Jesus at a Funeral

Now, there's a poem uh written by a man named Dylan Thomas. He was Welsh, which means that he was born in uh the country of Wales. And he wrote this famous poem called The Dying of the Light. It's a pretty short poem. I want to read all of its 19 stanzas, but the gist of it begins with just these two lines. It says,"Do not go gentle into that good night, but rage rage against the dying of the light." Now, he Dylan writes this because his father is old and his father is approaching death. And he writes this to his father and says, "Dad, don't don't die. Rage against death. Don't go gentle into it. Fight all that you can. fight against death. But like every human story, his father does eventually go gentle into the night. Church, death is not our friend. Death is not your friend. It's why death is why no one enjoys a funeral. We love birthday parties. We love a wedding. Part of it is free food. But it's joyful. It's full of celebration. But no one looks forward to putting a funeral on their calendar. No one loves the presence of death and loss. There are no save the dates or registries for funerals. You don't want it on your calendar. And part of it is that funerals often shake us to our core because it reminds us of the quickness of life. It reminds us of our regrets. The things we wish we would have done. The things we wish we would have said, the things that we wish are now gone. It reminds us of the things we once had but are now gone. No one enjoys a funeral. And while no one enjoys a funeral, this is exactly where we find ourselves in John 11. It's a funeral. It's Lazarus's funeral. And as we continue our uh time through the Gospel of John, we're going to journey to today through a moment filled with loss and pain and suffering and much much weeping. But what I find interesting more than anything else in John 11 is that yes, this is a place of death and yes, it is a place of loss, but this is the place that Jesus desires to be. No one likes to go to a funeral. In fact, all of us here would like to avoid them. And yet, this is where Jesus intentionally decides to be. And as we look at this chapter, what I want us to focus on is the resurrection life of Jesus. Jesus fly has been following me around. It is going to die. I'm so you know there's no resurrecting the fly. Uh but we are going to talk about the resurrection life of Jesus. And I'm excited to talk about it because we often when we talk about resurrection, when we talk about death to life, we relegate it usually to Easter. So come, I don't know, maybe it's March or April this year. I don't know coming year, but but the resurrection of Jesus is not just for Easter. It's for all of the Christian life. It's actually a gift to us this morning. This text is going to be a gift to us this morning because as we talk about the resurrection life of Jesus, what we're going to see is that the life of Jesus is one that rages against the dying of the light. The life of Jesus rages against death. And that's good news because every single one in this room, every single person, if you're being honest, you have experienced death. Every person experiences death and loss. And maybe it's not the death of a lo of a loved one. Maybe it's not physical like someone going to an actual funeral. Well, we've all have lost something. We've we live on planet death. We experience every day the lo the death of dreams and the death of relationships, the loss of hopes, the loss of careers, death of where you thought you would be at this point in your life. And maybe it's not death itself, but every single person here has definitely met the children of death. Grief and loneliness and anxiety, feelings of abandonment. Death has many children, and we've all experienced them. But like the poem says, every single one of us intrinsically wants to fight against the dying of the light. We want to rage against it. We will do anything and everything to keep death and loss away from us. We will numb. We will run. We will work endlessly. We will stay in unhealthy relationships. We will do all sorts of things all under the guise of never experiencing loss and death. We strive against death because we know it's final. Once you experience death, don't get it back. But the ultimate problem is this. That's part of it. But the problem is that death always wins. Which means you and I always lose. In facing death, every human is in a hopeless position. That is unless Jesus comes onto the scene. So, as we go into Lazarus's funeral together, I want us to notice how Jesus responds to death and loss. The first thing I want us to see is the promise of Jesus. Lazarus here, we we've read this in verses 17 through 27, but we see here Lazarus has been dead for four days. And we know this because when it says that he's been in the tomb, uh in in Jewish custom, you bury someone the same day. So he's been dead for four days. And you might be thinking, well, this is not a funeral then. Well, no, it is in Jewish custom. Funerals go on for quite some time. It's actually the practice called Shiva. And it's a Jewish custom where for the first week, all the immediate family of those who have lost someone are in a sense forced to grieve. They're they're literally brought into the into their home. They're forced to sit on the ground and they're let themselves be taken care of. So, grandmas and grandpas and all these people will and friends will come and give them words of consolation and encouragement. They'll bring food so that they will have the space to grieve. And so Martha hears that Jesus was on his way and she breaks custom. She's not supposed to leave. She's supposed to stay grieving, but she doesn't. She goes to meet with Jesus. Why would Martha break custom? Now, you need to know Martha's the oldest sibling. She knows better. Out of all the siblings, the eldest one often is the one that knows the responsibility. They know it because they get in trouble when they break it the most. So, she knew, "I'm not supposed to leave." But she leaves. She runs to go meet Jesus. Why? Because she is furious with him. Think about this. Mary and Martha sent for Jesus to come and heal their brother, and he doesn't. He doesn't do it. And now Lazarus is dead. And now it's been not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR DAYS. And now Jesus wants to show up. Talk about feeling late. So she wants to go and give him a piece of her mind. And her anger is understandable. She's grieving. She feels like Jesus has abandoned her. She feels the finality of death. My brother is gone, she thinks. and now I'm never going to get him back. Jesus, why weren't you here? Have none of us felt this way? Now, his response is quite interesting. He doesn't rebuke her. He doesn't correct her and goes, "Do you know who you're talking to? I'm God." But he doesn't even necessarily comfort her. He doesn't wrap his arm around her and goes, "It's going to be okay." He gives her a promise. I want to read this again for us. He says in verse 23, "Your brother will rise again." And Martha thinks that Jesus is talking about like something happening in the future. He goes, "Yeah, I know he'll rise again in the last day." You see, in Jewish culture and Jewish custom and theology, they all believed for the most part that everyone will be brought back to life at the end of time. Some will go and live with God and others will live in destruction. So, she is thinking, "Yes, I know because Lazarus was a good Jewish little boy. Uh, he will go live with God. I'll see him someday." And Jesus goes, "No, no, let me let me clarify. I'm actually offering you something right now far greater than what you understand." He says in verse 25 and 26, he goes, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" So she he's like, "Listen, I don't need you to worry about Lazarus right now. I'm going to talk to you for just a second. I need you to understand I am the resurrection and the life." And what she's saying is this. What he's saying to her is that Jesus I Jesus am the source of life. In fact, I am so full of life that anything that I give life to will come back from the dead. She's like, "This is don't worry about Lazarus. I got that taken care of." But you need to know, Martha, life is not found in circumstances. Life is not found in situation. Life is found in Jesus Christ alone. Me, he says. That's the first thing. I'm the resurrection and life. And then he says, "Anyone who believes," meaning anyone who has faith in me, anyone who surrenders their life to me, anyone who puts me in the driver's seat of their life, if you do that, I have a promise for you. It's twofold. He says, "One, I'm going to give you life." Well, what is life? What does that mean? He's talking about the quality of life. He's s he's saying, "I'm going to give you a full life. A life that is marked by humility and gentleness and patience and compassion. A life marked by forgiveness and love and power and grace. A love, a a life that is whole. A life that has been healed and free from guilt and shame. That is the life that Jesus offers anyone who believes in him." Amen. >> Y'all act like you have no life. But then he says, "Not that I'll just give you life. I'm going to give you resurrection life." Now, that is the greater thing because we can all have life, quote unquote, but death comes for it. Death comes from the grave and seeks to rob you of this. And he says this again, "The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And in fact, whoever lives by believing in me will never what? Die. What is Jesus offering? He's offering, yes, a full life, but it's a life that can never be undone by death. Ultimately, what Jesus is offering is his life. That's what makes it untouchable by death. Which means, church, the life that Jesus offers you and me every day is a life that is maintained by him and not by you. And that is good news because you and I stink at finding life. We want it, but we don't know where to find it. And we go from thing to things to things to thing. That's why some of us have unhealthy practices and unhealthy relationships. We all have that ex. We all have that thing. You're like, "What was I thinking? I know what you were thinking." You weren't. But you were wanting life and you couldn't find it. But Jesus says, "I offer you resurrection life, a life that cannot be undone, not even by death." Perhaps you've heard of the woman uh named Elizabeth Elliott. She uh was a prolific author and a missionary. And if you ever read her autobiography or just her biography, it's it it it's amazing. Her life is is is is a testament to what true life of Jesus could look like. Uh Elizabeth Elliot would get married young to a man named Jim Elliot. They met in college in their 20s, have kids, and then they decide to be missionaries uh to the to the tribes in the jungles of Ecuador. And unfortunately, uh, Jim along with some other men go to preach the gospel to these tribes and they kill him. Now, if you're Elizabeth, you're going to do one of two things. You're going to go Rambo and kill them all, or you just leave. She doesn't do either one of those. She stays and goes to the very people who killed her husband and preaches the gospel to them. And if that's not crazy enough, they become friends because they believe in Jesus. She becomes friends and family with the one who killed her husband and the father of her children. Couple years later, about a decade after, she decides to get remarried. I forget his name, but they get married and their marriage ends in four years because he dies of a aggressive form of cancer. This woman's life is marked by death. Joy, you would think, is far from her, but if you read her books and you read the interviews, you can watch interviews, you can Google it because she lived pretty recent to our time. So, there's interviews and you look at her life and you she's so joyful. She's so happy. And it's not because she's on anti-depressants. It's because she knows Jesus. >> Actually, this is what she writes. She goes, "You want to know the secret? Do you want to, you know, do you want to know how I can be full of life and joy even though my life has been full of relentless amounts of death? Do you want to know the secret? She says this, "The secret is Christ in me, not me in different circumstances." We think our life would be better if our life was different. >> Your life would be better only if you know Jesus. See, the life of Jesus allowed her, yes, to both still grieve the loss of the ones she loved and yet still be filled with the joy of Jesus because the life of Jesus that he gives us, the resurrection life can never be undone by anything, including death. So church, your resurrection life that you desire is not found in circumstances, but in a person. We forget, we forget that. And so we try to find it in all these different areas, in all these different spa spaces. Some of us are are are clinging to comfort and success and security and money and control in the hopes that our circumstances will produce the life that we want, but it's not. And you're trying so hard to grasp at at these things, forgetting that all of these things that we grasp are all are also under the power of death. You cannot find life in things that are filled with death. But Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who comes to me, me, he says, anyone who comes to Jesus Christ with faith will receive resurrection life. And the text mentions no other change other than this one thing. Who will you go to when death comes upon your shoulders? When death knocks at your door, who will you turn to? You can't call the life police. Hey, death's trying. WHO ARE YOU GONNA CALL? Not Ghostbusters. How dare you? How dare you make this gospel moment a joke? When death and loss come to your door, your only hope is to turn to Jesus, who's the resurrection and the life. And as Jesus says to Martha, he says to you and I, "Do you believe? Will you turn to me for life? Now, this this can seem rather cold on Jesus's part because when you're crying and you're grieving, no one likes to hear truth. Like like if you've ever been to a funeral, I just need you to know this as a maybe a p like whether it's a pastor, as a friend, don't go to the person and go, "At least they're not suffering anymore." Don't do that. Is it true? Yes. Is it helpful? Absolutely not. But Jesus in his infinite wisdom thought Martha needed some truth. But it doesn't mean that he's cold or distant or callous. Actually, we're going to see his heart in this next section. I want to read this over again, starting in verse 28. After she said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher's here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting him, notice how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to more there. So let's stop here. So Martha tells Mary, "Hey, listen. Jesus is calling for you." She's and and like Martha, Mary breaks the custom. The only difference is apparently Martha sucks at sneaking out because everyone sees her and it's like, "Oh no, she's going to go to the cry of the tomb. Let's go with her." Ah. So they all go. They all go not knowing that she's intending to go meet with Jesus. And the first thing she does is say the exact same thing as Mar as Martha. Jesus, if you had been here, everything would have been okay. And you you need to know she's not saying this angrily. She's saying this grievingly. She has deep because in the next section it says that she's weeping. So with great pain and tears and agony, she says, "Jesus, if you had been here, everything would have been okay." Now, before we move on to what he responds, I need you to notice something. I It stuck out to me this time as I was prepping. Notice that Jesus in verse 30 uh it says Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. Meaning Jesus has not moved at all. You're like why does that matter? G you read in the beginning of of John 11 it says that Jesus came with the intent to Bethany to resurrect Lazarus. He says in verse 11, I've come to wake up Lazarus from sleep. I've come to raise him from the dead. If he if he's coming to resurrect someone, why is he not moving? You would think, I got to go to the tomb. I GOT TO GO RESURRECT LAZARUS. And yet, it says he did not move at all. Why? Because before Jesus does the miracle, he needs Mary to see his heart. That's what he wants him to see. Before the miracle, he wants him to see his heart. And look how Jesus responds. Verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. And the shortest verse in all of scripture, Jesus wept. Now, Jesus is moved to deep emotion and and the way the text reads, it means that he like when it says he wept, it wasn't like, you know, one little tear that he burst into tears. Now, I'll admit I've often read this um as like Jesus is just simply grieving that he's just simply sad. He's like, "Oh man." Like, "You're crying. You're going to make me cry. Now we're all crying." And that now that's part of it, but it's not the full picture. Is Jesus sad at Lazarus's death? Yes. Is Jesus grieving? Yes. But it's more. You see, when it says that when John says that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled, it means that Jesus was furious. He was enraged. In fact, when it says he was troubled, it means that he was so angry that he began to shake. I don't know if you've ever been in that position where you've been so angry, so overwhelmed, you can't do anything. You kind of want to punch a wall, maybe punt a Chihuahua or just cry. Yeah. Yeah. You see, if you never want to punch a Chihuahua, you never been this angry. But this is it. This is it. This how upset Jesus is. But now you're thinking, "Wait, hold on. Wait wait wait wait." He saw them weeping and he got upset. Jesus, hold on now. That seems a little mean. Mary and Martha just lost their sibling. They just lost their brother. Wh how else do you expect them to respond then by grieving them by weeping? Like just give them a break. Jesus is not upset at their tears. He's not upset that they're sad. He's not upset at their weeping. Jesus is angry at the thing that has caused the people he loves so much pain and suffering. Jesus is not mad at the tears. Jesus is furious at death. So, I need you to read this. This is not a a consoling moment, really. I don't want us to pacify Jesus. I want us to see him as he's actually described to be. Jesus is on a rampage. If you don't know this and you feel uncomfortable with this word, but he hates. If you don't know, Jesus actually does hate and he hates death. Death is not his friend. It wasn't like they had a falling out. They hate each other. Death is the antithesis to everything that Jesus is. In fact, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:26, it says that death is JESUS'S LAST ENEMY. THEY'RE not friends. This is not like a reconciliation story. You see, death was never part of God's original design. We think death is normal because it happens. Death is abnormal to the human story. It was never intended to be that way. God made the world to be brimming with life until sin and rebellion entered and then death came on the scene. And so Jesus sees death, his mortal enemy. Enter into this story and take what was not his. Lazarus doesn't belong to you, Jesus says. and he weeps in anger because of the death that has harmed his people. But it's still confusing. You might think, "Well, that makes sense." Except Jesus knows he's about to resurrect Lazarus. He knows. He said, "I've come to resurrect him. So everything that's happening right now, I'm going to undo it." So why is he so like why is he why is he mad? He's going to undo it all anyway. Jesus weeps because of verse 36. Look. Then the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." Jesus wants Mary to see that he is not indifferent towards her pain and suffering. Yes, Jesus hates death. And because of that, death breaks Jesus's heart. It moves his heart in compassion. Jesus is not cold and callous and distant, but he is willing to enter into the pain of his people and grieve alongside them. He allows himself to be enraged on their behalf. The tears of Jesus, church, show that Jesus hates the presence of death in people's lives. Now, here's the thing. We can know that and we can be comforted by by it. But this is a warning to us. Jesus hating death is a warning to us because too many of us engage in the flippant practice of heaping death upon one another. Did you know that? Oh yeah, death's out there. No, we bring death upon each other sometimes. Even at church sometimes we are the worst bringers of death upon people. When we speak ill of one another, when we uh harbor belittling, mocking and divisive thoughts towards one another. When we withhold forgiveness, when we dehumanize one another by using people, when we live indifferently towards one another's pain and suffering, when we do those things, you know what we're doing? We're throwing death upon one another. And the problem is that Jesus hates that. It grieves his heart when his people are the are the are the are the perpetrators of death. And the invitation is that instead of us being people who bring death, Jesus' hatred of death should propel us to do everything in our power to remove the presence of death in each other's lives by the power of his spirit. This is what he wants us to do. But be encouraged as well because we're going to blow it. We're going to mess up. We can both We can try but we will fail and we will try and succeed and we will try and fail. But in those moments when death is upon us and we throw it upon each other, I want you to know this. Jesus is not indifferent towards your death. Jesus is not indifferent towards the presence of death in your life. Like with Mary, Jesus will come close to you because as the scriptures remind us, Jesus is close to the brokenhearted. He draws near and grieavves with you because he hates what death has done to you. And the tears of Jesus ultimately give us permission. Gives us permission to weep. The tears of Jesus give us permission to grieve. Listen, if you are in a moment of sadness and grieving and you've come under the thought that you have to do this Christian thing of like saying, "I'm just praising the Lord. You know, everything's hard, but I'm trusting him like I'm too blessed to be stressed and depressed." No, stop it. Because Jesus weeped, you too can weep. You too can grieve. And because Jesus weeps, he's mad. And he's mad at our enemy. But he's not just come here to counsel. He's not come here just to console. He's come to confront. Look how he come. He finishes the story. Verse 38. Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days. So Jesus again says here, he's deeply moved, meaning he's enraged. He comes enraged at death and he goes to the source, which is the tomb. And he's not coming in weakness. He's not coming sniveling. He comes strongly to the tomb. And the way that John is is painting the picture is I want you to I want you to imagine Jesus and death, backyard rules, street fight, anything goes. That's what's about to happen. Jesus means business. He has a bullseye on death's back and he says, "Take away the stone." He's saying, "Let me, Adam. Let me get in there." And then Martha, poor Martha. I mean, she's trying her best. Lord, it's going to sting. It's been four days. It's going to be a little Her logic makes sense. In fact, I love how the KJV I will never use this again, but KJV translate this verse says, "Lord, he stinkketh." If you don't believe in comedy, the Lord has all this, but he would stink. His body had been decomposing for four days. And so, so Jesus says to Martha, "You, Martha, you really don't know what I'm about to do, do you?" He prays to the father, says, "Thank you, Father, for what I'm about to do." which I think is just like a like I'm trying to say how to say this without like saying a bad word. He is a he's he's a gangster because he's like looking at the father. He's like, "Thank you cuz I'm about to whoop this man." Verse 38, I'm sorry, verse 43. If it's your first time at King's Cross, welcome. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man, verse 44, came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Now, the wording here is very intentional. Verse 43, Lazarus, come out. Verse 44, "And the dead man came out." Do you catch that? It means that Jesus caused for Lazarus to come out of the grave and it immediately happened. Jesus said it and it happened without pause. That Jesus simply spoke and the grave had to let go of Lazarus. You see this? And now, mind you, Jesus didn't go into the tomb. Now, it wasn't because he was afraid of the stench. He wanted everyone to see how beneath death is. There's no tugofwar. It wasn't like Jesus grabbed one end of Lazarus and death held onto the other side and they were like, "No, I'm going to have He's like, "No, I'm never going to let you go." He's like, "No, he said he didn't even go he didn't have to even go in. He didn't break a sweat. He just said, "Let go of Lazarus." And out came Lazarus from the tomb. Amen. >> Death is so beneath Jesus and so power against him that all that Jesus had to do was speak and death was undone. Because the very same voice that created the heavens and earth in Genesis, the same voice that holds all things together in Colossians, the same voice that knits people together in their mother's wombs in the Psalms is the exact same voice that when it speaks to death, grave, the grave must be undone and death must be unrolled. Jesus tells them to take off the grave clothes. Why? Because death no longer had any hold on Lazarus anymore. >> A man dead four days was restored to life in a moment. A corpse decaying all of a sudden brimming with new life. I know it's the smallest part, but it's the most powerful part Jesus proved in that moment. Not that he just hates sin and death. Not just that he can confront it, but that he has all power and authority over it. His death has no bearing or weight against Jesus. Which means for us church that there is no amount of death that can be un that cannot be undone by the living words of Jesus. See, this is why some of you I I just need you to know this. Some of you need to keep prevailing in prayer and ask the Lord to save the ones you love because you can't you're not strong enough to beat the grave. You can't convince anyone to go from death to life again. Once you're dead, you're not there's no there's no turning back. Not humanly speaking. And some of us need to keep prevailing in prayer. Because you see this whole story that happens here. Do you know how it began? By Mary and Martha calling to Jesus saying, "My brother is about to die. Come and help him." It would never have started unless Mary and Martha first reached out to Jesus. Some of you need to keep praying for the ones that you love for Jesus to bring them back from death to life. You need to know there is no sinner too far gone in sin that will stop Christ from raising them from the dead. There is none. And some of you in the room, you look, you genuinely look at your life and you go, you know what? I stinkketh. I do. I of failure. I of mistakes. I of sin. I am truly too vile, too detestable, too decayed for Jesus to ever truly draw near to me. But the same Jesus who stood at the tomb of Lazarus and called him out from the grave is the same Jesus that stands above your grave and can call the most deathfilled person out of the grave and fill them with life. Church, you need to believe that there is no amount of death that cannot be undone by the living words of Jesus. You see, death has met its match. This is what John has been trying to help us see this whole time. Jesus has promised a life, a resurrection life, remember, that has genuine power against death. Because Jesus has power over death. And if nothing else, here's what I want you to walk away with knowing this morning, church, that the resurrection life of Jesus means that death does not have the final word over your life. It doesn't. Death doesn't get the final haha. Jesus does. But this story is actually still incomplete because you know what will happen to Lazarus at some point? He's going to die. But Jesus, I thought you said, "If I believe in you, I will have life and never die." So there's there's got to be something missing. You see, the only way for this to be true, for death to not have the final word is for death to be silenced. Death must be put to death. And the only way for this to happen is through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The only way for Jesus to truly call any of us out of the grave is by him first getting in our grave. And he did. Every person you need to know is every person is held in the grips of death because of sin. So Jesus goes to the cross and he takes all of our sin and he brings it with him to the grave. And like with Lazarus, sin and death thought they had won until Christ rose again, leaving both sin and death behind, proving once and for all that death could not hold Jesus, nor can it hold anyone else that he calls from the grave. You see, this is what Jesus had in mind when he said on the cross. His final words were what? It is finished. through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Death is silence. Jesus is such an OG that he literally robs death of having its own final word. Crazy. This is why Jesus could say, "Whoever believes in me will never die." Because the life that he offers you is his own, not just life, his own risen life. But it gets better. He does not just have the final word. Jesus has a better word. If you read in Revelation 21:4, God will wipe away some tears. No, every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Jesus conquers death by his work and his word. So yes, you and I today we may grieve. Yes, today death may try to put its hands on us and it will try. It will. It will. But there is coming a day when death won't even be in our vocabulary. Death does not have the final word. Jesus does. And so please hear me. This is my appeal to you. If you are here this morning and you are not a follower of Jesus, if you have not surrendered your life to him, if you have not put him in the driver's seat of your life, if you have not given all of yourself to him, death will have the final say in your life. It will, in fact, death will be the only and the greatest voice in your life because all humans cannot escape death. But through Jesus, sin and death will be rolled back from your life. And what will come out, if you are here and you're not following Jesus, but you will choose to today, what will come out on the other side is someone full of new life. Jesus conquered the grave, and he's inviting you to join him. Jesus is more than just some some like jail out of freak, like free out of jail card. He's more than just some pass to heaven when you die. Jesus is the doorway to life today. So if you are here and you're not a follower of Jesus, hear me today. Will you believe on him? Will you surrender yourself to the greater life of Jesus? But if you do, if you do follow Jesus, if this is true, you can and will walk out of this church with such great hope and great joy because you follow in the steps of one who cannot be stopped even by death. Do you hear this? You know how much joy and confidence that is? You can look at death. You can look at loss. You can look at every ugly, stupid child of death. You can look at grief and loss and anxiety and depression. YOU CAN LOOK AT ALL OF IT AND SAY, "TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT. YOU CAN'T do anything to me anymore because you don't HAVE THE FINAL SAY. Jesus does." >> Confident. I'm not telling you to be cocky. I'm not telling you to be arrogant. I'm talking to be confident in the one who conquered the grave. My favorite my favorite favorite quote from Tim Keller as he was filled with cancer approaching death. He was in an interview and he just said this. If the resurrection of Jesus is true, everything will be okay. I hope that you carry that hope, the hope of resurrection life. And I don't know that Dylan Thomas, that great once Welsh poet, ever knew Jesus. I don't know that Dylan Thomas knew that Jesus had raged and raged against the dying of the light. I don't think he knew that Jesus raged against the dying of the light even today. But I would imagine that if Dylan Thomas knew Jesus, his poem might have gone more like this. Go gentle. Go gentle into that good light. For Jesus has raged against the dying of the light. And now new life is all that is in sight. Church, death does not have the final word, but Jesus surely does. Let's pray.