The Resurrection and the Life

[0:00] I told you last week a little bit about my grandmother and her legacy of faith. On Wednesday, it was a privilege of mine to preside over the graveside portion of her funeral service.

[0:15] And as is my routine in situations like this, as many of you have witnessed me do in the past, I like to read from this particular passage in John 11 and challenge those who are gathered in that moment to focus briefly on what comes after death.

[0:36] Burials in particular, they have a way of forcing us to consider our own mortality. We stood in West Virginia, in Logan County, West Virginia, on Wednesday in the middle of a graveyard and we looked around, thousands and thousands of graves all around us on this hillside in the mountains.

[0:56] And you can't stand there in that moment with a hole in the ground in front of you about to bury someone and not be confronted with the fact that your day is coming.

[1:08] It may have been my grandmother in that box that was buried this week, but each of us are going to have our turn. And we stand there, we look around and we see how death reigns in this life and we can't help but ask certain questions.

[1:23] Is this really all there is? Is this it? We live, we do the best we can, we try to leave a better world than what we came into, which never actually happens, but we try.

[1:38] And then we just die and that's it? Is this really all that there is? Is there any part of us that lives on? And if there is, what is the nature of that existence?

[1:51] That's what moments like that force us to think about and to ask. How does any of this affect the way that we should live now? Is another question that we might ask.

[2:04] These are all important questions. I actually believe that the Bible gives us answers to those questions that are not only intellectually credible, but are actually existentially satisfying, joyful, and hopeful.

[2:24] Unfortunately, it often takes the passing of someone that we love or know for us to think about death and what may come after it. Even as Christians, we have resurrection and life at the very heart of our belief system, of our entire worldview, of all that we believe.

[2:42] At the very heart of it is resurrection and life, and yet we don't often talk about the hope of resurrection, at least not as often as you might think we would. Perhaps even the extent of your thoughts of resurrection and life are limited to moments like that.

[2:59] Maybe funerals, maybe the annual Easter service. But beyond that, we do our best to put it out of our minds, don't we? I want to challenge you to not do that now.

[3:12] That just for a few minutes this morning, that you would consider these things with me. There are promises in this text that Jesus makes that can bring unimaginable hope to those who are trying to sort this out, that are trying to sort out what death is like and if anything actually comes after.

[3:37] There's also fresh encouragement here for believers who are moving ever closer to that day. There's joy to those who are burdened by life, suffering in a fallen world in which we live.

[3:56] So this text, it gives us hope, it gives us encouragement, it gives us joy. And my prayer is that as we work through it together, that the Spirit of God would bring an abundant supply of all three of those things, okay?

[4:13] So that's why we're doing this this morning. First thing I want you to see is a tragic circumstance. A tragic circumstance. Look with me again at verse 17. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

[4:29] 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. Have you ever heard of auto-resuscitation?

[4:43] Those of you who are in the medical community certainly know if you like to watch murder mysteries, you probably know about this as well. Auto-resuscitation is a medical term that refers to a patient who within a few minutes after being declared dead due to cardiac arrest, suddenly shows signs of life.

[5:04] It's a rare phenomenon. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does happen, it's unique. And it would cause you to think that though this person was dead, now they have suddenly been brought back to life.

[5:18] When in reality, they were never truly dead. They're on the line of death, but their reviving is not really the result of a death. But it's just that they haven't died all the way.

[5:29] And unfortunately, when this happens, even this auto-resuscitation, typically the patients that experience this don't live beyond that moment for very long. There's another name that this phenomenon is referred to.

[5:44] It's called the Lazarus effect. And it's called that based on the story that we read in John chapter 11. But what happens to these patients who experience this phenomenon and what happened to Lazarus in John chapter 11 are not at all the same.

[6:03] What we find in John 11 is that by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus and his sisters lived, Lazarus had been dead and entombed for four days.

[6:17] We're not talking about a few minutes after CPR has ended and now suddenly there's signs of life. We're talking about dead, wrapped, buried for four days.

[6:32] His was not a pseudo death. It was an actual death. In fact, Jesus is, if you read earlier in the passage, you'll find that Jesus' delay in coming to Bethany, even after he knew that Lazarus was sick, was for this very purpose.

[6:50] It was to emphasize the fact that Lazarus was actually dead, which is further confirmed by the fact that many of the Jews who had traveled from Jerusalem to comfort Lazarus' sisters, Martha and Mary.

[7:05] So you can imagine with me exactly the way that this works now with our own families. The Jews, they didn't embalm their dead, which would be the reason for a very quick burial or an entombment of Lazarus' body.

[7:17] But for days following that, friends, family, loved ones, sometimes maybe even professional mourners, they make their way to Martha and Mary and they grieve with them over the death of their brother, just like you've experienced before.

[7:33] For days, sometimes weeks, we experience this process of grief. Well, that's exactly what they're going through. And when Jesus arrived, he found his dear friends, many others, mourning as every other family does.

[7:48] They lose a loved one. That's why we say this was a tragic circumstance, a grieving circumstance. The truth is that death is always a tragedy, always.

[8:04] It's always a tragedy that must be mourned by those who understand why it happens. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are surrounding a person's death.

[8:17] It's not the circumstances themselves that dictate the level of tragedy that exists in death. It is the death itself that is tragic. Even when it's expected or even painless, it's still tragic.

[8:31] And the reason for that is that death is an aberration of God's good design in creation.

[8:44] We think of death as a natural part of life. But according to the scripture, death is the most unnatural part of life. And to understand that, we go all the way back to the beginning.

[8:57] Adam and Eve were created to live. They were created to not only live a quantity of life, they were created to live a quality of life.

[9:09] They were to enjoy intimate fellowship with their creator. They were to bear his image. They were to rule over his creation.

[9:20] They were created for life. But God made it clear to them that disobedience would result in death. We find it in Genesis chapter two.

[9:33] The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.

[9:48] For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. We're introduced to death through disobedience. It wasn't that the tree in the midst of the garden had a poisonous fruit.

[10:02] That is not what it was. Everything that God created was good. Very good, he says at the end of creation. It's not that there was a defect in the creation. It was a problem simply because God said, don't eat of this one.

[10:16] Because when you eat of this one, you will be in disobedience to me. And if you disobey, that is the moment that you will be introduced to death. That's our introduction to death.

[10:28] They weren't created for that. It came as a result of their sin. And as a result of Adam and Eve's sin, the Bible tells us that the good world that God created was plunged into fallenness, a state in which death instead of life now reigns.

[10:49] Think about it. There's wonderful beauty in creation, but even the cycles of the seasons are representative of the fact that death reigns. And it is only of God's grace that life continues to be reproduced even through the death that will come in a few moments through the fall season and into winter.

[11:10] God graciously brings life again. But isn't that just a reminder? Death reigns here. Things die. People die. And there's nothing we can do to stop it. Death exists because of sin.

[11:24] And we all die because we're all sinners. There's two aspects of this that the Bible talks about. Two aspects of the reason that sin brings death.

[11:36] First, death continues in this life and in this world because of Adam's original sin. All of humanity is guilty in Adam so that by our very nature, we rebel against God.

[11:54] It's not just our behavior that needs to be redeemed or modified. It is our very nature that has to be redeemed by God for life.

[12:05] This is what the book of Romans tells us. Romans chapter five. Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. So death has spread to all men because all sin.

[12:18] It goes on to say, because of one man's trespass, that being Adam, death reigned through that one man. Again, he says, one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

[12:30] And again, by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So there's this one dynamic where the Bible talks about sin and death, death continuing to reign because of Adam's original sin.

[12:46] But that's not the only way that it talks about it. Second, death continues because sin continues. Though we're all guilty in Adam, each of us bears his or own personal guilt.

[13:07] Because we are sinners in Adam, we all continue in sin of our own volition, of our own choice. Romans three.

[13:19] All have sinned. Every person. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Do you see this? Death reigns because of Adam.

[13:33] Death also reigns because of you. Because of me. Sin always brings it. Death is a tragedy because, that must be mourned because it is the result of our sin against God.

[13:47] It's not just a biological process. It's the ultimate consequence of our sinfulness. It's also our greatest enemy.

[13:59] None of us can overcome it. No matter how clean we eat, no matter how often we exercise, no matter how morally we live, we cannot defeat death.

[14:16] It's inevitable. And it's inevitable because it is God's judgment against sinful creatures. So as Jesus comes to Bethany, as he sees Mary and Martha and those of the Jews from Jerusalem who are mourning the loss of Lazarus, their friend and their brother, the mourning on one hand comes from the fact that they lost someone that they love, but there is a deeper kind of mourning that acknowledges that death reigns and we can't defeat it.

[14:51] So Jesus comes upon this tragic circumstance in Bethany, but it was for this very tragedy that he came into the world to begin with, which brings us to our next point.

[15:05] We see a tragic circumstance, but then second, we see a hopeful exchange, a hopeful exchange. Look at verse 20. 20. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

[15:21] 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.

[15:32] Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. This is a hopeful exchange, isn't it?

[15:45] Lazarus and Martha and Mary, they were dear friends of the Lord Jesus. Martha wastes no time getting to Jesus when she finds that he is nearby. And what is evident in her exchange with Jesus is that she was full of faith.

[16:02] And as a result of her faith, she was given tremendous hope. She found amazing hope in Jesus Christ.

[16:13] Look just a little closer at what she said in verse 21. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

[16:27] You know, living in a text-dominant society has its pros and its cons. And one of the cons is it is so hard sometimes to discern tone and mood and intention when somebody sends you a text message or an email or a letter, right?

[16:48] Sometimes you may be able to make certain assumptions that are generally accurate, but how many of you have ever gotten yourself in a mess because you made certain assumptions about somebody's motives or tones in a text message that weren't true, but it's just hard to figure that out.

[17:01] I think that's what has happened in some places with this particular text. We read on the page what Martha says. We're not told a lot about her tone or the motive behind it.

[17:15] And I think what that has produced in some places is some assumptions that are unhelpful. Some suppose that Martha was rebuking the Lord here, that she believed Jesus should have been there to prevent Lazarus' death.

[17:33] And by not being there, that there was an injustice in Jesus, that there was a problem with his care and his friendship to them, and that as she runs to Jesus when he's nearby, they take this statement by Martha as a complaint, as a rebuke.

[17:47] Lord, if you had been here, this would not have happened to me. We read it with that kind of tone. I'm not persuaded that that's actually what Martha intends to communicate here.

[17:59] I don't think that's what she was doing at all. I don't think she was rebuking the Lord. I think she was finding comfort in the Lord in this moment. I think she was expressing her faith in what Christ would have done had he been in Bethany at the time of Lazarus' death.

[18:17] No doubt she had seen Jesus heal miraculously many, many times before. She knew who he was. She knew what he was capable of. And I think in this moment as she runs to him for comfort, she acknowledges in this moment that Jesus, I know that if you'd been here, he wouldn't be dead.

[18:36] You would have healed him because you're the Christ. You're the son of God. You have the power over sickness. I know you would have done this. I think that's probably what she's saying here. And I think that's further indicated in her second statement.

[18:50] But even though you weren't here then, you're here now, and I know that since you're here now, you're gonna pray and God's gonna do something good here. He's gonna bring something good about this because that's what you do, Jesus.

[19:02] You bring good things. This is a sign of faith. This is comfort. This is hope. Though she was hurting, she knew that Jesus would bring something good through her trial.

[19:16] I don't think she had any idea of what he would do. I don't think she has resurrection in mind here. I think that's pretty clear. But she did believe that he would do something. And how Jesus responded to her was so unbelievable that she completely missed it.

[19:35] Look at verse 23, what Jesus says. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And notice how she responds. She misses it.

[19:45] Notice how she responds. By the way, we probably would have missed it too. She said, yeah, Lord, I know there's a great resurrection coming on the last day and he's gonna be raised then. That's not what Jesus has in mind.

[19:58] Jesus knew what he was there to do. He was there to bring Lazarus back to life in that moment, in front of those people. And in this exchange, as Martha trustingly confessed her hope in Christ, Jesus gave her a hope that she had not even, up to that point, imagined.

[20:21] A physical resurrection was not anywhere on Martha's radar here. But that's what Jesus promised. It's amazing, isn't it? Jesus always brings hope to our distress.

[20:35] And the hope that he brings is often greater than what we ever expect or anticipate or imagine so that when that offer is pronounced, often we miss it.

[20:49] What comfort this would have been to Martha if she had realized in that moment what Jesus was actually saying. No, you will be reunited with Lazarus today. It's amazing, isn't it?

[20:59] It's hopeful. In the context of giving us hope in the face of death, the fact is that many people just believe that Jesus' offer is just too good to be true.

[21:11] We often think that skeptics of Christianity and of our faith always have a whole list of reasons as to why they don't believe. And honestly, that's just not always the case.

[21:21] It's not often the case as much as we might think. I'm convinced that there are many people who just have a hard time believing that something so good could be true.

[21:34] Why? We're immersed in a world where death reigns, where suffering rules, where life is hard, where good news is scarce.

[21:47] And to come across this kind of news, this kind of hopefulness, is hard to believe. Jesus always comes through on his promises, doesn't he?

[21:59] With him alone, there actually is real hope for you. There's real hope, lasting hope for life. But let's think for just a moment about how Martha responded to Jesus' promise.

[22:13] Again, she missed what he meant to say. She would understand it soon enough. But she did acknowledge a theological truth that I think is good for us to remember. Immediate resurrection was not on her mind, but she did believe that there would be a future resurrection in which the souls of believers that have gone on to be with the Lord will be reunited with a body and will be transformed to a glorified body.

[22:41] This was rabbinic teaching. This was common beliefs among the Jews at the time. But it was also what Jesus taught. Think about this from John chapter 5.

[22:54] Jesus says, Now let's pause for just a second.

[23:16] Jesus is speaking of life and resurrection and death here in a spiritual sense. In verse 25, when he says, An hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and will live.

[23:28] He's speaking about spiritual death, that in our sins, as Ephesians 1 says, that we are dead in our trespasses and sin. We're in bondage to sin. We're not dying.

[23:40] We're dead. Jesus is alluding to that here in this passage and he says that it's even here now that as he preaches his gospel, he is bringing dead people to life, spiritually speaking.

[23:55] But then he goes on in the passage and he moves on to a different kind of resurrection. He continues, And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he's the Son of Man.

[24:07] Do not marvel at this. For an hour is coming. Notice he doesn't say at this point and is now here because he's speaking of something different now. He says that an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

[24:25] Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. This was Jesus' teaching too. This is what Martha is referring to.

[24:37] The Bible teaches that one day, all of us, believers and non-believers alike, will be raised from the dead. Our souls will be reunited with a body and we will stand before God in judgment.

[24:53] Those who do not repent and trust Christ will be cast into eternal hell. You can read about that in Revelation chapter 20 verses 13 through 15.

[25:04] But those whom Jesus has saved will be transformed, given a body that will never die again, and they will forever be with the Lord.

[25:17] You can read about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But think about it as a promise from Jesus in John chapter 6. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but I will raise them up on the last day.

[25:41] Now I told you at the beginning, this passage, it contains hope for those who are trying to sort out the reality of death and the possibility of life thereafter. But it also brings encouragement and joy to those of us who have already received Christ as Lord and Savior.

[25:57] Think about what this means. Jesus promises with an amazing hope in John chapter 6 that he will not lose any of us, that no amount of sin in your life, no amount of fallenness in you will ever cause Jesus to say, you know what, I think I'm gonna lose that one because they just haven't met the mark the way that I want them to meet the mark.

[26:17] That will never happen. He will never accidentally leave you behind. He says, all that the Father has given me, I won't lose any of them, but I will, on the last day, raise them up to an embodied eternity with me.

[26:39] This is an amazing hope that we cling to when we acknowledge that death reigns around us. The Christian worldview looks through the pages of the scripture and says, oh, but Jesus has paid the price for my death and he will raise me up and he will not leave me behind.

[26:56] What a glorious hope that is. For it not to be true would mean that either Jesus is incapable of doing it, which we know is not true, because he himself conquered death and his own resurrection.

[27:13] So we know he's capable. He has power over death. Or it means that he is unwilling. But he's the one who came to us. He's the one who promises not to leave one believer behind that belongs to him.

[27:30] Scripture proves that both of those statements are untrue. Jesus is capable. And he is willing. And we cling to that in hope, don't we? It's a hopeful exchange.

[27:44] A wonderful hope that Martha believed was true for her brother, but Jesus had an even greater promise for her to hear, which brings us to the final point of the sermon.

[27:57] A glorious promise. We've seen a tragic circumstance, a hopeful exchange, now a glorious promise. Verse 25. Jesus responds to her.

[28:08] He says, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live.

[28:20] There is life beyond this. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she said, yes, Lord. I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

[28:37] Jesus responded that he would not merely bring about a resurrection, but that he himself is resurrection and life.

[28:50] He is God, the creator. His very essence is resurrection and life. And any hope of experiencing either one of those things can be found only in him.

[29:07] The ESV study Bible has a really helpful note here. It says, resurrection from the dead and genuine eternal life and fellowship with God are so closely tied to Jesus that they are embodied in him and can be found only in relationship to him.

[29:32] Now, the primary issue that we're considering this morning concerns whether death is the ultimate end or if there is something else that follows. It's the primary idea that we're considering from the beginning.

[29:45] Is there any real hope of life after death? And Jesus answers that here with a resounding yes. Yes, there is.

[29:56] And I want you to think carefully about the promise that he makes. Verse 25. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

[30:09] And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. So after declaring that he is, in his very essence, the power of resurrection and life, that he is the giver of it, that he has power over it, he promises that all who believe in him, even though they will face death in this life, will receive the life that he offers.

[30:44] Glorious promise. Is there life after death? Yes. How can you receive it? Jesus says, by trusting me for it.

[30:58] But still, we need to clarify what this belief is and what it isn't. The faith that Jesus speaks of here, it's not merely an intellectual acknowledgement of a set of facts about him.

[31:13] That's not what he means by belief. The best word in our modern English to use to understand this kind of belief is trust. Trust.

[31:25] The one who believes in Christ trusts that God will accept him, not based on personal righteousness, not based on our own goodness, not based on our own morality, or of our goodness outweighing our badness, or of us crossing the grading curve so that those who are more wicked than us maybe will suffer, but since we kind of passed the mark, we will be accepted.

[31:51] Trusting Christ is to acknowledge that God will not accept me because of anything that may be good in me. That God accepts me, justifies me, based on Christ's perfect righteousness.

[32:05] That on the cross, he takes my sin in order that by faith, he may impute his righteousness into me and onto me.

[32:16] That we are not justified by our works, we are justified by his works through faith. Trusting Jesus is to face death.

[32:27] Trusting entirely that Jesus has power over life and that he will indeed grant you that life if you have come to him in repentance and faith.

[32:38] It is to trust Christ enough that you turn away from sin to obedience and that you abandon all other influences, religious or secular, in order to cling to him alone by faith.

[32:53] That's the belief that he means to indicate here. It's not just saying, yes, he lived, he died, he rose, he did the things. It's not just to acknowledge a set of facts about him.

[33:05] It's about trusting him wholly for this life and resurrection. And he promises that whoever will do that, whoever trusts him for eternal life will receive it.

[33:19] Will receive it. But how can we be so sure? How can we be so sure as to trust him? We don't trust the promise because Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

[33:37] That's an amazing miracle. If you just keep reading, maybe this afternoon through John chapter 11, you'll see exactly how that happened and how it unfolded. It's amazing. It's an amazing miracle. We don't trust this promise because he raised Lazarus from the dead.

[33:50] That's not why. We trust this promise because Jesus himself rose from the dead. That's the proof of it. That's the power of it.

[34:06] The miracle with Lazarus was amazing. But it was a means to a more excellent end. Jesus raising Lazarus was a foretaste of his own resurrection and of our future resurrection through him.

[34:26] Our hope is not in what he did for somebody else, but it's in the fact that he proved himself to be the resurrection and the life when he rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion.

[34:38] His resurrection makes all the difference. How can we trust that he actually has power over death? Because death could not hold him.

[34:50] It's Peter's answer in Acts chapter 2. It had no claim on him. Why did it have no claim on him when it has a claim on everybody else? Because he's the sinless son of God. He was not in Adam as we are in Adam.

[35:02] That's the significance of our Christmas celebration. That in the incarnation, he is the son of God. God, a miracle by the Holy Spirit, his incarnation coming into the Virgin Mary.

[35:15] He is not in Adam as we are in Adam and yet he is fully human. He's sinless. Death has no claim on him. So he's not bound by it.

[35:27] We are bound by it. Which means if we're dead in our sins, we need something that is alive or better someone who is alive to raise us. And there's only one who fits the bill.

[35:40] And it's not Lazarus. It's Jesus. As the song says, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone.

[35:55] Because I know he holds the future and life's worth the living. Because I know that he lives. But let me show you from the scripture how our resurrection is guaranteed by his.

[36:10] Paul tells us plainly in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by one man came death, that's Adam, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

[36:27] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. but each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

[36:44] For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed, he says, is death. And then later in the chapter he says, death is swallowed up in victory.

[36:58] Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Paul writes, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[37:16] And on what basis does he provide that victory? His own resurrection from the dead. But notice, finally, Jesus' last statement to Martha.

[37:29] In verse 26 of John 11, after he makes this promise, notice what he says. Do you believe this?

[37:40] Do you believe this? The faith that brings salvation and resurrection and eternal life is personal faith.

[37:53] Personal faith. That doesn't mean that we all get to believe what we want to believe based on our own preferences. That's not what that means. It means that we all must place personal, individual trust in Jesus' death and resurrection to receive the salvation that he offers.

[38:15] You must do that or you will not be saved. no one is saved on account of someone else's faith.

[38:27] No one is redeemed because they were in close proximity to a community of believers. So that salvation does not come through our membership in a church.

[38:39] It doesn't come through our goodness. It doesn't come through belonging to a heritage of a family of Christians. None of that does anything for you except keeps the gospel in front of you perhaps.

[38:53] But you're not saved by it. Each person must personally repent of their sins and confess their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

[39:06] You must do that if you are to be saved. If you are to have this life. You must come to him for it. It's a glorious promise that Jesus makes in the text but it must be actively and personally received by faith.

[39:21] And let me just show you how to do that in case you're wondering. Flip over just quickly in your Bible to Romans chapter 10. It'll be just a few pages over from where you are in John 11.

[39:37] Look at Romans chapter 10 and verse 9. The scripture says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

[39:59] For with the heart one believes and is justified justified by faith not works declared righteous because we believe genuinely in the heart and with the mouth one confesses Christ and is saved.

[40:18] For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. That's a view ahead to a future judgment. You will not be ashamed in the judgment if you believe Christ.

[40:29] For there's no distinction verse 12 between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him. In other words you don't get there a different way based on your culture or your background.

[40:42] That just because you belong to a different demographic or a different culture of a different upbringing that you can get to God a different way. No he says no it doesn't matter if you're Jew or Greek or whatever. He says there's one Lord.

[40:54] It's all through Christ and then he closes it off in verse 13 and he says for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How can I actually trust Christ?

[41:06] Believe in your heart. Repent of your sin. Confess him as Lord and Savior and the promise is that if you do that you will show that he has saved you.

[41:18] He's redeemed you and he's transformed you. It's a work of his grace made evident in your real and personal faith.

[41:30] Let's bring it to a close. Death is a reality that none of us can escape. We've got that. But there is real hope in Jesus Christ.

[41:44] As we say often he lived the life that we were meant to live and died the death that we deserve to die. And he did it out of love for sinners like you and me.

[41:56] He's the resurrection and the life. He's a sure hope for those of you who remain lost in your sin that you're trying to sort all of this out. He is your only hope.

[42:08] hope. And it's a blessed hope. But it's also an incredible joy and encouragement for those of you who have been saved.

[42:20] Maybe you're burdened by death or suffering or whatever's around you. Paul says to the Thessalonians that we are to take these truths of resurrection and we are to encourage one another with such things.

[42:38] Take courage in this and enjoy whoever trusts in him though he die yet shall he live. Do you believe this?

[42:51] Will you believe this? He invites you to and he will forgive you and give you that life today. take