SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 9/28/25
We, His children, His followers need to grasp that if our Savior has power over our worst enemy – death – He has power over anything less than death. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: The I Am Sayings of Jesus
TEXT: John 11:25
TITLE: I am the Resurrection and the Life
PREACHER: Tim Lambros
BIG IDEA: God’s glory displayed in resurrection power transforms all our sorrows.
POINTS:
I. Trusting Jesus When Perplexed (1-16)
II. Trusting Jesus’ Compassion (17-37)
III. Trusting Who Jesus is
SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
ILLUSTRATION: The world’s way of embracing death - unbelievers borrowing what we believe about death after spending no time understanding it in their life.
“John opens up this story by placing us at Mary and Martha’s home, and for the first time, we discover they are the sisters to (most likely) their young brother Lazarus. Lazarus is dying, so the sisters send word to Jesus.”
“Look closely at v. 3 to see how the message is sent to Jesus. The word Jesus receives is carefully stated, ‘He whom you love is ill.’ Jesus immediately responds in V. 4. The Savior knows the deeper purpose behind Lazarus’ sickness – Lazarus won’t die – God’s glory will be on display – the Son of God will be glorified through this.”
“We see in Scripture that Jesus loved this family. The sisters don’t send a message like ‘you know how much Lazarus and we love you.’ Clearly, there is history and relationship here. In their interactions over the years, they knew the Savior; it was clear He loved them. So a quick point of application – in your walk with Jesus, do you ponder that He loved you? He loved you and set His affection on you – His saving grace! Our love for Him is in response to His love for us.”
“Besides living in the good of this truth – this is crucial as you face life in this fallen world, life where you will encounter difficulty and sorrow. How do you view your relationship with Him? Is it about your imperfect love for Him or is it about His perfect love for you?”
“So we know God’s purpose in this sorrow the family is experiencing, we know John puts the accent on the reality that Jesus loved this family, but the next scene, on the surface at least, doesn’t seem to be consistent with what we’ve seen so far.”
“This can be one of the most perplexing actions you see in Jesus. He loves Lazarus, He loves Mary/Martha, but upon hearing that Lazarus is ill, he stays two more days. Most of the time, even in our culture, when you get the 911 call – Mom might be down to a few days – you'd better get down there.”
“Why do we see perplexing situations in Scripture? To get us to stop, slow down, and ask some questions. Here’s a good question at this point in the story – who is the central player? It’s not Lazarus. Jesus, the Son of God is the center of this story.”
“How do you do when God delays in answering your cries for help? As a believer you know you are “loved by God” you are saved, you experienced/tasted what it means to be transformed by His saving grace – Then you face a sorrowful situation. Maybe it’s death, sickness, a seriously bad report about your lost and rebellious child. You cry out to Jesus . . . and crickets. You don’t hear anything, nothing changes. YOU ARE PERPLEXED. How do you respond? It’s so easy to doubt He’s there. It’s not abnormal to have doubts about God’s love creep in, truths you’ve been taught and believe seem to evaporate. Friends attempts to comfort you with truths like ‘God’s ways are not our ways’ sound so hollow.”
“This story can help you and I in the midst of sorrow. Waiting on the Savior. Knowing the truth of John 11, knowing what we will see next absolutely has the transforming power to equip you when you are in Martha’s place.”
“Jesus' timing is always perfect. He is never late. He loves you and I just like He loved Lazarus. He is always central in each of our stories and His purpose is always to display His glory.”
“If you are not a Christian, may God’s display of love for you in the Cross cause you to bow your knee and repent of your sins and put your trust fully in Jesus Christ. God’s glory displayed in resurrection power transforms all our sorrows.”
“Two things to note about this scene. FIRST, 4 days is not an insignificant number. Rabbis taught that the human spirit hovered over its body for 3 days. After the 4th day, death was permanent. Jesus' glory would be manifested in resurrection power with no human explanation whatsoever.”
“SECOND, Jewish funerals were nothing like what we experience when we go to a funeral. In our culture, funerals are quiet, somber, respectful of those family members who have survived the deceased person. Not so in Isreal. Jesus would be coming into a loud scene. Even the poorest Israelite was required to hire two professional mourners. People cried and wailed loudly. This would have been a loud and chaotic scene.”
“In V. 22, Jesus states the truth that He knows what will happen. Martha, not quite getting it, speaks of her brother’s eternal resurrection. Now, before we read V. 25, think about how odd this would have sounded to Mary. Lazarus is dead, and Martha and Mary have been mourning for days. READ V. 25. Jesus locates the resurrection and the eternal life IN Him! He states clearly to Martha that resurrection power and resurrection life is in Him. It’s not just something he is able to do, it’s not something outside of Him – it’s who He is! Resurrection and life are in Himself!”
“He restates the same thing in a different way. If you live and believe in me, you shall never die. In Christ, you will experience an earthly death, but it’s nothing compared to the indestructible eternal life there is in Me!”
“Physical death, biological death, cannot destroy the eternal life we have in Christ.”
“Jesus knows there’s a day coming as He approaches Jerusalem where He will die a bloody death and rise from the grave. He knows that’s coming. He also knows these words He’s saying to Martha will come alive! So He asks her directly – Do you believe this?”
“There’s no more important question for each of us today than this! When you are face to face with the tragedies of sin and death in this life – what you believe will be all that you hold on to.”
“Our English word ‘wept’ doesn’t capture what is going on. This was no tearing up, Jesus is not some phony professional mourners there faking His emotion with a slight grin on His face because He knows what’s about to happen. This was not a weeping that you quickly recover from. Jesus is sobbing, Jesus is weeping the kind of sloppy weeping when grief takes over. Then we see in V. 38 that Jesus approaches the tomb and is deeply moved again. Two times the text says Jesus is deeply moved and one time simply, Jesus wept. So it begs the question – If Jesus already stated the purpose of His delay, if He knew what the outcome God the Father had ordained, why such a display of compassion? What was it that deeply moved Him? Greatly troubled Him? The loss of Lazarus? The grief the sisters were experiencing? No, Jesus is troubled because He created the world perfect, and death wants part of it! Jesus was there in the beginning! The highest and most perfect part of the creation was man, created in the image of God. Created to love and worship God and be in fellowship with Him!! Sin and death entered and have been ravaging His creation!”
“Seeing what death has done, ravaging this family, moves Him to compassion. Seeing cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes in children, chronic fatigue syndrome, the car accident that took your child’s life. Sin destroying marriages, teenagers rejecting all that Mom and Dad have taught them about Jesus. What many of us forget when we face sorrows and difficulties in life is that Jesus is the same to us as He was to Mary and Martha. The way Jesus responds at this funeral is the way He responds to you and me at our funerals.”
“Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. His compassion in what you are walking through doesn’t stop because He’s ascended into heaven. What He’s like with the two sisters and their brother is how He is with your sorrow.”
“Notice Martha’s hesitation in v. 39 – We are all Martha’s even with Jesus’ Word given to us. Even after all He’s done, our faith is imperfect. We have moments of functional atheism. Unbelief. Jesus, yet again, is patient with her and reminds her of the word He gave her.”
“Jesus calls Lazarus from the dead. Jesus who is the resurrection and the life commands death to back down and powerfully raises a dead man. He who is THE LIFE gives Lazarus life. He powerfully displays the glory of God in the Son. Lazarus' cells miraculously come alive, his heart begins to beat. Everything that was dead in his body now submits to Jesus – who is the resurrection and the life!”
“Nobody would have been expecting this scene. In all the chaos Jesus speaks boldly for Lazarus to come forward. People would have gone from chaos to silence, gasping at what they saw. No one would have anticipated this outcome. Clearly people were stunned because when Lazarus comes out, Jesus needs to instruct the stunned people to unbind him.”
“We, His children, His followers need to grasp that if our Savior has power over our worst enemy – death – He has power over anything less than death. You can trust Him with lesser sorrows/lesser difficulties. You can trust Him even with the simple challenges of living in a fallen world.”
“We, His children, His followers need to grasp that if our Savior has power over our worst enemy – death – He has power over anything less than death. You can trust Him with lesser sorrows/lesser difficulties. You can trust Him even with the simple challenges of living in a fallen world. For my peer group, it’s recognizing our bodies are falling apart. As we age, we need to press into the reality that biological decline and eventually biological death aren’t more powerful than the Son of God, who is the resurrection and life. For younger groups, it can’t be the many challenges of parenting. Teens it might be that you’re recognizing your parents are sinners too. In these moments, we need John 11 so we can trust Jesus with who He is: The resurrection and the life.”
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
1 John 4:9–10
QUOTES:
JC Ryle - “The chapter is one of the most remarkable in the New Testament. For grandeur and simplicity, for pathos and solemnity, nothing was ever written like it.”
Paul Tripp - “Our willingness to wait on God means we really do believe that he exists, that he really is wise, that he is good all of the time and in every way, and that he will ultimately do for us, in us, and around us everything he has promised.”
RC Sproul - “Biological death doesn’t disturb the continuity of the living personal existence for God’s people in the slightest. Once a person believes in Christ, the life of Christ is poured into that person and that life is eternal.”
David Clarkson - “His glorified body is now above suffering, but His heart suffers still. So far, perfect compassion is a kind of suffering. His love is such that the grievances of His people touch His heart as if they were His own.”
Charles Spurgeon - “If Jesus had never wept, He could never wipe away my tears.”
SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
How Vast The Love
This Is Amazing Grace
We Are Yours Forever
Here Is Love
Because He Lives
NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
I Am the Door - John 10:9
THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:
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