Special Event – Summer Series; John 11:23-27: Pastor Scott Riling, 08/02/26

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[00:00:00] Well, uh, I have been looking forward to this for a time because, uh, I haven't been here in a few years, and I am so grateful for Mark, uh, to ask me to fill in this week, and I've been looking forward to being with you all this week. And like what Brent said, uh, it was just a very, very, um, what's the word?

Fortui- fortuitous. Is that the right word? Am I s- am I making one up? Um, that whenever he called me, he- or he texted me at about 7:20 and said, "Hey, can you fill in for me today?" I'm like, you know, I was just coming off a vacation. I hadn't even looked at what the lesson was, you know, in the literature. And he said, "Can you fill in for me today?"

And I said, "I haven't even looked at the lesson in the literature." And he said, "Well, we don't even use the literature." And I said, "Well, even worse. You know, now where do I start with this?" He goes, "Well, I know you've been working on John 11, and believe it or not, they're [00:01:00] on John 11." And so it just worked out.

But I did a crash course on putting a PowerPoint together that morning. I was taking all my notes and putting it together, and I said, "Well, it's only half-baked, but I'll throw it in the microwave a little while here and see what comes out." And God was good. Although it was covering the whole chapter, uh, chapter 11, we're gonna be looking at John chapter 11.

It was covering the whole chapter as opposed to just the verses that we're really gonna zero in on, uh, today. We're gonna look at verses 23 through 27 primarily, but we're gonna bring in a lot of other scriptures. So, I just want you to know that, uh, as we're talking about the resurrection. Now, you're probably wondering where I got this picture of Jesus and Martha here.

Uh, I was going through... When I was in the Holy Land, I was going through some of my pictures and was able to find this one. And, um- Thank you to AI. But, uh, we're in the series, as you know, about familiar ground, new light. Familiar ground, new light. What the, uh, the [00:02:00] idea was, what Mark shared with us is that, you know, maybe a very familiar scripture passage, something very, very familiar, but God is kind of bringing a new perspective or some- a different way of looking at it.

Not changing the meaning or the context of the passage, but that God was bringing like a new... Maybe it, it resonated with you in a, a new way, in a fresh way. And it just so happens, I've actually been looking and just chewing on this passage of scripture for several months now. And so as soon as he said, "Hey, I'm gonna be out these several weeks, and if you guys can pick the week and fill in, and what passage you want," there was no question this was the one that I wanted to go to.

So we won't cover the whole passage, but we will give a little bit of context. You gotta be able to give context. This is the passage where Jesus, uh, uh, raises Lazarus from the dead. And now, you're very familiar with that story. And if you think about that passage, there's all kinds of lessons [00:03:00] in that passage.

We could just obviously talk about the fact that, uh, Jesus waited several days, and then he's talking. We'll look at the, a couple of these verses here in just a minute. Trying to figure out, "Well Jesus, what are you doing?" You know, it must have been so difficult for a number of reasons, but it should've, it must have been so difficult for those disciples in those three and a half years that they spent with Jesus.

'Cause sometimes he would just say things that would just throw you completely off, and then come with a different meaning or a different perspective, and he would challenge your thought processes. And here was one of them, whenever he goes back and forth, and they're like, "Well, what, which one is it, Jesus?"

And so we can look at that passage from that perspective. We can also, uh, s- go on further down in the passage whenever he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and it tells us that Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible. It was always the one when we went to youth camp, I always memorized that one.

You know, because to get into the, you know, the cafeteria or whatever and all, I always [00:04:00] said, "Jesus wept." You know? And, um, but, but, you know, the shortest verse, but it says so much. When you look at the, the context, you know, here Jesus knew he was gonna raise J- Lazarus from the dead. He knew the ending of the deal, and yet it says he was weeping about that.

You know? And, and, and the fact when he looked around and he saw the, the result of death and sin and the pain and the suffering, and the fact that it shows us how much that our Savior completely is sold out to, to, to live in, with us, and to experience everything that we, that we experience. I mean, 'cause I often look at that passage and think, "Well, why was he crying when he knew what he was gonna do?"

But you know, I could... There was a little bit of an idea that I could take with I, I, I, identifying with that a little bit because, you know, when, when my kids were little and we'd watch things as a family, we'd watch a movie and maybe it was gonna have a sad [00:05:00] part, but then it ends good, you know, it ends well.

But every time that sad part, I was always the one that cried in the family, you know? And when it come to that part, I knew how the story ended, but then one by one, when it's coming up on that sad part, I'd see these little heads that would lean forward and look down at me- ... to see if I'd started crying yet, you know?

But when you're, you're emotionally invested in the story, even though you know how it ends, and here Jesus was so emotionally invested. I mean, we see personified, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." So even though He knew what He was gonna do, He was invested in those people's lives.

So there's all kinds of lessons that we're gonna see. But I want to zero in on what Jesus said about Himself, and I wanna zero in on the resurrection. So we'll begin reading in, uh, just for context here, in, uh, John 11:1-4. "Now a certain man [00:06:00] was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to Him, saying, 'Lord, he whom You love is ill.'" Now, it's interesting. Who, what passage are we looking at this? What book of the Bible? Which gospel? John. How did John refer to himself one time whenever he was talking about Jesus?

The disciple whom Jesus loved. Well, here's another disciple, obviously, that Jesus loved, and the sisters knew it. "But when Jesus heard it, He said, 'This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of Man may be glorified through it.'" Now, what a- what is... This sets the stage right here because He emphasizes, "This illness does not lead to death.[00:07:00]

It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now we know, we skip ahead, we know what the story was. What happened to Lazarus? He died. He died. Jesus here is saying, "This is not an illness to lead to death." So He's already beginning to give clues about who He is because He also says, "So that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

After saying these things, now, there, um, we're skipping down. We're skipping down to verse 11 in that passage because he's had a conversation where they're saying, "Look, why are you gonna go back there? They just tried to kill you. Why are you gonna go back to that area?" And he explains to them and all about that.

So I'm skipping down now to verse 11. It says, "After saying these things, he said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.'" Now, here's the second point. Okay, he's sick, but it's not gonna lead to death. Now he says, "Oh, he's fallen asleep, and now I'm [00:08:00] gonna go awaken him." And look what the disciples said, just what you and I would say.

"Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover." In other words, he'll, he'll wake up. What's the deal here? Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly. Isn't it interesting that we're already to the third point? He says, "Now Jesus decides to tell them what's really going on and what's happening."

Why was Jesus going back and forth? W- Was he trying to play some games with the disciples? Was he, was he just presenting puzzles? Was he... You know, what was the purpose of this? But when you read through, the consistent line is that no matter what the condition of Lazarus was, whether he's asleep or whether he is ill or whether he has died, that was gonna have no bearing on reality and the presence and what Christ [00:09:00] was going to do in that instant.

I would even say, foreshadowing here, what Christ had already done before he ever got there, but we'll get there. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe." What was the first thing he said was gonna be the purpose is? That the Son of God would be glorified, and then he says, "Oh, and I'm glad I wasn't there because," he doesn't say it in these many words, but he says, "But I'm about to do something, and it is gonna blow your minds.

But it is good that we were not there, that you may believe." And folks, I wanna stop there for just a second. That's the whole purpose of this lesson today. Not what I say, but what scripture says. That you may believe. And I'm talking about more than just a intellectual ascent in belief [00:10:00] in Jesus. I'm talking about wholehearted, deep down, spiritual groundedness in your beliefs today.

That's what I hope all of us will either be reminded or maybe be encouraged or maybe shown in a whole new way a revival in our hearts that m- we may believe.

"But let us go to him," Jesus said, "because you... So that you may believe." Now we come down to verse 17. "Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days." I had someone mention this to me before, and saying, "Hey, you gonna spend some time on the four days?" No, I'm not, 'cause I don't know what happened.

I don't know. You know, this would have been a great passage for John to give us a little bit of i- insight about what happens when you die and you come back from the dead. That would've been [00:11:00] great, right? It would have helped us a lot, right? You know, could go the whole thing about what theologians debate.

What happened with Jesus when he was three days in the grave? Where did he go? Did he go make proclamation? Did he actually go down to suffer like some would believe? And he- you know, all of those theological debate. This would have been so great. I wish maybe when I see John in heaven, I'll say, "Why didn't you give us a little bit of insight right there?"

Notice, because this would have been perfect, especially when we hear people of having, quote-unquote, near-death experiences, right? It could have shut down all the debate about it if it just told us where was Lazarus during those four days. But he didn't. You think maybe there's a reason why he didn't?

That's, that's just a question. I don't have the answer. I'm just saying no. Yeah. I thought maybe somebody might be here. I was giving you your opportunity. Go ahead and enlighten me here. [00:12:00] So Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off. So in other words, if you left here and drove down Strock and got on Champion Forest Drive and drove just a little bit past Kroger's down there, that's about the distance.

Everything's close over there. If you've been to the, to, uh, the, the Holy Land and all, you know how everything is really, really close. But he's just a little ways off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him.

But Mary remained seated in the house. Seems like Martha and Mary just kind of had a way of doing things, right? Mary's still in the house, you know, she's still kind of... Remember when Martha told Jesus, "Don't you care? Can you please come and ask her to help me a little bit here?" You know? And he said, "Oh, she's doing the be- the better thing.

She's sitting at my feet. She's listening." Well, see, like that, 'cause Martha was all, "Oh, J- the Lord's coming," and then he, she goes out to meet him. And look what she says. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, [00:13:00] if you had been here, my brother would not have died. If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

I wonder how many ti- billions times a day the Lord hears prayers similar to this. Lord, if you had just done something. Lord, if you had just intervened. Lord, if you had just been there. Lord, where are you? These questions, questioning God because we know and we believe he could make a difference in anything, but where were you?

Where were you? Now, Martha, she says, here she goes, "If you had just been here, my brother would still be alive." She's, she's experiencing the [00:14:00] immediate pain, as we're gonna see here in just a minute, because her, her, she does have a belief in a future resurrection. But she's saying, "But right now I'm hurting.

And you know what, Lord? I know that if you ask God anything, He'll give you whatever you ask Him." So he's saying, "So will you please do something to take my immediate pain away?" Now, there could have been a lot of reasons. Maybe, um, Lazarus was there primarily, you know, he, he was their provider maybe for, uh, uh, Martha and Mary.

And so now he's gone, and th- that, that puts him in a really difficult spot. Of course, I think obviously they loved their brother, so they're hurting, they're grieving because of that too. But she says to God, "First of all, if you'd been here, you could have made a difference, but I believe now you can still make a difference.

So will you make a difference right now?" Jesus said to her, [00:15:00] "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last days, or in the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection." "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in i- in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." And he says, "Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of, of God, who is coming into the world." Now, I just wanted to spend a little bit of time on these few verses here. First of all, verse 23. He says, uh, he says to her, Jesus, "Will rise again," again is assumed or implied.

"Will rise again," it's a [00:16:00] future tense verb

And he says, "It will happen in the fut- He will rise again." Well, even where they are right now, we know that he's still yet to raise Lazarus from the dead, right? So he is talking about future right now, and the word that he says will rise again, your brother or the brother of you, adelphos, of you. Then Martha says to him, "I know," and this is a present active indicative, the verb.

"I know that," and it which, which means present active means past action with continuing results Anastesatai will rise, verb, future tense, in the resurrection in the last day. Now, how many times in our faith do we think of the [00:17:00] things that we look forward to as in the future? We talk about when, when the Lord's gonna come back.

You know, when the Lord comes back, and... Or I'm looking forward to that day when I will see my loved ones again in heaven, and we look for the future. Or, you know, in that day, and I just want... I pray whenever that day comes for me, you know. We think so much in the future, and here, excuse me, Martha is thinking about a future resurrection.

So she knows, well, yeah, I know my brother's gonna be, will rise again in the future. But just like when we do, if w- w- when we're in pain and, and we've lost someone that we love, we would like to be able to say to Jesus, "Can you bring him back?" You know, can you bring him back? Because I, yeah, I know that they're secure in you.

I know that they're believed in you, but I want him now. So can you bring him back? And so Martha was asking Jesus to do something that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands [00:18:00] of people right around there at that moment that never got that for th- in their lives. They never got their loved one brought back.

She was asking Jesus to do something that was an exception to the rule. Will you do something special for me, Jesus? She didn't say, "And by the way, while you're at it, why don't you go ahead and raise all of the family members of everybody out there grieving with this as well? You know, while you're at it, why don't you go ahead and do that, you know?"

No. She says, "No, no. It's just me. Can you raise my brother from the dead?" And here in the resurrection, because the Jews had an idea and a concept of the resurrection. Daniel chapter 12, verses one through two says, "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince, whom has changed your pe- or who has, uh, charge of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there is a nation till or until that time.

But at that time, [00:19:00] your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall be found written in the book." You know, Revelation talks about the book, the book of life. "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt." So now the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Sadducees didn't.

And they didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in the miracles and all, but the Pharisees did. And here, Martha believed, "Oh yeah, I know that there's gonna be a future resurrection, but I, I want you to do something special now. I want you to exercise the power that God has given you to do something for me now.

Now." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection." Do you see what's changing here now, what Jesus is doing? [00:20:00] He's taking everything from future tense, and now he's bringing it to present tense. He said, "I am the resurrection," present active indicative, "and the life that, uh, of those believing," present active participle.

In other words, ongoing continuous action. "Whoever is believing" whoever is, present tense. "Whoever is believing, even if should he die, he," implied, "will live." So he has whoever's believing now will live, future tense. Do you know where else, pistuon, you know where that verb is used elsewhere in the exact same form?

Believing, the one believing? The most famous verse in the world. John. What is it? John [00:21:00] 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever is believing shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Whoever is believing. Now, if we stop there for just a second, we could get a little bit disconcerted with that, because we're thinking, "Oh, well, who is believing?

Well, wait a minute. Is that reliant upon me to make sure that I'm believing, and whenever that time comes or my end comes, I hope I'm still believing? I'm, I hope I'm still in that process. I, I hope I'm, I hope my faith is strong enough, because what happens if he catches me in a moment of unbelief?" Anyone in here ever had a doubt?

Don't hold up your hands. 'Cause I know what the answer is. Yes. Have any of us ever had our faith challenged? Yes. And sometimes it seems like maybe our belief is [00:22:00] stronger than other times. But he said, "Whoever is believing," he said, "and believing in me, even if he should die, he will live." Now, the great scholar A.T.

Robertson, who used to be at, uh, Southern Seminary, here's what he said: "Jesus had taught the future resurrection often in 6:39, but here he means more, even that Lazarus is now alive." Lazarus is now alive We all know he died physically, was buried, been there four days. But Jesus is making a statement by what he's saying is that, yeah, but he was believing, he is believing, and he is alive even though he died So it wasn't that Jesus was gonna bring him back to life like he was in soul sleep or [00:23:00] in some disembodied state or whatever.

We don't know what it is, but what Jesus said is that when you're believing, you will never die. He says, "And everyone living and believing," we have the present active participle in both sense, in both tenses, or in both, uh, uh, instances, "on me never not shall die." In fact, it should be never not shall ever die.

In other words, it's emphatic. He's emphatic Even to the age. And then he asks, and then he asks, uh, Martha, "Believe you?" Present active indicative. Past action with continuing results. "Yes, I believed." Verse 27, She says to him, "Yes, Lord, I have believed." Now it's in the perfect active, which means it's [00:24:00] settled, enduring state of conviction.

"I have believed, and I continue to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one," one implied, "into the world coming." So Martha was talking about a future resurrection, but I want you to do something for me now. Jesus, in this instance, and what he's about to do... Now, we know Lazarus had to die again, right?

It wasn't a permanent state, and it's not recorded that he, you know, he also got a chariot of fire that went up like what Elijah did, but he had to die again. Why? 'Cause dying is a process of life. Because it's the moment that we slough off this that we wear that was never designed to be eternal. In 2 Corinthians, Apo- the Apostle Paul talks about it being a tent.

He talks [00:25:00] about our bodies as being a tent. And what is, what do we know about tents? Number one, they're not permanent. Number two, they're, they're fragile. You don't wanna be in a tent in a storm, right? Well, maybe some of you do, and you're a little weird. But anyways, you know, no, you don't wanna be in a tent.

You wanna be in a house. You wanna be safe because tents are fragile, and they're made to be eventually folded up and put away. I think it's ingenious how Paul used that word with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Now, when did Jesus say, "I am," present tense, "I am the resurrection"? It was before the cross, it was before the tomb, and it was before the resurrection Jesus didn't say, "I do resurrections"

He said, "I am the resurrection." You see, the [00:26:00] thing about j- you know, when we talk about God, uh, uh, f- God is love. God doesn't just love. He's the essence of love. And so Jesus is saying, "But you s- one thing you gotta understand, and I know it's gonna take time, Martha, but I am the resurrection. I'm the one that brings life even when something is dead."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life." And Pastor Jarrett's book, The Always God, I like the title, and on the back it says, "There's a rising sense of uncertainty and turmoil in the world and in our lives. Loss and disappointment seem endless, whether because of an unexpected diagnosis, a desperate search for a job, or our concern for the future of those we love.

During heart-crushing why is this happening moments, we can feel abandoned. [00:27:00] Has God given up on, on us? Is he no longer responding?" Has he just left? Even when we don't understand what God is doing, he is always at work. Amen. Amen. He's always at work. So what... As we look at some of these, and we've looked at this passage, and we've gone from the future tense to the present tense, what I want us to, to just soak in here is the fact is, how is the power of the resurrection being manifested in your life right now?

Right now. Not something yet to become. Not saying, you m- you know, you got the old arthritis going or you got the old m- uh, aches and pains and the snap, crackle, and pop and all that going on. Not like, "Oh man, one day I'm gonna have a good body back again. I'm gonna... It's gonna be a lot better." I'm [00:28:00] not talking about that.

I'm talking about right now, today, in this very moment, what difference does the power of the resurrection make in your life right now? You see, God, whenever Jesus, when he was, uh, when he was raised from the grave, he had a prototype body that explains a little bit about what we will experience. He had the capacity, as we know later on, whenever the doors were locked, he had the capacity to just go right through walls.

Apparently, that's what the, the scripture seemed to indicate. You know, the doors were locked, Jesus appeared. What else is that saying? And then Thomas wasn't there the first time. Eight days later, guess what? Doors are locked again. There he is. This time Thomas, he, he said he was gonna have to put his finger in the, the, the wounds in his flesh and all, uh, or I- he wouldn't believe.

Well, it seems to indicate that he didn't have to do that. He just fell on his face right there. He said, [00:29:00] "My Lord, my God." It was enough. It was enough. I don't have to, I don't have to put my fingers in the wounds. It's enough. And so there's this uniqueness, but it was still a unique resurrected body, and that's what we will have because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, scripture tells us.

Look what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come." It's not something you have to wait on the moment that you're born again. So in other words, based on what we've read even just so far and what Jesus said, "I am the resurrection," friend, when do we begin to live in the resurrection?

The moment that we are born again, the moment that we are saved. [00:30:00] You see, God created all human beings in His image. In other words, the capacity to love, the capa- as intellectual beings, you know, not looking like God, 'cause God has no form, but we are created in His image. Every human being is created in the image of God.

That's why every human being has intrinsic value. But not every human being is born again. So what that means is that even those that are created in the image of God, spiritually, s- soul-wise, are dead. They are not alive until Christ comes in to take residency in their life and cause them to be alive, to come alive.

Now, we, when, maybe we remember when we put our faith and our trust in God and we look- went and looked in the mirror and said, "Well, I look pretty much the same." Yeah, because what happens is it's not the tangible on the outside, it's on the inside. It's much like what God said when we had the verbs of [00:31:00] being and then of action.

When He says, "I am the resurrection," it was, in the Greek, it, it, the verb is it was a state of being. I am. It's not something I'm doing, but I am. And we are reminded obviously in Exodus 3 when God said to Moses, when he said, "Well, who am I gonna say sent me?" He says, "I am who I am. Tell them I am sent you." And then Jesus said a little bit later in John 8, I believe it is, wherever He says, uh, b- when He's telling them, He said, "Before Abraham was born, I am."

The state of being. We begin to live the resurrection the moment we are born again. Why? Because we have been, we have gone from being dead to being alive.

Colossians 1:27, once again, Paul: "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches [00:32:00] of the glory of this mystery." That is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Not just Christ with you. Remember how in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon people and empower them to be able to do s- uh, amazing things?

But when Jesus later on he said that, "I will send a helper and he will be with you and he will be in you," speaking of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and he takes up residency. The riches of it, that's the mystery. The hope, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And you who were dead in your trespasses.

Not just confused, not just disoriented, not just, you know, lost. You were dead in your trespasses. And the uncircumcision of your flesh God made [00:33:00] alive, what? Together with him. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. So see why this is so important. You know, we can get in all kinds of debates about eternal security, once saved always saved and all that.

The problem with all those debates is we're looking at the wrong thing. We're looking at the human to have the capacity to still keep believing. The emphasis is on God who keeps you believing, not on your capacity to keep believing and to stay saved, if you will. All... Remember what we said at the ve- ve- very beginning.

What was the whole purpose of why he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead? So that he would be glorified. So the, we put the emphasis on the wrong thing when we start talking about once saved always saved or can you lose your salvation and all that sort of thing. The emphasis needs to be on God [00:34:00] who keeps you alive, who keeps you alive

Look what Paul said again in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. The flesh is no longer I who live, but now Christ who lives in me." Now think about just for a moment how absurd that would be that if now I've been crucified and God himself through Jesus Christ comes up and takes residency within me, that somehow there's gonna be something I can do to kick him out.

Does that make sense? 'Cause it, I don't belong to me anymore. I'm his. You're his And you're not gonna come up and say, "You know what? I think I'm gonna take possession again of this residence." No, doesn't work that way. "And the life I now live in the [00:35:00] flesh," see, he acknowledges the flesh, "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

1 Corinthians 15:55. Paul said, "Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?" Jesus conquered the power of death, not only in his, his resurrection, but he has conquered the power of sin and death in our lives You know, when I was younger, for a lot of my life, I, I grew up as an only child, and I was kinda always afraid of dying.

I was afraid of death. I was afraid of losing my mom and dad. You know, even when I was into adulthood, I was like, like, you know, "My goodness, I hope nothing happens to Mom and Dad anytime [00:36:00] soon." Didn't ever really wanna think about even my own life, you know, about like, "Well, what's that gonna be?" You know, it's like I've often said, you know, "I'm not afraid of death.

I just don't like the process of getting there," you know? But, but there would still be a like, you know, you know, uh, "Boy, I hope I don't," you know, "Ah, I hope I don't get cancer," or, or, "I hope I don't get dementia," or, "I hope I don't get Alzheimer's," or, or, "I hope I don't... I hope, I hope I don't catch on fire." "I just really don't wanna die by fire."

But we can think about these fears. But through life and living life, and understanding the resurrection power in my life, through time, God has taken away the fear of death in me. Because [00:37:00] I know if I live to be 99.9, I'd probably still, if I'm thinking by then, if ... I'd still probably like to have a few more years.

Why? 'Cause God has put that within us to fight for life, to move for life. Otherwise, people'd be checking out every day, left and right, you know? But he put that within us to live. Why? Because he is life, and he's put that within us to fight for life. That's why sometimes, so many times we've heard those stories of where, uh, the kids or loved ones would come in and tell someone who maybe is not, uh, conscious or, you know, but they, you know, we believe that they can still hear sometimes when they're conscious in the bed.

And they've gone and said, you know, "Dad or Mom, it's okay. You can go. We're gonna be okay." And moments later, they give up the spirit

But we, God's put that within us to fight for life. [00:38:00] So that's, there's not w- anything wrong with that But regardless of where you are on that continuum, if that is what is the sole purpose of your life or what defines you as a person, it will never be enough But if it's not, and it's the resurrection power within you that defines you and makes you who you are, then at any time it's good enough

I had a thought I was sharing with my son the other day, and I said, "You know, I had a just kind of a strange thought." When I tell you this, you're gonna think, "He's a strange man. He really is." But I was just thinking about this whole process of the fear of death and dying and how [00:39:00] Paul says, "Oh, death, where's your victory?

Oh, death, where's your sting?" And the fact that I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm gonna persevere in the faith, the perseverance of the saints, because Christ lives in me, and He will keep me believing, and He will keep me saved, and He will keep me alive. But I thought about this, about dying.

You know what? My mom and my dad and my daughter and my grandson, they've already done it. What am I afraid of?

They've gone there What? If they can do it, Scott, are you such a wimp that you say you can't? When the power of the resurrection is already living and you're already living the resurrection, the only thing left to do is to slough off this body. [00:40:00] That's the only thing, 'cause I'm already in the resurrection, and in Christ, you're already in the resurrection.

The only thing left to do is to just get rid of this. And Lord knows I've been trying to get rid of pounds for the last six months. Can't do it. I was so depressed when I had to go order the next size jacket up, you know?

Now, with this fear, like, well, what happens if I am caught in unbelief? I mean, could I lose my salvation? Again, the emphasis is on the wrong thing. Could I lose my salvation? Yes, you can, but God can't and God won't. See, in 1 John 2:19, we think of passages like this, "They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they were, went [00:41:00] out that it might become plain that they all are not of us." Professing is not always possessing. You've heard that said before Okay? And we also think about Matthew 7 when Jesus said that, "Lord, Lord..." You know, when they said, "Well, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this and didn't we..."

Notice what the emphasis on there, what their, their, their claim to the Lord is. "But Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? And Lord, didn't we..." The emphasis is on them, and what is, what was Jesus' response? "Depart from me. I never knew you." Not, I knew you and then forgot you, or I knew you and then didn't wanna know you anymore.

He said, "I never knew you." Again, the emphasis is on, "But Lord, look what I did. Lord, I worship. I went. Look at what I did for you." That's very close to [00:42:00] the passage in Acts when the seven sons of one Sceva or, uh, uh, a, a Jewish ex- exorcist was going around, and then remember that? When that, that demon in that, uh, person said, "Well, I..."

You know, when they said, "We adjure you to come out in the name of Jesus, of whom Paul speaks." You see a disconnect there? And the demon said, "I know Jesus, and I've heard of Paul, but who are you?" Yikes. Yeah. No. There was no relationship in the beginning. It was not a matter of a relationship being lost.

Philippians 1:6, what Paul says: "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ." He who began the work in you will complete it [00:43:00] What is this right here? You ever seen one of these? It's a seal on the back of a 18-wheeler, a truck. When that seal is on there, that is guaranteeing the recipients of the cargo inside that truck that it has not been tampered with and everything, that it has been, uh, uh, continual custody from the point where it left, where it was loaded, until where it was delivered.

If that seal's cut, they know something's been wrong and something's been lost, so forth. But it's a seal. Ephesians 1:13-14, "In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory."

[00:44:00] Jesus said this, "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me. I should lose nothing but raise it up on the last day." You are secure in Christ. Philippians 3:8-10, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For His sake, I have suffered the loss of many things and count them all rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him," and what?

"The power of His resurrection." Paul was [00:45:00] speaking in the present tense, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection." What Paul is basically saying, it was the power of the resurrection that enabled him to do what he did. He could not do it on his own power

The power of the resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. So sometimes we'll talk about, "You know what? My confidence is in Jesus, and Jesus is the only one that came back from the grave to then c- um, to, to live among his own, to teach them before he ascended. And I can trust Jesus 'cause he's been there.

He's in there." But that still is future. We can trust Jesus right now because he has brought us into the resurrection. And we're living resurrected lives, [00:46:00] and the only thing left to do is to slough off this temporary tent that was designed by God to wear out and to be put away. That was designed by the Creator.

The power of the resurrection makes us alive now, starts us living eternally now, empowers us to live a supernatural life now Keeps us in Christ now. And finally, totally defeats death and takes away the fear of death now

Lord, we just thank you that you preserved for centuries these words [00:47:00] of an account that was unique, is not repeated, is not familiar probably to any of us in this room But was so profound in what you teach us, Lord. That you are the resurrection. You are the resurrection. You were even before death on the cross, the resurrection.

And Lord, your presence in our lives makes the difference in our lives now Our faith doesn't have to depend on something that we are always looking forward to, even though there's so much to look forward to But Lord, we can live in the power of the resurrection in profound ways right now. And thank you, [00:48:00] Lord.

Thank you that you didn't leave us with just a bunch of promises for the future, although those are wonderful But you are available now. You are present now, and you give us hope now. And Lord, we call your name blessed. And we love you, Lord, and we pray that you would help us to love you more every day.

We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless y'all. Thank you.