23-0507p Transcript

(0:57) Good evening, everybody. (0:59) So I’m going to be doing a continuation of this morning’s lesson. (1:03) And as you know, we’re in our study of the great I Am, (1:08) and we’ve been looking at Jesus' statement in John, chapter 11, where he says, (1:14) I am the resurrection and the life. (1:18) And have you ever really considered the weight or the, (1:23) pondered the immenseness of that statement Jesus made? (1:28) I am the resurrection and the life.

(1:33) John 11. (1:36) And we’ll be picking up at verse 17. (1:40) For those who may not have been here this morning.

(1:44) It was Yahweh, the second person of the Godhead, the great I Am, our Jesus, (1:49) who took the prophet Ezekiel by the power of the spirit to a valley filled with dry bones (1:59) and asked him, can these dry bones live? (2:04) To which Ezekiel answered, Yahweh, Elohim, you know. (2:10) So in other words, Ezekiel didn’t know, but knew that God knew. (2:14) So Yahweh commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones to come alive.

(2:21) And they obeyed. (2:23) By Yahweh’s powerful word, he resurrected the whole valley of dry bones. (2:32) They came to life before the prophet’s eyes in dramatic style.

(2:39) Dry bones are symbolic of bodies that have died long, long ago. (2:44) There’s no life in them. (2:48) Jesus, in the present time in our story, in John 11, is about to raise Lazarus from the dead.

(2:58) And he had been dead for four days. (3:02) There’s no doubt about the condition of this man. (3:05) Both the daughter of Jairus and the widow of Nain’s son had died the same day that Jesus rose them from the dead.

(3:17) So they weren’t dead very long when Jesus came and gave them life again. (3:24) And skeptics could come up with all kinds of false reasons how they came back to life. (3:31) They could come up with theories of, oh, they were in a deep coma or had a disease that slowed their heart down where they couldn’t even hear the beat.

(3:40) They could say anything to try to discredit this miracle or the miracles that Jesus did. (3:50) But to discredit somebody who’s been dead and in the tomb, in burial club, for four days, they can’t discredit that. (4:03) So one day this same Jesus, the great I am, the great I am the resurrection and the life, on the last great day, the day of judgment, (4:15) will raise the entire population of the world from the beginning of time over 6,000 years ago.

(4:28) Every human life from Adam and Eve all the way up until the newest born person who gets born on the day of Christ’s return (4:41) are going to experience the resurrection. (4:47) How many people is that? This world’s population is what, 6 to 8 billion people? (4:55) Well, can you imagine 6,000 years of continuous being born and dying, being born and dying? (5:04) How many lives? Billions and billions. Could it even be a trillion? (5:11) There are a lot of souls being stored down in Hades.

(5:20) That’s where every soul goes, good and bad, is to the place of disembodied spirits. (5:29) Hades is a Greek name for where the bodies go. (5:33) Sheol is the Hebrew word for where we go when we die in this life.

(5:42) So it must be an awfully large place, unless spirits take up very little space, I don’t know. (5:49) But back to our story, we left off at, just something to ponder by the way, we left off at John chapter 11, verse 17, so I’ll read that. (5:59) So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

(6:04) Again, that was the staying two extra days in Bethany by the Jordan River, (6:10) after having been told by the messengers from Martha that Lazarus was sick to the point of death. (6:18) And then Jesus stayed two more days, and then the two days' travel is four days. (6:24) Verse 18, now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about 15 stadia away, and that was around two miles from Jerusalem, (6:34) and that’s the distance that they consider a Sabbath day’s walk between Jerusalem and Bethany.

(6:46) Verse 19, many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. (6:53) And remember the character of this family, you know, they were pretty much a pillar in their community. (7:02) So it stands to reason a lot of people would be there comforting them.

(7:07) You know, Mary was, Martha was very hospitable with her home, inviting Jesus in, (7:14) and I’m sure he’s not the only one they probably invited in. (7:17) They were good people. (7:21) Verse 20 through 22, (7:23) Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

(7:32) Therefore Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. (7:38) Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. (7:45) We know that Mary had been given credit as being the spiritual one in the family.

(7:52) You know, she chose to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from him while Martha was bustling about preparing for the dinner. (8:02) And then she also served Jesus and did a very loving thing for him in preparing him for burial, Jesus called it, (8:15) when she poured the expensive nard, the perfume, upon his head. (8:22) And so that shows great faith and love in her Savior.

(8:26) She acknowledged that Jesus could have healed him, Martha, if he was there while Lazarus was still sick. (8:37) But here in verse 22, she really shows her faith in Jesus by alluding to that he can even raise those who have been dead for four days. (8:49) Because she said, I know that whatever you ask of God, he’ll do for you.

(8:56) So what else could Jesus do at this point, right? (9:00) So she kind of has an idea of what the Lord is going to do. (9:05) Verse 23 and 24, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. (9:10) Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

(9:16) Now, Jesus used future tense in what he said to Martha, and acknowledges her belief in the future, last great day, the resurrection, believing that is what he meant. (9:30) She said, verse 25 through 27, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. (9:37) He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

(9:41) Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (9:43) Do you believe this? (9:45) She said to him, yes, Lord. (9:47) I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s son, who comes into the world.

(9:53) And here is our I am statement. (9:56) You know, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. (10:00) And by Jesus saying he is the resurrection means that it is by his powerful word, authority, and will that the dead will rise.

(10:10) By Jesus also including and the life indicates that he is the grantor of life, spiritual life. (10:19) His word, which are his teachings, can bring life to the hearer if they believe. (10:25) He is the creator, the author of life.

(10:29) And his word, when believed, can create eternal spiritual life, which will lead us to heaven. (10:37) Remember from our past lessons that in the resurrection, those who believe will have the resurrection of life. (10:45) And those who did evil, to a resurrection of judgment.

(10:50) The resurrection is for two groups of people. (10:54) Just like in Matthew 25, where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. (11:00) That is what the resurrection is going to be like.

(11:03) Those who believe to a resurrection of life. (11:07) Those who didn’t believe and rejected the gospel to a resurrection of judgment. (11:16) But all will rise, the good and the evil.

(11:21) John 5.25-29, we have Jesus saying, (11:26) Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. (11:37) For just as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave the Son also to have life in himself. (11:44) And he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man, in the Christ.

(11:51) Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, (11:59) and shall come forth, those who did the good deeds, to a resurrection of life, (12:04) those who committed evil deeds, to a resurrection of judgment. (12:09) So, Jesus is the creator of physical life, creating mankind. (12:16) The author of spiritual life, to those who believe with his words.

(12:21) And the grantor of spiritual eternal life in heaven. (12:25) And he’s the judge who assigns everyone their final place where they’ll spend eternity. (12:33) Either heaven or hell.

(12:35) Back to Martha. (12:37) Martha had just had, if you notice, a Peter moment of brilliance. (12:43) She confessed that she believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

(12:50) And this is the very same statement Peter made in Matthew 16, 16. (12:55) That Jesus said he would build his church on. (12:59) So Martha is sharp.

She’s a true believer. (13:02) And she’s shining here. (13:06) So, let’s look at verse 28.

(13:08) When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary, (13:13) secretly saying, the teacher is here and is calling for you. (13:18) Martha knew her friend Jesus and knew something big was about to happen. (13:23) So she goes secretly to her sister Mary to bring her to Jesus.

(13:29) Verses 29 through 31. (13:31) When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him. (13:35) Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

(13:40) Then the Jews who were with Mary in the house and were consoling her, (13:45) when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, (13:48) they followed her saying, she’s going to the tomb to weep there. (13:54) So Martha and Mary had a lot of friends and well-wishers on hand comforting them (14:00) at the loss of their brother. (14:02) When Mary followed Martha to where Jesus was, all the visitors tagged along with them.

(14:09) So there is a pretty big crowd that will end up being firsthand eyewitnesses (14:17) to see this miracle that Jesus is about to do. (14:22) Verse 32. (14:23) Therefore, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, (14:27) she fell down at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you would have been here, (14:32) my brother wouldn’t have died.

(14:35) As you can imagine, this was a very emotionally charged moment. (14:43) Mary, as I said this morning, was most likely the younger of sisters (14:47) and perhaps the more emotional one of the two, and just lets it all out at Jesus' feet. (14:54) Mary, too, believed that Jesus could have prevented the passing of Lazarus (15:00) if he were there sooner.

(15:01) So she does have faith in Jesus, knowing that he can do miracles. (15:08) He has God in him. He is God.

(15:11) Notice, though, that the Lord didn’t rebuke them in any way because of any unbelief. (15:18) He knew his friends' hearts and he knew that they were in emotional pain (15:22) and doesn’t say anything that would worsen the way they feel. (15:27) He knew also that they do have faith.

(15:30) They simply didn’t know what he had up his sleeve, so to speak. (15:35) All he wanted to ask was, do you believe? (15:40) And that was more so for the benefit of the crowd, as we’ll see. (15:44) And I believe that Martha knew what was going to happen.

(15:50) Verses 33-37, (15:53) When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping, who came with her, (15:59) he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. (16:03) And he said, Where have you laid him? (16:06) They told him, Lord, come and see. (16:09) Jesus wept.

(16:11) The Jews therefore said, See how much affection he had for him. (16:15) But some of them said, Couldn’t this man who opened the eyes of him who was born blind (16:20) also have kept this man from dying? (16:24) The Lord showed empathy here. (16:27) And empathy is such an important foundational Christian virtue (16:33) because it’s necessary to have that in order to be merciful and compassionate, (16:42) which are fruits of the Spirit that compel us to help others.

(16:48) We have to be able to feel what others feel, (16:51) and that should make us want to do something for somebody who’s in pain. (16:58) And Jesus was feeling his friend’s pain and got caught up, too, in this emotional moment. (17:05) Because when you feel somebody’s pain, you do whatever you can to alleviate the pain they’re in.

(17:11) With Christians, isn’t that the way it is? (17:14) It’s like one person’s hurting from emotional pain and is crying, (17:20) and how easy it is for those around them to start crying, too. (17:25) It’s like dominoes, you know, because we do feel each other’s pain. (17:31) And that’s actually a very lovely quality to have is empathy.

(17:41) So Paul speaks to the truth in this in his letters to the Romans. (17:47) In Romans 12, 15, and 16, he says, (17:50) Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. (17:55) Be of the same mind towards one another.

(17:58) In other words, be involved. (18:03) Feel others' joy and pain and just love each other. (18:09) I mean, that’s the command, isn’t it? (18:11) Isn’t that what Jesus said? (18:13) The whole world will know our love for each other.

(18:19) God has always felt for his people, and he showed empathy towards his people, (18:26) even when they were unrepentant and deep in sin (18:30) and were about to be devastated by Babylon, (18:34) if you remember in the Old Testament. (18:37) In a past lesson I titled, Is There a Balm in Gilead? (18:41) I showed when Yahweh, who is the great physician, the balm of Gilead, (18:46) asked a few rhetorical questions to his people through the prophet Jeremiah. (18:52) In the text, you can plainly see that God aches deeply for his people.

(18:59) In Jeremiah 8, 21 and 22, God, in essence, says, (19:05) For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt, I mourn. (19:11) Dismay has taken hold of me. (19:13) Is there no balm in Gilead? (19:15) Is there no physician there? (19:17) Why isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered? (19:22) That was how the Lord felt for a rebellious people.

(19:26) Here we have a loving and obedient people of God. (19:31) Can you see our Lord being moved to the point of tears here? (19:36) He felt all that pain and emotion. (19:43) Verses 38-41 (19:45) Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb.

(19:50) Now it was a cave and a stone lay against it. (19:54) Jesus said, Take away the stone. (19:57) Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, (20:00) Lord, by this time there is a stench for he has been dead four days.

(20:05) Jesus said to her, Didn’t I tell you that if you believe you will see God’s glory? (20:09) So they took the stone away from the place where the dead man was lying. (20:15) Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you listened to me. (20:22) I know that you always listen to me.

(20:25) But because of the multitude standing around, I said this, (20:29) that they may believe that you sent me. (20:33) There it is. (20:34) This was planned by the Father and executed by our Lord to raise Lazarus.

(20:41) They knew Lazarus and what a great opportunity it would be for him to be able to glorify God (20:52) by raising him from the dead. (20:55) So what Jesus said to Martha and Mary, he was really saying to the crowd about belief. (21:05) He knew they believed, but he said it for the benefit of the crowd, (21:10) even though he might have been looking right at the girls, the sisters.

(21:15) So Mary and Martha already had this faith. (21:17) Martha, again, made the great confession of faith. (21:22) So the Lord said to Martha, didn’t I tell you if you would believe you’d see God’s glory? (21:30) That was for all the Jews that were there weeping with them and the onlookers (21:36) and the curiosity seekers.

(21:39) I mean, when a crowd develops, even a bigger crowd develops (21:43) because they want to see what the crowd’s about. (21:46) So Jesus used the word multitude. (21:50) So there is a huge crowd here now.

(21:58) And Martha was just being Martha and was caught up in details of the situation, (22:04) being concerned about the smell that may be there from a decomposing body. (22:09) That didn’t mean she didn’t believe. (22:12) Her saying to Jesus when she first met him on his way into town said it all.

(22:17) I know that even now God will do what you ask of him. (22:21) So she shows true belief that Jesus could do what he’s about to do. (22:27) And that speaks volumes of Martha who normally gets discredited for being the one, (22:34) Lord, tell Mary to help me.

(22:37) This is true vindication in my eyes. (22:40) Verses 43 and 44. (22:43) When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

(22:48) He who was dead came out bound hand and foot with wrappings, (22:53) and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. (22:56) Jesus said to them, free him and let him go. (23:00) The Lord’s loud voice was heard even in Abraham’s bosom, (23:06) paradise, the site of Hades where God’s believers go.

(23:13) Booming through the chamber hall, Lazarus, come on down. (23:20) And Lazarus got up and was walking like a Hollywood mummy out of the tomb. (23:28) And the Lord did the heavy lifting, calling him from the dead.

(23:33) And he told others to do the peon’s work, move the stone, unwrap him from his burial cloth. (23:42) And all of those in Hades, Abraham’s bosom, where Lazarus was, (23:50) were probably humming this song we sing. (23:53) I’ll be somewhere listening, I’ll be somewhere listening, (23:57) I’ll be somewhere listening for my name.

(24:00) And all of a sudden, Lazarus arrives. (24:06) And Lazarus jumps up and comes out. (24:09) How beautiful, how wonderful, how miraculous.

(24:15) Could you imagine the sheer horror and awe and joy everybody had to have felt. (24:22) That had to have been shocking to see. (24:26) Somebody dead, just popping alive again.

(24:33) Praise God. (24:34) So Lazarus heard his master’s voice and by Christ’s powerful word, (24:39) obeyed and came out of the tomb. (24:43) And everybody was happy.

(24:46) What a moment. (24:48) But wait, there’s more. (24:52) 1145, therefore many Jews who had came to Mary and Martha’s (24:58) and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

(25:01) Bingo, that’s just what the Father and Jesus wanted, (25:06) was to generate belief that he is the Messiah, (25:11) the author of life, the one who is the resurrection and the life. (25:19) And verse 46, but some of them went away to the Pharisees (25:24) and told them the things which Jesus had done. (25:30) The people who did that were despicable.

(25:34) Unfortunately, just as Jesus described in the story of Lazarus and the rich man (25:40) from Luke 16, a different Lazarus by the way, (25:46) there are those who have such hardened hearts (25:50) that even after seeing this amazing miracle, (25:54) they still didn’t believe that he was the Messiah. (25:58) How could that be? (26:00) How could somebody’s heart be so hard? (26:05) Jesus reveals an event in history where two people died. (26:09) One was a poor beggar named Lazarus who believed in God (26:13) and a rich man who had no compassion for Lazarus (26:18) and he lived the life of luxury (26:21) and Lazarus was laid at his gates every day (26:25) and the rich man ignored him.

(26:27) Well, they both died. (26:30) The rich man immediately woke up in flames on the Hades side (26:35) and saw Lazarus gently being put into Abraham’s bosom by angels, comforted. (26:46) And the rich man in torment asked father Abraham whom he saw (26:51) if Lazarus could go back and warn the rich man’s brothers (26:57) about that horrible place of punishment.

(27:02) And of course we all know that Abraham said it was impossible (27:07) for anyone to go back to the living (27:11) and that they had Moses and the law of the prophets, (27:14) law and prophets to warn them (27:18) and said besides that even if they don’t listen to Moses and the law (27:25) they will not believe it if someone comes back from the dead (27:29) and isn’t that what these people are exhibiting right here? (27:37) The rest of this chapter is devoted to how corrupt the leadership of Israel was. (27:43) They acknowledged the miracle and noted that the whole world was starting to believe in him. (27:50) Rather than give glory to God and praise and believe in Jesus as the Christ, (27:58) they plot to take his life and they also plot to take Lazarus' life as well.

(28:09) How low can you go? (28:14) The good news is many people believed in Jesus as the Messiah because of this miracle. (28:21) Jesus proved his statement that he is the resurrection and the life. (28:27) He called out to Lazarus and Lazarus rose from the dead to life again.

(28:33) Like every other human who passes from this life to the next, (28:38) Lazarus is now sleeping waiting for the last great day. (28:43) But I’ll bet when Lazarus was facing death again, it didn’t bother him. (28:50) He knew he was only going to sleep.

(28:54) By showing his followers that he can successfully bring people back from the dead, (29:01) nobody needs to fear the great unknown called death. (29:08) Paul says, oh death, where’s your victory? Where’s your sting? (29:14) Praise be to God for Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life. (29:23) We offer the invitation.

(29:25) If anybody has any need, come forward while we stand and sing.