"I Am the Resurrection and the Life"
I am Series: Sermon 3
“Easter Sunday 2010”
Transition video: “Resurrection” from Blue fish TV
Thesis: The "I Am" proclamation of Jesus in John's Gospel reveals that Jesus is the Messiah the one who is the Savior of the World. He said He was the Resurrection and the Life then He proved it by raising Lazarus from the dead and by His own act of rising from the dead.
Scripture Texts: John 11 and John 20
Key Opening Verses: John 11:25, 26
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Illustration: An Easter Parable:
From http://www.christianstories.com/holidays/easter-stories.shtml: Phillip’s Egg
Philip was born with Down’s Syndrome. He was a pleasant child . . .happy it seemed . . . but increasingly aware of the difference between himself and other children. Philip went to Sunday school faithfully every week. He was in the third grade class with nine other eight-year olds.
You know eight-year olds. And Philip, with his differences, was not readily accepted. But his teacher was sensitive to Philip and he helped this group of eight-year olds to love each other as best they could, under the circumstances. They learned, they laughed, and they played together. And they really cared about one another, even though eight-year olds don't say they care about one another out loud.
But don't forget. There was an exception to all this. Philip was not really a part of the group. Philip did not choose, nor did he want to be different. He just was. And that was the way things were.
His teacher had a marvelous idea for his class the Sunday after Easter. You know those things that pantyhose come in . . . the containers that look like great big eggs? The teacher collected ten of them. The children loved it when he brought them into the room and gave one to each child.
It was a beautiful spring day, and the assignment was for each child to go outside, find the symbol for new life, put it into the egg, and bring it back to the classroom They would then open and share their new life symbols and surprises, one by one.
It was glorious. It was confusing. It was wild. They ran all around the church grounds, gathering their symbols, and returned to the classroom.
They put all the eggs on a table, and then the teacher began to open them. All the children gathered around the table. He opened one and there was a flower, and they ooh-ed and aah-ed. He opened another and there was a little butterfly.
"Beautiful!" the girls all said, since it is hard for eight-year old boys to say 'beautiful.' He opened another and there was a rock. And as third-graders will, some laughed, and some said, "That's crazy! How's a rock supposed to be like new life?" But the smart little boy who'd put it in there spoke up: "That's mine. And I knew all of you would get flowers and buds and leaves and butterflies and stuff like that. So I got a rock because I wanted to be different. And for me, that's new life." They all laughed.
The teacher said something about the wisdom of eight-year olds and opened the next one. There was nothing inside. The children, as eight-year olds will, said, "That's not fair. That's stupid! Somebody didn't do it right."
Then the teacher felt a tug on his shirt, and he looked down. "It's mine, Philip said. It's mine."
And the children said, "You don't ever do things right, Philip. There's nothing there!"
"I did so do it right!" Philip said. "I did do it right. The tomb is empty!"
There was silence, a very full silence. And for you people who don't believe in miracles, I want to tell you that one happened that day. From that time on, it was different. Philip suddenly became a part of that group of eight-year old children. They took him in. He was set free from the tomb of his differences.
Philip died last summer. His family had known since the time he was born that he wouldn't live out a full life span. Many other things were wrong with his little body. And so, late last July, with an infection that most normal children could have quickly shrugged off, Philip died.
At his memorial service, nine eight-year old children marched up to the altar, not with flowers to cover over the stark reality of death . . . but nine eight-year olds, along with their Sunday School teacher, marched right up to that altar, and laid on it an empty egg . . . an empty, old, discarded pantyhose egg.
And the tomb is empty!
Date Added: 5/08/00
Heartwarming Christian Stories
http://www.christianstories.com
Introduction:
The Gospel of John and Jesus’ “I AM” statements reveal that Christ is the God of the Old Testament and He is the Promised Messiah the Jews were looking for. He is from the beginning and He will be there for us in the end because He is the great "I Am", He is the living Word manifested in the flesh.
The Gospel of John emphasizes the deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. No other Gospel portrays more clearly His humanity, nor does any other assert so directly the prerogatives of deity (198, Tenney).
His “I Am” statements:
1. “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35, 48; 6:41, 51).
2. “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12)
3. “I am the door” (John 10:7, 9)
4. “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14)
5. “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)
6. “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6)
7. “I am the true vine” (John 15:1, 5)
In the book Life of Christ, the author on page 32 states the following about “The Great I Am:”
We can see that John’s aim is two-fold. On one-hand, he seeks to demonstrate that Jesus is “The Messiah, the Son of God.” On the other, he wants people to know the true identity of Jesus, so that “you will have true life.” When God commanded Moses to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Moses asked what God’s name was. God replied, “Tell them that the Lord , whose name is ‘I AM,’ has sent you (Exodus 3:13-15). Jesus shows that he has been in God’s plan from the beginning when he said: “Even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.” (John 8:58).
In John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the term “I am” to connect himself to aspects of God’s nature and to identify himself as the one who:
• Supplies all needs
• Brings the knowledge about God to all people
• Is the way for people to find God and become God’s people
• Promises that all who believe in him will have eternal life
• Invites everyone to share in the common life as the new people of God
Today’s “I Am” reference is, “I am the resurrection and the life…” this statement assures all of us who are righteous believers that we too will never die.
Think about that for a moment? “We will never die!”
Max Lucado shared about the importance of the resurrection in his book Fearless.
• Traditional Judaism was divided on the topic of resurrection. “For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection-and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both” (Acts 23:8). The Sadducees saw the grave as a tragic, one way trip into Sheol. No escape. No hope. No possibility of parole. “The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing” (Eccl. 9:5 NIV).
• The Pharisees envisioned a resurrection, yet the resurrection was spiritual, not physical. “There are no traditions about prophets being raised to a new bodily life…However exalted Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may have been in Jewish thought, nobody imagined they had been raised from the dead.”
• Ancient Greek philosophy used different language but resulted in identical despair. Their map of death included the River Styx and the boatman Charon. Upon death, the soul of the individual would be ferried across the river and released into a sunless afterlife of bodiless spirits, shades, and shadows.
• This was the landscape into which Jesus entered. Yet he walked into this swamp of uncertainty and built a sturdy bridge. He promised, not just an afterlife, but a better life (Page 118).
These sudden impact moments of Jesus spoken during the last year of his life paved the way for all of us to see Him as the Promised Messiah and help us to believe that He was and is the Son of God.
T.S. - So let’s explore deeper the phrase “I am the resurrection and the life.” By Jesus and discover this life he is referring too.
I. JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. (John 11:25)
a. The promise of the Resurrection by the “I Am.”
1. Lazarus was a dead then a living example of the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
a. John 11:1-25: 1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick. 4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. 7Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.” 11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35Jesus wept. 36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” 45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life. 54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the Feast at all?” 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
2. Summary”
a. Lazarus got sick and he died
b. Jesus could have made it to him to heal him before He died.
c. He was dead a long time before Jesus arrived.
d. His relatives where grieving – because in their view there was no hope of new life or healing.
e. Jesus raised him from the dead.
f. This made the Jewish leaders upset and they decided that Jesus had to die.
i. This Scripture text points to the power of Jesus to raise dead people. It is interesting to note that Christ three times exerts His resurrection power over death in Scripture.
1. He raised Jairus’ daughter.
2. He raised the son of the widow of Nain.
3. He raised Lazarus from the dead.
a. Moody notes, "It is a peculiar thing, you cannot get any instruction in the Bible as to how to conduct a funeral, for Jesus broke up every funeral He ever attended, by raising the dead."
3. John 11:1- “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.” Note the emphasis about Bethany – it is Mary and Martha's village.
a. I believe this shows how the Word of God judges a city or town.
b. He does not judge it by how many rich and famous there are in the town but by the devoted and faithful followers of His in this town.
4. John 11:4 – “When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it.’”
a. Christ knew before He went to Lazarus that He would not die.
b. He declared it and at that moment it was so.
c. He has also declared to us that if you are Born Again then you will not die!
5. John 11:6 – “Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.”
a. The idea of Jesus staying two more days cast doubt on Jesus' ministry. But Jesus had to finish his work in the area. Then He would proceed to raise Lazarus.
b. The problem to some was He did not just drop what He was doing and return. He waited.
c. Important lesson to learn - God is in no hurry! He said he would not die and He meant it. God is always in control of the situation and He is never too late. If He makes a promise He keeps it.
i. You too need to understand that time is in God’s hands and He is never late! Everything happens according to His time table!
6. John 11:8 - The disciples where afraid of Jesus returning for fear He would be killed. Jesus reminds them that He follows the true light. He will never let the fear of men dictate His next move. He always follows the Fathers guidance.
7. John 11:21 - Martha's response to Jesus was, "If you had been here, my brothers would not have died!" It's the age old, "What If question."
a. I find us doing this even today saying things like “Lord if you where were you were suppose to be this would not have happened!”
b. We always want to know why tragedy happens to Christians. In our scientific age when we have answers for everything, we feel we have a right to know!
c. But He is the great “I am.” He is the Beginning and the End. He is the Creator of the Universe and we are telling Him He is in the wrong place!
i. He is always in the right place!
8. John 11: 22 – “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
a. Yet she still voices her faith in Christ. She knew He had the power to do anything but did she really believe it?
9. John 11:24 – “Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’”Her answer reflects her belief that Jesus will raise him up later at His last day resurrection.
a. But she feels it’s too late now to raise him up – he has been dead to long!
b. Can I tell you something about the “I Am” nothing is ever to late for Him!
10. John 11:25 – “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
a. Christ reminds her who He is "I AM" is here.
b. He is the one who spoke to Moses and if He desires to raise the dead they will raise to life. We sometimes need to be reminded that the great "I AM" is here even in the midst of trials and tribulations.
11. John 11:26 – “And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
a. Jesus once again confronts her on her unbelief and asks, “Do you believe that "I AM!"
i. Illustration – An Easter Parable: From http://www.christianstories.com/holidays/easter-stories.shtml “An Easter Angel”: There once was a boy named Angel, who, either because of his name or for some other reason, saw angels all around him. Whenever he looked towards the heavens, he saw them in their rainbow magnificence singing in massed choirs to the glory of God. Yet he also saw them on Earth, either in their true form or in human guise, affecting daily the affairs of humankind under orders from above. In an earlier time, he would have been considered holy, but in our time he was considered disturbed. Even though his parents were religious, they viewed his frequent visions of angels not as a gift but as an aberration, and they sent him for treatment, first to a doctor, who treated him with medications, then to a psychiatrist, who treated him with more sophisticated medications, and finally to a psychologist, who treated him with six months of behavior modification. Nothing seemed to work. Angel continued to see angels and to delight in their presence. As he grew older, however, he became more cautious about telling anyone what he was seeing, and so little by little his parents' worry receded, and under the cover of silence Angel began to live what seemed on the surface to be a normal life. Even so, underneath that cloak of silence, what glories filled Angel's days and nights! Whenever he could, he stood alone in the back yard of his house staring at angels swarming like giant birds among the drifting clouds. Their magnificent wings beat slowly as they congregated in the heavens, singing, always singing their joy, though Angel could hear them only rarely, and then only faintly, for they were very far away. For Angel, the roof of the earthly sphere was transparent, and he could see very clearly the heavenly sphere above, even at times through the masses of angels and saints to the throne of God, where the Lord sat surrounded by His choirs, rejoicing in the beauty of His creation. One day, however, when Angel was eight years old, a child in his class at school asked the teacher how children on the other side of the world could look up in a direction that would seem to us to be down. The teacher answered that "up" and "down" depended on where one was standing, and illustrated this idea by having the class line up on opposite sides of the room and pointing out that what was right to one side of the room was left to the other. "The same is true for people on opposite sides of the Earth," he said. "Gravity holds you down with your feet on the ground. 'Up' is away from your feet; 'down' is towards your feet. Everything is relative to where you are standing." This graphic lesson in relativity touched the flower of Angel's imagination like an icy finger, freezing it, shriveling it up. If "up" were merely a relative direction, where was Heaven? How could he actually have seen angels above him? Did the heavenly sphere completely surround the earthly sphere, so that it was as much above a child in Australia as it was above him? Once Angel began to worry about the precise placement of Heaven, his visions of angels became fewer and fewer, more and more dreamlike, until finally they disappeared altogether. A few months later, Angel's family had just sat down to Easter dinner when the doorbell rang. Angel ran to answer it. At the door was a tall, well-built young man dressed in black. "Angel?" he said. "May I come in?" Angel stood aside to let him in and then accompanied him to the table, where, unaccountably, a place had been set for him. "Welcome!" Angel's father greeted him as he sat down at his place. "Everyone is welcome at our Easter table. And your name?" "Angel," the stranger said. "The same as your son." The little family joined hands for their usual prayer. "Lord, thank you for the gift of life, and for the food we are about to eat. Amen." They were about to drop hands and begin eating when Angel the angel added, "And for faith in You and in Your angels, which allows us to believe in a world of goodness and love, and to hope for eternal life." "Amen," they all said, and began to eat. The conversation quickly turned to angels, whom Angel the angel maintained existed only for those who believed in them. "That's impossible!" Angel's father said. "Something either exists or it doesn't." "These words I'm speaking aren't sound until they touch your ear," Angel the angel said. "Until then they are merely waves of air. Nor are they words until the sounds are interpreted by your brain." "But that's to me," Angel's father said. "To you they are words the moment you say them." "Just so," Angel the angel answered. "As you can see, they exist in relation to one's perception of them." He turned to Angel. "Do you understand?" "I used to see angels all the time," Angel said. "They were all around me. Above me and by me and everywhere." "But that's because you believed in them." "Do you mean that now that I don't believe in them, they're not there?" "Of course. What is there for you is only what you believe in." "Aren't some things just true, whether you believe in them or not?" Angel's father asked. "The world is round regardless of whether you believe it's flat." "To the contrary," Angel the angel said. "For you it's flat until you believe it's round." "For you, yes," Angel's father agreed. "But for real?" Angel the angel sighed. "Take today," he said. "It's Easter. Now the question is: Is Jesus the son of God? Did He die to cleanse our sins? Was He resurrected? Does believing in Him lead to eternal life?" "Does it?" Angel's mother asked anxiously. It was the first thing she said since Angel the angel had arrived. "Simple," Angel the angel said. "If you believe in Him and in His love, it does. If you don't, it doesn't." "But it has to be either true or false," Angel's father insisted. "Just believing in something doesn't make it so." "Believing in something is precisely what makes it so. How could someone who doesn't believe in it have eternal life?" "How could someone who does believe in it have eternal life, unless eternal life exists?" Again, Angel the angel sighed and turned to Angel. "Do you understand?" Angel shook his head from side to side to indicate that he didn't. "Come," Angel the angel said, holding out his hand. Suddenly they had left the dinner table and were flying through space. All around them stars and galaxies glowed like jewels in the distance, while where they were was a silence and emptiness in which they barely seemed to move. "You were wondering," Angel the angel said, "where in this endless and magnificent universe Heaven might be." He reached up and ran his hand rapidly down across the blackness, as though cutting through a black veil with the blade of a carpet knife. The blackness parted, and there was Heaven, just as Angel had previously imagined it from below, with masses of angels standing on enormous pink and gold clouds, singing praises to the Lord. God Himself sat on a throne almost dissolved in blinding golden light, and in front of Him Jesus bloody and half-naked, as though just emerged from His tomb, with holes in His hands and feet and a long, ugly cut across his left side. Still, he was smiling brightly, holding a pure white dove in His bloody hands, and from the dove came rays of white light that lit up even the brilliant gold of the area around the throne. Angel tried to step through the tear in the black veil of space, but Angel the angel barred his way. "Not yet," he said. "It isn't time. We must return now to Earth." Instantly, Angel was sitting back at Easter dinner with his family. His mother and father were clearing away the serving platters and large dinner plates in preparation for dessert. There was no place next to him for Angel the angel. It was as if the black-clad stranger had never come to the door. "Do you understand now?" he heard Angel the angel whisper to him from nowhere, from everywhere. "Yes," Angel thought back to him, knowing that the angel was hearing his thoughts. "Yes, I think I understand." And from then on, even to the end of his life, Angel was able to see angels both in Heaven and on Earth, taking great pleasure in their beauty. The gift that had almost been taken away from him was returned, and although he continued to look up towards Heaven, he now knew better than to wonder where in the universe it might be.
Easter Christian Stories, Jokes, Facts, Saying, Poems, Prayers, Traditions, Quotes, Songs, Celebrations, Ideas, http://www.christianstories.com
12. John 11:27 – “ Yes, Lord,” she told him, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
a. She responds with the affirmation of His deity. But does she believe really believe it?
13. John 11: 28-37 (read text NIV) - Jesus asks to see Mary who did not come out to meet Him. Was she angry with the Lord? Disappointed? She comes when He calls her. But notice her first response, "If you were here?"
a. Perhaps because some of us doubt our own wisdom regarding the acts that proceed our friend or relatives death, or because we doubt our part in our relations with him or her, we want to question God. In other words, we want to transfer our questions about ourselves on to God. This same dynamic worked on both sisters.
b. The point to learn here is what was God's response? He wept and mourned with them. He felt their pain and hurt and he could empathize.
i. Swindoll noted, “That when you are in despair or hurting or in a trial get ready for a miracle. Needs and problems are always followed by a miracle. Because He is the resurrection and the Life. Oh by the way if you want a miracle tonight and you don’t have any problems we are willing to pray that God will give you a problem so you can then receive a miracle.”
14. John 11:39 – “Take away the stone, He said. ‘But Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been dead there four days.’”
a. Observe Martha once again wants to remind Jesus that he is dead.
b. It's interesting that Martha is like us we want to tell God how to do His miracles and remind Him of the natural limitations.
c. But remember God is not limited like we are!
15. John 11:40-44 - “40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
a. The end of the story Lazarus who was dead is alive again and it’s because of Jesus’ power to raise the dead!
T.S. – Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and proved His power over death and then through his teachings he references the blessings that are attached to the resurrection.
II. Jesus promises that those who believe in the resurrection will receive the following blessings.
a. Those who partake of the resurrection shall be rewarded according to Jesus’ own words.
i. Jesus says that there is a reward coming to those who partake of the resurrection. In other words there is more blessings to come.
1. Luke 14:13-14:"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
ii. Jesus says those who partake of His resurrection will die no more!
1. Luke 20:35-36:"But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection".
iii. Jesus said, “That we will live – really live those who believe in and participate in the resurrection.
1. Luke 20:37-38: "But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord `the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' {[37] Exodus 3:6} 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
iv. Jesus, “They shall have part in Resurrection of life.”
1. John 5:29-29: "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
v. Jesus, “Shall be raised up at last day.”
1. John 6:39; 44: "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day"…44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
vi. Jesus, “Though dead, yet shall He live.”
1. John 11:25: "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.
III. The Promise of eternal life in Jesus “I Am” statement tells us the following.
a. How many have heard of the “Fountain of Youth” there are many today still searching for it?
i. The Fountain of Youth is a legendarily spring and is supposed to restore the health and youth of anyone who drank from it. It was sought in America by Ponce de Leon and other explorers.
ii. There are still those looking for it. They are looking for it in science.
1. Medical science is looking for it through science inventions to see how to lengthen one’s life.
a. They have developed electronic substitutes for worn out hearts, lungs, and kidneys and other have created other manmade parts.
2. Sociology and science are looking for it through increased life spans. Life expectancies reports: In 1977, the life expectancy of man is 71 years in developed countries, and 52 years in less developed countries. Modern medicine has lengthened these recent statistics from a life expectancy of 47 years in 1900. Now they say the average life expectancy is 75-80 years.
a. Talking and Long Life - A Soviet gerontologist published research statistics that could transform the old adage, "He kills me with is chatter" into "He's killing himself with his chatter." Professor Gurianin says his statistics show that the lesser one talks, the longer one lives. Anyone in the conference industry knows that constant talking exhausts one physically and mentally, and ages one prematurely. Deaf people, hermits, shepherds and monks -- all usually taciturn -- are known for living long lives.
b. Nutrition - Proper diet and habits. Overweight And Mortality Rate
i. Life insurance studies show that those who are overweight for their height and age have higher mortality rates than those of average weight or less-than-average weight. Thus, men 10 percent overweight has an excess of 13 percent mortality; those 20 percent overweight, has an excess of 25 percent mortality; those 30 percent overweight, 42 percent mortality. Among women are much the same conditions. Those 10 percent overweight shows an excess mortality of 9 percent; those 20 percent overweight, 21 percent excess mortality; those 30 percent overweight, 30 percent mortality. The penalty for overweight appears to be lighter for women than for men. Insurance companies point out that if persons of any particular build keep their weight down to the average in the early twenties, it would be fairly close to the desirable weight at ages over 25 and they tell you this will increase your life.
iii. People are always seeking ways to increase their life but there is only one way to increase a life for eternity, He is the great "I am" and his promise of life is more than just futuristic. To better understand what Jesus meant by life let’s look at the definition of this word from the Greek.
b. The meaning of the Greek word for Zoe (life).
i. Definition - means of sustenance, of supernatural life belonging to God & Christ which believes will receive in the future, but which they also enjoy here and now.
1. Zoe is found 35 times in John and 133 times in the New Testament.
a. Zoe is used in reference to Christ being life. It is the central theme in John. Note John's purpose for writing his Gospel. John 20:31."But these are written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
c. History and culture and use of the term Zoe.
i. Term life is used in the Old Testament in the popular sense. Orr notes: "It meant life in the body, the existence and activity of the man in all his parts and energies." (180).
1. The Old Testament thought, was the body was necessary for life and they had no desire to be separated from it. They also believed that the source of life was when a man had a relationship with God. Orr states, "The real center of gravity in life was in the moral and religious part of man's nature. This must be in fellowship with God, the source of all life and activity." (1888)
ii. The term Zoe corresponds very closely to the Hebrew word hayyim, and means the Vhal principle, the state of one who is animate, the fullness of activities and relationship both in physical and spiritual realms. (1889)
iii. Zoe is the chief theme in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, this life was through fellowship with God. In the New Testament it is through Jesus Christ the Mediator.
iv. In the New Testament as the Old Testament, the center of gravity in human life is in the moral and religious nature of man. (1889)
v. John's main theme is life. He wrote the book to show the readers how to have life. John shows that life represents Jesus the Logos as the origin and the means of all life to the world. God gave Jesus life in Himself who in turn gave life to the world. John's prevailing meaning of life is in reference to those activities which are the expressions of fellowship with God and Jesus Christ. These relationships are called "eternal life". (1889)
vi. The key thought to this chapter is that the Christ gives life to the dead and He is the master over death.
d. Christ's many promises of life and life more abundantly.
i. Communion with Christ
1. Rev. 3:20: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
ii. Life and life more abundantly
1. John 10: 9-10: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. {[9] Or kept safe He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
iii. Knowledge of God's will.
1. John 7:17:"If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
iv. Rest for the soul.
1. Matt. 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
v. Christ' peace promised
1. John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
vi. The joy of the Lord
1. John 15:11: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
vii. Gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church.
1. Matt. 16:18: "And I tell you that you are Peter, {[18] Peter means rock.} and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades {[18] Or hell will not overcome it. {[18] Or not prove stronger than it}"
Closing Scripture texts of Jesus Resurrection: John 20:1-31
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
CONCLUSION:
Christ is the life giver NOW not just in the future in regards to life after death. It's important to know that Christ gives life now in the present. He is in the business of saving lives today! He also promised through this I am statement or proclamation that we would not just have an afterlife but a better life.
Max Lucado expounds on this thought in his book Fearless:
• “There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you.” We Westerners might miss the wedding images, but you can bet your sweet chuppah that Jesus’ listener’s didn’t. This was a groom-to-bride promise. Upon receiving the permission of both families, the groom returned to the home of his father and built a home for his bride. He “prepared a place.” By promising to do the same for us, Jesus elevates funerals to the same hope level as wedding. From his perspective the trip to the cemetery and the walk down the aisle warrant identical excitement. This point strikes home in our home as we are in the throes of planning a wedding. I use the word we loosely. Denalyn and our daughter Jenna are planning the wedding. I’m smiling and nodding and signing the checks. Our house bustles with talk of bridal gowns, wedding cakes, invitations, and receptions. The date is set, church is reserved, and excitement high. Weddings are great news! So, says Jesus, are burials. Both celebrate a new era, name, and home. In both the groom walks the bride away on his arm. Jesus is your coming groom. “I will come and get you…” He will meet you at the altar. Your final glimpse of life will trigger your first glimpse of him. But how can we be sure he will keep this pledge? Do we have any guarantee that his words are more than empty poetry or vain superstition? Dare we set our hope and hearts in the hands of a small-town Jewish carpenter? The answer rests in the graveyard. If Jesus’ tomb is empty, then his promise is not (Pages 118, 119).
• Jesus experienced a physical and factual resurrection. And-here it is-because he did, we will too! “Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Cor. 15:23) …Aristotle was wrong. Death is not to be feared. Sartre was mistaken. Your last moment is not your worst. The Greek itinerary was inaccurate. Charon won’t ferry you into oblivion. Five hundred witnesses left a still-resounding testimony: it’s safe to die. So let’s die with faith! (Pages 120, 121).
Point one Jesus is the "Resurrection" he is the master over death. He is the resurrection "I am" of the OT. He is the first begotten from the dead. He is the author of the resurrection of believers. Jesus goes beyond resurrection to the second point He is life. He is eternal life of both soul and spirit. He gives his people life not only in the future but now in the present and He is here to empathize with you.
Do you have a problem today then you are in line for a miracle. The "I AM" wants you to come and remember He is the resurrection and the life!
Bruce Larson said, “The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to a knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive-“
Contributed to Sermon Central by: Scott Sharpes
Closing Illustration:
A Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words." And Extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!" Contributed to Sermon Central by: Ken Kersten
