I Am the Resurrection

Discuss

Do you have any routines you use to improve your energy and focus after a long day of school/work?

Discover

Focus: The Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He doesn’t want us to just merely improve or correct ourselves, but to know Him and the and the power of His resurrection.     

I. Define resurrection. What must happen for resurrection to take place? 

II. Jesus resurrected from the dead on the third day. He even said not just that He would resurrect (Matthew 16:21) but that He IS the resurrection. (John 11:25) Read John 11:1-45.

III. Each of us in a sense is a “Lazarus” and we also need to be resurrected, even today. Yes, we will all experience physical death one day, but the Bible shows us that death is not only something in the future but something we all begin in. Everyone whom the Lord saves is initially dead spiritually. How is this so? Read Luke 15:32, John 5:24, Eph. 2:1 

IV. The story in John 11 shows us how Jesus resurrected Lazarus.
A.
The Lord would not come immediately to heal Lazarus; instead He waited till he was dead.
B. If you were Jesus in this scenario, how would you have resurrected Lazarus? How did Jesus actually do it? Identify the 3-4 crucial steps Jesus took after Lazarus died to resurrect Lazarus. 
C. The 3 main ways that Jesus raised Lazarus are instructive for us today for how we can experience Him as resurrection:

  1. Removal of the stone, cloth, handkerchief- The Lord needs our cooperation. Jesus could have easily removed the stone, but instead He had others do it. (John 11:39, 41, 44) There needs to be  other members of the Body who obey the Lord to remove obstacles between us and the Lord. His resurrection power requires our cooperation. 
  2. Prayer – We need to pray. This is critical to our being resurrected and helping others to be “resurrected.”
  3. The Lord’s word – When someone hears the Lord’s word, the Lord’s resurrection life enters into him. The Lord raised Lazarus from the dead by speaking to him. The Lord’s resurrection life is in His word. When His word comes to you, His resurrection life will enliven you. His words are spirit and are life (Psalm 119:25, John 6:63)

Apply

  1. Which of the 3 main ways that Jesus resurrected Lazarus do you feel is most applicable to you?
  2. Do you have any experiences of the Lord “resurrecting” or reviving you spiritually based on one of the three ways Jesus resurrected Lazarus?

Verses

Matt. 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live;

John 11:1 Now there was a certain man who was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
John 11:2 It was [that] Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
John 11:3 The sisters therefore sent to Him saying, Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.
John 11:4 But when Jesus heard it, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:6 When therefore He heard that he was sick, He remained at that time in the place where He was for two days.
John 11:7 Then after this He said to the disciples, Let us go into Judea again.
John 11:8 The disciples said to Him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and You are going there again?
John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
John 11:10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.
John 11:11 He said these things, and after this He said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going that I may wake him out of sleep.
John 11:12 The disciples then said to Him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.
John 11:13 But Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
John 11:14 So Jesus then told them plainly, Lazarus has died.
John 11:15 And I rejoice for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.
John 11:16 Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him.
John 11:17 Then when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
John 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
John 11:19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
John 11:20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him; but Mary sat in the house.
John 11:21 Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.
John 11:23 Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.
John 11:24 Martha said to Him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live;
John 11:26 And everyone who lives and believes into Me shall by no means die forever. Do you believe this?
John 11:27 She said to Him, Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who comes into the world.
John 11:28 And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Teacher is here and is calling you.
John 11:29 And she, when she heard [this,] rose quickly and came to Him.
John 11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
John 11:31 The Jews then who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
John 11:32 Then Mary, when she came to where Jesus was, saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:33 Then Jesus, when He saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was moved with indignation in His spirit and was troubled,
John 11:34 And He said, Where have you put him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see.
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
John 11:36 The Jews then said, Behold how He loved him!
John 11:37 But some of them said, Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have caused that this man would not die?
John 11:38 Jesus therefore, moved with indignation again in Himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
John 11:39 Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was deceased, said to Him, Lord, by now he smells, for it is the fourth day that he is there.
John 11:40 Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?
John 11:41 Then they took the stone away. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
John 11:42 And I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the crowd standing around, I said [it,] that they may believe that You have sent Me.
John 11:43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!
John 11:44 And he who had died came out, bound hand and foot with cloths, and his face was bound about with a handkerchief. Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go.
John 11:45 Many of the Jews therefore who had come to Mary and beheld the things that He did believed into Him.

Luke 15:32 But we had to be merry and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, and he was lost and has been found.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.

Eph. 2:1 And you, though dead in your offenses and sins,

Psa. 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; / Enliven me according to Your word.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.