RESURRECTION AND LIFE SERMON

John 11:17–27 CSB

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

I AM the RESURRECTION and the LIFE. If I had to guess, I would say that this is probably in the top 10 most popular things Jesus said.

There's several of these type of statements in the Bible that help us see who God is. For example, we look at Love as a thing…you love someone or something but the Word of God tells us that Love isn't a thing, it's God.

I love the picture of the Love we have for our Family is us experiencing God. So, no matter who you are and what you believe, if you love, you are experiencing God because God is love!

In the same likeness, Resurrection and Life is not an event or a thing, it is Jesus! When we introduce Jesus into any situation we are facing, we are introducing Life, and when we get saved, we are now living with the Eternal Life inside of us, who is Jesus. We have the power of the resurrection living inside of us!

Romans 8:11 tells us that we have the same Spirit living inside of us that raised Jesus from the dead. As Wesleyan Holiness believers, we know and believe from our own experiences that once that Holy Spirit, that Eternal Life, that Rebirth of Resurrection comes to live inside of us, it then begins purifying us into a Christ-likeness.

Romans 8:11 CSB

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

That is a process until we get to a moment when that Holy Spirit Sanctifies us Holy and then the process still continues, but it's like the hindrances are gone, and we really take off with the Fire of God inside of us, and we seek out that Christ likeness!

So let's take a look at the Scripture. We know that Jesus got word that Lazarus was sick and that He waited a couple more days before he went to Bethany where Martha and Mary and Lazarus were.

When Jesus heard the news of Lazarus’ illness, He says “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God!”

So, let's jump forward to verse 17 where we pick up our reading. Jesus gets to Bethany and finds Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. As Jesus is still walking, Martha runs and meets Him and says “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died!

Have you ever run to Jesus and told him how a situation would have worked out if He had done this or had done that?

The beautiful thing about this story, or one of the beautiful things, is that we see that Jesus knew from the very first time He heard that his brother and friend is sick, that the outcome was not only going to be to the Glory of God, but it was also going to take the grief and pain away from Martha and Mary!

See so many times we put God in a box and we say, “God if you will do this then everything will work out.” But God is saying, “Just because you have to experience a little bit of pain and struggle and grief doesn't mean that you’re not blessed…doesn't mean that I'm not working everything out for your good and my glory!

Jesus could have healed Lazarus and it would have been amazing, but Jesus was going to put His divinity on display and He was going to show that He is resurrection, He is True Eternal and Spiritual Life!

So, when you are praying and you keep expecting God to show up and do A, B, and C, and He doesn't show up at that moment, just know that He works out all things for the good of those who follow Him.

Know that the pain and the sorrow that Martha and Mary were feeling for those days was real, but the Resurrection was Already Planned!

Then in verse 22, Martha says “Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” So, she was upset and frustrated that Jesus hadn't done it her way, but she still has faith and hope in Jesus!

I don't know about you, but I can relate to this at times in my life. She was full of both faith and doubt like the man who cried out to Jesus in desperation in the gospel of Mark and he says “I do believe, help my unbelief!”

So take your doubts to God in prayer and ask Him to help you with them! He will help you with your spiritual struggle!

Then in verse 23 Jesus tells her…”Your brother will rise again”, and she says, “I know he'll rise again in the resurrection of the last days”… and Jesus says I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE!

That's so powerful! Resurrection isn't an event, it's a Person. Jesus really puts His divinity on display here because Martha says, “I know that anything you pray and ask for, God will give it to you” but Jesus basically says “I can just say the word and have what I want…He's saying I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE and I AM THE RESURRECTION, the REBIRTH, the LIFE and LIFE of ABUNDANCE.

Martha says, “I know Lazarus will be resurrected in the last days”, but Jesus tells Her I AM the Resurrection. I have the power to raise Lazarus and beyond that, if I don't specify who I'm calling forth, at the sound of my voice and the authority of my Father, every dead person who ever died would come forth!

Our Jesus is the Resurrection; He is the Resurrecting Savior. He takes sin and death and defeats it with every soul that's saved, with everyone who's backslidden and comes back to Jesus. Our Jesus, our God says “Come Forth” to the addict that thought they would never be free…to that woman who thought the abortion would define her life…to that man or woman who got a divorce… Jesus says Come Forth And Allow Me To Resurrect You!

The Son of God has life in Himself and can give it to a person allowing them to live forever!

Following the I AM declaration Jesus makes, He says “The One Who Believes In Me Even If He Dies He Will Live”. Listen to this verse carefully, Jesus then says “Everyone Who Lives And Believes In Me Will Never Die”.

So, Jesus makes another statement that only God could make and He says, “The Ones Who Believe In Me Even If They Die, Will Live”.

Jesus is saying that He is the basis of life and even though we will physically die, we will cross over to eternity immediately. We just have a change of address!

Then He says the verse I said to listen carefully to… He says “Everyone Who Lives And Believes In Me Will Never Die”.

The words lives and believes are both present tense words meaning that once again Jesus is showing that this salvation, sanctification, deliverance, resurrection and eternal life is something that takes place in the present, not something we have to wait for in eternity. If we're living and we're believing then we have the same spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead, and Jesus wants us to Know Him now and Experience Him now and experience the Power of the Holy Spirit now, and be an overcomer now, because now in this life is when we need that power and that life and that hope!

One other thing I want to point out in this verse is that He says Everyone Who Lives and Believe In Me Will Never Die, meaning that we have to be living on this side of eternity to receive this eternal life. If we wait until we're on the other side, it's too late. The only stipulation Jesus puts on this is that we have to be a living being in order to have this eternal life.

When you go to a restaurant, someone will give you a written description of what they have to offer. You can read the menu for yourself. Sometimes you may salivate just scanning the menu because it looks so good, but you won't be satisfied to leave the restaurant after merely reading the menu. You don't go to the restaurant just to read the menu. When a waiter comes to your table, he will likely proclaim parts of the menu to you. He will walk you through the choices and explain the whole menu for you. The waiter will tell you what different terms mean and how stuff is made. He may even give you his personal opinion about what he likes to eat. But you will not be satisfied by his words, because nobody goes to a restaurant to hear somebody else preach about it.

You go to a restaurant to taste and experience what it has in store for you. Therefore you will not be satisfied until you have partaken of all it has to offer; until you have tasted it fully.

God longs for us to taste what He offers. He wants us to experience that He is the great I AM. Reading about him is good. Hearing about Him is good, but if you leave this life without having deeply experienced God, then you may have known a nice truth from a distance, but you will never have known all that He can do for you. You will never know the power of hearing God say, like he did in John chapter 11, when He called Lazarus from the grave… Career come forth… Marriage come forth… Health come forth… Relationship come forth… Hope come forth… Future come forth… Family come forth… Finances come forth… Joy come forth… Peace come forth… Significance come forth -- whatever is dying in your life can be called forth.

Jesus can call even dead things to life, and when He does, you won't need somebody else to tell you how good God is, because you will have experienced Him for yourself.

You won't need somebody to tell you how great God can be, because you will have seen Him for yourself.

God longs to be more than just a theology on a shelf. He wants to be real to you right now. To accomplish this, sometimes He allows us to get, or even puts us between a rock and a hard place. He lets something die for the express purpose of letting us experience a resurrection, because God knows that when we see Him for who He really is we will never see life the same way again.