Skip to content The Gifts of the Resurrection Apr 8 · 30 min ...more
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 Sometimes God delays what he plans to do because what he plans to do is more glorious than what you expect. In John chapter 11,0:12 we have a problem. We're told the problem in verse 14. Jesus's friend named Lazarus has0:24 died. The disciples have discovered that he's died, but Jesus throws us a curveball in verse 15. He says, and I'm glad for your0:35 sakes that I was not there. That doesn't sound like a friend. That doesn't sound like somebody who cares for you. Jesus has died and he says, I'm glad0:47 we were not there. He says, but I go or or rather so that you may believe, let us go to him. In other words, I'm delaying going0:59 there because I wanna show you something when we get there. In order for me to show you what I wanna show you, I had to let things get worse before1:11 they get better. In order to let you see what I want you to see, I let them go downhill before I would take them uphill because until he got way down,1:23 you won't see what I can do. He delayed it on purpose so he could show up and show out. He finally shows up late. Has Jesus ever showed up late on you?1:36 He finally shows up too late after stuff has died. And I know sometimes in your life, you wonder how come Jesus hadn't shown up yet. You1:48 didn't pray, you didn't fasted, You didn't called on God. You didn't come to church, and stuff just keep dying. Stuff just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.2:00 He finally shows up. When he shows up Martha, Lazarus sister has a frustration. It's a frustration some of you came here on Easter with because2:12 Martha says in verse 21, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. All you had to do was be here, and2:24 you could have reversed the sickness and brought him back to hell. But because you were nowhere to be found, my situation got worse, and my brother Lazarus has2:35 died. Even now, I know whatever you ask God, he will do. And Jesus says in verse 23, I'm going somewhere, your brother shall rise2:47 again. Your brother is gonna rise again. Now watch this. Martha said to him, verse 24, I know he's gonna rise again in2:59 the resurrection on the last day. In other words, I've been to bible class. I've been to Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. I've been to3:12 seminary and I know the doctrine of the resurrection. That 1 day his body's gonna leave the ground and go up to heaven. I know my theology, but Jesus,3:23 right now, I'm not interested in bible study. I got a death on my hands. And if you would have been here, I wouldn't have to go through this pain I'm in. I'm in this pain because you were3:35 nowhere to be found, and my doctrinal classes aren't helping me right now. I know in the last day, he's gonna rise again, but I got a problem now. And that my3:47 brother's dead, and you were nowhere to be found. Jesus has a response to her and to you. Verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life.3:59 He who believes in me shall live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Please4:12 don't miss what Jesus said. He could have changed the tenses and changed the meaning. He didn't say I was the resurrection. He didn't say I will4:24 be the resurrection. He said, I am right now your resurrection. I am the resurrection. In other words, I let your brother die so that you can4:36 see what I can be to you right now. A lot of folk have gone to church today to remember the resurrection. Some folks have come to church4:47 to find out what will happen in their future resurrection. But today, I want you to know he is right now for you, the resurrection.4:59 I am the resurrection. So if you came here dead, if you came here embalmed, if you came here entombed,5:11 if you came here with issues, if you came here wishing he would have shown up earlier, the reason why he delayed is because he's trying to build5:23 something bigger than you could have ever seen in your current state. He wants you to see what he can do with dead people when he raises them out of their grave.5:35 So if you came here today 6 feet under, if you came here today way underneath the dirt with maggots setting in on your life, I have some good news.5:48 He not only was the resurrection, he not only will be the resurrection. The good news today is he is the resurrection. He is the resurrection for your present6:00 situation. So there are 3 things in this passage that you need to know. I call them the gifts of the resurrection. The 3 things that Jesus Christ wants you to know,6:12 he's he's gonna give you when you really decide to believe in him. Gift number 1. The first thing is he's gonna he's gonna give you his life.6:24 He allows the death of Lazarus to be the illustration of what it meant when he said, I am in the present, in your present situation, the resurrection. Let's6:36 look at it. Oh, by the way, can I do a little parenthetical statement here? The shortest verse in the Bible is in this chapter verse 35. Anybody who forgets this verse,6:48 Jesus wept. Is it the shortest verse in the Bible? Here's my correlation. Jesus delayed on purpose. He finally shows up7:01 and he cries with her. So what you need to know is that the Jesus who delays still feels what you feel while you're waiting on your resurrection. So he's still empathizing7:13 with you, hurting with you, but he's hurting for a purpose because he's got something better coming down the pike. Here's what happens. He comes7:24 to the cave where Lazarus is buried. Verse 39, he says, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of deceased said to him, Lord, watch7:36 this, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead for 4 days. Jesus said to her, did not I say to you7:48 if you believe you will see the glory of God? He not only is dead, he's dead and Rick and Mortis has set in.8:00 Maggots have taken over. Stinch. Any of in some stinking situations right now? I mean, things have gotten so bad.8:13 Like the SARS disease, you got the you got the cover up to get up. Things have gotten so bad. It's like 1 time we had something that died in our attic and the whole house8:25 was messed up because because something had died and there was a stench. Anybody here looking good but smelly? Because life has gone8:37 putrid on you and and and contaminated on you and spiritual rick and mortars has set in. Martha says, Jesus, let let let's get this straight. You wanna remove the stone? You don't8:48 understand. Not only is my situation dead, but it's dead and rotten. It's dead and sticky. It's dead and stingy. It's dead.9:00 I got to hold my nose when I look at myself. My stuff is so raggedy. You don't understand, Jesus. I got issues. My stuff is all9:12 messed up. Jesus said, that's what I wanna hear Martha. In other words, it's so bad you can't fix it. It's so bad. In other words, you so9:24 dead unless you get a resurrection, you'll never get up. You say, why isn't God coming through? You're not dead enough yet. You still got too much twitching in you. You still9:35 got too much self effort. You still got too much of your own ability, he's gonna let you get so dead, you stink. So that you know if you ever gonna get up out of9:47 this graveyard, it's gotta be a supernatural miracle from someone who knows how to raise folk from the dead. Maybe your own life is9:59 in stench. Maybe you got a stinky relationship, and every time you walk through the door, you go, and stuff smells stinky inside your house. I've got good news10:11 for you. Jesus says, I am. Right now in your dead situation, the resurrection you have been looking for.10:23 He comes. Didn't I say you would see the glory of God? I delayed and let things get stinky so that you could see something you could have never seen otherwise.10:35 Jesus prays. He says in verse 41, father, I thank you that you hear me and I knew that you would hear me always because of the people standing around. I said it that they may believe that you did10:47 send me. And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Oh, I wish I had time. I don't have time because I got 2 other points, but but but we got 3 words10:58 here. Lazarus, come forth. Now let me tell you what I'm glad. I'm glad Jesus didn't just say come forth. All the dead would have jumped out of there.11:07 I'm also glad he knew Lazarus name. He said Lazarus come forth. He called a specific name11:19 of a specific man in a specific grave to be released from his death. God knows your name. God knows your death, and he11:31 knows how long you've been stinking. But when he calls your name, somehow all that putrid disappears. Somehow, strength in your legs return.11:43 Somehow, you're clothed back in your right mind. And when you thought all you were good for was worm food, he can reach down in there and pull you out because he not was11:55 the resurrection only and will be the resurrection. He can resurrect dead people right out of their death, and that means you because he knows your name. Lazarus,12:07 come forth. The first thing he gives is life to people who are tired of being dead. You may be dead emotionally. You may be dead12:18 attitudinally. You may be dead circumstantially. You may be dead relationally. But my savior specializes in cemeteries. He knows how to12:30 visit graveyards and take dead people and give them back their life. I am the resurrection. Now we talk about this thing called life.12:43 Let let me let you read again verse 26. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? 1 of the great things about being a12:54 Christian is to know you're never gonna die. I mean, I can't think of a greater reality than the knowledge you are never gonna die.13:06 Now, folks who who are members of our church understand this. We teach this always. The reason you don't have to fear death is when you're in a right relationship with Jesus Christ, you're never gonna experience it. You13:16 will never ever experience death. The Bible says to be absent from the body is at the very same time to be present with the Lord. In other words, less than a second after the13:28 moment you die, you are ushered into eternity. So you're not dead long enough to know it happened. The beautiful thing about being a Christian is Jesus says, because you believe in me, you13:40 shall never ever die. Some of you are here today, and your death is your fear of death. You can't do a will because you're scared of death. You don't wanna get life insurance because it reminds you of death.13:52 And no matter how much you package it, pass away. Rest in peace. It's still death to you. But what God does is because he gives new life, he removes the issue of14:03 death because death does not exist for the 1 who is the resurrection. Well, what happens when I die? Don't forget, he is right then and there, the resurrection. When Lazarus14:15 died in Luke 16, the Bible says, Lazarus died and immediately he was escorted into heaven. He got angelic pallbearers to take him into the presence of God. The14:27 beautiful thing about Jesus Christ is that he raises people from the dead. I don't care what your situation is. I don't care how bad it14:39 is. Why has not God come through for you yet? Because you're not dead enough yet. You don't stink enough yet. You haven't gotten low that you'll look up and14:50 say, no other help I know. I need somebody who specializes in raising folk from the dead. Jesus says, I am the answer to your death.15:02 Whatever is killing you. Woody Allen said, I'm not afraid to die. I just don't wanna be there when it happens. Jesus Christ says, I am the resurrection, and I will give you life. I will15:14 give you life. If you're tired of being dead, then if you look to me, I will give you your life. So if there's somebody here today that wants to15:26 live, I'm talking about real life. I'm not talking about that pretend plastic stuff. I'm not talking about that stuff you cover up with makeup and nice clothes and weaves. I'm15:38 not talking about that stuff you cover up with friends and parties and entertainment. I'm not talking about that stuff that you get at GG's. I'm not talking about that stuff that15:50 comes along and gives you an imitation here and an imitation there. I'm not talking about the stuff you pick up in a bottle so that you can drown your problems away. I'm not talking about that16:02 stuff you smoke in the pipe that will help you to forget how miserable you really are. I'm not talking about that stuff that camouflages. Jesus says, I am the real resurrection, and I am16:14 the real giver of life. I am the resurrection. The first thing he gives you is life. There's a second thing he16:26 gives when you discover he's the resurrection in the present. Verse 44, he who had died came forth.16:38 Now that's a lot of stuff happening real quick. He who had died came forth, but we got a problem. He's bound hand and foot with wrappings16:49 and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Jesus not17:01 only as the resurrection gives you life, he gives you liberty. He was all tied up. You see, they mummified him and they wrapped him with this17:12 wrap. So he actually had to come out of the grave like this because he's all wrapped. They said he was tied up. You know? That's James Brown early on.17:25 He's all wrapped up. He's tied up. He he can't move. He had life, but what he didn't have was liberty. Yeah. He was still all tangled17:37 up. He couldn't move. His flexibility was gone. He had life. It wasn't just it wasn't a happy 1. It wasn't a fulfilling 1 because he was he was all locked up. What Jesus did was when he gave17:49 him life, he gave him liberty. What is liberty? Liberty is the freedom to become all God redeemed you to be. That's liberty.18:01 Some of you are all tangled up. You've been tripped up by circumstances. You've been tripped up. Jesus Christ not only gives you life, he gives you liberty.18:12 So you are now freed up to become all that you were meant to be. Some of us are still caterpillars. When you were redeemed to become a butterfly, You're crawling on the ground18:24 when you were redeemed to fly. You're satisfied to be an ugly saint rather than a sparkling Christian because you have not been set free. He18:36 whom the son sets free is free indeed. So if you're a Christian and you hardly have a smile, there's hardly any joy in your life, it's18:48 because you're still wrapped up. You're still in them old grave clothes. A butterfly can never fly until it sheds itself of that caterpillar structure. It19:00 is time that you understand that Jesus came to not only give you life, he said, but to give it to you more abundantly. Now what is freedom? Freedom is not the19:12 absence of boundaries. Freedom doesn't mean there are no limitations. You can't have a football game without sidelines. You can't have a baseball game without foul19:23 lines. You can't have a tennis court without baselines. You've gotta have restriction in order to be free enough to play the game. So freedom is not having boundaries or like some people want19:35 flexible boundaries. They just want boundaries that don't mean anything. They're just elastic boundaries. So it can change anytime they want to. Those people will never be free because they will never be stable enough19:46 inside a clear enough structure to free them up to live life as life was meant to be lived. But when you understand the divine boundaries, then you are now free enough to play the game of life. And what God wants to19:58 do is set you free to be all he was meant for you to be when he died on the cross for you and rose from the dead for you. It is truly being free at last. He20:10 who the son sets free is free indeed. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So if you came in and all tied up,20:23 all banged up, bundled up, wrapped up in your past, wrapped up in your present, wrapped up in your fears about the future. You come here with mistakes. You know, the20:35 5 0 seventh maintenance company took a wrong turn in Iraq. And when they took a wrong turn, they wind up being captured by the enemy. Free people, now POWs,20:47 because they took a wrong turn. They should have gone this way. They turned right, and they went the wrong way. And they wind up becoming prisoners of war, being incarcerated by a foreign force.20:59 But there was an insider in Iraqi who said, I think what you're looking for special forces is over there in that house. The special forces went to the house and found the21:11 POWs who were POWs because they turned the wrong way. Some of us in our lives have turned the wrong way. We should have been going this way, but we chose to go that way.21:23 And we look back up on mistakes that we made, and we are still haunted by those mistakes because we turned the wrong way. But God has got an insider. It's the job of the Holy Ghost to21:35 track you down, point you out so that God and the special forces of his angelic host can lose you and let you go. He doesn't want you to be a POW of your past,21:47 a POW of your present, or a POW of your future. He wants to set you free, and I hope you saw him on television. Because when they came and they had come back to Germany, back to freedom, all they21:58 did was celebrate what it's like to be free. Because sometimes, you don't know what it's like to be free till you bitter slave. You don't know what it's like to be free until you've been tied up. So22:10 Jesus will let you take a wrong turn, let you be tied up so he can set you free so that you'll never forget what it's like to be free at last, free at last, to be able to22:22 fight God almighty. You're free at last. He not only gives you life, he gives you liberty. He unties you. So if you're tired of being22:34 dead or tied up, broke up, broke down, Jesus says, I am the resurrection. Yeah. I was the resurrection because I sure have got myself up22:46 out that grave. I will be the resurrection because when you die, I'm a get you up out that grave. But you don't have to take 2000 years to see that I am the resurrection. I can lift you up right now22:58 out of the muck and mire of your 6 foot under experience. But I gotta let you stink first so that you know it was me. There's 1 other gift that23:10 God has for you today. 1 other gift. Chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Jesus, therefore, 6 days before the Passover came23:22 to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made him a supper there, and Martha was serving.23:33 But Lazarus was 1 of those reclining at the table with him. Did you see did you see that? Some of you23:45 went, shooom, you missed it. A little bit ago, Lazarus is stinking. Dead is a doorknob. There is23:57 no life, no hope, no meaning. The boy is dead. Sure enough dead. Jesus said Lazarus come forth. Now he's got life. Jesus24:09 says, loose him and let him go. Now he's got liberty. But you know another gift of the resurrection? Love. You discover what it's like to24:21 be loved. He is now chilling with the savior. Verse 2 says, he was reclining at the table. Reclining at the table24:32 means intimate fellowship. Jesus put it this way in in in Revelation chapter 3. He says, behold I stand at the door and knock. And if any man will open up, I will come in and have dinner with24:44 him, sup with him. That means that means have an intimate association, a love affair. Jesus not only gives you life, he not only gives you liberty,24:56 but he's shown up knows how to give you love. People are looking for love today. They wanna know what it feels like to be loved. They wanna know the experience of being loved. Jesus say, you have never met a25:08 lover like me. I am the resurrection. If I can get you up from the dead, I know how to recline at the table with you. I know how to bring us into intimate fellowship with 125:20 another. In other words, if I can solve the problem of your graveyard, I can sure solve the problem of your meaning, of your search for love, of your search for value, of your search for25:31 significance. I am what you're looking for. Don't settle for a cheap substitute because nobody can love you like I can love you. He's reclining at the table.25:44 The man has gone from maggot food to eating food with the savior. He's reclining at the table. He's gone from misery to meaning. He's gone from pain to25:56 purity. He's gone from from from emptiness to significance all because Jesus was his resurrection. A lot of us are looking to the wrong folk to26:07 raise us from the dead. You're going to this raise me up to that raise me up over there and Jesus is saying you ain't dead enough yet. Because26:19 until you throw yourself at me, I am the resurrection. And if I can get myself up by myself, I don't need help to get you up from where you are. I26:31 am your present tense resurrection. If you're tired of being dead, if you're tired of being tied up, if you're tired of being unloved, Jesus26:42 says, I am the resurrection. I am what you're looking for. I am the 1 who's come to meet your deepest need.26:54 It's more than a doctrine. It's a person. It's more than a resume. It's an interview. It's the hope of the resurrection. God is able to take you right where you are27:07 and give you life. He can give you liberty, and he can give you love. And you've been looking everywhere else. You've been satisfied with cheap substitutes.27:20 You're satisfied to ride in spiritual coach when your resurrection savior's got a first class ticket. He says, you haven't found it because you have not looked27:32 for it in me. Jesus Christ is looking for folk who know that they can't do it on their own, who know they can't make it work on their own so he can27:44 take that which is broken and fix it so that it will be clear, God met me in the graveyard and gave me life, liberty, and love. And27:56 when he does it, you'll never be the same. Because this is the kind of love you've been looking for. This is the kind of love you've been searching for.28:09 It's a love who knows your name. I want you to bow your head right now. If you're struggling with your death, and you can smell it,28:23 and you can feel it, and you're so tired. Or maybe you're all tied up, wrapped up, and you can't shake it, you can't get free.28:38 Maybe you need to be loved for real. Jesus says, come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.28:51 So I'm gonna say a prayer. You repeat it after me. You just gotta mean it for yourself. Lord Jesus, I need you.29:04 I'm dead. But I hear you raised the dead. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. And29:15 I believe you rose from the dead. Raised me from my dead. I'm a sinner. And I need a savior. I choose you.29:27 I open up my heart for your life, for your liberty, and for your love. If you're gonna love me like that,29:39 then I've been looking in the wrong places. Here I am, Lord. Have your way in my life, in my heart. Love29:51 me. I place myself in your hands.
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