John 11

John 11

Tonight we're going to be continuing our series on the Book of John. And tonight is John Chapter 11, and it's one of my favorite chapters in John because we get to talk about one of the greatest miracles ever performed. Now every miracle that Jesus performed was wonderful. It was a miracle. It was things that we could not do. It proved his deity. It proved who he was. But the miracle that we're going to talk about tonight is the resurrection of Lazarus. Now this is a story that I'm sure probably all of us that are here tonight have heard most, if not all of our lives. There are songs written about it. One of my favorite gospel songs is 4 Days Late. And it's a story about Lazarus and Jesus and how he stays around a few days longer than people thought he should have. Now, everybody else thought that he was late, but in reality he was right on time. So let's go ahead and get into the scripture that tonight let's look at the first 6 verses. It says, “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sister sent word to him, saying, Lord. Behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, he said, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he had heard that he was sick, he stayed two days longer. In the place where he was.”

We know that this is the story of Lazarus of Bethany. We also know at this point in time in the book of john jesus had already performed 6 miracles We see that he turned the water into wine. We seen him heal the nobleman's son. We seen him restore the man who was paralized. Multiplying the loaves and the fishes, Walking on water, Healing a man who was born wind. And now what we're going to see when we look at Scripture is the bringing back of Lazarus from the dead. So we have already seen all the things that Jesus can do, all these miracles that Jesus has performed that have absolutely changed people's lives?

And one thing that was common throughout all of this? Is that Jesus had a plan. No matter what was taking place, we know that Jesus had a plan. Because Mary and Martha, they sent word to Jesus. They told him Lazarus was sick. The one whom you love is sick. They had faith in Jesus. They knew there was something special to him. They had faith in Jesus or they wouldn't have hollered at him and said, hey, this man is sick. You love him, he's sick. He needs your help.

We know that Jesus had a plan all along because back there in verse four he said his sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of man. May be glorified by it. In other words, what he's saying is I know what's going on, I know what's happening. It's not going to end the way you think that it will. This is not the end. But I'm going to go and I'm going to show you, and it will glorify me and my father. We also know there in verse six that God had a plan. Because he stayed in the place longer than he normally would have, he stayed there two more days.

Now, to us that seems crazy. It really seems insane a little bit, because if somebody called us and said someone whom we love is sick, especially someone that we love as much as we know that Jesus loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha and we had the power to do something. About it we would get in a hurry getting back. It would be a race for us to get back to where he was so that we could help him, so that we could heal him if we had that power. But now Jesus has done something a little bit different. He stayed there two days longer than he would have. They stayed there two days after he found out.

Why? That's always been the question, why did he do this? Well, he did this to show us that his timing is perfect. Ours is off. He did this to show us that our expectations of Christ are off. Because he is not limited to what we think that he can do. He's not limited by our time frame. He's not limited by anything.

One thing that I want to ask you is we're going through the story. If we were in the same situation. And I'm sure a lot of us, probably all of us at some point, have been there. We've been to the point where someone in our family is sick. Or someone in our family might be on the brink of death. Who we call. Who do we ask about this? Who do we put our faith in? Is it God, is it the ultimate healer, or is it someone else? Where is our faith? When all hope is lost, who do we call? So what I want us to think about as we're going through this tonight.

Move down. Look at verses 7 through 16. It says, “After this he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and you are going back there again. Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world, but if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. This he said. After that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep. The disciples then said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was Speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go get him. Therefore Thomas was called, Titmus said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, so that we may die with him.”

All right, again, a few things to talk about here. First of all, the disciples questioned why Jesus would even want to go back to Judea, because if you remember, we've been going through the book of John chapter by chapter. Verse by verse we've seen several times, 3 as a matter of fact, that the Jews were seeking to stone Jesus. They didn't like what he was saying, they didn't like what he was doing. They were seeking to stone him. They wanted to kill him. They thought he was committing blasphemy.

So they question Jesus, why would you want to go back there? You know, if it was us, that would be the last place we would want to go if we knew in Richlands for say that there was a group of people who wanted to kill us and had already tried three times. Don't go to Richlands. Now to us that seems pretty simple, but Jesus knew there were things that he had to do. He knew this had to happen. He knew there was an opportunity to show his power. He knew there was an opportunity to perform this miracle. His friend Lazarus was dead.

Now, at first he told him, he said, our friend Lazarus is falling asleep, but I'm going to go there and I'm going to awake him out of his sleep. It might also same thing that you and I would think now if somebody had said that, well, you know, at some point he's going to wake up. If he's just laying there asleep, at some point he's going to wake up. But they didn't understand what Jesus had told them. Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. He also tells them why he's going. He says again why he is going there. He said I'm glad that I was not there so that you may believe. That tells us that something spectacular is about to happen. Let us go to him.

Then Tom just said to his fellow disciples, Let us go with him, and we're just going to die with him. Now, there's a lot of speculation as to why Thomas said this. Some people say that he said this out of sarcasm a little bit. Some people say that Thomas said this by saying, all right, let's go. I guess we're just all going to die together. I wonder if he said this out of faith. I wonder if he said this out of faith and devotion to Jesus. He was so devoted to Jesus, he was willing to go with him anywhere he went. He was willing to go with him even if it meant death.

Are we devoted to Jesus enough to follow Him anywhere? Does it have a question? It's really kind of hard to think about because we often see it here in a small town in the Bible Belt. We see following Jesus. Is a rewarding thing, it's a good thing and it is, don't get me wrong. We never really see the tough side, We never really see the challenging side of that. So when we reach that challenging point, are we still going to follow Jesus or are we just going to give up? What are we going to do?

Let's continue on with this story, verses 17 through 31. It says, “So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. Many of the Jews had came to Mary and Martha to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, Lord, yes, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even he who comes into this world. She had said this. She went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, Teacher is here and is calling for you. When she had heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him, then the Jews who were with her. In the house and consoling her. When they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.”

Well, when Jesus has arrived in Bethany, he found that Lazarus had died. Of course he already knew that, but he found that Lazarus had died and he had been in the tomb for four days. Now the reason that is important is not only God's timing, but the Jews did not embalm bodies. So four days after he had been buried, the body would have been decomposing, would have been rancid. I don't know what time of the year this was happening. But no matter the weather conditions, we know, you know, four days after the body has died, being out in the weather, even in a tomb. The body would have been decomposing. It would have been rancid and smell as well.

Martha went to see Jesus. She went to see him and she told him, Lord, if you had been here, you would have been able to heal him. My brother wouldn't have died. You see, she had faith in Jesus. She knew what Jesus could do. She knew that Jesus had the power to heal him if he would have been there, if he would have chosen to. Jesus told her, Your brother, he will rise again.

Now people have thought throughout the years that Martha was really rebuking Jesus. But in fact, she was testifying where her faith was because she had faith that Jesus had the power to heal him. She had the faith that Jesus could and would have healed him if he had just been there. Let's continue this story. Let's see what happens verses 32 through 46.

It says, “Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother. Would not have died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved and spirit and was troubled. He said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, see how he loved him, but some of them said, could it could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind had kept this man from dying. So Jesus began deeply moved within, came to the tomb that was a cave, and a stone was laying against it. Jesus said, removed the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there would be a stench, for he has been dead 4 days. Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they remove the stone. Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but because of the people standing around, I said it so that they may believe that you sent me. When he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him. But some of them went, went to the Pharisees and told them things which Jesus had done.”

So we see this wonderful miracle. Of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead. Now we also see here that Mary and Martha both knew that Jesus had this power to heal. Both of them said, Lord, if you'd just been here, my brother wouldn't have died. We wouldn't have had to go through all this. Jesus knew that they were all upset. He knew how devastated they were, just as any of us are when we lose a loved one. We get to see a little aspect of Jesus's humanity here. Remember, He is 100% human, 100% divine at the same time. Jesus wept. We could tell that he loved this family. He loved each and every one of them.

Now there were some Jews that were saying the same thing as Mary and Martha. They were trying to figure out why Jesus didn't heal this man. They even say it. Could this man, man who opened the eyes of the blind, also kept this man from dying? Why didn't he do this? They didn't realize at the time what they were about to see. They didn't realize what was about to happen.

So they took Jesus to the place where they had laid Lazarus. And he says remove the stone. Martha tells him, Lord, he's been dead 4 days. There's going to be a stench. His body is decomposing. Why are we taking this stone away from this cave? And then Jesus replies, Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? Basically what Jesus is saying, hey, I'm in control. I've told you what's going to happen. I've told you you will see God's glory. Just do what I tell you to.

And then one thing I think is real special here, he takes time. He thanks God that he has hurt him. He says you always. Hear me. But because everybody's standing around, I said it so that they may believe. He took time to thank the father. You know, we just came out of a time of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving should never end. It should be a continual process in our lives. That's something as Christians we need to be doing every day. It's not an option. We see the. Christ himself took time to thank the Father. If it was important enough for him, it should be important enough for us to do it.

So we know that Jesus said Lazarus come forth and he came out of the tomb and he was still bound and he told people standing around unbinding take that. Off of him and let him go. Now, if you remember from back in the Scripture, there were all kinds of people who were at the house. They were at the house and Mary got up quickly and went out when she had heard that Jesus was asking for her. And they all thought that she was going to the tomb to weep, so they weren't with her. And they all got to see the miracle. They all got to see what Jesus could do.

Now it is one thing to heal the blind, it is one thing to do all these things that he did, but none of them compare to bringing someone back from death. This was something that was unprecedented, as they would say today. This is something that they had never seen before. But it does show us the power of Jesus. And what we can think about today, if Jesus can do that, if he can bring Lazarus back from the dead, what can he do for us? You can do anything. That's why we need to pray. That's why we need to pray those big bold prayers, because we know that nothing is impossible for God. Remember that.

Let's finish up this chapter, verses 47 through 57. It says, “says, therefore the chief priest and the Pharisees convened a council, and we're saying, what are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them, Caiphus, who was a high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation shall not perish. Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, not only for the nation only, but in order that he might also gather together into the One, the children of God who were scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together. To kill him, therefore, Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but he went away from there to a country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim. There he stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near. They went up to Jerusalem out of the country. Before the Passover to purify themselves. So they were seeking for Jesus, and we're saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priest and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, He was to report it so that they might seize him.”

So we have finished up yet another chapter in the book of John. And now if you remember back in verse 46. There were people who told the Pharisees all these things that Jesus had done. And they convened in the council, they basically got together the chief priest and the Pharisees basically said, what are we going to do? We've got this situation, if you will. We have. This person who is doing all these things and he's gathering quite a crowd, people are believing in him. What are we going to do?

They even said if we let him go, the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. You see all the miracles that Jesus had done, they feared that people would believe in the whole country would believe that he was the Messiah. And those expectations of the Messiah could cause Roman oppression. They were feared that the Romans could come in and take away all their rights, the freedoms, their nation, come in and take away everything.

The one thing that I think is great here, Caiphus actually prophesied about Jesus. He prophesied that Jesus was going to die for everyone, not only the nation of Israel, but. Everyone. So they made a plot to kill Jesus. Jesus couldn't walk publicly among the Jews anymore. He knew what was going to happen. And they made a pact and they told everyone, if you see him, seize him, let us know. Report it so that we can come and get him, so that we can seize him.

So in John Chapter 11, we have seen a lot of things. We have seen the miracle of Jesus. We have seen the miracle of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead. We've seen how God's timing is perfect. Even though we wanted him to be there earlier. But he showed up a little lighter than we thought he should. That didn't stop him. Same thing with our lives. How often do we pray? And we want God right now. We want him to do this right now. Sometimes his plan is not right now. Sometimes he's playing, it's just hold on a little while. We have to accept that. You have to know that his timing is perfect no matter what. And that's hard for us to remember. It's hard for us to accept. It's something that we have to do. Remember when he's four days late, he's still on time.