REMEMBER IN ORDER TO BELIEVE

Introduction

-Today, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we know that Jesus said that the purpose of the Lord’s Supper was to do so in Remembrance of Him. The remembrance He is talking about, however, is not some mere sentimentality or fondness as we look back on what He accomplished on the cross.

-It’s not like the sentimentality and fondness, for example, that I get when I’m working on my family genealogy. As I input things into my fancy little family tree computer program, and I come across a name of a family member that passed away a while back, I start to think of fond memories of family get togethers with that person or other things we did back in the past.

-The Lord’s Supper is not just memories about Jesus that give us the warm fuzzies. Rather, when Jesus calls us to do this in remembrance of Him, what we remember ought to push us to some sort of action.

-It’s more like what my smart phone does. I have things in my calendar, and a message pops up on my phone or my watch that reminds me that in 30 minutes or whatever I have to do something.

~Or there is an actual reminder app on the phone that I can input information telling my phone to remind me at a certain time or when I get to a certain place that there is something that I need to do.

-That is more like the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper. I remember the sacrifice, and I have a response to it.

-In light of my preaching through the gospel of John, (and today being in John 11) there is a specific response I think that Jesus desires from us today.

-In the passage we are looking at, Jesus performs the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, but He continuously hits the point that this miracle is done to produce belief in Jesus so that those who witness it can relate and walk with Him in complete confidence.

-And I see that when we remember and reflect on Christ’s ministry and sacrifice that it is for the purpose of strengthening our faith in Him so that we too may live for Him in confidence.

-So, may our celebration of the Lord’s Supper lead to an increase of our faith as we remember.

John 11:28–44 ESV

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 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. 32 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.” 33 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. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 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.”

-I want to talk about 4 aspects of remembrance today to bolster our belief in Christ and our walk of faith in Christ:

(1) Remember Jesus’ call

-We know from this chapter that Jesus received a message that His friend Lazarus was sick, but waited many days before going to him, during which time Lazarus died. When Jesus finally came, He was greeted by Lazarus’ sister Martha and He reminded her that He is the resurrection and the life—all who believe in Him will never eternally die but have true life.

-But then we see in v. 28 that Lazarus’ other sister had not come out to greet Jesus, but Martha goes to her and tells her that Jesus, the Teacher, is calling her to come to Him. That is, Jesus personally, by name, called her unto Himself.

-This is a great reminder to us that Jesus is calling us. He first calls us to come to saving faith in Him. He calls you by name to repent and believe that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Incarnate Word who fulfilled the law and the prophets, who died on the cross for your sins, and who rose again the third day. He calls you to salvation.

-But Jesus also calls you unto Himself for an intimate relationship and close walk with Him. Jesus called for Mary to come to Him so that He could minister to her and so she could be witness to the miracle He was going to perform. This was personal. Jesus doesn’t call people to a long-distance relationship, but to a nearness that surpasses most any human relationship.

-When Jesus calls us to Himself, it is not some impersonal, automated thing. You ever get those calls and its one of those prerecorded messages trying sell you something or get you to vote for someone? Or you call a company to get some customer service and all you get is “press 1 for this, press 2 for that”, and you go from one menu to the next and never actually talk to a human. There is no human connection there.

-Jesus’ call is personal. Jesus doesn’t call you to a religion. Jesus doesn’t call you to a moral code. Jesus calls you to Himself. And that bolsters our faith because we know that Jesus will never abandon anyone who He has called to Himself. Jesus will not leave us nor forsake us. So, when we remember Him and His ministry and His sacrifice, we remember His call.

(2) Remember Jesus’ compassion

-Jesus is not some mean dictator who couldn’t care less about His subjects. Jesus is a Savior who has compassion on sinners. Jesus earlier in the gospel said He didn’t come to condemn the world (this first time around) He came to save the world (that is, He came to save the sinners that are in the world). Jesus has compassion on sinners. Jesus has compassion on weak human beings.

-So that means that Jesus is compassionate toward us when we are at our lowest. Consider what’s happening in our passage. Mary and Martha are mourning over a loss due to death. What does it say about Jesus?

~It doesn’t say He tells them to get over it or to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. It doesn’t say that He ignores them and their hurt.

-What it does say in vv. 33 & 38 is that Jesus is deeply moved and troubled. That is, Jesus is agitated and bothered by the fact of sin and death and its effects on humanity—His creation

~And it says that Jesus wept, and the Jews seeing this pondered on how much Jesus must have loved Lazarus. But the weeping even goes beyond just Lazarus, but it is weeping for a broken humanity that has to deal with death because of their choice to sin.

-So, this tells us that Jesus doesn’t turn a blind eye to the sufferings and problems and troubles and trials and tribulations of humanity. Instead, Jesus took on all the sufferings and problems and troubles and trials and tribulations of humanity upon Himself, first by taking on humanity Himself, and then dying on the cross to give humanity a hope beyond all those sufferings etc.

-All that the other religions or philosophies in the world offer are impersonal forces that really couldn’t care less about you.

~All that Islam offers is a god who shows indifference to human suffering—you either obey or don’t and that’s about it

~Hinduism and Buddhism offer the impersonal ALL that we are supposedly a part of—but it is more like we are mere psychotic imaginations of a schizophrenic deity.

~Naturalism that says there is no God tells us that we are merely left to the whims of impersonal existence—since nothing created us we have no value or purpose or meaning, so there is nothing out there that really cares what you go through

-But we have a Christ who is agitated and moved by our suffering. We have a Christ who weeps with us in our weeping.

~Who would you rather place your faith in? And impersonal nothingness or the loving Creator and Sustainer and Lord?

~We remember His compassion for us.

(3) Remember Jesus’ commands

-Jesus is still Lord. Jesus still has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus speaks, we listen, and we obey. Jesus is the God who is to be heeded. He commands and we submit to Him fully.

-We see that when Jesus came to Mary and Martha, He took command of the situation. He called for Mary to come to Him (and she came). He then commanded them to take Him to the tomb (and they led Him). He then told them to move the stone (and they moved it). He also directed the witnesses to remove the grave clothes that surrounded Lazarus (and they took all those wrappings off).

~But then, listen to this. Jesus commanded Lazarus to be raised from the dead, and even death had to obey Him and give up Lazarus. Lazarus was alive again because Jesus commanded it.

-We mustn’t think that Jesus is some powder-puff life coach that wants you to have high self-esteem. Jesus spoke the world into existence. He holds all of the universe together by the power of His Word. In the end every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord (not a teacher, not a preacher, not a prophet, not a psychologist, not a life coach, not a cheerleader)—JESUS IS LORD

-Jesus commands, and we obey. But, get this. What Jesus is doing is not merely ordering us around like a drill sergeant, He invites us into His work and into His life and directs us in such a way that His commands will be for our good and His glory.

-Jesus’ commands aren’t some arbitrary bunch of things that He does just to prove He has the authority to do it. Jesus isn’t playing a cosmic game of Simon Says with us where He tells you just to do useless stuff: Simon says raise your right hand. Simon says raise your left leg.

-There is purpose and power behind Jesus’ commands. Jesus’ commands are for our benefit. When He says that we are to keep the marriage bed pure, He’s not holding stuff out on us. He’s wanting us to have the best. But he had to command it otherwise in our sinfulness we’d hurt ourselves.

~When He says that we are not to be drunk with wine but filled with the Spirit, He’s not holding out on us. He made the command so we’d have the real prosperous life.

-So, when we remember Jesus, we remember that He gives commands, we obey, but we know they are for our good so we faithfully follow Him.

(4) Remember Jesus’ conquest

-Jesus defeated death. What He did with Lazarus was a foretaste of what was to come. Lazarus was resuscitated only to die again eventually. But when Jesus Himself died to take care of the sin debt, and then rose again from the grave Himself, He showed that He had power and authority and that those who believe in Him would be raised just like He was.

-But, we have to consider this: If Jesus has control and power and authority over death, it’s probably a sure thing that He has control and power and authority over everything else that is going on in our lives.

-If Jesus was able to defeat our greatest enemy (the enemy that all of humanity has to face), then He is able to take care of all the issues you are facing right now.

~Jesus can handle your finances because He defeated death

~Jesus can handle your relationship issues because He defeated death

~Jesus can handle your health problems because He defeated death

-So, when you remember Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you can place all your faith in Him because He alone took care of your biggest problem, He can be trusted with everything else

Conclusion

-Why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead—v. 40: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" (Jn. 11:40 ESV)

v. 42: I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." (Jn. 11:42 ESV)

-Jesus wants us to remember so that we will believe; so that we would walk by faith and not by sight—and one of the reason’s why we have…{Lord’s Supper}