Untitled Sermon (27)

I kept a secret for my wife for five straight years every night I would lay in bed and think about the secret. And it involved a dead man.

The reason why I bring this up is because we’re gonna be looking at story of a dead man this morning not the one that you’re thinking of see when I say a dead man, everybody thought of Jesus and his resurrection. But we all know that story but what if I were to ask you the question of what does Jesus‘s resurrection have to do with me? I think many of us would struggle to answer that question.

So today we’re gonna look at another story that will explain how Jesus is resurrection impacts every single one of us and it’s a story of Lazarus in John chapter 11 so if you have a Bible, you can turn over to John chapter 11 now I admittedly it’s gonna be a long passage and so I won’t be able to talk about every single verse, which is what I normally like to do, but instead, I’m just gonna hit the highlights this morning. 

In Jon Lebanon, it starts out with Jesus receiving a letter from two of its best friends Mary and Martha and the letter says in verse three “he who you love is ill.” which is the bold statement in of itself if I get a text message from somebody that does not include their name and unknown number and it says hey Bestie, let’s get lunch soon. I’m not responding, but apparently Jesus knew exactly who this person was it’s true that Jesus genuinely loved laughs are so much though that inverses four and five it goes on to say that “Jesus loved Martha and his sister and Lazarus “ he genuinely love them. He genuinely cared for him. He cared for everybody, but in a unique way, he loved this family, which makes the next verse so odd. It says that he loved them so he waited. Lazarus was sick. He loved Lazarus and because of that he waited I could honestly understand it better if it were to say something like he loved Lazarus so when he heard that he was sick, he ran to him or the very least he could say he love Lazarus, but despite that the schedules didn’t work out and he had to wait but the way that it reads honestly a paraphrase would be because he loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. He waited. Why would he wait? That doesn’t make any sense but it’s a good reminder to us because how many of us have also prayed to God to show up when our parents got divorced how many of us pray to God to show up when the cancer diagnosis came how many of us pray to God to show up when we needed him and then he waited and in that moment, it might feel like God does not care, but in fact, it might be the reason why he waited was because he does care. He essentially tells the disciples around him at that point that this illness was not gonna lead to death, but instead for the glory of God and so he waits for two days he waits after a couple days, though he then turned to the disciples and he says hey we need to go down to see Lazarus now and the disciples come back and they say but wasn’t he just ill yeah I’m sure he’s gonna be better further all Lazarus was in the suburbs of Jerusalem and in Jerusalem, people wanted to kill them until the disciples rifle we said the Lord if we go down there, it’s so close to Jerusalem the people I want to try to kill you are going to crucify you, Lord, but then Jesus said plainly verse 15 Lazarus has died, but then he said something odd and for your sake, I am glad I was not there. It seems cruel once again that’s a cruel statement that Jesus is glad that he wasn’t there to help his friend who had died. The death can make us do funny things. I started out my sermon this morning, saying that I kept a secret about a dead man for my wife. After my wife and I have been married for three years living in a small bedroom apartment we finally saved up enough money for a down payment and moved into what felt like a mansion at 900 ft.² house and as soon as we bought our very first home the next day I bought a lawnmower and I was excited to go out and do the husband thing of going out and mowing my lawn for the first time and I was as mowing my lawn. One of the neighbors came up to me introduced himself. He is kind of a peculiar guide start talking and he’s like how you like a house was like man we love it. It’s a very first Home and then he said hey do you know what happened in that home with the previous owner? And I was like no? Now I had known that the previous owner actually flipped it and made it seem. We did a good job. They took a jockey house and made it pretty nice for us to buy and so I said that as like, isn’t it you mean the people that flipped he’s like no no no the person who lived there before the flippers as I know and he’s like oh man that dude was crazy. He was always on drugs he would he would sleep in his yard. He was screaming all the time he’s doing all this crazy stuff people are in and out of the house all the time and so concerned I said I hope he’s still not around Izzy and then he said no no no that man ain’t coming back cause he died and then he said he died right there and he pointed and as he pointed, he pointed at my house, but not just at my house he pointed out a window in my house in the window in my house with my bedroom! This was our very first home on the day after we just saved up to buy our very first home we were welcoming our first born child into our family in about a month after that and so instinctively, I just said to him, don’t you ever say this to my wife. And for the next five years of living in that house I would lay down in my bed each night in that thought of a dead man once I was here kept ringing in my ears. Honestly, it wasn’t until we were selling our home. We went to the closing office. We gave them the keys we got in the U-Haul. We drove away and as we were driving away, I said babe I gotta tell you something and after I told her honestly she said I am so glad you did not tell me that so I thought redeemed.

 but death makes us do funny things doesn’t it. So is that why Jesus was glad that he wasn’t there? No it says he was glad so that they might believe the reason why he was glad was not that Lazarus had died, but that they get an opportunity to believe in him more and in the same way, there’s gonna be things that happen in your life and in my life for which to us it does not make sense but in in God‘s sovereign plan, it’s so that we have an opportunity to trust and to believe in him more, and if we get to believe in him more and have a relationship with him because of it in those trials that we go through, are gonna be worth it

Jesus now and his disciples are walking to go see Laza so I wonder I wonder what was in their minds. I wonder what was in their hearts as they thought about all the good times that they might’ve had with their friendly name Lazarus finally they get too small village called Bethany where Lazarus and Martha and Mary lived and why they were coming in Martha heard that Jesus is coming in so her being the older responsible one goes out and she meets Jesus and as she meets Jesus, she says in verse 21-22 “ Lord if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died” which honestly is true Jesus could’ve stopped him, but then she goes on probably even reminding herself in this moment, but “I know whatever you ask from God God will give it to you” and I think she’s saying God Jesus, can you please give me comfort in peace can you make it OK? Can you make sure we’re all all right after all this but Jesus has a better plan in store because Jesus comes back and he says in the next verse Martha, your brother will live again now and Martha hears this. She comes back and understands it as a nice pleasant tree you say at a funeral like if you go to somebody’s funeral, you tell him grandma‘s in a better place that’s how Martha took this because she comes back and she says I know I know that one day he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day once again, she knows the right answers. She knows that Jesus is God she knows that that there will be a resurrection one day she knows all the good Sunday school ANSWER. She’s been around Jesus enough, but Jesus sees right through it. She’s right through it to the point of saying no Martha it’s not about that he will rise again is that he is rising again. He turns to her and say I am the resurrection in life, though he die, he shall live again do you believe and that’s a question for every single one of us the question that’s so burden on my heart because living in the Bible, but I understand that we know the answers that if I were to go around every single person here today and doing an interview with you almost every single one of you would tell me exactly what you need to do when you to get to heaven, and that is to believe in Jesus Christ you know the answers you know the stories you know that Jesus is risen from the dead but do you actually believe it do you believe it because Jesus is saying to Martha I need you to believe this Martha you must believe it and if he was here given the sermon today instead of me he would be asking you do you believe it or is this just something that you know sometimes the hardest distance to travel is what you know in your head to be true to what you actually believe in your heart and many of us have been playing this game. We know the right answers, but we don’t truly believe it. Do you believe today they didn’t look around in Jesus says hey where’s your sister Mary until they call for Mary and when Mary hears it, it says that she’s still emotional and she was a younger the more emotional of the two sisters were hard on her sleeve and when she hears that Jesus is specifically calling for her she gets up and she runs out all the other ladies and all the in the house. I’ll follow her thinking that she’s gonna go into the graveside of Lazarus. But it said she comes to Jesus in the moment that she sees Jesus she goes and she falls at his feet and she says the statement woman once again Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died if that sounds familiar. It’s the exact same thing that Martha just said to Jesus, which means that they probably talked about this and I can’t blame him if you’ve ever been in a hospital with somebody that’s dying what else is there to do but to talk and I’m sure that they were talking and talking and saying, but but we sent the message to Jesus surely he loves Lazarus. We know he loves Lazer. Surely he’s gonna come surely he’s gonna make it if only Jesus is gonna make it and then one day turn into two days turned into three days in four days and he never came in Mary as well just now even though she loves Jesus, she doesn’t understand him, saying if only you would come why didn’t you come? Now Jesus sees Mary at his feet crying weeping. He sees all the other people around her as well, just all weeping and sorrow, and it says that Jesus became greatly disturbed. He’s emotional. He was sad, but then he was also really upset is the actual Greek word that becomes angry and I once again that’s what happens when a loved one dies. All sorts of emotion starts to come in but number one as Jesus sees all the emotion that’s been displayed by all the other people there it gets to him and he weeps the shortest person in all the Bible John 1135 might just be one of the most important verses in all the Bible that we have a God who weeps with us who cries with us who feels the pain with us they turn to them it says where is Lazar? Where’s the body until they take them out to the tomb and as they take them out to the tomb and people see him crying along the way they ask him couldn’t this man who give sight back to the blind, also heal Lazarus, and it says that those statements once again made him upset, made him angry, and he gets to the tomb and he says roll away. The stone still upset still likely emotional. Still likely tears in his eyes you know one thing that I honestly couldn’t figure out as I’ve heard this passage hundreds of times it’s a question that lingers in my mind which is why did he cry I mean, yes I understand if you’re seeing everybody else cry and it’s emotional on your friend that died yes but I’m just thinking if if I showed up at a funeral of a loved one, and if I knew that I was going to raise that dead person back to life, I would have the dumbest grin on my face saying oh I’m so sorry but just wait for five more minutes, so why does Jesus feel so sorrowful this is the second week now in a row where we saw Jesus weeping what’s interesting as I started to look up all the time so when Jesus sweet, that doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s always in the context of people not believing in him and not having faith in him is the thing that causes him to weep because he’s surrounded by a loved ones. He’s surrounded by people that had seen him do miracles I mean, if you think about some of the miracles of these people have no doubt seeing and heard an experience he they were there whenever the 5000 people were fed with just a few loads of fish. They were there whenever they were storms on the sea of Galilee in Jesus, stands up with one word and says peace in the wind and the wave stop and listen to him. They were there as he turns water into wine. They were there as he heals the blind in the deaf in the sick and they even were there whenever there was a little girl Jarvis‘s daughter who was so sick they called Jesus, but by the time they called to Jesus, she was already dead, and Jesus walks into that house that day sees that little girl and says she’s not dead. She’s just sleeping and they’ll laughed at him. Everybody laughed at Jesus only for him to come back and say rise my child, and that dead girl sits up again, and they were there whenever there was a young man who was in a funeral procession in Jesus, reaches out and touches that casket, and as he touches the casket, the young man sits up again they saw all of this and yet right now they still do not believe and I wonder how many of us I’ve seen and tasted and snow the goodness of God and I’ve seen him work in other people‘s life but in this moment right now it does not feel like God is working and moving in our life in this moment right now we don’t know if we can actually truly believe in him and I never want to be in a situation where Jesus has to look at me and say Joel why don’t you believe where Jesus weeps over me because of the things that I know are true in my head, but I still do not believe it’s true in my heart I don’t wanna be the one who stopped sort of believing that Jesus Christ can raise even the dead and I’m not done with this story yet I still need to get to the crescendo but even right now, I don’t wanna wait just even one more moment with asking you this question do you believe in him? Do you believe it because Jesus Christ has the power he is the resurrection he is the life and just a week from this story of Lazarus it’s gonna be Jesus now partially because of the story the religious elites are still upset because of the power and the notoriety that Jesus has some raising up Lazarus from the dead did they arrest him? He’s betrayed by one of the men that were there that day Judas he’s abandoned by all the people that loved him they take them. They put them on a mock trial. It was a shame they make false accusations about them they decide to whip them they they whipped them 39 times they stopped at 39 instead of 40 because was said to kill a man they whipped them in such a gruesome way with a cat of nine tails, which was leather straps, but it wasn’t just leather straps. It had sharp bones and strap metal tied at the end of it that would rip apart his skin, and after they beat him to the points of being unrecognizable, they gave them across, and they marched them through the entire city of Jerusalem as people mocked them injured at them, and they spit on them they spit on my Jesus, and as I got to the police of Gogo or the police of the skull, they laid him down on this cross the cross that had my name on it, your name on it, and they put nails in his hands and nails in his feet and they raised them up, calling them king of the Jews, not realizing that he was also paying for their sins just like he was paying for your sins of my Sins. The reason why you and I can have life the reason why you and I can live though we die is because Jesus Christ who is life died on our behalf do you believe it cause I don’t wanna go one step further I don’t wanna go one moment longer without giving you the opportunity to say I believe so if every head bowed every eye closed, I want you to picture this that you are in Lazarus’s grave in the darkness of death has surrounded you. Let me ask you do you believe or is it just that you know the right answers you know that Jesus died on the cross for your sins you know that he has risen up again, but you’ve never actually truly believed in him to the point of saying, I’m going to make him Lord over my life. I’m surrendering everything that I have to the Lord and if that is you today, I’m not gonna embarrass you right now I’m not going to call you out, but you can never find a resurrection until you realize that you are dead you’re dead and you’re saying you’re dead in your trespasses so let me ask you today. It’s almost like Jesus crying out. It’s in the darkness and Lazarus opening up his eyes again if that’s you, I want you to raise your hand for me. 

(response time encouragement to pray and believe for salvation) 

But we have not gotten even to the best part yet Jesus standing in front of the tomb says roll away the stone and then Martha his sister comes back and says the Lord it’s been four days there’s gonna be an older. I love the old king James language it said, and only a way that only a sister could saying, Lord he stink it, but Jesus does not like stones very much and he says if you want to see the glory of God you must believe roll away the stone and as a roll away the stone, he cries out Lazarus come out and as the old preacher say, it’s a good thing, he said Lazarus because of the power of Jesus‘s voice if he would just say a dead man come out then every single dead person that’s ever died would come out of their grave and he comes marching out of that grave because Jesus Christ was going to be written up in a few days later, it was by that same power the resurrection power that Lazarus has been called out of the grave because Jesus Christ has been risen up and defeated death on our behalf. It’s that you and I also have the power of the resurrection, the death, defeating resurrection because you cannot defeat death by just living forever. You can live 200 years, but you still know that there could be death waiting around the corner the only way to defeat death is to look at it in the face to go to the toe with it to die and then come back to life because what else can death do for us do you believe it? We are going to open up the altars here’s what my call for you with to simply be, don’t keep living in your grave some of you that chair right now represents the grave because you’re too scared. You’re too scared of coming out of the grave to admit that you were dead. I’m gonna challenge every single one of us to not stay in that grave any longer, but believe in Him.