Message - I Told You So (Easter)

I'd like to start with a couple questions this morning.

I kind of want to get a gauge for who's here.

You know, we've had two services today and it's a little bit of a different crowd, and so I just want to want to know who I'm talking to.

I want to want to know how many of you would would raise your hand, those of you online, engage with us as well.

Let us know.

How many of you really enjoy being right?

You like to be right.

You're okay admitting it.

Okay.

Like you you kind of like you get a satisfaction out of being right.

Maybe deep down inside you're more petty than you would want people to know, but you're like, I really like being right.

Okay.

All right, those of you who raise your hands, uh, how many of you would say, even more than being right, I hate being wrong?

Even more than I like being right.

Like I hate being wrong.

Okay.

We're gonna keep this going.

Um let's think about those of you who maybe are young and you live at home with your parents, this would apply.

Maybe you're married or you have been married, but how many of you especially hate being wrong when it means that like your wife is right?

You know what I mean?

Right?

It's like the worst feeling on earth.

Amen.

She is.

That's the hard thing about it.

It's actually true half the time.

Like, it's just this thing in my life where it's amazing how often I'm wrong when she's right.

And like she's wrong too, but it's rare that she's wrong and I'm right.

Those things don't happen in conjunction, but it's very normal for me to be wrong, and it just so happens that when I'm wrong, she's right.

And if you're someone who hates to be wrong, there's this phrase that you just live to avoid.

And it's the phrase, I told you so.

Now, what's cool about my wife is she doesn't have to say that.

Um, my wife has this unique ability to communicate a lot with her face.

And it's it's kind of crazy.

Like, I used to coach youth basketball a few years ago, and uh I might end up having to do that again as my younger kids grow up, it's just you know, it's the cross I bear.

Um, and uh I love coaching youth basketball as a joke, but but I I'm a pretty competitive person.

I never I never got thrown out of a game.

I never got threatened to be thrown out of a game, but my wife did.

And and she didn't and she would always say, I didn't say anything.

And I'm like, babe, but you know, like I've been cussed out by your face before.

Like, I know, you know, I know what it what it's like.

There was just this young ref.

He had to be like 21, and apparently he's not ever been married, and because he didn't know what it's like to look at a woman who looks at you in such a way that makes you want to curl up into a ball and die.

And that's what happened.

And so he's like, I'm gonna throw her out if she looks at me again, you know?

And so my wife does this thing when she's right and I'm wrong, which which happens, she has this very specific expression.

And it's it's like a multitude of things that happen in conjunction.

Her eyebrows raise, she cocks her head to the side, she does a toothless smile, and she kind of shrugs, and altogether it's just like like that.

And I'll just do it one more time because I need you to feel this.

She goes, and like the rage that boils up inside of me when she does that, when she's right, and she's saying with all of her facial expression and body language, I told you so.

I hate it.

I hate it.

You know, I've been thinking about it for the last few weeks.

How how if Jesus were more like me, if he were more petty, Easter was the ultimate I told you so moment in history.

And what's amazing about Easter is not just that Jesus died and rose again.

That in and of itself is incredible.

That that would be incredible, by the way, if Jesus didn't see it coming.

If Jesus died and then got back and he was like, whoa, this is cool.

I didn't know this was gonna happen.

All right, that would still make Jesus worthy of following.

But what makes it even more amazing is that not only did Jesus die and get back up again, he said he would do it.

He did exactly what he said he would do, much to the bewilderment of even his closest followers.

You know, it's interesting when when Jesus went to the cross, when he was arrested and tried and killed, his disciples, they were they were completely beside themselves.

They did not know what to do.

It was like they were totally unprepared for that, but they shouldn't have been, because Jesus told them it would happen.

In very clear terms, Matthew chapter 20, starting in verse 17, says, as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside privately and he told them what was gonna happen to him.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Listen, he said, we're gonna go up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.

They will sentence him to die, then they'll hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified.

He is incredibly specific.

He's telling them who's gonna do it, where it's gonna happen, how it's gonna go down.

I mean, he's very specific.

And yet when that exact same thing happened, it's like the disciples had no clue.

They were caught off guard, but they shouldn't have been because Jesus told them so.

And then when he raises to life, they don't see that coming either.

That's really clear from the way you read the story.

Luke chapter 24 begins by saying, But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

They were going to do some kind of burial rites for Jesus.

They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, so they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And as they stood there, puzzled, going, What is going on?

Two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

These are angels.

It says the women were terrified, they bowed their faces to the ground.

And the men asked, Why are you looking among the dead for someone who's alive?

He isn't here.

He's risen from the dead.

Remember what he told you back in Galilee, the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and then would rise again on the third day?

And then they remembered he had said this.

Oh, yeah.

So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples and everyone else what had happened.

And it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened, but the story sounded like nonsense to the men.

So they didn't believe it.

Imagine that look, right?

It just hit me.

Like that I told you so that they got from the ladies.

That'd have been bad.

I feel their pain.

However, Peter jumped up and he ran to the tomb to look.

Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings, and then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

You can see it, they're puzzled, they're wondering what's going on.

This is nonsense.

But they shouldn't have been confused at all.

Because go back to that Matthew chapter 20 statement where Jesus said, I'm gonna be handed over and crucified and killed.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

The very next thing he says, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.

Jesus told them exactly what would happen.

And so when he shows up on that third day and they have no idea what to expect, they're caught off guard.

Like, if if I were Jesus, if I were Jesus, I would have had the loudest, the most obvious, the most intense, I told you so in the history of the world.

Like, what are you guys doing?

They shouldn't have been, they shouldn't have been hiding, they shouldn't have been afraid, they should have been planning a not surprised party.

That's what they should have been doing.

You know, like a surprise party, there's a banner that says, Welcome home, and a cake, and you're like, whoa, I didn't see it coming, but they should have seen it coming.

They shouldn't have been surprised.

Jesus shouldn't have been surprised because he said this was going to happen.

And it's amazing.

It truly is amazing when you think about the fact that not only did Jesus die and get back up, he said in advance that he would do it, and then he did.

See, we happen to live in a world where oftentimes the people we look to for leadership, they're masters of saying things and not doing them, to the point that we don't even expect them to do the things they say they're gonna do.

Like we hear so many promises and we just go, yeah, probably not, but whatever.

It's almost mind-blowing to think about someone who makes a bold claim, an audacious claim, let's be honest, an insane claim.

I'm gonna die and I'm gonna get back up, and then they do it.

Easter is the greatest I told you so moment in the history of the world.

And it has me thinking, this has been like two or three weeks, just stuck on this thought.

If Jesus can say something that audacious and then do it, maybe I should listen to him when he speaks.

You know how much how much anger and confusion and frustration and fear could the disciples have avoided if they had just believed what Jesus said.

And likewise, how much, how much anxiety and fear and worry and stress could I avoid in my life, could all of us avoid in our lives, if we simply believed what Jesus says?

Because apparently, when he says something, when he tells you so, it's true, no matter how crazy.

What would our lives look like if we just believed the Jesus who tells us so?

We don't have time to create an exhaustive list, but I could give you a few thoughts on what life would actually be like.

And these thoughts aren't from me, these are just from the mouth of Jesus, because he's the one who tells us so.

Number one, if if you believed Jesus at his word, you would live a life of satisfaction.

You would be deeply satisfied.

John chapter 10, verse 10, Jesus says, The thief's purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy, but my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

John 10:10

Some translations say, give them life and life abundant.

You may have heard that before.

It's amazing how much time and energy and money we spend chasing after the next thing.

Like there's always something else, isn't there?

It's like we're all running this race, but there's not actually a finish line.

We think there's a finish line, but then when we get closer to the finish line, there's actually another line that we didn't know about, and it's like this never-ending thing because there's always another thing that we convince ourselves if we have it, we'll be good.

You know, once I have that relationship, once I'm married, once I'm divorced, once I'm married again, once I have the job, once I get the promotion in the job, once I get the raise for the position that I have in the job, once I get the house, once I get the vacation, it's like we're always chasing after something else.

There's always something else.

And we tell ourselves that once that's in place, then we'll be satisfied.

But I would imagine that all of us can think back to a time a few years ago where we said, once I have this thing, I'll be satisfied.

And maybe we have that today, but now there's a new thing.

Maybe the problem with us not being satisfied in life is that we're actually insatiable.

Because we're seeking something that can really fill us.

You know, we chase fulfillment, but you can't be fulfilled if you're not filled full.

And nothing in this world can really fill you, not in a lasting way.

Because please understand this, and maybe if you're new to the whole church thing, maybe you're watching for the first time, you you are a spiritual person.

You have a spirit.

It's the deepest part of who you are.

It's deeper than even your emotions and your thoughts.

Sometimes it's such a deep part of us that we can't even express what's going on inside of us.

And nothing in this world can satisfy your spirit.

Nothing in this world can do it.

Doesn't matter how great your life is.

By the way, that's why we see celebrities have these like life collapses that don't make sense to us because they have all the wealth and the fame, all the stuff, and yet they seem to have this deep dark sadness.

Why?

Because that stuff doesn't fill your spirit.

Kind of like Herb alluded to during Lord's Supper, what good is it if a person gains the world but loses their soul?

See, Jesus, he's different.

He can satisfy your spirit.

Listen to his words in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30.

Matthew 11:28–30

He says, Are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion?

Come to me, get away with me, you'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me.

Watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

That's what life is like when you listen to Jesus.

That's what he says, anyway.

And so, what would happen if I really believed that?

If I really believed what Jesus tells me, my life would be so much simpler, so much lighter, so much freer.

Because I would truly be satisfied.

I wouldn't be chasing the next thing because he is everything.

And so if I have a nicer or whatever, great.

If I don't, fine.

Because I have him.

And he satisfies completely.

That's why Paul in Philippians chapter 4, verses 12 through 13, said, I've learned the secret on living with almost nothing or everything.

Philippians 4:12–13

I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it's with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

Jesus tells us that he alone can fill us, that he alone can lead us, that he alone can give us rest for our soul.

What if we believed him?

What if we lived like we actually believed that?

I mean, he said he would die and get back up.

He did that, maybe just maybe, when he tells us something, it's true.

We wouldn't just live satisfied, though.

We'd live a life of stability.

When you have Jesus in your life, you live with real stability.

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, we'll start in verse 24.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it will not collapse because it is built on bedrock.

But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.

And when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty, mighty crash.

You know, it's interesting.

We went through a big storm together as a nation in this last year.

And in some ways, we're still in it.

And we saw the fragility of our world on display, did we not?

We've seen a fragility in so many of the systems that we're supposed to put our trust in.

But Jesus says that he's the opposite of that, that he's like bedrock, that if you build your life on him, you have a stability because you've put your life, all that you have, on something that can take the weight.

Life is weighty, life's heavy.

Like anyone carrying something heavy today, like you can just be honest saying, hey, like I'm kind of heavy right now.

Like life's a little bit heavy, no one's heavy.

That's awesome.

Two people are heavy.

All right.

I mean, I'm carrying the COVID-19, but that's a different kind of heavy, that's fine.

Uh life's heavy.

Life's heavy because it's never ending, right?

There's this endless scenario of what ifs.

Like, what if this happens?

What if that happens?

What if this goes this way?

What if, what if, what if, what if, and you're just like, ah, it's too much.

And if you're living life with your own abilities and ideas and intelligence and plans and and whatever as your foundation, then when the storms come, watch out.

But if you put your life on Jesus, he can take the weight.

Sometimes we experience turmoil in life because we're trying to put the third floor on and like the foundation's not done.

And on any of you that have ever bought a new house or gone house shopping, if you ever go to see a house and they tell you, hey, we found an issue with the roof, you just kind of go, okay, I mean that's we can fix the roof.

But if they say, hey, there's this minor problem with the foundation, it's like, all right, I'm out.

Like that's the whole house is built on that thing.

And I I've learned the hard way in life that I can't build my life on myself.

I even think about my marriage.

I know I joked about my marriage earlier, my wife and her faces, and that's all legitimate, but like we really love each other.

I really love her.

I love her more when I'm right and she's wrong, but I really, really love her.

We've been, we were high school sweethearts.

And so now I'm almost 40, and we've loved each other through all these weird seasons of life, and we're very different people, but I've learned the hard way that my love for her, her love for me, it's not strong enough to be the foundation of our marriage.

There have been times where I've tried to make that the foundation, and it's amazing how fast the cracks show up.

Because that love we have for each other, it's not meant to carry the weight.

That's Jesus, that's his job.

And actually, when we try to take all the weight and put it on that love we have, that love starts to break down.

But when we take it and we put it on Jesus, we have this amazing ability as a spouse to lead to that.

I don't even really like you that much right now, but I'm gonna stay with you.

I love you because it's on him, not on us.

And then our love has the ability to be what it's meant to be.

It just kind of frees it up.

Megan, if you're in the room, I love you a lot.

And I like you a lot too.

I can't wait to hang out with you for the rest of the day.

And our four children.

It's gonna be great.

Have you guys ever done an Easter egg hunt with four kids?

It's crazy.

It's like a competition, and there's a baby, and they just they're mad.

There's no way it's gonna, it's gonna be great.

When you put your your faith in Jesus, you have stability.

Why?

Because he's the one who can tell you something and then actually do it.

And he tells you, put the weight on me, put it all on me.

And and if he's the kind of person who can say that I'm gonna die and get back up again and then do it, maybe just maybe we should listen when he tells us so.

What if we lived like we actually believed that Jesus is our foundation?

How much more free, how much more light, how much less stress.

One final thing.

Security.

Let's talk about that.

Very last thing that Jesus said to his followers before he ascended to heaven.

Matthew chapter 28, verse 20, he says, Be sure of this.

Matthew 28:20

Be sure of this.

And again, when Jesus says, be sure of something, you can be sure of it.

He says, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I am with you always.

Reminded of a story when I was in middle school, uh, I picked a fight with a kid I had no business to pick a fight with.

I was a mouthy little kid.

Um, like I'm still kind of mouthy, but I actually don't say a lot of things that pop into my mind.

But seventh, eighth grade, Justin, zero filter whatsoever, as you can imagine, if you know me well.

And so I just I just mouthed off to this kid, and he was the last person you should mouth off to, and he was huge.

And his name was Kelly, which was a girl's name.

And if uh, by the way, if you're a guy named Kelly, traditionally Kelly can be both, but in middle school we were like, haha, it's a girl's name.

And uh that's what I told him.

And he was also way bigger than me.

And so it was just a bad, just not a lot of logic going through my brain.

And um, there's a phrase that says, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

And that's only true if you can make them fall.

Um if you can't, they don't fall at all.

The bigger they are, the harder they hit.

And so I'll never forget there was this day at school, and uh, I had all my buddies, and they were like, dude, if Kelly comes up to you, don't worry, we're we're there.

We're there.

And I'm like, yeah, okay.

I got my guys with me.

And then Kelly came to my locker, and those dudes, I literally remember looking at one of my friends, Travis, never speak to that guy again.

Uh and he just kind of looked at me and he just kind of like looked down and like walked away, and I was like, Oh, what happened?

You said you're with me, and he wasn't with me, and I got pummeled.

And it was one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

Um, taught me a lot.

But how many, how many of us honestly have had people, let's be real a second, how many of us have had people tell us, I'll be with you no matter what, and they weren't?

I mean, how many of us have had the people that should have been there, that should have, but not show up when we needed them most?

Not Jesus.

Not Jesus, he's with you.

He's with you, and he's for you.

He will never get tired of you, he'll never be fed up by you, he'll never be embarrassed by you, ashamed of you.

He is he is with you, and guys, he's he's strong, he's powerful.

I mean, how how strong is Jesus?

You ever hear this thing called death?

It was kind of like a minor inconvenience for him.

You know, it's funny we even think about, well, he was dead for three days.

Well, it kinda.

He wasn't really dead for three days.

He he said, on the third day I'll rise.

The way the Jewish calendar works is different than ours.

Their day began at sundown.

And so Jesus died on Friday around 3 p.m.

And he rose on Sunday really early, like at dawn.

And so, I mean, it was like a day and a half, really.

It's just the timing of it.

He died late on Friday.

Saturday started just a few hours after he died, according to their calendar, and then Sunday morning, boom, he's what he's back.

At the moment, the very moment.

I love that.

He said, On the third day, I'll rise.

When on the third day?

The moment it starts.

Like it's just crazy.

The moment that the sun comes up, boom, there's Jesus.

Death was a minor inconvenience.

Convenience.

I've had colds that took me out for longer than that.

That's how powerful Jesus is, and he's with you.

This is what Jesus says in John chapter 10, verses 28 through 30.

John 10:28–30

He says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

No one can snatch them away from me.

For my Father has given them to me, and he's more powerful than anyone else.

No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.

The Father and I are one.

It's like Jesus is saying, I've got you and the Father's got me.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, not death itself, can ever take you away from the love of the Father.

Nothing can separate you from his love.

Jesus won that, he earned that, it's yours, and you've got to enjoy that.

You've got to believe that.

What would happen if we really believed what Jesus says?

I mean, think about it.

He's saying, look, I am I am this powerful.

No one can take you from me.

What if we really believed that?

What if we lived like that was true, like we believed it was true?

How secure would we be?

Anytime something happens and we're worried and we're afraid and this is going on, and what if this happens?

What if that happens?

Forget it, because you know, whatever happens, God happens.

Whatever happens to you, God is gonna happen to that.

And God, well, he just wins.

And he's for you.

That is that is security.

That is security.

He will never leave you, he will always be with you.

Why?

Because he says so.

And if Jesus tells you so, you can take it to the bank because he's the one who said he would die and get back up and then he did it.

What would happen if we truly lived believing that is true?

It would change everything.

It would change absolutely everything.

And so I want to encourage us today to do just that.

To take a second to reflect and say, Lord, do I do I live like I really believe that you are my foundation and I'm stable when I'm when I'm trusting you?

Do I really believe that you fill me full, that you give me a rich and satisfying life?

And I don't have to chase after this thing.

I don't have to spend all my time and all my energy chasing after some never-ending list of wish fulfillments because you are gonna fulfill my spirit.

Do I really believe that?

Lord, do I really believe that I'm secure in you, that you're never gonna leave me, that there's never gonna be a day that you're not there for me?

Do I really believe that?

And if you do, it changes your life.

Listen to the one who told you so.

And maybe you're here today or you're watching from home and you've never gone all in with Jesus, you've never put your faith completely and totally in him.

If that's the case, here's what's so great about it, it's not hard.

Like he's the one, he's done all the hard work.

He's done it all.

The cross, he did that.

The dying and getting back up, done.

All he asks of us is just to believe.

And what's awesome is we don't even have to like believe with some immense amount of faith.

It's just even like, Lord, I I believe, but I'm struggling to believe.

Help me believe all he's good with that.

All you gotta do is believe.

You put your trust in him, and you take a step, one step toward him, and it changes everything.

And so if that's you today, I just want to encourage you, don't go another day living that insatiable, unstable, and insecure life.

Give it to Jesus, be satisfied, be stable, be secure, have everything that he tells you you will have when you trust him.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for Easter.

Thank you so much, Lord, that we get to be together.

Lord, I pray there's there's never a Sunday, especially not an Easter Sunday, that we have to be apart.

That we don't at least have the option.

Thank you, Lord, for for proving true, for getting us through trying times.

As a church, Lord, I'm just saying this as a church, as a family, you've gotten us through this season, and it's really exciting to have today, because you've gotten us through.

And Lord, I just ask that you would truly give us the ability to trust your words, to take you at your word.

That you are the one who tells us so.

And when you say something's true, it's true.

When you say you're gonna do something, you're gonna do it.

When you say we can trust you, we can trust you.

Because what you say happens.

You're the one who told us so.

Help us remember that today, Lord.

We pray this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.