Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You can open your Bibles to the Book of John. And we're starting chapter 11 today. Somehow feels like just moments ago we were in chapter one, but I guess that was January, which also feels like moments ago. But we're a little further on than just January. Somehow in a couple weeks is November already. I don't know how that's even possible.
[00:00:22] Anyway, we've been going through the Book of John. You can see the series titled behind me that you may believe that's John's focus.
[00:00:28] And as we walk through this together, we're going to see just particularly today, starting part one of two, part story that you all probably know, the story of Lazarus or one story, a significant part of his life. Now, as you also know, if you haven't been with us for a while, that John walks through. There's seven. There's two things in John that there's seven of that we pay attention to. Firstly, there's seven I am statements that Jesus makes about his identity. Today we're gonna see one of those I am statements. And then the other seven things that happen, which seven's a significant number in scripture oftentimes. Right? Oftentimes we see a level of completion with the number seven. So John draws out two number sevens, if you will, for one, the seven I am statements of Jesus. But also we see in the book of John there are seven miracles that Jesus does, particularly involving other people. One might say there's eight because he rose from the dead. But that was something that happened to him, not to somebody else. So seven miracles that Jesus did to somebody else or with somebody else that we see. And then seven statements of I am statements. So today we're going to see the seventh miracle. And we're also going to see the fifth I am statement that Jesus makes. Kind of the tail end of our.
[00:01:49] So John, chapter 11. We're going to walk through this together. I'm not going to read the whole passage immediately, but I do want to pray and kind of set the stage in our hearts in the right place and set my heart in the right place. As we get into God's word. Hopefully you have a bulletin inside. You'll see all sorts of things happening in the life of the church. On the backside, you'll see the outline for today. So you can kind of walk through that with me. All right, let's pray together. Church Jesus. We come here and we pause from all of the things happening around us.
[00:02:29] And we sit before you as the King of Kings, as the Lord of Lords, as the Sovereign God.
[00:02:40] We trust in the work of the cross washes blood over us to make us clean. It gives us the opportunity to approach your throne with confidence this morning.
[00:02:54] So we thank you for the work of the cross. We thank you that we know without a shadow of a doubt that you are alive and well today. And we ask today that you would give us strength and focus, you would work in our hearts, that we would be sensitive to the work that you want to do and that we would be receptive to what you want to do in our hearts. The things that I say, Lord, I ask that you would guide and direct my words, that they would be from you as we walk through your word here today. We are grateful that we're even able to hold your word in our hands and be changed by your spirit as we read, as we study in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:37] All right, well, let's start off. So Firstly, John, chapter 11, verse 1. If you look in your Bibles, you could just kind of glance down there. Hopefully you have your Bibles with you or if you have a phone or something. You're scrolling, but you have the first 44 verses of chapter 11 is the story of Lazarus, particularly from when he has been sick to dying and coming back. Now, I don't want to give the end, give away the end of the story, but verse 44 kind of gives away the end of the story. We're going to do some things this week and next week. I've entitled the sermon. You can see on the screen a death or in your bulletin as well, a death for God's glory. A death for God's glory. And so that's what we see here. And today is part one, what comes after part one, Part two. So you guys are right with me here. So today we'll look at part scene one. So we're kind of walk through this story together.
[00:04:35] Scene one. And then today we'll look at scene one and scene. What comes after scene one? Scene two. Next week we'll look at scene three and then scene four. All right, so there's four scenes in this story that we will look at just as long as we're all kind of tracking in the right direction. So, so we're going to start with scene one and we're going to learn from Jesus, particularly his view on, in relation to the story, some truths that we can glean from Jesus about death. Now, death is already, especially if you know someone and know the person who has died is a hard, hard thing. Even in thinking about the song that we just sang I know it was a new song. So there's kind of part of you that was reading it and part of you that was, like, singing along with it. Maybe you listen to it before Sunday. One of the things that I appreciate about that song and about the text that we're looking at today is that there's a real tension that's communicated both in that song and in this text, and that we feel, that you and I feel in our life, between what we know to be true and what we are feeling in the moment. You know what I'm talking about. You know that God is good and that he is kind. And you know that the moment you're sitting in is hard. So hard and doesn't feel good at all. And so I was thinking about this. I brought a rubber band with me. There's this tension that exists in our hearts between. I know that God will work all things out for good, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And I know that. I wish you'd make this stop.
[00:06:12] I know that God is kind and he is loving. And also I feel like for someone who's kind and loving, they shouldn't make me go through that. There's this tension that exists that we feel, depending maybe on the season of life that we're in. This tension that we feel in our hearts and in our lives, particularly as we walk in the journey that we've been called to as followers of Jesus. And this tension is very much seen in the text that we're looking at today. So let's just read through it together, and then I'll kind of comment through as we walk through this text. And then there'll be some truths that we see that you can write down in your outline. So scene one starts off here, and you can write this in, if you'd like. Death in Jesus Eyes. And we see this particularly in verses 1 through 16. And then there's some key points that we want to draw out here. So starts off now, a certain man was. And if you're reading your Bibles, I'm reading from esv. If you're reading with your Bibles, I pause every once in a while. You can kind of say it out loud. There was a man, a certain man who was what? Who was ill. He was sick. The Bible doesn't tell us what sickness he had. We don't learn that later on in the story, but we know that this sickness is pretty significant. There was a certain man who was ill. His name was Lazarus, and he was from where From Bethany. Also. Pause for a moment. We know if you look back in scripture a bit, you'll see that Jesus, after having just left Jerusalem, it says that he went to Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John the Baptist first started baptizing. And that was the beginning. We talked about this last week. That's where John the Baptist and Jesus interacted there. And that Jesus public ministry really started there after his baptism at this place called Bethany beyond the Jordan. Now, honestly, there's a little bit of controversy about where exactly this is, but what we do know is it was beyond the Jordan. You guys are all right. So we know. And so Jerusalem's on the. I don't. I'm just doing right and left here on the west side of the Jordan, he went to the other side, which would be the east side of the Jordan. How far north he went, we're not totally sure. But we will see here is that Jesus and Lazarus are about a day's journey from each other. Now, that's important to kind of remember a little later on, Lazarus of Bethany. This is the Bethany that's closer to Jerusalem, about two miles from Jerusalem, just on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. So that's where this Bethany is, where Lazarus is, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Right. And so you might know the story of Mary and Martha. One of them, which we often talk about, is when Mary and Martha are hanging out with Jesus. He's come over. Jesus is teaching. Mary is sitting where at the feet of Jesus. And Martha is right next to her. No, Martha is running around doing all sorts of work. And then she complains to Jesus and says, jesus, tell my sister to help me. So that's the same story. I'm sorry, same two women that we're talking about. Verse two goes on. It was Mary. And we need to be particular about this because Mary is a popular name. Remember, if you look forward in the story of the Resurrection, you know how many Marys there are going on. There's a lot of Marys is a popular name. So let's be more particular. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, reading from verse two, and wiped his feet with her hair. That's the Mary that we're talking about. That's the sister of Lazarus who was ill. Now also you might note, that's interesting. Why are we even talking about that? Because verse two, Mary anointing Jesus, that doesn't happen until chapter 12. If you look in your Bibles, you're allowed to look ahead. If you look in your Bibles. Chapter 12, Mary Anoints Jesus feet. But here John's referencing that. Why is he saying that? How would they even know? They haven't read chapter 12 yet.
[00:10:05] Because Matthew and Mark both talk about this and they wrote their letters years prior to John writing this letter here. So they would have.
[00:10:14] The letters of Matthew and Mark would have already been circulated. People would have already read stories about this Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus before his. So now we're clear. We know where they are and we know who they are. And so verse three goes on. So the sisters sent to him saying, lord, he whom you. What love is ill.
[00:10:44] What a message. What a message. It wasn't. As you might pause, we just pause for a moment. We look at this. It wasn't Jesus. Come quickly, we need you. Did you notice that it wasn't. Hey, Jesus, Lazarus is sick and we need you to heal him. Even from a distance. He's done that before, hasn't he? He's healed somebody from a distance. It wasn't even just asking him to do that. It wasn't actually, as you notice, asking him to do anything. Now how many of you don't ask Jesus to do anything when you have a problem? Most of us do. I have this problem. I need your help. Please come and help me. Here we just see, it's a statement that they make.
[00:11:28] He's ill now, you'll notice the word love there. The word love is phileo. That's important to note for later. He whom you love, the friend that you have is sick. Now, we don't, like I said, know what the sickness was, but we see something so neat.
[00:11:50] Jesus, he whom you love is sick, not he whom loves you.
[00:11:58] What if we approached God like that? What if that was our belief as we approached the throne? Lord, I know that you love me. It's not I love you, so do this for me. Isn't that how we usually do love in our world? It's this back and forth of because I love you, you're going to do this, and because you love me, you're going to do this. It's this back and forth. But here we see you love him. I'm gonna trust whatever's gonna happen into your hands here. I'm just gonna trust you. Verse four, Jesus hears this. Look what it says when Jesus heard it. And it wasn't a whole novel that they wrote to Jesus. It wasn't. I don't know if they had to pay for letters or something, you know, like we pay for minutes or something, or texting well that we used to.
[00:12:42] But here we see it was just a short message. Jesus heard it and says this.
[00:12:48] This illness does not lead to death. Or some of your Bibles might say, this will not end in or is not meant for death. It is for the. And this is the key part, really, this whole story. It is for the what?
[00:13:03] The glory of God. So that the Son of God may be glorified or lifted up or made known or be magnified through this situation. Lazarus would have been, by the way, even to the point from the way we read this story. By the time Jesus got the message that Lazarus was sick, he would have been dead already.
[00:13:27] And then Jesus says something like this, which should grab our attention. What are you talking about? It doesn't lead to death. Not only is he dead already, but he's going to die from whatever this sickness is. This doesn't make sense. But really what he's saying here is we see in the original language as well, and depending on what version you're reading is this is not. This does not end in or is not meant for death. That is the conclusion of his life. We learn a key point here from Jesus. There can be a purpose in death. You can write that in if you'd like, in point 1. There can be a purpose in death. This is not the first time Jesus says this. Whatever problem is, is for God's glory. If you look back in your Bibles to chapter nine, verse three, you don't have to flip there unless you can. But chapter nine, I think is verse three. He looks at the man who was born blind. And he and his disciples were like Jesus, did this happen because of some sin in his life? And what does Jesus say?
[00:14:30] No, not because of some sin. What does it say here? Jesus answered, it was not for this man's. Not that this man has sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him so that God can be glorified in the midst of this. So right out of the gate in the story, we're invited into this tension, right? Here's the rubber band again. This tension between, wait, isn't death bad?
[00:14:55] But wait a minute. Don't we want God to be glorified? I mean, how many of us have said, God, I want you to be glorified, God, I care about your glory, you to be glorified in my life. And yet, God, I also don't want to experience pain and I don't want to experience grief.
[00:15:10] Why did this Illness come upon Lazarus so that, as we see here, God could be glorified, not because of some other thing. Lazarus didn't wash his hands. He got some infection. We don't know what the reason was. And so imagine the messenger who has been sent in great urgency to Jesus. Go find Jesus. Go find Jesus. He finally gets to Jesus. He runs up to him. He's probably exhausted Jesus. And he reads the letter, right, from Mary and Martha. The man whom you love is ill. And then Jesus says, this is not going to lead to what?
[00:15:47] And the man probably takes a sigh of relief. Oh, good. Jesus says, he's not going to die. Now imagine his surprise when he gets back home, right? Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense.
[00:16:02] What was Jesus saying there? The conclusion of Lazarus life is not right. Now, the closing of the book can bring great grief.
[00:16:13] And it can also be, as we see in this point, can be a great.
[00:16:18] Do any of you know that to be true in the moments of this happening? It doesn't feel like a gift, though. But it can be.
[00:16:27] Some of you maybe even think about your own life. If this person hadn't died, then this wouldn't have happened. Can you think about that for someone in your life, some story in your life that can be really hard to think about. In the moment, you're thinking, God, how on earth could this possibly be good? And then later on, we look back and say, oh, if I hadn't gone through that, this other thing wouldn't have happened. Jesus sees the big picture, the whole story. We are walking through moments of it. We're flipping a page at a time going, I don't see how this can be good. And Jesus is like, oh, you don't know the end of the chapter. You don't know what's coming. Trust me. So now verse five. Now, Jesus loved that word there. Different, not philo, Agapeo is the word there. This deep love of God, this enduring love beyond just friendship. Jesus loved. Look what it says in verse five. Martha and her sister, that is Mary and Lazarus. It wasn't that Jesus didn't care about these people. So very strange connecting word here. So. Or therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed. What? How many of you do that? Like someone's like, hey, I need your help. And you're like, I really care about you. I love you. I'm not going to help.
[00:17:43] That's such a strange thing to read here. So therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed there. How long? How much longer? Two days longer. In the place that he was.
[00:17:58] This delay here that we see is out of love, not punishment.
[00:18:03] Friends. Jesus delays out of love both then here and now. God, why did you wait? Can be our question oftentimes. And his response is not because I don't love you, but rather, I love you and I need you to wait.
[00:18:27] Jesus prolonged the grief of Mary and Martha. Imagine, even if Lazarus did die and he rushed back and brought Lazarus back to life, he would have shortened the amount of grief that Mary and Martha and those around them would have experienced. But he doesn't do that, does he? By waiting longer, he actually prolongs the amount of time they are grieving. Doesn't this seem backwards?
[00:18:52] It seems so strange, especially because we view Jesus as he loves me. He's going to make my life better, right? But here we see something very different. He lets them sit in this. Now we know, because we know the whole story, what's going to happen, don't we? But for them, in the moment, it is so hard. Oftentimes we say or we think, or maybe we just believe things like, if God loved me, he wouldn't let blank happen.
[00:19:21] This might have been exactly what Mary and Martha were thinking at the moment.
[00:19:26] If Jesus loved us like we love him, he would not let this happen. Right? God is sovereign, so this doesn't have to happen. So why would he let this occur? Maybe write this down somewhere.
[00:19:38] We have a tendency to. I'll say it twice, but we have a tendency to interpret God's love for us through our circumstances, rather than interpreting our circumstances through the love of God. We have a tendency to interpret the love of God through our circumstances, rather than interpreting our circumstances through the love of God. Look at what I'm going through now. I will consider if God loves me rather than I know God loves me. Now let me look with different eyes at the surface circumstance that I am walking through. So Jesus stays in this place for two more days. And his disciples, we're going to see in just a moment are actually pretty happy about this.
[00:20:25] One, they know their friend Lazarus is not going to die, from what they understand. And secondly, there was a reason they left. If you look back in chapter 10, there was a reason they left Jerusalem because people were trying to what, kill Jesus? Kill them? Arrest them? There was a lot of opposition going on just moments before. Let's look together in verse seven and following seven through ten, what you can write down here is this about death? Jesus has no fear of death. Jesus has no fear of death. Then after he said these things, to his disciples, he said, let's. Okay, so imagine, hold on, it's been two days, right? The messenger came.
[00:21:01] This sickness is not going to end in death. Disciples are like, whew, we're not going to have to go back. Two days later he says, let's go back to Judea. And his disciples very, very quickly jump in and say, Rabbi, they say this very respectfully. So it's posed as a question, not as a statement. You can't go back there. But, Rabbi, the Jews are trying to. Were just trying to stone you, are seeking to stone you. And you would like to go back there again.
[00:21:30] This doesn't make sense. Are we on the same page? And then Jesus reply seems somewhat unique. Look what he says.
[00:21:39] Jesus answered verse 9. Are there not 12 hours in a day?
[00:21:43] And the way that the Jewish in this time that they break up the day is 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. Obviously, with the way the sun works, some of that is not exactly on the 12 hours like our life today. If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world. But verse 10, if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not him. What he's saying here is this. We can get into some of the great details. This proverb of what he's saying is this, is there is a time for everything. If you are walking in the light in the daytime, you're going to be fine. There's nothing you can do to change when it's going to be light or darkness. The day is here, the day is here. There's nothing you can do to affect that. And you're probably not going to stumble and fall because it's daytime rather than at night time. When it's dark, you're probably gonna stumble and fall or get injury. Jesus is paralleling this with his life. There is a time that God has set for him, for ministry. Remember, over and over, when they try to arrest him or stone him and kill him. And we see that John says, it is not his hour, it's not his time. What are we saying here? Exactly what Jesus is saying. It's not time for me to die. The daylight of my ministry is still going on right now. It is not time for me to step into the place of darkness, if you will, where pain is going to come upon me and I'm going to endure the cross. That time is getting very close. So here's what Jesus is telling them. You don't have to worry about it until it's time for me to die. I'm not going to die. That's not what you and I need to worry about. Jesus has no fear of death. Now, obviously, you and I might say, of course he doesn't. He knows the future, right? Why on earth would he be afraid of it? But here's what's comforting for you and I.
[00:23:29] God knows when you're going to take your last breath.
[00:23:33] And your last breath is not going to come. One breath too soon.
[00:23:38] There is no way you are going to die without God saying, now's the time.
[00:23:43] And so you and I don't have to live in that place of fear of death. Because when God says, all right, I want you to stop taking breath, it's time for you to come home, that's going to happen. And no matter how much you run, no matter how well you eat, no matter how much you do to try to keep yourself healthy, there is nothing that you're going to do to add one more day to your life or take away one day than from what God was already expecting and planning. He knows the future. And you and I can find great rest in that. We don't, as Jesus, we don't have to have fear of death. Now, obviously, some of us are like, I'm not afraid of death particularly, but the dying process, I'm kind of concerned about that. I understand.
[00:24:23] I'm with you there. I'm with you there.
[00:24:26] Let's look a little bit further on in the story. So what else can we learn about death? Death according to Jesus, death is not the end. You can write that down in point three. Death is not the end. Look at verses 11 through 15. The first part of 15 after saying these things. So his disciples are listening. Jesus is like, all right, we're going to go back. I'd like to go back. They're thinking, jesus, I really don't think this is a good idea.
[00:24:50] Why would we need to go back? Verse 11 after saying these things, he said to them, our friend. So this is not just a friend of Jesus, but a friend of the other disciples. Our friend Lazarus has what, Fallen asleep. Now, how many of you know it's good to sleep when you're sick?
[00:25:07] Did you know they knew that too, 2,000 years ago. They were like, sleep. This is really good. You are sick. Go to bed, rest. This is great. This is how you get better. This is not a new discovery. And Jesus says, but I'm going to go awaken him.
[00:25:23] You know, bringing somebody back from the dead is just as hard for Jesus as it is for us to wake up somebody from sleeping.
[00:25:30] Like, for some, like, hey, it's time to wake up and they're awake. Jesus raising somebody from the dead. That's how much work it takes. Hey, time to get up. That's exactly what we see here as well. That's the power that Jesus possesses. He says, I'm going to go awaken him. And the disciples now are even more confused. Verse 12. The disciples said to him, lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. This is great. We obviously still don't need to go back to Judea.
[00:25:57] Verse 13. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest in his sleep. John just like, inserts that for us to clarify. Verse 14. Now, Jesus told them what plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there. Why? Why was he glad?
[00:26:22] So that you may believe.
[00:26:26] We're reminded here that death, for us today, for them here, death is not the end of the line. It's the changing of tracks. Death is not the close of a book. It's the opening of a new one. So for us today, in the world that we live in, just pause from the story of Lazarus, the story, the life that we are in, we think, oh, death is the end. No, it's not. We've shifted from being in the flesh to being as believers with the Lord. It's not the close of a book, it's the opening of a new one. It's not the close of a door, it's the entrance into a new room.
[00:27:03] Unfortunately, though, there's this pervasive belief in the world that we live in, that when somebody dies, it's just the end. And it doesn't matter what happens after that. Jesus doesn't believe that. Jesus believes that what happens after death really does matter. And it should matter to you and I, right?
[00:27:22] So he says, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna awaken him. There is something greater that's gonna come out of this. Point four, in your outline before we go to scene two, is this death is a reality that all face. So he's like, we're gonna go. And his disciples are listening in here to him, saying, we are gonna go. And we see them. They don't say, no, Jesus, we're not gonna go with you. No, Jesus, that's a bad idea. Let's argue about this. Let's debate back and forth. There's no real good reason for you to go back. We don't see that at all. They come to the realization that death is a reality that we all face. And so for them, they think, all right, well, if it is our time, then it is our time.
[00:28:01] Now look what it says, verse 15.
[00:28:03] But let us go to him now. Then we see somebody speaking up in verse 16. So who was it that spoke up?
[00:28:13] Thomas called the.
[00:28:15] Called the twin, or Didymus, as it might, as some of your versions might say is the twin said to his fellow disciples, let us.
[00:28:24] This is also, by the way, the same person we say, doubting Thomas from later on. Let us go. That we may what, die with him. Isn't that so sad, man? Jesus is talking to them. He's like, let's go. And then he looks maybe over at the others like, all right, guys, let's go. We're going to go die with him. Like, they're so pessimistic about what's about to happen. Not, you know, Jesus has evaded death so far. Maybe he'll do it again. He doesn't say that. He's like, maybe the Jews just won't know we're coming if we just stay out of the city. He doesn't say that either. He walks in and says, oh, let's. We're gonna go die. That's gonna be. That's gonna be it. I heard one guy talking about doubting Thomas. He said, you know, if he was here today and he lived somewhere in the US he would probably live in Missouri.
[00:29:15] Missouri.
[00:29:17] And what I also think is interesting is the state of Missouri is also the show me state, which is. So that's. Remember, later on, he's like, I'm not gonna believe unless I see. So anyway, just something interesting to think about. Thomas, the show me state. Missouri. Missouri. Anyway, you can connect all of those things together. Thomas, though, also, he gets a bad rap. Doubting Thomas, he gets a bad rap. But here we see something about Thomas that I think we can be encouraged by, maybe shift away from the bad rap that he always gets. Two things about Thomas that I think we can be encouraged by is he says what he's thinking. Doesn't try to sound all spiritual or not say anything when he doesn't understand. Think about John 14, thinking ahead. John 14. 6. Jesus says, I'm gonna go to my Father's house. I'm gonna prepare rooms and you're gonna come to be with me. And I just imagine all the disciples going, yeah, sounds good. Sounds good. Father's house. Like you could flip ahead. In John 14, he's speaking about this and he says, you know, the place that I am going. And the disciples are probably like, yeah, sounds good. And then who's the person that speaks up and says, I don't know where you're going? Thomas. Thomas is the guy who speaks when everyone else is thinking what everyone else is thinking. And then Thomas says in verse 5 of John 14, he says, Lord, we have no idea where you're going. Can you just tell us? So the first thing about Thomas that I appreciate is he says what he's thinking.
[00:30:34] He doesn't need to hide behind this spiritual veil and act like he knows what's going on when he has no idea what's going on. We should learn from him there. If you don't know, just say, I don't know. The second thing that we glean from him today is this. There was a significant level of courage, strength, love and devotion that he had for Jesus.
[00:30:55] He said, not good luck Jesus, but he said, hey brothers, let's go with him. I'm willing to die with him. He believed what all of us need to believe. It's time to take up our cross and follow Jesus. And when the time comes for Jesus to die, I'm willing to go with him, even if it means laying down my life for Jesus. Thomas, he was bold here. He was courageous. Hey brothers, let's go. That we can die with him. Let's close the curtain here on scene one with just a quote from Charles Spurgeon. Listen to this.
[00:31:33] Considering death in the eyes of Jesus.
[00:31:36] Those that believe in Jesus appear to die. Yet they live.
[00:31:42] They are not in the grave. They are forever with the Lord. They are not unconscious. They are with the Lord in paradise. Death cannot kill a believer. It can only usher him into a freer form of life.
[00:31:57] So we kind of close the curtain there on scene one and we shift over to scene two here. And we see that Jesus now begins the journey to bring life to somebody who was dead. If you look in your Bibles, verses 17 through 27, we'll move right through this. There's some incredible lessons that we have to see here. Jesus now, right? So it takes from Bethany, near Jerusalem, Jesus is at the Bethany, beyond the beyond the Jordan. It's about how long of a journey? A day's journey. So we already had this guy go over for one day. Jesus stays for how many days? Two days here. And he says, now it's time for me to go back. So he goes back. That's how long of a journey? A one day journey. So one plus two plus another one is four days. So Jesus Shows up now, he starts this journey back. And probably the disciples are like, I don't know what's going to happen. I hope no one finds us there. I hope no one tells them that Jesus is coming. Look, verse 17. Now, when Jesus came, he arrived now here at this Bethany near Jerusalem, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for how long?
[00:33:06] Four days. It's important that you know this, that unlike some other cultures, they did not embalm bodies when they died to prolong the time that the funeral would happen or the burial would happen or to preserve the body. There was none of that happening.
[00:33:24] They let the body decay as fast as it was going to decay. So the day that somebody died was the day that they got buried. So because of that, we know that later on, if you know the end of the story, you know that that's why they're like, Jesus, we probably shouldn't open that tomb because it's probably not going to be wonderful. We'll get to that next week. So Jesus now has missed the day, Missed, missed the right time, if you will, by four days. Here's the point. You could write in Jesus timing often doesn't match our timing. How many of you know that that's true? Jesus timing does not match our timing. If Mary and Martha and maybe even Lazarus could pick when Jesus arrived, they would have said, hey, Jesus, if you arrive four days after I die, that is late, very, very late. And Jesus would have been like, no, actually that's the right timing. Jesus timing often doesn't match ours. There's something else that's important considering the tradition of something they believed in. Their tradition is this. After they believed that the spirit of a person would dwell over the body or with the body of someone who has died for three days. So after, for that amount of time, so possibly they might come back, they might be resuscitated. And if that happens, the spirit is right there. So anyway, there might be some level of hope, if you will. But after three days, the spirit, they believed the spirit of this person would leave the body and go elsewhere. We don't need to talk about the details of that at the moment. So Jesus, has he arrived within that three day window? No. So another layer of hopelessness has now set in over the sisters and the friends and the family. Jesus has raised other people from the dead, but it was all within the day that they died. Jairus daughter, the widow from Nain, those were all the day that they died. Jesus brought them back. Now it's been four days. So Was Jesus late? It depends on what the goal was. Was he late in getting to Lazarus before he died? Yes. Was he too late in showing the power of God in a way that had never been done before? No. He was right on time.
[00:35:32] He was right on time. We go on in verse 18.2, you could write this in Jesus. Here's the lesson here. Jesus might fail to meet your expectations.
[00:35:42] Jesus might fail to meet your expectations.
[00:35:45] Bethany was near Jerusalem. We've already talked about this, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, most likely pretty prominent people based on the fact that many are coming to console them concerning their brother. They also seem to be two single ladies. In Lazarus, we don't hear about his wife. So three siblings that are all single living together.
[00:36:06] Verse 20. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained in the house. Mary said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
[00:36:25] Imagine the disappointment in her voice, the sadness, maybe her voice, the thought that maybe if Jesus, okay, Lazarus died. But hey, it's okay. He's brought somebody back after day one of the day, the first day they died. But then day two comes and day three comes and any expectation that she might have had of Jesus coming and helping her was gone. And now Jesus shows up and her thought isn't, hey, can we go over to the grave together? Because you could just bring him back, right? But if you had come, he wouldn't have died. I wouldn't have had to walk through this. Grief, this feeling of disappointment has been felt by many Christians and non Christians too, right? People of all ages, especially when we have major loss or Jesus doesn't come through for us in the way that we want him to, we believe that he can make it better, and we know that he can. And then we're sad that he doesn't. We even expect him at times to make it better. I might pray over and over, God, make this better, or heal this person, or make this problem go away. Make the cancer stop, make the sickness go away. And over and over again, we can see that sometimes he just doesn't meet the expectations that we have.
[00:37:40] Here's a truth to write down before we look at point three. It's this. Jesus might fail to meet our expectations, but he'll never fail on any of his promises.
[00:37:52] We can have high expectations based on our own desires, but when we look at the promises of God's Word, he will never fail. Amen.
[00:38:04] Never fail.
[00:38:06] And we see here that Martha demonstrates in the next verse a level of hope that it should inspire us and remind us that Jesus does. In the midst of our frustrations, sometimes about our circumstances, Jesus deserves our hope. Look at verse 22 in your Bibles. You can write this in on point three in your outline. Jesus deserves our hope.
[00:38:33] But even now, this is Martha speaking. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will what give you. This verse is so powerful. In the midst of her grief. I mean, just imagine, right? It's scene two. This is all going on. He's finally showed up. They're away from their house a bit. Jesus and Martha are having this dialogue. The disciples are probably standing right there nearby. In the midst of the grief that she's walking through the disappointment and dealing with all the people around her that have been offering her platitudes about why her brother just died, she still shows her hope in Jesus power. And as you probably see there, his relationship with the Father, it's not, oh, did God not hear you? That's not what she said. Oh, do you not actually love us? Is that why this happens? That's also not what she said. She doesn't ask, why did this happen? I assume that God just didn't answer your prayer. She doesn't say, jesus, I just need space from you. Isn't that something that sometimes we do when we're hurt? I just need space from you. You could have made it better. I just need space. She doesn't say that to Jesus either. She's willing to run to him and lean into the situation, even knowing that he could have done something to save her the grief that she walked her, walked through Jesus. She shows hope in Jesus identity, but she doesn't say or seemingly even think that Jesus would raise Lazarus. She doesn't say, jesus, it's been four days. I think you could still do it. I think you could still do it.
[00:40:10] In the midst of. For us today, before we look at point four, in the midst of great hopelessness that we might experience in our life, we must, friends, must keep having hope that God will work in the midst of our brokenness and our pain.
[00:40:28] Hoping in Christ is what keeps us moving on. The words that you see there from verse 22, those three words. But even now, maybe write that down somewhere and maybe hold tightly to it for you for a time that you're struggling. But even now, all of those things are true. But even now, I will remain steadfast in my relationship with Jesus. Point four, we see here as we kind of come to the close, before the curtain closes on scene two, just notice the detailing of what happens here. Verse 23. You can write this in point four. It's on the screen. Jesus promises life to believers. Now, we know this to be true. We sing about this, we talk about this. This is key, key point in our faith and trust in Jesus that he's going to bring us life. And Jesus promises that, right, I will give you eternal life. We know this to be true. This is an expectation we can have of Jesus that we know we will not fail because it's a promise that he makes. So here we see Jesus makes her a promise and his promise is true. Yes, for her, more so than she knows, actually, and for us as well. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. She's probably used to listening to Jesus and going, yes, yes, Jesus, I know he will rise again. And the Pharisees also taught in a resurrection that would come as well. That was one of the points of difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is the Sadducees taught there was no resurrection. The Pharisees taught there was resurrection. So she obviously sighs with the Pharisee side of things. Yes, yes, I know there will be resurrection in the. When?
[00:42:09] In the last day. You can go to the next slide. In the last day, at the end, when time comes to an end for us in the last day, yes, there'll be a resurrection.
[00:42:20] But Jesus said to her, here's the fifth I am statement.
[00:42:24] I am the what?
[00:42:27] The resurrection and the life. Not because of me, there is resurrection and life, but rather that's who I am. And then he tells us a promise that he said over and over again. Whoever believes in me, though he what die, even though death is going to happen, for those who believe in me, he shall yet live.
[00:42:51] What an incredible promise. And everyone, this is not particular people, only the people that look like this or have done this or go to this kind of church or sing these kinds of songs or a part of this denomination or that denomination. Whoever or everyone who lives and believes in me shall what? Never die. This is a promise of Jesus that he makes. And then he asks this incredibly powerful question that we all have to ask ourselves as well. Do you believe this?
[00:43:25] Jesus boldly challenges Martha to trust that not just because of him, somebody might be able to experience life, but he tells her this. I am the source of life.
[00:43:36] That's me. You want to experience life? Come, run.
[00:43:41] And he tells all of us the same thing as well. Resurrection is a person that happens to someone, not an event that will happen one day. You and I, we're dead in our sin. What's the way that we come to life is by having a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the way we experience life. Jesus question to Martha is one that we ask, we have to ask, and it's worth asking to all people here today and everywhere. Do you believe that there is true life in the name of Jesus and only the name of Jesus?
[00:44:16] Is it Jesus plus something else?
[00:44:20] Is it Jesus plus my works? Is it Jesus minus the sin that I've already done, which then fails me and means that I can't actually experience a relationship with him? Is the life that Jesus wants me to have? Is it only and always way out in the distance? So now we just kind of trudge through the messiness of this world, hoping that one day we're going to die and go to heaven. That's not the life he's asking us to live.
[00:44:47] He's saying, experience abundant life. Now, the way that that happens is by being in union, in relationship with me. And so that even in the world that is broken, you can experience and that's the promise of life that he tells you and I today. Now, Martha replies to this, to kind of close out this scene.
[00:45:12] And she says in verse 27, this yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. What a closure, right? This is the point of why John writes his entire gospel. If you look in your Bibles, at the tail end of John, John says in chapter 2031, he says, these are written that you may what believe. That's the point of it all, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that's exactly what she says. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. The entire purpose of John writing this is for people to realize Jesus is the Christ. And notice she believed this before the resurrection occurred.
[00:46:00] She had what we call faith.
[00:46:03] I believe, even though I have yet to see this, in the culmination of everything that he says is going to be. It's the same thing for us to say, I believe that he's coming again. Is that faith? Yes, because has he come again? Not yet. So we have faith in Jesus promises. I'm going to close with this question. Just one question for all of us here today.
[00:46:30] I want you to pause. Just kind of think through all the things that we've walked through these various points as we think about this whole theme.
[00:46:40] Here's the question are you willing, in the midst of whatever hardship might be going on, to pause and look ahead and trust that Jesus wants the end to be wonderful?
[00:46:56] And I don't know what that looks like.
[00:46:59] You don't know what that looks like. But are we willing to pause and say, but even now, I'm going to do what you've asked me to do.
[00:47:09] But even now, in the midst of my grief or hardship or whatever that is, I'm willing to trust you because your glory matters to me too.
[00:47:19] I know it matters to you, and it matters to me too. And I'm gonna find strength to keep going because I trust in your promises and maybe a quick to do if you're struggling in the midst of that, or maybe you're like, that's not me right now.
[00:47:36] Stick tightly to what the promises of the Word of God say. Read through it over and over again and remind yourself of his promises. Because hard stuff comes, doesn't it?
[00:47:46] And it's important for us all to know what Jesus has promised us, because that is something that we can hold tightly to. He will not fail on his promises. Let's pray together.
[00:48:00] Dear Jesus, we know for a fact that you are a good God.
[00:48:05] Even in the midst of hardship, even in the midst of a story like this, that we read through and we see people who are struggling, people who are not having a great day, you say, this is not the end, this is not the close, but rather there will be rejoicing.
[00:48:22] Help us to see that you desire our hearts to walk in line with you. If there's things going on that we can trust, entrust those things to you.
[00:48:33] Believe that your spirit inside of us will strengthen us and push us onward in the midst of the tension between the present, where we are today, and the future glory that you desire. Lord, we know that you are a sovereign God in control of all of those things and that we can rejoice in that we can rejoice in the midst of trials, in the midst of hardship. We find joy knowing that our eternity is held tightly in your hands and our souls today will never be released by you but your loving grasp.
[00:49:10] In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:49:13] I have this rubber band still.
[00:49:15] Some of us, some of you maybe are thinking, all right, I know that he loves me. I know this is good. I know these things to be true, that God wants the best for me. I know that he wants me to be in relationship with him. And I know that I want to do more life as well. I know that I should believe in Jesus, but I'm just not sure if I'm ready to make that decision because there's still a lot of good life that I'd like to have by myself. And then there's a side of like, but I don't know when my last breath will happen. So maybe I should trust in Jesus. Maybe you're feeling that tension between I want to do life my way and I want to do life Jesus way. And I would submit to you today and call you truly today to do this. To be willing to let go of the other side and trust your life with him. Don't live in the tension any longer of should I trust Jesus with my life or should I not trust Jesus with my life? That tension is not one that you need to sit in any longer. He wants to hold you and I closely and we can entrust ourselves to him. We're gonna stand and sing a closing song as we do. There's a couple people in the back who'd love to pray with you if you'd like to pray with them. Pastor Les, William me here, and I'll be up here as well. Let's stand and sing and give glory to our Father in Heaven.
