Do you believe this?”
John 11:17-27
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”
It’s a personal question
1 Corinthians 15:52
Philippians 3:21
It initiates a personal struggle
People have and will die for something they believe strongly. But no one will willingly die for what they know is a lie.
It calls for a personal response.
*Video pt 1 Need to see to craft segue
Turn with me to John 11:17-27. This morning we begin a series based on some of the questions that Jesus asked while He was on earth; questions about life, death, faith, values, and purpose. Make no mistake: when the Son of God asks you a question—it demands a response!
Have you ever noticed how powerful questions are? Sometimes just asking a question makes a statement. E.G. Doctor’s office: “Sir, do you have a will and are your affairs in order?” Sometimes there are questions we want to dodge answering, like--Wife: “Does this dress make me look fat?” Husband: “Does my hair look ok?” (pic of an awful comb-over)
Questions generally carry great impact. The 2nd most important question I asked someone was asking Sue to marry. What you need to know is that I am a hopeless romantic. So it may seem odd to you how I phrased the proposal…broken up, my house on a Sunday night, “Why don’t we fix a couple of baked potatoes and get married?”
The most important question I ever asked was of Jesus when I told Him I surrendered my life to Him and asked Him to take me in as His child. Questions usually have a dramatic impact, depending on the response.
And this morning we dig into what may be the most critical question Jesus asked and still asks today. It’s found in John 11:17-27 (on screen)
The question Jesus asks us: “Do you believe I am the resurrection and the life?”
Let’s talk a minute by what Jesus is claiming when He says He is the resurrection and the life.
Most folks know that Jesus had 12 disciples that followed him around everywhere for those 3 years of his earthly ministry. But not everyone knows that he also had some other followers that were very close to Him and traveled often with Him. And there were some who opened their doors to Him whenever He came through town. Such was the case with 2 sisters and a brother who lived just outside of Jerusalem. The sisters were Mary and Martha, and their brother was Lazarus.
Lazarus became gravely ill and died. By the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead 4 days. Everybody was grieving the loss of this young man. If you’ve ever watched middle easterners when someone dies or watch a funeral, you know it’s completely different there than here. There is a lot of wailing and extreme emotions. In fact, Jews sometimes would actually hire professional wailers to do it up right.
So Jesus shows up in the midst of all of this and Martha has this exchange with Him. And Jesus makes this bold claim: “I am the resurrection and the life.” (build) And then He asks the question: “Do you believe this?”
It’s a personal question. Jesus asked, “Do YOU believe this?” It’s very specific. It requires an answer: yes, no, not certain.
How you answer it is important. In fact, there is not a more important question for you to answer personally. You shouldn’t avoid answering this one.
Time I tried to avoid answering a question…funny “Do you have candy in your mouth?”
This question you shouldn’t avoid answering. In fact, you can’t avoid it. The question begs an answer: yes, no, not certain.
Now you may have a question before you answer the question:
What did Jesus mean when He said He is the resurrection and the life?” (build) That those who are true believers (i.e., Christ in them and them in Christ) will live forever. To be more exact: we will live forever in the presence of the One who is Life. When a Christ-follower dies, their soul immediately goes to be with God. But the Old and New Testaments speak of a resurrection at the end of time. I’ll get a new body. It’ll be similar to the one I’ve got, but different. We get some indication what it will be like by studying the post resurrection body of Jesus. His resurrected body was similar enough to show the nail holes in His hands and feet. He even ate some fish with His disciples after His resurrection…I think it must have been pecan crusted tilapia! But His body was different because He He was not limited by time and space.
I’ll get a new body. My mom will get a new body, one that cannot be touched by Alzheimers. You’re Christian loved one whose body was decimated by cancer before they died will get a new body. 1 Corinthians 15:52, says at the resurrection of our bodies, “In a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” Philippians 3:21 “He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.”
Unfortunately, the bodily resurrection of those outside of Christ will not be a glorious thing, but a hideous thing, and because their outside of Christ, their destination will not be the beauty of God’s presence but the hideousness of hell.
All human beings exist for eternity after death. Death doesn’t stop our existence. After death, those who believe will exist in His presence --forever; those who refuse to believe will exist separated from His presence--forever. And if Jesus is Life eternal, then to be separated is death eternal. Not the end of existence, but an existence where the death never stops.
Story: “There ain’t no death in hell”
So Jesus’ claim that He is the resurrection and the life is a personal question.
It initiates a personal struggle
Once Jesus has made this claim, you’ve got to figure out what to do about it.
Jesus was quite a controversial figure. He said the most outlandish things. He said, “I and the Father are one.” He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” These claims were so outlandish that the religious authorities of His day at first thought He was crazy, but by the end they decided He needed to be put to death for these claims.
Many people today struggle with the claims of Christ. They’ll say Jesus was a good man; they’ll respect His high moral ethics. But then they’ll dismiss His claims like they’re no big deal. But to make such claims, we are only left with 3 alternatives:
Jesus was a liar (build). That He out and out set out to deceive others by making claims He knew were not true. But in all my years of studying and reading about this in secular literature, no one has insisted that Jesus was a liar.
Jesus was a lunatic. Maybe He was delusional; He just thought that He was God; He just thought that He was the only way to God; He just thought He was eternal. He was a freakin’ lunatic, maybe. But no one has ever ready to make that claim. In fact, psychaiatrists and psychologists who have analyzed His life find no evidence that He was a delusional.
Jesus was/is Lord. That is, He is who He said He was. And if He is who He said He is, then this personal question becomes a personal struggle. Do I believe this stuff? Do I believe Him?
Ultimately, the whole question about Jesus boils down to this one question:
Did Jesus actually, physically, literally rise from the dead? Otherwise, we’re left with one of the other two possibilities—that He was a liar or a lunatic.
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” Tim Keller
When Jesus tells Martha that He is the resurrection and the life, He is forecasting His own resurrection that would take place soon. Skeptics have tried to disprove the bodily resurrection of Jesus. There’s the ‘Swoon Theory’, that Jesus wasn’t fully dead—that He was just MOSTLY dead. That’s what Max the Miracle Worker said to young Wesley in Princess Bride. Swoon theorists believe Jesus was just mostly dead. Josh McDowell, himself a skeptic until he examined the evidence, refutes this theory by saying if it was true, we would have to believe that “The cool damp air of the tomb, instead of killing Him, healed Him. He split out of His garments, pushed the stone away, fought off the guards and shortly thereafter appeared to His disciples as the Lord of life.” Josh McDowell(explain ‘garments’)
Another leading theory is that His disciples so wanted it to be true, that they decided to tell everyone that they saw Jesus after His death. But when you think about it, that doesn’t hold water. Each of the disciples went to a martyrs death still testifying that they had seen the Resurrected Christ.
People have and will die for something they believe strongly. But no one will willingly die for what they know is a lie. Jesus claim to be the resurrection and the life asks a personal question, it initiates a personal struggle of belief, and finally
It calls for a personal response. Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe?”
Don’t be too quick to answer, here. Don’t mistake of susbstituting mental assent to the facts for New Testament saving faith.
Chair Illustration
Do you believe? Listen to the testimony of those who do.
*VIDEO PT 2 (band comes out and after video begins to vamp ‘Death was arrested)
*Death was Arrested
*Invitation (band begins to vamp Jesus Paid it All)
*Offering (While plates passed, Russ finishes per below)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever.” That is our belief. That is our hope. Death does not have the final say because Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and proved He was more powerful than death when He walked out of that tomb. Jesus paid it all.
*Jesus Paid It All
