourage you to go and read the Gospel of John Jesus on seven different occasions he gives to you and seven I am statements. Jesus says I am. And then He filled in the blank. And what I love about this is if you want to know who Jesus really is, just go and read Jesus in his own words. Read what He said about himself. And you remember that in week one, we talked about what Jesus says and the bread of life. And we’re always craving. We’re always never satisfied. And Jesus says. You will be satisfied. Come to me. I’m the bread of life. And we eat number two. If you remember, we talked about where Jesus says I am. The lot of the world is that you don’t have to go stumbling in darkness. You don’t have to go stumbling and stub your toe. Because many of us were asking the question, What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life? You know, why should I get out of bed every single morning? And Jesus says I am delighted the world. I can show you what life is all about. And here’s the reality. I’ve traveled a lot around the world. I haven’t been to every place, but I’ve been to a lot of different places. And people will say, Andrew, that people are different. People are not really different at the core of the core. No, sure. They have different customs. They have different food tastes and likings, and they dress differently. But at the core of the core, wherever I go, people are still asking the same existential questions wherever they live.

What is the meaning of life? How can I deal with shame and guilt that, you know, just ravages my heart and soul? What’s going to happen to me the day or the moment that I die? Where am I going to end up? Everyone is asking those questions. And Jesus says I’m the light of the world. You don’t have to stumble around in the darkness. I can show you the way. And then Jesus said, In week three, if you remember, Jesus says, I’m a door. And for you that were not here, I had a prop, and there was a door. Maybe the most useless prop in the history of the world. Because everybody knows what a door is. And Jesus says that when I open the door, no one can close it. And when I close the door, no one can open it. And then, in week four, we talked about the Good shepherd. And Jesus wants to be the shepherd of your soul. And then we looked at this statement where Jesus says, You want to know how to get to the Father. You want to know how to get to heaven. Jesus says I am the way, the truth in the life. He goes like kind of Blake Shelton, if you want to go to heaven, this is the answer right here. There’s no other way. And then last week, we looked at Jesus where he said, I’m the true vine, and if you’re connected to me, you can have an abundant life. You can have a strong, healthy relationship with me in the world if you’re connected with me. And this week, we’re going to look at the last I am statement of Jesus that we just read about in the passage that we just read is found in verse 25.

And Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life. Now, wouldn’t you agree that’s a pretty good place to camp out on this Easter Sunday? Would you not agree with me, Overflow? Would you not agree with me as well? There’s a great place to camp out. Would you not agree with me? Okay. If you participate, you get out earlier. Okay. So it’s a good place to to. To camp out at the resurrection life of Jesus. Okay. There you. But first. Death. The first death. That’s the title of my message. Have you ever had a busy day at the office, and you knew it was going to be busy before you even got there? And it’s like there’s going to be deadlines, there are appointments, you know, there are team meetings to get the product out the door, whatever you’re doing. I mean, it’s like the moment that you get there until sometime in the middle of the night, you’re just going to be there, and you know, it’s going to be a crazy day. And you get to the office, and everybody in the office knows that you’re going to have a crazy day, and you’re sitting there, and some of your coworkers, they come up to you, and they go, Hey, I thought you was going to get after today. And you go, Yeah, I’m going to get after the first coffee. Had the first coffee, but it’s the same thing we’re going to get after the resurrection. We’re going to get after the laugh. But let me just say, you there’s the resurrection is not even necessary or not even needed unless, first of all, there’s death. I just want to say three things about death, and I hope that you take notes. I hope that you would write these down.

The first thing I want to say about death is that death is vicious. Death is vicious. Aren’t you glad you came to church this weekend?

Death is vicious.

What? I mean, that death is vicious. Is that it is cruel. My friend’s death is unpredictable. Death is unkind, George. Its death doesn’t come to you, And consider your needs and your wants in order to push itself on you. Death doesn’t go. Oh, Josh, if I take your life tonight, you don’t have. You don’t have your family. College tuition. Fund it. Oh, and your family won’t have any way to provide the mortgage next month. Okay. I just want to pass it by on you, Josh. You don’t have to die right now. We’ll just come back to you later when you get your house in order. That’s not how death works. Death will come after you, and we’ll wreck your plans. Wreck the future? Because why? Death is vicious. And folks, in my own mind. This week, I went back in my mind, and I went back to the beginning, and I said, when was the very first time that I experienced death? And I maybe I was five. Maybe I was six. I don’t remember. I just remembered that my grandfather, Grant, passed away. He was there for one moment. The next moment he was gone. And then we had the funeral, and nobody ever talked about, you know, the death and the impact of that because why? Death is vicious. But not only is death vicious. Can I just tell you something? Death is violent. Death is violent. There are a lot of people that die in violent deaths in car accidents, machinery, and mishaps. I mean, I’ve been with family after family, and they’ve gotten received bad news of cancer or some other devastating disease.

They call me, and we gather around the loved one. And when we gather around a loved one, we pray fervently. We pray for God to intervene. We pray for God as the great physician to heal the body of this loved one. And you know what happens? About a month or two will go by, and the prayers are no longer praying that they will be healed. Now, the prayers are by the family. God, would you please take your loved one? They are experiencing too much pain, and I don’t want to see them suffer anymore. God, why don’t you just take them? God, why are you allowing them to suffer and to lay here, and they pray for God to take their loved ones away? And folks, it is violent to be on the end of death, but it’s also violent to be on the receiving end to lose someone that you love. Because, you know, there are seven stages of grief, and you can go through the grief process, and you can get to stage three or four, and you go, All right, I’m about halfway home. Stage five is right around the corner. But all of a sudden, with whiplash force, what happens is that you’re jerked out of stage four, and you’re whiplash back into stage one, and then you’re whiplash back into stage three, and you settle down, and the next thing you know, you get sucker punch again. It takes the wind out of you like an uppercut to the jaw, and you’re left gasping for air, thinking that you were already through this stage. It’s valid to face death no matter which side of the equation you’re on. But it’s not just vicious, but it’s just not violent. France is number three. It is vile. It is vile. Was it vile?

Death is VICIOUS.

Death is VIOLENT.

Death is VILE

To put it rather bluntly is that when you when someone dies, they take their last breath. There’s so X, it’s their body steps out into eternity, and immediately what happens to your body? It begins to do what? Decompose. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been around death? There’s a smell to death. It’s vile. It’s not pretty. There’s something unmistakable about it. Something wrong with it. Now friends. I’m trying to be delicate. I’m trying to be as sensitive as I can. But when Jesus arrived at Lazarus’ Tomb and said, Roll away the stone. What did Martha say? Look what Martha said. Martha said.

Y-39

No, Lord, because it’s been four days, and there’s going to be a smell.

An odor. Friends. Death is not your friend. Death is your enemy. I’ve heard people say, Oh, death is peaceful. Death is beautiful. Death is lovely. Let me tell you something. Friends do not believe that for one second, death is your enemy and not your friend. It is a crime. It is terrible. It should sicken you and I to see someone who’s created in the image of God to be sown in dishonor. It was never meant to happen. You were never experienced. You were never meant to experience death. Every time I look into a casket, and I see someone lying there and I look into that casket, everything inside of me wants to scream out and say, This is wrong. This is perverse. This is not the way it should be. There’s something very wrong here. God never wanted you and I to face death. It’s a terrible, terrible thing. And here’s my outline. Death is vicious.

 Death is violent.

Death is vile. You should see some of your faces right now. You go. Gosh, you got heavy. Quick. I mean, like, you sucker punched us. Yeah, we just had a big celebration. And now you’ve thrown all this on us. There’s a reason why I did that. Because, friends, listen to me.

Good news isn’t good news. If you don’t get bad news first.

Folks, it’s not good news. Unless you get bad news first. And the bad news is, is that we had to have her feet firmly planted in the cemetery because that’s where Jesus rose from, the dead from. You have to understand that there were people that were grieving in the cemetery. There were tears flowing down people’s faces. People were staggering in and out of the stages of grief. And the resurrection is only possible and is only needed if there is death first. And because of death, we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And here’s my sermon in a sentence, is that he went into the grave to get you and I out of the grave. Well, there he went into the grave so that he could get you and I out of the grave. Now, folks, Jesus’s death is completely different than the death I just described. And there’s a contrast there. And I want you to hear Jesus’ death number one, if you’re taking those was voluntary.

Jesus’ death was VOLUNTARY. 

Is that Jesus chose to go to the cross. It was the nails that held Jesus to the cross. It was his love for you. That’s right. Jesus loves you. Wherever you’re at in your life right now. Whatever you did last night, whatever you did this morning, whatever you’ve done in the history of your life, it doesn’t matter.

Jesus still loves you, no matter what you’ve done. Because the Bible says for God what? So love the world that He gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but want to have everlasting life. Is that what love is? What kept him there? Do you understand that Jesus initiated his own death? Well, how is that even possible? Well, let me tell you how it’s possible. Okay. Just stick with me. I don’t know if you’ve thought about this. The biggest news of the day was not Lazarus being resurrected. Now, as you say, this is a sad note, Josh. You appreciate this. Your laugh. Nobody else will. It’s Lazarus. Was. I was pissed at Jesus. He was. You know why? Because. Where was Lazarus? He was in heaven. He’s experienced death. He’s walking the streets of gold. I mean, he sees the pearly gates. He’s hearing the angelic choir sing. He’s in the presence of God. His. His body is brand new. And all of a sudden, here he is. He’s sucked out of heaven. He’s back. Holy crap. I’m in an arthritic body again. I’m about to die all over again. This is no fun. Lazarus is mad. Lazarus is upset. Wouldn’t you be mad? So, Jesus, he initiated his own death because how did he do it? It’s because Jesus performed the greatest miracle that ever been performed. He resurrected Lazarus from the grave. And when he did that, that set into motion the religious leaders to kill Jesus because he just wasn’t a good God now. Now he was a miracle worker, and he could maybe even overthrow them. Look what the Bible says. So. So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to do what? To plot Jesus’s death.

Jesus’s death was voluntary. But number two, if you take your notes, Jesuses death was vicarious. And Stephen, I had to look up the word. I’m not smart enough to know what that word meant. I’ve used it a lot. I sounded intelligent, but I didn’t know what it meant. So just. So I looked it up. You know what it says? It says this, John. Done through someone else. You know what I immediately thought of. It is parents that are vicariously living through their kids. Mean, it can be a good thing, right? Or it can be a bad thing. Billy, You’re going to the UK. Billy, You’re going to Harvard. Billy, You’re going to the UK. You. What is the school? Maybe. But, Dad, I don’t want to go to your school. But, Billy, you have to understand every male in our family goes to this school. And you’re going to go to this school. Because if you don’t, you’re paying for college all by yourself. You’re out of the house. Hey, Dad, I want to play basketball. No, no, no, honey. You’re going to be a cheerleader, just like your mom. But, Dad, I don’t want to be a cheerleader. I want to be a basketball player. Listen to me. Your mom was a great cheerleader. You’re going to be a great cheerleader. Shut up and start tumbling right now. Just start doing it right. And so, I mean, we live vicariously sometimes through our children and parents. Can I just say something to you? Is that your job is to be an archeologist. Your job is to unearth what God has placed in the hearts of your children. Your job is to unearth to help them to since helping them to understand what God is and how God has designed them.

And so the in your job is to get them to understand that and to follow the voice of God and not to follow your voice and your dreams that you have for them. And you want them to fulfill the broken dreams that you never got to fulfill. The heart of. Of selfishness is for you to push your will onto your children. And see Jesus died carelessly on the cross. For your sin. And for my Son. Look what it says in Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21. It says this God made Jesus. Who had no sin to be sin for us that curiously Jesus took our sin upon himself? He did it for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Let me put it to you a little bit differently. God treated Jesus like we deserved to be treated so we could be treated so He could treat us like Jesus deserved to be treated. We said a different way is that God treated Jesus like a criminal so that he could treat us, who are the real criminals, as his sons and daughters. Jesus’ death was vicarious. It was. Also voluntarily. But number three. His death was victorious. His death was victorious as, Yes, Jesus died on the cross. Yes. Jesus was put in the grave. Yes. On Easter Sunday, Jesus came out of the grave. The grave is empty. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive. And that is the cornerstone. That is the crown jewel of Christianity. It’s the totality of the Christian faith. It’s everything that the Christian faith depends upon is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I love what J. Vernon Magee said. He’s a preacher from another age. He says the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very heart and blood of the Christian faith.

We cannot make too much of the death of Christ, but we can make too little of the resurrection of Christ. Folks, we have to make much of the resurrection of the cross. Because why the resurrection of Christ is where the power comes from. Their power comes from their faith, from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He went into the grave so that you and I could come out of the grave. And here’s the thing that I want you to understand is that the resurrection is not just meant to impact eternity, but it’s made to impact our journey. It’s to impact every single day of our life. And the reason why we have the seventh I am statement is we go back to Martha. Remember, Jesus says, Your brother will be resurrected. And what did Martha say? Oh, yes, Lord. I know that he will be resurrected. When in the end. And Jesus said, What? I am the resurrection, and I am the life. Jesus says that I am present tense. I am here. I am the resurrection. I impact your life on a daily basis. See, folks. Resurrection is not what Jesus does. It is who He is. Jesus is all about resurrecting dead relationships and dead marriages. He’s all about resurrecting the dead. Career’s dead spirituality, folks. He’s all about making new. Making things that have died to help them to come alive and to blossom all again. His death was victorious. I want you to. Go with me into the future. In your mind, Just go to the future. And we’re asking you to go to. Is your death. Every one of us will have a set of circumstances, and we don’t even know what to sell. So the circumstances are going to be. But we’re all going to take your last breath.

It’s going to be over with. We’re going to be done. And here’s the question that I have for you. Where will you be? One minute. After you die. Where are you going to be at? Do you have hope? Do you have assurance? Do you have faith? Do you have the confidence? The next breath that you take when you open, you take that next breath that you’re in the presence of the Lord. I do. I know that the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And I know that whenever my time comes, I’ll take my last breath here. The next breath would be in the presence of God. And some of you are here this morning in their worship center in the atrium. And you’re going, you know, I don’t have that confidence. And here’s the question. If not, would you like to? Wouldn’t you like to leave here this morning? Knowing that you have strength, that you have power, that you have hope, that you have peace, that you have love, that you have forgiveness. Wouldn’t you love to leave here this morning knowing that all of your sins have been forgiven and washed away? I mean, wouldn’t you like to leave here this morning with a brand new, fresh start? Wouldn’t you like to leave here knowing that your name is written in the Book of Heaven? See, folks, it doesn’t matter if your name is on the church membership or not. The most important thing is, is your name written in the Book of Heaven? And you can leave here this morning with your sins forgiven. You can leave here this morning with a brand new fresh start, a clean slate, and you can have all of your sins forgiven.

You can have that this morning. And some of you said, Pastor, I won’t. What do I have to do? And here’s the good news. There’s nothing that you can do. And you go, What do you mean? There’s nothing you can do? There’s nothing you can do. Jesus has already done it. So what do I have to do? There’s only one thing that you can do, and that is to receive the free gift of Jesus into your heart is to ask them to come into your heart. Ask him to forgive you and believe in your heart. But he’s forgiven you. And he’s risen from the dead. And so I like for you to do that this morning. If you’ve never done that, if you’re in the overflow, if you’re here in the worship center. I want you to receive Christ. And how you receive the cross, how you enter into the partnership with the cross is by saying the born again prayer. So let me just ask you from the back of your head. No one was looking around, and no one was leaving. I would like for you to ask Jesus to come into your heart. I would ask, like for you to say the prayer. And so far this weekend, yesterday, and the first service this morning, we’ve already had 11 people. To invite Jesus into their heart. Now you go, Pastor. How do you know there were 11 people? I know there are 11 people at the minimum because here’s what I’m going to ask you to do if you’re here and you want to be included. In that prayer that we’re going to pray. In a moment, I’m going to ask you to do me a favor. I’m going to ask you in a moment to raise your hand up really high.

And keep it up. And in the last three services, we’ve had 11 people raise their hands. That’s how I know that there are 11 people. And so I’m not going to ask you to stand. I’m not going to ask you to meet me in the atrium. I’m not going to ask you to walk down front. I’m not going to ask you to do any of that. I’m just going to ask you just in a moment. And you are just going to raise your hand. When you raise your hand, you’re going to go, Pastor. I want to receive Jesus. I want to receive a new start. I want my sins forgiven. I want my name written in the Book of Heaven. If that is you this morning, here’s what I want you to do. I just want you to raise your hand really high. Keep him up. I’m just going to go around the room and count one. Thank you. Two, three. For. Five. Six, seven, eight. How many are in the riser? Two in the riser. So what? Ten people. Thank you. Ten. 12 people. Thank you. You put your hands down. We had like 12 or 13 people in here. And in the atrium in the overflow, we’ve had seven. 20 people and the service to raise your hand. And here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. More. Ask everyone, not just those 20. But we’re asking every single person. Is. I’m going to ask you to open your eyes. And on the screen is a born-again prayer. And I would just like for all of us if you would. Well, can we just pray this out loud together, and can we just say it together?

“Dear God, I know that I’m a sinner. I can’t fix myself, but I believe you can.I believe Jesus died for me and my sins. I believe He rose from the dead.Please forgive me of my sins. Please come into my heart and make me new. I give my life to you. Amen.”

Can we welcome these 20 people into the kingdom of God? Yeah.