So here today on this final day in the season
of Lent we are looking at Jesus as the resurrection
and life in John 11. Let us now pray together.
Oh Lord and our God we give thanks unto you that
you have welcomed us into your presence. You
have made us your people and you have given us
such great promises in and through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And we now humbly ask you that you
make the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts pleasing in your sight. We
ask all this for the sake of Jesus, our nearest
kinsman redeemer. Amen. So reading the central
portion of John 11, let us hear God's word. So
when Jesus came, he found that he had already
been in the tomb for four days. Now, Bethany
was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and
many of the Jews had joined the women around
Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother. Now, Martha, as soon as she heard that
Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary
was sitting in the house. Now, 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 of God, God will give you. And
Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.
And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise
again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus
said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me, though he may die, he
shall live. And whoever lives and believes in
me shall never die. Do you believe this? And
she said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you
are the Christ. the Son of God who is coming
to the world. These are the words of Almighty
God. Receive them in your hearts. As we look
at this passage today, I would like to point
out three things. You'll see this theme. One
is God's sovereign time. God's sovereign time.
Secondly, The grave consequences of sin. The
grave consequences of sin. And yes, there is
a pun there. And finally, no hope outside of
Jesus. No hope outside of Jesus. What concerns
you? Children, look up here. Look up here. What
makes you afraid? What keeps you awake at night?
For you adults, what causes anxiety and dread
and your stress? For many, the answer is death.
In a world who lives without God, death has a
finality of loss and an emptiness that drives
people into despair. Some turn to life -controlling
pursuits of money. prestige and success, and
yet they somehow never achieve enough and find
it lacking, and in time turn to drugs, both illicit
and prescriptions, alcohol, porn, immoral and
forbidden sex, anything to drown out the misery,
the emptiness and the hopelessness. For the Christian,
we have been given God's sovereign intervention
that we did not see coming. God has given us
an understanding that what we actually lack is
God Himself. God helps us to see our sin, and
He does not leave us without remedy. His plan
since the beginning of time has been our redemption
through the work of His Son. Jesus has reconciled
us, His people, the Church, to God the Father
by His substitutionary atonement and sacrifice
on the cross. Jesus' holiness was the only sacrifice
that could be made to redeem us and reconcile
us to God. God the Father did not, of course,
leave Jesus dead, but raised Him up. to be the
firstborn of the resurrection for all those that
he called from death to life. Our text today
from John 11 brings to bear the seventh validating
sign that Jesus was the Son of God. And we see
these seven signs in the Gospel of John. Now
Jesus' resurrection at Easter That's the eighth
sign, bringing the start of the new creation.
The events of John 11 begin with a word reaching
Jesus that his good friend Lazarus was sick.
In fact, this was not just Jesus' good friend,
this was one that he loved. And he loved Mary
and Martha and Lazarus all together. And this
was so much the situation that when the servant
came and told Jesus, Lazarus condition he said
this Lord behold he whom you love is sick for
all of us here today if we have the power to
ease the suffering and bring health to our loved
ones and close friends we would jump up and immediately
go to them Jesus however doesn't do what we expect
He said, this sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God that the Son may be glorified
through it. Remember last week we talked about
the blind man? Right? And how he was blind not
because of his sin, but that the glory of God
might be seen in him, might be revealed in him?
There's a carryover of that theme here today.
Astonishingly, we read that Jesus waits two more
days. and then tells his disciples that they
should go for our friend's sleeps, and I am going
to wake him up. Now the disciples were confused,
right? They were confused. Why? Because they
all know, just like you know, if you're sick,
what do you do? You need to rest. You need to
be hydrated. You need to sleep. And so when Jesus
says sleep, they're thinking, oh, must be part
of his recovery. And Jesus has to clear up the
confusion and say, no, Lazarus is dead. And Jesus
tells his disciples that he is glad for their
sakes that Lazarus is dead. And why? That they
may believe. Jesus is glad that he waited so
that they would believe. God works in his good
righteous and ordained time so that his people
may believe and see the works of God When our
loved ones are sick or suffering or even die
We question what is God doing? We ask why is
he waiting to respond or even to show up? People
of God Our God has a master plan to deliver his
people in order that we might see him revealed
and believe and trust in him He is revealed in
his unfolding plan, and he is glorified in it
God is never late God is never negligent God
is great and great is his faithfulness. It is
always, his faithfulness is always for his glory
and our benefit. As a matter of fact, his glory
is our benefit. Your health and death are appointed
to you by God alone. Have you ever wondered how
some people can do all the things that they think
are the right things? Exercise. Eat salads a
little bit of protein. They're counting cow.
They're doing everything they think they can
do to preserve their life and then they drop
dead 35 and Others who seem to care nothing at
all and in God's same good providence. They live
a long life Now we do have a responsibility to
be good stewards of our bodies. I'm not recommending
throw caution to the wind What I am saying though,
it's this that it is God who ordains the days
and steps of your life. And He is the one that
gives you life today. And on the day of His choosing,
He will call you up. As Christians, God's children,
we are to be glad and be content and be filled
with gratitude for His will is at work in our
lives. We are to honor God in sickness and in
health, and in so doing, glorify Him. That is,
as we live with gladness and contentment and
gratitude, even in the hard difficulties of pain
and sickness and even the loss of a loved one,
we are pointing to God. That is, that others
may see the glory of God and praise our Father
in heaven. Now Jesus arrives in Bethany where
Mary, Martha and Lazarus are. Now Bethany is
just two miles away from Jerusalem. So from Bethany
you can kind of look up and you can see the great
city of Zion, Jerusalem up there. You can see
the temple and in that city is where all of the
religious leaders and political leaders are enthroned
and plotting against Jesus. Now Jesus first encounters
Martha, who came when she heard that Jesus was
arriving. Martha believing Jesus utters this.
And have you ever said this? If you had only
been here, my brother would not have died. But
even now, whatever you ask of God, God will give
you. Martha sort of has this Hail Mary desperate
act. He's dead. You could have fixed him if you
were here. But I know, here's the Hail Mary,
here's the desperate plea, anything you ask of
God, God will give it to you. And now Jesus says,
be ready. He's gonna make a clear definitive
statement here. And this is gonna contrast greatly
the difference of one of the prevailing views
of the day. the high priests were part of the
Sadducees. And many were following the Sadducees,
and they did not believe in the resurrection
whatsoever. So that kind of made it, okay, well,
whatever I can get away with now, I can get away
with. That's not Martha. That's not even the
Pharisees. But here, Jesus makes a clear, definitive
statement. I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me, though he may die, he
shall live. And whoever lives and believes in
me shall never die." And then he says, do you
believe this? Jesus now declares in a very clear
way that he is the answer to what ails all of
mankind. As Romans 5 -12 reminds us that just
as through one man sinner entered the world and
death through sin, Thus death spread to all men
because all have sinned a little further down
in verse 19 It says for as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners so also also by one man's
obedience Many will be made righteous Jesus by
the power and authority given to him by the father
declares that he is the resurrection and life
Sin ravages mankind, bringing death to all men.
Cut off from our Creator and the gift giver by
our sin, we are justly destined to die and suffer
eternity in hell for our wickedness. Dearly beloved,
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Martha
responds to Jesus' question, do you believe this?
Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ
the son of God who is coming into the world Martha
is declaring what acts for tells us that there
is no salvation in any other than Jesus For there
is no other name under heaven given among men
by which we may be saved Martha secretly calls
her sister Mary who comes running to Jesus And
we have this very emotional scene of Mary weeping
and all the mourners that ran after Mary. And
following her, they're all weeping. And this
isn't just like a regular weep. They are howling.
They are mourning hard. And once again, we have
a repetition of Martha's conversation. Mary says,
Jesus if you had only been here The text explains
that Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled
Jesus here is groaning and troubled because here
in this moment Jesus sees the great devastation
of sin He is troubled and in a deep and an enraged
way of the wages of sin. He hates sin. How sin
brings suffering, trials, loss, and a sense of
hopelessness. For death is inevitable. In men,
there is no recourse. Jesus asked to see where
they have laid Lazarus, and they answered, come
and see. Come and see the hideous Results of
sin. Jesus wept. The bystanders declare, see
how Jesus loved Lazarus, and now for the third
time the question of Jesus' timing occurs. The
crowd too inquires, could not this man who I
opened the eyes of blind also kept this man from
dying? There's a clear reference to what we just
studied last week remember Bethany's here Jerusalem's
here Jesus was coming out of the temple last
week, and he sees the blind man, and he does
in fact store sight not just of his eyes, but
of his heart and They're saying well. We know
that story that just happened a few months ago
like like let's He could certainly do this It's
all about the timing Jesus again groans at the
blindness to God's deliverance for His people.
Saints of God, remember how Jesus told His disciples
that Lazarus had died that they might believe?
Jesus, saddened by the effects of sin, is glad
that the works of God are being revealed in Him
as truly the resurrection and the life. Jesus
tells them to take the stone closure off the
grave and roll it away Now we have Martha here
who believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son
of God who's coming to the world She's like yep.
You're the Messiah. You're the one and What does
she say she objects because it has been four
days, and there's a stench You know It's interesting
to note that at that time the rabbinical teachings
had this idea that, you know, you could sometimes
put a person in the grave and you might be able
to do something and you could revive them up
to three days. Nobody is capable of coming back
to life after four days. They would say he was
really dead. And as if we looked at Older translations,
it says this. This is Martha in the King James.
Surely, Lord, he stinketh. Decomposition has
begun. And in just a little, he's ripe. And he's
ripe with death. For Mary, Martha, the disciples,
and all those who had come from all over to comfort
the family, there's now no hope. No hope. outside
of Jesus We need to remember that Jesus came
to thwart unbelief And so Jesus said to her did
I not say to you that you would that if you would
believe You would see the glory of God It's interesting.
He is like you'll see this miracle. It's about
what? He is constantly pointing to glorifying
his father in everything he's doing. He's reconciling
men to the father and it all for the father's
glory. And then they took the stone from the
place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank
you that you have heard me. And I know that you
always hear me. But because of the people who
are standing by, I said this. that they may believe
that you sent me. Now when he had said these
things, he crowed with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And he who had died came out, bound
hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was wrapped in a cloth. And Jesus said to them,
Loose him and let him go. Jesus points to the
glory of God over death. Jesus prayers praise
a prayer of thankfulness For this the greatest
and seventh revelation before the cross that
they may see and Truly see and truly believe
that God the Father has sent him Jesus demonstrates
his authority over death Lazarus come forth and
loose him and let him go Lazarus who was dead
came out bound in grave clothes from head to
foot and Jesus commanded that he be let loose
Dearly beloved when Jesus calls us out of the
grave from the deadness of our sins He commands
us to life and a life of being loosed When God
gives us a new heart he puts his name on us in
baptism. We are his He is faithful to give us
both the resurrection in the future and true
life now We must be discipled to obey all that
he has commanded us What happened to Mary Martha
the disciples and all those observers that day
was meant to reveal who Christ Jesus is That
they might believe in him So too for all of us
who call and trust in Jesus, call on the name
of the Lord Jesus and trust in Him as the resurrection
of life can be assured by what we hear in 2 Timothy
chapter 2. This is a faithful saying, for if
we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If
we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we are
faithless, He Remains faithful he cannot deny
himself I know oftentimes when I read that passage
I Feel pretty small I pre I feel pretty helpless
Saints of God Jesus is faithful We need not fear
or worry of Jesus faithfulness We must with humility
and gratitude lay aside our sin and confession,
and then turn to actions that glorify the Father
in heaven. We have a tendency to prop ourselves
up on our own righteousness by going to church
and then not trusting in Jesus. You have been
set free by the atoning work of Jesus on the
cross. Dearly beloved, in Christ Jesus, God has
called you to life Don't hold on to your sin
and your unbelief In the face of the resurrection
of Lazarus many resisted Believing in Jesus with
all those signs here. They are water to wine
The healing of the nobleman's son the healing
of the paralytic the feeding of the five thousand
Jesus walking on water the healing of the blind
man and now the obvious resurrection of Lazarus
and all these plotters They've been around the
whole time. They know about these things and
with all this They resisted God Even to the point
of death Jesus Now unbelief remains. We see at
the end of chapter 11, it says this, then the
chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council
and said, what shall we do? For this man works
many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone
will believe in him. And the Romans will come
and take away both our place and our nation.
Look at this they are and this is the third week
in a row We talked about Jeroboam two weeks in
a row and this whole thing about wanting to keep
the control over everything I Want to keep control
over my life more? That I want to believe God
more than I want to see people reconcile to God
more than I want to see people come to the knowledge
of he who is resurrection and the life And of
course it gets a little worse if we look over
It says that they from that day on they plotted
to put him to death. That's Jesus Later on in
chapter 12 we see that it says this but the chief
priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also
Because on account of him many of the Jews went
away and believed in Jesus Selfishness all for
my own gain, to maintain my power, my position,
my control over things. And I'm gonna do all
that against God and against seeing anyone else
come to know Him. Dearly beloved, Jesus is the
resurrection and the life. Without Him, we face
the grievous consequences of our sin. But rejoice
for Jesus our only hope is always faithful and
always on time Let us pray Heavenly father we
come to you you are the one who has ordained
joy for us in the midst of all things and triumphs
over even death Be merciful to us for often our
minds are too much filled with the problems of
the world and our own problems So much so that
we forget to sing your praises and rejoice in
you to give thanks to you We ask that you take
away the discontent from our hearts and the impatience
at the trials that we undergo Fix our hearts
where our true joy is to be found even on Christ
Jesus our Lord We ask all this for the sake of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who reigns with
you in the Holy Spirit forever and ever amen
All right, let us continue our worship by the
giving of our tithes and offerings Bring forth
the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Bring
forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of
all. Let us pray. Blessed are you, O Lord God,
for through your goodness we have these gifts
to share. Accept and use your tithes and offerings
for your glory and for service in your kingdom.
Blessed be God forever and ever. Amen.