The Resurrection (2026)

OPENING SLIDE

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever prayed a prayer that seemed to go unanswered?

Maybe it was for healing.

Maybe it was for a marriage that was falling apart.

Maybe it was for a child who had wandered from the Lord.

Maybe it was simply asking God to step into a situation before it got worse.

Whatever the case, you prayed.

You waited.

And from your perspective… God was late.

If we’re honest, some of the hardest moments in our faith aren’t when we wonder if God is powerful enough.

They are the moments when we wonder why He didn’t act when we thought He should.

We’ve all had those moments when we quietly ask, “Lord, where were You?”

That’s precisely where Martha found herself.

Today, Jesus will take Martha—and us—from wondering about God’s timing to discovering God’s purpose.

He will move her from believing in a doctrine called the resurrection to standing face-to-face with the One who says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

And before this conversation ends, Jesus will ask a question we all must answer: “Do you believe this?”

Let’s open our bibles to John 11.

John 11:17–22 NET 2nd ed.

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. 18 (Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.) 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”

MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE

SERMON

I. When God’s Timing Doesn’t Make Sense

Before we go any further, I want to back up a few verses to give our text some context, which will add to the tension of the passage.

John 11:1–6 NET 2nd ed.

1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days.

Notice what John tells us in verse 17.

John 11:17 NET 2nd ed.

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already.

John doesn’t mention four days by accident.

In Jewish culture, they didn't wait around with a body.

The climate and their ceremonial purity laws demanded immediate burial—usually the same day as death.

The custom of the Jews was to bury on the day of death (Acts 5:6-10)." 

So Lazarus was buried quickly.

But the mourning? That lasted much longer.

The first three days were the most intense.

Friends and family gathered.

The weeping was raw and public.

And there was a widely held belief that during those three days, the soul lingered near the body—as if holding out hope for a return.

But by day four?

The soul was gone.

Decomposition had begun.

There could have been no deception — it could not have been a case of suspended animation. 

The hope was gone.

Not on day one, when the grief was fresh.

Not on day two, when the prayers were desperate.

Not on day three, when the last thread of hope was still intact.

Day four.

When it was over.

The situation is beyond human hope.

That's when Jesus shows up.

Jesus knew before Lazarus died.

He knew when the sisters sent word.

And He intentionally waited.

Isn’t that often where God meets us?

Not when we still have a backup plan.

Not while we’re still convinced we can fix it.

But when every earthly hope has run out,

Sometimes God waits until we reach the place where only He can receive the glory.

That’s precisely what Jesus said back in verse 4.

“This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God…”

The disciples didn’t understand it.

Mary didn’t understand it.

Martha didn’t understand it.

But Jesus had never lost control.

When Martha hears Jesus has arrived, she immediately goes to Him.

Then she says something that is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

John 11:21 NET 2nd ed.

21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Those may be some of the most honest words spoken to Jesus in all the Gospels.

Martha greeted Jesus with words that reveal both deep faith and deep disappointment.

Can you hear the tension, the hurt, the pain in those words?

“I know You could have done something…but You didn’t.”

Maybe you’ve prayed words like that, even if you’ve never said them out loud.

Martha wasn’t questioning whether Jesus loved her.

She wasn’t questioning whether Jesus had the power to heal Lazarus.

She was questioning His timing.

Can you hear what she’s saying?

“I know You could have prevented this.”

“I just don’t understand why You didn’t.”

I love that Martha doesn’t hide her disappointment.

Real faith isn’t pretending everything is okay.

Real faith brings honest questions to Jesus.

God is not intimidated by our tears.

He isn’t threatened by our questions.

He invites us to bring them to Him.

But notice something else…

Martha doesn’t stop speaking after verse 21.

Verse 22 says, “Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”

She is standing between disappointment and faith.

She doesn’t understand.

She doesn’t know what Jesus is about to do.

But she refuses to let go of Him.

That’s where many Christians live.

“I don’t understand what You’re doing.

…but I’m still coming to You.”

That’s faith.

Not perfect understanding.

Persistent trust.

Some of you are living in Martha's place right now.

You believe God is powerful.

You believe He could have stepped in.

But He didn't.

And you're trying to reconcile His power with His silence.

Here's what we need to see: Jesus' delay was not neglect. It was purposeful.

He wasn't late.

He was setting the stage for something no one expected — something that would require a death so final that only divine power could reverse it.

He waited until day four—because what He was about to do couldn't be explained away as a medical anomaly or a near-death experience.

He was going to raise a man who was biologically, undeniably, irreversibly dead.

Source check: Is your faith built on what you think God should have done?

Or are you willing to trust that His timing — even when it hurts — is working toward something you can't yet see?

Let’s move to verses 23-26

John 11:23–26 NET 2nd ed.

23 Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.” 24 Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, 26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

MAIN POINT 2 SLIDE

II. The Doctrine Becomes a Person

Imagine the scene.

Martha has just poured out her heart.

Jesus listens.

Then He makes a simple statement.

“Your brother will rise again.”

Martha immediately responds with good theology.

“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

And she’s right.

She believes exactly what faithful Jews, apart from the Sadducees, believed about the future resurrection.

Martha’s belief reflects both the Old Testament hope of resurrection and the teaching Jesus had already given about the resurrection.  

But here’s what strikes me.

Martha had correct doctrine…yet she was still devastated.

She believed in a future resurrection.

She just didn’t know what that truth meant for today.

Isn’t that often true of us?

We know the right verses.

We can recite the right doctrines.

We believe Jesus rose from the dead.

But sometimes we live as though our hope is still buried.

Jesus doesn’t correct Martha’s doctrine.

He expands it.

He takes her eyes off an event…and places them on a Person.

Then comes one of the greatest statements ever spoken.

“I am the resurrection and the life.”

Let that land.

Notice what Jesus did not say.

He didn’t say, “I can perform resurrections.”

He didn’t say, “I know how resurrection works.”

He didn’t even say, “I’ll bring resurrection someday.”

He said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

Resurrection isn’t merely something Jesus does.

It is who He is.

He says, "I AM."

That phrase is the same one God used when He revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. 

"I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14).

'I' is in the emphatic position—'I—and no other—am the resurrection...'

Jesus is not just claiming to have power over death.

He is claiming to be the divine source of life itself.

No mere man, if sane, could have uttered such words.

Yet on the lips of Jesus, there is no tinge of conceit or hollow sound as He speaks these words.

Jesus is “the author or the cause of the resurrection and the life”—the One who possesses the power to raise the dead and give eternal life.  

That’s why this is far bigger than Lazarus.

Lazarus would eventually die again.

But Jesus was pointing to something greater.

He was pointing to Himself.

Then Jesus makes a promise.

“The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.”

Physical death is not the end for the believer.

Jesus isn’t denying physical death.

He’s declaring that death does not have the final say over those who belong to Him.

The grave may claim our bodies for a time... but it can never claim our souls.

Because our life is no longer anchored in our circumstances.

Our life is anchored in Christ.

Then Jesus does something that changes the entire conversation.

He looks Martha in the eyes and asks her a question.

A lot of us have Martha's theology.

We believe in the resurrection as a future event.

We affirm it in our creeds.

We sing about it on Easter.

But Jesus is asking us to go further.

Everything in this conversation has been building toward one moment.

Jesus has revealed who He is.

Now Martha must decide what she believes.

And the same question Jesus asked Martha still echoes through every generation:

“Do you believe this?”

He's asking, "Do you believe that I am the source of that resurrection—right now?"

Do you believe that because of who I am, death no longer has the final say over you and the people you love?

This is the difference between a faith that comforts you at a funeral and a faith that transforms how you live every single day.

If Jesus is the resurrection, then nothing in your life is beyond His reach.

No situation is too far gone. No relationship is too broken. No heart is too dead.

Source check: Is your hope in the resurrection as a doctrine? Or is your hope in the Person who is the resurrection?

Let’s finish with verse 27.

John 11:27 NET 2nd ed.

27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

MAIN POINT 3 SLIDE

III. The Confession That Changes Everything

After everything Jesus has said…

After revealing Himself as the Resurrection and the Life…

After asking the most important question Martha would ever hear…

Martha answers.

“Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”

Notice what she doesn’t say.

She doesn’t say, “I understand everything now.”

She doesn’t say, “Now I know what You’re going to do.”

She doesn’t even say, “I know You’re about to raise Lazarus.”

She simply says, “I believe You.”

That’s the turning point.

Her circumstances haven’t changed.

Lazarus is still in the tomb.

The stone hasn’t been rolled away.

The miracle hasn’t happened.

But Martha’s heart has changed.

She has moved from asking, “Why didn’t You come sooner?” to declaring, “I know who You are.”

That’s what faith does.

Faith doesn’t require all the answers.

Faith rests in the One who is the Answer.

And that’s where John leaves us.

Not at the empty tomb of Lazarus… But with the question Jesus asked Martha, "Do you believe this?”

That question is no longer for Martha.

It’s for us.

Will we trust Jesus only when His timing matches ours?

Or will we trust Him because of who He is?

Because here’s the truth:

If Jesus really is the Resurrection and the Life, then He is worthy of your trust—even when His timing doesn’t make sense.

CONCLUSION

CLOSING SLIDE

Your greatest need is not to understand God’s timing; your greatest need is to trust the One who holds your future.

What would change in your life today if you moved from believing about Jesus to believing in Jesus?

What would change if you stopped asking, "Why didn't You prevent this?" and started declaring, "You are the Son of God, and I trust You in the middle of this"?

Martha's confession didn't change her circumstances—not yet.

Lazarus was still in the tomb.

The grief was still real.

But her perspective shifted.

Her anchor moved from her situation to her Savior.

And that made all the difference.

This week, bring one situation to Jesus where you've been questioning His timing.

Don't explain it away.

Don't spiritualize it.

Just bring it to Him the way Martha did—honestly—and then declare what you know to be true about who He is."