When Everything Feels Hopeless - October 12, 2025

It is good to see all of your faces, a lot of new faces too,

which is amazing to see. Hey, my name is Sean Stevens.

I am on the teaching team here at Res Church.

My wife and I have been coming here for about 5 years.

Man it is. It is always a blessing to be

here with you today. We are going to continue in our

series and John, we are going to be looking at John 1117 through

27. So if you guys want to turn

there now, you can go ahead. But we're going to be looking at

the life, death and ultimately the life of Lazarus as it

pertains to his two sisters, Martha and Mary.

I would say that it is safe, that there are moments in life

that feel so outer body, so confusing, so filled with

suffering, that we begin to ask the question, why?

Why do these things happen? Where were you, God, in my time

of need? It may be a moment of actual

loss, like what we're going to see in our reading today.

Or it might be just that the rug got pulled out from under you

and it's confusing and you don't understand it.

I myself have had many of these moments.

Some are from the Lord sovereignly and others are

created by our own bad decisions and then we have to live in the

consequence of that. So just for kind of a frame of

reference, so you know who I am a little bit.

Most of you know my story, but I am about 2 1/2 years sober

today. 2 1/2 years. Yeah.

Praise the Lord. God is so faithful.

Yeah, well 2 1/2 years ago I got Volun told to come to an elder

meeting where I got sat down by all the pastors and the elders.

And there was a non negotiable requirement of my life at that

time, which was for the sake of my marriage and for the sake of

me being a part of Rez church, that I had to go into sober

living for three months. So I find myself in this

position where I'm an addict, I'm an alcoholic and all of the

things that come with that. I'd lost my job, I'd lost where

I was living. My wife was 8 months pregnant, I

had a 2 year old daughter. Everything was burning to the

ground around me. I mean, it is safe to say that I

was completely hopeless in that moment.

And I remember going into this sober living facility and you

have guys that are tattooed from their toes to their head, their

felons, their convicts. They've lived rough lives.

I go into my little room and I sit on my squeaky and stained

twin bed with a guy that I'm living with in that room who has

visible signs of PTSD in his life.

And I remember sitting on that bed and everything just became

silent where I had to kind of re evaluate if there was even a

plan for my life. Was God absent in these moments

or was there a purpose to what I was going through?

And ultimately I had to choose to believe right then that in

the midst of my suffering that God still had a plan for my

life. And that what we are going to

see is that in the midst of all of our suffering, God has a plan

for hours. The big idea today is that when

everything feels dead, it's where hope in Jesus begins,

where everything feels dead, it's where hope in Jesus begins.

So we're going to be in John 1117 through 27, starting in

verse 17, it says now when Jesus came and found Lazarus had

already been dead for four days in the tomb.

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. When Martha heard that Jesus was

coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the

house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if

you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God

will give you. And Jesus said to her, Your

brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that

he will rise on the resurrection on the last day.

And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and

everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this? And she said to him, yes, Lord,

I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is

coming into the world. Let's pray Father, we pray for

your word as you promised to not come back void, that you would

do the work in our hearts that only you could do and that we

could ultimately see Jesus for who he is, that He is good, who

has a purpose for our life, He has a plan and that He can be

trusted. We pray these things in Jesus

name, Amen. So as Justin explained last week

in his sermon, Jesus knew that Lazarus was on the precipice of

death, that it was imminent Lazarus was going to die.

And what Jesus decided to do in that moment was not rush to

Martha and Mary and Lazarus to make sure that Lazarus didn't

experience this physical death. But what he does is he

intentionally delays and inevitably Lazarus dies, Lazarus

dies. Jesus explains this on his

reasoning on why he says that one, that the power of God would

be shown and two, that God would receive glory when he resurrects

him. The problem or the challenge at

this moment is you still have Martha and Mary bearing the

weight of losing a loved one. It is real, it is overwhelming.

I I can imagine the confusion, the hurt in this moment.

But as we will see, there is a purpose to his dealings with

Martha and there is a purpose to his dealings with us as we find

ourselves in similar situations. Because when everything feels

dead, it's where hope and Jesus begins.

So point number one, God is at work.

God is at work. Jesus is coming into Bethany.

He's riding in, Mary stays in the house, house.

Martha sprints out to meet him. And Martha says to Jesus, Lord,

if you would have been here, if you would have been here, my

brother wouldn't have died. Do you hear the question?

I know, I hear it. I can feel it.

I think we've all felt it. What Martha is asking is why?

Why did you let this happen? Why in my greatest time of need

were you absent in this moment? Why did my brother have to die?

Do you know those moments? I know them where God feels so

absent, where you begin to question everything.

I mean, I just turned 39 and I've had a specific suffering in

my life, my entire life. So 39 years.

I have insomnia. And I don't mean like I can't

sleep a little bit. I mean my mom tells stories.

When I was a baby, I didn't sleep.

When I was a toddler, I didn't sleep.

Some of my first memories in life is being 5-6 years old and

I'm just sitting in my room playing with toys and it's 3:00

in the morning. It's silent in the house, it's

dark in the house, it's dark outside.

I'm just awake. These are some of my earliest

memories I have prayed to God, Lord, please give me sleep.

Some days I I feel like a zombie.

I feel like I'm walking on the moon.

I'm queasy, I'm angry, I'm all of these things and I see God

and say, please remove this. And God has not removed this

thing. And the truth is that although I

know, I know it, that he is good and he could be trusted.

I know it. Man, is it hard to believe it

sometimes? Man, is it hard to to see God in

the middle of our suffering? Martha is experiencing this same

kind of disconnect. She knows that the issue is the

belief at this moment. Listen to what Martha says in

John 11/22 she says, But even now I know that whatever you ask

of God that he will give you, but right before she says but

why did my brother have to die? I know that you have a plan, but

this tragedy has befallen on me and I don't understand why.

And what a natural response that is in a moment like this.

That when life hits so overwhelmingly where it feels

like you are outside of your own body, when tragedy strikes, that

we are struck by fear and doubt and confusion, despair.

Will there ever be hope again? But as the Bible begins to speak

to us about the character of Jesus, we see as we get to know

Him that it is for our good. He does have a plan.

We see that it is promised in the Bible, suffering and there

is a purpose behind it. One of those reasons is to draw

us closer to God. He wants to draw us in.

Listen to what Hebrews 415 and 16 says.

It says we do not have a high priest who is unable to

sympathize with our weaknesses. Hey, Hallelujah, Hallelujah that

He knows where I'm at right now, but one who in every respect has

been tempted as we are, and yet He is without sin.

Let us then, with confidence draw near the throne of grace,

that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of

need. Family, he knows where you're

at. He knows what you're feeling.

He knows that this world chews us up and tries to spit us out

and leave us. For that He knows and how He

knows, because He has hurt, He has suffered.

He knows our confusion. He knows our weariness.

Jesus has been suffered and tempted with everything that we

have and more, and He understands our hardships.

And He desires to give us a greater revelation of Himself

that we would know Him and that we can find peace in the middle

of whatever we are going through.

We follow a suffering Saviour. He wants us to know the full

counsel of His character, and part of that is suffering.

The second one is it is to refine and strengthen.

It is to refine and strengthen. Listen to first.

Peter 4 says, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery

ordeal that has come on you to test you as though something

strange were happening to you. The fire is supposed to test our

faith. What a good God we serve that He

tests our faith so we know that it is proven and real.

He allows us to go through this so we can see the weight of our

hardships and still trust him in it, and that our suffering is to

grow our affection for Jesus brighter and that we would be

refined and strengthened through the fire.

So that's number one, is that God is at work #2 God offers

resurrection power. He offers resurrection power.

First, we're going to see a physical resurrection.

He is talking about that. This is great news.

This ain't your best life. Now family, Hallelujah.

I got 2 little kids and it does not take me much to get to the

point where I pray Jesus just come back right now, please, and

just take me to heaven because I'm I'm done with this.

Like literally I took in groceries two weeks ago.

Simple task, right? Groceries are at the door, the

counter is 12 feet away and I just have to get these groceries

to the counter. The problem is I have a four

year old and a 2 year old and they saw string cheese in the

bag that I was holding and that's all it took.

So now they're standing in front of the door like armed guards

and they're just staring at me. And I'm trying to tell them

like, hey, if I can get this bag to that counter, I'll give you

the string cheese. But then they did this thing and

I know parents will understand, especially parents with young

kids. This thing never works that kids

try to do, and if anything, it hinders.

They did this thing where they try to help you.

Ever seen that? Or they try to start helping

you. My son drags a bag out.

Oranges fly on the ground. There's avocados.

I slip on the bag, I knock him over.

My daughter is in the kitchen trying to take a single shoe

off. She's having a meltdown.

And in that moment I'm just like, Lord, come back now, right

now, take me to heaven. That's all it takes.

But that's the truth is that if you have put your faith in

Jesus, this isn't your best life.

Now. There is going to come a time

when you either die or at the second coming of Jesus where all

of your pain, all of the hardship, all of those questions

that you have had your entire life, why did that have to

happen to me? Why did it unfold that way?

Why wasn't my dad around? Why did he have to die?

All of those questions are going to be absolved in the goodness

of God and we will spend eternity with Him in the

fullness of joy. The first one is pointing to a

future resurrection. The second one, praise the Lord

as he's pointing to spiritual life now, spiritual life right

now. Martha is rightfully devastated.

Her brother is dead. She is experiencing the grief

over this and in this moment Jesus comment to her could seem

cold. She asked the question.

She says if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have

died. Jesus doesn't respond to it.

You ever pray to the Lord? Why, why, why?

And he doesn't answer. He just lets you stay in it.

That's where Martha's at. She is in the middle of it.

Jesus says in that moment when he is looking at Martha, he

says, I'm not going to tell you why I let him die and I'm not

even concerned about the future. He stands right in front of her

and says I am the resurrection and the life, it stands in front

of her in that moment. Heavenly life, eternal life,

these things stand in front of her.

Satisfying life in God can be found in that moment.

And this is amazing that no matter what befalls on us, your

marriage, your health, your finances, that the resurrection

is in front of you at this moment.

But the truth is that resurrection power, seeing it

for what it is, takes work. It takes a lot of work to see

Jesus for who he is. It takes a lot of work to see

Jesus in the suffering. Those parts of your life that

are dead, it's hard to see life in it.

There are some people in this room that have surrendered parts

of your life to death, but there's this area that just

hasn't been given over to the Lord.

And he calls and he beckons, and he wants to heal it and give you

peace in it. I mean, as I was preparing in

this message, I began to think of all of the moments that I

have experienced death in my life.

And I know for a fact that there are men in this room right now

where your marriages are dead. They're dead.

You've ascribed them to death, and the Bible would speak to our

marriage the same way that it would speak to every area of our

life that we should care about our marriage.

Listen to what Ephesians 525 through 28 says.

It says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the

Church, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her,

having cleansed her with the washing of the Word, so that he

might present the Church to himself in splendor, without

spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, that she might be holy

without blemish. In the same way husbands love

your wives. He who loves his wife loves

himself. The Jesus as we are the bride

cleanses us and purifies us. He spent so much time and so

much effort building us up to ultimately present us to

Himself. He does the work and then He

presents us to Himself. Men, we are going to have to

present our wives to a holy Creator who is also the Father

of your wife. Is he going to look at you in

that time and say, man, she looks exactly like I hoped she

would look like? Or is he going to say, I wish

you would have spent more time, sacrificed more, cared more,

done the hard work more? I'm living this right now in my

life. I'm 2 1/2 years sober.

This wall of trust takes years to build.

And in one moment I pushed it over.

It's gone. So now I got to go find all the

bricks and slowly start putting these things in place.

But it takes time to get there. And I remember I'm a year into

sobriety and I'm I'm holy and I'm doing everything I should be

doing. And I'm having this problem.

Like, man, my wife doesn't. She's not showing me the

respect. I'm doing everything I need.

And I would bring this to the men in my life and I'd say, what

am I supposed to do? And all of them would say, get

over it, seek God, stay accountable, die to your old

ways, sacrifice more, sacrifice more, pursue her more, love her

more. That I would have to bring it to

the cross. God had the power to send His

Son to die on our behalf, to win our hearts.

He will give us the power to sacrifice ours to win hers

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

He will empower you to do things that you are didn't even think

capable. Listen to what AW Tozer says in

the pursuit of God. Speaking about the cross dying

to our old ways. He says that the cross is rough

and it is deadly, but it is effective.

It does not keep its victim hanging there forever.

There comes a moment when it's work is finished and the

suffering victim dies and after that is resurrection.

Glory and power in the pain is forgotten.

And I'm not so naive to think that the pain might be your

marriage and maybe it's not. Maybe your Martha moment isn't

that and praise the Lord, but maybe it is your health.

Maybe it is. Man, I have to see doctors every

single week and it doesn't look like this is going to end well.

And why God? Maybe it's parenting challenges.

Hello anybody. Am I the only one that sits in

my living room sometimes and like, I don't know what I'm

doing? Or it could be the actual loss

of a loved one. But all of these things can be

brought to the cross of Christ so that in our hardship we can

receive a greater revelation of His goodness and His glory, and

that we can find joy in it. It is painful beyond imagination

and it is totally worth it. It is totally worth it.

Jesus loves you so much you can't even fathom It is totally

worth it. Because when everything feels

dead, it is where hope in Jesus begins.

And then #3 belief awakens new life.

Belief awakens new life. In the life of Martha.

This was an absolute testing of her faith.

She didn't understand why she had all of these questions,

questions. Jesus didn't answer them as

Jesus does a lot of times. But in that moment, Jesus stood

before her and he said, Martha, your brother will rise.

I'm going to resurrect him physically and he's going to

rise at the second coming. He will rise again.

There will be resurrections. But what he said to her is the

resurrection and the life stands before you today.

And then Jesus asked the question, do you believe it?

Do you believe it? Do you believe that I am capable

of giving you the things that you are desiring, the questions

that you need answers? Do you believe that it can be

found in me? There is a passage in John 9

just two chapters before about a blind beggar.

And I don't know if you guys have read this, but this man has

been blind for decades. It's his entire life he's been

blind and Jesus miraculously heals this man after being blind

his whole life. And leading up to this moment,

there are so many different parties involved and all these

things going on. You have the disciples asking

Jesus, was this guy blind because of his sin or his

parents sin? And Jesus addresses that and

then he heals them. And then people, his neighbors

walk by and then they're looking at the blind guy saying, is this

him? Some say yes, some say no.

The Pharisees get wind that Jesus has healed on a Sunday.

So then they get involved and they're trying to put these

claims on Jesus. And then the Pharisees call in

the blind guys, mom and dad, and say, is this the guy?

And you have all of this commotion.

He's just healed this man. And it's said that they kicked

him out of the temple, the blind man.

So he goes out and listen to this.

It says Jesus followed him. And I imagine this moment with

this blind man, as he's standing there, he's received this

miracle. He just got ostracized from the

temple and everything becomes silent.

He's standing face to face with Jesus.

All of his hardship from the past, all of the brokenness that

he's experienced, all of the opinions of others, his

neighbors, his friends, his mom and dad, it's all just quiet.

And Jesus looks at this man and says, do you believe in the Son

of God? And at that moment that man had

to make a choice to believe. And it says, he said, I believe.

And he began to worship the Lord, began to worship the Lord.

He had lost sight of all of his trauma, all of the years of

hardship, the suffering, all of those moments asking God, why

did you let this happen? And all he could see was Jesus.

I spent so many years looking at the past injustices that have

happened in my life, all of the trauma, my own decisions, and I

couldn't see Jesus because my eyes were fixed on them.

But I had to make a choice to look at Jesus.

The blind man had to make a choice to look at Jesus.

Martha is in the same situation. She couldn't see God, but then

she chose to believe that Jesus had a plan and it was for her

good. And you may be experiencing a

Martha moment today where life is so upside down, so backward,

so confusing, so it's all burning to the ground that you

cannot see God and what He is doing and you have not trusted

the Lord with your life. But it's also become too

overwhelming to continue. Or you may be sitting here

today, like Me 2 1/2 years ago, where you look forward, you look

backward, you look left, you look right, it's all cinder and

ashes, It is all just gone. And you've known, you've

reasoned that God is good, that he is maybe has a plan for your

life. You've seen him work in other

people's lives. But you have not yet got to the

point of believing. And if you are feeling that call

today, I want to give you an opportunity to accept the Lord

as your Savior if He is beckoning you and calling you

today. This is what Romans 10-9 would

say. It simply says, if you confess

with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and here it is, if you

believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you

will be saved. You don't have to work for

salvation. You don't have to put all of the

pieces together. You just have to believe.

Martha had to believe that God had a plan.

If we all could, if we could all bow our heads and close our

eyes. If you believe that God is

calling you and this life has become overwhelming, it's

unmanageable. And although that you have known

about this Jesus person, you have not yet trusted him.

But you know in this moment God is calling you to eternal life

in heaven and also eternal life in this moment.

I want you to pray this prayer after me, either silently or to

yourself. Father, I know that I am a

Sinner and I cannot do this life on my own.

Today I choose to believe that through Jesus life, his death,

his resurrection, that I will be saved.

Help me live a life that is marked by trusting you in every

situation in Jesus name, Amen. Keep your heads bowed real

quick. If you prayed that prayer for

the first time, can you be brave and just raise your hand for me

to see? Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord. All right, you could put your

hands down if you prayed that prayer.

OK, you guys could put your heads up now.

Sorry. If you prayed that prayer for

the first time and you believed in your heart for the first

time, I want to say welcome to the family of God, Praise the

Lord. We're going to have a gift for

you who all accepted the Lord. They're going to be on the back

tables and on the way out. You guys can grab that gift.

So application. So what does this look like?

So what if today we chose to believe?

What if today we say, hey, I have been through the wringer,

it is real, it's valid, but I am choosing today to believe that

God is good and he has a plan. What would that look like?

Point #1 It would look like living your life around people

who believe. OK, I'm going to offend some

people right now and it's OK. I don't mean people who go to

church. I don't mean people who've been

baptized. I mean people in every and all

situations of their life, the answer of their heart is praise

God. Do you know those people?

I know them. I see them a mile away and I'm

like, man, I just want to be in their shadow to like rub the

holiness off on me. Get around those people that if

it's hardship, the response of their heart is joy.

Jesus is so good. It's joy if it's blessing, it's

joy if it's the mundane. They're just like, hey, praise

God. I do the same thing every day,

Praise the Lord. Be around those people.

What does that look like? You get plugged into a small

group. We do community here at RES.

It's small groups. You can come up to one of the

leaders or one of the staff after and we can get you guys

plugged in. And when you get into that small

group, man, you get like, like thermal vision, and you find the

people who are seeking God in that group and you go, man, I

want to believe more. I want to get through this

situation more. I want to see God and all of it.

And that happens by hanging out with people utterly filled with

the Spirit of God. And they will encourage life

into you. Get around people who believe #2

the word of God begins to change you when you decide to believe.

It is nearly impossible. And I say this from experience,

OK? It is nearly impossible to trust

God and suffering if you don't have spiritual eyes, but instead

you got a worldly mind. We do not conform to the

patterns of the world. Listen to what Romans 12/2 says.

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you

may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable

and perfect. We don't want to do what the

world does. I don't want to act the way the

world does. It offers me nothing.

There's death, it's death out there and they wrap it in a

pretty box and they say, here you go, take it as I'm dying

from depression and anxiety. No, I don't want to be conformed

to the pattern of this world. I want to be transformed by the

word of God. As I encounter Jesus.

That's what I want. It's Jesus.

Faith comes by hearing. You want to grow your faith.

You want to grow belief. It's through the Word of God.

Bible reading plans are amazing. Watch the word of God begin to

change your heart. But you approach the word and

not in cold rigor. And you just check your boxes

and I've done it for today. But you open the word and you

say, Lord have mercy on my heart for I am broken and feeble and I

can't do this on my own. And I'm so fleshly I can't even

see you have mercy on me. And you know what God will do.

He'll show himself to you. It says draw near to the Lord

and he will draw near to you. Our prayer team is going to come

up at this time. Thank you prayer team.

We want nothing more than to pray for you.

I mean, you guys are like me. I know that I'm having

situations all day long where I'm like, Lord, I need prayer.

Help me, help me with the kids, help me with having joy in my

job, joy when I'm broke. The finances don't make sense.

I don't know how I'm going to make it the next month.

We want to pray for you. Our goal is that you would

encounter Jesus. He doesn't just offer you

resurrection. He is the resurrection.

He doesn't just offer you life, He is the life and He stands

before you today. The altars are open.

You all move as the Lord leads. Thank you.