Lazarus Death — John 11

0:00 The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now that's the way, William McDonald and and William Kelly both presented it in that way. I thought it was good because it it brings the... It it gives a certain reality to to what the what the rapture is really going to be that that when the lord Jesus comes and he gives the shout, I I I laughed at something. There was a...

0:37 I I heard someone preach one time on on on, John 11, and they they made this statement. I I don't agree with them in this statement, but I'll tell you what they said. They said, you know, the Lord Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. And and, boy, it's a good thing he said Lazarus to come forth because if he hadn't put the name Lazarus there, everybody would have been raised from the dead. And I I had...

1:00 I said, well, I don't I don't quite see it like that, but I but I I thought, well, at least the person was entering into the power of the one who who who was going to say it. But do we understand that there's going to come a time when Jesus is going to say, come forth, and it's gonna be like that guy said. He's gonna say, come forth, and every believer is gonna come forth. And and all the dead believers are going to be resurrected. They're going to receive a body again.

1:32 They're gonna go up into the clouds and coming right behind them, those of us that are a living, well, well, follow right up behind them. We'll be with him in the clouds. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. Now the Lord Jesus said, he who believes in me, though he would die, he shall live.

1:51 Those are the dead in Christ when it comes. Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. I'd like to be one of them, would you? Would you like to be one of them? I'd love to be one of them.

2:01 Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Now the question. Do you believe this? Jesus asked that question. What do you think?

2:16 In your heart, try to answer that question. She said, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ. So she... In in a general way, could acknowledge it, but somehow she couldn't enter into it.

2:26 This made a difference right now to her. So she goes away. In the twenty eighth verse, and when she had said these things, she went away and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, the teacher has come and is calling for you. And as soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him.

2:47 And then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her saying, she's going to the tomb to weep there. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews came with her were weeping, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see.

3:48 We see them with some appreciation of Jesus, but not really appreciation of whom he really was. But they're about to get it. They're about to get it. It's about to happen. And so and so I just make a note to you that notice the difference that the Lord Jesus dealt with Mary versus the way he dealt with Martha.

4:12 When he talked to Martha, he reasoned with her, and they they reasoned through it, and he imparted to her more and and worked with her. When Mary came to him, Mary was weeping. She falls down. You just see her throwing herself down in front of the Lord, maybe grabbing hold of his feet, just just weeping her heart out. Oh, Lord, if you'd only been here.

4:34 And and and it... It's interesting. You look at it. She said the identical words that Martha said, but the Lord Jesus didn't answer the same way. She said the identical words, and and yet the Lord Jesus responded to her an entirely different way.

4:51 He groaned in spirit. He groaned in spirit, and he was troubled and and said... And then and then we're told that Jesus wept. Oh, the compassion. Talk about empathy.

5:04 Talk talk about empathy and sympathy. That's what you see in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the wonderful one that that that that loves us so and and cares. I see my time is running out here, so I'll see if I can finish in the next five minutes. Thirty eighth verse.

5:25 Then Jesus again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead said, Lord, by this time, there's a stench for he's been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?

5:56 So the Lord Jesus is about to do a wonderful miracle, but he asked them to do one thing. He asked them to remove the stone. Now the issue at stake here is the issue of faith. So... Because the Lord Jesus said this, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?

6:21 They had to believe enough to move the stone away from the door or the Lord Jesus wouldn't do the miracle that they longed for him to do even though they didn't realize they were. The Lord Jesus put faith in front of them as a necessity. They had to believe. They had to believe and obey what he said there, or he wasn't going to do it. And and, brethren, let's not mess...

6:52 Let's not miss the message. The the Lord Jesus is saying, you need to believe. You need to believe. So they do it. I don't...

7:11 I I think it was, actually. He's been dead for four days. I think they opened it up. He's not resurrected yet. He's still in there.

7:17 He's been in there for four days, hot in in in the land of Palestine. No. And and so they open up the grave, probably all the evidence of death, Raw, stinking death in front of them. Terrible thought. You know?

7:41 And and then then the Lord Jesus prays his prayer. He says, father father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. That they may believe that you sent me. So so the Lord Jesus was was continuing right in this in his relationship with his father.

8:10 So so he's saying, father, I... This is you and me doing this. I'm thinking that that's what he's saying, that they may believe that you sent me. I'm doing this in your power. And and so then the Lord Jesus, when he had said this, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

8:29 And he who died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go. And so so he... Here here he is. Here he is.

8:47 The Lord Jesus makes this command. I... You know, the Lord Jesus didn't have to make them remove that stone from the door. He didn't have to make them. He was powerful enough.

9:01 He could have blasted the door off and brought at last. But the lord Jesus waited for their faith and then then he said, Lazarus, come forth. And and and Lazarus came forth. Did you ever wonder how he came forth? What was it like?

9:17 He was he was bound hand and foot. I've I've often... I puzzled at it. How how how would he walk at all? But he came forth.

9:26 In my imagination, I said, well, what did he do? Did he jump like this? Or was it just loose enough that he can make two inch steps? I puzzled how it must be. But I tell you what, whatever it was, it was so remarkable that they stood there with awe.

9:56 It says, then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, when they had see the seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him. Well, let me go back to to the Lord's statement. I am the resurrection and the life, and then his question, do you believe that? Do you believe in this savior, this one who who died on the cross, this one who gave himself free, this one who was raised himself from the dead in glorious power, this one who reigns over death and sin, he's provided the solution by dying on the cross. And now he says, for God so loved the world that he's gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish and have everlasting life.

10:46 Faith faith is what God asked, to believe in him, to believe that he really died for you. We're gonna pray now, and I just suggest that if any of you have never received the Lord Jesus as your savior, that right now where you are, you would just bow your heads and say, yes, Lord. I believe in you. I believe in you, the resurrection of life. Father God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus.

11:09 We thank you for this wonderful story that presents him as the one with glorious foul... Power over death itself. The resurrection and the life. We thank you for the lord Jesus. We thank you, lord, that you you offered salvation so so freely to us through your grace.

11:29 We pray for each one here that they would trust in Jesus Christ. We pray in his precious name. Amen.