Resurrected Power:

Introduction:

I don’t come to you this afternoon with a catchy opening or a funny story to grab your attention. What I come with is a belief that the Holy Spirit will use me today to preach the life giving Words of Jesus Christ and to help you walk in what I would call “Resurrection Power”.

If you have your bible (physical or electronic), turn to the book of John chapter 11. I have sensed this week in my prayer time that the Lord wanted me to have this message prepared and I belief that He is going to move mightily in this service. Before we go to the Word, let us prepare our hearts.

(Prayer)

Sick Men:

John 11:1 opens up with “Now a man was sick.” For context, the rest of this verse and a couple others goes on to explain to us that a man named Lazarus, a beloved friend of Jesus, was sick, sick to the point that he would eventually die. I pause with the opening phrase “Now a man was sick” because what we all need to recognize is that without Christ and His Resurrection Power, we are all sick and the disease is sin. And this disease of sin not only causes a physical death, but a spiritual one as well. Some of you this afternoon are allowing the sickness of your sins to kill your heart and soul. You think the satisfactions of this world system will provide everything you need, yet you feel a thirst that can’t be quenched.

Reminds me when I was a young man, there was a time I was thirsty and I kept drinking soda after soda after soda to quench my thirst. The soda never quenched my thirst and when I told my mom she told me to drink water. The water did in fact quench my thirst. I bring this up because many today, including some of you in this room, are sick and you keep thinking that if you keep drinking the sins of this world that it will eventually quench your thirst. I am here to tell you that the only one that can quench your thirst, the only one that can take a sick man and make him well, the only one who can make a dead heart/soul come back to life is Jesus Christ!

Don’t you think for a moment that you are here by accident. You are here because there are people who have been and continue to pray for you. They reach out to the Lord, just like Lazarus’s sisters, pleading to Him on your behalf, “save my brother.” I believe if Christ hasn’t already saved you this weekend, He will this afternoon!

Perfect Timing:

As the chapter goes on, Jesus receives the message about Lazarus, and this is what He says and does. Starting at verse 4,

John 11:4–14 CSB

When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” “Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?” “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.” Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died.

These Verses = “What’s Up With That God?” We can read these verses and think to ourselves, “Jesus, what are you doing?! They just told you that your friend is sick, and not only do you say “everything is going to be okay, but you delay going?!” What are you doing?! Not only did you delay the trip, but Lazarus is dead?! Great plan Jesus…”

Here’s what I have had to learn, especially over the last couple years, “God’s timing is perfect and He want us to trust Him and His words, even when it doesn’t make sense or clarify everything.”

Walking by faith doesn’t mean, “I’ll walk when the Lord gives me all the details.” Walking by faith means being obedient, even if I can’t full see everything.

(Personal Example: Driving in the snow and looking at the yellow lines.”)

Jesus Christ illuminates your path even if you can’t clearly see everything yet.

Psalm 119:105 CSB

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

Resurrection Power:

Jesus and the disciples arrive to Judea, and when they arrive Lazarus has already been dead for four days. (Four days is significant, because some believed a tradition that a body could only be resurrected up to 3 days after death because the spirit didn’t depart). In verse 20, Martha runs to Jesus and the following conversation takes place:

John 11:20–27 CSB

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.”

Martha could be a symbolism for someone who prayers constantly to the Lord waiting for their prayers to be answered. And even, when it doesn’t seem like Jesus has come through, she still believes He will, which He always does. The Lord always comes through, no matter how grim the outcome. For Martha, Lazarus is dead, it can’t get much worse. Jesus is getting ready to show that He has the power over death, hell, and the grave. This miracle is supposed to point people to the miracle of Jesus’ own resurrection! This should then point us to the fact that this same Resurrection Power is still available today!

(Exhortation: The Church may look dead, but Christ is getting ready to resurrect His Bride)

Resurrected Life:

Soon after Jesus’ conversation with Martha, Mary runs to Jesus and this is their dialogue:

John 11:32–37 CSB

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus is feeling all the emotions that you maybe currently feeling when grieving. Jesus isn’t mad about their unbelief, He is mad about what the curse of sin has done His creation. He is angry with death, hell, and the grave, and He says “All right, let me show everyone who is in charge here.”

John 11:38–44 CSB

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

Closing/Altar Call: