Incredible Power - John 11:1-44
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Incredible Power
Incredible Power
As we look at Chapter 11, I want to remind you John had said many other miracles, signs and wonder had taken place in the ministry of Jesus, however these are recorded that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, John wants to draw you into a faith and hope in Jesus Christ.
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
This event records the last and most powerful of the seven miraculous signs in the gospel of John (cf. 2:1–11; 4:46–54; 5:1–17; 6:1–14; 6:15–21; 9:1–41), the resurrection of Lazarus four days after he died.
The Primary purpose is to glorify God, and that the Son of God may be glorified.
The Primary purpose is to glorify God, and that the Son of God may be glorified.
however, was not to restore Lazarus to life, or to comfort his grieving sisters. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, first and foremost, so that He and the Father would be glorified (vv. 4, 40).
however, was not to restore Lazarus to life, or to comfort his grieving sisters. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, first and foremost, so that He and the Father would be glorified (vv. 4, 40).
The most important theme in all the universe is the glory of God. It is the underlying reason for all of God’s works, from the creation of the world, to the redemption of fallen sinners, to the judgment of unbelievers, to the manifestation of His greatness for all eternity in heaven.
Because God’s glory is intrinsic, something natural to His nature, the Bible refers to Him as:
the God of glory (Ps. 29:3; Acts 7:2),
the Glory of Israel (1 Sam. 15:29),
the King of glory (Ps. 24:7–10),
and the high and exalted One (Isa. 57:15; cf. 33:5).
God the Father is called the Father of glory (Eph. 1:17; cf. 2 Peter 1:17);
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8); and
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of glory (1 Peter 4:14).
God’s glory is uniquely His, and He will not share it with anyone else (Isa. 42:8; 48:11)
God’s glory is revealed in an infinite number of ways, one of which is in His creation.
In Psalm 19:1 David wrote, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
Isaiah 6:3 declares, “The whole earth is full of His glory”;
It is the display case in which “His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, [are] clearly seen” (Rom. 1:20)
The most gracious and complete manifestation of God’s glory came in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
THE SECOND PURPOSE of this lesson is:
to buildup and promote Faith in His disciples,
to strengthen faith in both you and me.
To help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith
Roman10.17
THE THIRD PURPOSE of this event is
to show that God is all-powerful,
TO PROVIDE PROOF for the Deity of Jesus Christ.
John 11:27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.
Jesus is “ALL POWERFUL AND WHEN WE BELIEVE IN HIM, HE CAN DO INCREDIBLE THINGS IN OUR LIVES”
The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
lets dive into our story.... narrator
Now, what happens to a child of God is different from what happens to a person who is not a child of God in what we call death. And because there is a vast difference, the Bible did not use the term death to signify the departing of a believer's soul from his body. They just called it sleep
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, said,
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
And so, it was a term that was used, and yet, not an accurate term, because there are those who have taken the idea of sleep then and created a doctrine of soul sleep. Your soul is asleep until the resurrection according to the soul sleep doctrine. But the Bible does not teach that.
The Bible teaches that to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. So, in order that we might distinguish, the difference between a believer and a non-believer, as far as death is concerned; to the believer the term sleep was often used. And Jesus used it here of Lazarus. He said, "He is sleeping."
So then, what happens to the child of God that we say died? What has happened is that he has his spirit, which is the real me, has moved out of the tent, the temporary abode that God has made for my spirit, into the house, the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This tent in which I am living is only a temporary measure for me. You never think of a tent as a permanent residence. It's always transient; we're moving on.
And so, God has a new body for me. It's a body that's designed for the heavenly environment. It is a body that is my eternal abode;
it is a body that cannot and will not age.
It is a body that cannot know pain or suffering.
It is a body that can't be incapacitated by a virus or disease or whatever.
It is a body that won't get tired, and won't have to watch the calories in the middle.
The new body, the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Now I am living in this body that is designed for the environment of the earth. God has a new body for me designed for the environmental conditions of heaven. For me to come into the heavenly scenes, I have to have a metamorphosis, the change of a body.
We think of the little caterpillars, which go through a metamorphosis. Their body is designed for the ground. They have all those little legs, and they go crawling through the fields. And as they get to the highways, they crawl across the highways. And you get into some places, there are so many caterpillars and all going across the highway, it's dangerous to drive, it gets slick. And as they are crossing those highways, the black asphalt during the fall of the year, I can imagine the little caterpillar thinking to himself, "Oh, it's rough having all these hot dirty feet, coming out of the field to the highway. Oh, I wish I could fly. This is hot! If I could only fly." But the poor little caterpillar, his body is not designed to fly. It's designed only to crawl on the ground. The aerodynamic design isn't there; it's designed for the environment of just crawling on the ground, not for the environment of flying through the air.
But one day that little caterpillar crawls up the wall of your house, exudes a little glue, sticks himself under your windowsill and spins a chrysalis around himself. And if you take that chrysalis and you pop it, you'll find just juices come shooting out. But, if you let that chrysalis go, after a period of time you'll see the thing begin to wiggle a lit bit. And you want to keep watching it, because it'll begin to wiggle more and more, and then get sort of convulsive kind of jerks. Then that chrysalis will pop open and two beautiful golden black wings will emerge, and the tiger-swallow tail butterfly will sit perched on the chrysalis for just a moment, as the wings just seem to expand and then it starts flying around the yard. Pretty soon it flies over the fence, across the fields, away. No more hot dirty feet. It has had a metamorphosis. It has now a new body, designed for a new environment. It can now exist where it used to not be able to exist. Had the little caterpillar tried to fly, he had had a real problem. If he had climbed up on a tree and out on a twig and jumped and wiggled himself as fast as he can, his body isn't designed for flying. It's only going to plop on the ground. But once it is gone through the metamorphosis, now flight is very natural.
We, too, the Bible says, are to be changed. We, too, will experience a metamorphosis. for we shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. For this corruption must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. I'm going to get a new body; I'm not going to die. Oh, people may say, "Oh, Phil died." No, not so. I've just moved into the new body, the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. So, the metamorphosis, I have the new body now designed to exist in a whole new environment. And I dwell now, as David said, in the house of the Lord forever.
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.
So, "He who lives and believes in me," Jesus said, "shall never die. They shall not perish. I have given to them eternal life, eternal LIFE." And it is impossible that one with eternal could die, else it isn't eternal life. All it is is a change for the better, to be sure. From the tent to the house. From the temporary to the permanent. From the restricted to the unrestricted.
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?
HAVE YOU ASKED JESUS TO COME INTO YOUR HEART?
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW FOR SURE YOU’RE GOING TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE?
I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
Jesus always demanded a "yes" or a "no." You could not be neutral. He said, "He who is not for Me is against me. You're not neutral. If you don't have a positive attitude towards Me, then you're against Me." Now, when He said, "Do you believe this?" you can either answer "yes" or "no." "Yes, I believe that; no, I don't believe that." And you can't move to a middle position. There is none. I either believe it or I don't believe it.
Do you believe this today? The bible says, today is the day of salvation.