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[0:00] And the Bible contains some of the most radical message, the most radical message. It's not one of the many messages. It's a supreme, authoritative message.

[0:13] It's the most radical message known to mankind. The message has the power of leading to belief or unbelief. There simply is nowhere in between.

[0:25] Each individual's fate rests upon a response after hearing such radical statements within the message. This is not only true for our sort of censored culture, our very sensitive culture today, but this concept stems way back to the days of Jesus in the first century and echoes throughout all biblical history to the days of Noah, through David, and even Daniel.

[0:56] All these men of old had the choice to live radical lives against the grain of culture. And based upon their obedience to the Lord, it brought about a chance for others to hear or sometimes see and believe due to the message that they herald.

[1:13] And this message, of course, is the good news that we know today as we see in John. It's the good news of Jesus Christ. And within that message is a deep, mysterious truth that we find.

[1:28] And it's about God being exposing himself through Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ was truly God in the flesh.

[1:40] And today, we will be observing that unity of Jesus with the Father and that their co-equality and co-authority between the two are very significant.

[1:53] It's very radical. And it is at the foundation and the root of what we believe as a church. So my aim for you to see today is John's aim and also the aim of Jesus, to critically examine Jesus' radical statements in this passage.

[2:11] And this should not only make us marvel as much as it does, this should challenge us to live radical Christian lives, which honors Jesus Christ.

[2:23] So I hope that this message today and the text today can help reshape some of our convictions as individual believers and corporately be expressed to the world.

[2:34] So before we get going, I must pray, because I need God's power, his spirit, to help us at this time as we go into his word in this critical examination of his word.

[2:48] Please join me in prayer before we begin. Lord God, we are grateful to be gathered here.

[2:58] We are grateful for each and every person here physically or out in the woods right now camping or down in Florida on vacation or all those joined with us on the live stream.

[3:13] Thank you for each and every soul. Father, as we collectively turn to your word, let this be a roadmap. Maybe all our preconceived notions of what we think about Jesus, maybe from what we read in a bookshelf that was not from your inspired word.

[3:36] Maybe they used a couple scriptures here and there, but however the context that they've applied your word is so far from the boundaries of your holy intention and inspired message that you have in this text.

[3:50] Help us to bind ourselves to this text at this time. Let us come under your word. Let us come in with encouragement, with insight, with delight.

[4:02] Let us be challenged. Father, have your way with us today and reshape us, remold us as we study your word. And we pray this all in Jesus' precious and his holy powerful name, amen.

[4:15] I have a couple points today. I'll have, I'm gonna be breaking this up into four different points. The first point is Jesus shares authority with God.

[4:34] Jesus shares authority with God. Last week, Jesus proved this very fact and this very point last week when he explicitly told these Jewish people that he is God.

[4:53] That he is, if the Father is working, so is he. Remember that last week, church? And that he was claiming that united authority with God. He proved that to be the case.

[5:05] He also healed an ungrateful, tattling man on the Sabbath. And we love when the Bible answers our questions. Sometimes we can stand back and say, why is this all in here?

[5:17] And we love when the Bible pretty much says, like, this is why this is written so it can help guide our flow of thought and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate the text for us.

[5:28] Well, we have this in verse 18. It explains this entire encounter. Look with me. It says, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.

[5:39] Because not only was he, one, breaking the Sabbath, but he was, two, even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

[5:50] You know those times in life where we can be just completely shocked. Anybody who's a parent of a child getting that pregnancy test back and seeing that you got a plus sign on that thing.

[6:09] You know, very shocking. Five kids. I mean, pretty shocking. Maybe that fifth one that came along just, woo! You should see my face when we found out we had twins baking in the oven.

[6:26] Woo! That was shocking. I would love to see the shock, the facial expressions on these Jewish people's face at this time.

[6:39] Their mouths were probably dropped all the way down to the floor, if you could imagine. I want us to see in this passage that not only does Jesus reveal zealous obedience to the Father, but based upon cultural constructs within this time period of legalism, this zeal was perceived from the Jewish people as blasphemous.

[7:10] This zeal that Jesus had revealed to these Jews as a radical statement, and in verse 18, we're informed that they truly wanted to kill Jesus.

[7:24] Right there. They were already planning, just like Wile E. Coyote plans his next attack on Roadrunner in the Looney Tunes. He was planning.

[7:34] They were planning right in that moment. They were utterly shocked. Are you kidding me? Who do you think you are? And so the text continues in verse 19. So Jesus said to them, the men who want to kill him, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.

[7:57] For whatever the father does, the son does likewise. For the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

[8:11] Let's take a second here in the text and examine this, what he's truly saying, because this is a radical message in this passage.

[8:22] This section is one of the three truly, truly sections, which can be sort of understood in our time period as he's simply saying, this is true.

[8:33] This is true. Listen to this to get that attention. These statements are true, which essentially shouldn't be understood as an emphasized truth that Jesus is trying to communicate.

[8:50] Jesus is drawing a line for these Jews, what they've been doing and who Jesus is. He says in verse 19, I can do nothing of my own accord.

[9:05] He can do nothing of his own accord. Jesus is restrained to not only do his father's will on earth, but that also aligns his objectives, that aligns his motives, his mission.

[9:18] Everything is conformed and molded, and they're shaped in great unity with that of the father. He is restrained to the father's will. He will never do anything outside of the father's will.

[9:32] And verse 20 continues, as the father is guiding all history, Jesus is zeroing in, which gives Jesus a personal vantage point in history, because as he's saying that things are being revealed to him, yes, things in his humanity are being revealed to him.

[9:52] He knows what is coming for him. He knows the suffering to come. He predicts it multiple times, and not only did he predict it, he fulfilled it. But in his humanity, it's literally like he's on a road.

[10:06] It's like watching the end of a movie and then watching the entire movie. You know where the end is gonna end up. And so Jesus is sort of going through his humanity, fully human, fully God within the same being, as mysterious and marveling as that is.

[10:22] And at the horizon of Jesus's earthly ministry, as he looks forward, as he checks the end of that movie, as he looks upon that horizon, you can see the silhouette of a cross far out into the distance.

[10:34] And he can see the greater work being shown to him in his humanity, and that being the greatest work of this fully human, fully God being, man who's going to hang upon a cross because the people who were supposed to receive him utterly reject him.

[10:58] And this is something to marvel, church. This is a marveling truth, and we ought to marvel at that. Many might actually miss the significance in the terms that Jesus uses for himself in this passage.

[11:16] Look down with me. It sort of increases the tension by the usage of one term. He mentions, he identifies himself as a son.

[11:29] So that meaning that he is derived from the father, that he and the father share everything. The Jews at this time were committed monotheists. There's only one God.

[11:40] All their claims were true, and we should actually hold those claims to be true in our gatherings as well because we know, just as the Jews knew, there's only one God.

[11:52] There is no one comparable to him. There is a severe judgment for anybody who makes themselves a lowercase g, God.

[12:06] What Jesus' statements meant was that he is God in the flesh, that he has come for a purpose, he has a shared authority, that just as John in chapter one predicted in his introduction of this text, he says in John 1, 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

[12:37] Church, this is a profound mystery, one of which that gave all of us in our Bible study last week a migraine as we were wrapping our heads around in this place at our midweek Bible study, the Trinity, observing the mysterious and such a vast concept that our minds can't even comprehend how Jesus could be God, and God can be God, and the Holy Spirit can be God, and they share their equal in authority, and they share coexistence as well.

[13:18] This should make us marvel. John tells us that we should marvel at this point. But Jesus doesn't stop there. He describes his attributes even further, that not only is he the son, but he is also receiver of a couple titles.

[13:40] He's receiver of a couple attributes within that. Look at with me in point two. Jesus is life giver and judge.

[13:50] We see two attributes here between verse 21 and 23, that Jesus is life giver and he is judge.

[14:02] It says, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to his son, and that all may honor the son just as they honor the father.

[14:22] Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. As if Jesus hadn't said enough at this point for these Jews to probably put his head on a chopping block, his previous words really didn't articulate very in depth and very much detail of the shared attributes that he has with the father.

[14:46] The Jews knew the father's attributes. And to apply and express those same attributes in a monotheistic religion to a man standing in front of them, you look pretty wacky within their perspective.

[15:03] In fact, you are committing an act that can end in your death. I'll continue to make co-equal statements in this passage.

[15:17] Jesus provides the roadmap of good news within the gospel message. In other words, if the father raises the dead, if he gives life in verse 21, so does Jesus.

[15:29] If the father shares the authority of judgment, so the son will execute that same judgment. And he even goes a step further. If these Jews plan to kill Jesus because of these statements, because of this radical message, it would bring dishonor to the father because they're dishonoring Christ.

[15:52] Maybe put it this way. Consider a stranger breaking into your home, taking the keys to your most significant assets. I mean, we can dream a little bit.

[16:05] Maybe it would be a 2021 Lamborghini or a 2021 Konaseg. I think that could probably bring a couple countries out of poverty with the amount of money that they're worth.

[16:17] But consider a stranger coming in, taking those keys to that Lamborghini and just disappearing from that house, maybe never to return. That's one situation of something that didn't belong to that person.

[16:33] But consider that stranger not being a stranger at all. But that stranger is listed as a co-owner of that asset. So he has all the right to walk in anywhere, take the keys and go.

[16:49] Jesus Christ is co-equal in not only authority in the first parts, the point one, but now he is co-equal in title and all the benefits thereof, life-giving and judge.

[17:06] This was not something that Jesus was adopted into. He didn't have a beginning, essentially, that he, all of a sudden, he was baptized, as some people believe, that he was baptized and all of a sudden he became God.

[17:20] No, he was God from the very beginning. And he was God, fully God, all his earthly life. He wasn't created at or he wasn't added as a beneficiary of all the rights and privileges to the Father.

[17:34] This existed since the beginning, as we see in John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, Jesus, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[17:44] He was in the beginning with God. But I gotta ask you, do you struggle with this at times? Maybe thinking about the vastness of God that we feel so sort of paralyzed in trying to actually articulate who Jesus is without being identified as a kook.

[18:08] Maybe we feel ill-equipped with all the intricacies within this mystery that we often sort of just pass it off and say, yeah, Jesus is unique, and you try to go to things that are common, but to say that Jesus and Jesus alone is fully God, and in that, he gives life, and he is also the judge.

[18:32] Peter Cooper actually has a quote, and it's a very interesting quote. I've never really thought about it this way, but he approaches the text and says, so what? He asks himself, so what?

[18:44] If this statement is true, which it is, because not only did Jesus make claims of deity, but the gospel reveals that all his predictions came to pass.

[18:55] He suffered as he said he would. He died and rose and ascended as he said he would. His statements are likewise profoundly true here as well. So what, right?

[19:07] So what? Let's just get along with our peaceful lives, not trying to stir up too much controversy in life. Yeah, you can, we're supposed to be salt and light of the world, you know, and take this gospel message, but, you know, I don't understand it fully, so I, you know, I have, I can, you know, God understands.

[19:30] He'll let this one pass, right? Oh, man. If only we could see the world through Jesus Christ's eyes. That as Jesus walked this earth, if only we could see his perspective as being fully human and fully God.

[19:50] If only we could weigh the cost of our disobedience. Think about it, church. With every moment and with every person that you come eye to eye with within the world, there is either life or death.

[20:08] There is no in between. If only we could see through the eyes of Christ and allow his obedience that he had to the Father help reshape our obedience to Jesus so that we are reshaping our lives in the likewise, in the similar obedience to Jesus Christ himself.

[20:32] If only we can see through the eyes of Jesus Christ. Could you imagine how quickly the world would change if all churches walked out the doors in this same like-minded obedience to Jesus Christ?

[20:47] You want to end racism? You want to reduce the suicide rates in this world? You want to end abortion? Guess what? In Christ alone, hope is found.

[21:01] Come on, church. Verse 24 makes this a reality in this passage. Let's see how Jesus Christ's obedience could also reshape our obedience in evangelism as well.

[21:16] Point three today is salvation is through Jesus' words. Salvation is the source. Or, Jesus is the source of salvation.

[21:29] Sorry, I actually rephrased it since it went up on the screen. Point three is Jesus is the source of salvation. It says in verse 24, there's an implication here of that salvation is through Jesus' words, but also salvation is through Jesus' words being an implication of life, but also an implication of judgment through his words.

[21:55] Let's look at the implication of life. Truly, truly, it says in verse 24, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

[22:06] He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. The life giver gives life through those who hear the words of Jesus and believe.

[22:17] believe this is good news for us as well because what do we herald? We don't herald a message of our own or a message of our own accomplishments. We herald a message of Christ's accomplishments for us upon the cross, right?

[22:32] And for those of us who are Christians who are joined here today, we are honestly just seed planters. We are nothing more than just seed planters.

[22:45] We're merely just harvesters of the Father's fruit. All the growth in that fruit belonged to God alone. And so we kind of get to an implication of, you know, so what about all this?

[22:59] But how is the world to respond and to receive, receive and respond to the gospel if there's nobody proclaiming the gospel message? Church, truly, a bumper sticker just won't do.

[23:12] Truly, a billboard sign just won't do. Until they come face to face with the reality of who Jesus is and who he was and what he accomplished on the cross.

[23:27] That he wasn't just a mere good teacher or he wasn't just a mere prophet hanging upon the cross. No, this was God hanging upon the cross, absorbing his own wrath on our behalf.

[23:43] This is the reality of the gospel. This is the word of Jesus and that whoever hears this word and believes in him, him who sent him, has eternal life.

[23:59] How in the world is the world going to know a God who they never heard about? How's the world to hear about Jesus that no one's proclaiming? Well, honestly, often the biggest issue is people are doing a lot of hearing but they're not doing a lot of listening because there is a distinction.

[24:20] There's a difference between hearing a bunch of noise of kids clanging toys together, of streetcars going by, of all this noise that goes on around us but to actually listen to each individual sound wave and to say it right there.

[24:38] That's hope. A lot of us and a lot of people in the world, the problem is that people are doing a lot of hearing but they're not listening to the message.

[24:51] If you're not in Christ with us today on the live stream or with us today, I have to beg you, are you listening to this? This is not just another sound wave, another frequency traveling through the air.

[25:08] This is a divinely inspired, authoritative word and powerful message by only the words of Jesus Christ and this has the power of raising somebody from the dead.

[25:22] This has the power of bringing life. Salvation through Jesus' words also has a present and future implication. We see not only does his words bring life but his words also bring judgment.

[25:39] We see this continue into verse 25 in his third truly, truly statement. He says, truly, truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

[25:59] For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.

[26:18] There is another so what in this passage. There is a present and a future reality for those who will hear and listen and will live.

[26:32] This would be for the church, for the people who have surrendered their lives, given Christ their sin and through faith alone have placed their trust in him.

[26:48] This is a physical reality and a spiritual reality. There is an hour that is coming in this passage. The hour is coming and there is also an hour here.

[27:00] There is an hour coming, a future, where the resurrection of the dead will experience Christ's word. that we will all be united with Christ in his resurrection.

[27:14] That's listed in Romans 6, 5. That there is going to be a glorious, a magnificent, majestic, raising of dead people.

[27:25] And upon how they heeded the words of Jesus Christ in their lifetime, they will be raised from the dead. And not only that, they will ascend with Jesus being linked with his ascension.

[27:38] And the hour that is now here reveals the life reveals the life when those who hear and believe Jesus' words, Christians, are made new with the spiritual status with Jesus Christ.

[27:51] Those who believe in Jesus Christ are promised that this body, this life, that all these earthly possessions will pass away. As Christians, we have a present assurance and confidence in God's grace through our faith.

[28:06] and that faith will become a reality when all will hear Jesus' words and ultimately be resurrected. How is this?

[28:18] Brand, this is crazy talk. This sounds like a Rob Zombie horror film. People being raised from the dead. Really? Really?

[28:31] This verse actually clues it in and this links us back to a whole bunch of biblical theology. This last verse in verse 27, because he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is what?

[28:49] The son of man. Boy, we could do a whole other half hour, 45 minutes in Daniel chapter 7 of the implications of this, but let me summarize it for you, church, and let me try not to jump up on top of the pulpit about this because this is exciting.

[29:06] That all authority, all dominion are his and Jesus Christ is the true judge that the book of Judges was looking for.

[29:18] Jesus Christ is the true king that King David foreshadowed. Jesus Christ is the true Messiah that was promised long ago in the Garden of Eden as known as the skull crusher.

[29:32] This is the man of whom is known as the son of man, the Messiah. He has all dominion, has all reign, all power, and authority. It is all his.

[29:44] And what Jesus says here is that's how I am able to do what I do because guess what? I'm going to judge sin. This is all going to be through Jesus Christ's word at that very time of resurrection.

[30:03] We will continue to observe some weighty implications of rejecting Jesus Christ's words in point four and then we'll get into a little bit of application. But church, we need to see the fourth point, the last point today, that all will be resurrected at Jesus' word.

[30:23] All will be resurrected. while Jesus previously brought about something to marvel about, that the reality of the God-man that will be nailed upon a tree, who had no sign of spot or blemish, he was the perfect son of God hanging upon a tree.

[30:46] Yes, that is a marveling reality. However, John indicates in his gospel through Jesus' words, that there's something that you should not be marveling at.

[31:00] There's a little bit of a contrast in tone here and he does shift. And Jesus says to these Jews and all around who are hearing this dialogue, verse 28, do not marvel at this, at the resurrection, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

[31:24] those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. You got two roads here, church, and these two final verses have the power to bring us either great joy in our relationship that we have in Jesus Christ, that we have received his grace and his mercy, we are pardoned, we are acquitted from sin at this time, we know where we are at that resurrection time, but this is either going to be a great joy or this is going to bring great despair.

[32:05] One day all will be resurrected, but not all will enter into eternal life. This is a hard reality, but it is true.

[32:16] the focus of these two verses point to the future day, the hour that is coming, when Jesus Christ will return and separate the world presently and previously into two destinations, one is going up and one is going down.

[32:37] And on that day, those who are physically dead, but spiritually alive, people who are Christians, who are physically dead, but spiritually alive, will rise from the grave at the sound of Jesus' voice.

[32:54] This is the glory and hope within Jesus Christ, that salvation is wholly the work of Jesus Christ, and he transforms dead sinners into living sons by the word of Jesus.

[33:07] Looking at this verse and thinking about all this resurrection and dead people and tombs, doesn't this bring about a passage found in Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones.

[33:25] This is a snapshot of that. Often through the Gospel of John series, as we go along in these passages, you're going to see remnants of the valley of dry bones.

[33:39] And he uses that vision of John's bones, and we see one of those here in this passage. That at the sound of Jesus' voice, just as Ezekiel is to prophesy, where the Lord says, the Son of Man prophesied over these bones, and all of a sudden, these bones that are even explicitly described in Ezekiel 37, they were very dry.

[34:05] I mean, they've been there for a long time. That sometimes the flick might even break the fragility of those bones. And at the moment that the Son of Man speaks, those bones will start connecting.

[34:21] And not only that, you'll hear the clanking of bones coming together, but those bones will be covered in flesh, that there will be life breathed into those bones.

[34:33] And they will literally become, they will come to life. life. This vision is a foreshadow of the resurrection of all that will come. The word of Jesus Christ being the life giver and judge.

[34:49] All glory and honor and power and majesty go to him and him alone. He is the only one who can do this. However, for those who rejected the message of Jesus Christ will be resurrected but into judgment.

[35:05] judgment and church, if you need motivation outside of these walls, I don't know how much more motivated that you can be than understand what this passage is saying.

[35:20] That those who do not know Jesus Christ will be resurrected into judgment and their eternal suffering is sure. It is sure. But many may ask, how can this be, Brent?

[35:36] How in the world could the words of Jesus raise up dead people, physically dead, but not only spiritually but also spiritually dead people, physically dead and spiritually dead, those who did not heed his words on this earth.

[35:56] How can this be so? How can they hear and obey his voice? Well, church, you often wonder what sometimes the signs and wonders and these miracles often have as significance because in the same breath that Jesus tells a physically incapable man and a spiritually dead incapable man to get up and walk and the same previously physically dead person and spiritually dead person gets up and obeys Jesus' voice, that was a snapshot of what he has arrived at today.

[36:35] That this resurrection of the resurrection of judgment is giving him the power, the same power that he revealed in that sign and wonder of raising that guy up from the pool and telling him to go, pick up your mat, and walk.

[36:57] Meaning we can stand at the graveyard all we want and we can have our grandma, grandpa, mothers, parents, whatever, ancestors who have gone before us. We can sit there all we want and play reveille as loudly as possible.

[37:10] We can clang cymbals trying to get those tombs to open but maybe the only thing that we might receive is a nice noise violation from the police. Ain't no tomb gonna open.

[37:23] But at the word of Jesus, by way of his authority of being the son of man and his divine attributes of being life giver and judge, now that'll open a grave.

[37:36] And that it will. Why would Jesus tell us though in this passage, why would he tell the Jews and everyone around not to marvel at this?

[37:47] Isn't this something that is pretty marveling? Because we get so caught up in the temporal life that we have before us. We're already thinking about what's coming on Monday. We already think about what we're having for lunch today.

[38:00] We get so caught up in the things of this life. But why can't we marvel at this? Because at the point that you're marveling at what's happening in the resurrection of the life and the dead, it's too late, buddy.

[38:20] At that point, it is too late. If you're still marveling, if your bones are clanking together and you have this awareness and you're looking around like, wow, this is cool.

[38:33] It's nothing to marvel about. It's because if you are apart from Jesus Christ at that moment, it's going to turn your joyfulness, your marveling into mourning. And there's no second chance.

[38:45] There's no purgatory. There's no second chance after this life. At that moment, at Jesus Christ's call, you better be sure of where your allegiance lies and what you did to honor Christ on this earth.

[39:03] Church, do we know this Jesus? Do you leave this place with the message of this Jesus?

[39:15] Or maybe you kind of craft Jesus to be something that might be a little bit more acceptable to your unbelieving friends and try to sand the edges of the gospel off.

[39:26] There's a meme out there that exists of that toy story green dinosaur of the sort of like the western civilization gospel. And it's like this little green dinosaur, you know, with a smile on his face.

[39:38] You know, come to Jesus. He's the lamb. But then there's another meme underneath it that shows that Jurassic Park dinosaur that's bent over, roaring. Now that's the lion.

[39:53] And this is the same Jesus that we see and observe that will bring life and judgment to the world, all the world. Man, I teach my children so often to share at various times and it's quite a battle.

[40:12] struggle. And often that struggle comes into the church as well. Of why can't we share this, church? Why can't we actually go to the grocery store, forget our laundry list of things, and find it much more appealing to just cancel out everyone around us and not heed the eyes of Jesus and look at every person, look at that person at the grocery line and say, hey, I see you have that tattoo.

[40:40] It looks like a satanic symbol or something like that. What does that mean to you? And get into a spiritual conversation. Maybe asking somebody, how can I pray for you?

[40:51] Yeah, you might be, it might catch them off guard, but glory to God that you're using your time on this earth well. Well, Jesus is not only the lamb, little toy story T-Rex, he's a lion, Judah.

[41:10] He is the son of man, and he is executing his rights of giving life, giving judgment. At this time, as we close in history, we live in interesting times, don't we?

[41:24] I mean, you turn on Fox News or CNN, choose your weapon, one or the other. I mean, it's interesting. There's complete division. Everybody's looking for hope.

[41:38] And there's often this violent disposition towards anything related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope that this text bears, the very words, if these Jews could probably go into a culture like today, they'd probably already get the duct tape or start crying and run away and cry to the government.

[41:59] We live in interesting times, and there's violent opposition towards a message of life and hope. You want to know why? Because nobody wants to reckon with their sinful behavior.

[42:10] Nobody wants to acknowledge that they aren't in charge of their own destiny as they've been taught in schools. people. How many of us may actually be bringing dishonor to God through how we buckle under the pressure of the possibility of confrontation with your friends?

[42:29] that may ensue in us making bold statements? Yeah, you might lose a friend or two over that. People might think you're wacky.

[42:40] Yeah, it might be an awkward transition for that person at the cash register. But man, you better be looking for those opportunities because when the Lord signals you that you need to speak and you need to pray for somebody, you better be ready for that.

[42:53] That walking out of your doors every day should be a missionary endeavor. And in my estimation, we're going to talk about this a little bit further in the passage next week as well and we'll go into a little bit more.

[43:03] But often many congregations can be split up into sort of three different categories that are very, very, very recognizable. You got the first category of the Christians who are those zealous missionaries, those zealous evangelists that man, even getting them to slow down and come to church is a battle because they're like we're wasting time.

[43:25] Why are we getting together? We need to go. Well, Hebrews 10, 25 tells us not to neglect and meet together as a habit is for some, that this is an edifying time. This is the same strategy as a football team has on the field of huddling together, of encouragement for one another, of picking our slower brothers and sisters up to our speed.

[43:47] So this is a corporate endeavor. But that would be the first group, the zealous evangelists within our midst. But then we can also observe those members who are sort of lacking confidence of being those evangelists, that they're kind of, they doubt themselves.

[44:04] And then we can also have the other evangelists who are just kind of, I mean, to put it plainly, just stagnant evangelists. That to evangelize would be something that if they could evaluate their time this past week, none of it would have been sharing the gospel with any of their friends or neighbors, the stagnant evangelists.

[44:26] But I gotta push us, church. I got to. How long are we going to waste our God-given time on this earth and live a life of isolation and solace, sort of just our own fluffy impressions and what we desire our lives to be and baptize our life plans and say all of a sudden, like this is God's will for us.

[44:50] But all it is is just a little dream that we have. How many of us are truly seeking the Lord's will to help get us out of that individualism?

[45:01] How many more times are we going to go into the public square and shy away from gospel interactions with people in the name of introvertedness? That's a cop-out.

[45:13] The Lord God can equip us. His power is made perfect in our weakness. And if you're introverted, he will take the introvertedness and make you an extrovert. He will use you in powerful and mighty ways.

[45:25] How many more times, how many times actually have we doubted God's weakness or God's strength in our weakness? Sorry. How many times have we doubted God's strength in that weakness to empower us to go?

[45:39] And actually, in so doing, brought God dishonor because of our conflict phobia. Well, I got to encourage us that being a blood-bought church, being blood-bought Christians, our lives should be drawing a line.

[45:59] Okay? Daniel was thrown into the lion's den because why? He drew the line. The prophets of Baal, back in the days of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18, where God consumed that, where the Lord God provided a great gospel witness of he is the Lord.

[46:24] And there is no one like him. And he burnt up that offering. That came because Elijah drew that line. And here, Jesus as well is drawing that line.

[46:36] How might you be revealing? How might God be revealing to you to share that good news? Boldly, confidently, and zealously from this moment forward to break us out of our little cultural molds and personal incapacities to glorify God and reach the lost on this earth.

[46:57] What I'm trying to say is that time is precious, church. When we're talking about the resurrection, it's nothing to marvel about. It's something that we need to heed. As that we have a moment right now to dictate where people are going at that time of resurrection.

[47:14] The only way to honor Jesus is through taking this message and let it resonate throughout our lives, through obedience to his commands in this passage. We're going to get into it next week, but I must say it in this passage that you are missionaries in this marketplace.

[47:30] You are missionaries in the public square. You're not just mere American citizens. You're not mere just spouses. You're a missionary to your marriage and to your children and to your family.

[47:43] You're not just a mere employee or an employer. You are a missionary. You're not just a mere student out at YSU.

[47:54] You are a missionary sent by God with a message of hope for those who hear and listen. So let's become focused on the cost of our disobedience rather than the cost of our obedience.

[48:09] People might think you're a wacko, but who cares? You might lose a couple friends over your obedience to Christ, but let's be more focused on our disobedience to Christ and lack of honoring to him.

[48:23] Let us have the eyes of Christ. Let our message be precisely central to Jesus being the life giver and the judge. Let's be expert seed planters, expert harvesters of the words of Jesus Christ and allow him to be in charge of that harvest.

[48:41] Plant seeds. Let the gospel ooze out of your marriage, ooze out of your personal relationships, ooze out of your errands to the grocery store, and let people, let God dictate, let God dictate what fruit will come about from that seed planting.

[48:56] And let us remember to number our days and use it wisely. We are all called to be missionaries, heralding this message of life and pardon from sin. How can we not commit our lives to such a mission?

[49:09] This changed history. All the Bible's central focus is Jesus Christ. All history, apart from the Bible, is centered around Jesus Christ.

[49:20] How can we not heed and take great care of this missionary endeavor on this earth? What we do between now and next Sunday will either bring honor or dishonor to God.

[49:34] Now, you can choose to, you know, get a nice little, you know, pick me up today and go about your way and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday pass.

[49:46] And you think that, didn't Brent tell me I needed to do something? And then Saturday comes, oh, family day. Go with your family. And then, oh, it's church, it's Sunday.

[49:56] Go back to church. And round and round we go. Another week comes, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. How long are we going to waste time on this earth?

[50:10] That we're not promised family day next Saturday. We're not promised to kiss our children goodnight tonight. The constructs that we have have to be in line with the gospel mission on this earth.

[50:25] That when we go to serve our wives, we're doing it out of obedience to Christ. If we're going to love our children, we're doing it out of obedience to Christ. If we're going to the grocery store, by golly, we're going to do it out of obedience to Christ.

[50:37] Okay? Everything resounds and just oozes the gospel in our lives. It has to. People must hear and not only hear, but they must listen.

[50:48]  We answer to a higher authority and we should live like that. And I pray that we do. Let's pray.