Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Well, if I have not had the joy to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at Village Church. I have the joy to open up God's word with you. If you have a Bible, uh, open your Bibles up to the book of John. We're gonna be in chapter 20 this morning. If you're new here, this might be your first time. Uh, in front of you. There should be some connect cards. Uh, if you are at all interested in maybe getting to know the church a little bit more, maybe you have some questions about what we do here and why we do it. Um, feel free, fill that out. We would love to follow up with you, help you kind of just take a next step, whatever that is. Um, also if you go to our website, it's called v uh, vco b.org/hub.
Speaker 1 00:00:44 Uh, you'll have a digital connect card there, so maybe you forget. And, uh, if you wanna fill that out again, we'd love the opportunity to answer any of your questions and help you take a next step. If you fill those out in the room at the back of the sanctuary, there's a black box. You can just put it in there and then somebody would, would follow up with you, help you take a next step. Now, how many of you yesterday were at the extravaganza? Can you just raise your hand? Woo. Holy smokes, guys. That was crazy. <laugh>. It was organized. Utter insanity. Okay, so what I didn't know was that 75,000 eggs wasn't enough. What we didn't know is that 2,500 hotdogs wasn't enough. Uh, I talked to multiple police officers and their best guess was, well, they, they were like, for sure. This is, this is about double of the largest egg hunt you guys have done, which is back in 2019, they were guesstimating between eight and 10,000 people over the three and a half to four hours rotated through that field, both fields.
Speaker 1 00:01:44 I was crazy. It was nuts. So huge thank you to every single one of you who volunteered. Maybe you like Met Village Church at that event, and you're like, Hey, we'll, they're not too crazy. We'll, come check 'em out. Um, truly wanna welcome you guys here. Glad, just glad to have you. And, uh, our desire was to love our community very well. Uh, it's always to collaborate with our police department. Anytime we can do that, it's to allow people just to see that honestly, Jesus Christ is, is, is the savior of the world. And if anybody wants to have a conversation about that, we are always open. And then we want, honestly, every single kid in this city to know, um, God loves them, we love them, and we are for them. And so there's just practical, simple ways to communicate love in a way that, um, kids and moms and dads can, can receive.
Speaker 1 00:02:28 So truly thank you. Um, usually every year I'm the mc at the microphone, and I preach on Easter and I have no voice. So to the MCs who took my place this year, praise God. Thank you, <laugh>. How many of you got a good burn? Like I'm just, every Easter I wear it proudly. I'm like, it's not my best look. But I'll, for the sake of Jesus, I'll burn my entire head and face <laugh>. All right. Have you, have you ever felt massively misunderstood by someone else? Maybe just raise your hand. Oh, so it's like a general human experience. Good. Then I'm not the only, only one. Uh, like you're, you're talking to somebody and it's almost like they have no ability to decipher the the words you're saying. Uh, sometimes there, there are moments when, when conversations are heavier, and I, I need to know that when you and I walk outta this room, we are on the same page.
Speaker 1 00:03:18 And I might look at you and I'll say something like, can you say back to me what you hear me saying? And almost all the time it's like, yes, we are simpatico. We are on on the same page. And then every once in a while, somebody will say back to me, and I'm like, either you weren't listening or I'm a terrible communicator, or both, and we gotta gotta start over and get back, get back to the same place. And then there are those moments where you're talking to somebody, you're telling a story, and you know, they just don't care. Like they're, they're, they're not even interested and they're trying to feigin interest, but you're like, I'm pretty sure that if I said, what did I just say? You'd go, I'm sorry, what? <laugh> Those moments are incredibly irritating. You realize there's a difference between somebody acknowledging the fact that you're speaking.
Speaker 1 00:04:02 There's a difference between that person and then, and then the person who is trying, they're actually engaging. They're an active listener, and they're like, I wanna understand what you're actually saying. But then there's a whole new category. And, and those are the ones who actually walk away understanding in their mind and their heart, what you said. They put yours themselves in your shoes. They empathize with you. And, and we have a phrase for this actually, that we, we say in the English language, when, when we walk away from someone or a group where we feel understood, we say this, I feel seen. And, and do you know what happens when we find a place where we feel seen, we run back to that place. It might be a group of friends. The the worst thing is a group of friends who don't get you. It could be a Bible study, it could be a team, it could be a church.
Speaker 1 00:04:50 Like the human soul is craving to be seen and understood. Now, as we get to the New Testament, uh, the New Testament is written in a dead language, which means nobody speaks it, but we can read and interpret it and understand it in writing. It's called Coin a Greek. And it's a really nuanced language. And this is the language the New Testament was written in. And so to understand that language does open your eyes to some things that are, are happening. And the, the New Testament is three separate Greek words for the word C. Now you're gonna find this in John 20, you're gonna see the word C or different versions of that word, and they're gonna come up over and over and over again. But the Greek language, it actually uses different words. And I, I want to introduce you to these because it's gonna be the key that's gonna unlock John 20, which was John's story, personal, firsthand account of the resurrection of, of Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:05:37 So here's the first word. The first is a word bleo. Bleo is, it's kind of a fun word to say, but it basically means to see with your eyes, to see something factually. Like if you're driving down the road and the trees that go by you, you're bleeping those, you're not really thinking about about them. You're not really paying attention to them, but like, you see them, right? Like they're, they're there. They kind of just pass by you. That's, that's kind of bleo. It's just a very factual, I see it. There's no interest, there's nothing to stick out. I'm not thinking deeply about it. The second word is the, oh, and this is a little different. This actually means to look closely to scrutinize. It's kind of to squint your eyes and try to discern what's actually going on there. There's a third level though, of seeing in the Greek language, and it's, it's the Greek word idon.
Speaker 1 00:06:28 And this is very different. I idon, is to see and to understand with, with not just your mind, but your heart. It's almost like a full body immersive understanding it. It's where understanding and empathy converge. This is the kind of thing that you actually want to know. That your friends and your family and your loved ones, they iodine you, they understand you and get you, uh, deeper than just some of the intellectual things, but on a soul level. And so in John 20, you're gonna see all of these words come up. Now, before we jump into that text, um, there are a whole bunch of people here. It's Easter Sunday. And so there are a handful of you and you were dragged here. You don't wanna be here. Uh, you are doing your mom, your dad, your friend, a solid, and you're like, literally, I would rather be anywhere else. And, and honestly, you came in with very low expectations, and I'd say, amen. But don't say that back <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:07:25 You're, you're kind of like, I'm doing my due diligence. Maybe you're like, I think God will like me better. I don't know. It's Easter. I kind of grew up in a Christian tradition. Maybe I should go there. And, and honestly, the word bleo, um, describes you pretty well. You're not totally paying attention to the lyrics. You're, you're, you're probably just kind of counting down the clock. You're like, is this guy a long preacher? I don't know. We're gonna figure it out. But that's kind of maybe where you're at. Very normal, by the way. There are a bunch of those every Sunday morning and then Easter. It's just, we, we love our family. Well, by going to church, when mom or dad or our friends says, please come with me. I'm begging you one time a year. Do this thing for me. And I'm really glad you're here, and I hope it's not a miserable experience.
Speaker 1 00:08:00 I hope at least you, you're blessed in some way. You can go deeper in God's word and uh, in some way this is good for your soul. Then there are some of you here and you're, you're not a Christian, or maybe you're like kind of a Christian. You're like, I think I'm a Christian. I don't know. And, and, but you're, you're thinking like you really are wanting to know more about Jesus. And the word thera really does kind of capture you. Um, you're listening and you're kind of listening to, to the words I say and to the songs we sing, sort of like, you're squinting. You're like, I'm interested. I I'll bite. Like, let's see what you got preacher. Like, I, I'll consider what you're saying. And, and one of the things that I appreciate about you is you do have a desire to know eternal things.
Speaker 1 00:08:42 So if you're here and you're that camp, you're, you're well aware that you're going to die and you're gonna face eternity and you can't escape it. And, and the moment you move from eppo on spiritual things to to, to thera, you're, you're realizing like, I actually actually gotta start taking all of this seriously, because I actually don't know when I'm gonna die. And I wanna make sure that when I die, like I have secured that. And, and so there, I mean, there's just a whole lot of ideas and bad ideas out there. And so you're scrutinizing, you're, you're trying to figure this out. And I truly pray that this is helpful for you. Every Sunday morning at Village Church, we have a large group of people who are just trying to figure it out. And we want this to be a safe, great place for you to ask the most difficult questions and go as deep as you want to go.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 Um, ask them, we love hard questions. And then there's probably the majority of you in this room, and I don really does capture you. Like when you think about Jesus, you're like, I get it. I love him. I believe in him. I am convinced that he died in the cross for my sins. He was raised from the dead. And, and, and that you are here to worship the resurrected Jesus Christ, like you are no longer searching for the source of authority in truth, you found it in Jesus Christ and the word of God. And so you're actually free this morning. You're free to listen to the word of God, let it teach you. You're free to just lift your voice. And, and so Easter is one of these mornings where honestly we get all three different kinds of people. And, and it is a great morning.
Speaker 1 00:10:01 I hope for all of us that we are, we are able to point you to Jesus and you were able to celebrate the resurrection. We're at the least, at the least, be compelled to ask more questions and go deeper in your faith. All right, John chapter 20, we're teaching, by the way, at Village Church on Sundays through the book of John. Two chapters left. We're almost done. I'm very excited for our next, uh, series that we're gonna teach. I'm gonna hold you in lingo before I tell you all of that, but I'm very excited about it in John chapter 20. Um, we're gonna meet four very different people. And what John wants you to do is he wants you to look at the resurrection of Jesus through their eyes is he wants you to see what they're seeing. And the first person that we meet is Mary Magdalene.
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Okay guys, this woman, there are so many rumors and misunderstandings about her. Like if I were to ask you, like, was Mary Magdalene a a prostitute? The vast majority of people would say, oh yeah, of course. Like, that's not in the Bible. Here's what we do know about Mary Magdalene. Before she met Jesus, she was objectively evil. This woman had seven demons. That Jesus, when he met her, he cast out of her. We, we don't know what kind of witchcraft, we don't know which kind of darkness was in her, but we do know that she got to a point where she was like, I'm done. And when she came to Jesus, she willingly let him cast those demons out of her. And she gave her life to Jesus and experienced transformation in a beautiful way. And so you find from the very beginning of Jesus, I mean, you find she is with him.
Speaker 1 00:11:29 She is so vital to his ministry. She is at the crucifixion. She's a financial funder of his ministry. She is at the empty tomb. She's the first person actually to even like receive the good news that Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus loved this woman, and she was faithful to the ministry of Jesus. So we meet her in verse one, and here's what John says. He says, now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Now pay attention to the word saw. This is the Greek word bleo. She is not really paying attention. She's coming with spices because she believes that Jesus is dead and she's going to try to cover up some of the smell to bless the family, if you will.
Speaker 1 00:12:20 And so she bleeps and she's probably seeing sort of like the way right now, you see your nose. Did you know that you can see your nose right now? I think about it. Some of you're gonna be cross eye by the time we leave here <laugh>, but it's in your such deep periphery that you don't even, you don't even pay attention to it. But if you really think about it, it's always there hovering and your eyes just sort of block it out. That's a really good example of, of what Bleo is. So she sees, but she's not really putting two and two together. And, and I wanna be clear, and you're gonna find this as the Tex unfolds. Mary has this zero category, by the way that Jesus was raised from the dead. This isn't in her brain. So verse two, um, two more characters show up.
Speaker 1 00:12:56 We have first Peter Peter's the leader of the 12th. Um, if you know the story, Peter had just done the very thing that no disciple of a master or rabbi should ever do. He publicly denied affiliation with his rabbi. It is hands down the most disgraceful thing that a, a, a disciple could possibly do to their master. He did this publicly. He is ashamed. And so that's, that's the Peter that we see. He's pretty discouraged. The other person we meet is John. He is the author of this gospel. John, who we meet here wrote John 20. And he is writing this as his own personal testimony. You're gonna see this. Verse two, it says this. So she ran Mary Magdalene and she went to Simon Peter. In the other disciple. John's gonna always speak about himself without naming his name. It's customary, it's how they wrote.
Speaker 1 00:13:45 And then he says, uh, this is like the sort of the, the, the, the name he gives himself, which is the one whom Jesus loved. And he said to them, she said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid him. This drives me nuts because how many times did Jesus sit down with the disciples with Mary in their presence? And she, and he said, by the way, they're gonna arrest me, torture me, kill me, but don't worry, I'm gonna rise on the third day. It wasn't just once. This was a regular teaching. And she, she is looking at this series of events, and she's not even giving it the possibility that somehow, maybe, possibly Jesus was raised from the dead. It's not even in, in her category. So look at verse three. It says, so Peter went out with the other disciples, so Peter and John, and they were going toward the tomb.
Speaker 1 00:14:38 This is really enjoyable. Actually, both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Nobody knows why he puts this in there. He actually, he actually brings this up a second time, uh, later in the chapter. I, I'm personally convinced that like when he died, he was like, gotcha, haha. Like to Peter, I don't know. And stooping to look in. He, John, the author who wrote this book, saw he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. And again, I want you to notice this, this is the word bleo John, he's seeing, but he's not putting anything together. He's honestly not even thinking about it. And so like Mary, he's looking, but there's just not much going on. But then in verse six, Peter, he moves past John. John's just kind of sitting there.
Speaker 1 00:15:26 Peter moves past me. He goes into the tomb, and this is where John who wrote the gospel, uh, he's gonna actually use a different word than eppo. He's gonna move to the next level. Verse six. Then Simon Peter, he came following him, and he went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloth lying there in the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up. Isn't that weird in a place by itself. All right, there's a ton happening here. All right. Number one, Peter isn't just seeing the facts like Mary and John, uh, this is the Greek word for the ara, which means he is genuinely confused. He's looking and he's like, something's going on here. I don't know what could Peter it possibly be? I, I wanna discuss for a moment how Jews buried their dead.
Speaker 1 00:16:21 So what they would do is they would take about a hundred pounds of aloe and spices typically to cover up the stench. So what they would do is they would take each body part and they would wrap it in cloth, and then they would coat it in aloe and spices. Then those would harden sort of like a cocoon, and then they would wrap the entire body on top of that. So it was very tightly wrapped, but what they would do is they would've a separate wrapping for the head. These were done separately. I, I want you to remember back to the resurrection of Lazarus. It's kind of funny looking at how this happens. What happened to Lazarus when he was resurrected? John 1144, I'll read it for you, says this, the man who had died came out Lazarus, his hands and feet were bound with linen strips, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
Speaker 1 00:17:07 Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Like he comes out looking like a zombie. Now, I want you to imagine though, he like, that's probably not it. He is having a very difficult time because he is wrapped in a hundred pounds of spices and aloe that have hardened. He can't see, he can't get himself out. And so he is like, okay, throw the guy a bone. Go help him. Get him out. Stop staring at him. He's alive. I told you what happened. Go over and do that. But with Jesus, something different happens. Something fundamentally different because I, I want you to look at verse six again. He saw, he scrutinized the linen cloths. Like he, he couldn't, he couldn't get his mind around what he was seeing there. And then the face cloth, which had been in Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by, by itself.
Speaker 1 00:17:50 Uh, literally this means that the cloths that, that were used to wrap his body, it's literally relying in unfolds. But what's interesting is that this is, this is just an idiom for saying they were exactly as they were, but there was no body inside of it. He's looking at this. There was no undoing of the body of the wraps around his body. It was as if the body evaporated. And he's looking at this, and he's got, he knows the Lazarus story. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, it was a whole scene. They had rip everything off and all the hardened cocooned, uh, linens all around his body and then his head and take it, you know, like, and he's looking at this, and this is not like that at all. It's almost like the body just disappeared on the spot, or as we would say, maybe he resurrected in a different way.
Speaker 1 00:18:42 But then there's a third very strange detail. John includes this, this little detail about the cloth that has folded up. Hmm. So Peter's looking at this and he's like, interesting. Now there, there's a, there's a Jewish tradition that I find fascinating. Again, these are the things that like, we're 2000 years removed from this. These are these little details that John drops into the text just to show you some deeper things that are happening. A Jewish tradition, a very hospitality driven culture. If you go to somebody's home and they have provided you wonderful hospitality, what you do is you take the napkin and you just leave. It unfolded because you've been so good to me. You've fed me, you've prepared, you'll clean up after me as well. It's sort of the duty and joy of the host to do that. But if you go to a house and their hospitality was terrible, here's what you would do.
Speaker 1 00:19:36 You would take the napkin, you'd fold it up, you'd put it in place, and you would never go back to that place again. And that was your way of saying, you were a terrible host. I'm never walking through these doors again. There are few greater offenses in ancient nears and culture than being a bad host. And it's almost like John is stepping back and, and almost like if Jesus were to say death, you were a terrible host. And I am never, ever coming back to this house ever again. And Peter, he's saying all of this, and John uses the words that ara to show you, he doesn't get it, but he's trying. He's like, there's something about this that doesn't make sense. Verse eight, then the other disciple, that's John who reached the tomb first. By the way, don't forget that he's a faster runner.
Speaker 1 00:20:30 He also went in and now we have this word again. And he saw, but now we have a whole new word group he Id on. When he looked, he understood, and I imagine he was like, I am so foolish. How did I not see this? He said it. And then in this moment, he's gotta go back to the beginning of the Bible and be like, yes, it was there. It was there. How did I not have eyes? To see what is so blatantly and unbelievably obvious, of course, the Messiah had to die. The Bible said it. The Old Testament prophesied it over and over again. He'd be pierced like this is so ridiculously obvious. And it's like the scales were taken off of his eyes. And it says He, I don, he saw and believed for his, yet they did not. Here's the same word.
Speaker 1 00:21:18 Understand, I don the scripture that he must rise from the dead. And then it says, then the disciples went back to their home. And in this moment, John's like, I get it. What's interesting is that Peter doesn't get it yet, but John does. So verse 11 now picks up Mary's story, says Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stood, she looked into the tomb and she saw, this is different. Remember, Mary had only bleeped. She'd only just kind of seen but not paid attention. But now Mary is thera. Now she's a bit confused. Now Mary's looking into the tomb and she's probably seeing what Peter saw. And she's like, that's strange. Like, it's like he evaporated. Wow. Like he folded up the cloth that's rude. And she saw two angels sitting in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lane one at the head and one at the feet.
Speaker 1 00:22:14 And they, verse 13 said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, they've taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they've laid him. Mary still doesn't get it. You're looking at angels. Now, maybe, maybe they were a bit hidden. We see from other gospel cons, they weren't. Maybe she's weeping. Well, she is weeping. So maybe the grief and the tears and the swollen eyes, like she's just not paying attention, but she's squinting. She's like, something isn't right. And so she's just, she's very, very emotional in this moment, as you would expect she would be if somebody took the dead body of the person you love the most in the world and disgrace their body in that way. Verse 14, having said this, or verse 13, she said to them, uh, woman, why are you sleeping? She said, them, they've taken away, my Lord.
Speaker 1 00:22:57 Verse 14, having said this, they turn, she turned around and she saw Jesus standing <unk>. She's like, well, who are you now? But she did not know that it was Jesus. She's staring, she's scrutinizing. Verse 15, Jesus said to her woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. This girl has no categories. She doesn't get it. She saw angels couldn't see them probably through her tears. She's looking at Jesus. She has no category for resurrection in verse 16, I just think it's so special. Jesus said to her, Mary, and she turned and said to him, in Aramaic, robo I, which means teacher, you know, you know, there's some people, they just say your name in their own kind of way.
Speaker 1 00:23:52 And, and when they say your name, you don't have to see them. You just know exactly who it is. It's like in that moment she heard it and she wipes away her tears. And she's like, she gets it. She gets it. Look at verse 18. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. I don I've seen him. I get it, I understand it. And John is communicating. She went from bleo to just being oblivious to <unk>, to being confused, to I don, to fully understanding what she is watching she sees and she believes in the resurrected Jesus. Verse 19, the scene shifts to roughly 36 hours later, and we're gonna, we're gonna meet one last person here, verse 19. 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.
Speaker 1 00:24:53 So John wants you to know something very, very important. John 20, Jesus's body, resurrection body can move through matter. It already moved right through the line, cloths, no problem whatsoever. Now they're in a room, the doors are locked and Jesus is like, Hey guys, what's up? Peace B with you. Like, what are you doing here? Oh my goodness, <laugh> verse 20, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad. What an understatement. When they, I don saw him and John's communicating, John is communicating. They are seeing understanding in their head and their heart, and they are filled with joy because they believe that Jesus Christ was not just crucified, but was risen from the dead. When they experienced personally the resurrection of Jesus, they finally got it. Fortunately, one of them is missing. And his name's Thomas, verse 24 says, now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin.
Speaker 1 00:25:54 He wasn't with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen idon, the Lord. We have seen him. We believe it. This is incredible. But he said to them, unless I see, I don experience in his hand, 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. I mean, can we just agree ex extreme grief can make us very irrational in moments. Now, if you were Jesus, and you saw this, this Thomas who you had walked with for three years and you loved him, and you died on the cross for his sins, how long would you wait to just pop up and show up right in front of him and show him your resurrected self? I would've done it right away because I'm impulsive and lack patience.
Speaker 1 00:26:38 Apparently not. Jesus. Verse 26 says eight days later, what his disciples were inside again. And finally Thomas was with them. And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. And he said, again, I love this. He's like, Hey, I'm here. Pop. Hey, just outta nowhere. Peace be with you. Relax. And he said to Thomas, put your finger here, and c I don believe this, understand this. Like, put it in your head, put it in your heart. Get on the same page because this thing is real. And see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God, Mary Peter, John Thomas, they all had something in common dense as door nails, <laugh>. Anybody relate, don't nudge your husband or wife, <laugh>, stop that.
Speaker 1 00:27:34 But then they met the resurrected Jesus. And when you, when you meet Jesus, there is, there's just no denying it. You're like, he's risen from the dead. I I know this. And, and everything changed. And, and what's interesting is that the reason we know about Jesus, uh, is because we have a second hand account of somebody who saw the resurrected Jesus. And his name is John. John wrote, John wrote this gospel from a firsthand experience. And, and I wanna tell you, this gospel has been so wonderfully preserved for 2000 years. I think some people, uh, have it in their head that somehow, uh, the gospel of John or other books of the Bible are like, uh, John told somebody who told somebody who told somebody, and then some council or some king wanted to change the Bible and put it kind of his own things in there.
Speaker 1 00:28:25 And that is literally like historically terrible information, not even accurate. And in fact, we, we have manuscripts, uh, from as early as 30 to 40 years after this was written of the Gospel of John. And what you're reading when you read the Gospel of John, this isn't a six hand account. It is as good as if John stood on this stage, if he read his testimony or spoke his testimony. It is literally all of you who hear it are hearing a secondhand account of the person who was in ministry with him for three years, who actually stood with him. The only disciple of the 12 who walked with him in the crucifixion, saw it happen, saw the events. John 19 tells that whole story. That's a firsthand account. John 20, all of this is his firsthand account. It is as good and real as if the very person who was present and saw it was standing here with you.
Speaker 1 00:29:18 That's how good these words are. And what we know is, is that these words have been preserved with unbelievable accuracy so that you can trust his story as if it was him standing here testifying to you personally. Now, at the end of our messages, we ask a question, and the question is, so what? Like, what do I do with this? What is the demand on my life for this? And I've one, so what for you? And and I've thought deeply and, and throughout the book of John as we've been teaching it, what what would John tell you at the end of these sections that we're, we're teaching him? I think John would stand up and he would look at everyone in this room, and he would say this, I was there. Trust me and believe in the resurrected Jesus, none of us are probably gonna have the privilege to have a firsthand visible witness to the resurrected Jesus until we're dead.
Speaker 1 00:30:16 But everyone in this room, we have the testimony of that firsthand witness. We are not hundredth hand witnesses. We are now culpable and responsible as a group of secondhand witnesses of, of somebody who watched, lived and literally gave his life his ministry, everything for this fact that Jesus Christ is not just another dead, fake, faux Jewish rabbi. He really is God in the flesh, the Son of God. And John has one life mission. And that is to make sure that every single person hears from a firsthand account that what he is saying is accurate, true, and reliable. And it can be corroborated because Jesus didn't just show himself to John. Jesus showed himself to hundreds of people in the 50 days between his resurrection and ascension. 40 days, I'm sorry. And so there are literally so many people who could corroborate as this story. And so John would look at everyone in this room, and he would probably ask you if he had like an individual conversation with each of you, one by one.
Speaker 1 00:31:24 He would look you in the eyes and say, you already know you're a sinner. Have you ever personally trusted in Jesus Christ as your God and Savior? Have you told him you're sorry? Have you asked him to forgive you of your sins? Have you told him, I believe that Jesus Christ, he isn't just God, he's my God that he died on the cross for my sins and was raised again on the third day, by the way, in order to be saved, you have to believe those things. You have to believe that you're a sinner, that Jesus is, God died for your sins, was raised from the dead. There's no negotiation in the Bible with that one, but there's some of you here and you're like, listen, I I I do believe that for sure. I've never told God. I'm sorry, I've never asked him to save me.
Speaker 1 00:32:07 And, and what I love about the Bible, what I love about our God is that anybody, anybody, no matter how evil and sinful and rebellious you are, no matter what you've done, anybody who calls on the name of Jesus and believes in him will be saved once for all and forever. And, and we celebrate the historical reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Well, he's, he's what the Bible calls the first fruits, meaning the first of many to come. And, and the promise, when you look at the resurrection of Jesus, is that anybody who believes in him will be resurrected to eternal life, bodily, physically, and forever. And, and that is the hope and the gift that God gives to every person who trusts in Christ. And, and so I just wanna ask you in this moment, have you personally trusted in Jesus? There's not a magical formula literally at any time, no matter where you are, you can literally just pray and say, God, I am sorry.
Speaker 1 00:32:56 I love you. I've sinned against you. I believe in Jesus. Will you save me? I believe he died for me and was raised from the dead. And, and if that's a, a decision that you've never made before and you wanna, you wanna make it today, we would just love to celebrate with you. Tell somebody you came with, come and talk to us, and, and we'd love to help you take next steps as you follow Jesus. Now, here's what I do know. I do know that there are a whole bunch of people who know that they should do that, but won't. Because when you do it, you, you're admitting that you've been wrong the whole time. You see what I'm saying? Right? It's why, it's why men don't like saying they're sorry the older they get because they say you're sorry over things that you've done.
Speaker 1 00:33:31 Your whole life means you're wrong. Now, let's be clear. Who cares if you're wrong? You're wrong. Own it. Extreme ownership is one of just, I think, the highest human values. Like own it. And if you know today that Jesus is God, if you know that and you have never believed in him, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, make a decision today and then tell the people you came with because it will be the single greatest decision of your life. It is the beginning of an eternity living with God. And so I want, I wanna take a moment, I wanna pray for for you and pray for us, and we're gonna continue to sing and celebrate our resurrected savior together. Father, we love you so thankful that father, son, and spirit, you coordinated the perfect plan of salvation where we could be freed from our sins. We j we just confessed to you that we are sinners and there is no humanly possible way that we could have saved ourself. There is no human who had enough good works to outweigh our sin. And so, God, I I am so thankful that you have given us Jesus and uh, Jesus. I am thankful for the cross. What you bore is unimaginable.
Speaker 1 00:34:43 And thank you for the resurrection. What an incredible reminder that, uh, that the sacrifice of Jesus was accepted by God, the Father, and that anybody, what a great declaration between heaven and hall, humanity and all of history, that anybody who believes in the resurrected Jesus Christ with the forgiveness of their sins is saved and wants and for all and forever. So Father, if there's any, even anybody in this room who's just still wrestling and wondering, and God, I pray you would help them just like you helped Mary and Peter, and John and the disciples and Thomas, that you would help them see with clarity, the resurrected Jesus, and you would help them to believe we love you and we worship you, and we do all of this in the name of our resurrected savior, Jesus. Amen will church. Amen. Amen.
