Trusting the Shepherd (John 11:17-37)

John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 17 through 37.

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

Bethany was near Jerusalem, less than two miles away.

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him.

But Mary remained seated in the house.

Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

Your brother will rise again, Jesus told her.

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

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

The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.

Every one who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?

Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.

Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, The teacher is here and is calling for you.

As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw that Mary got up quickly and went out.

They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

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

Where have you put him?

he asked.

Lord, they told him, Come and see.

Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, See how he loved him.

But some of them said, Couldn't he who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the truth that is in it.

Lord, as we look at this story of Lazarus and his sisters and all that's going on here and the purposes that Jesus has in this text, Lord, I pray that you would speak your truth to us.

That we would come to you with open minds and open hearts and softened hearts to the things that you have for us.

Lord, help us to hear the voice of Jesus here this morning in your word.

And I pray that it would penetrate our hearts and that you would do the exact thing that you desire to do in each and every one of us individually, but also as a church as a whole, Lord, that you would have your perfect will uh in each one of us, we pray.

Do your work here this morning and help me to not get in the way.

Pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So obviously, we're continuing on in the story of Lazarus here this morning.

You know, we saw last week that Jesus and his disciples were away.

Um, they received this message from Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, and Jesus doesn't respond as fast as anybody thought that he should.

You know, because this is a theme that we're going to be talking about today.

Jesus had different purposes for this situation with Lazarus that nobody else, it seems, could see at the time.

So Jesus doesn't come running to the rescue as I think his sisters were desiring, and I think his disciples were desiring.

Lazarus is sick, Jesus come running, I think is what everybody was hoping for.

But he waits because he had a different purpose.

You know, we'll see today that the sorrow and the pain that this family goes through will end up being the avenue in which Jesus can perform this sign that we're gonna see at the end of this chapter that leads to many, it says, coming to him.

Many coming to him because of all of what's going on.

So I want to ask you, all of us here today, a very hard question.

And here's the question: Would you be willing to take on what this family took on?

If you knew it would be something Jesus could use to bring many to himself?

That's a hard question, isn't it?

Would you be willing to take on what this family took on if you knew it would lead to many coming to faith in Jesus Christ?

So that's the first thing I want us to focus on as we go through.

And then at the end of the message today, I'm gonna tell you God's will for your life.

Okay?

I got your attention now, don't I?

So let's look at Jesus' long-awaited arrival to Bethany.

So look at verse 17.

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

You know, I believe at this point all hope was probably gone for these sisters.

Um they had seen him die, it had been four days of grieving, and as we'll see, bewailing over the death of their brother.

And four days is a really long time when you're talking about death and when you're talking about grief.

Those four those four first days, the first four days are really rough, but a lot happens within those first four days.

And it had been, you know, a long four days, I believe, for these sisters.

And we don't know how long it had been since Jesus received the message from these sisters to when Jesus actually arrives.

You know, we know that he waited for two days to come.

We know that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrives, but we don't know how long the message took from the sisters to Jesus, how long it took them to travel from wherever they were to Bethany, where the sisters are, and how many days after the message was sent that Lazarus died.

So I think we can safely assume it was a minimum of five to six days from the time the message was sent to Jesus to the time he arrived, but in reality it easily could have been longer than that.

But everybody other than Jesus seems to think that it was too long.

Jesus' arrival was too long from the time that he received the message to the time he arrived to the sisters.

Look at verse 18.

Bethany was near Jerusalem, less than two miles away.

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

You know, this seems to be a well-known, well-loved, well-respected family here in Bethany.

They had lots of friends, and it seems like those friends cared deeply for them.

You know, and I should mention that mourning in this culture looked a lot different than what we're used to in our culture.

It was much more ceremonial than what we're used to.

There was a way to do it.

There was clothes to wear, there was mourners that would surround the family for a long time.

And sometimes, if the family could afford it, they would actually bring in professional mourners to come and mourn around the family.

So very different than what we're used to.

And you know, I wish our culture of mourning was a little bit more like theirs, to be honest.

You know, I don't think that we often sit long enough in grief.

You know, we're too quick to move on and to distract ourselves and try to get past whatever it is we're going through.

And then it ends up catching up with us later in unexpected times and unexpected ways.

But that's that's for another time here this morning.

So look at verse 20.

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

You know, Martha seems to be the go-getter in this family, doesn't she?

She's the person of action.

Um, she's the one that seems to be thinking about details, and she's the one that we always find doing something.

And it's not good or bad, it just seems to be how she's wired as a person.

You know, last time we saw this family, Martha was doing and Mary was sitting.

And here again, Martha is doing and Mary is sitting.

But notice that both encounter Jesus, both hear his voice, and more importantly, both heed Jesus' voice.

In chapter 10, verse 27, Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

And that's what we're gonna see with these two sisters here this morning.

This family knows Jesus' voice.

And it's true that they have some questions.

We're gonna say they have some questions, but we need to notice what they did right.

They didn't doubt Jesus' goodness as their good shepherd.

They had some questions, but they didn't doubt him.

And I love how Jesus responds to these two different, very different sisters individually.

Martha, he's gonna teach, he's going to reason with her, and Mary, he's gonna respond with tears.

And I love this because Jesus knows his sheep.

They both need the same truth, but he responds differently to the two very different sheep that are Martha and Mary.

So keep that in mind as we continue on.

Look at verse 21.

Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

This is one of those verses where I'd give anything to hear the tone of this verse.

Or even an emoji at the end of the sentence of like, is this accusatory?

You know, is this softness and through tears that she's saying this?

Is this just kind of like a serious factual statement that she's just giving to Jesus?

It's really hard to tell because Martha's first statement here sounds like great faith, you know, at your first pass.

And then it also sounds accusatory, like there's some accusation in here as well, all at the same time.

You know, she has faith that Jesus can prevent death and heal sickness, followed by why did it take you so long to get here?

If you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

And this is just me, but just having the words and the context to look at here, I think there may be some disappointment in the tone of what she's saying here that Jesus didn't show up when she thought he should have showed up.

You know, kind of that thought of why did you wait?

We needed you to answer before you answered.

Jesus, why didn't you come running when you got the message that we sent you?

You know, and I think for us, if you've been walking with Jesus for any amount of time, and if you're being honest with yourself, you've been there too.

Right where these sisters are.

You know, and I think that's one of the hardest things for us as followers of Christ when we think we need an immediate answer or we need an immediate intervention, and God waits for his purposes and for his timing.

You know, we're going to see this with both sisters.

God, why did you wait?

Why didn't you answer us as soon as we petitioned?

Because they don't know yet that Jesus has different purposes that are far greater than what they wanted in the first place.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not placing any blame on these sisters or pretending like I would have done anything different than these sisters did.

But God had big plans in the midst of their hardship.

They just couldn't see it yet.

You know, because the hardest place to see God moving sometimes is usually in the midst of hardship.

Or when he's saying, wait.

And we don't see him intervening yet.

We just know we're in the middle of something really rough.

And that's right where these sisters are right now, right in the middle of grief and wondering why God is delaying instead of rescuing.

But look at Martha's response here in verse 22.

Yet, even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

So even in her questioning, we see Martha's faith shining through here.

She doesn't question if he's really God.

She doesn't question God's goodness.

She doesn't question if Jesus really cares about her and her family.

She says, yet even now, she still has faith in Jesus.

She still has faith in his abilities and God's abilities.

But we'll see her faith in Jesus is still limited because of what happens next.

Look at verse 23.

Your brother will rise again, Jesus told her.

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

So she has faith in her brother being resurrected from the dead with the rest of the saints in the last day.

She has faith that Jesus could have healed her brother before he died.

But it seems she hasn't considered yet the possibility of Jesus physically raising the dead on that day.

You know, I don't know if she's even considered Jesus' ability in that way yet.

You know, she would have no context for this happening.

Nobody at this time was expecting a resurrection of a dead loved one.

You know, and it's interesting that she believed Jesus had the power to do it in the last day, but hadn't considered that he had the power to do it that day.

And I think we do the exact same thing as followers, don't we?

Oh, yeah, Jesus has the ability to do these things we see in Scripture and the things that we see in the future in Revelation.

Yeah, but today's different.

You know, it's not the same as it was, you know, in Scripture or what we see, you know, in prophecy and what's to come.

But here's the thing: Jesus is the same yesterday, today, today, and forever.

We need to eliminate any thought that limits the power of God for today in our own life.

We need to pray for big things, and then more importantly, that his will be done.

Because these sisters, their will was not being done.

Because God's will was so much greater than what their will was.

And then we just need to trust that he will work all things together for good to those that love him.

Even when God's answer is no or wait.

Because he knows best, as we're gonna see as we continue on here.

You know, and I think Martha knows this, but her faith in Jesus' power still seems to be limited.

Look at verse 25.

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

You know, I think Jesus is just lovingly confirming Martha's faith and her statement because what she said was true.

But Jesus had more.

Not only does he have the power to resurrect the dead now or in the last day, he tells her that he is the resurrection and the life.

You know, we're gonna go back to the intro of the Gospel of John, the greatest thesis statement of all time.

John 1, 3 through 4 says, All things were created through him, and apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

And if we go all the way back to Genesis 2, 7, it says, Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

You know, if Jesus gave life in the first place and will resurrect his saints in the last day, he can do it in between, can he?

Absolutely, he can do it in between.

So look at what Jesus says next, the second half of verse 25.

The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.

Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?

Jesus is distinguishing between dying physically here and dying spiritually.

The enduring word commentary points out the difference of the fear of dying and the fear of death.

You know, fear of dying is a healthy, self-preserving thing that we should all have.

But fear of death should not exist for a Christian.

Fear of spiritual death should not exist for a Christian.

We should be looking forward to eternal life with Jesus Christ.

What's coming after that process of physically dying for each one of us?

So he asked Martha, do you believe this?

So look at her response, verse 27.

Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.

So again, she speaks correctly.

Her faith is admirable.

You know, she's getting it as far as eternal life goes.

But the physical side of the resurrection for her brother that day, she doesn't quite seem to be getting yet.

Look at verse 28.

Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and calling for you.

As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Jesus had not yet come in to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

So Mary was sitting.

We see her in that position one more time.

But she got busy when she heard the call of the Good Shepherd, when she heard the voice of the Good Shepherd calling her.

Look at verse 31.

The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw that Mary got up quickly and went out.

They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

Sound familiar?

The exact words that we just read from her sister.

So do you think they had been talking about this?

Maybe for the last four days they had been talking about this?

You know, oh, if only Jesus was here.

If only he would have come when we petitioned him.

If only Jesus was on time.

If only he was here when we needed him most.

Again, we don't know the tone of Mary here, but there's a theme from both of these sisters of Jesus being late, isn't there?

You know, something I'm sure they both learned in hindsight through this is that God is never late.

But in the present, they had no idea what God was doing behind the scenes and what he would do in the future.

And they didn't know that the suffering they were going through was going to lead to many, as we talked about, to many receiving eternal life in Jesus.

They are simply and rightly brokenhearted.

They just lost their brother that they love so much.

You know, and trying to figure out why Jesus didn't respond when they first petitioned him.

You know, but even in her questioning, notice what Mary does right here.

She falls at Jesus' feet.

You know, if you're mourning, if you're confused, if you're questioning, there's no better place to be than at the good shepherd's feet.

You know, there's a big difference between asking God questions and questioning God.

Isn't there?

And I don't know if these sisters are close to that line where they are exactly between, you know, asking God questions and questioning God.

But what they do correctly is they run to Jesus, they get closer to Jesus, and then we see Mary here actually fall at his feet.

And how does Jesus respond?

Look at verse 33.

When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deep.

Deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.

You know, when we read this, this can be a little bit confusing.

Why was Jesus moved and troubled when he knew that he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead?

Well, I think his really good friends, Mary and Martha, and these people that are with him, they're wailing.

They're in pain and sorrow because they just lost a brother and a friend.

Death had caused all of this sorrow to this family that he loved so deeply.

I think Jesus was moved.

And if you look at the definition, he was angered.

He was troubled by the havoc that sin and death has brought into this world.

This isn't how Jesus created the world.

And he's moved in compassion for his friends that are experiencing the result of sin being introduced into the world in the first place.

You see, we weren't created to experience and to even understand death.

We weren't created to know how to mourn death and loss.

We were created for life and perfect communion with God.

What Jesus is seeing is he's seeing his friends go through all of this as a result of mankind choosing sin over God.

Which then led to death and struggle and destruction and all of these emotions that Jesus is witnessing his friends go through that we were never meant to deal with in the first place.

No wonder God hates sin so much.

No wonder God wants us to hate sin so much.

It has turned his creation and all that he intended it to be, and it's turned it completely upside down and on its head.

And even though it's all our fault, we did this all by ourselves, Jesus has compassion on us as we struggle through this.

You know, when we were struggling through, when we are struggling through the result of our sin, Jesus isn't sitting there with his arms crossed and stone faced, you know, thinking, well, they're the sinners, they brought this on themselves.

You know, you big babies, in less than an hour your grief's gonna be removed, so stop whining and wailing.

You know, he didn't have that attitude.

No, he had compassion.

We learn Hebrews, he's our compassionate high priest.

He's not without emotion.

He cares for us like he cares for these sisters, for Mary and Martha.

You know, even though he knows the beginning from the end, he cares about us now when we struggle and when we're sad and when we're grieving.

He cares and is moved with compassion on our behalf, just like he is for these sisters.

So he asks, look at verse 34.

Where have you put them?

He asked.

Lord, they told him, come and see.

And then verse 35.

Jesus wept.

Shortest verse in the Bible.

Pretty much every kid has that memorized.

It's the easiest one to memorize.

He was not only moved, he wept with his friends and for his friends.

And this word wept here, it's different than the word used for Mary and those that were with her in verse 33.

That word means to bewail.

This word for Jesus means to shed tears.

It's like a quote in a quieter fashion.

He wasn't bewailing with them.

He started to shed some tears.

You know, when we look at the condition of the world and the destruction that sin has caused, and we see people chasing after that destruction and causing more destruction, we should do what Jesus did.

We should be moved.

We should be angered.

We should be troubled by what sin has done to this world and continues to do to this world.

It should lead us to wanting to see people be saved from the world.

It should lead us to want to see more people coming to the life that only Jesus can provide.

Jesus is the answer to everything that we're seeing here today.

And he's the answer for Lazarus' family on this day as well.

Now we're going to see here in verse 36 what's going on with the crowd.

Verse 36.

So the Jews said, See how he loved him.

But some of them said, Couldn't he who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?

So, more questions that we're seeing, right?

No one is quite sure what Jesus is doing, the methods or the reasons for his delay or any of those things.

And they're kind of asking the question here of, you know, why a good God would allow bad things to happen to good people.

You know, when you think about it, it's easier to ask, as Jesus was just confronted with a couple chapters ago, who sinned, this man or his parents?

It's easier to ask that question than to try and figure out how could God allow this to happen to this person?

Or this family in this case.

Or like verse 37, you know, if Jesus is so powerful, how come he didn't save his own friend?

But questioning God's goodness when things are hard, that should never be an option for us as believers in Jesus Christ.

We are the one that brought sin into the world.

That has brought on death and destruction to a world that God created to be perfect.

We can't question God's goodness when we experience the result of our own sin.

That was a choice that Adam and Eve made, and we would have made the same decision as well.

So we can't blame them.

But that's why Jesus came to redeem us from the debt that we racked up from our own sin to give us eternal life.

But we still have to struggle with physical death and grief and loss in this world that we are in today.

That's why Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble.

But be encouraged.

I have overcome the world.

That's why we can't question God's goodness when bad things happen to good people.

You know, he gave us perfection in life in his creation.

Then we destroyed that perfection through sin.

So he gave us perfection in Jesus to overcome the destruction we caused in the world and in our own life through our own sin.

He offers us eternal life in the perfection he intended us to have in the first place.

But because we destroyed that first perfection, he gave us perfection in Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ redeemed us.

You know, but we should be encouraged that even though we messed it all up, he has compassion on our current broken state.

Just like with these sisters of Lazarus.

You know, and next week we're gonna get to see what no one sees coming here.

And we'll get to see Jesus' purpose in the lane.

But I think the question for us here today is what should we do when we face a situation just like this?

You know, when we face hardship and not seeing God moving in the way that we think he should be moving or in the timing that we think he should be moving.

You know, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16 through 18 to rejoice in every circumstance.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

He says, rejoice always.

Pray constantly, give thanks to everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Remember, I told you I was going to tell you God's will for your life?

Here it is.

You know, and I can only do it because the Holy Spirit did it through Paul.

Rejoice always.

Even in pain and sorrow and trial, because of who God is and how much he loves us, and that he saved us and that he has compassion on us in the midst of whatever we're struggling through.

And it says, pray constantly.

Even when you think you aren't being heard, even if you think God doesn't care, or even if you think God's late, pray constantly.

This is God's will for us.

Verse 18, he says, give thanks in everything, even when surrounded by sorrow.

You can always give thanks in the goodness of God and that he cares for you and that he's always your good shepherd.

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This is his will for us.

You know, as Ben mentioned last week, all that matters is being in the presence of the Good Shepherd.

All that matters is that he is with us and that we are with him.

And when we're there, we don't have to worry about anything else.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why?

For you are with me.

You know, if you've been walking with Jesus for 50 plus years, follow the voice of the Good Shepherd.

Stay near to him in all seasons.

If you've never followed Jesus, start following today.

He's good.

He will never leave you or forsake you, and he's already given everything for you.

He is good.

You know, he's paid for the death that sin has brought on your life.

And he conquered the destruction of death in your life that was caused by sin.

Simply confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

And scripture tells us that you will be saved.

And you can start following that good shepherd, and you can learn his voice and learn how to follow that voice.

You'll become one of his sheep and begin to know his voice, and he will know you, Scripture tells us, as you follow him.

Will you please pray with me?

Lord, these are some hard verses today.

Hard things to do in hard times.

But Lord, would you teach us to do these things, to rejoice in all circumstances, knowing that you are the good shepherd, that you love us more than we can even comprehend, and that you desire to save us through the work that you did on the cross, your burial, and your resurrection.

And that you've offered us eternal life.

You've offered us perfection in eternity, the perfection that we messed up in the beginning, Lord, through sin.

So we thank you that you have saved us if we confess you as our Lord and Savior, and that you've made it so simple and so easy on our part, Lord, but it caused for you to give everything, for you to die the death that we deserved on the cross, so that you could bring us back into that relationship, that communion with God, and that we get to experience after this physical life, Lord, that we get to experience in all of eternity with you.

Help us to look forward to that day, but in the meantime to realize that you have overcome the world.

That, yeah, we're stuck in it for a moment, Lord, and in the sin and the destruction and all of the things that have taken place in this world, but you've redeemed us from that.

You've conquered the world.

We thank you that we live for your kingdom and not any earthly kingdom.

Help us to stay heavenly minded as we experience these trials and to realize this is just a season.

Lord, all of eternity is waiting for us in perfection with you, and we so look forward to that day.

But in the meantime, Lord, help us to grieve sin in our own life and the sin and the destruction and all that that has caused in this world.

And help that give us a spirit of evangelism, Lord, that makes us want to tell everybody that's living in this destruction and living for this destruction, Lord, to tell them about your goodness and that there is a good shepherd that has redeemed us from all of this.

God, you are so good.

We don't deserve any of this.

But you loved us so much that you sent your one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him will have eternal life, and we are so thankful for that.

If we become callous to that, Lord, rip those calluses off.

Help us to see afresh and anew all that you've done for us because you love us that much.

You are the good shepherd.

We are so thankful.

Help us to be obedient sheep that stay near and close to you in all seasons, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.