The Resurrection of Lazarus

Resurrection

Read John 11:38-44

Introduction:

This miracle is a sign. John 21:25 there were many things Jesus did and all the books of the world couldn’t contain them, but these were written for a reason and John tells us that reason in John 20:30-31.

What is a sign?

What is this sign shown to us in this miracle? Rebirth. Explain. We were born of God.

John 1:12-13 not of the blood(just because your parents are Christians doesn’t mean you are), nor of the will of the flesh(you can’t work your way to salvation), nor of the will of man (not by your own free will) but you were born of God.

Ephesians 2:1-5 We were dead HE made us alive. How did He do this? v8-9 the gift of faith that was not of ourselves, nor was it of our works but it was a gift so no one may boast.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This is the picture of our resurrection. God gave us His Spirit making us alive with a heart of flesh, gave us the gift of faith, and caused us to be born again to walk in His ways and obey Him. Calling is out of darkness into marvelous light.

Events leading up to these verses. Sickness doesn’t lead to death, waits two more days, Lazarus is dead and I am glad, I am the resurrection and the life (no one can enter the grave or leave it without Christ’s sovereign command) those who are in Christ will never die Romans 8:10“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”, Jesus wept(a compassionate King who wept with the broken hearted in there sin of unbelief. He weeps for you in your unbelief.

Do you weep for those who are trapped in sin or do you only condemn them without showing them the love of Christ. Yes we hate sin but we are to weep for them and love them and point them to Jesus who sets people free from sin.

V37 “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

Main Text

V38 deeply moved- flaring of nostrils of a horse leading into battle/ anger/ Holy indignation/ **toward sin & unbelief. What sin has done to the world and how it has brought death. For the wages of sin is death.

One who is holy must feel revolt toward sin. Have you became passive about sin in your life? Examples- tv, cultural, friends, what we read, addictions, music. This is not legalism, it’s growth in holiness.

We who live in a dying world must have this indignation toward sin.

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Tombs were on side of hills either a natural cave or cut out by hand and a stone was place in front to cover smell

V39 “Remove the stone”- the One who can raise the dead can easily remove the stone, human responsibility, this is a daily command that He gives us. Water to wine- He commanded them to fill them up, when He is the one who spoke and all things were made, this truth He teaches here is that we who believe in the sovereignty of God are not to set back and do nothing and wait for God to do it, it should push us to be actively involved in what He is doing. When He feed the 5000- He said to His disciples give me what you have, healed the blind man- Jesus spit into the dirt picked up the mud put it into the man’s eyes and said go to the pool of Siloam and wash. He calls us to be involved in His work, Prayers we must pray, witness we must give, sermons we must preach, people we must love, you are to act on what I’m saying, putting your shoulder to the plow.

Martha the sister of deceased- this was said to show that Lazarus was truly dead and not just sick or asleep also noted by that he had been dead for four days and would stink.

Her faith was lacking, because she did not believe the removing of the stone was of any use. Application- times of trouble, even now.

V40 Not stated in Scripture but a common teaching of Jesus, Faith without doubt.

If you believe- this is always the condition. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.”

As He told the blind men in Matt 9:29 according to your faith be it done to you. As we are about see Lazarus being raised from death to life, see us when we believe and have faith in the Gospel of our salvation and Christ calls us out of darkness into marvelous light, and He raises us from spiritual death to life!

Do not fall in the raging storm as Peter did and hear “O ye of little faith why did you doubt” in Matt 14:31

But did I not say that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

But did He not say through Paul in Rom 8:28 “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.”

In all situations we are to have faith Christians! No doubt. So that your eyes may behold the glory of our King!

But to you who cannot see, may God even now give you eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive, so that you may believe in the gospel.

Jesus told her in John 11:23-26 “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.” 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?””

John 11:27 “She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Don’t lose sight of what God has promised you.

Fear and anxiety- But did I not say in Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”

When life has you wore down and beat and you can’t seem to find any rest from the trouble and the grief that the world brings- But did I not say to you in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

When death strikes your family and you more and feel that you cannot be comforted and He says- But did I not say in Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Always let this saying stay close to your mind when in doubt, “but did I not say” and look to God’s Word.

But this does not mean mans faith is the condition upon where Gods sovereignty hangs, meaning that God cannot act unless we believe.

What it does mean is if you are to see what God is doing in the world you must have faith

If you are to see the glory of Gods work around you, you must have eyes of faith to see it.

Natural eyes will not see it.

Times of greatest trouble, even as Mary and Martha with the loss of their brother Jesus says you must maintain faith, and if you do you will see the glory of God. If you will just believe.

How does this apply to you today? I encourage you in this, believe in God.

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

John 14:1

V41 Remove the stone – everything we can do He requires, what we can’t do He does. The same is true in your life and mine as well. We cannot set back and wait for God to do what He expects us to do.

V41b-42 Notice it wasn’t till after His light rebuke that the stone was removed. We must always look to what God has said and believe to remove the stones in our lives and grow in Christ likeness.

He didn’t pray like the Pharisees did for attention but so they and us may see and believe in the Son. As He raise His eyes He is looking up in trust in God the Father.

Father- intimate relationship. As Jesus taught us to pray He said “Our Father who are in heaven hollowed be thy name. It’s His made holy in your life and on your prayers?

I thank You- in the midst of this He gives thanksgiving. Example-When we prayed outside the window at the hospital for my papa.

That You have heard Me- shows that He has already prayed knowing God the Father has heard Him, not only that but He always hears Him, and He hears us when we pray in Jesus name. Sometimes He says yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait, but He always hears you.

He is always in constant prayers throughout His ministry.

He prayed this out loud so there will be no question so they might believe that it is the Father working in Him and through Him to accomplish His works so that all may know that He is the Son of God.

If Jesus had to pray how much more do we need to pray?

V43 After He said these things- from this sickness will not lead to death, to His prayer right before this.

He cried out with a loud voice- showing how deeply troubled He was at the sight of this death, with righteous anger, this wasn’t a whisper but it was a shout! Just like on the great and final day “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

The power of His command- the One who spoke and all things were created, the One who told the sea you could only come this far, the One who breathed into the nostril of man and there was life Psalm 33:9 “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood firm.” This same God cried out with a loud voice and said: Lazarus, come forth!

Lazarus (singular) so all the dead didn’t rise

He says “My sheep heart My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me John 10:27, Matthew follow me, Zacchaeus come down from there I must eat with you tonight. John 10:3 He calls His sheep by name.

Lazarus, come forth! This is a command with irresistible power, a power greater than death and greater than sin. Lazarus had nothing to do with this, but it was the Soverign call of God.

V44 The man who had died came forth- He was dead and now he is alive and is drawn to the voice that gave him life.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:44

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;” John 10:27

As He came forth bound hand and foot, we to were bound by the chains of death and sin.

As his face was wrapped with cloth and could not see, this is us as we were spiritually blind and could not see because we were not born again.

But then Jesus said “unbind him, and let him go”, to take off everything the represented death and the grave and to set him free. So it is those whom the Son set free, are free indeed.

Also, let me point out, because of the great change in Lazarus, many people desired to see him; and his “living witness” was used by God to bring people to salvation (John 12:9–11).

This is the Life that Jesus gives/ He is our Resurrection and Life/He is the Light that is the Light of men/ He called us out of spiritual death to life/ as Lazarus was unbound and set free, so are we when the Shepherd calls His sheep forth by name.

This is a picture of us being raised from spiritual death to life, from turning our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, the chains of sin that would not allow us to believe and when we would hear someone preach the Gospel because we were a slave to sin and sin would cry out “No! I won’t allow you to believe, you are my slave!” and gives you doubt and fear. But when Christ calls you by name... it is like one that you had never heard before, the chains that once bound you were no longer there and you could do nothing else but to respond in faith and repentance and follow the command of the King.

Greater than water to wine is raising from spiritual death to life, greater than healing the cripple is seeing a sinner walking in the newness of life, better than the blind receiving sight, someone spirituality blind receive spiritual sight.

“He that stood by the grave of Lazarus can say to the vilest of men: “Come forth! Loose him, and let him go.” -J.C Ryle

Have you heard this voice? and if you never have, He is calling you today. Gospel.

“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15