Jesus -- the Source of True Life

Welcome to God's Word for You, the ministry of Sharon Arby Church in Southeast Iowa. We want to thank you for listening today, and we pray that you'll be blessed by both hearing God's Word as well as having it applied to your life and your heart. Our scripture text this morning for the sermon is found in John chapter 11. We'll be reading the first 44 verses of that. It's an extended narrative of the death and Raising of Lazarus. We've been, as we've been here a number of times, been preaching through the gospel of John. So we want to continue in this as we look at John chapter 11 verses 1 through 44. Let's hear the word of God.

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. His brother Lazarus was ill. So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. 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 might be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. And 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.

Are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 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. Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant he was taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died.

And for your sake, I'm glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus has 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'd 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 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. Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. When she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb, to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to this tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by the time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, his faith wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, your word that gives us encouragement, challenges us above all, points us to Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life. We ask and pray that we would hear, learn, believe, that you would give me an ability to proclaim clearly, and that your word and all its power would be unleashed among us, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. One of the joys of having a congregation such as Sharon, We've had the privilege of coming back to numerous occasions, including a few stints as interim supply preacher here, as you get to know a lot of you folks. And that's a real delight. But it also means you get to share in some of the sorrows and struggles.

Sermon

And just a little over a year ago, that year that I spent a year here as your interim supply, I did two funerals. This church has had more than one serious accident. I can see a couple of you sitting out there now who've experienced among those accidents. We prayed for Kurt Peterson this morning, who I know and visited him in the hospital when he was just shortly after his accident and was up there with Emma and his daughter. And he was all bandaged up. He still has a long way to go in recovery.

All of these various times in our life, whether it's the sicknesses, the injuries, the funerals, remind us that this world is a world in which we experience struggle. We experience the fact that this is a bent and broken world. And they cause us to reevaluate and look at what is really significant and important in life. They cause us to reflect upon what is the source of true life and is this present existence all that there is?

No book in the Bible probably deals with this more thoroughly than the Gospel of John. That as we were going through the Gospel of John, you remember when we were here before, and then I'd been back a couple of other times, and we preached again on the Gospel of John.

And this passage that we read this morning, the account of the raising of Lazarus, the death and raising of Lazarus, points very clearly to this question. Jesus is the resurrection and the light. Jesus in particular points us to five truths which can clarify for us what this means when he says, I am the resurrection and the light.

This is the last recorded miracle in the Gospels that we have of Jesus. It's only found in John's Gospel. It's an interesting question. Why, if it's the greatest miracles that are only found in John's gospel? Some have suggested because Lazarus was still alive when the other gospels, which come a little bit earlier, were still written. And so they didn't record this until after Lazarus actually died the second time, shall we say. That's possible. We do know that Mary and Martha were well-known in Christian circles. They show up several places in the gospels.

Now, the text begins by telling us that Jesus was across the Jordan in the rough, semi-inhabited wilderness. We're not quite sure exactly where he was, but he was over there in the wilderness area. It says that at the end of chapter 10, he went across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptized, and there he remained. While he was there, he gets word that Lazarus is sick.

Now, the text goes out of the way to emphasize this great love that Jesus has for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It goes out of its way to emphasize that Jesus had a particular love for these three. He apparently had spent time with them. We know that from the gospel accounts. But this is a love that is means that Jesus is going to be called upon.

And his disciples are a little puzzled, really, about why Jesus seems to dilly-dally. And that's really what they say to him. Lazarus is ill. He stays longer out there. That's the setting. And his disciples, being puzzled by this, they said, What's going to go on there? What's happening? They share the fear of going back to that area. They know that the Jews want a stone him there.

And he says these things which seems a little bit cryptic to them about walking in when it's daylight, about their friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, which they immediately take in a very literalistic sort of way and say, oh, if he's sleeping, that's no problem then. He'll wake up, of course.

But Jesus makes it clear he's talking about the fact that Lazarus has died. And he says that very plainly, Lazarus has died. And he says, for your sake, I was glad I was not there, which I'm sure puzzled them even more. Why in the world does Jesus say, I'm glad I was not there?

But he says, now let's go to him. And Thomas recognizes that this is a dangerous place. He says, OK, if we go there, there's a serious risk that we may die with him. Thomas is following him here, but he knows this is a dangerous endeavor that they're doing. It was a crucial turning point.

It's one of the few miracles in which we know the name of the man. There are a couple of others. Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, we know his name, but we don't know very many of the names. This one is somebody that just doesn't call out for healing on the road or is a casual acquaintance.

This is the healing of someone that Jesus knew quite well. The first thing we ought to see that this text is pointing us to is that this true life that Jesus is speaking about here is a gift of sovereign love. In other words, it's something that it's controlled and is shown by God's sovereign wisdom.

Because Jesus makes it very clear that he delays, which puzzled him so much. The text, as he said, goes out of the way to emphasize this great love. But on the surface, the actions that Jesus takes seem counterintuitive to these expressions of love. Did you notice Mary and Martha both expressed puzzlement about this?

Look at verse 21, when Jesus comes back there. Martha, first thing she says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now look at Mary, who stayed back in verse 32. Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. Both of the sisters, independently, in two different settings, say the same thing. Obviously, this was on their mind. Lord, we love it that you love us, but you're a little late. That's what they say, you're a little late. Now, the other mourners had said the same thing. Look at verse 36.

The Jews said, see how he loved him, but some of them said, could not he have opened the eyes of the blind men have also kept this kept this man from dying. This is obviously all in their thinking. They're all saying, we know this man has the reputation of his great power, great healing power. Why did he dilly dally? That's basically what they're saying.

Could he have not gotten here earlier and done something? The sovereignty of this love is here combined with some of the most intense manifestations of it. And if Jesus had only been operating on human love, he probably wouldn't have waited. But Jesus wasn't just operating on human love here. He's operating out of a divine love, because he is the God man. a divine love which selects its own timetable, but it's also a love that's combined with the greatest intensity, the greatest wisdom, and the greatest power.

That's clearly seen here. If you don't see the great power demonstrated, we'll elaborate more on that as we go through this text, you're missing a key point here. I mean, we can say we love somebody and we love you greatly, but the one thing we don't have is the ability to do like Jesus here and say, okay, you're in great sorrow. I think I'll bring him back from the dead. We don't have that kind of power. We can express love, but we do not have that power. Jesus did.

True life, the true life that he's talking about here is a gift of sovereign love. It's God's greatest gift to us. Only when we focus on both the depths of this love and understand it as a gift of his perfectly sovereign and wise timetable, that he always has our best interest at heart when he expresses to us that I am the resurrection of the life, This is the sovereign of the universe, after all, at work here. This is the same God who tells us all things will work together for good to those who love me and are called according to my purpose. This is the God who is saying, yes, I love you with an everlasting love, but I will show you that love in my timetable.

We see a little glimpse. The Apostle Paul uses the image, we see through a glass darkly. We see just little glimpses of what's going on in this world. Jesus is showing us here. He has a timetable and a plan that he sovereignly, in his own wise and powerful way, will demonstrate this incredibly intense love. If we don't understand that, we miss one of the key focus points of this passage. The passage also makes it very clear that this true life is found only in Jesus. He starts to comfort Martha, whom first has met him.

He says to her, your brother will rise again. Very basic statement of theological truth. With the exception of the Sadducees who denied the resurrection, this would have been a common belief among the Jewish people of the day. Yes, there's going to be a final resurrection. And Jesus starts with that basic truth.

And Martha says, yes, I understand that. I know he will rise again in the resurrection and the last day. We can't tell from Martha's tone, but I get a little bit of a feeling, and this is reading in between the lines here, but that Martha is saying, yes, I know that, but more? I sense that.

Martha is saying, don't you have something more for me than just that basic truth? Yes, there's a resurrection at the last day. This is common, basic belief. Don't you have something more? But Jesus goes on to explain this. He quickly changes the focus to the present. He says, 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? He changes the focus to him, himself. And he's saying, that's just not a theological truism. He says it is true. He's pointed it out. It's very true, great truth.

Book of Daniel had talked greatly in a section in Daniel 12 about the resurrection. There's going to be a resurrection. But Jesus says, you have to understand that that resurrection ends up being focused on me. I am the one who gives resurrection life. I am the resurrection and the life. He says, if you believe in me, though you die, you shall live. He's pointing out that trust in him is where the real focal point for that truth about the future resurrection is going to crystallize.

Now, this is still a few days or weeks. We're not quite sure of the exact timing, but pretty close to when Jesus would actually die and rise again. And then, I'm sure things will begin to crystallize even more in his disciples. But he's telling them.

I am the one that you trust for your future resurrection, because I am going to be the one who is going to conquer sin and death. Now, he doesn't elaborate on that here, but that's clearly implied behind what he says when he says, I am the resurrection and the life. But he asks her, do you believe this? He says, this is crucial. Is this where you are placing your hope? and wonderful affirmation of faith that she gives.

Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. This is probably the clearest profession of faith up to this point in any of the gospels. Peter had said, I believe you're the Christ, the Son of the living God, but she has said the one who's coming into the world. This is a way of saying you have come to do something marvelous. He is the one sent from God, in other words. You are the one who comes from God. This gospel had begun in chapter three.

God so loved the world that he what? He gave his one and only son. The idea of Jesus being the one sent from God, the gift from God, is crucial to understanding the flow of John's gospel. This mission of Jesus as the incarnate son as seen as the greatest gift to humanity that has ever been and ever will be. That is a key theme. Martha understands that, and she gives this glowing, glorious testimony to faith. And that's what Jesus wanted her to see.

In other words, it's only when we trust Jesus as the sent one The one who comes from God to give life, that we can expect to find any genuine life, he gives life because that was what his mission to do was. So when we seek any portion of really genuine life, expect to find any genuine life, we can only find it in him. If we seek to find it outside of him, We are bypassing the one whom God sent to give us life. Jesus has said one chapter earlier, I have come that you may have life abundantly.

Now, that has been so misunderstood by some people. They think it means a trouble-free life. People think that. They mean, you know, we can see it in its most blatant forms in the health and wealth gospel, and we can reject that, and that's great that we reject that. But we all have a tendency to imbibe a little bit of that. If it's an abundant life, of course it would be a trouble-free life. In this context, I challenge you to see that Mary and Martha have had a trouble-free life. This is not a trouble-free life. They just lost their brother, the one whom Jesus loved. That's not trouble-free.

There's a lot of weeping. There are professional mourners there. They did. You hired professional mourners. There were flute players and other flute players were among the professional mourners. And you hired people that came and howled at funerals. I mean, this was going on while Jesus is there. The howlers, the mourners, the professional mourners were hired.

All of this is to emphasize that their life was not a trouble-free life. So when Jesus says, I'm come that you will have abundant life, and I am the resurrection of the life, he's not saying it's trouble-free. Not at all. They were experiencing grief, and Jesus doesn't downplay that. It says later that he wept. He wept at the tomb. We'll talk more about that in just a minute.

But the point is, it's not a trouble-free life. But it's a life that says, he is the center. And all of our hopes for not only the future, but making any sense out of the life we are living right now, focus on Jesus as the resurrection and the life. It's not just pie in the sky. People will accuse us of that. But it's wonderful that there is a future life, because if that If this life is all there is, there isn't much else.

There was a pop singer many years ago named Peggy Lee. She sang with a number of the big bands, and she had one song that said, if that's all there is, and she went through all kinds of things, and the answer, she kept singing in the chorus, if that's all there is, let's bring out the booze and let's keep dancing. In other words, numb ourselves with nothing but a little bit of momentary pleasure, if that's all there is. And she goes through this long list of things in the verses. The chorus is always, if that's all there is, let's bring out the booze and let's keep dancing. A lot of people pretend that they can go through the world this way, life this way, but they can't, really. And those quiet moments, it gnaws at them. There has to be more to life. than just a few momentary pleasures.

And Jesus is telling us, I am the resurrection and the life. But he's also showing us in this passage that to get that true life, it's dependent on God's definitive action. Now remember, Jesus had come under criticism. both from his friends and from the less than friendly critics. Even Mary and Martha, his closest friends whom he loves, says, Lord, if you'd been here, this wouldn't have happened.

The critics, they ramp it up a little bit more. This is the guy who heals blind men. He couldn't get here in time to heal his friend that he loved. They're critical of him. But Jesus has said, as we will explore as well, this was all done for the glory of God. But in the immediate context, he comes to the tomb And he weeps. He weeps. He's greatly troubled. At least twice in the text it tells us that he is greatly troubled.

And if you really pursue what this word means, greatly troubled, you understand this is a response of genuine anger. on Jesus from the part of the aspect of his human nature at the fact that this is a sin, cursed, broken world. Some have tried to say, well, isn't his anger more focused on the unbelief? That's possible, but I'm not very likely I don't believe because it's when he looks at the tomb, it says he's deeply moved and leads him to act in a decisive way. Now Martha, by the way, tries to argue him out of going to the tomb.

And she tells him that there's a stench there, or as the ESV which I was reading says, an odor, the old King James probably gets it as well as any when it says, he stinketh. That's what it says in the old King James, he stinketh. That's good old Elizabethan English, what is a horrible odor in there? Martha says, you don't wanna go there, he stinks by now.

This has been four days pre-modern embalming. Besides, there was an ancient Jewish cult tradition that says the spirit hangs around for about three days and that's all he hangs around, then he skedaddles out of there. It was four. In other words, this is not worth going over there.

But Jesus goes there and he is deeply moved He weeps, and he's deeply moved. And it's interesting that the particular word that is used for deeply moved here is a word that refers to real struggle. It has the idea of physically shaking, or heavy sighing, or as one re-reputable biblical commentator has said, snorting with indignation. Jesus looks at this, and it makes him mad. That's really what we're seeing here.

He is angry at the fact that human life struggles with death, and that this man that he greatly loved has died. Of course, he came into this world as the resurrection and life to deal with the final answer. But even so, he doesn't mean he can't as he's the God-man. That doesn't mean that he doesn't have human emotions, which he does. And he struggles with the fact that he's looking squarely at the face of death. This man that he loved.

And it leads to a take charge situation. He asks that the stone be rolled away. Now he could have miraculously just had Lazarus, I suppose, come out through the stone or something, but he doesn't. He asks that the stone be moved. And he calls to the dead man with a seriousness.

Lazarus, he says, come out. Or Lazarus, come forth, depending on your translation. Now, more than one biblical scholar has pointed that if he hadn't specifically said Lazarus, we might have had resurrections all over the place. We don't know that for sure, but it's very clear that he singles out Lazarus in that tomb, and he says, Lazarus, come out.

Calvin has a wonderful comment on this. He says, Christ did not come to the sepulcher as an idle spectator, but as a wrestler preparing for the contest. Jesus comes there to wrestle as the God-man with the fact that his friend that he loved had died. What this means for us is that it shows us that we need to depend on God's definitive action in Christ in order to have true life. And that it also means, though, in spite of our misunderstanding of situations, we can rest assured that when our Lord acts, he will act in a decisive way, which meets every opposition we can imagine.

It didn't matter that Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. It didn't matter that they would have said he stinks by now. It didn't matter that the local Jewish custom was that the spirit had gone away and it's useless anymore. Those were irrelevant. Jesus was confronting the death of his friend Lazarus and saying, you come forth.

Now, that doesn't mean we won't have to deal, of course, with extremely painful situations. We still live in the interim time. The final tear has not been wiped away. The last trumpet is not blown. The kingdom of God is not here in its fullness. It's just here in its down payment way. That's true, absolutely. But we do have the assurance that the final victory has been won. The Gospel of John speaks about Jesus doing signs. This is a sign. When Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth, there's a time coming when every single one of us is God's people.

If we're alive, we meet him in the air. But if we are in the graves, And we don't know, every one of us here could be in the grave when Jesus returns, because we don't know when he will return. We don't know if it'll be next week or a thousand years from now. We aren't told. That's in the Father's hands. If it's, you know, 50 years from now, most of us here, let's say a little over 100 years from now, most of us here will probably be in the grave. And we will be called out. But whether we're alive, or whether we're in the grave, Apostle Paul says, comfort one another with these words, we will be called out. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. The grave will have no final victory over us. And that colors everything we do now. Life in all its fullness has seen this action of a decisive down payment sign, guaranteeing all the future realities. Now, the text shows us that this future life will surpass all ordinary expectations.

They wanted to make it very clear here, Jesus did in waiting four days, that Lazarus was really dead. Martha's and Mary's disappointment had been so intensified because they had believed in Jesus so intensely. The scene is probably incredibly impressive. I get the feeling that, you know, He's almost like sort of mummy-like when he comes out of there. They have to, he says, because he says he's wrapped with cloth, unbind him. I try to picture this in my mind, and it's just incredible when you think about it. They roll the stone away, Jesus says, Lazarus, come out, and this mummy-like figure comes somehow stumbling out of the tomb. It was a cave-like tomb in the side of wall, same type of tomb that Jesus would be buried in. What did Lazarus experience?

Well, we don't know. Some have suggested he had maybe some kind of soul sleep in the interim. Some have suggested the Lord wiped away, he had gone to heaven, the Lord wiped away memories of this. But one thing we do know is he did die again. So it was a different kind of resurrection than what Jesus would promise for us eternally. So in other words, as wonderful a sign as this, it's still a sign because Lazarus would die again. But one day there's a time coming when none of us will die again. Jesus, when he rises from the dead, Scripture says he conquers sin and death. Death has no hold over him.

And that's what we all can look forward to. 1 John 3 says, we shall be like him. We don't know exactly what that will be. In 1 John 3, 3, let me read that. That passage says it as well as any other passage in Scripture in 1 John 3, 3. It says, Beloved, we are God's, verse two actually, are God's children. Now what we shall be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure. Apostle John says it has a role on your purity, but it has a role for our hope as well. The Apostle Paul develops the aspect of hope more. We look forward to this. We can trust in Jesus as the resurrection and the life. Just as he called Lazarus out of the tomb and he came stumbling out. So we will someday come out of the tomb, but we won't stumble out because we will experience the final resurrection. It's a quality of life.

There will be all tears wiped away, no more suffering. What we can expect will far exceed anything we've ever experienced. You think about this, a world in which there is no more suffering, no more sorrow, no more tears, that's beyond anything we've ever experienced, none of us.

Our best days, you still got things you look at and you can say, hmm, didn't go so well today. The world, you turn the news on and you hear a bunch of bad news and you say, oh, maybe it was a good day for me, but not for those folks. None of us have lived in a world, even when you go on a vacation, you come back and you say there, well, The work is still there. We struggle with the fact that in this world, the best of days still have the struggle. We live in a bent and broken world.

One day, Jesus, the fact that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, gives us an incredible hope. The ultimate power of death. has been broken, and Christ the present and the future really come together. But last of all, the text reminds us that he does this to show glory. of God in the midst of all this.

He said at the very beginning, no, he tells us here, I did this, this illness will not lead to death, it's for the glory of God, so the Son of Man will be glorified through it. Jesus being glorified is another key theme of the Gospel of John. His death, burial, and resurrection would be the time in the Gospel of John when he's glorified. But this event is a sort of a precursor to that. He is glorified. He's showing the glory of God in the raising of Lazarus.

Verse 40, he tells Mary and Martha, he says, did I not tell you if you believed you would see the glory of God? He says that was in the very beginning of the chapter, it was so they would see the glory of God. He tells Martha and Mary specifically, so you would see the glory of God. They give clear expressions of faith. They trust in Jesus as the resurrection and the life. And they see a revelation of the goodness of God.

We were created. to glorify God. Our Shorter Catechism, question one, that famous Shorter Catechism, question one, what is the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, picks up that key phrase that, for example, the Apostle Paul says, whether you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. You say, what is this glory of God? It's God's goodness displayed and his power displayed. Everything wonderful about God displayed to the nth degree. Now God can reveal his glory in judgment, because everything God does is glorious.

But in us, we who are Christian believers, his glory is displayed in redemption. his triumph over sin and death. And that's so important. He tells Mary and Martha, if you believe, you will see the glory of God. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. But he ultimately is that so that not only we will be converted, and sanctified, and go to live with Him and glorified, but that He is glorified and receives the honor and the glory of all of that.

In giving life to poor, helpless, dead sinners, because that's what we are, apart from Him, God receives glory. And it's very interesting, the Apostle Paul, when he describes what sin is, he says we've all sinned in what? Fallen short of the glory of God. That's what sin is, is falling short of the glory of God.

But in the work of Christ, as demonstrated here in this raising of Lazarus, this narrative that talks about Jesus being the resurrection and the life, he is saying, I will be glorified. He will reverse completely the effects of human sin in we who are believers, and his glory will shine with brightness, incredible brightness in doing so. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

His sovereign love reaches out to us. The whole purpose of his mission as the sent one was to do that. He acts on our behalf in the most decisive way, surpassing all of our expectations. He's always shining forth and doing that in all of his glorious splendor. The ultimate answer that comes back to each one of us today, though, is same question and answer that Mary and Martha were asked. Do you believe this? Do you stake your life upon this? Is this what drives you? That Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Is this the centerpiece of your life?

That's what he's asking Mary and Martha here. So when you have these times of great sorrow in life, When Jesus himself recognized it, when he wept and got angry at the effects of human sin, what's the consolation? What's that that buoys you up in that time?

Closing Prayer

It's the truth. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Do you believe that? Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this truth. We thank you. that our Lord Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. We ask and pray that we would truly believe and depend and live out of that reality. From Christ's name we pray, amen.