Sermons

Good morning. It's just such a joy to be back with you this morning. When I woke up this morning, I looked out and was greeted by the rain, and that's a miracle because in Los Angeles, it doesn't rain. My kids, when they see the rain, they go crazy. They're like, “this is the greatest day” because, I mean, they run, they take their shoes off, they run outside. And all the neighbors think that we're absolutely crazy. So, this morning when I wake up and I see it's raining, I'm like, praise the Lord, literally. Because there's two things that Northern Irish people don't do well with. That's extreme heat and extreme humidity. So, Andrew's gonna do great here. He's gonna be wonderful.

But in all seriousness, Andrew and I are really good friends. He has a special place in my heart and my life. The Lord has used him in my life, and he's used him greatly in Emmanuel Baptist, and I know for sure he's gonna use him greatly here. And I'm excited for you guys. I've been in this journey a little bit with Andrew, been praying for him, and we'll be praying for you, and we're excited, and it's gonna be great. I go home for good in November. Our time has come to a close, but in the time in between, we're gonna come back and visit and help Andrew get settled. So, we're so excited for you guys, and know that we will be praying. Sad to lose him in Northern Ireland, but we're grateful for what the Lord is doing in his life.

If you have a copy of God's Word, I want you to turn to John chapter 11 this morning. John chapter 11. And it says in your bulletin that we're gonna look at verses 25 through 27, which we will do. But I want to read the first 27 verses from verse 1. And this morning, we're gonna think about what I've simply called “A Death Defeating Declaration.” “A Death Defeating Declaration.” No doubt you're familiar with John 11. It's the story of the rising again of Lazarus by the Lord as He goes to Bethany. And in this, in verses 25 through 27, we have one of the greatest statements, not just in God's word, but in all of history, as Jesus utters a death defeating declaration.

Verse 1 says, “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So, the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom You love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”  After saying these things, He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So, Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 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.  So, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 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.”  Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.””

Amen.

This is God's very Word written for us. Let's pray and ask for God's help as we study His Word.

[Prayer] Father, we rejoice on this special morning where we focus our minds on your beloved Son who didn't just die and we're so grateful that He did. But if He'd have stayed dead, then what hope would we hell deserving sinners have? But we rejoice in One who has risen, who is alive, and whom we can trust absolutely that you have accepted His sacrifice. and all who believe in Him shall never die. Father, I pray that's the experience of everyone in this church this morning. Should there be any here who don't yet know the Lord, we pray that through the reading and preaching of Your Word as we hone in on Christ, we pray that You would draw people to Yourself. Give us help through your Spirit to understand Your Word because we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. [End]

A few months back in Grace Church, Austin preached on a Sunday morning, and as he opened his message, he opened with a letter from a Southern Presbyterian that really gripped my heart, and I borrowed it this morning. I told him I was going to do that because, hey, as preachers, we steal from other preachers, and I stole his introduction because it was a good one, but it's so helpful and poignant, and it sets us up for our text this morning. It was a letter written by R.L. Dabney, a Southern Presbyterian theologian, who was on a ministry trip in 1862. And while he was on that trip, he received news that his five-year-old son, Tom, had become very ill. And so, Dabney rushed home to be with his family a few days later, and he would recount the events to his brother in a letter.

Let me read you just a part of it. “We used prompt measures and sent early for the doctor who did not think his case dangerous. But he grew gradually worse until Sunday when his symptoms became alarming and he passed away after great sufferings on Monday. He was intelligent to the last, even after he became speechless and his appealing looks to us and the physician would have melted a stone. Some half hour before he died, he sank into a sleep which became more and more quiet until he gently sighed his soul away. This, my dear brother, is the first death we have had in our family and my first experience of any great sorrow. I have learned rapidly in the school of anguish this week, and I'm many years older than I was a few days ago. It's not so much that I could not give my darling up so far as myself was concerned, but that I saw him suffer such pangs. And then fall under the grasp of the cruel destroyer while I was impotent for his help. Ah, when the mighty wings of the angel of death nestles over your heart's treasures and his black, noisome shadow broods over your home, it shakes the heart with a shuddering terror and horror of great darkness.

To see my dear little one thus ravaged, crushed and destroyed, turning his beautiful liquid eyes to me and his weeping mother for help after his gentle voice was obstructed and to feel myself as helpless as he to give any ears, this tears my heart with anguish. Then I remember, that this death reigns over all else that I love, over wife, remaining children, friends, and my own body, and may seize them. I know not when, how fearful is it to live and love in such a world, how awful that sin, of which death is the wages, and such are the feelings, with which the natural heart regards these calamities.”

What a letter. What a raw and real letter that describes the gut-wrenching reality that you and I live in a world of death. It's a reality we don't like to think about. It's a subject we don't like to talk about. It's an event that arrives often in our lives like an uninvited guest and shows up and interrupts without warning. Perhaps this is the first Easter Sunday where you are meeting without a loved one. Perhaps your heart breaks this morning because even as a child of God you have known what it is to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with someone; and it hurts. Dabney's letter could just as easily have been written by Mary and Martha to describe the scene of John 11.

We're back in Bethany just a couple of miles from Jerusalem and it's a scene where death has entered. And what a scene this is as the curtains are pulled back and we're given a glimpse into family life and a trial that this family that loved the Lord were going through. In fact, I don't have time to go through all the verses, but think about what a scene this was. It's a scene where death is winning. In verse 1, we're told that Lazarus, whom the Lord loves, is sick. In verse 14, we're told that Lazarus dies. In verses 17 and 19, when Jesus gets there, we're told that Lazarus is dead. It's interesting that John twice identifies that he's been dead four days by the time that the Lord gets there.

Now that's significant. Because in rabbinic tradition, it was believed that when someone died, the soul hovered over the body for the first three days, hoping to enter back into it. And then on the fourth day, when it was believed that there was a change and decomposition set in, then the soul would disappear, and the fourth day was the day when death was declared to be irreversible. When someone was absolutely sure of being dead, the family would go back and forth to the tomb, hoping their loved one might just be in a deep coma. And so, in this scene, death is winning, Lazarus is dead.

Not only is death winning, but the disciples are worrying. It's a scene where the disciples are worrying. In verses 8 through 16, Jesus announces they're gonna go back to Bethany, which is in Judea, and the disciples think He's lost His mind. If you were to read at the end of John 10, Jesus had just been stoned out of Judea or just out of Jerusalem. He's been run out of the city. They want to arrest Him and now He wants to go back. And Thomas says in verse 16, “well let us go and let's die with Him.” He thought this was the end. So, it's a scene where death is winning and the disciples are worrying.

And in verses 17 through 19 and verse 33, it's a scene where the sisters are weeping. These sisters are weeping, they're broken. They've lost their brother. And to make matters worse, their Savior was absent. Both sisters say, and they're not blaming Jesus, they're just expressing their grief, but in verse 22 and verse 32, they virtually say the same thing. They say, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.” It's a scene where death is winning and the disciples are worrying and the sisters are weeping.

And here's another point. Wow, verse 37, the crowd is wondering. This is this famous Jesus, this is this famous Jesus, and yet they say in verse 37, as He stands at the tomb of Lazarus and weeps, they say, some of them said, “could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” And so, the crowd are wondering, and they're wondering, has Jesus reached the limit of His power? He's got power over disease, but not death.

And this is the scene that Jesus enters, this scene where death is winning, and the disciples are worrying, and sisters are weeping, and a crowd is wondering. Here's what I want you to see this morning. This is a scene where God is working. This is a scene where God is working and nobody else can see it, but Jesus, in verse 4, when He heard it, He said, “this illness does not lead to death, it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

This scene was divinely orchestrated to showcase the sovereignty of God over death itself. Yes, Lazarus would die, but this scene would be used to reveal something of the glory of God in Christ. And it's a reminder to you and I this morning, that God often works best in the darkest of contexts. The glory of God is seen against a backdrop of grief. I don't know where you are this morning, but maybe you're sitting here, and the reality is your world is dark. And you're broken, and you're struggling, and you're wondering, what's God doing in my life? No matter how dark the day, God works. And God works ultimately for His glory.

In verse 17, Jesus shows up. “Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.” In verse 20, He's met by Martha. Many of the Jews had come to console them [v19]. In verse 20, “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out and met Him. But Mary remains seated in the house.” I don't know what you do when you hear bad, or someone shares bad news with you, it's hard to know what to say in the moment. When someone has experienced a tragedy, sometimes words fail us, but Jesus shows up with perfect words for a scene of sorrow and grief, and in doing so, He gives us powerful words for the saints of God.

Which brings us to our death-defeating declaration in verses 25 through 27. As we think about this, this declaration by Jesus, I want us to think about four aspects of it. Four aspects of this Christ, this great death defeating declaration by Christ. So I want you to see, first of all, the “Authority of The Declaration.” Verse 25, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’”

Now if we back up just a little bit, Jesus has met Martha on the road and she begins to pour out her heart. And in verses 21 and 22, there's a flicker of faith. “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.” And so, there's a flicker of faith. Martha is saying something to Jesus. She said, I know that if You'd have been here, he wouldn't have died. And right now, whatever you ask, perhaps she's asking for the Lord to raise him. I don't know exactly.

But verse 23, “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’” That's a deliberately ambiguous statement by the Lord. Because that's gonna be fulfilled sooner than the final day. And verse 24, Martha agrees with Him and she says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Her theology told her that was going to be the case. But here Martha misses the point. She had her mind set on a future final day event. And in these verses, Jesus is setting Martha up to move her mind from an abstract belief in a future event to absolute belief in the One who was that event.

And right away, Jesus comes in with these words. He says, “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.” [v25] Martha, your mind is on a future event when your brother will arise, but I want you to get your mind off an event and look at Me because I am the resurrection. This is the fifth of the Lord's “I am” statements in John's gospel. “Egō Eimi,” it's that Greek phrase that reaches right back into the heart of the Old Testament. It's that timeless declaration of deity. It's that Old Testament name of God. It's that name that was revealed to Moses in Exodus, where Moses is doubting, with what power can I do this thing, or who has sent me? And He said, tell Pharaoh, “I am.”

It's the timeless, all-powerful name of God. It's the name that Jesus used in John 8 and 58 when He said, “before Abraham was, I am.” And up to now He has used figurative language to speak of “I am the door”, and “I am the shepherd”, and “I am the bread of life”, and they're all figurative metaphors to describe who He is, but now He moves from the figurative to the fact, and He says “I am the resurrection, and I am the life.”

I want you to notice very carefully in your Bible, you know in seminary you learn a lot of big words for God. But sometimes it's the smallest words that have the biggest meaning in our Bibles. Look exactly at this declaration of what Jesus says. He doesn't say, I am the one who will be raised and will live, although that was true. He doesn't say, I am the one who will raise Lazarus and give life to Lazarus, although He will. But He says, “I am the resurrection and I am the life.” It's written in the present tense. And He is looking at Martha and He's saying, Martha, this is who I am.

It was a declaration of who He is. It was a declaration of what He is. It was a declaration of His essential essence. He was and is the source of resurrection, power, and possibility, and that would be validated in the rising again of Lazarus. But listen, folks, on this resurrection Sunday morning, Because He is the resurrection, the life, this is why as the Lord of life, He could never stay dead. It was impossible.

Yes, the cross loomed and death beckoned, but the resurrection was guaranteed because of who He is. Because of the authority that He has. Oh, this resurrection morning, we're not here to think so much about an event, but we're here to worship a person. All men are subject to death, but we worship One of whom death is subject to. We worship One not dominated by death, but One who has dominion over death.

And I love the juxtaposition between Lazarus and the Lord. When you think about the two resurrection accounts, Lazarus needed to be raised. The Lord raised himself. Lazarus needed to be called forth, but Jesus simply came forth. Lazarus needed to be unbound and let loose. And when they looked in the tomb, Jesus had folded the grave clothes neatly. You see, in John 10:18, He says that I'm the one who has the power to lay down my life and I have the power to take it again.

You know, the word order is important here because you'll notice that resurrection preceded life. “I am the resurrection and I am the life.” The resurrection preceded life and essentially the resurrection promises life. And because He is the resurrection, He guarantees life because in Him is life. John 1 and 4, that's how John opens this great gospel.

We see not only the authority of the declaration, but let's move on a little bit because we come to “The Assurance of the Declaration.” The assurance Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection [and] the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” [v25] In this next section of the Lord's statement, He essentially expands on the implications of being the resurrection and being the life.

Verse 25, He expands on what it means to be the resurrection. Verse 26, what it means to be the life. Essentially like a good preacher, and this is drilled into us so often at seminary. They tell us when you're preaching, you always gotta get to the “so what”, the “so what” of your message. And Jesus gives Martha the “so what.” “I am the resurrection, the life,” “so what.” Jesus says, the “so what,” is the one believing.

That's literally how it is translated. It's in the present tense. Verse 25, the one believing. It's the idea of being in a constant state of belief. Of course, believing is one of the great themes of the gospel of John, right throughout, he's constantly pointing to belief, to belief, to belief. And here Jesus is saying, the one who is believing in Me, the one who doesn't just have a profession of faith, but one who's got a possession of faith, one who's truly believing in the Lord. The one believing in Me. Not believing in themselves. Not believing in their works, not believing in their baptism, not even believing in their faith.

Lazarus was one who loved the Lord. Mary and Martha were sisters who worshiped the Lord, and yet those weren't the things that saved them, but it was belief in Him. I don't know if you're a believer this morning, but I want to be as straight with you as I can. Salvation and assurance of eternal life is found in Christ alone, nothing else. Maybe up to now you've been trusting in a hundred other things, but Jesus says, the one believing in Me.

And though we die, man, I know we're never to add or take away from the word of God, but we'd love to take that out, right? Though we die. Saving faith doesn't delete death. Doesn't prevent us from getting sick. It's the tragic reality of living in a fallen world. In Hebrews 9:27, we read, it's appointed unto man once to die, every one of us. It's the great leveler.

You see, the glory of heaven, as John writes in Revelation 21:4 he says that “death shall be no more,” praise God. But so long as we live in a fallen world, death is that great enemy that we have to face, and it should terrify you if you're not a believer, but here's the glorious truth for the children of God this morning. The one believing in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (v.25), even if believers like Lazarus should have to die, we fear no evil. The way this Greek is literally rendered, it's, “will come to life.” The one believing in Me, though he die, he will come to life. And Jesus here is pointing to that future resurrection on that final day that He will procure.

The reality is, except the Lord comes, these bodies will one day go to the grave. These bodies that we live in that are overcome with pain, riddled with cancer, distorted with disease. And that's where you are this morning, such a struggle to come to church. The spirit is willing, but man, my flesh is weak. Can I encourage you, child of God, this morning, that's not your final state. Child of God, this morning, because of His resurrection, the best is yet to be.

You see, the next great event on God's timeline is gonna be the rapture of the church. At any moment, the trumpet's gonna sound, and Christ is gonna come, and the church is gonna go, and at that moment, there's gonna be the resurrection of Christians. Those who have died in Christ are going to be raised. In fact, let me just show you this. Come over to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Sorry, 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Paul writes of this glorious day. 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. Verse 50, “I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. Now this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. And when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In that passage, Paul tells us that the dead will rise in new bodies and the living will be raptured in changed bodies. And you say to me, “what's that body gonna be like?” Well, I can't tell you exactly. I can't tell you if you're five foot four that you're gonna be six foot two. I have no idea. I would like a few shirt sizes smaller. But here's what I do know. Philippians 3:21 tells me that my Savior's gonna change this vile body. And He's not just gonna give me a new and improved body, He's gonna give me a body like His Son. As He rose, so we will rise.

And here's the thing that I think is amazing, that we won't just be with Christ, that's enough. But praise God, we're gonna be like Him. Suffering, struggling, saint of God this morning on this resurrection day, the best is yet to come, that we're not just gonna be with Him, we're gonna be like Him. Sin and struggle and suffering will be gone because in 1 Corinthians 15:20, if you're still there, we read that Jesus Christ has become the firstfruits of them that sleep.

And in Texas, I don't need to tell you about firstfruits. It's that agricultural metaphor. It's those first signs of a harvest that's yet to come. And Jesus Christ, as He rose, He set the pattern that all His children will follow. I love the verse of that hymn, it says, “I lay in dust, life's glory dead. And from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”

But Jesus doesn't just focus on the future. But if you're back in John 11, in verse number 26, He moves on a little bit. In this assurance of the declaration, Jesus said there, “I am the resurrection, the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who is living and believing in Me shall never die.” This is the implication of Him also being the life. Verse 25 is implication of Him being the resurrection. What does that mean? Verse 26 is implication of Him being the life.

And sometimes future hope can be hard to hold on to. And Martha affirmed the theology of that future resurrection. And she knew it was coming someday, but what about today? What hope is there for today? And so, Jesus in verse 26, He deals with the present. And if in verse 25 is the true concerning the future physical resurrection of believers, verse 26 is true for the present life, spiritual life of believers.

Jesus is everyone living and believing in Me. Jesus doubles down again on the conditions for eternal life. It's belief in Him alone. And I wanna again challenge you this morning. Are you believing in Christ? And if you are, look at what Jesus says. “You shall never die.” Not only is He doubling down on the conditions for eternal life, but He again doubles down on the certainty of eternal life.

In the Greek, He uses two negatives together. It's hard for us to capture in the English, but He, in saying, shall never die, it's the strongest, most emphatic way of saying something will not happen. You would translate it something like this; everyone living and believing in Me absolutely, certainly will never die. In other words, though like Lazarus we may have to go through the veil of death, I want to encourage you, saint of God, this morning, eternal life can never be extinguished by physical death.

In John 14:19, Jesus said, “because I live, you also will live.” And so often we think of eternal life as that which starts when we die, and it doesn't. Constantly throughout even the book of John, in John 3:15-16, in John 5:24, in John 8:51, we're told that eternal life begins now. The moment that we believe, we come into an eternal union with God that will never be broken, and all that happens at death is faith gives way to sight. Death is simply the vehicle that takes us from life to life, from a life of death to a life of life.

Death is that last great enemy, but it's not to be feared. On January 30th, 1965, the United Kingdom laid to rest one of its greatest leaders in Winston Churchill. It's the largest state funeral in British history and only the second non-religious royal to be given a state funeral. On that funeral, there were many stately hymns played in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. There was impressive liturgy, but at the end of the service, Churchill, who had planned his funeral, had an unusual event.

When they said the benediction, a bugler high in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on one side played the last post, the traditional British military signal that a soldier had gone to his final rest. However, immediately following that, Churchill had arranged for another bugler to play the Reveille, the standard military wake-up call. And in this, Churchill wanted to communicate the end of this life and the beginning of the next.

I don't know if Churchill was ever a believer, but in a much greater way, that's what Jesus is declaring here, that death is the end of this life, but it's simply the beginning of the next. It's simply a step into the presence of Almighty God. I love that famous story from Billy Graham when he said, “Someday you will read Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address and I will have gone into the presence of God.” Amen.

Oh, this resurrection Sunday, Saint of God, be encouraged. As you live and believe in Him, you'll never die. That we can rejoice this morning that death is swallowed up in the victory of His resurrection. Very quickly, we've seen the authority of this declaration and the assurance of this declaration, but look at the end of verse 26, “The Appeal of this Declaration.”

Because after this great death defeating declaration, Jesus looks Martha square in the face, and He said, are you believing this? What a question. Everything was calling Martha to doubt. Death was calling her to doubt. Life was calling her to doubt. Feelings were calling her to doubt. And in asking this, Jesus was not asking, do you believe that I can raise Lazarus? He isn't asking her if she believed about a final future day resurrection, but did she believe that He alone was the source of resurrection power and eternal life?

In other words, here's what He said. Martha, are your eyes on Me? My son has a baseball coach who's really into it. I think it's fascinating, these little league baseball coaches who's like a dad, but yet he's all into it, and he's like, he may as well be an MLB, you know, an MLB coach. These six-year-olds, and he's writing plays, and it's just, but he's got a thing, and he gets them around his feet, and he says, “all eyes on me,” and he clicks his fingers, and he waits until they're looking at him so as he has their attention. And that's what Jesus is doing here. He's saying, Martha, “where's your eyes?” Are they on a future resurrection? Are they on death? Are they on a hundred other things Martha, “eyes on Me.” Child of God this morning, are your eyes on Him?

Pastor John in his commentary in John's Gospel quotes from R.C.H. Lenski in this passage and he says this, “To believe this is to believe what He says of himself and thus to believe in Him. It is one thing to hear it, to reason, and to argue about it, and quite another thing to believe, embrace, trust it, to believe is to receive, hold, enjoy the reality and the power of it with all that lies in it of joy, comfort, peace, and hope.”

On this resurrection Sunday morning, in Trinity Bible Church, Jesus asked every one of us this morning, are you believing this? Where you sit right now, only you and God know. Are you believing? Where's your eyes? Have they ever been opened? The whole purpose of John's Gospel is summed up in John 20:31, “but these things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

I know the elders of this church are so glad to see you as a visitor this morning. But I know the heart of those men, and it's the heart of the Lord that if you have come here this morning and you've enjoyed the music, and you've enjoyed the fellowship, and you've enjoyed Easter Sunday morning until next year, and you walk out those doors having missed Jesus, it'll be the saddest Easter morning. Because Easter isn't about church. And Easter's not even about celebrating an event on the church calendar. Easter's about Jesus. The One who has died for your sin and risen that you might believe in His name.

And I wanna ask you this morning, do you believe? Because the reverse of this statement is so tragic. Let me give it to you. “I am the resurrection and the life.” That's unchanging whether you believe or not. But the rest of it is so tragic when it's reversed. “Whoever does not believe in Me, he will die and he shall not live. And everyone who lives not believing in Me shall never live eternally.” And I plead with you this morning. Don't let that be you, for why would you die in your sins?

If the authority of the declaration, the assurance of the declaration, the appeal of the declaration, verse 27, “The Affirmation of the Declaration.” Look at what Martha says, “She said to Him, yes, Lord, I believe that You're the Christ, the Son of God who's coming into the world.” Her faith was sure. We can't see it in the English, but it's emphatic in the original. Literally, it could be translated, I myself have believed. There was a point where I believed in Christ for myself.

I see a few boys and girls in the congregation this morning. I love seeing children in church. You're so welcome. And I love that you're in church beside mommy and daddy. I was talking to a college student this week in my Bible study, and for so much of his life up to this point, he lived on the faith of his mom and dad. He had never believed. And can I ask, boys and girls this morning, have you believed personally? See, mommy and daddy's faith is not enough. Lazarus' faith was not enough for Martha. Mary's faith wasn’t enough for Martha. Martha's faith wasn’t enough for Mary. She had to believe herself.

And she says, I myself have believed. It was a past act with continuing results. You didn't need to keep getting saved. But she was saved once and forever. She had a concrete, continuing faith in Jesus Christ. And that was evidenced not only by the fact that her faith was sure, but her faith had substance.

Because look at what she says. She gives a three-fold confession of Jesus that's one of the greatest in the New Testament. We often look at the confession of Peter and the confession of others, but tucked away in John 11 is the confession of Martha that can stand with any of the others. She had faith in what Jesus was, the Christ, the one who had been promised, the Jewish Messiah who had been long awaited that He had finally come as the Savior of Israel. She believed in what He was. She believed in who He was, not just a man, but the Son of God.

The sinless, spotless Son of God, and she believed not only in what and who, but she believed in why He came, the One who is coming into the world. An echo of John 1:29, the Lamb of God that comes into the world to take away the sin. And as such, Martha's affirmation provides for us such a great example of what it means to truly believe. She now had her eyes fixed on Christ. Her faith was sure and her faith had substance.

We didn't read the rest of the story, but we know how the story ends. This declaration was married with an incredible demonstration as Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, declaring Himself and showing that He was the resurrection, the life. A few weeks later, Christ would face the cross and He would rise again, forever cementing the truth of this death defeating declaration. And that first resurrection Sunday was the day that death truly died.

I read you the start of Dabney's letter and it was depressing. Let me close with the end of it. He says, “but blessed be God. To Christian faith they wear a different aspect. Death is no longer a hellish monster and tyrant, but Christ's messenger. Our parting is not for long. This despoiled and ruined body will be raised and all its ravaged beauties more than repaired. And as to the other beloved ones whom I see exposed to disease and death, I know that death cannot touch them unless that heavenly Father who orders everything for me in love and wisdom sees it best, so that I can trust them, though trembling to his keeping and be at peace.

Our little Jimmy is now a ransomed spirit. As I stand by the grave and think of the poor, ruined clay within that was a few days ago so beautiful, my heart bleeds. But as I ask, where is the soul whose beams gave that clay all its beauty and preciousness? I triumph! Has it not already begun with an infant voice the praises of my Savior? He is in Christ's heavenly house and under his guardian love. And now I feel as never before the blessedness of that redeeming grace and divine blood which have ransomed my poor babe from all the sin and death which he inherited through me.”

I am the resurrection and the life. Everyone who believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live. And everyone living and believing in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?(v.25-26)

[Prayer] Father, the only words we can offer You at the end of such a declaration are words of praise. Father, we hate that we live in a world of death. Death is so cruel. But Father, we rejoice in this death defeating declaration that we have a Savior who defeated death, one who lives in the power of an endless life, and as such, He imparts everlasting hope to all His children.

Father, this is a great word of encouragement and comfort for the children of God this morning. But for any who aren't, as they are faced with that question, do you believe this? I pray that You would move in their soul and open their eyes and grant them the faith to believe in Him. and inherit that eternal life that is the free gift of God. For it's in His name we pray. Amen. [End]

‍