You Will Never Die || Victory Churcc [Book of John #29]

this entire week because it does not get any more real than what we're about to talk about for the next few minutes, all right. So here's how I'd say it. If you have ever felt like God was slow in keeping his promises to you, if you've ever felt like God forgot about you between the couch cushions, like God doesn't care about what's happening in your life, or maybe all the way to like, if you've ever gotten the phone call, which led to you going to the funeral and feeling that like deep aching despair of the soul. Maybe even to the place where some of you today are consumed by fear of your one day, tending departure from this earth. You're afraid of death. Well, then today's the day for you, all right. Because in our year-long journey through the book of John, today we are in John 11, one more day. This is the third and the final week that we're kind of spending in this story where Jesus resurrects this man named Lazarus back from the dead. And if you remember, two weeks ago, we saw the story kind of from Lazarus' sister's viewpoint, Martha and Mary. Last week, Bishop Bronner was here and kind of turned the story a little bit, and we saw it from Lazarus' perspective.

And today we're gonna turn the story just one more time, and we're gonna see it from the angle of King Jesus. And today, here's what's actually gonna happen. You ready for some good news? I know I like started to have you, but you're right for the good news. Let's just go ahead and cut to the J's. Here's the good news. Today, you're actually gonna hear Jesus say the most radically assuring phrase. You will never die. Come on, families, it's too early to get excited about that. You and I will never die. Come on, turn to your neighbor and say God has made a way for you to never die. And make sure everybody got it. So just say you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do. Type in, you do online. Come on. We've been in prayer for this, okay? I believe over the next few moments, a few things are gonna happen. I believe that God is gonna heal parts of you that you didn't even know were broken. My prayers that God would also give you a different lens to show up with it every funeral you have to go to. And my real prayer has actually been for some of you that God would deliver you from the fear of death itself. All right, you ready for this? You ready? All right, let's go.

John 11, we're gonna start in verse one again. Says, "Now a man named Lazarus was sick." And he was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha, parentheses. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus, now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Now the question is, when does that happen? Next chapter, all right? So the sisters sent word, Martha and Mary sent word, to Jesus, Lord the one you, everybody say it? Love, you're gonna catch that kind of theme here in a few verses. Lord, the one you love is sick. And when he heard this, Jesus said this sickness, he surrounded by his disciples. This sickness will not end in death. Know it is for God's glory that God's son may be glorified through it. And now Jesus, what is he saying? Love, Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let's go back to Judea. All right, pause right there. If you didn't already pick up on it, there's a lot of love here in these few verses, right? Jesus loves Martha, Jesus loves Mary, Jesus loves Lazarus, they love him.

Everybody loves each other, it's a love fest, all right? And as anybody would do, if Jesus was your friend and your brother's on his deathbed, you're gonna be like, guys, go get Jesus, right? And so that's what they do. They're like, hey, go get Jesus and tell him like the one he loves is about to die. Tell him he's got to rush back. But contrary to what you would think would happen, right? If your best friend is in the hospital on his deathbed, or her deathbed, you're gonna leave whatever you're doing, you're gonna run to the airport, you're gonna fly, you're gonna do whatever you gotta do. But contrary to what you would think would happen, Jesus doesn't run. In fact, he sits and he stays and he has another order of ribs, you know what I'm saying? Like he's just, he's having a good time, like with his disciples. He stays two more days, not like 20 minutes, like two more days. And then he says to his disciples in verse 11, he says, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm gonna go there and wake him up. And his disciples replied, well Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better, okay, just pause. Parents, do you ever like tell your kids something and you're hoping they're like, like you're mine, right? Like you're smart, they didn't get it. You ever been so disappointed in your kids,

oh my God, I failed you, you know? Jesus had been speaking of Lazarus's death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then Jesus was like, guys, he's dead, he's dead. And for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there. Wow, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. Wow, when Jesus gets to Bethany, all right, by the time he gets there, we actually find out that Lazarus has been sick for four days, four days. Now that's really important in a Jewish context because Jewish belief, just they had come up with this, is that the body hung, or the soul hung around the body for three days. Just kind of like seeing if something would happen. In fact, it was custom that they would go to the tomb on day three and be like, "Hey, Lazarus, you okay?" Like, did you just take some ambient? Like, yeah, like what's going on? But in scripture, it actually says day four, which means like Lazarus is gone. Let there be no mistaking about this. Like Lazarus is gone and Jesus did it on purpose to wait. Now, again, just geographically speaking, it's very likely that even by the time the messengers got to tell Jesus that Lazarus was sick, Lazarus was already dead, right? Just with the geography of the area, four days and all that. But by the time Jesus makes it back to Bethany, there's a scene going on.

Like Martha and Mary are losing their minds, their families losing their minds. In this culture, there was actually paid mourners who that's kind of what they did for the job. And so there's this like chaos that Jesus walks into. And basically the theme is this. Jesus, where were you? Where were you? Why didn't you come through? If you had just been here, none of this would happen and they don't understand why all this is playing out the way that it is. But when we take this story and we turn it one more angle to see it through King Jesus' eyes, here's actually what we see, okay? I'm gonna give you three lessons from a funeral. Here's the first lesson. Jesus loves us even when he doesn't come when we expect. All right, so two weeks ago, we saw this story from Mary and Martha's angle and this was kind of the big idea, is that we have to trust Jesus' heart even when we don't see his hand, right? And let me just tell you, that's good, don't miss that. Like don't lose that, that we trust that God is good even when everything we see is bad. Like that is a core foundational life fact that you have to build your life on. I'm not waiting for God to do it in my way. I trust his character even when I don't know,

even when there's chaos, I trust his character, right? That's the big idea. But when we put on Jesus' glasses today, all right, we're actually gonna see a super interesting word that helps us to understand what's happening in this story. And here's the cool thing. If we can understand what's happening in this story, maybe we can begin understanding what's happening in our stories too. All right, in fact, we just read it. See if you can find this word here in verse five and six. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Did you catch the word? I bolded it for you and if you didn't know. (congregation laughing) So, Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. So, he waited. Come on, if you're right in this story, that's not the word that you use right there. You're right, but, right? Come on, come on, like for real. Like Jesus knew Lazarus was sick, but he waited. Like he was just a jerk. Like what, this whole situation's out of control. But, it doesn't say but. So, Jesus knew Lazarus was sick. So, he waited.

Quick grammar lesson, quick grammar lesson. Okay, in the original language of the Greek, that word is actually un, which means so or therefore. All right, for all my grammar nerds, that is a conjunctive adverb. Conjunctive adverb means the second thought happens because of the first thought. All right, so here's what the scripture is actually saying. I love you, therefore, I'm gonna let your brother die. Anybody as angry as I am? Come on, Jesus, what? What? That, I wanna put on some boxing gloves and do some business with God for a minute, right? I love you, therefore, I'm gonna let your brother die. No, no, no, no, Jesus, that's not how this works. If you loved us, you'd fix it. If you loved us, you'd step into this thing and make all the pain go away. If you loved us, Lazarus would have never died. If you loved us, we wouldn't even be having, this isn't conversation, this isn't, this isn't the conversation I wanna have because this isn't love. John knows exactly what he's writing and he's dropping the keywords right in here so that you and I would be begging this question. How is this love? How is Jesus' delay, Jesus' love? And here's the answer.

Because Jesus had a higher goal than raising Lazarus back from the dead. And now I know you're asking the same question I am. What could possibly be a higher goal than raising a dead person back to life? Well, the cool thing is, he actually tells us, and he tells us three times. And verse 15 tells his disciples, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe." Verse 25, verse 25 and 26 is one of the greatest scriptures in the entire Bible. Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." Do you believe this? The one who lives in me will never die. Verse 42, he says it to the Father in prayer. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me, that they may believe that you sent me. Here's the big idea, guys. Is that Jesus waited to come to Lazarus so that people would believe, believe, believe. Everybody say, believe. And if Jesus had healed Lazarus before he died, nothing would have changed. Everybody would have just kind of continued on with life as normal.

Oh, Lazarus got a little sniffle, right? Like that would have been the story. But the fact that Jesus waited, Jesus waiting, Lazarus dying and coming back to life led many to believe. In fact, verse 45, that's kind of the end of the story. Therefore, many of the Jews, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed. That's the story. That's how this thing plays out. And here's the idea. I love you therefore I'm going to let your brother die. Why? So that many would believe. And by believing in Jesus, they would never die. Because whoever lives by believing in Jesus, verse 25 and 26, will never die. And now listen, here's what's happening right now. All of our humanity's starting to rise up and you're getting flustered. You're getting a little angry right now. 'Cause you think this is so insensitive. How in the world could Jesus possibly let this happen? It's because you and I and our humanity can only see six inches in front of our face. You don't even know what's going to happen in five minutes. And you think you know best? You don't know what's going to happen outside. When you get on the interstate, you

can't see on the other side of the horizon. You can't see that. Yet we're talking about the one who sees the end from the beginning. Isaiah 55, 9, for just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts higher than your thoughts when you go outside tonight and look up and see the galaxy a trillion light years away. That's where God's thinking is. And our feet are on the dust. Our mind is here. All I can see is what's right in front of my face. All I can see is what feels good and what's pleasurable to me and what doesn't disrupt my daily routines. That's what I want God to do. But God's way up there. He's thinking way more strategically than we are. And think about this, guys. Martha and Mary felt like their story was completely out of control. But I want you to see how Jesus shows up. Completely in control. Completely in control. Calm. Why? Because he knew he was working a bigger story than they could see. And that is why we walk by, not by, 'cause what we see will lie to us.

And I need you to see this, is that actually the real point of the story isn't even that Jesus raised Lazarus back from the dead. The point of the story is that Jesus is the one who gives eternal life. Jesus healing Lazarus would only give him a few more years, but believing in Jesus would give everyone eternal life. Come on, guys. Therefore, it was the most loving thing that Jesus could possibly do to wait. Because there's only one more important thing than healing someone. And that's ensuring that they never die. So just we're all clear. You will die in your flesh one day. Don't walk out of here and just quote me, You and I will die in our flesh, this thing. Lowser's died again if you miss that part of the story. You know what I'm saying? Lowser's isn't still like wandering around Jerusalem, be like, "Hey guys, you know, got some tourist trap items to sell to you or something to you." Here's what I'm trying to say. Here's actually what Jesus says, verse 25 and 26. "Faith in Jesus means you'll never taste the second death. Everybody dies in their flesh, but outside of Jesus you again will die in your spirit forever. But we will never die, because now through faith in Christ your spirit is alive, and in fact one day your body itself will be resurrected and be united back to your spirit and live with Christ forever and ever and ever. But all Mary and Martha could see was that they wanted Jesus to raise their brother. I'm going to ask you a really important question. I want this to stick with you for a long time after today. Could it be possible that our prayer requests are actually too small? And some of you are like, "I'm praying the biggest prayer I know how to pray." And God's like, "That's nice, that's nice. You're down here and I'm way up there and I'm telling you your prayer request is too small." Here's what I'm trying to say, guys. They wanted Jesus to

prevent a funeral. Jesus wanted to reveal resurrection. They wanted Jesus to make Lazarus better. Jesus wanted to show them that they would never die. So come on, guys, maybe the real prayer isn't, "God, make things better in my life and in my family." Maybe the real prayer is, "Father let your kingdom come and let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven, magnify the name of Jesus Christ even if it comes through my discomfort." So when it feels like Jesus has taken too long, or maybe we're forgotten about it, he's not coming through for us, may we begin to shift what we think is a but to sow. Because against all odds, against all odds, against all fleshly human thinking, actually it may be the most loving thing possible in our situation. Because listen, I'm tempted to say but I'm tempted to say I thought Jesus loved me but I lost my job. Maybe Jesus loves me so I lost my job. Come on, come on. I thought Jesus loved me but I'm still single. Jesus loves me so could there actually be a higher goal at work? And just so we don't get it messed up, you're in a house that has faith, by the way, if you didn't know that. Sometimes Jesus does come in at the 11th hour. Some, listen guys, cancers get healed. Dead people come out of the tombs, migraines go away, spines come back into alignment, nervous systems get healed, incurable diseases are cured in the name of Jesus. We believe that, we carry for that, we fight for that, we wrestle in prayer for that, we pray for that, we believe that. And listen, sometimes that actually does happen and what it's revealing is that was the highest goal in that situation. That was actual love in that situation. When it's like, "Bam, God comes through." Like, that was the big idea but whenever that doesn't happen, maybe there's a miracle that God is trying to lead me to. Maybe God's trying to actually show me that there's a miracle already at work around me, that I just want this one that's right in front of my face and I can't even see it. Maybe God is setting me up for a testimony that I haven't finished the test yet to share the testimony. Maybe God's tearing a little bit to develop that story a little bit more and I know it feels insistent because we're looking at it like this but God is there. And maybe, I believe this, maybe, one day we'll look back and we'll realize this whole time that Jesus was saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you." So, I'm going to wait a little longer.

But I need you to trust that I have not lost control of your story. And I have something bigger planned than you could possibly realize that will lead many to believe. And therefore never die. And therefore never die. Lessons from a funeral, here's the second one. Jesus weeps with us, even when he knows how the story ends. This is the most profound part of the entire story. If you're familiar with this passage, this is the shortest verse in the entire Bible. Verse 35, here it is. If you're starting like a Bible memorization plan, like some of you are like, I'm going to memorize one scripture this year. Okay, this is a good one to start with, it's the shortest scripture in the whole Bible. Jesus wept. And I say this at pretty much every funeral that I do is that it's short because you know what it means. It's real. We know what that means. We feel that when we read that. And guys, I want you to put on some Jesus' glasses real quick. Jesus knew exactly what he was about to do. He had already told his disciples that he would raise Lazarus from the dead. In just a few minutes, he's going to scream, "Lazarus, come out!" And Lazarus is going to come out. Yet Jesus still weeps. Why? I love this. Knowing the future doesn't prevent Jesus from entering our pain in the present. In Mary Falls at Jesus' feet, Martha comes out screaming, all the families weeping, the paid mourners are just throwing us in.

And here's how I'd say it, guys. In the West, if you did not know, we're in the West right now, in the West, we repress our sorrow. In the East, they let it out. And in the story, they're letting it out. Like, there is corporate grief and mourning, but in the West, we tend to repress it. And let me just say it like this, guys. If you've ever been a part of this, I almost want to apologize on behalf of pastors who lead funerals. I've been to a lot of, like, celebration of life services, by the way, that's what we do here at Victory. If you're born again, we're going to celebrate your life, all right? In Christian funerals, where it's almost implied that crying is a lack of faith. All right, today, I give you permission to be Christian and cry. Please, why? Because Jesus grieving gives us permission to grieve. Come on, that's the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who mourn for they'll be comforted, and what he's saying is, if you don't mourn, you won't be comforted. And so if you want to be comforted, you have to mourn, which means you have to let your emotions out so that God can come in. You can't be like, God, fix me from the outside. No, he's like, you got to let me in. How do I let you in? I have to mourn. So I have to grieve. I give you permission to grieve today, but we're going to do it different. First Thessalonians 4, Paul writes this, brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope.

For we believe that Jesus died and rose again and then. And so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. Here's what it's saying, Christians should grieve. We just grieve different. Want to know how Christians grieve? Christians grieve with hope. That's how we grieve different. Everybody else has no hope. We have hope because when we walk into a funeral and we see the casket, if that person is born again through faith in Christ, we know that they will never die. In fact, right now as we're looking into the casket, we know that they're more alive than we are. And so we grieve, we feel it with hope, with hope knowing that there is not a period on the end of this moment, there's actually a dot, dot, dot. So let me say this. Let me say this. I've been thinking about this all week. If you die, you have permission to cry. Just don't forget that I'm still alive. Okay? So cry, then you can worship. And just a side note, I've been thinking about this for the last three weeks. When I die, don't pray for me to come back. Please. I have been consumed with this thought the last three weeks in this story. I would have been so angry if I was Lazarus. So angry, bro, I'm dead in the presence of the Lord setting up my heavenly mansion, arranging the picture frames, hanging out with Jesus. And then Gabriel's like, hey, sorry. Jesus has called and broke.

And he's back. I'm like, "Yeah!" (congregation laughing) But here's the, I know this. Some of you are like faith-filled, like warfare, and you're gonna call me back. And I'm gonna have to chew you out. (congregation laughing) 'Cause I don't want to send more emails for each more sermon. I'm done, bro. Let me go rest. Don't call me back here for your benefit. Let me be with Jesus. That's the best thing ever. (congregation laughing) But what we're seeing, feel the tension. What we're seeing in the story is the 100% humanity and the 100% divinity of Jesus, called the hypostatic union. Oh, fully God, fully man, fully God, fully man. And in Jesus' full humanity, he's feeling it. He's weeping, he's hurting. My best friend just died, right? And here's the thought, guys, if your best friend dies and you don't weep, you're not human. So Jesus is weeping, Jesus is mourning, Jesus is hurting, and I love this. I love that Jesus, 'cause this is the picture of Jesus

we have to tear down. I love that Jesus doesn't roll up to the scene and he's not like mechanically stop crying, humans. (congregation laughing) Lazarus will rise again. Why are you feeling emotions? You are weak. No, he doesn't say any of that. He himself weeps. And so I'd say it, Jesus is not only powerful enough to change your situation. He's compassionate enough to sit with you in it. 'Cause he feels the weight of death. I've been thinking about this this week. Jesus is eternal, praise God. Which means he has seen countless, countless millions, billions of people rise and fall, generation come and go throughout history. But in the flesh, in this moment, how many people has Jesus not seen die? How many has he felt die? We know at least one before we think, Joseph. Mary and Joseph kind of disappears from the story, so we think that he died somewhere in Jesus' childhood. But this is the first friend we catch of Jesus that has died. Is this the first time Jesus has ever felt a friend die? What I'm trying to tell you is Jesus knows how you feel. He doesn't just think how you feel. He's felt it in the flesh himself. And the humanity of Jesus is hurting,

but the divinity of Jesus is furious. Furious in verse 33, here's how it says this. When Jesus saw her, Mary, Martha, the people weeping, the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. That word in Greek, the deeply moved in spirit is a really interesting word. I've been kind of fascinated with it this week. Imbremalme, imbremalme, it literally means to snort like an angry horse to roar, expressing deep emotion or righteous anger. This is how Jesus shows up at the tomb. There's this weeping and this anger, okay? Here's what I want you to envision. I want you to envision race horses at the starting line. If you've seen that picture before like the close-up on the snout, like, this like chomping at the bit, this let me go, this energy, this anger, like ready to burst out of the gates. That's how Jesus shows up to the tomb, okay? Because again, I know we have this mental picture of this very like King James sort of Jesus. No, no, Jesus is furious. The humanity and the divinity of Jesus, the humanity is sorrowful, the divinity is furious. Why? Because the great enemy death is trying to flex in Jesus' face. And as Jesus is looking at the tomb, as Jesus is looking at these people, I have to imagine Genesis 3 is in his mind. The following the garden, why?

Because sin came and what came through sin? Death through sin. Here's what's happening, guys. Death was never meant to touch you. Humans were not made to die. We were made to live with God forever. But we sinned and death comes through sin. Death piggybacks on sin. Sin is the thing that looks really good, but there's a poison pill buried in the middle of it, which kills us. And Jesus is looking at this situation that's tied directly back to Adam and Eve in the garden. And Jesus is just getting angry about the devil and about death. And so he walks up to the tomb in verse 39. Here's how we read this, guys. I want to change this. We read this in a very boss who's up the tombess. Rolleth away thy stone. No, I think. Take it away. This isn't a man making a request. This is the lion of Judah roaring a death. Because you have a God who's not afraid of death. You have a God who gets furious about death. And in fact, you have a God who's made a way for death to be roared off of your life. In fact, yesterday morning we were praying and I got this image if you've got any CS Lewis fans of Lion and the Witch in the Wardrobe. There's this scene at the end of the movie where Aslan comes in the witch, the devil has frozen all the saints in stone and the very end Aslan breathes on them, it roars on them and they come back to life. And here's what that is in CS Lewis' book. Aslan represents God. Wrong will be right when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bears his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again. This is the work of God in our life moving from winter

to spring time from death to life. What's the action in the middle? The roar of God. And here's what I'm trying to say. Here's the tension. We say this a lot around here. There are certain things that are not problems to be solved. They are tensions to be managed. Stop trying to solve a problem that's actually going to be a perpetual tension. And here's the tension. On one hand, we have the fact that death is terrible. It was never meant to be. This is why it feels so unnatural for you to be at a funeral because you were never meant to be there. Death was never meant to touch us or the ones that we love. It's okay to be angry about death while holding that intention with the hope of the joy of the resurrection. This is why Christians show up to funerals different. This is why Christian funerals are different. You roll into a funeral where that person died apart from the Lord. There's no hope. But this is why funerals are my least favorite thing and it's simultaneously my favorite thing. Because that's the time where people are actually the most vulnerable to their own frailty and humanity and most thinking about their eternity and the opportunity to preach. Christ is right there because there's a tension in the room that I'm angry but could there possibly I'd be hope in this moment. And that is where Christians live is in the place of being furious and being joyful. Listen, I am so glad that we all have our own stories. I'm so glad when out of all the things, the hundreds of things I can think about that summer's miscarriage. Whenever we had that years ago, I am so glad that Jesus was not like stop crying humans. Don't you know the hope of the resurrection? No, no, no. He put his arms around our shoulders and he wept with us. He sits with us and our pain. That's the tension. That is the tension. I hate funerals, guys. I hate, I hate cancer. Come on. I'm tired of car wrecks. I am tired of small caskets. I'm tired of it. I'm furious about it. I hate death. I hate that death has touched every single one of you and your families. I hate that. It hurts so bad because it was never meant to be. But in your anger, don't grieve without hope because we have the hope of the resurrection. And the good news today is death has an expiration date. Revelation 20, right at the very end, verse 14, "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." Do you understand this? The right at the very end, the last thing to die is death itself. And in that day, when death dies, listen, there will be no more weeping and there will be no more mourning. There will be no more cancer. There will be no more Alzheimer's. There will be no more car wrecks. There will be no more small caskets because the old order of

things has passed away. And behold, all things are becoming new. All because of King Jesus, who knowing the end still weeps with us in the middle. Praise be to God. He's the third lesson, third lesson from the funeral. Jesus goes into his tomb so we can come out of ours. John 11 is the turning point of the entire book of John. to the religious establishment. But this story actually changes everything, which is so hard to believe. Come on, just try and put your mind around this. Like, a guy is dead for four days. Jesus rolls in, raises him back to life, and then the leaders are like, "We gotta do something about this guy." (congregation laughing) What? How does that not open up? And here's the deal, guys. Jesus actually eludes to this in another place. Even if somebody raised back from the dead, some people would be like, "No, no, no, I don't want that." Because this is not like a prove it to me sort of thing. This is a heart that just says, "No, I don't want God." That's what Jesus is running into. There's a difference in like, "I want proof," and like, "No, I've already decided in my heart, I hate God." That's what's happening in this story. In verse 47, right after this, what actually happens is it says many believe because of the miracle, there's like five ops, who like run back and tell the religious leaders about what Jesus just did.

It says, "Then the chief priest in the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin." This is like the Supreme Court of Israel. And they're like, "What are we accomplishing?" In other words, like, our tactics are not working on Jesus. Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Well, that's terrible, right? Because then the Romans will come and take, oh, there it is. There it is. Then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. Oh, in other words, like our power will be disrupted. Then one of them named Kiphus, who's the high priest, you run into him over the next few chapters. He spoke up and he said, "You guys know nothing at all." And catch this, you do not realize that it is better for you that one man died for the people than that the whole nation perish. Wow, say that again, Kiphus. Here's what's happening. He did not say this on his own, but his high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. He'll pause just real quick. Lots of times, you actually see this in the Bible. You see this in culture today. Wicked leaders still somehow do godly things.

Stop, stop real quick. That's not because of them. That's because God's hand is on the office that they sit in. Don't confuse the two. That person is not righteous, that pastor is not righteous, that leader is not righteous, but the office that they sit in God's hand is on authority and how authority flows. And so Kiphus doesn't prophesy, the office prophesies through Kiphus. It's better for one man to die than for everybody to die. Did you catch that? And not only for the Jewish nation, but for also those who are scattered children of God us to bring them together and to make them one. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. Here's what I'm saying guys. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is what led Jesus to the cross. Let me connect those dots. That day outside of Lazarus' tomb, Jesus has two tombs in mind. Lazarus' and his own. And as Jesus stands outside of Lazarus' tomb and screams, "Lazarus, come out." He knows in just a few days the people are gonna scream, "Jesus, go in." When he screams, "Lazarus, come out." He knows that means Jesus, go in. But here's what I love.

Jesus walked towards Lazarus' tomb knowing it would ultimately lead him to his own tomb. He traded places with Lazarus because that's just how amazing Jesus is. Jesus did not stumble to the cross. Jesus boldly marched to the cross to trade our tomb for his. He got us out of our tomb by going into his. Jesus stood at Lazarus' tomb and screamed, "Come out." Because he knew that one day he would come out of his tomb so we could all come out of our tombs. Jesus went into his tomb so we could come out of ours. He sacrificed his life so we could go free. How do I say that Jesus is the master of tombs? Jesus is the defender of death. Jesus is the conquering lion who paraded out of the tomb and made an open show of your enemy, death itself. So if our faith is in Jesus, listen guys, good news, you no longer have to be afraid of the tomb because Jesus walked out of his tomb to liberate us from ours. And here's how I say it. Unless Jesus comes back first, okay? Every single one of us will die in the flesh. And I know you don't like to be reminded of that. I know, you know, I didn't come to sure today to hear that. Okay, you're gonna die. But you and I, I'm gonna die too, okay? Remember, don't pray for me to come back. All right, take this sound bite one day, okay?

But I love how verse four says it. I'm gonna end with this thought, verse four. Jesus said this illness does not lead to death. I love that word too. I love that word too. This illness does not lead to death. My friend Montel, Jordan, used to say this a lot, talking about Psalm 23. He would say that the good shepherd leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, not to the valley of the shadow of death. Therefore, if your story still stuck in death, know that your story is not over, because the good shepherd never abandons his sheep in the valley. He never takes you to death, but he will take you through death. I'm here today to tell you that Jesus never leads us to death, but he will lead us through death. In fact, I'll just, I wanna end with this thought and print it on your mind. Our story will one day have a through death moment, but because of Jesus, it will never have a to death moment. And guys, there is one hand you want next to you when you die in the flesh. It's not the hand of your spouse. Praise God. It's not the hand of your doctor, it's the hand of Jesus. You know, everybody's consumed with this, "Oh, what's it gonna be like? What's it gonna be like?

What's it gonna be like on the other side? What's it gonna be like?" And there's some hints, Revelation 21, 22, go real later. There's some hints, okay? Everybody's gonna say, "What's it gonna be like? What's it gonna be like? What's it gonna be like?" I'm much more consumed with, who's gonna be there? 'Cause I got news for you, okay? It's only called heaven 'cause God's there. If you get to heaven and Jesus is not there. Sorry you ate in heaven, bro. I'm like, you're in for a rude awakening in the next three seconds, right, yeah? There's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's a train. Okay. "I'm not anxious for death. I don't long for death. I know to be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord. I know it's far better to be with him like Paul said, but for your sake and the same thing for your families and everything like that for you. But like for your sake, we're still here. Like I'm sore, but here's what I know. I cannot wait for the day when I hear the voice of my good shepherd 'cause his sheep knows voice.

And on that day, I will instantly recognize his voice. It's the voice I've heard since I said yes to him. It's the hand I took when I was 14. One day it will lead me all the way home. 'Cause he's alive, guys. This isn't a fairy tale. Jesus isn't trapped in a tomb somewhere. No, like resurrected, ascended, coming back again. Therefore the only one who himself has gone through death, not to death, to it, through it, is actually the same one who can come back when we die in the flesh and take us through death as well. And here's how he says I'm gonna read it one more time. The first 25, Jesus said to Martha and to us. I am the resurrection in the life. Pause. He doesn't say he gives resurrection. He is resurrection. Then say he gives life. He is life. So in other words, Jesus cannot give you something that you kinda like put in a bucket and take away from him. He is those things. So if you want those things, you have to stay connected to him. If you want resurrection, stay connected to resurrection. If you want life, stay connected to the one who is life. And he says the one who believes in me will live, even though they die. He's talking about Lazarus.

Good news, guys. If you have family who's gone before you who died in Christ, the one who believes in me will live, even though they die. And for those of us who are hearing my voice today, whoever lives by believing in me will never die. You will never die. If you live by believing in Jesus, then he has the most important question ever. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Guys, you have to answer that question. bow our heads. Let's talk to the Lord. I want to ask you the most important question ever. How sure are you that you will never die? A friend of mine who's a pastor. He asked it like this. From a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest. How sure are you that you're born again? How sure are you that you will never die? And here's the deal. Walking out on the street you'll find people one, two, three, zero. You'll find four, five, six. Come on even in church you'll find sevens, eights, and nines. Some of you today are like maybe like a seven. Guys I got good news for you. You don't have to live as a seven. You don't have to live as a four. You don't have to live as a three. Listen, you're your answer to that question. Wherever whatever if you have a number besides ten your life looks radically different than if your answer is ten. It changes how you pray. It changes how you relate to your family. It changes how you respond to the frailty of your flesh when you sin. It changes everything. It changes how you worship. It changes everything. And Jesus has provided a way for you and I to be convinced as a ten. You know the longer I live the more I realize that how incapable I am of saving myself. There's a reason why in that story of Jesus with the adulterous woman all the old people drop the rocks first because they're the most aware of what they've done in their life and how much they need forgiveness. I am more aware today than I have in my entire life.

How much I need Jesus and how incapable I am of saving myself. Listen, it's not that Jesus brings six to this situation and I bring four to equal ten. The only thing I bring to my salvation is my sin. That's it. I bring a zero to this equation. So if I'm gonna be confident then Jesus has to be the ten. Good news Jesus is the ten. Jesus is enough. The blood of Jesus is more than enough to forgive you and to save you and to resurrect you. Through him death was nailed to the cross and it was defeated in the empty tomb. His death, his burial. Listen, it kills our sins and his resurrection secures our eternal life and when I believe in his finished work and build my life on what he's done what he has done is them imparted to me. I am saved. I am clean. I'm forgiven. I'm free and I'm resurrected to live a new life as a child of God for the rest of my life because listen is my greatest desire. Listen for every single one of us to hear those same words that Lazarus wrote. One day you and I in faith in Christ we'll hear Lazarus. Get up. Put your name in there. Put your name in there. Samantha, Rebecca, John, whatever it is. One day I will hear Johnson. Get up. It'll be the voice that I've always wanted to hear up close. And listen today I don't know where you're out if you're a zero or you're a nine. Some of you walked in here totally a million miles away. Some of you just walked in here with condemnation sitting on your shoulder. Today God wants to convince you that Jesus is more than enough. Okay and if that's you today you need to make a decision for Jesus. Either I just need to plant my flag and just say I'm going all in or I'm allowing the death of Jesus in his resurrection to wash away my shame or some of you say I'm putting my faith in Jesus for the very first time. If that's you would you just do me a favor raise up your hand. We're gonna pray together okay. Yeah I lifted up high. This is the, this is your moving from death to life man. It's amazing. It's incredible. Praise God for that. You can put your hands down. We're gonna pray together. Let's let's let's pray like this and family of God's gonna pray with you as well. Just say to Jesus you're the defeater of death. The one who conquered the grave. I need you today because I have sinned and sin brought death into my life. I've made decisions that went away from you. I chose evil. I chose

But today... I cannot save myself. I need a Savior and His name is Jesus Christ. Today, I confess Jesus is my Savior and He is my Lord. And because of Jesus, I will never die. So right now, I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus and I am resurrected because of His empty tomb. I am a child of God, forgiven, and free. And I will live for God the rest of my life. And I will never die. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Come on, let's just lift up our hands to the Lord. This is just one final thing. Let's lift up our hands to the Lord. This is surrender, open hands, open hands. It's not clenching anything. God, we're opening it all to you. God, anything we've been clinging on to, anything we've been demanding that you do it our way. God, today, we open up our fingers and we buy into the higher plan of the one whose ways are higher than our ways and whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And we know that you still love us even when you don't do it the way we thought you would. God, I thank you that you still weep with us in the meantime, even though you know how the story ends. That shows the heart of our Father. And God, I thank you, most of all, that when we were trapped in our tomb,

wrapped up and bound up on day four, we heard the voice of Jesus saying, "Come out because I'm coming in." That you died for sinners like us and you rose again for the glory of the Father so that we could live with you forever. God, I thank you, the death will never touch the family of God. And we claim that over ourselves, we claim that over our children, we rejoice in those who have gone before us in the Lord, that we will never die all because of Jesus. And all the saints said, "Amen, amen." Come on, let's get forward to God. (congregation applauding) - Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you, but we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, our even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you. You're important to us. And we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon.