I Am the Resurrection and the Life

I know it's hot also. Welcome to those online. My name is Enrico and I'm scheduled to, by God's grace, give the word today. Psalm 122:1 says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Are you glad that you're in the house of the Lord today?

Amen. Amen. In this world, the rich, the famous, the beautiful, they're often greatly admired, aren't they? Celebrities are almost worshipped now. There is a reason they're called stars.

From a distance, they appear to shine and to glitter, and many envy their lifestyles. However, what is often not so apparent is how many celebrities are extremely afraid of dying. And sometimes they open up about that in interviews. For example, Tom Ford, the American fashion designer and filmmaker, once said, death is all I think about. There's not a day or really an hour that goes by that I don't think about death.

Or Emma Stone, the Oscar winning actress known for the Amazing Spider man and La La Land, said she feels hyper aware that everything could end. Now she talks about the anxiety and the panic attacks she started experiencing from a young age, caused by a fear of dying. Or Rita Ora, the British pop singer and actress. She called dying my biggest phobia and she has to undergo weekly therapy to help her cope with it. Or Larry King, the late American television and radio host, he once said that he was scared to death of death.

And William Shatner, the Canadian American actor best known for Star Trek, said, a scary day is dying. The mystery of loneliness now comes in the mystery, what's going to happen that's scary? And the list goes on and on. Now, in each of these cases, psychologists might have diagnosed a more or less severe form of what is called thanatophobia. What is that?

Thanatophobia is the extreme persistent fear of death or dying and is estimated to affect up to 10% of the global population. However, lower levels of death anxiety are also very common and haunts the majority of people, not just celebrities. There is a gnawing anxiety that life could end at any moment and it's upsetting and ultimately can lead to despair if you have no hope beyond this life. And so a passage in Scripture comes to mind. It's found in the book of Hebrews in the second chapter, verses 14 through 15.

It reads, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he, Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of Death were subject to lifelong slavery. So why is the fear of death so common? Well, before we are saved, we're still under the jurisdiction of the devil. We can infer this from various passages in Scripture. For example, First John 3:10 or First John 5:19, it says, the whole world lies under the power of the evil.

1 or 2nd Corinthians 4:4, calling Satan the God of this world. Or Colossians 1:13, it says, for he, God the Father, speaking to believers, has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. The devil rules this world. And as the verse in Hebrews 2:14 tells us that we just read, he has a certain level of power over death. He is that thief that Jesus said comes to kill, steal and destroy.

Now we know that death first entered the world because mankind abdicated its God given dominion over creation and gave it to the devil by yielding to his temptation to do what God had expressly said not to do, namely to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death was the result and has been our steady, albeit unwelcome companion ever since. But I think deep down we know it wasn't meant to be that way. Death seems unnatural. At least it has always seemed unnatural to me somehow, from early childhood on, I could never fully come to terms with it.

I remember when my grandfather died. I was not even three years old. We had visited him in the hospital the week before he died. And then my parents told me he had passed. And I remember lying in my bed and thinking he must continue on somehow.

And I thought that he might be born again as a baby somewhere. I had never heard the concept of reincarnation before. I now know, looking back where these thoughts came from back then. You see, my family a generation prior had been involved in witchcraft. And I believe that the dark spirits they invited into the family line tried to lead me astray by staring me towards a non biblical, albeit still supernatural worldview.

But God can redeem dark things like that, and he used them in my life to bring me to Himself. Now, later, while I was growing up in communist East Germany, they told us in school that the material world is all that there is, and so that would mean that there's nothing after death. But I could never really accept that, I think. And I realized that the dark spirits, even though they tried to corrupt me by luring me into the wrong side of the supernatural, they inadvertently pointed me to the fact that things are not over after we die physically here on earth. And by his Grace the Lord later allowed me to gain a better understanding and find him.

Now let me pray. Oh Father, you have a word for us today. And I pray that I would just step aside and that you will take over and that you will impart, you will open hearts and that you will reignite our faith as Philip prayed so powerfully because you anointed him. Anoint us all today and save souls. Father, in Jesus name, remember Martha and Mary, friends of Jesus.

They are mentioned by name in the Gospel of Luke and in the Gospel of John. And they also gained a better understanding through something marvelous that Jesus did for them. Now, Martha and Mary lived in a village only about three kilometers from Jerusalem. Now, we don't know for sure, but Jesus had probably been a frequent dinner guest at Mary and Martha's. Now, in the Gospel of Luke, specifically Luke 10, one such occurrence is recounted.

Jesus came for dinner and Martha is busy hosting, working, preparing. Mary chooses to just sit at Jesus feet and listen to him. And Martha complains and asks Jesus to tell her sister to help her. But Jesus refuses and commends Mary, saying she had chosen the good portion that would not be taken away from her. You know the story.

Now Mary and Martha have a brother. His name is Lazarus. Now only John mentions him in his Gospel. Now we're told that Jesus loved these siblings. And we don't know how much time had transpired between the dinner when Mary just chose to listen to Jesus and when the sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus had fallen ill. That's required recorded in John 11.

Now John tells us that when the news reaches Jesus, he doesn't immediately go to Bethany to see Lazarus, but still waits for a couple days. Now that seems puzzling, right when we read it, even irritating. And I think we can relate in times when we wait on an answer from the Lord and he seems to delay his answer way past what we believe is our ability to cope. It's a test of faith that thinks Spurgeon called it the dark night of the soul. When Jesus arrives, Martha approaches him, telling him that if he had arrived earlier, Lazarus would not have died.

Martha and Mary know that Jesus had healed many people. And while the Gospels don't tell us how they felt, we can imagine that they might have been quite disappointed, perhaps even a bit angry that Jesus didn't immediately come to heal their brother Lazarus, whom he had professed to love. Nevertheless, Martha says something profound to Jesus. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you, she says. John 11:22.

Now, by saying that she expresses an astounding level of faith. She continued believing that Jesus was still able to do something, although she was probably not sure what he might be able to do, considering the fact that Lazarus had been dead four days. And when Jesus tells her that Lazarus would rise again, she can only cling to the hope that he will be raised in the resurrection on the last day. And that's what she tells Jesus. But then Jesus says something stunning in reply, which we find in John 11:25.

It says, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus said, what a statement. It is one of the seven I am statements Jesus makes that are all recorded in the Gospel of John that we are covering in the short Summer sermon series.

And in each and every one of these seven statements, Jesus uses the phrase I am in the Greek ego aime to describe himself. And we understand that as a direct claim to his divine, eternal nature. Yes, Jesus is I am. He is God. He is the Great.

I am a name that he had first revealed to Moses in the burning bush. And we read about this in Exodus 3, verses 13 to 14, which say that. Then Moses asked God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they ask me, what is his name? What should I tell them?

God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. Now I am is closely connected to what we often pronounce, Yahveh. It's all consonants, one, and sometimes that's referred to only as the tetragrammaton. It's Greek for words with four letters.

In our English Bibles, it's usually replaced with the word Lord or capital letters out of reverence to not use the name of God. Now according to one Jewish tradition, Yahweh relates to the Hebrew verb hava and no, I don't know how to pronounce this, but I looked it up which means to be, to become. So the meaning would be he will cause to become, or he causes to become the name of God. Another tradition sees the name as deriving from three Hebrew verbs. The first is Haya, he was, the second ch, he is, and the third he will be.

This tells us that God is timeless and self existent. It touches on his eternal nature, faithfulness, and unchanging sovereign character. Now Interestingly, in Hebrews 13, verse 8, we read Jesus Christ is The same yesterday and today and forever echoing the name of God. Now also when Jesus says in John 8:58, he says, before Abraham was I am. Now these are other verses pointing to Jesus as God, just like his seven I am statements in the Gospel of John.

I am or I am who I am, as Jesus said to Moses. Now it sounds simple, but who of us, if we think about it, can really understand who can grasp the depth of his name? This statement? Now, if we're honest, we cannot. We have to admit that.

And so God tells us in Isaiah 55, verses 8 through 9, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We must stand humbly before the Lord. I am who I am. The name of God does remind me of something else God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 though.

And it says, and he, God said, I will make all my good pass before you and will proclaim before you my name the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now, I believe there's a connection to the I am statements of Jesus. Why? Well, as I've mentioned, each of the seven I am statements clearly point to Jesus being God.

And they also clearly link to to what God had revealed about himself and his character in the Old Testament. Each of the seven statements, you know, Jesus saying, I'm the bread of life, I'm the light of the world, I'm the door of the sheep, I'm the good shepherd, I'm the resurrection and life. I'm the way, the truth, the life, and I'm the true vine. All these statements touch on aspects of the Gospel. They present Jesus as the one who fulfilled God's saving work among his people.

Now, the emphasis here is on saving work. Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer. He is God's graciousness and mercy, personified God in the flesh, demonstrating and expressing his great love to his fallen creation, that before being restored by him, before repenting and seeking reconciliation with him through faith in Jesus is hostile towards him. But praise God, it doesn't have to stay that way because it says in John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. Eternal life.

Let's read today's I am statement once again. Let's read it together, if you would, in John 11:25. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. Now, when Jesus says that he is the resurrection and the life, he's saying that he has the power over life and death.

Having the power over life and death is something that in the Old Testament is clearly associated with God alone. For example, read Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. It says, God speaking. See, now that I am he, there is no God besides me. I put to death and I bring to life.

I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. Or as the prophet Samuel said, the Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol, and he raises up. First Samuel 2, 6. But wait a minute.

Earlier I said that the devil is the one who has the power of death, based on the passage in Hebrews we read earlier. Now, here I believe we're given a little glimpse into the great cosmic battle that has been raging over the souls of mankind. Now, there's no doubt that God alone is the author of life, and he reigns supreme over it. He has the power over life and death. Now, the verses we just read In Deuteronomy and 1st Samuel clearly tell us so, and they have not been suspended.

Heaven and earth will pass away. God's Word will not pass away. So is there a contradiction in the Bible? No. Because when Adam and Eve sinned, death became a reality for mankind.

And for some reason, the one who had inspired the sinning, the transgression, by saying, you shall not surely die in Genesis 3, the devil, he had gained a certain level of power over death. But it's not the same as God's power. It's not on par. It means that ever since the Fall, the devil has been able to hold mankind in bondage, keeping them enslaved in the fear of death. Because he's also called the accuser in Scripture.

He accuses mankind before God Almighty and without a Redeemer. Because we cannot save ourselves. Mankind stands guilty before God, condemned. And that, I believe, causes the fear of death. And this is true in the lives of the celebrities we heard about earlier.

I believe, and I admit it was also true in my life before I knew Jesus, I was afraid of dying. Not because I thought things would be over, but because I didn't know what would come after. And after I became a Christian, God allowed me to witness that also in the lives of other people. In particular, when I was working in a hospital for a year, I was working there as a civil servant. In my early 20s.

And we had a number of what they call terminal patients, dying patients. And some passed peacefully, but others expressed extreme fear of dying. Fighting a tooth and nail. I remember this one guy, he was given the most potent sedatives over and over again, and they would not work. He fought death tooth and nail.

I remember one dying patient was given the most. Yeah. He was so agitated and physically fought that process. And his soul was not at peace. Peace.

The same with another woman who died of cancer. I still remember her contorted face.

I believe deep down inside, the soul knows its destiny. It knows whether it has peace with God or not. And we can meet Jesus as Savior, Redeemer and friend, or as judge when we pass from this life into eternity. Now, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23.

And Scripture tells us that all have sinned. We're all sinners. Now, we read that in various passages in Scripture that there's. We read that there's no one good nor righteous. Not one.

For example, Romans 3:10 or Psalm 14, Psalm 53. Sin will be judged. Now, the good thing is that the power of sin was broken when Jesus died as a sacrifice for. For our sins and offered forgiveness of sins to everyone who would place their trust in him. Jesus defeated death and the fear of death in his resurrection for all those who would believe in him.

He says, fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 1, verses 17 through 18. Death was arrested by Jesus. Jesus purchased back the title deed. Now, our I am statement we're looking at today reassures us. And I just want to read it again.

Jesus said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe that the Scriptures encourage believers not to grieve as the unbelieving world does? Because we have great hope.

It says in 1st Thessalonians, Thessalonians 4:13. But we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, that have no hope. Jesus has the power to raise us back to life even after death. And this is what he showed Martha to demonstrate who he is. Jesus commanded Lazarus, who had been dead four days, whose body had started to decay, to come back to life, to come out of the tomb.

And Lazarus did come out, fully wrapped in Grave clothes. And it created quite a stir. Many started believing in Jesus after witnessing this or hearing about this astounding miracle. And According to John 12, verses 10 to 11, the chief priests even planned to kill Lazarus because many Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus on account of Lazarus. Lazarus had become a living example, living evidence of Jesus power, and that was drawing people to faith in Jesus.

Now, earlier I mentioned that Jesus had waited two days to go to Bethany when he heard the news that Lazarus had fallen ill. Now, what's up with that? Have you ever wondered why it seemed unnecessary, even cruel, to Mary and Martha who were waiting for him? But Jesus seemed to have a very good reason to do that. What might explain it is that in the Jewish world of Jesus day, death was often understood not as a simple instant, but as a process. Many Jews believe that the soul was still linked to the body for a specific time before burial.

Now, some believed up to three days after which then the signs of the body breaking up, decomposing, you couldn't miss it anymore. So it seems plausible that Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead four days so that the miracle of raising him back to life would truly be understood as the impossibility that it was for anyone but God to perform. By raising Lazarus, Jesus confirmed and validated what he had said to Martha about who he was, that he's the author of life. Like Peter referred to him in Acts 3:15, he was able to restore anyone back to life. He is able to do that.

And it showed to all who witnessed it that Jesus was telling the truth when he had said to the Jews in John 5:21, for just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wishes. And by raising Lazarus, he also pointed to his own resurrection that would occur after his death on the cross, and that he will raise all to eternal life who believe in him. Jesus said in John 6:40, for it is my Father's will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. At the last day.

Now, when studying for the sermon, I found it interesting that Martha, a Jew, knew about the resurrection on the last day, because she replied to Jesus when he had said, your brother will rise again. She said, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. How did she know that? I was curious what the Jews were taught about the resurrection on the last day. Because most early Israelite texts portray the dead as just descending into sheol.

The realm of the dead rather than anticipating a future resurrection. Now, apparently only in Second Temple Judaism, Pharisees began consistently teaching that God would raise the dead bodily at the end of the age to stand at the final judgment where the righteous would be vindicated. Now, what were they basing this on? Now, it's true that the Old Testament only contains a few verses that allude to the resurrection of the dead. And.

And so the Pharisees likely used those verses, but also probably some extra canonical writings, such as Second Maccabees, to inform their teachings. And so I thought it'd be good for us to know what does the Old Testament say about the resurrection. So we have, for example, Isaiah 26:19. It says, you dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy, for your dew is a dew of light.

And the earth will give birth to the Dead. And Daniel 12, verses 2 and 3. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. And further in the same chapter 12, in.

In verse 13, the angel says to Daniel, but go your way till the end, and you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days. Now, of course, there's this famous chapter 37 in Ezekiel, talking about the valley of the dry bones coming back to life. But I really love what Job said, and we find this in the oldest book of the Bible, as far as I'm concerned, Job is saying, but as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him for myself.

Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought. Or as other translations render it, how my heart yearns within me. Brothers and sisters, do our hearts yearn within us to see Jesus returning.

Now, later, Jewish tradition strongly emphasized the resurrection, and some groups even treated the denial of the resurrection as a serious error. And Jewish writers also debated, what would we look like in the resurrected state. And some texts describe us then as transformed, glorified, luminous, exalted angel like. And this might be Based on Daniel 2:12, verses 2 and 3 that we just read. And other texts, probably first Enoch as well.

But not all agreed. For example, the Sanduces, a priestly elite tied to the temple. They rejected the concept of the resurrection and other supernatural beliefs, including angels. And they all because they only accepted the Pentateuch. And some say.

I remember Steve preaching this. Why are they called Sadducees? Because they're sad. You see, silly. Now, we read about this in Matthew 22, verse 23.

For example, the same day Sadducees came to Jesus and say, who say there is no resurrection. It's that passage where they try to trip him up and ask him about this woman who was married to all, all the seven brothers who all died and whom she would be married to in the resurrection. Now he rebukes them for not believing in the resurrection, saying, and as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living.

Matthew 22, verse 32. And it's interesting because it's quoting Exodus 3, verse 6 in the Pentateuch. So Jesus put them straight, right? And you don't know the word as well as you think you do. Now, while the bodily resurrection on the last day was widely taught in Second Temple Judaism, there was not a widespread expectation that the Messiah would be raised from the dead shortly thereafter.

However, looking back, we see the prophecies in Isaiah 53, e.g. psalm 22, and famously in Psalm 16:10, which says, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. That's quoted twice in the New Testament. Looking back to Jesus resurrection once in Peter's sermon, Acts 2, and in Paul's sermon in Antioch, Acts 13. Now, the Jews were would contest that.

They say, well, Psalm 16 is about King David. But we know that King David died and saw decay. But death could not hold Jesus, the author of life. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And even after he voluntarily laid down his life for us, he rose again to new life.

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? As Paul writes in First Corinthians 15, quoting Isaiah and Hosea. Now belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who we as believers know to be the promised Messiah, is very important.

In fact, it's foundational to the Gospel. Now listen to what Paul is saying about this when describing the gospel in First Corinthians 15. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being Saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to see Cephas, then to the 12.

Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, at Paul's writing. When Paul was writing this, though some have fallen asleep, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. There's ample evidence for Jesus resurrection. Now, believing the Gospel, the good news, that Jesus is the one whom the Father sent, that Jesus is God Almighty, who became a human being, who lived a sinless life, then offered Himself up to pay the penalty for our sins, died and rose again.

That he was resurrected, believing that saves us and gives us right standing with God the Father, not our works. Do you believe this? If you do, you're given new life, resurrection life, and you can look forward to being raised when Jesus returns, even after you have died. Romans 6:5. For if we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

You don't have to be afraid of death like the unbelieving world. And it's kind of funny, isn't it? The fear of death can be over overcome through another kind of death, namely by dying to this life together with Christ, and then being raised up again together with Him. Belief in the resurrection is the pillar that our faith rests upon. Hear what Paul says in First Corinthians 15, verses 16 through 19.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith, faith is futile and you are still in your sins, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we're of all people most to be pitied. Let that sink in. Paul says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, with all people most to be pitied, our hope does not rest in this life, but in the one to come.

We know we're not promised happiness in this life, the way the world defines happiness, but rather we're promised persecution. Second Timothy 3:12 says, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And in Acts 14:22 we read through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. The believer puts his or her hope not in this life, but rather in the life to come, knowing that then they will be truly alive. D.L.

moody believed that. He was a famous preacher who lived in the Victorian era, and he once said, someday you'll read in the papers, D.L. moody of East Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment, I shall be more alive than I am now.

DL Moody trusted in Christ and in the promise that is found in Psalm 16:11. It says, in your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Jesus said that he had come to give us life and life more abundantly. John 10:10.

Now our hope lies not in just any resurrection, but in the first. Read Revelation 25. 6 says the rest of the dead didn't come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection over such.

The second death has no power. And also 1st Thessalonians 4, 16 tells us that the dead in Christ will rise first at the return of the Lord. Now why the first resurrection? Because there will be a second one reserved for all those who have not believed in Jesus. They will also be raised to stand before the Lord in what is referred to as the White Throne Judgment.

We read about that in Revelation 20. It mentions that they will be judged in accordance with what they had done. And remember, works cannot save us. And everyone whose name is not found in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death. As I mentioned before, I believe the prospect of that is what causes the fear of death in people, the fear of death to which we're chained as long as we are outside of Christ.

Now, it may not be something conscious. We may push it away. We may harden our hearts to not have to face it. But regardless, we will face judgment for our sins if we have not been reconciled with the Father through faith in His Son. Now people try to escape death.

Whole movements such as the transhumanist movement, are seeking ways, and now even trying to develop technologies to defeat death or come up with ways to fabricate a resurrection outside of Christ, such as the practice called cryonics. Have you heard of cryonics? Cryonics involves preserving a person's body, or sometimes just the brain, at very low temperatures after legal death in the hope that future technology might repair the damage and possibly revive them. Now our own city, Berlin, is home to Europe's first Major cryonics organization. It's called Tomorrow Biostatis.

It's offering ITS services at US$200,000 per person. Trust me, they won't be successful. God is not mocked. Now, I've been talking much about future resurrections, whether it's the first or the second. But it's not just something that will happen in the future, but it's also a now thing, at least for the believer.

In Colossians 2:12 we read in which you were also raised with him through faith, talking to believers were already happened. Or Colossians 3, verses 1 to 3. It says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are abundant, are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Or Ephesians 2, 5, 6 says, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him, seated us with him in the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus, the believer is already raised up and seated in the heavenly places. And through the Holy Spirit residing in us, if we are in Christ, we can experience Jesus resurrection power even now in our lives. And this power is what changes us from glory to glory. It's this power, the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, forming, shaping us to become more like him, like Jesus, one day at a time, empowering us to live holy set apart lives and to love God and others.

It's the power that works in us to forgive even those who have hurt us. Just like Corrie ten Bohm experienced after World War II when she met the SS guard who so cruelly treated her sister in the concentration camp. She had nothing but hatred for him, even when he stretched out his hand, asking for forgiveness and telling her that he had become a believer. But then she silently prayed in her mind, Romans 5:5, that says, for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And God performed a miracle in that very moment she was able to love him and forgive Him.

Now this power can also work in our hearts. It can inform our prayers, our desires. It can empower us to proclaim the Gospel with authority. But it's much more than just power. It says, he who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.

That's what the apostle Paul writes at first John 4:4. It's the Lord himself who lives inside of us. He Said I'm the resurrection and the life. It's having a relationship with him, being unified, made one with the person who says that he is resurrection and life. Now, after his encounter with Jesus, Paul was ready to give up everything else just for this.

He famously said in the third chapter in Philippians, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. In his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. This is what Paul aimed for.

This is what he gave up everything else for. Are we really ready to give up everything else for that hope? Now? Jesus, in one of his parables, compared it to a pearl of great price, recounted in Matthew 13. The one who found it sold everything he had to obtain this pearl.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is that pearl. Are we inclined, like the Psalm writer who wrote in Psalm 73, verse 25, to Simon sincerely, to genuinely say, in our hearts, and I have to investigate my own heart, there's nothing on earth that I desire besides you? Or do the things of this life still have too much of a hold on us? Our hope in the resurrection is hope in a person, not just an event in the future. Martha believed that the resurrection is an event, but Jesus showed her and all of us that resurrection is a person, life is a person.

The author of life, Jesus, he said, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. Martha had an abstract idea of what eternal life might be. What Jesus tells us that eternal life is a personal relationship with him that we can have even now, today. He said, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:3. Now John starts out his gospel by saying, in him, in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of Men. John 1:4. Now where do you have to be to find true life and overcome the fear of death? You must be in him, in Christ.

And when you take on Christ in your life, the power of his resurrection is at work in you. And his promise is sure. He will raise you back to new life now. And even if you fail physically died, he will raise your body at the end and transform you to be like him when he appears in glory. Now, I personally believe that this will be very soon.

Who knows, we might still even be here when Jesus returns, in which case we may not even see death at all. Because it says in First Corinthians 15, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed. And as we heard earlier, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. If you're here today and you're asking yourself, have I taken on Christ? I'm not sure. Have I trusted in him?

If you're not sure, cry out to him today to meet you where you're at. He will heed your cry. Let me pray. And may the worship team. Come on, Father in heaven.

Oh, Lord, what an awesome, awesome promise you've given us. That our faith, our hope, rests on such assurance, Lord, the power of your resurrection. And that we can have a personal relationship with you, the living God, the author of life, and that you can even live inside of us, empowering us, and then giving us the promise that even when we die, we don't have to fear death. Because you will raise us back up to life with you and to be with you where there's fullness of joy. Thank you, Lord.

Imparted again today, save many souls in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you.

Let me just close this wonderful service with benediction both in English and German. I'm going to read the verse which Enrico presented to us quite strongly. There. Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying.

Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this, Martha? He said, may the God who is the resurrection and the life fill you with hope, strengthen you with peace, and keep you in the love of Christ. Go now in faith, knowing that neither death nor life can separate you from him. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen I'll just do this in German too.

Ich bin der Auverstehung undastru laden ver unmisch glaut der Wid Laden auf ben er sturped unwehr dar Lebed undlaupt an M. Johannes Elfest.

Christie bewagen Ged nun im Glauven in the Gewissheit. Das veder tod noch leben oysch von im Trenen Kernan im Nam des Fatis undes Zones undes Heiliges, guys. Heiligen Geistus. Amen. Have a blessed week, everybody.