WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.419 So we're continuing our series in the seven I am statements in John's gospel. 00:00:05.299 --> 00:00:11.259 And in these words, in all these I am statements, we are seeing who Jesus says he is. 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:16.219 ! So all of this, this is Jesus opening up his identity to us. 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:21.960 And Jesus isn't doing this just to kind of give us trivia facts about himself. 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:29.100 No, he's doing this because when you know who Jesus is, it changes your life. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.899 The Christian faith and salvation, it's not just knowledge of facts. 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:37.899 No, it is knowing this person. 00:00:39.299 --> 00:00:48.140 And as we come to the next I am statement, I want us to realize that to know Jesus changes everything about your hope in life. 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:53.140 And it's all there in those remarkable words in verse 25. 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:59.320 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.379 Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:13.560 In this story of Lazarus, we see something very important about who Jesus is and what he's come to do. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:16.179 And we see his identity. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:25.599 It's all about the great need and the great problem that has been plaguing this world and plaguing our lives ever since that moment in the garden. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:33.259 Who Jesus is must be understood against the problem of death. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.579 So just like we saw back with I am the light of the world. 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:44.919 Do you remember in order to define light, you need to define it in contrast to darkness. 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:50.939 Well, to identify Jesus, you must do so in contrast to death. 00:01:52.240 --> 00:02:03.260 When we are confronted with the painful reality of the grave and death, in contrast, Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:07.380 Just like light is opposite to darkness. 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.120 Just like light is the answer to darkness. 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:14.980 So Jesus is the answer to death itself. 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:21.020 So if you want to know Jesus, this is who Jesus says he is. 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:22.800 He is not only your help in death. 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:25.800 He's not only your comfort in death. 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.920 But actually, Jesus is the answer to death. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.480 And this is just the one big thing I want us to see today. 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:36.140 Jesus is the answer to death. 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:45.960 A few years back, one of my very, very good friends lost both of his parents in the space of three years. 00:02:46.760 --> 00:02:48.280 And he was young when it happened. 00:02:48.380 --> 00:02:49.400 He was in his 20s. 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:55.180 And I remember I called him on the first Christmas day without them. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.300 And I asked him how he was doing. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:59.819 And he said, I remember these words. 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:03.259 He said, I feel completely unmoored. 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:05.219 Unmoored. 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:08.500 It means untethered, just adrift. 00:03:09.920 --> 00:03:14.159 And that word really captures what death has done in this world. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:26.199 When death hits, with that phone call or that diagnosis, we can feel like boats untethered from the moor, drifting away, aimlessly lost at sea. 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.280 And we just have nothing to hold on to. 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:32.819 No anchor, no stability. 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:37.859 It feels like we're drowning and we just want something to grab on to. 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:43.860 Death is like this unstoppable force that invades our life. 00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:45.940 We can't do anything about it. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.200 We don't invite it in. 00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:49.840 And it just renders us completely helpless. 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:52.120 Just alone at sea. 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:58.300 And sometimes we can drift into those waters over a while. 00:03:58.980 --> 00:04:00.960 When an illness takes its time. 00:04:01.880 --> 00:04:04.600 Or we can just suddenly be thrown into the deep. 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:08.379 But either way, we just want something to help. 00:04:09.299 --> 00:04:11.079 Something to bring us back in. 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:15.439 When death hits, we so desperately want an answer. 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:19.079 But this world has no answer. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.379 Many tears, many cries. 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.579 But no actual answer to any of it. 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:31.920 We might exercise to gain distance from the problem of death. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.259 We call the doctor to delay it. 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:40.500 We watch screens or drink or do anything to forget about it. 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:42.180 But it's not an answer. 00:04:43.960 --> 00:04:47.879 The mortality rate graphs, they go down with technology. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:49.960 But the line never disappears. 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.300 And the world has no answer. 00:04:54.300 --> 00:04:58.900 And so no wonder we can just feel so unmoored. 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.759 Death is just the end of the road and we have to put up with it. 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:08.740 The grave is just the painful full stop at the end of everyone's story. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:11.840 And we just have to then shut the book and move on. 00:05:13.280 --> 00:05:16.220 But we know, we know that's not good enough. 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:22.640 We might dry the tears away, but in our pain, we know there shouldn't be an end to this road. 00:05:23.760 --> 00:05:27.300 We know the story shouldn't have that full stop. 00:05:28.440 --> 00:05:33.900 And so we are longing, this whole world is longing for an answer to this problem. 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:39.199 And these two sisters, Mary and Martha, they're looking for that answer too. 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:42.099 Their brother is at death's door. 00:05:43.099 --> 00:05:44.419 The medication isn't working. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:46.139 He's not recovering as they hoped. 00:05:46.859 --> 00:05:49.579 But they feel that drift into the deep. 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.560 And so the sisters reach out for something to hold on to. 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:55.419 They send for Jesus, verse 3. 00:05:55.420 --> 00:06:01.240 So the sisters sent to Jesus saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:06.740 Now they aren't just sending a text to Jesus here saying, just letting you know this is happening. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:12.960 No, this is two women coming to Jesus for an answer to the problem. 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:18.879 And not just hoping for an answer, but they know that there is an answer. 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:24.460 Because these women know that Jesus can actually do something about this. 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.460 Because look how Martha reacts when Jesus arrives. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:29.080 Verse 21. 00:06:30.340 --> 00:06:31.980 Her brother has now just died. 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:34.720 He's been in the grave four days now. 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:39.540 But she knows it's not just close the book, move on. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:41.700 Look at verse 21. 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:47.540 Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:52.439 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:58.500 Now, this isn't Martha doubting Jesus or complaining. 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:03.040 No, these are actually words of faith in who Jesus is. 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:08.240 Lord, if you had been here, we would have had an answer to this illness. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:11.860 She knows Jesus can heal. 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:14.759 But now Lazarus is dead. 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:18.660 She actually knows there is still an answer. 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:23.660 Even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:27.740 But Jesus pushes that further. 00:07:29.020 --> 00:07:32.740 He wants her to unpack what exactly that answer to death is. 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:33.540 Verse 23. 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:37.819 Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. 00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:43.819 Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection from the last day. 00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:46.460 Martha knows her Bible. 00:07:47.400 --> 00:07:48.700 She knows her theology well. 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:55.560 And so she knows one day in the future there will be the resurrection of the dead. 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:58.959 That belief didn't just come with the New Testament. 00:07:59.280 --> 00:08:01.980 That this has always been God's plan of salvation. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:06.600 Because this has always been God's plan in creation. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.340 Death was never a part of the design. 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:15.600 Death was not encoded into creation. 00:08:15.819 --> 00:08:17.740 No, it's a bug in the system. 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:22.639 C.S. Lewis, he wrote on the unnaturalness of death. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:27.180 Death, he said, we know that we were not made for it. 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:31.979 We know how it crept into our destiny as an intruder. 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:35.799 There's an intruder in this world. 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.939 There was never meant to be an end of the road. 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:42.779 Every story was meant to keep on going. 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:49.259 And so God's plan of salvation has always been to not only forgive sins. 00:08:49.939 --> 00:08:52.439 But to undo the curse of death. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:57.500 To answer death by raising the dead. 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:02.860 To bring bodies back from the grave to new life. 00:09:04.139 --> 00:09:08.159 This is the only true answer to death. 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:11.419 Not just to cope with grief. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.299 But to reverse death itself. 00:09:14.299 --> 00:09:18.279 And that day is coming. 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:21.559 When this age has its last day. 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:27.419 And so Martha hears Jesus say, your brother will rise again. 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:31.319 And her mind goes straight to that final day. 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:34.019 Well, yes, I know that Jesus. 00:09:34.939 --> 00:09:37.620 The answer, it's in that far off time. 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:40.659 I know the answer will come one day in that resurrection. 00:09:40.659 --> 00:09:44.719 And in one sense, she's right. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.039 But she hasn't got the full picture. 00:09:49.459 --> 00:09:52.539 Because the answer is closer than she thinks. 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:57.639 Because Jesus immediately jumps in with who he is. 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:01.819 Yes, Martha, there really is an answer to death. 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:04.500 There is life beyond the grave. 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:06.379 There really is a resurrection. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.699 But do you realise who I am? 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:10.379 Verse 25. 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:14.419 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:21.259 Martha, the answer is not merely an event or a time far off. 00:10:21.819 --> 00:10:23.759 No, the answer is a person. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:25.740 It's here. 00:10:25.979 --> 00:10:26.719 It's me. 00:10:27.959 --> 00:10:30.919 You are right to think that resurrection is the answer. 00:10:31.299 --> 00:10:33.379 But it's not found off out there. 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:35.539 No, it's found in Jesus. 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:42.679 When we feel unmoored and lost and we're drowning in the deep. 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:47.959 There is something, someone right now to hold on to. 00:10:48.939 --> 00:10:50.679 It's the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:53.739 This is his identity. 00:10:54.099 --> 00:10:56.500 He is the resurrection and the life. 00:10:58.479 --> 00:11:01.620 Resurrection is not just this far off concept. 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:04.179 No, it's all found in him. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.919 When Jesus left that tomb on that Easter Sunday. 00:11:09.899 --> 00:11:11.799 Leaving the grave behind him. 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:13.659 Never to go back in. 00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:21.120 On that day, he became the very source of eternal life for a dying world. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.879 The world only has medicine and pills to delay death. 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:31.840 But the Lord Jesus has in his hands the keys to death and Hades itself. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.039 The world can only slow its walk into the grave. 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.879 But Jesus can actually pull us back out. 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:44.179 The world has no answer to death. 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:48.620 But the Son of God has the authority to raise the dead. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:55.019 And so Martha doesn't realise how close the answer has been all along. 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:57.460 It's not far off. 00:11:57.539 --> 00:11:58.799 It's right in front of her. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:08.479 And so with Jesus there, she actually witnesses this authority, this life in action. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.299 Verse 43. 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:13.419 Jesus cried out with a loud voice. 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:16.159 Lazarus, come out. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.899 He calls out to death itself. 00:12:21.839 --> 00:12:25.939 He commands death to leave and for life to come in again. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.259 And it listens. 00:12:27.259 --> 00:12:33.799 This unstoppable force stops at the voice of Jesus. 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:38.159 And it turns around and it transforms everything. 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.639 Breath enters the lungs of Lazarus. 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:48.360 His heart has a first beat again. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.200 His muscle fibres twitch. 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.259 And he gets up and he walks out that tomb. 00:12:57.640 --> 00:13:03.860 And the grave and death now become resurrection and life. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.320 It is what Martha was longing for. 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:13.860 And it is the answer this unmoored world is crying out for. 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:19.440 And so this resurrection life, he isn't just keeping it for himself. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:20.560 No. 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:24.180 It is for all who believe in him. 00:13:24.820 --> 00:13:25.560 Verse 25. 00:13:27.060 --> 00:13:28.980 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.720 Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:36.700 And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 00:13:38.900 --> 00:13:42.600 Knowing who Jesus is and trusting in him, it changes everything. 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:47.040 It means that even though you may die. 00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:54.879 Though one day you may have that full stop this side of heaven. 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:59.560 Yet even then your story won't end there. 00:14:00.980 --> 00:14:03.980 Though he die, yet shall he live. 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:08.060 With Christ there will be life in heaven. 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:10.759 And we will be raised on that last day. 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:16.559 And from then on, there will be no end of the road. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:17.939 No closed book. 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:19.980 Just life. 00:14:20.539 --> 00:14:21.639 True life. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:22.559 Everlasting. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.279 And so as we all get older. 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:32.579 And death increasingly becomes something that we realise that we will have to face soon. 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:36.659 And maybe you are just thinking about it more and more. 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:39.779 You're thinking about your will more. 00:14:40.839 --> 00:14:42.719 You think about what you'll leave behind. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.519 What you'll have to face in the future. 00:14:44.599 --> 00:14:45.899 And it can be easy to worry. 00:14:46.439 --> 00:14:47.479 Easy to be scared. 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.060 And so we need to hear these words of Jesus. 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:53.100 With him, there is nothing to fear. 00:14:54.340 --> 00:14:58.440 Because though you die, yet shall you live. 00:15:00.180 --> 00:15:05.940 His resurrection that Easter Sunday, it secured your future for you. 00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:10.240 And just like he left the grave, so will you. 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:15.880 It's like a football team leaving the tunnel to go onto the pitch. 00:15:16.520 --> 00:15:21.480 So you know, as they all leave the tunnel, and the captain heads out first, doesn't he? 00:15:21.780 --> 00:15:23.140 And he's dressed in his kit. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:27.520 And as soon as he emerges, you know the rest of the team are going to be dressed just the same, don't you? 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:36.759 Well, just as Christ left the grave in a glorified, resurrected body, so will we. 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:43.279 Death has already been answered, and the captain has led the way. 00:15:44.699 --> 00:15:47.699 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:55.539 And so if you feel unmoored, and in the grief, you are just lost and don't know where to turn. 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:59.079 And Christ is saying here, you can hold on to someone. 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:02.139 You can hold on to Christ. 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:05.039 You don't need to wait for some help in the future. 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:07.059 No, the answer is here and now. 00:16:08.379 --> 00:16:11.079 And when you believe in him, put your trust in him. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.919 He will carry you and put your feet on solid ground. 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:18.019 Because he's the only answer to death. 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:25.259 He's the only one who has overcome it and can guide you through even the darkest of valleys. 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:28.319 We can try to run from death. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.819 We can try to bury our heads in the sand and forget about it. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:36.419 We can try to wipe away the tears and pretend everything's okay. 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:37.719 But it never works. 00:16:39.099 --> 00:16:40.599 No, Christ is the only answer. 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:43.679 And he's offering you hope today. 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:48.399 Trust in him and you will never be left unmoored. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.579 You will never be without hope. 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:55.639 Even in death, we know this is not the end. 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:59.059 Because the son of God said these words. 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:03.299 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:05.139 Let's pray. 00:17:05.140 --> 00:17:15.220 Lord God. 00:17:17.100 --> 00:17:18.500 In this dark world. 00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:21.040 And in this. 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:24.540 In the troubles that we face. 00:17:24.780 --> 00:17:26.180 And the valleys that we walk in. 00:17:27.020 --> 00:17:28.360 Where death is all around. 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:32.619 And it is so easy to be scared or overwhelmed. 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:34.639 Lord, we thank you. 00:17:34.719 --> 00:17:36.000 We praise you that there is a hope. 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:39.539 That there is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:17:39.679 --> 00:17:41.479 He is the resurrection and the life. 00:17:42.659 --> 00:17:45.500 Lord, please give us every confidence in death. 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:48.339 Give us hope in this life. 00:17:49.679 --> 00:17:51.979 Do give us a longing for the future. 00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:54.019 But would we also have great comfort knowing. 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:56.900 That we have the Lord Jesus now. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:17:59.720 We have someone to hold on to. 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:01.079 He is with us. 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:02.360 He is our life. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:05.039 Lord, would we look to him today. 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:07.339 And in his name we pray. 00:18:07.620 --> 00:18:07.880 Amen.