Believing in the Resurrection

The question on the floor is, will you worship God when things are not going well for you? Dr. Tony Evans says it's important to recognize God is in control and praise Him for His blessings. The only way to survive life is to remember the sovereignty of God.

This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Jesus' resurrection is the centerpiece of history and the pivot point between eternal life and death. Today, Dr. Evans explores the validity, value, and victory of the Lord's resurrection and then examines how we can experience God's comfort when we acknowledge His complete power and sovereignty.

Let's join him as he begins. Turn with me to a very familiar story in John 11, and we all know the story of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Martha and Mary have come to Jesus, and they said, our brother is sick, and you love him, and he's sick, verse 3 says. Jesus gave them a promise that sickness is not to end in death but for the glory of God. Now, the first thing you've got to know is that God uses sickness. He says this sickness is for the glory of God. So God does use sickness and allows it. The problem occurs in that Lazarus, we would say, dies. But notice what Jesus does in verse 11.

He says he's fallen asleep. He wanted to give them a different view of death. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed at home, because Mary is not talking to Jesus. She's upset, because she called on Jesus, and Jesus did absolutely nothing. And if you tell the truth, many of us get upset because we didn't call on him and called on him and called on him, and he was nowhere to be found. Verse 21, Martha then said to Jesus, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.

Translation is your fault. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. I've been to prophecy conferences, and I know that one day in the sweet by-and-by, when we cross over the chilly Jordan River, he will rise again.

Verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

That's what I want to talk about for a few minutes. I want to ask you a question. Do you believe this?

That's the question. Jesus says, your brother will rise again. She says, well, I know he will rise again in the resurrection. Jesus raises the question, do you believe I am the resurrection? That's a different belief. See, many of us believe about Jesus who don't believe in the Jesus we believe about. In other words, we believe the data.

We don't need more data. We need to experience the God who gave the data we already know. Jesus says, I am the resurrection. Please notice, He makes it personal, not merely doctrinal, and He makes it present tense, not merely future tense.

I am. Now, what is He? He is the resurrection. What needs resurrection?

Something that has died. Why does God allow something in your world to die so that you can experience resurrection? Because once you experience resurrection, you've had a personal experience with God and not merely an informational study about God.

So God let Lazarus die because He wanted them to see that He was the resurrection. So suppose right now, what God is letting you or me or us go through is on purpose. Now, I know you're praying to get out of it. You're praying to be delivered from it. You're praying to—I got that, and there's nothing wrong with that.

He literally could be answering your prayer by letting what was sick get worse and better. Do you believe this? Do you believe in the I am?

I personal am present. Do you believe that I am present right now in the midst of your dead, dying situation? Do you believe this? So she says, yes. Verse 23. She says, yeah, I believe it. Well, then Jesus tells her in verse 39, remove the stone, the stone that was in front of the tomb. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead four days. Jesus has moved the stone. She gives him a lecture in mortuary science.

She had the facts, right? But Jesus said, do you believe I am the resurrection? Well, yeah, okay.

Remove the stone. Look at what Jesus says to her. I think Jesus is a little ticked off, because Jesus said to her, did not I say to you?

He probably rolled his neck on that one. That if you believe you would see the glory of God, okay, please notice the order of that. If you believe you would see, not if you see you would believe. And how would we know she believed? By the moving of the stone, not by the discussion of the theology. So here's the question you must always ask in a dying situation when you're looking to Christ to be the resurrection.

What stone do you want me to remove? What ridiculous thing do you want me to do? Because the Holy Spirit has to reveal that.

It's going to be different strokes for different folks. But what is it that you want me to do as to demonstrate my faith and not simply to recite it? What's my point of action? What is my action point?

What thing do you want me to do? And it may not make sense. The Bible's full of God asking people to do what would appear to be ridiculous things that didn't make sense, but is what God wanted to test their faith. So they removed the stone. Verse 41, Jesus raised His eyes and said—the most important word in verse 41 is then.

Somebody say then. Then, meaning not until she removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the people standing around, I said it so that they might believe that you sent me when He had said these things. He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. When she moved the stone, demonstrating the faith in the person, not merely in the theology, then Jesus prayed.

Here's what you want. You just don't want you to pray. You want Jesus to pray. Now, let me tell you why you want Jesus to pray. Because Jesus said when He prayed, you always answer me.

See, our problem is He doesn't always answer us, but He always answers Jesus. So the question is, how do I get Jesus to pray when I'm praying? I'm praying Lazarus is healed. I need Jesus to pray Lazarus is healed, because I know if Jesus prays, it's gonna break through. That means I need to get Jesus' attention. Well, how do I get Jesus' attention? Removing the stone.

What does removing the stone say? I believe Jesus. Unfortunately, many of us are practical atheists.

We're theologically sound, but when it comes to life's decisions, we're atheists. Because Jesus has been trying to get us to move some stones for years, things that He's wanted us to shift, that we didn't want to shift, or we didn't think we needed to shift, or were unwilling to shift, or it didn't make sense to shift. Jesus is saying, I'll wait.

Let me know when you're ready, then I'll pray. And notice what Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. Now, if He hadn't said Lazarus, if it just said come forth, everybody in the grave would have got up, and we would have been in zombie land someplace. But notice that Jesus' answer was specific to the situation, because they had gone to him about their brother named Lazarus. So Jesus directly addressed the situation.

I kind of knew two days ago that I was going to review this passage, and little did I know I would get a phone call today from a sister in the church who asked me to pray about a situation in her life that needed a reversal. But there was no human way that a reversal could be seen in this particular situation. There was no human way, and the reversal would almost virtually have to happen immediately. So there was the size of the problem, the reversal, then there was the timing of the problem.

It had to be—it had to turn on a dime. And so there was—so the question, what should be the response to the situation? What should be the response to the situation? So we discussed it and discussed back and forth the situation, and we came to a faith response, a moving the stone kind of response.

And the reason I call it a moving the stone kind of response is because the response was not the preference. The response that we agreed on was not the preference. We agreed on the opposite to what was wanted. So we prayed. We came to an agreement, and that's what the Bible talks about, two or three agreeing, and that's why that agreement is important. So there was an agreement.

So we agreed. It was an impossible situation. It was a big issue.

It was a timing issue. And the decision was opposite to what was wanted, but it was the best decision to make, even though it wasn't what was wanted. And I get a phone call today telling me God intervened in that thing and flipped it completely—180 degrees—and here's the thing, without the person having to do a thing.

In other words, nothing had to be done, nothing was done by the person to change the scenario. God just dipped down into that thing and twisted it and tweaked it and turned it after the decision was made. A lot of us are waiting for God to move so we can make the decision. God is waiting for us to make the decision so He can move. Dr. Evans will come back with more powerful insights about God and our relationship with Him, when he continues our message in just a moment.

Stay with us. Life is painful. Everyone's story comes with unique challenges, difficulties, bumps, and bruises that leave us lost and drowning in their wake. It could be a financial disaster, the effects of a global pandemic, a health issue, a broken relationship, or the loss of a loved one. Dr. Tony Evans, best-selling author and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, understands life's hardships firsthand.

In a span of less than two years, he lost seven family members, including his precious wife. In the wake of all this pain, Dr. Evans had to put into practice at the deepest levels the truths he has preached about God for more than 40 years. In this practical and comforting new book, Hope for the Hurting, Dr. Evans gives you practical spiritual principles based on the life of Paul. He shows that there is love and happiness on the other side of it all. If you will learn how to walk through the hurt with both peace and joy, there is hope for the hurting.

His name is Jesus. Go to tonyevans.org to find out more and request your copy of Hope for the Hurting. In celebration of the release of this new book from Dr. Evans, we'd like to send you one of the first copies as our gift in return for your donation toward keeping this powerful teaching coming your way each day. And for just a few more days, along with Tony's Hope for the Hurting book, we'll also include all 20 messages, 10 on CD and 10 as digital downloads from the audio series you're listening to today called Coming to the Comforter. This collection offers a healthy perspective on the pain and trials we all go through and can help you find the strength you need to hold on during tough times, allowing you to discover the healing and wholeness God has in store for you. Request this special package of resources right away at tonyevans.org, where you can also find the companion Hope for the Hurting Bible Study DVD and study guide. Again, go to tonyevans.org for all the details, or let one of our resource team members help you by phone day or night at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Right now, Dr. Evans is back to help us get a handle on the complete sovereignty of God as he begins Part 2 of today's message. The book of Job is the quintessential expression of suffering in the Bible. Nothing compares to it in terms of understanding the nature and the struggle of suffering and not being able to locate God in your pain. There's no place where you can better understand God in terms of a suffering than the book of Job, because that is its context. We're introduced to Job as a righteous man, so we're talking about a man who is deeply committed to God.

That's in the first chapter. We're also talking about a successful man. It tells you in verse 3 of chapter 1 all that he possessed. Therefore, it is possible to be godly and successful, to have achieved or accomplished a lot in life. He had accomplished a enterprise, if you will. He was also a family man with ten children, and so he was committed to God.

He had overwhelming wealth, and he had a family. This is Job. The problem occurs when something happens in heaven that Job is unaware of on earth. There is a meeting in heaven between God and the devil that Job doesn't know anything about, but the meeting is about Job. So Job is getting ready to suffer in history because of a discussion in eternity.

Something's going on up there that he doesn't know a thing about and, in fact, will never know anything about it. When the book ends, he still doesn't know that this meeting took place between God and the devil, which was going to affect his situation on earth. The Lord, verse 7, says to Satan, From where do you come? Then Satan answers to the Lord and says, From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. The Lord said to Satan, Well, in your travels have you considered my servant Job?

For there is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. Then Satan says, Does Job fear God for nothing? What Satan says about Job is, the only reason you're getting all of this love from Job is because of how much you blessed him. In other words, he's in it for the blessing.

He's in it for the blessing. He's going to praise you because the money is coming in. He's going to praise you because his health is sound. He's going to praise you because his family's intact. He's going to praise you because everything is going so perfect in this man's life.

Who wouldn't follow God? I believe he's following you, but not for nothing. He's following you for something. God says, Job is committed to me, and he's not committed to me just because I bless him. He's committed to me because he's committed to me. Satan challenges that and says, Well, let me touch him.

Let me take all the goodies away, and let's see how much he is committed to you. Then the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not put forth your hand on him. So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord. Satan only got to touch Job by permission. So there's one thing you need to know about the devil, and that even as the devil, he's God's devil.

In other words, when it comes to God's children, particularly, because that's what we're talking about now, Satan has to get permission to touch you, particularly if you're upright in your pursuit of God and your pursuit of God is authentic. God will, for his own sovereign purposes, choose to demonstrate to the spiritual realm the commitment of those who are authentically his and who are committed to him. So Satan is allowed to test Job, and Job is about to enter in, beginning in verse 13, the worst day of his life. His world will come crumbling down in a day. He loses his children. He loses his servants. He loses his business. He loses his wealth. He loses his health.

He loses everything on a dime. Then, verse 20, Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head. That's a position of despair. He fell to the ground and worshiped. Now, if there's any day that you don't feel like going to church, that you don't feel like exalting and extolling God, it's today. The question on the floor is, will you worship God when things are not going well for you? It's easy to worship God when it's all flowing, when the money's right, when the relationships are right, when the circumstances are right, when there is no pain, no problem. The only way to survive life, particularly when it's doing you in, is to remember the sovereignty of God. The main reason why God allows us, even in our righteousness, to go through painful and sometimes prolonged situations is to give us a fresh vision of Him.

I want to challenge you to become a worshiper and to ask God to let you have a view of Him unlike you have ever had before. Verse 10, the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. So God gave back to Job everything that he lost.

Now, we like that. He's righteous. He loses everything.

He doesn't understand why, but he gets this fresh view of God. He responds to the fresh view of God, then he gets back the stuff. What we want is, I lost the stuff. Give me back the stuff. I want what the enemy has stolen from me.

I want it back. I want the stuff. Well, he got the stuff, but only when he got the vision, because the purpose of the pain was to give him a new view of God unlike he had before.

We saw that with Paul. I'm going to give you a thorn in the flesh because in this thorn, this little thing that's irritating you to death, you're going to experience me at a level that you did not experience me before you had the thorn. So he says in chapter 13, verse 15, though he slay me, I'm going to trust him that I'm going to see him in a way I have never, ever, ever, ever, never, never, never, ever seen him before. And when you respond to that now, we can talk about the stuff.

Nothing wrong with getting the stuff. But what God is after is you getting him a fresh view of his glory. Dr. Tony Evans, with an encouraging reminder that God is present and wants us to draw close to him even in the midst of pain and trials. Now today's lesson on the resurrection and the sovereignty of God was actually drawn from two separate sermons, and we've only had time to share about half of the material Dr. Evans originally presented. If you'd like to explore the complete messages, they're included as a part of that comprehensive 20-part series I mentioned earlier, Coming to the Comforter. As a special bonus, along with the Coming to the Comforter series, we'll also send you Tony's newest book, Hope for the Hurting. This powerful resource package is yours with our thanks when you make a contribution in support of the Ministry of the Urban Alternative. But this special offer is only good through Monday, so visit tonyevans.org right away to get the details and make the arrangements. And while you're there, check out the companion Hope for the Hurting Bible Study DVD and study guide as well. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or let one of our friendly resource team members assist with your request at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Trusting God isn't hard when your life seems to be sailing along just fine. But when the clouds roll in and everything goes dark, it's much more difficult to hold on to hope. On Monday, Dr. Evans will talk about what it takes to embrace hope when all the signs point to disaster. Be sure to join us for that. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.