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Series A – Fifth Sunday in Lent – Sunday, April 2, 2017 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	the holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint John chapter 11 verses 1-53
0:34	now a certain man was Ill Lazarus of Bethany the of the village of Mary and
0:40	her sister Martha it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose
0:46	brother Lazarus was ill so the sisters sent to him saying Lord he whom you love is ill
0:54	but when Jesus heard it he said this illness does not lead to death it is for the glory of God so the son of man May
1:00	Son of God may be glorified through it now Jesus loved Martha and her sister
1:06	and Lazarus so when he heard that Lazarus was Ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was then
1:13	after this he said to the disciples let us go to Judea again the disciples said
1:19	to him Rabbi the Jews were just now seeking to Stone you and you’re going to go there again Jesus answered are there
1:26	not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world but if
1:33	anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him after saying these things he said to them our
1:40	friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him the disciples said to him Lord if he’s fallen asleep he’ll
1:46	recover now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep
1:53	then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died and for your sake I am glad that I
1:58	was not there so that you may believe but let us go to him so Thomas called
2:04	the twins said to his fellow disciples well let us go let us also go so that we may die with him
2:09	now when Jesus came he found that Lazarus had been had already been in the Tomb for four days
2:15	Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them
2:22	concerning their brother so when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went and met him but Mary
2:30	remained seated in the house Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my
2:35	brother would not have died but even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you Jesus said to her your
2:43	brother will rise again Martha said to him well I know that he will rise again in the Resurrection on the last day
2:48	Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me
2:54	though he die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this
3:02	she said to him yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ the son of God who is coming into the world
3:08	and when she had said this she went and called her sister Mary saying in private the teacher is
3:16	here and is calling for you and when she heard it she arose quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet come into the
3:23	village but was still in the place where Martha had met him when the Jews who were with her and the
3:28	house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb
3:35	to weep there now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet saying to him Lord if you had
3:42	been here my brother would not have died when Jesus saw her weeping the Jews who
3:48	had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled and he said where have you laid
3:55	him and they said to him well Lord come and see Jesus wept
4:01	so the Jews said see how he loved him but some of them said well could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man
4:07	also have kept this man from dying then Jesus deeply moved again came to
4:12	the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it Jesus said take away the
4:18	stone Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there will be
4:23	an odor for he’s been dead for four days and Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the
4:29	glory of God so he took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you have heard
4:36	me I knew that you always hear me but I said this on account of the people standing around so that they may believe
4:42	that you sent me and when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come out
4:49	and the man who had died came out his hands and his feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth
4:56	Jesus said to them unbind him let him go many of the Jews therefore who had come
5:02	with Mary and had seen what he did believed him but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus
5:09	had done so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council together and said what are we to do this man
5:15	performs many signs if we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him and then the Romans will come and take
5:22	away both our place and our nation but one of them Caiaphas who was high priest
5:27	that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die
5:34	for the people not that the whole nation should perish he did not say this of his own accord but being high priest that
5:40	year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not only for the nation but also to gather into one the
5:47	children of God who are scattered abroad so from that day on they made plans to
5:53	put him to death this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus
6:01	to help us frame Our Gospel text today there’s something very specific I’d like to tease out from the text so I would
6:09	like to begin in an odd place you remember the story of David and Goliath
6:14	right we’ve all know the story a little kid with a rock five rocks and a sling
6:20	defeats Goliath actually God defeats Goliath through David and that’s all a
6:26	picture if you would of Christ Conquering the real Goliath that we Face the Unholy Trinity of sin death and the
6:34	devil whose Dominion we were born under and who we are powerless to free ourselves from and so when we look at
6:41	first Samuel chapter 17 when David you know his on his way to the battle lines
6:48	to bring cheese and things to his brothers he hears that well the the
6:53	Giant Goliath taunting the armies of the Living God basically
6:58	defying them and so David is incensed and he’s actually brought before King
7:03	Saul and we read in verse 32 of chapter 17 David said to Saul let no man’s heart
7:10	fail because of him talking about Goliath your servant will go and fight this philistine and Saul said to David
7:17	you’re not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth and he’s been a man of war from his youth but David said to Saul
7:25	hear the words your servant used to keep sheep for his father and when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from
7:32	the flock I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth
7:38	and he if and if he arose against me I caught him by his beard struck him and
7:44	killed him your servant has struck down both lions and bears in this
7:49	uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them for he has defied the armies of the Living God I mean imagine you
7:56	know young David this is quite the story if you think about it imagine young David keeper of sheep out there in in
8:02	the country you know amongst the stars and up wanders a lion or a bear and
8:07	absconds with one of his little lambs David rolls up his Shepherd’s sleeves
8:13	and goes to war to snatch back what has been snatched from him
8:19	that’s a picture if you would of what’s going on in Our Gospel text here in John
8:25	chapter 11. and I’ll tease it out as we get to that portion of but I want this at the beginning to kind of help you see
8:32	it because this is exactly what’s going on and then we’ll relate this if you would to the story of David and Goliath
8:39	in a very interesting way so we turn back to our gospel text in John chapter 11 verse 1.
8:46	here’s what it says a certain man was Ill Lazarus of of
8:51	Bethany the village of Mary and her sister Martha it was Mary who anointed
8:57	the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was Ill so the sisters said to him
9:04	saying Lord he whom you love is ill but when Jesus heard it he said this illness
9:10	does not lead to death it is for the glory of God so that the son of man may be glorified through it oh well then
9:17	good but you’ll notice as we’ve just read the story out Lazarus does die
9:24	but that’s not the last word so Jesus is up to something now Jesus loved Martha
9:30	and her sister and Lazarus and one has to wonder if the reason why verse 5 exists in this text is because what
9:36	Jesus does next seems to be contrary to that love that this text States for so
9:43	when he heard that Lazarus was Ill he stayed two days longer in the place
9:49	where he was now I have children and when my children
9:55	were little um sad to say but the people at the emergency room got to know us on a first
10:01	name basis and so you know this that when a child you know injures themselves
10:07	you go into emergency panic mode I think of the one time that my son well he took
10:14	a toy that we had for our dog cookie and it was kind of a bone on a rope and he
10:21	decided he was going to reenact the story of David and Goliath and so we were in the backyard one day and he was
10:26	whipping that thing over his head and he let it go and that bone struck my daughter
10:34	Christina in the head and oh man what a sickening sound that was and I knew as
10:39	soon as it struck her that we were going to the emergency room that’s there’s no way around it so I literally picked up
10:47	Christina grabbed her hand put it over where I knew she was gonna start bleeding and then rushed her into the
10:54	bathroom and shut the door of course Barb seeing what had happened she was in
11:00	full panic mode what’s going on in there what’s going on in there honey you don’t really want to be in here you don’t want
11:06	to see this and Joshua of course was in a panic and so I brought her put her in
11:13	the bathtub tried to get the bleeding under control put a washcloth on her head applied direct pressure and by the
11:19	time I was done I realized we’re going to need to go to the hospital because well there’s got to be Staples or stitches or something here because this
11:26	was quite the gash and so I so I said honey get my keys and wallet and then what I did is open the door said don’t
11:33	look and you took her put her in the car and of course she wants to know what’s
11:38	going on I said don’t worry I’ve got it under control and then we drove off to the emergency room and said hey Chris
11:44	how’s it going oh Christina what are you doing here today it’s kind of sad but that’s the truth but we all know that
11:49	when there’s an emergency you spring into action by the way finishing up the
11:55	story it looked like a murder scene inside the bathroom and Josh thought he killed Christina and he was very happy
12:01	later to find out that he hadn’t but just so you know that we’re okay no
12:07	social services did not come out after that so I was very thankful for that okay
12:14	so here Jesus Jesus given the news that the one he loves is sick and rather than
12:20	putting the siren on top of his donkey and heading off quickly to go and save
12:25	Lazarus he cools his heels for two days this
12:30	seems contrary to love like I said Jesus is up to something so he stayed for two days longer in the
12:37	place that he was then after this he said to his disciples let us go to Judea
12:42	again the disciple said to him Rabbi the Jews were just now seeking to Stone you
12:47	and are you going there again Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in a day if anyone walks in the day he does not
12:54	stumble because he sees the light of this world if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in
13:01	him talking about the Jews who wanted to Stone him so after saying these things Jesus said to them and here’s something
13:07	really weird our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him
13:13	have you noticed when you read the New Testament that oftentimes in describing believers who
13:22	have died it refers to them as those who have fallen asleep
13:29	now there’s a false teaching out there that’s called the doctrine of Soul sleep and the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach this
13:36	as well as The Seventh-Day Adventists and it’s it’s an error this this idea that somehow our soldier sleeps and so
13:42	dying is pretty much going to sleep and not being cognitive at all of what goes on Paul himself dispels this concept by
13:50	telling us that to be absent with the bodies to be present with the Lord which he says is to Which is far better than
13:56	actually being here and laboring and toiling for the kingdom and so we are clearly resting in our death and we are
14:05	present with the Lord and with the Saints and the angels before his throne Book of Revelation makes that clear so
14:11	we have some cognizant idea of what’s going on in heaven after our death but over and again it describes
14:17	the Christian’s death as sleep and here Jesus talks in this way and we’ll find
14:22	out why in in just a little bit but I want you to kind of keep this thought tucked away in your head so he says
14:29	Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him now the disciples clearly clueless here and I love these little
14:35	details where the disciples totally don’t understand what’s going on it’s really embarrassing but it’s very
14:41	helpful for me and I hope it’s helpful for you because have you ever noticed that being a disciple of Jesus and
14:47	understanding what scripture says oftentimes we’re a little slow to get it yeah okay so you’re in good company and
14:55	these these texts help us so the disciples said to him Lord he’s fallen asleep he’ll recover
15:01	Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought he meant talk taking rest and sleep so then Jesus told them plainly
15:07	Lazarus has died and for your sake I’m glad that I was not there so that you may believe but let us go to him and
15:14	here is probably one of the most bone-headed things I’ve ever heard any disciple of Jesus said so Thomas called
15:19	the twin said to his fellow disciples let us also go so that we may die with him
15:25	foreign this is like overcooking your piety by
15:33	about half you know it’s like it it’s it sounds really profound but shows that
15:38	he’s kind of utterly clueless as to what he’s talking about here but he’s making an effort we’ll give him an a for effort
15:44	we’ll give him zero for Content you know we’ll give him the thank you for coming to school and breathing award
15:51	text continues so when Jesus came he found that Lazarus had already been in
15:57	the Tomb for days Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many
16:02	of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother so when Martha heard that Jesus was
16:09	coming she went out and met him but Mary remained seated in the house Martha said
16:14	to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now
16:21	I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you
16:26	wow that is some faith
16:32	very amazing here even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give
16:38	you this is a woman who has profoundly deep faith in Christ so much so that she
16:46	even trusts in that if Jesus says the word if God gives him the ability her
16:51	brother is going to live again that’s clear what’s going on here but she’s very cautious but she’s also extremely
16:57	well catechized so Jesus said to her your brother will rise again and Martha said to him I know that he will rise
17:03	again in the Resurrection on the last day wow put a star chart on our catechism chart this woman knows her
17:11	stuff right on indeed what she said is true and shows that she has a very good
17:17	understanding of what’s happening in scripture and what it teaches so Jesus
17:22	said to her this is where Jesus pushes just a little farther beyond what she
17:28	understands Jesus said to her ago Amy I am the resurrection and the life
17:38	wow the resurrection is a person life is a person
17:45	it’s as if Jesus is saying listen the resurrection is some isn’t some
17:51	abstract concept I am the resurrection life is not some abstract philosophical
17:57	concept or experience I am life indeed he is our Resurrection he is our life he
18:05	is the life he is the resurrection and now consider our minds to be blown
18:11	and that’s the idea Jesus is our all in all and then Jesus continues whoever
18:16	believes in me whoever believes in me comma a little
18:22	bit of a note here why was the Gospel of John written it says so in the closing chapters of the Gospel of John these
18:30	things were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son
18:35	of God and that by believing you might have life in his name all of this was
18:40	written down so that you would believe so whoever believes in me
18:46	though he die yet shall he live and Jesus pushes just a little farther
18:51	beyond that and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you
18:57	believe this amen sister
19:02	amen yes and so this is the reason why Jesus says
19:10	of Lazarus he is asleep think of it this way when you were baptized according to
19:16	scripture like passages like Romans 6 when you were baptized you were United with Jesus in his death and his
19:24	resurrection is this true or not yes it’s absolutely true if you have been
19:30	United with Jesus in his death and Resurrection can Jesus die again no
19:36	neither can you so you are regenerate you have been made
19:42	alive in Christ and though your body lives yet you live in a very true sense
19:48	you never die and you can’t because you’ve been United to Christ in his
19:54	death and Resurrection so Jesus says though he die yet he lived this is true and everyone who lives and Believes In
20:01	Me shall never die do you believe this so you notice both statements are true it seems kind of paradoxical so we can
20:09	say of all of the Saints in our graveyard we can say of all of the Saints in our
20:14	graveyard they are resting silently in peace and they are sleeping
20:21	and at the same time we can say well they did die both statements are true
20:27	how is that possible that seems kind of paradoxical and somewhat contradictory yeah I don’t know
20:34	Jesus I just know that Jesus doesn’t lie both statements are true how I don’t get
20:39	it but hey he’s the Lord of life he is life he is the rest he is the
20:45	resurrection he gets to call the shots he’s God in human flesh so Jesus says do
20:50	you believe this this is a great question for us we’ve already heard from our younger sister this morning and so I
20:56	ask you all do you believe this yes I know you do I seriously doubt that
21:02	you’d be here this morning to hear these words of Jesus if you didn’t believe I mean baseball starts today
21:09	we have important things
21:15	I will already be saying a prayer for all of you who root for the twins yeah
21:22	and they’re yeah Lord help them and comfort them in this
21:28	time of trial [Music] so do you believe this she said to him
21:34	wonderful words yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ the son of God who is
21:40	coming into the world next part
21:46	and watch the contrast between Martha’s confession Martha’s statement
21:52	in Mary’s is a little bit of a difference so when she had said this she went and
21:57	called her sister Mary saying in private the teacher is here and he’s calling for you and when she heard it she Rose
22:04	quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha hadn’t
22:10	met him when the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise
22:15	quickly and go out they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there now when Mary came to
22:21	where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet saying to him Lord if you had
22:27	been here my brother would not have died foreign
22:33	this is tough this is really tough what she’s saying is true but notice
22:39	there’s no but she is weeping as one who does not have hope but does Jesus chastise her for
22:47	this no no he does not so Jesus
22:54	saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping and boy the
23:01	English here is so weak but I I can’t even think of a proper way of pulling this into English he was deeply moved in
23:08	spirit and greatly troubled it’s the Greek word there literally is
23:17	agitated he’s angry he’s upset and when you read the verbs in the Greek
23:24	and you see what’s going on here the immediate question comes up who’s he angry at who’s he agitated by is he
23:32	upset that Mary has said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died is he upset because of her lack of faith
23:41	no that’s not what’s going on here
23:46	he’s deeply troubled and then we come to every Young School Sunday school kids
23:53	favorite memory verse because you get credit for a whole verse for two words
23:58	Jesus wept wow
24:04	so there there’s Mary weeping the Jews weeping
24:10	Jesus is upset and he’s mad and he too Weeps
24:15	what is he weeping about what is he angry about well think of it this way
24:21	remember back in Genesis when God creates the heavens and the Earth
24:27	does it in six days he calls all these things forth he creates man in the image
24:32	of God and he literally blesses all of creation and he calls it what very good
24:41	is this what God intended for us the pain The Suffering The Sickness the
24:48	death how many of us have had people stolen from us by death itself
24:55	it’s awful whether it’s your favorite grandmother or Grandpa
25:02	your mother your father your wife your husband
25:08	your child your best friend somebody you went to school with
25:15	each and every one of us have had the lion of death think of it that way come
25:21	and snatch and eat whole Those whom we love and we
25:28	know it’s just a matter of time before we become the prey we know that
25:33	and so in the midst of all of this when we lose somebody those are the darkest
25:39	days of our life we go into deep Mourning
25:45	and all of the world just seems to pass by us while we’re there stuck literally
25:51	bleeding from within side of our hearts and everything is dark and days just go
25:57	so slow while we mourn and Lament
26:03	and missed those whom we love and Jesus in the midst of all of this he
26:09	doesn’t chastise us he’s angry and upset and he too weeps with us
26:15	he is gone through all of the same suffering
26:21	and understands our weeping and our mourning in the face of death but
26:26	remember King David remember King David when a lion or a
26:33	bear would come and snatch one of his little sheep what did he go and do
26:38	boy if a lion came and stole one of David’s sheep that was a career limiting move on the part of that animal last
26:45	thing it ever did think of Jesus now springing into action in that same way
26:50	and so he was greatly moved and troubled
26:56	and he he says these words where have you laid
27:01	him I almost see Jesus in this text it’s very focused very insistent where have
27:10	you laid him where have you laid him I’m gonna go do something so the Jew said see how he
27:15	loved him but some of them said well could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from
27:20	dying indeed he could have so then Jesus deeply moved upset came to the tomb it
27:26	was a cave and a stone lay against it I want you to imagine if you would that
27:31	this cave itself is like the mouth of death teeth and all and it has swallowed its victim whole
27:38	and there’s Jesus about to knock out its teeth and steal what it had stolen from
27:46	him and he says take away the stone
27:51	Martha the sister of the dead man said Lord and she’s trying to talk some sense into Jesus by this this time there’ll be
27:58	an odor for he’s been dead for four days or if you read it in the King James Lord he stinketh
28:04	he stinketh I love that translation so watch what Jesus does he’s very
28:11	focused here did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God
28:17	well that’s that’ll take away the stone so they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said and now
28:23	he’s praying to his father and he’s praying out loud so that we can listen in on the conversation and it’s for our
28:29	sake father I thank you that you’ve heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said this on account of the people
28:35	standing around that they may believe that you sent me and there it is again
28:41	that they may what believe this is a powerful sign that Jesus is
28:48	going to give one that shows us that he truly is the resurrection and the life
28:53	so when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice and you can almost hear the anger Lazarus come out
29:01	and you’ve got to imagine the scene there’s the Cave the stones rolled away everyone’s thinking okay Jesus is in
29:07	charge here this is a little different and he prays so the people might believe
29:12	and then he commands Lazarus to come out and I’m pretty sure that resurrections
29:17	don’t happen in a split second I’m sure that once Lazarus Comes Alive it takes a
29:24	wee bit of time for him to orient himself and if you look at your bulletin cover that’s no state to well be doing
29:31	push-ups and jogging in he’s going to need to be set free from being mummified
29:37	which is what he is at this moment so Lazarus come out and you can almost imagine the people there looking on
29:43	going is he gonna come out can Jesus raise somebody from the dead
29:50	and then that awkward pause gives way to oh my goodness there’s the
29:57	stirring inside the cave to no way uh uh did that just happen
30:07	you’ve got to be kidding me and poor Lazarus comes
30:14	hopping out right because he’s all bound up
30:21	and so the man who had died came out and listen it says his hands and his feet
30:27	bound think of them like ropes if you would
30:32	bound with linen strips his face wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them and
30:38	listen to these words because Jesus is not only commanding them to take the linen strips off he could have easily
30:44	said could you take those off him please and give him something to eat but that’s not what he says listen to what he says
30:49	unbind him let him go Jesus isn’t just talking to them saying
30:56	take the strips off he’s speaking to death itself you unbind him you let him
31:02	go how dare you take one of my sheep
31:08	whoa and this is exactly Jesus’s disposition
31:13	towards you and me because Jesus is going to return on the
31:20	last day and he is going to with the shout of the Archangel and the trumpet
31:26	of the Archangel announce his return and you if you are out there in that
31:31	graveyard he’s going to announce to death you let them all go every one of
31:37	them they’re mine and what does death have to do when the
31:43	resurrection and the life shows up and says unbind them let them go death has
31:49	to let them all go not one captive will remain unfree
31:55	and so this is a picture even of our Resurrection and that’s what the Valley of the dry
32:02	bones is all about that we heard in Ezekiel 37 it is a picture of the great
32:07	Resurrection on the last day and you heard those comforting words that these
32:12	bones are all of Israel brothers and sisters you have been grafted into Israel because you are in Christ and
32:19	Christ is Israel and so this is the great promise of the great resurrection of us all and what’s
32:27	the result of this miracle this sign that Jesus gives well the next verse
32:32	says many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and had seen what he did they believed in Jesus and they like
32:40	Lazarus like you and like me they too will be raised from the grave because
32:46	Jesus has the power to call all from the grave but then you hear of that blindness that
32:53	we heard about last Sunday that self-righteous blindness
32:58	I I don’t how how’s to describe this some of them went to the Pharisees and
33:04	they told them what Jesus had done as if somehow Jesus has done something wrong
33:10	so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered to counsel together and you can just imagine it’s like we gotta have an
33:17	emergency council meeting here Jesus just raised somebody from the dead we’ve got to put a stop to this
33:24	this doesn’t make any sense and so they said what are we going to do this man performs many signs if we let
33:32	him go on like this what kind of ignorant talk is this if we let him go
33:37	on like this everyone’s going to believe in him how is that a bad thing
33:44	okay what are these people thinking if we let him go on like this everyone’s
33:49	going to believe in him and here’s the rub and then the Romans will come and take away our place on our nation
33:55	oh I see so if everyone believes in Jesus you’re going to lose your place of
34:00	authority and your political power and all your money who are they concerned about
34:08	themselves but I want you to think about this I mean why wasn’t there somebody there
34:14	speaking sense to these people wait a second hold on guys
34:19	haven’t you noticed we’re all dying haven’t you noticed that even the Romans
34:25	die too although the Romans have conquered us they haven’t conquered death
34:30	who cares about the Romans the Real Enemy that we face is death itself and I
34:37	mean the wages of sin is death don’t you think it would probably be a good thing
34:42	if we all believed in Jesus because this guy can call people from the grave
34:47	who cares about the Romans but that’s not what’s in their thinking they are utterly blind they are still
34:55	dead in their trespasses and sins so the only people they care about is
35:01	themselves and that’s the nature of sin sin is utterly bent in on itself so then
35:07	one of them Caiaphas who is the high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you understand
35:13	that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people not that the whole nation should perish
35:20	now that sounds like good theology here but here’s the weird thing the way he
35:26	means it is not the way it’s properly understood does that make
35:32	sense he’s thinking that Jesus could perish so that they can remain in power but that’s
35:38	not what this is about now he did not say this of his own accord but being high priest that year he prophesied that
35:44	Jesus would die from the nation and not for the nation only but also to gather into one the children of God who are
35:50	scattered abroad that’s you and me and now he’s not a Believer but
35:56	he prophesied by virtue of his office as high priest so from that day on they made plans to put Jesus to death
36:04	so now let’s kind of circle back and tidy things up here we began our sermon
36:09	by reviewing the story of David and Goliath and David recounting how if a
36:15	lion or a bear snatched one of his sheep he would go and clobber that lion or bear and take his sheep back and that’s
36:22	what we see here going on here but all of that’s in the context the story of David and Goliath
36:29	and if you know the story David goes on to the battlefield with five smooth stones and he defeats Goliath and
36:36	everyone says huzzah what a great story but see this is where biblical typology
36:42	breaks down because you’ll notice that in defeating Goliath David did not die and then rise from the grave
36:49	no he didn’t but see Jesus is the one who defeats our Goliath who is Sin death and the devil
36:56	itself and so how does he do so remember
37:01	David defeated Goliath by taking up five smooth Stones Jesus who was really our
37:08	King David who and who’s the Fulfillment of that story he also defeats sin death
37:14	and the devil via five smooth Stones the five smooth Stones you can find them
37:19	here on this altar clock there’s five crosses on this Ultra cloth
37:24	two in the corners two in the corners one in the middle they represent the five smooth Stones which are the Five
37:32	Wounds of Christ two in the hand two in the feet one in the side
37:39	you see Jesus defeats our Goliath through being pierced for our
37:45	transgressions through his nail scarred hands nail scarred feet
37:51	Spears guards died he defeats Dev the devil and death for
37:56	us by dying and rising from the grave and so because we are united to him
38:03	death also has no power over us he has died in our place suffered the
38:12	wrath of God in our place so that we might live because it’s true the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God
38:19	is eternal life and so Jesus took that Payday for you and for me so that we can
38:25	get what we do not deserve life eternal and never having to die and
38:31	the assurance that our death in this life is like falling asleep and
38:38	when Jesus returns he will awaken us and it will all be a bad dream what’s behind
38:44	us and life eternal days without and face to face with Christ in a kingdom
38:50	Without End all of this because Jesus is the
38:55	resurrection and the life he is your resurrection and he is your life do you
39:01	believe this yes in the name of Jesus Amen
39:07	[Music]

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