SPEAKER_00: Welcome to City Church Dublin Sermon Archives.
SPEAKER_00: Join us this week as we continue to work through the book of John in our series The Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: Today's reading is from John chapter 11, verses 1 to 44.
SPEAKER_01: Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
SPEAKER_01: It was Mary who anointed the Lord with the anointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
SPEAKER_01: So the sisters went to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.
SPEAKER_01: But when Jesus heard, heard it he said, The illness will not lead to death.
SPEAKER_01: It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
SPEAKER_01: Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and her Lazarus.
SPEAKER_01: So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in this in the place where he was.
SPEAKER_01: Then after this he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and you are going there again?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
SPEAKER_01: If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light in this world.
SPEAKER_01: But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.
SPEAKER_01: After saying these things he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.
SPEAKER_01: Now Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus told him plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that he I was not there, so that you may believe.
SPEAKER_01: But let us go to him.
SPEAKER_01: So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
SPEAKER_01: Now when Jesus came he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
SPEAKER_01: Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha to console them concerning their brother.
SPEAKER_01: So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, Jesus went and met him, or she went and met him.
SPEAKER_01: But Mary remained seated in the house.
SPEAKER_01: Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_01: But even uh but even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.
SPEAKER_01: And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_01: And she said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
SPEAKER_01: When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, The teacher is here and is calling for you.
SPEAKER_01: And when she when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but it was still in the place where Martha had met him.
SPEAKER_01: When the Jews were who when the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary quickly rise and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
SPEAKER_01: Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her were were also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Where have you laid him?
SPEAKER_01: They said to him, Lord, come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wept.
SPEAKER_01: So the Jews said, See how he loved him.
SPEAKER_01: But some of them said, Could he not o could he, could not he who opened the eyes of a blind man, have also kept this man from dying?
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said, Take away the stone.
SPEAKER_01: Martha the sister of the dead man said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead for four days.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
SPEAKER_01: So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you for I thank you that you have heard me.
SPEAKER_01: I knew that you have always heard me, but I I say this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you have sent me.
SPEAKER_01: When he had said these things, he cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.
SPEAKER_01: The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his head wrapped with a cloth.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to him, Unbind him and let him go.
SPEAKER_01: And so reads God's Word.
SPEAKER_02: And it's great to open God's Word with you.
SPEAKER_02: Uh God's word is contained in the sixty-six books that we have uh with us in the Bible, as we call it, the scripture, uh, the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: And uh this is uh an incredible book to come to.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you're uh used to reading books or not so much, um, but each author in the Word of God had a purpose behind what he was trying to do.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, this was a purpose that was governed, we believe, by the Holy Spirit as he inspired the authors, but also that the author himself consciously came to.
SPEAKER_02: Um and John is very upfront about what his purpose is when he writes the Gospel of John, and it's a purpose statement that is very much in line with what we're looking at this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And so I would like to turn your attention to it in John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you know why John wrote his book, and then you listen to what we've just read in the light of what John was trying to do, then you'll see exactly where he wants to bring you in this sermon.
SPEAKER_02: John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31 reads, Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
SPEAKER_02: But these are written, these signs, including the sign concerning Lazarus, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
SPEAKER_02: So as you listen to what Jesus did that day in Bethany, John is hoping that as you walk through the text, that bit by bit you will believe that Jesus, the one who is in this passage, that he is the Christ, the Messiah sent from God, and not only that, but he's the Son of God Himself.
SPEAKER_02: And that as that belief takes root in your heart, then you will begin to have life in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That's the project, that's the idea.
SPEAKER_02: Victor Hugot said, Il n'y a plus de plus lourd fardeau que d'exister sans vivre.
SPEAKER_02: I'll translate that for you who don't know French that well.
SPEAKER_02: He said there's no heavier burden than to exist without living.
SPEAKER_02: No heavier burden to exist without living.
SPEAKER_02: And John would say that if you haven't yet come to the point in your life where you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then that's exactly your situation.
SPEAKER_02: You're existing, but you're not living.
SPEAKER_02: You haven't yet met the one who says, I have come that you might have life and life to the full, abundant life.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is there on the pages of John's gospel, and he's saying, Please come to me.
SPEAKER_02: Please believe in me.
SPEAKER_02: And as you believe in me, then you will find new life bubbling up inside you.
SPEAKER_02: You will find that your life will never be the same.
SPEAKER_02: So that's what John wants to do in all of his gospel, and that's what John wants to do in the passage that we had so nicely read for us.
SPEAKER_02: And we're going to walk through this passage together, and we're going to look at these questions about who Jesus is and about how belief in him brings us into eternal life and what that quality of life that we have in Jesus is actually like.
SPEAKER_02: And the first thing we notice in this passage that we had read for us, and these titles should appear bit by bit as I talk, is that Jesus waits.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waits.
SPEAKER_02: So just bear that in mind as we walk through the first few verses of this text.
SPEAKER_02: The characters are introduced in verse one.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus of Bethany, Mary, and Martha, a family that Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus will be anointed by Mary one chapter later, and this is an amazing foreshadowing of what will happen to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Because Mary, when she anoints Jesus in verse two, she anoints him in the prospect of his burial.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, right in 11.2, John is reminding us that Jesus will die.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is going to die.
SPEAKER_02: Remember that.
SPEAKER_02: His hour is coming, he will die.
SPEAKER_02: And he wants us to remember that right at the beginning of this story.
SPEAKER_02: Because this is a story about life and death.
SPEAKER_02: This is a story about your life and death.
SPEAKER_02: It's a story about Lazarus' life and death.
SPEAKER_02: It's a story about Jesus' life and death.
SPEAKER_02: And so there in verse 2, we have this reminder that Jesus will be prepared for his burial by an anointing.
SPEAKER_02: But, and this is the drama, this is the tension, Lazarus is ill, so ill that he's going to die.
SPEAKER_02: So, verse 3, the sisters send an SOS.
SPEAKER_02: They dial for the ambulance.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, he whom you love is ill.
SPEAKER_02: Please come.
SPEAKER_02: Please come quickly.
SPEAKER_02: He's at death's door.
SPEAKER_02: It's urgent.
SPEAKER_02: Please come.
SPEAKER_02: Who among you, if you got a message like that from a friend, wouldn't drop everything and go straight away?
SPEAKER_02: But verse 4, when Jesus heard it, he said, This illness does not lead to death, it's for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
SPEAKER_02: You see, the people in this story are concentrating on the case in point.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus is sick.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus wrenches us away from that and makes us concentrate on something else, the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: And so as we walk through this story, we'll be playing between these two areas.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus, who is sick, and then dead, the glory of God, and how those two things work together.
SPEAKER_02: The one whom you love is ill.
SPEAKER_02: And here we get to the point.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verses five and six and see what John says.
SPEAKER_02: Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
SPEAKER_02: So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 5 does indeed confirm that Jesus loves the family.
SPEAKER_02: He does love the family.
SPEAKER_02: But verse 6 is a surprise.
SPEAKER_02: It seems so perplexing.
SPEAKER_02: It seems so confusing.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't seem to make sense.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus loves them, verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: So, or therefore, or for that reason, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
SPEAKER_02: He stays two days longer without helping them.
SPEAKER_02: And he waits.
SPEAKER_02: He's the master of time.
SPEAKER_02: He is the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He decides what to do.
SPEAKER_02: He decides when he wants to do it.
SPEAKER_02: He is no one's genie in a bottle.
SPEAKER_02: He is no one's slave.
SPEAKER_02: He acts for his glory, and we'll find out that when he acts for his glory, he acts, in fact, for our good.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waits.
SPEAKER_02: The conversation that happens in the verses that follow, verses 7 to 16, helps us understand why waiting was, in fact, the loving thing to do.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus tells the disciples that they will go to Bethany via Judea.
SPEAKER_02: The disciples is often the case, object on the basis of a human calculation of the apparent danger of being stoned.
SPEAKER_02: Who that's a real danger because Jesus has annoyed the Jews considerably.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus' answer in verse 9 reveals the confident assurance of one who has understood that there is an allotted time for everything, that God will see his purposes through.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: Are there not 12 hours in the day?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus knows what he has to do, he knows that he's got a time in which he's got to do it, and he is determined to see it through.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus can wait because he knows there are twelve hours in the day, and that there is yet light to walk in.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews will indeed be instrumental in Jesus' death, but not before the appointed time.
SPEAKER_02: Not yet.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus will go through Judea unconcerned.
SPEAKER_02: He is going in verse 11 to wake Lazarus up.
SPEAKER_02: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to wake him up.
SPEAKER_02: The disciples say to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, there's no need to wake him up, it'll get better himself.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus explains, he's talking about his death.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus has died.
SPEAKER_02: And verse 15 shows us why he has waited.
SPEAKER_02: Look at it with me.
SPEAKER_02: For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.
SPEAKER_02: But let us go to him.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is waiting and waiting so that the disciples will believe.
SPEAKER_02: And everything will be made clear as the story progresses.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus gets to Bethany, we find out that Lazarus has been dead for four days.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
SPEAKER_02: The scriptures of this number should not be lost on us.
SPEAKER_02: The superstition at the time was that the spirit of the deceased remained around the body for three days, with the possibility of re-entering the body.
SPEAKER_02: After three days, it was universally acknowledged that the deceased was no longer only partly dead.
SPEAKER_02: Has anybody seen The Princess Bride?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus is not partly dead, or mostly dead, but he's totally dead.
SPEAKER_02: Four days have elapsed.
SPEAKER_02: You see, because Jesus waited, Lazarus is dead, and everybody must acknowledge it.
SPEAKER_02: And so the crowd is there from Jerusalem in Bethany to console Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus has waited and is waiting still.
SPEAKER_02: And Martha, when she hears that Jesus has come, leaves the crowd and hurries to meet him.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 21 and 22 are a model of faith in the face of grief and disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: If you had been there, if you had waited, if you had not had your prayer verse 3 answered, you would be like Martha in this passage.
SPEAKER_02: See what she says?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_02: But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus' answer shows that he's still waiting.
SPEAKER_02: Your brother will rise again, he says, in verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: Martha says to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
SPEAKER_02: It's a kind of generic statement.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus will die.
SPEAKER_02: We all know that.
SPEAKER_02: It's coming, but he's dead now.
SPEAKER_02: And my heart is broken, says Martha.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus takes this answer and builds on it.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't dispute what she says, but he goes much, much further.
SPEAKER_02: In the verse that follows, he's going to tie all future hope of resurrection, all future hope of restoration, redemption to his person and to his work.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says to her, I am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_02: She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 27.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, I am.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure that if you walk through this gospel, you've noticed the many ways in which Jesus asserts his divinity.
SPEAKER_02: And one of his preferred ways of asserting his divinity is to say, I am.
SPEAKER_02: I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_02: I am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: In the same way that the Lord revealed himself at the burning bush as I am, the one who is uncontingent life, preexistent, eternal, creator, sufficient in himself, needing nothing and nobody.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus says, I am.
SPEAKER_02: And in that moment, he is saying, I am God.
SPEAKER_02: But he follows this claim with an even more startling one.
SPEAKER_02: He says that he is in this order both the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: This is another foreshadowing of what is to come.
SPEAKER_02: Just as the anointing is preparation for burial, so the resurrection is only possible after a death.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus will not just provide resurrection for his people at the end.
SPEAKER_02: He is the resurrection, the one who has conquered death personally.
SPEAKER_02: He is the life, the one who lives and who gives abundant life.
SPEAKER_02: He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep in order to give them abundant life.
SPEAKER_02: Martha is no doubt amazed at these words.
SPEAKER_02: And she responds to exactly with the confession of faith that John says he wants all to come to you.
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember what we read at the beginning?
SPEAKER_02: I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
SPEAKER_02: John says, I've written these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is waiting, the fact that he hasn't yet done anything about Lazarus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is waiting, is beginning to produce the desired effect.
SPEAKER_02: Martha is beginning to believe.
SPEAKER_02: And therefore, at this moment, with her brother in the grave, Martha is beginning to experience eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: Because she believes, not having seen.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus' encounter with Mary is both a repeat of his conversation with Martha and a movement towards a scene at the tomb.
SPEAKER_02: Mary comes to Jesus in the following verses with exactly the same words.
SPEAKER_02: If you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is still waiting.
SPEAKER_02: John's first readers were in a similar situation.
SPEAKER_02: From their perspective, John was asking them to believe in a Jesus who had left this earth via the resurrection and the ascension and who was coming back at an unknown time in the future.
SPEAKER_02: They will read in a few chapters that they are blessed in that belief without having seen.
SPEAKER_02: And we too experience the waiting of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waits.
SPEAKER_02: How many times in your life have you said if Jesus had been there, this wouldn't have happened?
SPEAKER_02: Whether that's a personal trauma, a bereavement, a crisis, or a war, or a natural disaster affecting thousands upon thousands, if Jesus had been here, this would not have happened.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waits.
SPEAKER_02: Even today.
SPEAKER_02: But this text will not allow us to say that Jesus waits because he does not love us or because he is unaware.
SPEAKER_02: One day we will understand that as verses five and six say, He loves us, therefore he waits.
SPEAKER_02: It's a hard truth because it decenters us from ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: It makes our life orbit around the glory of God and not God orbit around our lives.
SPEAKER_02: But friends, it is the only life that makes sense ultimately.
SPEAKER_02: Only as we come to terms with the fact that the glory of God is the primary driver, not just of life, the universe, and everything, but of our particular life and the intimate circumstances of our particular life, we'll be able to live well in this veil of tears.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus waits because he loves us.
SPEAKER_02: The second thing that we see in this text is that Jesus weeps.
SPEAKER_02: We see it in verses 33 to 35, and it takes us to the emotional heart of this passage.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus weeps.
SPEAKER_02: That Jesus' wailing was not due to indifference, is beautifully displayed for us in these verses.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus sees Mary weeping.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus sees the Jews weeping.
SPEAKER_02: They're experiencing the normal effects of bereavement, grief, and mourning.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus' response is deeply emotional.
SPEAKER_02: He, being the Son of God, being the Messiah sent from God, Jesus weeps.
SPEAKER_02: He weeps first of all with rage, and then second of all with grief.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 33 with me.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 33, Jesus is deeply moved and troubled, according to translation here that we have.
SPEAKER_02: But all the lexical commentators agree that what is described here is a reaction of deep indignation and anger on the one hand and personal angst on the other.
SPEAKER_02: He is deeply moved, and he is troubled.
SPEAKER_02: That word troubled, we will find it in chapter 12, when Jesus is contemplating his own death.
SPEAKER_02: And we'll find it in chapter 13 when Judas betrays Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is troubled, he is angst-ridden.
SPEAKER_02: But he is deeply moved.
SPEAKER_02: And that word deeply moved means that he was in a hot anger, rage, indignation.
SPEAKER_02: He is angry.
SPEAKER_02: And his weeping has to do with his anger.
SPEAKER_02: Why is Jesus anger?
SPEAKER_02: Why is he so indignant?
SPEAKER_02: It's not directed against the weeping of Mary.
SPEAKER_02: It's not directed against the weeping of the Jews, even if some of the Jews who are there are professional lamenters paid to come and weep at the tomb.
SPEAKER_02: The anger that Jesus has is provoked and displayed by Jesus as a response to death itself and to the ultimate cause of death.
SPEAKER_02: When we look at Jesus' visceral response at Lazarus' tomb, we see what the Son of God thinks of death.
SPEAKER_02: He thinks it is an outrage.
SPEAKER_02: He thinks it's an intruder into the world that he himself spoke into being.
SPEAKER_02: He sees death as an enemy that must be defeated.
SPEAKER_02: Death should not be.
SPEAKER_02: And that's how we feel, is it not?
SPEAKER_02: Faced with death and destruction, as we look at the war in Ukraine, we think this should not be.
SPEAKER_02: As we look at people damaged and destroyed by sin in the world, we say this should not be.
SPEAKER_02: This is wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Human death has no place in our world.
SPEAKER_02: We feel that God has placed eternity in our hearts.
SPEAKER_02: We feel that we're destined for abundant life.
SPEAKER_02: We feel that death should not be.
SPEAKER_02: This is why Jesus is deeply moved.
SPEAKER_02: He knows that death should not be.
SPEAKER_02: He knows that death is there because sin has entered into the world.
SPEAKER_02: He knows that because human beings rebelled against their creator in the Garden of Eden and brought upon themselves the promised consequences, on the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus' rage is directed against death and directed against sin.
SPEAKER_02: The second reason that Jesus is weeping is because he has a deep empathy with Mary and the mourners.
SPEAKER_02: The conclusion of verse 36, after the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept is true.
SPEAKER_02: So the Jews said, See how he loved him.
SPEAKER_02: See how he loved him.
SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
SPEAKER_02: His love for Lazarus in particular, but also the world in general, as represented by Lazarus as he lies in his tomb, moves him to tears of empathy and grief.
SPEAKER_02: He waited because he loved.
SPEAKER_02: And he wept because he loved.
SPEAKER_02: We need to hear and believe that still today, these two attitudes that made Jesus weep are still entirely consistent with our risen Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He is outraged and angry at sin and death.
SPEAKER_02: He is outraged and angry at the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
SPEAKER_02: He is outraged and angry at those who abuse and hurt fellow human beings.
SPEAKER_02: He is outraged and angry at all sin and at all the consequences of sin.
SPEAKER_02: And at the same time, he is deeply empathetic with those who suffer the consequences of sin.
SPEAKER_02: That is to say, all of us.
SPEAKER_02: He is not indifferent.
SPEAKER_02: He is not unmoved.
SPEAKER_02: He is not above the fray.
SPEAKER_02: John has been showing us all through his gospel that the world became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_02: He enters into our world.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus weeps.
SPEAKER_02: If this was the end of the story, we'd be left with a God who cares, but who is ultimately unable to do anything to change the situation.
SPEAKER_02: Which is why our last heading is so important.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus wins.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 38, Jesus is still outraged, deeply moved again.
SPEAKER_02: And he comes to this tomb in that state of righteous indignation.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you've all experienced that at least once in your life.
SPEAKER_02: When you know that you're right, and when you know that you're right to be angry, and when you know that you're right to be angry against this situation, and that motivates you and carries you along.
SPEAKER_02: Anger and rage and hatred are called forth correctly when sin is there.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus moved deeply again, comes to the tomb.
SPEAKER_02: It was a cave and a stone lay against it.
SPEAKER_02: Not the first time that we hear of a cave and a stone.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, and I can almost hear him controlling his voice take away the stone.
SPEAKER_02: He's about to do battle with death.
SPEAKER_02: And he wants him to roll away the stone so that he can do it.
SPEAKER_02: Martha comes with an objection that proves once again that decomposition has set in and the order would be strong.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus is really dead.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is ready to do battle.
SPEAKER_02: Did I not tell you, says Jesus in verse 40, that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: At that point, nobody objects anymore and they roll away the stone.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: He prays a prayer that shows that what he is doing is inviting those people who see what he does to believe that God himself has sent Jesus into the world to do exactly this.
SPEAKER_02: This whole episode is constructed so that people will see and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: And so he cries out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus wins.
SPEAKER_02: Because the dead man hears his voice, and Lazarus comes out.
SPEAKER_02: Confronted by death and decay, by sin and its consequences, Jesus commands, and it is so.
SPEAKER_02: He is victorious.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus comes out with all the trappings of death still around him, the bandages that wrapped his body.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, unbind him and let him go.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus is both saved and set free.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: In a short while, Jesus will himself be laid in a grave, having confronted sin and death, an ultimate time on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus will lay down his life for us on our behalf, taking our sin and the punishment deserves.
SPEAKER_02: His victory here is temporary because Lazarus will die again.
SPEAKER_02: His victory then is permanent and eternal.
SPEAKER_02: Because if he lays down his life, it is because he has the power to lift it up again.
SPEAKER_02: He has life in himself.
SPEAKER_02: He is the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: Lazarus is the sign and the promise that although Jesus may wait, he will win in general.
SPEAKER_02: And he will win in particular.
SPEAKER_02: He will win in general because one day he will do for the whole cosmos what he did for Lazarus, what he did for himself at the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: He will redeem and restore all things, saying to them, Come out, unbind, set free.
SPEAKER_02: He will make all things new.
SPEAKER_02: He will say to all of the created order, Come out, and the universe will obey.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus will say, Of the whole universe, unbind it and let it go, and the bondage of creation will be undone when the sons of God are revealed.
SPEAKER_02: But if he will do it in particular, or in general, he will also do it in particular.
SPEAKER_02: For those of us who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then we will have life in his name individually.
SPEAKER_02: Me, Philip Moore, with all that I've experienced, with all that I've gone through, with all my pains and all my grief, all the ravages of sin in my life, it Jesus will win on my behalf and in my particular situation, so that nothing I have experienced will ultimately be definitive of me apart from the fact that Jesus saved me.
SPEAKER_02: And that is true for you too.
SPEAKER_02: And as you think about these three titles in this passage, Jesus waits, Jesus weeps, and Jesus wins, that applies directly to you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing that you have experienced will ultimately be definitive or decisive, even if at the minute you experience Jesus' waiting as agony.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is waiting because he loves you.
SPEAKER_02: He is weeping because he loves you.
SPEAKER_02: And he will win because he loves you.
SPEAKER_02: And all of this will be for our good.
SPEAKER_02: And all of this will be for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: All of it.
SPEAKER_02: Not one wasted tear.
SPEAKER_02: And when we say that, when we say that this is all for our good, and this is all for the glory of God, there is no distinction.
SPEAKER_02: That God be glorified, though we don't understand at the moment, is what we most need and what we should most desire.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'd like to finish with a question.
SPEAKER_02: It's the question that we find right in the middle of this passage.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus says to Martha, do you believe this is the question that I can't answer for anyone.
SPEAKER_02: I can't answer it for the Christian who is here suffering and wondering what's God doing in their life.
SPEAKER_02: And I can't answer it for those people who haven't yet taken that step of faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It's a question that only the individual can answer.
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_02: Believing it means resting your whole life upon it, trusting in it completely, putting all your chips on the table, embetting everything that you have on the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing him, you will have life in the full right now and forever, beyond the grave, that if you believe in him, you will never die.
SPEAKER_02: It means investing everything that you have for that and in that.
SPEAKER_02: It means forgetting to trust anything else that you might have.
SPEAKER_02: It means saying to yourself that nothing I am, nothing I can do, not any good works that I might achieve can contribute in any way in this process.
SPEAKER_02: Only Jesus, only his death, only his resurrection, only his life.
SPEAKER_02: They're the only things that can count for me.
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_02: And when I asked my wife to marry me, uh I had to ask the question, and then she had to answer it.
SPEAKER_02: And because she said yes, uh, 25 years ago we got married, it's very similar in the Christian life.
SPEAKER_02: The question has been asked, do you believe this?
SPEAKER_02: And an answer is expected.
SPEAKER_02: And John is pleading with you in John chapter 11 to say, Yes, I believe.
SPEAKER_02: And then he wants you to experience abundant life in his name.
SPEAKER_01: If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found at the link below.