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Morning chapel. Praise the Lord. Praise would you open your Bibles
to the gospel according to John. The gospel according to John. We are going to be reading from
chapter 11. So we are reading the Gospel
of John chapter 11, and this morning we shall pick our reading
from verse 17. So please would you rise as we
read God's word. Here now, the reading of God's
infallible, inerrant, and holy word. So when Jesus came, he
found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now 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. Martha, therefore, when she heard
that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary still sat
in the house. Martha, therefore, said to Jesus,
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give
you." Judah said to her, your brother shall rise again. Martha
said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
on the last day. Judah said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me shall live
even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die. Do you believe this? She said
to him, yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the
Son of God, even he who comes into the world. And when she
had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister,
saying secretly, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she arose
quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into
the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.
The Jews, then who were with her in the house and consoling
her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out,
followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to
weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where
Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus
therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also
weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and
said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come
and see. Jesus wept. And so the Jews were
saying, behold, how he loved him. But some of them said, could
not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind have kept
this man also from dying? Jesus therefore again, being
deep removed within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and
a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased,
said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he
has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, Did I not
say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God? And
so they removed the stone, and Jesus raised his eyes and said,
Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me, and I knew that
thou hearest me always. But because of the people standing
around, I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send
me. And when he had said these things,
he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! He who had died came forth, bound
hand and foot with wrappings and his face wrapped around with
a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him
and let him go. This is God's word. Please be
seated. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
we thank you so much for this portion of God's word. And as
we come together to sit under your feet, O Lord, we ask that
you would give us your spirit, the spirit of the living God,
to guide us and to lead us now so that we are able to understand
these things and to apply them to our lives. Be with us, we
ask, through Christ, O Lord, we pray. Amen. So we are continuing with our
sermon series on the great sayings of our Lord and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. These sayings that have come
to be known to us as the I Am sayings of Jesus Christ. And today, the I Am that we are
looking at is this, I Am the resurrection and the life. The narrative recorded for us
here begins with Lazarus being sick The messenger is sent to
tell Jesus, saying, him whom you love is sick. And Jesus predicts,
or rather promises, that this sickness is not going to end
in death, but that the Son of Man, that Jesus will be glorified,
that God himself will be glorified by this death. In verse 17, where
we began to read this morning, Lazarus has been in the tomb
four days. But when we come to verse 44,
which is where we ended our reading this morning, he's out of the
grave and he's about to be unbound so that he can be up and about. Praise the Lord. So this passage
begins with sickness, then death, but by the end of it, we are
in victory. Lazarus is alive again. And most of us, if not all of
us, fear death. I was reading recently a book
by one American writer called Randy Alcorn. Randy Alcorn has
written so many bestselling books and this one which I was reading
is titled Heaven. And in it he writes about some
two individuals. First he writes about Philip
of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. This man had commissioned
the servant to stand in his presence each day and say, Philip, you
will die. And so this man was just employed
to say that to Philip and would come every day, each morning
and say, Philip, you will die. Philip, you will die. And then
there was this man, Louis XIV, who was the king in France. For
him, he decreed that the word death should not be uttered in
his presence. So here we have somebody who
was not fearing death and the one who was fearing death. So
I don't know which category you belong to this morning. In any
case, where you belong doesn't matter. The truth is Jesus is
the conqueror of death. And so it says in this passage,
Let me read for you these verses again, verses 25 and 26. Jida said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me shall live
even if he dies. and everyone who lives and believes
in me shall not die. Do you believe this? Let me first
give you some two illustrations in the two individuals again
in the Bible that one died, another one did not die. Because if you
see in verse 25, Jesus said, he says, everyone who lives Let
me read that again. I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me shall live
even if he dies. So if you die, you shall live. But then he says in verse 26,
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. So in
the Bible, we have two individuals. One died. He's called Moses,
he died, and the Bible says, according to Deuteronomy 34,
he was buried by God. And then we have somebody in
the Bible who never died. His name is Elijah. And so, what
is interesting is that when we read in the New Testament, we
find that these two individuals, one who had died and the one
who never died, Elijah, all of them on the Mount of Transfiguration
were speaking with Jesus, meaning that the one who died and the
one who never died, they are all alive because Jesus, my friends,
is the resurrection and the life. But I'd like to bring very quickly
to our attention two thoughts from this passage, at least for
me those things which stand out that I would like to share with
you. First, this text presents Jesus to us as the object of
our faith. So remember the reason why Jesus
performs all the signs in the Gospel of John, the signs, the
miracles, the reason why Jesus performs all of these is that
we may believe. Let me remind you some of those
verses again that we read in John chapter 20, verses 30 and
31. He says, many other signs Jesus performed in the presence
of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these
have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
So the reason Jesus has been performing these signs, or these
miracles, if you will, that John loves to call them signs, is
so that we may believe. and so that we may believe in
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Jesus declares
that he is the resurrection and the life, he then asks Martha,
do you believe this? Notice what it says here in verse
21 of our text. Martha therefore said to Jesus,
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give
you. Jidah said to her, your brother
shall rise again. And Martha said to him, I know
that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jidah said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me shall live
even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Do you believe? He doesn't say, do you understand
this? Have you taken time to analyze
this? He said, do you believe? Because
you see, this gospel is supposed to spark faith in our hearts
towards Jesus as the object of our faith. I'm glad that the
answer that Martha gives in verse 27 says, she said to him, yes,
Lord, I have believed. that you are the Christ, the
Son of God, even He who comes into the world. Some have suggested
that even Martha was missing the point here. Maybe that Jesus
was saying, do you believe what I just said now, now that your
brother shall rise again? But she said the answer seems
to be off because she said, yes, I have believed you are the Christ,
the Son of God, who is to come into the world. Regardless of
what you are thinking right now, I think the answer is still good.
She said, yes, I have believed you are the Christ, you are the
anointed one, you are the Messiah, who is to come in this world. And so I like that. We must believe
in Jesus as the object of our faith. In fact, throughout the
scriptures, we find that this is what we are told. This is
not even the first time we are seeing faith being emphasized
in the Gospel of John. For instance, in John 3, verse
16, we know that the Bible says, Romans 10, verses 9 and 10 says, John 1 verse 11 says, he came
to his own. And those who were his own did
not receive him. But as many as did receive him,
even those who believed in his name, he gave them the power
to become children of God. But notice also in verse 42 of
our text what the Bible says. Verse 42, and I knew that you
hearest me always. But because of the people standing
around, I said it, that they may believe that you did send
me. And also, if you read verse 45,
this one we didn't read, but we can read it now to emphasize
the point. It says this, Many therefore
of the Jews who had come to Mary, and beheld what he had done,
believed in him. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So we are to look to Jesus as
our object of faith. There are some groups who say,
OK, we believe in Jehovah, but we do not believe in Jesus. My
friend, we are to believe in Jesus because by believing in
his name, we are given life and life eternal. So the first point
I just wanted to make to you, and I think I have made it, is
that Jesus is the object of our faith. But number two, I want
us to consider that Jesus here is presented to us as the originator
of life. And if you don't like that term,
you can say as the author of life. In verses 23, Jesus said
to Martha, Jesus said, your brother shall rise again. because Jesus is the author of
life. The man had been dead four days
in the tomb. But Jesus comes and he says,
your brother shall rise again. Why? Because the author of life
has arrived. and Lazarus will rise again. In the book of Acts chapter 3
verse 15, Jesus is described as the author of life and the
word author can be translated leader or founder or you can
even say fountain or source. He is the origin, he is the source,
he is the author of life. and he is also not affected by
time. Notice what it says in this passage,
first of all, in verse 21. Martha said, therefore said to
Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. In other words, the human language
is this. Jesus, it's a little bit too
late, because if you had been here, my brother would not have
died, but you see, you just came in a little too late. By the
way, that thought is repeated in verse 32. It says, therefore, when Mary
came, where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying
to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. Too late. But my friends, let
me tell you, Jesus is the author, he is the originator, he is the
source, he is the fountain of life, both physical life and
spiritual life. When he comes, he says, your
brother shall rise again. And like we said, this story
begins with sickness to death, but at the end of it all, we
have life, we have victory, we have success, because the author
of life has come. And so Jesus is also in control,
he's not affected by time, and he's in charge of these things,
because he is the author of life. But let me also say this, number
three, let me say this. Jesus not only is he the object
of our faith and also the author of life, I want you to see that
Jesus here is presented to us as the omnipotent God. And his omnipotent power here
is displayed when we continue to read again Let me begin here in verse 33. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was
deeply moved in spirit and was troubled and said, where have
you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come
and see. Where have you laid him? In Uganda here, when you
say, where have you laid him? People would be suspicious of
you. What do you want to do? But Jesus is about to do something
powerful to the glory of God. And he's demonstrating his omnipotent
power, that he has supernatural power, that he has that divine
power to exercise here. It says, but some of the, in
verse 35 says, Jesus wept. And so the Jews were saying,
behold how he loved him. But some of them said, would
not this man who opened his eyes of him who was blind have kept
this man from dying? There is a Rwanda proverb which
says, I'm just trying to prepare things
to do, I'm about to do something and you are even beginning to
complain. So these people are saying, could
this man who opened the eyes of the blind, could he have not
stopped this man also from dying? But Jesus is coming, he's not
done yet. And so, in the demonstration of his omnipotent power, verse
38, Jesus, therefore again being deeply moved within, came to
the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone
was laying against it. Jesus said, remove the stone. Remove the stone. Martha, the
sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there
will be a stench, for he has been dead four days. Again, this
is human thinking. It is impossible. It is too late.
But Jesus says, remove the stone. And then there is this verse,
verse 40, Jesus said to her, did I not say to you, if you
believe, you will see the glory of God. And so Jesus is here
wanting to display the glory of God. And the aim is so that
people may see the glory of God and may believe in him. And by
believing him might be saved, my friends. Verse 41, And so
they removed the stone, and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father,
I thank thee that thou heardest me, and I knew that thou hearest
me always. But because of the people standing
around, I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send
me. And when he had said these things,
he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And listen to what the Bible
says. He who had died came forth bound hand and foot with wrappings
and his face was wrapped around with the cross. Jesus said to
them, unbind him and let him go. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Unbind him, let him go. So Jesus here, he demonstrates
his omnipotent power. I like what John MacArthur comments
on this verse. He said, Jesus here has too much
power, that if he just said, come forth, it was going to be
the final resurrection. Everybody who had died would
have come. But he limits it and he says, Lazarus, come forth. The rest of you stay where you
are. And so here we see that our Jesus has this omnipotent
power. He has omnipotent power. And
this, I just want also to tell you that what Jesus does here
in resurrecting Lazarus, of course he brings hope, he brings joy
to this family, but the main thing is also he's expecting
his own resurrection. In other words, like he's saying,
I want you to see that resurrection is possible. If Lazarus can rise
again, you should also believe me that when I say I will die
and on the third day rise, it is going to be possible. So he's
also anticipating his own resurrection. By the way, some people in their
zeal to be more God-centered and to make a distinction between
the resurrection of Lazarus and that one of Jesus have even gone
ahead to say that for Lazarus it was not a resurrection, it
was a resuscitation. I object to that because the
context here says, Jesus didn't say, I am the resuscitation.
He said, I am the resurrection and the life. So I call Lazarus'
case also a resurrection, although we know there is a greater resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Of course, Lazarus died again,
Jesus resurrected and he lives forever. But at least from the
context we see, it was also a resurrection. I want to say that this is also
a demonstration of how he provides both physical and, more importantly,
spiritual life. So let me close with this. You
see, from a spiritual standpoint, all of us here present, we are
all Lazaruses, if I can use that language. We are all dead men
and dead women. Actually, I was... I was teaching
my class recently, and I said to the class that the moment
we are born, we begin to die. And I said, why are we even?
I gave an example of myself. I said, you guys, why do you
think I'm using my glasses? It's because I'm beginning to
die. And one of the students said,
you are dead. Anyway, the point here that I
want to make is this. is this, that from the spiritual
standpoint we are all dead. At least the Bible says before
we come to Christ we are all dead in our sins. It is only
after Christ calls us from our deadness, like He called Lazarus,
that we gain spiritual life. And so we need to put our trust.
We need to cling to Jesus. So we need to rejoice in our
sorrows. We need to look to Jesus and
believe in Him. In our sadness, in our moments of sadness, in
our challenges, in every situation, even in times of joy and happiness,
we are to look to Jesus Christ, who is the object of our faith,
and who is the author of life and who has omnipotent power
as our omnipotent God. So may God bless you and may
God keep you even as we ponder these things more. Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we are so thankful for who you are. You are our God. You are the
author of both physical and spiritual life. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for the word of God that calls us every day to put our
trust in Christ so that we may have life in him. May your name
now be praised. May it be glorified in our midst
from this time forth and forevermore. Amen.
Consider Your View of Death
Series ABU Chapel
Rev. Deus Byebiroha, School Chaplain, examines our view of death from John 11:17–44.
| Sermon ID | 617241432506712 |
| Duration | 26:17 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | John 11:17-44 |
| Language | English |
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