INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• As we are just a couple of weeks from Resurrection Sunday, I want us to take you on a little mental journey before we unfold our text today.
• I want you to imagine that you are a friend of the best Doctor in the country and you have seen Him do some amazing things. One day you find out your brother is ill he has a disease that your good friend specializes in fixing, so what do you do, you send for your Doctor friend, you know if He will come all will be ok.
• When word is sent to your friend but he does not seem to be too concerned and he makes no real effort to rush to your brothers’ side.
• You doctor loves you and your family, but he does not rush to help. As a matter of fact your doctor decides to go visit some friends in other towns as your brother lies dying at home.
• Now your brother has died, it seems like it is over. How disappointed would you be with your doctor friend?
• This is basically the setting for the next “I AM” statement that Jesus is going to make.
• Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus lay dying, Jesus does not drop everything to heal him, and Lazarus dies. As a matter of fact, Jesus FINALLY shows up 4 days AFTER Lazarus dies.
• Turn with me to John 11. I want to read verses 17-24 to set up the verses we will spend our time with this morning.
• SLIDE #2
• John 11:17-24(ESV) 17Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles£ off, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
• Martha flat out tells Jesus, that if He had come, her brother would be alive NOW!
• Jesus in verse 23 tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and Martha said yes, but on the last day when the resurrection will happen.
• By the way Martha’s sister Mary also tells Jesus had He come her brother would still be alive in verse 32.
• Well the basis of Martha’s answer to Jesus in verse 24 opens the door for the “I AM” statement from Jesus that we will dive into this morning.
• When Jesus told Martha Lazarus will rise again, He had something more in mind that what Martha and Mary could ever imagine!
• Let’s look at verses 25-26. This is Jesus answering Martha from verse 24.
• SLIDE #3
• John 11:25-26(ESV) 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.£ Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. Jesus is the resurrection. (25)
• The sadness, hurt, and disappointment that Martha was facing at that moment was hard for Martha to deal with but even after she told Jesus had he been there her brother would still be alive; she did utter the following words in verse 22.
• 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
• It almost sounds like she is holding out hope that Jesus could and would do something by asking the Father.
• Jesus wanted to get Martha to move beyond some abstract belief in the resurrection to move to a complete faith in Him.
• She knows someday it will happen, but Jesus wants her to embrace the reality that it WILL DEFINITELY happen!
• As Jesus asks the question to Martha concerning the fact that Lazarus was going to rise again, Jesus knew what He was going to do.
• There were a couple of predominate schools of thought concerning the afterlife in the Jewish culture.
• A very quick view of each starts with the one that was help by the Pharisee’s (and was the predominate view) was that Messiah was going to return and those who were dead would be raised. So they, like Martha knew there would be a resurrection on the last day.
• A future resurrection was taught throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 16:9-11; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Isaiah 26:19, etc…
• The other view was held by the Sadducee’s which basically said there is no resurrection from the dead.
• Martha spoke of a resurrection that would be so far in view in the future that it brought her no comfort right now, the comfort that so desperately needed.
• As Martha focuses on the distant future, Jesus tells her that HE is the resurrection!
• He is the author of the resurrection. The “I” in the “I AM” statement is emphatic! I and I alone.
• The future resurrection that Martha spoke of would only happen through Jesus.
• This is yet another reason that Jesus is the only way to heaven, He is the RESURRECTION! No ONE ELSE! PERIOD!
• Jesus is the power that raises the dead and imparts eternal life!
• SLIDE #5
• John 10:28(ESV) 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
• Jesus knowing Martha’s disappointment and hurt assures her there is going to be a resurrection and He was going to be the one who made it happen!
• Jesus also says that He is not only the resurrection but…
• SLIDE #6
II. Jesus is the life. (25)
• Jesus is the resurrection and THE life! It is like peanut butter which is good, but with jelly, it is unbeatable!
• Jesus not only offers a resurrection, but He gives the life also!
• IN our passage last week we saw that Jesus came to give life and life abundantly.
• The life which is the condition and ground of resurrection is the natural consequence of a faith which accepts Christ, and identifies itself with Him.
• The life is speaking of both now and in the future eternal life!
• If we want the life eternal we need to live the life NOW! That life is found in Jesus; Jesus gave us an example to follow!
• What is life? What does Jesus mean when He tells us that He is THE life? What does it mean when He says He came to give us life and life abundantly?
• As I stated earlier, life includes both now, and eternality. If denotes a QUALITY and a QUANTITY.
• The LIFE Jesus wants us to have is one that is more than just existing, it is living the life we have to the fullest, that can only be accomplished by living for Jesus!
• SLIDE #7
• Galatians 2:20(ESV) 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Living THE life, living the abundant life means living a life with purpose; a purpose greater than one’s self!
• That is the QUALITY that the life Jesus offers means, a life that means something, a life lived with purpose!
• Do you really want to live? That can be done through Jesus!
• The quantity of life deals with the length of time we can enjoy life. ETERNAL LIFE! Eternal life includes QUALITY and QUANTITY!
• Now remember the context, Martha’s JUST died because Jesus did not come until 4 days after he died.
• SLIDE #8
III. Jesus defeated physical death. (25)
• Look at verse 25 again.
• SLIDE #9
• 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.£ Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
• Here is Martha, there at the tomb of her brother Lazarus, who had been in there for 4 days, listening to Jesus say of you believe in me, that even if you die, you will live!
• Jesus is saying that even though one may die, they will live if they believe in ME!
• SLIDE #10
• John 5:24(ESV) 24Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
• Physical death is not the end, and thus is not ultimately important. It is life and living, which physical death cannot thwart, that is the important thing for the believer.
• Death will not keep believer from experiencing eternal life.
• Lazarus had been a believer in Jesus; therefore, even though he died, he would live. Every believer who has died will yet live.
• Everyone who is still living and believing will die, but not eternally.
• Christ did not promise the prevention of physical death; he guaranteed in himself to give abundant life, including resurrection and eternity with him.
• Death will not keep us from experiencing eternal life! Jesus defeated death at the cross!
• Let’s take another look at verse 26.
• SLIDE #11
• John 11:26(ESV) 26and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
• SLIDE #12
IV. Jesus allows us to defeat spiritual death. (26)
• As Lazarus lies rotting in the tomb, he has been dead 4 days; Jesus asks Martha if she believes that everyone who lives and believes will never die.
• Does this seem like an odd question given the circumstances?
• Could you take it that since Lazarus was dead that he did not believe enough?
• What Jesus is saying is that when we believe we will not see the second death, we will not die spiritually!
• SLIDE #13
• 1 Corinthians 15:55-58(ESV) 55“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• We can have eternal life through Jesus; this is why Jesus died on the cross!
• Death no longer conquers us!
• Jesus looks at Martha and asks her at the end of verse 26, DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?
• OMG, what a rough spot to put Martha in considering her brother is rotting in the tomb for 4 plus days.
• Well LOOK AT WHAT Martha says in verse 27..
• SLIDE #14
• John 11:27(ESV) 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
• Martha leaves to go get her sister Mary, Mary comes out to see Jesus and she tells Him the same thing that Martha did, If YOU HAD BEEN HERE MY BROTHER WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!
• Now the scene is getting worse, everyone is upset and crying. Jesus Himself weeps for Lazarus.
• Jesus told Martha what He about being the resurrection and the life and the promises concerning never dying against the back drop of Lazarus’ dead rotting corpse.
• To make a long Jesus asks where they laid Lazarus and then he asks that the stone be rolled away.
• In verse 39 it says…
• John 11:39(ESV) 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
• Now Jesus has said He was the resurrection and the life, now He was going to prove it!
• Jesus said LAZARUS come out! And out of the grave came Lazarus.
CONCLUSION
• Do you want to experience the resurrection and the life? Jesus IS the resurrection and the life!
• We will all be resurrected when the Lord returns, but not all will experience the life!
• Do you want the life, it is found in Jesus!
