Sermon Notes
April 5, 2026
Standalone Sermons
The Resurrection and the Life
Rev. Terence Gray
How Can a Scientist be a Christian?
“Besides being a scientist, I am also a Christian. I believe in a personal God who loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. I believe that he has revealed Himself most supremely through the person and works of Jesus Christ, who was born 2000 years ago, carried out a ministry in Judea where he claimed to be the Son of God, was crucified, and is believed by Christians to be resurrected from the dead after two nights in a tomb. I believe these things actually happened – not metaphorically or subjectively, but as objectively and literally as any other event we thought happened in ancient history.”
– Scientist, Daniel Gordon Ang
“For me, the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the litmus test for the truthfulness of Christianity. If Jesus genuinely died and rose again, it makes it extremely likely that he was who he claimed to be: the physical incarnation of the Son of God ( Matthew 16:16). If it did not happen, then Christianity would be a false religion. A scientist (or any rational person for that matter) would have no reason to believe it to be true.”
- Jesus was crucified and died on the cross. (Near-certain)
- Jesus was buried in a tomb which was found empty a few days after. (Highly probable)
- Over the few weeks after and in multiple instances, several of Jesus’ disciples encountered a person they believed to be the risen Jesus. (Near-certain)
The Resurrection is not merely a positive spin on death, but a demonstration of God’s power, a proclamation of God’s victory, and a declaration of death’s defeat.
If that happened,
Anything can happen
A “Four-Day” Man: Lazarus being in the tomb for four days (John 11:17) was crucial. According to Jewish tradition, the soul departed fully after three days, making this a “true death” or a “fourth-day man,”
John 11:17-22
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
John 11:23-25
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
John 11:32
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
John 11:33-34
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
embrimáomai – Deeply moved; the word is used in classical Greek for horses “snorting” as they prepare to charge the enemy. It also refers to “indignation” or “rage”; outburst of anger
“I sense that Jesus’s anger is directed toward death as the enemy who so brazenly robs us of our precious loved ones. His indignation is aimed at sin, sickness, suffering, and death, and what these enemies are doing to the people we love. While overwhelmed with sadness and grief (“Jesus wept”), he is also righteous with rage. He’s fighting mad and furious at these evil powers for hurting the people he loves deeply.”
John 11:35
“Jesus wept.”
John 11:41-44, NIV
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out! ”The dead man 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.”
John 11:43, KJV
“Lazarus, come forth.”
The Resurrection is not merely a positive spin on death, but a demonstration of God’s power, a proclamation of God’s victory, and a declaration of death’s defeat.
