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Sermon Notes

The 7 ‘I Am’s’ of Jesus
“I Am the Resurrection and the Life”

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.”
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This is our 7th message on the 7 “I AM’s” of Jesus.

7 different times Jesus used I AM, the name God gave himself in Exodus when speaking to Moses, to describe something wonderful about himself.

I AM the bread of life
I AM the light of the world
I AM the door
I AM the good Shepherd
I AM the way, the truth, and the life
I AM the true vine, and
I AM the resurrection and the life
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Now in John 11 we read the amazing account of the resurrection of a man named Lazarus after being dead for 4 days.

We read of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother, Lazarus that live in the town of Bethany.

The three siblings have a history with the Lord.

They had intentionally cultivated a relationship with him.

Luke tells us, “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.”–10:38

So He had visited their house, dined with them, and come to know and love them.

John records, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”–vs 5
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Now one day while Jesus was about 20 miles away, Lazarus got sick and was fading fast.

So the two sisters sent messengers to him saying, “Lord…he whom you love is sick.”

Jesus’s response to the news was somewhat baffling to those there: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”-vs 4

Now, one would think that upon hearing this news, Jesus would have dropped everything and followed the messengers back to the house to heal him.

But he didn’t.

It says, “So, when he (Jesus) had heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.”–vs 6

So even though a dear friend was lying at death’s door, Jesus doesn’t rush to his side.

Two days later the Lord said to his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

The disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”

“Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.'”

Now watch closely what he says next, “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.”–vs 15

Believe what?

What was it he wanted them to understand?

We’re about to see!
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When he and the disciples arrived in Bethany to Lazarus’s house they learned he had died and been in a tomb for four days.

A crowd of mourners were gathered there and the scene was one of great grief and weeping.

The first person to meet Him was Lazarus’s sister, Martha, and she’s not happy!

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”–vs 21

Her sister Mary said the very same thing to him in vs 32–“If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Even the crowd echoed the same sentiment in vs 37: “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying.'”–vs 37

Translated,

We sent messengers to you and you didn’t come.
We don’t understand.
We thought you loved him?
Where were you?
You’re too late!
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There’s likely not a Christian in this room that can’t identify on some level with Martha and Mary’s emotions.

In a crisis or a time of great need you prayed–

that God would intervene,
would do a miracle,
would come through for you
and he didn’t show up the way you’d hoped.

And like the two sisters, you didn’t understand.

It tested your faith and confidence that God hears prayers.
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But here’s the thing:

–What they didn’t know is that Jesus was working out a higher purpose.

He was about to raise the faith-level of everyone there
by peeling back yet another layer of just exactly who he was.

He responded to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.”

Apparently Martha had a basic understanding of a coming resurrection day, and responded,

“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”–vs 24

Then Jesus looked her straight in the eye and delivered his 7th I AM:

“Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”–vs 25-26
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It is here that Jesus made one of the most profound statements about His divine identity in all the NT!

He did not just say that He could PERFORM a resurrection;
He declared that He IS the resurrection and the life!

By saying “I am the resurrection,” Jesus revealed His authority over what the Bible calls “the last great enemy” of mankind–DEATH.

Hebrews says that Jesus came to “free all those who through [the haunting] fear of death were held in slavery throughout their lives.”–Heb 2:15

The entire human race dreads the grim reaper, the ultimate bugaboo–death!

But Jesus defeated death when he was resurrected, and as THE RESURRECTION, has also defeated death in us!
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Now, with that in mind, the Bible teaches that every born again, Spirit in-dwelt child of God listening to this message has already experienced a resurrection:

I. From spiritual death to spiritual life!

The Bible says that if you’re not a Christian you are–right here, right now–spiritually dead.

You might say to me, “Jeff, I’m not dead and have never been dead!”

But if you haven’t placed your faith and trust in Jesus you are dead spiritually–in your inner man, in your soul!

Eph. 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,”

DEAD here means absolutely devoid of all spiritual life!

Destitute of all union with God,
in a state of separation from him,
alienated from his life!

And because without him you are spiritually dead, you will do the things spiritually dead people do!

Eph 2:2-3 “You went along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying Satan…our lives expressing the evil within us, doing every wicked thing that our passions or our evil thoughts might lead us into. We started out bad, being born with evil natures, and were under God’s anger just like everyone else.”

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Your story and mine could have ended there!

But the good news is, if you have placed your faith and trust in Christ, you’ve been raised from death to life!

“4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

If you’re a born again child of God you’ve already experienced the resurrection power of Christ Jesus!

2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Ro 6:13 “…present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,”

• So every born again child of God has been resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life!
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And then also,

II. All that have died in Christ will one day be physically resurrected!

This is what we call the BLESSED HOPE!

If you’ve DIED with faith in Christ, he’s going to resurrect your body!

And if you happen to be ALIVE at his return he’s going to catch you up to meet him in the air.

1 Cor. 6:14 “God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.”

John 5:28-29 “Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all people who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29 Then they will come out of their graves.”

1 Thes. 4:15-18 “We tell you this directly from the Lord…the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.”
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And of course, the story ends with the Resurrection and the Life–our Lord Jesus–walking up to Lazarus’s tomb and commanding him back to life,

“Lazarus, come forth! And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes!”–vs 11:44

• Jesus IS the Resurrection and the life!