John 2;11;20
“Can We Make Sense Out Of Dying?”

Introduction:
1. Last week I saw an interview with John Burke. John has majored in ‘near death’ experiences.
He has tracked over 70 people who were supposedly dead (some for over 1 ½ hours). They
returned to report their experience. It is fascinating what they experienced, and how much
alike from atheist, agnostics, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam. There is a stirring interest in the subject
of immortality. There is something within man that longs for eternity. God hath set eternity in
their heart” (Eccles. 3:11b)
2. Buddhists and Hindus believe in reincarnation. Taoist are indifferent (it is a state of
non-doing). Islam have a heaven of carnal pleasure and spiritual bliss. The native American
went to their ‘happy hunting ground.’
3. Can we make any sense out of dying?
4. John 14:19b “Because I live, ye shall live also..”
5. The Book of John deals with the eternal in four passages...in each he speaks of Resurrection
Power:

“Because I live, ye shall live also...” Can we make any sense out of dying?
I. RESURRECTION POWER PROMISED 2:18-22
Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem for the first time in His ministry, and announces that He is
the Messiah. He came to the Temple and shook up the religious world! What was their
reaction?
A. The Proof 18
A sign…it was like our signature at the bottom of a document to show authenticity.
1.He had better to a trick that they approved to show that He was God.
2.“You don’t come in and shut down the whole operation unless you have orders from a higher power…God.
B. The Promise 19
1. Jesus usually refused to give signs. One sign would prove His authority…the
resurrection.
2.The resurrection is the only sign they would receive. Jesus promised that He would rise from the grave.
C. The Problem 20
1. The Temple was 46 years in the building, and it was still in the building.
2. ‘How are you going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in 3 days?!’
D. The Perception 21
1. He spoke of the temple of His body.
2. They missed the whole point.
E. The Prophecy 22
1. Even His disciples didn’t understand what He was saying until after the
resurrection.
2.Jesus promised resurrection power. When they saw…they believed!

“Because I live, ye shall live also...” Can we make any sense out of dying?
II. RESURRECTION POWER PROVEN 11:25,26, 33-44
Jesus knew He would die and rise again. The disciples couldn’t grasp it. No man taketh my
life from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. (John 10:18) There was confusion. Jesus decided to give them a
demonstration of His power over death. Lazarus has been dead for 4 days. (The Jews had a
legend that the spirit hovered over the body for 3 days and on the 4th departed.) The body
would have begun to decay. Lazarus was really dead! The resurrection must not be
confused with the resuscitation of a corpse. Lazarus would die again. Jesus had the power to
bring life to that which is dead.
A. The Pain 33-35,38
1. Jesus is troubled. The Greek is ‘to shudder’. He was standing face to face with the
consequences of sin. Lazarus was loved by Jesus. He could see and feel the agony
and separation that death brings.
2.Jesus wept. He wasn’t weeping for Lazarus. He saw the terrible consequences of sin. He saw the consequences of those who would not believe, who would not receive Him.
B. The Possibility 36-37
1. The Jews failed to know the mind of Christ.
2. Jesus saw what sin had done.
3. He could have healed Lazarus. (37)
C. The Purpose 39-40
1. The Command Take away the stone.
2. The Confusion Martha became upset.
3. The Channel A lot of people saw the resurrection and resuscitation. Few
recognized it as a manifestation of the glory of God.
D. The Prayer 41-42
1. His Confidence 41 Why did Jesus pray? He was 100% God, but He was 100%
man. He prayed to God the Father to connect Himself to God in the minds of the
people watching.
2. His Credentials 42 He was from God…there was a Oneness.
E. The Power 43-44
1. The Command 43 Lazarus come forth. Jesus showed His connection with God. He
then puts on a display of His resurrection power.
2.The Coming Forth 44aThe impact of the moment is staggering. No one walks up to a grave and says that! He that was dead came forth…
3.The Culmination 44b-45 Jesus proved He had resurrection power and many
believed!

“Because I live, ye shall live also...” Can we make any sense out of dying?
III. RESURRECTION POWER PERSONIFIED 20:1-8
Jesus was dead! The Roman soldiers who were expert executioners, trained in death
did not break His legs. To make sure they jammed a spear in His side that punctured His
heart which confirmed their diagnosis of death!
The “stone” weighed over two tons and was put in place by levers. The “broken Roman
seal” was the seal of authority of the Roman government. To break the seal meant
automatic execution by crucifixion upside down.
A. The Crime 1-2
Somebody had stolen the body.
B. The Commotion 3-4
The younger John beats Peter to the tomb. John stand outside.
C. The Conclusion 5-7
If grave robbers had come, they would have thrown the grave clothes in a heap. Jesus
evaporated!
D. The Conviction 8
1. When John saw the evidence, He believed that Jesus rose from the dead! The tomb
was empty!
2.Jesus later appeared to the disciples and to more than 500 at one time, and many of those were still alive at the writing of I Corinthians.
3.Jesus personified resurrection power...He came out of the grave!
4.Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have received the Son, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have not received the Son unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28,29) To the believer this is the worse that it will ever be. To the unbeliever this is the best that it will ever be.

“Because I live, ye shall live also...” Can we make any sense out of dying?
IV. RESURRECTION POWER PERSONALIZED 20:11-31
A. The Dear 11-18
1. Mary thought He was a gardener. Miriam was here family name by which her
friends would have called her.
2.She was overwhelmed. This was so personal!
3.So many evidence that we present never got through…Jesus did!
B. The Disciples 19-21
1. The heroes of the faith looked in. They were afraid.
2. Jesus came through the walls. “Peace be unto you.” Jesus personalized
resurrection power to the disciples!
C. The Doubter 24-29
1. One of the disciples was not there at the first appearance. Eight days later Jesus
appeared.
2. “My Lord and my God.” Jesus personalizes to anyone who is willing to believe!
D. The Delight 30-31
1. The vast majority of those who believe have never seen Him. Yet the power of the
resurrection is just as personal to us as it was to Mary, the Disciples and Thomas.
2.Read 30, 31 Believe means, ‘to adhere to, commit to, faith in’ It involves the heart and the will of the subject. It is the proclamation of a message and a commitment to a person.

It takes a living Savior to make sense out of dying!
IT MUST BE PERSONAL!!!