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Essential Truths from the Miracle of Lazarus
The Gospel of John
John 11:43-57
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - April 26, 2017
(Revised December 3, 2019)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John 11, as we look again at the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
In this great Bible story, Lazarus, Martha and their sister Mary were all very close to Jesus.
*But vs. 1 tells us that Lazarus was sick, and in fact, Lazarus was about to die.
That's why Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus.
Verses 3-6 say:
3. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.''
4. 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.''
5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6.
So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
*Then in vs. 7, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again.''
By this time, it was extremely dangerous for Jesus to return to Judea, because the leaders who wanted to kill the Lord were there in Jerusalem.
That's why in vs. 8 the disciples said, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?''
This is also why in vs. 16 Thomas said this to the other disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him.''
*It was very dangerous for the Lord to return to Judea, and vs. 6 tells us that the Lord waited two more days before He did return to Judea, but Jesus did not delay out of fear.
He delayed for the glory of God.
He delayed because He loved Lazarus and his sisters.
Jesus also delayed because He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead and because He wanted us to know that He has the power over death.
*We saw a small touch of the Lord's infinite power last week in vs. 39-44:
39.
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.''
40.
Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?''
41.
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.
42.
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.''
43.
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!''
44.
And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go.''
*With this background in mind, let's read vs. 43-57 to see some of the key things that happened next.
MESSAGE:
*By His miraculous power, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!
But what happened next?
God's Word shows us tonight.
1. AND FIRST, MORE SOULS WERE SAVED.
*Many more souls were saved by believing in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
We see this outstanding result in vs. 43-45, where God's Word says:
43.
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!''
44.
And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go.''
45.
Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.
*Lazarus coming back from the dead moved many people to believe in the Lord.
Albert Barnes explained that "there could not be more striking proof of the divine mission and power of Jesus."
Raising someone from the dead was a miracle that couldn't be topped.
And there were many witnesses present who knew that it surely happened.
(1)
*Some scholars see a double miracle when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.
John Gill explained that is because of the way Lazarus was buried according to the custom of that day.
His whole body was wrapped up by many layers of grave clothes with his arms tight by his side.
And tied up like that, there was no way Lazarus could use his hands or feet to help him sit up, stand up, and walk out of the cave to Jesus.
In that case, William McDonald noted that Lazarus' body must have come out of the tomb through the air until his feet touched the ground in front of the Lord Jesus.
(2)
*There's no reason to doubt it.
If Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, and He did!
Then surely He could have transported Lazarus' body the few yards it had to go.
Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth!''
John Phillips commented that Jesus "spoke with that word of power which, in the dawn of time, commanded 'Light,' and light was.
It was like the powerful word that said to the leper, 'Be clean,' and immediately his leprosy vanished.
It was the same power that commanded a legion of demons to leave a tormented soul, and at once they fled."
*Church: The number of soldiers in a Roman Legion varied from 3,000 up to even 12,000.
But the most common number was six to seven thousand soldiers.
And Jesus spoke with such power that they all had to instantly leave that tormented man.
*Jesus spoke with the power of God because He is God!
When He spoke to a mighty storm in Mark 4:39 Jesus said, "'Peace, be still!'
And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."
It's just 3 words in English.
That's all it took to calm that raging sea.
*In the original language, it was just 2 words.
The first word was "hush," like you would say to a whining child or a barking dog.
It's been a long time, but I can remember lots of times I've said "hush" to a little child, without too much effect.
Freckles goes nuts barking when somebody knocks on the door, and my "hush" doesn't make a difference there either.
But Christians, we have a Savior who can calm the fiercest storm, with a little "hush."
And just to be sure, that word for "be still" meant to put a muzzle on something.
There is no storm too big for Jesus to muzzle!
*Jesus Christ spoke with the power of God.
And Phillips noted that in vs. 43 the "power of the Lord's word rang out again.
And of course, Lazarus came forth!
What else could he do?" (3)
*It was such a mighty, obvious and public miracle.
No wonder so many people there believed in Jesus!
Those people did the most important thing we can ever do in life.
They did the best thing we can ever do in life!
They believed on Jesus.
They put their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
They believed that Jesus is the Messiah sent from Heaven to save us from our sins.
*And they didn’t know anything about the cross, but now we know that Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins.
And He loves us so much that He was willing to do it, so we can trust the Risen Savior completely.
And we must!
-- Because nobody can save our souls but Jesus Christ!
*What happened after Jesus raised Lazarus?
Many more souls were saved by believing in Jesus.
2. BUT THE UNBELIEVING LEADERS WERE STILL LOST.
*Only the hardest hearts could refuse to believe in Jesus after a miracle like that.
But almost all of the chief priests and Pharisees still refused to believe in Jesus.
What happened to those men?
[1] ONE THING WAS THEY FELT THE WRONG FEAR.
*We see this fatal mistake in vs. 46-48:
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