We have presbytery meetings. Occasionally somebody will raise their hand and say point of personal privilege. So I'm going to ask for a point of personal privilege. Not that anybody is going to object, but Sam is scheduled to leave us on the 8th of January, which means for the first time in 39 years, we will not have a child living with us. That's a long time, but it went by just like that. So for all you parents, treasure it, tolerate it, because it doesn't last forever. Let's go to the Lord, ask His blessing on the reading of the Gospel. Lord, thank You as we come to Your Word. We pray that You would enlighten us, that You would teach us, that You would change us to be more like Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. The passage of Scripture from which our teaching is taken primarily this morning is in John 11, beginning in verse 17. This is God's Word. Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to Him, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to Him, Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and he is calling for You. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to Him. Now Jesus has not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews who were with her in the house were consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, Where have You laid Him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, See how He loved Him? But some of them said, Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? I'm going to read again part of it. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said, I am the resurrection in the life. Whoever believes in me, though he live, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? That's the question. Do you believe this? I want you to notice that Jesus does not say there will be a resurrection and a life. Nor does he say you will have a resurrection and a life, even though both of those are true. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection. He is the life. John's gospel begins saying this very same thing in different words when he says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. Life is in the Son of God. He is life itself. Anything that has life, anything that is alive. Anything that has life is because Jesus is life and he is given life. From the very smallest microbe to the largest animal, the blue whale, at least the largest one we know of, if it has life, it has life from Jesus. From the smallest to the largest and everything in between, everything that you see that has life. Insects, birds, reptiles, snakes, fish, animals of all kinds, big and small, your pets, your cats, your dogs, they all have life because of Jesus. The trees, the plants, the grass, anything that is alive, anything that has life in it has it because of Jesus. As a matter of fact, even things that don't currently have life, he can give life. Remember when he was coming into Jerusalem the week on Palm Sunday, his disciples and others were praising him and the Pharisees said, tell them to stop. And Jesus said, if they stop, even the rocks will cry out. Creation praises God. Life is in the Son of God. He is life itself. Anything that has life, anything that is alive has life because Jesus is life and has given life. God through Paul says it a bit differently. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For in him all things were created in heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. So not only has he given life to everything that is on the earth, everything that is in the cosmos, he has given life to everything that is in heaven. He has given life to all of the angels, all of the principalities. Not only has he given life, but he keeps alive anything that stays alive. Remember the passage in the Gospel that says, not even a sparrow falls from the sky without God noticing. John said all things were made through him and for him. Paul says in him all things are created. But it's not just Paul and John that God speaks through. He also spoke through Luke in Acts 17. He himself gives life to all mankind and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place, yet they should and that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. That he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. Life is in Christ. Now apart from Jesus, there's only death. All the things you think give you life. All the things to the extent that they do give life are given by Jesus, God the Son. Now there's a differentiation. He's God the Son all the time. But Jesus is a man who was born with two natures, the Son of God and the Son of Man. But I'll call him Jesus from now on just to save confusion. So food and drink are necessary to sustain life here. But food and drink are given by Jesus. Medicine that keeps people alive, it certainly kept me alive and some of the rest of you alive, is a common grace given to keep people alive and that comes from Jesus as well. In fact knowledge of any kind, whether it's science or philosophy or education or literature or anything, is given by Jesus. Because the ability to think and reason comes from Jesus. He is, according to John in the first chapter, he is the Logos. Now what the Greeks meant by Logos, which I think is why John uses the word, what the Greeks meant was the ability to reason and also what the Jews meant by that was that it was the embodiment of wisdom. So Jesus being the Logos is the wisdom and the ability to reason. And verse 9 in John 1 says, the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. One of the greatest compliments I ever got, and this might be the only time this word was applied to me, was I was in a philosophy class with Dr. Ronald Nash who's gone to be with the Lord, one of my favorite teachers ever. And we were talking about this. And I said, so are you saying, because the passage that I read in John chapter 1 verse 9 says the true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. So I said, are you saying that any time, that little light bulb that appears over your head, what doesn't really, but you know in a cartoon they'll show the little light bulb over the head if somebody has an idea. Are you saying that that comes from Jesus, that the reason we know anything, the reason we're enlightened, the reason we're able to think, the reason we're able to learn, that all comes from God the Son. He said that's brilliant. I was stunned because that had never been before or since applied to me, but I appreciated it. The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. But Jesus not only says he's the life, he says he's the resurrection and the life. Martha said, Lord if you had been here my brother wouldn't have died. But even now I know whatever you ask God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Which means that Martha believed in the resurrection. Which means she also believed in a judgment day. Now there are those present day scholars who say that Old Testament Jews did not believe in afterlife. They didn't believe in heaven or hell. They didn't believe in a judgment day. What's obvious that Martha does, and I think the scriptures in the Old Testament prove that the Jews thought that. David when his son through Bathsheba died said, he can't come to me but I will go to him. So there are those who say that Old Testament Jews didn't believe in life after death. But I think Martha shows that they did. She believes there will be a resurrection day and a day of judgment. Throughout history the concept of a judgment day has been part of almost every religion. Christianity, Islam, Judaism and others all believe there is a judgment day. Now a lot of people in Canada and the United States and probably in Europe as well claim to be Christians but also say they don't believe in a judgment day. They don't believe in heaven or hell. Usually they don't believe in hell. They believe in heaven. You hear people all the time, whether they are believers or not. They'll say if one of their relatives or father or their mother or whoever has passed away, they'll say, well I know they're looking down on me. You know if somebody has lost a father or a mother who's also an athlete and then they win the game and they're interviewed afterwards, they say, yeah I know my father was looking down on me. I know my father was helping me. They have a concept that there is life after death. But most agnostics and most atheists do not believe in heaven or hell and the percentage of people who either are agnostic or atheist is growing here in Canada and in other Western countries like the US and European countries. What's interesting is that 25% of agnostics say they believe in heaven. And even more astounding, which isn't logical, is 3% of atheists say they believe in heaven. The thing is if you don't believe there's a God and a life after death or a resurrection or a judgment day, it's very difficult to have any basis whatsoever for morality. I mean if atheists are right, there's nothing after death. I don't know if the famous writer Mark Twain was an atheist, but he did say this. Somebody asked him one time, will it bother him when he dies? He said, well you know, it never bothered me before I was born, so I don't think it'll bother me after I die. So he thought, apparently, that after he died he would cease to exist, which is what an atheist believes. If there's nothing after death, then we won't know anything at all or feel anything at all ever again. But the thing that I've noticed is that even people who say that they're atheists and would not believe in a resurrection, they say things that make no sense. Now when my son Joe died, one atheist I knew, a Facebook friend, said, well he is in a better place. And unless they meant not existing was a better place, which I know that's not what they meant, their thinking is not rational. But atheists say a lot of things like that. Now there was a man that I got to talk to quite often in Crystal Lake, Illinois. His name was George, and we used to see each other fairly regularly, and I engaged him in spiritual conversations and he said he was an atheist. And I said, well I think I can move you from being an atheist to being agnostic at least. And he said, how are you going to do that? I said, well, do you believe that you know everything that exists in the entire universe? He said, no, of course not. I said, well, couldn't one of those things that exist that you don't know about, couldn't one of those things be God? And he scoffed. He said, do you believe that in the cosmos there's pink elephants dancing? I said, I don't think so. He said, well, how do you know? How do you know? He said, if you expect me to believe that there's a God, even though I can't see him or touch him or feel him or know about him, why can't you believe there's pink elephants dancing? That was his argument. We had several conversations like that. He was very dismissive of any presentation of the gospel or any argument for the existence of God, much less the gospel. And I hadn't talked to him in several months. And I happened to see him in a store. And I greeted him, asked what was new with him, made some chit chat. And he just seemed happy, effervescent. And I mentioned that to him. He said, well, we just got some wonderful news. I said, what's that? He said, my wife is expecting. I said, oh, well, congratulations. He said, we didn't think that she could have children. He said, we feel so blessed. I had to resist saying to him, well, who blessed you? Because a blessing comes from a person. Matter of fact, if you look in the dictionary, a blessing usually comes from God. My point is that atheists cannot escape their lack of logic. They will say things like, I want to leave a legacy. You know, though, very wealthy atheists will give donations and have buildings named after them, so they'll be remembered. They want their children and their grandchildren to remember them positively. But why? Why? If you cease to exist when you die, you won't care. You won't care about anything because you won't know whether you lived a good moral positive life or a selfish and moral dishonest life. Won't matter to you at all because you won't know anything. And eventually, nobody will know anything. But people can't live like this because there's inherent in us morality. Every person has a sense of right or wrong whether they adhere to it or not. And when Jesus tells Martha that her brother will live again, she understands that there will be a resurrection. But then Jesus says something even more astounding than I am the life. He says, I am the resurrection. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? That's the question for you. Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is God the Son? Do you believe that he has become a man? The word became flesh. Do you believe that he lived a perfect sinless life? Do you believe that he voluntarily sacrificed himself on the cross to pay for our sins? Do you believe that he died? Do you believe that he rose again from the grave? Do you believe that he's seated at the right hand of God the Father? See that's the question. That's the question he was asking Martha. It's the question he's asking all of us. Do you believe that he's the resurrection and the life? Or have you just been coming to church so much for so long that these words just sort of wash over you. They don't enter your spirit. They don't resonate with you because you've heard them so many times and it's even hard for you now to pay attention. Martha said, yes Lord I believe. I believe you are the Son of God, the Christ who's coming into the world. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself, John writes in chapter 6. Whoever does not believe, I'm sorry this is first John 5. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he's not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning the Son. This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in the Son. Whoever has the Son has the life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have the life. I write these things he says to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. So I'll ask again. Do you believe? See Martin Luther was asked why do you preach the gospel every week? He said I preach the gospel every week because my people forget it every week. In John chapter 6 he writes, truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but he has passed from death to life. Do you know what great news that is? Think about your worst sins. Think about the rottenest worst things you've ever done in your entire life. Would you want to stand before God without the blood of Christ to pay for your sin and have to give an account for all that you've done and said? It would be like what Isaiah experienced when he walked into the temple in Isaiah chapter 6. He said woe is me for I am undone. Literally what he meant was I am coming apart at the seams. And that's what it will be like for anyone without Christ, without the life when they stand before God on judgment day because they are still in their sin. Truly I say to you, John writes in chapter 6, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. I say to you an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live for as the Father has life in himself so he is granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. That's John chapter 5. So what does it mean to do good in God's eyes? John 6, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. So do you believe? Do you believe that he is the resurrection and the life? Do you believe that you have the life because you have the Son? Because that's what John is trying to tell us that if we have the Son we have the life and we can know that we have the life. I realize most of you, probably all of you, believe yourselves to be Christians but just in case some of you are sitting here thinking I'm not sure I have the life. The way that you can know is to turn from your sin, to repent. Repent means to turn again and to embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the one who is the resurrection and the life. In a minute we're going to come and share this table together and when we do we are sharing in the bread and the wine, symbolizing the body and blood of Jesus who is given for us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the truth. We pray that as we come to share in this table that you will preach the gospel to us through the sacrament itself and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.