back to index2016-01-31 I Am The Resurrection
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All right, let's take our Bibles over to John chapter 11 and I just wanted to 00:00:09.640 |
give a little bit of a background about this passage. The Gospel of John is very 00:00:15.760 |
interesting because it's not a short gospel but the events that are recorded 00:00:22.440 |
is pretty brief. Chapters 1 through 11 is essentially the ministry of Christ and 00:00:27.520 |
in chapter 12 on to the end of the book is literally just the last few weeks 00:00:32.400 |
leading up to Christ's crucifixion. And so I'm asking you to turn to chapter 11 00:00:37.720 |
and that is going to be a like a tipping point. It's a pivotal transition in the 00:00:43.640 |
Gospel of John. Chapter 11 contains the last and perhaps the greatest of the 00:00:49.320 |
miracles that Jesus is going to perform and his works are going to testify of 00:00:53.880 |
who he is and he's going to teach his disciples but namely Mary, Martha, and the 00:00:59.280 |
family are going to be taught an invaluable lesson. Now I'm just going to 00:01:03.840 |
give you a preface a little bit. This sermon is way longer than I thought it 00:01:07.680 |
would be. I originally slotted out six verses to study and preach but now I'm 00:01:13.400 |
going to be doing 45 verses. Okay, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Okay, let's 00:01:19.040 |
pray about that. Let's pray for God to bless the time of our study in the Word. 00:01:23.760 |
Let's take a moment to bow. Father God we want to thank you for your truth. I pray 00:01:28.600 |
God that as as we approach your Word help us to approach it with gratitude 00:01:32.920 |
that you are revealing truth to us. Help us to have humble hearts, accepting 00:01:37.840 |
hearts of what you have and also God would you continue just to cause our 00:01:42.640 |
minds to be renewed and that deep inside if there is any anything that keeps us 00:01:48.160 |
from you that those would be both exposed and dealt with by your grace. God 00:01:52.920 |
we also pray for your blessing upon the India team. We pray for every single 00:01:57.480 |
member. God that their minds and hearts would be eager to serve the Lord, to 00:02:02.560 |
serve the people, to love on strangers and those who are different and God just 00:02:08.560 |
to have an eternal perspective that what they are doing though it be short, 00:02:13.320 |
although it be just a few weeks, God they have eternal consequences. Father we 00:02:19.200 |
thank you it's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, when I think about this chapter I 00:02:27.200 |
think about movies because it's a pretty dramatic story and I felt the need to 00:02:31.920 |
walk through the whole story with you. I don't watch a whole bunch of movies but 00:02:36.000 |
I do like once in a while looking up these movie trailers because the movie 00:02:39.200 |
trailers you kind of get a gist of what the whole entire movie is about anyway 00:02:42.200 |
right? But sometimes you know almost as a joke and whatnot there are these 00:02:48.440 |
outlandish movie reviews where it's like this movie has everything. It'll make you 00:02:54.320 |
laugh. It'll make you cry. It'll make you you know all this kind of stuff and it 00:02:58.120 |
promises so much you know. Suspense so riveting and I'm trying to do my best 00:03:02.120 |
voice with that guy but it kind of gives you this hype of like what the movie is 00:03:07.400 |
all gonna be about and then you and you watch the movie and you're like oh my 00:03:11.600 |
gosh this is so boring. Well the thing about it is if I could give a review of 00:03:16.760 |
this chapter just chapter 11 of John I would give you that kind of review. This 00:03:21.600 |
chapter it's gonna make you laugh because there's some comedy. It's gonna 00:03:25.000 |
make you cry because it's moving and there's death. The suspense is truly is 00:03:30.400 |
captivating. The drama oh there's a lot of drama okay. It has it all but most of 00:03:37.760 |
all sometimes a good movie just hits you and where your emotions are as they say 00:03:43.720 |
it these days like it hits you in the feels you know. It makes you just I don't 00:03:48.480 |
know come out with feeling like the story really captivated everything about 00:03:54.560 |
you and moves you along and this chapter does that for me and I wanted I wanted to 00:04:00.440 |
preach on this. Mainly though aside from the suspense and the laughter and all 00:04:06.320 |
that stuff surprisingly this chapter that talks about the death of Lazarus 00:04:11.760 |
was probably one of the most profound stories that taught me that God loves us 00:04:17.880 |
and it struck me so deep I just as I was studying that small section I wanted to 00:04:23.600 |
preach I read the chapter and I just had to stop and so I want to give you this 00:04:29.280 |
introduction to say look for the Lord's love throughout this story. Let's jump in 00:04:35.240 |
starting from verse 1 and it says now a certain man was sick Lazarus of Bethany 00:04:41.160 |
the village of Mary and her sister Martha it was the Mary who anointed the 00:04:46.560 |
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was 00:04:51.080 |
sick so the sisters sent word to him saying Lord behold he whom you love is 00:04:58.240 |
sick but when Jesus heard this he said this sickness is not to end in death but 00:05:03.640 |
for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus 00:05:08.920 |
loved Martha and her sister Lazarus sorry and her sister and Lazarus so when 00:05:14.040 |
he heard that he was sick he then stayed two days longer in the place where he 00:05:20.040 |
was. If I were directing this movie this is the beginning crisis you know a lot 00:05:25.360 |
of times the movie is open with just a man like running through the wilderness 00:05:30.440 |
and you're like what's going on and it looks like he's almost running for his 00:05:34.080 |
life and he's just panting and he finally gets to this city where Jesus 00:05:37.680 |
and his disciples are I found you there's anxiety in his eyes you know and 00:05:43.560 |
there's like his heart is pumping he can barely get it out and this brother you 00:05:47.760 |
love Lazarus he's dying you know it's the suspense of the opening scene it's 00:05:55.400 |
the crisis that lends for the development of the story and within it 00:06:01.840 |
you see Jesus respond with this great grand a response of what God is going to 00:06:07.120 |
do this scenario Lazarus is not gonna die but he's gonna live and God will be 00:06:15.200 |
glorified you know it's kind of like the you know when you see these movies of 00:06:20.800 |
grand epic venture something huge is gonna happen the Lord is gonna be 00:06:25.360 |
glorified by this and there's a question how right what's he gonna do 00:06:31.000 |
what's Jesus gonna do in this story and then Jesus goes I'm gonna sit down 00:06:37.160 |
it's just confusing like the disconnect and what's going on and I could just 00:06:42.600 |
probably imagine the face of the man who was the messenger who just ran and I 00:06:47.360 |
believe he probably journeyed a day or two because if you look at the storyline 00:06:51.800 |
of it the man is sent while Lazarus is sick and then he comes and tells Jesus 00:06:57.680 |
Jesus waits two days and then when Jesus finally arrives on the scene it says 00:07:01.480 |
that Lazarus has been in the grave four days that means tribal time is very long 00:07:06.280 |
so he's out of breath he's like you gotta come Mary I'm Arthur calling and 00:07:11.440 |
laughs is gonna die he's mortally wounded or something he's sick you know 00:07:14.520 |
and then Jesus like yes I love him and God's gonna be glorified let's wait 00:07:20.280 |
what and I'm thinking it'd be a very awkward moment for the messenger I say 00:07:25.320 |
do I stay with you what do I do do I go back you know and then he's just sitting 00:07:31.000 |
there like what do I do what do I do and so there's a moment of confusion 00:07:35.280 |
there's a moment of disconnect and if in that there's a lot of things going on 00:07:39.400 |
but what you see is this what you see is first the introduction in the crisis of 00:07:45.160 |
the huge elements that are going to be in the story number one Jesus loves 00:07:50.120 |
Lazarus Lazarus the love of God is there the love of Christ is there but in this 00:07:56.800 |
entire story what's gonna come about as a result is Christ and God will be 00:08:00.760 |
glorified in one right but then you see confusingly the suffering of the people 00:08:09.680 |
okay there's three things love the glory the suffering and it teaches us from the 00:08:16.160 |
very beginning although it's just the crisis setup it teaches us a lot now 00:08:21.840 |
what is most glorifying to God often comes painfully to us Mary and Martha 00:08:29.080 |
are going to be in grief they're gonna be in disappointment and we're gonna see 00:08:32.000 |
their character develop later right the disciples they're gonna be put out in a 00:08:37.680 |
situation where they're gonna whether go or not or what are they gonna do and 00:08:41.720 |
the typically what we think is in our best interest typically what we think 00:08:46.480 |
should happen sometimes and actually many times is not what is most glorifying 00:08:53.080 |
to God and Christ says at the very beginning of this crisis although the 00:08:57.840 |
people are thinking easy solution you come do your thing do the miracle and 00:09:02.240 |
Christ says I'm gonna wait but you know what's very interesting about all this 00:09:06.920 |
it's gonna all come together because what you see is in the verse it says 00:09:11.480 |
that now Jesus loved Martha and his sister and Lazarus so therefore from the 00:09:19.240 |
love therefore he waited all that's gonna start working together so let's 00:09:26.360 |
see the development of the story and I'm gonna call the next section the suspense 00:09:30.960 |
builds the suspense builds I know for those you guys taking notes doing a huge 00:09:37.000 |
section is gonna be hard to follow along but I'm gonna try to break it up into 00:09:40.400 |
pieces and move along a plot line okay so the suspense is building suspense is 00:09:46.080 |
building let's continue in the story in verse 7 then after he after this after 00:09:51.320 |
he waited right after this question of like what are you doing what's gonna 00:09:55.320 |
happen what's what's gonna be glorious right he says now said to the disciples 00:10:01.800 |
let us go to Judea again but the disciples they said to him rabbi the 00:10:07.480 |
Jews were just about now to seeking to stone you and are you going there again 00:10:13.200 |
in chapter 10 what happened was the Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy and they 00:10:19.840 |
picked up stones literally to put him to death then and there but Jesus you know 00:10:25.440 |
it exited and then he came out of Jerusalem right and so then the 00:10:29.600 |
disciples mind they're just thinking like are you crazy we're not going back 00:10:34.080 |
there and not only that they know what Jesus can do they know what Jesus is 00:10:38.360 |
capable of capable of they've seen Jesus say a word to the centurion and it's the 00:10:43.920 |
centurion servant be healed right just say the word Jesus let's do distance 00:10:49.720 |
healing you don't even need to go in the city just do the sniper thing from afar 00:10:53.800 |
you don't have to go in there and you can just imagine the the disciples 00:10:58.200 |
thinking about this I'm pretty sure one of the disciples they just waited two 00:11:01.360 |
days that means they went to bed they ate he's just doing his thing and Jesus 00:11:04.880 |
is like hey let's go I could just imagine the story of the some of these 00:11:11.240 |
disciples thinking like that couldn't we just do this from before and then Jesus 00:11:17.600 |
answers in verse 9 are there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the 00:11:23.320 |
day he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world but if anyone 00:11:27.040 |
walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him what Jesus is 00:11:31.880 |
saying is very simple are there not 12 hours in the day and you're like no 00:11:37.200 |
there's 24 but you know what it's talking about he's talking about a day 00:11:40.720 |
in which you work the full day in which you're actually awake right and so as 00:11:46.240 |
he's thinking about that there isn't a lot of time to which we're supposed to 00:11:49.120 |
work yes and they say yeah so we're not going to be excused or killed or we're 00:11:57.920 |
not gonna leave this scene until it's God's timing we're not gonna die early 00:12:03.960 |
God's timing is set God's plan is sovereign and so Jesus Christ began 00:12:08.800 |
responding to the crisis as God is going to be glorified he's reminding his own 00:12:13.280 |
disciples God is going to be glorified by our work and while it is day we're 00:12:17.160 |
gonna work and nothing is outside of God's timing so he's giving the 00:12:21.640 |
disciples confidence and saying guys let's go stop your whining that's what 00:12:26.960 |
he's doing and so after he says that take a look at verse 11 this he said and 00:12:32.160 |
after he's after that he said to them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but 00:12:37.760 |
I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep and in disciples that said to him 00:12:42.400 |
Lord if he has fallen asleep he will recover now Jesus has spoken of his 00:12:48.280 |
death but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep so Jesus then 00:12:52.720 |
said to them plainly Lazarus is dead okay and I just want to take a moment 00:12:58.960 |
there and sometimes Bible is a little funny I think this is one of these funny 00:13:02.600 |
moments I don't know if Jesus is one of these like you know slap in the back of 00:13:08.160 |
the head it's like guys we have to go it's in God's timing God's gonna be 00:13:13.200 |
glorified through this he's gonna do a wonderful work yet to see what's more 00:13:18.080 |
our friend Lazarus he's asleep you know and he's using a euphemistic words to 00:13:23.560 |
say he's dead but they're like oh come on Jesus he's being lazy you know he 00:13:28.440 |
could wake up on his own just let the guy alone he's gonna wake up and Jesus 00:13:32.320 |
like oh my god okay guys listen to me all right he's dead sometimes we're slow 00:13:40.400 |
okay the fact of the matter is sometimes we're simple-minded and we don't get the 00:13:44.360 |
sarcasm I can relate to that I'm really slow I don't get jokes very well 00:13:49.240 |
sometimes you have to say the things to me very literally otherwise I'm like oh 00:13:52.720 |
and I'm not as Korean as I think cuz I don't I don't like do the sarcastic 00:13:57.640 |
thing sometimes I try and then I end up really hurting people it's not a good 00:14:01.240 |
thing so I just given up on for me cuz I'm just simple-minded like that the 00:14:06.360 |
disciples here straight up simple-minded as can be I can't believe they straight 00:14:12.000 |
up said like he's gonna wake up though so it's alright yeah and Jesus is 00:14:16.920 |
probably just shaking his head I bet you maybe he didn't slap his head Jesus is 00:14:20.440 |
more sanctified than I am I would have slapped their heads she was probably just 00:14:24.080 |
in one of these like let's just go okay I'm gonna respond to you um but what's 00:14:31.720 |
interesting is in verse 15 Jesus says and I'm glad for your sakes that I was 00:14:36.120 |
not there saying what I'm glad for your sake I wasn't there see this kind of 00:14:44.280 |
talk to us humanistically sounds not only off and disconnected it sounds 00:14:49.600 |
wrong because you understand the scenario right God has chosen to wait 00:14:56.160 |
deliberately allowing more time for Martha and Mary to suffer they're in 00:15:03.080 |
pain they're grieving the people are grieving they're weeping and wailing for 00:15:08.280 |
whose sake your sake for whose benefit who gets to choose that guys God is 00:15:15.460 |
sovereign God is mighty and he's gonna be glorified and somehow even though it 00:15:21.520 |
doesn't make sense God's love and everything is going to cohesively 00:15:25.240 |
harmonize but he says this and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so 00:15:31.120 |
that you may believe so let us go let us go to him so you see what's happening 00:15:36.600 |
the suspense is building because in the crisis Christ did not respond to the 00:15:40.920 |
crisis as expected but he said God will be glorified and I want you to see it 00:15:45.280 |
and now he's saying to the disciples the same thing I want to show you this glory 00:15:50.000 |
but what is it what are you going to do and then verse 16 it gets even funnier 00:15:56.320 |
therefore Thomas who is called Didymus aka Diddy said to him let us all go and 00:16:03.840 |
we're just gonna die with him and this is who I call the drama boy right he's 00:16:07.480 |
like all the other disciples like I don't want to go we're gonna get stoned 00:16:10.200 |
and the other guys like come on that guy's being lazy he can get up on his 00:16:12.960 |
own and the other guys like come on we were gonna stay here and then Thomas is 00:16:16.480 |
like fine we're gonna go let's all die you know it's like whoa buddy you're 00:16:21.360 |
like too Korean you know it's just like too much drama in you I just thought I 00:16:26.000 |
was hilarious that's got nothing to do with the story all right and then what 00:16:31.600 |
happens is in the moment then you see the band Jesus's disciples and the band 00:16:36.520 |
now moving over to Bethany close to Jerusalem to go now to visit the family 00:16:41.720 |
and through that visit what you're gonna see is a character development of the 00:16:47.640 |
story okay the character development of the story I want us to emphasize on the 00:16:52.040 |
characters that come out now first 17 so when Jesus came he found that he had 00:16:57.840 |
already been in the tomb four days now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two 00:17:03.140 |
miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them 00:17:07.320 |
concerning their brother Martha therefore when she heard that Jesus was 00:17:11.320 |
coming went to meet him but Mary stayed at the house I'm gonna pause right there 00:17:16.920 |
as we read this story because we may get introduced to the characters of Martha 00:17:21.600 |
and Mary and it's kind of giving them a little background of where they're at 00:17:24.840 |
there in Bethany close to Jerusalem Martha and Mary many times experienced 00:17:30.440 |
Jesus's ministry because they were close and remember that Jesus would actually 00:17:34.000 |
come to their house and Jesus would teach and remember Martha was the one 00:17:38.120 |
enslaving away in the kitchen and she got all grumpy and she was like how come 00:17:41.960 |
my sister is not you know helping me Jesus tell her rebuke her you know but 00:17:46.160 |
Mary being the one more like in the moment she was like I'm gonna sit here 00:17:49.160 |
and listen to my master you know and she was at Jesus's feet and Jesus said look 00:17:53.360 |
she chose the better thing you know and I think you know the story is beautiful 00:17:57.000 |
and stuff but what's interesting is in this story you kind of get it should be 00:17:59.920 |
reintroduced to them and their roles are reversed now I think purposefully it's 00:18:05.320 |
reversed because before Martha was like I'm just working by myself slaving away 00:18:10.040 |
in the kitchen but I think now it's Mary at the home I'm pretty sure they all 00:18:16.280 |
heard Jesus is coming Mary decides to stay kind of revealing that maybe Mary 00:18:21.720 |
was why didn't Jesus come before right Martha having a little bit more hope 00:18:27.880 |
goes out to meet Jesus and then she asked him this question verse 21 Martha 00:18:32.880 |
then said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died even 00:18:38.920 |
now I know that whether you ask well whether whatever you ask of God God will 00:18:43.680 |
give you G God will give to you and Jesus said to her your brother will rise 00:18:48.080 |
and then Martha said to him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection 00:18:53.120 |
on the last day now you look at Martha's statement and the introduction of her 00:18:59.400 |
character and what's happening in this statement is this a lot of people think 00:19:03.240 |
that Martha came and she exercised great faith because she said even now if you 00:19:08.400 |
ask God God will answer your prayer I do agree that Martha is exercising faith 00:19:14.280 |
but she is battling doubt she is seriously battling doubt and exposed 00:19:20.320 |
when she says this statement if you had it been here my brother would not have 00:19:25.440 |
died do you see that a little bit and what you see is essentially when she 00:19:30.920 |
says something like that it's kind of like Jesus why didn't you come earlier 00:19:35.040 |
you could have but you didn't where were you and in that there is a subtle 00:19:42.760 |
questioning do you care you could have prevented this right and if you've ever 00:19:49.720 |
been in a fight and you've been in ever been in an argument you might have said 00:19:53.640 |
some states and it's like well you could have you could have said something you 00:19:57.760 |
could have been nicer you could have done this you could have done that you 00:20:00.200 |
could have done this and what you're expressing is I'm disappointed in you 00:20:02.800 |
because you didn't do what you were supposed to do right Martha I think is 00:20:09.600 |
disappointed in Christ that's real she just lost her brother she like anybody 00:20:15.840 |
that are human is in the face of death and death is final it seems way too late 00:20:20.240 |
it seems it's all done what's the point what's to use but she's fighting that 00:20:24.520 |
you see that she's fighting that and she's saying even now Jesus if you were 00:20:29.600 |
to ask God God would answer you wouldn't he so she's in a moment where she's 00:20:35.320 |
battling this unbelief and Christ and his love for her explains the truth he 00:20:42.480 |
says Martha I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live 00:20:48.920 |
even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die do you 00:20:53.800 |
believe this you see what Jesus is doing when Jesus said your brother will rise 00:21:00.160 |
Martha did not have faith because she immediately thought oh great here's a 00:21:05.480 |
theologian going on about eschatology talking about the end day sure fine I 00:21:10.080 |
agree in the end we're all gonna rise but you see what Jesus is doing Martha 00:21:15.840 |
you are looking for a forward future day I am that day Jesus is revealing his 00:21:23.160 |
love for her by explaining Martha I am here you are looking for something right 00:21:31.400 |
now you're interpreting this entire life situation as I am just giving you words 00:21:35.960 |
I'm just giving you theology and for you you still don't have your brother and so 00:21:41.360 |
you're still questioning what I can do but Martha I am the resurrection I am 00:21:47.120 |
the life I am the solution to this problem I am the hope for you and for 00:21:52.400 |
him that is why Christ says when he state makes the statement that first I 00:21:57.200 |
am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even if he dies 00:22:01.520 |
that's for Lazarus keep saying Lazarus Lazarus that's for Lazarus but then the 00:22:09.320 |
next statement and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die that's 00:22:13.440 |
for her Jesus is explaining his glory first primarily in the truth that he is 00:22:20.280 |
the resurrection life hope joy everything is in him and he's here now 00:22:25.240 |
before her she needs to see that brothers and sisters to me this points 00:22:33.120 |
something for us sometimes we want joy sometimes we want hope we want peace we 00:22:41.080 |
want love we want to solve our problem of isolation being alone being hurt not 00:22:47.760 |
having enough feeling disappointed but the fact of the matter is still in a 00:22:53.680 |
Martha's eyes that life is something that Christ can give it's not in him we 00:23:01.240 |
need to join this together to believe that no joy no peace no hope no love is 00:23:06.320 |
really true and real outside of the presence of Christ outside of the 00:23:11.320 |
fellowship of Christ there's none of that in existence but we're fooled to 00:23:16.640 |
think that there is and so Martha is saying where is it I thought you could 00:23:22.160 |
do stuff I thought you could give life and healing I thought you can heal my 00:23:26.680 |
brother but Christ and his love for her is still saying to her I'm here I'm here 00:23:33.400 |
and so this is relevant for us as Christ asked her this question do you believe 00:23:41.200 |
this same question is here for you and me do you believe that Christ is the 00:23:48.800 |
resurrection in a life do you believe that all the benefits all the joys and 00:23:52.920 |
all the things that come from knowing Christ is truly simply in him and so 00:23:59.520 |
here we have Christ answering the crisis in a preliminary truth kind of fashion 00:24:05.680 |
and this is his love for Martha now the plot begins to thicken and the plot 00:24:13.160 |
begins to rise to its peak so in any plot you have a climactic point and here 00:24:19.000 |
we go verse 27 so Martha after talking to Jesus she says yes Lord I have 00:24:27.640 |
believed that you are the Christ the Son of God even he who comes into the world 00:24:32.880 |
when she said had said this she went away and called Mary her sister saying 00:24:37.920 |
secretly the teacher is here and he's calling for you and when she heard it 00:24:42.640 |
she got up quickly and was coming to him now Jesus had not yet come into the 00:24:47.200 |
village but was still in the place where Martha met him then the Jews who were 00:24:51.440 |
with her in the house and consoling her when they saw that Mary got up quickly 00:24:55.680 |
and went out they follow her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep 00:24:59.560 |
there now before we read the next verse I just want to make mention again to get 00:25:05.360 |
the picture of the story in our head I am only reading into the storyline as I 00:25:10.200 |
try to picture it in my mind I could be wrong but I think Mary's a little you 00:25:15.000 |
know she doesn't say anything and Martha secretly goes over to Mary to talk to 00:25:22.480 |
her why because sometimes if somebody is you know when you're super sad have you 00:25:28.000 |
ever been so super sad all of a sudden it turned into angry sad like you're mad 00:25:31.760 |
sad or you're like kind of bitter sad right we're all of a sudden that in that 00:25:36.200 |
sadness and the anger and it's just a complex emotion but there was just like 00:25:40.120 |
you know and then when you're like that the people around you're very like you 00:25:45.040 |
know and I just imagine Martha like like secretly and then it just kind of 00:25:54.760 |
records on Martha doesn't even say anything I'm sorry Mary doesn't even say 00:25:58.000 |
anything just quickly she gets up and then everybody has to suppose I guess 00:26:01.400 |
she's going to the tomb because she's just going she can and then someone's 00:26:07.000 |
like where are you okay it's like going you know that's how I picture it I could 00:26:11.800 |
be wrong I could be wrong but I picture Mary just bottled up emotion now having 00:26:19.560 |
spent four days with her brother in the tomb I'm not sure if you guys have ever 00:26:24.560 |
hurt real bad and you bottled up your emotions I do that sometimes I'm not 00:26:30.800 |
sure if you guys have ever clammed up you know you become a clam when you're 00:26:34.640 |
angry and you start giving people a cold shoulder and you just don't say 00:26:38.600 |
anything you just hold it inside and people have to give you your distance 00:26:41.600 |
and then now she's about to explode okay verse 32 therefore when Mary came where 00:26:49.480 |
Jesus was she saw him and she collapses she fell at his feet saying to him Lord 00:26:54.960 |
if you'd been here my brother would not have died and when Jesus therefore saw 00:27:01.120 |
her weeping and the Jews who came with her was also weeping he was deeply 00:27:06.520 |
moved in his spirit and he was troubled and he said where have you laid him and 00:27:10.920 |
they said to him Lord come and see and Jesus wept so the Jews were saying see 00:27:18.080 |
how he loved him I asked you at the beginning of the sermon to jot down and 00:27:24.800 |
notice every time you see the love of Christ and here and now we recognize the 00:27:29.800 |
sympathetic love of Christ was to the degree where is where Christ's emotions 00:27:34.920 |
come out and the people who are gravitas looking at him and saying oh my 00:27:38.440 |
goodness look at how much Jesus loved Lazarus see his love you can see it in 00:27:47.080 |
the tears in his eyes you can see it in the emotion that comes out you can see 00:27:50.680 |
it as he's trembling almost he's moved in the spirit and he's troubled to tell 00:27:56.880 |
you honestly I don't know if I could have responded this way if a lady came 00:28:02.320 |
up to me and started blaming me where were you you could have been here I was 00:28:07.160 |
hurting you could have saved him I think I would have gotten a little bit mad but 00:28:15.360 |
Christ in his deep love sympathy he hurts with them and he begins to weep 00:28:24.880 |
and the people can see it we have the sympathetic Lord and Savior who loves us 00:28:33.560 |
to such a degree we have in the Bible it says to us that we do not have a high 00:28:42.280 |
priest who does not know but rather one who understands if you turn in your 00:28:47.720 |
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2 verses 10 through 18 it's a long segment of the 00:28:51.400 |
Bible but it speaks so much of Christ's sympathy towards us it speaks so much of 00:28:57.800 |
Christ's desire to meet us where we are Jesus sees our pain Jesus sees our 00:29:04.040 |
slavery sin Jesus sees where we're headed in our great demise and in 00:29:10.040 |
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10 this is what it says please follow along it's a bit 00:29:14.560 |
long for it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all 00:29:20.000 |
things and bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation 00:29:24.640 |
through suffering for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified 00:29:30.360 |
are all from one father for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren 00:29:34.680 |
saying I will proclaim your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation 00:29:38.400 |
I will sing your praise and again I will put my trust in him and again behold I 00:29:43.240 |
and the children whom God has given me therefore look at this since the 00:29:48.260 |
children share in flesh and blood since we are weak he himself likewise also 00:29:53.560 |
partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him who had 00:29:57.680 |
the power of death that is the devil and might free those who through fear of 00:30:02.240 |
death were subject to slavery all of their lives for as surely he does not 00:30:07.320 |
give help to angels but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham therefore he 00:30:12.560 |
had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful 00:30:18.200 |
and faithful high priest and the things pertaining to God to make propitiation 00:30:23.120 |
for the sins of the people for since he himself was tempted in that which he has 00:30:27.960 |
suffered he is able to aid those who are tempted he is able to come to the aid of 00:30:35.760 |
those who are mourning if you are hurting today I want you to understand 00:30:40.240 |
he is so able to understand you and know you if you might harden your heart and 00:30:46.080 |
think nobody understands nobody knows what I'm going through that's a lie 00:30:51.640 |
that's a lie Christ understands as a matter of fact the truth of the matter 00:30:59.040 |
is Christ knows infinitely more what it means to suffer than you do and the love 00:31:04.720 |
of Christ is seen in his sympathy for the people although Martha might come to 00:31:09.120 |
and said Jesus you could have done something where were you do you really 00:31:12.520 |
love us do you really care Christ in his simple expression of emotion proves of 00:31:21.080 |
course he loves them he hurts for them he's come to aid them he's there now 00:31:27.280 |
this is the love of our Lord but in this moment in which Jesus has a has an 00:31:33.080 |
expression of great emotion and empathy there are some Jews who are saying I 00:31:38.040 |
don't know because if you look at the story there are these doubters verse 37 00:31:43.400 |
going back to John chapter 11 verse 37 but some of them said could not this man 00:31:48.880 |
who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man also from dying I see that 00:31:53.360 |
as an attack on Christ why because maybe Christ feels bad maybe Christ does love 00:31:59.080 |
but what good is your tears when my brother is in the grave that's what I 00:32:04.040 |
hear I don't know if I'm reading way too into it but if you look Christ is 00:32:09.240 |
constantly trying to fight doubt and so Christ says so then again being deeply 00:32:14.880 |
moved within he comes to the tomb now it was a cave and a stone was lying against 00:32:19.040 |
it Jesus said remove the stone Martha the sister of the deceased said to him 00:32:23.780 |
Lord by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead for four days and 00:32:29.040 |
Jesus said to her didn't I say to you that if you believe you will see the 00:32:34.160 |
glory of God now the moment is intense the plot is coming to a pinnacle moment 00:32:40.840 |
and maybe this is the comic relief Jesus says Martha remove the stone and Martha 00:32:49.160 |
goes Jesus it's gonna smell bad she's she's like um it's been a while and 00:33:00.720 |
we're just gonna get a big whiff of nasty like it's just gonna be really bad 00:33:04.880 |
that's what she says but in that you know what I hear doubt doubt doubt all 00:33:11.360 |
we're gonna get is a stench what's the use why move the stone we're not gonna 00:33:16.440 |
get anything but a big whiff of death do you see the doubts and that's why Jesus 00:33:24.360 |
responds with didn't I say to you I was gonna show you my glory Jesus wanted the 00:33:29.400 |
messengers to see the glory Jesus wanted the disciples to see the glory Jesus 00:33:33.560 |
wanted Martha and Mary to see the glory and now he's gonna want everybody all of 00:33:37.360 |
us to see the glory you see what's really interesting about this is that I 00:33:44.800 |
think although Christ was moved Christ was moved with sympathy for Lazarus and 00:33:52.040 |
that's why he cried because of this because of all the doubters because of 00:33:57.880 |
all these questioning because of all the accusation Jesus where were you did you 00:34:01.680 |
really love us did you really care I wonder actually if Jesus cried and not 00:34:07.800 |
simply because Lazarus was dead but Jesus cried because of the accusations 00:34:13.280 |
questioning his love and Christ's love was welling up inside you see when the 00:34:21.680 |
pastor says that Jesus was moved and stirred it talks then the Greek it 00:34:25.080 |
really means like a storm that's stirring and moving and other passages 00:34:29.400 |
of the Bible later on actually in chapter 12 Jesus used the same thing 00:34:32.960 |
about him going to the cross in other passages when his people are stirred 00:34:37.280 |
it's talking about stirred in anger it's used negatively it's not stirred with 00:34:41.520 |
like soft love and sympathy and pity rather stir as in like you're trembling 00:34:47.680 |
how can you question the love of Christ but that was actually the emphatic point 00:34:54.360 |
of this story God is working to reveal his glory the people are doubting 00:35:00.880 |
whether Jesus actually cares this story is crazy crazy and then what happens is 00:35:10.240 |
this the grand finale and the miracle the resolution to the problem chapter 00:35:16.560 |
verse 40 chapter 11 verse 40 Jesus said to her did I not say to you if you 00:35:21.340 |
believe you will see the glory of God so they removed the stone then Jesus raised 00:35:26.040 |
his eyes and said father I thank you that you have heard me now check this 00:35:31.240 |
out this is super interesting I knew that you always hear me but because of 00:35:36.400 |
the people standing around I said it so that they may believe that you sent me 00:35:41.040 |
when he said these things he cried out in a loud voice Lazarus come forth and 00:35:46.040 |
the man who had died came forth bound hand and foot and wrappings and his face 00:35:51.360 |
was wrapped around with cloth and Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go 00:35:56.640 |
you want us to touch him that's right he's alive he's not deceased anymore and 00:36:03.000 |
verse 45 therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done 00:36:07.320 |
believed in them guys earlier we saw the love of Christ perhaps yes and his 00:36:16.960 |
sympathy is Christ sympathetic to our pain absolutely because other passages 00:36:23.240 |
like the book of Hebrews Colossians Ephesians everything teaches that Christ 00:36:27.440 |
had a compassion for us and he hurt and pain over us but the greatest telling 00:36:34.680 |
points of Christ's love for us and this story is not simply his tears but it is 00:36:39.720 |
his resurrection mark this the people saw Christ's tears come out and the Jews 00:36:44.840 |
said see how he loved him God in the story has been working and creating a 00:36:49.360 |
drama so that when Christ would say Lazarus come out God would say see how 00:36:53.920 |
he loved us Lazarus came out of the grave look how much he loved us because 00:37:02.240 |
what is the resurrection for us it is Christ saying to us I love you and I 00:37:10.000 |
will not leave you and abandon you in the grave I will exercise my power for 00:37:15.880 |
you I will exercise my authority for you I will combine my great love and my 00:37:20.720 |
great intention for you and I'll combine the strength that God has given me the 00:37:24.160 |
authority that God has given me and I will exercise that to raise you from the 00:37:28.160 |
dead that's resurrection for us the combining in harmony of his love and his 00:37:35.120 |
power and his glory joined together to give you life that's the resurrection 00:37:39.480 |
and in this great drama God has been building up and building up to show us I 00:37:46.520 |
love you but here's the kicker but here's the you know what's more you know 00:37:54.920 |
what's more amazing than that is God wants to make sure you know he loves you 00:38:02.800 |
did you notice that did you notice from the very beginning yes it's true Jesus 00:38:10.800 |
could have just said the word he could have snapped a finger blinked an eye 00:38:14.560 |
maybe not even move just said in his mind live and then it would have been 00:38:18.680 |
all done but God said this is going to be for my glory Jesus said I want you to 00:38:25.240 |
believe Jesus showed Martha and Mary Jesus explained it Jesus said the truth 00:38:29.720 |
Jesus described that he is a resurrection and now when the people are 00:38:33.560 |
gathered Jesus knows God you always answer my prayer but for your sake I'm 00:38:39.640 |
gonna say it out loud I don't know if you've ever truly felt the love of God 00:38:47.000 |
but to me I feel the love of God when God says to me like he's just coming to 00:38:53.560 |
us through this passage saying I just really want you to know do you know what 00:39:01.960 |
I'm saying with that he's going out of his way to create a drama for his glory 00:39:09.760 |
to be shown but he could have left it at his glory to be shown in the judgment of 00:39:15.640 |
man and said see what happens when you doubt an almighty God he could have done 00:39:24.160 |
that right look at Lazarus see what happens when you're a sinner God would 00:39:33.040 |
have been glorified to rebuke Martha Mary and all the people of their doubt 00:39:37.080 |
and judged them all then and there but to remain quiet to allow his emotions to 00:39:44.760 |
come out and at the very end of it say I'm saying all this so you all know I 00:39:55.400 |
so if you turn in your Bibles to Ephesians I read this at the beginning 00:40:20.200 |
it says starting from verse 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the Father 00:40:33.760 |
from whom every family in heaven and on earth the rise of name we owe it all to 00:40:39.040 |
him that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be 00:40:43.200 |
strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man so that Christ 00:40:48.160 |
may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded 00:40:52.760 |
in love may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth length 00:40:58.240 |
and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge 00:41:03.120 |
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God perhaps you might have 00:41:08.800 |
been deceived to think that you need the love of Christ to live your life 00:41:11.560 |
absolutely wrong you need to have strength so that you could understand 00:41:18.080 |
the love of Christ let's not look to God and be disappointed because he didn't 00:41:24.720 |
answer our prayers the way we wanted let's remember that Christ love for us 00:41:29.360 |
is not primarily with health wealth and sparing you from death and pain let's 00:41:36.160 |
never interpret the things in our lives it's just something goes bad our friends 00:41:40.400 |
don't like us we don't we feel isolated and we're alone that all of a sudden God 00:41:44.480 |
is against us we can be in the pits even worse than Mary Martha and the brothers 00:41:51.040 |
but we may we know that Christ loves you because we have the resurrection the 00:41:58.640 |
whole chapter the whole book the whole gospel is built around the revelation of 00:42:04.120 |
the glory of Christ and this is the emphasis that we see that Jesus loved 00:42:11.200 |
Jesus loved again not by sparing us from pain but showing us his glory I pray 00:42:18.560 |
that when we think about the resurrection it's not simply a 00:42:22.320 |
apologetical proof it's not simply a indication that God is real although it 00:42:29.200 |
is that and so much more but the promise of the resurrection for you and me is