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This is a sermon based on the passage of Scripture in John 11:1-27.
Written Excerpts:
Introduction:
I can almost envision the look on Martha’s face as she told Jesus that her brother would not have died if Jesus had been there a couple of days earlier. Jesus responds to her heart-felt words by assuring her that her brother would live again – not merely after the future resurrection, but he would live again now.
Have you felt that same sorrow and pain over the circumstances in your family. It might have been the death of a family member like Martha experienced. Or, it might have been some other crisis – abuse, addiction, violence, cutting remarks and a permanent separation… the list goes on and on.
How many of you here today have known the feeling that Martha is expressing in this story? “Lord, if you had been here, my marriage would still be whole; my child or spouse would be healed from disease or addiction; etc.”
I. Death is a reality.
In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens begins with the blunt declaration: “Old Marley was dead.”
I think I might say something similar to describe the situation facing Jesus as he arrives at Bethany
In the spiritual reality every one of us were dead. Lester was dead... You fill in your name.
A. We are dead by nature.
We are born “with our backs toward God.” We are born with a nature that is predisposed to self-centeredness and sin. It is a condition that the Bible tells us we somehow inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve, passed down through each generation. Theologians call it: inherited depravity.
No one has to teach us how to sin; it comes natural. No one has to teach us how to be selfish; it comes natural. Our problem is not lack of opportunity, education or proper environment. Our problem is a defective nature that is contrary to God’s nature.
Not only are we born with a defective spiritual nature, but…
B. We are also dead by choice.
Eph. 2:1 “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
Rom. 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”
We are dead because spiritual death is the consequence of our own decisions and choices to follow the impulses of our sinful nature. We’ve knowingly made deliberate choices to disobey what was right and good. And, according to the message in Romans 6:23, and James 1:15, death is the result.
II. Death is not God’s perfect will, but it serves God’s purposes.
In this story, Jesus states, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe….” He proclaims to them that this event, as tragic and sad as it was, would be an event that would ultimately be used to bring glory to God and create new faith in the hearts of the witnesses. Likewise…
A. Sin and its consequences are not God’s fault, but ours.
It is never correct to say or imply that God tempts us to sin or leads us to sin (James 1:13-15). His Word clearly states that sin is the result of our own willful choice, and death came about as the consequence of sin.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear that death entered the world because of the sin or disobedience of our first parents in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:12). He also states that death has passed upon all humanity because we have all followed in the footsteps of our ancestors and disobeyed the will of God. So, death was not originally God’s design for Adam and Eve and certainly sin and death was not God’s original design for any of us. It is the consequence of every one of us exerting our own will over the will of God for our lives.
However, in spite of all this…
B. God can still be glorified when He intervenes.
In spite of the fact that individuals make choices that lead them down a path of dire consequences, yet Christ is ready and able to turn those circumstances and consequences into opportunities for miracles; opportunities for glorifying God.
How could Jesus be glad about someone’s death? Because He knew that it is an opportunity to display the infinite power of God, for which God’s name would be praised and exalted and glorified.
Sometimes I have heard men at the chemical dependency treatment center where I used to work talk about how they believe it was God’s will for them to go through the experience of addiction so that they would ultimately come to the place of total surrender to His will. I understand what they mean. Even though God would have rather kept them from addiction, yet He is now teaching them lessons they wouldn’t have learned otherwise. It simply illustrates the point that God is still all-powerful and still has the ability to create “beauty from ashes.”
III. Resurrection is both a present and future reality.In the conversation that takes place between Jesus and Martha (vv. 21ff), both of them make reference to the fact that the resurrection is coming in the future, but Jesus wants her to understand that it is also possible now.
A. It is only possible because Jesus is the author of life.
(v. 25) “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
John 1 indicates that Jesus Christ was the agent of creation; and the original author of life. Therefore He can bring life anytime He wills.
B. Resurrection is literal and spiritual.
We obviously do not usually hear about miracles just like this today. Other than those events that are sometimes called “near death experiences,” or “out of body experiences,” we usually do not hear of people literally being brought back to life; especially after 4 days. However, we know by faith that the future resurrection will be a literal reality.
We also certainly know that resurrection from spiritual death is a present reality. The Scriptures often contain language that uses the imagery of resurrection to describe the spiritual new birth.
IV. Resurrection produces major changes.
We can only imagine the changes that literally transpired in the lives of Lazarus and his family and friends.
Spiritually, the same is also true. The Apostle Paul stated like this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
V. Being resurrected has its “dangers” or challenges.
A. Some will always oppose God’s divine work.
John 12:10-11 “But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.”
Any person that has been raised from death to life; sin to salvation; and depravity to righteousness will sooner or later face the opposition of Satan and others who are the enemies of grace.
You would think that everyone ought to be ecstatic about a resurrected life! But, it isn’t always true. The Devil always seems to make sure that there is someone around to oppose anything and everything positive that God is doing in people’s lives.
Even though Satan and others oppose what God is doing…
B. People that have been brought to life will testify anyway.
Their very life is a testimony in itself.
Lazarus was a living breathing testimony even if he didn’t say anything.
Can you imagine his friends going up to Lazarus and saying, “Hey, Laz, what happened man? You’re walking around and breathing and eating and everything.”
Lazarus may reply, "Oh nothing. It's just another normal day," but they can readily see that he is alive.
I believe that the same parallel can be made to the person that has been spiritually resurrected from a life of being dead in sin. When anyone has been truly born again through faith in Jesus Christ, he / she is a “new creature.” “Old things have passed away and behold all things are become new.” (1 Cor. 5:17)
People will immediately notice something is different. As time passes, they will see more and more evidence of the miraculous change that has taken place in the heart of the new Christian.
Conclusion:
This is the predominant message I want to leave with you today. If you have unsaved and wayward loved ones; if you have insurmountable crises in your family or your life; hear the words of Jesus, “He will live again. She will live again. You will live again.” It can happen through the power of the divine Son of God.
Jesus still has the power to resurrect the spiritually dead. He has the power to resolve any crisis. Jesus has the power to raise all of us in the final resurrection to live for ever with Him in glory.
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