And we're looking at the question which is printed on your sheets which were on your chairs at the top there.
! What kind of God gives people hope in the face of death?
That's what we're going to be thinking about over the next few minutes.
It is a really good question, isn't it?
It's maybe a slightly deep and heavy question.
And as we think about the issue of death, I'm aware as well that it's a sensitive subject.
And for many of you, I know that it's been a real struggle, that issue.
But if you'll allow me, I want to make this personal to you today for the next few minutes.
I want to invite you to think about your own death.
What sort of God do you need to give you real hope?
What sort of God reveals himself to us in the Bible?
And can he give us hope as we think about death?
I don't know how you think about your own death, if you think about it at all.
Maybe you're more of an optimist.
Maybe you'd say something like, well, death is just a doorway into another existence.
So it's neither good nor bad.
You just sort of reincarnate into something else or somebody else.
Or maybe you think about death as being just a bit of a non-event, really,
in that we don't have a soul that lives on.
And everything about you, your physical body, your personality, everything that makes you you,
just decomposes into a bunch of molecules.
So death really isn't anything to worry about.
We live and then we die.
That's it.
The novelist Peter Schaeffer wrote more soberingly about his own death.
He said this,
I'm going to die,
and the thought of that dark has for years rotted everything for me.
Maybe Schaeffer's a bit more of a pessimist, isn't he?
But maybe that's more like you.
You're really worried about death, about that issue.
You're really worried about your own death, like Schaeffer.
But the Bible speaks about death like a shadow.
It calls it the shadow of death.
So think of the shadow on the centre court at Wimbledon, if you watch tennis.
Imagine the final at Wimbledon.
And sometimes if the sun is shining, you see a little shadow, don't you, on the court.
It starts off as a little crack of darkness.
And it begins to move over the court.
No one really notices that happening, do they?
But eventually, by the end of the match, both players and the whole of that green grass at centre court is covered under that shadow.
And Schaeffer admits, as he talks about death, that death, just like that shadow, is inevitable.
But it's also horrific.
It's a darkness, he said, that rots his life.
Now, he may be a pessimist, but he admits, doesn't he, that there are actually very few places where we can find real comfort in the thought of death.
Schaeffer didn't have much hope in that quote, did he?
And in reality, I think most people, deep down, agree with him, rather than the we live and die and nothing happens opinion.
Just think of all the effort that goes into avoiding death for as long as physically possible.
We want to distance ourselves from death, don't we?
Because we know instinctively that it's wrong, it's horrific.
So we want to be young, don't we?
Because youth buys us time.
We want to be healthy, because good health buys us time.
We want good lifestyles, because we're told good lifestyles buy us time, don't we?
But eventually, death is like that shadow and it comes upon every one of us.
So the question we've got to ask ourselves, is the question that we're asking today,
who can we turn to, to get us through it?
Who can we trust with our own deaths?
Where can we find real hope?
Now it turns out that Jesus Christ has got a lot to say on the subject of death.
Jesus comes to us in the Bible and he says to you and me, you can trust me with your death.
In fact, he goes on to say, you must trust me.
There is nobody else to trust with your death.
So, if you'd like to take hold of the sheets that are on your seats there,
you've got a section there from John's Gospel.
It's a book that we looked at last week, here on Tuesday.
It's written by one of Jesus' closest followers and friends.
And it's in the New Testament, John's Gospel.
And you've got there a section printed from John chapter 11.
John is an eyewitness to the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
And this is about halfway through his book.
And as we look here, I want us to see three things as to why God,
Jesus shows us a God that we can have hope in, in the face of death.
Firstly, Jesus shows us the kind of God who is indignant towards death.
He's indignant towards death.
He's furious about death.
Now, in this part of John's book, we see that Jesus arrives in the town of two friends.
They're called Mary and Martha.
And it's the funeral of their brother.
The sisters of the dead man, Lazarus, are there with the community.
They're all there.
Emotions are high.
Jesus approaches the corpse.
He approaches the graveside of his friend Lazarus.
Have a look at number 35 there.
Halfway down the page.
We're told that as Jesus comes to the tomb,
Jesus wept.
Now, that's the shortest verse in the whole of the Bible.
It's only two words.
Jesus wept.
And it tells us, doesn't it, that with death, God is reduced to tears.
He feels the pain of death.
He weeps about death.
He feels the fear that we have of it as well.
But you know, his reaction is stronger than just tears, isn't it?
Look a couple of sentences before that to 33.
Just look there.
When Jesus saw her weeping.
And the Jews who'd come with her also weeping.
He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
He was deeply moved in his spirit.
He was greatly troubled.
Now, that is not a kind of sentimental response that Jesus has.
Actually, the words that John uses in the Greek language that he wrote his book in,
mean more like that Jesus snorts with the fury of a war horse.
There.
So, whilst he weeps with grief, as we do, he's absolutely furious with the situation.
Jesus is outraged at death.
He sees the effects that death has in the world.
The effects it has on families.
He sees the weeping there.
And he is indignant.
He's furious about death.
Now, just think about how different Jesus' reaction is to the atheist reaction about death.
One famous atheist said,
In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication,
some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky,
and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice.
The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect
if there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good,
nothing but pitiless indifference.
But Jesus sees death.
And he's furious.
He's indignant with it.
As God becomes a man, he's outraged at this intruder.
Death is not just being unlucky.
It is wrong.
He's indignant with it.
You know, if you're at home,
and you have the dreadful experience of having somebody break in through the kitchen window,
it's not going to give you much hope, is it?
If the person that you live with is someone who politely, politely just lets them ravage through all your things,
smashing stuff up in the kitchen,
there is no hope, is there, in somebody who just says, well, these things happen,
and just shrugs their shoulders and goes back to sleep.
No, I want to live with somebody who gets angry,
who gets up,
gets hold of the baseball bat and turfs them out.
And so Jesus shows us a God who gives us hope because he's indignant towards death.
He doesn't just shrug his shoulders.
Well, we all go there in the end, don't we?
Death is a natural part of life.
Some people get unlucky.
No!
How dare you, he says.
Deeply moved and greatly troubled.
He snorts like a furious horse.
He's indignant towards death.
And that's the sort of person we need, isn't it, with us,
as we face death, isn't it?
Someone who sees death for what it is,
and gives it the reaction it should get.
He's the kind of God who's indignant towards death.
So he says, you can trust me with your death.
So he's indignant towards death.
But the second thing,
Jesus shows us the kind of God
who is defiant towards death.
He's the kind of God who's defiant towards death.
You know, we can be angry at death, can't we?
And we are.
We can be angry at death, we can be furious,
just like Jesus, but it doesn't change anything.
But Jesus, whilst he is angry,
he can go much, much further than that.
So he prays a prayer at the graveside at this funeral.
Just imagine the scene.
Zoom in at number 43, will you?
And when he prayed this prayer,
when he said these things,
he cried out with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come out!
Now I don't know if you've ever been at a funeral
where the name of the deceased person
has been called out during the ceremony.
It's an awkward moment.
It does happen.
People get emotional, don't they, at funerals.
They shout out all sorts of things.
Funerals tend to be places where
inhibitions get lost.
People call out
the name of the dead person.
They're so angry and distressed
by death.
So is Jesus just reacting like that?
Is it just a reaction of distress?
Well, we get to one of the most shocking verses
in the Bible, don't we?
Number 44.
The man who had died
came out.
The man who died came out.
John is claiming here
that as Jesus shouts out,
Lazarus, come out,
it is not a hopeless cry.
It is not just a hopeless call.
It is a powerful command.
It's a powerful command.
I'm not saying it's easy to believe.
It's not easy to believe, is it?
Dead men don't just get up and walk
if you talk to them.
You cannot speak to a corpse
and expect a response.
But when Jesus shouts,
it's not a hopeless cry.
It's a powerful command.
You know, the New Testament,
it speaks about Christians
who have died.
And it uses a strange phrase.
It calls them
those who have fallen asleep.
It's lovely.
Some of them die, though,
in terrible circumstances,
under immense persecution.
So why does it call them
people who've fallen asleep?
Well, it does that
because Jesus' voice
is so powerful with death
that as he calls his people
from death,
it's as if he's calling them
from a snoot,
from a sleep.
It's a powerful command.
Come out, Lazarus.
Come out, Chris.
Come out, Ralph.
Morning.
And if that is true,
this man Jesus
shows us a God
who you can trust
with your death.
His words cross over
that barrier
between life and death,
between the living
and the death.
He's indignant towards death.
He's furious about it,
but he's got the power
to do something.
He says,
you can trust me
with your death.
It's not a hopeless cry.
It's a powerful command.
You want to trust somebody,
don't you?
But can we trust in somebody
who just cries about death,
although that is comforting?
We can trust somebody
who commands death, though.
Who says,
wake up.
He commands death.
He's indignant.
He's defiant.
But then thirdly,
in the last scene,
Jesus shows us
the kind of God
who is dominant
over death.
He's dominant
over death.
Now,
has Mary just witnessed
that sort of trick?
Is it a kind of
David Blaine
style illusion
with some mirrors
and smoke?
Well,
actually,
we read about Mary
being at another
graveside
in the book of John.
Later in chapter 20,
it's printed there
at the bottom
of those sheets.
It's the grave
of Jesus.
Three days
after he's been
publicly executed.
And it's a very
similar scene
in many ways.
So look at verse 11.
Mary is weeping
outside the tomb.
Some folk just get
all the bad news,
don't they?
Here is another one
she loves,
taken by death.
She turns around
to see a man
she doesn't recognise
and with one word
she sees who it is.
It's Jesus.
Look at number 16.
One word
Jesus said to her,
Mary.
And Jesus'
defiance towards death
is seen
most wonderfully
as he himself
goes to physical death
on the cross.
He rots in a tomb
for three days
and he rises again.
He himself
dominates
over death.
Jesus shows us
the kind of God
who actually
experiences the very
thing that we're
most afraid of
and he wins.
Now if you can
stretch your minds
for a moment,
just imagine
in a bizarre
chain of events
that we had to
stop this talk
for a moment,
we had to
pause this lunchtime
because a wolf
somehow had got loose
in the town hall.
Imagine it.
So we've got to
lock the doors,
we've got to
stay in here
and wait for a rescue.
But in a display
of bravery,
Paul says,
no,
I'm not waiting
here any longer,
I need my lunch,
I'm going outside
and I'm going to
get rid of the wolf.
I'm going to
kill the wolf.
So it's Paul
versus the wolf.
Now the only way
that we can know
who has won
is if we see
either of them
again,
isn't it?
And we know
that Paul has won
when he comes back
and he knocks back
on that door there
on the other side
of the window.
We can now know
that we can trust
Paul to kill the wolf.
It's a silly story
but I think you get
the point.
That's the wonder
of Easter though,
isn't it?
As someone once said,
it isn't that
Jesus is alive
but that Jesus
has risen.
He's back.
He's back
from the dead.
He's killed
the wolf.
As John Stott
said,
we live
and then we die
but Jesus Christ
died
and then he lived.
He's back.
His resurrection
says,
you can trust me
with your death.
In the 1970s,
dozens of
high-ranking officials
from the Nixon
administration
were shamed
by what's now
known as
the Watergate scandal
if you know about that.
It's come to symbolise
that investigation
that took place
where allegations
were made
towards the government
of the time
of phone hacking
and all sorts
of government
cover-ups
and it led
to Nixon's
eventual resignation
in 1974.
Charles Colson
had the job
of being
his special
counsel
for public
liaison.
He was there
throughout the whole
thing
and he was a
Christian
and he said
this,
I know the
resurrection
is a fact
and Watergate
proved it to me.
How?
Because 12 men
testified
they had seen
Jesus raised
from the dead,
the apostles.
then they
proclaimed
that truth
for 40 years
never once
denying it.
Everyone
was beaten,
tortured,
stoned
and put
in prison.
They would
not have
endured that
if it
weren't true.
Watergate
embroiled
12 of the
most powerful
men in the
world
and they
couldn't keep
alive for
three weeks.
You're telling
me 12
apostles
could keep
alive for
40 years?
Absolutely
impossible,
Charles Carlson.
The resurrection
of Jesus
is an unusual
thing,
isn't it?
As we come
up to Easter
and we think
about it,
putting it
mildly,
it's unprecedented.
And men
will often
die for
things that
they believe
in,
won't they?
There's nothing
unusual about
that.
But to
knowingly die
for something
they knew
to be a
lie is
much more
unusual,
isn't it?
So how
do you
respond to
the Easter
message this
Easter?
How do you
respond?
As one person
put it,
if Jesus
rose from
the dead,
then you
have to
accept all
that he
said.
If he
didn't rise
from the
dead,
then why
worry about
any of
what he
said?
The issue
on which
everything
hangs is
not whether
or not you
like his
teaching,
but whether
or not he
rose from
the dead.
So who
can you
trust with
your death?
Christopher
Hitchens,
the famous
atheist,
said,
I don't
trust false
consolations of
religion,
I trust in
medical science
and the
support of
friends and
family.
That's who
he trusted
with his
death.
Now those
things are
really good
things,
aren't they?
But you
know, I'm
not convinced
that they
are enough.
When we
face our
own death,
there is only
so far
that those
good things
of medical
science,
friends and
family can
help us.
There will
be a
moment where
what they
do for
us just
isn't
enough.
But Jesus
shows us
a God
who's
indignant
towards
death.
He's
furious
about
death.
His
reaction
is right
and proper
and he's
defiant
against it.
He gives
not a
hopeless
cry but
a powerful
command.
And he's
dominant
over death.
He's
killed the
wolf.
He says
to you
and me,
you can
trust me
with your
death.
We live
and then
die.
Jesus
Christ
died
and then
lived.
Let's
pray.
Let's