SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the one who paid my debt.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus, for paying that debt of sin for us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God, that you also raised him from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, God, you didn't let Lazarus stay in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't let Jesus stay in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: And you will not let us stay in the grave if we believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, what I pray for is that we realize and that we show off that grave-free life.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, for those here this morning that don't know you, I pray to God that you would reveal yourself to them.
SPEAKER_01: Never in human history did anyone start with the idea of, I think I'll go to God.
SPEAKER_01: God, it was always your idea from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You were the initiator of paying the price for us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing so.
SPEAKER_01: Speak now.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be moved by you and do what you would have us to, for it's in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: As I said earlier, my name is Wade Burgess, and I'm the executive pastor here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, executive just means that I'm in charge of the operations of the church, and you can always tell what your church thinks of you and your preaching prowess based on the Sunday they give you to preach.
SPEAKER_01: So, welcome to spring break and time change Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: We've hit the uh we've hit a double winner here.
SPEAKER_01: You've decided to get up, you've decided to move your clocks forward, and this is who you get in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: So, congratulations.
SPEAKER_01: I told the first service we'd have your$25 gift cards on your way out this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So be sure to pick those up on your way out.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this morning we're going to continue uh moving through the the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: And let me just footnote this for you.
SPEAKER_01: I know that if you've been here any length of time, you know how we feel about going through the Bible kind of book by book, almost word by word, as we do that.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we believe here at Grand Parkway is that God's word comes alive when we do it.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that by exploring the word like that, what we get to see is how we live out our lives, what God plans for us, what he has in store for us, and all the while, besides giving us counsel and talking to us about situations, all the while, the Bible tells us about the character of God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we'll explore this morning.
SPEAKER_01: That's really what chapter 11 does for us, I think, is it gives us the character of God.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning we're gonna talk about what God does and why he does it.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this morning we're gonna read from verses 1 through 44.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a lot of reading.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we're gonna do to make sure you stay uh paying attention and stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna stop a little bit along the way.
SPEAKER_01: Now, have you ever um, you know what a cutting horse is?
SPEAKER_01: I told the class that I taught last week for what you call your.
SPEAKER_01: You know about a cutting horse?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what they say about a cutting horse.
SPEAKER_01: He's the one that keeps the cow in front of him the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: They say that if you're on a really good cutting horse, what'll happen is you'll get thrown off because he sees where the cow is going.
SPEAKER_01: He moves before you realize it.
SPEAKER_01: So your job as rider is just to hang on.
SPEAKER_01: That's your job this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're gonna stop and start a few times during this because I think it's important for us to point out as we go what that looks like.
SPEAKER_01: And then we'll come back and kind of summarize what we've read in those points that I'll make.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just wanted to warn you uh uh about that uh before we get started.
SPEAKER_01: So hang on to the saddle horn.
SPEAKER_01: Your responsibility, besides that, is just to listen and think, take away and apply whatever God's talking to you today from his text.
SPEAKER_01: So let's get started.
SPEAKER_01: We'll start in John chapter 11, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Now a man named Lazarus was sick.
SPEAKER_01: He was from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha, this Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the one who had poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.
SPEAKER_01: Let me stop right there.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been walking with us through John, you're probably thinking, and you've not read ahead, you're probably thinking, now, wait a minute, John, you just wrote something that hasn't happened yet.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, where Mary pours the perfume on Jesus' feet and wipes it with her hair, that actually happens in chapter 12.
SPEAKER_01: But John is not necessarily writing this real time, obviously, right?
SPEAKER_01: All these events have already happened.
SPEAKER_01: And so as he's writing this, he recognizes his readers are going to know about some events in the quote future that they're going to read about.
SPEAKER_01: So already he's establishing for the reader who Mary, Martha, and Lazarus is.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I didn't want you to get tangled up in, wait a minute, this chronologically isn't working right.
SPEAKER_01: That's why.
SPEAKER_01: All right, back on the horse, and we've got the cow and the pen now.
SPEAKER_01: So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick.
SPEAKER_01: When he heard this, Jesus said, This sickness will not end in death.
SPEAKER_01: No, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
SPEAKER_01: Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
SPEAKER_01: Now John clearly establishes how Jesus feels about these three.
SPEAKER_01: He tells us early on, twice, in fact, in those first kind of five or six verses, exactly what he feels about the two sisters and the brother.
SPEAKER_01: He says he loves them, says he cares for them.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, they refer to Lazarus as one that Jesus loves.
SPEAKER_01: The reason I think John is trying to be so emphatic with that point is that if he didn't, I think we'd be likely to be real quick to judge that, oh, Jesus' lack of action is caused by a lack of love.
SPEAKER_01: I think we get that way sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: We pray, God, where are you?
SPEAKER_01: You're not coming through for me.
SPEAKER_01: God, you must not care because you're not doing anything.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God, I've been asking and asking, I don't know where you are.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I asked you yesterday, I don't know why you didn't do it today.
SPEAKER_01: And so I think that's the first takeaway out of the text is be careful.
SPEAKER_01: Don't assume that just because there is a quote lack of action, that there is also a lack of love.
SPEAKER_01: We'll unpack that more in just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: But I wanted you to just not miss that first point that I think we'd be very easily to assume.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's continue.
SPEAKER_01: We pick up in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go back to Judea.
SPEAKER_01: But Rabbi, they said, A short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, yet you're going back there?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
SPEAKER_01: A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by his world's light.
SPEAKER_01: It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.
SPEAKER_01: After he had said this, he went on to tell them, Our friend Lazarus had fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up.
SPEAKER_01: His disciples replied, Lord, if uh if he sleeps, he'll get better.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had been speaking of Lazarus' death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
SPEAKER_01: So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe.
SPEAKER_01: But let us go to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me just pause for a commentary here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is just maybe let you in on some insight of my thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that maybe the disciples at some point, now they've been with Jesus about two and a half years at this story?
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that at some point they're kind of either tired of talking or they're tired of asking questions and getting these kinds of responses?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the disciples are saying, Jesus, are you really going to go back where they were trying to stone you?
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, maybe us too, but are you really going to go back to where they were trying to stone you?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, in there 12 hours in a day?
SPEAKER_01: Uh duh.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: I think at some point some of the guys in the back, maybe a couple of the disciples, we can't remember their names, are saying to each other, Didn't I tell you not to ask him any questions?
SPEAKER_01: Every time you ask a question, he makes us feel foolish, and then he says something, and then we got to look around and go, uh, he doesn't stumble in the light and the dark and the what, and uh Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Captain Obvious over here, why not just everybody go back to the ground rule?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody ask questions, nobody say anything.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just get done what we got to get done.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how I think they were responding.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I think that's how we do as well sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: This is the analogy that came to me as I was preparing for for today, and that was this idea of um of Pythagoras.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the name Pythagoras?
SPEAKER_01: He was kind of the father of numbers, kind of the the uh one of the original great minds of math.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what I think about related to this exchange.
SPEAKER_01: I think Pythagoras has got, you know, this room full of students, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And he's talking to them about, I don't know, whole numbers and integers and uh how to solve for infinity.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's going through all these things, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he's educating his students on math.
SPEAKER_01: And his students are probably imagining, you know, let's pretend maybe have you been in one of those classes where they got the two black boards and the whole problem is across both of those boards.
SPEAKER_01: I went to one of those and then dropped it.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, there's two problems across the board, right?
SPEAKER_01: And his students are like, man, Pythagoras, what are we gonna do to solve that?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's X's and Z's and the alphabet and the thing and the deal and those.
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: And Pythagoras is going, shh, guys, guys, hold on.
SPEAKER_01: All I want you to do is know your multiplication and division.
SPEAKER_01: That's all.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, uh eight times two is 16.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, Pythagoras, you're not listening.
SPEAKER_01: We got a whole two blackboard worth of problem to solve here, and you're telling us, yeah, yeah, listen.
SPEAKER_01: What I need you to know is that if you know your multiplication and division, you'll likely be able to solve any problem that comes along.
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of how I think Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples are worried about this two blackboard worth of problem.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, we'll do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: We'll worry about kind of this huge problem, and Jesus is going, hey, didn't I tell you just to pray?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but Jesus, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I got this two blackboard worth of problem.
SPEAKER_01: I got some issues.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't I tell you just to read?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I get all that, Jesus, but really what I need is some help.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but didn't I?
SPEAKER_01: What are you missing?
SPEAKER_01: That's what I think I at least this is for me.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I take away from this little exchange.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples are so worried about big problems, and Jesus is like, hey guys, let's just focus on what we've got to get done.
SPEAKER_01: Now, on the other hand, here's what else I think about that.
SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes the disciples probably feel like, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Um, it might be simpler than we're thinking.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is saying, hey guys, you know what I'm doing?
SPEAKER_01: I'm inviting you into an experience.
SPEAKER_01: Not a problem solving, not a particular issue.
SPEAKER_01: I'm inviting you into an experience.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is the analogy that came to my mind for that.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's spring break.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are out snow skiing.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty soon you'll wish I was.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, um, I love snow skiing.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of my favorite things to do.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, there's just something about it.
SPEAKER_01: It is, oh man, it is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And I've taken a few people skiing before over time, and I've had the privilege of uh educating them on how to ski, kind of teaching them what that looks like.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm skiing one year and I've got a friend with me, very athletic guy.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to college on a football scholarship, and man, he's ready to go skiing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right, I let's go.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get out there on the slope, and I'm telling him the nuances of how to make a turn.
SPEAKER_01: Not like this, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where you're driving a truck, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to make a turn like this and just apply pressure.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And he is not getting it.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, by the way, if you've ever been skiing for the first time, you know you cannot wear blue jeans or anything that stays wet.
SPEAKER_01: He is soaking wet, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's got perspiration falling down on him.
SPEAKER_01: It's like minus 20.
SPEAKER_01: He's sweating, okay?
SPEAKER_01: His clothes are soaked from the snow, and he's trying to get it, and he has not given up.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've ever done something for a while, particularly if you've done it fairly well, you kind of forget the little nuances.
SPEAKER_01: You forget how long it took you to learn.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, why don't you just get it?
SPEAKER_01: And then you forget it took you 10 years before you were doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're out there, and we're out there a half a day.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're not giving up.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, look, all you've got to do, put your skis down, trust your momentum, make a turn, bring your tails around.
SPEAKER_01: This is all you need to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get to the point in just a second.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's looking at me going, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, at the end of the half day, it hits him, it clicks.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Wade, you know what I realized?
SPEAKER_01: I've got to push my big toe to start the turn.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever works for you, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I kind of get the sense.
SPEAKER_01: Every now and then Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he's kind of saying to them, Hey, fellas, I'm skiing these black diamonds.
SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you gotta use your legs as shock absorbers.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
SPEAKER_01: And the disciples are like, You gotta push with your big toe.
SPEAKER_01: That can be like us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus sometimes is talking to us so simply, giving us such simple commands that we miss it.
SPEAKER_01: We try to make it way too complex.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes Jesus is inviting us into an experience with him, into just enjoying the process.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going, Oh, how do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You gotta push your big toe.
SPEAKER_01: We can't worry about that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you didn't get that out of the text, then you're not reading.
SPEAKER_01: But um that's that's what I get, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That sometimes Jesus will speak to us both very simply, like he says there, in there twelve hours in a day.
SPEAKER_01: You don't stumble in the daylight, and sometimes he invites us in by saying, Hey, he's fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_01: You don't understand that.
SPEAKER_01: He's dead, but we're gonna go back, and there's a reason for that.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's pick up in verse 17 here, or 16 actually.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, But let's go.
SPEAKER_01: And in 16, then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.
SPEAKER_01: On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
SPEAKER_01: All right, just another note here.
SPEAKER_01: Four days is very significant.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a lot of commentary written about, well, where was Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: How long did it take him?
SPEAKER_01: He waited two days, and then he went two more.
SPEAKER_01: No, wait, he traveled a long way.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I want to get into this morning about where Jesus was.
SPEAKER_01: What I want to get into is the duration of time.
SPEAKER_01: Four days is very specific.
SPEAKER_01: In ancient Jewish culture, one of the beliefs was that after someone died, their spirit would kind of hover over the body for three days until it went on to its final resting place, they believed.
SPEAKER_01: And so the reason Jesus is very particular about the length of time is he does not want to walk in and somebody say, Oh, you know what, Jesus, you came two and a half days.
SPEAKER_01: His spirit was just waiting to go back in there.
SPEAKER_01: That's all that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Or, well, you must have scared his spirit back in.
SPEAKER_01: That that's that's what took place.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Jesus said, Oh no.
SPEAKER_01: I waited four days.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I wanted you to know he was dead, both in body and his spirit was gone.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why the significance around that four days.
SPEAKER_01: All right, pick back up on 18 here.
SPEAKER_01: Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
SPEAKER_01: When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_01: But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.
SPEAKER_01: And Martha answered, I know, he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_01: He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_01: By the way, great way to start a conversation if you want to have one about someone in their faith, to simply ask that.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, do you believe Jesus is the resurrection?
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe Jesus well what do you think happens after you die?
SPEAKER_01: Great question there.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27, yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.
SPEAKER_01: And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside.
SPEAKER_01: When Mary heard, uh sorry, uh, the teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you.
SPEAKER_01: When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me say that we have no indication in the text that Jesus has said anything about Mary.
SPEAKER_01: Martha is running off, and here's why I think Martha runs off.
SPEAKER_01: This is just my own personal opinion on this.
SPEAKER_01: I think because John told us how much he loved them, because how much time they had spent together, I think, over the term of Jesus' ministry, I think Martha kind of knew that little glint in Jesus' eye when he says, Hey, you believe me?
SPEAKER_01: I think she kind of recognized, oh, something's about to go down.
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't be asking these questions.
SPEAKER_01: Hold on, let me go get Mary.
SPEAKER_01: And I think she ran off to get Mary to say, Mary, we don't want to miss this.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to miss what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, the disciples a lot of times missed it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just encourage you, the more that we pray, the more that we listen, the more that we observe, and the more that we are obedient, the less we're gonna miss it ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been in a place where you leave a conversation or you leave something and you're like, ooh, something doesn't feel right.
SPEAKER_01: I think I should have said, oh, you know what I should have told them?
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, you know what I should have done?
SPEAKER_01: I felt like you ever been there?
SPEAKER_01: That's what I don't want us to miss is that the more we pray, listen, observe, and are obedient, God is gonna continue to reveal himself, but he's also gonna continue to involve you in what he's doing, and that shouldn't be a scary thing.
SPEAKER_01: Martha is not scared about what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't go get her sister for a little support.
SPEAKER_01: She went and got her to say, Come on, the master, the rabbi, the teacher, he's about to set it off in here.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's gonna happen, but we don't want to miss it.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's pick up in 31 now.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, excuse me, let's go back to 29.
SPEAKER_01: So when Mary had heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
SPEAKER_01: When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
SPEAKER_01: When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had not been here, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_01: Now get this neither sister is understanding Lazarus' death as beneficial.
SPEAKER_01: Each one of them has kind of this tunnel vision around the event itself.
SPEAKER_01: All they're seeing is, my brother's dead, you didn't come, if you'd have come, he wouldn't have been very myopic in their view of what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: They're not expecting nor understanding the possible outcome.
SPEAKER_01: I think we can be a lot like this.
SPEAKER_01: In the middle of that something, we so focus on that one something, and we're so concerned about that one something that we're not seeing it from a big enough picture to say, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: God's at work in this potentially.
SPEAKER_01: God, what are you doing in this?
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to encourage you that one of the things we should always do, we're in the midst of something, we ought to just simply ask, God, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: And if He, God, if you're not going to reveal that to me, just give me strength to get through this.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I trust you enough to do whatever it is you want to do in this.
SPEAKER_01: Mary and Martha, I think, kind of missed it there.
SPEAKER_01: They're kind of seeing this one event happened, and instead, Jesus is kind of setting them up for hey, you need to expect and understand possible outcomes.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're going to see here in just a second.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's finish up the text here.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 33.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
SPEAKER_01: Where have you laid him?
SPEAKER_01: He asked.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see, Lord, they replied.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus wept.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Jews said, See how he loved him?
SPEAKER_01: But some of them said, Could not he who had opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus once more, deeply moved, came to the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
SPEAKER_01: Sound familiar?
SPEAKER_01: Take away the stone, he said.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, man, by this time, this is a bad odor, for he's been in there four days.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
SPEAKER_01: So they took away the stone.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me.
SPEAKER_01: I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.
SPEAKER_01: When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.
SPEAKER_01: The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes and let him go.
SPEAKER_01: Now recognize there's a lot in these 44 verses, and I'm not talented enough to unpack them all for you, so I wanted just to focus on really kind of two points today.
SPEAKER_01: One, I wanted to talk about what God does.
SPEAKER_01: What do we get out of these 44 verses to understand what God does?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first thing we get, and it's really not a stretch, is that God heals.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it doesn't take much reading in the ministry of Jesus to understand God is about healing.
SPEAKER_01: The Jews knew.
SPEAKER_01: It.
SPEAKER_01: They said it right there in 37.
SPEAKER_01: They said, if this guy could have healed the blind man, couldn't he have kept this one from dying?
SPEAKER_01: So certainly they had seen his miracles and knew what he was up to.
SPEAKER_01: They knew that he had the power to heal.
SPEAKER_01: And so God heals.
SPEAKER_01: Probably, I would guess a lot of us, most of us, have experienced that power of healing in one way or another.
SPEAKER_01: And so we recognize one characteristic of what God does is heal.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing I think God does.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't heal.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you are like, wait a minute, is that a typo you just said he healed?
SPEAKER_01: Now you're saying he doesn't heal?
SPEAKER_01: Get it together, fella.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just remind you: sometimes God doesn't heal.
SPEAKER_01: This could be the only account that we see where Jesus denied the request for healing.
SPEAKER_01: You remember in other stories, they're dropping guys through the roof to heal the paraplegic.
SPEAKER_01: People are touching his garment and he's healing.
SPEAKER_01: They're not even asking.
SPEAKER_01: They're just grabbing on and they're being healed, and he's healing lepers and he's casting out demons.
SPEAKER_01: He's doing all these things.
SPEAKER_01: But here, oddly enough, Jesus refuses the healing.
SPEAKER_01: You remember the centurion?
SPEAKER_01: The story where the centurion, his daughter, is sick and he says, Hey, Jesus, you don't even have to come.
SPEAKER_01: You just say the word and she'll be well.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't deny him, but yet he's denying these three that he loves, so John tells us.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't always heal.
SPEAKER_01: And many of us have prayed for maybe spouses or parents, or, hey, I prayed for my grandmother and she still passed, or I prayed for my children, and it's not going the way I prayed.
SPEAKER_01: What I want to encourage you is to explore where has God not answered?
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to examine that in hindsight.
SPEAKER_01: If you can, I want you to understand a little bit better about where you might be glad he didn't answer.
SPEAKER_01: And where he didn't answer and you don't understand it, I want you to still be okay with obedience.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you that there's going to be a lot of answers.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to get this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But by us being obedient is the responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like when uh if if you're a parent and you've got kids, and by the way, I said I would never do it.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you sound a lot like your parents when you parent your kids?
SPEAKER_01: Is there any?
SPEAKER_01: Apparently it's just me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So this is what it sounds like sometimes at my house.
SPEAKER_01: I said that I would never do it.
SPEAKER_01: I've already used back in my day, I've used that one.
SPEAKER_01: And I've used a few others.
SPEAKER_01: Here's one.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you do it because I told you to.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I was growing up, that seemed like the perfect logical thing for my parents to say because it just, I don't know, it just shut me down and I went and did whatever.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that doesn't work today, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's the way we're raising kids or what, but sometimes I want to say because I told you to.
SPEAKER_01: You don't understand why I'm telling you to do that, but it's because I told you to.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I think God is with us.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying to us sometimes, I don't always heal.
SPEAKER_01: I don't always answer your prayers, and I'm not going to.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I need you to do?
SPEAKER_01: Still be obedient.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I told you to.
SPEAKER_01: You got to trust that I know more than you.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's going to be very confusing for you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's your responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: Be obedient because I told you to.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I think God doesn't heal sometimes, but I can promise you this: none of the reasons will be because he doesn't care.
SPEAKER_01: Not a single one of them will be because he doesn't care.
SPEAKER_01: The third thing I think that the text obviously shows us related to what God does is he raises from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: The climax of the story is calling Lazarus out of the grave.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, I don't know how true this is.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody told it to me in between services.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to use it because it's going to take up just a minute of time, but let me tell you about this.
SPEAKER_01: He said that he read a commentary on this idea of Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: The commentary said, and it tells us in 1 Thessalonians, that when Jesus comes back for the second return, Jesus is going to come back.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a trumpet sound and a loud voice.
SPEAKER_01: He is going to call out those who have died and believed in him and they're going to rise up.
SPEAKER_01: The commentary said that's why Jesus was very specific to say Lazarus, because if all he said was come out, everybody would have come out of the grave.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's true or not.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you what I heard, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But the climax of the story there obviously is he comes out.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason I said that that stone in front of the tomb should sound familiar, is that's where that's in a sense how Jesus was done, right?
SPEAKER_01: The big stone in front.
SPEAKER_01: They wanted to be sure that the body wasn't taken.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus rises from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to rise from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And that's certainly what God does is he raises from the dead those who believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if that's what he does, why does he do it?
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you just, I think it's about four points here that I want to give you as to why God does what he does.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, he does it because he loves.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3 told us that.
SPEAKER_01: Early on, he says, uh in, let's see, it says uh Jesus, the one you love.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, that's not an exclusive the only one you love.
SPEAKER_01: It's um kind of translated this way it's one of the ones you love.
SPEAKER_01: And so clearly John is demonstrating to us that Jesus had a love for multiple people, but certainly these three he felt that way.
SPEAKER_01: I think we also see it in verse 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a little bit subtle here, but when he says Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe.
SPEAKER_01: I think what it points to is what God so often does.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I think that verse, that 1415, really gives us a summation narrative of the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_01: God does what he does.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he loves.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved.
SPEAKER_01: I think the second thing God does related to why, this rationale of God, why do you do what you do?
SPEAKER_01: I think it's to communicate to us.
SPEAKER_01: I think sometimes it's to get our attention.
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at verses 41 and 42.
SPEAKER_01: I think he does it so that we'll believe.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, clearly it says right there, Father, thank you that you've heard me.
SPEAKER_01: I knew that you always hear me, and I think this is an interesting phrase here.
SPEAKER_01: He said, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: That they may believe that you sent me.
SPEAKER_01: I think God certainly does what he does because he wants to communicate to us and because he wants to get our attention.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to ask you today, maybe a question for you on the way to lunch is where do you think God's getting your attention right now?
SPEAKER_01: Where do you think God's kind of probing your spirit a little bit to say, hey, I need you to pay attention right here?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm trying to get your attention around this.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to ask God what he's doing related to that.
SPEAKER_01: The third point of why God does what he does is because he cares.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35 says, Jesus wept.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, great scripture, if you're trying to memorize scripture, that's where I would start.
SPEAKER_01: Just want to encourage you with that.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to start with Psalm 119.
SPEAKER_01: You can start right there.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wept.
SPEAKER_01: But why did he cry?
SPEAKER_01: Now here's what I want you to notice.
SPEAKER_01: You notice that Jesus didn't cry when they sent the messenger to say, hey, Lazarus, one of the ones you love is sick.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, it's not recorded that he had a reaction to that.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he said, it won't end in death.
SPEAKER_01: We're good.
SPEAKER_01: And then he tells the disciples just a few verses later, he says, Hey, Lazarus, let me tell you plainly, Lazarus is dead.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't indicate that Jesus had any kind of particular emotion behind that.
SPEAKER_01: So why is it that he's crying way later?
SPEAKER_01: He's already met Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_01: They've kind of already scolded him, if you will, about, hey, if you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't until he saw Mary, Martha, and the Jews mourning.
SPEAKER_01: And I think what we take away from that is Jesus is empathetic to our issues and he cares.
SPEAKER_01: And for us, we've become so desensitized, I think, to people's issues and to their suffering because we're always worried about what do we think about us and how are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you think you got it bad.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you how I got it bad.
SPEAKER_01: And I just, oh man, it's a great reminder that we see Jesus being affected by their mourning.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is affected by our suffering.
SPEAKER_01: And each person that he healed throughout his ministry, each person that I believe he continues to heal throughout his ministry is an expression of his empathy for us.
SPEAKER_01: So why does God do what he does?
SPEAKER_01: Because he cares.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, why does God do what he does?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's to show his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4 tells us that.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This sickness will not end in death.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it.
SPEAKER_01: And then way over, almost at the end of that, at verse 40, he says, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
SPEAKER_01: Now let me just mention, for the non-believer, I could maybe see the argument that this would be a stumbling block.
SPEAKER_01: This idea of a God that is a jealous God, a God who says, Hey, you're to put no other gods before me.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps this idea of, man, this God's kind of conceited and kind of uppity.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks pretty a lot of himself, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure I want to dedicate my life to some God that thinks that much of himself.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just ask you this.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I'd respond if a non-believer said that.
SPEAKER_01: I would just say that when our affections and attention is aligned in such a way as to give God credit, who do you think it benefits?
SPEAKER_01: When we put God first, the object of our worship, the thing that we're created for, when we put that first, who do you think that benefits?
SPEAKER_01: It benefits us.
SPEAKER_01: Every time God shows his glory, every time he is doing anything related to him and who he is, particularly that put no other gods before me, that's not so much about God as it is about us.
SPEAKER_01: When we're rightly aligned with how we're supposed to be, it benefits us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want you to hear me that God wants us all to be happy.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying God does it to show his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: It's to benefit us.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's with discipline, sometimes it's with sadness, sometimes it's with a variety of things.
SPEAKER_01: But it's my belief that why does God do what he does to show his glory?
SPEAKER_01: And who does that benefit?
SPEAKER_01: It benefits us.
SPEAKER_01: To know, enjoy, and glorify God is the mission of Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_01: My question to you is what are you doing to accomplish that mission?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: As Clyde comes, he's going to play a song over us.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to listen real carefully to the words of that as he does.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for us and we'll listen.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for what you do and why you do it.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you love and that you care.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God, that you show your glory.
SPEAKER_01: Not because you're some kind of egotistical, conceited God, although you'd be well within your right to do so.
SPEAKER_01: God, you show your glory because it benefits us.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we're rightly aligned, when we listen to you, when we discipline ourselves the way you show us to, when we're obedient to you, oh, all it does is benefit us.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, thank you for what you do and why you do it.
SPEAKER_01: For it's in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In the message translation of the Bible, related to that ending uh passage that I read, it says that Jesus tells them, those that are around Lazarus' tomb, it says, unwrap him and turn him loose.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the charge I want to give you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Believers in Christ, with your faith, today and this week, what I want you to do is unwrap it and turn it loose on a world that is in desperate need of it.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.