WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 And good morning. It's good to be with you. It's good to see some friends and old faces. Many of 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:10.720 you don't know me, but I live just south of Edinburgh. It's not too far away in a land called 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:16.160 Midlothian where we've been planning a church for a few years now. So I'd like to look with you today 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.320 at the passage that Corrie just read. And as we just get into it, this is John chapter 11, 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:30.399 I'm picking up on the pastoral prayer that Corrie just prayed is so pertinent, isn't it? So many of 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:36.159 the things that he prayed for touch our hearts because they're in our hearts. They bother us, 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:41.359 or they have bothered us, or we're bothered that they will bother us, things that trouble us. 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:48.320 And I say that because I'm going to be thinking about life and the kind of life we experience. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:54.799 People talk about quality of life. How's your quality of life? Maybe something in the prayer 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.759 that Corrie was praying made you feel like quality of life right now isn't very good. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.120 Could be better. And you know, for all of us, that's different. Sometimes it can be something really 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:12.079 sharp. Somebody's really sick. Quality of life feels at the forefront of our minds. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:17.200 Sometimes we might look at other people and think, well, they're fine. All they're worried about is 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.120 getting a six pack or whatever. That's what they think will make their quality of life better. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.359 Well, maybe it will. But we all experience quality of life at different times and in 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:30.000 different kinds of ways. Now, I say all of this because what we're going to be thinking about 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:37.680 today in the passage is a kind of life that you get when you follow Jesus that is like nothing 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:43.359 else. Because the passage today is about a man called Lazarus and about the fact that he was 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:50.400 raised back to life from death, quite literally. So I don't know if you're not familiar, if you've 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:56.000 never heard this story before, that may raise an eyebrow with you. And that's good because it's 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:02.960 unusual. It raised an eyebrow when it happened. Stay with me and let's explore a little bit more 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:11.360 about resurrection life. In the story of Lazarus, according to the claim of Jesus, 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:20.400 and I want us all to be able to say, and in our life, how does that touch you, this promise of 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.160 resurrection life? And is it just something that is slightly obscure and maybe for the future and 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:30.560 doesn't really have anything to do with your now and certainly not your quality of life right now? 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.120 Well, hold those thoughts and we're going to think about this. Well, let me say a couple more 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:40.160 things just by way of introducing this theme. Because like I said, we're looking at a man in 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:46.319 history and a story and a theme, an essential biblical theme that comes out of the Bible. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.919 I'm not going to shy away. The Bible doesn't shy away from what you might think, the strangeness 00:02:51.919 --> 00:03:01.039 of this claim. In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul knew fine well how central this was. He said these 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:11.359 words, if Christ is not raised, our preaching and your faith is futile. So Paul's writing to an 00:03:11.359 --> 00:03:20.159 early church in the city of Corinth and he goes so far as to say, resurrection and all that it means 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:26.560 is so much of the heart of what it means to be a Christian that if it didn't happen, then this is 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:31.920 pointless. So that means it's quite important, isn't it? That means that though many people today 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:37.840 would raise an eyebrow or more and you might as well, if you're new to Christianity, if you're 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:42.800 exploring, then this is definitely something you want to say, I need to know more about this. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:48.879 Absolutely. Because it really is quite a claim, isn't it? But we don't shy away from having it at 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:56.719 the heart of our experience of following Jesus, our belief and our experience of following Jesus. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.439 And I want to go on and say one more thing, again, just by way of introduction. Some people might say 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:07.680 when they come to John's Gospel and to this story, we're not really sure if John meant this as an 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:12.639 actual story of resurrection. It was a bit of a story that Jesus told. It's maybe a kind of 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:19.759 elaboration on a parable and maybe understandably, but maybe for different reasons, people want to 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:27.039 hush down the significance of what happens here. But I want to remind you or show you, 00:04:27.039 --> 00:04:31.279 if you don't know, that in John chapter one, at the start of the Gospel that we're going to be 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:40.399 focusing on here, John is really bothered about history. He says in John chapter one, all about 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.959 the Word, which is a way of talking about Jesus. It's a way of speaking about Jesus as the Son of 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:52.560 God, the wisdom of God who came into the world to be the Redeemer, the different names for Jesus, 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.919 but John uses the Word. But he says, very particularly in verse 14 of chapter one, 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:09.679 the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So John wants us to know this is about stuff that happened 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:17.120 in God's plan for this world, which is tangible, and we experience it. And he wants to say that 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:22.960 so is to help deal with the stuff that we experience. And not just the quality of life that's about 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:30.240 how's your Monday or your Tuesday, but how's our eternal life and our soul in the context of our 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.280 life before our maker, Jesus came into this world to do something about that. And this is all a part 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:44.799 of that big story. And so John would say, Jesus came into the world, incarnation, Jesus died and 00:05:44.799 --> 00:05:52.079 was bodily raised again. Absolutely. It's a pillar of what we believe as Christians. And it's a pillar, 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:57.119 I say again, of what we experience. Now, I'll get on to why I say experience a bit later. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:02.079 If by the end of this next 20 odd minutes, you've still got lots of questions, then you're in a 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:06.559 good place. If you're a visitor, if you're a friend, and you've got questions that are people here, 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:10.800 there's a minister here, there are resources out there that can help you process this whole question 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.920 a little bit more. But now what I'd like us to do is just getting to the story and spend a bit of 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:23.759 time seeing how here we find the story of Lazarus, the claim of Jesus, and your story too. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.480 So the story of Lazarus, what I'd like to do is move quite quickly through most of what Corey read 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:37.439 and then slow down to look at a couple of verses in particular, because Jesus makes, as Corey said, 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:43.040 a claim, one of the I am claims that are really quite spectacular. So we're going to take, 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.759 as one of my favorite pieces of music is called, we're going to take a short ride in a fast machine 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:56.240 through a section of this story. Let me pick out with you some of the key things Jesus says 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:01.280 that give us a sense of what's going on here. And I'm going to pick out the things that Jesus says 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.800 that are startling. Some of them you might even think a bit shocking, the way he speaks about 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:16.480 the events that are happening. Here's the first one, verse four. I'll read from verse three. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:22.400 The sisters sent to him, Miriam, Martha, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. This is Lazarus. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:28.959 So we're at the start of the news breaking. Something's not right. In Lazarus' life, 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:35.519 his quality of life isn't so good. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:43.359 not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. 00:07:43.359 --> 00:07:48.000 Now, have you ever heard somebody say that when they hear the news of a dearly beloved 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:53.279 God being very sick? I've never heard somebody say that before. I'm not going to say a lot about it 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:57.600 just now. I just want you to remember what Jesus said there. This illness will not lead to death. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:03.680 The next statement is just in the next verse. So let me read on into verse five here. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:11.360 Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus. So, it's not an interesting word. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.759 We've just heard about the news of Lazarus' illness. We've heard Jesus' opening, 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.839 remarkable statement about what's going to or not going to happen. And then it says, 00:08:20.719 --> 00:08:27.839 so, because he loved them, so, when he'd heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:34.879 in the place where he was. Now, Jesus in John's gospel is presented as the one who does things 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:38.720 that nobody else can do. This is one of the miracles. We've been looking at the miracles in 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:43.519 the church that I'm a part of over the summer. When people were sick and ill and Jesus was in the 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:52.639 vicinity, he healed them. And here in the news that Lazarus is very sick, he decides, 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:01.039 wrapped up in the fact that he loves these people to stay where he is for two more days. He delays 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:07.600 his response. That's remarkable as well. Timing is important in this passage. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:14.399 Third verse, I'd like you to move down, so this is our quick survey of what happens in this story, 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:22.480 to verse 14. Here we find a little bit of time has passed, and Jesus breaks some news to the 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:31.600 disciples. And so he says, in verse 14, Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:39.120 sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us now go to him. Again, 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:45.519 another amazing thing, quite a startling thing, a callous thing that Jesus says. Where is he coming 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:53.120 from? Doesn't he care? Sometimes you and I, maybe in your experience of searching for God or being 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:58.720 a follower of God, wonder about the timing of God, the events that have happened in your life, 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:05.680 things that are difficult to deal with, and you think if only God had intervened earlier. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:13.680 Well, again, Jesus has delayed, and Jesus here says, I'm glad I wasn't there, and he seems to 00:10:13.680 --> 00:10:20.000 indicate that good will come from this, in terms of their hearts and their faith in Jesus. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:26.800 Okay, now one more as we move rapidly through this story. As they move into town and they go 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:32.479 to the place where this has happened, Jesus is confronted by Martha. Martha and Mary are at the 00:10:32.479 --> 00:10:39.039 heart of this story. And this is important because all that's happening here isn't like Jesus' treatise 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:46.799 on the theory of life after death written in some document left somewhere. This is a story about 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:54.799 Jesus walking into town and meeting a woman who's bereaved. She's desperately sad, and Jesus 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:02.479 speaks to her. What does he say? I'll read from verse 21, but it's verse 23 I want to point out. 00:11:02.479 --> 00:11:05.679 Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. 00:11:07.599 --> 00:11:12.240 How does that sound? Some people think that's accusatory. I'm not sure. It might just be a 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:16.639 statement of faith. She believes that if Jesus had been here, he would have healed Lazarus. 00:11:17.599 --> 00:11:22.559 Anyway, even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. And Jesus said to her, 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.959 your brother will rise again. Another amazing thing that Jesus says to somebody else, 00:11:30.079 --> 00:11:37.119 think about how would that sound to somebody who's just lost their beloved? Now, Martha's response, 00:11:37.119 --> 00:11:41.199 again, if you're new to the story, you might be surprised by her response. She doesn't say, 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:48.879 what? Somebody says to you, you've just lost your loved one. We'll see them again. What? 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:56.399 But Martha says, verse 24, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.960 So you've got to put yourself to a degree inside the minds of the context here of the people who 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:08.240 live the way they thought about life, quality of life, eternal life. Because there was a belief 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:16.960 among some, not all, Jews that there was a future resurrection that was to come governed by their God. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:24.960 So what Jesus is saying here fits to some degree within the framework of Martha's belief system. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:32.400 It surprises us. To some extent, it may have been surprising in its immediacy to Martha here, 00:12:32.400 --> 00:12:38.000 but Martha can kind of handle it because it fits within her worldview, her religious worldview, 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:45.040 her way of understanding the world. Thus far, the short ride in a fast machine as we've moved 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:49.279 quickly through the story of Lazarus. And what I wanted you to say was the way in which Jesus 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.439 seems to be dealing with something that we would be all at sea with. We have no control over events 00:12:55.439 --> 00:13:03.279 like this. Jesus is in the story, and yet he seems to be directing it, doesn't he? He slows down time. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:10.480 He remains where he could have dashed immediately. He speaks of what is to come in a way that would 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:18.240 be way outside of our ability to say anything. And so just to kind of pull together this section 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:25.840 and what we're saying about Lazarus here, here we meet in John's Gospel. And John is very, 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:33.120 very deliberate about this. Somebody who is like nobody else. You meet somebody in John's Gospel 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:39.840 who has come into the world, remember, the Word of God and who does behave in a way 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:45.519 that is startling to us, and maybe even jars, because he deals with life in a way that has an 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:55.120 authority, a control that is outside of our grasp, and that we need to look up to in a sense, 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:03.200 because John is signposting here the person of Jesus, the capacity of Jesus, and all that he is 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:10.879 and is able to do. So, so much for the story of Lazarus. There's more to wonder about and points 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:15.040 we could have made, but I want to move on now and look at the second point, and that is the claim 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.400 of Jesus. And to do this, I want, as I said, to just slow down a bit and look at two verses 00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:29.280 in particular. So, Jesus says, if you move down with me to verse 25, well, let's just remember 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:34.559 what Martha has just said to him. Remember, Martha has said, I know that he will rise again in the 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:43.120 resurrection on the last day, and Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.199 in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believe in me shall never die. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:56.079 Do you believe this? So, a big claim of Jesus. Let's take a bit of time to look at what it means, 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:02.240 and what we can understand. Jesus is trying to help Martha see about life here. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:11.440 Jesus, first of all, says, I am. Now, Martha has an idea, an understanding of a future resurrection 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:16.720 that is to come. There is a degree of afterlife. Now, we could say you don't have to be a Christian 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.080 today to have some kind of idea in afterlife. Different religions have different kinds of 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:26.639 ideas about afterlife. People, we would say they have no religion, but are maybe spiritual, 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:33.200 have a sense of the soul going to somewhere, a good place to be. Martha's was more defined, 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:40.800 a resurrection, a time to come governed by God. And what Jesus wants to say immediately 00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:46.720 is to take that from just being some thing that is like a belief that is future and say, 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:56.480 you will understand that and you will get access to that in me. He says that about so many other 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:04.399 things. You know, I am the bread of life. He's saying he is the one who fulfills us. He is the one 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:09.279 who can give us something that nowhere else or nobody else can give us. He says that in an 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:16.879 ancient age and he says that to our modern age as well, I am the resurrection and the life. Now, I 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:22.879 was reading an article a little while ago about how people apparently over claim on applications 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:30.240 now in all kinds of ways. It's maybe getting easier to apply for a job and to exaggerate experience 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:37.679 or qualifications so as to get ahead. Understandable. It's a competitive world out there, 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:43.839 isn't it? And people want to be able to say, yes, I can do this job. Give me this job. I will do 00:16:43.839 --> 00:16:50.079 this job and I will be excellent at this job. Though if they were being 100% honest, they would 00:16:50.079 --> 00:16:54.879 have to say that they didn't have the experience. They had never done the thing that they were being 00:16:54.879 --> 00:17:01.199 asked to do before and they weren't really sure if they'd be able to. Now, maybe that gives them a 00:17:01.199 --> 00:17:05.519 bit of a buzz. Maybe you could put yourself in that position and think, yeah, if I really 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:11.119 thought I could do a job, I would just go for it. But surely also, it's the most terrifying thing in 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:16.480 the world when you get the job and somebody on the first day says to you to do something that 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:20.720 you've never done before and you actually know deep in your heart you've got no qualifications for. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:28.559 Am I going to be able to do this thing that I claimed? You can't get away from the fact 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:34.879 that everywhere Jesus goes, he says things about himself that are always the biggest claim 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:41.920 in the room. Nobody else could get away with saying the things that Jesus says. Jesus says to Martha 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:49.600 in the middle of her grief, Jesus says to you faced with your quality of life, however it is today. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:56.160 I am the resurrection and the life. In other words, if you're looking for a life beyond the life you 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:02.400 have now, however you conceive that today, however you understand the best quality of life you could 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:09.440 possibly have and whatever might be life beyond this life, which would just be amazing, Jesus says 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:15.040 to all cultures and to all peoples, to all the peoples mixed in the room today, come to me. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:23.120 You'll find what you're looking for in me. That's the first claim. Second thing he says is I am 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:31.440 specifically the resurrection. And so all of this talk about not just an ethereal life to come, 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:35.920 because again, a lot of people's understanding of life after death, even in the Christian sphere, 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:44.880 is of some disembodied bliss state. Jesus wants to say I am the resurrection. I am the coming back 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:51.519 to life of that which was dead. I am that. And he says that because he knows what's going to happen. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:55.519 We didn't read the whole story, but go home and read it. Please go home if you've got time this 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:02.480 afternoon. Read the rest of John chapter 11. Lazarus will see, you'll see if you read it, 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:06.559 who had been dead four days. And that's important because again, within the context, 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:11.119 there was some kind of an idea that the soul may remain for around three days 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:17.680 and potentially be reunited with the body. But no, four days, so that couldn't have been the case. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:26.160 Lazarus was definitely dead. Jesus, by the power of his word, calls Lazarus from the grave, calls 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:32.640 this decomposing body. This doesn't happen. It's not normal. The Bible doesn't shy away from that. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:39.200 Jesus does this by the power of his word. And as is so often the case with the miracles, and I want 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:44.960 to use this word again, and is definitely so often the case with John's gospel, John wants us to see 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:52.240 the miracles that Jesus do as signposts. He's saying, look at what Jesus can do. This is supposed 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:58.160 to take you to something else in Jesus and show you more about who he is. Because of course, 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:04.960 the miracle here, as Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, will shortly be fulfilled 00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:10.880 in Jesus himself, because he's to be put to death, though innocent, though having done nothing wrong. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:19.520 And after he's put to death on the third day, Jesus himself, again by the power of God, is raised 00:20:19.520 --> 00:20:23.680 to life eternal. The Bible talks about that in a different image. You might have heard it. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:29.920 It talks about him being the first fruits of what we can expect. In other words, Jesus was raised 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.600 again, not quite in the same way Lazarus was in the story here, because Lazarus is raised back to life 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:43.279 for a time. He would die again. But when Jesus is raised to life, it is life eternal. He will 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:52.879 never die and ascended to heaven. Now he lives, and he will always live. And so we learn here 00:20:52.879 --> 00:20:57.919 again something of what is going to happen of Lazarus, something of what is going to happen of 00:20:57.919 --> 00:21:03.359 Jesus. And when you take that image of the first fruits, in other words, when a person who knows 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:10.079 what they're talking about looks at the early crop on a fruit tree, they can tell there's good stuff 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:18.559 coming. We're supposed to look at Jesus' resurrection, the first fruits of the blessing 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:26.479 of a new kind of life, eternal life in him that all who put their faith in him may have. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:34.960 There is great to have in Jesus when you put your faith in him. So we're seeing in this little 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:42.400 verse here, in a nutshell, if you like, this great explosion of truth that has such significance 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:48.319 for human beings and is all wrapped up in that big picture I was talking about earlier, the reason 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:56.559 why Jesus, the Word, became flesh, came into the world, died on the cross to pay for the sins of 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:04.319 those who trust in him. And being raised to life himself, displaying the vindication of the fact 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:11.039 that he was not guilty but died for our sins, now offers to all who put their faith in him 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:20.079 resurrection, life. This is an amazing truth. And so we see this again in the passage in verse 25. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:25.200 I'll just take you back to the text that I want us to focus in on a little bit. Jesus goes on to say, 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.839 I'm the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:36.240 He says that to you this morning. He says, 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:42.160 as though he, whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live. He knows that like Lazarus, 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:48.799 you still face death in this life. That might be something immediate right now because of your 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:57.279 worry about quality of life. But he says you will live. That's a promise Jesus makes. And 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:05.920 seen here in this raising of Lazarus is the signpost pointing forward to the capacity he has 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:13.200 to give eternal life to all those who live in him. It's a remarkable hope. But he said, 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:18.160 I am, he's talked about resurrection and I want now to focus on the word life that he uses here. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:24.720 I am the resurrection and the life because not only do you have to kind of endure the here and now, 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:29.279 I mean, you might live a great life. I hope you do. You might live a really troubled life. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:37.519 We all live trouble at different times. And when we have that, we do have the hope of eternal life. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:45.440 It is a blessing and you need to remember it if life is tough, that in Christ you have the promised 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:53.279 hope of eternal life. But is that all? You just kind of wait. One day things will get better. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:58.559 One day I'll be in a better place. I don't think so because look at the detail of what Jesus here 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:04.879 says. Again, I'll read verse 25. I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he 00:24:04.879 --> 00:24:12.159 die yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Hang on a minute, 00:24:12.159 --> 00:24:18.399 you say, maybe. You've just said, though we die yet shall we live. And you're saying, 00:24:18.399 --> 00:24:28.240 whoever lives in me will never die. So which is it? And the answer is both. We will die and we will 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:34.480 rise again to eternal life. But your experience of eternal life, if your faith is in Jesus, 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:44.799 begins now. You can live knowing that Jesus has conquered death. Doesn't that change your 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:52.640 outlook on life? There is one who had the power to not only face the cross, lay down his life, 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:59.840 though innocent, so as to pay for sin. But there is one who was raised, who broke through the 00:24:59.840 --> 00:25:06.080 terror of death, the uncertainty, the powerlessness that we face. And he has lived through that, 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:12.480 and he now lives in glory in heaven. Hallelujah. Praise God that there is somebody who has done 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:17.840 this. And so you live now with the knowledge of that. But you also now live with the knowledge 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:24.720 that death for you, wherever or however it comes, is a moment, and I'm not trivializing death here, 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:31.679 is a moment between your physical life now and your continued life with him 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:38.079 in heaven until the day he comes again, until the day he raises the living and the dead 00:25:38.879 --> 00:25:43.759 and on into eternal life. And what that means is when we start to wrap this together, 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:49.359 and we start to put ourselves in the place of Martha, who's asked a really pertinent question 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:56.400 at the end, and I want to close with this. We are asked to consider the quality of life relates 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:03.200 not just to how well we're doing in the here and now, but whether or not you, with Martha, 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:10.960 believe in this Jesus who promises you eternal life. Live with the promise of eternal life. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:17.279 Get up on your Monday morning when it's raining and you're sad and you've got a terrible day and your 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:21.600 boss is going to give you grief. Oh, you're the boss and you've got some really difficult decisions 00:26:21.600 --> 00:26:29.600 to make. Or your loved one has only got a few days. All the things that we face. And you know 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.720 that Jesus has done what nobody else can do, and he wants you to trust him in that today 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:44.720 and live in the knowledge of life eternal. Jesus says in John 10, 10, I have come that 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:49.759 they may have life unto the full. What's he talking about? Followers of Jesus are super 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:57.039 successful, brilliant people. We know that's not what he means. That's not our experience of life. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.799 But life to the full means not just the knowledge of what he will do in raising us to life again, 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:11.039 but it's life with him now. He comes close to you. He comes close by his Holy Spirit and he 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:16.960 counsels you as to what he's achieved and what he's done. He tells you that he's with you now 00:27:17.919 --> 00:27:22.879 and you'll always be with him. And not only is that something that he's just done for you 00:27:22.879 --> 00:27:28.159 because it was a job given to him, but it's his delight. And it's what he wants to do 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:34.800 because he wants to take you in your finiteness as a human being. I mean, you might be a genius, 00:27:34.800 --> 00:27:38.480 but you're still finite. You're still contingent on lots of different things. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:44.960 And he wants to live with you. He wants you to trust him. And he wants to give you this gift 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:52.720 of eternal life. And so he says, do you believe this to Martha? What a question. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:59.519 Do you believe this? Right after her loved brother had died. And so he asks us today, 00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:05.120 do we believe this? We think in all kinds of different ways about the quality of life and 00:28:05.120 --> 00:28:11.120 what will make it better. You might have a plan to do things to have a better life. It might 00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:15.680 involve going for a new job. It might involve getting a new fitness app on your phone. All good. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:21.920 But I do want to ask you today whether you'll go away with the question that was asked of Martha 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:28.160 and how you answer that question. Because that question is one of the single most important 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:33.759 questions you can ask yourself. And it has one of the most profound impacts for your life, 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:40.480 not just in eternity, but right now. Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:47.200 resurrection in the life? And is that something that you pull into your life, call to mind, 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:54.720 believe again and again the truths of Jesus and remember that He lives with you by His Spirit 00:28:54.720 --> 00:29:03.839 to tell you this and remind you of this over and over again. I hope so. And by God's grace, 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:09.599 we will continue to remember this. Let me pray and ask Him to help us remember this and help us 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:19.519 to trust Him and then we'll sing. One of the biggest problems we have, Lord, in life is we worry 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:28.639 about big things, but we're often so busy thrown around by the chaos of demands on us or distractions 00:29:28.639 --> 00:29:36.000 in a very cluttered modern world. So right now, we want to pray that you would clear space in our 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:44.640 hearts and minds to receive your truth and to hear the testimony by the Holy Spirit of who Jesus is. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:30:06.640 Help us to trust in this great truth and may it make a difference in our life. Amen.