Incredible Encounter.Lazarus

Lazarus

THE DEATH OF LAZARUS

[John 11:1-16] Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 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.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Bethany was about 2 miles east of Jerusalem. Mary and Martha got a simple message to Jesus: he whom you love is ill. If Jesus healed strangers, surely he would come right away to heal Lazarus. Yet we see no alarm, no frantic move to get to Bethany as quickly as possible. It’s almost as if Jesus didn’t care. What kind of love is that?

In our childish view of God we think his love for us will move him to do whatever WE want... sooner rather than later! But what is the objective in this incredible encounter - Lazarus’ healing? The main objectives in this encounter: 1. The glory of God

2. The faith of His disciples

Do you think those objectives have changed at all in our day and age? Isn’t the Lord still focused on His glory and our faith?

I wonder how often the Lord has healed me and I write it off as some natural occurrence or give credit to the medication. And perhaps in most of those instances it was the medication. All that to say, it didn’t really bolster my faith much. Jesus could have hightailed it to Bethany and healed Lazarus of whatever sickness he had. Would this have made much impact on the disciples’ faith? They knew Jesus could heal; they had witnessed it many times.

They even witnessed twice before Jesus raising a person from the dead. The first was the widow’s son. He interrupted the funeral procession by commanding the young man to get up!

The second was Jarius’ 12 year old daughter. He went into her room, took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up.”

What was different about this Lazarus encounter that would strengthen their faith?

The difference is in our next verse, verse 17...

JESUS WITH MARTHA

[John 11:17] Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

Four days in the tomb! Surely it was way too late for Jesus to do anything!

[Princess Bride] Your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

There was a Jewish superstition of that day that said a soul stays near the grave for three days, hoping to return to the body. Therefore, it was accepted that after four days there was absolutely no hope of resuscitation.

To raise someone who had just died or was on their way to being buried was one thing. But to bring back to life someone who had been in the tomb for 4 days...impossible! In other words, Lazarus wasn’t only mostly dead; he was ALL DEAD! Jesus in vs. 15: Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.

Are there any Lazaruses in your life who are not just mostly dead, but all dead, seemingly beyond hope. Don’t lose heart! Let this encounter with Lazarus bolster your faith in the God of the impossible!

[John 11:18-22] Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Here is evidence of the extent of the disciples’ faith: If you had been here, you could have done something. But now it’s too late. He’s been in the tomb for 4 days.

We might think there was spark of hope in Martha when she said, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” But let’s keep reading...

[John 11:23] Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

There was no hope in Martha that this rising again would take place THAT DAY. I don’t think it even crossed her mind that Jesus was talking about today.

If she really thought that Jesus could raise her brother, why would she protest in vs. 39, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” I think Martha believed that God could bring some good out of this, but I don’t think the raising of her brother was in the realm of possibility for her.

This should cause us to examine our own faith. Is there a line that our faith just cannot cross? When it comes to your faith, are there things or situations that are just NOT possible….even for God?

[John 11:24-27] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Here we have one of the great I AM statements found in the book of John. Martha believed in the doctrine of the resurrection and the concept of eternal life, but Jesus, as Warren Wiersbe puts it, “took it out of a book and put it into a person...Himself.”

He goes on...

[Wiersbe] When you are sick, you want a doctor and not a medical book or a formula. When you are being sued, you want a lawyer and not a law book. Likewise, when you face your last enemy, death, you want the Saviour and not a doctrine written in a book. In Jesus Christ, every doctrine is made personal (1Co_1:30). When you belong to Him, you have all that you ever will need in life, death, time, or eternity!

Martha, your brother will rise again because I AM the resurrection and the life.

John would later pen these words, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal

life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the

Son of God does not have life.”

This is what mortal man longs for...immortality!

[Albert Camus] Neither in the hearts of men nor in the manners of society will there be a lasting peace until we outlaw death.

[Woody Allen] I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

Death is indeed our last and greatest enemy. And Jesus stands victorious over it not just because resurrection and life are within His power to give, but because He Himself experienced death and came back to life!

This truth prompted Paul to write in 1 Corinthians 15…

[1 Corinthians 15:55] O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

[Guzik] While the ancients feared death, the Christian can only fear dying.

JESUS AT THE TOMB

[John 11:28-32] When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

These are the exact words Martha used: Lord, if you had been here. This tells us that these two probably had a conversation or two about Jesus not being there. You can hear their anguish: Why didn’t Jesus come right away?

I thought he loved Lazarus?

Why isn’t he coming? Did something happen to him?

[John 11:33-37] When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

He was deeply moved in spirit (vs. 33) = to snort with anger, to be moved with anger

Why was Jesus angry? For their unbelief? That reaction doesn’t seem to fit the context. More likely Jesus was angry at the tyranny of Satan who brought such sorrow and death to the world through sin. Jesus was not only deeply moved in spirit (vs. 33), he also wept (vs. 35). Remember, Jesus is full God AND fully human. Mary’s weeping in vs. 33 is loud wailing. Jesus wept in vs. 35 is quiet weeping. Jesus is moved, but not out of control. The humanity of Jesus is evident here.

[Guzik] To the mind of the ancient Greek, the primary characteristic of God was apatheia: the total inability to feel any emotion whatsoever. The Greeks believed in an isolated, passionless, and compassionless God. That isn’t the God of the Bible. That isn’t the God who is really there.

[1 Thessalonians 4:13-14] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

The reaction to Jesus’ weeping: 1. See how He loved him!

2. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Again, we get a clue into the faith of these early followers of Jesus. If only Jesus would have KEPT him from dying, but now it’s too late. He’s been dead for 4 days.

THE INCREDIBLE ENCOUNTER

[John 11:38-44] Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The stench is further indication that Lazarus was indeed DEAD!

We see this account through the eyes of Mary and Martha and the other followers of Jesus. But I love how Carman gives us a picture of things from Lazarus’ perspective.

From his song, Lazarus, Come Forth

It’s testimony night in the holding place where saints lived beyond the tomb. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Ezekiel, Job and Samson were among those who testified to how they knew the Lord. Lazarus got so excited

He shouted Hey I knew him too

Moses put down his stick

Said hey who's the new kid

Needless to say the room got real quiet

When Lazarus said But I knew him

In a way you all never did

You see man I walked with him and talked with him

I saw how his teachings awed the crowds

Those famous tears of compassion I could actually see

He used to come over to my house after church

And my sisters would make him dinner

And every month I even supported his ministry

You see man I watched him confront the Pharisees

I was there when he fed the five thousand

I heard the people gasp when he healed the lame

You see man I even remember the littlest things

The things that most folks would forget

Like the simple, loving way He'd just call my name

Up at the grave stone rolled away

With a loud voice Jesus started to say, Lazarus

You see it just seems like yesterday

I could hear that man saying my name

Lazarus

As a matter of a fact it seemed like today

Lazarus

Excuse me brothers I think I hear him calling me now

Lazarus

Jesus

Lazarus....Jesus

Lazarus....Jesus

Lazarus....Jesus

Lazarus....Hey Jesus

Lazarus, Come Forth

Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? Their belief wasn’t necessary to raise Lazarus from the death, but their belief was necessary to see the glory of God. You see, there were two reactions to this amazing miracle: Many believed, but some went to the Pharisees and told them what took place. This led to their plans to get rid of Jesus.

This is still the reaction of people today, maybe it’s a reaction of some of you here this morning:

You will either react in faith, putting your trust in Jesus, or

You will try to get rid of him from your life so you can live the way YOU want to live, without any guilt!

Remember, the objective of this story was not to heal Lazarus but to bring glory to the Lord and to bolster the faith of the disciples. Does it bolster your faith?

APPLICATION

As way of application, there are two commands from Jesus that I want to highlight. One of the commands will apply to you this morning, without exception.

First: Lazarus, come forth

Some of you, like Lazarus are dead. Not just mostly death, but all dead! Do you hear Jesus calling you to come forth out of death into life?! Don’t ignore his voice. Repent and put your faith in Jesus. [Guzik] This is how Jesus can call forth the person dead and defeated in sin and deception to a new life in Him. He is still calling the dead forth from their tombs today!

Second: Unbind him

When Lazarus came out of the tomb, he was still bound in his grave clothes. Jesus didn’t unbind him, he told the people to unbind him. To me, this is a picture of discipleship.

When we are brought from death to life, we still have remnants of our old life, sinful habits, wrong attitudes. These are the grave clothes. We are alive in Christ, but we need to get rid of the old man and learn how to walk in that newness of life. This is our work, the work of EVERY believer - discipleship.

If you have already heeded the first command, come forth, then we must heed the second command: unbind him. Come alongside someone who is need of discipleship. Help them remove the remnants of death, their old self and train to walk in Christ’s righteousness and freedom.

COMMUNION

Song: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

CLOSING SONGS

I Am the Resurrection

Our God