Resurrection | I am the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:1-44 | March 31

Intro

Hey family!

Happy Easter!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Amen, He is risen indeed!

Today is Easter, it’s the journey to the resurrection. Last week was Palm Sunday, and Jake spoke to us about expectations. When Jesus entered Jerusalem the people welcomed Him as a king, but what they wanted to be a certain kind of king. They wanted Him to be, and do, and act the certain way they were expecting. When we come to Jesus we often come with our own expectations and assumptions of how He should be and what He should do. But being a disciple of Christ has a lot more to do with learning to follow Jesus as He is and not how we want Him to be. And Ultimately that’s better than anything we could hope for anyway.

So as I mentioned last Sunday was Palm Sunday. On Monday Jesus cleansed the Temple. Tuesday, Jesus gives some teachings on the Mount of Olives. Wednesday, Judas agrees to betray Jesus. Thursday is the last supper, Jesus is betrayed, and Peter denies Jesus three times. On Friday Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. And of course, Today (three days later) the tomb was discovered empty. Jesus is risen.

Which got me thinking, what was Jesus doing the week before Palm Sunday?

For the most part, the four Gospel accounts; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John sort of fly through Jesus’ life and ministry just hitting the highlights along the way. Sometimes they’re not even in chronological order. Sometimes they jump ahead, sometimes they sort of flashback. But in the last week they really slow down.

The Gospels are passion narratives with extended introductions. You remember that movie, “The Passion of the Christ”? Passion comes from a Greek word meaning to suffer or to endure. So the last week of Jesus’ life is referred to as the passion week. Thirty percent of all four Gospels is focused just on this last week of Jesus’ life–passion week. The book of John stands out even more. John dedicates 43% of his gospel account to the last eight days of Jesus’ time on Earth.

We know what Jesus was doing pretty much everyday of the last week of His life. But do we know what He was doing the week before that? What was Jesus doing the Sunday before Palm Sunday?

The short answer is we don’t really know. Or rather, we can’t say for sure. As I mentioned, up until the last week of Jesus’ death most of the Gospels don’t really operate in a strict chronological fashion that would provide such day to day timelines.

Still there are some guesses we can make. There’s about a six month period leading up to passion week where we encounter some really great teachings, parables, and stories. In these six months we see the conversion of Zaccheus, the parable of the unjust judge, we meet the rich young ruler, and the ten lepers who are cleansed.

But there is still one story to consider, one encounter that is a real contender.

LAZARUS, COME OUT!

In John chapter 11, Jesus receives a message that His friend Lazarus is ill, and Lazarus’ two sisters seek his help. Jesus tells his followers: "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."

Jesus then delays his departure for two days. The disciples are afraid of returning to Judea, but Jesus says: "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him." When the apostles misunderstand, he clarifies, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe." [We’re about to hear the word believe like nine times rapid fire]

When they arrive in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead and buried for four days. Before they enter the town, Martha, Lazarus' sister, comes to meet Jesus and tells him: "if you had been here, my brother would not have died". Jesus assures Martha that her brother will rise again and states: "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?"

Martha's affirmation that she does indeed believe, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world", is only the second time (after Nathanael) that someone declares Jesus as Son of God and the first time someone equates him as 'Messiah' and 'Son of God' together. The only other time this happens in the entire gospel is in the explanation the author of the Gospel gives for writing his Gospel at the very end.

Upon entering the village, Jesus is met by Mary and the people who have come to console her. Upon seeing their grief and weeping, Jesus is deeply moved. Then, after asking where he was buried, the shortest verse in the four Gospels, and the entire Bible is found - Jesus wept. After that, Jesus asks for the stone of the grave to be removed, but Martha interjects that there will be a smell. To which Jesus responds, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said: "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I 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."

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The 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."

Lazarus is mentioned again in the Gospel of John chapter 12. Six days before the Passover on which Jesus is crucified, Jesus returns to Bethany and Lazarus attends a supper that Martha, his sister, serves. Jesus and Lazarus together attract the attention of many Jews and the narrator states that the chief priests consider having Lazarus put to death because so many people have come to believe in Jesus on account of his raising Lazarus.

It’s almost as if the resurrection is a faith-creating event. Huh!

Just so we get this right, potentially the week before Jesus enters into Jerusalem as a King bringing peace, a week before he will be arrested, tried unjustly, and sentenced to a capital punishment He didn’t deserve, two weeks before Easter, we find Jesus declaring to His disciples and closest friends “I am the resurrection and the life!” that they might believe in Him? Are you telling me that’s potentially what’s happening here? Maybe.

So what is Jesus saying? What is He preparing His followers for? What confession does He call us to?

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

I AM

Let’s break that down a bit. Jesus starts off by saying, “I Am”. Does that sound familiar? It should. It’s the name God gives Himself when Moses asks who to say Has sent Him.

“14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you… The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exodus 3:14-15).

I Am. The self-existing one. Yahweh.

“Yahweh has most commonly been interpreted as a statement of God’s self-existence, used to indicate that God had no beginning and does not depend for continued existence on anything other than his own self. The Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck represents this when he states, “God is independent, all-sufficient in himself, and the only source of all existence and life. Yhwh is the name that describes this essence and identity most clearly. . . . His name is ‘being.'”

But it seems like God is saying more than just the mere fact that He exists. The cries of His people have risen up to His throne room. He has heard them. He sees them. In Exodus 3:7-8 God says, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry…. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them…”

In essence, God is not just saying I exist. I am the eternal existing one. He is also making the powerful statement, “I am here!” “Not only am I here, but I am here for you!” In many ways, it’s the same thing God uses to encourage Moses when he doubts himself. In the next chapter God tells Moses, “go, and I will be with you…”

It’s what God says over and over and over again throughout the Scriptures, “Fear not–for I am with you.”

“In the name Yahweh, God made himself known as a present being—present with and for his people. And wherever God’s presence is invoked, that announcement is [filled] with the certainty of his attention, his care, his power, and his grace… God sent Moses to the people in Egypt with that marvelous announcement. And the subsequent exodus events would be an object lesson for all generations that God is Yahweh, present with his people in all their sufferings.”

“God has many titles in Scripture, such as “Father,” “Almighty,” “King,” and “Savior.” Each of his titles reveals another of his many roles or attributes. But “Yahweh” is more than a title. Its meaning is clearly important for our understanding of the God of the Bible. It shows us not simply that God exists but also that he is near to his people in love.”

Jesus is making the same claim. He is saying I am God. I am the existing one. The one who has no beginning and will have no end.

But He’s also restating His given name–Jesus, salvation, I will save My people from their sins. I am Immanuel. God with you. God for you. I have come to be with you in a new way, “I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my [ways], and… keep my [teachings].” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). I am here with you, within you, inhabiting your circumstances.

“Do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

It is one of seven times Jesus uses this phrase in the book of John to lay claim to His divinity. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51); “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12); “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7,9); “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14); “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6); “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5); and of course “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25).

I am who I am and I will be with you always, even to the ends of the age (Matthew 28:20).

THE RESURRECTION

I am the resurrection!

Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell Martha that He is the One who has the power to resurrect. He claims that it is who He is. He is the resurrection. He is the embodiment of resurrection life. He is its source. He is its originator. He is life everlasting. He is alive.

This time of year we gather with the express purpose to celebrate one simple truth. Jesus is alive!

He’s alive!

All of Christianity sort of hinges on this simple reality. Jesus is not dead. We do not serve a dead God. Jesus is alive!

John MacArthur said, “The Resurrection is the ground of our assurance, it is the basis for all our future hopes, and it is the source of power in our daily lives here and now. It gives us courage in the midst of persecution, comfort in the midst of trials, and hope in the midst of this world’s darkness.”

In Revelation we see Jesus referring to Himself in a very similar manner. John writes, “17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18)

He is alive! He is the resurrection. Do you believe it?

You know it’s funny. There’s a story in Acts after Paul has been arrested in the temple in Jerusalem. He makes his appeal to the Roman tribune and others and is eventually brought before the Sanhedrian, the chief priest and all the Jewish religious leaders. And as he’s speaking, it’s not going well. The chief priest has him struck. He then rebukes the chief priest which he has to apologize for. But there’s a funny scene that takes place. It says in Acts chapter 23,

“6 Now when Paul perceived that one part [of the council] were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 [And] a great clamor arose…”

Jesus being the resurrection can be a great faith creating event. And it can also cause great division. There will always be some who do not believe. Who think it ridiculous. I don’t know, maybe you’re that person. And while there is enough evidence to reasonably prove the resurrection, one area of evidence being Paul’s life itself as well as the lives of the disciples who were so defeated following Jesus’ death but then after claiming Jesus’ resurrection almost every one of these suffered and died truly horrible deaths clinging to this confession. Even with all of this and more, it will always be easier for some to simply not believe.

Do you believe? Will you hold fast to that confession?

“The gospel is the good news that God in Christ paid the price of suffering, so that we could have the prize of enjoying him forever. God paid the price of his Son to give us the prize of himself.”

“The highest, fullest, deepest, sweetest good of the gospel is God himself, enjoyed by his redeemed people.”

That’s the picture of Jesus as the resurrection. The prize for a life lived well. God Himself–the prize of life.

“I am the resurrection... Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…” (John 11:25-26).

THE LIFE

I am the life!

It is not only important we know Jesus as Martha knew Him, that there will one day be a resurrection where we receive the prize of God Himself. That Jesus was the first fruit of many more to come. It’s also equally important to know that there is resurrection life available right here and right now.

He is and has resurrection life for the right now!

“The Lord can move into “dead” and seemingly hopeless human situations, and by His resurrection power, transform people and circumstances and infuse life that makes everything new.”

In Him ther is life for whatever you’re facing.

That’s Paul’s conversion story isn’t it. He was going about, living what he thought was life and religious devotion, arresting Christians, presiding over the killing of Christians. Then Jesus shows up and resurrects his dead life. Paul encounters the resurrected Jesus and life ensues, life is changed. Paul was already a Pharisee and convinced of a resurrection for the future. What he needed was a resurrection for the now. What he needed was life.

If you encounter the living God now and the result is that your life will be changed forever. His resurrection is more than just future forming, it is presently changing.

What do you need resurrection for today? What is Jesus resurrecting inside you right now? Is it a dream? Is it faith? Hope? What victory do you need in your heart and your circumstances?

Jesus tells the people to remove the grave clothes from around Lazarus. What grave clothes are still covering you that need to be removed? Despair? Depression? Anxiety? Addiction? Shame?

John starts his gospel account by saying, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus Christ came into the world to bring life. And only in Him is true life found. Only in His is real life.

“To the Christian believer, life is not merely a physical condition or a social experience so much as a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Paul says that “Christ is our life” (see Col. 3:4), and he wrote to the believers at Philippi, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Life is what we are alive to! People “come alive” to that which excites, delights, and satisfies them, that which is at the heart of their very being.

[What is at the very heart of your being?] Christians should come alive to anything that relates to Jesus Christ.” (Warren Wiersbe).

“I am… the life. Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Do you believe this?

DO YOU BELIEVE

“When considering if Christianity is true, it all boils down to whether Jesus rose from the dead. The lives of Christians today [my life] demonstrate that the resurrection is still changing people. It changes fear into love, despair into joy. The resurrection changes people from being spiritually dead to being alive to God. It changes guilty condemnation into a celebration of forgiveness and freedom. It changes anxiety into a hope that goes beyond the grave. It can change our sinful hearts so they want to follow the Lord Jesus, and the power of the resurrection is relentlessly killing sin in every true Christian.”

Do you believe this?

Now, what are you going to do about it?

Many of you I know, some of you I’ve just had the pleasure of meeting today, or maybe have yet to meet. One thing I know for sure–we all need Jesus. You will never meet a person who doesn’t need Jesus. So here are some possible ways you may need to respond to this confession and belief.

Say yes to Jesus. Give your life to Jesus.

If you’ve already said yes. The next step is a public confession and we do that through baptism. There is a creek right here on this property that’s a lot cleaner than this pond.

Join a family group. We become more like Christ together, in community. There’s nothing special about being spiritual all by yourself, locked in a room with the Bible. It takes maturing together to see the image of Christ in the broken person sitting next to you. We have family groups all across Boone (one on Monday, one on Tuesday, and three on Thursday).

Pray with someone right now. Don’t wait. We’re going to sing again to close our time together so we’ll have some of our family group leaders go ahead and stand up around the room, maybe outside. Find them, find a person you came with. Share what’s on your heart, what God is resurrecting within you and pray.

You can pray with me right now…