Talking To The Grieving Believer, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus now utters to her, the grieving believer, some of the most incredible words ever spoken, words that we're almost too familiar with. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. You never know what to say at funerals. And this one is no exception. Just a short time ago, you had lunch with Lazarus.

He seemed to use the picture of health. Now you're at his funeral. People are everywhere.

It's a week long time of mourning. You recognize many of them because Bethany is a small town. But there are a lot of other people there as well.

A lot of the Jews and the leaders from Jerusalem. And of course, the professional whalers are here. And you're amazed at their endurance. Their cries have not subsided since you arrived.

It's been four days. But out of respect for your friend Lazarus. You stay to console his sisters, Martha and Mary. As you're in their home and listening to the crying. Someone comes into the house and and whispers to Martha. And immediately she gets up and leaves the house.

And then someone else says. Jesus is coming. And you follow Martha.

And she is moving with a determined walk. And they meet. And Jesus embraces her. And you wonder, what is Jesus doing? You wonder, what is Jesus going to say? I mean, you've heard him speak about life.

And the living. But what does he say about death? Open your Bibles to John chapter 11. And verse 21.

We'll pick up the story there. Verse 21, John writes, Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him. But Mary stayed at the house. And Martha then said to Jesus, Lord. If you had been here. My brother would have not died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

You can't blame her frustration. You see, they had sent word, if you look back to verse 3 of chapter 11. The sisters sent word to Jesus and said, Lord, behold, him whom you love is sick. There are two words for sick in Greek. The one word means the disease, the illness. The other word means the effects of the disease. That's the word that's used here.

Lord, the one you love is sinking fast. Would be a good way to put it. See, that's why Martha said, Lord, if you had been there. We sent word.

You didn't come. Almost every funeral has its Martha's. Sprinkled among the bereaved are the bewildered.

Their language gives them away. Too soon. Too young. So much to live for. Such a servant of the Lord. What does Jesus say to those of us who are bewildered at a funeral? We have talked about Jesus talking. He has talked to a skeptic named Nathaniel and he has talked to a religious insider named Nicodemus and an immoral outsider.

The woman at the well. The legalistic Pharisees and last time he was talking to the devil. But what does Jesus say when he is talking to a grieving?

Believer. Verse 23. Jesus said to her.

Your brother will rise again. Even now, those words seem like a platitude, don't they? Have you ever said that at a funeral? Have you ever walked up to those who are grieving and said, don't worry, your loved one will rise again?

You see, it doesn't even quite sound right, does it? Martha had shown great faith. She had sound theology in her words to Jesus. But his words have that sort of someday far off sound that we often use at funerals. Someday.

Way out there. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. This is a woman of substance. This is a woman of great faith and sound theology. In fact, many of the liberal commentators when they come here say she couldn't have said that. That had to be said much later, hundreds of years later by the church because a Jewish woman wouldn't know that. Many of the Jews didn't even believe in the resurrection of the dead physically.

I would disagree. I think Martha was very keenly aware of some passages in the Old Testament. I want to look at just to hold your place in John and go with me to the book of Psalms. Psalm 16. In verse 10, David speaking. David said, For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or the grave.

Neither will you allow your holy one to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life and in your presence is the fullness of joy in in your right hand. There are pleasures for ever. David had an assurance. Of his eternal life and resurrection. Go back a few more pages to Job Chapter 19. Job Chapter 19. The words of Job in verse 25.

As for me. I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will take his stand on the earth, even after my skin is destroyed. Yet from my flesh I shall see God. Joe believed in his resurrection. David believed in his resurrection. And Martha believed it as well.

Now go back to John. But there's a problem in her thinking. She's not comforted by his words. She knows the truth. But the someday truth. Is difficult for the painful heart today.

You see, Martha makes a mistake we often make. She said, Someday. Yes.

Yes. Today. Never. Someday Lazarus will rise. But today.

Never. That's the way she thought. Who can blame her? God can do anything in the future. It's the present that he struggles with. But if you can trust God then. You can trust God now. And Jesus now utters to her the grieving believer. Some of the most incredible words ever spoken.

Words that we're almost too familiar with. Jesus said to her. I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? I am John's favorite expression. When Jesus spoke this even though they spoke in Aramaic and the text is written in Greek. I'm certain that Jesus spoke those words in Hebrew. Yahweh. Moses. Tell them that Yahweh.

I am that I am sent you. That's God's great covenant name Yahweh. And all the way through John over and over again Jesus Christ says Yahweh. I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. I am the way the truth and the life.

Before Abraham was Yahweh. I am. I am the resurrection and the life. It's almost like you can see Clark Kent unbuttoning his shirt.

Revealing the S. It's what he is doing. I am the resurrection and the life. Some of the most important words ever spoken.

Thomas Hardy in his little book called Countdown. Has some incredible things to say. But listen to what he says here. He said the two ultimate questions of existence are these. One, has anyone ever cheated death? And two, did he make a way for me?

Wow, think about that. Has anyone ever cheated death? And has that person made a way for me? I am the resurrection and the life. If you go ahead three chapters to John 14 he says because I live. You shall live also. He not only cheated it.

He made a way for us. What words. Look at that statement. I am the resurrection. She was saying I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

He says stop that. Don't talk about an event in the future. It's immaterial whether you're talking about the past, the present or the future. Because I am the resurrection and the life.

It's not a future event. It's a present person, me. And then he connects us to him. He who believes in me will live even if he dies.

How clear could he be? Notice he doesn't talk about if you want eternal life be religiously active. Show up on a weekly basis. Be relatively moral.

Be what we like to call I'd like to be a good person. He doesn't talk about that at all. He says something else. You see, that's his promise. I am the resurrection of life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. I will cheat death. I will be victorious over death.

I will make a way for you. That's what he is saying. What does he mean never die? What does he mean never die?

He means where our life really is. You will never spiritually die. Never.

That's what he is saying. You will never spiritually die. Isn't it ironic that always in scripture it says believers sleep? You see, there's no death. Death means separation. Paul picks it up in a different way to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. The spirit lives. You will never die.

One commentator wrote this. He said for the believer physical death is nothing. It's simply an escape hatch into glory. You ever think about it that way? It's an escape hatch into glory. You see, how can I know for sure?

We always ask, how can I know for sure? These are the words. I am the resurrection and the life. By the way, he didn't say this before he was, I mean after he was crucified and resurrected. He said this before he was crucified and resurrected. You see, Jesus wasn't thinking, I really hope that after I'm crucified I get resurrected. That's an event.

I hope that happens. He said I am the resurrection. You see, that's why he said no one can take my life. I lay it down.

I'll bring it back. I am the resurrection and the life. That's why the apostle Paul wrote, oh death, where is your sting? Boy, death stings us, doesn't it? We're never sure what to say at a funeral. But death cannot break the promise and the reality of your spiritual life.

It cannot. That's what Jesus is saying. He who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. That's his words. And then he asked the question, do you believe this? Wow, that's a profound question.

But apparently it's the key to everything. He is the resurrection of life no matter what you believe. But whether or not the fact that you can cheat death and have victory over it as he did is entirely dependent on whether or not you do believe. That's what he is saying. Do you believe this?

And she said to him, yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the son of God, and he who comes into the world. Great statement again. And a little bit strange when it's written in English in the sense of the tense. In English it says I have believed is always a past event.

It's a present tense. I continue to believe that, Lord. I believe that. I believe that. Wow. By the way, there's something else here, though.

Even a woman of great faith and a woman who knew the Lord personally can not only be bereaved at a funeral of a loved one but be bewildered. It's hard for us, isn't it? Why? Why him? Why her? Why now?

Why? See, we believe like that. We wouldn't say if you had been here because we know he is here, but what do we say? Lord, you can do anything.

You could do this. Now we move from scene one to scene two, and Jesus is again talking to a grieving believer. When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying secretly, the teacher is here. He's calling for you. I love that.

I'm going to see something, a movement here that's just a wonderful thing to see. He says to Martha, please bring Mary to me. He's calling for you. I am the resurrection and the life. I have the power. I am God incarnate.

This is my deity. Now what are we going to see? His humanity.

We're not going to see his power. We're going to see his heart. And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. And then the Jews who were with her in the house, those from Jerusalem, whenever John uses those term Jews, they were there consoling her. And when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went, they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Periodically over this period of time, which could last up to seven days, they would go to the tomb and cry. We've done that.

Even a lot longer than seven days. You can go to a grave site, look down, read some letters on a tombstone and cry. It's the grief. They think this is what she's doing.

This is what's happening. Notice the same questions, but she's more pessimistic than her sister. And don't miss that. Therefore, Mary, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him, and she fell at his feet and worshiped him. And she said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died. By the way, she's not angry at him.

I don't think that's his at all. She's brokenhearted. She's not accusatory. She's mourning. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and was troubled. The word was troubled is a reflexive verb. It means he troubled himself.

They didn't trouble him. He troubled himself on the basis of what he saw. It's sort of like you'd use the word the verb perjure. You perjure yourself. It's reflexive.

That's what happens here. Jesus is troubled himself. And it says here that he was deeply moved in the spirit. The word has a lot to do with the idea of being indignant. And they're weeping.

The word is clio. It's the word for wailing. It's really crying out loud, loudly, as a group. She's sobbing.

She's heaving. It happens when loved ones die. And Jesus is watching this scene, and it says here that he is troubled, and that he is deeply moved. You see, he sees what death does to us. He sees what sin has done to us.

It brings about death. The wages of sin is death. By the way, that's not the way we were created. We were created to live. We were created to have an unbroken relationship with God forever. We were created to have an unbroken relationship with each other forever. That's what we were created for.

We didn't change that. When we die. He is troubled and deeply moved. He feels what we feel. And that's something.

He feels what we feel. And he said to them, Where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. But not Cleo. Edi crucae is the word.

It's completely different. It means to cry profusely but silently. He's not saying anything. And tears are just running down his cheek. When you cry out to the Lord. Because of the hole in your heart.

Because someone you love has died. It's as though he grabs you and whispers in your ear. I know.

I know how you feel. It's God incarnate. And he feels what we feel. And he weeps. No wonder the scripture says he was a man of sorrows. Acquainted with grief.

He understands. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com.

That's OnePlace.com. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for you can listen online or if you prefer you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ... ... ...