John 4:19-26
Because He Lives
I have no doubt that I have used tonight’s title before or that I
will likely use it again. However, tonight it is not just the title
of the message, it is the beginning statement to each point in my
outline.
I am not sure we have understood or even can understand the
importance of the resurrection, but let’s take a few moments to at
least try.
I. Identity Confirmed
A. In John 4, Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Judaea
to Galilee, following what would have been for the Jews, a
unique road.
John 4:4 And he (Jesus) must needs go through
Samaria.
B. The Jews did not normally go through Samaria because the
Samaritans were a mixed race people that the Jews despised.
1. By the way, if you wonder what God thinks of mixed races,
this passage should shed some light on it.
2. He loves them and wants them to go to heaven just like
everyone else.
C. By the well of Sychar, Jesus met a woman who wanted to talk
politics and religion.
1. Jesus would have none of that.
2. He wanted to talk about sin and salvation.
3. By verse 25, the woman has joined Jesus’ conversation,
acknowledging that she knew the Bible well enough to know
that one day God would send the Messiah into the world.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that
Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he
is come, he will tell us all things.
4. Listen to Jesus’ answer:
John 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto
thee am he.
a. Jesus, who are You saying You are?
b. Who were they talking about in \\#25\\? The Messiah,
the Christ, the One who would tell all things.
c. Who did Jesus say He is? Jesus said, "The One talking
with you is the One you are talking about!"
d. Jesus just acknowledged that He was the Messiah, the
Christ, the One who would tell them all things.
D. Some say that Jesus never said He was God? That Jesus never
claimed to be divine? Read your Bible instead of your
commentaries and quarterlies. He just did.
E. Well, that is a pretty big claim to make. Was Jesus just
boasting? What did He do to prove it?
1. The proof was the resurrection.
2. Jesus raised Himself from the dead!
3. Friend, no one has ever done that before.
4. In fact, no one but God has ever resurrected anyone from
the dead.
a. We don’t even say we do.
b. We say that a person has been resuscitated not
resurrected.
c. To resuscitate means to bring back from an apparent
death.
d. That can only be done under certain circumstances.
(1) The person has not been without oxygen for too
long.
(2) What put him in that condition was not too
severe.
e. No body can raise someone from the dead who has been
dead 3 days and with Jesus’ injuries.
f. However, Jesus did not HAVE someone raise Him from
the dead. He is God. He raised Himself from the
dead.
5. Only God can raise Himself from the dead.
F. IDENTITY CONFIRMED!
II. Payment Acknowledged
1Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot:
A. In these verses, Peter began by telling us what did not save
us.
1. \\#18\\ We were not saved by corruptible things.
2. \\#18\\ We were not saved by silver.
3. \\#18\\ We were not saved by gold.
B. Then Peter tells us what did save us:
1. \\#18\\ First, notice the word Peter used instead of the
word "saved."
a. The word Peter used is "redeemed."
b. The word means to ransom that which was taken or to
purchase again that which was lost.
c. Every human being ever born was originally God’s by
virtue of the fact He created the human race.
(1) The Bible does not speak of our salvation as God
purchasing the lost soul.
(2) The Bible speaks of God RE-purchasing the lost
soul.
(3) He is buying back that which has been lost.
d. Sadly, God did not do the losing.
(1) We are more like the foolish, stubborn, and
somewhat stupid dog that ran away.
(2) God gave us a choice and some freedom and we used
them to get ourselves lost.
(3) Our new master, the devil, is cruel and tortures
us so, to rescue us, God is willing to pay a
very exorbitant and unreasonable price to
purchase us back, that is, to redeem us.
2. \\#19\\ What was the price God paid? It was…
1Peter 1:19 …the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
a. Well, that is pretty big talk.
(1) God, You paid Your blood???
(2) How do we know that??
(3) We saw you die, but we did not see you make any
payment; and how are we to know that the price
was acceptable?
(4) You say the blood was precious and worth the
souls of all mankind, but how do we know?
b. The proof is the resurrection!
(1) Payment confirmed!
(2) The dead do not just rise from the grave.
(3) The resurrection proves that Jesus’ blood was the
payment for all the souls of mankind, and it
proves that the payment was accepted.
(4) In fact, there was so much power left in the
blood payment for sin that God gave Jesus back
His own life!
(5) Jesus’ not only paid for our sins, but with the
change left over from sin’s payment, Jesus
purchased life for every man, woman, boy and
girl who would ever be conceived.
c. Let’s make sure we point out that the payment is not
automatic.
(1) When it comes to salvation, Jesus’ payment is not
set up on an automatic withdrawal system.
(2) No. You must come to the Father and make
application for the Payment.
(a) You must come to the Father and acknowledge
the value of the Son’s payment.
i. Acknowledge that Jesus is God’s Son.
ii. Acknowledge that—unlike ourselves—
Jesus lived a sinless life.
iii. Acknowledge that we understand and do
know that Jesus’ death is the one and
only payment.
(b) Then you must show proof of surrender to
Him.
i. That is repentance.
ii. Repentance is not a life of surrender.
iii. It is the first step in a life of
surrender.
iv. It is a sorrow that indicates a
brokenness over a sinful past.
(c) These two things, done together and from the
heart, produce the miraculous new birth.
C. PAYMENT ACKNOWLEDGED!
III. Power Unleashed
Phi 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of
his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death;
A. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof of Jesus’ power.
B. Every promise God ever made, and every hope He ever gave is
backed up in the resurrection.
C. For example:
1. Jesus promised healing: Has there ever been a body sicker
than the One they laid in Jesus’ grave? It is hard to
get any sicker than dead, but Jesus’ body was more than
just sick. It had been brutally mutilated. He was not
only dead, but as God had promised Adam, He was "surely
dead" \\#Ge 2:17\\. In the Hebrew, the word dead is used
twice meaning, "You will die dead." In Alabama, we would
say Jesus was "good-n-dead." If God has power to heal
and raise such a body, He has power to heal us.
2. Jesus promised hope: Has there ever been a group whose
hope was lifted so high only to be shattered so hard?
Peter said, "we have left all and have followed thee"
\\#Mark 10:28\\. All of their eggs were in one basket,
Jesus. Then, with Jesus’ triumphant entry into
Jerusalem, it looked like their eggs were about to hatch.
But just four days later, He was dead, "good-n-dead."
Their hope was shattered, scattered, and splattered.
But then came the resurrection! If God has the power to
revival their shattered hope, He has the power to fulfill
every promise made to us.
3. Jesus promised victory: Had an enemy ever danced on a
gave more boldly than the devil danced on Jesus’? Not
only had the devil gotten Jesus killed, but he got Jesus
killed by His own nation, tempted one of Jesus’ closest
disciples into betraying Him, another into denying Him,
and the rest into abandoning Him. If the devil can do
Irish Stepdance, I’m sure he was stepping high on
Saturday night, but then came Sunday morning and the old
devil got "churched." If God has the power to defeat the
devil, He has the power to defeat every foe we will ever
have.
D. All of the power of the resurrection has been unleashed and
made available to the sons and daughters of God.
1. Paul, the apostle who caused blindness to settle on a
servant of the devil, shook of the poisonous viper who
bite him, cast out the demons which possessed lost souls,
and raised from the dead the boy who fell from the 3rd
floor loft, said he wanted to know the POWER of the
resurrection.
2. How much more power is there? More than carnal hearts can
comprehend.
3. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is power unleashed to
God’s people.
E. POWER UNLEASHED!
IV. Others - Time fails for me to elaborate but the resurrection of
Jesus Christ was also:
A. Heaven Opened
Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men.
1. Paul stated that when Jesus ascended, He did two things:
2. Jesus took with Him the captives - When Jesus spoke of the
beggar named Lazarus \\#Luke 16:19-31\\, He said the
saved Lazarus died and went to Abraham’s Bosom, a place
described as being beside hell. As hard as it is for us
to comprehend, it appears that no Old Testament saint
entered heaven until after Jesus paid the price of
salvation on the cross, then when Jesus ascended to the
Father, He first descended into the heart of the earth
and took those held in Abraham’s Bosom with Him to
heaven. Today when a Christian dies, he goes immediately
into the presence of God. Why? Because the resurrection
of Jesus Christ opened heaven for all.
3. HEAVEN OPENED!
B. Gifts Given
1. And at the same time, Jesus, the Lord of the Church, gave
gifts—some of which are identified in \\#Eph 4;11\\,
including the gifts of pastors and evangelists.
2. When did Jesus give those gifts? After the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
3. GIFTS GIVEN!
C. Body Glorified
1. And what body are raised with?
Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body….
2. One like unto His glorious, resurrected body.
3. BODY GLORIFIED!
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin.
D. Choice Granted
John 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is
coming, in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation.
1. There was always going to be a resurrection of the dead,
but now there will be two.
a. There has always been a resurrection of damnation.
b. But now, there is also a resurrection of life.
2. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you get to
decide the resurrection to which you will be raised.
3. Because your choice will be granted.
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