Alright, John chapter 11. I want to read this again. Verse 25, Lord Jesus said to Martha, I
am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And then in verse 38, the Lord
came to the grave, and it was a cave and a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, Take ye away
the stone. And Martha, the sister of him
that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh,
for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God? Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the
people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that
thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face
was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Our Lord says here, I am the
resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection and the
life. There are some in this world
who claim to be able to heal people. They claim to be able
to speak in tongues which they make out to be some unintelligible
heavenly language that only they know. And they claim they can
heal people. They can heal people. Now there
are plenty of scriptures we could go to to show that these things
are not so. Look over at Acts chapter 2.
For one, the Lord didn't give men some heavenly unintelligible
language. He gave men the ability to speak
in foreign language they had never learned. He says here in
Acts 2 and verse 4, They were all filled with the
Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem,
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." See that? Every nation under heaven. Now
when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and
were confounded. because that every man heard
them speak in his own language. That is, read on, and they were
all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not
all these which speak Galileans? and how we hear every man in
our own tongue wherein we were born. That's what he means, that
the language that they were born speaking, that's how they heard. I mean, look, Parthians and Medes
and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea. On
he goes with all this list of different places these people
were from and all these different languages. But look at verse
11. What did they speak? It wasn't just that they were
able to speak in those foreign languages. What did they speak?
They said, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful
works of God. They preached the gospel. They
preached Christ's person and his works. That's what they were
speaking. And they were speaking in language that the audience
could understand. That's the gift he gave. We could
show from Scriptures, look over at Acts 8. We could show how,
when it comes to this thing of healing, Christ gave to his apostles,
to his apostles, the ability to lay their hands on men that
they might receive the Holy Spirit so they could work gifts. But the apostles were the ones
who could lay their hands on them, the Holy Spirit would be
given, and those people could work gifts. But when they died, there was
no one else to pass on those, to lay their hands and the Holy
Spirit enter and give those gifts. Now look here in Acts 8.14, when
the apostles, which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received
the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. These were
the Lord's apostles. And it says, who when they were
come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost,
for as yet He was fallen upon none of them, only they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands
on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw
that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost
was given, He offered them money saying, give me also this power
that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Simon didn't ask for the Spirit and he didn't ask for gifts to
heal. He asked for the power to lay his hands on others that
they would receive the Spirit and receive gifts. But you see,
and Peter told him, your money perish with you. This can't be
purchased with money. But the point is here, these
various gifts and these signs, they were only given ability
to work those through the apostles laying their hands on men and
the Spirit of God giving them that ability. And when the apostles
died, that ability to to do that passed away with them. But we
don't need gifts and signs now. We don't need gifts and signs
because those gifts and signs were God bearing witness of His
messengers that preached the gospel of Christ. And God was
bearing witness of Christ through those signs and wonders. Listen
to Hebrews 2, 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also
bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and different
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will."
There was a purpose in those gifts. It wasn't to attract attention
to the one who worked the healing, it was to assure the folks who
were hearing the gospel preached that Christ they preached, Christ
who they preached is indeed this great salvation we need. It was
all to point sinners to Christ, not to the gifts, not to the
ability to heal. That was God bearing witness.
And it was only until the time that the scriptures, the New
Testament, was written down. But now that it's written down,
we don't need any of those extra signs. Look here at 2 Peter with
me, 2 Peter. 2 Peter, we have the complete Word
of God. They didn't have the New Testament
when they were working those miracles. God was bearing witness
and showing, these are my messengers, hear the Christ that they're
preaching. That was the point. Now listen
to what Peter says here. Now we have it. Now we have the
Word of God. And this whole Word declares
Christ is the resurrection and the life. Look to him, now listen
to this, 2 Peter 1.16, Peter said, we've not followed cunningly
devised fables when we've made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. but we were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm
well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount."
He's talking about what took place on the Mount of Transfiguration.
They saw Christ transfigured in His glory. He took the veil
off. They saw His glory. And they
heard God speak from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son. Hear
Him. We don't have to have that. We
don't have to have God do that. Why? We got Peter right here
in the Scripture bearing witness to us that it's so. We got the
Word of God. Now listen to what, that's why
God doesn't do that now. Listen to what Peter said here
in verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. He's saying this is better. then
going into the mount and seeing Christ's glory and hearing God
speak from heaven. This is what he's going to have
us hear. This sure word of prophecy, where until you do well that
you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. Men did not come up with these
scriptures on their own. The prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." So, you could show many places
that that they spoke the gospel and they spoke it in language
people could understand. You could show that this gift
of healing was only for a time. It was the apostles who could
give the ability to work gifts. But if I was going to go somewhere
to show somebody and point them away from being deceived by that
kind of thing, I'd go to John 11. John 11. I go straight here
because our Lord says here in John 11, 25, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Every miracle our Lord worked
while He walked this earth was to declare this very thing, that
He's the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection
and the life. No man ever raised the dead.
Nobody ever raised the dead, but now listen, people will get
so taken up with somebody who pretends they can heal people. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we're seeing Him do this. It's right here in God's Holy
Word, and He raised a man from the dead. We have it, we have
the witness right here, the Word of God, right here. And he's declaring, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. This is the life speaking. This is him who is the resurrection
speaking. This is God speaking, declaring,
I am the life. Believe on me and you shall never
die. This is him declaring. And he
showed he's the resurrection of life. He raised Lazarus from
the grave to life after he'd been dead in the grave four days.
We need more than to be healed from bodily sickness. We need
to be made the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God. What's the cause of sickness
and death? It's sin. Sin is the cause of
sickness and death. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. That one man is Adam. And by Adam's one transgression,
sin entered this world, and death by sin. And because He's the
head, death passed upon all of us because we have all sinned. We have all sinned. Our guilt
before holy God, being guilty before God for transgressing
His holy law in Adam, is what we need to be healed from. And
that can only be by the Lord Jesus Christ being our righteousness.
And not only did we become guilty, But sin passed upon us and death
passed upon us in our bodies. In our bodies. That's why every
man's body shall die. That's why every man will eventually
die and this body go back to the dust. It's because these
bodies are the product of Adam. These bodies came from Adam.
We were conceived of his corrupt seed, we were conceived in sin,
so that we came forth with Adam's corrupt, totally ruined, dead,
sin nature. We need more than bodily healing,
we need Christ the life. We need Christ the life. And
that can only be by Christ the resurrection quickening us and
giving us life. No sinful man can give us the
healing we need. That's just blasphemous for men
to try to deceive men that they can heal men. He's the life. He's the life. There's only one
who can give life, who can heal, and He is that life. He's the
life because He's righteousness. I've said this so many times
that life and righteousness are synonymous. I just read about
Adam. By one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin. Christ is righteous. That's why
He's life. If Christ is in you, the body's
dead because of sin. It's the product of Adam. But
the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Where there is
no sin, where there is righteousness, there is life. Christ is that
life. Christ is the last Adam who came
forth to live and die for His people to make us righteous.
To make us the righteousness of God in Him. To live and die
for His people. This is why the Son of God took
the nature of His people as a man. He was without sin in His mother's
womb. You ladies who not too long ago
were carrying a child. I guarantee you the Lord Jesus
gave His mother no problem whatsoever, even in the womb. He was without sin in the womb. And He came forth and He knew
no sin in His nature and He never committed sin ever. Never. Never. Never had even an ill thought
that was not righteous toward anybody. And not what was righteous
toward God. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. He said, I do always those things
which please my Father. Now you think about that. I do
always those things which please my Father. That's the righteousness
we got to have. That's what God will receive.
That's the only thing God will receive from me and you. To always
do that which pleases Him. That's how good we got to be.
Always do that which pleases Him. And He did that as the head
of His people. He did that representing His
people with His people in Him. And brethren, we did that. Because
He always pleased the Father. The only way God can receive
us is to look upon you and behold Christ, His Son, who always pleased
Him, so that by what Christ did, He can look at you and say, You've
always pleased Him. You've always pleased Him. Isn't
that amazing? This is what God says of His
people. He's the Resurrection and the
Life because He's the Righteous One. There's always a definite
article there. He's the Resurrection and the
Life because He's the Righteous One. He's the faithful one. He lived under that law in perfect
obedience unto the death of the cross and made us the righteousness
of God in Him by honoring the law on behalf of His people.
That's what He did. And He went to that cross and
He bore the justice in our place and purged His people of our
sin so that He that is dead is freed from sin. He that is dead
is justified from sin. God says, I will not charge them. God says, I have already satisfied
myself in my holiness and my justice completely, fully, thoroughly,
and left no sin unpunished. And that's what He did in Christ
for His people. So that His people are righteous
before Him. Righteous before Him. He reconciled
us to God by His death. That's what Romans 5 said. If
when we were enemies, we didn't know Him yet. It'd be years and
years and years before we knew Him. But if when we were enemies,
He hath reconciled us to God by the death of His Son. Much
more than being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. He
did it. He accomplished it. Now, life
is given no other way than Christ the life. He is the resurrection
and the life. Life comes no other way than
by Christ. We have to have our guilt put
away. We must be made the righteousness
of God and Christ alone is the life because He alone is the
righteousness of His people. not any contribution of righteousness
from us. It's all Christ. It's all Christ. We couldn't contribute any life
to give ourselves life. He's the life because He's the
righteousness. But what about these bodies of
sin? What about these products of Adam? What about these bodies
of sin? We're born spiritually dead in
sin. Christ said there in our text,
He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." We couldn't
do that. We couldn't live. And we couldn't
believe on Him. Because we were dead. How are
we going to live? How are we going to believe on
Him? Christ is the resurrection and the life. We need more than
to be healed from bodily disease. We have to be created entirely
new. Entirely new. you hath he quickened
who were dead. He came to that tomb and he said,
Lazarus, come forth. And by his word, Lazarus came
forth alive. He's the life. He's the resurrection.
And through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching
of the gospel, The Lord Jesus Christ speaks. It's His Word. It's the Word of our Lord. It's
Christ the Word speaking the Word. That's the incorruptible
seed. It's Him speaking the Word. And when He speaks the Word,
That's how we're born from above. That's how a new man is created
that was not there before. A new spirit that was not there
before. His Word is the incorruptible
seed and what it creates is incorruptible. It can't be corrupted. Nothing can corrupt it. That's
the new man that He creates. A new man created in Christ's
image. What does that mean? That means
in righteousness and holiness, just like Christ is. And Christ
is the righteousness and the holiness of the new man. Without
us doing a thing, He is the righteousness and holiness of the new man.
It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's separably one
with Christ, righteous by Christ, holy by Christ, incorruptible
by Christ. This is the new man. He said,
I am the resurrection and the life. And when he speaks, we're
resurrected to life just like Lazarus was made alive and came
out of that tomb. When he comes to us and and speaks
the Word and makes us to be born again, we are resurrected to
newness of life by Him in our heart, in this new man, in these
bodies of death. And this is the good news He
declares in the heart. And when He speaks this, you
believe it. When He gives you life, He gives
you faith. He said, He that liveth and believeth on Me. And when
He gives life, He gives faith. And he said that this is the
good news that he speaks to you through faith. When he gives
you faith, it brings you to him. This is the good news he declares
to you. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes. We are healed. This is the healing
we need. This is the healing we need.
It's all together. It's being healed all together
so that God can receive us. We could not even pray to God
and God receive us in the holiest of holies and hear us even praying
to Him, except He had made us holy and righteous by Christ
our life. and receive us in Christ our life at His right hand. But
He healed us. That's how real it is. Now, when
Christ has brought a sinner to believe on Him, when He's brought
us to believe on Him, this is the good news. Verse 25, Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life and forever believer. These bodies shall die. They're
the product of Adam. There's a new man created in
you that is the product of Christ. These bodies came from Adam.
And they're going to be what they are till we die. That's
why we're going to die. Because our body is sin. It's going to die. We're going
to die. It's got to go back to the dust. It's going to die. But listen, he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. The body must die. It's the product of Adam. But
the new man that Christ has created, the new spirit Christ has put
in his people, that spirit goes to be with the Lord immediately
when we draw our last breath. Just like he came to that tomb
and he said, Lazarus come forth, he will come to his child and
speak to your spirit and call your spirit out of your body.
You ever seen it? I've seen the spirit go out of
somebody's body. That body is good for nothing. It just becomes still as a stone
and dead as a hammer. But Christ comes and he speaks
and he calls that spirit he's made out of his child and he
calls us to glory with him. He that believes on Christ, though
his body were dead, yet shall he live. Christ told the repentant
believing thief on the cross, he said, today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. Today. That new man is righteous
and holy. There is no sin, so there is
no death. It can't be killed. The new man
that He's created in you can't die. Why? He's righteous and
holy and there is no sin. Because Christ has made that
new man. He can't die. Nothing's got to
be done to the spirit, nothing's got to be altered, nothing's
got to be modified. There is in you right now, believer,
a new man, righteous and holy by Christ, united with Christ. inseparably united with Christ.
And we're going to go to be with the Lord in spirit immediately
when we die. Now, the believer's body only
sleeps in the grave. Only sleeps in the grave. That's
why the Lord said back up there in verse 11, Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. Isn't that a good word? Our Lord
said, our friend. You have a friend that sticks
closer than a brother. the Lord Jesus Christ. And every
believer is not only his friend, they're our friend. He said,
our friend sleepeth. He sleepeth. But I go that I
may awake him out of sleep. And he made sure we understood
now. He wasn't talking about sleeping like we sleep at night.
He said, Lazarus is dead. He waited four days so that we
know Lazarus was dead. But his body was only sleeping. He sleepeth. He sleepeth. Down in South Arkansas in a little
country cemetery, out in the middle of nowhere, my grandfather's
gravestone has one word on it, waiting. That's all it says,
waiting. The body is just waiting. It
sleeps. We go to be with the Lord immediately,
the body just sleeps, waiting. But when Christ returns, by His
Word, by Him speaking, He's going to say, come forth! And just
like Lazarus came out of that grave, our bodies are going to
come out of the grave and our spirit and our bodies are going
to be reunited. And we're going to be an entirely
new man, entirely created of our Lord Jesus Christ. The entire
creation of Christ, beginning to end, done by Him. Created
by Him. All of Him. That's what He means
when He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Go over to 1 Corinthians
15. In verse 45, He says, and so it
is written, the first man, Adam, was a living soul. The last,
Adam, a quickening spirit. Look at verse 47. The first man
is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. Verse 49, as we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption." He's telling you what we are
in our body. Corruption. Corruption can't
inherit glory. It's got to be made incorruptible.
Just like, isn't that what the new man is? He said, the hidden
man of the heart which is not corruptible. Well, our bodies
have got to be made incorruptible too. How is that going to be? Verse 51, Behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Not all
the bodies of His saints shall sleep in the grave. Some of His
saints shall be alive when our Lord returns. We are not going
to all sleep. Not all our bodies will sleep
in the grave, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. Now here's why we get sick, here's
why we die, but here's why that grave won't hold one of his people.
Here's why he said, but though you were dead, you shall not
die, you shall live. Here's why. O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. That's why these bodies are going
to die. But you know why they can't stay there? The sting of
death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. but thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He honored and
fulfilled the law for his people, put away all our sin, and there's
no death where that's the case. He is the resurrection and He
is the life. Psalm 98 says, O sing unto the
Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right
hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. He has given
us the victory. The gift of eternal life is all
by grace. It's the gift of God. It's entirely
of grace. And it's only through Jesus Christ
our Lord. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a gift. It's all of grace. Now let me
end by turning your attention back to verse 26. Just a moment.
After declaring He is the resurrection and the life, by whom the believer
shall never die, here is our Lord's question to you and me. Here is the question. He asked
this question to Martha, and this is a good question for us
to answer. Believest thou this? Believest thou this? She said
to Him, Yes, Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the Son
of God, which hath come into the world. Now I want you to
get this. Be sure to get this. There was a man named Hezekiah.
And by God's grace, and it was by God's grace, the Lord was
pleased to send Hezekiah sickness. That was God's grace to Hezekiah.
He sent him sickness. And God sent word to Hezekiah
by His messenger. Somebody somewhere tonight is
probably sick. Maybe they will hear this message. He sent his messenger and he
declared to him to put his house in order because he would die
and not live. The Lord knew Hezekiah would
not die right then. The Lord has appointed the day
that all his people are going to die. when Hezekiah would die. But what he said to Hezekiah
was, so put your house in order for you shall die and not live. And that sold me and you and
all of us. Well, how's a man going to put
his house in order? God brought Hezekiah to cast
himself on the mercy of God. He cast himself on the mercy
of God. He believed on Christ. And God sent that sickness to
Hezekiah for that very purpose. He sent that sickness to Hezekiah
to bring Hezekiah to cry out to God to save him. cast all his care into the hand
of the Lord. That's why he gave him sickness. Look to Christ alone. Believe
on Christ alone. And you know what happened when
Hezekiah turned to the Lord? The Lord declared to him he would
not physically die for ten more years. But now, after those ten
years, Hezekiah Died physically. But he didn't die. He didn't
die. Because Christ is the resurrection
and the life. And though Hezekiah were dead,
yet did he live. And he still lives now. Right
now. Just like Moses died way back
there. Elisha died. And when they were
in that Mount of Transfiguration, you know who they saw with the
Lord? Moses. Elijah. Bodies were sleeping,
but there they were with the Lord. Whenever God gives us sickness
or trouble or anything like that, it's not to go looking to phony
faith healers. It's not to looking for just
life, just physical life for a little while longer. It's to
turn us to Christ. is to bring us to Christ. And
the sickness we need to be made to see that we have is sin. The disease called sin. And there's
only one that heals from that. Christ said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. This is the question. Believest
thou this? Believest thou this? What think
ye of Christ? That's the question. And God
give us grace to answer with Martha. Yes, Lord, I believe
thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come into
the world. God bless His word. Amen. Thanks.