"Raising Lazarus" John 11:1-44 Sunday Evening Worship Service

Thank you, JJ, for leading us in song this evening, and Ryan for that introduction.

As Ryan said, I'm Joe Robbins.

I've been attending here uh almost four years.

And what I'm about to do tonight, I'm looking forward to this.

This is a precursor of what I'll be doing uh in September for the next two years on a weekly basis.

Instead of working at the Pentagon for an Admiral, I'll go back to preaching every Sunday, Wednesday, and other times throughout the week.

My family and I were moving to Japan, specifically uh Sasebo, I'll be the command chaplain on the USS America.

So looking forward to that opportunity.

And I very rarely ever turn down the opportunity to preach and teach the Word of God.

This is something that I'm very passionate about.

So let's just get right to it.

If you will, turn to John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

I told Jesse earlier in the week that you all are a smart group of people.

Uh probably one of the smarter groups of individuals I've ever been around when I've traveled to different churches.

I mean, I'm around a lot of smart people, don't get me wrong.

I mean, the Marines and sailors I serve with, as well as other uh members of the armed forces, they're smart as well.

Uh but I normally don't speak for 45 to 50 minutes, so I felt like I needed to make 23 pages of notes.

So I don't know how long, as I told Ryan, that's going to take me, but you all are a great test case.

So just bear with me.

So John chapter 11, we're going to read that in just a moment.

John 11 · chapter mention

But in 1967, there was a man by the name of James Bedford who lived in Southern California and died of kidney cancer at the age of 73.

Now, what's interesting about Mr.

Bedford is prior to his death, he reached out to the Cryonic Society of California to have his body frozen in liquid nitrogen.

And he did this because he had hoped one day, when they find a cure for cancer, that the organization would be able to revive him and bring him back to life.

And today in Scottsdale, Arizona, his body, as well as Teddy Williams, the famous Hall of Famer for the Boston Red Sox, are at Alcor Cryonics facility.

Now I know that sounds really strange, far-fetched, and maybe even weird, but I think that Mr.

Bedford's actions teach us something about human nature in general.

And that is people are afraid of death as well as people want to live forever.

All we have to do is look back to 2020 and see how people reacted with COVID.

People were concerned, people were afraid of death.

People want to live forever.

And they think that they're going to live forever.

But we do know that that's not the case, that we all will die one day.

Now, even if Mr.

Bedford were able to be revived, and I don't believe that that can happen, but even if it were to happen, he would have an old decaying body, and sooner or later he would die again.

There's one thing that we know from Scripture according to Hebrews 9 27, and that is it is appointed for man to die, and then comes the judgment.

In John chapter 11, John gives us some good news, and that is Jesus has power over death.

John 11 · chapter mention

And this is the greatest miracle of Jesus up to this point in John's Gospel.

Prior to John chapter 11, Jesus had healed an official son in Capernaum.

John 11 · chapter mention

That's in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

In chapter 5, he heals the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda.

And then in chapter 9, he heals the blind man in Jerusalem.

Now those are just the healings.

That doesn't include the other miracles that Jesus did.

Jesus had turned the water into wine.

Chapter 2.

He fed the 5,000 in chapter 6.

And also in chapter 6, Jesus walks on water.

Jesus has done amazing things.

And now in chapter 11, Jesus is going to show that he has power and authority over death.

And what I want us to do is to look at this chapter, if you will follow along with me.

The Word of God says this.

But when Jesus heard it, he said, The illness does not lead to death.

It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of Man, or excuse me, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two additional days in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to his disciples, Let us go to Judea again.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

After saying these things, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.

Now Jesus had spoken to had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.

But let us go to him.

So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

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.

So 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.

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

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?

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

Now let's jump down to verse 31.

When the Jews, who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

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.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

And he said, Where have you laid him?

They said to him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, See how he loved him?

But some of them said to him, excuse me, some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.

It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

Jesus said, Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may that they may believe that you sent me.

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with cloth.

Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go.

If there is one verse I think that really pinpoints to our understanding of this text, it is verse 37, which states, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?

That is a great question.

Now, despite the mourners' short-sighted lament, Jesus has the opportunity to demonstrate his power over death.

And that is because he is the resurrection and the life.

And what God is calling every person that opens this gospel and looks at chapter 11, he's calling us to believe.

As a matter of fact, in chapter 11, the word believe occurs nine times.

It occurs in verse 15, 25, 26, and 26 it occurs twice, 27, 40, 42, 45, and 48.

And as Ryan spoke to us a few weeks ago when he was preaching on John chapter 1, when we turn to John chapter 20, what does the gospel writer tell us about Jesus?

John 1 · chapter mention John 20 · chapter mention

What is his purpose for writing this gospel?

We find it in chapter 20, and I'm going to reread it.

It's in verses 30 and 31.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

We approach any biblical text.

What is it that the author is trying to get us to understand?

So here in chapter 11, I believe this is the question that we need to ask this evening.

What arguments does John give us that show Jesus' authority over death?

And there are some arguments that John lays out that are going to demonstrate that Jesus has authority over death.

And if you want to write these down, you can.

Here's the first one.

Jesus delays his assistance for the glory of God in verses 1 through 16.

If you recall, in the very first part of chapter 11, there is a crisis on the hands of Mary and Martha.

And that crisis is that Lazarus is sick.

So the sister send word by friends, a family member, someone, to let Jesus know that the one whom you love is sick.

And of course, that one whom Jesus loves that is sick, it's Lazarus.

Now we know that Jesus has a very close relationship with this family.

In verse 5, it lets us know that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

In Luke 10, if you will recall, Jesus had been over to the house of Mary and Martha.

Martha does all the preparations.

Mary is at the feet of Jesus.

Martha's complaining.

And if we jump here into our present chapter in verse 2, it gives us what I call a trailer, a trailer to the movie because in chapter 12, that's where Mary, she is anointing the feet of Jesus.

She's crying, tears are dropping on the feet of Jesus.

And of course, Mary's using her hair to wipe his feet.

But in chapter 11, verse 2, John is letting us know this is Mary.

This is a story that was going around.

And what John wants us to know is that Jesus is very close to this family.

But if he's close, why does he delay?

It doesn't seem to make sense.

If if someone was having trouble and you had the ability to help, you would do everything possible to help, right?

But Jesus has the perfect plan.

He tells us in verse 4.

He says, This sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God.

Now what in the world did Jesus mean when he made such a statement?

Well, I think he meant two things.

First of all, he was saying that Lazarus is not going to, I'm not saying that Lazarus is not going to die.

We know that he dies.

But death is not the final outcome.

And the second thing that we should understand is that Lazarus' death did not occur for God's glory, but it was an occasion to reveal God's glory.

That's very important.

Because if we turn back to John chapter 9, especially the very first part there in chapter 9, we find something very interesting.

John 9 · chapter mention

The disciples see somebody who is born blind.

And do you remember the question that the disciples pose to Jesus?

Who sinned?

This man or his parents?

And Jesus answers in verse 3 of that chapter.

He says, That neither one of them sinned, but he was born blind, so the works of God could be displayed through him.

Just like in chapter 9, here is an opportunity in chapter eleven for Jesus to reveal the glory of God, and that is by bringing Lazarus back from the dead.

What a great opportune time to go back to Bethany to bring Lazarus forth from the dead.

Now, Jesus says, I tell you what, it's time.

It's time to return to Judea.

He says this in verse 7.

And then in verse 11, Jesus says, I need to go and awaken Lazarus.

He has fallen asleep.

Now in verse 12, what do the disciples say?

I mean, I like the disciples.

They remind me of me.

I'm just a really simple guy.

Hey, if he's sick, let him sleep.

He'll get better.

Wouldn't we all naturally respond that way?

I know that I would.

Now, if someone wants to beat me up for it, maybe I'm unspiritual.

I'm just looking at this from a natural perspective, just like the disciples would have.

Hey, let him sleep.

But Jesus has to let them know Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad he's dead for your sake so that you can believe.

Jesus again is about to do the greatest miracle that has ever occurred up to this moment in John's gospel.

So the disciples, though, they're kind of concerned about this.

Well, Jesus wants to return, Lazarus is dead, but I'm not sure about it.

Because in verse 8, it lets us know that the Jewish people back in chapter 10, they were trying to stone you.

Remember the Jewish leaders?

You don't want to go back there.

And then Jesus gives these words in verses 9 through 10.

He says, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

But if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

What is Jesus talking about?

He's talking about the duration of his ministry.

So if you look at it from this perspective, the light, that simply was that specific amount of time that God had given Jesus to do his ministry upon earth.

The disciples, worrying, was not going to add to it, it would not subtract.

The Jewish leaders, they could not take from it.

And the night symbolized the end of Jesus' ministry.

Jesus is not concerned about timetables because the Father has a perfect plan.

All Jesus has to do is follow the will of his father.

So the question before us right now is so why does Jesus delay his return?

Why do it?

I mean, he's close to this family, he has the power to heal.

We've already talked about him healing the official son in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

In chapter 5, he heals the uh person, uh the paralytic at the pool.

And then in chapter 9, he also heals the blind man.

So why delay?

Why do this?

He does it because if you think about every single miracle that Jesus performs, who is there to downplay what Jesus does?

The religious leaders, right?

They're always there, they're downplaying it.

But that would not be able to happen when Jesus goes back, when Jesus returns and does this amazing miracle.

And in Jewish tradition, it stated that once a person died, the spirit of the dead person hovered over the body for three days.

But after three days there was no more hope whatsoever.

Think about that.

There's no hope.

But Jesus is going to show something different.

He's going to go back.

Lazarus will be in the tomb for four days.

He is going to call him out of the grave, and God is going to get all the glory.

That is amazing.

This is why Jesus delays going back to Bethany.

And the religious leaders would not be able to speak against it.

Of course, they are going to try, they're going to try.

I will tell you that.

That's uh further in chapter 12.

We don't have time to do it because once Lazarus comes back up from the dead, you know what the Jewish leaders try to do?

They talk about putting him to death.

Lazarus.

Let's put him to death.

That's the people that we're dealing with.

And just to give you another description, real quick, I think we have time for this.

If you turn to John chapter 9, I think this is something important I want you to see how the religious leaders interacted with Jesus' miracles.

John 9 · chapter mention

So Jesus heals the blind man, and of course, the religious leaders uh downplay this.

And it's really somewhat humorous how they do this.

Let's look at verse 18.

The Jews did not believe that he, that's the blind man, had been born blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, Is this your son whom you say was born blind?

How then does he now see?

His parents answered, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself.

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess that Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore his parents said, He is of age, ask him.

So the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

They're speaking of Jesus.

Um yeah, verse 25 he says, He answered, Whether he's a sinner, I do not know.

One thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see.

They said to him, What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

Now this is really humorous in verse 27.

Look at this.

He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you want to become his disciples?

This you can't make this up.

This is what's amazing.

I love this.

Verse 28.

And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.

The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing.

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

Never since the world began has it ever, or has excuse me, has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind?

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and you would teach us, and they cast him out.

What a shame.

This is what Jesus is dealing with.

I think chapter 9 paints a perfect picture of why Jesus would delay returning back to Bethany.

When Jesus does this miracle, it's going to be amazing, and many will believe because of what he does.

Jesus has a perfect plan.

So what arguments does John present for us that show that Jesus has authority over death?

Well, first of all, he delays his return to Bethany for the glory of God, and second of all, Jesus declares.

His power over death.

This is found in verses 17 through 27.

Now, in 17 through 21, we know that Jesus arrives on the scene, and there's a lot of commotion in the household of Mary and Martha.

Mourners have gathered together, and there's an interesting detail in verse 21.

No, let me back up.

Verse 20.

It says, So when Martha heard that Jesus was that Jesus was coming, she went and met him.

But Mary remained seated in the house.

I think it's so interesting that Mary stayed seated in the house why while Martha goes out to see Jesus.

Why would she do this?

Why does John put that in this account?

Well, because Mary was performing what is called Shiva.

Can everybody say Shiva?

Shiva.

See, you all know Hebrew, Ryan?

They know Hebrew.

Great.

Shiva means what?

Seven.

So Shiva not only means the number seven, but it's also a Jewish mourning custom.

So why do they call it Shiva?

Because you mourn for seven days.

And this is the crowd that is gathered at Mary and Martha's house.

They're doing Shiva.

Why is that detail in here?

John is letting us know, without a doubt, Lazarus is dead.

That is amazing.

Very, I mean, remember, I if I haven't said this enough tonight, Lazarus is dead.

Now he's not going to stay dead, but John wants us to know that Lazarus is dead.

Now Martha is going to find some comfort in the words of Jesus.

If you will, uh 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 God, God will give you.

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.

Comforting words, right?

Now let's go back to what Martha says.

If you had been here.

So a me, the Greek word to be, it's in the imperfect tense, which is past tense, just like it says here in the English, if you had been here.

In other words, Jesus, you are powerful, but there's really nothing that you can do right now.

But 22, verse 22 seems to allude that maybe there is something.

But whatever you ask from God, I know that he will give you.

But I want you to know that as far as Martha's concern of Jesus bringing back Lazarus from the dead, that is not in her mind.

She is not thinking that whatsoever.

She's thinking future tense.

Because what does she say?

I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

Now, where does she get that from?

Daniel 12, 2, which says, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

So she does have hope for the resurrection, but it's future, not now.

And later on in verse 39, remember when Jesus says, Remove the stone?

What does Martha do?

She tries to interrupt Jesus, no, no, no, no, don't do that.

He's been dead for four days.

There's an odor.

So again, I just love how John is so meticulous, how he puts all these details in here.

This is such an incredible miracle for those who are skeptics.

I mean, it's like, well, this just happened.

Are you kidding me?

All the details that have been put in here, it's letting us know the raw facts of the story.

This is something that is amazing, that is about to occur.

And then Jesus gives these words in verses 25 and 26.

He says, 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 of course, Martha says in verse 27, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

This is one of the seven I am statements that we find in John's Gospel.

Jesus, he has these seven I am statements.

In chapter six, he says, I am the bread of life.

Chapter 8, I am the light of the world.

In chapter 10, he gives two, I am the door of the sheep, I am the good shepherd.

And then in chapter 14, we have I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And then in chapter 15, I am the true vine.

These metaphors that follow, I am, describe Jesus' saving relationship to the world.

But what I want us to focus on real quickly are those words, I am.

In Greek, egoemi.

I, I am.

So Jesus is saying, I, I am.

We know exactly what Jesus meant.

The religious leaders knew what Jesus meant.

That's why in John 8, verse 58, when Jesus makes this statement, before Abraham was, I am, do you think the Jewish leaders knew what Jesus meant?

John 8:58

Yes.

They did.

They pick up stones to stone him.

He was declaring to be God.

And if we go back to Exodus chapter 3, remember when Moses encounters God in the burning bush?

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

And God has a mission for Moses.

Moses is going to be God's instrument to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt and bring them to the land of Canaan.

And then Moses is having this conversation.

Well, when I go back and I'm talking to my people, they're going to ask me, you know, who sent me?

You know, who are you?

And verse 14 of Exodus chapter 3 says, You let them know that I am has sent you.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

So when Jesus makes this statement, he is declaring his deity.

He is the Son of God.

He is God in the flesh.

And if we understand, as Ryan beautifully took us through in John chapter 1, and Ryan, I don't want to go back and do exactly what you did, because you did such an incredible job.

John 1 · chapter mention

If we go back to John chapter 1, if we get John chapter 1, we get the rest of John's gospel because it introduces to us exactly who Jesus is.

John 1 · chapter mention John 1 · chapter mention

He is the Son of God.

He is God in the flesh.

John 1 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And then in verse 14 of John 1, it says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now it's so amazing.

In the Greek, that word for dwelt.

It's the you can also translate as tabernacled.

Skanao, if we want to get technical.

So schanao, let me ask you this.

Where did God dwell after the tabernacle was built?

In Exodus chapter 40.

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

I just gave it away.

God's presence descended upon the tabernacle, right?

And then when the tabernacle would remove the cloud, the people would follow the cloud, and then when the cloud was set, the presence of God was there.

God's presence tabernacled right there among the people.

And what John is telling us is that God tabernacled in the person of Christ.

This is amazing.

Jesus is God in the flesh.

And John is constantly saying this throughout his gospel.

He's letting us know exactly who Jesus is.

He's a Son of God, he is God, and we can count on him to have the authority to raise Lazarus from the dead as we look at this chapter specifically, because he is God.

Another place I've like to look is John 10.

In John 10, verse 30, Jesus says, He and the Father are one.

John 10:30

But do you know the context in which Jesus says this?

If you go back to John chapter 10, as a matter of fact, John 10 really leads to this because Jesus has to go on the other side of the Jordan because of what happened in John 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

So it kind of blends together here.

In verse 22, what does it say?

The feast of dedication, right?

Usually we just gloss over that.

That's something that's very important.

What is the feast of dedication?

Some translations I think have festival of lights.

It's Hanukkah.

Jesus was Jewish and he celebrated Hanukkah, in case you did not know.

I think you knew Jesus was Jewish, but he celebrated Hanukkah right here in John 10.

I think there's something important knowing a little bit about Hanukkah because it even makes Jesus' statement, I believe, even more powerful.

And I'll give you the Cliff Note version to the Hanukkah story.

I'm not going to give you the Jewish version, which is longer, but the fact of the matter is the Hanukkah story, if you know anything about Anakaias, Anakaius was a Hellenistic king.

He ruled over the Seleucid Empire.

And what he wanted to do was to Hellenize the entire area.

And that also included the area of Israel.

So he takes some soldiers, they march from Egypt up to Jerusalem, they ransack the temple, they desecrate it.

He sacrifices a pig on the altar, sets up idols for worship, and of course the pig that he sacrifices, he sacrifices this to the God of Zeus.

And then he sends out soldiers throughout the different towns to make people stop circumcision, kosher eating, and as far as following Torah.

And they go to this town called Modin, and there is Matathias, Greek Hebrew name Matathihu.

Matathihu slays the soldiers.

He says, All those who love the law and love God, follow me.

He leads guerrilla warfare for three years.

They retake the temple, retake the region, and they go to rededicate the temple.

And when they go to light the menorah, there's only enough kosher oil for one day.

And remember, it's a seven-branch candle opera, right?

How so it takes eight days to make pure kosher oil?

Then they could only burn it for one day, but they said, you know what, we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna light the menorah.

Guess what?

That's the miracle.

It burns for how many days?

Eight days.

Here's the theology of Hanukkah.

All right.

What is first and foremost, think about the menorah.

What does that represent?

What does it look like?

The tree.

It's a tree of life, friends.

The tree of life.

Go back to the Garden of Eden, you have the tree of life.

That's where God's presence was.

The light was God's presence.

It was a reminder of God's presence.

And the fact that the light kept burning for that many days, what God was saying to his people, I am in your midst.

This is Jesus in John chapter 10, celebrating this festival.

John 10 · chapter mention

Remember, Hanukkah is about God's presence among the people, and he makes this statement.

He and the Father are one.

Wow! Right there.

During Hanukkah, what did the Jewish people think?

The leaders.

They knew exactly what he meant.

This is why they pick up stones to stone him.

Jesus is declaring who he is.

We try to figure out who is Jesus.

John is constantly telling us who Jesus is.

He's the Son of God who came into the world to save people from their sins.

Jesus has the authority, because he is God to call people back from the dead.

And what I love about John's Gospel, it is so candid, it is so raw.

For anybody to read this, they have to just wonder, you know, as they wonder who Jesus is.

If you're wondering who Jesus is, I would tell you that there were other people in John's Gospel that were trying to figure out exactly who Jesus was.

Here's a few examples.

John chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

Loads of different responses on, you know, who is Jesus?

As they're trying to figure him out.

You know, his brothers don't believe him.

Did you know that?

That's John 7, verse 5.

John 7:5

People said he was a good man.

That's verse 12, chapter 7.

Also in verse 12, it says, no, this man's leading people astray.

Then crowds begin to question who Jesus is.

So in 7.26 it says, Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

And then there's a division among the people in chapter 7, verses 40 through 42.

Some of the people said, This really is the prophet.

Others said, This is the Christ, but others said, Is Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not the scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

And then, of course, when we turn here to chapter 11, remember our question in the very beginning of this message?

Hey, could he not open, or could not he who opened the blinds of the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

So you see all these different issues being raised in John's gospel.

And John is letting us know that Jesus does have the authority to bring Lazarus back from the dead because of who he is.

He is the divine son of God.

This leads to my last point here.

Jesus demonstrates his authority over death.

So before we were talking about, he was declaring his authority because of who he is.

He's a son of God.

He's God incarnate.

Now he's going to demonstrate his authority.

So in verse 38, we get a description of the cave.

And by the way, caves back then that was a normal practice in which families would bury their loved ones.

They'd usually have a stone in front of the cave so they could roll it.

And after a year that their loved one sat in that cave, they would go back in, take the bones, and put them in an ossuary box, and then close up the cave.

And then when another family member died, they would repeat the process.

So you would have a bunch of different family members in these caves.

Very similar to the cave that Jesus was in.

But Jesus is not in the cave because he's alive.

We worship a risen Savior.

So this is where Jesus is.

He's at this cave, and he tells most likely a group of bystanders, to pull back the stone.

Let's look, if you will.

Let's jump here to thirty nine.

Jesus said, Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on the account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.

Now I love this prayer.

And this prayer lets us know a few things about Jesus as he addresses God.

First, he addresses God as Father, not as our Father.

We're seeing that Jesus has this very close and intimate relationship with the Father.

Second of all, I like how it says in verse 41, you have heard me.

Jesus had already been praying.

It's not like he shows up here and starts to pray.

No, he had already prayed.

And then another thing that I want you to recognize is that Jesus does not act independently from the Father.

He acts in one accord with the Father.

And it also reminds me of John chapter 10 and verses 37 through 38.

John 10 · chapter mention

Jesus says, If I am not doing the works of my Father, don't believe me.

That's what he tells the onlookers.

Hey, listen, if I'm not doing my father's work, don't believe me.

But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works.

That you may know that, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.

Now, what happens in verse 43?

This is the demonstration.

This is the authority.

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

That is so important for us to understand.

I want you to think about that.

He cried out, come out.

Now, why do I say that that is important?

Let me ask you this.

John chapter 1, we go back to Genesis, right?

John 1 · chapter mention

In Genesis, how did God bring things about?

He spoke, right?

For instance, in uh Genesis 1.3, he said, Let there be light.

Guess what happened?

There was light, right?

In uh verses 11 through 12 of Genesis chapter 1, he said, Let the earth sprout forth vegetation, plants yield seeds, plants yielding seeds, fruit trees according to its kind, and guess what happened?

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Well, the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seeds according to its kind, etc.

etc.

So whatever God spoke happened.

And here in chapter 11 of John's gospel, Jesus speaks and things happen.

It's amazing.

And if you and I I've spoken to this a few times with a few people, and I love the Hebrew Bible.

That's my focus.

That's I I you know Greek is not my specialty.

Greek is for scholars, Hebrew is for common people.

So that's what I focus on.

I'm not a scholar, so I just have to do Hebrew.

I do.

Um so and I can talk to you more about why Greek is for scholars, it's for really smart people.

So but in Hebrew, it's it's really fascinating when I look like, and I'll read it in Hebrew.

In Genesis 1, 1, it's Bereshit Bara Elohim et Hashimaim via Haaretz.

So what is that?

How do we translate that?

Exactly what our English Bible says, right?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, which is right.

But the bareshit there, I find that fascinating.

And what I would argue, and I you can do this grammatically, because the bait there, that means in, with, through, or by.

Roshit, you've heard of Rosh, like Rosh Hashanah, but most people say rash hanah.

It's really Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh, then ha the year.

Head of the year, first of the year.

And you can actually translate Genesis 1.1, through the firstborn, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now let me ask you this: how did the apostle John understand Genesis chapter 1?

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Exactly like that.

Through the firstborn, God created the heavens and the earth.

Because in John 1 3, what does he say?

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

This is how John is reading Genesis 1.

And this is why Jesus can demonstrate his authority.

He, I mean, we've already talked about how Jesus is the Son of God.

He is God incarnate, he has the authority to speak and heal, he has the authority to speak and bring things that are dead back to life.

And what I'm trying to show you is taking this back to Genesis, we see God speaking, and now we see Jesus doing the same thing.

He's speaking and he's bringing forth action, power by speaking.

And by the way, for those who think the translation might be crazy, you can look at Genesis Rabbah.

It was written between 3 and 500 A.D.

It's a mid-rash.

And there the great Rabbi Hoshianu, how does he translate Genesis 1.1?

Exactly as we just spoke of.

Through the firstborn, God created the heavens and the earth.

Jesus was there, he spoke things into existence, and now he has the ability to call forth Lazarus.

Let me remind you, what did uh Jesus do with the official son in John 4?

Remember the official son that comes up to him?

And he says, Please heal my son.

What does he say?

Go, your son will live.

And then later on, we find the Father, he's going back, and then some of the messengers come out to meet the Father, and they say, Your son, he's well.

Well, what time did it happen?

Seventh hour.

And then the father realized that's exactly when Jesus said, My son will live.

Jesus speaks, He has power in speaking.

What about when he's in chapter 5?

When Jesus is there in chapter 5, the man that is paralyzed, he cannot walk, what does he do?

What does Jesus say?

Take up your mat and walk.

What happens?

Again, Jesus is speaking.

He takes up his mat and he walks.

That's the power of God.

What about in John chapter 9?

John 9 · chapter mention

Which this is really interesting.

The man that is born blind says, Go wash in the pool of saloon.

And then he does it and he sees.

Of course, of course, he takes some mud, puts it on his eyes.

If you want to do a PhD, you might want to write about what that means.

Because there's lots of different ideas about that.

I have my own ideas, but we don't have time for that tonight.

Um the point is Jesus demonstrates his authority over death.

He does it by speaking.

He calls forth Lazarus from the dead.

And what he does there is just a foretaste of what's going to happen in the future.

And Jesus even reminded us of this in John chapter 5 and verses 28 through 29.

John 5 · chapter mention

Even told them before even this ever happened.

For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

No matter who you are this evening, I want you to know that John 11 speaks to every single one of us.

If you're a seeker, you don't know Jesus.

And this is who I deal with.

I would approach this passage on a with a marine battalion on a ship the same way, trying to constantly show people that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Christ.

Eternal life is found only in him, nothing else.

We have to repent and turn to Jesus.

What I tell seekers is look at this passage.

Look how Jesus delayed going to Bethany.

Because it's humanly impossible to bring back someone from the dead after four days.

Humanly impossible.

Look at how he is the divine Son of God.

He is the second person of the Trinity.

He has the authority to call and make all things new.

And then, of course, he demonstrates it.

We saw it with our own eyes.

And then for us who are believers, I would encourage all of us to take a passage like this and go through it with people who are unsure of who Jesus is.

Every single one of us is on the front line.

When we walk out this door, we're surrounded by neighbors who do not know Jesus, coworkers who do not know Jesus, and God wants us to share his good news to a lost world.

We've already seen the pain.

All you have to do is turn on the news.

It's pretty depressing, right?

We saw what happened in Texas.

It's tragic.

Reminds us that there's evil in this world.

Hearts are darkened, and Jesus is our only hope.

And here's one last thing I'd simply say.

We certainly can't go through this passage and not recognize that, you know, maybe we have friends or family members who have passed away recently.

And with it being Memorial Day weekend, I think what Jesus did in John chapter 11, that is definitely a memorial.

John 11 · chapter mention

It's a reminder, a call to remember how Jesus has power over death.

And if our loved one had faith in Jesus, they're in a better place.

And that's great.

Let me remind you of what Jesus said.

He said, I am the resurrection and life.

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

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Let's pray.

Lord, we love you.

We are so thankful that you have power over death.

You are our only hope in this world.

And I pray for every person that is here, those who are believers, that you would put it on our hearts to have a passion for reaching people with the gospel.

All of us will face death one day.

And we will stand before you.

And Lord, our hope is that we can truly know who you are.

And you enable us to know who you are because of your word.

You just don't want us to have eternal life in the as far as in the future, but you want us to have that abundant life now, as you tell us in John 10 10.

So Lord, our prayer is for that.

Our prayer is also for those who have maybe lost loved ones recently, that you would comfort them with your good news.

Lord, your words are encouraging.

Even though we die, yet we will live.

We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to iBC.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to TMS.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.