John 11:25

Do you believe this?

And you might ask, how is this possible? Well, Jesus has the authority to resurrect us because he himself suffered the punishment of death for us. Jesus was the Son of God, God in human flesh, the only perfect man who has ever lived. but he died on the cross taking the punishment we deserved and was resurrected, showing his defeat of death. And this makes Jesus the one and only resurrection, the only way to be saved from death. And to get an idea of the power of Christ to raise the dead, look at what happens later in this chapter. Jesus walks up to Lazarus' tomb and commands,

Lazarus, come out.

And Lazarus, the man who had been dead four days, his heart started beating. He started breathing. His decayed flesh was made whole. He walked out of that tomb. And this is just a taste of Christ's power to take all death and turn it into life. Do you remember when Christ gave you spiritual life? Do you remember the powerful change God worked in your heart to change your heart from desiring sin to desiring holiness? Do you remember the new peace you had with God, the new forgiveness of your sins, the new hope of heaven? This passage is a reminder that we have escaped sin and spiritual death. And one application is that we shouldn't return to that grave. Just think for a second how stupid and weird it would have been for Lazarus to say, well, thanks Jesus, but you know, I like the feel of these grave clothes. I'd actually prefer to stay in this tomb or at least visit every now and then, you know. That would be ridiculous, but that's how foolish we are when we return to living in sin. We've been given life. Why would we choose to live like dead people? We should also be reminded of the hope of bodily resurrection we have as Christians. If you believe in Christ, you will never die. You have life in Christ that goes on forever, in an unbroken line for all eternity. Yes, you will suffer physical death, but it's nothing like the total loss it used to be. Though you die, you shall live. You will not be forgotten. Your body will be raised in glory. Your relationships will be restored. You will see your Savior face to face. Instead of crushing our hopes, death is the doorway into our greatest hope. And now we come to the third point, life in Christ. Because it's possible to say we believe in resurrection without much hope or joy in the present. Listen to Martha in verse 21 in the conversation leading up to this passage.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

" And she admits, yes, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. But you sense it's not much comfort to her as she wonders why Jesus didn't save her brother, why Jesus is showing up now with her brother four days in the tomb. And how often do we feel the same way? We say similar things. Yes, they're going to rise again. Yes, one day all will be well. But there's that tug at our hearts that doesn't help me now. Right now, I really miss my brother. Right now, I don't understand why Jesus hasn't shown up. It's been four days. But Jesus isn't just the resurrection, as wonderful as that is. He doesn't just give us life and leave us to live on our own. Jesus responds to Martha's doubt by calling her to the reality that he is the resurrection and the life. This means our life is in Christ, that the full, joyful, eternal life he gives is himself. And in the remaining time, let's just briefly consider three implications of that. The most basic is that Christ is your life. People say things like, basketball is my life. My school is my life. Maybe closer to Martha's situation, my family is my life. No. For the Christian, Christ is your life. We should be able to say with Paul,

for his sake I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

We should be willing to give up everything to know Christ, to have Christ, to become like Christ, and ultimately to participate in his resurrection. Because Christ is not just a healer or a miracle worker. He is the one life, the one priority, the one thing that ultimately matters. And this should actually be a great comfort compared with the list of goals the world tells us to care about. A happy family, lots of friends, a good job, money in the bank. Like Martha in another passage in Luke 10, we can be anxious and troubled about many things when only one thing actually matters. What's especially painful is that we have so little control over these other things. To name just one example, some of us are blessed with families. Others are single or childless or even bereaved like Martha. If the measure of our lives was our families or our careers, how sad would that be? But praise God, our life and joy is Christ and nothing else. In addition, if Christ is the life and our life, that means that he is always with us in life, even in our suffering. See in this verse how Jesus responds to Martha's pain and doubt and confusion. He doesn't condemn her or abandon her. Instead, he calls Martha to the reality of who he is, the resurrection and the life. And in verse 35, we see Jesus himself weeping. What greater picture is there of Jesus's compassionate presence with us, even in our grief and pain? Remember, Jesus understands our struggles. He was tempted like we are. He suffered far more than we ever have in going to the cross. So draw near to him, even in your pain and doubt. The one who died for you will walk with you in compassion. and not just compassion, but power and wisdom as well. Remember, Jesus is the source of life, the giver of life, the life itself. And the third implication we'll look at is that he is sovereign over all our lives. Verses five and six say,

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.

Did you catch that? Jesus delayed, not in spite of, but because of his great love for Martha. And I ask you, believer, does Christ seem absent to you or late? Do you face burdensome health problems? Do you look at your past and question why God didn't deliver you out of certain sins earlier? Are you waiting for God's guidance in a difficult decision and you just hear silence? Whatever the situation, Jesus knows He cares and He is working it out for your good. Not so you can check the boxes the world cares about, but so you can know Christ and glorify Him. And I just ask you to remember how much Christ has invested in your life. He died to give you new life, and the new life you live is in Him. It is for Him, and it is with Him. You can trust him to look after you. So to wrap up, I'm sorry we're over time. Tonight we've seen that Christ is the resurrection and the life, that he gives dead people eternal life in him. And I would encourage us to live in holiness, in hope of heaven, knowing that Christ is our life, with us in our pain and working out every part of our lives for his glory. And let's briefly pray. Father God, thank you for giving your son so we would not be dead in our sins, but so we would have life in you. Help us to live for you and in your presence, trusting you and looking forward to the hope of heaven that we have because of Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.