All right, good morning. As we celebrate the Lord's resurrection, we're going to spend some time in John chapter 11, and we're actually going to work backwards because what happens in John chapter 11 is really a setup for the resurrection that will take place. And so I'm not going to read a text, but I'm going to pray for us, and then we'll jump right into the sermon this morning.

So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing over this time. Help us to understand the significance of this day and be impacted by it, that our confession as you being our Lord and Savior will be more than mere words. I pray for radical changes in our hearts, Lord God, that we may reevaluate every part of who we are, what we think, what we do, our goals, our hopes, our dreams, Lord God.

May all be satisfied in Christ and Christ alone. May your word be highlighted. May your very breath, Lord God, be experienced by the people who hear it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, if you did a survey online to see what's the greatest fear of mankind, you'll probably get many different lists.

On some lists, they say that the greatest fear that most people will say is public speaking, which is kind of weird, but, you know, like people fear judgment when they speak in public. Some people fear -- their greatest fear is rejection, fear of heights, fear of failing. Now, fear of death is always in the top 10, but for whatever the reason, it was never number one.

And I think the reason why it's not number one in most people's list is because for most people on a day-to-day basis, death is not real until we actually pass away or we experience the death in some way, in an intimate way. But I think most of us will agree that death is the greatest fear of all mankind.

I mean, part of the reason why we're having service online is because of this fear of death. The world did not get shut down because of fear of public speaking. The world didn't shut down because of fear of rejection. The world shut down because of this pandemic, and it's not just a pandemic.

If there was a cure to this pandemic, people -- We didn't shut down. The world did not shut down because of fear of getting ill. The world shut down because there is a possibility that this illness can lead to death. But according to statistics, at least in the United States, the fatality rate is somewhere between 1% to 1.2%.

At least that's what it is now. And they've had enough samples to say that that's probably accurate. It may even go down further as they do more testing. But that's 1% fatality of people who actually get the disease. So if you take that totality of everybody who's in the United States, it's not high.

But it's enough that this fear of death is strong enough that whatever will come out of this pandemic and this shutdown, it was worth shutting down to save lives. Now, this Resurrection Sunday is all about death. It's about the hope that Christ brings. The greatest fear of mankind turns into the greatest hope of mankind because of what Christ has done today.

In Hebrews 2, 14 to 15, it says, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, "he," meaning Christ, "himself likewise also partook of the same, "that through death he might render powerless "him who had the power of death," that is the devil, "and might free those who through fear of death "were subject to slavery all their lives." And I think this verse is relevant in any generation at any time, even when we're living in peace.

But especially now, as the whole world is in lockdown temporarily, to try our best to avoid this death. This Resurrection Sunday is really about that, about turning this dark pandemic, this possibility of death, ultimately to glory. Well, I'm going to be working backwards today because we looked at his crucifixion, his trial on Friday.

We talked about Palm Sunday, but we're actually going to walk backwards into John chapter 11, where Jesus foreshadows what he was going to do in John chapter 11. And it is one of his I am statements, I am the resurrection and the life. So as we work through chapter 11, I want you to pay attention to the various responses that people are giving to this resurrection or this bringing back to life, Lazarus.

And so what I want to do is starting from chapter one, there are five specific scenes. So if you were making a movie or doing a play, there's five specific scenes that highlight certain events that are taking place. And through it all, what I'd like you to pay attention to is the different responses that people are giving to Jesus's resurrection.

So scene one. So if you have the children's outline, that outline is basically the sermon outline. So if you parents want to follow that as well, if that's going to help you. Scene one, starting from verse one through six. So what I encourage you to do is, the verses will be displayed on the screen, at least parts of it.

But if you have your Bible, open it up, and I encourage you to just keep it there because we're going to be working through the whole text, chapter 11 today. Scene one, verse one through six, the sickness that leads to glory. And this is the setup behind what is going to take place.

Verse 11, I'm not going to read everything, but I want you to pay attention. Now, a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and the sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

So first thing I want us to remember or to highlight is that Lazarus was not just any man. Lazarus was a man who was the younger brother, most likely of Mary and Martha. Mary Martha, as you know, is a very prominent figure in Jesus's ministry. Their name is mentioned many times throughout the scriptures.

And it highlights Mary was the one who anointed Jesus. When everybody else was paying attention to other things, either Mary knew what was going to happen or Mary's love for Christ was so overwhelming that she was willing to break a year's worth of an average pay to prepare Jesus for his burial.

She's the one who got on her knees and humbled herself and washed Jesus's feet. And it's highlighted that this relationship that Jesus has with this family was special. It was not just any family. And he goes on to say, so the sister sent word to him saying, "Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick." Now, Jesus healed complete strangers in crowds.

Sometimes he was very gracious to people who were even hostile to him. Remember the lepers who he healed and nine of them just celebrated and just took off, forgot about him, and only one returned? So it's highlighting if God was gracious to just strangers or multitudes, how much more would he be to whom he loved?

And all of this is a setup for what's about to happen. Verse four, when Jesus heard this, he said, "This sickness is not to end in death, "but the glory of God, "so that the Son of Man may be glorified by it." And again, all of this is a setup for what he's about to do in chapter 11, to raise Lazarus at the end of this chapter.

He said, "All of this is God-ordained. "This darkness is going to turn to glory. "You guys are worried and you call the right person. "I am gonna go, but it's not gonna end in sadness. "It's gonna end in glory." So you would expect that Lazarus, whom he loved, whose sister Mary was the one who anointed his feet, Martha is constantly busy serving the disciples.

And he says, "Don't worry, he's not gonna die. "It's gonna end in his glory." That he would pack up his bag, whatever he was doing, he would pack up his bag and get his disciples to go. But instead, in verse six, it says, "So when he heard that he was sick, "he stayed then two days longer in the place where he was." Which is a very strange way to end that.

Because every part of what he says in this scene, you would expect him to pack up and hurry and get out of there to make sure that he gets there in time. Instead, he takes his sweet time. He takes two days longer. Now, why did he do that? Because part of the display of God's glory is going to be him allowing them to experience the death.

He wasn't going to preserve him from this death. He was going to allow them to experience his death and the grief that comes along with this death, with the weeping and sadness that comes along with that. And he stayed two days longer to allow them to experience this. And he wanted to make sure that there was going to be darkness before he turns on the light.

Now, this is foreshadowing of what was going to happen to Israel and to mankind itself. When Jesus was crucified, he didn't just die in obscurity. He was crucified by the hands of the leaders of Israel. He was crucified by the hands of the people that he came and he wept for.

And so the reason why God allowed that is he allowed the room to get as dark as possible before he turns on the light. If you have something to display, you want to make sure that display is seen clearly. And in order to do that, you have to turn down the light.

Jesus was allowing mankind to experience their lowest moment of history. The darkest moment of mankind's history was the death of Jesus Christ because he was the one who was preparing. He was the one who loved us. He was the one who took our sorrows and bore it on himself.

And it was he, the author of life, that we crucify. The darkest moment of mankind's history is not the Holocaust. Slavery, as ugly as it is, and it was, was not the darkest part of human history. It was a day that mankind chose to crucify, the only one that could save us from our sins.

Jesus allows this to take place. And so finally, after two days, we get to scene two. And scene two, you know, if this wasn't a sermon, there's so much comical material in this section. The cluelessness of the disciples, verses seven through 16. Then after he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again, the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?

In other words, you know what's gonna happen when you go there. All of our enemies who want to kill you, all the leaders of Israel, their power, the soldiers, the temple soldiers, they're all in that area. Which, you know, the reason why this is so comical is because Jesus has been steadily moving down from Galilee to Jerusalem.

He made it very clear that his final destination was never going to be Bethany. Bethany was just a place that he's passing through. He said, not only is he gonna go to Bethany, he's gonna go to the heart, he's going to the heart of danger, into Jerusalem. And he's been telling them this, they've been on this journey for months.

When finally Jesus says, with Bethany about two miles away from Jerusalem, it's almost like they weren't there. It's almost like Jesus said all of these things and they didn't hear him at all. And Jesus said, are there not 12 hours in the day? What does he mean by that?

Well, if you read on, it says, if anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. Now, what Jesus meant by that was, again, the Jews typically counted a day in 12-hour increments.

So you had the day and then you had the 12-hour nights. Unlike when we say a day, we say 24 hours. What Jesus meant was, if you walk in the light, if you are living righteously, and as long as you are with me, in other words, Jesus is saying you are safe.

Now, Jesus was not saying that you're not gonna experience pain 'cause Jesus told him, if you're gonna come after me, you have to pick up your cross. He already told them that he was going to be crucified. He was going to be beaten. So what he means by that is that you will not stumble, means that safety means that you're gonna be in God's hand.

You're gonna be in God's purpose. In other words, do not be afraid. You're with the light. This he said in verse 11, after that, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep. The disciples then said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.

Again, they don't get it. These guys are dead. Of course, that's not what he meant. And he says, now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So when Jesus said he has fallen asleep, was that, well, he's just gonna wake up then.

Why do we need to go to Bethany? You could just see the frustration in verse 14 when Jesus says, so Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. I don't know about you, but I don't know why. That seems very comical to me. He's fallen asleep, he's sleeping.

Why do we need to go to Bethany? He's dead, I meant he's dead. He's dead. And he had to speak to them very plainly because Jesus is saying one thing and they're constantly hearing something else. Why was that? Why were they having such a hard time understanding what we read so plainly?

In fact, if you read the Gospel of Mark, Mark makes it a point. Mark makes it a point that Jesus made this very clear what he was doing. Mark 8, 31 to 32. And Jesus, he began to teach them that the Son of Man, Son of Man meaning Jesus, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.

And after three days, rise again, and he was stating the matter plainly. Now, Mark says that on purpose. It wasn't miscommunication. Maybe Jesus didn't use the right words or maybe there was a different context that we don't understand. He said, no, Jesus made this very plainly. And Peter seems to have understood, at least for the moment.

And it says, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Now, think about the arrogance of that. On one sense, humanly speaking, Peter loved Jesus and there's no question about that. But it was also filled with his own arrogance and pride. And you see that as they get closer to the cross, Peter's like, I'm gonna protect you.

All of these guys, all of these guys may fail you, but not me. Obviously, Peter actually fails miserably. He's the one who denies Jesus to his face three times. But what Jesus said just didn't make sense. He's the Messiah. I mean, he walks on water. He calms a storm that would have easily wiped out generational fishermen.

Why would you be killed? Who's going to kill you? Who's gonna beat you? He couldn't understand. But if this is gonna happen, don't worry, you got me. You got me. Clearly, he didn't understand. And Mark makes it a point to point that out. Mark chapter nine, 31 through 34.

Again, he says, "For he was teaching his disciples "and telling them, the Son of Man is to be delivered "into the hands of men and they will kill him. "And when he has been killed, he will rise three days later." Just in case you missed it the first time, let me say it again.

I will be killed, I will be killed. But they did not understand the statement and they were afraid to ask. Next time you read the Gospels, highlight that statement. They were afraid to ask. 'Cause this happens repeatedly in Jesus's ministry. They just didn't get it because their paradigm of their worldview of the Messiah just didn't fit what Jesus was saying.

It fit what Jesus was doing because it said Messiah's going to come, he's going to give bread, he's going to bring in an era where broken people are gonna be healed, the lame are going to walk, the blind are going to see. So he fulfills every part of the identification of the Messiah, but what he was saying didn't make any sense.

So they were hearing him say, "Oh, dying. "Maybe he means sleeping now." Because sleeping means living, maybe living means dying. I don't know what he means, but they didn't understand. Verse 33, "They came to Capernaum "and when he was in the house, he began to question them, "What were you discussing on the way?

"But they kept silent, for on the way "they had discussed with one another "which of them was the greatest." Can you imagine that? I mean, we can understand the frustration that Jesus may have been in. He's preparing them for his death and burial and on the side, they're having a conversation about who's gonna be the greatest.

So it's the written word, so we don't have a lot of exclamation marks, but I'm guessing in this scene too, there's a bit of yelling. That's my guess, right? There's a lot of knocking on the head, you knuckleheads. I just told you I'm gonna die. And the discussion that you're having, the thing that you're concerned about, who's the greatest, who do you think?

I'm gonna die in three days. Yeah, okay, who's the greatest, who's the greatest? Mark makes it absolutely crystal clear. It wasn't a misunderstanding. It wasn't because Jesus didn't make it clear. It just didn't fit their paradigm of what they wanted. So they heard him and they filed it away because after his resurrection, they recollect all of this stuff.

He did say this, he did say he was gonna get beaten. He did say he was gonna resurrect on the third day, but all of that didn't click until it actually happened and then he was resurrected. So they did hear him, they just didn't understand him because it didn't fit.

Finally, in Mark chapter 10, 33 to 37, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, "and the Son of Man will be delivered "to the chief priests and the scribes, "and they will condemn him to death "and will hand him over to the Gentiles. "They will mock him and spit on him "and scourge him and kill him, "and three days later, he will rise again." They didn't hear him the two previous time, the third time, he describes in detail that he's gonna be mocked, spit on, scourged, and then killed.

But look what it says in verse 35. James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Grant that we may sit one on your right "and one on your left in your glory." I mean, talk about like, can you imagine?

Jesus just said he's gonna be spit on, scourged, mocked, and then killed. And then said, "Okay, yeah, but who's gonna sit "on your left and right?" Man, Jesus was one patient man. He was patient. Like, what human being would tolerate this? And not only did they not understand, Jesus already knew that at the time of his suffering that they were going to scatter.

And no matter how determined Peter was, no matter how determined Thomas was, and the disciples were, when push came to shove, they weren't going to stand with him. And yet, Jesus kept on going to the cross. The disciples were dense. They just did not understand. And the reason why they did not understand is because Jesus and what he was saying did not fit their pursuit.

Their ambition blinded them to the truth. Now, we could read this and say, "Wow, they're so dense, they're so dumb." But I hope as we read this, that you and I could easily see ourselves in that same position. Because there are very plain things that are taught in scripture that majority of the confessing Christians, almost like they've never heard it.

If you seek your life, he says, you will lose it. But he who loses life for my sake, he will find it plain. And he repeats that over and over. If you want to follow after me, pick up the cross and follow after me. Plain. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added unto you.

We memorize these scripture, we teach this to our children, but how much of this is actually being applied? If somebody was to read this 2000 years later of what our life looks like and what the Bible teaches, and then they studied the disciples, I don't know if there's gonna be a huge gap between them and us.

What this teaches us is that they had front row seats to Christ. They saw him live. They saw all of his powerful miracles and yet because of their ambition, even though they believed him, even though they trusted him, because of their personal ambitions, he was going through one year and out the other.

Years ago, Steve Camp had a song called Marbles, Playing Marbles with Diamonds. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. And I think there's a few of you that may remember this song. And this song goes like this. Ah, there's a whole lot more than preaching to the choir, kneeling at the altar or paying our tithe.

We've been treating God like he's happiness for hire. We've been playing marbles with diamonds. Isn't it a shame how his name gets thrown around? We pat God on the back like a buddy from out of town. We thank the man upstairs for the things people praise us for. Oh, we give God the glory, but we're happy to take the award.

Ah, there's a whole lot more than raising lots of money, building our churches and spreading our fame. Faith is just the dice that you roll to get lucky. We've been playing marbles with diamonds. As Jesus is heading to the cross and we celebrate his death and resurrection, do we recognize ourselves?

Do we ourselves recognize what this day means for us? Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected for our sins. And we may also have a new life in him. But to their credit, even though they didn't understand, even though their own ambitions blinded them, they believed him. And they continue to follow him.

Even if they failed, Thomas says at the end of that scene, "Well, let us go then." I don't fully get what he is saying, but let us go with him. And if he's going to die, let us die with him. And so they go. Many of us are probably in that same situation.

We don't fully understand what God is doing, why I'm in the situation that we're in. And I don't know what God has planned at the end of this, but I'm gonna keep following. Scene three. Jesus finally shows up in 17 to 27. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days.

So he stays two days. It takes him a couple of days to get there. And by the time he shows up, he's already been buried for four days. Now, Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother, which already tells us that this was a very public miracle.

This didn't just involve a few people. Many people were already there. And this was because they were a very prominent family. The fact that he was buried in a cave already tells us that he came from a rich family. An average family would not have been able to afford that kind of a burial.

So he was a very well-known, well-respected family. Many Jews are there to mourn with them. In verse 20, "Martha, therefore, "when she heard that Jesus was coming, "went to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, "my brother would not have died." In that statement, you can tell that there is disappointment.

I thought you cared. We already told you that he was ill. Why did it take you so long to get here? If you had been here, he would not have died. You see, for mankind, as long as we live, as long as we live, there's always hope. Because you can start over with the business, you can get another job, relationship goes sour, maybe have another relationship, there's always hope.

But the reason why the whole world is shut down right now is because if you die, that's it. And even if we lose money, even if the economy tanks, even if all the businesses shut down, because our greatest fear and our final judgment is the death, we're gonna do, even if we sacrifice everything, we have to live.

God allows Martha to experience this grief. And when he says to Jesus, "If you had been here, "my brother would not have died." You know, but Martha, remember, she's the one who's always running around busy, and she was complaining about Mary. Remember, Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, "you were worried about so many things." Mary has chosen what is best.

Mary was just sitting there eating up Jesus's words. So maybe Martha paid attention because in the very next verse, after she says that in an accusatory tone to Jesus, she has some hope. But even now, I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you. Doesn't that sound a lot like us?

But we believe. We believe. But God, what are you doing? I worship you. I tithe, I give. I serve. But what are you doing? So you could see the conflict in Martha. Why didn't you come? And even though she has very small faith, but even now, see, Lazarus was not the first person that he was going to raise.

If you read the Gospels, in Luke chapter seven, he raises a widow's son, Nain. In Matthew chapter nine, he raises Jairus's daughter. So they might not have been there, but they probably heard about this. And even though they're experiencing grief, there is glimmer of hope. Even now, I know that whatever you do, like even now, that God will give you.

Now, she doesn't know what he's going to do, but as long as you're here, I have some hope. We are all in the same place. And what the theologians call here and not yet. We've all tasted the goodness of God. As Christians, we confessed him as Lord and Savior.

But from now until he comes, we're going to be wrestling with that, living in two worlds. Where our hope goes up and down based upon what we see, based upon our bank account, whether the stimulus check gets put into our bank account, and that day, it's probably going to feel good for a day.

And then the memory of that fades, and then our hope fades with it. And we live, because we live in two worlds. And we see Martha, she's disappointed with Christ, and yet she's maintaining her faith. That's why in 2 Corinthians 4, 7, it says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, "so that the surpassing greatness of the power "will be of God, not from ourselves." That our hope may not look like anything, because it's contained in an earthen vessel, jars of clay.

But what it contains is powerful. Jesus, in response to that, says in John 11, 25, Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. "He who believes in me will live, even if he dies." And obviously, he's pointing to Lazarus. "I know he's dead, but even in death, he will live." See, for human beings, there is no hope after death.

At least during this lifetime, you can start over. You can repeat, or you can do something else. You can change your mind, you can move. But if you die, it's final. But Jesus says, at the core of mankind's darkness, it's that even in that, even if he dies, he shall live.

And everyone who lives and believes me will never die. Says, do you believe this? Jesus didn't say, trust me, I'm gonna make him live. Jesus didn't say, if you continue to come after me, I will show you the way of life. He says, I am the resurrection and the life, I am.

Meaning, Christ himself is life. We talked about that last week. Jesus is not simply the way to life. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. That's why the greatest evidence of a man or a woman or a child who's been born again is his union with Christ.

Does he have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? The question is not, do you go to church, do you read your Bible, do you do great things, are you generous, are you involved in helping the poor? That's not a question, that's not the distinguishing mark of a Christian and non-Christian, because Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.

Is there a personal affection relationship with the man and God, Jesus Christ? I am the resurrection and the life. That's why in 1 John 5, verse 12, it says, he who has the son has the life. If you have the son, you have the life. He who does not have the son of God does not have the life.

The life he is talking about is not simply not dying. The Bible uses two different words, bios and zoe. Bios is the biological life, zoe means to be alive. He's not simply saying that God is going to preserve us from physically dying. He's going to give us life. What God intended from the beginning, this union with the author of life that was broken because of our sins.

He says, if you come to me, he says, I am the life. You know how you can recognize somebody who is near Christ? Almost always. There's joy. It doesn't matter if they're sitting in prison. It doesn't matter if they have disease. It doesn't matter if they're in their deathbed.

It doesn't matter if they have a large bank account or many friends. You can always tell when somebody is near Christ, there's always joy because Jesus is life. Jesus is the resurrection. And that's why Jesus turns to Martha. He doesn't just say, I am the resurrection and the life because the point of why he came, he could have said that up in heaven.

But the whole reason why he came was the next question. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? He wasn't simply declaring to the world, I am life. He wasn't simply trying to display his glory. His whole point was from that, do you believe this? Because the Bible says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that Christ was raised from the dead, that you will be saved.

The whole point of the resurrection Sunday is that question. Do you believe that? Is the penalty of sin still dominating your life? Is the fear of death, has it gripped our lives and we're doing everything possible to avoid it because we don't know? Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.

Scene four, Jesus meets Mary. This section, I wanna start from verse 32. Therefore, then Mary came where Jesus was. She saw him and fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And again, her disappointment. I mean, think about Mary just a few days earlier, not that long ago.

She humiliated herself. Now again, that would be humiliating for anybody, but this was a prominent family, very wealthy family, a dignified family. So for Mary to be on her knees, wiping Jesus' feet with oil, is a position of even a humble servant would have been humble to do. Mary, we don't know the depth of her faith, but she loved Jesus so much that she was willing to do that.

So you can see the disappointment in Mary's tone when she asked Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. You know, I think in the English, in the written word, it comes off the same, but I have a feeling that Martha's tone and Mary's tone was very different.

You know, 'cause Martha is the outgoing one. She's the one who's outspoken, and she was the one who was telling Jesus, rebuke Mary! And Mary just sitting there quietly just studying. So I have a feeling they said the exact same thing, but Martha probably said, Lord! She probably ran up to him and called his name from a distance.

If you had been here, my brother would not have died. Mary, for whatever reason, I see her as an introvert. You don't hear a lot from her. She's just a woman of action. If you have been here, my brother would not have died. And there's a deep-seated disappointment in Christ in those words.

Why did you allow this to happen? You know how much you mean to us. And I know how much Lazarus meant to you, and I know how much you loved our family, but why did you let this happen? Verse 33, "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, "and the Jews who came with her also weeping, "he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." And said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." This is the shortest verse in all of the English Bible.

It says, "Jesus wept." Now, you have to understand that when the original Bible was written, there were no verses, there were no chapters. It didn't happen until about 1300 AD. The chapters came in, and then it was another 300 years after that where the verses came in. So whoever put the verses in wanted to highlight, Jesus wept, 'cause he made it one verse.

Jesus wept. So we shouldn't just pass this by and say, "Jesus wept." There's a reason why this one verse, this shortest English verse, is highlighted, because it has tremendous significance. There's only two places, one other place outside of here, where the same word for weeping is used of Christ, and that was used last week at the Palm Sunday.

When Jesus looked at the multitude crying out to him, "Hosanna, hosanna," it says, "Jesus wept." Now, we can understand Jesus is in front of the burial site of Lazarus, whom he loved. So it makes sense that he would weep, because he saw the sorrow of the people. And we can just superficially say, "Oh, he was sad," like we would be sad.

But what is perplexing was Jesus himself said, "He's not going to die." You know, if he was crying because of their sadness, you would think that Jesus would kind of have a smirk on the side of his face, "Just wait, right? "I know you're sad, but just wait. "I took two days on purpose." So did he forget?

Or was he just emotionally overwhelmed, and he just kind of like couldn't help it, 'cause they were weeping? What is the meaning behind his weeping? You see, both times when Jesus was weeping, he saw judgment coming. The Bible says that because of man's rebellion, the final judgment on all mankind is death.

Right now, 100% of us who are born will die. And that's not a guess. 100% of us at some point, whether we die early, whether we die late, we will die. There's not a single human being that lived among us who didn't experience the termination of his life one way or the other.

The Bible says the clearest evidence of the ramification of man's sin is death. So I believe that Jesus was weeping for the same reason that he was weeping on his way to Jerusalem. He was weeping because at the face of death, he sees the judgment on mankind. He wasn't simply weeping because he was temporarily asleep, like he said, 'cause he was just about to raise him.

I don't know about you, but it gives me tremendous, tremendous comfort to know that Jesus did not simply satisfy the legal code that God required. He didn't just come into the court and say, "You know what? "I'm a public defender, so I'm gonna do my best "to defend him and then go my way." That's not what happened.

He didn't just satisfy the legal requirement that we needed to save us from eternal judgment. The Bible says he saw our sins and he had compassion on us. This compassion is what led to his weeping. I don't know about you, but it gives me tremendous comfort to know that my Savior loves me to this degree.

He wept for me and he wept for you. And that's why we celebrate this day. What was so ugly on Friday turns into the greatest celebration on Sunday because Christ wept for us. Every single one of us, we know. We know the darkness that's inside. We know that in private, there are things that we don't wanna show the public, so when we come to church, we put on the best dress, we put on, do our hair, and we make sure that we speak a certain way, we look a certain way, we act a certain way, all of it because we don't want you to see behind the curtain.

Because there's a nervousness in all of us that there are certain parts of our lives that once they see, they might not want to be with us. There's a certain fear in all of us that once the curtain is drawn and they're able to see every aspect, every thought that I have, everything that I do that people don't know of, they don't wanna be my friend.

They wouldn't want me in this community. Every one of us has that fear. And to be honest, to many degrees, it's true. And that's why marriage oftentimes is so hard because you can't hide from your husband and your wife like you do everybody else. You may do a good job with everybody else to keep enough distance and you've done a great job, but you get married, you can't hide.

And eventually, it comes out. And when it comes out, there's that temptation. This is not what I thought. Christ saw every ugliness in a sinner like me and you. And instead of being disgusted, he wept over us. He embraced us even harder. He drew near and he took our sorrows upon himself.

It's a tremendous comfort to know that this is the degree to which he loves us. Finally, in scene five, Lazarus is raised, what we've been waiting for. All of that was a setup for this. So Jesus, again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it.

And Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, "Lord, by this time, there will be a stench." You know what's funny about this? Because in the old English, in the KJV, it says, "Lord, it stinketh." That's what it says. In the King James Version, it's very direct.

"Lord, it's been four days. "It stinketh." I don't know what it sounds like in Greek, but in the old English, it's very direct. "He stinks. "If you roll that stone away now, "I mean, he's not gonna be Lazarus." Like, remember I told you, Martha is kind of like juggling this.

I believe you, but he's gonna stink. What are you doing? Lord, verse 40, Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, "you will see the glory of God?" In other words, do what I say. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

"I knew that you always hear me, "but because of the people standing around, "I said it so that they may believe that you sent me." And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" You know what's amazing about this? That's all it took.

Jesus didn't have a prayer meeting, he didn't have a fasting, he didn't put mud on, he didn't say, you know, give it some time. You know, he didn't say, "Get the oil ready, "remove the stone, and we're gonna get on." Nothing, he's just like, "Step back. "I told you what I'm gonna, "you're about to see the glory of God." And all he does was, "Lazarus, come out!" That's it.

And it may be amazing to us, but the Bible says, by the proclamation of his word, the whole world was created. So it may be amazing to us, but for God, all it took was for him to say, "Come out." It was just simple words, "Come out," coupled with his authority.

It was not a big deal. I mean, that almost sounds blasphemous to say, but to God, all he needed to do to raise a dead man who was dead for four days, with complete lost hope for every single person that was there who was weeping and crying because they're so saddened, 'cause there's no hope in death, all Jesus had to do was to say, "Come out." And he came out, look what happens.

Then the man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him and let him go." I don't know what Lazarus was thinking. It'd be interesting if we were to do a play with this scene.

Lazarus coming up, jumping out from this, and what he was thinking. What is this? What happened? Did you see a bright light at the end of the tunnel when you died? What was it like? He'd be an interesting person to ask, 'cause everybody's guessing, but he actually died for four days.

What were you doing? Did you see Moses? Was Elijah there? You know what's interesting? He comes out. And then you would think they threw a party and there was a revival that broke out, nothing. He came out. Many people saw the glory and they believed. And then some of them went to the Pharisees and told them.

Wow, even after that, even after that, people who are already committed, already shut their hearts, even in the face of a great miracle, they were gonna go down that path. Why did God allow this? He allowed them to experience desperation, sadness, disappointment, grieving. All of that was God ordained for the purpose of his glory.

It was ordained. Much of our suffering is ordained for his glory. Much of the persecution in the church has been ordained for his glory. Even Lazarus's death was ordained for his glory. Story just moves on. You know, you would think that if you were to read any story and you have five scenes, that Lazarus comes back from the dead, the end.

It's like, how can it get any higher than this? But all of this was a precursor about the real story. Because he moves on from here. And this is where he begins to prepare and he goes into Jerusalem. Because all of this was to prepare for them for the real hope that is coming in Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 15, 52 to 57, it says, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, "at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound "and the dead will be raised imperishable "and we will be changed. "For this perishable must put on the imperishable "and this mortal must put on immortality.

"But when the perishable will have put on the imperishable "and this mortal will have put on immortality, "then will come about the saying that is written, "death is swallowed up in victory. "Oh, death, where is your victory? "Oh, death, where is your sting? "The sting of death is sin "and the power of sin is the law.

"But thanks be to God, "who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Lazarus's resurrection was just for himself. Jesus's resurrection was for all of us. He took the sting of death away. Now, even as Christians, we don't wanna die. We wanna spend as much time as we can with our children, with our friends and family.

But the sting of death has been taken away because death leads us to the eternal presence of Christ Jesus. Colossians 3, 4 says, "When Christ, who is your life, "appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." I pray that the resurrection of Christ would not just simply be something that we remember and celebrate like we do like July 4th or our anniversaries, and then we move on to the rest of our life.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. The Bible says that we were buried with him so that we may also be raised with him, not to a better life, but to a complete new life. My prayer is that all of you out there listening, our church members outside the church, do you know this Christ?

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that Christ was raised from the dead, you will be saved. Are you weighed down by your sin? Are you afraid of death because you don't know what's coming after? I pray that you would meet this resurrected Christ.

I pray that you would meet this Christ that you and I would have this conviction that have this hope eternal. Take some time to pray with me as we seek the Lord together. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Millions of us all around the world thank you in unison. All the saints that have gone before us with cloud of witnesses, all the saints that will come after us, in unison we praise you and we thank you for not turning away when you saw our sins, for having compassion, for taking upon yourselves our sorrows, our griefs, that you may be a sympathetic high priest.

I pray, Father God, that as you invite us to come to the throne of grace with confidence, that that is exactly what we will commit to do, to continue to come to you, that we may have this life and have it abundantly. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.