John 11:1-15
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Illustration: The first person I watched Die.
Illustration: The first person I watched Die.
I remember feeling awkward. What do we do?
This person has lived with us on this earth for 80 something years and now, we just call someone to come get her?
It just seemed awkward. How on earth are we supposed to deal with this thing called death?
I didn’t really know how to respond.
Other people kept saying to me, “She’s in a better place.” But it still hurt.
I will say this this. The only comfort I found sufficient was the comfort that only comes in Christ.
Other religions, in fact every religion, has to deal with this issue, and having studied them all, the only one that gives true comfort is the Christian Faith.
Every other religion fails to address the issue of death with any true comfort.
I read this week:
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eleven: The Last Miracle—The Last Enemy (John 11)
If Jesus Christ can do nothing about death, then whatever else He can do amounts to nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.
Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever.
He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure.
They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness.
He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.
‘
This question of death and how will deal with it ultimately rests in how Christ is able to deal with it.
Fortunately, for us, the chapter we are studying this morning answers the question: How does Jesus deal with death?
We will not get through the entire chapter this week. In fact, this sermon is kind of a precursor and a set up to the next sermon. This one will probably leave you hanging, but that just means you will have to find your way back here next week.
All that said, Lets look at verse 1
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
The pronoun here is used. There isn’t really any significance to Lazarus being called “a certain man.” This can be translated Someone was sick.
But, this someone was someone special. This was Lazarus of Bethany.
Now, at this point, this is the first time Lazarus is mentioned within the book of John and really Lazarus is only mentioned one other time outside this chapter. That is found in chapter 12 where Lazarus is with Jesus reclining at the table.
The reason I tell you all of that is this: Oftentimes, we get caught up with thinking of Lazarus, but this story is not about Lazarus.
This is a story about Jesus. He is always the hero. He is the hero of our story as well.
This is a narrative that reveals the glory of Christ.
Lazarus is in Bethany with HIS two sisters, Mary and Martha.
This is not Jesus’s mother. In fact, John makes this clear. Look in verse 2.
It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
John makes it clear who it is that He is referring to.
Interestingly enough, he refers to an event that is corroborated by Luke’s Gospel in .
All to say, these are people with whom Jesus has spent a considerable amount of time. He has a relationship with these people. He has grown to love these people.
Look in verse 3
So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
Better translation here I believe would be. They sent for him. Keep in mind, their brother is sick
They aren’t just wanting Jesus to know. They want Jesus to come.
And wouldn’t you?
These sisters have probably seen and at least heard of what Jesus has done for complete strangers.
He has healed people sick for 38 years.
He has recently healed a blind man.
They’ve witnessed the miracles. They
Surely, if he could heal those people, Jesus would definitely come and heal their brother who they knew Jesus had love for.
So they send for Jesus.
And listen to their appeal.
Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.
They call him Lord and we should skip over that. They know who he is.
Then they not only appeal to his mind but also to his heart.
The one whom you love is sick.
Certainly they inform his about Lazarus sickness, but they mention the love he has for Lazarus, because they believe that his love will motivate him to do something for their brother.
Make no mistake about it. They want Jesus now. They believe that if Jesus gets there in time, he can do something.
Lets look how Jesus will respond to this news.
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.”
Jesus hears of Lazarus sickness, and he makes a definitive statement.
We learn three things in verse 4.
Lazarus’s situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is sovereign.
He is 100% in control of His situation. Mary’s situation. Martha’s situation. Lazarus’s situation. The disciple’s situation. Our situation.
So when he says this will not end in death, it will not.
He has told us this. Death is not the end. Jesus will be glorified and he is sovereign.
Honestly, this should have been the end of all worry in this passage, but we are human and we have to see.
Jesus, the sovereign Lord of All Creation, has spoken. This will not end in death.
Lets see what happens next.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Lets make this clear Jesus loves these people. They have just told him that their brother is sick.
So what would you expect Jesus to do?
If they love Him, and He loves them. WE WOULD CERTAINLY EXPECT HIM TO DROP EVERYTHING HE IS CURRENTLY DOING AND COME TO Lazarus.
But thats not what happened.
In fact John emphasizes this strange action by Jesus.
So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
When He heard, what you are expecting here is that Jesus took off toward Bethany to get there before Lazarus died.
but he didn’t.
In fact He not only doesn’t come then. He stay two more days. Not to mention he will have a long walk to them when he does decide to go.
But I thought he loved them.
He did. And thats why he stayed.
We tend to think that Jesus loving us means we will always get what we want when we want it.
We tend to equate Jesus’s love with our circumstances.
If Jesus loved me, I wouldn’t have had to deal with .....
If Jesus loved me, I would have .......
If Jesus loved me, we wouldn’t have to go through this…
Hear me out. This completely go against everything the world and what most pastors will tell you.
But you need to understand, if you are a believer, living according to His word, and loving Christ, absolutely everything you are going through is for your good.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
We are given the same hope of verse 4.
This will not end in death.
Jesus will get the glory.
He is in control.
and He will act on His time.
His time has come in verse 7
Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
Its time.
Jesus waited.
Its for their good and for His glory.
The sisters are worried about the death of their brother. Now enter the disciples who are worried about their own lives.
The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?”
They are worried about His life and they are worried about their own lives
Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
He has been dodging a stoning and arrests now for months. That pressure and hostility is not lost on the disciples. They know.
But what does Jesus say.
Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the 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.”
What in the world is Jesus talking about?
I think its best to see these two verses in light of a verse we have recently studied.
“We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
This comes in the context of Jesus healing the man born blind.
From that passage and from verse 9, we learn that the “day” here is referring to the allotted time of ministry of Jesus.
The night is referring to his death.
Basically, what Jesus is saying, The time is now.
Remember, night is coming. There is only 12 hours in a day.
Its time to go now.
This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
This He said, and 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.”
Jesus at this point knows that Lazarus is dead. He knows this not because anyone has told him this. He knows this because he is God. He has to tell the disciples this.
And they misunderstand of course.
The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
The disciples here again are bargaining with Jesus.
If he has merely fell asleep, he will wake up.
Can you imagine this here: He probably needs his rest.
Why did Jesus say it this way? Why didn’t he just tell them Lazarus was dead.
He is revealing their lack of trust in him for their lives. They don’t trust him. They trust them.
Here is where we get in trouble. When we start trusting ourselves rather than trusting in the sovereign Christ.
So Jesus has to spell it out for them.
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
John 11:
He tells them. Lazarus is dead.
But hold on just a second.
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.”
He said Lazarus’s sickness would not end in death.
10 verses later Lazarus is dead?
Here is where their faith or their doubt will be highlighted.
DO THEY TRUST CHRIST?
He has told them:
Lazarus’s situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
He has claimed sovereignty.
Do they believe?
Apparently they don’t.
Look in verse 15
and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
Jesus said he is glad that he wasn’t there with Lazarus.
His goal: their belief.
We have the benefit of having read this story before, but these guys don’t.
Here is what they have observed.
Jesus has told them:
Lazarus’s situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is sovereign.
And here is what happened:
Lazarus situation has appeared to end in death.
So they question how Jesus could ever be glorified in this.
SO they question his sovereignty.
And the attitude expressed at the end of our passage today is a flippant attitude.
Look at verse 16
Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
It’s unclear at who he is referencing here with the him at the end.
Perhaps he thinks they will all end up like Lazarus if they go back.
Perhaps he thinks they will all end up like Jesus if they go back.
Either way, he is pretty confident that they are walking into a situation that will end in death.
And again they have questioned Jesus’s word.
Lazarus’s situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is sovereign.
Application:
How often are we like this?
Jesus has told us:
Our situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is sovereign.
But we question. I would argue that the better thing to do is to believe and trust Jesus.
Are you doing that today? Are you in a season of doubt?
Let me assure you if you are a believer.
The situation will not end in death.
Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is sovereign.
Will you trust him?