Don't Lose the Gospel - Saddleback Weekend Service

Hey, everybody, welcome to church. It's so great to see you in the house. Come on, let's keep our hands together. We're going to worship our God through song. We're going to celebrate all the great things that he's done. Come on, let's sing. Let's go. Come let us worship our king. Come let us bow at his feet. He has done great things. See what our savior has done. See how his love overcomes. He has done great things. Yes, he has. And he has done great things. Come on, here we go. Oh, you of heaven, you conquer the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. Let's go. Come on, keep your hands together. Come on, every voice. Here we go. You've been faithful through every storm. And you'll be faithful forevermore. You have done great things. Amen. And I know you will do it again.

For your promise is yes and amen. You will do great things. Anybody believe it today? God, you do great things. Oh, oh, hero of heaven, you conquer the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. Come on, let's sing hallelujah. Hallelujah, God, above it all. Hallelujah, God, unshakeable. Hallelujah, you have done great things. Come on, every worshiper, sing hallelujah. Hallelujah, God, above it all. Hallelujah, God, unshakeable. Hallelujah, you have done great things. You've done great things. Oh, hero of heaven, you conquer the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. Come on, we dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh Jesus, your name lifted high. Oh God, you have done great things. You have done great things. Oh God, you do great things. Oh, yeah. Oh God, you do great things. Oh, we bless your name.

Oh my God. Come on, keep your hands together. And I'm clean. Sin was sane on me. Shame was running deep. But love was spilled on Calvary. Oh, hallelujah, I'm clean. God, how can it be? I'm ransomed and redeemed. Standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah, I'm clean. It's not what I have done. But what you've done for me. You've painted all upon that tree. Oh, hallelujah, I'm clean. And love has overcome. Your mercy is supreme. I'm dancing in your victory. Here we go. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood.

All because of you. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood. All because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Come on. Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. And hallelujah, here I come. Come on. Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. And hallelujah, here I come. Oh! Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. And you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. You got me running out the grave. And hallelujah, here I come. And hallelujah, here I come. Because you took away my shame. Because you took away my shame. And you nailed it to the cross. And you nailed it to the cross.

You got me running, running, running You got me running out the grave And hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come And hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come You got me running out the grave Hallelujah, here I come You got me running out the grave Hallelujah, here I come Hallelujah Hallelujah, here I come And hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as You Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood All because of You Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood I'm as good as You Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood All because of You Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water

Washed in the blood I'm as good as You Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water Washed in the blood All because of You Oh, hallelujah Amen Church, can we thank the Lord for His faithfulness today? He is good forever And He's the God that goes before us He is the God that pulled me from the pit And He has redeemed me and I'm so thankful for that He's given me a reason to sing Let's sing this together, Church Who thought I'd find You at the lowest place? Who thought You'd feel me in the crowd? Who knew You'd make good my mistakes? That's what He does Nothing like I thought ♪ Oh God you were your better ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ We lift our voice, we declare, please. ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ To you our Lord ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ Oh, I thought you'd show up for perfection ♪ ♪ Cause what kind of God looks for the lost ♪ ♪ They say it's over for the sinner ♪

♪ Although you say, no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ You say, no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ How faithful, how mighty. ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ Oh, what a God, what a mighty God we serve, oh ♪ My God, we sing. ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, come on ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, come on, church ♪ ♪ If one word is the only thing that I can do ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your hand ♪ ♪ I still have it all ♪ ♪ No treasure of this life could ever satisfy, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, come on, you are ♪ ♪ You are my everything, yes, you are, you are my everything ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪

♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ Come on, if the highest place ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life forever, satisfied, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, yes, you are, you are, you are my everything ♪ ♪ If one word is the only thing you say, then I've heard it all, then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your hand ♪ ♪ I still have it all, no treasure of this life could ever satisfy, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, yes, you are, you are, you are my everything, yes, you are, you are, you are my everything ♪ ♪ You are, you are my everything, ah, yeah, yes, you are my everything ♪ ♪ Lord, you are, God you are, you're my everything, you are my everything ♪ Come on, just begin to tell him. ♪ God, you're my everything, you're my only thing ♪ Yes, Lord, we sing. ♪ Name above all names, he is worthy of all praise ♪ And so my heart will sing, how great is our God. Can you sing that with me? Come on, name above all names, lift it up. Name above all names. He's worthy. And worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing. My heart will sing, how great is our God. Come on, sing it one more time. Hey, sing the name. He's the name above all names. And he's worthy.

You are worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing. And my heart will sing, how great is our God. Come on, all across the room. How great. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great. How great is our God. And how great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great. How great. Sing how great. How great. How great. Sing it again. How great. How great is our God. Welcome to Saddleback Church. I'm so grateful that you're here with us and that we get to spend time as a church family together. Now, I want to make sure that you have everything that you need so you can access our digital program by hitting the link in the description down below. Or you can also download our Saddleback app and find it there. Now, if this is your first time joining us, we would love to welcome you.

So you can go to the Saddleback app, select online community as your campus, and then hit the new here button so that someone from our team can personally welcome you to our church. Well, here at Saddleback, we just wrapped up our Get Growing series. And last weekend, Pastor Andy talked to us all about what it means to be generous and to give because everything that we have comes from God. And we cannot outgive God. And so Pastor Andy invited us last week to respond to his message. And I would love to share with you how our church has responded. Last week, over 600 people, 691 to be exact, 691 people chose to commit to surrendering themselves fully to the Lord. That's 691 people who put their faith in Jesus for the very first time. In addition to that, over 200 families chose to give for the very first time. Over 400 families committed to giving consistently. And over 700 families committed to growing in their giving. Isn't that incredible? There's so many things that are happening at our church, and there's so many special things that happen when we choose to give and be generous with what God has given us. And we would love to take this opportunity right now to invite you to be a part of that as well. See, if you didn't get the chance to fill out the Get Growing card from last weekend, you can do that right now on the Saddleback app or in the digital program. Again, we give as a response. It's a way of saying thank you to God for everything that he's given to us. So as you're filling that out, at the top of this year, Pastor Andy talked to us about taking a journey through the book of Mark together.

And we're going to be jumping back into that this weekend with our Jesus on the Move series. But before we jump back into that, I want to invite you to check out this very special message from Pastors Andy and Stacey. Hey, church family. We are so excited today for you to hear an incredible message from our good friend, Jason Parrish, who pastors a church called The Well, just outside of Salt Lake City in Utah. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about him in just a moment, but we do want to share with you some very exciting things that are happening in the life of our church. Yes, and just over a week from now, we are going to be having our first return night. So it's going to be a night of prayer and worship that we're inviting our entire church family to come to the Lake Forest campus to pray and worship with us. And it's going to be kind of in the same spirit of the return gathering that we've done the last two Februaries, where we're just coming together as a church to seek the heart of God. So we really hope that you and your family will come to this. Yeah, we're very expecting about what God's going to do in our midst when we gather that night. Also looking forward to seeing some of you from the campuses. as you join us. I also wanna make sure that you know right now we're signing up for all of our summer small groups.

Summer small groups, actually they run for a shorter period of time than our typical semester. But you can take that step to get engaged during the summer to build community, most importantly to grow deeper in your faith as you're a part of a tribe. And so today we wanna encourage you to take that step to search through the groups on the group finder and to find the right place to get connected in a group here in Church Family. Yes, those groups actually launched this week. So don't delay any longer in signing up. One other thing we wanted to let you know about is a group called Strategic Launch Network. You may have heard us talk about them before, but basically it's a collaboration of churches that works together to start other churches. So when Andy and I started Echo Church in the Bay Area, we worked with Strategic Launch Network. We were actually one of their very first church plants. And since that time, we have been a part of helping other churches get started. So whether you know this or not, every time you give here at Saddleback Church, some of that money goes to helping start other churches beyond the walls of Saddleback. And together, I think we, how many? Over 90. Over 90 churches and over 31,000 people have been baptized. 31,000 baptisms have happened across these 90 churches.

Yeah, so all across North America, these churches are thriving and growing. And every year, 10 new churches get started. And right now, we're helping support 20 of those new churches that have been started. So we're sending resources, we're going on mission trips, we're praying for them. And so every time you participate with your generosity, you're making a difference all across North America. There are countless lives that are being changed through you. So I wanna invite you to join us as a part of our church family, to give back to God with our worship today, to recognize as we worship God with our giving, he's using that in so many other places, all over our country and all over our world. So you can do that through the app. You can also text GIVE to 83,000 and take that step today to be a part of what God's doing through your church family. Now today, you're gonna hear from my good friend, Jason Parish, who pastors the Well Church, just outside of Salt Lake City. He and his wife started this church back in 2013 as a part of the Strategic Launch Network. And so we're a part of a bigger tribe and family. Today as he comes, you're gonna see his passion for God. He's gonna continue our Jesus on the Move message series. Their church is growing by leaps and bounds,

reaching young families, young adults. You're gonna see why as he brings this message. Will you please welcome Pastor Jason Parish as he comes to the stage today? Well hey, Saddleback Church, it's so good to be with you. Anybody excited to be in church? Come on, come on. I love your pastors, Pastor Andy and Stacey. They're great friends. Andy, I met him in 2018 officially, and he quickly became a fast friend and as well has been a voice of leadership and insight and wisdom. Come on, how many of you know Pastor Andy is a very smart man and a great leader? Come on, somebody. And there's a lot of things that build great churches we could talk about preaching, we could talk about talent, we could talk about all those different things, but there's three things that I think are even more important to that. That is character, integrity, and consistency. And your pastors have that, and I think that is a testament to them and a testament to what God is doing here. So could you do me a massive favor? Can we just give honor where honor is due across all of our campuses? Can we just put our hands together for our pastors? Can we just love on them for just a second?

If you're grateful for them, I'm here today with my beautiful bride of 21 years. We've been married for 21 years. We've got three kids, a 16 year old, a 15 year old, and an eight year old. So our house is just a party right now. And we're having a blast. We've actually known, I'll talk about this a little bit later, but we've known each other for more than 30 years as we met in church. 35 years we've known each other. We've been married for 21 years. We've been married for 21 years. 35 years we've known each other. We met each other in kids ministry in a small little church in Seattle, Washington. She saw me for the first time. It was game over for her. So that's what children's ministry is for. So I'm glad she's here as well. But hey, I wanna get into the text today that we're gonna examine. We're gonna be in a couple different places. We're gonna be in Mark because we've been studying Mark here. But, and then we're gonna find ourselves in the book of John as well because there's some really important texts there that we need to examine.

And we're gonna bring both of these books together, but we're gonna focus in on Mark. But if you could help me across all of our campuses today, can you help me feel at home? We do this at our church in Salt Lake City. Would you all stand for the reading of God's word? You can grab your Bibles if you've got them. If not, it'll be on the screens. We're gonna find ourselves in Mark 2, verses 13 to 17. Mark 2, verses 13 to 17. And it says this. Then he went out again by the sea, and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. Come on, how many of you know that the words follow me from Jesus are some of the most important words that anybody could receive? And something happens that would never happen with any of us. Jesus says, follow me, and it says that so he arose and followed him. How many of you know if you walked up to some stranger who was like, follow me, they'd be like, no, sorry, bro, we ain't doing that today, right? But when Jesus says, follow me, everything changes. Verse 15, now it happened as he was dining in Levi's house that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his disciples.

For there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, how is it that he eats with and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? They were really hung up that they were sinners and tax collectors, if you can see that. Verse 17, when Jesus heard it, he said to them these words. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I wanna speak to you from this subject. The title of my message is this, don't lose the gospel. Don't lose the gospel. As we look at the sacredness and necessity of the gospel message, would you all pray with me in this moment? Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it's alive, it's active, it's powerful. It has the ability to transform us from the inside out. And so God, I pray that you wouldn't hear, like no one would hear my words today, but we would hear your word, that you would shout at some of us in this moment and you would whisper to others of us. But no matter what, I pray that we would hear your word, that you would speak to us right now. And so our hearts, they're open to receive your word. You said your word is seed,

and that if it falls upon good soil, that seed takes root and it grows and it flourishes and it produces fruit. Would you do that in our lives as we gaze upon your word so that you would speak to us in Jesus' mighty name. Come on, in all God's people, shouted a big old amen. Come on, can we put our hands together, praise Jesus just one more time. Come on, grab your seats, tell the person next to you, I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you. I was hoping that was gonna happen. In these verses of the book, the text found in Mark, there's a very important reality that's brought to us and it's the gospel message, the good news. Jesus says it himself. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. What's important when we study this text that we see is that Jesus is, he's declaring his purpose. He's declaring why he came, what his agenda is, what his mission is. How many of you know that it's important when Jesus tells us his purpose, we need to lean in and listen. And this is one of the few moments that Jesus is gonna be very forward about. He's gonna say, I came to do this. It's the gospel message.

And it's one of the most important messages that we have. But the problem is, is that as society continues to change and as culture shifts and everything moves, I just wanna be honest with you, as I've studied the world and I've studied culture and I've studied society, if we're not careful as the church, as everything changes, we can lose the necessity of the gospel. We can have worship services, but no gospel. We can have small groups, but no gospel. We can have our meetings, but no gospel. And so I have an agenda that I came with tonight and it's this, to encourage you Saddleback across all of our campuses, don't lose the gospel because it's the greatest message that has ever been given. Because the truth is, how many of you agree with me, everything's changing. Come on, how many of you agree with me, come on, how many of you agree with me, the world is changing right now? And here's the reality, is that as things change and as things shift and as things move, we are always looking for something to anchor us and stabilize our lives and give us security. And I just wanna come right out the gate and let you know that the only thing that can stabilize us, the only thing that can hold us, the only thing that gives us security is Jesus. But as the world changes, if we're not careful, we can lose that message.

Famed writer C.S. Lewis had a conversation that he's gonna write about. He's one of my favorite authors, and I want you to hear this conversation as he writes about it, because he gives us an interesting idea that I wanna just zoom in on. This is what he writes. He says, Barfield never made me an anthroposophist, but his counterattacks destroyed forever two elements of my own thought. In other words, he's saying, I had a conversation, and it changed the way that I thought about things. In the first place, he made short work of what I have called, I love this term, chronological snobbery. Chronological snobbery. It's the uncritical, he goes on to say, the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age, and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is, on that account, discredited. He continues to write, you must find why it went out of date. Was it ever refuted, and if so, by whom, where, and how conclusively? Or did it merely die away as fashions do? If the latter, this tells us nothing about its truth or falsehood.

From seeing this, one passes to the realization that our own age is also a period, and certainly has, like all other periods, listen to these words, its own characteristic illusions. In other words, he's saying that in every single time period, in every single moment in society, in every single moment in culture, there's these characteristic illusions, things that cause us to be distracted, they're aberrations, and they cause us to lose focus of the main thing. He then goes on to say, they are likeliest to lurk in those widespread assumptions which are so ingrained in the age that no one dares to attack or feels it necessary to defend them. So Lewis, in this whole moment of writing, is pretty much saying this. Chronological snobbery is the idea that because something is old, it's out. But have you ever noticed that young people today are listening to music from the 60s and 70s again? And some of us would argue it's some of the greatest rock and roll over here. Come on, somebody, right? Thank you, right? We're bringing fashions back,

we're bringing fads back. It seems like all of the movies and TV shows that are coming out right now, they look like the 80s and the 90s again. That was the era that I grew up in. But chronological snobbery is this idea that because something is old, it's out, it's not relevant anymore. And I just wanna declare to us today that this is not the case with the gospel. The gospel is transcendent. It's not irrelevant, it's not out of date, it's not diminished, it's not compromised. And while it may be difficult to swallow at times and uncomfortable to assimilate and require more of us than we may wanna give ourselves, one thing it is not, and it is not out of date, don't lose the gospel. Now, you may be saying around here, bro, did you come from Salt Lake City, Utah to come give us the simplest message ever about the gospel? Yes, I did, because we can't lose the gospel. Some of us have forgot about the goodness of the gospel. And my job is to remind us of the importance of the gospel. There's gonna be two people that I'm aiming at in this thing. For some of us, you've been following Jesus for many, many, many, many, many years, and you've forgotten about the beauty of the gospel. I hope you're reminded once again how great this message is.

But there's others of you that you've never heard the gospel message before, and you are about to find out the importance of that message and how much it will change your life. But no matter what, we all need to hear this, don't lose, don't lose the gospel. Don't misplace the gospel. Paul, the apostle in Roman chapter one, verses 16 through to 17, he's gonna say this. He's gonna say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then also to the Greek, for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Paul says that the gospel is our power. It's our power. Paul writes this remarkable piece of scripture to address the issue of power source. People he was pastoring and leading were falling into the same trap that many of us fall into. And that was, we're trying to reroute our power source. We believe somewhere along the way that you can earn your salvation. But can I just declare to you today, you cannot earn your salvation. You can't buy your salvation. Salvation, you can't good work your way to salvation. You can't pick it up in bulk at Costco.

Salvation is through one person and one person alone, and that is the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Is anybody thankful for the life-changing message of Jesus? So right here in Mark, Jesus draws everybody's attention to his purpose. And so as I was examining the text and looking at Scripture, there's another moment in the Gospels that's found in John that I actually really believe, and many scholars and theologians believe as well, paints a beautiful picture. It's not just a story about somebody's life, and this somebody is Lazarus. Many of you have heard this story before. It's not just about Lazarus's death and resurrection, but it actually shows us what the Gospel is in real time. And so I wanna take us from Mark. I want you to hold Mark as an open tab. Jesus saying, this is why I came. And then we're gonna examine John and look at like in real time, what does the Gospel actually look like and what does it mean for our lives, no matter where you find yourself. So there's four truths that I want us to see in the text. So here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you a point and then we're just gonna examine the text and we're gonna try to do a miracle, okay? And that is we're gonna work through 40 plus verses.

Is that all right with everybody? 40 plus verses of Scripture. We're gonna get there. Here we go. Here's the first truth that we're gonna see in John chapter 11, is that the Gospel magnifies the glory of God revealed in Jesus. The Gospel magnifies the glory of God revealed in Jesus. John chapter 11, verses one through to four says this. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. Verse four, but when Jesus heard it, he said this illness does not lead to death. Listen to these words. This is what Jesus says. This illness doesn't lead to death. It's for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Because the truth about the Gospel is this, is that glory is an essential part of the Gospel. Because it rightly highlights Jesus. It rightly positions Jesus in our lives. Because the truth is this, if we're not careful,

we tend to make ourselves the main focus of the Gospel story. And contrary to popular opinion, you all need to hear this, you and I are not the center of the Gospel story. We're secondary characters. But how many of you know, how many of you would agree with me that we love to put ourselves as the center of the Gospel story? Don't we? Have you ever noticed that when you read the Bible, you never make yourself the villain, we're always the hero? Come on, how many of you know what I'm talking about? You're always David, you're never Goliath. You're always Peter, never Judas. Because the truth is, is that we never like to find ourselves in the negative part of the story, and we have a tendency to make ourselves as the central part of the story. But the Gospel, the truth of the Gospel is this, is that Christ is preeminent. He is the center of it all. He is the one that is to be magnified. He is the one that is to be glorified. He gets the glory in our story. Every single one of ours. And when the Gospel is primarily about Jesus,

this is why it remains relevant across different cultures. It's why different ears can hear it. And that's why it never changes. It's because it's not about you and I, it's about Him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when He is not the central part of the Gospel, the Gospel loses its power. So Jesus says in John, hey, I'm gonna be the one who gets the glory. Can I help some of us out? Your story right now, the thing that the doctor told you, the frustration in the marriage right now, the addiction that's rearing its head, the stuff that's happening in your storyline right now, can I just let you know that it's not about you, it's about God getting the glory in your story? And what happens is if we're not careful, we can worship our problems more than we worship the one who can take care of those problems. If we're not careful, we can make our problem the center of the story. And whoever's in the center of the story gets our worship. And I just wanna encourage us, don't let anything else take center stage in your story. When it comes to the Gospel, let's let Jesus be the center of the story. center of every single one of our stories, why? Because the gospel magnifies the glory of God

that's revealed in Jesus. Here's the second truth that we find in the text. Number two, the gospel confronts the reality of our death apart from Christ. Okay, so we're about to have a super K-love moment, okay? Here we go. The gospel confronts the reality of our death apart from Christ. John chapter 11, verses five through to 16 says this. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Would you please, when you read scripture, just read it detailed. The Bible says that Jesus loved them so much that when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he decided to stay and not go visit them yet. He's like, ah, I'll just wait two more days. Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you and you're going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. Is anybody else ever perplexed by how Jesus answers questions?

I've decided, this text helped me decide how I'm gonna answer questions from my kids. Dad, can we go to Chick-fil-A? Are there not 12 hours in a day, kids? So Jesus is always messing with his disciples. And after saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. Watch, the disciples still don't get things. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he's gonna recover. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking a rest in sleep. Now, listen to these words. This is the serious part, okay? This is what Jesus says in verse 14. He says, then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I'm glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us go also that we may die with him. These guys were off the rails. They had no idea what was going on. And here's what I want us to see. Jesus had to break into the disciples' thinking and make them realize the hardest thing that they needed to see, which was Lazarus is dead. And here's the problem for many of us. We do not understand the gospel fully

because we have not yet been able to comprehend our death fully. And the truth of the gospel is this, is that you and I, apart from Christ, are dead in our sin. We are not sick, we are not broken, we are not hurting. We are dead in our sin. But then here's the good news, that in Christ we have resurrection life. That is the good news of the gospel and we can't lose it. Because remember what Jesus said in Mark, I did not come for those who are whole and healed, I came for those who are sick. There was a message in all of this. A theologian once said this, he said, light and erroneous views of sin will cause us to have light and erroneous views of the cross. In other words, if we do not understand the gravity of sin, we will never understand the beauty of the cross. And some of us have a benign view of what this gospel message is. Here's another way to, if you're taking notes, there's another way to say it, death provides the context for the gospel. And the reason that many people never respond to the gospel is because we think it's irrelevant. And it's irrelevant because we do not believe or realize this truth. We believe that we're just alive because we're breathing, but there's a whole other spiritual reality

that's going on in our life. And I can guarantee you there are people in this room across all of our campuses, your life has been radically altered by the cross of Jesus. You have been risen to new life. Come on, is there anybody who has had their life changed by the gospel message of Jesus? But we try to minimize it. And so that's why we've got to get to this place. Listen, the gospel confronts the reality of our death apart from Christ. I don't know how many of you are potentially dentists, but I do not, is there anybody else like me that you don't like going to the dentist? Let's just, come on, thank you. No judgment zone right now. Here's why. It's because I'm afraid of the truth. And I don't know if you're like me, but when I go to the dentist, he gives me the truth and I'm like, man, this is why I just don't come to you. I'm just gonna go about my life and do my thing. But how many of you understand? When you go to the dentist and they give you the truth, it's now you have an acknowledgement of what's going on and now there's a way to fix it. And the gospel message helps us understand the truth of who we are outside of Christ, but it also tells us what's possible, which brings us to then the third truth

that's seen in this text, is that the gospel announces our big Bible word, justification before God. Our justification before God. John chapter 11, 17 through to 27, it says this, now then when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha's gonna get really practical now. Watch what happens. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here. I'll pause there for just a second. Have you ever said those words before? Jesus, if you would have been here, then maybe that diagnosis wouldn't have come. If you would have been here, maybe that marriage would have survived. If you would have been here, maybe my kids wouldn't be doing what they're doing right now. But can I just remind us, he's always with us. He's always with us. But Martha has experienced and experienced the same thing you and I.

This grief, this pain that's in the middle of her story causes her to look at Jesus and go, where were you? And then watch what happens. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection of the last day. So Martha had hope still. She had hope for the future though. She didn't have hope for the moment. Here's the beautiful thing is that hope that comes from the gospel doesn't just give us hope for the future, it gives us hope for right now. It gives us hope in the moment. It gives us hope in the middle of our situation and circumstance. I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Now Jesus speaks to her and says this, I am the resurrection and the life. Come on, how many of you know you don't need resurrection unless you're dead? So Jesus, he's confronting all of these issues with how he's speaking to her. I'm the resurrection and the life, he says. Whoever believes in me, though he die, there it is, yet shall he live again. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Now I want you to hear these next words because they are some of the most confrontational words

found within the New Testament. Y'all ready for this? Watch what Jesus says. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Not, is this a good idea? Not, does it match up with other things I'm hearing? Not, whether you like it and it feels good. Watch what he says. He says, whoever believes in me, though he die, he shall live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? What is he doing? He's asking, do you believe in the gospel message? Do you understand who I am? And she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming in to the world. And this is where we get this fancy theological word known as justification. It's a term used throughout the Bible many, many times. And what it means is that there's a change in a man's relation or standing before God. It has to do with relations that have been disturbed by sin, but now because of the sacrifice of Jesus, everything changes. Can I just tell you that when you are in relationship with Jesus, when you've surrendered your life and submitted your life to him, everything changes.

Shame is gone. Your disposition changes. You put your shoulders back and your chest out, why? Because I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. I've known this beautiful woman for 35 years. We dated in junior high school. We dated in high school. And I don't recommend all that. The parents are like, can you please be quiet right now about this whole thing, right? But we went to almost all of our dances together. Proms, Sadie Hawkins, I don't even know if they're doing those anymore, and homecoming. And I remember the first dance that I went to with her where I had to wear a tuxedo. Now I was like a gangly kid, acne everywhere, not good looking, and I was like, how did I get her? And this was like the 90s. And so those of you who understand clothing in the 90s, I wore these pants called Jankos. There were these like really big, how many of you know what I'm talking about? Coral. I don't know who's idea that was. The weirdest of clothes, it looked strange. I was like, why are you dating me right now? And so I'll never forget, homecoming, got my first tuxedo. Come on, man, how many of you know what I'm talking about? And I'll never forget, I put that tuxedo,

I put a cummerbund on for the first time. And I was like, so this is what real life is like. Put that cummerbund on and a bow tie on, my jacket on and my shiny shoes on, looking like James Bond. And I looked in that mirror and I was like, well, son, you're a good looking man. What did that do? Because I put something new on, it changed who I was. It changed my disposition. It changed my countenance. I put my shoulders back, I was confident. And that's what happens when we put on Christ. When we put on Christ, we're putting a new life on. We are told in scripture that we are a new creation. We are justified. This is the beauty of the gospel. Justification is a miracle and it happens in a moment, it's instantaneous. It's what God does, not what you and I do. This is the beautiful gospel message and we can't lose it. So the third thing is this, is the gospel announces our justification before God. Number four, the fourth truth that we see in the text found in John is this, is that the gospel ignites transformation by his grace. The gospel ignites transformation by his grace. John chapter 11, 38 through to 44. Look at this, we got through 40 something verses.

Come on, y'all proud of yourselves? We did it, okay. Then Jesus deeply moved again. Man, I just wanna speak to somebody's heart tonight. If you're in this room at any of our campuses, if you've ever had that thought that's come across your mind, does God really care about my life? Does God really care about my situation? I want you to get these words in your heart. Then Jesus deeply moved again. He sees your situation, he sees your circumstance, he understands where you are at. I'm talking to those of you who do not know who Jesus is yet. And I'm talking to those of you who've been following Jesus forever. He knows exactly where you're at every single moment. Then Jesus deeply moved again. He came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it, verse 39. Then Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there'll be an odor for he has been dead four days. Now she's really practical. Then Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see, here it is, who's gonna connect now to the very beginning of John that we started reading,

that you would not see the glory of God? He brings it right back. She's paying attention to Lazarus again, but Jesus says, no, no, no, no, get your eyes off of the situation, put them back on me. Y'all see that in the text? He's saying, remember what I came to do. It's not about Lazarus, it's about me. Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on the account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. I'm gonna do that one more time because I want you to get the veracity of that. Lazarus, come out. I think we read our Bible so sanitized sometimes. Jesus didn't stand there lightly and go like, hey, Lazarus, when you're ready, hey, bro, can you come out? That'd be great. No, the text tells us with a loud voice, an authoritative voice, Lazarus, come out. Come on, is anybody thankful that God called you out of the dead place that you were in?

Come on, is anybody thankful that God called you out of the grave? The man who died, he came out. The text tells us that his hands and his feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said in these words, and these words have always captivated my imagination, my heart as I've read them. Because remember, the fourth truth is that the gospel ignites the transformation, our transformation by his grace. Okay, we're gonna connect these now, all right? Right? Unbind him and let him go. That's what it means. You and I don't have to get unbound before we come to Jesus. We get unbound after Jesus calls us out of the grave. You can't remove your grave clothes. Only he can. Lazarus came out. Guys, this is the first moment that we see a zombie in Scripture. He's coming out all bound up, face wrapped. And a lot of us believe that we have to come to Jesus all cleaned up. A lot of us believe that I gotta have it all together if I'm gonna come to Jesus. No, no, no.

He's the only one that calls us out of the grave. And then he transforms us. Then he unbinds us. Then he removes the things that have us bound up. The gospel marks the beginning of God's ongoing plan of growth and transformation in our lives. So the gospel of John shows us what the gospel is in this story of Lazarus. Mark chapter two is when Jesus tells us I came for that. Everybody look at me. Mark chapter two is Jesus's declaration that I came to bring dead things back to life. I came to bring healing. I came to bring forgiveness. I came to bring grace. I came to bring hope. I came to bring peace because you and I aren't the center of the story. Jesus and the good news of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. And I don't know about you, but I still believe he is coming back through the clouds in glory for this beautiful thing that he's building called the church, those who have been redeemed by his blood. This is the God that we worship. This is the God that we serve. And his name is Jesus. Do not lose the gospel, Saddleback. May it ever be on our lips.

May it ever be in our hearts. May it ever be in our praise. May it be in our homes and our workplaces and everywhere we find ourselves. Don't lose the gospel. It is the greatest message. Not ever told, it's the greatest message ever lived. And his name is Jesus. And I pray that whether you've been following Jesus for 20 years or you've yet to say yes to him, that every single one of us would realize the beauty and the necessity of the gospel for our lives. In Jesus' mighty name, come on and all God's people shout it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Come on, I want to ask you all to bow your head, close your eyes across all of our campuses. I want to lead us in a prayer. This is an important prayer for some of us. Even just one of us.

I believe that there's this one person potentially that needs to say yes to Jesus. And this prayer that we're about to pray, there's nothing fancy in these words or special in these words, but rather the heart from which these words would come. Because here's the deal, there's not a prayer that you and I pray that makes Jesus king. He's king whether you believe it or not. The question is, have you surrendered your life to him? And that's what this prayer that we're about to do is. And so I'm gonna ask all of us across all of our campuses, would you just repeat these words after me as loud and as bold as you can. We're gonna pray and then we're gonna party. And I'll explain that in just a minute. So with every head bowed, every eye closed, come on, as loud as you can, repeat these words after me. Everybody say, Jesus, I'm giving you everything. My past, my right now, putting my future in your hands. Save me, change me, and make me new. And I declare in this moment that I'm gonna follow you all the days of my life. Today, I repent of my sin. I turn to you and I receive salvation. In Jesus' mighty name. Come on, and everybody shouted. Amen, amen, amen.

That's our prayer, that's our prayer, okay? What a great message from Pastor Jason Parrish. I love the reminder that the gospel is the beginning of God's plan for growth and transformation for our lives. In a moment, we're gonna join the rest of our church family in worship, but we wanna take this opportunity to give you an opportunity to respond. So maybe there's a next step for you. that you want to take. Maybe you want to join a small group, or maybe you want to fill out the Get Growing card, or maybe you just decided to accept the salvation that Pastor Jason was talking about. Whatever it may be, we would love to know about it. So you can let us know in the Saddleback app, whatever that is, and we would love to walk alongside you and pray for you in that. As you're doing that, let's go ahead and join our church as we worship through singing. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Come on, we sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's alive above the grave. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus rose in victory. He's alive, alive in me. So may I never fall in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ. May I not forget the blood He shed. It is by His death I am alive. Because of Christ, I am alive. Because of Christ, I am alive. Because of Christ, I am alive. Thank you so much again for joining us for church today. Once again, if you want prayer for anything or if there's a next step that you want to take in your faith, maybe you want to join a small group, you can let us know on the Saddleback app so that we can pray for you and

walk with you in whatever step that may be. Church family, we love you so much. I hope you have a great week and we'll see you back here again for church next week.