Easter: I am the Resurrection Peter Lim Good Morning. Happy Easter. It is great to have all of you to worship with us this morning, this ressurrection sunday. The resurrection is mentioned in many places in the NT, it is at the very heart of the Christian faith. Today, we are going to look at what Jesus said about the resurrection. It was in the context of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, miracle. It was the greatest healing that he performed on another person. It was the when Jesus raised lazarus back from the dead. Today, we are going to look at this passage in which Jesus talks very directly about the resurrection. This is in John 11. I have asked Roger, Linda, and to help read the Bible passage today. We have a long but very interesting scripture passage today. 1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, (BOTH SISTERS TOGETHER) Lord, the one you love is sick. 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, (ROGER) This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God s glory so that God s Son may be glorified through it. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, (ROGER) Let us go back to Judea. 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
(MARTHA) 21-22 Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. 23 Jesus said to her, (ROGER) Your brother will rise again. 24 Martha answered, (MARTHA) I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said to her, (ROGER) I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? (MARTHA) 27 Yes, Lord, she replied, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. 28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. (MARTHA) The Teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, (MARY) Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. (ROGER) 34 Where have you laid him? he asked. (PETER) Come and see, Lord, they replied. 35 Jesus wept. (PETER) 36 Then the Jews said, See how he loved him! (PETER) 37 But some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. (ROGER)39 Take away the stone, he said. (MARTHA) But, Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days. 40 Then Jesus said,
(ROGER) Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? 41-42 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, (ROGER) Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, (ROGER) Lazarus, come out! 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, (ROGER) Take off the grave clothes and let him go. This event of the rising of lazarus was the last and greatest of the 7 signs in the Gospel of John. This miracle showed so much about Jesus. Today, we are going to look at what this shows about Jesus. 1. It shows the Good News of Jesus The most important verse is v25: I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Jesus shares the heart of the Gospel right there. The resurrection. The idea of a resurrection implies there is death. Death is something that all people everywhere recognize. A person may not believe in Jesus, he may not believe in God. But ask him about death. That is something every person acknowledges. Death looms over each one of us and casts a huge shadow over all people, cultures. Jesus came to deal with this major problem. Martha comes to Jesus and says, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Jesus says he will rise again. Martha says, I know there is a future resurrection. She believes in the concept. But Jesus makes it personal. He says I am the resurrection. In effect, I am Larazus resurrection. I am your resurrection. I am your sister's Mary's resurrection. He makes it personal, because he is a Messiah that meets you and I in a personal way. The bible says Christ died for our sins. The world knows Christ died. Even secular non-christian
government documents of the 1st century note the death of Jesus. But the last part "for our sins", that is the reason, that is our faith, that makes it apply to us, that makes it personal to you and me. When you go to store and buy, say a pair of shoes, they give you a receipt. Why do they give you a receipt. To prove that shoes have been paid for. So if you were to continue shopping at the store and then you walk out. But then there is a store security person and he stops you. He wants to know: did you paid for those shoes, or are you stealing them? So you show him the receipt. Then he says "all right, you are free to go." The cross and the resurrection is like our receipt. It proves that our sins have been paid for. God has given us our receipt. God does not require a double-payment. Only one payment is required and it is done. Jesus said on the cross: "it is finished" it is paid in full, this payment is sufficient. And in Jesus's resurrection, you are freed to go. You can live the new life in Christ. Jesus says if you believe in him, even if you die, you will live. Then Jesus says you will never die. So what's he talking about? if you die --- and you'll never die? He is talking about 2 aspects of this resurrection. When you die physically, you will not stay dead. You will get a new body. This is unlike the greek religions or the pagan religions or the eastern religions. They believed the physical body was bad. They believed the spirit was the only important thing. But just like Jesus raised the physical body of Lazarus, we will have a body. Larazus eventually died again but our risen body will be an eternal body. It will be without sin, without all the effects of sins. This new body will not decay. We won't have any more of the aches and pains that we experience now. And let me say it will include a new mind. People will mental illnesses will be free from those illnesses. My daughter has had a mental illness all her life. I am looking forward to being with her in heaven when her mind will be completely healed. But there is another aspect of this resurrection. He say we shall never die. It is different than our physical body, but is sort of like it. You can think of it as a spiritual body, it is spiritual life. Jesus changes our heart, gives us a new heart, we begin to love different things, and repond to things differently. He gives us new eyes to see the truth of God's word. A new mind to understand the things of God. A new mouth that rejoices in praising God.
Jesus says I am the resurrection AND--- THE ---LIFE. It is spiritual life that begins through having Jesus's resurrection apply in a personal way to you and me. And it never dies and never ends. This is the good news of Jesus. 2. Secondly, this miracle shows the Uniqueness of Jesus as a Wonderful Counselor Jesus came to two sisters. He came to Martha first, then to Mary. When each of the sisters first saw Jesus, they said "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." They each said the same thing. Compare verese 21 and verse 32. The exact same words. But what was Jesus's response to each of them. To Martha, Jesus enters into a theological discussion, explaining the truth about himself and the resurrection. With Mary, Jesus's response is totally different. There was no theological discussion, no great words of truth. He asks where did they put Lazarus. Then Jesus starts crying. The scripture says he was deeply moved and troubled. And then, the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus Wept". And he just broke down and started balling his eyes out. Here is raw, uncontroled emotion. sorrow and grief. They people around Jesus saw this. In the next verse, the people said "see how he loved him!" Now this is amazing on several levels. First, of all, there are two sisters, the same question or statement from each of them. Jesus gives very different responses to each of them. Jesus know the right way to respond to each people he meets. He is our wonderful counselor. People are all different, even if they are sisters. We know these sisters were different, in another passage, Jesus went to their house and Martha was running around doing stuff in the kitchen while Mary was not. People have different temperments, different personalities, different needs. Here, in today's passage, Jesus gives an explanation to Martha, he gives her the truth about himself. That is what Jesus knew that she needed. That is the way Jesus needed to minister to her in this situation. In fact, Jesus sort of confronts Martha. Some people need to be confronted, corrected, and even challenged with the truth. But about Mary? No great explanation. Just his tears. His compassion. His understanding. His heartfelt emotions, his empathy. Jesus ministered to Mary in that way.
Sometimes, when people are grieving over a sad, hurtful situation, they don't need bible verses quoted to them. Instead they may just need a hug. They may need someone to just hold on to. Romans 12 says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. To Martha, Jesus gave the ministry of his truth. To Mary, he gave the ministry of his tears. Jesus is a wonderful counselor. How is Jesus able to be such a wonderful counselor? This interaction with Martha and Mary also showed Jesus unique Divine-Human nature. To Martha, he gives the revelation about himself and the resurrection. He shows is divine side. This passage has one of the "I AM" sayings in the Gospel of John, showing his divine nature. Along with his divine truth, is also his divine foreknowledge. Jesus knows what's going to happen. He says right when he first heard about Larazus being sick, he says in v.4 This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God s glory so that God s Son may be glorified through it. And he says in v23 "Your brother will rise again". To Mary, Jesus shows his human side. Jesus weeps. Even though he knew what was about to happen, that Lazarus would come back life, he was still overcome with emotion. Christianity is the only faith where God actually comes down to us and involves himself in our suffering. In Hebrews 4: This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do... (paraphrase, New Living Translation) Jesus is the God-Man. That is exactly what we need. He can help us, because he has been in our place, he knows what it is like. But also, because he is not ONLY like us ---- he is God too. It is his unique Divine Human nature that makes Jesus a wonderful counselor 3. Lastly, in this passage, we see the love and power of Jesus. When Jesus first heard the news about Lazarus being sick, he does something unexpected. He does nothing. You would expect him to say, "Quick, Let's go, we need to go heal Larazus." But instead the Scripture says Jesus stayed where he was for 2 more days. Two precious days, while Lazarus is getting sicker and sicker. Huh? I don't get it? Why? Often, like Mary and Martha, we bring our requests, our burdens, our needs to Jesus. And we don't know why sometimes he chooses to act and sometimes there seems to be no answer. No
response. When God doesn't answer your prayers like you expect him to, there is a greater reason. However, we may never get to know that reason, this side of heaven. We may never know for certain why things happen or don't happen, this side of heaven. But one thing we can be certain about. And it is all over in this passage. It is Jesus's love for us. v. 3 "Lord, the one you love is sick. v. 5 Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazaurus. v. 36 "See how he loved him" One thing we can be sure of --- is that Jesus has our best interests in mind. And when our prayers don't get answered as we hoped, we know that it is not because Jesus doesn't love us. Jesus does love us. We see his love all over in this passage. Now in v. 43 it says Jesus called in a loud voice. Other more literal translations it says Jesus cried out in a loud voice. There is a double emphasis of Jesus calling Lazarus back to life. The greek word for called or cried out means to shiek or make a non-human sound, like an animal getting ready to fight. Here Jesus is angry at death and he is ready to fight death. Death was never God's plan for us. I cannot emphasize that enough. God never, never, ever wanted us to have to experience death. Or the death of others. The death of loved ones, a grandfather, a child our ours, a close friend. God never intended for us to have experience the heart-ache, the loss, the loneliness of loved ones being separated from us by death. Some of you know that my first wife died of cancer about 6 years ago. This was before I met Sherry. The day she died, me and our kids were with her on her bed at home. We were hugging her. Then she stopped breathing. Afterwards, sometimes asked God, oh, what could I give to have one more week with her. Or what could I do to have just one more day with her? Death is an enemy, it is no friend. And when Jesus called to Lazarus, he was like an animal, growling ready to fight. He personally knew the heart-brokeness of losing a close friend like lazarus. So Jesus called out and raised Lazarus back to life. This was the final sign or miracle in John, a miracle of a man coming back to life. Here was a foreshadow to his disciples of Jesus's own destiny, a path the he would soon take. Jesus was signing his own death warrant. He knew, for Laz to live, or for anyone to have eternal
life, Jesus himself would have to die. This is the turning point in John's gospel, later in this chapter the religious leaders quickly and earnestly start their planning to kill Jesus. Jesus knew that and went ahead with it. Jesus wanted to conquer death not just for Lazarus but for all of us. He wanted to demonstrate his power over death. Jesus called out to Lazarus. Jesus is calling out to each of us this morning. If you don't know Jesus as your personal savior and Lord this morning, he is calling you. He wants you to have eternal life, where you will have no fear of death. Where you will be part of God's new creation, with a new body and eternal life. Open your heart to him this morning. Maybe you have accepted Christ before. Jesus is calling out to you this morning. When Lazarus came out of the tomb, he was alive but he was wrapped and trapped in the burial grave clothes. Some Christians try to live their Christian life wrapped in dirty, stinky grave clothes. It may be the fithly rags of your own works, of trying to rely on your own righteousness. Are you still trying to live with grave clothes on? Jesus wants you to shed those grave clothes and clothe yourself in the righteousness of Christ. For some of you, Jesus is calling out to you in a different way. Jesus told his disciples to remove the dirty, stinky grave clothes from Lazarus, the trappings of death that still hindered lazarus from being totally free. As Jesus followers, as a church, God wants to use us to help others who have new spiritual life. Only Jesus can give spiritual life. But he wants us to be involved in helping to remove those things that hinder them from being free in Christ. We may have to get our hands dirty. It's not always a easy, clean process when we help new believers or believers with lots of stuff to deal with. But by praying, encouraging them from God's word, keeping in touch with them, we can help the process of removing that trappings of their old life that still hinder them. Jesus calls all of us this morning into a new resurrected life, a deeper life with him. Concl. So this morning, we looked this passage in John chapter 11, when Jesus spoke about his resurrection as he performed this great miracle. This passage shows us 3 things about Jesus 1. The Good news of Jesus 2. The uniqueness of Jesus being a wonderful counselor 3. The love and power of Jesus. If any of you wants me to pray for you and help you better understanding Jesus resurection, please come and speak to me after the service. I would be happy to share with you some more
and to pray for you. Let us pray.