I AM the Resurrection & the Life - Part 3 — Stuart Briscoe

An old vicar once distinguished himself by saying, before I speak to you, I'd like to say a few words. And before I speak to you, I'd like to say a few words. First of all, thank you very much, indeed, for the invitation to come back to the homeland.

It's a great joy to Jill and me to do this. And we're extremely grateful for every invitation that we have to do it. Philip mentioned the fact that we did leave England 30 years ago to go minister in a church in America.

And I can assure you, we did not go out of any sense of dissatisfaction with the United Kingdom. It was simply a sense that God opened a door for us that we felt we should go through. And the interesting thing to me is that we minister to far more people in England every day now than we ever could if we lived in England, because we not only have the privilege of broadcasting on premier radio in London and the home counties every day, but that is now being released on digital so that you can pick it up all over the United Kingdom.

And in addition to that, we have a website where you can pick up our daily radio broadcast anywhere in the world if you are into cyberspace. And perhaps I could just mention to those of you who are interested in this that our website is simply www .tellingthetruth .org.

You log on to that, you can pick up our radio broadcast through your computer, and not only that, you can get into an archive so that if you missed one, you can go back and get it whenever you want to.

So that's part of the reason that we appreciate the opportunity of ministering in America, because it gives us a platform to broadcast into many parts of the world. I'd also like to express my appreciation to Phil for his kind remarks.

Philip and I are old friends. In fact, I think we started out at the Keswick Convention together in the youth meeting. We both went there in a horse and buggy, I think. And I'm sorry to see that his hip is wearing out.

In fact, I was actually going to suggest that seeing this was his last day of chairman here, we ought to give him three cheers. But then I thought then I would have to say hip, hip, hooray. But anyway, thank you, and thank you, Philip.

Jesus’ Signs and the Purpose of John’s Gospel

Let's turn now to John's Gospel once again. And today we will look into John chapter 11. Let me also remind you that the purpose in looking into John's Gospel is to follow through on the author's intent.

The author's intent, as specifically mentioned to us in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31 is as follows. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. A dual objective, a record of selected incidents called miraculous signs in the life of Jesus that are designed, first of all, to bring us to a solid intellectual conviction that the claims of Jesus Christ to be God incarnate are true.

The second objective is that having come to that intellectual conviction, we might then come into a personal experience of the kind of life that is possible through union with the crucified and risen and indwelling Christ.

The kind of life is mirrored, is reflected, is illustrated in the remarkable signs that he accomplished. So we'll keep those two things in mind as once again, we look into one of those miraculous signs, bearing in mind that whilst there are innumerable opinions concerning Jesus, the most important opinion concerning Jesus is the opinion that he had of himself.

There is no shortage of information concerning what people think about Jesus, but it's important that we know fundamentally what Jesus said about Jesus. One of the things that he said was, I am the resurrection and the life.

That is our theme this morning. Let me start reading to you then from, excuse me. I have a frog in my throat and I should know better than to eat frogs for breakfast. John chapter 11, verse one. Now a man named Lazarus was sick.

He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Just a little note here.

It's rather interesting that John should introduce Mary in this way when in actual fact, he doesn't tell the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet until the chapter after this. And so we assume that this was a well-known story that the anointing of the feet of Jesus with precious ointment by Mary was something that people revered in the church.

In fact, the Lord Jesus, when the particular incident took place, responded to the criticism of some of his disciples who said, why waste all this expensive ointment doing this? The money should have been given to the poor.

He responded by saying, leave her alone. She did what she could. And then he added, wherever the gospel is preached, the story of this lady will be told. The more I go on in ministry, the more I go on in the Christian life, the more I deal with people who very, very often are discouraged and downhearted in ministry, the more I remind them of the story of Mary.

And I say, whatever criticism you're enduring, whatever problems you're being exposed to, be able to say at the end of the day, as you lay what you've done at the feet of Jesus, I did what I could. And he'll say, that's enough.

Now, that's just a little encouraging word that I find encouraging, and I trust that that will come back as a way of remembrance to you in coming days. Reading on with the text. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's son may be glorified through it.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, let's go back to Judea. But Rabbi, they said, a short while ago, the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you're going back there?

Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light. After he had said this, he went on to tell them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up.

His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better. Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I'm glad I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him.

Then Thomas, called Didymus, said to the rest of his disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Well, that's the introduction to the story. That's as much as I'll read right now. Let's see what we can learn from this particular story.

Jesus’ Delay Reveals His Power Over Death

Jesus, by this time, had gained an immense reputation as a healer. It was not really necessary for him to undergird that reputation by doing more healings. He wanted to reveal further dimensions of his character.

What he was particularly concerned about now was to show not that he could heal diseases and therefore demonstrate his power over disease. What he wanted to do now was to demonstrate his ability to conquer death.

Now, in order to demonstrate his ability to conquer disease, he needed a sick body. But in order to demonstrate his ability to conquer death, unfortunately, he needed a dead one. And so when he hears that Lazarus is sick, he surprisingly delays.

It is surprising because we're told quite specifically that he loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. But there seems to be a very definite link between the fact that he loved them and the fact that he delayed answering them.

Why? Because out of his love for them, he wanted them through their experiences to discover new dimensions of his glory. Now, there's a very, very important lesson for us here. Sometimes when we come before the Lord on behalf of a loved one, and we pray to the Lord for them, we take the same line that Mary and Martha did.

And we remind the Lord that he loves this person and this person we're praying about loves the Lord too. And so we say, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. And the Lord responds by saying, Oh, I love him so much that I am not going to answer you immediately.

In fact, I'm going to demonstrate my love by delay. In fact, if I do not demonstrate my love in delay, you may miss out on some depth of understanding of myself that you need to know. So out of great love for you, I won't do anything right now.

Now that's hard to take. Sometimes when we come before the Lord in prayer, we tell him what the problem is, we suggest to him the appropriate response, and we tell him that we would like it at once, if not sooner.

And he's very understanding. I'm so glad that the Lord perfects our prayers, aren't you? But the thing that we have to realize is this, that God does answer prayer. We often hear people talk about, God didn't answer my prayers.

God always answers your prayers. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is not yet. I suspect sometimes the answer is, you've got to be kidding. But always remember that even in the not yet answers, there is an answer, and it is always an answer born of love.

And so because he loved them, he delayed in going there. Why? Because in so doing, he was going to give them a demonstration of himself that they would never have known under other circumstances. Now, as you look at the situation that Jesus is dealing with here, it seems to me that the environment in which he's moving right now is just an environment that is pervaded with human misery.

Let me just identify a few of the things for you. When Jesus says to his disciples, well, let's go back to Judea eventually, he is reminded by his disciples, well, we shouldn't be going back there, should we?

It's only a short time since the Jews were trying to stone you there. We left the area for security reasons. And now you're suggesting we go back into it? What the disciples are pointing out is this, that they are living in a time of intense discord.

There are people who intensely disagree with him. And the way that they're demonstrating their disagreement is by becoming violent in this thing. And we've got to remember that Jesus is moving into an extremely dangerous situation.

That was the world in which he operated. I always bear in mind that the Lord Jesus on one occasion said to his disciples, now I'm leaving the world, but I'm leaving you in it. The world that he was leading was a world that had rejected him.

The world in which he left his disciples was the same world. He intentionally determined that our discipleship should be lived out in an environment of discord and danger. Remember that. The chosen environment to live Christianly is not an amenable environment.

The chosen, the determined environment in which we are called to work out our discipleship is not a bed of roses. It was a world that crucified Jesus, which he left and in which he left us. The world in which we live today is a world characterized by discord and tension.

Thomas, it's the first time Thomas is mentioned in this particular gospel, but he shows up again. Sometimes he is called doubting Thomas. I'm not quite sure that that's an appropriate way to talk about him exclusively, because we see another dimension of Thomas's character here.

When they're discussing whether they should go back to this dangerous place, Thomas is the one who speaks up and says, come on, guys, let's go, and if necessary, we'll die with him. Why don't we call him Courageous Thomas, Gutsy Thomas, Gutsy Tom, how about that?

Because he is prepared to go. But he fully recognizes this is a dangerous scene. This is the world that Jesus left, and this is the world in which Jesus intentionally left us. One of the underlying problems in the United States of America is the problem of racism.

And whilst in many instances, things seem to move rather smoothly, anybody who knows anything about American society and American culture knows that just underneath the surface there are major racial tensions.

We in the city of Milwaukee are trying very, very hard to bring various churches together. Now, in the inner city, there are churches that are made up primarily, sometimes almost exclusively, of African Americans.

And out in the suburbs where we live, because there are not many African Americans living out there, the churches are made up primarily of Caucasians and non-African Americans. This is not exclusively the case.

We are very much concerned about that. Some people say, the cynics and the skeptics of the church, the most segregated hour in America is 11 o 'clock on Sunday morning. Now, in order to try to bridge the gaps here, we make intentional efforts to come together with our brothers and sisters right across the racial and denominational divides.

And we have combined events. I was talking to one of my African American brother pastors not too long ago, and he said, Stuart, when we have a combined event in your church, we come from the inner city out to the suburbs.

But when we have an event in the inner city, most of your people don't come into the inner city from the suburbs. And I said, I know, and I am embarrassed to death that that is the case. I said, but you need to understand something.

It's a matter of just being plain frightened. The people know that the area in which your church is is surrounded by crack houses. They know that there are murders practically every day down there. They know it's an intensely violent area, and they're just afraid to come down there.

And I'll never, never forget what he said to me. He said, and they think that we are not afraid? They think we're not afraid? He said, do the people in the suburbs think that because we live here, we're used to it?

That because bullets will come whizzing through our windows in our den at night when we're just sitting, minding our own business? When there's all kinds of violence and we find abandoned babies in our trash cans in the morning because there's all kinds of unspeakable prostitution and drug habits going on in our immediate vicinity that we're not afraid?

He said, we live in constant fear, but that's where we're called to live. And he's right. For the world in which Jesus is moving at this time is characterized by discord and danger. And it's the world that he left, and it's the world that he left us in.

The Reality of Death, Grief, and Human Misery

When Jesus eventually arrives at Bethany, he finds that Lazarus has already been dead four days. He is in the tomb, and he is confronting death. We'll see in just a few moments that when he confronted death, he was deeply moved by this.

This is a fact of life, I'm afraid. One of my best friends back home is an eminent surgeon. He says, on the basis of his medical research, he has come to the conclusion that life is 100 fatal. On the basis of his research, he's come to the conclusion that life is 100 fatal.

The reality of the thing is that if we're going to think in terms of life, we have got to confront death. And it's an ugly, ugly business. One of the first things I had to do when I went as pastor to Elmbrook Church was bury one of the two men who was responsible for us going there.

His name was Willie Troy. He had his own airplane. He liked to fly around the place, and he would often ask me to go with him, and against my better judgment, I did. But on one occasion, he went on his own, and he crashed and burned.

And it was my responsibility to bury my new best friend who'd taken me there. Shortly thereafterwards, I got a telephone call from somebody to say a young family in the church, their little boy stepped out to the wrong side of a car, straight in front of another car.

His daddy's in New York flying back. Will you meet him at the airport and tell him that his little boy has been killed? Shortly thereafterwards, I got a telephone call from Wheaton College saying that one of the students in the college here was out jogging this morning.

He came to the railroad tracks. The barrier was down, but the train went through. The barrier didn't go quick enough for him, and he was cold, so he slipped under the barrier, ran across, didn't know there was a train coming the other way.

Slipped on the ice, and he was killed. I had spent the Saturday before that speaking to this young man about his future. They said, would you mind going and telling his mother that her son has been killed?

This is the pastorate. This is our world. The last time I was in England, last October, I got a phone call saying, you've got to come back immediately for one of the pastors on your staff has committed suicide.

I had to go back and conduct the funeral of one of my own pastors who committed suicide after charges that he had molested the young people in the ministry. It's an ugly world. Jesus never suggested for a moment that we were to be exempt from it.

He never suggested for a moment that we'd be immune to it. He never suggested for it that we would be removed from it. He said, I'm leaving, you're staying. And as Jesus looked at this world of discord and danger and death, he confronted something else.

He confronted abject despair. For as he went to the place where the body lay, he was met by those who were grieving. Grief is the adjustment to irreversible loss. Some people never make the adjustment.

Some people in trying to make the adjustment go through intense trauma. When we move around in our world, we will find untold despair. I'll never forget standing in the killing fields in Cambodia. And meeting some of the people who had survived the killing fields of Cambodia.

In fact, one lady was the sole survivor. At least 25 of her immediate family had been murdered in the incredibly cruel regime of Pol Pot. As we went into the killing fields of Cambodia, we saw that dreadful, gruesome monument there that is made up of human skulls.

We listened to the story of this young woman who'd lost her family there. And we sensed just a little of the abject despair that pervades this world. I'll never forget going through the entrance into the Auschwitz concentration camp where we had that gross, gross entry which said, Arbeit Macht frei, work liberate you.

It's still there to this day. Arbeit Macht frei, or work liberate you was a sardonic statement for they were going to literally work them to death. And they called that work liberate you. And I've talked to survivors from Auschwitz.

I've talked to survivors of the killing field and they still live with the despair. Is this a gruesome picture of human misery? I think it is. Is it an accurate picture of human misery? I believe it is.

Is it relevant to us living here today? Emphatically, it is. For this is the world in which he called us to live. It's very fascinating. If we look into verse 33 of John chapter 11, this is what it says.

When Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews who'd come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see Lord, they replied. Jesus wept.

Verse 38, Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb. Now you've all probably heard this that the Greek word translated deeply moved here is the word that describes a horse snorting. There was something expulsive about the reaction of Jesus at this point.

It was indignation. The word trouble is the word for agitation. The shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept, literally means Jesus burst into tears. And almost immediately afterwards, it says again that he was moved again.

He snorted like a horse again. Why? Because he was confronting this desperate fallen world of ours. Indignation as to what human sin has done. Deep pain concerning the agonizing experiences of human beings.

He looked at the discord and the danger and the death and the doubt and the despair and the disbelief on every hand and he burst into tears. And this is the background. This is the background to the story that we have here.

How do we cope with this? I heard a story the other day that has a touch of rather black humor to it. So I'll warn you in advance. It's a story of a lady who was sitting in her sitting room when suddenly she hears a screech of tires, a terrific bang and a thud and she rushes outside to see what has happened and a motorcyclist has hit a car and has been flipped over the hedge and has landed on the porch of her house and is lying there in a pool of blood.

Fortunately, she remembers her first aid and quickly puts her head between her knees so that she won't faint. Now I warned you it was a little touch of black humor there. We can see the humor of it, but we can see the incredible selfishness of it as well.

The reality of it is this, that when Jesus looked at the world in which he lived, a world characterized by human misery, he didn't put his head between his knees. He snorted with indignation. He was agitated by all that he saw and he burst into tears.

Perhaps one of the tragedies of the modern church is this, that when we see the world around us, we quickly remember first aid and we put our head between our knees so that we won't faint. That surely misses the point, completely misses the point of what Jesus has to say in this passage.

Jesus’ Majestic Promise: “Your Brother Will Rise Again”

So much then for an illustration of human misery. Now in the midst of this human misery strides Jesus and he now gives us a demonstration of divine majesty. The sisters come and greet him and he finds his way eventually to the tomb.

Let's pick up the story now in verse 23. Martha comes out to Jesus and she says, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give whatever you ask. And Jesus says to her, your brother will rise again.

That is a majestic commitment. The majesty of the living Lord Jesus is being shown in the misery of the human condition. That is the balance we must always maintain. It would be quite wrong of us to ignore the picture of human misery.

It would be equally wrong of us to overlook the majesty of Jesus in the midst of it. Misery and majesty, those are the two things. What a majestic commitment he makes. Your brother will rise again. Now there are various things here that we need to remind ourselves of in this statement.

Number one, death is not final. Death is not final. Shortly after I arrived in America, it occurred to me that I needed a haircut. The reason it occurred to me that I needed a haircut, which is hard, of course, for you to imagine now, but it was that I'd come from England where hair was much longer than it was in America and I had no time to have one cut.

So some of the church people suggested to me that perhaps I should get my hair cut before I tripped over it. I had no idea where to go and get it cut. It was pouring down with rain one day. I saw a hair dressing place, so I jumped out of my car, rushed in in the rain, got inside, and once I was inside, I discovered to my horror it was a lady's place.

But I was whipped into a chair before I knew what was happening and I was embarrassed to death. It was before the days of all this unisex stuff, which I've never believed in anyway. Anyway, I thought there were two.

I went into this place. The lady started cutting my hair. I thought, well, I better try and do something with her. So I tried to talk to her about some spiritual things and it was no good at all. And so I think, well, okay, I got my hair cut, but that was a bit of a mess.

And as I was leaving, the young lady in the next chair turned to me and she said, are you from England? And I said, yes, I am. She says, I'm going to England next week on vacation. I said, oh, well, I hope you have a very nice time there.

She said, what should I see? I said, well, what are you interested in? She said, reincarnation. So I said, well, I'm not sure where you go for that. And she said, I think I'm a reincarnation of Nell Gwynn.

And I said, well, I think you do have a look of her. And she said, you sound a bit skeptical. I said, I am. She said, you don't believe in this? And I said, no, I don't actually. She said, well, what do you believe in?

I said, I believe that man is destined to die once and after that, the judgment. She said, what? I said, I believe that a person is destined to die once and after that, to face the judgment. She said, where in the world did you get that from?

I said, the Bible. She said, the Bible? She said, you don't believe the Bible, do you? I said, oh, yes, I do. I said, I preach it. She said, you preach it? She said, you don't look like a preacher. Well, I said, I think that's a compliment, but I'm not sure.

She said, I don't believe you're a preacher. I said, sit down and I'll preach. She said, no, no, no. Suddenly she quietened down. I said, would you like to hear me preach sometime? She said, I would, to my surprise.

So I gave her my card. The next Sunday morning, when I went into the church, front row, middle seat, there she sat. She was back that night, and that night she came to faith. She is one of our greatest prayer warriors.

More than 30 years later. You know what she needed to know? She needed to know the reality is this, that death is not final. That scriptures state unequivocally that after a person dies, because they are not exterminated at that moment, there will be, after their death, a judgment.

The scriptures state unequivocally that the dead will be raised and that they will stand before God. In fact, let me quote Jesus on this. He was quite an authority on it. John chapter five, verse 24. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life.

I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.

And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Now this was not a total surprise to the Jewish people because in one of his remarkable visions and revelations, Daniel said this, in my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a Son of Man.

That certainly is what he said, but that is not what I meant to say. The thing I was going to say was this, multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. The statement that Jesus is making to the sisters is this, your brother will rise again.

Then when he's dead, he's not done with. Now there are some people who tell you that and I'm always fascinated that they will make such a dogmatic statement, when you're dead, you're done with. Who knows?

The only person who could possibly tell you categorically when you're dead, you're done with is somebody who was dead and discovered they were done with and came back and said, guess what? I was done with.

But in the very fact that they came back, they will be disproving what they said. Never, never, never give the time of day to somebody who categorically states when you're dead, you're done with, accept the word of Jesus.

Your brother will rise again and that everybody will hear the voice of God calling them for it is appointed unto a man once to die and then to face the judgment. Death is not final. There is life after death.

We will be raised and face judgment and eternity then opens up to us options. The options of bliss in the presence of God for all eternity, the option of being separated from God for all eternity. And in human misery, Jesus stands in great majesty and makes this majestic commitment.

Your brother will rise again. And sisters and brothers, he makes the same statement to this miserable world today. And he said, this world is not all there is when you're dead, you're not done with. There is an eternal dimension to your humanity.

And when you're dead, you're not finished. You will stand before God. But then he makes a majestic claim. Verse 25 and 26. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Martha got her theology right. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Martha had presumably read her Daniel and understood that there would be a time when the dead would be raised.

I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, that's not what I meant. I am the resurrection and the life. Now he makes a majestic claim. What superlative claims he has made so far, but they seem to fail.

They seem to pale into relative insignificance. Now, I am the resurrection and the life. By claiming that he was the resurrection, he would say, I will demonstrate to you very shortly that it is possible for a human being to go down into death itself and to come out of death itself triumphantly.

I will conquer death. Secondly, by claiming that he was the resurrection, he was saying, and in conquering death, I will not only demonstrate to you categorically that there is something after death, that there is an eternity.

I will demonstrate to you that in my triumph over death, I will preside over eternity. These are the claims that he's making. Now remember, the context in which he's making them is a picture of abject despair and death and danger and discord and doubt and disbelief that agendas in him, agitation, irritation, indignation, bursting into tears.

But through his tears comes this great declaration. Your brother will rise again and I will be presiding. I will not only conquer death, I will preside over eternity. I am the resurrection, but also I am the life.

Notice the application of this statement. Verse 25, I did tell you, but you did not believe. No, excuse me, that's the wrong chapter. I'm getting so excited here, I'm forgetting where I am. I was in chapter 10 then and we did that.

Verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Okay, get those two statements.

I am the resurrection, which means I will conquer death and I will preside over eternity, but I am the life. And this is the kind of life that I'm all about. And this is the kind of life that I offer to hurting people.

Let me tell you about this life. This kind of life is the kind of life that those who believe in me will continue to live even if they die. What a profound statement. Not only is he saying this world is not all there is, death is not the final answer.

Not only is he saying there is a life after death and there is an eternity and I will preside over it, what he is saying is this, it is possible for some people while they're still alive to know that even when they come to face death, they will never die.

They will be taken through death into life eternal. What a majestic statement for a hurting, pain filled, despairing world. But then he makes a further statement. Verse 25, he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Two possibilities. Possibility one, you die and discover that you are already the recipient of eternal life so that in a sense you don't die, you live on. Death for you is not a step into the inky blackness of the unknown, death for you is simply slipping through the portal into the glory of life eternal.

But there's another option and that is that you don't actually physically die and there's an implication here that Jesus will come to receive you before you die and should that happen, then whoever lives and believes in me will never die.