Believest thou this?

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus being the resurrection and the life?

The Bible states that Jesus declares Himself as the resurrection and the life, promising eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 11:25-26). In John 11:25-26, Jesus explicitly states, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.' This profound declaration highlights Jesus' unique identity as both the giver of life and the one who has power over death. When Jesus speaks of Himself as the resurrection, He promises that even those who have died will be resurrected at the last day if they believe in Him. This assurance reinforces the Christian belief in eternal life, where believers will experience a resurrection similar to Christ's own after their physical death, affirming the hope and promise of life beyond the grave.

Q: How do we know the resurrection is true?

The truth of the resurrection is affirmed through Jesus' own resurrection and the testimonies of eyewitnesses found in Scripture (John 11:45). We know the resurrection is true because it is grounded in the historical event of Jesus Christ rising from the dead. After Lazarus’ death, Jesus raised him four days later, showcasing His authority over death as a precursor to His own resurrection. Additionally, many witnesses saw Lazarus alive again, as noted in John 11:45, which led many Jews to believe in Jesus. The resurrection is also a foundational doctrine in Christianity, validated by multiple eyewitness accounts and the miraculous transformation of the disciples, who were emboldened to proclaim the resurrection despite facing persecution.

Q: Why is faith important for Christians?

Faith is essential for Christians as it is the means through which we receive salvation and the assurance of eternal life (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is the cornerstone of the Christian life. Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches that by grace we are saved through faith, underscoring that it is not by our works but through believing in Jesus Christ that we receive eternal life. Jesus states in John 11:26, 'Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,' emphasizing the significance of believing in Him for salvation. Faith also cultivates a personal relationship with Christ, who aids our unbelief and strengthens us in our spiritual journey. Believing in Jesus allows us to trust in His promises and experience the transformative power of His resurrection in our lives.

Q: What does it mean to believe in Jesus?

To believe in Jesus means to trust Him as the Son of God and the source of eternal life, accepting His sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16). Believing in Jesus involves more than intellectual assent; it requires a deep trust in His identity as the Son of God and in His redemptive work on the cross. John 3:16 encapsulates this belief: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' It affirms faith as the means of entering into a saving relationship with Jesus. This belief is accompanied by repentance and a commitment to follow Him, as genuine faith produces a desire to live according to His teachings and to reflect His love in our lives.

Q: How does Jesus demonstrate His power over death?

Jesus demonstrates His power over death through miraculous acts like raising Lazarus and His own resurrection (John 11:43-44). Jesus' power over death is vividly illustrated in John 11 when He raises Lazarus from the dead. After Lazarus had been dead for four days, Jesus commands him to come forth, and Lazarus obeys, showcasing Jesus’ divine authority. This act not only affirms Jesus as the resurrection but also serves as a foretaste of His own resurrection. Additionally, the ultimate demonstration of His power over death is His own resurrection, as documented in the Gospels. This certainty of the resurrection comforts believers in the assurance that death has been defeated for all who believe in Him, highlighting the hope of eternal life in Christ.

Trusting that the Lord will answer our prayers, I'd ask you to turn back to John chapter 11 and reading again verses 25 and 26. The 11th chapter of John, verses 25 and 26. Jesus said unto her, 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. Believest thou this? John chapter 11 verses 25 and 26. 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.

Believest thou this? sometimes perhaps when we are reading the Bible and especially if it's a passage that we know very well then I certainly personally find it easy to forget the the challenge really that there is in contained within the Bible and if we were just to stop a moment and to ask ourselves a couple of questions one is well three questions really why is this recorded Why is this event recorded?

And why was it that Jesus very deliberately chose that Lazarus should first of all die and be dead for four days before he came and then raise him from the dead? If we were to ask ourselves those two questions, it would really come back to that question that there is in our text. Believest thou this? And as we consider these things this morning, may the Lord himself, as we have been singing, may the Lord himself in our hearts help us each to consider whether we believe these things, and specifically whether we believe what Jesus said about himself.

I am the resurrection and the life, and then the consequences that flow from that. May the Lord help us I know I speak from my own experience but we come to chapel don't we and we come to the services and it's something that we do regularly and we can come and get here for eleven o'clock leave at quarter past twelve or whenever it is service finishes come again at half past six come in the week and we can get into the habit of doing it and doing it unthinkingly and so we're not challenged by really what the bible says and forget again i'm speaking not as if I'm any different but we can do it without thinking about it and settle into doing that and then miss the challenge and then miss that really that consideration of the great question really which is why are we here? Why are we here around the Bible today? What have we come in hope of?

And really when Jesus asked this question of But Martha, believest thou this? It is really a question for each of us. I was just thinking, I've just said he asked that question of Martha, but how many people really was Jesus addressing when he asked that question, believest thou this? Well, there are all of those who have read this gospel. Must be millions, mustn't it?

And that's why it was recorded. were those who were present perhaps at the time, the disciples who were with Jesus when he came to the site of the tomb, and then when Martha met him, there were those who witnessed it there, it was a reminder to them as well. Later on, it becomes apparent that it was also a question, I don't know whether they heard it or not, but it was going to be a question really for the Jews that came when Mary was called to the tomb, and she came to the tomb, and the Jews that were with her, really helping her more, they went with her, but they heard then what Jesus said to her, and they also witnessed Lazarus being brought back from the dead. And we read, don't we? We read together in verse 45, many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. So it wasn't just a question to Martha, it is recorded, and it is a question to us.

But Jesus didn't say, believe ye this, which would be in the plural, he said, believest thou this? And it's a question individually, isn't it? So for each one of us here this morning, and any that might be listening online, for each one of us, it's an individual question, not what do my parents believe, not what does my wife or my husband believe, not what does my church believe, what does my pastor believe, but standing by ourselves, as it were, what do I believe? What do I believe? Believest thou this?

As the Lord may help, I want to try and speak a little bit about the faith that we see in this chapter. I think there is much encouragement for us in that, but may the Lord help us to keep this question in mind. I know that there are those among you who can say, yes, as Martha did, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God which had come into the world. And I know that there are those who can say that. I don't know if it's true of each of us. But may the Lord help each of us to consider that question. Believest thou this?

So as the Lord may help, I do later on want to come back to that question of faith and belief. but really my mind has been occupied with the wonder of what the Lord Jesus Christ says in these verses and again I have to confess that they are because I know them well I often read this chapter without really paying attention to them and it isn't until you sort of stop and think about them and pray about them that you begin to realise what depths we can so easily miss at least that's what I find and so as the Lord may help I want to try and speak about the wonder of what Jesus said I am the resurrection I am the life now I want to begin then just really with those words at the beginning of this of what he said he said I am he didn't say within me is the power to bring resurrection or give resurrection within me is the power to give life that would have been true but he said I am at the resurrection and the life and as I thought about that I want to speak about both of them really but as I thought about that I began to realise that we come into the realms where words fail us really I want to just speak about that for a moment that Jesus himself is resurrection and life resurrection means literally it means to stand up again or to rise up again and so it then from that got the came to mean really to come back from the dead which is the really the very specific meaning that we associate it with it now it's it's different isn't it from from life they are obviously connected resurrection is to come back to life but it isn't quite the same there is an overlap but there is there is different and so Jesus He is the resurrection and he is life.

I want to just, for a moment, just think about that. I am the life.

I hadn't, again, so many times we have to say this really, but in the Acts of the Apostles, there's a phrase that I've read many times and never really stopped and thought about. In Acts chapter three, Peter was speaking to the the people of Israel after the lame man had been healed through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in Acts chapter 3, he says, he says, why do you marvel at this? And he says, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, the God that we have been brought up to to understand about to learn about that same God hath glorified his son Jesus and what did they do to Jesus what have we done to Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go but ye denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of Life and killed the Prince of Life For me this really set off a train of thought of thinking how really going right back to how God is the author of life and I don't know if it's the same in your Bible but in my Bible next to Prince of Life there is a note which says author and killed the author of life. If we go back right to the beginning of Genesis and think about that just for a moment how God gave life in so many different ways to so many different things.

There is an awe-inspiring train of thought, really. I thought about chapter two, especially in verse seven. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The breath of life. so without that breath as it were of life given by the author of life the prince of life without that man was as it were just a shape just a creation as it were, an object formed out of the dust of the ground, the earth if you like, but without moving, without having any will of his own, without any ability of his own, without having any creative imagination of his own, without having life. And these things, I think, do perhaps help us to stop and think, what is life? What is your life at the moment? What is my life at the moment?

Because we owe all of that to the Lord. The fact that we can move our bodies, the fact that the senses that the Lord has given to us, we can interact with each other, that we can read the Bible, we can appreciate the wonderful sunshine that the Lord has given to us. Each of us are different, aren't we? We're individuals, we're not machines, we're not artificial. There is that something that is so hard to define within each of us, which is that life, which the Lord has given. And then I was thinking that there are different sorts of lives, aren't there?

Sometimes they're described as lower lives, if you like, and I'm not sure I agree with that, but if you think about a plant, it cannot do anywhere near as many things as a human can do of course it cannot move around in the same way but it's still alive isn't it there is that life within very different from our life but it is still alive we all know when a plant dies if you forget to water it for example as sometimes is the case in our house then you know it's died it's dead it no longer changes it goes brown and so on it doesn't have that life anymore but the Lord God gave that life as well and the Lord and there's many smaller things if you like going into realms that I don't know very much about microorganisms and so on but all forms of life that the Lord has made and there is that thing about them that life that they have that they are alive as you see what I mean about really in one sense running out of the words to really to put it into words or to convey it but it is God that has given this life for us the God who has given this life and he is the author of life he is the prince of life and Jesus said I am the life I am the life in John's gospel in the chapter before the chapter 11 that we are looking at this morning but a little phrase in there How often have I stopped and thought about it? How often have you stopped and thought about it?

John 10 verse 10. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. More abundantly. Have you ever stopped and thought what is that more abundant life that there is in the Lord Jesus? We know about our lives here. Much we don't understand, but we know from our experience a little of what it is to be alive. But have you ever stopped and thought about what it is with the Lord to give that more abundant life? Jesus speaks of it as that eternal life in John chapter 3, those well-known verses. He speaks about eternal life and everlasting life.

But that isn't just a life like this that doesn't end. It is a deeper, a richer, a fuller life. There is more life, as it were. That's really why I mentioned, if you like, those different forms of life that we know. I believe it will be the eternal life that the Lord Jesus gives, that comes through the Lord Jesus. It is far deeper, far richer, more abundant. It is more alive than the lives that we have here. I don't really know how to put that into words. And I believe the Bible gives us just those glimpses of it.

But when Jesus said, I am the life, when he is described as the prince of life, when we read how God breathed life, God is life. God is life. Now, in thinking about that, in connection with our text, Jesus said, I am the life. I'll come back to resurrection, but I am the life. It made me think like this as well. If Jesus is life, if Jesus is the prince of life, if Jesus is life, it made me think more about what it was for him to give that life.

That helps us to understand why Jesus' life could not be taken away from him. Jesus is life. He is the source of life, the author of life, the giver of life, the creator of life, but he is life. and then for him to give that life for his people two things really how bad must have been the debt that had to be paid how dreadful must the debt of our sins that he had to pay for his life he who is life who is the prince of life the author of life how bad must it have been for him to have to give his life I say have to but of course he was willing to do it he did it through love and then how wonderful is that thought of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that he was willing to give that life he who is life he who has eternal life he who bestows this upon his children how deep and wonderful is that love that he was willing to give his life that they might have eternal life i am the resurrection and the life so just i appreciate how um uh really how inadequate these thoughts are as we consider these things really i believe that when we speak about this more abundant life through the lord jesus christ what that really means is i think going back to something even better than it was for Adam and Eve before they sinned. It is that unbroken, unhindered fellowship and union with the Lord Jesus Christ, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, with our sins taken away.

And that, I think when, if the Lord brings us there, that's when we'll know really what life is. Here we have those glimpses of it. There are those times, aren't there, Do taste, I believe that, taste is an inadequate word in many ways, but experience is really what I'm trying to say. We experience in ourselves those times of the presence of the Lord Jesus. And those are glimpses of what life is. But really, that deep, abundant life, it will only be when our sins are taken away and there'll be no hindrances in our union with him.

Jesus said didn't he in John chapter 14 he spoke about really speaking about that life he said that he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him if a man loved me he would keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him that's the lord jesus as it were putting into words that the wonder of what life really is uh ultimate life if you like and it is that untrammeled union with our sins taken away which i think perhaps it's so hard to imagine what it would be with our sins taken away but it is with our sins taken away clothed with the perfect righteousness of the lord jesus christ and then there'll be no hindrance to our union with him the apostle said didn't he to see him face to face So Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

Now, as we look at the other words in these verses, I believe that each of them really relates to a part of what Jesus said. So first of all, he said, I am the resurrection. And I believe then that the words he said in verse 25 after that relate to this. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And then he said, I am the life. And I believe the words in verse 26 relate specifically to that clause. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

So I want to just take those separately, first of all. I am the resurrection. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Now, first of all, that really, I think, brings us back to this account of Lazarus. The miracle that Jesus did here, the sign that Jesus did here, was really a wonderful illustration of what he is saying. I am at the resurrection.

And he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Because Lazarus was very clearly dead, wasn't he? And the Lord, as it were, took pains to make sure that he had been dead four days before he came back so that there could be no accusations that Lazarus was only in a coma, he hadn't been properly dead because it had been less than three days and so on. That was the belief of the Jews, that until someone had been dead for at least three days, they weren't truly dead.

But Jesus took pains, if I can put it that way, to make sure that that was the case. And I know it's often been pointed out, but just to come back to verse six of this, when Jesus had heard, therefore, that he was a sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

There's not really time for much of a digression, but I did just want to digress a little bit here. There's so much encouragement here, isn't there? There are times, I'm sure, in the life of all of us where it seems that there are setbacks. And it seems, especially if we are believers, those setbacks can seem to be so discouraging. Perhaps we've been praying about something and the Lord hasn't answered the prayer in the way that we thought. And perhaps also, We have been praying about something and now it seems too late as well. It seems too late for the answer to be given. And there is, no matter how much perhaps we try to fight against it, there is a sense of disappointment at what the Lord has done. And Jesus here, well to put it another way, sometimes the Lord delays and we can't understand why. And that's what the Lord did here.

I was thinking about that, just going back a stage as well, for Martha and Mary, even before they sent word to the Lord, even before, when Lazarus was ill, and I imagine they quickly realised that he was, it was a serious illness, when Lazarus was ill, why had that come upon them? Why had Lazarus become ill? They knew that Jesus loved Lazarus, why had that come upon him? Why had that sadness? Why were they faced with that sadness?

And again, when we look at it in the context of this chapter, and we can do it with hindsight, we know the outcome, we can see that Lazarus's illness, Lazarus had to become ill for this wonderful truth of Jesus Christ being the resurrection and the life to be illustrated. And so it was these things, these difficulties, these trials, these burdens, these sadnesses, these perplexities, came upon them to God's honour and glory.

Sometimes it is not easy to remember that, is it? And again, I speak from experience, especially when, if you like, we're in the same phase as Martha and Mary. Lazarus hasn't yet been raised from the dead, and it seems that Jesus didn't answer their prayers. It can be very hard in those times to remember that God does everything for his honour and glory and for the good of our souls and that all things work together for good. Now may there be some encouragement perhaps if any perhaps are in that part of the chapter at the moment. Remember the rest of the chapter. Remember that Jesus did this deliberately to illustrate his honour and his glory and to illustrate that he is the resurrection and the life. We're not told, are we, about the emotions that Mary and Martha and Nazareth felt when they were together again. But, in one sense, I don't think we need to.

I'm sure each of us, perhaps with a measure of envy, have looked at them and thought what it must have been to have their brother, a loved one, come back from the grave. But not someone who was elderly, disabled, but someone who was still young. That life to be restored back to him again. And they had to be together again. after they'd lost him.

I think we can probably imagine, can't we, even though the Bible doesn't really address it, what it was. There's a glimpse of that in the next chapter, in some ways I would have quite liked to have carried on reading that, but where we have Mary who took that pound of ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus. And that's, you can see how that love of Jesus that has filled her heart because of what Jesus had done for them, it's still there. and so she took that, that cost the ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus and so we have those glimpses, those hints of what it was and I think our imagination can supply what it must have been the joy that they must have felt but all that came about because Lazarus was ill and because Jesus didn't answer their prayers because Jesus delayed and may that be an encouragement to me as well as to you so Jesus did this to illustrate that I am the resurrection and the life. Now, I am the resurrection. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

I have to be brief, but there are really two ways I wanted to speak about this.

One of them is, first of all, is what encouragement there is to pray for those who, it would seem to us, who are dead in trespasses and sins. because Lazarus was very dead, wasn't he? I love really the way that the Lord Jesus puts this, the encouragement there is, because Lazarus was dead and he could so clearly do nothing to bring himself back to life again. He couldn't even hear the Lord Jesus speak to him, Lazarus come forth, because he was dead. and the miracle was that the lord jesus enabled that dead man to hear his voice and i don't know i can't i don't know the details of that how when the life came back to lazarus i don't think any of us really do but i do know this that the lord jesus could make the dead man hear his voice and there's such encouragement in that isn't there perhaps there are those that might be on your mind that you have been praying about and perhaps you sometimes think nothing seems to touch them nothing seems to move them even when they hear the word of God it doesn't seem to have any effect well we've all been like that haven't we? well perhaps I can can I say that? and I know I have the first 30 years of my life really spent going to chapel but not really remembering or any of it apart from a few times but most of the time just went in one ear and out the other just went over my head as it were and yet this was the gospel this were the words of life this is really preaching about Jesus and it had no effect on me because I was dead and so it's such encouragement to think that those who are dead those who are dead the Lord Jesus can touch and dead in trespasses and sins this is really that description of the power of the Lord Jesus working through the Holy Ghost of the new birth though he were dead though he were dead and then you see that it starts with that deadness but it comes with faith or faith comes He that believeth in me.

So even the dead person can be brought to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if there are those of us who hope that we do know and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have to testify to this, don't we? That it was nothing to do with us, that we didn't have the power, just like Lazarus had no power to bring himself back to life again. But we know that it was through the work of the Holy Ghost, through the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit working, taking the words of the Lord Jesus and they becoming to us life, life, life to hear, life to obey.

And Lazarus didn't come striding out of that grave, he came shuffling out of that grave, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face bound about with a napkin and I do love that. when the Lord begins to work in us he doesn't as it were give us that complete knowledge of theology and of all of the doctrines we come out as it were we may feel almost that that response within us that he has given we may feel how inadequate that is and feel perhaps as it were the least able even if we are a child of God the least able of all of the Lord's people but remember Lazarus dead the Lord gave through the Holy Spirit I believe gave him the power to hear the words of the Lord Jesus he gave him the strength in his limbs and the will to obey that because the Lord didn't force him out of that stone out of that tomb the Lord gave him that desire to obey and the Lord gave him that and then he gave him the ability just to shuffle to shuffle out and then after he'd come out after he had obeyed after he'd come from darkness into the light then the Lord Jesus said loose him and let him go and then he could walk more freely then he could talk again then perhaps he could see again perhaps he couldn't even see when he first came out what a lovely picture that is isn't it of the Lord working in the hearts of unbelievers but those who are his and it's such a marvelous thought isn't it to think that there's no power I was going to say on earth, but there's no power in earth or in heaven or anywhere in existence or that could ever be in existence that can resist that voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am the resurrection. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. I believe perhaps there's many of us who cling to that, though he were dead. And perhaps there might be times when we almost feel to be dead within, perhaps when that If there is that spark of life, it seems to sink very low. We seem to be very cold, very dead.

But come back to this, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ working through the Holy Spirit. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So there is especially then that the Lord Jesus Christ working in us when we are dead in trespasses and sins and giving us all that we need to believe. But then I really wanted to speak about faith and I realise that we are running out of time but he that believeth in me he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live. it is really that power that comes through that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and I hope really I've got those put that into words correctly because it is the power that is in the Lord Jesus Christ but it is through faith through faith in him through trust in him nothing that we have inside ourself but through trust in him wholly that we receive that power to receive that life eternal it is through faith and the Lord gives that faith now I wanted to look at two people really in this chapter that I mentioned in connection with that faith and especially in their relationship with the Lord Jesus I want to start with Doubting Thomas I've deliberately used that nickname.

I don't normally subscribe to it. It feels a bit like throwing stones, really, and I live in a glass house myself. So, I don't like to use it, but it was Thomas, which is called Didymus, and it's spoken of in verse 16, and it was Thomas who was called Didymus, who then said later on, except I shall see, and put my finger in the except I shall see in his hand the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe and we always fasten on that or perhaps often fasten on that and think there's an example of one who was if you like didn't have a strong faith but coming back to this chapter Thomas perhaps he didn't have a strong faith I don't know, again, I don't really want to throw stones, but there's something else about Thomas in this chapter. Yet he loved the Lord. He loved the Lord.

And because Thomas said, when Jesus said that he was going back to Lazarus and putting himself into danger, as the disciples made that claim, didn't they, in verse 8, Master, the Jews of late sought a stone leap, and goest thou thither again. He could go back near to Jerusalem, Bethany was only a couple of miles from Jerusalem, as it tells us in verse 18 if you go back there you're going to put yourself in danger but jesus has said he says again in verse 11 i go that i may awaken him out of sleep and then again in verse 15 nevertheless let us go on to him so this is after the disciples have said you're putting yourself in danger when you go back to jerusalem And then Thomas says, let us also go, that we may die with him. And I believe when Thomas is saying that, that we may die with him, he's saying that we may die with Jesus. And I just wanted to draw your attention to the love that Thomas had for his Lord there.

The love that he had. And he was willing to go with Jesus, even if Jesus were going to his death, at that time, perhaps a little bit like Peter but perhaps not at that time he was willing to go with Jesus even if it should mean that he should die with Jesus even if he was putting his own life in danger to go back to Jerusalem with Jesus let us also go that we may die with him and I found that encouraging thinking about faith now what I mean is this Faith and love are mixed, aren't they? And Thomas clearly had that strong love for the Lord Jesus.

I suspect like us, there were times when it burned more deeply or brightly than others. But this was one of those times, wasn't it, when it was burning brightly. And he was willing to go back to Jesus, to his death. Now later on, later on, he said he could not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. that he is the resurrection he could not believe that unless he would see the evidence for himself but Thomas was a mixture of love and faith and is that not like we are that's what I found encouraging of love faith but also unbelief and is that not like what we are at times Thomas I believe would say with Martha Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come into the world. But that faith, that faith, it did waver, didn't it? It did waver. It was assailed by the devil. It needed the intervention of the Lord to restore it. And are we not the same?

And I think then also of Martha, is the other one in this chapter that I wanted to bring to your attention. She said the words that I've just read out in verse 27, when Jesus said, believest thou this, that was her answer, and I believe it was a wholly sincere answer. Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come into the world. And there are those here who have made that profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, openly saying, as it were, what Martha has said here.

But it doesn't mean that she never had doubts. It does not mean that all she had was faith, and all unbelief was taken away. Because then when we come further on, in verse 39, when Jesus says, take ye away the stone, it's Martha who says, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. And what she was saying was that if you take the stone away, all it's going to do is make it more unpleasant for us. So leave it closed. She was not looking forward, as it were, to what the Lord had told her effectively he was going to do. At that time she had forgotten, it was not in her mind, that what Jesus had said, I am the resurrection and the life. That wasn't in her mind at that time. And yet I would not say she was an unbeliever.

I know that Martha was a believer. But again, I do find that encouraging. Not that we should be, in any way, excuse our unbelief, and I don't want to excuse the unbelief of Martha or of Thomas, but it does not mean that we are reprobate. It does not mean that we have no faith. And may that be an encouragement.

And especially then as we come back to this question, believest thou this? If you think of how Martha answered that question, she said, yea, Lord, I believe. And yet within Martha, there would still be those times when doubts assailed her. And it is the same for us. Yea, Lord, I believe. It is really saying that in faith.

It is, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come into the world. Lord, I believe that thou art the resurrection and the life. But also I believe it is saying, Lord, I believe that Thou hast given me the faith that I do have and that Thou wilt strengthen that faith and that Thou wilt help my unbelief and that I can only rest only on Thee rest on Thee alone that's all I can do so coming back to this question believest Thou this is not something to answer in our own strength is it? it isn't something we answer by ourselves none of us can do that None of us can give that answer by ourselves. Do I believe this? But do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has that power over your soul to quicken it into life, to give you that faith, to maintain that faith, to strengthen that faith, to bring it to perfection, the author and perfecter of our faith? Do you believe that? Not how do you feel at the moment, but do you believe that about the Lord Jesus Christ? Believest thou this?

The time has gone, I must leave it. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever believeth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou, believest I this. Amen.

Believest thou this?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Jesus being the resurrection and the life?

How do we know the resurrection is true?

Why is faith important for Christians?

What does it mean to believe in Jesus?

How does Jesus demonstrate His power over death?

Sermon Transcript

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Believest thou this?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about Jesus being the resurrection and the life?

How do we know the resurrection is true?

Why is faith important for Christians?

What does it mean to believe in Jesus?

How does Jesus demonstrate His power over death?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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