you you. Amen. Amen. Amen. you. You. you you Hmm. Aum. you you. Amen. you you Amen. On behalf of the Myers family, we want to thank you for coming and for your love and your support and your prayers. Just all the mercy and goodness you've sought to show this family. We want to invite you after the service, immediately following, to a luncheon downstairs. We hope you can stay. We want you to stay so that we can share more memories and continue to be encouraged with each other's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to open with a word of prayer this morning, and may the Lord indeed hear us. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, We do ask now, Lord, at the beginning of this service, a service, Lord, where we're praying that you would be with us and that, Lord, you would comfort our hearts and direct us to the gospel, direct us to hope in Jesus Christ. Our Father in Heaven, we certainly want to come today and thank you for Stanley Lee Meyer's life. And Lord, how you blessed so many of us through his life. We thank you, Lord, for his years of service. Many of us here can speak of how he came to our home and did some construction or helped at the church like Gold Avenue and just did so much to serve in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Father, we want to thank you for his life, his faithfulness to his family. What a good dad, good grandpa, good great grandpa, good husband that he was. Father, thank you for his life. So we pray, Lord, that you would be glorified in this service, that you would comfort us, and that we would be found thankful. Our Lord, we pray that you would receive our worship as we've gathered here this morning as well, that indeed, Lord, we would lift up your name in praise. Our Father, we pray that you would open our ears to your word as well during this service, for we believe, Lord, that during times like this, you particularly speak, and so we're anxious to hear your word spoken to us today. Now, Father, we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Congregation will have some scripture reading by some of the grandsons, Ben, Matt, and Nathan are gonna come forward to share some from the word of God. I'll be reading from Grandpa Stanley's Bible. It says on the front that his wife gave this Bible to him in 1991 on his birthday. So a very special Bible that he read from after dinner just about every day, I believe. From Psalm 91. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the follower's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Continuing from verse nine, if you make the Most High your dwelling, even the Lord, who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come to your tent. for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, and you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him. Psalm 86 was by far the one that grandpa had highlighted the most verses in and added the most notes to, and I think several verses in this psalm are quite appropriate, so I'm going to read the whole thing. Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guide my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God. Save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble, I will call to you, for you will answer me. Among the gods, there is none like you, O Lord. No deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord. They will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds. You alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord, my God. With all my heart, I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me. You have delivered me from the depths of the grave. The arrogant are attacking me, O God. A band of ruthless men seeks my life, men without regard for you. But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Turn to me and have mercy on me. Grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. Give me a sign of your goodness that my enemies may see it and be put to shame. For you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me. This is the word of the Lord. It's a good reminder that grandpas should mark up their Bibles. We're going to sing the song, My God, How Wonderful Thou Art, number 328, 328. In thee my sinful child. We're having some of the family come now to share about the life of Stan Myers. David, his son, and then Lauren, Karen, Michael, grandchildren are coming to share. Thank you. Hi, I'm David, the middle boy. In my early years, I remember my dad as always working hard, faithfully going to work each morning at a small construction company. I was in grade school, and I'd wake up just as he was leaving for school. He was a hard worker. Us boys learned a lasting work ethic, work hard and do our best. He encouraged our passions, too. For me, he brought home electric gadgets, electric motors, old radios, and I tinkered with those. He wanted us to go to college. Dad supported our dreams and desires for college and our careers, always encouraging us. We built a house one summer, he and the three of us boys. And we had fun, too. He loved boating. He loved camping. We camped every year for two or three or four weeks in the summer. That was my dad. That was our family. Outside the fun and the summer vacation, something else happened though. It started out as occasional visits when I was in grade school. There was a small inner city church, a chapel it was called, Gold Avenue Chapel. I still remember Easter seasons and Christmas seasons. The Sunday before Easter, the Sunday before Christmas, Dad would wake up and say, we're going to pass out tracks today in the inner city. In the neighborhoods in the inner city where the houses didn't have a boat, they had only one car, some didn't have one of the parents, the kids didn't go to Christian schools. It was those neighborhoods we went to. Because he said we had to, that's why. He loved us and he loved them. I didn't want to go, though, and I'd knock on doors. Some people would answer, some wouldn't. If someone answered, I'd say who I was and that I was from the chapel and describe the chapel and the upcoming services. I never regretted it. At some point, we started attending Gold Avenue full time. The soup suppers, the pancakes, breakfasts also, everything. My dad faithfully taught fifth graders, fourth and fifth graders, I think, every Sunday, year after year. Sometimes I'd join him. My dad would spend time in those inner city houses, doing electrical work, remodeling, plumbing, anything that needed to be done. And in the summer, he would take some of the Sunday school kids to Lake Michigan. I remember the first time I went with him, there was two kids in that car that said they'd never seen Lake Michigan before. It's hard to imagine. Eventually, I went off to college and I moved out of state. My dad's life has taught me not to become too busy that I lose sight of the needs of the needy people around me. He was always seeking opportunities to help. When someone called, he'd never say no, couldn't say no. He's in a better place now. I will miss him, but I will not miss the lessons and the love that he gave us boys. A long time ago, the Apostle Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi a verse, and it applies here. He said, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God was at work in my father's life, and we could see it. Thank you. It was such a blessing from the hand of God to have Stan Myers as my grandfather, but you didn't need to be a grandchild or even a relation to feel his impact. He was always there. If something needed to be done, he did it. He was not a procrastinator. Most of my childhood home was built by him. He was always at our house or my dad's office, putting his carpentry skills into play. When I purchased a trailer for my sailboat, he helped me restore and customize it. Not only was he kind and generous to his own family, but also to those within his Church community. He often helped others with housing projects and more. He was a man of great generosity and integrity. He gave us kids the best childhood. We would spend weeks every summer with him and grandma camping on beautiful Lake Charlevoix. He had all the camping, the beach, fishing, and boating equipment you could imagine. He had gone there so long he was referred to by many as the mayor of the campground. During the school year, him and grandma would wave at our school bus every day as it drove by. Around Halloween, he would wear a mask while waving, which was very embarrassing, to say the least. One time, he was even on the roof when he was waving. He could tell stories for hours, many of which I have recorded and are now more precious than ever. He was full of wisdom and insight. He knew so much about so many things. And let's not forget about his shenanigans and sense of humor. One of his jokes was, at a four-way stop, the oldest car has the right-of-way. Most importantly, he was a man of faith, always invested in the studying of the word and other theological books. He spent years ministering to children at Gold Avenue. As much as he loved camping up north, he loved God more. During his time as a Sunday school teacher, He always made sure to be back at Gold Avenue on Sundays, because had the children seen him miss church, he was afraid it would impact them into believing church was not important. By God's grace, I will impress upon my children what he taught me. I miss him so much already, but I know I will see him again. Christ has conquered the grave, and death has lost its sting. Hi, I'm Kara. I picked out a Bible verse that reminded me of my grandfather. It's Colossians 3, 12. It says, as God's chosen, holy, and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and all of these virtues put on love. I'm thankful for my grandpa's legacy of loving and serving others. He lived a life turned outward towards others, and I will strive to live as he did. I'm Michael. Along with his cheerful and generous spirit, I will remember Grandpa Myers for his love of the word of God. He was not afraid to honor and defend God's word, even at significant cost to himself, for he feared God rather than men. Grandpa had these verses from 2 Timothy 4 highlighted in his Bible. The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. Written in the margins next to these verses, Stan wrote the words, a comfort to me. In his last days, when his strength was failing, Stan was comforted by this promise. Last Sunday, Stan completed his earthly pilgrimage. His fight ended in victory. His race led to glory. Now his faith is his sight, and Grandpa Myers is looking upon his savior, forever giving thanks to him, crowned with that crown of righteousness that the Lord promised him. ♪ In heaven ♪ ♪ Hallowed be thy name ♪ ♪ Thy kingdom come ♪ ♪ Thy will be done ♪ ♪ On earth as it is in heaven ♪ Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Jenna. Thank you, Elizabeth. I just wondered, as we were listening to the stories, I just kind of wondered how many of you would say today that Stan maybe helped you on a woodworking project or a construction project. Did he ever make any sawdust at your house? Raise your hand if he ever did some of that. Family, you might want to take a peek at How many hands are up in the air? Yeah. So I had one last question. How many of you ever went camping with Stan and Barb? Huh? Yeah. Okay. There it is. Once more. That's awesome. That's wonderful. Let's pray together a minute. Our Father in heaven, we now pray as we turn to the word of God this morning that you would speak to us. Lord, help us to grow in our faith, help us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, help us to trust Lord in you, particularly during times like this. Father, we look to you and thank you for your kindness and goodness to us. In Jesus' name, amen. I invite you to turn with me with the Pew Bible to John chapter 11. We're going to a text that tells about the time Jesus went to a funeral. This is John chapter 11. So here we are at a funeral, joining Martha and Mary and Lazarus and Jesus and others at a funeral. I'm gonna read verses 17 to 28. It's a long chapter, so we'll just focus ourselves on this area of the story. Begin reading at verse 17, this is John 11. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, My brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection. and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who's coming into the world. The word of the Lord to us this morning. This afternoon now from this text. So John 11, it's about the death of Lazarus. Well, hmm, that's not quite right. John 11 is about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Well, hmm, that's not quite right. Both of those events happen in chapter 11, but it's not the key focus. It's not the central teaching that we need to learn from John the Apostle writing by the Holy Spirit. So is John 11 about Jesus teaching his disciples something? Is John 11 about teaching Martha and Mary something? Well, yes, of course. Did you know that there are seven miracles recorded in the book of John? So John like constructs the book around these seven miracles. Now of course that's far less than the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke. They have a lot of miracles that Jesus performs. But John focuses in on seven. Each miracle brings critical insight as to who Jesus Christ is. Not just what he does, but is. So the seven miracles, you're probably wondering, what are they? Well, first of all, there's the turning of water into wine at the marriage feast, right? Remember that one? It was the first one in Cana. Second, the healing of a nobleman's son who was at the point of death. Third, there was the healing of a man at the sheep gate pool. Fourth, the walking on water, right, with Peter. Fifth, the feeding of the 5,000. The sixth miracle is the healing of the man born blind, and then the seventh that we have before us now, the raising of Lazarus. So obviously, John is using each one of these miracles to teach us something critically important about Jesus Christ himself, and about life, and about death. But what's it all about? So John has a reason for bringing us these seven lessons. We find the reason that John assembles these miracles and teaches on these miracles in what I believe to be the key verse in John 20, verse 31. I'll start at verse 30. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. So John admits, I'm not here to cover everything Jesus did. But, verse 31, these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. So this is John's focus in his entire book. He writes then these seven miracles, assembles the story around that, so that we would believe, so that we would know Jesus Christ, who he really truly is. that ultimately we would receive life from Jesus Christ. So every miracle recorded by John, he's seeking to help us, seeking to help us believe and know and receive. Again, the first miracle, Jesus turned water into wine. What's the reason to believe? Well, that Jesus is the creator. The second miracle, healing a nobleman's son. What was the reason to believe? Because Jesus is the healer. The third miracle, heals a man who is an invalid for 38 years on the Sabbath day. What was the reason to believe? Because Jesus is the restorer of life, even on the Sabbath day. The fourth miracle, he feeds the 5,000. What's the reason to believe? Because Jesus is our good shepherd. He cares for our daily needs. The fifth miracle, he walked on the water. Why would I believe in Jesus from that story? Because Jesus is the controller of even the chaotic, raging sea. Is not he in charge of my life at times it seems to be so chaotic? Yes. The sixth miracle, he heals a man born blind. What's the reason to believe? Because Jesus is the light. But now we have before us the seventh miracle, the raising of Lazarus. How does this help us believe? And Jesus gives us the answer here. Because I am, he said, because I am the resurrection and the life. This is the fifth I am statement by Jesus Christ. You know the others. I'm the good shepherd, I'm the gate, you know. But here, he is the I am of the resurrection, he's the I am of life. This means that all Stanley Lee Myers ever needed in life was Jesus Christ. And all Stanley Lee Myers needs now in death is Jesus Christ. And indeed he has him. Indeed he has him. The seventh miracle is the climax, in my opinion, of all the miracles. He's not gonna just create water into wine, he's gonna turn death into life. He's not going to just heal a son who's sick. He's going to raise a friend that's dead. He's not just going to restore incorrupt justice to an invalid. He's going to destroy the corruption of death. He's not going to just satisfy a crowd's stomach and feed another 5,000. He's going to satisfy the need of a man's heart and a man's lungs to come back to life. He's not just going to walk on a storm, on some water. He's going to walk on the horrors of hell itself. He's not just going to give light to some eyeballs. He's going to give light to a soul. I commented that we're joining Jesus and Martha and Mary and all of these at this funeral. Wouldn't you have loved to have been there and just stood at the tomb of Lazarus and seen the power of Jesus Christ at that moment in time? This is the climax miracle. And one day this climax miracle will be reenacted on a much higher level. Worldwide, from every grave, with a loud voice, with the sound of a trumpet, the dead will live to stand before the throne of God. Not just revived, not just resuscitated, not just revitalized, only to die again like Lazarus, but resurrected to never die again. for some to enter eternal life and others to enter eternal horror. But that still is not the central, most important truth taught in this text. There's more to learn from this miracle. So let's listen again to the conversation. Let's enter into the text and try to hear this conversation and struggle along with Martha and Jesus as they talk. We know from the earlier verses that Jesus was informed into the seriousness of his friend's sickness. Jesus knew he was about to die. This was no surprise. He didn't arrive in Bethany and go, he did, he died, what? No, didn't take it by surprise. The other thing we know is that Jesus loved Lazarus, not to mention Martha and Mary. He loved them deeply. So Jesus isn't just going there as kind of a routine pastoral call or something. He's going to see some people that he loves dearly. But we learn that Jesus purposefully stayed away. He purposed to show up late, too late. So how is that a way to show those he loved? His love. So by the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days. Martha and Mary hear of Jesus coming and so Martha runs out of the house where they were assembled in mourning to meet Jesus. The text is very clear, Mary stays behind. Now this is Mary and Martha, but now it's, careful, now it's Martha and Mary. Remember before it was Mary who went out to be with Jesus and sit at his feet, while Martha was in the kitchen working away, and Martha complained, hey, Lord, can't you tell my sister to get in here and help, right? You know the story. But now it's switched. Mary stays behind. Mary stays seated. We'll get to that. But for now, it's Martha. And she's upset. Yet, holding on to a hope that Jesus will use his position with God to ask for a miracle. When Martha gets to Jesus, she says what we will hear in the text three times. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now what tone do you want to put on that? I don't know. I think she's upset. Mary will say it. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. The crowd says it, slightly different words, but the same point. Lord, if you had been here, your friend, your brother, would not have died. So Jesus hears this multiple times. If you'd have been here. Let's pick up on the conversation with Martha in verse 23. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Her theology is really remarkable. She nails it, doesn't she, right? I know something. He will rise again. Yes, Lord, you're right, in the resurrection on the last day, some other day, some other future event. But I didn't want him to die now. I still wanted to be with him now. She is looking to a future event for her hope. Good theology, but she's off just a little bit. And this little bit I think is what's so significant in the whole entire text that you and I have got to get today. But we'll get there, we'll get there. Verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Boy, he puts Martha right on the spot. Do you believe this, that I am the resurrection and the life? This is the fifth time we hear I am in the book of John. I am something. I'm the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this? All those that have died, I'm all that they need, because those that have died in me will live, and those who live now, I'm all that they need, because they will never die. Do you believe this? Wow, what a statement. Verse 27, Jesus said, I'm sorry, verse 27, she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe, and here's what I believe. I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God, who's coming into the world. A good answer. But not the answer to the question, really, if you think and look at it. Because here, Jesus is asking, do you believe that I am the resurrection? Do you believe that I am the life? Jesus is not just an event creator. We call the resurrection. He is the event, is what he's saying here. And if you're like me, you're scratching your head. What did Jesus mean? Why did he put it that way? That I am the resurrection, I am the life. Let's try to pick up a couple of lessons here. Number one, do not look to an event as your final hope. Look to Jesus Christ for your hope. You see the difference? Oh, I'm excited about that event. I know you are too. What an event this is gonna be when all the graves open at the command of Christ. to receive once back their soul into their bodies that have now been glorified and changed. We'll never ever have the problems our bodies have today. Never again will we come to a funeral. Never again will there be death. Oh, I'm looking forward to that event. But Jesus is saying here, be careful. That's close to the mark, but here's the mark. I am the resurrection. I am the life. He's not just the cause of a future event, namely life continuing on. He is the life. He is the one who takes a dead body and creates a new body. We call it the resurrection. He's the one who will sustain this new body with life forever. We call it eternal life. Why, how? Because he is. the resurrection and the life. So I think that's the first lesson. I think that's the central lesson. I think that's the key lesson to the text. But now another lesson, number two. God does not mainly love us in this life by keeping us from suffering or even death. He mainly loves us. And this is hard. Okay, so we'll take this slow here a little bit. We'll kind of soak this in. How does God love us? He mainly loves us by removing our blindness to see his full glory. He mainly loves us by giving us himself and all that he is for us in Jesus. In our prayers, he often waits to come. He often waits to answer. I asked you to raise your hands a few minutes ago, you know, with a couple of questions, but if I asked you this morning, how many of you are waiting for the Lord to answer a particular prayer? I think all of us would raise our hands. In our prayers, he often waits to come, just as he purposefully came late in our timeframe, perfect on time in his timeframe, in this story. There are times he is orchestrating the preparation of a miracle by allowing things to get worse, not better. So don't measure the love of God for you by how much health and wealth and comfort you have. Measure the love of God by how much of his glory he has revealed to you. Measure God's love for you by how much he has suffered for you. Measure God's love for you by how much grace he has moved towards you with. Third lesson, we'll take a look at Mary. I didn't have time to read the whole chapter, so I know this is It's difficult commenting on Mary since we didn't read that portion. So I realize that's a difficulty. The other difficulty I know is I'm about to be a little hard on Mary. So I just want to prepare you with that. I'm going to be a little hard on Mary. I have a reason. I'll share that reason with you at the end. We've come to say Mary and Martha from the previous visit, right? Jesus had at their home and Mary sat at Jesus' feet and Martha worked at the kitchen. Mary had chosen the better part. Jesus said that to her. Mary had chosen the better part while Martha fretted away over the pot roast or something. It was Mary and Martha. Did you notice in the text? Verse 19, it's Martha and Mary now. But this is not Mary and Martha, this is Martha and Mary. This time it is Martha at the feet of Jesus while Mary stays with the dead. Now she doesn't stay there the whole time. If we read the section, you would see that she does indeed later get up and get going and get out by Jesus and fall at his feet. But I'm here to say she arrives late. So because of this, it is Martha that receives the teaching on the glory of God revealed in the nature of Jesus Christ being the resurrection and the life. Mary's gonna have to get it second hand. She coulda got it right from the lips of Jesus. She missed it. So here's the lesson. When Jesus is coming, do not stay with the dead. Go to the life. She should have been at the feet of Jesus, but she wasn't. She stayed back. I further noted in the study of this text that Jesus does not say a word recorded by John to Mary. He never speaks to her in the text. Yes she finally comes but her weeping and complaining and the rest of the crowds weeping and complaining is what distresses Jesus and gives us the shortest verse in the Bible that we learned long time ago in Sunday school, Jesus wept. Why was he crying? And you know, I know that's been looked at from various ways. Certainly, Jesus cried, his friend had died. I get that and I don't have any problem with that, of course. But I think there's a deeper reason. I think it's because Mary was struggling to believe. I think the crowd was struggling to believe. And they were again, ranting with, if you'd have been here on time, this wouldn't have happened. This is your fault. which is often the reaction we have with Jesus when things are going hard. Verse 33 tells us this reply to what Mary says. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. John Piper helped me understand this concept of Jesus weeping, that he was deeply moved in his spirit. So John says this, the word deeply moved is used in verse 33 and again in verse 38, and three times outside this gospel. It's never a word of compassion, but a word of rebuke or warning. as the other greatly troubled word signifies being shaken or agitated. It's the same word for the waters in the pool of Bethsaida being stirred up in John 5, 7. It's the word Jesus will use in John 14, 1. Let not your hearts be troubled, agitated, shaken, upset. And it's the same word Jesus used in John 14 one, as I said, let not your hearts be troubled. It's not a positive emotion. Jesus was shaken and he was upset and he was disturbed. And I believe that's why Jesus is crying in verse 35. The speechless message to Mary was a rebuke for not trusting, not believing. not watching for the glory of God to be displayed through Christ. After all this time, Mary still is struggling to know Jesus. And isn't that true of all of us here today? Aren't we? We get a text like this and we go, what is that? What does that mean? What did Jesus mean by that? And suddenly the word of God is revealing to us that there's something else about Jesus we don't quite understand. So after all this time, Mary still does not know Jesus. This is the predominant reason Jesus weeps, because he wants us to believe. I know I've been hard on Mary. But I'm doing this so that we will all check ourselves a moment this afternoon in terms of where we are at in our position with Jesus. Are we staying behind? Or are we running out to meet him? Running out to meet him with questions to be sure. We're not ones that stay behind. to further complain, to further moan, are we? Are you staying back and missing the glory of Christ? I am so often like Martha, still so much to learn from my Lord, and I'm so often like Mary, still holding back all my trust, my full trust in him. So Jesus will not just cause a resurrection, which indeed he will, Jesus will not just cause us to have eternal life, which indeed he will, but he is the resurrection and the life. And that's the glorious statement here in John 11 for us to grasp and get and understand and find our ultimate hope isn't in an event, not even a place called heaven, but our ultimate hope is in the person of Jesus Christ. Him alone. He is the resurrection and life. He is our hope. He is who we must be joined to by faith so that the event will be our event because we are in Jesus Christ and He is is all of this for us now. Did you notice what Jesus said? Again, I ask you to take a peek. What did He say? He said, I am the resurrection. He didn't say, I will be one day when that event occurs, then I'll be the resurrection. No, no, no, no. He is the resurrection now. Being in Jesus Christ now brings to me all the glory of the resurrection in Christ. I can have such faith, such hope, and know that indeed I too, you too, stand too, will rise from the dead and live upon a new earth in all of its new created glory to be with Jesus. In Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life? Stanley Lee Myers lives with Jesus now in heaven. But just like us, he's waiting, too, for the day when Jesus Christ will return. Except, and this is the part that makes us jealous, He sees the glory of God no longer, as it were, through a veil, but face to face. So let's conclude. Do you remember what John said in John 20? Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you might believe in the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. Did this text help us this morning believe in Jesus? Did this text this morning help us to know better Jesus? Did this text help us with a state that Stan Myers is now in, having just died? Amen. He is now with the one who is the resurrection and the life. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would help us put all our faith and all our hope and all our confidence in Jesus. Father in heaven, thank you for our savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that he is the resurrection and the life. Thank you that by believing in him, we are in him. He who is this resurrection, this one who can take the dead and cause them to come back to life. This is who we are now owned by, bought by Jesus. And so we will be with him forever and ever, for he is not only the resurrection, but he's also indeed the life. So Father in heaven, thank you for this good word to us today. In Jesus name, amen. If you'll turn in your blue psalter once again to number 469, we're going to sing a very appropriate song, By the Sea of Crystal. We'll stand as we sing 469, By the Sea of Crystal. Let's stand together. Yeah. and glory. ♪ Unto God Almighty, Savior of all ♪ ♪ And all men victorious be the praise of God ♪ ♪ The heads of salvation be exalted ♪ Now unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forevermore. Amen. ["Ode to Joy"]