Preached at Markham Baptist Church, April 15, 2001

Did you know that God hates death? In I Corinthians 15 we are told that death is one of God's enemies. Death is diametrically opposed to all that is of God, so he hates everything there is associated with death. He especially hates the cause of death, which is sin, and I spoke on Friday about how he defeated sin in our lives. By his wounds we are healed.

God hates the cause of death and God hates the results of death. So, he seeks to turn our mourning into gladness, our sorrow into joy, and give to us a garment of praise for a spirit of despair (Jeremiah 31:13; Isaiah 61:3). And for eternal death, God gives us eternal life. God hates death.

But God not only HATES death, he was willing to do something about it. What did he do? God sent his son and as soon as his son set foot on earth there was an open declaration of war against death. For in him was life and that life was the light of all people. He came to give life and give it to the full (John 10:10). He was the bread of life (John 6:35). He was the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). He was an open declaration of war against death.

This declaration of war could not be more clear. We read in our text today that Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25) (NIV)

Jesus speaks these words in the midst of a funeral, in the midst of a cemetery. He speaks these words in the face of death. His friend Lazarus has been in the grave for four days. Jesus was first made aware of his friend's death via messenger. Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, had sent word to Jesus about the situation, saying, "Lord, the one you love is sick." Jesus reacts calmly to the news and says that this sickness will not end in death.

He is so confident that he stays where he was for two more days, says the text. In his own time, and at just the right time, Jesus answers the plea of his friends. When he arrives two days later, Lazarus has been dead for four days, which means that Lazarus was dead when Jesus received the message. I don't believe that Jesus waited for Lazarus to die before he came, but rather Jesus knew that Lazarus was already in death's firm grip and he waited for the time when God could be most glorified.

Jesus speaks these words in the midst of death. Jesus speaks these words in the midst of the anguish of death. Mary and Martha are mourning the loss of their brother; they are weeping for their loss. They loved their brother dearly and now he was gone. Jesus himself is not unaffected by the result of death. We are told in verse 33 that he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. In verse 35 we are told that he weeps, and verse 38 says, "He was deeply moved." No one is keeping a stiff upper-lip here; there is real pain, real heartbreak, real anguish, expressed over the loss of a brother and friend.

And in the midst of this death, in the midst of the anguish of death, Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25) (NIV)

And Jesus goes to the tomb, and orders that the stone be removed.

"But Jesus, the stink!"

But Jesus is on a mission. He insists, and the stone is removed. And he stands before the open tomb, with the stench of death filling his nostrils, as he comes to declare war on death.

"Lazarus, Lazarus, Lazarus." [yelling]

Evangelist Eddy Fox said he did that once in a small church in Alabama and a voice from way down in the basement called back, "I'm coming". Eddy didn't know it at the time but the janitor's name was Lazarus. I tell you church was over. He didn't mean it to be over but it was over.

But listen, listen. It sounds like gauze stretching, linen popping, and Lazarus comes out of the tomb and Jesus says, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

My friends, the good news of Easter is that God's son Jesus Christ has come to do battle with death - and he has won.

"Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore … stand firm. Let nothing move you." (I Corinthians 15:54-58) (NIV)

This is the message of Easter: death has been defeated.

The resurrection of Lazarus is but a prelude to our Lord's own glorious resurrection so that he is proved right when he says, "I am the resurrection and the life."

The great stone was placed in front of his tomb and it was moved. The official seal of the Roman emperor was placed upon the rock at his tomb and it was broken. The soldiers were posted to guard his tomb but the angel of the Lord shook them to their very foundation.

The disciples came to his tomb and it was empty. On the third day the grave was found empty.

Death is not able to hold Jesus Christ. The war against death was won on resurrection day.

This is the glorious fact that Easter commemorates.

What better occasion then to decorate the church with gorgeous flowers and streamers and balloons? For we celebrate a victory.

We celebrate that in the midst of death, Jesus is the resurrection. In the midst of death, Jesus brings life.

Do I need to convince you that we live in the midst of death? I know it's true in Acton for our subdivision encircles a cemetery. But really, we need only to read the paper to be reminded that death is all around us. Maybe I don't need to convince you, but maybe I need to open your eyes to it, for we are pretty good about disguising death. Many in our society refuse to talk about it, and when they do, they speak of it using words like "passing on", or "leaving us", or "fallen asleep" to describe it. Ask David Wilson or anyone in the funeral business how, when a loved one dies, and there is to be a visitation with an open casket, the relatives want the deceased to look exactly as she did when she was alive, preferably a little younger. We live in the midst of death but we don't like looking at it.

But hear the good news. Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life," and proves it with his own resurrection. And if any of you are troubled about the world to come, if any of you are panicked by thoughts of death, won't you take it in that Jesus has come and won the victory over death for you?

The best help I can give you is to help you realize that Jesus died and rose again. He has won the victory for you, and if you are in Christ then you will be with Christ forever.

The Scottish Presbyterian preacher, John McNeil, was preaching on the 23^rd Psalm, the verse that goes, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4) (NIV)

And he told the story of how one night as a boy he had to work late. It got dark, and as he completed his work he began to fear the walk home. The part of the city he had to walk through was notorious for street gangs and had a high rate of muggings. It was before the day of street lights, so it was so dark that he could not see his hand before his face, as he groped his way home. As he walked along he heard footsteps; his heart began beating faster than ever. He stopped and the footsteps stopped. When he started again, so did those approaching footsteps. He stopped again and they stopped.

Then out from that blackness of the midnight hour came a voice, "Is that you, Johnny?" It was his father's voice.

He got home safely - did he care about the gangs after that? Did he worry about the darkness then?

John McNeil said, "The rest of the way I walked through the valley of the shadow of utter darkness that midnight, but without fear. My father was with me."

"Oh," he said, "when the time comes, and you go down through the valley of the shadow of death, and the darkness settles on you, and the earthly forms and faces all recede, and everything human and earthly slips away, do not be afraid. For Jesus says, 'I am alive and I will hold you and I will guide you, and I will keep you because I have conquered death for all my friends.'"

There used to be a slogan that was popular to wear on T-shirts and ball caps. It was very simple, "No fear". That is to be the truth of all of Christ's followers. Christ has defeated the enemy; he has made the way plain, and comes and says to us, do not fear, do not fear. I am the resurrection and the life and I am with you.

We celebrate that Jesus brings life in the midst of death. But we also celebrate that in the midst of anguish, Jesus is alive. We do not worship a dead Saviour but a living Lord. We do not have a dead hero but a living contemporary, who walks with us, and talks with us, and tells us we are his own.

E. Stanley Jones relates how three days after Mahatma Gandhi had been assassinated, the radio did nothing night and day but eulogize and talk about the father of that great land, Mahatma Gandhi.

Mrs. Naidu, the great poet of India, gave a broadcast on Sunday, three days after the assassination. She was a Hindu, and she broke out into this eloquence; she said, "Bapu, (little father) O little father, come back. We're orphaned without you. We're lost without you. Come back and lead us."

Jones says that he could sympathize with the eloquent pleas of a stricken heart, representing a stricken nation, but he felt something else as he listened. He writes, "I thought, O God, I am grateful I don't have to cry that cry for the leader of my soul. 'O Jesus, come back. Come back. We're orphaned and stricken without you.' I do not cry that cry. He has come back. It is the third day and he's alive. And wherever the heart is open there he will enter. And whenever your heart whispers, 'Help,' he's right there to give that help. And you can't whisper a sigh within your heart without him hearing; he's right there beside you, meeting that need."

My friends, the one who is the resurrection and the life, the one who has fought the battle with death and won, the one who set Lazarus free, is now with you and for you.

He is in our midst. We have invited him, we have prayed that he would be here today. And because of his resurrection we can trust that he is here now.

I believe that Jesus, who is alive today, wants to set some of you free today. Some of you are experiencing great disappointments; some of you have had difficulty upon difficulty heaped upon your head during the past number of months. Discouragement is pressing in from all sides.

For some of you, old heavy problems continue to lurk in your soul. Others are having trouble with money, others, family quarrels, some questions of health.

Many of you are at the place where John Bunyan places his hero, Christian, in Pilgrim's Progress, right under old dragon's foot. And that dragon is ugly, and he is very heavy, and he presses the very breath out of a person when he makes him his footstool.

Poor Christian lay there with the dragon's foot on his chest, but he was just able to stretch out his hand and lay hold of his sword. Then he gave the dragon a deadly thrust, which made him spread his dragon wings and fly away. The poor crushed and broken pilgrim, as he gave the stab to his foe, cried, "Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy; though I fall, yet shall I rise again."

Friends, you do the same. You who are near despair, let this be the strength that nerves your arm, and enlivens your heart; Jesus is alive.

Bring your concerns; bring those things that perplex and haunt you to the one who is the resurrection and the life. Stand before the empty tomb and realize that the one who has the power over death can control these smaller issues in your life.

But, you say, it sounds too simplistic. My problems are so big, so difficult. My friends, Lazarus was dead for four days. We worship a big God who, through his son, has defeated our greatest enemy, death. And if he can do that he can make sense out of that which burdens you and causes you agony.

The battle has been fought and it has been won. Amen.