John 11:11-46

[0:00] And I really like, as we sang that final verse, when you die, when you go to before the throne of God, and you're standing before him in his holiness, the lion is rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

[0:14] You don't want to stand before a holy God without the Lord Jesus Christ, or be covered by his blood, or hidden behind his righteousness. It'll be damnation. It'll be a terrible day.

[0:25] So what a great song, and what a great thought and doctrine. All right, if you have your Bibles, then let's open them up to John. Gospel of John in chapter 11, where we left off last Sunday, John 11.

[0:46] And in this context here, we've gotten up to speed with, the Lord has moved on, and he's heard word that Lazarus, a man that he loved in verse 3, that he is very sick.

[1:11] And he just ignores this in verse 4 in the sense that he says, Well, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

[1:22] And so he's fully aware that he's very, very sick. As a matter of fact, he's going to die in just a day or two. I mean, it's there. But he says to his disciples, this isn't unto death, or he says that to the messengers, because he's got other plans.

[1:36] And so in verse 6, So catching back up to where we left off right here, Christ is delaying his departure to Bethany to see Lazarus, his close and dear friend that he loves.

[2:03] Mary and Martha loves them as well, very close to them. And no one can understand why he's not leaving and going. No one can, well, even his disciples are afraid for him to leave in the head.

[2:15] As you see, let's see where the next verse, verse 8, They say, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither? Again, you're walking right into trouble here, and everybody knows this.

[2:28] It'd be wise for you not to make this trip. And so we closed in verses 9 and 10, talking about the light and when it's time to work, and how you and I are children of the day.

[2:39] And he has nothing to fear, because he's working the works of God. And it's time for him to go, so he's going to go. He's not going to fear darkness and the powers of darkness.

[2:50] He's going to do what God has called and led him to do. And in this situation, God is going to be glorified in front of all of these people. And that's his intention, to give God glory.

[3:01] And so he's not going to fear what man can do unto him, and he's not going to fear any government. When God has given him a calling, and there's a will of God to be accomplished, then Jesus Christ is 100% in and ready to go.

[3:16] And the disciples are afraid. They're going to get you. They're going to kill you. They might stone you. You know that, right? And his statement about the light there, and while it is day, and he is the light of the world, shows his boldness and shows that we too can carry that same boldness in us and not fear what man can do unto us, but to be obedient to God and just let God be God and protect us and do what he does and work in ways that we can't understand or see.

[3:49] It's just our job to be obedient. So we're going to pick it up now in verse 11 and start here. And before we go any further, let's just pray again and ask the Lord to help us as we need him.

[4:03] So verse 11, Father, Lord, as we begin in this chapter and we begin to carry forward what we've been teaching and studying, it's my request to you that you'll just take your words and that you'll allow them to be manifest in this place this morning and allow them to make very clear sense to us, help us to understand what took place and understand why it took place and the way it did.

[4:29] And Lord, help us to know how we can trust you and to see your glorious hand in all of this and to understand the future and to understand your working and to never question you, even when things look terrible, even when it hurts, even when it makes us cry and mourn.

[4:44] Help us, Lord, to put all of our faith and every ounce of our trust into you and to never look back. And Lord, may these words strengthen us and declare who you are.

[4:55] And we pray this in Jesus' name. And amen. So verse 11 says, These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.

[5:11] Now, the word sleep in your Bible, we're going to see this, I'll just point it out quickly in verse 14. Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. So when he uses the word sleep, he's referring to him sleeping in death.

[5:26] He's dead. Like he is, bodies decaying, turning cold, it's rigamortis setting in. He's dead. You'd look at him and say he's dead.

[5:36] Christ says he's sleeping. Now, he's not there yet. He's just declaring to these disciples, Lazarus, our friend Lazarus, sleepeth. But I go that I may awake him out of sleep.

[5:48] Now, before we get any further, let's just run the word just a few times. Look at Acts chapter 7. And I'll show you one here. And then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. No, 1 Thessalonians 4.

[5:58] Sorry. 1 Acts 7. Secondly, 1 Corinthians 4. Ah, did it again. 1 Thessalonians 4.

[6:08] Just listen to what I mean, not what I say. Acts chapter 7. And this is where Stephen stands in front of these men.

[6:19] And they are all, they are full of anger and bitterness. And he preaches to them the truth and declares their guilt of what they did in murdering the Lord Jesus Christ, persecuting the fathers and prophets.

[6:34] And they were cut to the heart. They gnashed on him with their teeth. And he looks up, sees the Lord Jesus Christ. And they come out there and they just kill him. And in verse number 59, they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

[6:53] So he's dying right then and there. The spirit is leaving his body. And we study this enough times. James chapter 2. The body without the spirit is dead.

[7:04] The breath of life is returning to God who gave him that life. So Jesus received my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

[7:17] And when he had said this, you would think it would say he died. And yet the Bible says he fell asleep. And so when you're, in our world, when we think of, okay, if he's sleeping, then he's knocked out.

[7:33] One of the rocks knocked him out cold. So he's just unconscious. Is that what it means? It doesn't say he's unconscious. It says he fell asleep. So what does that mean? Well, the spirit is departing his body.

[7:45] It means he's dying. And look at the next verse, chapter 8, verse 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death.

[7:58] Verse 2, devout men carried Stephen to his burial. So is there any question that when the Bible uses the word he fell asleep, it's a reference to death and to then burying that body?

[8:11] Now turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. Oh man, I was trying to get you to 1 Corinthians and I didn't know it.

[8:26] I'm going to want you to go to 1 Corinthians 15 as well, but we'll get there in a minute. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep.

[8:40] What's he talking about? Well, we already know from our Bible, he's talking about death. And specifically, as Paul speaks, it speaks to believers that are asleep. Why would he say that?

[8:51] Well, because those bodies are going to come back up out of the dirt. And he says, Concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also with which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

[9:11] So, what? They're asleep, but God's going to bring them with him? So, they're not asleep.

[9:22] They're with him. They're in Jesus. So, the only sense to make of this is that it's their body that is, quote-unquote, asleep. And awaiting its awakening or to be brought back to life.

[9:38] So, they're alive with God. In verse 14, Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And verse 15, For this we say again, say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

[10:00] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ. Earlier it said, Them which sleep in Jesus. Here it says, Them the dead in Christ shall rise first.

[10:15] Now, flip back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This word's all over the Bible, and it's always a use to the body that's going to be resurrected.

[10:31] Verse 51. 1551. 1 Corinthians 1551. Behold, I show you a mystery. Something that these were not aware of and did not understand.

[10:45] We shall not all sleep, but we shall be, but we shall all be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

[11:00] We've just read that. Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them, and they're going to rise. And we, speaking of that are alive, shall be changed. So not everybody is going to fall asleep or have their bodies die.

[11:16] But rather, when Jesus Christ comes in his, in what we call the rapture, and what Paul talks about in 1 Thessalonians 4, them, the living believers are going to be changed in a moment.

[11:31] Now, it doesn't say that we're going to be raptured in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. It says that we shall be changed in a moment. Like, boom! They're going to come up, and we're going to, boom, be changed.

[11:42] And the timing after that, it's hard to say. I know you can, you can assume we're just going to disappear and be with Christ, and that could very well be. Or there might be a little lag there.

[11:54] There might be something God's going to do. But all right, come back to John 11, where we were, and I point this out because here Christ is plainly talking about him being dead.

[12:06] He's not speaking in some figurative manner or some metaphoric way, but he's speaking that he's dead. He uses the word that he's asleep because it's just going to be a few days, and he's going to have him back up on his feet.

[12:22] And so he says, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said the disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

[12:41] Now, it's kind of silly, and I can't be too hard on the disciples here because I don't know how I would react if I was one of them. And Christ said, Oh, he's sleeping. He's sick.

[12:51] He's not unto death. Oh, his sickness is not unto death. Oh, okay. He's sleeping. Oh, well, then, if he's asleep, but Christ said, I'm going to go wake him up.

[13:03] It doesn't really, my point here that kind of is silly is his disciples say, Well, if he's sleeping, he's fine. You know, why is Jesus saying, I'm going to go to Bethany so I can wake him up? Let him sleep.

[13:15] He's sick. He needs his sleep. No, I'm going to go wake him up. The thought is kind of funny that the disciples have to say, Lord, don't you know that if he's sick and he's asleep, he's fine.

[13:29] You should leave him alone. And Christ says, I'm going to wake him up. So now they don't understand at all. Okay, so another case like chapter after chapter where he's speaking right over their heads.

[13:40] He's speaking of something they don't grasp. So verse 14, then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe.

[13:52] Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, one of his fellow disciples, unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.

[14:03] Now there's two ways to look at this. One way you could say is he's just being sarcastic because they've already declared in verse 8, the Jews of late sought to stone thee and goest thou thither again.

[14:16] Like you're going into a death trap here. And he says, no, I'm going. And so Thomas says, well, I guess we should go too so we can die with him. Like Lazarus is dead.

[14:28] Christ is going to walk right into death and we might as well go do it too. I don't know if he's being facetious there and has a little bite in his tone or he's being bold and saying, well, if Christ just said that while it's day, I'm to walk, I'm the light of the world and I'm going to walk in the light, I'm going to please the Father and if they truly believe that that's what's going to happen is they're going to be killed and then if he's going then we're going with him.

[14:55] It could be bravery or it could be sarcasm. You can't really tell from the context too well. Being that it's Thomas and what we know of Thomas later in this book, he's the doubter and he doesn't believe that Christ resurrected from the dead.

[15:10] I don't know if that even has any bearing on this. But all right, verse 17, then when Jesus came, he found that he had been, that he had lain in the grave four days already.

[15:24] Now, Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlongs off and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. So Christ is very, very purposely delayed his coming because it's not that it's that far away and there's many Jews, and it's a cultural thing to go and to mourn with the family of those and to grieve with them and to spend days mourning with them.

[15:55] And so many Jews have already gone off to Mary and Martha and began this mourning. They're comforting them concerning their brother and Christ could have been there, easily could have been there already.

[16:05] So it's purposeful of his delay. Verse 20, then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. Now, when it says went and met him, she didn't just go out into the front porch or to the end of the sidewalk.

[16:23] She took off a good distance away. But Mary sat still in the house. Later on, let me find this place. Verse 30, says, Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

[16:40] So Martha left town. She heard he's coming, 15 furlongs of a journey here, and she takes off after him. It seems, and I'm just going off the note in my Bible here, that this is a little over two miles of a walk.

[16:55] And so she meets him somewhere along that way. She covers some ground and gets to him. And she says this, verse 21, Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

[17:09] Like, she ran all that way just to, what, rebuke him? Or what is she saying? What kind of a greeting is that? If you were here, none of this would have happened. I mean, she has faith in him that he could have healed her brother.

[17:25] Obviously, that's there. But it seems as if she's a bit bitter about this, even, to say, if you were here, other people were here, you delayed your coming. When I heard your coming, I came to meet you just to tell you if you were here, he wouldn't be dead.

[17:40] But, but I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Now, it sounds like she's got some faith when she says that.

[17:53] It's hard to tell fully because later on in the chapter, she kind of shows that she might not have so great faith. But as she meets him along the way, she says, if thou hadst been here, my brother not die, but I know that even now, whatsoever God would ask of, that I would ask of God, God will give it thee.

[18:13] It seems that she is hinting that you could raise him from the dead because his reply in verse 23, Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again.

[18:24] Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. That's good theology. It's been prophesied in the prophets that God's going to quicken those bodies and come up out of the grave.

[18:38] Several, Isaiah, Ezekiel, what's the other one? Daniel. So it's a common knowledge that there's going to be a resurrection of the dead at the last day.

[18:50] But Jesus got something else in mind. Verse 25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. And this is another one of his I am's.

[19:01] I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. What's that saying? Even a dead man's going to come alive.

[19:12] And I'm not talking about the resurrection of the dead. So what is he talking about? He's talking about a little different, just a little different word, the resurrection from the dead.

[19:24] And let me show you this, show this to you in a spot or two here. Look at John chapter 20. John chapter 20.

[19:35] And if you haven't seen this before or been introduced to this, it's just such a little word, but it makes all the difference.

[19:46] There's a resurrection of the dead, meaning all of the dead are going to come back alive. That's the will of God. And there are going to be a judgment. And we read that in chapter 5 where Jesus Christ is going to be the one that judge, a resurrection of life or a resurrection of damnation.

[20:03] And now, in Matthew, or I'm sorry, in John 20, notice the words of verse 9. This is after they come to the sepulcher and see that he's not there and they're not sure what's going on.

[20:18] Verse 9 says, For as yet they knew not the scripture that he, Jesus, he must rise again from the dead. So there's the dead that are staying in the dirt but he's going to come up from them.

[20:35] There's a resurrection from the dead and then there's a general resurrection of all of the dead. Do you see the difference there? Of the dead and from the dead. And so the Lord Jesus Christ came up from the dead.

[20:48] Look at Acts chapter 4. This is a message that had to be preached to Jews. They didn't understand. They didn't believe it. And early in the book of Acts, the message these disciples, these apostles were to preach.

[21:00] They were to be witnesses that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. Acts chapter 4. Verse number 2.

[21:12] Being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection, there it is, from the dead. Verse number 10.

[21:23] Be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel, but that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him that this man stand here before you whole.

[21:36] And so these, this was the message that they preached, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we gave a lot of references on that.

[21:48] I think it was last, I want to say, Easter Sunday. In Sunday school, we ran how that was the message that those disciples were preaching. When the Bible said, ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, they were witnessing that they know he's alive, that he resurrected from the dead.

[22:06] And I ran the references in early Acts, the first, I want to say, six chapters or so. It's all over that. Okay. So back in John 11, there's Christ saying, I am the resurrection of the dead.

[22:17] He that believeth in me, verse 25, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So there's going to be a resurrection from the dead, not just the general resurrection of the last day.

[22:29] Verse 26, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now, the greatest sense to make of this is that the kingdom that is promised and offered to Israel is anticipated, meaning this pause that we have been living in in roughly 2,000 years of what we call the age of grace or church age.

[22:54] This didn't have to be. And it's because of the rejection and the contidual rejection over and over and over, and specifically in the book of Acts, that God just said, okay, then I'm going to put you on the shelf for now and I'll go to those Gentiles and they'll hear this.

[23:11] But the only sense to make of this is that if Christ literally speaking to these Jews in the moment said, if you'll believe in me, you'll never die, that the kingdom is within reach.

[23:24] Remember the message from early in Matthew was the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so this seems to fit to plug that into that theme and that message that the kingdom is anticipated and therefore there could be some standing right there that would never die, but they would be translated right into the kingdom.

[23:44] and of course that kind of got paused. God's program there got paused and it'll come back to play and come right back on in time.

[23:55] Verse 26, Believest thou this? He asked and she replies in verse 27, She saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. Like meaning that that was prophesied which should come into the world.

[24:09] I believe you're the one. She has total faith in that he is the one. But it doesn't really answer the question when she says who she believes that he is. Verse 28, When she had so said, she went her way.

[24:22] And so she heads back to the house and called Mary her sister secretly saying, The master's come and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town but was in that place where Martha met him.

[24:37] The Jews then, which were with her in the house and comforted her when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. So Mary, it says earlier that she called Mary her sister secretly saying, The master come and calleth for thee.

[24:54] She's not very secret about it in her departure from the house. She just up and out the door and everybody sees her taking off and they assume some things about it and there it says that they followed her.

[25:07] And so this scene at least from Martha's perspective of going back to her sister to the house was not to drum up a bunch of attention to bring everybody out to where Jesus was but that's what happened anyway.

[25:19] So Mary, verse 32, Then when Mary was come to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying unto him and doesn't this sound familiar, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

[25:35] It just makes me imagine that that's a conversation they had at the house while they waited for Jesus to show up, while their brother was dead, while these other Jews came to mourn. I bet they sat there and said, if Jesus would have come, if he was here, and so just to hear them say the very same identical words seems like they've had this conversation already.

[25:55] When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, note that, she's weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

[26:11] Now this isn't the only time that the Lord Jesus was groaned in his spirit and was troubled. But I want you to get this scene that he views these Jews weeping.

[26:25] He views them that came from Jerusalem to mourn and comfort the family and they're weeping. They're sobbing. And this turns inwardly to him and just vexes him.

[26:39] He is not troubled like, oh, I just feel for you people so badly. This passage has been mistaught. And if you've heard it that way, hear it the right way.

[26:52] Verse 34, and said, he says this to them, where have ye laid him? And this is when he's groaning in his spirit and he's troubled. Where have ye laid him?

[27:04] And they said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. Most people take Jesus and put him right into the crowd of mourners with Mary who's fallen at his feet complaining, if you were here, she's just sobbing and crying.

[27:27] And then the other Jews that come out and they're with them and they're just having a big mourn fest. How does he fit into this? What did he say back in chapter, or back in verse 4?

[27:39] This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Okay, so that's what's on his mind.

[27:51] And there's something else. In verse 15, I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. This is what's on his mind.

[28:03] He's going with the intention of raising this dead man back to life. He's going to do it. He knows it from all the way back in verse 4. He's declared this and that's his intention.

[28:15] Oh, this isn't unto death. Okay, he's sleeping, he's dead. And I'm glad because you're going to see something, you're going to believe. I'm the resurrection and the life. This whole thing, he knows what he's intending to do.

[28:28] And when people see Jesus wept and Jesus groaned and the spirit was troubled, I've heard this too many times, it just bugs me. That's why I'm going off on it.

[28:38] a little bit. But he's not whining and he's not crying and he's not mourning over his friend Lazarus. They're wrong when they say, behold how he loved him.

[28:49] They're looking at it from a human standpoint and seeing him and thinking this human relationship just really hurts him so badly. No, it doesn't. You know what hurts him badly?

[29:00] You know why he's weeping and troubled in spirit? It's because they don't have any faith. They don't even see him as the resurrection and the life. Mary, Martha, I know, I know he'll rise again at the last day.

[29:16] I'm the resurrection and the life. Just, right past her. Mary comes out sniffling and bawling at his feet. I'm about to raise this man from the dead.

[29:29] That's why I came here. It's been plainly declared in the passage beforehand. So we know where his heart is and where his mind is. He's not troubled because somebody died. He's troubled because this people, he looked on them.

[29:44] It says in verse 33, when Jesus therefore saw her weeping, she has no hope. She's weeping. If she was, what did Paul say?

[29:56] We just read it. That she sorrow not even as others which have no hope. So she's sorrowing like someone who has no hope. She's weeping.

[30:06] The Jews that are there to mourn the comfort, they're weeping. And that just, oh, just a faithless generation that he's been called to.

[30:18] And the shortest verse in your King James Bible, everybody memorizes it early in life. John 11, 35, Jesus wept. He's not weeping because he's sad over the death of Lazarus or because he loved him so much and the pain cuts him to the heart because Jesus loved the way, no.

[30:39] People are so mixed up for some reason about this. Verse number 37. And some of them said, could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died?

[30:57] The answer is, yeah, he could have. But he didn't. They don't even know his power. They don't know his deity. They just think, oh, he can heal.

[31:08] But when somebody dies, I guess that's the limitations of his power. Why would his power have limitations if he's the son of God? With God, all things are possible.

[31:21] Do they not know this? No, they don't know this. They're carnal. They're flesh. They're carnal minded.

[31:33] They don't see the power of God. They don't know the power of God. And so verse 38, Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.

[31:46] Please get that right there. He's not walking up to this grave with all this, just, I'm just so sad. I mean, he's going to tell them it's going to be a matter of seconds until they're seeing each other face to face.

[32:01] He's not sad at all. He's just wounded in his spirit over this lack of faith. And I won't run the references, but it's there in this book.

[32:12] That's what gets him. That's what sets him off is when people won't believe. So he comes, let's pick it up, verse 38. Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.

[32:26] It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. And here's where I say Martha's faith may be not so strong as it seemed in 22. Jesus said, take ye away the stone.

[32:37] Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he had been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God.

[32:54] So where's her mind at right now? Earlier she said, whatsoever thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. Was she indeed thinking that he'll, you can raise him from the dead when he says, roll that stone away?

[33:08] I don't know. It's unclear. But she's obviously not anticipating that he's going to raise her brother from the dead. That's gross.

[33:20] Keep the stone covering the tomb. If she believes that his body's decaying and it stinks, then she's in the mindset that it's over for him.

[33:31] And we're never going to see him again until the last day, resurrection. But Christ says, didn't I tell you? You'd see something today.

[33:41] Verse 41, then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always.

[33:56] But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

[34:12] And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. I can't imagine how he came forth.

[34:23] If he was wiggling, if he was actually able to get to his feet and shimmy his way out, if he rolled out, if he just did the worm and got himself out of that thing.

[34:34] I can't imagine what exactly he did there as he came forth, bound. His face was bound about with a napkin.

[34:45] Couldn't see his face. Couldn't really see his body. You could just see this wrapped up mummy is moving and it's coming toward us. The zombie is loose.

[34:57] Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go. Now we'll have to stop here, but many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him.

[35:11] There's why John put this in there. Matthew didn't, Mark didn't, Luke didn't. John wants to make sure you believe on him and he wants to tell you of every instance that he can recall where people believed on him.

[35:24] And here's one. He raised Lazarus from the dead and people believed on him and some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done and oh, it's gonna, they're not gonna be so receptive to it.

[35:38] But let's just back up and close here this morning and consider that if you're Mary, if you're Lazarus and you're sick and you're sick and you actually go all the way to experience the sickness taking you all the way to death, to the last breath and he expired to his sisters that loved him and mourned and knew in their hearts that Jesus could have did something about it but he didn't.

[36:07] This is a reality right here whether it's death or just problems and sicknesses and family problems and personal problems and if Jesus would have, he could have did something about it.

[36:19] He could have changed it. He could have stopped that from happening. Yes, he could have. Of course he could have. But he didn't. In this case, it was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified.

[36:32] In this case, it was for some to believe. And I'm not gonna tell you every bad thing in your life is for some to believe in the glory of God but what you can do is take a lesson from this that you don't know everything that's going on in if you wanna call it the bigger picture or in what God sees and what God's doing or what pleases Him.

[36:53] It may not be what pleases you in the moment and it may be painful. It may hurt and you may not get to experience the glory of God until there's a resurrection.

[37:04] Until we get changed. But when we get changed, things are gonna be far better and you're gonna be able to look back and see how God gets the glory in it. In the moment, you don't.

[37:16] And in the moment, you cry. And you sorrow. But don't sorrow as others that have no hope. So let this be just a quick little lesson of reminding us to have faith in our God at all times whether it's easy or hard.

[37:32] Whatever it is, you can't make sense of it. Maybe it's not for you to make sense of. What you're to do is to trust Him. You're to believe. That's why He did it for those disciples, for them to believe.

[37:44] So let's close with that and then we'll come back here at the top of the hour. Thank you.