30 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:56,800 Well, my name is Rob Sweet. 31 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,760 I haven't been here for a little while. 32 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:00,280 If you maybe you've started coming 33 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:01,460 in the last four or five weeks 34 00:01:01,460 --> 00:01:03,400 and you're thinking every week there's a different guy 35 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,240 that's teaching what's going on here. 36 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,360 I do wanna say thanks to Carl Cartier, 37 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,200 our worship pastor, not just for this morning, 38 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,440 but Carl, they're already clapping for you 39 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,460 wherever you are, but Carl did such a great job 40 00:01:15,460 --> 00:01:18,560 leading us through four weeks on the heart of worship. 41 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:20,240 What a blessing that was to our body. 42 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,680 And maybe this is my imagination, 43 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,800 but when I came back today, I was listening to y'all sing 44 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:26,480 and I was like, I think it worked. 45 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,640 I think they're worshiping with more oomph, 46 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:30,480 with more heart. 47 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,440 And obviously it's a lot more than just singing 48 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,720 as Carl taught us, but I'm so grateful. 49 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:35,840 Carl did a wonderful job. 50 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,800 And then last week, Lloyd was back and man, poor Lloyd, 51 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,680 he had to come into a hard message talking 52 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,120 about God's sovereignty and wrestling through these issues. 53 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,920 And as Lloyd does, he did a wonderful job 54 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:47,760 of navigating that. 55 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,680 But now I get to be with you 56 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,880 and I'm excited to be with you for lots of reasons. 57 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,480 I've had a few weeks off. 58 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,440 It wasn't a full sabbatical, so to speak, 59 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,240 but it did give me time just to be with my family 60 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:00,680 and catch up on some things. 61 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,840 I had three weeks where I wasn't working at all 62 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:03,720 and I had two lists. 63 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,680 One was a rest and rejuvenation list 64 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,000 and one was a honeydew list from Jody. 65 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,000 And I'm happy to say I got through about halfway on both, 66 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,560 on both, which I felt pretty good about. 67 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,040 But it was a nice time off. 68 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,280 And when you're off a little bit from your rhythm, 69 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,760 it usually causes you to reflect. 70 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,200 And some of the reflection that I did, 71 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,800 I was thinking about, how am I? 72 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,800 How are we collectively as a church? 73 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,240 Where are we? 74 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:32,120 What are we up to? 75 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:33,800 And nothing profound, 76 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,760 but I did just come back to this simple idea. 77 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,440 I genuinely believe that everything going on 78 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,400 in the world right now is a part of God 79 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,080 ultimately revealing himself and his glory on this earth 80 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,560 through Jesus Christ as the center of all things. 81 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:49,480 Amen. 82 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:50,680 I appreciate that, amen. 83 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,240 And I know many of us resonate with that, 84 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,000 but there's something about getting away 85 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,840 from your normal rhythms just to say, 86 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:57,680 what's it all about? 87 00:02:57,680 --> 00:02:58,720 At the end of the day, it's about Jesus. 88 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,360 And this mission that we have together 89 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,680 of becoming a community of people who follow Jesus 90 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,240 with our whole heart and help others do the same. 91 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,240 And so then I get to be in John 11 with you this morning, 92 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,120 which happens to be my favorite interaction of Jesus 93 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,080 in the entire scripture. 94 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:18,560 And as Carl kind of already teed up, 95 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,560 we're not gonna get to the resurrection part today, 96 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,200 Lloyd will pick that up next week, 97 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:23,720 but there's an awful lot here. 98 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:25,360 And so here's how I wanna set this up. 99 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:26,440 You can go ahead and turn there 100 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:27,320 if you wanna be turning there, 101 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,040 but I wanna give a bit more of an intro 102 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:30,640 to what we're gonna find. 103 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,800 It's, as you know, it's the famous account 104 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,440 of Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. 105 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,080 But when you read the whole text, 106 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:39,640 as Carl already indicated, 107 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,600 most of the story is before the resurrection. 108 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,440 The resurrection happens right there at the end, 109 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,300 and there's so much more to it 110 00:03:46,300 --> 00:03:48,080 than just the raising of Lazarus. 111 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:53,080 When you read this chapter, mindful of who Jesus is, 112 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,720 that he's God himself walking on the earth, 113 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,080 then you see it grapples 114 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,460 with some of the most profound human issues, 115 00:04:05,460 --> 00:04:09,120 like why is there death? 116 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,600 What does God feel about death? 117 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,760 What will he do about death? 118 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,260 It's almost like this one chapter 119 00:04:18,260 --> 00:04:21,040 shrinks the entire human experience down 120 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,180 into this interaction that Jesus has 121 00:04:23,180 --> 00:04:24,300 with this particular family. 122 00:04:24,300 --> 00:04:28,080 There's love and suffering and grief and death and promise 123 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,080 and hope and resurrection and joy, 124 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,840 and it's all here in this chapter. 125 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,460 It's the deepest parts of the human experience. 126 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:40,800 It helps to think of it in this kind of big grand way, 127 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,660 because you'll see it's not just about this one family. 128 00:04:44,660 --> 00:04:47,760 It's not just about Lazarus and Mary and Martha 129 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,480 and Jesus' love for them and his interaction with them. 130 00:04:51,900 --> 00:04:53,160 It's about all of us. 131 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,160 This chapter reveals to us the very heart of God 132 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,020 toward human beings, toward you. 133 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,640 In other words, if you wanna know what God thinks of you, 134 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,480 what God feels toward you, how God interacts with you, 135 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,200 look at how Jesus interacts with the people 136 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,440 that he rubbed shoulders with, particularly this family 137 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:17,480 that he loved so much. 138 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:18,980 Study how Jesus interacted with them. 139 00:05:18,980 --> 00:05:20,520 Study what he said to them, 140 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,000 because it will show you the heart of God for you. 141 00:05:25,660 --> 00:05:26,800 So here's how I wanna encourage you 142 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,300 to come at this chapter over the next two weeks 143 00:05:29,300 --> 00:05:30,780 as we walk through it together. 144 00:05:30,780 --> 00:05:35,020 Transpose your own life into this narrative. 145 00:05:36,740 --> 00:05:40,320 It's not just about Lazarus and Mary and Martha. 146 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,720 Think about what God is trying to tell you about you 147 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:43,740 and about him. 148 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:46,760 That's how you have to read it 149 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:48,120 if it's gonna penetrate your heart. 150 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,500 Now this morning we're gonna cover the first half, 151 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:52,120 really a little more than half of the chapter. 152 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:53,540 We're gonna go from verse one 153 00:05:53,540 --> 00:05:55,520 all the way down through verse 37. 154 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:57,800 And in these verses we're gonna see the events 155 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,800 and conversations that led up to the resurrection of Lazarus. 156 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,200 And what we're gonna see is really incredible. 157 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,040 We're gonna see a remarkable picture of God's love for us. 158 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:13,040 Jesus is going to put on display the heart of God. 159 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,600 And you'll see Jesus do this in three ways 160 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:19,040 that are a little surprising. 161 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,240 Here's how he does it. 162 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,240 He confounds, he confronts, and he comes near. 163 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,280 And this will be the outline for our text this morning. 164 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:32,700 Jesus does these three things. 165 00:06:32,700 --> 00:06:35,280 He confounds, he confronts, he comes near. 166 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:37,000 And what he's doing is he's showing us 167 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,160 how the love of God works, 168 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,120 how God interacts with his people. 169 00:06:43,020 --> 00:06:44,580 That's what Jesus is doing. 170 00:06:44,580 --> 00:06:47,120 God's love confounds us sometimes. 171 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:48,040 Isn't that true? 172 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,160 God's love confronts us and God's love comes near. 173 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,160 Jesus is the love of God in the flesh. 174 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,460 And so we see him interacting 175 00:06:56,460 --> 00:06:58,660 with these people in this way. 176 00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:00,220 So let's look at the first part of this, 177 00:07:00,220 --> 00:07:02,000 which is the first 16 verses. 178 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:07,000 And the theme of these verses is God's love confounds us. 179 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:08,940 I'll start in verse one. 180 00:07:08,940 --> 00:07:10,400 I'll read all the way through 16. 181 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,440 And then we'll come back and I'll hit some highlights 182 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:13,260 on this. 183 00:07:13,260 --> 00:07:15,200 I won't have time to comment on every verse. 184 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,200 Verse one, now a certain man was ill. 185 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,120 Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary 186 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,160 and her sister Martha. 187 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,480 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment 188 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:28,240 and wiped his feet with her hair 189 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:29,760 whose brother Lazarus was ill. 190 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,600 So the sister sent to him saying, 191 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,000 Lord, he whom you love is ill. 192 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,320 But when Jesus heard it, 193 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,340 he said this illness does not lead to death. 194 00:07:42,340 --> 00:07:43,600 It is for the glory of God 195 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,240 so that the son of God may be glorified through it. 196 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,700 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 197 00:07:50,700 --> 00:07:52,600 So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, 198 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,640 he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 199 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,480 Then after this, he said to his disciples, 200 00:07:58,480 --> 00:07:59,680 let us go to Judea again. 201 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:01,480 The disciples said to him, 202 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,000 Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you 203 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,040 and you're going there again. 204 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,680 Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? 205 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:11,880 If anyone walks in the day, 206 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:12,720 he does not stumble 207 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,320 because he sees the light of this world. 208 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:15,680 But if anyone walks in the night, 209 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,920 he stumbles because the light is not in him. 210 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,200 After saying these things, he said to them, 211 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,200 our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, 212 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:26,340 but I go to wake him. 213 00:08:26,340 --> 00:08:28,460 The disciples said to him, 214 00:08:28,460 --> 00:08:31,140 Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover. 215 00:08:31,140 --> 00:08:32,700 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, 216 00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:35,180 but they thought he meant taking a rest in sleep. 217 00:08:35,180 --> 00:08:37,140 Then Jesus told them plainly, 218 00:08:37,140 --> 00:08:40,140 Lazarus has died. 219 00:08:40,140 --> 00:08:42,420 And for your sake, I'm glad I was not there 220 00:08:42,420 --> 00:08:44,980 so that you may believe, but let us go to him. 221 00:08:46,020 --> 00:08:48,780 So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, 222 00:08:48,780 --> 00:08:53,780 let us also go that we may die with him. 223 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:56,180 There is so much here. 224 00:08:56,180 --> 00:08:58,260 I wanna go back to the first four verses 225 00:08:58,260 --> 00:09:01,060 and show you a couple of things, some context. 226 00:09:01,060 --> 00:09:04,500 It was clear that Jesus is very close to this family. 227 00:09:04,500 --> 00:09:06,540 They lived right near Jerusalem. 228 00:09:06,540 --> 00:09:08,820 Bethany is about two miles from Jerusalem. 229 00:09:08,820 --> 00:09:12,020 And so think of it as a suburb of the city of Jerusalem 230 00:09:12,020 --> 00:09:13,420 when Jesus would come to Jerusalem 231 00:09:13,420 --> 00:09:15,020 for the feasts throughout the year, 232 00:09:15,020 --> 00:09:17,720 including the Passover feast where he will die, 233 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,500 which is very shortly after this incident. 234 00:09:20,500 --> 00:09:22,900 He would stay with Lazarus and Mary and Martha, 235 00:09:22,900 --> 00:09:24,420 and then he would enter into the city in the morning 236 00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:25,900 and come back in the evening. 237 00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:27,460 He knew them well. 238 00:09:27,460 --> 00:09:30,540 Lazarus was essentially one of his closest friends. 239 00:09:30,540 --> 00:09:33,440 And so when the word comes to Jesus that he is sick, 240 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,720 I love the way the sisters put it. 241 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,380 They very simply say to Jesus, 242 00:09:38,380 --> 00:09:41,740 Lord, he whom you love is ill. 243 00:09:41,740 --> 00:09:42,780 That's it. 244 00:09:42,780 --> 00:09:44,980 They don't mention his name. 245 00:09:44,980 --> 00:09:46,660 He who you love is ill. 246 00:09:46,660 --> 00:09:48,340 So right away, this challenged 247 00:09:48,340 --> 00:09:50,060 some of our theological assumptions. 248 00:09:50,060 --> 00:09:56,060 How could one of Jesus' closest friends who he loved be ill? 249 00:09:57,620 --> 00:10:02,620 In other words, why do bad things happen to good people? 250 00:10:02,900 --> 00:10:04,100 The age-old question, right? 251 00:10:04,100 --> 00:10:05,740 The theological conundrum. 252 00:10:05,740 --> 00:10:07,980 Maybe even more generally, it's said this way. 253 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:11,860 If God is good, why do bad things happen at all? 254 00:10:11,860 --> 00:10:12,680 Why do people die? 255 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:13,520 Why is there evil? 256 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:14,340 Why is there abuse? 257 00:10:14,340 --> 00:10:18,140 Why is there all the terror and horror and tears 258 00:10:18,140 --> 00:10:20,100 and sorrow that we live in? 259 00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:22,860 And the reason this question is so perplexing 260 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,300 is because of what the Bible says. 261 00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:28,500 What do I mean by that? 262 00:10:29,420 --> 00:10:31,620 Well, the Bible teaches us a lot of things about God, 263 00:10:31,620 --> 00:10:34,380 but you could argue that two biggest things 264 00:10:34,380 --> 00:10:35,780 the Bible teaches us about God is, 265 00:10:35,780 --> 00:10:38,080 number one, God is in control. 266 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,820 God is sovereign over everything. 267 00:10:40,820 --> 00:10:43,740 Lloyd did a great job last week of reminding us about that. 268 00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:44,720 God is sovereign. 269 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,580 Number two, God is love. 270 00:10:48,580 --> 00:10:50,700 The Bible teaches that the core of who God is 271 00:10:50,700 --> 00:10:53,680 is mercy and grace and kindness and faithfulness 272 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:55,380 and gentleness and compassion. 273 00:10:55,380 --> 00:10:58,300 Now you cut God open, so to speak, he bleeds love. 274 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:00,740 He is the very definition of love. 275 00:11:00,740 --> 00:11:03,240 So if God's in control and God is love, 276 00:11:05,020 --> 00:11:07,620 how can there be so much suffering? 277 00:11:07,620 --> 00:11:10,540 And so the existence of the pain and the suffering 278 00:11:10,540 --> 00:11:12,860 puts what the two greatest things 279 00:11:12,860 --> 00:11:14,660 the Bible teaches us about God, 280 00:11:14,660 --> 00:11:16,900 he pits them against each other, so to speak. 281 00:11:16,900 --> 00:11:19,840 So here we are, we're barely into the story 282 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:21,620 of the Lazarus story, and we're already 283 00:11:21,620 --> 00:11:23,380 in the deep end of the pool. 284 00:11:23,380 --> 00:11:25,780 And it's something that we can all identify with. 285 00:11:27,260 --> 00:11:30,340 We try so hard, don't we, to believe 286 00:11:31,460 --> 00:11:33,500 that God is both in control and loving, 287 00:11:33,500 --> 00:11:35,740 that he is both strong and compassionate. 288 00:11:35,740 --> 00:11:37,180 And we try to believe that, 289 00:11:37,180 --> 00:11:39,460 but when suffering and pain come into our lives, 290 00:11:39,460 --> 00:11:40,300 where is he? 291 00:11:40,300 --> 00:11:42,980 And that's where Carl directed us earlier in the prayer time. 292 00:11:42,980 --> 00:11:45,820 And so this is where these sisters are at. 293 00:11:45,820 --> 00:11:48,180 And they just say, if we just bring this to Jesus, 294 00:11:48,180 --> 00:11:50,340 all we have to say is the one you love is ill. 295 00:11:50,340 --> 00:11:53,740 The implication is surely Jesus does not want him to be ill. 296 00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:57,820 Surely that's not Jesus' plan. 297 00:11:57,820 --> 00:11:59,540 And Jesus' response in verse four 298 00:11:59,540 --> 00:12:00,900 is very interesting, isn't it? 299 00:12:00,900 --> 00:12:04,140 He says, this illness does not lead to death. 300 00:12:04,140 --> 00:12:05,360 It's for the glory of God, 301 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,120 so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. 302 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:09,680 First of all, what does he mean, 303 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:11,080 this illness will not lead to death? 304 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,360 It seems that's exactly where it's gonna lead. 305 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:14,800 We know the story. 306 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,760 It seems like Jesus didn't understand. 307 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:18,960 No, it's not that Jesus didn't understand. 308 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:20,280 He's saying this. 309 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,560 He's saying this illness will not terminate in death. 310 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:25,640 He knows it will pass through death, 311 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,080 but death will not be the ending of the story. 312 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,640 The drama will not end in death. 313 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:34,840 That will not be the final act. 314 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,240 And so by application, 315 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,560 here's the first thing you and I can cling to. 316 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,160 If you've entrusted yourself to Christ, 317 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:47,880 in the long-term perspective, 318 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:49,880 nothing truly beautiful and good in your life 319 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:51,520 will ultimately end in death. 320 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,320 Now, let me unpack that a little bit more. 321 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,840 You will almost certainly pass through death, 322 00:12:58,840 --> 00:12:59,680 and so will I. 323 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:04,680 Some of your deepest longings and desires 324 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:09,680 will no doubt be shattered and unfulfilled in your lifetime. 325 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:14,160 But when all the dust settles, 326 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:20,800 the end of the drama for you is life and fullness, 327 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,360 and you will lack nothing 328 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,160 if you have put your hope in Jesus Christ. 329 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,160 The terminating point of everything, Jesus says, 330 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:30,000 is God's glory. 331 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,520 Now, why should that be such good news to us? 332 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:37,520 Because God's glory is beauty and wholeness 333 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:40,480 and fullness and completion. 334 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,120 And that's the end of the story. 335 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,080 That's the terminating point of the story. 336 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,480 It's actually just the real beginning. 337 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,840 But you and I will be at the center of that with Jesus, 338 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:53,760 united with Jesus in this glory, 339 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:55,680 and you will lack nothing. 340 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:59,840 Now, that's just one application we get from this. 341 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:03,560 Now, let me put the next verses on the screen 342 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:05,200 because what you're gonna find is the fact 343 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,920 that Lazarus was ill is not the biggest conundrum. 344 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:09,720 The biggest conundrum that we have here, 345 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,200 the biggest tension is in verses five and six. 346 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,200 Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so. 347 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:19,720 When he heard Lazarus was ill, 348 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,720 he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 349 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,040 Surely that's a mystery. 350 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,120 Surely that's a mis-translation, right? 351 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,960 Bible translators have struggled in how to translate this 352 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:35,960 because in the Greek, it says plain as day, so means so. 353 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,160 So here's how you need to understand this. 354 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,640 When Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 355 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,600 therefore, because of his love, 356 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,080 he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 357 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,680 It's cause and effect. 358 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,680 Because he loved them, he delayed. 359 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,840 Knowing the seriousness of the situation, 360 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,040 knowing the great stress and anxiety 361 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:05,200 they must have been feeling, 362 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,360 you can put yourself in their shoes, can't you? 363 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,920 Because he cared so deeply for them, 364 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:11,040 he stayed where he was. 365 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,240 This is the confounding message 366 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,240 that Jesus had to share with his sister and Lazarus. 367 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,960 This is the confounding nature of the love of God. 368 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,280 God's love confounds us sometimes. 369 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,520 And this is why in the prayer time earlier, 370 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,240 we don't want you to jump too quickly to the resurrection 371 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:31,880 because the reality is this whole story 372 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:33,720 is like life in a microcosm, 373 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,720 and you and I aren't to the resurrection part yet, are we? 374 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:38,960 We're in the anxious waiting part. 375 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:40,640 We're in the worrying part. 376 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,680 We're in the place where these two sisters were, 377 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:47,680 and God's love for them, he delayed. 378 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,680 Oh my, wow. 379 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:51,680 How? Why? 380 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,160 God's love is confounding sometimes. 381 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,240 He often does the exact opposite 382 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,000 of what we think love should do. 383 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:03,040 Have you experienced that? 384 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:04,280 I've experienced that. 385 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:07,360 The scripture's clear. 386 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,480 Because he loved them, he delayed. 387 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,320 God's love for you will often confound your expectations 388 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:18,120 and your hopes as part of what faith looks like. 389 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,560 His love is perplexing. 390 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,320 His love is confusing. 391 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,640 It will make you angry sometimes. 392 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,880 But one thing we learned from this family's experience 393 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,400 with Jesus is that pain and grief are not antithetical 394 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:32,600 to God's love for you. 395 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,320 In fact, they very well may be an indication 396 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:38,680 of his love for you. 397 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,040 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus, 398 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:48,040 so when he heard he was ill, he stayed two days longer. 399 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,440 God's love confounds us. 400 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,000 So here's the question each of us has to wrestle with, 401 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,960 a great question for you and me today. 402 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,640 Will I judge God's love by my circumstances? 403 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:06,680 Or will I judge my circumstances 404 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,520 by God's love? 405 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,200 And that's not an easy thing, is it? 406 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,000 It takes a lot of faith, it takes a lot of humility, 407 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,920 it takes a lot of letting go. 408 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,720 God's love confounds us, but that's not the only thing 409 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,800 that Jesus teaches us about God's love in John chapter 11. 410 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:27,720 Not only does God's love confound us, 411 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:29,680 it also confronts us. 412 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:32,920 Look at 17 through 22. 413 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,840 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus 414 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,800 had already been in the tomb four days. 415 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,920 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 416 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,280 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary 417 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,760 to console them concerning their brother. 418 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,200 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, 419 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:54,360 she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 420 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:56,680 Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, 421 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:58,920 my brother would not have died, 422 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,680 but even now I know that whatever you did 423 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,080 and now I know that whatever you ask from God, 424 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:06,960 God will give you. 425 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:10,920 What you'll see here in this section 426 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,040 and in the final section of our text this morning 427 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,720 is the same thing said by the two sisters. 428 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:17,480 Carl pointed that out and he's right, 429 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:21,000 but Jesus's response is very different to each of them. 430 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,680 He responds one way to Martha, 431 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:24,680 he responds a different way to Mary. 432 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:25,520 Isn't that interesting? 433 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,960 Two sisters going through the exact same thing, 434 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,760 Jesus offers them each something different 435 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,600 and they come to him with these words. 436 00:18:36,060 --> 00:18:37,800 Let's see how he interacts with Martha, 437 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:39,820 look at the next set of verses. 438 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,360 Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. 439 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:47,080 Martha said to him, I know that he'll rise again 440 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:48,840 in the resurrection on the last day. 441 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:54,920 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. 442 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,640 Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. 443 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,320 And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 444 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,040 Do you believe this? 445 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,960 She said to him, yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, 446 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,540 the son of God who is coming into the world. 447 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,800 Notice how Jesus interacts with Martha, he confronts her. 448 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:18,720 Now what do I mean he confronts her? 449 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:20,460 He confronts her with truth. 450 00:19:21,620 --> 00:19:24,280 She comes out in her grief, the first thing he says to her 451 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,120 is your brother will rise again. 452 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,360 He doesn't say hi Martha, I'm so sad about your loss, 453 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:29,880 he doesn't get that path with her. 454 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,960 He just simply says, your brother will rise again. 455 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,600 Now her first instinct is to kind of say, okay, yeah, yeah, 456 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,800 I know you're talking about the long-term, 457 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:39,520 sort of pie in the sky is sort of, 458 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:40,880 I think where she's feeling. 459 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,800 I know he'll rise again in the resurrection on the last day. 460 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,320 This is where Jesus doubles down with her. 461 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,520 This is where he stands in her path and he says, 462 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,720 look at me in the eye and he confronts her 463 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,960 with one of the greatest and most explosive statements 464 00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:58,800 ever uttered. 465 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:03,800 He says, I am the resurrection and the life. 466 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,860 Now, throughout John's gospel, 467 00:20:13,860 --> 00:20:15,400 if you've been walking through this with us, 468 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,240 you know there are seven I am statements 469 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,620 and this is the fifth of seven that we've come to. 470 00:20:21,620 --> 00:20:25,720 Let me just put the list on the screen and remind you, 471 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:27,960 I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, 472 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,000 I am the door for the sheep, I am the good shepherd, 473 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:31,240 the resurrection and the life, 474 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,720 the way, the truth and the life, the true vine. 475 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,080 The significance of these statements 476 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,000 is Jesus is proclaiming his deity. 477 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,480 The word I am is just a reminder, 478 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,640 it's the proper name of God in the Hebrew. 479 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,120 It's Yahweh Elohim, it's I am who I am, 480 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,400 it's the name that the Jews would not speak 481 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,040 and Jesus is saying, I am, he's claiming that identity 482 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,560 and then each one of these statements 483 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,520 says a different thing that that means for us 484 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,200 that Jesus is God. 485 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,440 He says, I am, that means I'm your sustenance, 486 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:07,800 I'm your bread of life, I am, 487 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,760 that means I'm the light of the world, 488 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:11,760 I am, I'm the door for the sheep, 489 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,120 I'm the good shepherd and he comes to this one, 490 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:15,680 I am the resurrection and the life 491 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,800 and it's no less than this. 492 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,360 Jesus is saying, in me everything is reborn, 493 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:25,340 in my presence nothing can stay dead. 494 00:21:25,340 --> 00:21:28,780 Through me everything that is sad and broken in the world 495 00:21:28,780 --> 00:21:33,220 is undone and remade, not just will be, 496 00:21:33,220 --> 00:21:35,860 but in the presence of Jesus he's saying, 497 00:21:35,860 --> 00:21:39,500 is, present tense, I am and so here's the truth 498 00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:41,460 Jesus is confronting Martha with. 499 00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:45,620 She's run out to him with her grief and disappointment 500 00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:48,180 and he confronts her with a wonderful 501 00:21:48,180 --> 00:21:50,540 but unbelievably difficult thing to believe. 502 00:21:50,540 --> 00:21:51,940 You and I have heard this before, 503 00:21:51,940 --> 00:21:53,580 maybe it's become religious jargon, 504 00:21:53,580 --> 00:21:57,900 but do you know how hard it is to believe that? 505 00:21:57,900 --> 00:21:59,100 Really? 506 00:21:59,100 --> 00:22:00,340 You know how difficult it would have been 507 00:22:00,340 --> 00:22:02,740 for her to believe this and so he confronts her 508 00:22:02,740 --> 00:22:04,260 with this truth and then he confronts her 509 00:22:04,260 --> 00:22:05,300 with this question. 510 00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:09,300 Do you believe this? 511 00:22:11,700 --> 00:22:14,500 The love of God is confronting this woman 512 00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:16,300 in her grief with truth. 513 00:22:16,300 --> 00:22:17,140 Do you believe this? 514 00:22:17,140 --> 00:22:17,980 Do you believe this? 515 00:22:17,980 --> 00:22:18,820 Do you believe this? 516 00:22:18,820 --> 00:22:21,300 Do you believe this woman in her grief with truth? 517 00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:24,580 Not an angry confrontation, a loving confrontation. 518 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,680 This is the same way the love of God confronts you and me. 519 00:22:32,260 --> 00:22:35,460 Jesus is God's self-revelation of love 520 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,460 and the question is, do you believe this? 521 00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:39,500 Do you believe in Jesus? 522 00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:42,580 Do you really believe in him as resurrection and life? 523 00:22:45,140 --> 00:22:46,980 If you have ears to hear you'll understand 524 00:22:46,980 --> 00:22:49,680 the confrontation is a great act of love. 525 00:22:51,820 --> 00:22:53,560 God confronts you. 526 00:22:54,780 --> 00:22:58,160 He gets in your way sometimes. 527 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,260 Why must he confront us? 528 00:23:03,660 --> 00:23:06,700 Because we're all born traveling headlong toward death. 529 00:23:07,740 --> 00:23:09,660 And if we're not confronted with life himself 530 00:23:09,660 --> 00:23:11,100 along the way, we're lost. 531 00:23:11,100 --> 00:23:16,100 How loving of God to confront us with himself, 532 00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:20,140 who is life and love, to do otherwise would be 533 00:23:20,140 --> 00:23:23,140 to fail to love us well, to give us up 534 00:23:23,140 --> 00:23:25,740 to hopelessness and darkness. 535 00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:27,220 And he won't do that. 536 00:23:27,220 --> 00:23:30,100 He confronts us like he confronts Martha. 537 00:23:30,100 --> 00:23:31,200 Now how does he confront us? 538 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,140 Well, in all kinds of ways, but mostly with the truth 539 00:23:34,140 --> 00:23:37,360 of his word and the person of Jesus, 540 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:39,260 just like he's doing here with Martha. 541 00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:42,900 The truth of his word, he confronts us that way. 542 00:23:42,900 --> 00:23:45,100 The person of Jesus, he confronts us that way. 543 00:23:45,100 --> 00:23:46,920 You're here this morning. 544 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:48,200 You're hearing about Jesus. 545 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,500 You're hearing God's word explained to you, taught to you. 546 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:55,820 Jesus is speaking this to you this morning. 547 00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:57,220 He's standing in your path, 548 00:23:57,220 --> 00:23:59,020 and do you know what he's proclaiming? 549 00:24:00,580 --> 00:24:05,180 He's saying, behold my love for you through Jesus Christ. 550 00:24:05,180 --> 00:24:10,180 Do you believe this? 551 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,660 Are you willing to let God confront you? 552 00:24:14,620 --> 00:24:17,780 You must be willing if you ever hope to live. 553 00:24:21,980 --> 00:24:23,220 God's love confounds us. 554 00:24:23,220 --> 00:24:24,400 It's perplexing sometimes. 555 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,020 It also confronts us. 556 00:24:26,020 --> 00:24:34,020 One more thing God's love does in this text comes near us. 557 00:24:37,260 --> 00:24:39,940 Let me read to you 28 through 37. 558 00:24:42,380 --> 00:24:45,860 When Jesus had said this, when she had said this, 559 00:24:45,860 --> 00:24:49,500 she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, 560 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:51,980 the teacher is here and he's calling for you. 561 00:24:53,060 --> 00:24:55,900 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 562 00:24:55,900 --> 00:24:58,220 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, 563 00:24:58,220 --> 00:25:01,300 but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 564 00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:02,860 When the Jews who were with her in the house 565 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:05,380 consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out, 566 00:25:05,380 --> 00:25:07,180 they followed her, supposing that she was going 567 00:25:07,180 --> 00:25:08,760 to the tomb to weep there. 568 00:25:10,140 --> 00:25:14,220 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, 569 00:25:14,220 --> 00:25:17,780 she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, 570 00:25:17,780 --> 00:25:20,380 if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 571 00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:23,660 When Jesus saw her weeping, 572 00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:26,300 and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, 573 00:25:27,220 --> 00:25:31,540 he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 574 00:25:31,540 --> 00:25:34,140 And he said, where have you laid him? 575 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,840 They said to him, Lord, come and see. 576 00:25:37,820 --> 00:25:38,820 Jesus wept. 577 00:25:40,100 --> 00:25:42,080 So the Jews said, see how he loved him. 578 00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:45,180 But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes 579 00:25:45,180 --> 00:25:48,180 of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? 580 00:25:49,980 --> 00:25:51,500 Let me start with that very last question. 581 00:25:51,500 --> 00:25:55,580 The answer is yes, of course. 582 00:25:55,580 --> 00:26:00,580 Jesus absolutely could have kept Lazarus from dying. 583 00:26:01,780 --> 00:26:02,740 He didn't. 584 00:26:04,260 --> 00:26:05,680 What's the implication? 585 00:26:09,020 --> 00:26:13,220 The implication is, at least in this instance, 586 00:26:13,220 --> 00:26:15,460 resurrection is better than not dying at all. 587 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:21,340 This is a great lesson for us. 588 00:26:21,340 --> 00:26:23,300 You can apply this in so many different ways, 589 00:26:23,300 --> 00:26:26,180 but just briefly, have you ever considered 590 00:26:26,180 --> 00:26:28,100 that dying and then being resurrected 591 00:26:29,180 --> 00:26:31,540 is far better than avoiding death altogether? 592 00:26:34,980 --> 00:26:35,880 Think about it this way. 593 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,740 Death and resurrection was God's loving plan for Lazarus. 594 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,620 Death and resurrection was the Father's loving plan 595 00:26:42,620 --> 00:26:43,880 for Jesus. 596 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,300 And death and resurrection is Jesus' loving plan 597 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:53,300 for every single Christian, except those relative few 598 00:26:54,460 --> 00:26:56,580 who will be alive when he returns. 599 00:26:57,900 --> 00:26:59,520 It's his loving plan. 600 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:04,520 Because he loves you, he delays. 601 00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:09,980 And more than likely, you will die. 602 00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:11,860 And more than likely, I will die. 603 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,300 But the drama does not end there. 604 00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:17,340 So you and I need not fear death. 605 00:27:17,340 --> 00:27:20,020 Jesus has made it into a bridge, not a dead end. 606 00:27:21,620 --> 00:27:24,140 And we will follow him through it, 607 00:27:24,140 --> 00:27:26,580 through it, to resurrection. 608 00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:33,140 With the time left, I wanna talk about 609 00:27:33,140 --> 00:27:35,580 Jesus' emotional response at the tomb. 610 00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:40,940 Remember, we noted that both Mary and Martha 611 00:27:40,940 --> 00:27:42,540 say the exact same thing to Jesus, 612 00:27:42,540 --> 00:27:45,340 and he responds to them in a completely different way. 613 00:27:45,340 --> 00:27:48,860 So here in verse 32, Mary says the same thing. 614 00:27:51,860 --> 00:27:53,700 Remember, he responded to Martha 615 00:27:53,700 --> 00:27:55,220 with a loving confrontation. 616 00:27:55,220 --> 00:27:59,260 He confronted her with his truth, with truth. 617 00:27:59,260 --> 00:28:01,620 But to Mary, he responds completely differently. 618 00:28:01,620 --> 00:28:02,860 How does he respond to Mary? 619 00:28:02,860 --> 00:28:05,020 He moves toward her broken heart. 620 00:28:05,020 --> 00:28:07,220 He comes near her. 621 00:28:07,220 --> 00:28:08,220 How does he come near her? 622 00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:09,420 With tears. 623 00:28:09,420 --> 00:28:11,140 He comes with tears. 624 00:28:11,140 --> 00:28:12,660 He comes with tears. 625 00:28:14,260 --> 00:28:16,280 I love this little interaction in verse 34. 626 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,140 Jesus says, where have you laid him? 627 00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:22,940 What a beautiful question to someone in grief. 628 00:28:22,940 --> 00:28:24,920 Jesus is saying, will you show me? 629 00:28:25,820 --> 00:28:30,600 Will you bring me to the heart of your pain? 630 00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:34,820 Will you allow me, Jesus is saying, 631 00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:41,820 to be with you up close and personal with your loss. 632 00:28:43,740 --> 00:28:48,740 Jesus is not content to stay 40 feet back 633 00:28:49,940 --> 00:28:54,420 where it's easier and more sanitized. 634 00:28:54,420 --> 00:28:57,260 He moves right up to the tomb. 635 00:28:57,260 --> 00:29:00,100 He says, where have you laid them? 636 00:29:00,100 --> 00:29:01,500 And look at their response. 637 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:03,900 They open themselves up to him. 638 00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:05,340 They open their pain up to him. 639 00:29:05,340 --> 00:29:07,000 They say, Lord, come and see. 640 00:29:09,020 --> 00:29:11,620 And then it's right there after they say, 641 00:29:11,620 --> 00:29:14,080 come and see that we find the shortest, 642 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:17,380 but perhaps most profound verse in the Bible, 643 00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:20,980 two words, Jesus wept. 644 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:25,580 And in the Greek, the word wept 645 00:29:25,580 --> 00:29:27,340 doesn't mean he shed a tear or two. 646 00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:29,500 It's an expression of an overflow 647 00:29:29,500 --> 00:29:31,100 of a deeply grieving heart. 648 00:29:31,100 --> 00:29:34,060 It's as if the bottle of Jesus' emotions 649 00:29:34,060 --> 00:29:37,580 had been shaken up and then the cork pops off 650 00:29:37,580 --> 00:29:39,660 and he overflows in tears. 651 00:29:39,660 --> 00:29:42,940 One translator put it this way, Jesus burst into tears. 652 00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:46,580 And here's what I want you to see here. 653 00:29:46,580 --> 00:29:48,820 Don't miss the timing of Jesus' tears. 654 00:29:50,180 --> 00:29:52,540 It wasn't the moment he heard Lazarus was sick, 655 00:29:52,540 --> 00:29:54,680 even though Jesus knew he was gonna have to pass through 656 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:56,100 death, it wasn't that moment. 657 00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:01,100 It wasn't the moment he heard Lazarus had actually died. 658 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:03,460 It was when people Jesus loved 659 00:30:03,460 --> 00:30:04,980 invited him to come and see. 660 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,700 They invited him to come and see their loved one 661 00:30:09,700 --> 00:30:11,300 whose life had been stolen away. 662 00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:15,060 They invited God himself to come and see 663 00:30:15,060 --> 00:30:16,420 the source of their broken hearts 664 00:30:16,420 --> 00:30:19,620 and God himself's response to that invitation 665 00:30:19,620 --> 00:30:26,620 is to burst into tears, flowing with empathy and love. 666 00:30:28,860 --> 00:30:30,100 Now consider this. 667 00:30:31,220 --> 00:30:33,380 Jesus knew exactly what he was about to do. 668 00:30:35,660 --> 00:30:37,300 Isn't it interesting, Jesus lost it, 669 00:30:37,300 --> 00:30:38,960 even though he knew within a matter of minutes 670 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,420 he'd be embracing Lazarus and in a matter of minutes 671 00:30:41,420 --> 00:30:44,500 everybody's tears would be turned upside down. 672 00:30:44,500 --> 00:30:46,200 In spite of that, he wept. 673 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,400 And he didn't force a tear out, 674 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,600 he overflowed the damn burst. 675 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,640 What does this teach us? 676 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,640 Tim Keller had a wonderful insight on this idea. 677 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,920 And by the way, he passed away recently six weeks ago 678 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,720 and as I was studying this text 679 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,320 and reading some of his thoughts on this text, 680 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,520 I was thinking about Tim's resurrection. 681 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,400 How beautiful, what a loss for the church, 682 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,720 what a gain for Tim Keller. 683 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,440 Here's his insight on this. 684 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,000 When Jesus Christ chose to leave the glory of heaven 685 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:23,400 and come to earth as a man, 686 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,600 God himself was choosing to lash his heart to ours. 687 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,920 He purposefully bound his heart up 688 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:31,480 with the circumstances of his people 689 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,280 and he is more bound up and in deeper sympathy with us 690 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,400 than any parent or any spouse or any person 691 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,520 has ever been with anyone else. 692 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,720 What Jesus shows us in this moment of weeping by the tomb 693 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,560 is that the heart of God is so closely knit together 694 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:47,960 with a human heart that he feels our pain. 695 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:51,720 And I would add he has to feel our pain 696 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,000 because he is one of us. 697 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,520 This is the beauty of the incarnation. 698 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,680 He took on flesh, by taking on flesh, 699 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,600 it was more than just our meat and our bones that he took on, 700 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:03,680 he took on the emotions. 701 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,800 He lashed his heart to our heart. 702 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,320 So these are the tears of God 703 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,120 shed by a human being 704 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,560 and shared with human beings. 705 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,880 Do you see the beauty of Jesus? 706 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,120 Do you see the glory of Christ? 707 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,280 Transpose your life experience onto this. 708 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,600 God has deeply rekindled the human heart 709 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,920 and he has given us the strength to live in the same place. 710 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,320 God is deeply responsive to your pain. 711 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:43,760 He grieves with you. 712 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,640 He says, if you're willing, 713 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,800 take me to the place of your deepest hurt. 714 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:51,240 Let me in there. 715 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:53,680 Show me. 716 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:56,440 Where have you laid him? 717 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,680 And then when you open your heart up to him in that place, 718 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,560 he bursts into tears alongside you. 719 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,720 He says, I'm going to leave. 720 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,760 Most of our experience, God seems just out there somewhere, 721 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,960 up there somewhere, standoffish somewhere. 722 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,880 Why can't he be closer? 723 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:16,800 Why can't we see him with skin on? 724 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:19,840 Do you hear the heart of God though, 725 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,800 speaking to you this morning through this text? 726 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,480 Is there anything in you that resonates 727 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,240 with these words Jesus wept? 728 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,720 If you struggle to believe in the heart of God for you, 729 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,120 you will find the words of the Bible. 730 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,400 By the way, why did Jesus respond so differently 731 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:43,800 to the two sisters? 732 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,560 He gave them each what they needed. 733 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,720 He demonstrated God's love to them 734 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,960 in exactly the manner they needed to experience it 735 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,000 in that moment. 736 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,360 He confronted Martha with truth. 737 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,600 He consoled Mary with tears. 738 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,320 He'll do the same for you. 739 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:13,800 I want to put this all together. 740 00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:17,280 In the person of Jesus, God's love came to earth. 741 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:21,680 And he showed us how God feels about us, 742 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:23,560 how God interacts with us. 743 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:25,840 And here's what that looks like. 744 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,880 He confounds us at times. 745 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,680 He confronts us at times. 746 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,400 And he's always coming near us in love. 747 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,440 Hasn't he interacted with you in these very ways 748 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,360 during different seasons of your life? 749 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,160 Transpose your life circumstances 750 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:53,360 in these three categories. 751 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,440 Think of times he delayed. 752 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:00,720 Think of times he confronted you with truth. 753 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:03,440 Think of times he ministered to you gently 754 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,040 and empathetically, even weeping with you. 755 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:10,720 There's no other God like this. 756 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:14,440 Of course there's no other God like this. 757 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,040 There's no other God, but listen. 758 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,640 The human mind is incapable of inventing a God 759 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,920 that is this high and this low. 760 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,640 This confrontational and mysterious and this gentle 761 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:30,120 and empathetic. 762 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:34,840 God has revealed himself to us. 763 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:37,520 Do you believe this? 764 00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:42,040 I want to invite you to take out your communion elements. 765 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:48,040 If you missed them when you came in, it's not too late. 766 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:50,280 I want to encourage you. 767 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,400 I'll give you just a minute as I connect the text 768 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,800 to the Lord's Supper that you can go back 769 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,920 in the main atrium and you can pick up the bread 770 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:03,160 in the cup and while you're getting ready to take this, 771 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:04,040 let me just say this. 772 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,200 This is not for everyone in the room. 773 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:10,560 This is for anyone who's put their trust in Jesus Christ 774 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:12,320 and you might coming today and say, listen, 775 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:13,720 I have my trust in Jesus Christ, 776 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:16,880 but my trust is about this big right now. 777 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,880 Come to the table. 778 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:20,840 Come to the table. 779 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,720 This is for you, oh, you of small faith, 780 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,080 but perhaps for you this morning, you'd say, 781 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,880 I have not put my trust in Jesus, not actually. 782 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,160 I want you to know God loves you 783 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,520 just as much as he loves anyone in this room this morning. 784 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:41,680 And so this table is not yet for you, 785 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,640 but it can be for you. 786 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,080 It will be for you when you cross that line of faith 787 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,000 and the invitation of Jesus to you this morning is, 788 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,240 I am the resurrection and the life. 789 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:53,400 Do you believe this? 790 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,440 There's a tension in the story where we left off 791 00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:59,800 because Jesus isn't finished working yet. 792 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:01,560 We know how the story is going to end, 793 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,160 but we're just gonna sit in the tension right now 794 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:05,560 until next week. 795 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,520 Jesus has yet to call Lazarus out of the grave. 796 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:13,280 And in a sense, this tension represents the moment in time 797 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,040 that we are all living in right now 798 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:17,720 in between the first coming of Jesus 799 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:19,160 and the second coming of Jesus. 800 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,640 We've heard the promise of Jesus in John chapter 11. 801 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,200 He says, I am the resurrection and the life, 802 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:26,520 but we're still waiting. 803 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,760 We're waiting for that to be true fully, really. 804 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:36,160 We're waiting for his return to call us all out of the grave. 805 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,680 Can you wait in faith this morning? 806 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,720 These elements are a good reminder to you. 807 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:49,880 Here is something you can feel and touch and taste 808 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,480 to remind you that the most important work 809 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:54,960 has already been completed, 810 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,600 Jesus' own death and resurrection. 811 00:37:57,600 --> 00:37:59,720 He has passed through death for us, 812 00:37:59,720 --> 00:38:02,480 and he promises, he promises, 813 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,720 he will not leave us in our tombs. 814 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,640 By faith, if you believe this morning, take the bread. 815 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,120 And remember, this is the body of Jesus broken for you. 816 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,120 It's broken for you. 817 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,120 And eat the bread in remembrance of him. 818 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:25,520 And in the same way, the same supper with his disciples, 819 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,640 he took the cup and he blessed it. 820 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:33,640 And he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 821 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:36,600 As often as you drink it, 822 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,400 drink it in remembrance of Jesus. 823 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:39,800 Let's drink it this morning. 824 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:44,000 Amen, I wanna invite you to stand with me as I pray 825 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,880 and we're going to sing together. 826 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:51,520 Our Father, as we rise to our feet, 827 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:56,120 let it remind us that our resurrection is on its way. 828 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:02,880 Let us hold in this sacred space of the waiting, 829 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,880 faith in your son, Jesus Christ, the God man. 830 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,880 May he continue to exceed our expectations 831 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:17,880 and fill our minds and hearts with the truth about his love. 832 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:24,320 And may we believe that he is the resurrection and the life. 833 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:38,320 In the name of Christ, we pray, amen.