I Am the Resurrection and the Life — John 11:1-27 (07.12.2026)

Good morning. Our scripture reading is from John chapter 11,

John 11 · chapter mention

starting in verse 1. When I'm done reading, I'll say this is the word of the

Lord, if you'll respond with thanks be to God.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was Mary who anointed with ointment, 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.

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 skipping down to verse 20.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met with 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, good morning. My name is Nathan, and I'm one of the pastors here at Christchurch,

and we are so glad that you are here with us this morning.

If you have been here, then you know we are working through the book of John,

and John tells us that he wrote down the story of Jesus that we might believe.

And I think this story in particular, which will actually break into two parts,

so I'll preach the first part this week. Lazarus will still be dead when we leave.

Next week, Brendan will preach him out of the grave.

But I think this story in particular helps us to really see who Jesus is and to believe.

So last week, Ben brought us through chapter 10. So in chapter 10,

verse 30, Jesus makes this huge claim that he and the father are one.

And the Jews pick up stones.

They are ready to kill him. But Jesus manages to get away simply because it's not time for him to die.

But we have reached a point in the story where the Jewish leadership have determined

that they are going to arrest and kill Jesus and they won't stop until they do.

So in verse 39, we see that they seek to arrest him.

He escapes away from them. And then in verse 40, we see that Jesus crosses the Jordan,

And he begins to preach, and many come out to hear him, and many believe.

And there's a great literary marker there at the end of chapter 10.

The gospel writer here is bookending

chapter 1 and chapter 10 with these references to John the Baptist.

So you see at the end of chapter 10, it says, They come to him,

and they say, John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man, Jesus, was true.

And so it's this literary signal that John, the gospel writer,

is giving us that when we move into chapter 11, we're making a turn.

And that turn is towards the passion narrative.

This is the most dangerous point in Jesus's ministry. The Jewish leadership

has decided what they're going to do.

And so here we are at this big turn.

Throughout the book of John, there are seven signs that John gives to us to

help us believe that Jesus really is God. So do you remember what they are?

So water into wine, healing the official's son. He heals a lame man at the pools at Bethesda.

He feeds the 5,000. He walks on water. He heals a man born blind.

And then Lazarus' resurrection is the seventh. Now, the greatest sign that we

have of Jesus and his deity will be his own resurrection.

But of these signs, this is the greatest one. So we're gonna jump into it.

Here's how we're gonna do this this morning. I'm gonna take a few minutes to

walk through the first 27 verses. That's what we'll cover today.

And then I'm gonna highlight a few things as we go through that.

I'm gonna give you two points. I'm gonna go ahead and give you those points

so you could be thinking about them.

The first is that Jesus' timing is for our good and for his glory.

And the second is Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Those are on the notes

that you should have gotten when you come in.

And then after that, I'll give you a question that I want you to ponder as you leave today.

So I'm going to walk through these kind of three scenes of these verses.

So there are kind of three different parts to this initial part of the story.

So verse one through six is really the setup. It 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 it's very interesting that John notes this because this story doesn't happen

until later into the gospel.

So he's either assuming that his readers know who this is and he's making that

connection for them, or he's assuming that you're rereading the story,

that you know what happens. Look at verse 3.

So the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. So don't overlook this.

We think about Jesus as being God, and that's good because he is.

But he's also fully human. And I think this is a really sweet story where we see Jesus's humanity.

So he genuinely loves this family.

He's legitimate friends with the three of them. We see throughout the gospel

that he spent time in their home.

It's been a place of reprieve for him and his disciples.

John wants us to know that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus all view themselves as disciples of Jesus.

And he wants us to really grasp, regardless of what's about to happen,

that Jesus loves this set of siblings. Look at verse 4.

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.

Jesus, though kind of ambiguously, tells us exactly what this real-life parable is going to bring.

This illness will not end in death, though for four days it will seem as such.

It will, in fact, lead to the exact opposite of death. Lazarus will walk out of the grave.

And so the whole point of this event is so that the father might glorify the

son. It will back up the truth claims that Jesus has made throughout the gospel.

When Jesus stands outside of the tomb and he calls Lazarus out of the tomb,

he is revealing his glory.

He is declaring through his action that he is God. And so Jesus will be glorified

in Bethany at Lazarus's grave. And really, this is kind of the turning point I already mentioned.

And he will get his ultimate glorification on the cross. Back to verse five.

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. Over and over again, John is reminding us he loves these people a lot.

Scene two, verses seven through 16. This is Jesus's interaction with his own disciples.

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.

Are and are you going to go there again? So Jesus looks at his disciples and

he says, hey, we're going to go back to Bethany. And they're like,

absolutely not, bro. We are not doing that.

And he says, no, we we are.

But they realize that they're going to kill him if he goes and possibly maybe

even them. So this is a little bit of fear on their part.

Verse 9. 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.

So what Jesus is essentially saying, this feels kind of like a riddle,

but what he's essentially saying is that it is still daytime in his ministry.

Now It's golden hour, like night is coming really soon, but it's still daytime in his ministry.

And it is Jesus who will give himself up. It is not the Jewish leaders who will

take him. And so that's a deep, we need to understand that as we think about

the passion narrative as we get into it.

Verse 11, 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

and sleep. I just want to point out something cool.

The way that Jesus says this is a play on words.

It's medical language. It was never used anything else, a medical language,

it's this idea of recovering or getting better.

But the way that Jesus says it, he actually uses the words, he will be saved.

And so he's using a medical term, but he's pointing to a spiritual reality about

Lazarus and those who witness it, their salvation.

Verse 14, 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. In other words, had he been there.

He would have healed him out of his love for him and he wouldn't have died.

And if he hadn't have died, then he wouldn't have been resurrected.

And so because Jesus has allowed this to happen, many will see and believe because of it.

So Thomas, verse 16, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples,

let us also go that we may die with him.

Thomas is one of those guys that we talk about, you know, we never really give

him the benefit of the doubt.

But I think here he's saying something kind of like Peter and in Peter's confession

of Jesus of, all right, we're in it. Let's go.

And I think that's what's happening here. So scene three, verses 17 through 27.

This is Jesus's interaction with Martha and really the main crux of what we're

going to talk about today.

Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for

days. So Lazarus is dead.

There's no question Lazarus is actually dead.

Verse 18, 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 this is a marker in John's writing that this family is a prominent family.

So Bethany is not that far away from Jerusalem. It's about two miles.

Back then, that would have been a kind of a long ways, but it's still very much in the area.

And so you have many of these Jews come and mourn with them.

Now, it's not uncommon for Jewish people to gather and mourn publicly when someone

dies. But this marker that a lot of people, there's a crowd here that's come,

is kind of showing their prominence.

It's also a clue that this is an unsafe situation for Jesus.

Jesus understands that they're going to kill him.

And if there's a crowd, then there are certainly people in that crowd who are

not for him or what's about to happen.

Verse 20, 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.

All right, I stood up for Thomas. I'm going to stand up even more for Martha.

We all know the story of when Jesus goes to visit Mary and Martha.

And Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet and she gets praised.

And Martha, who I like to call a scurrier, is like a busybody.

You know, she's going around the house, she's making sure everything is perfect.

And so we come into this story and we kind of get this preconceived notion that

Martha is like, she's running out of town and she meets Jesus and she just like lights him up.

And I don't think that that's, I don't think that's what's happening at all.

I think that Martha is distraught. I think that this conversation points to

her severe devotion to and her faith in Jesus.

Grieving people say really intense things.

And before we kind of wag our finger at her, what she says is right.

Jesus has already implied this to his disciples. If he had been there,

he would have healed Lazarus and he wouldn't have died.

So verse 22 is really a miraculous statement of her deep faith.

I was reading a commentary. D.A. Carson says this.

Martha is not only persuaded that her brother would not have died had Jesus

been present, But even now, in her bereavement, she has not lost her confidence in Jesus.

And she still recognizes the peculiar intimacy he enjoys with his father,

an intimacy that ensures unprecedented fruitfulness to his prayers.

She does not believe that Jesus is going to raise him from the dead.

But she says with her words, I know that whatever you ask God,

God is going to give to you.

So right or wrong, her scurrying, she gets it. She understands who Jesus is.

And we'll see that over and over again in this story. Verse 23.

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.

Martha believes in ultimate redemption. She knows that the Lord is going to

ultimately redeem his people.

But Jesus here means much more than she knows. Verse 25, 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.

When Martha looks at Jesus and she says, yes, I believe, she is not only confessing

that Jesus is the Messiah, that he's the Christ, but she's confessing that he

is her Messiah and Christ.

This is an incredibly personal interaction that points us to the reality that

we ourselves have to have a personal encounter with Jesus. And we're going to

unpack that here in a minute.

So three scenes, the setup, Jesus's interaction with his disciples,

and then Jesus's conversation with Martha.

There's a lot in this passage that we could go through and we could learn.

There's a lot of sermon that's on the cutting floor. But I just want to mention

these two really important things. So number one, I've already mentioned it.

The Lord's timing is for our good and his glory.

And number two, Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

So let's look at the first one. The Lord's timing is for our good and for his glory.

So I mentioned this briefly walking through, but John is insistent that we understand

that Jesus loves these three people. He says it over and over again.

I think when he mentions Mary's anointing Jesus with oil in verse two,

it's a sign that she loves him and she's willing to pay a high price to show that love.

Verse three, Lazarus is refer to the one whom Jesus loves.

Verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Verse 11, Jesus refers to him as our friend Lazarus, this kind of fraternal

figure with the disciples.

Verse 15, Jesus implies, had he been there, his love for him would have prevented his death.

So when Jesus is told that Lazarus is ill, there's only one expectation that

we all have if we don't know the story, right?

Because at this point, Jesus has healed a lot of people.

We expect that he's just going to go to Bethany immediately, but he doesn't.

Look at verse 15. He says, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe.

Let's not be tempted to think that Jesus isn't in control of this entire situation

from the very beginning.

He is. Jesus knows exactly what is happening and exactly what is going to happen.

This is a real-life parable that he is allowing to work itself out in the lives

of the disciples, in the lives of Mary and Martha and Lazarus,

and to all the Jews who will be there mourning alongside these sisters.

They all need to see with their own eyes that Jesus really is who he claims

to be, that he truly is the son of God, that he truly is one with the father.

Can we not identify with Martha as she goes out to see Jesus?

Lord, if you had just been here, we could come up with our own list.

Lord, if you would just heal my dead. Lord, if you would just bring my prodigal

child back home. Lord, if you would just give me a job, we could stay here all

day and make our own list. Lord, if you had just done this, then this thing

wouldn't have happened.

The reality is that this is a terribly sad story.

It's likely that Lazarus is the youngest of these three. So he's not even an old man.

Mary, Martha, the disciples, the mourners, no one can see up above this situation.

No one knows that Lazarus is about to come out of the grave. No one.

They don't want to suffer in their grief. They didn't want Lazarus to suffer in his illness.

It is a terribly sad story. but the reality is that they must endure suffering.

Not because God is calloused towards his children. That's not it at all.

It's Jesus' love for everyone involved in this story that motivates his delay.

His delay is motivated by his love.

His delay is for their good. But what will happen when they see Lazarus walk

out of their grave? What will happen in their hearts?

Well, for these sisters, for Lazarus, and for many in the crowd,

they'll believe that Jesus really is who he said he is.

That he really is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

Brothers and sisters, whatever you're walking through, God has a purpose and a plan for your good.

Now, don't misunderstand what I said. I didn't say that it's for your healing

or for your comfort or for your success or for your relief.

But it is for your good.

Romans 8, 28 says, And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

James 1, 2-4 says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness,

and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Whatever you're going through, whatever trial, whatever suffering, whatever it is,

we can be assured that it will lead to your completion,

probably not on this side of heaven though but ultimately it will lead you to

be a mature complete believer in the lord jesus christ,

it's likely that none of our stories will end like lazarus's it's really hard to say.

But just like Martha, you can trust Jesus.

You can believe that Jesus is here looking at you and has your ultimate good in mind.

And more importantly, you can rest assured that whatever suffering you're going

through, that it will show you his glory.

We're told that from the very beginning of the story. Look at verse four.

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.

Sounds like Romans, again, Romans 8, 18. For I consider that the sufferings

of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Every one of us in this room, regardless of how long we live on this earth,

will experience suffering in some way.

It's for his glory. It's what he has saved us for.

We often think about salvation in terms of what we've been saved from,

that we've been saved from our sins, that we've been saved from destruction,

that we've been saved from the sufferings of this world.

But we are ultimately saved to him. We're saved to his glory.

We will see him. We will be with him. And suddenly our sufferings will pale

in comparison to his glory and to our future glory.

Everything he is doing in your life is for our good, is for your good and for his glory.

Number two, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Look at verse 20 again in

this conversation that Martha has.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him.

She said, 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 on the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said, 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?

And she says to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ,

the son of God, who is coming back into the world.

Martha runs out to meet Jesus in her utter grief.

Lord, if you had just been here You can just, you can feel the urgency And the

pain and the deep longing from her heart Lord, if you had just been here,

She is living out a dark soul A dark night of the soul,

She is desperate She is grieving And yet Jesus is here now.

He's going to comfort her. And what does he say to comfort her?

He says he's going to rise.

Lazarus won't stay dead. Now, we automatically think that he's talking about

in a few moments, and in one way he is, but he's purposefully being general.

I think sometimes for our sake.

And she says, I know. I know he will. On the last day, he's going to rise.

I was reading through Matthew Henry's commentary. And I found a response to Martha.

You know, Matthew Henry is Puritan from the 1800s, so he speaks really cool.

So I have it here on the screen so you can follow along.

But I just thought it was beautiful and convicting of how we view our own suffering.

She seems to think this saying is not so well worthy of all acceptation as really it was.

And as if the comforts of the resurrection to eternal life were not worth speaking

of, are yielded not satisfaction sufficient enough to balance her affliction.

See our weakness and folly that we suffer present sensible things to make a

deeper impression upon us both of grief and joy than those things which are

the objects of our faith.

I know that he shall rise again at the last day and is not this enough?

She seems not to think it is. Thus, by our discontent under present crosses,

we greatly undervalue our future hopes and put a slight upon them as if not worth regarding.

Thus, by our discontent under present crosses, we greatly undervalue our future

hopes and put a slight upon them as if not worth regarding.

Jesus looks at Martha. She is consumed under her present crosses,

as Henry says, her sufferings, her grief.

And of all the things that Jesus could offer her, what does he offer her except

that I am the resurrection and the life?

He gives her himself.

He is the resurrection and the life. It's not simply a promise of action.

He doesn't promise that one day, whether today or in the future,

that Lazarus will rise from the dead. No, he gives her himself.

I am the resurrection and the life. It's me, Martha.

See, when Jesus, when she saw Jesus, she told him, even now,

I know that whatever you ask God, God will give it to you. And Jesus in this

moment wants her to realize it's me.

It's by the power of my word that I work things out.

And I'm going to do this thing because I am the resurrection and the life.

So what does it mean? What does it mean that Jesus is the resurrection and the

life? Two things. Number one, he's the resurrection.

Listen to how he explains it. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

This is about our bodies, for those of us who are believers.

All of us in this room are passing away.

Our bodies will die because of the effects of sin.

Death is a just sentence because of sin.

And yet, though the effects of death be dismal, your body will be raised,

a glorious body, by the power of Jesus Christ on the last day.

There is a piece of granite on a hillside just outside of the city limits of

Birmingham, Alabama, with my dad's name on it.

And about six feet below that piece of granite is what remains of my dad's body.

And on November 25th, 2022, we left it there that day, making a declaration

that we are not done here.

Because a day is coming when by the power of his word, those who are in Christ will be raised anew.

Because Jesus is the resurrection.

Number two, he's the life. and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never

die. This is about your soul.

Galatians 2.20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who

live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who

loved me and gave himself for me.

Because of Christ's death, believer, you have already died.

And through his own resurrection, we live by Christ, through Christ.

The truth of Christ being the life is that the moment your body passes away,

your soul will be with him in the heavenly places.

Think about the thief on the cross. What does Jesus promise him?

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Brothers and sisters, upon the death of those who believe in Jesus,

we can rest in utter confidence that they are more alive today than they have ever been before.

If you're sitting here today and you haven't put your faith in Jesus.

If you haven't believed that he alone has the power to take away your sins,

listen to his words. Whoever believes in him shall live.

Today is the day. Right now, he is offering you eternal life with him.

Let me close by asking you the same question that he asked Martha. Do you believe?

Let me ask it another way. Do you trust Jesus even when your circumstances threaten that trust?

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, do you believe that

Jesus is in fact still the good shepherd?

Carson asked it like this.

Can your faith go beyond quiet confidence that the dead in Christ will be resurrected

at the last day to personal trust in Jesus as the resurrection and the life,

the only person who can grant eternal life and promise the transformation of resurrection?

When Jesus asked her, Martha answered, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the

Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

Essentially, Martha confesses this. Yes, Lord, because you were God,

because you own all truth, you have proven yourself trustworthy.

And I know that all the promises of God find their yes in you.

My encouragement today is that you trust in Jesus, that you believe that he

is, in fact, the resurrection and the life. Let's pray.

Father, you are trustworthy and true.

All the promises that you have made to us find their yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, we trust that a day is coming when we who have put our faith and trust

in you will be raised to glory, to live and to reign with you.

Father, when our heads are down When we feel the weight of grief and trial and suffering.

The weight of this world The hopelessness that is peddled to us by the enemy,

We pray that you would lift our heads.

That you would remind us that you are the resurrection and the life that our

present sufferings do not compare to our future hopes.

Burn it deep inside of our souls, Father. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.