What else could Jesus do?

If you are sitting here lost, I have an important question for you.

What else could Jesus have done for you to believe in Him?

My goal is to show you what Jesus did and to tell you that He is not going to do anything else to make you believe in Him. I am going to answer two questions for you this morning in attempting to explain to you why you can believe in Jesus as the Son of God?

1. Why am I absolutely certain that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

The 7 signs in John’s Gospel build to a crescendo leaving no doubt that Jesus Christ is indeed God. I am going to focus on the 7th sign, but here are other 6 just for your info.

Turning water into wine (John 2:1-11 with verse 11 being the key verse)

Healing the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54 with verse 54 being the key verse)

Healing the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5 with verses 13-17 being the key verses)

Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:1-15 with verses 14-15 being the key verses)****

Walking on the water (John 6:16-21 with verse 26 being the key to understanding the rejection of Jesus)

Healing the blind man (John 9 with verse 25 being the key verse)

That brings us to the 7th sign, which if these first do not prove to you that Jesus is the Son of God I do not know what else to say, which definitely without a shadow of a doubt should prove to you the Jesus Christ is God, the very Son of God.

A. Raising Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus had performed 6 signs that should have convinced anyone familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures that He was indeed the Son of God, but they still did not believe. He had one more sign to complete which should have convinced everyone in Israel that He was the Son of God, and that sign was the raising of Lazarus.

1. The Purpose of Lazarus’ illness.

Everything, especially if you are saved, in our lives has a purpose.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

I believe it is one of the hardest things for Christians to grasp. The concept that all things work together for good to those who love God that are called ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.

Lazarus’ illness was one those things that was going to work together for good to those who loved God. The Bible makes very clear the purpose for Lazarus’ illness.

John 11:1–4 “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.””

What was the purpose behind Lazarus’ illness? The glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now this is incredibly important to understanding the rejection of Jesus Christ.

What Jesus was about to do, only God could do. Through Lazarus’ illness, Jesus was going to leave no doubts as to who He was.

I wished we would understand that. If you are saved, God has a purpose for your life, and God knows what it is going to take to complete that purpose, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is where faith comes to play.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

It is faith that allows us to seek God in any situation that arises in our lives. If we are struck with illness, who knows what God might do to bring glory to Himself, and if He chooses not to ill you and you die, death is going to work for your good because you will be going to be with Him.

Lazarus’ illness had a purpose.

2. The Disciples Unbelief.

The disciples had seen many things, but they did not completely understand, but we do not need to overly critical because we have the benefit of two gifts of God that they did not have while they were walking with Jesus.

We have the completed Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they had neither while they were walking with Jesus.

Jesus understood their struggles just as He understands your struggles.

John 11:12–15 “Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.””

Jesus basically tells His disciples that it would be better for their belief if Lazarus was dead.

Is that not an incredible statement? But think about it, how many people had Jesus healed in front of His disciples? But He had as of yet raised someone to life who had been dead for 4 days.

Through this act, the disciples, except for Judas, would believe. Scripture tells us that.

Matthew 26:20–22 “When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?””

Matthew 26:25 “Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it.””

Judas denied to called Jesus, Lord. He called Him Rabbi, meaning teacher. Judas said the same thing to Jesus that the rich young said to Jesus, and neither Judas or the rich young ruler would acknowledge Jesus as God, but the other 11 disciples did, and it was the raising of Lazarus that offered them irrefutable proof.

3. The scoffers and the doubters.

John 11:37–39 “And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.

It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.””

First, we see the scoffers. They were those who did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and I do not think it would have mattered what Jesus did. They were going to deny Him. There are people who just are not going to believe. They deny God’s Word and without God’s Word being in the equation, there is really no grounds for belief if that makes sense.

Second, even the believers doubted. Martha loved Jesus, and she believed in Jesus, but even she doubted that Jesus could raise Lazarus. “Lord, what you are about to do is impossible. My brother has started decomposing. He has been dead for four days.”

Dear friend, does not Martha sound like many of us today?

Yes, we know what the Bible says. We claim we believe the Bible, but how many of us doubt the power of God in our lives?

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.””

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I want you to know that raising someone from the grave that has been dead for four days is pretty impossible. I want you to know that walking on the water is pretty impossible. I want you to know that a virgin birth is pretty impossible. Do we believe those things? Then, why do we not believe that anything is possible for Christ to do in our lives for the glory of God?

I want you to notice what Jesus says, and it is the answer for the ages.

John 11:40 “Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?””

It is the power and faith that comes from believing that allows us to witness the glory of God.

Dear friend, if you would just believe in Jesus Christ, if you would just believe that with Christ anything is possible, your eyes will be opened to the glory of God and all doubt will be removed.

Jesus did not raise Lazarus because He loved Mary and Martha even though He loved them dearly. He raised Lazarus to remove all doubt.

John 11:41–43 “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!””

Jesus raised Lazarus for those who were witnessing it so they would believe in Him as the Son of God. He raised Lazarus for those of us who read the Gospel of John can know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ is God, and I hope there is no doubt in your mind.

4. The Results.

John 11:45–46 “Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.”

Many who witnessed what Jesus did believed in Jesus, and some sought religious answers instead of Jesus.

These witnesses were faced with an undeniable fact, yet some did not believe.

Without belief in Jesus, you cannot have eternal life, and I want you to know even the Pharisees knew the truth.

John 11:47–48 “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.””

The Pharisees knew the signs Jesus had done proved He was the Son of God, and they knew the people would believe unless they did something. If the people believed, their power and prestige would be removed.

Boy, I wished I had the time to say what I want to say about how television evangelists know that if the people truly believe in Jesus their power and prestige would be removed too.

Even Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied, unknowingly, the effect of the death of Jesus.

John 11:49–52 “And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”

Dear friend, that is exactly what has happened.

Jesus Christ has gathered a body of believers into the church from all over the world.

It is a group of people united by the Holy Spirit through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The facts are undeniable. Jesus Christ can do nothing else to prove that He is God, but He is going to do something else.

Jesus Christ is coming again, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, but it will be too late for most of the world.

Jesus Christ is God. He has always been and always will be God, and if you are going to be saved to eternal life, you must believe in Him.

John 3:15–17 “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”