Twice Baked

Bertha Jones was a middle-aged woman who had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. During that experience she saw God and asked if this was the end of the road for her. God said no and explained that she had another thirty years to live.

She decided that if she had thirty to forty more years, she might as well stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, tummy tuck, hair transplant and coloring, and a nose job.

After her hospital stay, she walked out of the front door and run over by a concrete truck and died.

When she arrived in front of God, she asked, “I thought you said I had another thirty to forty years left?”

God replied, “Sorry, Bertha, I didn’t recognize you.”

Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus who got sick, died, and after 4 days being wrapped up like a mummy in a tomb, Jesus brought him back to life.

Because of this miracle, many people believed in Jesus. This was a problem for the religious people who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

John 11:47–48 CEV

47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What should we do? This man is working a lot of miracles. 48 If we don’t stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”

The religious people didn’t want Jesus to be getting peoples hopes up, they wanted peace with the Roman government. They didn’t want their way of life destroyed. If the the people started saying they had a King, the Roman emperor Tiberius would send in an army and burn Jerusalem to the ground.

You see, the religious people of that time weren’t “bad guys” they were trying to keep the bad guys from coming to hurt the people.

One problem with “making peace” is that you must compromise what you believe. Those religious leaders BELIEVED that God was going to send a Messiah, but they wanted it to happen in their own timing. They had the people’s best interest in mind.

Common Good

The common good is not always good. It can actually be evil. When you hear these words coming from leaders…take it as a warning. Common Sense is another version that has taken nations from God fearing to God hating. We must be careful that we don’t trade our moral convictions of truth from the Bible for a leaders version of truth or morality.

In the name of common good these religious leaders, who should have been the gatekeepers of truth turned their thoughts to murder! FOR THE COMMON GOOD.

Here was their reasoning:

John 11:49–50 CEV

49 One of the council members was Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year. He spoke up and said, “You people don’t have any sense at all! 50 Don’t you know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?”

He was saying, we need to get rid of Jesus for the common good. Instead of trusting God who had delivered his nation from enemy after enemy, he fell into the same trap set time and time again. He used “reasoning” instead of faith.

God wants people to have faith that He can do what we can’t see or comprehend.

So, they decided for the common good that they would stop Jesus.

John 11:53 CEV

53 From that day on, the council started making plans to put Jesus to death.

But some people saw what they didn’t - they saw a man raised back to life! Lazarus was living proof that Jesus was the Son of God. He was dead, and now he lived! What other proof do you need?

Seeing is believing and people were seeing that Jesus was doing things that could not be explained. Prophecy was being fulfilled before their eyes and some were following him.

John 12:9 CEV

9 A lot of people came when they heard that Jesus was there. They also wanted to see Lazarus, because Jesus had raised him from death.

In our world, we would call this “going viral”. People want to see something cool. That’s what was happening. Jesus was a BIG deal. Lazarus was a celebrity! People wanted to get eyes on this walking miracle.

Let me take a few minutes and compare Lazarus to you and me. We need to do this because we are just like him in a lot of ways.

Lazarus was Dead

And so are we. Without Jesus, we are just dead men walking through life trying to find the meaning of life. No person is perfect. And don’t I know that to be true! I am just like everyone else in this room. I’m a liar, cheat, phony, selfish, and just plain messed up. I’ve been hurt by others, and I’ve hurt others. I just want full transparency today, I am just as lost as anyone else. Except for the grace of Jesus, I would have been destined to continue down my path that leads straight to destruction and ultimately Hell.

But Jesus brought a dead man back to life, and He brought me back to life too. And I know He’s done the same for some of you, and wants to do the same for other who are just understanding their need.

Ephesians 2:5 CEV

4 But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you.

He is the life giver.

Lazarus was given New Life

Here’s my favorite part of Jesus healing Lazarus:

John 11:44 CEV

44 The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face. Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”

They used to wrap people up like mummies back then. So, when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, he just kind of hopped out all tied up. He needed to be unwrapped.

He is no longer dead and he is not to look like nor live like a dead man! He has been delivered from death with all it bondage!

The same is true for us too!

Romans 10:9–10 NLT

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

We have been saved because Jesus is able to FORGIVE all our mistakes! But we don’t have to live all bound up anymore!

Romans 6:14 CEV

14 Don’t let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God’s kindness and not by the Law.

He breaks the power of sin in our lives so that we can be a light and witness for the world to see there is a better way.

1 Peter 1:18–19 HB:ERV

18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb.

So, Lazarus had been set free and if you have placed your trust in Jesus you will be too! But you have to believe and keep walking with Jesus.

Lazarus didn’t give Jesus a hand shake and say, “thanks man, you’re the best, I’ve got it from here”.

No, Jesus and Lazarus were friends. They had a relationship.

Relationship Matters

You will NOT be free from the past, guilt, or even sinful desires if you abandon Jesus. You must press in or you will be pressed out!

People who have known Jesus and worked with Jesus can walk away from Him. Listen to the warning from Jesus to those who thought they were part of His team:

Matthew 7:21 CEV

21 Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in.

We must have a relationship with Jesus that is more than a transaction. It must be a life change. Surrender requires repentance. There’s no other way. We must walk close to Jesus.

Now, I want to get to my favorite part of this story.

John 12:1–2 HB:ERV

1 Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus went to Bethany. That is where Lazarus lived, the man Jesus raised from death. 2 There they had a dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food, and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus.

Lazarus was eating with Jesus. HOW COOL IS THIS?

He was dead. He was bound up. His story was over. Not even his family had hope for him.

BUT JESUS - let’s say it together: “BUT JESUS”

Look as the person next to you and say something sincerely: “With Jesus things can change!” Now, put your hand on someone’s shoulder look them in the eye and say,

Jesus wants to Change your Life

If you were dead, but now you are alive, how thankful would you be. I bet Lazarus was like, “Jesus, can I fill you cup, are you comfortable? Is there anything I can do for you?”.

I think he had to be SO grateful. Folks, when we come to church and lift up our voices in WORSHIP it’s because we have a REASON to worship. Jesus has set us free! He is our soul healer. He has forgiven us! He wants to change our life.

You have to have this attitude toward Jesus. But unfortunately, we’ve all been that ungrateful kid who wants more and more and more…instead of trusting that Jesus has our best interest in mind, we try to impose our own will.

We forget that Jesus said:

Matthew 6:25 CEV

25 I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing?

We need to keep our mind on eternity and stop focusing so much on this life. Press into His presence, sit down at His table, worship Him, adore Him, and be willing to trust Him with your life.

So, let’s get back to the guys who wanted the common good for the people of that time.

Jesus was a big problem, but so was Lazarus.

Uh oh…

Associating with Jesus Makes us a Target

For us here in the USA we don’t get this much more than people thinking a certain way about us, but in the history of the world, followers for Jesus have been persecuted. People who had been healed by Jesus, and sitting at His table have been murdered just because they refuse to renounce Jesus as Lord.

-

No one could take the experience from him. He had an encounter that led to the Glory that brought people to faith in Jesus. He became a target, but he didn’t care.   Why did Jesus Heal him just to allow him to die? Glory.

-

Let me ask you a personal question: Are you willing to give your life for Jesus? Seriously, if someone held a gun to your head and made you choose, what would you do?

Here’s an indication…what happened the last time temptation came to your door, what did you do? Did you give in or resist the devil?

John 12:9–11 CEV

9 A lot of people came when they heard that Jesus was there. They also wanted to see Lazarus, because Jesus had raised him from death. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus. 11 He was the reason that many of the people were turning from them and putting their faith in Jesus.

There it is, Lazarus who had done nothing wrong, accept being associated with Jesus was now a target. His life was a testimony of God’s glory and people were coming to faith because of what God did in him. This made him a threat.

Folks, we need to be wide awake in this place today, if you are a TRUE follower of Jesus, people will be getting saved because of your story.

If you aren’t being targeted it’s because you’re not a target.

I’ve titled this message “Twice Baked”. Because my mind is twisted…Lazarus was cooked once and Jesus brought him back to life. But his new life was not his own, he was surrendered to Jesus, and church history tells that he was beheaded for his faith in Jesus and his refusal to stop telling his story.

This man was twice baked.

Galatians 2:20 CEV

20 I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

Are you twice baked?