John 11:1-27
Notes
Transcript
Does everyone remember how many shepherds there are in the Bible?
7
And the 7th is the Greatest one right?
You know how many Miracles Jesus performs in Johns Gospel?
7
And the 7th is the Greatest one!
Miracles in John:
John 2 Jesus turns Water into Wine
John 4 Jesus HEALS AN OFFICIALS SON
John 5 The Pool of Bathesda. Jesus heals the invalid
John 6 Jesus FEEDS THE FIVE THOUSAND
John 6 Jesus WALKS ON WATER
John 9 Jesus GIVES SITE TO A BLIND MAN
John 11…Jesus is about to do the most amazing of them all...
He is about to do what ONLY GOD CAN DO...
RAISE A DEAD MAN TO LIFE!
His earthly ministry is coming to a close but He’s not leaving without some fireworks!
And we will hit it hard next week, so bring a friend, but let me go ahead and tell you now because I can’t wait for next week.
This is a picture of us before we came to Christ.
This is a picture of every lost person in the world today…dead in sin. No hope in themselves. No chance. Dead.
Jesus has said a lot that lead us here…and we will go over most of that next week.
Christ told Nicodemus in Chapter 3 that you had to be born again before you could see the kingdom of God. And that is an act of God…its not being baptized or anything else.
John gave us a preview of all of this in the beginning of his Gospel in Chapter 1:13
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Hear the Words of God this morning:
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.”
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 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.” 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?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Prayer:
Let me show you where this is all taking place FIRST.
Look at 10:40-42
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.
That is what brings us into chapter 11.
That place is just south of the Sea of Galilee. (MAP)
But we read where Jesus showed up 4 days after Lazarus was in the tomb.
Well, this place is a 4 days journey (walking)
I believe this is the place and I’ll show you why later.
But...Theologians, people way smarter than I am, believe Jesus was about 6-8 miles East of Jericho when HE recieved word of Lazarus being ill. (MAP) … “across the Jordan”.
Which puts him about 15 Miles from Bethany beside Jerusalem.
that would take him about a day to get back to the Bethany where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived.
Now…LETS LOOK AT VERSES 1-3
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.”
Mary anointing Jesus with oil isn’t told by John until the next chapter.
But Luke wrote about this in his Gospel.
Lukes Gospel had been circulating nearly 30 years before John wrote his Gospel.
The story was obviously very well known.
Matthew writes of a woman in Bethany anointing Jesus with expensive ointment and Jesus said, “wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matt. 26:13).
Matthew was written around 65-70 AD
about 20 years before John’s Gospel.
Look at verse 3 because there are a few things to point out here:
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
The first thing to notice is that Jesus LOVED their brother, Lazarus.
He loved Lazarus (Phileo)…to love someone as a friend, to have an affection for…friendship.
He loved Lazarus.
And guess what? “he whom you love is ill”
You know what that does for the Prosperity Gospel?
It destroys it!
Don’t ever let someone tell you that you are sick, you lost your job, you have cancer, because you are not faithful enough.
This is a friend of Jesus, and Jesus LOVES him…and he is ill.
Look at what his sisters say to Jesus
They don’t say, “Jesus, Lazarus loves you so much and he is sick”.
They say, “he whom YOU love is ill”.
His love for us is what matters the most! We fail Him everyday…but His love is unfailing! The sisters knew that.
And they aren’t long winded with their request to the Lord.
They lay their burden before Him and leave it there with Him to do whatever He decides to do with it.
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.”
Jesus knows that Lazarus is going to die from this illness but He also knows what He is going to do.
Christ sees something that no one else can see.
He sees past the immediate need that his sisters see. He sees past the immediate need of what these messengers see.
All they can see is what is right in front of them…that is their reality.
But God sees past our immediate needs, our wants and desires. He cares far more for us than we can imagine.
What is about to happen is not just for Lazarus.
It is for Mary
for Martha
for Thomas
his disciples
and all those around Bethany…its for us today.
When God works…He works in a way that will affect more people than you know and it will affect them much deeper than we can imagine.
This is not about Lazarus…its about the Glory of God and so the Son of God can be glorified....
He said the same thing about the blind man in chapter 9 (John 9:3)
Lets look at verse 5-6
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.
Now…this seems odd when you first read this.
I mean, if you read it fast enough it doesn’t because you just read right past it.
But if you read slowly…it seems odd.
Jesus gets word that Lazarus is ill…like really bad ill.
Now, you and I, if we heard that one of our closest friends were deathly ill…we would take off right then and go be by their side wouldn’t we?
We would just take off.
But Jesus stays 2 days longer?
That doesn’t sound loving to us does it? I mean, lets be honest.
If this was anyone else you wouldn’t be all… “that is so loving”
If you were deathly sick and you close friend was told that you were dying…and they stayed two days longer and didn’t rush to your side you would question their friendship…don’t lie to yourself.
But John makes it clear in verse 5 that Jesus LOVED Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
Verse 6 starts off with “So” or “therefore”...
and church, what do you ask yourself when you see the word “therefore”
ask yourself, “what is the word ‘therefore’ there for?”
Why did Christ wait 2 days?
because He loved them
AND because it was for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified.
God works on His TIMELINE…not ours.
God is concerned about the things for His children that TRULY matter.
God is not concerned with your health, wealth, and prosperity...
God is concerned about your faith in Him.
God is concerned with your relationship with Him
And He will grow your faith…in ways you never dreamed…in ways you would have NEVER chosen…but His ways and HIS TIMING is always perfect.
Real quick on Him waiting two days....
That first MAP…just south of the sea of Galilee is a 4 day journey (walk).
When he got the News Jesus said “This illness”…Lazarus wasn’t dead yet.
Christ was waiting on the Father’s timing…when Lazarus dies is when he heads back and He gets there 4 days after the death of Lazarus.
Look at verse 7-8
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?”
They don’t know whats going on back in Bethany. The messenger told Christ and Jesus answered the messenger.
Now, Jesus, just looks at his disciples and says, “Hey, lets go back to Judea again”.
Now, your’e probably thinking: “Why wouldn’t they just go with Him? I mean, if I was there with Jesus I would just go wherever He asked me to go”.
Nope…you wouldn’t have.
I wouldn’t have.
Let me ask you something…do you go where Jesus wants you to go all the time?
Do you sometimes have that burning in your heart and you know God is telling you that you need to go there or go here…and you don’t.
Exactly.
These are his disciples....WE ARE HIS DISCIPLES....and we still do the same things today.
Sometimes we think He is crazy!!!!
The think Jesus is CRAZY right here!!!!
They were just trying to KILL you (and they would probably kill us too) and you want to go BACK?
I don’t trust you LORD
We don’t trust you LORD
They will try to kill us if we go there LORD
God puts it into your heart to share the gospel with that person, your friend, your coworker…your teacher...
But they might shun me LORD
They might get upset at me LORD
I don’t trust you LORD...
God doesn’t promise to lead us down EASY Street. Christ will lead His sheep places they don’t really want to go sometimes...
But do you trust Him?
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.”
God is Sovereign. God’s plans will not and cannot be thwarted.
Jesus is telling them that he still has work to do.
Even though his ministry is coming to a close … that doesn’t mean its time to shut it down.
As long as there is light in the day…He will continue to do the work God has put Him to do.
And the same is true for you and me.
God has set our days before creation.
nothing will shorten our life and nothing will lengthen it.
Nothing can stop the plans of God
So, while there is still light…do what God has called you to do.
Trust Him…Give Him all you got…You have one life to live…Please…leverage everything for the advancement of His Kingdom!!!
VERSE 10
But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
Jesus is the Light…WE MUST ABIDE IN HIM…We walk in the light.
If you refuse to follow him, to walk in the light...
IF WE REFUSE TO GO WHERE HE TELLS US…we will stumble.
Christ’s disciples walk in the light...
We go where He tells us...
We question Him at times....
We don’t understand Him at times...
But the Christian goes....
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
LOOK AT verse 11-13
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.
Seriously…I would be doing and saying the same thing.
You mean to tell me that you want to go back to Judea, Jerusalem area…where they were just trying to kill you and us…because Lazarus got a little sick and now he is taking a nap????
He’ll be FIIIIINNNNEEE.... Let’s not get carried away here. He will be fine.
Look at verse 14-15
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.”
Sometimes we need it told to us plainly don’t we.
FIRST..He says He was glad that He wasn’t there...
WHY?
So that they may believe.
Now, they already believed but he is talking about a faith that will far exceed their fear of any opposition they may see in the future.
He wants to give them a preview of his death…and His resurrection…He wants to build their faith, to grow their faith, to prepare them for the things that are going to be coming their way....
God gradually grows our faith…and he is growing theirs.
SECONDLY…He is glad that He wasn’t there because if He was there then Lazarus would not have died.
If Lazarus would not have died
Their faith would not have been strengthened
Mary and Marthas faith would not have grown
Others would not have come to faith in Christ.
REMEMBER…its not about you and your desires...
Its about God’s Glory and the glory of the Son of God
He does what He knows is best for His children…He doesn’t do what we want Him to do at the times we want Him to do it....
DO YOU TRUST HIM?
LAZARUS wouldn’t have died if He was there because every time Jesus came in the presence of death…DEATH FLED from Him...
Luke 7:11-17 Jesus raises the Widow’s Son
He sees a funeral…he sees the mother and has compassion on her and he touches the casket and says, “YOUNG MAN, I SAY TO YOU , ARISE. And the dead man sat up and began to speak”.
Mark 5:21-43 Jesus heals Jairus’ Daughter.
This 12 year old girl had died. Jesus said that she had just fallen asleep and they laugh at him. HE goes up to her body and says, “LITTLE GIRL, I SAY TO YOU, ARISE. And immediately the girl got up and began walking”
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Seriously…Thomas said this. And we most likely would have also.
Great! Lazarus is dead…Jesus is going to get killed now…so lets all go die together!
Jesus just told them PLAINLY that Lazarus had DIED.
Just before that in verse 11 Jesus told them that He was going to AWAKEN HIM…(to resurrect him, stir him from his sleep)
And Thomas still doesn’t get it!
But we don’t get it all either do we?
I don’t listen to God as carefully as I should…DO YOU?
I don’t fully trust Him as I should…DO YOU?
I don’t follow Him with FEAR not fully trusting Him many times…DO YOU?
But look at ole DOUBTING Thomas here...
He might not have listened well enough
He was a pessimist…
He may not have had a good understanding of what Christ was up to
But...
But He was courageous
He may have lacked understanding but He was willing to DIE WITH CHRIST THAN BE SEPARATED FROM CHRIST.
He wasn’t leaving HIM!
And notice what Christ doesn’t do…He doesn’t correct him. We will see in the next few weeks that Christ will let the truth speak for itself.
Christ will allow the truth of what He said He will do teach Thomas and everyone else in its timing.
Christ knows what is best for me, I just have to trust my life to Him.
Christ knows what is best for you…you just have to trust your life to Him.
This sheepfold of God is made up of all types of people…We are made up of all different people…different colors, different nationalities, rich and poor…but we all are led by one Spirit and we all have ONE Savior.
Trust Him...
Come to Him like Mary and Martha and lay your burdens on Him and TRUST them with Him…He LOVES YOU if you are His
When He tells you to go somewhere and do something…GO…it may be scary…but TRUST Him
as long as it is day…do the work of the Lord.
He will grow your faith in Him
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
If you do not know Christ....