Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Restoration

Introduction:

3 Things Jesus Calls Restored Failures to Do (John 21:1-25):

  1. Care for His people. (John 21:15-17)
  2. Follow Him to the end. (John 21:18-19)
  3. Refuse to Compare yourself with others. (John 21:20-23)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 00:58-01:01

    Open your Bibles with me please to John 21.

    01:03-01:04

    John 21.

    01:07-01:11

    Down this last stretch here, we see Jesus accomplished the purpose for which He came.

    01:13-01:19

    To die on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sins, and to raise from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.

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    And in the day that Jesus resurrected, He appeared to His disciples, remember, without Thomas.

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    And then eight days later, appeared again, Thomas with them.

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    And in those meetings, Jesus left the disciples and us two things.

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    He said, "There's a mission.

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    You need to be empowered by the Spirit to deal with sin." That was last week's message.

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    But Jesus also left a blessing, and that's especially for us when Jesus said, "Blessed for those who haven't seen yet believe.

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    And truthfully the gospel could have ended in chapter 20.

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    But there's a major loose end that needs tied up here.

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    And that's Peter.

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    Remember back in chapter 18, Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends.

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    And he was arrested, heading to his darkest hour.

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    And Peter, the closest one to Jesus, by his own admission, denied three times that he even knew who Jesus was.

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    And yeah, Jesus shows up.

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    We saw last week, Jesus shows up and he gives the mission and tells him to receive the Holy Spirit and all of that.

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    And I think even though that happened, I think Peter was still wondering.

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    Yeah, that's all well and good, but these guys didn't mess up the way I messed up.

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    Right?

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    Look at verse 1 in chapter 21.

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    It says, "After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias.

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    And He revealed Himself in this way.

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    Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

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    Simon Peter said to them, 'I'm going fishing.' Him, we will go with you.' They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." Okay, so we have seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and you're like, "Well, who are the two others? We don't know." The best guess is probably Andrew and Philip, but for some reason John didn't mention them. The interesting thing about that list, okay, There's seven of them.

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    Six of those disciples were the same disciples that were called back in chapter 1.

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    They were the first called.

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    You're like, "Who was the seventh?" Well, that was Thomas, who swore he was never missing another meeting.

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    So Peter says to them, "I'm going fishing." The others were like, "Okay, we're going with you." Now understand this, in the Greek, when Peter says, "I'm going fishing," this was more than just like passing time, like hobby.

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    This was more than that.

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    The Greek seems to indicate that this was a statement of finality, as in Peter was saying, "You know what guys, I'm going back to fishing." As in, "I don't know what to do now.

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    So I'm just going to go back to what I've known." Right?

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    I think Peter at this point, I think he thought he was done with ministry.

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    Jesus gave the call, but Peter's like, "Yeah, that's good for other people." But I blew it.

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    How could Jesus use someone like me?

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    Well, look at verse 4.

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    "Just as day was breaking," remember the fish caught nothing, "Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

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    Jesus said to them, 'Children, do you have any fish?' They answered Him, 'No.' So like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, they didn't recognize Jesus." And Jesus' statement admittedly might have irritated them.

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    Because again, the way this is constructed in the Greek, literally, Jesus' question was anticipating the negative.

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    His question was literally this, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" Like, could you imagine being one of the fishermen?

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    You're out all night fishing, and there's some guy on the shore.

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    Like, "Hey, you guys didn't catch anything, did you?" "Who is that guy?" Well, hold on.

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    Verse six, "He said to them, "'Cast a net on the right side of the boat "'and you will find some.'" They were like, "You didn't think we thought about that?" But for some reason they obeyed because look, it says, "So they cast it, "and now they were not able to haul it in "because of the quantity of fish.

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    "The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord.

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    "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, "he put on his outer garment," where he was stripped for work, "and he threw himself into the sea.

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    "The other disciples came in the boat, "dragging the net full of fish, "for they were not far from the land, "but about a hundred yards off." Okay, so John's like, when they get the miraculous catch, and John's like, "It's the Lord!" And Peter's like, "Cannonball!" And he just like jumps in and he's like, "There's no way John is beating me this time." All right, he might've beat me in the foot race, but swimming is my thing, all right?

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    So, racing to the shore, verse nine says, when they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place.

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    with fish laid out on it, and bread.

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    I've got to tell you, can you even wrap your brain around what that must have been like for Peter?

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    You're like, "What do you mean?" He gets on the shore, and there's a charcoal fire.

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    When was the last time we heard about a charcoal fire in John's Gospel?

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    John 18, servant girl, door girl, was like, "You know what his disciples are?" He said, "Peter." And Peter's like, "I have no idea who he is." And then Peter goes and he warms himself at a charcoal fire.

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    And now Jesus comes on the shore.

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    Here's Jesus crucified, resurrected, and He has a charcoal fire.

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    Do you think that reminded Peter of anything?

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    Verse 10, "Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.' So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them.

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    And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

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    Jesus said, "I'm coming to have breakfast." Now, none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?" They knew it was the Lord.

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    Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.

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    Here's an interesting little tidbit I was studying this week.

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    were a particular kind of fish that they would have caught at the Sea of Tiberias.

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    And these fish would have weighed about two pounds each.

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    All right, so help me out math people.

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    153 fish at about two pounds each is how much fish are we looking at?

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    Okay, it's like over 300 pounds of fish.

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    You know, what's interesting is the whole group Couldn't haul them in, but it says Peter did himself.

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    Manly man, right?

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    So, they realize at this point, that's Jesus.

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    And it says they didn't ask and they know, they know.

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    And amazingly, your Bible says that Jesus provided for them.

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    He served them.

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    He provided breakfast for them.

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    And you know, at this point, as they were all gathered around the charcoal fire, you know what Peter had to be thinking about.

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    The unresolved elephant in the room.

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    We never addressed this, did we?

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    That Lord, I failed You.

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    Like inexcusably failed You.

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    I royally messed up.

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    And you know when the pressure was on, I showed.

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    I denied three times that I even knew who You were.

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    Anybody else here been there?

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    I imagine that some of you are here now.

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    That you have messed up so bad, or so repeatedly, that you feel like a spiritual loser.

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    Our sin and our failure just like, it crushes us.

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    And it is in our faces.

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    And we carry this guilt around.

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    and we're like, "I'm such a failure.

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    "God's surely done with me because I'm so weak "and I thought I was so strong, "but I'm a terrible Christian." What do we do about that?

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    Like Peter, we're paralyzed by the guilt.

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    And we're just ready, like Peter, to throw in the spiritual towel, and we're gonna go back to fishing, And we'll go back to whatever is familiar, because obviously we stink at following Jesus, and we don't know what we were thinking in the first place.

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    And Jesus must be so disappointed in me.

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    You ever felt that?

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    Well, we're gonna look at Jesus' response to that.

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    But I have to remind you of three foundational truths before we get into this restoration, because this is it.

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    Three foundational truths that you need to embrace to truly understand the restoration that Jesus brings Peter to here.

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    So I jot these down.

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    Letter A.

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    Three foundational truths you need to embrace.

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    Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.

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    Okay?

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    So if you're sitting here today, and you're like, "I'm such a failure.

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    I can't believe I did that." Jesus knew you were going to fail before you did.

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    You remember Jesus told Peter exactly how he was going to fail before it happened.

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    You remember that?

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    But sometimes we get this mindset like we blow it and God must be shocked, right?

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    Like we royally messed up, and like some angel goes before the Lord and says, "Hey, you're not gonna believe what so and so did." And God's like, "What? He did what?" You think that your sin shocked God?

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    Really?

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    You think He didn't see it coming?

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    That's a strong stance to take.

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    Jesus knew you were going to fail, even before you did.

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    The letter B, foundational truth.

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    If you have received Jesus Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.

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    Even the bad ones.

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    Even the ones you haven't committed yet.

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    That is a fundamental truth.

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    We get this mindset again, "I received Christ, so now all of the sins I committed..." What's today's date?

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    Is this the 5th?

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    Is this the 5th?

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    Okay, we'll go with that.

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    All the sins I committed before December 5th, if I receive Christ today, all those are forgiven.

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    But if I sin on December 6th, I'm going to have to ask for forgiveness again.

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    That is not true.

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    When you receive Christ, you are in a position of being forgiven.

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    You are in a position of being not guilty.

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    You are pardoned.

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    And it doesn't matter.

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    And obviously as Christians, we don't want to sin.

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    We don't want to dishonor the Lord.

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    that your sin doesn't kick you out of the family, unadopt you, make you unborn again, it doesn't happen.

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    When you receive Christ, all of your sins are forgiven.

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    You stand in a state of no longer condemned.

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    And if you're struggling with that still, I want you to think, just think about it this way.

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    When Jesus was dying on the cross, how many of your sins were in the future from that moment?

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    All of them, right? All of them.

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    So all of your sins are forgiven if you're in Christ.

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    Even the ones you haven't committed yet.

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    Third foundational truth, letter C, today's the day to get back in the game.

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    Today's the day to get back in the game.

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    What are you waiting for?

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    If you're sitting here, or you're watching this stream, and you're like, "Yeah, I blew it." Someday, someday I'm going to get back on track with the Lord.

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    Someday, someday I'm going to get back to church and worship, I'm going to get back to reading my Bible someday.

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    I'm like, what are you waiting for?

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    Are you waiting for forgiveness?

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    Because Tetelestai, right?

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    It is finished.

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    That's been accomplished.

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    Today's the day to get back.

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    So knowing your outline, knowing His restoration, here's three things that Jesus calls restored failures to do.

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    Alright, with this as a foundation, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

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    Number one, care for His people.

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    Look at verse 15.

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    It says, "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." "Do you love Me more than these?" "More than these, what?" "More than these, what?" Well, some people think Jesus was talking about the fishing gear.

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    Because Peter went back to fishing, and Jesus was pointing at the nets and boats and all of that.

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    "Do you love me more than this stuff?" I don't think that's what He was talking about.

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    Some people say that Jesus was saying, "Do you love me more than you love the other disciples?" And I don't think that's what He was talking about either.

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    I think what Jesus was saying to Peter was, "Peter, do you love Me more than the other disciples love Me?" Like, why would he ask that?

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    Well, Matthew 26.33, you see it again. Mark 14.29, you see Peter elevated himself above the other disciples.

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    And he said, "Hey, even if they all fall away, Jesus, I never will.

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    They'll fail You, but not me." And Jesus is calling Peter back to that statement.

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    Like, "Hey, you love Me more than they do?" And I love Peter's response.

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    You see the humility.

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    He focuses on the Lord's knowledge, right?

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    He says, "Yes, Lord, You know.

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    You know that I love You." And Jesus says to him, "Feed My lambs." Obviously, He was saying, "Take care of My people.

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    Disciple people. Make disciples.

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    Carry out the mission of evangelism that I've called you to, Peter.

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    And My mission is loving and caring for people.

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    That's the mission.

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    And I want you to do that." And I guarantee you, Peter wanted the conversation to end right there.

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    Like, okay, got it.

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    But it didn't end there.

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    Look at verse 16.

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    Jesus said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, Simon said of John, "Do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything.

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    You know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." So Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.

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    Do you think Peter caught the connection?

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    I denied you three times, and now you're asking me three times.

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    But there's a little nuance in the Greek that is worth mentioning.

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    You see, the Greek language, there are different words for love.

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    We're kind of limited in the English language.

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    We say "love," and we say "love" about everything, right?

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    I love my wife, I love my dog, I love hockey, I love pizza.

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    I don't love all those things the same way.

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    Right?

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    But there were different words for love in the Greek, and there are two words used here.

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    And it's the word "agape," which is the self-sacrificing love, the committed love, the "you before me" kind of love.

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    And then there's "phileo," which is like affection, like brotherly love.

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    "Valeo" is the kind of love you have for your friends that you don't have for a stranger.

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    "Oh, I like this guy, and he's my buddy, and I care about this guy." That's "valeo." And sometimes, these words are used synonymously, but in this context, there's a very clear distinction that's made.

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    And it helps us understand the conversation.

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    So if I can paraphrase by inserting the words, "agape," self-sacrificing love, "phileo," brotherly love or affection.

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    To paraphrase this conversation, literally in the Greek, Jesus says to Peter, "Peter, do you agape me?

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    Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "Lord, you know I care about you." The second time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you have a God-baby?

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    Are you committed to me?" And Peter says, "You know that I care about you, Jesus." Then the third time, Jesus says, "Peter, do you care about me?" You see, when Jesus used the word that Peter used, Peter was grieved.

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    Peter was saying, "You know everything.

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    And obviously from my failure that you totally predicted, you know me better than I know myself, Jesus.

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    You know that I "faleo" you." Peter was so reluctant to make the claim of total commitment.

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    "Peter, do you agape me?" And Peter's like, "Yeah, you know, I swore that I was the most agape devoted disciple of all of them.

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    But we all saw that that wasn't true, didn't we?" Peter's saying, "All I can...

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    Phileo is, "That's all I got. I care about you. You know that I care about you, Lord." But I want you to see Jesus' plan to restore Peter was just one question.

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    And it's the most important question.

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    This is what we have to get to the heart of.

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    It's this, total agape committed love for Christ drives you to love Christ's people.

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    I just find it so fascinating that Jesus came here, obviously, to restore Peter.

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    I find it so fascinating the things that Jesus didn't do, that we would naturally do if that was us in a situation.

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    Like, what do you mean? I mean this.

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    Jesus didn't ask Peter if he was sorry.

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    Do you notice that?

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    Jesus didn't make Peter promise to never do it again.

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    Like if you want to get ministry, all right, well listen, you're going to stop this denying me stuff, all right?

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    You promise?

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    You promise?

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    You're not going to do this again?

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    He didn't.

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    Jesus didn't do those things.

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    He went right to the heart.

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    He said, "Listen, Peter, I got to ask you a question, man.

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    Do you love me?

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    He challenged Peter's love.

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    That was the question.

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    Like, why?

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    Because Jesus wants your heart.

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    Jesus knows if He has your heart, the rest of you is going to follow.

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    So for those of you who are feeling off track, not close with God right now, ashamed of yourself, I have a word for you from the Word of God, and that is this, Jesus loves you.

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    There is no question about that whatsoever.

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    God demonstrated His love once and for all.

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    He loves you.

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    Probably the only question that you need to ask yourself is, "Do you love Him?" That's what Jesus was driving at.

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    The same call to Peter is just as real to you.

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    Do you love Jesus?

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    Then feed His sheep!

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    Do you love Jesus?

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    You should show it by taking care of His people, by getting involved in ministry, by being plugged into a small group and pouring into people and investing in people's lives.

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    Be intentional about showing your love for Jesus by loving His people.

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    That's what Jesus called Peter to.

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    That's what He's calling you to today.

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    Do you love Him?

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    And you're like, "Yeah, you know what Jeff, I do, but I don't feel worthy." None of us are worthy!

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    Right?

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    And that's one of the most beautiful things about the gospel.

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    He makes you worthy.

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    And if you can't accept that, then you haven't really understood what happened on the cross.

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    For some of you, what you need to do is embrace His restoration.

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    You need to embrace His grace.

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    And absolutely, if you have wronged someone in whatever way you blew it, if you've wronged someone, you need to make restitution.

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    That's part of repentance.

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    Absolutely.

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    But it's time to end the pity party.

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    And get back on the mission.

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    "Oh, I failed, I messed up, I'm such a loser." Hey, we're all losers.

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    That's why Jesus died.

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    Back to the mission.

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    Knowing His restoration, three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

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    First of all, He says, "Care for His people." Secondly, "Follow Him to the end." Follow Him to the end.

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    Look at verse 18.

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    Jesus, again, still speaking to Peter.

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    He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted.

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    But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." What in the world is he talking about?

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    Jesus' words there seem cryptic.

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    So thankfully for us, John clarified exactly what Jesus was talking about.

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    Look at verse 19.

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    John says, "This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.

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    After saying this, he said to him, 'Follow me.'" that Peter was going to give his life for the cause of Christ, glorifying God in His death.

    29:11-29:17

    History tells us that Peter was crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.

    29:20-29:23

    And people believe that that's what Jesus is referring to here.

    29:26-29:28

    But you know this is full circle.

    29:31-29:57

    Three years prior to this event, Jesus showed up at the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias if you prefer, and after providing this fisherman named Peter a miraculous catch of fish, after all night of not catching anything, Jesus told Peter to follow Him.

    29:57-29:58

    That's in Luke 5.

    30:02-30:04

    Fast forward three years later, right here.

    30:06-30:07

    The same sea.

    30:09-30:11

    Another miraculous catch of fish.

    30:13-30:22

    After another night of not catching anything, Jesus tells a fisherman named Peter to follow Him.

    30:23-30:24

    Do you see that?

    30:25-30:29

    Peter's story ends where it began.

    30:30-30:39

    Where Jesus shows up and says, "Follow me." I mean, he answered the call before, and now Jesus is calling Peter to recommit.

    30:40-30:41

    "Okay, I have big plans for you.

    30:45-30:46

    Follow me.

    30:47-31:02

    Led by the shepherd wherever he takes you." Jesus made it so clear in His ministry that being a disciple only means being willing to follow all the way.

    31:03-31:05

    That's the only kind of disciple there is.

    31:06-31:07

    And I think that's what Jesus was driving at here.

    31:09-31:15

    Jesus doesn't have any part-time disciples, no half-committed disciples, no temporary positions available.

    31:16-31:19

    To follow Jesus means you're willing to follow all the way.

    31:21-31:22

    the only kind of disciple there is.

    31:24-31:44

    Wherever he sends you, whether it's in your backyard or in your community or overseas, whatever happens to you, sickness, loss, tragedy, opposition, what are you gonna do?

    31:44-31:44

    You're gonna quit?

    31:45-31:47

    Oh, life got hard and I quit, really?

    31:48-31:52

    Where in the brochure did it say that life was going to be easy with or without Christ.

    31:52-31:53

    What are you going to do?

    31:54-32:02

    I'll tell you what, I'd rather face the difficulties of life with Christ than try to fend for myself.

    32:05-32:09

    You see, the difference between you and Peter is you weren't told how you're going to die.

    32:11-32:14

    I'm not sure I'd want to know, actually.

    32:17-32:20

    But what you have in common with Peter told how to live.

    32:23-32:25

    Jesus, notice He didn't promise Peter it would be easy.

    32:29-32:41

    He didn't say, "Follow me, Peter, for a Cadillac type faith, health and wealth." He says, "Hey, this is going to result in a brutal death for you.

    32:41-32:46

    Follow me." Jesus promises Peter and us that the road's going to be hard.

    32:50-32:52

    Do you love Jesus? Then you need to follow Him.

    32:54-33:00

    Every new call He places on your life has to be a new opportunity for you to renew your commitment to Him.

    33:03-33:04

    You've got to follow Him to the end.

    33:06-33:09

    Number three, refuse to compare yourself with others.

    33:11-33:14

    Three things Jesus calls restored failures to do.

    33:15-33:19

    Care for his people, follow him to the end, and refuse to compare yourself with others.

    33:21-33:22

    Look at verse 20.

    33:26-33:41

    Okay, so Jesus is like, "Follow me." Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, following them, the one who had been reclining at the table close to him, and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you.

    33:44-33:59

    When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" And if you listen really close, you can almost hear the sounds of the face palms from the other disciples when Peter said this to Jesus.

    34:02-34:04

    You get the scene, "Do you love me?

    34:04-34:06

    And you're gonna give your life for me.

    34:06-34:09

    And I want you to follow me and cue the music.

    34:10-34:29

    And then you hear the needle scratching across the record when Peter's like, "But what about this man?" And all the other disciples were like, "What about this man?" Do you remember, Peter, the last time that you were comparing yourself to the other disciples?

    34:29-34:34

    "Even if they fall away, I never will." Remember how that worked out?

    34:37-34:43

    and you still have your eyes on what the other disciples are doing.

    34:46-34:46

    Wow.

    34:48-35:01

    Well, Jesus, verse 22 says, "Jesus said to him, 'It is My will that he remain until I come.'" What is that to you?

    35:04-35:05

    You follow Me.

    35:07-35:09

    What did Jesus mean by that?

    35:09-35:12

    "If it is My will that he remain until I come." Is this some...

    35:12-35:14

    Did He mean like in a spiritual sense?

    35:14-35:16

    Is He talking hypothetically?

    35:16-35:17

    Well we know what He didn't mean.

    35:17-35:33

    Verse 23, "So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die." Yeah, Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but "If it is My will that he remain until I come." What is that to you?

    35:34-35:35

    Okay, so John clarifies.

    35:37-35:43

    Because people misunderstood what Jesus said, and he thought it meant that John was going to live until the second coming of Christ.

    35:45-35:55

    Well, here's the thing, if you're so fixated on what Jesus meant by that statement, then you missed the point.

    35:57-35:59

    And Jesus' point was simply this.

    36:01-36:27

    do with John is none of your business. You follow me. But what about... I got my own thing happening with John. You don't worry about that. You, you follow me. And before we pick on Peter, we all do it.

    36:28-36:34

    We get so much more interested in other people's journey with Christ than our own.

    36:37-36:40

    Whether it's good or bad, positive or negative, we do this.

    36:40-36:42

    We get fixated on other people's walks.

    36:43-36:44

    We do it all the time.

    36:46-36:53

    So much more concerned about whether or not somebody else is following Jesus than we're We're not looking at, am I following Jesus?

    36:57-37:00

    We hear so much like Peter here.

    37:02-37:03

    I hear this all the time.

    37:03-37:07

    They're like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, did you see this church down the road?

    37:08-37:11

    They're basing their entire Christmas sermons.

    37:11-37:13

    They're Christmas, they were advertising.

    37:13-37:16

    They're basing their entire Christmas sermons on Michael Jackson songs.

    37:17-37:21

    Like, what do you think about that?" Like, I really don't care.

    37:23-37:26

    What that church is doing has nothing to do with me, right?

    37:27-37:27

    Not my business.

    37:29-37:32

    There's only one church that I'm really concerned about, and it's this one.

    37:36-37:43

    Jesus says, "You follow me." And some of you are like, "Well, what about the sex abuse in the Catholic church?" Pray for them.

    37:46-37:48

    But that has nothing to do with your walk, does it?

    37:50-37:57

    Jesus says, "You follow me." Somebody would say, "Well, what about my husband?

    37:57-38:02

    He doesn't go to church, he doesn't seem interested." And I would say, "Well, Jesus will deal with him.

    38:03-38:12

    And Jesus is dealing with you when he says, 'You follow me.'" And I just, I've heard this so many times.

    38:13-38:22

    You know, that preacher on TV did this, and I went to this church, and it was scandalous, and the pastor did this and he was, and they're all hypocrites.

    38:22-38:29

    And somehow people use that as justification to not follow Christ personally.

    38:30-38:31

    Like, why don't you follow Christ?

    38:31-38:33

    Because I saw some TV preacher did this.

    38:33-38:34

    What?

    38:35-38:36

    Who gives a rep?

    38:38-38:39

    There's hypocrites everywhere.

    38:41-38:43

    And when you do that, you're just like Peter.

    38:44-38:46

    Oh, what about this guy?

    38:47-38:51

    And Jesus says to you, just what He says to Peter, "Hey, not your business.

    38:53-38:57

    You follow me." Because here's the reality.

    38:59-39:09

    If you're gonna start comparing yourself to other people, you are always going to find somebody further down the road than you, more mature than you, has their act together a little bit better than you.

    39:09-39:11

    You're always gonna find that person.

    39:12-39:22

    And you'll, "Oh, I'm never gonna be as good as that guy." And you're always gonna find somebody that is dishonoring Christ and making a mockery of the faith.

    39:22-39:23

    You're always gonna find that guy too.

    39:26-39:29

    And their journey has nothing to do with you.

    39:30-39:36

    Comparing yourself with someone else is pointless because God has a plan for you and your journey.

    39:37-39:42

    And the only person that you need to worry about, are they following Jesus?

    39:42-39:42

    That's you.

    39:44-39:46

    You need to worry about you, all right?

    39:47-39:48

    So have you blown it?

    39:49-39:49

    Did you get off track?

    39:49-39:53

    Do you feel guilty that you failed Christ in some way?

    39:53-39:54

    Well, listen, you're forgiven.

    39:55-39:58

    Tetelestai, your sins have been paid for.

    40:01-40:06

    You need to get back to one thing, and that's asking yourself this, do I love Jesus Christ?

    40:08-40:08

    Do I love him?

    40:12-40:12

    Well, then prove it.

    40:14-40:15

    He proved his love for you.

    40:15-40:17

    What are you doing to prove your love for him?

    40:18-40:19

    Get back on the horse.

    40:20-40:21

    Care for his people.

    40:22-40:24

    Be faithful no matter what happens.

    40:25-40:27

    And stop comparing yourself to others.

    40:29-40:31

    As Jesus says to you today, "Do you love me?

    40:36-40:38

    "Follow me." Last two verses here.

    40:40-40:45

    Says, "This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things.

    40:46-40:48

    And we know that his testimony is true.

    40:50-40:53

    Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.

    40:53-40:55

    Were every one of them to be written?

    40:56-41:01

    I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

    41:03-41:09

    So John's gospel is completed, though he could have written a whole lot more.

    41:12-41:14

    But the story of Jesus is far from over.

    41:17-41:18

    Because that story includes you.

    41:20-41:21

    Yes, you.

    41:23-41:24

    Even if you messed up.

    41:26-41:28

    Even if you messed up really bad.

    41:30-41:32

    Let Jesus restore you.

    41:34-41:35

    Because you've got some sheep to feed.

    41:36-41:38

    Alright? Let's pray.

    41:39-41:46

    Father in heaven, we thank you for the grace in which we stand.

    41:50-41:59

    That if we're truly being honest, there's not a person in this room or watching this stream that deserves anything from you.

    42:00-42:02

    And you've given us everything.

    42:05-42:27

    Every single one of us should stand eternally condemned for the way that we've dishonored you with horribly wicked thoughts, harsh words, deceptive actions, hateful conduct, that you put our sin on your son.

    42:30-42:33

    And oh, like Peter, we still mess up.

    42:33-42:36

    And like Peter, we still wonder if we should just go back to doing things our old way.

    42:39-42:41

    But we see Jesus still pursue us.

    42:44-42:54

    So Father, I want to pray specifically for the person who maybe feels like they've messed up so badly that there's no possible way you're ever going to do anything with them.

    42:56-43:04

    I pray, Father, You would bring to their heart and mind the path of restitution and repentance needs to look like if they've wronged anyone.

    43:04-43:13

    But Father, I pray that they would embrace the reality that all of our sins are forgiven in Christ.

    43:16-43:18

    And it's Your desire to bring us to a better place.

    43:22-43:23

    I pray, Father, they wouldn't delay.

    43:26-43:33

    Let your Spirit press on them the urgency of getting back, defeating your sheep.

    43:36-43:38

    I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John
21:1-25

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. Why did Jesus ask Peter three times if Peter loved Him (John 21:15-17)? Why was Peter grieved (John 21:17)? What does this conversation teach us about the Lord's restoration of a failure?

  3. What was Jesus telling Peter to do when He said “Feed my lambs / Tend my sheep” (John 21:15-17)? What is this commanding us to do, ie, how do we fulfill that?

  4. Why did Peter ask about John (John 21:21)? Why do we tend to compare our walk with Christ with someone else's? Why is this foolish?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resurrection - Part 2

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:19-31):

  1. A Mission . (John 20:21)

    John 17:18 - As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Two Ways We are Sent Like Jesus:

  1. You are sent in the Power of the Sirit . (John 20:22)

    Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature

    Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

  2. You are sent to Deal with Sin . (John 20:23)

    Matthew 16:19 - I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

  1. A Blessing . (John 20:24-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 01:05-01:21

    Last week we saw the empty tomb, and we talked about the evidence of the empty tomb, we talked about the significance of the empty tomb, and we saw, like Mary, how your sorrow will turn to joy when you turn to the resurrected Christ.

    01:22-01:32

    And it's interesting that, speaking of the resurrection of Jesus, the first person to see Jesus alive was Mary Magdalene.

    01:33-01:36

    Now I gotta be honest with you, that's not how I would have done it.

    01:37-01:54

    If I would have done it, I would have had the resurrected Jesus first show up at the Sanhedrin and say, "Do you believe now who I said I am?" And then I would have gone to Herod's place.

    01:56-02:02

    And I would have said, "Look." Then I would have stopped off at Pilate's place, right?

    02:02-02:04

    I have this whole thing in my mind.

    02:04-02:11

    But you know, God didn't really ask my opinion on any of this.

    02:12-02:19

    Obviously, God's wisdom surpasses my wisdom by an infinite margin.

    02:20-02:24

    And God often does things I really don't expect.

    02:25-02:35

    Like, the first person to resurrect Jesus showed up to reveal Himself to was, in the world's eyes, a nobody.

    02:36-02:37

    Honestly.

    02:38-02:40

    But to God, somebody very significant.

    02:40-02:47

    Well, the disciples were not expecting a resurrection.

    02:47-02:49

    We talked about that.

    02:49-02:58

    They were told over and over and over, Jesus said, "I'm going to be handed over to evil men, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be raised on the third day." And it's just always right over their head.

    02:59-03:00

    They missed it.

    03:02-03:05

    And we saw last week, they knew Jesus' body was gone.

    03:05-03:06

    They didn't understand what it meant.

    03:06-03:08

    They didn't understand what it meant to them.

    03:08-03:09

    We saw that in verse nine.

    03:10-03:20

    So finally, here in the passage you were looking at today, Jesus reveals to the group of disciples that he did, in fact, rise from the dead.

    03:22-03:35

    To understand sort of what's happening in this passage, I want you to think, like, you know how, like, when parents will go away for a few days and leave the kids behind.

    03:36-03:41

    Now, some of you parents have kids old enough where you've had to give the little speech, right?

    03:42-03:46

    And some of you are kids here that have had parents give you that speech.

    03:46-03:51

    Maybe some of you are young enough that you remember back when your parents had to give you that speech.

    03:51-03:54

    But the parents have to go for a few days, and they're leaving.

    03:54-03:55

    and like, okay, I'm coming back.

    03:56-04:00

    But you know the little speech your parents give you, the last instructions before they leave.

    04:02-04:03

    You know what I'm talking about?

    04:04-04:04

    I can start over.

    04:05-04:09

    Look, this is the introduction that I wrote, we're going with this one, all right?

    04:11-04:13

    But you know what I'm talking about, right?

    04:13-04:16

    The parents are like, look, I'm gonna be back soon.

    04:17-04:18

    No wild parties.

    04:19-04:20

    Do your chores.

    04:22-04:23

    Take care of your sister.

    04:24-04:25

    You know what I'm talking about?

    04:26-04:28

    You're like, no Jeff, I don't leave my kids behind.

    04:30-04:34

    All right, well, maybe you know somebody that has.

    04:35-04:40

    But it's sort of the same thing happening here on a more grand level.

    04:41-04:42

    Jesus is leaving soon.

    04:44-04:47

    And in this passage we're looking at, he has the disciples assembled.

    04:47-04:50

    And these are sort of the last instructions.

    04:51-04:52

    He's like, I'm leaving and I'm coming back.

    04:52-04:56

    And by the way, here's what you need to be working on while I'm gone.

    04:59-05:00

    Very important things he was leaving them with.

    05:00-05:02

    Look at verse 19.

    05:02-05:18

    It says, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

    05:20-05:23

    the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

    05:23-05:25

    So this is Sunday evening, right?

    05:25-05:28

    The same evening when Jesus resurrected.

    05:29-05:33

    And your Bible says the disciples, they locked themselves in.

    05:33-05:34

    They were afraid they were next.

    05:34-05:36

    Okay, they just crucified the Lord.

    05:36-05:37

    They're going to come after us.

    05:38-05:41

    So they kind of barricaded themselves in the room, right?

    05:42-05:46

    And Jesus just, he just shows up.

    05:48-05:52

    Even though the doors were locked, all of a sudden, Jesus is standing there.

    05:54-05:54

    And what does he do?

    05:54-05:58

    He proves his bodily resurrection to the disciples.

    05:59-05:59

    Did you see that?

    06:00-06:02

    He shows them the crucifixion wounds.

    06:02-06:05

    Look at my hands and look at my side.

    06:06-06:10

    This is the same body that was put in the tomb and it is resurrected.

    06:12-06:17

    I don't know, I kind of chuckled just kind of reading this and studying this this week.

    06:17-06:25

    It says, "Then the disciples were glad "when they saw the Lord." I'm like, could that not be like the understatement of the millennium?

    06:26-06:29

    It's like, oh, you rose from the dead, well I'm glad.

    06:32-06:40

    Okay, the reason it's worded that way is because when you study the other gospels, initially they were terrified, which I totally get that.

    06:40-06:48

    But John here is adding, they weren't just terrified, There was actually some excitement about that.

    06:48-06:51

    But we see here that this wasn't just a quick hello.

    06:52-07:04

    Jesus, like the parents leaving for a while and coming back, Jesus wanted to leave the disciples, them and us, with two things in light of his resurrection.

    07:04-07:07

    So jot this down if you're taking notes, which we always encourage.

    07:07-07:10

    Here's two things that Jesus left us.

    07:11-07:11

    All right?

    07:12-07:13

    Two things Jesus left us.

    07:13-07:14

    Number one, write this down.

    07:15-07:16

    He left us a mission.

    07:16-07:20

    This is Jesus' last charge to the group of the disciples.

    07:20-07:24

    This is, in John's Gospel, this is the Great Commission.

    07:25-07:25

    All right?

    07:26-07:27

    You're gonna see that here in a second.

    07:27-07:35

    And this is to all the disciples, to them and to us, and Jesus gives a three-verse sermon.

    07:36-07:39

    And you're like, man, Pastor Jeff, why can't you be more like Jesus?

    07:42-07:43

    I'm a work in progress like you.

    07:44-07:46

    But a three verse sermon, all right?

    07:46-07:47

    Look at verse 21.

    07:47-07:52

    It says, "Jesus said to them, again, "'Peace be with you.

    07:53-08:00

    "'As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.'" Does that sound familiar at all?

    08:01-08:15

    Actually, in John 17, Jesus, high priestly prayer before the betrayal and arrest and crucifixion, Before all of that, Jesus was praying very specifically to his father.

    08:15-08:21

    He says, "As you sent me into the world, "so I have sent them into the world." We can't miss this.

    08:22-08:23

    Why was Jesus sent?

    08:25-08:31

    Jesus says he's sending us the way he was sent, so we have to ask, why was he sent?

    08:33-08:35

    He was sent to save the lost, wasn't he?

    08:36-08:39

    Wasn't Jesus sent to bring salvation to sinners like us?

    08:40-08:41

    Isn't that why he came?

    08:42-08:43

    Pretty clear.

    08:44-08:46

    But let's look a little deeper.

    08:47-08:59

    Because Jesus said, "As the Father sent me," not just for the same purpose, in the same way that the Father sent me, that is the way that I am sending you.

    09:00-09:01

    Like, what do you mean?

    09:01-09:02

    Here's what I mean.

    09:03-09:07

    When you study your Gospels, We've been going through John for the last three years.

    09:08-09:09

    I'm sure you've noticed this.

    09:09-09:13

    Jesus saw his whole life as always being on mission.

    09:13-09:14

    You notice that?

    09:16-09:19

    Jesus never deviated from the message.

    09:21-09:25

    Jesus never talked about early sabbatical or retirement.

    09:25-09:29

    Jesus never let frustration sideline him.

    09:29-09:32

    He's like, "Look, I'm here for a mission.

    09:32-09:33

    "I'm here to glorify God.

    09:33-09:39

    I'm here to bring the message of salvation, and nothing is going to derail me from that.

    09:40-09:42

    His whole life on mission.

    09:44-09:48

    And I have to ask you, do you see yourself on mission?

    09:50-09:51

    Listen to me church.

    09:51-10:02

    Are you constantly, actively, conscious of the fact that God wants to reach lost people through you.

    10:03-10:06

    Is that something that you carry with you 24/7?

    10:08-10:15

    If yes, then you're being sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him.

    10:16-10:19

    If no, then you missed something.

    10:22-10:28

    And I think we, especially in our culture, I think we tend to compartmentalize our lives.

    10:29-10:30

    You know what I mean by that?

    10:32-10:35

    I mean when I'm at work, I'm the worker.

    10:35-10:38

    And when I'm home, I'm husband and dad.

    10:38-10:44

    But when it comes to the religious stuff, that's church, right?

    10:44-10:49

    All the Jesus and prayer and Bible stuff, that's Sunday morning.

    10:50-10:52

    And that's small group.

    10:52-10:56

    But I don't take that stuff with me to work.

    10:56-10:59

    And I don't really make a big deal of that stuff at home.

    10:59-11:01

    We have these little compartments.

    11:05-11:20

    When the reality is, if we are sent by Jesus the way the Father sent Him, that means you are on mission every single day, listen to me, in every arena in which the Lord places you.

    11:21-11:24

    You are the missionary.

    11:27-11:28

    in your workplace.

    11:30-11:33

    Like man, those people could use some Jesus down where I work.

    11:34-11:34

    Well, guess what?

    11:34-11:36

    They have a missionary there.

    11:36-11:37

    It's you.

    11:38-11:39

    God has you there.

    11:42-11:44

    For His light to shine through.

    11:45-11:49

    Like man, I just wish my home was more about seeking the Lord.

    11:49-11:50

    Guess what?

    11:51-11:52

    God has a missionary in your home.

    11:53-11:53

    And that's you.

    11:55-12:00

    What would our church look like if everybody here embraced that?

    12:00-12:08

    If everybody here was like, "I'm embracing the mission that Jesus is sending me, the way the Father sent Him." What would this church look like?

    12:09-12:15

    I guarantee you we wouldn't be meeting in here unless we went to like six services immediately.

    12:17-12:24

    But sadly, too often, Christians, we just do the Christian thing in our holy huddle, right?

    12:26-12:28

    I came across a great quote this week.

    12:28-12:30

    Great because it was like super convicting.

    12:31-12:41

    Somebody said, "Christians are like people with colds sneezing on each other." Nobody's catching it because everybody got it.

    12:42-12:43

    Jesus gave us a mission.

    12:44-12:46

    He's sending you out the same way He was sent out.

    12:48-12:52

    You're like, "Well, how was He sent?" Well, He elaborates on this three-verse sermon.

    12:53-13:00

    "Two ways we are sent like Jesus." Underneath the mission, letter A, "You are sent in the power of the Spirit." Look at verse 22 with me.

    13:01-13:03

    "You are sent in the power of the Spirit.

    13:03-13:11

    And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Stop there.

    13:13-13:16

    It says, "He breathed on them." Does that sound familiar at all?

    13:18-13:20

    That sound like a callback to Genesis 2?

    13:21-13:22

    Remember Genesis 2?

    13:22-13:32

    It says the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

    13:33-13:39

    See, the first man, Adam, became a living being when God breathed the breath of life into him.

    13:41-13:53

    And in a parallel sense, now we have God breathing the breath of life into those who will be born again, right?

    13:55-14:04

    Right now, maybe you're asking the same question that I asked this week, and I spent a lot of time studying.

    14:06-14:10

    You're like, "Well, what exactly happened in this passage?

    14:11-14:14

    Because I thought the Holy Spirit didn't come until Pentecost, right?

    14:15-14:17

    Acts chapter two, 40 days later.

    14:18-14:20

    So what exactly was happening here?

    14:21-14:22

    Like, that's a really good question.

    14:25-14:26

    What did happen here?

    14:26-14:27

    Well, look again.

    14:29-14:42

    It says, "Jesus, He breathed on them "and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" And the actual act of receiving the Spirit did not happen in this moment.

    14:43-14:45

    This was the announcement.

    14:46-14:49

    Pentecost was the fulfillment.

    14:51-14:56

    And you're like, "Well, how do we know that?" Again, good question. Here's how we know that.

    14:58-15:03

    First of all, all John says is Jesus made this statement, right?

    15:03-15:09

    You don't see anything in the text indicating that this was the moment that it actually happened.

    15:10-15:13

    But the Bible is crystal clear when it actually did happen.

    15:13-15:15

    Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, 40 days later.

    15:18-15:28

    But another interesting thing is if this is the moment that they receive the Holy Spirit, why does Jesus, in Acts chapter 1, verse 8-- you know Acts 1, 8?

    15:29-15:32

    Because some of us here, we spent a whole year on this verse.

    15:32-15:35

    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

    15:35-15:39

    And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

    15:40-15:41

    Excuse me, the end of the earth.

    15:43-15:48

    Jesus said this right before His ascension, and it was after this event here.

    15:48-15:53

    Why did He promise them the Holy Spirit if they already received the Holy Spirit?

    15:55-16:09

    And another reason, I believe, that this was the announcement, Pentecost was the actual fulfillment, is this - when the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2, the Bible says that the disciples were completely transformed.

    16:11-16:16

    And in this passage, they weren't transformed at all, yet.

    16:18-16:24

    Because we're going to see in verse 26, eight days later after this event, where are the disciples?

    16:25-16:30

    They're again holed up in a locked room, barricaded, scared, afraid, no comfort, no peace.

    16:32-16:37

    We don't see the Holy Spirit transforming them here in the way that happened at Pentecost.

    16:37-16:47

    So I believe for all of those reasons that Jesus was simply here announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit and preparing them.

    16:50-16:51

    And you see there's a definite parallel here.

    16:54-16:57

    Because Jesus' ministry began when?

    16:59-17:02

    When the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, right?

    17:02-17:03

    Right after His baptism.

    17:05-17:11

    Our ministry begins when by faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit comes and entwels us.

    17:14-17:19

    It's important that Jesus mentions this here because this is truly the only way our ministry is effective.

    17:22-17:31

    Without the Holy Spirit guiding us and empowering us and teaching and loving people through us you see we can make a lot of things happen.

    17:31-17:35

    We have the talent and creativity and people network stuff in this room.

    17:35-17:37

    We can make a lot of stuff happen.

    17:41-17:51

    But if what's happening here isn't powered by the Holy Spirit and directed by the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit isn't behind the work happening here, it's not going to matter for eternity.

    17:54-17:59

    So Jesus is reminding here, to do the mission, you have to receive the Holy Spirit.

    18:01-18:11

    sent in the power of the Spirit. Another way that we're sent like Jesus, write this down, letter B, you're sent to deal with sin. You're sent to deal with sin.

    18:12-18:22

    Like whoa, what do you mean deal with sin? Because didn't Jesus pay the penalty once for all for sin, right? It is finished. Tetelestai, right Matt? Call Tetelestai.

    18:23-18:36

    So like what do you mean we got to deal with sin? Look, yes, it is finished. But Verse 23, He says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

    18:36-18:44

    If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Like, what in the world is He talking about here?

    18:46-18:50

    Well, this verse has been extremely misunderstood.

    18:52-19:02

    In fact, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this verse means the priest has the ability to grant forgiveness or to withhold forgiveness.

    19:02-19:09

    You go to confession, you confess your sins, and it's up to the priest as to whether or not you're good with God or not.

    19:11-19:42

    And I knew a lady one time who told me she had a really rough background and she was really trying to get her life on track with the Lord and she went to this Catholic church and she went to the confessional and she said, "Hey, I've made a lot of mistakes "and I really messed things up and I'm trying to get my life on track with God, and I just want to know if I can be forgiven." And the priest said to her, "No." He said, "You are a..." I'm not going to repeat the word, but it's a very derogatory word for women.

    19:42-19:53

    He said, "You are a blank, and there is no forgiveness for you." And she walked out of that church going, "What am I supposed to do?

    19:54-19:58

    I thought that I could go to God and He would change things.

    19:59-20:02

    And the priest sent me on my way and said I can't be forgiven.

    20:03-20:07

    That is a gross misinterpretation of this verse.

    20:09-20:12

    You're like, "Well, what does it mean?" It means this.

    20:15-20:19

    This is so important. Please mark this down.

    20:19-20:26

    It means by the power of the Spirit, We have the authority to declare God's message.

    20:26-20:27

    That's what this means.

    20:28-20:32

    Now understand the Bible was not written in English, right?

    20:33-20:42

    We have Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic, and specifically here as we're talking about Greek, there were different figures of speech and things that we don't understand.

    20:46-20:52

    When we just read certain verses like this, We have to dig a little deeper.

    20:54-20:57

    Back in Matthew 16, verse 19, Jesus said this to Peter.

    20:58-21:01

    He said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." Look at this.

    21:01-21:18

    He says, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And this is the exact same thing here that Jesus said to Peter back in Matthew 16.

    21:20-21:28

    What he's saying is this, you are authorized to repeat the message of heaven.

    21:30-21:37

    Meaning we have the authority to declare forgiveness and unforgiveness.

    21:40-21:44

    It can be translated this way, literally, those who sins you forgive have already been forgiven.

    21:45-21:48

    Those who sins you do not forgive haven't been forgiven.

    21:49-21:51

    We have the authority to announce it.

    21:51-21:53

    We do not have the authority to make it happen.

    21:55-21:56

    Like I don't understand.

    21:57-21:58

    It's just simply this.

    21:59-22:12

    Somebody comes to me, and they're like, "You know, I've really made a mess of things in my life, and I want to get right with God." And I share the gospel with them and say, "Look, God sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins.

    22:12-22:14

    He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.

    22:14-22:20

    He calls you to turn from your sin and to receive Him." And the person says, "You know what? I want to do that.

    22:21-22:23

    I'm turning from my sin.

    22:23-22:39

    I want to pray right now to receive the gift." So I pray with that person, and I can say to them, "Your sins are forgiven." And somebody might say, "What gives you the authority to say something like that?" Right here, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about.

    22:40-22:47

    He's like, "I'm giving you the authority to declare heaven's message." But the other side of the coin is true too.

    22:47-22:58

    If somebody comes to me, or I go to them and say, "Hey, you need to receive Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of sin, because He's the only way." And they're like, "Not interested.

    22:59-23:00

    "Not interested in Jesus or Bible.

    23:00-23:01

    "I'm gonna live life my way.

    23:01-23:12

    "I do things on my own terms." Then I say, "Well, there's no forgiveness for you." And the best thing you have to look forward to is an eternity separated from God.

    23:14-23:22

    And somebody might come along and say, "What gives you the right to say something like that?" Jesus right here, that's exactly what He's talking about.

    23:23-23:25

    I have the authority, and so do you.

    23:26-23:32

    Under Jesus Christ we have the authority to repeat Heaven's message, saying if you receive Jesus, yes, you're forgiven.

    23:32-23:34

    And if you reject Him, there's no forgiveness.

    23:36-23:37

    Who do you think you are saying that?

    23:37-23:38

    Well, Jesus made it happen.

    23:40-23:48

    I want you to see here, getting beyond the technical explanation, I want you to look at the subject matter.

    23:50-23:53

    So Jesus tells the disciples, "Look, you're going to be powered by the Holy Spirit.

    23:53-23:58

    For what purpose?" He says it's to deal with sin, right?

    24:00-24:09

    So why are so many churches and Christians, why are they so content to avoid talking about sin and instead let's focus on something else?

    24:09-24:12

    I don't get it. I mean, I kind of get it, but I don't get it.

    24:14-24:28

    I've heard pastors say very proudly, "We don't talk about sin at our church because we don't want people to feel bad." And look, I love you guys.

    24:29-24:34

    And when we remodeled, we bought the most comfortable chairs that we could find.

    24:36-24:39

    But I love you in the Lord, but I gotta tell you, that's all the further I care about.

    24:39-25:02

    your comfort. I don't care if you're not comfortable here. In fact I think here you should be uncomfortable and leave here going you know the Holy Spirit wants me to make some changes in my life I'm not honoring God in certain ways but so many churches we just want you to be comfortable what can we do to make you happy what can we do to make you feel good about yourself.

    25:05-25:07

    Jesus said that's not why I'm sending you out.

    25:08-25:12

    He didn't say I'm sending you out by the power of the Holy Spirit to make people feel good about themselves.

    25:14-25:15

    It's about sin, right?

    25:16-25:27

    Some churches focus on other things, social justice, let's talk about the economy or education, or let's do our eighth sermon in a row about COVID or whatever.

    25:30-25:31

    What are we doing?

    25:35-25:42

    I mean, could Jesus be more clear on the subject matter that we are to address?

    25:45-25:49

    Our job is to minister the gospel and deal with guilt and sin.

    25:50-25:51

    That's the mission.

    25:52-25:52

    Period.

    25:55-25:57

    Jesus didn't leave much wiggle room there.

    25:59-26:01

    So we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to deal with sin.

    26:03-26:38

    finally today two things Jesus left us he left us a mission empowered by the Spirit dealing with sin secondly he left us a blessing and this is specifically for us this is for us and I don't mean in a general generic term I mean us I mean us all right so the scene then turns to Thomas you remember Thomas He shows up a couple of times in John, and we learn a little bit about his personality.

    26:39-26:46

    Remember in John chapter 11, Jesus is like, we're gonna go raise Lazarus from the dead, and the disciples were like, oh Jesus, you got a big target on your back.

    26:47-26:48

    I'm paraphrasing here.

    26:48-26:52

    And then remember Thomas was like, let's go that we might die with him.

    26:53-26:53

    Remember that?

    26:54-26:56

    Well, Jesus is gonna die, let's die with him.

    26:58-27:00

    Like, inspiring little pep talk.

    27:00-27:04

    And then we see Thomas again in John chapter 14.

    27:05-27:23

    Remember Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you "and I'm gonna come again, I'm gonna take you, "you're gonna be with me." And Jesus says, "You know the way where I'm going." And Thomas is like, "We don't know the way "where you're going, how can we know the way?" As we see Thomas, and we're gonna see it again here, Thomas was very loyal.

    27:24-27:30

    And he was sometimes outspoken, And I think he sort of erred on the pessimistic side.

    27:31-27:32

    Look at verse 24.

    27:33-27:42

    It says, "Now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, "was not with them when Jesus came." Underline that verse in your Bible.

    27:43-27:46

    Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

    27:48-27:49

    You're like, why do you want me to underline this?

    27:50-27:57

    Listen, Thomas, not being there the previous week, He missed Jesus and he missed the sermon.

    27:59-28:02

    So I say this to you on the authority of God's Word, don't miss church.

    28:07-28:08

    Right?

    28:08-28:09

    Look, Thomas missed one Sunday.

    28:12-28:15

    And they're like, dude, you're not going to believe what happened in church last week.

    28:16-28:18

    Jesus physically showed up!

    28:19-28:20

    Like, oh man.

    28:23-28:29

    Thomas was like, "But there was a stealer game early." But the Lord showed up.

    28:30-28:31

    All right, so don't miss church.

    28:31-28:36

    Verse 25, it says, "So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord.

    28:37-29:16

    "But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails "and place my finger into the mark of the nails "and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Okay, so the others, okay, so Thomas shows back up the next week He walks in and I'm sure there was the first thing out of everybody's mouth like dude last week you missed it We saw the Lord and Thomas says well. Hey unless I see him and touch him. I ain't buying it Now Thomas was being more than skeptical here Okay, Thomas was determined not to believe did you see that?

    29:17-29:59

    How he called the shots the evidence had to be what he determined Thomas is like here it is. Here's the deal unless I see him and touch him and he goes unless that happens I will never believe you so verse 26 says eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them although the doors were locked some familiar is just like the previous week although the doors were locked Jesus came and stood and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.

    29:59-30:03

    Do not disbelieve, but believe." Okay, so here's the eight days later.

    30:05-30:07

    Again, Jesus shows up exactly like before.

    30:09-30:13

    This time Thomas was with the group, and Jesus obviously knew what Thomas said, right?

    30:14-30:18

    I mean, that's the first thing out of his mouth, like, "Hey, Thomas, by the way, you want to see?

    30:18-30:22

    you want to touch, here you go.

    30:23-30:27

    He met Thomas where he needed, touch and see.

    30:30-30:39

    Verse 28, Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God." Thomas replies, "Sovereignty and deity, right?

    30:39-30:47

    "My Lord and my God." Everything changed from that moment on for Thomas.

    30:50-30:53

    You know, people like to take shots at Thomas.

    30:54-30:56

    You know that nickname he has?

    30:56-30:57

    You know that nickname?

    30:58-31:00

    What's that thing they call Thomas?

    31:00-31:01

    He's got this nickname.

    31:02-31:02

    Have you heard it?

    31:02-31:03

    Have you heard the name?

    31:04-31:05

    Oh, okay, so you're in on that.

    31:07-31:09

    You're in on that cruelty to poor Tom.

    31:13-31:14

    Listen to me.

    31:14-31:14

    Look.

    31:17-31:25

    Thomas is with a group of people who believe because they've seen the Lord.

    31:27-31:40

    And Thomas is like, "I want to see too." And everybody's like, "Doubter!" All he was wanting was the same thing that everybody else already got.

    31:42-31:45

    So everybody just calm down on that doubting Thomas business.

    31:48-31:53

    Verse 29, "Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me?

    31:53-31:59

    Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" Here it is.

    32:00-32:07

    Jesus said, "Thomas, many will never see what you saw, they're going to believe the witnesses.

    32:12-32:17

    Then Jesus says, "Blessed are they who believe but never got to see." And that includes us.

    32:18-32:20

    None of us here have ever seen Jesus.

    32:22-32:25

    But we have experienced Jesus.

    32:26-33:15

    Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, at work in His Word, believe. Don't we? Now if you take a big step away from this scene for a second and you really think about it, it seems like a bit of a long shot, doesn't it? It seems audacious, this gospel message, doesn't it? I mean we share the gospel with people. The gospel says, We believe that 2,000 years ago, this Jewish man was killed, and we believe that he rose from the dead, proving that he was God.

    33:17-33:18

    Now listen, there's more.

    33:19-33:24

    You have to believe in him and allow him to change the course of your entire life.

    33:24-33:27

    I mean, doesn't that seem a bit audacious in theory?

    33:28-33:30

    That's the gospel message?

    33:30-33:33

    Trust a guy you never met that lived 2,000 years ago?

    33:35-33:36

    Yeah, it seems audacious in theory.

    33:38-33:40

    But I have seen Jesus Christ heal.

    33:41-33:44

    I have seen Jesus Christ save marriages.

    33:45-33:47

    I have seen Jesus Christ give hope.

    33:48-33:55

    I have seen Jesus Christ totally transform lives wherever His message is proclaimed.

    33:55-34:22

    whether it's Shakora or Chicago or Conway or Chiang Mai this one man has changed more lives than anyone in history and he is just as active and he's just as powerful and he is moving in the world today just as he was when and He physically walked on it.

    34:25-34:26

    Now, I've never physically seen Him.

    34:29-34:30

    And neither have you.

    34:32-34:43

    But Jesus promised right here, those who haven't seen Him, but still believe, still come to faith in Him, He promised that we would receive a special kind of blessing.

    34:46-35:19

    What else is there to say that. Look at verse 30. It says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." John's like, "There is a lot more that I could have said. But I wrote a thorough enough account so that you might believe in Jesus.

    35:21-35:31

    Notice he says there's two things you gotta believe about Jesus, though he says he's the Christ, he's the Messiah, he's the promised, anointed savior of Israel.

    35:31-35:34

    He goes, you have to understand that, you have to understand what that means.

    35:35-35:36

    That's why I wrote all of this.

    35:37-35:42

    He says the other thing you gotta get is that he is the son of God, he's God in the flesh.

    35:42-35:48

    He's not just some dude, he's not just some good teacher, not just some famous rabbi. He is God in the flesh.

    35:49-35:53

    You've got to believe he's the Christ, and you've got to believe he's God in the flesh.

    35:53-36:10

    In other words, John says, "I wrote this to get you to the point that Thomas got, where you look upon Jesus and say, 'My Lord and my God.'" John makes it very clear here that he was not writing impartial history.

    36:10-36:13

    John was very biased when he wrote this.

    36:14-36:19

    had a definite agenda in writing what he wrote, the way he wrote it.

    36:19-36:37

    And the agenda is, "I want you to believe." And we've spent the last three years in this church going through this book, line by line by line, understanding, seeking, studying every single word, every phrase, every teaching, every interaction, every conversation, why?

    36:39-36:40

    Because I want you to believe.

    36:41-36:43

    But this isn't just information.

    36:45-36:51

    And if you leave here on a Sunday morning and say, "Well, that was interesting," then I failed you.

    36:52-36:57

    Because John says this is information that you have to do something with.

    36:58-37:03

    Because doing something with this information, he says, it won't even just change your life.

    37:03-37:07

    He says doing something with this information will give you life.

    37:08-37:15

    But when you embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have life, John says, in His name.

    37:16-37:19

    Born again to live as God intended you to live.

    37:22-37:25

    Living eternally with the promise of heaven.

    37:28-37:32

    And living for His mission for the few days that you have on this earth.

    37:33-37:34

    Let's pray.

    37:35-37:41

    Father in heaven, I wish that I could say as much as Jesus said in three verses.

    37:43-37:49

    Father, we try to understand today, because this is extremely important for us as a church, Father.

    37:50-38:02

    To understand that Jesus left us with a mission to be empowered by the Spirit, to be dealing with sin, to make the work of the gospel the focus of what we do.

    38:02-38:04

    God help us, please!

    38:05-38:23

    deviate from that to understand who Jesus Christ is and what He accomplished, what the cross means, what the resurrection means, and it has nothing to do with trying to better society and it has everything to do with bringing dead people to life.

    38:25-38:26

    Father, keep us on mission.

    38:27-38:28

    We thank you, Father, for the blessing.

    38:30-38:37

    None of us here have seen Jesus, but he has deeply, profoundly affected so many of us.

    38:39-38:55

    Father, we thank you that even if we can't quite articulate, maybe we don't even fully understand everything that that blessing means and entails, we certainly receive it, and we certainly see the effects that it has on us and on so many.

    38:56-39:01

    Father, we thank you for this gospel that you wrote through John.

    39:03-39:11

    And John says he could have wrote a lot more and we would have been happy to preach a lot more but under inspiration this is what you wanted us to know.

    39:13-39:13

    So we thank you, Father.

    39:15-39:27

    And I pray just as John drove us to the place of you got to do something with this, I pray Father, that we would leave here under the same conviction that we have to do something with this information.

    39:29-39:31

    Glorify your name through Jesus Christ, we pray.

Small Group Discussion
Read John
20:19-31

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. Explain John 20:23 in your own words. What does this say about our evangelism? Compare this with Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16:19.

  3. How are people who have not seen the resurrected Christ (US), blessed, specifically (John 20:29)? How are we blessed in believing without seeing?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resurrection - Part 1

Introduction:

Answers from an Empty Tomb (John 20:1-18):

  1. Skeptic: Look at the Evidence of the resurrection. (John 20:1-7)

    Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

  1. Student: Look at God's Word to Understand the resurrection. (John 20:8-10)

    Psalm 16:10 - For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

    Romans 5:17 - For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

    1 Corinthians 15:22 - For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

  2. Sorrowful: Look to Jesus for Comfort . (John 20:11-18)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 01:06-01:08

    Open up your Bibles to John 20.

    01:13-01:15

    John 20, are you there?

    01:18-01:25

    Many years ago when my son Cade was about four, he was kicked in the face by a horse.

    01:25-01:36

    And it is a long story, but I remember the horse had gotten out of the barn, and little four-year-old, he was excited, "Yay, there's a horse!" And he ran behind.

    01:38-01:42

    And before anybody could do anything, the horse reared back and just spooked.

    01:43-01:44

    And it startled him.

    01:44-01:50

    And the horse just double feet to the face, kicked him, launched him in the air.

    01:50-01:54

    He did a complete flip in the air and landed on his face.

    01:57-01:59

    And it was the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life.

    02:02-02:07

    And I remember as I ran to him, I thought, "He couldn't possibly have survived that.

    02:08-02:17

    There's no way he's alive." And as I scooped him up, his eyes were half open, but he was lifeless.

    02:20-02:27

    And after what was probably only a few seconds, but seemed like an eternity, he coughed and then started crying.

    02:28-02:31

    And I remember that specific moment.

    02:32-02:36

    He's alive! He's alive!" I was just bursting.

    02:38-02:39

    He's alive.

    02:40-02:42

    Why am I telling you that story?

    02:42-02:53

    Well, that moment was probably the closest that I've been to feeling what must have been felt in this passage that we're looking at today.

    02:55-02:56

    He's alive.

    02:57-02:58

    He's alive.

    02:59-03:09

    though my son didn't really actually die, though I thought he did, we're going to be looking at someone who did actually die.

    03:09-03:11

    We've been talking about this last couple of weeks.

    03:12-03:18

    Our Lord, Jesus Christ, crucified, dead, verified dead.

    03:18-03:22

    And last week we saw two secret disciples, right?

    03:22-03:24

    Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

    03:24-03:27

    They buried Jesus in a new tomb.

    03:29-03:35

    In this passage that we're going to look at today, this is it.

    03:36-03:43

    Like this is the moment that we have been driving towards for the past three years of this series of knowing Jesus.

    03:44-03:50

    And this is the highlight, this is the high point, this is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    03:51-03:58

    And as we look at this passage, I just want to remind you, the resurrection of Jesus isn't part of our faith.

    04:00-04:02

    It's the basis of our faith.

    04:02-04:03

    It's the main event.

    04:05-04:08

    Because Jesus Christ lives, we too will live.

    04:11-04:13

    This is the centerpiece of history.

    04:14-04:15

    This is the heart of the gospel.

    04:15-04:19

    This is the hope of every single Christian who ever lived.

    04:21-04:23

    This event is the validation of Christ's sacrifice.

    04:24-04:26

    Do you know it's actually why we meet on Sunday morning.

    04:29-04:34

    Because the church has traditionally met on the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

    04:35-04:35

    That's why we're here today.

    04:36-04:38

    We preach the resurrection.

    04:38-04:40

    We sing about the resurrection.

    04:40-04:42

    We celebrate the resurrection.

    04:42-04:45

    But do you know the interesting thing about the resurrection?

    04:47-04:49

    Nobody actually saw it happen.

    04:51-04:52

    Think about that.

    04:54-05:06

    No one actually saw the very moment that Jesus' lifeless body had His spirit and vitality restored.

    05:06-05:08

    Nobody actually saw that moment.

    05:12-05:13

    But no one really needed to.

    05:15-05:29

    I mean if we're going to verify a resurrection, all we need to do is have someone who was obviously dead, is now obviously alive.

    05:30-05:32

    And that's what we have in this passage.

    05:35-05:43

    And as we look at this passage, maybe you're like me and you like to try to understand and explain things.

    05:44-05:48

    And what we're looking at here, there's no explanation for this.

    05:51-05:55

    There's no understanding how He did this.

    05:57-06:05

    And as we live in a day when everybody says, "Follow the science," there's no following the science here.

    06:06-06:07

    This is a supernatural event.

    06:08-06:10

    This was a miracle from God.

    06:12-06:15

    And the reality is it doesn't matter how He did it.

    06:17-06:19

    It only matters that He did.

    06:21-06:21

    Right?

    06:23-06:28

    As we look at John's account, and we're going to stay focused on John's account.

    06:28-06:34

    I know there's a whole lot of stuff surrounding the resurrection.

    06:36-06:40

    We're in John though, and the message of John is in John.

    06:41-06:45

    John wrote what he wrote because he wants us to understand some things.

    06:45-06:48

    So we're not going to pile on all these cross-references.

    06:48-06:51

    Okay, so don't leave here and be like, oh, you know, you could have mentioned this and you could have mentioned that.

    06:52-06:53

    John doesn't do that.

    06:56-06:58

    Yeah, he doesn't mention the earthquake.

    06:58-07:00

    He doesn't mention the guards.

    07:00-07:02

    He doesn't mention the guards passing out.

    07:02-07:05

    And he doesn't mention all of that.

    07:07-07:13

    John is more focused on the effect that the resurrection had on people.

    07:15-07:17

    That's what he's looking at in this passage.

    07:17-07:18

    That's what he's concerned about.

    07:20-07:27

    Not giving you an outline of here's minute by minute what happened in the actual resurrection itself.

    07:27-07:38

    John's like, "Let me show you the effect that it had on Jesus' disciples and His followers." So on your outline today, here it is.

    07:39-07:42

    His resurrection answers from an empty tomb.

    07:46-07:50

    And in our outline today, I'm going to be addressing three different people here.

    07:51-07:55

    Alright? And you're probably going to be in one of these categories.

    07:56-07:58

    So first of all, I want to talk to the skeptic.

    08:00-08:07

    If you're sitting here today, or you're streaming this, or watching this later, and you're thinking, "Yeah, you know what?

    08:07-08:15

    I believe the Bible's got some good stuff in it, but I'm not really 100% convinced about this raising from the dead thing.

    08:15-08:16

    I want to talk to you first today.

    08:18-08:21

    All right, so skeptic, you need to look at the evidence of the resurrection.

    08:24-08:24

    Look at verse one.

    08:25-08:30

    It says, "Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early.

    08:31-08:42

    While it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb, Okay, so you know there's a massive stone that was rolled in front of the tomb to seal it.

    08:44-08:47

    And the Bible says that stone was taken away.

    08:48-08:53

    And somebody might say, "Oh yeah, yeah, the stone was taken away to let Jesus out." And that's really not the case.

    08:54-08:58

    The stone was taken away to let us see into the tomb.

    08:59-08:59

    Right?

    09:00-09:01

    But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

    09:01-09:05

    I know it's real easy for us because a lot of us know this story and you're like, "Oh, I know it's coming.

    09:06-09:13

    But can we just, as much as we can, try to stay in the narrative here and not jump ahead.

    09:13-09:20

    I understand at this point to Mary Magdalene, this didn't look like good news, okay?

    09:21-09:21

    That's where my mind jumped.

    09:22-09:23

    She saw the stone rolled away.

    09:23-09:25

    She's like, "Woohoo!" No, no, it didn't go there.

    09:26-09:30

    She saw the stone rolled away and she would have been like, "What happened?

    09:31-09:32

    "What in the world is going on here?

    09:32-09:38

    I came to the tomb of Jesus and what in the world is going on?

    09:38-09:39

    The body is gone.

    09:39-09:41

    Could you imagine the shock?

    09:43-09:44

    I mean, wrap your brain around that.

    09:44-09:55

    Think of a dead relative that you have and maybe you go a memorial day or something to put flowers on the grave and the vault is open and nothing's in there.

    09:55-09:57

    Wouldn't you just be completely freaked out?

    09:59-09:59

    Right?

    09:59-10:02

    So she did the most logical thing for us to do.

    10:02-10:20

    So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, that's John, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him." So she runs to Peter and John.

    10:21-10:28

    There she says, "They took his body." And, huh, they, who?

    10:29-10:30

    Who is they?

    10:31-10:35

    And she's like, "They... they someone!

    10:36-10:39

    I don't know they who, but he's not in there!" Right?

    10:40-10:41

    Well, look at verse three.

    10:41-10:47

    It says, "So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

    10:47-10:53

    Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

    10:54-11:07

    And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in." Okay, so Peter and John ran to the tomb, and John stopped outside the tomb.

    11:08-11:13

    Bible says he stooped in and he looked in and he saw the cloths.

    11:15-11:21

    Verse six, it says, "Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb.

    11:21-11:32

    He saw the linen cloth lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.

    11:33-11:39

    And you know, if you go through the gospels and see the life of the disciples, this kind of makes sense.

    11:39-11:41

    John kind of stopped and looked outside.

    11:41-11:44

    Peter wasn't content with a peak, right?

    11:44-11:47

    When he shows up, he runs right into the tomb.

    11:49-11:53

    And he saw the cloths as John saw from more of a distance.

    11:53-11:58

    and he saw the face covering was folded.

    12:01-12:02

    You're like, "Okay, hang on a second, Jeff.

    12:03-12:08

    Why is this making such a big deal out of the cloths?

    12:08-12:22

    What are the cloths? We see these cloths." Well, understand in Jesus' day for Jewish burial, what they would do is they would get these linen cloths, and remember Nicodemus brought the 75 pounds of spices, right?

    12:23-12:35

    Well, the way they would bury is they would put a layer of the cloths on, and then a layer of the spices, and then another layer of cloths, and then another layer of spices, and another layer of cloths, you see.

    12:35-12:43

    And the purpose was to combat the smell of a decomposing body.

    12:43-12:46

    That's why they wrapped in that way.

    12:47-12:51

    And you're like, "Well, that is a fascinating tidbit, but what's the significance?

    12:52-12:56

    Why is there so much emphasis being placed here on these cloths?

    12:57-12:59

    Well, this is the significance.

    13:03-13:24

    Mary's reaction immediately was, "Somebody stole His body." And if you remember, that was the lie that the Pharisees tried to get going tell people that they stole His body.

    13:27-13:29

    And here's the significance of the cloths.

    13:30-13:37

    If someone stole the body of Jesus, they wouldn't have unwrapped it first.

    13:38-13:38

    Right?

    13:39-13:41

    It was being guarded by Roman guards.

    13:41-13:42

    It was sealed.

    13:43-13:45

    And there was all this controversy around Jesus.

    13:46-13:56

    Do you think somebody in stealing His body is going to go in and, "All right boys, we're going to unwrap this thing before we get it out of here." And take like a couple of hours to unwrap.

    13:56-14:01

    Oh, and don't just throw the head cloth over there, make sure you fold it.

    14:02-14:02

    Right?

    14:03-14:05

    Let's be respectable grave robbers.

    14:10-14:16

    So the cloths being there is evidence that his body wasn't stolen.

    14:18-14:20

    And again, they tried to get this lie going.

    14:22-14:29

    You remember Matthew 28, they had told the guards, like, "Look, here's what we're gonna tell people.

    14:29-14:31

    We're all gonna get the lie together here.

    14:31-14:35

    We're all gonna be on the same page here, right?" And I'm paraphrasing here, but they said, "Here's what we're gonna do.

    14:35-14:48

    You're gonna say, 'We fell asleep and the disciples stole the body.'" All right, and they bribed them, and that was the lie that they were trying to push.

    14:48-14:50

    but there's a huge problem with that lie, isn't there?

    14:51-14:52

    Huge problem with that lie.

    14:54-14:57

    You don't know what's happening when you're sleeping, right?

    14:58-15:07

    So how do these guards who were sleeping, how are they able to testify that while they were sleeping, they know exactly not only what happened to the body of Jesus, but they know who took it.

    15:08-15:09

    Makes no sense.

    15:13-15:25

    But it makes even less sense when you consider That the disciples, you know, if they stole the body of Jesus, then that means they knew that Jesus didn't raise from the dead.

    15:28-15:40

    When you study your church history, every single disciple was willing to suffer and die for believing and preaching that Jesus resurrected.

    15:41-15:45

    Only John was not martyred and he was exiled to Patmos, which was an island prison.

    15:46-15:55

    Every one of them said, "You can do whatever you want to me, but I believe that Jesus rose from the dead." Are they going to keep promoting that lie if they stole the body?

    15:56-15:57

    Absolutely not.

    15:59-16:07

    So if you're the skeptic here, I just want to tell you the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most celebrated, verified, and significant event in history.

    16:08-16:15

    And if you're skeptical, "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that," then you need to take a really hard look at it.

    16:16-16:22

    And there's a lot of resources out there, I don't have time to really dive into this any more than I have today.

    16:23-16:33

    But things like "Evidence that Demands a Verdict," "More Than a Carpenter," "The Case for Christ," there's so many excellent resources that have been written for you to do your own investigation.

    16:34-16:41

    But you have to do it because the Bible says that your eternal destination hinges on what you do with this truth.

    16:44-17:06

    Romans 10.9 says, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord..." Look at this, "and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That has to be the very centerpiece of what you believe about Jesus.

    17:09-17:10

    That God raised Him from the dead.

    17:12-17:13

    So we see some evidence of the resurrection.

    17:14-17:16

    Now we're going to move on from that. I want to address the student.

    17:17-17:19

    The person that may be here is like, "You know what?

    17:21-17:38

    I believe that something happened, and I'm not exactly sure, but I'm willing to try to understand what the significance of all of this is." I would say, "Student, look at God's Word to understand the resurrection." Alright?

    17:39-17:41

    Here's what I mean. Look at verses 8 and 9.

    17:44-17:50

    It says, "Then the other disciple," that's John, "who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed.

    17:51-17:59

    For as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead." Stop there for a second.

    17:59-18:08

    I love this, it says, "The other disciple who reached the tomb first." Do you realize that's the third time in this passage that John pointed out that he beat Peter to the tomb?

    18:10-18:10

    Do you notice that?

    18:11-18:16

    I mean, John's writing the Gospel, and I do believe it's under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

    18:18-18:20

    Come on, can we be honest here?

    18:20-18:39

    Don't you just kind of wonder sometimes if John's writing this, and Peter's like, "Can you leave that part out, that you've beat me?" And John's like, "Hmm, I'm gonna put it in a couple more times." "I was faster than you, old man. You got nothing!" So anyways, I just thought that was kind of funny.

    18:40-18:51

    John's like, "Yeah. By the way, in case Peter tells you otherwise, I totally beat him to the tomb. Totally faster." So, but here's the interesting thing.

    18:51-18:52

    Look at the end of verse 8 again.

    18:53-18:54

    This is really interesting.

    18:54-19:03

    It says, "And he saw and believed." And I know our minds immediately jump. We talked about that at the beginning.

    19:03-19:04

    Our minds jump.

    19:05-19:10

    Like, "He saw and believed." So John saw, and he believed in a resurrection, and he believed in eternal life, and he believed that Jesus rose from the dead.

    19:13-19:15

    But that's not what it says.

    19:16-19:17

    Because look at verse 9.

    19:18-19:24

    It says, "For as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.

    19:26-19:45

    So it says that he, verse 8, "believed." And the question is, "Believed what?" And when you put verse 8 and 9 together, somehow John believed without really understanding the significance of the moment.

    19:48-19:55

    In other words, at this point when John went in, He saw the tomb was empty. He saw Jesus wasn't there. He saw the cloths.

    19:55-20:07

    And he believed. He's like, "Something happened here." And at this point, I think he was still processing. Mind was racing.

    20:07-20:12

    And I think what verse 9 is telling us is his mind didn't automatically jump to the Old Testament.

    20:13-20:20

    Like, "Oh, Jesus isn't here. Well, this makes sense, because the Messiah was supposed to suffer and die and raise from the dead, just like the Old Testament says." His mind didn't go there right away.

    20:21-20:23

    He was still trying to figure this out.

    20:24-20:26

    He says he didn't yet understand.

    20:27-20:50

    "Whoa, he's not here." You see, the Old Testament tells us, the Scripture that's being talked about here, Psalm 16.10, this is the classic verse, prophesying the resurrection of the Messiah, it says, "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol." Sheol is the Old Testament word for the grave.

    20:50-20:51

    That's the realm of the dead.

    20:52-21:19

    And the psalmist is saying, "You're not just going to leave me in the grave." He says, "Or let your..." Look at this, "Holy ones seek corruption." He says, "You're not going to let your Messiah..." "Seek corruption" is a fancy way of saying "decompose." "You're not going to let your Christ rot in the grave." And this is one of the classic Old Testament verses describing the resurrection of the Messiah.

    21:20-21:22

    So John, again, he didn't jump there.

    21:22-21:26

    He just didn't understand in the moment what any of this stuff meant.

    21:28-21:37

    So verse 10 says, "Then the disciples went back to their homes." What do you do, right?

    21:37-21:40

    Show up to the tomb, he's not there, what are you supposed to do?

    21:40-21:42

    Like, let's wait and see if he comes back?

    21:44-21:45

    Or if his body was stolen?

    21:47-21:49

    What, do we look for clues? What are we supposed to do here?

    21:50-21:55

    And he's like, "Well, let's just go home." And that's what they did.

    22:00-22:11

    But I want you to understand here, church, that this scene happens every single Sunday where the gospel is preached.

    22:11-22:14

    This scene right here happens every Sunday.

    22:15-22:16

    What do you mean by that?

    22:16-22:31

    I mean, people go to church, and they hear the message, and maybe they don't intellectually disagree with the message that Jesus rose from the dead, but like John in this moment here, they just don't catch the significance.

    22:32-22:33

    See, that was the problem.

    22:33-22:39

    John's like, "Something happened, but it's not making sense." That happens every week. That happens every week here.

    22:39-22:47

    That there are people that come and hear the message, and, "Okay, yeah, okay, Jesus rose from the dead, so what?

    22:48-22:58

    What does that have to do with me?" That's why I'm challenging you. You've got to be a student of the Bible.

    22:58-23:01

    What does it mean to me that Jesus rose from the dead?

    23:03-23:13

    Because we can't just look at this account and say, "Good for Jesus." Like this is some feel-good Eye of the Tiger story, right?

    23:13-23:24

    Like, "Almost as good as Rocky III. He overcame!" And that's what some people simply want to leave the story - it's this story of this overcomer.

    23:25-23:28

    And when you do, you completely miss the significance.

    23:30-23:35

    What does it mean for me that Jesus rose from the dead?

    23:38-23:40

    Let's seek to understand the Scripture quickly.

    23:41-23:42

    I just want to give you a couple.

    23:43-24:03

    Romans 5.17 says, "If because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ." Again, 1 Corinthians 15.22.

    24:04-24:07

    Same truth, said a little more succinctly.

    24:07-24:17

    He says, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." And this is the significance here that people miss.

    24:18-24:22

    that Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world.

    24:23-24:36

    When Adam sinned in the garden, when he transgressed the law of God, he brought sin and death, and that's why we are all sinners by nature, going to die.

    24:36-24:39

    We inherited that from Adam.

    24:41-24:44

    But Jesus Christ, the Bible calls Him the second Adam.

    24:44-24:46

    He brought forgiveness and life.

    24:47-24:50

    And we've inherited the sin nature.

    24:50-24:56

    We're spiritually separated from God, and we're spiritually and eternally dead in our sin.

    24:56-25:10

    And Jesus came to not only pay the penalty for our sin on the cross, to tell us to die, but He resurrected - and here's the significance - He resurrected to defeat death.

    25:13-25:19

    Jesus resurrected to give us life. Eternal life.

    25:21-25:31

    As Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again." That's why Jesus rose from the dead.

    25:32-25:40

    to defeat death, to give us the life that we forfeited in the Garden of Eden.

    25:43-25:45

    Do you understand the significance of the resurrection?

    25:48-25:51

    It's not just good for Jesus, He sure showed them.

    25:54-26:01

    He had to rise from the dead to fulfill the Scriptures, to prove He's the Christ and to give us eternal life.

    26:03-26:06

    So if you're skeptical, I encourage you to take that hard look.

    26:06-26:21

    And if you're not sure the significance, you need to understand the line that the Bible draws for Jesus Christ's resurrection and what it means to you.

    26:21-26:25

    But finally today, I want to address the sorrowful.

    26:28-26:29

    Look to Jesus for comfort.

    26:33-26:49

    And I do imagine we have a few skeptics here, and I imagine we have a few people that need to be Bible students to understand, but my guess is, if I had to pick where most of us would fall, to some degree it would be under the sorrowful category.

    26:49-26:50

    We'll see why here in a second.

    26:50-26:51

    Look at verse 11.

    26:53-26:55

    It says, "But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

    26:57-27:13

    As she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb." Now look, I know John made such a big deal out of how much faster he was than Peter, but I don't know, can we just acknowledge here that in this moment they weren't being very gentlemanly?

    27:14-27:20

    It says, "The disciples went home and they just left Mary standing there weeping." Like, come on guys!

    27:21-27:46

    So she's standing there, weeping and looking in the tomb, still thinking his body is stolen, but this time, it says she looked in the tomb, look at what she sees, verse 12, it says, "She saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet." Like, well, that's interesting.

    27:49-27:54

    But it's more than interesting, the positioning is very significant for these angels.

    27:56-28:01

    Because your Bible says you had one on either side of where Jesus was laying before He resurrected.

    28:03-28:05

    Do you see how significant that is?

    28:07-28:08

    Like, what do you mean?

    28:08-28:09

    Well, here's what I mean.

    28:10-28:12

    Flashback to the Old Testament, right?

    28:13-28:16

    Do you remember God instructed Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant?

    28:17-28:17

    Do you remember the Ark?

    28:18-28:29

    The Ark was this box that was kept in the Holy of Holies, and inside the box, what it was like, a copy of the Ten Commandments, and Aaron's staff, and a jar of manna.

    28:29-28:37

    But in this box, kept in the Holy of Holies, the lid of the box was called the mercy seat.

    28:37-28:43

    So when the high priest would offer atonement for sin, in Leviticus 16, day of atonement.

    28:44-28:48

    They would take the blood and sprinkle it on top of the ark.

    28:48-28:51

    And the top of the ark was known as the mercy seat.

    28:54-29:00

    But do you know what was carved on either side of the top of the ark?

    29:01-29:01

    Do you know?

    29:03-29:03

    Angels.

    29:06-29:07

    Do you see the significance here?

    29:09-29:15

    Remember we talked about the hyssop when Jesus was on the cross, and they took the hyssop with the wine to give Him the drink?

    29:15-29:23

    And to the Jew, that would have looked like the Passover, because you took the hyssop to put the blood on the doorpost.

    29:23-29:25

    You get the same kind of thing happening here.

    29:25-29:36

    Just like the hyssop foreshadowed the true Passover lamb, the ark, two angels on either side of the mercy seat, was God's way of foreshadowing.

    29:38-29:40

    The resurrection of His Son.

    29:42-29:43

    Look at verse 13.

    29:45-30:05

    It says, "They (the angels) said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?' She said to them, 'They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.'" Interestingly, that's like the exact same thing she said up in verse 2.

    30:07-30:13

    Verse 14 says, "Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.

    30:15-30:19

    But she did not know that it was Jesus." Remember, she wasn't expecting anything here. She didn't know.

    30:22-30:24

    "Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?

    30:26-30:31

    Whom are you seeking?' Supposing him to be the gardener.

    30:32-30:50

    She said to him, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, "Tell me where you've laid Him and I will take Him away." So why are you weeping? First from the angels, then from Jesus, whom Mary didn't recognize, she thought He was just the gardener.

    30:51-31:17

    And like, "Look, if you took the body, just tell me." And then verse 16, "Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" Which means "teacher." What was the difference there?

    31:20-31:24

    She recognized his voice when he said her name.

    31:27-31:41

    And you could imagine the reaction for this poor woman who stood outside weeping, to recognize that Jesus is alive.

    31:41-31:48

    Look at verse 17. It says, "Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

    31:49-32:03

    But go to My brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.'" Jesus says, "Don't cling to Me." Like, what did He mean by that?

    32:06-32:18

    I did a lot of reading this week trying to understand why Jesus would say, "Don't cling to Me." He wasn't like, "Do no touchies." It wasn't that.

    32:22-32:23

    But here's my best understanding.

    32:23-32:33

    I think Jesus was telling Mary, "Listen, I am alive." But that doesn't mean things are going back to normal.

    32:34-32:34

    Right?

    32:36-32:41

    I think Mary might have thought, "This is great, we'll go back to Galilee, and it'll just be like old times.

    32:41-32:49

    We'll get the gang back together, and obviously Judas, he's out, but we'll get everybody together, and it'll be just like old times.

    32:49-32:57

    Come on, Jesus, come on." And I think this was Jesus' way of saying to her, "Mary, things are going to be different from now on.

    32:57-33:28

    I'm not going to be in close physical proximity to you because we're going to have a new relationship." You're like, "Why do I think that?" Well, because Jesus in this said to her, "For I have not yet ascended to the Father." And if you've been with us for the past few months as we've been going through Jesus' discussion with the disciples at the Last Supper.

    33:31-33:35

    What did He always connect with ascending to the Father?

    33:36-33:45

    "I will ascend and we will ascend the Holy Spirit." "Mary, things aren't going to be the same. The Holy Spirit is coming.

    33:45-33:47

    He's going to reside in your heart.

    33:47-33:52

    He's going to reside in the heart of everyone who follows Me.

    33:54-34:16

    Verse 18 says, "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,' and that He had said these things to her." And as we close here, you know, I so appreciate Mary Magdalene's heart.

    34:18-34:20

    And I've got to be honest with you, it's convicting to me.

    34:23-34:27

    Because when she thought Jesus was gone, she just stood there weeping.

    34:30-34:38

    She was thinking, "He is all that I need, And I don't know what I'm going to do without Him.

    34:41-34:47

    And that's convicting because, you know, I have to ask myself, as you do, do you have a love for the Lord like that?

    34:48-34:50

    Would you notice if you went a day without Him?

    34:51-34:52

    Or a week without Him?

    34:54-35:01

    And Mary here is like, "I can't imagine a moment without Him." Love her heart for the Lord.

    35:04-35:10

    But as we wrap up here, church, maybe right now, you're feeling like Mary.

    35:12-35:21

    Before Jesus made Himself known to her, she was completely helpless and hopeless.

    35:22-35:28

    As we pointed out in verse 2 and verse 13, she just kept saying the same thing over and over.

    35:28-35:31

    That's a sign of depression. That's a sign of despair.

    35:31-35:34

    She was absolutely stuck in that place.

    35:37-35:38

    Have you ever been there?

    35:41-35:44

    That you're stuck in a situation, and you're like, "I don't see any way out.

    35:45-35:50

    I don't know what to do." Maybe some of us are there now.

    35:54-36:09

    Maybe COVID has brought some of these feelings to you, not just the health-related issues, even though that's more than enough, but it's also resulted in separation of families.

    36:10-36:12

    It's also destroyed some relationships.

    36:15-36:17

    It's also put a big question mark over your finances.

    36:18-36:23

    Because I know there are people here that are still facing the threat of losing your job.

    36:26-36:29

    And maybe you sort of feel like Mary standing outside the tomb right now.

    36:30-36:33

    Like, what am I going to do?

    36:36-36:37

    I can't fix this!

    36:40-36:43

    But I just want to remind you of this simple truth.

    36:44-36:48

    If you didn't hear another word that I said the entire time, I want you to hear this one.

    36:48-36:49

    So listen up.

    36:50-37:02

    Like Mary Magdalene, our despair is going to turn to joy when we turn and recognize that Jesus Christ is alive.

    37:04-37:07

    Because He lives, we too shall live.

    37:08-37:14

    And as dark as things look now, Our best days are ahead of us.

    37:17-37:20

    We all need reminded of this truth from Mary Magdalene's story.

    37:23-37:29

    Even when she didn't see Jesus, He was alive and victorious.

    37:32-37:36

    She just needed to recognize that truth.

    37:39-37:41

    I find myself in that place.

    37:43-37:44

    Maybe you do too.

    37:47-37:50

    So the resurrection of Jesus Christ, do you believe it?

    37:51-37:51

    Do you believe it?

    37:53-37:55

    Do you understand it?

    37:57-38:01

    Are you willing to turn and recognize it for what it is?

    38:01-38:02

    Let's pray.

    38:04-38:10

    Father in heaven, This truly is the thing that changes everything.

    38:13-38:15

    The death of Jesus Christ was the end of the story.

    38:18-38:19

    We'd be in sad shape.

    38:21-38:22

    We'd always wonder.

    38:22-38:24

    We'd never have confidence.

    38:27-38:30

    Father, we come today celebrating that He is alive.

    38:33-38:36

    And Father, I just want to pray for my brothers and sisters here.

    38:38-38:39

    Some who don't know You.

    38:43-38:49

    Some who maybe don't understand the significance of it, but Father, there's a lot here that are struggling and suffering right now.

    38:53-39:00

    And I just pray, Father, that like Mary Magdalene, we would have this recognition that Jesus is alive.

    39:02-39:03

    Maybe we've taken our eyes off of that.

    39:03-39:05

    Maybe we've forgotten about that.

    39:05-39:23

    Maybe we've gotten so focused on the things that we should be sorrowful over that we haven't turned our eyes upon the living God who's promised to someday wipe away every tear from our eyes and death will be no more and sorrow will be no more.

    39:24-39:28

    God, You've promised us that things will not always be as they are now.

    39:29-39:32

    And our guarantee is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    39:35-39:42

    So Father, let us celebrate it today, but let us understand and embrace it for all that it is.

    39:43-39:46

    We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John
20:1-18

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. Why do you think Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to be the first person to witness His resurrection? Why do you think He revealed Himself to her in the way that He did (John 20:14-16)?

  3. If Jesus' death paid for our sin (recall John:19:30), why was it necessary that He resurrect?

  4. Bonus: Explain the significance of the linen clothes (John 20:6-7). Explain the significance of the two angels (John 20:12). Why do these details matter?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Sacrifice - Part 3

Introduction:

Two Things That Must Be Verified (John 19:31-42):

  1. Jesus' Death . (John 19:31-37)

    See - Deuteronomy 21:22-23 | Psalm 69:20 | Psalm 34:20 | Zechariah 12:10

  2. Your Faith . (John 19:38-42)
  3. See - Isaiah 53:9 | John 12:42-43

How to Verify Your Faith:

  1. Go Public with your faith. (John 19:38)
  2. Look for Growth over time. (John 19:39)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 01:06-01:08

    Open up your Bibles to John 19.

    01:11-01:20

    And in this section of God's Word, in which we will be studying today, there's really one Word that you have to have down.

    01:20-01:30

    One Word that we are going to be discussing, because it is this one Word that is behind this entire passage that we're looking at.

    01:30-01:34

    And the Word is "verify." That's the Word of the day.

    01:37-02:10

    Verify is just simply proving that something is true. You know, you are presented with something that is said to be true and verifying is making sure that it actually is true. Right? And this whole verification thing, it's so much a a part of our lives that I think we don't realize how much of our lives is just spent verifying things.

    02:13-02:14

    I mean, think about it.

    02:15-02:19

    When you go to the bank, what do they always ask you for?

    02:19-02:20

    Can I see your driver's license?

    02:20-02:25

    I'm like, you know me, but you gotta send the driver's license up to shoot, right?

    02:26-02:31

    Or you go to the pharmacy And what's your date of birth?

    02:32-02:33

    Sometimes they ask me multiple times.

    02:34-02:38

    And I'm like, you know, you're like a good friend of a family member.

    02:38-02:39

    We know each other.

    02:40-02:40

    What's your date of birth?

    02:40-02:42

    You have to verify, right?

    02:44-02:49

    But one of the biggest and most often ways we have to verify is trying to get onto a website, right?

    02:49-02:50

    You know what I'm talking about?

    02:51-02:52

    Like, what's your password?

    02:54-02:58

    Oh, oh, I have like so many.

    02:59-03:06

    and then you're constantly changing and you're constantly changing the rules with numbers and symbols and uppercase and lowercase and I don't remember.

    03:10-03:12

    Or you try to get on a website, did you ever get this one?

    03:12-03:15

    It's like, we're texting you a verification code.

    03:15-03:16

    Did you ever get that one?

    03:16-03:18

    Like, yeah, now I'm gonna find my phone.

    03:18-03:19

    Like, come on.

    03:22-03:28

    Or my absolute favorite, verify that you are not a robot.

    03:28-03:29

    You know what I'm talking about?

    03:31-03:34

    And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll get you caught up here.

    03:35-04:01

    To get on some websites, they wanna verify that you're not a robot, which for some of us, that's still in question, but they show you an image, an extremely grainy, low-resolution image that was taken from space of a street, And it'll be like, "Click all the boxes "that have a crosswalk in them." You know what I'm talking about?

    04:01-04:07

    And you're sitting there like, "Oh, it looks like maybe the corner of the crosswalk "is in this box.

    04:08-04:13

    "Does this count?" And it's verification, right?

    04:14-04:16

    So much of our lives are verification.

    04:16-04:19

    Or take, for example, a vaccine passport.

    04:21-04:23

    Just moving on from that one.

    04:25-04:29

    One of my wife's jobs is, she's a notary.

    04:30-04:33

    And really that's what being a notary is all about.

    04:33-04:38

    Her job is to verify this signature belongs to this person.

    04:38-04:40

    It's a whole job of verification.

    04:43-04:50

    And the point to all of this is just simply this, important things need to be verified, right?

    04:50-04:57

    If something has a claim of being important, then we need to make sure that it's true.

    04:57-05:00

    Important things have to be verified.

    05:01-05:04

    And in this passage, we have two critical things that need verified.

    05:06-05:10

    One regarding Jesus, and the other regarding you.

    05:11-05:22

    Now on your outline, the heading says, if you're taking notes, it says, "Two things that must be verified." That's what we're looking at in the passage today.

    05:22-05:24

    Two things that must be verified.

    05:24-05:27

    absolutely has to be verified.

    05:29-05:31

    And the first one we'll see in the passage is Jesus' death.

    05:35-05:40

    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

    05:42-05:43

    And the Word was God.

    05:44-05:49

    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

    05:53-05:54

    The Word died.

    05:55-05:56

    We killed the Word.

    05:58-06:00

    Because we didn't like what the Word was.

    06:01-06:04

    And we didn't agree with what the Word said.

    06:06-06:08

    So we executed the Word.

    06:11-06:20

    And that's where we left off last week with Jesus crying out, "It is finished." Tetelestai, paid in full.

    06:21-06:25

    His work, the mission, payment for sin, it is finished.

    06:26-06:46

    Verse 31 says, "Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." Stop there.

    06:47-06:48

    Now it says it was a high day.

    06:49-06:50

    What do you mean it was a high day?

    06:50-07:01

    Now, the day of preparation before Sabbath was always kind of a high day, but this particular week, the day of preparation was also during Passover, so it was a really important day.

    07:02-07:04

    I mean, Sabbath happened weekly, which was important enough.

    07:04-07:08

    Passover was once a year, so this is a once in a year event.

    07:09-07:10

    This was an extremely high day.

    07:11-07:13

    Okay, a holy day.

    07:16-07:24

    So the Jews, as a result, your Bible says they wanted the bodies off of the crosses so that it wouldn't defile the Sabbath.

    07:24-07:32

    You're like, "Well, what's that about?" Remember back in Deuteronomy 21, we've talked about this verse at least once or twice in the past few weeks.

    07:32-07:44

    It says, "If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree," which is essentially what Jesus, the position he was in on the cross, right?

    07:45-07:50

    "His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day.

    07:51-07:53

    For a hanged man is cursed by God.

    07:54-07:59

    You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance." Did you see that?

    07:59-08:07

    So under Old Testament law, you don't leave an executed criminal hanging because it brings defilement.

    08:07-08:14

    So the Jews were like, "This is like one of the holiest times of the year, so we can't You can't leave these bodies on the cross.

    08:17-08:19

    What's with breaking the legs?

    08:19-08:20

    Did you see that?

    08:20-08:23

    So the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken.

    08:23-08:24

    What's with that?

    08:25-08:30

    Well, crucifixion deaths usually occurred by asphyxiation.

    08:30-08:37

    The position that the body was hanging on the cross, the person literally suffocated.

    08:37-08:40

    They were unable to breathe hanging in that position.

    08:41-08:53

    And the only little bit of relief they got, as horrifying as it is to think about, was to push up a little bit on legs that were nailed to the cross.

    08:53-08:58

    To push up a little bit, just enough to try to get air.

    09:01-09:06

    But when they wanted to accelerate death, you see these soldiers had this giant mallet.

    09:08-09:11

    This is horrific, but this is how it is, church.

    09:11-09:18

    And they would come along and they'd take that mallet, and they would break the femurs of the person on the cross.

    09:20-09:27

    So that, if your femurs were broken, you were completely unable physically to push up, and you would suffocate much quicker.

    09:30-09:31

    That's horrible.

    09:34-09:46

    And just as horrible as that is when we try to think about the fact that the Jews, in order to not defile the Sabbath and the Passover, requested this.

    09:47-09:49

    I mean, could you imagine the scene?

    09:49-09:53

    Like, hey, would you mind smashing their femurs so they die a little quicker?

    09:53-09:56

    Because we don't want to defile the land.

    09:57-09:57

    What?

    10:00-10:02

    Gone, man. You're gone.

    10:05-10:06

    Look at verse 32.

    10:07-10:19

    It says, "So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him.

    10:19-10:26

    But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

    10:27-10:34

    But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, And at once there came out blood and water.

    10:37-10:39

    He who saw it is born witness.

    10:39-10:41

    His testimony is true.

    10:41-10:53

    And he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe." What's the point in these verses?

    10:53-10:54

    What's the point?

    10:57-10:58

    The point is simply this.

    10:58-11:02

    John wants you to know that Jesus was really dead.

    11:03-11:03

    That's the point.

    11:05-11:22

    You're like, "Why?" Well, understand, and I've been doing some reading of church history through the centuries this past week, and in the early days of the church, the theory was, there were a couple of prevailing theories.

    11:24-11:27

    One was that Jesus wasn't actually human.

    11:28-11:34

    He was God and sort of had the appearance of a man, but He wasn't actually a human being.

    11:35-11:48

    So there were people that were like, "Well, He didn't actually die." Because it was just like, "He's divine. He wasn't human." And this is to refute that.

    11:48-11:52

    But there was another theory too, more of a secular theory regarding Jesus.

    11:54-11:58

    regarding his resurrection in particular, maybe you've heard of the swoon theory.

    11:59-12:05

    But the theory was that when Jesus was crucified, he didn't actually die on the cross.

    12:05-12:06

    He just fell unconscious.

    12:07-12:12

    And they took him down off the cross and they put him in the tomb.

    12:13-12:17

    And it sounds so stupid saying it out loud, but this is what it is.

    12:17-12:18

    You can look it up.

    12:18-12:22

    But the cool air of the tomb revived him.

    12:25-12:26

    Which is amazing.

    12:26-12:27

    You know what else is amazing?

    12:28-12:41

    Is that Jesus who was just beaten half to death and crucified, revived by the cool air, went to his disciples, a bloody mess, and convinced them that he defeated death.

    12:42-12:43

    I ain't buying that.

    12:43-12:45

    But that was one of the theories.

    12:45-12:46

    He didn't really die.

    12:47-12:48

    He didn't really die.

    12:49-12:51

    And that's what John is saying here.

    12:51-12:56

    He goes, "Look, I was there and he was absolutely dead.

    12:56-13:04

    I saw it, I was right there." And he's almost like swearing by that, like I'm testifying here.

    13:04-13:07

    Put me on the stand, I was a witness.

    13:07-13:11

    The man was dead, I saw it, there's no doubt.

    13:13-13:17

    And it says that the soldiers stabbed him with a spear.

    13:19-13:20

    Like, why did they do that?

    13:20-13:22

    You know, the text doesn't say why they did that.

    13:23-13:26

    Was it to verify his death?

    13:29-13:29

    I don't know.

    13:30-13:31

    Maybe they were just being cruel.

    13:34-13:37

    I don't know what the motive was, but I do know what the result was.

    13:37-13:39

    The Bible says that blood and water came out.

    13:41-13:46

    You're like, "Well, how does that happen?" That actually comes from a ruptured heart.

    13:48-13:54

    Now we know last week, that was the sermon, you can go back and listen, but Jesus willingly gave up His spirit.

    13:54-13:58

    So if you're like, "How did Jesus die?" He gave up His spirit.

    13:58-14:00

    He chose to lay down His life, right?

    14:00-14:02

    He had the authority, John 10, to lay His life down.

    14:02-14:04

    He has the authority to take it up.

    14:05-14:08

    So Jesus died by His own choice of laying His life down.

    14:09-14:20

    But if you're some medical person here, I know we have some medical people here, you're like, "Well, what's the physical cause of death?" He died from a ruptured heart.

    14:23-14:25

    And that actually ties into prophecy.

    14:26-14:29

    Psalm 69 is a very messianic psalm.

    14:29-14:37

    In Psalm 69, verse 20, look at this, it says, "Reproaches have broken my heart." And I'm not going to get into all the...

    14:37-14:52

    I've done a lot of studying this past week regarding the physical causes of death and what's causing these things to take place that we see here in the text, and if you'd like to hear more about it, we can talk about it over Starbucks or something.

    14:53-15:00

    But it seems to me that Jesus' physical cause of death was literally a broken heart.

    15:02-15:10

    Bearing God's wrath for our sin, being rejected by His Father in that moment as He embodied sin.

    15:12-15:20

    Apparently His heart ruptured Because when someone dies in that manner, obviously their circulation stops, yes.

    15:21-15:30

    But what happens is the blood separates the clear serum from the thick red crassamentum.

    15:33-15:35

    And both of those came pouring out.

    15:37-15:44

    Now I know we read this passage, and immediately our minds want to jump the symbolism, right?

    15:45-15:47

    That's gotta be symbolism, water and blood, it's gotta be symbolism.

    15:47-15:50

    And I've read a lot of stuff this past week.

    15:51-15:54

    Some people say, well, the water and blood coming out, obviously that's baptism and communion.

    15:58-15:58

    Is it?

    15:59-16:10

    Some people say, well, it's a picture of cleansing, you know, Old Testament cleansing with blood, cleansing with water, and some people say, well, water and blood are symbols of life, right?

    16:12-16:13

    And look, all that stuff is true.

    16:15-16:19

    And I'm not denying any of that, but I'm just saying this, the text doesn't go there.

    16:22-16:28

    If you just look at the text straightforwardly, it just seems that John is just verifying Jesus' death.

    16:29-16:38

    Like, look, I was standing there, and not only was he dead, but they stabbed him with a spear and I saw the blood in the water come out.

    16:38-16:41

    Like, listen, people, he was actually dead in that moment.

    16:42-16:43

    I am sure of that.

    16:46-16:49

    And there's another thing that John wants to make absolutely clear.

    16:50-16:58

    Is that every single thing that was happening to Jesus was prophesied of the Messiah in the Old Testament.

    16:58-17:03

    And this passage is just so, I mean, this whole stretch, right?

    17:04-17:11

    We've already seen, just like prophesied in the Old Testament, the sacrifices to be taken outside the city, right?

    17:12-17:15

    He was numbered with the transgressors, Isaiah 53.

    17:16-17:18

    They cast lost for his clothes, Psalm 22.

    17:19-17:20

    He was thirsty, Psalm 69.

    17:21-17:24

    So many prophecies fulfilled, but there's two more here.

    17:24-17:26

    Look at verse 36.

    17:28-17:31

    John says, "For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled.

    17:32-17:38

    Not one of his bones will be broken." Another prophecy fulfilled, Psalm 34, 20.

    17:39-17:41

    That's sort of a general reference.

    17:41-17:43

    He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.

    17:43-17:44

    That's fulfilled.

    17:45-17:49

    I also think it's a layer deeper because we've talked about Jesus being the Passover lamb.

    17:51-17:55

    God was so clear in the Old Testament, Exodus 12, 46, Numbers 9, 12.

    17:55-17:59

    When you take the Passover lamb, not one of its bones should be broken.

    17:59-18:00

    God was adamant about that.

    18:01-18:03

    Do not break any of the bones.

    18:03-18:06

    Do not select a lamb that has a broken bone.

    18:06-18:08

    Not one of its bones can be broken.

    18:10-18:11

    Like, why is that?

    18:11-18:16

    because Jesus Christ needed to fulfill this prophecy, because He is the true Passover lamb.

    18:18-18:19

    So that's fulfilled, look at verse 37.

    18:20-18:30

    John says in another scripture, again, another scripture says, "They will look on Him whom they have pierced." That comes from Zechariah 12.10.

    18:33-18:40

    But the Lord says, "When they look on Me, "on Him whom they have pierced." It comes up again in Revelation.

    18:42-18:43

    And again, it's astounding.

    18:43-18:46

    We could spend so much time talking about how astounding this is.

    18:47-18:59

    But how could a crucified Jesus Christ, how could somebody who died of crucifixion fulfill a prophecy about being pierced too?

    18:59-19:00

    How could that happen?

    19:01-19:03

    That seems like a long shot, doesn't it?

    19:06-19:08

    It happened exactly as God promised it would.

    19:10-19:11

    And you're like, "Okay, gotcha.

    19:13-19:15

    We're verifying that Jesus is dead.

    19:15-19:15

    Gotcha, Jeff.

    19:16-19:22

    So he's dead." I mean, why is John at this point so adamant about making that clear?

    19:23-19:28

    Why is he so adamant about that besides the fulfillment of prophecy, which is a huge thing?

    19:31-19:35

    Jesus actually physically dying makes all the difference.

    19:36-19:39

    Because the Bible says the wages of sin is what?

    19:40-19:41

    It's death.

    19:42-19:44

    Death is what we owe.

    19:46-19:53

    We don't owe God a beating or merely just bloodshed.

    19:53-19:55

    Death is the price that must be paid.

    19:58-20:03

    And church, if Jesus didn't literally die, then your sins aren't literally forgiven.

    20:05-20:07

    And you sit here still literally condemned.

    20:10-20:12

    Because if Jesus didn't literally die, guess what?

    20:12-20:13

    He didn't literally resurrect.

    20:16-20:27

    And if you're buying into that cool air in the tomb garbage swoon theory stupidity, then you put your faith in a liar and a charlatan.

    20:28-20:31

    If Jesus didn't literally die and resurrect.

    20:33-20:34

    He had to die.

    20:35-20:36

    for the work to truly be finished.

    20:37-20:40

    To truly be the spotless Passover lamb.

    20:40-20:41

    He had to literally die.

    20:42-20:47

    And because this is such an important point of doctrine, it's something that had to be verified.

    20:52-20:55

    The first thing is Jesus' death must be verified.

    20:57-21:00

    Second thing must be verified.

    21:00-21:07

    Not only Jesus' death, But here's something else super important to be verified, it's your faith.

    21:09-21:10

    It's your faith.

    21:12-21:21

    So with that, the part that John wrote, we have confirmation, we have verification, Jesus is dead.

    21:21-21:21

    Now what?

    21:22-21:22

    Now what?

    21:22-21:23

    He's dead.

    21:26-21:46

    Well stepping up, our two, shall we call them secret disciples, Luke 38, it says, "After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.

    21:48-21:49

    And Pilate gave him permission.

    21:50-21:57

    So he came and took away his body." Okay, Joseph of Arimathea, he shows up in all the Gospels.

    21:58-22:03

    He's a very wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, and he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.

    22:04-22:09

    This also is very significant, because normally, do you know what happened with crucified people?

    22:10-22:13

    When they were taken down from the cross, do you know what they did with the body?

    22:14-22:15

    They threw it on the side of the road.

    22:18-22:19

    To let the birds eat at them.

    22:21-22:23

    Or, they threw the body in Gehenna.

    22:24-22:27

    That was the constantly burning garbage dump.

    22:28-22:33

    Because you see, for Rome, that was their way of saying, "Look, this is what happens when you cross us.

    22:33-22:44

    You saw us kill them, you see the body, don't mess with Rome." And for the Jews, they weren't interested in burying somebody that they considered a blasphemer.

    22:45-22:49

    So, they're not wanting anything to do with this.

    22:52-22:53

    Look at verse 39.

    22:54-23:08

    It says, "Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight." Nicodemus, we already saw him twice in John.

    23:09-23:11

    He was a Pharisee.

    23:11-23:17

    And Jesus himself actually called Nicodemus a teacher of Israel.

    23:19-23:26

    He was also wealthy Because 75 pounds of spices would have been a lot of money.

    23:30-23:31

    Look at verse 40.

    23:32-23:42

    It says, "So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

    23:42-23:50

    Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.

    23:51-23:56

    So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

    23:58-23:58

    Stop there.

    23:59-24:04

    But you have to see that this brings another incredible fulfillment to God's Word.

    24:04-24:12

    Isaiah 53.9 says, "And they made His..." This is the huge messianic chapter of Isaiah.

    24:13-24:21

    It says, "And they made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man and his death." Isn't that an amazing prophecy?

    24:22-24:23

    His grave would be assigned with the wicked.

    24:23-24:26

    Jesus died with two robbers.

    24:28-24:30

    But at the same time, He would be with a rich person in His death.

    24:30-24:33

    How in the world could something like that be fulfilled?

    24:35-24:37

    I mean, none of the apostles were rich.

    24:37-24:40

    Jesus didn't have any rich family members that we knew of.

    24:41-24:42

    Enter Joseph of Arimathea.

    24:44-24:54

    And he, very rich and very generous, provided Jesus a new tomb.

    24:56-25:03

    And that is hugely important, because now everybody knows exactly where Jesus is buried.

    25:04-25:10

    Spoiler alert, that's going to be a huge plot point here next week.

    25:11-25:12

    Alright?

    25:14-25:15

    But it was a new tomb.

    25:17-25:18

    I do a lot of reading.

    25:18-25:23

    Some of the books that I read have some antiquated language.

    25:24-25:33

    And the one book I read this week, this commentator, he indicated that Jesus being laid in a new tomb meant that the tomb had no other occupant.

    25:34-25:39

    And I don't know why I thought that the wording of that, it just kind of struck me as funny.

    25:40-25:41

    No other occupant.

    25:44-25:46

    Like there's a vacancy sign above it or something.

    25:46-25:52

    I don't know why the wording struck me funny, but I guess, honestly though, kidding aside, I guess that's an important thing to note.

    25:54-26:12

    Because if, if, if Jesus was buried in a tomb with someone else, and there was a resurrection from the tomb, you know for sure some skeptic would come along and say, "Well, that might not have been Jesus.

    26:12-26:14

    I mean, that might have been Carl for all we know.

    26:17-26:18

    But it's a point made.

    26:21-26:28

    He was in a tomb, a new tomb, no other occupant.

    26:29-26:30

    I like how another commentator put it.

    26:30-26:42

    He said, "Jesus' life went from virgin womb "to virgin tomb." And that's certainly one way to put it, isn't it?

    26:45-26:48

    But for a few minutes I just want to look closer at these two men.

    26:52-26:57

    Because you're going to see something very significant, if you're willing to slow down for a second.

    27:00-27:04

    Because on the surface they seem like side characters, right?

    27:04-27:13

    They sort of come on and, "Okay, okay, so these two guys showed up and they buried Jesus, what's the big deal?" This is a really big deal.

    27:17-27:22

    Because here were two men who were afraid to confess Jesus during his life.

    27:25-27:29

    But interestingly, they acknowledged that they belonged to him when he died.

    27:32-27:33

    I mean think about that.

    27:34-27:36

    John was there, we know that.

    27:37-27:59

    dead at this point, committed suicide. But Jesus had ten other men who followed him his entire ministry. And where were they? They ran, they were hiding. And when Jesus actually died, who showed up to take care of his body?

    28:01-28:04

    It was the secret disciples.

    28:05-28:10

    It was the people that had what we would say was weak faith.

    28:13-28:21

    Stepping up were two men, it says, because of fear of the Jews.

    28:24-28:26

    Kept their faith pretty private.

    28:29-28:33

    And I've got to tell you, church, we can be awfully hard on those people in our churches.

    28:37-28:38

    Shame on us for that.

    28:40-28:45

    We can be awfully hard and critical and judgmental of people that have weak faith.

    28:47-28:50

    Because it's easy to write off people like this.

    28:51-28:54

    Do you remember, I'm sure you do, back in John chapter 12.

    28:55-28:57

    I came across these verses here.

    29:00-29:01

    Gonna do a quick callback.

    29:01-29:21

    It says, "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, believed in Jesus, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." And if you remember back at the time, we did a poll.

    29:21-29:26

    We voted on this and we all decided we're gonna go with whatever Rich Brunk says, right?

    29:27-29:27

    You remember that?

    29:28-29:31

    The question was this, were these people true believers?

    29:33-29:34

    Because you can make a point either way.

    29:35-29:40

    But just the fact that we had to stop as a church and evaluate whether or not we think they're believers.

    29:41-29:45

    But then at the end of the day, we're like, well, it looks from the Greek wording like they were believers.

    29:45-29:56

    But shame on them, shame on them, because they wouldn't confess it and they cared more about what man thinks and what God thinks, and that's not a good thing, but man, we are ready to write them off.

    29:59-30:01

    How could they be such wimps?

    30:02-30:05

    Me, I'd stand for Jesus, I don't care what it costs me.

    30:05-30:07

    I wouldn't be pathetic like those people.

    30:10-30:13

    And I'm not excusing cowardice at all.

    30:13-30:14

    We've talked about that, right?

    30:14-30:16

    We spent a whole year talking about not fearing.

    30:16-30:19

    Not excusing that at all, but I'm just simply saying this.

    30:19-30:24

    When you get to John 19 and Jesus is dead and there's his body, who showed up?

    30:26-30:27

    Who showed up?

    30:30-30:33

    So church, I think we need to be a little more patient.

    30:35-30:39

    And I think we need to be a little more gracious and I think we need to be a little more encouraging.

    30:41-30:43

    Not content with leaving people in that state.

    30:44-30:56

    Obviously, you don't want somebody living their Christian life in fear and afraid to go public, but instead of casting them out, we should be helping them out.

    31:00-31:13

    But as I close here, I want to address those of you who are sitting here, or those of you that might be watching the stream, I want to address those of you that maybe you feel like a secret disciple right now.

    31:16-31:20

    By your own admission, you would say, "Yeah, you know what? I believe, but I'm going to be honest with you.

    31:20-31:23

    I don't have the strongest faith, Jeff. I really don't.

    31:25-31:27

    I believe, but gosh, sometimes I wonder, you know?

    31:29-31:49

    Because I look at strong Christians in the church, and I'm not like them, and oh gosh, I don't know a lot, and if I..." And you know, sometimes people come to me, because of my position, and they're like, "Pastor Jeff, sometimes I wonder where I am with God.

    31:50-32:00

    Pastor Jeff, sometimes I wonder if I'm really a Christian." And they come to me with that, as if I have magic preacher glasses that I can put on and stare straight into your heart.

    32:01-32:03

    Like, "Oh, I've got good news for you. It's washed.

    32:04-32:06

    And I don't have such glasses.

    32:09-33:11

    And I don't know where your heart is." tricky thing biblically is sometimes you don't even know where your own heart is, right? But as I close here I just want to take a couple of lessons that we learn from these two men about how faith gets verified. Because back in chapter 12 I think we would have, is it fair to say, we would have had a lot more doubt about their faith than we do in chapter 19, right? And nobody knows anybody else's faith, right? But wouldn't you say we have a lot less reason to doubt now seeing this? I just want to take a couple principles from their lives. How to verify your faith. Letter A. How to verify your faith. If you're, and again I'm talking to the secret disciple, that I'm not going public with it. That's letter A, go public with your faith.

    33:13-34:08

    That's taking the page out of Joseph of Arimathea's book. Because admittedly, according to God's word, he was a coward when he was alive. He was afraid of the Jews. What are people going to say? What's going to happen? Am I going to lose my job in the synagogue? Am I going to be booted? Are people gonna not respect me anymore?" He was afraid of what people thought. He was a coward when Jesus was alive. But something changed in that man's life because what he does in this passage is extremely gutsy. To go to the governor who just executed an innocent Jew and say, "Hey, I want his "Would you give us the body of Jesus?" Like, that is a gutsy thing that he did.

    34:11-34:12

    And please hear me.

    34:15-34:18

    This is the part of the sermon that gets misinterpreted.

    34:21-34:27

    I am not saying that everyone who professes Jesus knows Jesus.

    34:27-34:28

    I am not saying that.

    34:31-34:36

    I'm speaking specifically to that secret disciple who has the weak faith.

    34:36-34:38

    I'm speaking specifically to that person.

    34:38-34:41

    So if that shoe fits, you wear this.

    34:41-34:42

    Listen to me.

    34:43-34:47

    The day is going to come when you've got to make a choice.

    34:49-34:53

    The day is going to come in your life that you have to step out of the shadows.

    34:53-34:57

    The day is going to come when you have to draw a line in the sand.

    34:57-35:01

    And the day is going to come when you say, there's no more secret following Jesus.

    35:05-35:07

    That day is going to come for you.

    35:07-35:08

    And you've got to make a choice.

    35:09-35:12

    It came for Joseph, right?

    35:12-35:14

    He's like, I'm done being secret disciple.

    35:14-35:14

    I want his body.

    35:15-35:17

    Like you belong to Jesus, give me his body.

    35:19-35:21

    And I'm telling you secret disciple, that day is going to come for you.

    35:22-35:25

    And you might be like, well, how do I do that, Jeff?

    35:25-35:34

    I mean, obviously I am unable to emulate the kind of thing that Joseph did, so how can I go public with my faith?

    35:35-35:37

    Do you know that God gave us a way to do that?

    35:39-35:40

    And it's called baptism.

    35:44-35:54

    So maybe for the person here with the weak faith that feels like they've been the secret behind the scenes, nobody outside of here really even knows I go to church because I'm sort of the secret.

    35:56-35:57

    Maybe you need to be baptized.

    35:59-36:07

    Maybe to verify your faith, like Joseph of Arimathea, it's time to step up and go public and say, "Look, I have kept us a secret, but guess what?

    36:07-36:10

    "I'm not ashamed of Jesus "because he wasn't ashamed of me.

    36:11-36:14

    "I believe that he died on the cross for my sins.

    36:14-36:16

    "I believe that he rose from the dead "to give me eternal life.

    36:16-36:19

    "I believe that he's coming back to take me to heaven.

    36:19-36:23

    "I belong to him, he belongs to me, "and I want the world to know it.

    36:23-36:24

    I'm stepping up right now.

    36:27-36:30

    And if that's you, contact me ASAP.

    36:30-36:37

    We have periodic baptism services, and we'll get you signed up for the next one.

    36:38-36:42

    But maybe you need to go public and verify your faith, like Joseph.

    36:43-36:49

    And finally, how to verify your faith, and this is really the big one, in my opinion.

    36:50-36:51

    You've got to look for growth over time.

    36:52-36:55

    You've got to look for growth over time, like Nicodemus, right?

    36:56-36:59

    I mentioned this is the third time Nicodemus showed up.

    37:01-37:03

    The first time Nicodemus showed up was in chapter 3.

    37:03-37:06

    Remember, he came to Jesus by night, didn't anybody know?

    37:06-37:18

    Like, "I'm curious about who this guy is, but I can't let my buddies know that I'm here." So he kind of came to Jesus by night, and that's when Jesus said, "You must be born again, and then for God so loved the world." Remember that? John chapter 3?

    37:18-37:20

    That was the first time Nicodemus showed up.

    37:20-37:23

    He shows up again in what is it, chapter seven?

    37:24-37:24

    Is that what I wrote down?

    37:24-37:25

    Yeah, chapter seven.

    37:27-37:33

    If you look at chapter seven, the Pharisees got together talking about Jesus and they're ready to condemn him completely.

    37:33-37:40

    And Nicodemus spoke up and he says, guys, does our law condemn a person without hearing him out?

    37:42-37:55

    Like, wow, he went from secret meeting with Jesus to standing up for Jesus in a general way before his peers.

    37:58-38:06

    And you get to chapter 19 and Nicodemus shows up bringing a very expensive amount of spices to bury Jesus.

    38:09-38:10

    Do you know what that tells me?

    38:12-38:15

    Following Nicodemus' accounts in John, You know what that tells me?

    38:19-38:20

    It tells me his faith was growing.

    38:22-38:25

    Very slowly, over time.

    38:28-38:29

    But he was growing.

    38:32-38:42

    That's the thing, right? Coming to Christ isn't about joining a church or checking a membership box or subscribing to a philosophy. Jesus Christ changes people.

    38:43-38:44

    He changes people.

    38:44-38:45

    That's what he does.

    38:45-38:46

    He transforms people.

    38:47-38:52

    And change is both a moment and a process at the same time.

    38:56-39:03

    And the clearest way to know that you're born again to verify your faith is to just simply ask yourself, am I growing?

    39:05-39:05

    Am I growing?

    39:09-39:18

    A couple of years ago, we wanted to put some trees in our backyard and we ordered these trees online.

    39:21-39:24

    Insert commercial for never ordering trees online.

    39:26-39:31

    We ordered these trees online and we got these, well, I'm thinking a tree, I'm thinking a tree, right?

    39:31-39:33

    You know a tree, have you seen a tree?

    39:33-39:33

    Yeah, there's a tree, yeah.

    39:34-39:36

    We got three sticks in the mail.

    39:37-39:42

    They were about this long and they had a little tag on them.

    39:45-39:52

    And I'm like, look, I'm no, what do you call those people, Dan, those botanists, is that arborist?

    39:54-39:56

    Oh yeah, I'm not a tree guy.

    39:59-40:02

    But I'm like, well, you just stick it in the ground and water it, right?

    40:03-40:05

    Little miracle grow, a little water.

    40:07-40:15

    And I'm like, "Come on, Aaron, we'll have an orchard here in six weeks." You know what we had in six weeks?

    40:17-40:19

    We had three three-foot sticks sticking out of the ground.

    40:23-40:24

    They never got taller.

    40:26-40:28

    They never grew any leaves.

    40:30-40:32

    Do you know what that told me about those trees?

    40:34-40:35

    They weren't living.

    40:37-40:38

    They weren't living.

    40:41-40:52

    But if you have true faith, even if you have what you would admit to being weak faith, you should see progress over time.

    40:53-40:55

    You should be able to say, "Hey, you know what?

    40:55-41:03

    I got so much room to grow, I know that, but I'm going to tell you what, I'm not the same guy that I was a year ago.

    41:04-41:08

    And I'll tell you what, if I'm being really honest, I'm not even the same guy I was a month ago.

    41:09-41:15

    And I know I got a long way to go, but wow, by the grace of God, look at how far I've come.

    41:18-41:24

    And I want to encourage you to let that be the thing that verifies your faith.

    41:26-41:28

    Like Nicodemus, keep after it.

    41:29-41:30

    Keep after it.

    41:30-41:32

    If that's you, keep after it.

    41:32-41:34

    Get your face in God's word.

    41:35-41:38

    Read and try to understand what you can, praying to him, asking for help.

    41:39-41:43

    Get on your face and cry out to him and talk to him like your heavenly father.

    41:44-41:47

    Get involved in your small group.

    41:47-42:01

    Be surrounded by people who are going to love you and are going to encourage you, and especially, hopefully, after this message, will not criticize you because you're not saying things the way they want you to say them, and maybe you should be further along at this point than you are.

    42:02-42:06

    Be surrounded by people that are going to encourage you and push you to Jesus.

    42:09-42:11

    But look for growth over time.

    42:13-42:17

    So Jesus' death, verified.

    42:19-42:26

    But as for your faith and as for my faith, let it be verified.

    42:27-42:32

    Like Joseph, like Nicodemus, Let it be verified by the way that we live.

    42:32-42:33

    Amen?

    42:34-42:34

    Amen. Let's pray.

    42:35-42:47

    Father in heaven, what an incredible encouragement it is when we read Your Word and we see that there's people in Your Word that are just like us.

    42:49-43:00

    Sincere and weak, and believing but sometimes cowardly, but growing and changing Because we belong to You.

    43:03-43:06

    Father, I want to pray for us as a church.

    43:09-43:18

    When we are tempted to be critical or condemning, instead we would be asking how we could come alongside.

    43:18-43:29

    But Father, I want to pray for the person here, whether they're sitting here, whether they're watching this, wherever they may be, that maybe they feel like that secret disciple that nobody knows.

    43:30-43:36

    I pray Father that you would, whatever you did in Joseph's life, do that in their life.

    43:38-43:39

    That they would step up.

    43:42-43:48

    And Father, in the days that they're discouraged, I pray that they're able to look back and see the way they're growing over time.

    43:50-43:57

    We thank you Father, not just for these things, but for all of the ways that your word gives us, that we might verify our faith.

    43:58-44:23

    Most of all today, Father, we thank you for the Passover lamb who laid down his life, fulfilling every prophecy, demonstrating a love that was completely unwilling to stop short of anything, so that we might have peace with you.

    44:25-44:28

    Thank You, Father, for Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb.

    44:31-44:33

    It's in His glorious and incomparable name that we pray.

    44:34-44:34

    Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John
19:31-42

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. Why is it important that Jesus' death was verified (John 19:35)? What are the implications in the truth that Jesus literally died?

  3. What do you think prompted Joseph and Nicodemus to step up at this point (John 19:38-40)? In other words: why do you think it was here that they decided to stop being “secret disciples”? What kind of event(s) could happen today that might encourage a “secret disciple” to go public with their faith?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Sacrifice - Part 2

Introduction:

When Jesus Says "It is Finished" (John 19:28-30):

  1. He means Everything is finished. (John 19:28-29)

    Psalm 69:21 - ...for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

    Exodus 12:22 - Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

  2. He means it is Totally finished. (John 19:30)

Hebrews 10:4 - For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 01:05-01:08

    Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 19.

    01:09-01:10

    John chapter 19.

    01:12-01:20

    And as we're walking through John's gospel, if you were with us last week, we saw that John described what was happening around the cross.

    01:22-01:28

    And now his focus is on what's happening on the cross.

    01:30-01:33

    Look at verses 28 -30.

    01:35-01:55

    It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, to fulfill the Scripture, 'I thirst.' A jar full of sour wine stood there.

    01:57-02:02

    So they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

    02:04-02:16

    When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished." And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

    02:18-02:22

    Do we have any do -it-yourselfers here? Show of hands.

    02:24-02:32

    Now my hand is up, but I would Far from consider myself a do-it-yourself What happens to me is I might?

    02:33-02:53

    Catch Aaron might be watching one of those home renovation shows and I might catch part of it and think I can do that well, I Hate to start those projects Because I get obsessed about finishing Is there anybody else like that?

    02:53-03:21

    I know some people say like my husband started six projects and none of them are finished that's not my problem my problem is when I start something I I Obsess about finishing anybody else like that to the point of several trips to Lowe's at least two or three in The middle of every project running to Lowe's and a lot of projects happen on Sunday And do you know how many times I've had to race to the store like looking up online? What time do they close?

    03:21-03:25

    I got 10 minutes. I can make it anybody else done that anybody.

    03:26-03:34

    Okay. Thank you. Thank you. It's not just me It's not just me and so many times Aaron would be like it's late. Can't you just work on it tomorrow?

    03:35-04:01

    I'm like work on it tomorrow Crazy woman. No, it needs done because I'm just gonna lay in bed. I'm gonna think about What else needs done and how I should have done this and that's that's why I don't like to start those projects But if you're like me at all, and when you start a project like that, you have it in your mind, "I've got to get it done, I've got to get it done, I've got to get it done." I've got good news for you.

    04:02-04:05

    I think that drive to finish what you start comes from the Lord.

    04:06-04:18

    Because, well, I want to make excuses for myself, but it's so interesting, you know, in the gospel of John, Everything has been driving to this one point.

    04:19-04:23

    And we're at the point of Jesus suffering on the cross.

    04:23-04:30

    And you realize now that we're focused on Jesus on the cross, John only spends three verses talking about that.

    04:31-04:34

    And all three verses talk about the same thing.

    04:34-04:35

    It's all about finishing.

    04:36-04:37

    It's all about finishing.

    04:38-04:41

    So in your outline, jot this down, just two points today.

    04:41-04:43

    You're going to see it very clearly from the text.

    04:43-04:53

    But the heading is, "When Jesus says it is finished." When Jesus says it is finished, number one, He means everything is finished.

    04:54-05:05

    You see, the first statement Jesus makes here in verse 28, we're going to look at the whole verse in a second again, but the first statement He makes is, "I thirst." First statement in this passage.

    05:06-05:15

    He says, "I thirst." And if we're just skimming through this and not thinking too deeply about it, it might just seem expected, right?

    05:16-05:19

    Jesus had suffered a horrific beating.

    05:20-05:23

    Jesus has been suffering horrible blood loss.

    05:23-05:31

    So you could read something like that and say, "Well, yeah, I mean, obviously, He's probably thirsty." And just move on and not think too much about it.

    05:33-05:37

    Say, "Okay, Jesus says I thirst. Okay, that makes sense." Moving on.

    05:38-05:41

    But you have to see that this goes so much deeper than that.

    05:42-05:45

    Look at verse 28 again, very closely. We're going to slow down here.

    05:45-05:52

    It says, "After this," meaning after Jesus made sure that his mom was taken care of by John.

    05:53-06:06

    It says, "After this, Jesus," look at this, "knowing that all was now finished, said, 'I thirst.'" But parenthetically, it tells us why he said that.

    06:07-06:09

    To fulfill the Scripture.

    06:10-06:18

    He knew everything was finished, so because he knew that, now I have to say this in order to fulfill the Scripture.

    06:19-06:19

    Like, what does that mean?

    06:20-06:20

    That means this.

    06:21-06:32

    If Jesus Christ is the Messiah, if he was going to prove to be the Messiah, that meant he had to fulfill all of the prophecies from the Old Testament about the Messiah, right?

    06:34-06:40

    This isn't something you can bat 300 and be acceptable, or even 500, or even 900.

    06:40-06:49

    If He's going to be the Messiah, He has to fulfill everything that the Old Testament says about the suffering of the Messiah.

    06:49-06:56

    And the Old Testament says so much about the suffering of the Messiah that He was going to be despised and rejected.

    06:56-07:00

    The Bible says that His hands and feet are going to be pierced.

    07:00-07:01

    He's going to be mocked.

    07:01-07:03

    People are going to be gambling for His clothes.

    07:03-07:12

    All through the Old Testament, Exodus 12, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, there are so many prophecies about the suffering of the Messiah.

    07:13-07:20

    And Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, Jesus knew at this moment He had one left.

    07:20-07:22

    There was one prophecy left.

    07:24-07:29

    He said, "If everything's done, and it is, There's one more thing that I need to do.

    07:29-07:31

    And that's from Psalm 69, 21.

    07:32-07:40

    It says, "For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink." In other words, Jesus said He was thirsty in order to fulfill that verse.

    07:41-07:44

    The Scripture says this has to happen, so obviously it has to happen.

    07:44-07:59

    Jesus said, "This is the last one, and right now I'm going to fulfill that verse." But believe it or not, as profound as that is, This statement and what happens goes way deeper than even that.

    07:59-08:19

    Because with Jesus saying, "I thirst," and the action that took place as a result, what God was doing, and this is one of the most mind-blowing things in all of this to me, what God was doing right here was recreating the Passover event.

    08:20-08:56

    Like how so I want you to look at verse 29 again It says a jar full of sour wine stood there so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch And held it to his mouth So you see a hyssop branch is very specifically identified John didn't just say they put the sponge on a stick He was very specific about what kind of a reed it was what kind of a branch he said was a hyssop branch And you're like, "So? Why should I be excited about Hyssop?" I'm going to tell you.

    08:57-09:09

    Let's flash back to Israel, and Exodus, slaves, and Egypt, delivered by God, through God sending the ten plagues.

    09:09-09:10

    And do you remember the tenth plague?

    09:11-09:14

    The Passover is connected to that.

    09:15-09:21

    And the Passover became one of the most important, if not the most important holiday for Israel.

    09:22-09:26

    And in Passover they were celebrating how God liberated them from Egypt.

    09:27-09:37

    And interestingly, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, the very minute He was hanging on the cross, Israel was celebrating the Passover.

    09:38-09:44

    They were remembering the events from Exodus while Jesus was on the cross.

    09:44-09:47

    This is the holiday season they were in.

    09:47-09:53

    The tenth plague connected to the Passover was the death of the firstborn.

    09:54-10:18

    God said, "I'm going to come through the camp, and I'm going to kill the firstborn in every home." But Israel was told, remember Israel, slaves living in Egypt, Israel was told this, "You need to take the blood of a spotless lamb and put that blood on the doorposts and the crosspiece of the house.

    10:20-10:33

    And God says, "When I come through the camp and I see the blood on the doorframe, I'm not going to kill the firstborn, I'm instead going to pass over." Right? And that's why it's called the Passover.

    10:34-10:46

    God says, "I'm going to see the blood of the spotless lamb, and I'm going to pass over and spare the firstborn from death." You're like, "What's the point?" Here's the point.

    10:47-10:52

    Exodus says specifically the branch that they were to use to apply the blood on the doorpost.

    10:53-10:54

    Can you guess which kind of branch it was?

    10:54-10:55

    Can you guess?

    10:56-10:57

    It was a hyssop.

    10:59-11:12

    You see Exodus 12.22 tells us, it says, "Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that It is in the basin.

    11:13-11:36

    So let me ask you, if you were a devout Jew who knew your Scriptures and knew the Passover and understood this whole scene, and you were there and saw a soldier taking a hyssop branch and dipping it in the sour wine and holding it up to give Jesus a drink, what would that have looked like to you?

    11:38-11:42

    What would that have reminded you of You see this hyssop holding up.

    11:44-11:46

    I'm sure it would have looked like something, wouldn't it?

    11:47-11:57

    That's what it looked like when our forefathers put the blood on the door.

    11:58-11:59

    You see what God was doing.

    12:00-12:03

    God was graphically demonstrating.

    12:05-12:08

    Here's the true Passover lamb.

    12:09-12:12

    Here is the true spotless lamb that saves from death.

    12:14-12:25

    So you see, in this scene, Jesus says, "I thirst," and it brought into a recreation of the Passover drama.

    12:25-12:36

    God was providentially using what looked like a simple act of giving Jesus a drink, and He was actually playing out the events of the original Passover.

    12:37-12:44

    These events in Exodus were actually a foreshadowing of the events on the cross, you see.

    12:44-12:46

    It's God's way of connecting the dots.

    12:47-12:51

    Jesus in control the whole time.

    12:51-13:04

    Even while nailed to the cross and His human body dying, even then, God in the flesh was in absolute control of everything.

    13:05-13:06

    What does this tell us about Jesus?

    13:07-13:14

    It tells us a lot of things, but the main thing it tells us is He keeps every detail of His Word.

    13:15-13:15

    Every detail.

    13:17-13:29

    Every promise of God comes true, no matter how minor the detail, like being thirsty, and no matter how major the obstacle, like being nailed to a cross.

    13:30-13:33

    Jesus always delivers what He says.

    13:34-13:41

    God said this in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 1.12, He says, "I am watching over My Word to perform it." I love that verse.

    13:42-13:51

    It's this picture of God has a copy of His Word in front of Him, and He's looking at it, and He's saying, "Yeah, I'm doing this, I'm doing this.

    13:51-13:59

    I'm going to make sure I do this." He is watching over His Word to make sure that He does everything that He says He's going to do.

    14:00-14:04

    And you're like, "Well, that's so interesting about Jesus, What does that have to do with us now?

    14:05-14:24

    Well, you know, when I read in His Word about the second coming, you know, read Matthew, read Revelation, read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, read Daniel, there's a lot of details about what the second coming of Jesus Christ looks like, what the end of this age looks like.

    14:25-14:29

    And I believe it's going to go down exactly as He said.

    14:29-14:31

    It's going to go down, every detail.

    14:32-14:48

    I had a good friend tell me, he goes to a different church, but he told me the pastor got up preaching through Revelation, and he says, "Revelation's not, it's not like literally true, "it's just a big allegory saying good and evil "are kind of like butting heads and good eventually wins.

    14:48-14:53

    "It's just an allegory "that good ultimately triumphs over evil." I was like, (blows raspberry)

    14:55-14:55

    (congregation laughs)

    14:56-15:18

    I said, "You need to find a different church, "because that's not what he said." Jesus even punctuates Revelation by saying, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Jesus clearly demonstrated in this event right here, His attention to detail.

    15:18-15:20

    He'll fulfill everything that He said He will fulfill.

    15:22-15:27

    Jesus will finish everything that He said He would.

    15:27-15:31

    So when Jesus says it is finished, He means everything is finished.

    15:32-15:40

    And number two, when Jesus says it is finished, He means it is totally finished.

    15:41-15:42

    This is it.

    15:43-15:50

    This is the moment that Jesus has been driving towards His whole ministry.

    15:50-16:00

    Verse 30, it says, "When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished.' He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

    16:01-16:02

    It is finished.

    16:03-16:05

    As Alex told us in the video, it's one word in the Greek.

    16:07-16:07

    Tetelestai.

    16:09-16:09

    One word.

    16:11-16:13

    Like, what kind of a word is tetelestai?

    16:14-16:19

    Well to use it in sort of our vernacular, it's the word that a mechanic would use when he tightens that last screw.

    16:20-16:21

    Tetelestai.

    16:21-16:22

    It's done.

    16:23-16:38

    It's a word that a writer would use when finishing a manuscript and typing "the end" to "telestai." It's a word that a marathon runner would use when she crosses the finish line.

    16:39-16:44

    She says, "It's finished." That's the kind of word it was.

    16:45-16:49

    And in the Greek and in that culture, it was a very common word.

    16:49-16:54

    They used this word all the time for things like I just mentioned.

    16:55-16:56

    Similar contexts.

    16:56-17:09

    But one of the biggest ways that the word was used, again as we saw in the video, one of the biggest ways this word was used was after a sale was completed.

    17:10-17:33

    On the receipt, the merchant, after payment was received, the merchant would take the receipt and put a word on the receipt, and the word was "Tetelestai," meaning "paid in full." "Keep your receipt. You don't owe me anything, because it's been paid in full." The transaction is finished.

    17:34-17:44

    And that's the exact same word that Jesus used here, "Tetelestai." And your Bible translates it, "It is finished," which is right.

    17:44-17:54

    It could also be translated, "Paid in full!" You're like, "Yeah, it's finished." What is finished?

    17:56-18:02

    What's finished is God's plan to purchase salvation for fallen man.

    18:04-18:05

    That's what was finished.

    18:06-18:08

    God's plan to purchase salvation for fallen man.

    18:08-18:13

    Understand, the plan of salvation didn't start on the cross.

    18:15-18:19

    God's plan of salvation was fulfilled on the cross.

    18:22-18:23

    Here's what I mean.

    18:23-18:31

    When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden back in Genesis, you remember the Bible says that God covered them with skins.

    18:32-18:38

    That's the first substitutionary sacrifice in the Bible.

    18:39-18:56

    That though we deserve death for our own sin, And in that moment in the garden, God was showing us, "I am willing to provide a substitute in dealing with your sin problems." So for Adam and Eve, He made coverings for them by way of a sacrifice.

    18:57-18:59

    You can trace this throughout the Old Testament.

    19:00-19:09

    Very next generation, Abel offered sacrifice to God from his flock, which was accepted.

    19:10-19:11

    You can trace it through Abraham.

    19:11-19:15

    You can trace it to Moses in the Passover that we just talked about.

    19:15-19:18

    But ultimately in the Old Testament you trace it to the law.

    19:18-19:22

    God gave the law, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, repeating the law.

    19:22-19:29

    And the law was about defining sin and prescribing the way to offer sacrifice to make atonement for sin.

    19:29-19:31

    That's what the law is about.

    19:32-19:33

    And you can say, "Well, hang on a second, Jeff.

    19:35-19:44

    If God instituted this law where we could offer an animal sacrifice to atone for our sin, why did Jesus have to go through all this?

    19:45-20:02

    Why would God subject His Son to such horrible treatment and torture and such a horrible death, if we can just have our sins atoned through the Old Testament law?

    20:04-20:11

    Hebrews 10:4 says this, "For it is impossible for the blood bulls and goats to take away sins.

    20:13-20:25

    Now understand this, the Old Testament law provided atonement for sin, yes, but atonement is not taking away sin.

    20:26-20:30

    Atonement is temporarily covering sin.

    20:31-20:32

    And there's a difference.

    20:33-20:34

    Like I'm not sure I understand the difference.

    20:35-20:38

    Well, I'll try to illustrate it with something that we all understand.

    20:39-20:42

    Atonement under the Old Testament, do you know what it was like?

    20:43-20:44

    It was like a credit card.

    20:46-20:50

    We are not endorsing the use of credit cards by giving this illustration, right Alex?

    20:51-20:51

    Stacy?

    20:52-20:52

    (audience laughing)

    20:53-20:54

    No, this is an illustration.

    20:55-20:57

    This is what Old Testament atonement was like.

    20:58-21:05

    When a person uses a credit card to buy something, they're not really paying for the item.

    21:05-21:14

    The credit card company is basically saying, "Hey, we will cover you." And you're like, "Hey, that's super nice of you." Until you get the statement in the mail, right?

    21:14-21:16

    And what's that statement a reminder of?

    21:17-21:19

    "You still owe." Right?

    21:19-21:25

    "You still owe." That thing that you have, that you use the credit card, it's not really yours.

    21:25-21:26

    You still owe for that.

    21:28-21:33

    And that statement will keep coming and reminding you, "You still owe." That's not really yours.

    21:33-21:34

    You still owe.

    21:34-21:37

    and we got you covered.

    21:37-21:38

    We'll cover you.

    21:38-21:42

    And that's sort of what the Old Testament sacrifices were like.

    21:42-21:47

    They atoned, they covered, but they didn't take away the sin.

    21:48-21:50

    Because they kept having to do it. Right?

    21:51-21:56

    They kept having to offer sacrifices over and over and over and over.

    21:56-21:57

    Day of Atonement - got to do it.

    21:58-22:00

    Every year, Leviticus 16, over and over.

    22:00-22:04

    We've got to offer our sacrifices, guilt sacrifices, sacrifices for sin.

    22:04-22:09

    All these sacrifices, we've got to keep doing it because...

    22:09-22:11

    just swiping the credit card.

    22:11-22:15

    We're covered, but the sin's not being taken away.

    22:17-22:23

    So yeah, God's law, the sacrifice has covered sin, but payment was never fully made.

    22:24-22:26

    But do you know what Jesus' payment on the cross was like?

    22:28-22:30

    It was the cash.

    22:31-22:36

    Because when you use this, the transaction is over, right?

    22:37-22:39

    It is finished. It is paid in full.

    22:40-22:47

    And you're not going to get the reminders in the mail, "Hey, we covered you." When you use this, it's paid in full.

    22:47-22:52

    And this is what Jesus was demonstrating on the cross.

    22:53-22:57

    The debt is paid off completely, the payment is settled, it is finished.

    22:59-23:01

    And you see, church, we owe God an infinite debt.

    23:02-23:09

    You know, we just used an illustration with money, but there's not a dollar amount you could put on what you owe God.

    23:10-23:15

    Our rebellion, our wickedness, our horrible thoughts and actions and words.

    23:15-23:18

    And we have sinned against a holy God.

    23:19-23:27

    And Jesus paid the price for our sin with His blood, with His life.

    23:28-23:41

    And after paying the penalty, he cried out, "It is finished!" So what does this scene tell us about our efforts to try to earn our way to heaven?

    23:42-23:47

    What do Jesus' words tell us about our efforts to try to get right with God?

    23:49-23:50

    It's more than just foolish.

    23:52-23:54

    You're rejecting and insulting God.

    23:54-24:18

    When you deny that the price for your sin has been fully paid, you're denying the very words of Jesus right here, when He said, "It is finished." You see, church, when you think, "If I'm going to be right with God, if God's going to be happy with me, I have to be good, and I have to do good, and I have to keep the rules, and I've got to be a religious person." Do you know what you're saying when you have that mentality?

    24:19-24:27

    You're saying, "It's not finished. I have to earn my way." And I get it. There is something in us that wants to earn our way to heaven.

    24:27-24:46

    They say, "God's surely going to look at me and my conduct, and I'm trying to be a good person, and God's going to see that, and someday when I die, I'm going to get to heaven, because God's going to see how good I tried to be." And you're telling Jesus that He didn't do enough on the cross, when you have that mindset.

    24:47-24:51

    Jesus isn't offering an installment plan on salvation.

    24:51-24:59

    Jesus didn't cry out from the cross, "Okay, I did my part, now you do yours." He didn't say that. Do you know what He said?

    25:00-25:14

    He said, "It is finished. It's over. Paid in full." And since Jesus paid it all, we really only have two choices.

    25:16-25:18

    You can accept it or you can reject it.

    25:18-25:21

    You can accept it by saying, "You know what, I am a sinner.

    25:22-25:24

    I realize that I'm lost.

    25:24-25:33

    I realize I'm the reason that Jesus came and died because I'm just a wicked person deep down.

    25:34-25:37

    I have horrible thoughts and I say terrible things.

    25:37-25:43

    I am not a good person deep down." And I recognize that.

    25:43-25:48

    And I believe, Jesus, that when You were on the cross, for people like me.

    25:49-25:51

    And Jesus, I believe You.

    25:51-25:53

    When You said it is finished, I believe You.

    25:53-25:56

    Because You are God and You never lie.

    25:57-25:58

    And You don't do anything halfway.

    25:59-26:03

    I believe that all of my sins are paid for on that cross.

    26:04-26:06

    That's one option you have.

    26:07-26:09

    The other option you have is rejecting it.

    26:10-26:35

    And I have to warn you, that if you refuse to accept the payment that Jesus made cross for your sins, it will never be finished for you. That's why hell is eternal. Because hell is forever paying off a debt that can never be paid. When God put His judgment on His Son and said it is finished, but you're like, no, no, no, no, I don't believe that.

    26:36-27:01

    You're taking God's judgment on yourself. It will never be finished for you. But on the cross you see the final sacrifice was made. Sin was paid in full. The mission was completed. All of it was declared and settled forever. When Jesus said, "It is finished." Our God sees things through all the way to the end.

    27:03-27:10

    Every detail, totally and when you're finished, that's the testimony of the cross of Jesus Christ.

    27:11-27:12

    Will you pray with me, please?

    27:13-27:32

    Our Father in Heaven, I pray Your Word would be planted and would grow in our hearts and in our minds because I understand in one sermon I can't even begin to scratch the surface of how profound these statements are.

    27:33-28:09

    I don't think I could do it sermon that lasts a hundred hours, that even scratched the surface on how profound it is, that you would recreate Passover, that you would show us that every single detail of your word matters, and you would show us, Father, that our sin has been paid in full through the offering of the spotless Lamb of God. And Father, I want to pray specifically for the people here, the people that are watching this stream and listening to this later, or whatever, I want to pray for them who does not believe that it is finished.

    28:10-28:20

    I want to pray for the people that are still thinking that they earned their way through religion or good works or whatever, thinking that you're happy when we're good.

    28:21-28:26

    Father, I pray that we would truly understand what it means that it is finished.

    28:26-28:30

    And our lives are a reflection of gratitude.

    28:30-28:39

    our lives are, Father, a reflection of holy living, because we know the God who took away our sin.

    28:41-29:03

    Father, we thank You that with this one act, Your Son being executed like He was just a criminal, But in this one horrible and brutal act, You've told us everything about Yourself.

    29:05-29:06

    What kind of a God You are.

    29:09-29:13

    And what You've done to reconcile Your people to Yourself.

    29:14-29:17

    Thank You, Father, for the testimony that it is finished.

    29:18-29:20

    We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John
19:28-30

  1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?

  2. Explain the significance of Jesus saying “I thirst” (John 19:28). What does this reveal about Jesus that is important for us to understand?

  3. When Jesus said “It is finished” - what exactly was “finished”? How does this truth affect the way we live today as Christ-followers?

Breakout
Pray for one another.