Do You Believe This?
Notes
Transcript
[SLIDE 1] Introduction
If you have your Bible, please turn to John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “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?”
Illustration
Let me begin by asking you a question: “How many of you would want to live forever?”
Perhaps, hypothetically speaking, some of us may want to be immortal with the condition that we’ll stay young and healthy forever.
But in reality, I think most (if not, all) of us don’t really want to live forever in this earthly life.
We don’t want to grow so old because we don’t want to have pain, get cancer, or anything else along the way.
All of us cannot begin to imagine living more than a 100 years old and imagine where we will be at that age.
Let me also ask you another question: “How many of you want to experience death?”
If all of us say, “I don’t want to...” then you have a tension in life.
On the one hand, we don’t want to live forever. Yet on the other hand, we don’t want to experience death.
We don’t want to experience death perhaps because we don’t want to feel the pain of going from this life to the next.
So, I’m sure all of us would rather pass away in our sleep and not feel a thing.
Scripture teaches us that humanity is enslaved to this notion called “Fear Of Death.”
Biblical Theology
Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, sin came into the world and death came through sin. So, death spreads to all men and women because all have sinned. The wages of sin is death.
[SLIDE 2] Scripture does teach us that all of us will experience death. None of us can ever escape the reality of death.
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
But, what lies beyond death? After our death, Scripture teaches that all of us will live forever in one of two places: heaven or hell.
CONTEXT
The reason why I brought up the idea of living forever and experiencing death is because the sermon text confronts us with those two ideas.
Those of us who know the story of John 11, the whole context tells us about the death of one of Jesus’ friends, Lazarus.
[SLIDE 3] And the immediate context of John 11:25-26 is Jesus’ conversation with Martha.
Martha was the sister of Lazarus.
She’s deeply grieved over the death of her brother.
She would have wished that Jesus were there so that Lazarus wouldn’t have died.
Nonetheless, in some sense, Martha had faith that God would listen to Jesus and grant Him whatever He asks.
Yet at the same time, she’s failing to understanding and believe that she’s standing before God who can raise her brother from the dead.
So, Jesus assures her that Lazarus will rise again.
But, she thought of the resurrection as the last day; an event about the distant future, which aligns with the teachings of Jesus and the Pharisees.
But Jesus elevates the theology of the resurrection by saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Hence, one can argue that Jesus demonstrates that He is the resurrection and the life by raising Lazarus from the dead.
However, I think our sermon text is much deeper than that.
I think John 11:25-26 can only be true and find its full expression in light of His own resurrection.
The death and resurrection of Lazarus is a precursor of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
On this Easter / Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus is a significant event in Christian history and theology.
Without the resurrection of Christ, none of what Jesus says here can be fulfilled. How can He be the resurrection and the life if He stayed dead?
[SLIDE 4] Paul explains this clearly in 1 Corinthians 15 as he expounds on the doctrine of the resurrection.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
However, we know Christ was raised from the dead because the tomb is empty and through the eye witness accounts of the early followers of Christ.
The resurrection of Christ offers us the hope that we need after this life.
[SLIDE 5] Paul says this to the Christians in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
The resurrection of Christ reverses the curse of death to bring resurrection life to those who have a saving relationship with Jesus.
While the text happened before the resurrection, it is nevertheless a deep and profound passage for you. As I begin to expound this passage, I have four points for you to take away from this text. So, may the LORD inscribe His word on your heart through the preaching of His word.
Exposition
[SLIDE 6] 1. The Claim Of Jesus
Jesus said to her (i.e. Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Jesus makes a profound assertion of Himself.
If you’re unfamiliar with the gospel of John, Jesus made 7 statements about Himself known as the “I AM” statement. Jesus says:
I am the bread of life.
I am the light of the world.
I am the door
I am the Good Shepherd
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
I am the true vine.
Here, he states that I am the resurrection and the life.”
These “I AM” statements are particularly important for the 1st century Jewish listeners. Why is that?
It is because such statement points us back to Exodus 3:14 when God revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM.”
In other words, when Jesus uses the “I AM” statements, He is essentially describing Himself as the God who revealed Himself to Moses.
And then, He combines the “I AM” with two metaphors: the resurrection and the life.
What does Jesus mean about Himself?
He says that He is the resurrection. Again, you have to understand this in light of His own resurrection.
Jesus does not merely say that he will bring about the resurrection or that he will be the cause of the resurrection (both of which are true).
He is the resurrection. The meaning is rather multifaceted but they are all true at the same time.
[SLIDE 7] It means that He is the firstfruits of the resurrection.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The word, "firstfruits," means the first part of a crop that is used to predict what the rest of the harvest will be like.
In the same way, Jesus' resurrection body gives us an idea of what our future resurrection bodies will be like as believers.
Did you know that we will not be spirit beings forever? When Christ comes back the 2nd time, we will receive a physical resurrected body, and we’ll live in the New Heaven and New Earth.
[SLIDE 8] It means that He is the source of the resurrection power for all His people.
18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Jesus claims to be the resurrection and THE LIFE, which compliments the idea of the resurrection.
[SLIDE 9] John’s gospel is full of this language to describe Jesus because He is the Life. For example:
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Moreover, Jesus includes “Life” in some of the “I Am” statements:
I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Since Jesus is life, only He can bring death to life.
There is a present reality where Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead.
But there is also a spiritual reality and futuristic reality.
Christ has the power to raise a spiritually dead sinner to spiritual life through regeneration.
And in the future, those who died in Christ will be raised with a new, physical, and glorified body just like Jesus. Perfect and sinless.
That’s the claim of Jesus. That’s who He is. Therefore, the 2nd point is this:
[SLIDE 10] 2. The Call To Believe In Jesus
Whoever believes in me…and everyone who lives and believes in me.
Sometimes, after Jesus makes a claim about Himself, he states a reality of those who have trusted in Him.
[SLIDE 11] For example: John 6:35
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
[SLIDE 12] Jesus is stating the reality and truth of the one who believes in Christ as the resurrection and life.
What does it mean to believe? Here is what it doesn’t mean:
To believe is not an intellectual exercise where you know a set of facts.
To believe is not the same as agreeing.
To believe is not speculation.
Believing in Jesus simply means to trust in Him and placing your faith in Him because you are fully convinced of who Christ is.
When you believe and trust Jesus, you are joined to His resurrection life.
You are plugged into the life that guarantees the resurrection of life.
You are united to the one who has life in himself, the one whom death cannot keep down.
You are rooted to the one who is truly your living hope in this present life and in the life that is to come.
When you are in union with Jesus, you will truly know what living is.
For it says, “everyone who lives and believe in me...”
Verse 25b and 26a are slightly different, isn’t it? Jesus adds “who lives in Him.”
Those who live and believe in Jesus describe the reality of a born-again believer.
It is appropriate to understand this verse as this, “Those who have eternal life in Christ and by status and stance are continually believing in the Lord Jesus shall never die.”
That’s the reality and truth of “whoever believes in Jesus.”
Are you a part of that reality?
Are you grafted into that truth?
If you’re not in Jesus, the truth is that you are spiritually dead and lifeless. Perhaps, you may feel dead on the inside and you have lost purpose, hope, and meaning to live.
Trust me. It’ll be a lot worse after this life when those outside of Christ will be cast out into the outer darkness.
If you don’t know Jesus, He is calling you to believe in Him.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
Rich or Poor
Young or Old
Male or Female
You may feel like you have fallen so hard in your sin that you cannot believe that Christ can forgiven you.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done.
So long as you are a sinner in desperate need of hope and life, recognize that God’s grace is greater than all of your sins.
And whoever lives and believes in Jesus are given a promise, which leads us to the 3rd point:
[SLIDE 13] 3. The Covenantal Promise Of Jesus
whoever believes in me, though he die, yet SHALL HE LIVE, and everyone who lives and believes in me SHALL NEVER DIE.
Jesus is not speaking in redundancy. He’s addressing similar things, but distinguishes it.
Whoever believes in Jesus shall live even if he dies physically here on earth.
This sounds very contradictory to the scientific and naturalistic mind.
But, many people would generally understand the idea of “Rest In Peace.”
Even though the body is in the grave, people have a wishful thought that the spirit/soul is somewhere living in peace, no longer needing to suffer.
However, not all people will truly live after they die.
Only those who have believed in the Lord Jesus will live after they die.
Why is that? It’s because they have eternal life.
Those who live in Jesus and believe in Jesus shall never die (ever and forever)
That is, they will never experience the 2nd death. What is this 2nd death talking about? [SLIDE 14]
8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
But believers in the Lord have eternal life. And eternal life can never be extinguished by physical and spiritual death.
Therefore, we can have absolute confidence in our living hope because in Jesus Christ we have victory over death just as Jesus had victory over death.
And we anticipate and look forward to our future resurrected bodies.
[SLIDE 15]
6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Jesus’ promises here for believers in John 11:25-26 is a great deep of comfort. It is not a wishy washy comfort for anyone. It is not a promise for all people. It is a comfort and covenantal promise by our Lord to whoever believes in Him.
Therefore, Jesus offers you a challenge, which is our final point.
[SLIDE 16] 4. The Challenge From Jesus
The challenge is a rather simple and straight to the point question: Do you believe this?!
Remember, Jesus originally asked this to Martha who was grieving and sobbing over the death of her brother.
But Jesus doesn’t just want Martha to believe that He can raise his brother from the dead, which He surely did later...
Because Christ was concerned over Martha’s soul, He challenges her to personally believe and trust in Him who is indeed the resurrection and the life (eternal life, saving life, life of the kingdom & life of God).
So often, most folks may believe Jesus for what He can do for your life, but fail to believe in Jesus for who He is.
How did Martha respond? [SLIDE 17]
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Certainly, Martha’s confession of faith aligns with the purpose of John’s gospel.
[SLIDE 18] Why did John write this account? He explains it here:
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
[SLIDE 19] Application / Conclusion
So, as we slowly wrap up the sermon, let me review what we have learned from this passage:
The Claim Of Jesus
The Call To Believe In Jesus
The Covenantal Promise Of Jesus
The Challenge From Jesus.
[SLIDE 20] If you don’t know Jesus this morning, then today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to repent of your sins and trust Him as Lord and Saviour.
But you must answer Jesus’ challenge: Do you believe this?
Do you resonate with Martha’s confession? Will you exclaim just like she said, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” Is that you this morning?
You either believe in Him or you don’t. There is no middle ground. There is no half-heartedness.
Christ is the only the way to get out of this world truly alive.
If you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart as in the day of rebellion.
Truly, I say to you, not only will believers be resurrected, but you will also be resurrected. Are you surprised?
27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
KJV would put it this way: the resurrection of damnation.
And it says in Revelation 20, that after 1000 year millennium kingdom has ended, those who have done evil will be raised, but they would look like walking dead, standing before the Great White Throne, judged before our Lord Jesus Christ, and they will experience the 2nd death.
Oh friends, you can only escape the 2nd death by faith in Christ. WILL you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? If you have, please speak to me after the service.
Brothers and sisters, since you have believed in what Jesus has said and since you received eternal life and experience the power of resurrection and life, my simple exhortation to you is to cling onto Christ and His promise for you.
Because Christ is your hope. He is your sure and steady anchor in this life.
In the suffering, in the sorrow when your sinking hopes are few
Please...hold fast to the Anchor. It shall never be removed.
When you die, know that you did not truly die, but you will live in the presence of Jesus for all eternity.
And it is not going to be boring. We will not become angels flapping our wings and playing a harp (that’s a sermon for another day).
Whatever eternity with Jesus will look, it’ll be full of perfect joy.
When you face death, you can confidently echo what the Psalmist says...
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
[SLIDE 10] Conclusion