Finding Help From Jesus (John 11:1-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:06.599 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's turn to John Eleven. John 2 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:12.750 Eleven, we're going to be in this chapter for a few weeks. On 3 00:00:12.910 --> 00:00:19.870 this morning I'm going to read verses one through five. Now a certain man 4 00:00:20.190 --> 00:00:24.980 was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 5 00:00:25.820 --> 00:00:29.940 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with 6 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:35.259 her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, 7 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:40.170 saying, Lord Him, he whom you love, is ill. But 8 00:00:40.329 --> 00:00:43.929 when Jesus heard it, he said this illness does not lead to death. 9 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:48.570 It is for the glory of God, so that the son of God may 10 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:54.799 be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus 11 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:03.709 he may be seated. So this story about Lazarus is going to be another 12 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:10.109 one of those amazing stories in the gospel of John. We've heard about his 13 00:01:10.390 --> 00:01:15.549 healing of the paralytic. I've heard about Jesus's healing of the blind man in 14 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:23.299 chapter nine, and now with Lazarus, he is going to cause a dead 15 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:33.609 man to come to life. This is going to be the last of these 16 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:42.370 miracles before we come to the crucifixion and eventually the Resurrection of Christ. In 17 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:48.400 some ways, as one commentator put it, this story about Lazarus is sort 18 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:53.200 of a mini gospel of John. All Right, here Jesus will later say 19 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:59.760 I am the Resurrection Right, whoever believes in me, I will have life. 20 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.150 He says to one of the sisters, to Martha, says, do 21 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:08.150 you believe? Right? This is a this is the great question of John, 22 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:13.590 of the gospel of John. It's the great question that all of the 23 00:02:13.750 --> 00:02:17.740 scriptures demand as we encounter Jesus, the resurrection in life, this one. 24 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:24.939 Who can call dead men out of their graves? Do you believe? And 25 00:02:25.139 --> 00:02:31.889 if you believe, you will have the resurrection, you will have Christ himself. 26 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:38.729 Let me start by just reminding you a little bit of this story, 27 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:42.370 because I didn't read the whole thing and perhaps some of you are unfamiliar with 28 00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:47.439 it. You've got this group of siblings, right, most of us here 29 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.479 have siblings. You have brothers and sisters. There's a set of brother there's 30 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.550 a brother and sister set here, Mary and Martha, sisters and their brother, 31 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:07.110 Lazarus, and we read that Jesus knows them and loves them verse five. 32 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:10.949 Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, which is Mary, and 33 00:03:12.229 --> 00:03:15.180 Lazarus. They're all from this town called deathany. That's not the name of 34 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:20.099 another person in the story, that's the name of the town where they're from. 35 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:23.259 So you have Lazarus, and you've married and you have Martha. They're 36 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:30.330 all from this town of Bethany. But something bad has happened. Lazarus, 37 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:37.009 the they are brother Mary and Martha's brother, has become very ill and in 38 00:03:37.169 --> 00:03:45.520 fact he becomes so ill that he dies. He dies, and this one, 39 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:51.919 this is one that John Describes. Lazarus, is one whom Jesus loved 40 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:57.990 and Jeed's later we will read that when Jesus hears of the news of his 41 00:03:58.229 --> 00:04:09.949 death, he weeps. So Lazarus dies. Jesus doesn't come before he dies, 42 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:14.740 he comes after he dies. In fact, the scriptures tell us that 43 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:18.500 he's been dead for four days and one of the sisters even worries a little 44 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:24.329 bit when Jesus wants to go to the tomb where Lazarus has been that it's 45 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:30.529 going to smell really bad. If you've ever smelled something that has been dying 46 00:04:30.610 --> 00:04:34.449 or a decaying, you know that's not a pleasant smell. It's a smell 47 00:04:34.569 --> 00:04:43.160 that tells us stay away, move back right, whether that's an animal, 48 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.600 perhaps it's died, or even something in your fridge that maybe as a putrifying 49 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.110 you get rid of these things, right. We remove them from ourselves. 50 00:04:53.189 --> 00:04:56.870 We don't come close to them. But that's what Jesus wants to do. 51 00:04:56.990 --> 00:05:02.870 He wants to come close to death that he might call Lazarus out of death. 52 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:05.589 And that's what he does. He says, Lazarus, come out of 53 00:05:05.629 --> 00:05:11.300 your tomb, and Lazarus, who'd been dead for four days and was really 54 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:18.100 stinky, comes out of his tomb with the linen cloths actually wrapped around him. 55 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:23.689 is even his face seems to be covered. He comes out of his 56 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:27.970 tomb, maybe looking kind of like a mummy, except he's not the living 57 00:05:28.129 --> 00:05:33.209 dead, he's living. Lazarus isn't a Zombie sort of half dead, half 58 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:41.199 alive. He's alive. Have you ever had an animal, a cat or 59 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:46.160 a dog, die and wanted so badly for them to be alive again? 60 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:54.629 Or maybe, even more seriously, of a friend or a parent or a 61 00:05:54.829 --> 00:06:00.189 sibling? Mary and Martha I lost their brother. Can you imagine losing a 62 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:04.779 brother or sister, some of you have, and how badly that you would 63 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:09.660 want that person to live again, to be able to talk to them again, 64 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:13.259 to be able to see them again, that the power of death would 65 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:17.379 not remain, that power that is so strong to be able to simply say 66 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:21.569 get up and, almost as if they were sleeping, they just get up. 67 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:30.170 Of course, that never happens. It never happens. So we bury 68 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:35.839 our dead, and that's what Mary and Martha did, except in the case 69 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:42.920 of Lazarus, he did get up. He did after four days, after 70 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:49.629 coming and becoming smelly. When Jesus says come out, he comes out. 71 00:06:53.230 --> 00:06:59.790 Amazing. Now this and we're going to think about all of these things. 72 00:06:59.870 --> 00:07:01.939 I just want to remind you of the story here at beginning. This results 73 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:08.259 in interesting things, as is usually happens with Jesus, there's two reactions. 74 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:15.459 One reaction is a group of people who believe in Jesus, who say this 75 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:21.050 is amazing. I'm going to stake my life on this person, everything about 76 00:07:21.290 --> 00:07:28.089 me is going to be dependent upon him because, well, look at him, 77 00:07:28.569 --> 00:07:31.399 look what he's doing. He's causing dead people to raise from the dead. 78 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.120 I don't want to die. He's saying that up. I believe in 79 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:42.680 him. I too will never die. So that's one group of people. 80 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.470 They believe in him. The other group of people are so threatened by his 81 00:07:46.790 --> 00:07:53.709 power that, instead of seeking his favor and seeking that his power would be 82 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:58.939 used to benefit them, they try to attack him, arrest him, and 83 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:05.259 eventually they do and they kill him. Kind of an ironic and foolish thing, 84 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:09.379 you might laugh and scoff out a little bit. To try to kill 85 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:13.810 someone who just cause someone to rise from the dead seems a little bit like 86 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:20.170 a fool's errand and indeed it was right, because Jesus didn't stay dead, 87 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.889 he rose from the dead. Unsurprisingly, at least it shouldn't be, but 88 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:30.920 of course we all remember how much sin and blinds us, how much Hay 89 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:37.679 and anger and pride consume us. Yet another reason why we need to go 90 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:46.870 to Jesus when he's offering US forgiveness and life. So with the gospel of 91 00:08:46.950 --> 00:08:52.629 John Here and the Gospel itself and Jesus and in our minds as we see 92 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:56.460 him through these actions, in this resurrection of last risk by the name and 93 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:05.659 by the way, a name that means God helped one who God helps Lazarus. 94 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:11.970 Let's think about these first few verses. What it means to go to 95 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:18.730 the Lord, what it means to go to Jesus and looking for help. 96 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:31.720 Mary and Martha are in a bad place. They are scared, vulnerable, 97 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:39.309 hurting, sorrowful. Their brother, whom they love, who Jesus loves, 98 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:46.429 he's sick and he's dying. I know that some of you right now have 99 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:54.179 friends and family members that you're worried about, that are sick, that are 100 00:09:54.220 --> 00:10:00.220 dying. Perhaps you yourself have things going on in your body that you don't 101 00:10:00.259 --> 00:10:11.090 understand and you feel vulnerable to you feel the weight of your own mortality and 102 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:18.210 you are trying doctors and you're trying different therapies and your various protocols and trying 103 00:10:18.250 --> 00:10:22.639 to know what things better. But it's the scary situation. You wonder about 104 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:26.320 the future. What's this going to look like a month from now, two 105 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:33.159 months from now, a year from now? This is how Mary and Martham, 106 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.750 of course, Lazarus are feeling when they come to Jesus. It seems 107 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:43.509 that they probably didn't come directly to him, because in verse three it says 108 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:48.470 the sisters sent to him on there, probably staying with Lazarus and they send 109 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:52.379 messengers to Jesus. I'm saying, Lord, Him Whom you love, is 110 00:10:52.659 --> 00:11:00.179 ill. We find ourselves, not just in terms of our bodies, but 111 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:03.610 in all kinds of different life situations, in places like this, in very 112 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:11.210 difficult spots where we feel hurt, when we feel scared, not knowing what 113 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:22.200 to do. There is an orderliness to the world right. Proverbs talks about 114 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:28.399 this. There are a way in which a typically leads to be cause and 115 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.950 effect. You work hard, you tend to make money, you live your 116 00:11:33.029 --> 00:11:37.029 life honorably, you tend to have honor, these kinds of things. But 117 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:43.190 we also know that after proverbs comes ecclesiastes and that life under the sun is 118 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:48.100 not always a to be cause and effect in the way that, at least 119 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:54.940 we would like it to seem, that there's vanity to things, that you 120 00:11:54.019 --> 00:12:01.019 can work really, really hard and turn up short, that you can take 121 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:05.330 care of your body and get exercise and sleep and do all the right things 122 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:11.929 and then get a disease. This kind of world, these kind of unexpected 123 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:18.480 things, often turn us on inside out. They put us in these spots 124 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:22.000 where we don't know what to do. Relationships to write we invest in friendships, 125 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.440 we invest in organizations, we we get tied up in them and then 126 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.549 they turn out not to be what we had hoped. Friends turn on us, 127 00:12:31.669 --> 00:12:35.710 family members leave us, death happens, all kinds of things. This 128 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:41.750 is life under the Sun. There is an orderliness to it, but at 129 00:12:41.789 --> 00:12:46.700 the same time it's crazy, it's whacky, it doesn't always make sense and 130 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:52.980 we go often find ourselves in spots like Mary and Martha Do. What do 131 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:56.740 we do when we feel the weight of that? What do you do? 132 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:09.970 Do you turn to food or will power or drugs or other things? Where 133 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:13.639 do you turn? Where do you turn for help when you feel backed into 134 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.559 a corner, when you don't know what to do, when you're anxious and 135 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:26.200 you're depressed and you are lonely and you're suffering? What scripture is calling us 136 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.830 to do? What Mary and Martha so rightly do, is they go to 137 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:35.789 Jesus and they say, Lord, he whom you love, is ill. 138 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:48.379 And what does Jesus do? Does he rebuke them? Say Why do you 139 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:52.340 bother with me with these things? I've got better things to do? Does 140 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:56.409 he say, why do you think I love you? You despicable creatures? 141 00:13:56.450 --> 00:14:01.649 Are always disobeying and singing against me. Does Jesus turn them away? Does 142 00:14:01.730 --> 00:14:07.330 Jesus know? Over and over again through this passage we are reminded that Jesus 143 00:14:09.129 --> 00:14:13.840 loves them. He loves them and he loves them deeply, and because of 144 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:22.399 that he acts according to this love in good and gracious ways. One of 145 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:26.190 the things that we do, and we ought to do when we find ourselves 146 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:33.710 in these difficult life situations, in these hard places in life, is to 147 00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:41.019 go to Jesus, remembering that he loves us. Jesus isn't just throwing guy 148 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:48.139 out there. He's not some bureaucratic someone up there. He is not a 149 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:54.929 power that we're trying to tap into, an access he's the one of God 150 00:14:54.210 --> 00:15:01.169 who loves you. As we read earlier in Romans Eight, those whom he 151 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:07.320 for knew, he predestined and justified and glorified. That word, for no, 152 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:13.519 doesn't merely mean that he sort of sees into the future. It has 153 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:18.919 a more specific meaning, a kind of choosing in love. It's kind of 154 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:26.190 what Paul says an Ephesians, that in love he predestined us for adoption. 155 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:31.389 He sort of sets his eyes on US and chooses US and saves us, 156 00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:35.470 just as he did with the blind man, just as he did with the 157 00:15:35.590 --> 00:15:39.220 paralyzed man. He sets his eyes on us, he pities us, he 158 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:45.659 loves us, and this is something you must remember. It's something Jesus is 159 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:52.409 reassuring us throughout this passage. He loves you, and you may not believe 160 00:15:52.570 --> 00:15:58.649 that, but it's still true. It's so true, and you can hear 161 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:03.610 it in his words here, and you can hear it in his actions, 162 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:12.159 in his weeping for this lost friend, in his calling him out of a 163 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:19.750 death and his promising that this illness will not lead to death in verse, 164 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:23.509 for it is for the glory of God, so that the son of God 165 00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:30.429 may be glorified through it. I'm going to remind you of several things here 166 00:16:30.549 --> 00:16:34.100 that you ought to sort of in bed, deeply in your in your hearts, 167 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:40.980 as you think about how to go to the Lord and in difficult spots. 168 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:45.940 One is to remember that Jesus loves you. The second is to remember 169 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:52.009 that Jesus is love is not equivalent to your timing. This is something we 170 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:59.129 often get confused about. We think that if Jesus loves us, that he 171 00:16:59.210 --> 00:17:03.080 will do things when we want him to do them, that he will show 172 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:07.039 up when we think he needs to show up, that he will act when 173 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:11.640 we think he needs to act. The thing is is this is almost never 174 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:21.349 true. It almost never works out like we think it should. We think 175 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:26.670 that Jesus needs to do something at a particular time and in a particular way, 176 00:17:29.710 --> 00:17:37.900 but Jesus almost never acts according to the ways that we think. There 177 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:42.779 are many reasons for this. Perhaps the most important one to remember is that 178 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:49.930 he loves us, just as a parent does not always do everything exactly what 179 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:53.250 their children ask, when they ask, Skid and how they ask it, 180 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:59.240 but instead does the thing that's best for them, no matter what, even 181 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.319 if it makes the child upset temporarily, even if the child stamps and says 182 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:11.039 you don't love me, the parent still knows and reassures yes, I love 183 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.869 you and that's why I'm doing these things. Jesus is timing, is not 184 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:21.710 our timing, because he loves us. How great is your timing, you 185 00:18:21.750 --> 00:18:26.750 might ask yourself. How well do you execute all things in your life? 186 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:33.740 How consistent are you and keeping your promises in predicting events, in timing things 187 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:38.940 out, in knowing when a leads to be, leads to see if you 188 00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:45.289 graded yourself, what would you give yourself if perfection was a hundred percent? 189 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:51.609 Thirty, thirty percent, forty percent, if you're generous? We're not very 190 00:18:51.690 --> 00:18:56.319 good at this right. We are not very good predicting events, even our 191 00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.759 own lives. We're not very good at staying consistent with our plans, at 192 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:07.359 timing things out. Partly it's just our human limitations. There's billions of variables 193 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:12.029 that we can't account for. Even people who go to school and get master's 194 00:19:12.069 --> 00:19:19.589 degrees and PhDs to think about forecasting and predicting still know how difficult these things 195 00:19:19.670 --> 00:19:26.059 are. The other part is not just our human limitations, but our sinfulness. 196 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:32.059 Right, we often bake into our predictions and our forecasting in these kinds 197 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:37.220 of things are sinful desires, things that we want that we really shouldn't even 198 00:19:37.259 --> 00:19:44.130 be wanting, gaming for things that shouldn't even be sought for. Praise God 199 00:19:44.329 --> 00:19:48.809 that he doesn't work according to our timing. Praise God that he does things 200 00:19:48.809 --> 00:19:53.599 according to his perfect will and his perfect love and not when we want things 201 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.400 or when we think we need things. But that's so important to remember that 202 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:04.240 God's love that is given to us in Christ does not necessarily equal our timing, 203 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:08.269 because a lot of times, when we find ourselves in these hard situations, 204 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:15.549 we impune God. We we say bad things about him because we think 205 00:20:15.549 --> 00:20:21.859 he's not loving, because we think his timing is bad. Of course that's 206 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:30.059 not true. God is not dependent upon a leads to be kind of world, 207 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:36.690 nor is he subject to of a wackiness and craziness of unpredictable things. 208 00:20:36.970 --> 00:20:42.210 God is operating above and superintending all things. If you want to learn more 209 00:20:42.250 --> 00:20:48.490 about that, come to our essential questions. Class after Church or after worship 210 00:20:48.609 --> 00:20:52.400 this morning, will be thinking about what are the decree is of God? 211 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.880 What does it mean that he determines things according to the counsel of his will? 212 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:03.599 The point here is simply to say that God is sovereign, the God 213 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:07.589 is supreme in all things and that God, as he is supreme, is 214 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:14.829 loving towards his children. He does things for our good and he does things 215 00:21:15.630 --> 00:21:19.019 not according to the principles of this world, even principles and logic that he 216 00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:25.420 is laid out, but he's done things according a most to first and foremost 217 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:32.970 according to his will. So number one is that Jesus loves us. Number 218 00:21:32.970 --> 00:21:37.049 two is that his love does not equal our timing. Number three is that 219 00:21:37.289 --> 00:21:45.609 he hears our prayers. He doesn't rebuff Mary and Martha. Instead, he 220 00:21:45.730 --> 00:21:49.160 does eventually go to them and he answers them according to his goodness and according 221 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:56.359 to his love. He doesn't explain everything, he doesn't give them all the 222 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.440 answers. He never does, even though we do have some here. We 223 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.150 have the benefit of hindsight, right we know what's going to happen at the 224 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:07.190 end of the story. They didn't at the time. All they heard was 225 00:22:07.509 --> 00:22:17.579 this illness does not lead to death. But he died. Lazarus died. 226 00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:23.460 Would that be an easy thing for you to hear? I want you be 227 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:30.009 really honest with yourself. If Jesus himself told you that your brother would not 228 00:22:30.490 --> 00:22:37.769 die and then he died, how would that make you feel? How would 229 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:41.849 you react? Would you hold on to your faith in God? Would you 230 00:22:41.970 --> 00:22:47.680 hold on to his promises? Would you hold on to him as your savior, 231 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:55.000 as the resurrection, as the life? Mary and Martha Do, and 232 00:22:55.119 --> 00:23:00.430 it's amazing. What they remember is that God's ways are not our ways, 233 00:23:00.549 --> 00:23:06.390 that his thoughts are not our thoughts, that his timing is not our timing, 234 00:23:06.750 --> 00:23:11.630 that he's the boss, he's the king, he's the father, and 235 00:23:11.910 --> 00:23:18.420 we are not the even when we don't fully understand what he's saying, we 236 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:23.539 still depend on him. Now, of course, we are able to see 237 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:29.049 how this all works out. Of course he died, but eventually Lazarus would 238 00:23:29.049 --> 00:23:33.490 rise from the dead again, but in a glorified form. Jesus never lied. 239 00:23:34.490 --> 00:23:41.369 Jesus just didn't explain everything. Now we know that. Right from the 240 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:44.599 end, we can explain that. We could tell Mary and Martha, Hey, 241 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.279 this, don't worry about this, but think about it at that moment, 242 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:53.359 what it would have felt like to hear those words and yet put Lazarus 243 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.950 into the Tomb and day one passes and day two passes and day three passes 244 00:23:59.029 --> 00:24:10.380 and day four passes, more than a week and he's still dead. These 245 00:24:10.539 --> 00:24:15.259 things try us, they are hard, but they should cause us not to 246 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:19.940 flee from the Lord, but to lean into him all the more, to 247 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:25.289 remember who we are, to remember how weak we are, to remember how, 248 00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:29.369 in our understanding of events, how in our timing of things, how 249 00:24:29.490 --> 00:24:37.250 in our power over this life, we are at his mercy, at his 250 00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:44.440 footstool of love and grace and mercy. And so we ought to go to 251 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:52.150 him in prayer, as they do, and Jesus answers their prayers and eventually 252 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:59.150 he does come to them and he does call Lazarus out of that tomb and 253 00:25:00.150 --> 00:25:06.269 he does give him life. Yet again, Jesus says this illness does not 254 00:25:06.349 --> 00:25:10.059 lead to death. It is for the glory of God that the Son of 255 00:25:10.140 --> 00:25:15.539 God might be glorified through it. And, of course, as the son 256 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:19.339 of God is glorified through it, so all who are connected to him. 257 00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:25.450 That's why Jesus says to them in Verse Twenty Five, I am the resurrection 258 00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:30.009 and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall 259 00:25:30.210 --> 00:25:37.359 he live. Our lives ought to be tied up in his life, because 260 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:41.720 he is the resurrection life, though we die, if we are in him, 261 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:48.000 we shall be saved. This means that in Jesus is acting, we 262 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:57.029 have salvation, we have love and we have hope. Now one thing before 263 00:25:57.029 --> 00:26:04.019 we bring this to a conclusion. Jesus says that it is for the glory 264 00:26:04.180 --> 00:26:14.339 of God that Lazarus's death or illness would not lead to death, and we 265 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:21.289 often think, AH, yes, the miracle right Jesus causes him to rise 266 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:23.690 from the dead, and this of course, gives glory to God and it 267 00:26:23.809 --> 00:26:30.650 does right praise God, and this is this miraculous, amazing thing. But 268 00:26:30.890 --> 00:26:37.880 notice that this event also leads to another set of events. It leads to 269 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:44.559 the death of Jesus. This event, this Jesus raising jet Lazarus from the 270 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:49.950 dead, leads yet again to the desire of the people on to arrest Jesus, 271 00:26:51.470 --> 00:26:55.589 a plot to kill him and destroy him. In Verse Fifty Seven, 272 00:26:55.710 --> 00:26:57.950 we read at the end of this chapter. Now, the chief priests in 273 00:26:57.990 --> 00:27:03.779 the Pharisees had given order that if anyone knew where he was, he should 274 00:27:03.819 --> 00:27:07.380 let them know that they might arrest him. And do you remember? Who 275 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:14.380 eventually knows where Jesus is and lets them know where he is? It's one 276 00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:19.970 of his own disciples, Judas himself, who goes and kisses the Lord on 277 00:27:21.049 --> 00:27:26.609 the cheek, lets them know, and he's arrested and eventually crucified and put 278 00:27:26.730 --> 00:27:32.200 to death. Again. We might say, well, where is the glory 279 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:37.240 of God in this? Of course it is there, because it is in 280 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:42.920 Jesus's death. But the judgment of God is turned away from us and we 281 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:51.910 are forgiven of our sins. Jesus is death, is his glory. It 282 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:53.869 is hard to see this, isn't it? It is hard to see how, 283 00:27:53.990 --> 00:28:00.460 in people dying, God is glorified, but it is. It happens 284 00:28:00.579 --> 00:28:04.660 this way so that God can show his our weakness and the weakness of sinful 285 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:10.380 human flesh and the power and the judgment it deserves, but his great and 286 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:18.289 Glorious and Awesome Grace that comes to us through the Christ and that's why, 287 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:25.049 throughout this Gospel and in this passage is well, we have this continuous call, 288 00:28:25.650 --> 00:28:30.680 this heralding that keeps going forth again and again. Do you believe? 289 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:36.039 Do you believe? Are you trusting, not just once but all the time, 290 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:40.720 when you're in these hard spots, when you're feeling the weight of your 291 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:45.190 mortality, when you are seeing people die around you, when you find yourself 292 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:53.269 some difficult situations, are you fleeing? Are you trusting in Jesus? You 293 00:28:53.470 --> 00:29:02.900 must, you must, because in him is the glory of God, in 294 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:07.940 Him is the resurrection, in the life, in him is the one who 295 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:15.650 has power over death, so that you might not die but live forever in 296 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:23.359 perfect peace with him. Lazarus's illness did not lead. It led to death 297 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:29.519 in a momentary way, but it did not end there. That was not 298 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:36.200 its final place. Lazarus rose again from the dead, and one day Lazarus 299 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:41.509 and all of us will enjoy the resurrection of the dead. When Jesus comes 300 00:29:41.630 --> 00:29:47.670 to gather US home, put your faith in him. Let's pray