If you would turn with me to
John chapter 11, John chapter 11. While you're turning, let
me say that on this day called Easter Sunday, many will gather
together and celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they'll do so without actually knowing or really much caring
what it means to and for them personally. I'm not going to
spend time this morning telling you how that Easter is a pagan
holiday, and that Estor was a fictitious Greek goddess of spring and fertility,
and that bunnies and eggs are pagan symbols of fertility. But
since the world and most everyone around us has the subject of
resurrection on their minds, I'll use that in a way, once
again, to tell you about Christ and the resurrection of Him and
what He means to a believer. If you look up the word resurrection
in a concordance, you'll find the word to mean, or defined
this way, it means a standing up again. raised to life again,
to rise from the dead. But the real question is, is
how can such a thing be accomplished? That's the issue. How can one
who is dead be raised to life again? How can one who is laid
down in death stand up again? Those of you who attend here
regularly know that we preach that salvation is in a person.
There's no salvation, no resurrection from death unto life apart from
Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the resurrection
and the life. That's what I wanna talk to you
about this morning. Now you're here in John chapter
11. Look at verse 17 with me. Then when Jesus came, he, Christ,
found that he, Lazarus, had laid in the grave four days already. Now, Bethany was nine to Jerusalem,
about 15 furlongs off, that's about two miles. And many of
the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother, Lazarus, who had died. They came to console them. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went out and met him, but Mary sat still
in the house. When I read verse 20 again yesterday,
I rejoiced in the end of that verse. Mary sits still in the
house. What a picture and example she
is to every child of God who has faith. You remember when
Martha was cumbered about with much serving, Mary sat still
at Christ's feet listening to every word. The Lord commended
her and said that she had chosen the good part, that one thing
needful that could never be taken away from her. And here we see
Martha running again with many questions full of concern, doubt,
and worry. But Mary sat still in the house. Lord, help me to sit still in
the house. Lord, help me to sit still at
your feet. With you in control of all things,
there's no need for me to worry, no need for me to fret, be anxious. And child of God, I encourage
you, may God enable you to sit still in Christ your refuge and
rest there in Him. And my prayer is the same for
you who are yet without Christ. Look to Him, rest in Him. Verse 21, then said Martha unto
Jesus, Lord, if thou has been here, my brother had not died.
Now that is very much a true statement. Even though I think
maybe it was said with a little resentment, I don't know. I'm
not going to try to figure or read more into the passage than
what's there. But she knew something about
the Lord Jesus. And more than likely, if the
Lord had been there, he would have not permitted Lazarus to
die. He would have no doubt healed
him of his sickness and spared him from death. But here's what
we really need to understand. That's why Christ wasn't there.
This is why he tarried to come. He tarried that the purpose of
God and God's glory would be magnified in the raising of Lazarus
from the dead. Now I want to quickly here make
some observations of Mary and how she is an accurate type of
many believers who truly believe, but at the same time lack enough
confidence to lay aside their cares by casting them all on
Christ. They don't distrust the Lord
or question the truth of what he says, but it seems as though
that they're puzzled in their mind, wondering, how can this
thing be? I'm guilty of that. How can that
be? And in doing so, they miss the immediate comfort of the
Lord that they would have if they would just simply receive
his word and trust in him. Truly again, Mary chose the good,
the better part by not choosing to run with Martha and by sitting
and resting in Christ in the house. And it's obvious from
the next verse that Martha was a believer. Look at what she
says in verse 22. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. And Jesus said
unto her, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha saith unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. And again, we see here that Martha
believes what the Lord Jesus said, but she concluded that
Lazarus' resurrection would be down the road. It would be in
the end with all the others who had believed and cried. It is
as if Martha put the Lord's word on a shelf when he said, thy
brother shall rise again. And she was thinking this promise
would be fulfilled in the remote future. Did you notice her words
here? She said, I know that he will
rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But a heart
full of faith would have rejoiced, I believe, and said, thank you,
Lord. I'm going to go home and fix dinner, for I know that soon
my brother will be sitting at the table with me. This is true
of every believer. We have no problem believing
God concerning future promises, but it seems as though we refuse
to believe God's present promise of blessing to us. Today, the
Lord has rest, and he has peace, and he has comfort to give you.
Don't let unbelief steal your treasure. Martha makes the Lord's
promise impersonal. The Lord said, thy brother shall
rise again. What a great comfort and how
personal this promise was. But Martha groups Lazarus in
with all the rest of the dead in Christ. And she says, I know
he'll rise at the last day when thousands upon millions shall
also arise. But the Lord Jesus meant that
Lazarus would rise that very day because that's exactly what
happened. Yet notice how lovingly and gracious
Christ dealt with Martha. What a loving, gracious Savior
we have. He didn't grow angry with her. There wasn't a trace of irritation
in his voice. He didn't say, Martha, I'm ashamed
of you that you would have such low thoughts of me. She had endeavored
to honor him when she said, but I know that even now whatsoever
you shall ask of God, he'll give it You she knew Christ to be
a great prophet and that God would hear him But she didn't
grasp the truth of Christ own Personal power as God the Son
to give and to sustain life Friends Jesus Christ is God don't miss
that great truth. He can do anything He can do
it now, he might choose to do it later, but he can do anything
and he can do everything. Our Lord is in the heavens and
whatsoever he hath pleased, that has he done. Whatever pleased
the Lord, that's what he does. He can do anything and everything.
And our Lord here with gentle spirit, He proceeds to teach
Martha the things concerning Himself. He revealed Himself
further to her so that she might have a clearer hope and stronger
faith. And how sweet are the following
words that fell upon her ears. And it's just amazing to think
that Christ had not long before said these words. And I do quote
them from verse 14 and 15. He said to his disciples, Lazarus
is dead. And then he said, and I'm glad.
How could our Lord be glad over such news? Well, if we read on,
we see that he was glad for the sake of his apostles. He was
glad for the sake of Martha and Mary. And friends, he was glad
for the sake of you and I. Verse 15, he said, I'm glad for
your sakes that I was not there to the intent that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us of unto
Him. Now look at verse one, let's
backtrack a little. Now a certain man was sick named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister, Martha.
And in verse three, we read, therefore, his sisters sent unto
him saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And
when Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified
thereby. That's the whole purpose of this
sickness and this death. And Lazarus' death served as
a great manifestation of God's glory. Listen, greater than the
restoration of Lazarus from a sickbed would be the resurrection of
Lazarus from the grave. And these are the words that
the Lord intended to comfort and give confidence and assurance
to Martha and to us. We all are drawing closer to
death. Today, we're one day closer to
the appointment of death and then the judgment. It's appointed
unto man once to die and then the judgment. And we grow closer
to it every day. Every day. That was something
Brother Darwin said to me when he was here last. He said, it's
coming for all of us. Death is. But look at these words
of comfort and confidence to the child of God. Verse 25, Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. And he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Here in this verse,
we see the great claim of Christ. Christ said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He didn't say, I'll make your
resurrection possible. He didn't say, I will give you
life. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. Jesus Christ, the great I am,
is the resurrection and the life. And the gospel of John gives
us seven I am statements that give us great insight to who
he is. In John chapter six, he said,
I am the bread of life. Any man partakes of Christ, he'll
live forever, the bread of life. In John chapter eight, he said,
I am the light of the world. He's that light that shines in
darkness and exposes men's darkness. In John chapter 10, he said,
I am the door of the sheep. He's the only access to God. In John chapter 10, he also said,
as we looked at this morning, I am the good shepherd. I am
the good shepherd. Here in our text, I am the resurrection
and the life. In John 15, Christ said, I am
the way and the truth and the life. And he said, no man cometh
to the father, but by me. And he said, I am the true vine.
And without me, you can do nothing. We cannot resurrect ourselves. We cannot give ourselves life. But Christ, the great I am can. He's the bread that gives and
sustains life. He's the light that shines in
our darkness. He's the door by which we have access to God.
He's the good shepherd that cares for his sheep. He's the way and
the truth and the life. He's the true vine that gives
the fruit of life to dead branches. He is the great I am. He is the resurrection and the
life. Do you see that Christ is all
in all? He's everything. He's all that
we need and He fulfills all that God requires. And each of these
declarations of Christ as I am are a declaration of the absolute
deity of Christ as God. He is God come in human flesh
and He's God. Each of these divine declarations
of I am in the gospel of John echo the divine declaration that
he made to Moses in the burning bush when he said, I am that
I am. And then he just shortened it.
He shortened the name to simply say, I am, I am. In no uncertain terms, Jesus
Christ is fully God and He's fully man. And He must be in
order to save His people from their sin. As God, He cannot
suffer and die. But as the God-man, He did both. Who else but God can raise the
dead? Who else but God can give life? He didn't say, I bring resurrection
and life. He said, I am the resurrection
and life. And that's what I want you to
see. He said, I myself am the resurrection. And when the Lord
Jesus said, I am the resurrection, what he's saying is, is that
he is the only one that can raise the dead. And when he said, I
am the life, he is saying unequivocally that he's the only one who can
justly save sinners from their sin. Christ is the author, the
giver and the maintainer of life. He indicated to Martha and to
us that our resurrection is not something that He only provides
for us. He is our resurrection. We are
resurrected in Him, no other way. And that's what the ordinance
of water baptism represents in pictures, our being buried with
Him and risen with Him. When the Lord declares to be
life, He's telling us that life is not something that He simply
seeks for us and wants us to have. It's something that He
makes possible for us. But that He Himself is our life. Now Mary knew a little about
this, as we said a moment ago. She said, Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died. But now, she's going to
see first hand that Christ himself is the resurrection and the life. You know, she was looking up
to the sky, to heaven for life and gazing down into the depths
of the ground for resurrection, but now she's going to see that
both the resurrection and the life is standing right in front
of her. Many on this day called Easter
Sunday celebrate the resurrection of Christ, but they do so without
knowing the one who is the resurrection. And there are many who are seeking
life today where life cannot be found. There's no celebration
of resurrection and life apart from Christ who is both. Our
Lord said here in verse 26, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this. Do you believe
this? The everlasting destiny of your
soul depends upon it. Do you see the broadness of this
resurrection? Whosoever, whosoever lives and
believes in Christ shall never die. And did you notice here
the order of life and faith? Now you can only believe if you're
alive. One who's dead cannot believe.
One who's dead cannot come to Christ for life. What proof this
is that Christ must first give life before a sinner can believe. Those who are dead and trespasses
in sin cannot believe until they're first given life. That's what
we see in verse 43. It says, and when he, the Lord
Jesus, thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth, and he that was dead came forth. Now when did Lazarus come
forth? Was his coming forth the reason
for his life? Men tell sinners all the time
to come to the front of the church and they'll have life. Not true. Not true. No dead sinner can
move a muscle until he or she first receives life. That's just
good common sense. Christ called to the dead Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead, he was
dead to him. With the call came life. And
he that was dead came forth. Life came before the coming.
And that's how we know that salvation is of the Lord. No dead sinner
can come to Christ until he or she is first given life. And
coming is not the cause of life. Coming is the result of life.
All those who have died spiritually, believing and trusting in Christ
alone for their salvation, shall never die spiritually. Never. And that's what happened
to us in the garden. We died spiritually. Adam died,
Eve died, and we died in Adam, for the scripture says, for in
Adam all died. 1 Corinthians 15, 22. Adam lived
930 years. but he immediately died spiritually
in us and him. And that's what our federal head
and our representative Adam sold us into, spiritual death. But whosoever believeth in him,
Christ told Micodemus, whosoever believeth in Christ shall not
perish, but have everlasting life. I love the simplicity of
the gospel. If Christ is the resurrection
and the life, and I want to live under God, then I've got to have
Christ. That's just such a simple deduction,
is it not? Did he not say, because I live,
you shall live also? Did Paul not write, for ye are
dead and your life is hid with Christ in God? Faith in Christ
is the only way we can have this eternal spiritual life. And look closely as to what our
Lord said again in verse 25. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life and he that believeth in me. He doesn't say he that
loves me. He doesn't say he that serves
me. He doesn't say he that imitates
me. He says, he that believeth in me. He that has faith in me,
and those who do, by the way, will love and serve and imitate
Christ the best that they're able. Why does the Lord continually
make faith to be the only link between Himself and our souls? Because faith is a grace and
it's a gift that ascribes nothing to self and has no operation
apart from Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. Faith is not a work of righteousness
that we do or Paul would not have wrote, not of works, lest
any man should boast. And again, verse 26, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. You know, never is
a long time, isn't it? And again, I have to ask you
the question here that our Lord asked Martha. Do you believe
that? Do you believe that? You know,
it ought to be believed simply by who it is that said it. Oh,
that God might give you and I the same grace to believe and confess
what Martha did. Look what she said in verse 27.
She saith unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world. Oh, that's
only understood by divine revelation. Only Christ can teach you that. There are many who believe that
you can be a child of God today and a child of the devil tomorrow.
No doubt that if I can save myself by a work of righteousness that
I claim to do, then I most certainly can be lost and lose my salvation
by a work of my sin. But I don't stand before the
bar of God's holy justice in a filthy work of my own righteousness. And you better not either. I
stand before the holy court, the holy law, and the holy justice
of God, and the perfect righteousness of God himself. Therefore, I
cannot be lost. Why? Because whosoever believeth
in Christ shall never die. What do I believe? I believe
that Jesus Christ, who is God, was made to be sin for me. I
really believe that. He's the one who knew no sin
and He took my sin and He made it His very own. Why? That I might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh, don't you just love those
two little words, in Him? I love those words. For in Him
we live and we move and have our being. For all the promises
of God in Him are yea and in Him, amen. According as He, God,
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Everything's gonna be all right.
Your Savior is God, and ye are complete in him. Outside of him, you're not complete,
but you're complete in him. How about this one? Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Now let me finish with these
amazing truths. Turn back a few pages to John
chapter 5, if you would. Here we see that the Lord has
already made the claim to be the resurrection and the life.
Look at verse 28. The Lord said, marvel not at
this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice. Now here he's referring to his
own voice. And what a powerful and penetrating
voice it is that would be heard by the dead corpses that they
laid in the grave. Look at verse 29. and shall come
forth. All that are in the grave shall
hear his voice and shall come forth." You know what that is?
That's a resurrection. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation are judgment is what that means.
Now the final resurrection will separate all humanity into two
classes of people. Those who've done good and believed
in Christ. And by the way, that's the only
way that any of us have done any good. The Scripture is clear. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. Christ is our goodness. Christ is our righteousness.
The two classes are those who believe, made perfect in Christ.
They will be raised into the resurrection of life. Did you
notice that? And then there are those that have done evil who
will be raised into the resurrection of damnation and judgment. Here
we see how discriminating this final judgment is. There's gonna
be a resurrection of life to those that are in Christ and
a resurrection of judgment to those who refuse to believe and
trust in Him. And this will all come to pass
by the sovereign voice of the Son of God. Only one who has
sovereign authority could speak these words. Now, look at John
chapter six, verse 39. The Lord Jesus, here speaking,
said, and this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
what? Raise it up again at the last
day. What Christ is saying here is
that before the foundation of the world, in sovereign election,
God gave Christ to people to live for, to die for, to resurrect
for, to return into glory for, and that all these that God gave
him, he will not lose one. Not a one. but raise them up
again at the last day. He'll lose not one of them, he'll
raise them up. Verse 40, and this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth, beholdeth the Son,
the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and
I, me and me alone, he saith. We'll raise him up at the last
day. Now, do you see who the resurrection and the life are?
Do you see? They're Christ. Now we just read
in John chapter five that the Lord will raise all the dead.
Some will be raised unto resurrection of life and the others are gonna
be raised unto damnation and judgment. But here in John chapter
six, verse 40, the Lord is referring to the resurrection unto life. And that life is eternal life.
Which group will you be in? When the believer dies and leaves
this corruptible body, it's placed in the grave. But immediately,
our soul and our spirit goes into the presence of God. To
believers, Paul said that. He said to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. But in the end, when Christ
returns, he's going to give a shout. And his voice is going to raise
the body The bodies of every believer, and at that moment,
their corruptible bodies are going to put on incorruption. And their mortal bodies, the
scripture says, must put on immortality. And they're going to live forever
in a glorified body with the one who loved them and gave himself
for them. Only one reason why. Christ said,
I am the resurrection and the life. O death, where is thy sting? One day I'm going to be able
to stand before God and say, O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Jesus Christ is the resurrection
and the life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by Him. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For Thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.