THE ULTIMATE LIFE SAVERJohn 11:17-44

John 11:25-26

• Jesus said, ‘Your brother will be raised up.’ Martha replied, ‘I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.’ ‘You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?’ (Message).

What a revelation…

• It focuses our hope in the face of death.

• But it is a message to the living – It is more than assuring

that we will go to heaven someday.

– It is the equipment for living well here and how.

We sometimes speak of "the fountain of youth"

• We seek a product.

• Jesus offers himself.

RECOGNIZE THE POWER AND SOURCE OF LIFE"I Am The Resurrection and the Life."

Jesus is resurrection and Life

John says,

• In him was life, and that life was the light of men. – John 1:4

• For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. -- John 5:26

Everything else is "death"

• Life is full of things that kill.– Physical things

• Accident, • disease, • Aging.

– Emotional things • rejection, • abuse, • betrayal,

• There is a spiritual death.– The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is

death, but the gift of God is Eternal life – Rom 6:23

– Jesus warned, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. Jn 10:10.

– We crave things that produce death.

Jesus reverses the consequence of sin

• The Resurrection.• The cure for deadness

RECEIVE THE HOPE OF LIFE IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH.

He who believes in me will live even though he dies. --v. 25b.

“Believe” involves more than simple mental ascent.

It involves

• acceptance of Who Jesus is.

• a trust in Him that results in doing what He says.

• a relationship

Sometimes it matters what we believe.

• Blind faith will not do.

• Paul said, "...I know whom I have believed...." --2 Tim. 1:12.

• When we know Him and believe Him he becomes resurrection to us

Adam and Eve believed the Serpent and sinned.

Their sin involved: • Doubting God and a choice to believe

Satan’s lie.• Doing wrong based on the error of their

belief.• The consequence of their sin was death –

– Immediately spiritual – and eventually physical.

When we believe in Jesus, a reversal takes place.

• We doubt Satan’s lie, choosing rather to trust God.

• Immediately the relationship with the Source of Life is restored.

• Our actions, based now on truth, produce right and wholesome results.

Jesus proved the life giving value of trusting the Father.

• ...having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. – Col 2:12

• Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. – Col 3:1

REST IN THE ASSURANCE OF ETERNAL LIFE

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (v. 26).

This always involves a relationship:

• As long as the relationship is in tact the circumstances don’t matter.

• Physical death cannot cancel the flow of life.– Paul said, For I am convinced that neither death nor

life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Rom 8:38-38

– And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. – Jn 10:28

It is the ultimate Insurance.

• It insures against the loss of being, as well as the loss of well-being.

• It insures against ruin, damnation, and everlasting loss.

Here’s the deal…

We are believers by nature-we all believe something

Why not believe unto life? Believe Jesus who is Truth and Life.