Elizabeth Holmes is a very interesting character in contemporary history. Her story starts right after she dropped out of Stanford University after completing only two semesters of study, which were focused on Chemical Engineering. At the age of 19 years old she started her own company called Theranos. Her claim was that she had figured out a way to take many labs worth of medical equipment and condense them all down into a small box she called “The Edison”. The claim was that this box could perform over 1,000 medical tests with a single drop of blood and could do this quickly, accurately, and cheaply. She said her invention would give people more control over their health and that this was just the first step for her new company. The tech world, the medical world, and the media all started to sing her praises and she quickly gained in popularity. Her claims even caught the attention of many important people, so much so that the board of her company consisted of 4 star generals, former secretary of states, former defense secretaries, and former CEOs of major financial companies. She even partnered with Walgreens to bring this miracle of modern medicine to the masses. The value of her startup company soon skyrocketed with people thinking she was the next big thing. This caused Elizabeth to become the first female, self made billionaire in the world and it wasn’t long before her company would be valued between 9 and 10 billion dollars. Now for some reason it’s hard for us to comprehend how big of a number a billion is. We know it’s a lot, but we don’t really realize how much that is. If you were to spend $500,000 a day, every day, for the next 50 years, you still wouldn’t be able to spend the 10 billion dollars this company was valued at. She seemed to be in a place where her company was the next Microsoft or the next Amazon, but there was a problem — all of her claims were lies. None of the technology ever existed and all the tests they promised they could perform were all faked. When they would demo the product, they would draw blood from a patient and then take it to a real lab to test it and send the results to display on the machines. The machines they were making only had their first true test when they shipped them out to Walgreens. At that time people who were expecting all they promised only received inaccurate and inconsistent data that they were making life decisions based upon. Elizabeth’s lies didn’t just cause her investors to lose hundreds of millions of dollars as her company went from a 10 billion dollar value to worthless overnight, but she had caused medical harm to thousands of people who trusted her claims. Elizabeth went from being the next Steve Jobs to a convicted felon and is in jail as we speak. Sometimes things that are too good to be true really are. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence for all of us. I mean you can't lie on your resume saying that you were practically the inventor of Excel without someone asking for your help on a spreadsheet and the truth comes out. Actions will always speak louder than words. Resurrection Sunday is the ultimate example of that.
The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in all of history. It is the event that every moment before it pointed toward and every moment since then has pointed back to. It was the moment that we saw that everything Jesus said during His ministry was true. They weren’t just claims but they were a reality that is still of the utmost importance to us, even 2,000 years later after the fact. Why it’s important to us is what I want to talk about this morning. If you have your Bible, turn with me to John 11 where we see Jesus at a very somber event. Jesus’ friend Lazarus had just died four days prior. His sisters Mary and Martha had sent for Jesus, but when He arrived it seemed to be too late. Jesus was about to perform His greatest miracle. Soon Lazarus would be raised from the dead. However, before that happened there was a conversation with Lazarus’ sister Martha that Jesus made some very large claims that were all backed up and made possible by the first Easter morning.
The Resurrection Reshapes our Hope. - John 11:20-25a
When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
When Martha came out to meet Jesus, there had to be some frustration and possibly anger that she was dealing with as she spoke to Him. There was no doubt she was grieving because she had just lost her brother, but her words speak to a little more going on. She had done what was right. She cried out to Jesus when her brother was sick and I’m sure she thought He would have healed him as soon as He received the message, but it didn’t happen just like she had planned. When God doesn’t answer our prayer the way we want, we can struggle with disappointment, frustration, or anger and there is good reason to think that’s exactly what was happening with Martha. However, Jesus does not conform to our wishes nor our demands. He is always perfect in His timing, in His plans, and in His purpose, just as we see if we read this entire account. Jesus responded to her by saying “Your brother will rise again.” Now we all know by reading the rest of chapter 11 that Lazarus was about to be raised from the dead. Remember Martha was living this in the moment and that’s not the first thing that ran through her mind. Instead her mind goes to the things she had been taught in the Old Testament. I’m sure she thought of passages like Daniel 12:2-3 and Isaiah 26:19 where we are told the dead will be raised to life during the last days — some to life and some to shame and contempt. The idea of the coming resurrection of the dead at the end of time was just an abstract idea to Martha — ideas that live in the mind and not in the real world. If you remember the story at the beginning of this sermon, Elizabeth with her Einstein machine had this same problem. She had an idea of a medical technology that she couldn’t materialize in the real world. Her idea was abstract and only in her mind, and when it stayed there it could never help anyone. This idea was where Martha’s hope was at the time. It was an idea that came from the Word of God and what she had been taught, but to her it was just an idea. Jesus was about to reshape her hope and show us all where our true hope should lie. In Jesus’ “I AM” statement, He is not refuting what Martha said because it is the truth, but He is telling her why it is the truth. He was telling her that everything that was promised and everything that was spoken of in the Old Testament concerning the resurrection is all going to happen because of Him. It wasn’t that He brought resurrection but He WAS the resurrection. He was the flesh and blood personification of an abstract idea that had only been spoken about in the past, but because of Him could now be experienced. Her hope now was not in the God that might have seemed far away and who only spoke to His people long ago, but was in Jesus. He was fully God and fully man, who had come to make the resurrection possible because of His selfless sacrifice on the cross. He was Emmanuel, God with us. We can have the same problem as well. Our hope for our future can be placed in all sorts of ideas: In the idea we can be good enough to get into heaven, that we can work our way there, or that we can worry about it after we die. We can even have our hope in Biblical ideas, like Biblical knowledge, prayer, church attendance or any other spiritual discipline. However, if our hope and faith is in anything other than Jesus Christ alone, our hope desperately needs to be reshaped because only Jesus can bring us the eternal life that we all need.
The Resurrection Brings Us Life. - John 11:25b
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even
after dying.
Here in verse 25 we see Jesus speak of life after death — a life that can only be experienced by faith in Him alone. Why is this truth surprisingly starting with us? Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all sinned. Sin is rebellion against God. It is when God tells us what is best for us and we decide that we know better than Him and we do things our own way. If you want an example we don’t have to look hard, we can just look at a few Ten Commandments. It’s placing things above God in your life, saying the Lord’s name in vain, telling little lies, lusting after someone, or even envying what someone has. These are all sins and we’ve all done at least one of these 5 things. These few commandments are just the start of God’s perfect standard for us. We have all sinned and in Isaiah 59:2 tells us this sin has separated us from God. Our relationship with God is broken because of our sin and there is nothing we can do about it, because even our most righteous deeds are still like filthy rags because they are still tainted with sin. Even worse than a broken relationship with God is the eternal consequences of these sins. Romans 6:23 tells us that the result of our sin is death, an eternal death, an eternal separation from God in a place called Hell. This is very bad news for all of us and there is nothing we can do about it in and of ourselves. This is where the wonder of Easter Sunday and the resurrection comes in as we see it in all its power. Romans 5:8 tells us why we were still in active rebellion against God, Jesus loved us so much that He came and died for us. Why did He do so? Because this was the only way to pay the price we owed because of our sins and spend eternity with Him. We see in Isaiah 56:5 that He (meaning Jesus) was pierced for our rebellion and crushed for our sin. The punishment that can bring us peace with God was placed upon Him and it’s by His wounds we are healed. Jesus came to pay the price of sin for us. Upon the cross the sins of mankind were placed upon His shoulders and the punishment from God that was meant for you and me was poured out upon Him. However, the death of Jesus wasn’t all. Anyone can say they are dying for your sins and then just die, but it was at the resurrection that it shows us the payment for our sins had cleared. It’s just as Jesus said in John 14:19, “because I live you will also live”. We don’t have to worry about being separated from God for all eternity nor do we have to worry about the eternal consequences of our sin all because of Jesus, the cross, and the empty tomb. However, this forgiveness is not automatic. Salvation is a gift of grace that is offered to you. As we talked about earlier, this is where faith in Jesus comes into play. It’s not just enough to have knowledge of Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection. You have to place your faith in Jesus Christ alone to receive this forgiveness. Romans 10:9 tells us that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. You will be saved and given an eternal life that starts at the moment of faith and continues with Jesus for all eternity. Jesus came to die for you, just as He promised. He died so that you could not only have life, but you could have it more abundantly. He is the resurrection and the life, not just an event, but a person — He is Jesus.
The Resurrection Transformed Death. - John 11:26
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?
As many of you already know, one of my favorite things to do when I travel is to visit graveyards. The reason I like this is because you can learn a lot about a culture or a society by how they view death. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Greek and Roman graveyards, to visit some of the grandest cemeteries in the United States, and to visit one of the “Magnificent Seven” graveyards in London. While you walk through reading the epitaphs on these tombs you see a trend. Death is feared and it’s usually feared (and rightly so) because it’s unknown. It’s not that they don’t realize that it’s an inevitable part of life, but it’s the uncertainty that scares them. They long for the truth and that longing is displayed in what is written on their tombstones. When Jesus came, our relationship with death changed forever. What Jesus says here in verse 26 seems to contradict what He just said about although you die you will live. Jesus is not talking about physical death He is speaking of that eternal death — that eternal separation from Him. That’s why He starts this verse by saying “lives in me and believes in me”. That only comes through faith in Him alone and being saved by His grace. At that moment death is no longer scary for a Christian. It's just a doorway that we enter to experience resurrection life. 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us that for a follower of Jesus (someone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation) to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. This old body was never meant to live forever. It's been too wrecked, ravaged, and corrupted by sin. What we have waiting for us because of Jesus, is a body that will be perfect and will last forever. We no longer have to fear death any more. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:55-56, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul wasn’t being arrogant or flippant. His boldness and courage in the face of death was all because of Jesus. It wasn’t because of what he had done, who he was. It was only because of the victory he had in Jesus! It’s the same victory that we can have if you put your faith in Jesus Christ!
“I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory. How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning Then I repented of my sins, and won the victory”. You can too. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Have you experienced His resurrection and is He your life? It’s the only way to have true hope, it’s the only way to have a new life and it’s the only way to have victory over sin. You must put your faith in Jesus!
