John 11:1-45

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples "Let us go back to Judea." 8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." 11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." 12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.  14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." 28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. (NIV)

v  Lazarus was sick: Why didn’t he call for Jesus?  I think he had a worse sickness called Pride. Others can call Jesus too but I think he wants us to cry out to him.

v  This sickness will not end in death: I love the confidence in Jesus. There is no hole too deep that he cannot pull us out of. This will not end in death.

v  Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." Fallen asleep. Maybe that is our problem? We have allowed our close acquaintance to Jesus to trick us into thinking that that is enough. Do we have a close “I depend on you for my life” relationship with him? "Lazarus is dead. That is a bad case of sleepiness! I’m going to go wake him up! Many of us need to wakeup. Are we going to allow him to wake us up from our walking death?

v  "If you had been here, my brother would not have died. V:21 + 32. Is that true? Maybe! Well maybe that is why he stayed where he was. WHAT? Yeah maybe sometimes Jesus will stay in the background and let us do our own thing so we can “learn more from our Resurrection since we have not learned anything from our Relationship!”

v  Take away the stone What is your stone? Pride, flesh, sin, busy-ness in the ministry, confidence in you friendship but neglect of the practical side of it? The stone of compromise, the stone of ACTING! "By this time there is a bad odour. Yeah, if there is a stone there is a smell! It stinks to God and to people! You may not know it but others smell it too.

v  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." He not only needed a resurrection but an unwrapping. He came out, but he was still covered with the wrappings of the dead man.

o   Grave clothes? Maybe our grave clothes are our attitudes. Negative thinking, No vision or hope, religious cloning, lack of reality and truth with ourselves….

o   You have to take care of the reasons of death also. If you just revive someone then what killed him will kill him again.

v  "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

o   Hope for those that have died! Has your desire to LIVE for Jesus died? Has your desire for ministry and to be a minister died?

v  And whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

o   This is our daily vitamin, our preventative medicine. LIVES and BELIEVES in me!

o   Never die, emotionally, soulishly and spiritually. You may die physically if he does not return in our lifetime but that is nothing. The fire won’t go out! Not a plastic, playing a role kind of life, But overflowing, abundant, “I’m glad I’M alive” kind of life.

How many of you can say “MY LIFE STINKS”? You have fallen asleep and didn’t know that you were dead? You have stones between Jesus and yourself and you feel the grave clothes wrapped around you? How many of you need a resurrection, and restoration in your relationship with Jesus?

1.      The touch of God for the dead! YOU WILL LIVE!

2.      The commitment to the walk. Will never die!

·         Lives in me.

·         Believes in me.

Acts 17:27-28

27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (NIV)