The Resurrection and the Life
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
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Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Welcome everyone to the family gathering this Palm Sunday. Each member of our church staff is currently on our Facebook Live page or our YouTube page, so if you’re watching on one of those platforms, you can feel free to comment or add reactions during the service on Facebook. I am so thankful for this technology that allows us to worship together and consider Scripture together, even though we’re spread out all over Albuquerque, and even all over the country. I’m grateful for each of you who has come live this morning, and for each person who will view this morning’s service after it’s over on one of our social media platforms. We consider worshiping God together to be a family event, and as such, it is to be participated in by all who come together. So let’s do the things that we would do if we were together as we worship the Lord this morning. I hope that everyone has a copy of the Scriptures with you. If you can be on YouVersion at the same time as you’re watching the stream, you can be on our Live Event over there for all the passages that we’ll be looking at today, as well as having a place for notes. If you would ordinarily sing out during our time of singing in worship and praise, then do so wherever you are. If you would clap your hands, go for it. When I ask us to stand, stand if you can. When we pray, lift your own prayers, or even share them in the comments on Facebook Live or on YouTube. In fact, let’s pray together now:
PRAY
We are currently collecting our offering to support SBC missionaries and church planters in the United States and Canada, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Our goal this year is $14,000, and we have given $7,894 so far. We will be collecting this offering through the rest of April. Please pray and ask God how He would lead you to give to this important offering this year. Here’s a short video about one area of ministry that our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering dollars will go to support:
VIDEO
Use online giving. Go to our website, and right there on the front page is a button linking to our online giving page. It’s even mobile-friendly. You just choose the fund you want to give to (Church budget or something specific, like Annie Armstrong), and walk through the steps.
Shine ABQ Partnership, serving Kennedy Middle School. We need some supplies for care packages for students at Kennedy. There is a list on our website at ehbc.org under EHBC Family Life. We have shared this information on our Nextdoor page as well. If you can help, please bring those supplies by during our delivery times, 1-4 pm Monday-Friday. We will also need church members to volunteer for packing and delivering the care packages. Because of the social distancing and stay-at-home directive, we can only have a few people come to pack and deliver. So if you can help pack or deliver the care packages, please sign up using our SignUpGenius link on the Shine page. This is a great opportunity for us to show APS who we are, and show that we are willing and available to serve. If you’re comfortable coming to help (and you’re healthy), please sign up.
We are going to plan to do services online until further notice. For Easter weekend, there will be some changes from how we normally do things every year:
Good Friday service will still be at 12:15 pm on Friday, April 10, but it will be online only. Pastor Joe is going to preach that message, and he will do so on our streaming channels from his house. It should be a short service (30 minutes or less). We obviously will not be having the dessert auction to support our high school ministry missions trip, so if you would like to give to that, you can do so online.
The Egg Hunt on Saturday the 11th, as well as the Sunrise Service on the 12th have both been canceled.
Most of you received my OneCall on Friday, or have seen my announcement video on YouTube or Facebook about Easter Sunday. I’m super excited about this. We are going to come together on the parking lot for drive in worship service next Sunday morning, April 12. Because everyone will have to stay in their cars unless absolutely necessary, we decided that doing service earlier would be better for everyone in order to not have it get as hot in the cars. So make sure you hear this: we will meet together on the South parking lot for service to begin at 9 AM. Our Safety and Security ministry is already at work on a plan for social distancing and parking organization to maximize being able to see, and for having rest rooms available and accessible for those in need. However, I’m planning on keeping next Sunday’s service to an hour or less, because sitting in a car for that long might be difficult for some, especially with little ones. We will be transmitting the audio live over an FM transmitter, so you’ll just have to tune your radio in to the station that we’ll tell you to use, and you should get good sound. We will NOT be streaming that service live, because we aren’t sure we’ll have a reliable internet connection. Instead, we will record the service and rebroadcast it to our website and our social media channels at 10:30. I know that was a lot of information. The important stuff you need to know: Next Sunday, Easter morning, live drive-in worship and praise at 9 AM, everyone needs to stay in their cars, 1 hour or less, and rebroadcast at 10:30 MDT on website, YouTube, and Facebook. 9 AM.
PRAY as you start Hosanna
MUSIC:
MUSIC:
Hosanna (Praise is Rising) (Cut Capo in E)
What a Beautiful Name (Capo 5 in A)
O Praise the Name (Anástasis) (Capo 1 in G)
O Praise the Name (Anástasis)
Jesus Only Jesus (Capo 1 in G)
PRAY
Opening
Opening
We are on our seventh of what I believe will be a total of 10 messages on the “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In these statements, Jesus clearly identified Himself with Yahweh of the Old Testament, and each statement helps us better understand Jesus’ mission and His ministry. This morning, we’re going to look at . This is a long passage, but we’re going to read the whole thing together. If you don’t feel like you can stand for that long, feel free to remain seated, or to sit down when you need to as we read this passage, which will be familiar for many of us:
1 Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7 Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” 8 “Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?” 9 “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. 10 But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.” 12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.” 17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise 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, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” 28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there. 32 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 would not have died!” 33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 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.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.” 45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.
PRAY
Over the last 3 weeks, we’ve seen several of these statements that come right on the heels of one another in John’s Gospel. First, there was when Jesus said, “I AM the light of the world,” in . Then, we looked at when Jesus said, “I AM the gate for the sheep,” and “I AM the good shepherd,” in . This morning, we are looking Jesus’ statement, “I AM the resurrection and the life.” Before we go through this passage this morning, I wanted to make sure that we see the connection in the story. It’s easy, especially given that we’ve spent a month on this, for us to forget about the flow in the Gospel of John and see these as three kind of “stories” that John told.
Over the last 3 weeks, we’ve seen several of these statements that come right on the heels of one another in John’s Gospel.
But they aren’t. They’re all connected. They lead into each other in a way.. Jesus healed a blind man in , and that man placed his faith in Christ, and was kicked out of the synagogue for his faith. Jesus told the Pharisees, those who were supposed to be the religious leaders and examples in Israel, that they were the blind ones.
Jesus then spoke of a shepherd and his flock in , and he compared the Pharisees with thieves and robbers, and then even as wolves, because of their mistreatment of the flock, the people of Israel. Jesus here said that He lays down His life for His sheep, but also that He has the authority to take His life back up again. At the end of that exchange, the Pharisees were ready to stone Him for blasphemy, because Jesus had clearly said that He and the Father are One in . Jesus left there and went across the Jordan according to . So this is where we find him when we get to .
The first three verses set the stage for what will take place in this chapter. Lazarus, who had sisters named Mary and Martha, was sick. So Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus and informed Him that this was the case, saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” There’s an implied request in this statement, as we see when we get to their personal interactions with Jesus later on. That implied request is basically, “Lord, the one you love is sick. So you should come here and heal him.”
Brothers and sisters, we are in a place right now where if you don’t know someone yet who has contracted COVID-19, you very likely, unless God does something super drastic, will know someone before too long. I’m not trying to be all doomy and gloomy. I’m just trying to address the reality of the situation. I have a friend here in town who has tested positive and who is recovering at home. Thankfully, his symptoms aren’t terrible. But for most, if not all of us, there’s going to come a time when we are going to come to Jesus with the same statement as Mary and Martha: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
And when we make that
When we do this, will we be asking the same thing? I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with asking God to work in a particular way. But there’s a huge question that this passage brings up. What if God doesn’t work the way we expect Him to? How do we process that? This is a difficult thing for us to deal with.
But this is exactly what Mary and Martha had to face, because Jesus didn’t do what they expected Him to do. What did Jesus do with this news of Lazarus’ illness? He stayed where He was for another couple of days. Why? Because Jesus was focused on God’s plans. He was after God’s glory because that’s what’s best.
1) Jesus seeks God’s glory because it is what is best.
1) Jesus seeks God’s glory because it is what is best.
This had to be a really difficult pill to swallow for Martha and Mary. They did what they should do. They reached out to exactly the right person when Lazarus took ill. They rightly believed that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying. But from our perspective, we might find Jesus’ actions a little strange—and we have the benefit of the whole story. Here’s how John records what happened:
4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.
Jesus knew how this was all going to play out. He wasn’t surprised by it. He knew what was going to happen to Lazarus and what He would ultimately do about it.
We must remember that Jesus is the Lord God in the flesh. He’s not our omnipotent waiter, not our cosmic genie, not our Almighty vending machine, not Santa in sandals. No, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the One that the people would celebrate as He later rode into Jerusalem on the first “Palm Sunday” as Joe taught in the children’s Bible study yesterday, where the people cried out:
38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
Luke 19:
And when the Pharisees told Him to keep His disciples quiet, He was the One who could say:
40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
Jesus is God manifested to us in the most real way—as one of us. And in His ministry, He had a particular focus: God’s glory. And that glory would be clearly seen as Jesus was glorified, and when Jesus is glorified, people come to faith and are saved.
God can be glorified in any situation. It’s easy to glorify God when things are great. But God also can be glorified when things are hard. We can glorify God in the midst of a difficult season in marriage, in struggles with school, and in failing health. We can glorify God through problems at work, through car accidents, and through uncertainty about life and the future. We can glorify God in the middle of a global pandemic, when the normal rhythms of life have been completely disrupted, when we face sorrow and worry and sickness and even death.
I’m going to say what many of us are thinking: This is hard. Isn’t God supposed to be on our side? Isn’t He supposed to take care of us and watch over us and protect us from everything that could hurt us? Yes and no. We think that if God is for us, which He is according to , that we should be free from pain or hardship. But those things aren’t mutually exclusive. This world is broken because of sin, and sometimes it’s in the brokenness and through the brokenness that God is most glorified, because He sees the big picture. We only see our little moment and our little corner. But Jesus’ perspective is one of hope and courage, because He sees the whole thing:
It’s a question of trust and focus.
33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
God’s glory.
He said that we WILL have suffering in this world, but that He has conquered or overcome the world. We can trust Him because He seeks the Father’s glory because that is always best—for us and for the world. He sees the things that we can’t see. He walks in the light, and we often stumble in darkness.
We look at verse 4 and we see that Jesus did this for the glory of God, so that the Son of God would be glorified through it. But we see in verses 5 and 6 that He also did this for another reason: Because He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. What? Look again:
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.
“Now, Jesus loved [them]… SO… He stayed two more days...” Ultimately, Jesus needed to wait to go so that God would be most glorified, because He loved that family. Jesus didn’t pit the glory of God against His love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. For God to be glorified through their present situation was the most loving thing that He could do for them, because as Jesus is glorified, people believe.
11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.” 12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
john 11:11-
john 11:15
They had their plan, but their plan wouldn’t have maximized Jesus’ glory, and so wouldn’t have maximized God’s glory. Their idea seemed right, but it wasn’t:
They had their plan, but their plan wouldn’t have maximized Jesus’ glory, and so wouldn’t have maximized God’s glory. Their idea seemed right, but it wasn’t:
Jesus has authority over sickness and death.
Jesus has authority over sickness and death.
12 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.
Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage us. This time we’re going through right now is extremely difficult for many. And for many of us, we want to do everything we can to lessen the pain, or get through it as quickly as possible. We can’t make this go any faster than it is going. We can’t change the reality. God certainly can. We are not wrong to ask Him to move and change and bring healing and restoration. But is it possible that God has allowed our current situation in His sovereign will for a purpose that we can’t even begin to see?
So instead, what if the right question to ask is, “How can I glorify God in this situation, because I know that He loves me and I can trust Him?” I’m not saying that this isn’t hard, or that it isn’t painful, but if we are followers of Jesus, it’s where we need to be, because there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nowhere to make this easier or quicker. God knows what He is doing, and we can trust that He is going to bring Himself glory through this. And a part of that is that He wants to glorify Himself through us, His people, as we conduct ourselves as responsible citizens of our communities and meeting the needs of others as we can.
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. 13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.
This maximizes the glory of God through our lives. It doesn’t make the situation not painful or difficult. But there’s a blessing in our focal passage today that speaks to that as well: We don’t go through the pain of this alone. No, our Savior joins us in our pain.
2) Jesus laments with us.
2) Jesus laments with us.
Jesus knew what was going on back in Bethany. He obviously knew that Lazarus had died, because He said so in verse 14. Thomas, knowing that the Jews had just tried to stone him (, as I mentioned in my opening), fully expected that they would not survive if they went back to this little town less than two miles from Jerusalem. And when Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus has already been dead for four days (so he may have even been dead when Jesus received the message in the first place).
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
What was their home like for those 4 days? What have our homes been like for the last three weeks?
Press pause on the story for a moment. What was their home like for those 4 days? What went through their minds and hearts? How many questions were they asking? How many tears had they shed?
What was their home like for those 4 days? What have our homes been like for the last three weeks?
Now think for a moment about what our homes been like for the last three weeks? What has gone through our minds and hearts? How many questions do we ask? How many tears have we shed?
Brothers and sisters, it’s okay to lament a difficult or trying situation. Jesus Himself lamented in the Garden and on the cross. One of the beautiful things about the Bible is that we find in it people as they really are, with our pain and our questions.
Listen to :
The Psalms are full of laments! Read , , , , , , or 80. These are the cries of individuals and peoples who are bringing their pain and their struggles to God. He is with us in our pain, even when we don’t understand.
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts. 5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me. 8 The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” 10 My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?” 11 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.
Martha and Mary did not lament alone. says that Jesus was, “a man of suffering who knew what sickness was… Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains.” Jesus lamented with them in a very personal way:
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.
john 11:
35 Jesus wept.
I used to think that Jesus wept here because He was about to call Lazarus back from Abraham’s bosom, where he was being comforted and cared for like the poor man also named Lazarus from the story of the rich man and Lazarus in . But now that I’ve looked at this bigger picture, I can say that I believe that Jesus wept not for Lazarus (the onlookers get this wrong), but for the grief of Mary and Martha. He grieved with them and for them. While He knew what was coming, that didn’t change their hurt.
We are all wrestling with hurt right now. But we don’t wrestle alone. Jesus laments with us.
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
john 11:38
It was this fact, that twice in just 6 verses Jesus was “deeply moved,” and He was moved when He saw Mary crying. That changed my perspective on verse 35. He wasn’t sad for Lazarus.
We aren’t fans of lamenting, because we hate pain. We avoid it at all costs.
There’s an old saying that, ‘Friendship doubles our joys and divides our sorrows.” Jesus was sharing their sorrow, even as He knew what was coming.
We are all wrestling with hurt right now. But we don’t wrestle alone. Jesus laments with us. And as a result, we can hurt with and for those who are hurting, even as we ourselves struggle with hurt. This is why it is so important for each of us to be in contact with one another and praying for and with one another during this crisis. Doing so fulfills what Paul wrote that we are to do in :
Je
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
psalms of lament.
But this isn’t the end of the story. No. Because Jesus had already said what He was going to do… wake Lazarus up.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
3) Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.
3) Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.
When He first came upon Martha, she made quite a statement of trust in Jesus:
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
john 11:
She somewhat gets it. She knows what Jesus can do. Even the Jews who were there grieving with Mary acknowledged that since Jesus had given sight to the blind man (), He certainly could have kept Lazarus from dying. But remember, that wasn’t the point. The point was that Jesus would be glorified, so the Father would be glorified.
So Jesus sets her straight:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
john 11:25-
Jesus tells Martha that the one who believes in Him will live, even if he dies, and that everyone who believes in Him will never die. Christian, if you belong to Jesus, you don’t need to worry about being dead, because you never will be. Sure, the process of dying is a scary thing. But if we are in Christ, we don’t need to worry about being dead, because Jesus said that we will never be dead.
But for those of you listening who don’t belong to Christ, who have never trusted Jesus and surrendered your life to Him, you have a bigger problem than COVID-19. Eternal life is only found in Jesus. And if you die without Jesus, you really die, and are separated from God forever. We were made to be in a forever relationship with God, but we’ve all messed that relationship up with our sin—rebelling against what God wants for us. But Jesus died on the cross, taking our place in death, so we could be forgiven and have that relationship restored. And Jesus beat death, rising from the grave, so that those who belong to Jesus will also live forever.
He showed His authority over death here with Lazarus:
The one who believes: Gospel. Will never die. Eternal life.
39 “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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 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.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”
john 11:39-
NOW what is the situation like? What will the next four days be like in their house? What will their celebration be like? This is because of Jesus’ pursuit of God’s glory! Jesus is the resurrection and the life...
matt 28:18, rom 8:35
Jesus is the resurrection. Our hope is in a Person. He IS the resurrection—eternal life is only found in Him. Only He can overcome the grave, and He promises that to those who belong to Him.
23 that the Messiah must suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”
Jesus is the life. He doesn’t just have life. He IS life. Jesus gives life because He gives Himself. Death could not defeat Jesus here at Lazarus’ tomb, and death wouldn’t beat Jesus in the Garden Tomb, either, which we will look at more next week.
Jesus is the life. He doesn’t just have life. He is life. Death could not defeat Jesus here at Lazarus’ tomb, and death couldn’t beat Jesus in the Garden Tomb, either.
Jesus asks Martha a question that we all need to address as well:
“Do you believe this?” Many who saw did, and believed in Jesus:
Jesus laments with us in both.
Jesus laments with us in both.
Do you believe this?
psalms of lament
1Pet 1:13-16
13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.
So Jesus got the glory, and since He got the glory, the Father was glorified. Just as He said.
Closing
Closing
And the question still goes to us: “Do you believe this?” If we believe, we are His children, and we are born again.
When Jesus is glorified, the Father is glorified.
12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
If you’ve never believed, surrender your life to Christ where you are, declaring Him to be Lord of your life, admitting your rebellion against Him as Lord.
Closing
Closing
Let us know via email, our contact page on our website, in the comments on YouTube and Facebook.
If you believe that God is calling you to join this church formally in membership, we aren’t sure how that’s going to work for the time being, but we love you and hope you’ll reach out to me to talk more about that (over Zoom or something).
If you need prayer, reach out by email on in the comments.
PRAY
Song of offering and response:
Jesus, Only Jesus (Capo 1 in G)
Thanking grocery store employees.
Thanking grocery store employees.
Thanks for being here. Remember Good Friday, 12:15 April 10. Easter, 9 AM in person on our parking lot, streaming at 10:30 next Sunday.