I AM The Resurrection and The Life (Part 2)

John 11:17–44 (ESV)

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated 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 give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 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?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus Weeps

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Often, in theological discussions, you might hear someone talk about the “uniqueness of Jesus”. In other words, What sets Him apart from any other “religious figure” or prophet?

There’s lots you could talk about there!

His virgin birth, as a fulfillment of ancient prophesy. That certainly is unique! What other prophet can claim that?

His miracles. Those are unique! What other prophet could claim to have fed a multitude with a few morsels of food, or heal the sick with just a touch or a word, or

What other prophet has brought life back to the dead by his own power? That’s unique! and incredibly special!

But I think the thing that makes Jesus unique from any other prophet or religious leader is that everything, everything, that mankind could possibly need is wrapped up and defined in Him.

He doesn’t just have everything that we need.

He doesn’t just show us how to get everything that we need.

He IS everything that we need.

Mankind needed bread to fulfill physical hunger. More deeply than that, mankind needed bread to fill spiritual hunger

Other prophets said, let me show you where that bread is

Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life! Partake and eat of ME!”

Mankind was in darkness and needed light

Other prophets said, “let me give you a candle”

Jesus said, “I AM the Light of the World! If you have me, you will NEVER walk in darkness.”

Mankind needed a way to get into the sheepfold to be reconciled with the Father

Other prophets said, “Let me show you where a door might be” (they weren’t always sure and invented their own doors sometimes)

Jesus said, “I AM the door! You enter the sheepfold through ME!”

Mankind often strayed away from God and was mauled and eaten by the wolves: those who are only out for themselves and don’t care who they destroy to get what they want

Other prophets said, “You need to stay in line or don’t blame me if you get hurt.” And when someone is injured or sick, these prophets take the rest of the flock and go somewhere else

Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd. I lead you to green pastures, I call you by name. I give my life for you!”

And this is hard for us to understand because we don’t think of humans like that.

We think, this person might be able to show me where to get what I need.

Or, maybe this person has what I need.

But it’s hard for us to grasp that this person IS what we need. Do you understand the difference that I’m making here?

But Jesus is that Person who IS all that we need.

And today we see yet something else that Jesus is.

Mankind needs life. They have an enemy that can’t be defeated: death

Other prophets say, “Well, if you do this, you might live a little longer. Or if you do this, you might have a more fulfilling life.

Jesus comes and says to us, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life!”

Jesus, after an intentional delay finally arrives in Bethany, a small village only 2 miles east of Jerusalem.

Upon arriving, he finds that Lazarus has already been dead and buried for 4 days.

Is it a surprise to Him? Did He think, shoot, I messed up!

No, he knew from eternity past when Lazarus was going to die and what He was going to do about it.

As He comes near to the village of Bethany, He hears the sounds of mourning and grief. Jews had come from Jerusalem to weep with the sisters and console them

And Martha, hearing that He is close, runs out of the house and goes to meet Him.

Reading between the words: “Jesus, where WERE you? Why didn’t you come when we asked?”

Mary says the same thing. “Jesus, we asked you to come, and you didn’t. And now look what has happened.”

Jesus looks at her and says gently, “Your brother will rise again!”

Martha says, exhausted and spent after 4 days of mourning, “Yes, I know he will rise again in the resurrection.”

Meaning, yes, I know what they say will happen in the future. There is going to be some sort of resurrection and the dead will come back to life. But I don’t know when that is going to be.

“Jesus, what about NOW? I’m grieving NOW! What are you going to do for me NOW?”

And isn’t that our struggle? We believe in a day sometime in the sweet by and by when things will all be better. Where there will be no more sickness, no pain, no more parting.

We know that day is coming and we so look forward to that time.

But our struggle comes in the here and now. What about me right now? What am I to do in this struggle that I’m in right now?

One of my greatest desires as we go through the Book of John is that we discover in a new way Jesus who makes a difference for us here and NOW.

That we discover IN HIM, all that we could possibly need and want NOW, even while we look forward with anticipation to the day when we will be perfectly united with Him.

Jesus, I imagine, raises Martha to her feet, and looks steadily into her eyes and says, “Martha, I AM the Resurrection and the Life! I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die!”

Martha, I AM the resurrection and the life. In me, if you are dead, you will live. And if you are alive, you will continue to live!

I make the difference at the end when you physically die.

But I also make the difference in life, right now!

What does it mean for you and for me, that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life?

I mean, what does it mean for us right now?

Because I really believe that when Jesus said this to Martha, that He had more in mind than just that He was about to perform an incredible Miracle, or that Lazarus wold rise sometime in the future.

I believe that, again, Jesus’ words were a declaration of His sufficiency for our needs right now.

What does this mean for us right now?

One of the clearest declarations and explanations of what this means for us is found in Romans 6:1-14

(New Living Translation)

6 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

So what does it mean for us right now that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life?

It means that we may live new lives.

We are not forced to live new lives

New lives aren’t given to us automatically through no effort on our part

What it does mean is that we now have the option of living new lives

At one time, we simply did not have that option. Why? Because, we were slaves to sin. A slave has no options. He MUST serve whomever his master is, or risk facing severe consequences.

If you think about the people who were enslaved in this country, they had very few options available to them except to stay enslaved.

They lived in a system which was created to take away their options. They were kept very poor, so they couldn’t buy their freedom. They were kept uneducated so they couldn’t read and make informed decisions for themselves. They were kept from seeing much of the world around them to keep them from wanting to get away.

And that’s what sin does to us. It keeps us in bondage and unaware, and uninformed about the life that is waiting for us!

But, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul says, that now we MAY live new lives! How is that?

In baptism, we have joined Jesus Christ in His death.

Jesus died in our place to break the power of sin.

Many slaves in this country purchased their freedom with enormous sums of money (for those days) $1200=$40,000!

Jesus paid the purchase price for us by offering Himself to die in our place.

In coming up out of the water, we join Him in His resurrection

A slave who purchased His freedom was now free to live a new life. He had the option of living a new life!

Now, was this new life always easy? NO!

He lived in a system that was still oppressive. He had white folks which would try to make him serve them or obey them

He was poor and had to scratch his way through life many times.

But He would have been crazy to go back to his former slave owner and say, “Hey I’m tired of being free. I’d rather be a slave again.” (kind of like the children of Israel said. “it was better back in Egypt”)

He now had the legal option to live a new kind of life

He could now look at his former oppressors and say, “With all due respect, I don’t have to obey you anymore. I don’t have to pick that up for you, or get you a drink of water, or work in your fields anymore.”

In the same way, because we are IN CHRIST, His resurrection gives us the option to live a new life.

It’s called life in the Spirit.

That old life, the old man, was crucified and it was left back there to die and rot and decay on the cross.

and verse 7 says that one who has died to sin has been set free from sin. And now we choose to live in The Spirit. Life in freedom.

But freedom is not forced upon us. Neither is it automatically given to us.

We have to choose freedom!

But living in freedom, while by far the better option, is not always the easy option.

We find those things that used to oppress us calling our names and saying, “Hey, life was better back then.”

you know that thing you used to look at? Wouldn’t it just be easier to keep on looking?

You know that place you used to go? Go back there! You know you want to!

You know that juicy piece of gossip? Go ahead and spread it! Think how good it used to make you feel!

And many Believers live in this place.

Looking at that

Going there

Talking about that

Feeling frustrated, fighting this battle over sin. And we say,

I know that I shouldn’t look/go/talk

“But I just can’t stop_________ (doing that)”

And we are frustrated because we still want to. and so we do.

I lived there for many years, and still find myself going back to that way of thinking.

But one day I heard someone talking and they said something like this:

“You know that sin that you struggle with? That old habit, or way of living? When that temptation comes don’t say, “Oh, I shouldn’t do that!” or “I’m not supposed to do that!”

Instead, say this: “I don’t have to do that anymore! Why, because that old self died and has been set free.

For me, it was like a light bulb went on.

It changed my way of thinking. It changed the battle from focusing on the power that sin held over me, to focusing on what The resurrection of Jesus has done

It opened my eyes to realizing that when you say, “No, I don’t HAVE to do that anymore, that there actually is the resurrection power of Jesus to live differently

I’m going to do what Paul says in Romans 6:11. I’m going to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God!

I consider myself to be a free man. I stop considering myself to be in bondage and always defeated!

it’s a change in thinking, It’s a change in identity, which results in a change in living. And because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and we are IN HIM, when we consider ourselves to be free and alive,

And when we say, “I don’t have to do that anymore,” we discover the grace of God, the power of to live victoriously!

Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life!

Believe it! Live free!

John 5:25–29 (ESV)

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 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.