Trinity Baptist Church

How I Am Changes Who I Am

The Resurrection and the Life

John 11:17-27

 

I invite you to join me in John 11 as we continue our series of messages about how I Am Changes Who I Am.  Seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus identifies Himself using an “I am” statement

 

And keep in mind that when Jesus used the I Am name, He was using the same name God used in Exodus 3 to describe Himself to Moses.  Every Jew understood what the term I Am meant.

 

By the way, each one of these I Am statements was authenticated by a particular miracle of Jesus.

 

For example, in John 6.48 when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” which speaks of His provision, to authenticate the statement, He fed 5000 with five barley loaves of bread and two small fish.

 

In John 8.12, when Jesus said, “I AM the light of the world,” which describes Him as the Pathway to God, to authenticate the statement, Jesus forgave a woman caught in adultery and exposed the sin of those doing the accusing. And then He gave sight to the man born blind who said, “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

 

Then in John 10.11, Jesus said, “I AM the door,” which speaks of His Passage. To authenticate this statement, He healed a man back at the pool of Bethesda who for 38 years had not been able to walk and Jesus healed him!

 

And then in John 10.11, when Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd,” which speaks of His Protection, He authenticated this statement by walking on the water to get to His fearful and troubled disciples who were in a boat in the middle of a storm saying to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

 

That brings us to the fifth statement and it’s found in John 11 where we're going to hear Jesus say to his friend Martha in verse 25, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though He may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 

This statement speaks of His Power and He is going to authenticate this statement by raising His friend Lazarus from the dead!

 

The Lazarus account begins in

 

John 11.1-7

 

If you are familiar with the story, you know Lazarus dies and two days pass.  We pick up the account beginning in verse 17.

 

verses 17-26

 

In verse 25 we find our focal verse. 

 

Verse 25

 

So, what does Jesus being “the resurrection and the life,” mean for us today? How does Jesus being “the resurrection and the life” impact you and me?

 

 

Let me give you some words to help guide our thoughts. 

 

First of all, as “the resurrection and the life”,

 

 

Verses 25-26

 

Now that is quite a promise.  In fact, the average reader would be tempted to say, “How can that be? I've known a lot of Christians who died.”

 

My response would be, “No you haven't!  You’ve never known a single Christian who died.”

 

You say, “Sure I have!”  “Oh no you haven't!”

 

Biblically speaking, death talks about the separation of the person's soul and spirit from God. Anytime you come across the word “death” in the Bible, you can always know it’s talking about that kind of separation. 

 

But what does Romans 8.38-39 tell us? 

 

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Now here's what that means and here's what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for us today:

 

It is possible to live forever!

What happened in the Lazarus family cemetery that day tells us that Jesus has power over death! Jesus tells us in verse 26, “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

 

That means no born-again child of God has ever died.  Now in this incredible promise, we learn some things about God’s timing. For instance, we learn that

 

 

Do you ever get discouraged by God's delays? What is discouraging you now? Discouragement has been defined as “seeing things as they are without hope of any change.”  You may be discouraged today because God isn't coming through for you when you think He should. Well, remember this:  God's delays are not necessary God's denials.

 

Do you think Mary and Martha were discouraged? Their brother was dying! They knew Jesus could and would heal him! They knew He wasn't very far away and I can just image them Mary saying to Martha, “Jesus will be here soon! After all, He loves us and He loves our brother. He should be here in just a few hours.”

 

Several hours pass and no sign of Jesus! Still more hours pass and no sign of Jesus! I can hear Mary say to Martha, “He really should be here by now. I wonder what's keeping him? Does He know how sick our brother is? Apparently not, or He would have already been here. Where is Jesus when we need Him the most?”

 

And then the unthinkable took place: Lazarus died! And yet verse 6 tells us that after hearing of his friends' sickness, that Jesus intentionally “stayed two more days in this place where He was.” Where was He? Jerusalem, just two miles away! Then we read in verse 17, “So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.”

 

Why the delay? That's what Mary and Martha wanted to know! In fact, after He finally got there, Martha said to Him in verse 21, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary told Him the same thing in verse 32, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

 

If Jesus had really loved him and His sisters, certainly He would have headed to Bethany the second He got word of Lazarus sickness! Really? Is that what you think? Then I suppose you think that if Jesus really loved you that He would have already stepped into your circumstances too. We need reminding today:

 

God's timing is always right!  He is never early! He is never late! He is always on time!  Jesus delayed going to Bethany for the same reason He is delaying your request:

 

For His glory and for your good!

 

Mary and Martha was focused on their situation just like you are. But Jesus was focused on the big picture and still is today! Jesus delayed, giving Lazarus time to die because He had bigger plans for Lazarus that couldn't have happened, had He arrived on their timing, rather than His!

 

You can put this down:

His timing is always better than our timing!

 

So in giving us this incredible promise being “the resurrection and the life”, we discover that God's timing is always prompt.

 

We also find here that

 

 

verse 26

 

 “Do you believe this?” Believe what? Do you believe that “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die?' By the way, Jesus uses a double negative here when He says, “shall never die.” He literally says: “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never no never die.”

 

“Martha, do you believe this? Do you put your faith in this? Do you trust what I'm saying to you?” Now to make this a little more personal, put your name in place of the name Martha.

 

“________, do you believe this? ______, do you put your faith in what I'm telling you? Do you trust what I'm saying to you?”

 

Let me give you another familiar verse that tells us the same thing. John 3.16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”, or more literally, “life without end.”

 

We have everlasting life because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life!”

When the Bible speaks of “perishing,” or “dying,” it's not referring to annihilation, but rather separation. That is, separation from God which is spiritual death.

 

When you come to the place in your life where you're willing to repent of your sins and by faith trust “the resurrection and the life” as your Lord and Savior, here is God's promise to you:

 

 

Not physical death, but spiritual death, which is separation from God. And today, just as Jesus looked into the eyes of Martha and asked, “Do you believe this?” He is asking you today, “Do YOU believe this?”

 

Look at Martha's reply in verse 27, “Yes, Lord. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world.” In other words, “Yes. Lord! You are the One I've been looking for!”

 

So, in being “the resurrection and the life,” Jesus Gives us a promise!

 

Second, as the resurrection and the life,

 

 

verses 38-44

 

If you're looking for proof of Jesus being “the resurrection and the life,” here it is! And what's interesting is that His proof is found in an unlikely place: a graveyard!

 

Let's start with Him being “the life.” The proof for Jesus being “the life” is found in Lazarus' tomb.

In that graveyard, Jesus did only what God could do: restore the dead to life! Now we often talk about the resurrection of Lazarus when we should be talking about the resuscitation of Lazarus. He wasn't resurrected in the fullest sense; he was resuscitated in the truest sense.

 

And he was not the only one! There were others raised from the dead to life in scripture. The daughter of Jarius was raised from the dead to life. The widow's son was raised from the dead to life. Dorcas was raised. Many were raised when Jesus was resurrected. Every one of them was raised from the dead to life and every one of them had something else in common: they all died again.

 

So why did Jesus raise them to life to only have them physically die again?  That’s a great question and the answer is found in

 

John 20.30-31

 

You see, Lazarus is a picture of every person outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2.1, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” 1 Timothy 5.6, “But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.”

 

There is such a thing as a living corpse. Our community is full of them. In fact, there are some sitting right here in church today.  They are the living dead! They are nothing more than dead men walking.  But the good news is Jesus, “the resurrection and the life,” calls forth the dead to life! There is no resurrection apart from Jesus and there is no eternal life apart from Jesus. He is the source of both resurrection and life!

Notice verse 43.

 

He had to call him by name or the whole graveyard would have come forth!

 

Verse 44

 

Take off the grave-clothes and let him go! Like a lot of Christians today: Lazarus had life, but no liberty! 

Can't you see Lazarus shuffling out of that tomb? He couldn't walk well. He couldn't see.

 

Do you know what is preventing many of us from becoming all we can before God? Do you know what's holding many us back from being all we can before God? Grave-clothes! We're still carrying around those old grave-clothes from our life before Christ that are hindering our walk and our sight and our hunger for the things of God! And rather than living in liberty of grace clothes, we're living in bondage, still wearing those old grave-clothes that should have been removed long ago!

 

Question: who removed his grave-clothes? Did he remove them or did somebody else remove them? He had help from others, didn't he? And who were those others? Believers! Saints! Followers of Jesus! Disciples of Jesus!

 

Do you know why you should be in a Sunday School class or some other small group? To get some help in removing your grave-clothes! The goal of every small group is to help loose every member from their grave-clothes so that they can live in liberty! I thank God for those who over the years have helped unwrap my old grave-clothes!

 

Do you know why God's word tells us “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together?” For the same reason you need to be in a small group: to get some help in removing your grave-clothes!

 

Jesus came not only to give life, but also to give liberty! That's what the church is in business to do: to call forth the dead (that is evangelism) and to then unwrap the saints (that is discipleship). To loose them! To help set them free from the things that were in their life before Christ, that keeps them in bondage!

 

You don't have to live in bondage to old grave-clothes anymore! Let the church help you remove them and help set you free!

 

Jesus said in John 10.10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” You cannot live an abundant life still wearing grave-clothes!

 

So was Lazarus loosed from his grave-clothes? Well, the next time we read about him is in

 

Chapter 12.1-2

 

Wouldn't you have enjoyed sitting at that table hearing their conversation? I can see Jesus looking over to Lazarus asking, “So, how are you feeling these days?” And Lazarus with a smirk saying, “I'm feeling very much alive! Thank you very much!”

 

And then we read about Lazarus again starting in

 

chapter 12: 9-11

 

Lazarus's grave-clothes had been removed and now He was a part of the evidence that Jesus was “the resurrection and the life!” God help us to be part of the evidence too!

 

Think about it this way:  What happened in Lazarus's tomb is proof that Jesus is “the life.” And what happened in the Lord's tomb is proof that He is “the resurrection”.  When Lazarus was raised, His was resuscitation! When Jesus was raised, His was resurrection! So what’s the difference?”

 

Well, here's how the Bible describes resurrection:

 

 1 Corinthians 15.42-44

 

Jesus arose from the grave never to die again and to live forever more! In His resurrection, He received a glorified body that's eternal; not like Lazarus who got stuck with the same ole body that was temporary. Remember, he had to die again!

 

Jesus Gives us a Promise:  “.. whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

 

Jesus Gives us a Proof.  What happened in Lazarus's tomb is PROOF that Jesus is “the life.” What happened in the Lord's tomb is PROOF that He is “the resurrection.”

 

And being the “resurrection and the life,” means

 

 

 

 

 

Because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life”, we now have available to us, not only the same power that raised Lazarus from the grave, we have the power that raised Jesus from the grave!  And it is that power that enables us to live in victory over sin!

 

We read of that power in

 

Now listen to this and we’ll be through:  We cannot know the power of the resurrection without first knowing the person of the resurrection!  But once we know the person of the resurrection, we can know His resurrection power for daily victory!

 

The Bible tells us in Romans 6.14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” In other words, through His presence and His power in our lives, we never again have to be slave to sin!

 

And to say, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,” means that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that works in us for daily victory!

 

Because Jesus is “the life,” He is able to give life! And because Jesus is “the resurrection,” He is able to give life eternal.

 

“I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

 

Do you believe this?”

 

Let’s pray.