Come Experience the Love and Glory of God - Be Ready to Suffer

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and turn to John's Gospel. If you're visiting with us or you left your cell phone at home. Or your Bible.

[0:13] There's a Bible in the chair in front of you. You can pull that out and find page to the back. Find page 81. Page 81 and it goes into page 82. John chapter 11.

[0:25] John's Gospel chapter 11. We're going to do verses 1 through 44 this morning. Oh, that was a big job. 1 through 44.

[0:37] I was talking to Grant Colco a couple weeks ago. I told him I was going to do 1 through 44 with him. There'd probably be like 12 different messages. Even Scott Christmas would probably do like 15 different messages from that. 1 through 44.

[0:48] Get this whole chunk together. Because this is the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. John chapter 11. 1 through 44. Let me read and then we'll dive in to see what God has to tell us from his word.

[1:01] And a certain man was sick. Lazarus of Bethany. The village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was a Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.

[1:16] Whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to him saying, Lord, whom you love is sick. But as Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness is not unto death but on behalf of the glory of God.

[1:32] That the Son of God may be glorified by it. And Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, as he heard that he was sick, he stayed in a place where he was two days.

[1:48] Verse 7. Then after this he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to Rabbi, the Jews were now seeking to stone you and are you going there again?

[2:02] Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

[2:12] But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. This he said and after that he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.

[2:23] I go nor that I may awaken him out of sleep. The disciples therefore, they said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he will recover. And Jesus spoke of his death.

[2:34] But they thought he was speaking of the slumber of sleep. Therefore, then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad in order that you may believe for your sakes that I was not there.

[2:50] But let us go to him. Therefore, Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to the fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. And Jesus came.

[3:01] He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. And Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning the brother.

[3:13] Verse 20. Therefore, Martha, as she heard that Jesus was coming, went out to meet him. But Mary still sat in the house. Martha therefore said to Jesus, Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died.

[3:25] Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

[3:39] Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes into me shall live even if he dies. And all the ones who live and believe into me will never die.

[3:50] Do you believe this? Jesus said to him, yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Messiah. The son of God.

[4:01] The one who comes into the world. And when she said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, privately. The teacher is here and calls for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and was coming to him.

[4:15] And Jesus said, not yet come into the village. It was still in the place where Martha met him. The Jews then who were with her in the house and comforting her, seeing that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

[4:31] Therefore, as Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him. She fell at his feet, saying, Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died.

[4:43] Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews came with her weeping, he was outraged in spirit and troubled in himself. And said, where have you laid him?

[4:55] They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus cried. And so the Jews were saying, look how he loved him. But some of them, could not this one who was able to open the eyes, the one who is blind, have kept this one from dying?

[5:13] Therefore, Jesus, again outraged within himself, came to the tomb and it was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, he stinks.

[5:29] For it's been four days. Twelve days, well, good thing it wasn't twelve days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you, if you believe you will see the glory of God? Verse 41.

[5:41] So they removed the stone and Jesus raised his eyes above and said, Father, I thank you that you hear me. And I know you always hear me. But because, and I said it, because of those standing around, in order that they may believe that you sent me.

[5:58] And when he said these things, with a loud voice, he cried, Lazarus, come out! The one who died came forth bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

[6:11] Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. The dentist.

[6:25] I think some of you just had goosebumps run through your arms right now as I said that word. I had to go to the dentist on Friday. I have nerve exposure, so when the hygienist is digging, I grab the armrests and I pull up as hard as I can.

[6:46] Oh my goodness gracious! Oh, okay. The dentist. I have a juxtaposition relationship with the dentist.

[6:58] I love and hate him. Even with my hygienist, such a sweet lady. It's like you love them, you need them, but you hate them.

[7:13] Right? Right? Right? Well, in our passage, what's also juxtaposed are concepts.

[7:26] Actually, there's two concepts you'll see. They're juxtaposed to each other. And they seem to actually contradict. But in reality, it's a paradox.

[7:37] Because both are true. So John, he's calling his readers, calling us, come receive Jesus. Come believe.

[7:48] Come trust Jesus. Know Jesus. And today, what we'll see is, come experience the love and glory of God, slash, be ready to suffer.

[8:01] These two concepts are juxtaposed to each other. And they seem to contradict, but they don't.

[8:15] Both are true. Come, experience the love and glory of God, be ready to suffer. Come, experience the love and glory of God, but beware, it means you must be ready to suffer because his glory is seen in suffering.

[8:37] I mean, look at Jesus. What seemed to be absolute disaster, what seemed to be absolute chaos and failure and just flat out huge problem that's happening, it's glory.

[9:00] Jesus died, but he saves us through his death. Suffering, no, no, glory.

[9:13] And by the way, the suffering includes disaster or disease, sin or sickness, conflict or cancer. And, that suffering may culminate in death.

[9:25] How very conflicting with the world these past two years where you now say, be safe.

[9:42] Right? Now you say, be safe. But what if safety is not part of the glory of God?

[9:55] God's purposes for us. Even when, I say if, even when it means we suffer must not be seen as outside his intentional love for us.

[10:10] In other words, all he does for us as his people is out of love for us and to glorify himself. though heartache, sickness, and even death is outside our expectations, it doesn't mean God is incompetent, insensitive, or unloving.

[10:44] And that's the first thing we think, isn't it? First thing we think, God, you're just insensitive. God, you just don't love me. Or as I heard on Friday, how could a loving God do this?

[11:04] Friends, it just means sickness and death befits his greater and unseen purposes. and yet, as the song goes, we doubt his love when things go wrong, when things go bad.

[11:24] Realize this means then, Jesus, our good shepherd. Remember, he's our good shepherd. He's very willing to have us suffer even to the point of death so that he may be glorified and his call to us is to trust him amid the hard times.

[11:47] So he'll get glorified and don't worry, you'll be vindicated. Because wasn't the Son of God vindicated?

[11:58] What looked like complete disaster, Jesus died, that's what we're gonna celebrate, we'll celebrate his death, what he's done for us, and yet, he was vindicated by the Father.

[12:09] He rose from the dead. So will you be. And this text gives us the hope of vindication. And sometimes, it's four days later, sometimes, it's 40 years later, and sometimes, it'll be 4,000 years later.

[12:26] Our God loves us by conquering death because Christ is true life. So our lives must now be defined by the life we live in Christ, focusing on Christ, not focusing on our circumstances, even if those circumstances involve suffering.

[12:48] That's why we sang these songs. Whatever my God ordains is right, God moves. And that's why we began with, lift high the name of Jesus.

[13:00] We began there. So when suffering and sin, sickness and death come, we cannot, we must not, view it as a betrayal of God's love for us or a contradiction of His love.

[13:19] Instead, look for the glory of God. You sang it. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.

[13:33] What looks like to be God frowning, He's actually smiling because something else will come about from His purposes. That's why it's a paradox.

[13:48] Love in the midst of suffering. I mean, in every circumstance, we must see that God is doing great and amazing things. Even if the result, as one writer says, quote, does not appear to meet the demand, our demand, end quote.

[14:08] Things are not what they seem. That's why we use the term unseen. But it's in those circumstances that God is outraged and troubled.

[14:21] He's angry and emotionally troubled over sickness, suffering, sin, and death. So, let us trust in our Lord. Let us put our hope in Him for He comes to you, Christian.

[14:33] as Klink says, quote, meeting you where you are in your difficulties, embracing the suffering you face just as fully as He embraces you, end quote.

[14:49] He's with you, O Christian, and what brings Him such a joy is when we trust Him. We'll see that in a moment. So, this sign, this act, this work of Jesus, it shows Jesus' identity.

[15:04] It shows His mission. It's the sixth sign. And Jesus will show only He can give life because He is life.

[15:15] He is resurrection. He is life. It's Him. It's His identity. He defeats death and He uses the sufferings of sin, as one writer puts it, for God's good purpose and glory.

[15:30] Only He is able to give life to a dead and dying world. So, with that, we'll walk through this text and you're going to see four juxtaposed points.

[15:43] and one of them kind of, actually does contradict each other, but they're juxtaposed to each other and then you're also going to see a key to seeing the glory of God.

[15:54] Right in the middle of the text you'll see that. The key to see God's glory. So, first point that's juxtaposed. Number one, death, glory. You're actually just going to see this at the end as well, death and glory.

[16:10] Death, glory. Verses one through six, notice. It begins with Lazarus, certain man, he was sick, of Bethany, the village of Mary and Martha. And it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, wiped his feet with her hair.

[16:24] That's her brother, Lazarus, he was sick. Interesting how the story is going to focus more on Mary and Martha. And here's Bethany, it's on the east side of the Mount of Olives, a couple miles from Jerusalem.

[16:39] And it's this Mary that you find out from John chapter 12, but also from Luke chapter 7. She was the one who anointed Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

[16:50] So you see, there's a close, intimate relationship with this Bethany family in Jesus. So much so, look at verse 3, therefore the sister sent him, saying, Lord, whom you love is sick.

[17:04] They were able to send word to Jesus. The one whom you love is sick, Lazarus. So indirectly, they're saying, please come and heal him, Lord.

[17:18] Remember how you heal people? Please come heal him. That's what they're basically saying. Verse 4, look at what Jesus says.

[17:30] The sickness is not unto death. In other words, the intention of the sickness is not to result in finality of death, but it's on behalf of or for the glory of God.

[17:42] In other words, it would be to magnify God's glory by magnifying the Son of God, Jesus says, in order that the Son of God may be glorified by it, the sickness.

[17:56] And it's going to be through the sign that he's going to perform this work. So if one gives glory to God, then one must give glory to the Son. And notice the disclosure of God's glory is preeminently and dominantly seen in the beloved Son.

[18:14] And it will be through the rays of Lazarus that the Father will glorify the Son. You honor the Son, you honor the Father, honor the Father, honor the Son. They go together. We've seen that in John's Gospel. And look at what happens in verse 5.

[18:27] So Jesus is talking about the glory of God is the Son of man glorified, and then verse 5, he loved Martha, the sister, Lazarus. He loved them. He had a deep connection with the family.

[18:41] Verse 6, as he heard that he was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two days. He stayed longer, delaying to see Lazarus.

[18:56] So Lazarus would die from this sickness. Stayed. The word stayed or remained is juxtaposed from verse 5 where it says he loved them, but yet these do not contradict.

[19:12] No, because God's purposes for us, even when it means we suffer, must not be seen as outside of his intentional love for us. We see death, he sees glory.

[19:26] glory. We see death, we see there's no love, but he sees glory and love. All he does for us is his people is out of love for us and to glorify himself.

[19:43] I said this earlier. So that Jesus, our good shepherd, is very willing to have us suffer even to the point of death so that he may be glorified. What was his call to us?

[19:53] We're going to see this more so in a few moments. His call to us is to trust him amid the hard times. Death, glory.

[20:05] We can even say glory and love if you want to. That's the first point where it's juxtaposed to each other. A second one is juxtaposed. Life, danger, light, walking.

[20:19] Life, danger, light, walking. Look at what happens in verse 7. So they stayed two days longer and he says, let's go to Judea again. And the disciples freaked out. Lord, the Jews are going to stone you.

[20:35] You want to go there again? You want to go back? Now this would be crazy if it's outside the Father's plan. Jesus, verse 9.

[20:47] Are there not 12 hours in the day? Jews and Romans divide the day into two 12-hour time periods. If you walk in the day, you won't stumble. Well, duh. Right?

[21:00] I mean, if you try to do that at night with no lamps, no flashlight, you're going to stumble. You're going to fall. It's the light of this world that gives light.

[21:11] See, the problem is an internal problem. That's what Jesus is saying. Humanity is in the state of darkness. That's the condition of their hearts. That's the real problem. And the only solution is to walk in the light, to walk in Christ.

[21:31] Jesus is the only solution. See, they did not understand that they were in Christ already, so they could not be any more secure. If anyone walks in the night, he says in verse 10, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

[21:47] The light was in them. They could not be any more secure. If you're walking in Christ, if you're light walking, what looks to be like danger, it's not danger. It's danger, but it's not danger.

[22:02] Even if they face a life-threatening situation, if we're in Christ in the light, guess what? You're right where you're supposed to be. But wait, it means there's danger.

[22:14] There's risk. But if you are walking in Christ, you're right where you're supposed to be, even if there's danger. Jesus was safe and secure because he did the Father's will.

[22:32] When we belong to God, our Father, we are safe and secure, even if the circumstances in which we find ourselves scream otherwise.

[22:47] There's the juxtaposition. Life, danger, light, walking. Number three, these two definitely contradict. Christ-focused versus circumstance-focused.

[23:01] It starts in verse 11 all the way to verse 24. Being Christ-focused versus circumstance-focused. It starts in verse 11. Finally, Jesus, our friend Lazarus, he's asleep.

[23:15] That's the specific return. Sleep was a metaphor in the ancient world to stand for death. But the disciples took it literally. Lord, verse 12, if he falls asleep, he's gonna recover.

[23:26] Verse 13, Jesus said this, speaking of his death, but they thought he was talking of the slumber of sleep. If he sees he's gonna get better, notice verse 14.

[23:38] Finally, Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And look at what he says here. He's dead. But I'm glad because of you in order that you may believe that I wasn't there.

[23:50] So wait, are you saying that you let Lazarus die so that way you believe? Is Jesus being harsh here? No. He already said that death would not be the end, but God had greater purposes in mind.

[24:05] Look, just because there's death doesn't mean that God doesn't love you. Though it doesn't feel like it. Just because there's death and suffering and hardship, it doesn't mean there's no life.

[24:23] When sin and sickness, suffering, and death come, look at what Jesus says again in verse 15. I am glad for your sakes in order that you may believe that I was not there.

[24:36] That's how it literally reads from the Greek. So what truly brings joy to God? We trust Him.

[24:47] He loves it when we trust Him. He enjoys it when we are humble and our focus is on Christ, not on our circumstances. Here was an opportunity to engender faith in the disciples and others.

[25:03] A challenge to the disciples, a challenge to the sisters in the midst of this struggle, in the midst of this hardship, in the midst of this. I mean, imagine living this for four days. The brother, and really even before that, maybe Lazarus was sick for a month.

[25:18] Maybe he was sick for two months. Who knows? And finally, they got word to Jesus, Lazarus, he's sick. So maybe he'd been sick for a month. It's just horrible pain and suffering.

[25:30] And then he dies. It's being Christ-focused. Well, look what happens in verse 16. Thomas, what a neat guy.

[25:42] You know. He was called Didymus, which means a twin. He was a twin. An honorable and courageous statement. Totally. I mean, let us also go that we may die with him.

[25:53] Die with him, meaning Jesus. He'd run scared and doubted later, but, and basically, the disciples weren't going to die.

[26:05] Jesus was going to die. But even still, as Thomas said this, he actually spoke better than he knew. Because Thomas was actually exhorting Christians, believers, to trust Christ, even when belief is beyond what we presently understand.

[26:22] focus on Jesus. Notice how the circumstances are starting in verse 17 all the way to verse 24. He came, he'd been dead already in the tomb for four days.

[26:37] He's truly dead. And the Jews, notice, the Jews from verse 19, many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, they came to console them from Jerusalem because Bethany is only a couple miles away from Jerusalem.

[26:49] and understand this, in Judaism, first century Judaism, the deceased was to be buried the day of their death and they'd be followed by six days of mourning, so a total of seven days of mourning.

[27:04] So they came to comfort the family, the Jews, to console them. Notice verse 20, she heard Jesus came, so she went out to meet him. Mary stayed in the house because they're emotionally responding to Jesus in different ways.

[27:21] Jesus was patient with both of them. And then look at what Martha says to Jesus, verse 21, Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died. Kind of indirectly rebuking him.

[27:37] Lord, you should have been here. Where were you? Confidently, he could have healed. Yet she rebuked him for not coming because unfortunately she was focusing on her circumstances.

[27:56] Jesus' response, he said to her, and the text says again, but there is no again in the Greek. It just simply says your brother will rise. And her response, I know he's going to rise last day in the resurrection.

[28:11] And I know, she says, I know, even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you. She knew this. But in this case, she really didn't know.

[28:26] She actually didn't have faith in Jesus. She lacked that understanding. And she misunderstood him because, you know, he says that your brother is going to rise. Well, yeah, he's going to rise at the last day. Notice how it shows her lack of faith and lack of knowing who Jesus truly was.

[28:39] No, no, no, no, no. He is resurrection. I believe in Judaism to be sure that it's going to be the last day of resurrection. And she found comfort in God's promise for sure, but she needed to find comfort in Jesus that he is the very promise.

[28:58] It's him, the person of Christ. And now notice how the text moves us into the key, brings us to this part right in the middle, the key to see God's glory and suffering.

[29:14] What is the key to see the glory of God in the midst of our suffering? Trusting Christ. We've already seen this before about trusting Jesus.

[29:27] Verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The fifth of the seven I am statements.

[29:39] Which describes his identity and mission. It gives a detailed picture of who he is. Notice, he is not will be, I will be resurrection. No, I am resurrection.

[29:50] I am life. It cannot be outside of who Jesus is. And we see the first term views things from an eschatological point and the second term from a present point.

[30:05] yet both terms are put together to show that both terms must be seen together. Life is an eschatological hope. Resurrection is something that can happen now.

[30:17] Jesus can resurrect now. Jesus can resurrect somebody from the dead now. They're dead, he can make them alive. And it's this resurrection and life that is located in Jesus.

[30:28] He is resurrection. He is life. Trust him. If you trust in Jesus, you will come to life though you die. So this means that both resurrection and life are present yet still yet to come all located in Jesus and trusting Jesus.

[30:50] One writer says this, Jesus is both the promise of the provision of God for the future and the present reality of the provision of God. We can have him now and later.

[31:05] Notice how resurrection has unfolded in this phrase. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Notice the first, excuse me, the next part. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies.

[31:20] Live even though you die. You'll be resurrected. And notice how life, the word life unfolds in this next phrase, verse 26. And all those who live and believe in me will never die.

[31:34] They live, there's a work that God does in them. They believe, a result of God's work, they'll never die. Eternal life is what they have. Life is a different kind of life.

[31:46] A present reality, you have it now. So faith in Jesus means we no longer live under the power of death. Oh, the power of suffering has no authority.

[31:57] Why? Because God uses it for his own purposes and glory. Belief rests securely in Jesus but also one's life is renewed and redefined by Jesus because we know it's not about his physical presence.

[32:14] That's not what it's about. It's about his position and his position is not confined by distance. His position is not confined by time. And notice what Jesus does here.

[32:27] He says, I am resurrection. I am life. And look at what he asks Martha. Do you believe this? Martha, do you believe this?

[32:39] Do you believe in my personal work? Do you believe in my identity and mission? Do you believe in me? I am the epitome of the glory of God. Even you today, are you here?

[32:52] You don't know Jesus. Do you believe this? You must come to trust Jesus. Believe him who he says he is. Repent and trust Christ and you'll be saved.

[33:05] You'll live forever. Forever with God. Do you trust him? This is the key. Trust him. Trust him. Trust him.

[33:16] That's the key. And she says it. Verse 27. She said to him, Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who comes into the world.

[33:30] Practically verbatim how John desired his readers to respond to Jesus. You're the Messiah, the Son of God. You've come. And this is one must believe about Jesus. He's come to die.

[33:41] She personally trusted Christ. Christ Jesus, it's what's called a fiducia kind of trust. In other words, a personal trust, confident personal commitment to Christ.

[33:56] That's the key to seeing the glory of God. Trust Christ. Oh, Christian. And then it ends, we see here, with this last juxtaposed point or points together.

[34:12] You see, outrage and death slash purpose and glory. Outrage and death, purpose and glory. Notice death and glory are juxtaposed again.

[34:27] Verse 28. She leaves. She informs Mary quietly, privately. Draws Mary away for the ceremonial and religious mourning procedures.

[34:38] She got up quickly. Jesus was still not present in the village, it says there in verse 30. He was there where Martha still met him. And the Jews saw her leaving quickly, so they followed her.

[34:51] Verse 32. And they said, oh, sorry, they supposed that she was gonna go to the tomb to weep there. Then verse 32. She came where Jesus was, said almost the exact thing to Jesus as Martha, kind of chastising him for not doing what he could have done and yet, she's falling down before him.

[35:10] There's just more emotion here showing her worship of Jesus. Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died. And then look at the emotions from verse 33.

[35:24] Therefore, Jesus saw her weeping, the Jews who came with her weeping, and then you have these words. New American Standard translates like this. He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.

[35:38] Actually, and I translated it for you, and they're hard to translate. He was outraged and troubled in himself. Outrage could be a response of anger or displeasure or it could be emotion.

[35:52] You can translate it both ways. In the majority of context where this word is used, it means anger or displeasure or outrage. Well, that's hard to understand.

[36:05] So it seems that Jesus is more angry and then also grieving. But what was he angry at? Why was he outraged? It seems to be Jesus was outraged at the condition of sin and unbelief, at the spiritual death around him, which is the true effects of sin.

[36:29] And it conjured up great emotion for him too. That's why it says he was troubled himself. Jesus was outraged at the defiant attitudes against the Father. Attitudes that did not want to do the Father's will like him.

[36:44] And it's the sin, suffering, unbelief, selfishness that created tears. Notice verse 34. And he said, where have you laid him? They said, this is the sisters probably, come and see, Jesus cried.

[37:02] People would misunderstand him thinking he was mourning over the loss of Lazarus when in fact he was outraged at sin, unbelief, suffering, superficiality of these people.

[37:16] That's what he was outraged over and it troubled him. That's what brought tears to Jesus. Which you see them, they misunderstood.

[37:27] Verse 36. Some were saying, oh, look how we loved them. Look how we loved him, Lazarus. But then look at verse 37. Some of them say, well, I don't know. Could not this guy open the eyes of the blind also heal this guy?

[37:40] I mean, come on. That's kind of audacious. They're rebuking Jesus. Skeptical. That's the very reason he was outraged.

[37:52] They did not see that they were not giving any glory to God. They thought he had morally failed. God was inept. Jesus was inept.

[38:04] To do anything about this. unbelief was there because they only relied upon displays of power versus the true identity of Jesus.

[38:18] Notice verse 38. Jesus, therefore, again, there's that word again, outraged again in himself, same word, an angry emotional response towards them, which drove him to the tomb.

[38:32] It drove him, motivated him, and it was a cave and the stone was there and he said, verse 39, remove the stone. It's time for me to work. But Lord, he smells.

[38:51] It's been four days. They do the whole embalming thing and stuff like that, but still, I mean, it's been four days. Look at what Jesus says in verse 40.

[39:02] Did I not say to you if you believe you'll see the glory of God? He rebuked Martha because she assumed his authority to act was limited by death and that he was not the full display of resurrection.

[39:17] He was not the full display of life. But he would manifest God's glory by raising Lazarus, a sign that he would point to him. There you go.

[39:29] I was wondering, like, uh-oh, she's going around. Look at verse 41 then. We'll go to verse 41. So they removed the stone and then Jesus prayed lifting his eyes above, a posture that reflected his union with the Father.

[39:47] Father, I thank you. You've heard me. He already heard Jesus regarding the sign that he would do. This shows his complete and total dependence upon the Father.

[39:59] so much so. I know you always hear me because you're the one who sent me. You sent me to do this work. There's outrage and death, but here you're going to see great glory.

[40:15] You always hear me. Verse 42, I know that you always hear me. Here's the purpose of why you sent me. He has an ontological union with the Father.

[40:26] Father, and keep in mind that if the Father hears the Son and God's children are the ones who embrace Christ by faith, then God always hears us.

[40:39] Don't forget that. Praise the Lord that the Son prays to the Father for us when we don't know what to pray when we're suffering. I know, listen to us. We pray to the Father through Jesus and the power of the Spirit.

[40:51] That's what Jesus does. He's praying and thanking, Father, I know you always hear me. And he says, I'm saying this so that those who are standing around will know that you truly have sent me the union that he has with the Father.

[41:08] Verse 43. Thanks. I don't know where I'm at. Oh yeah. Okay, good.

[41:21] Verse 43, he said these things and with a loud voice he cried, Lazarus, come out! It's a good thing he said Lazarus' name. I guess everyone would have come out.

[41:36] Jesus showed his office as the Son to whom the Father gave the authority over life and death. Jesus has authority over life. Jesus has authority over death. And he came out!

[41:49] Bound feet and hands so tight that he probably was hopping or maybe shuffling like this when he came out. And there was a separate cloth around his face that probably looked creepy.

[42:05] Alive! Healed! Very much doing well. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. So, the Son of God has been glorified.

[42:18] Jesus showed who he was. And notice the vindication takes place. So now, here we see a passage about death, horrible circumstances, conflict, sadness, despair, or glory, love, grace, resurrection, life, power.

[42:48] See those terms juxtaposed? And yet, they go together as far as God's concerned. When suffering and sin, sickness and death come, we cannot, we must not view it as a betrayal of God's love for us or a contradiction of his love.

[43:10] Instead, look for the glory of God. And you may need to pray that. God, help me to see your glory in this. Here's this awful conflict happening.

[43:21] Here's this horrible thing that's going on. Here's this terrible event that's taking place in my life. Help me to see your glory in this because I don't see it. I ain't feeling it, Lord.

[43:35] And though heartache sickness and death is outside our expectations, it doesn't mean God's incompetent, it doesn't mean God's insensitive, it doesn't mean he's unloving.

[43:48] It means sickness and death befits his greater and unseen purposes. God, I said this before, God's purposes for us, even if it means, when it means we suffer, must not be seen as outside his intentional love for us.

[44:04] In other words, all he does for us is out of love for us and to glorify himself. I mean, that's the heart of what we're doing when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. We're celebrating death.

[44:17] We're celebrating a horrible, awful, some guy naked on the cross. That's what we're celebrating. But that's actually glory.

[44:32] That's life. That's resurrection. It's truth. So come, experience the love and glory of God, but beware, it means you must be ready to suffer, because his glory is seen in suffering.

[44:54] Be ready for that, Christian. If Jesus suffered this horrible death, say he can save us. If they hated him, they're going to hate us.

[45:06] If he suffered, we will also suffer. We read that. It's been granted to you. It's a gift to you to not only believe in Jesus, but you're also going to suffer for Jesus.

[45:21] That's the gift given to us. He suffered for us. We're going to celebrate what he's done for us. And by the way, this is for those of you who know Christ.

[45:32] Maybe you're not part of this church, but you come from a church of like faith and practice. We would prefer you're baptized by immersion. Partake of this with us. But if you don't know Jesus, this is not for you.

[45:44] And if you have something against another Christian, if you have not tried to go, it's one thing when you try to go and you can't reconcile, but it's another thing you haven't gone, you're like, oh, I'm not going to go reconcile.

[45:56] If you haven't gone, don't take the Lord's Supper. Wait. Try to reconcile with a person, another Christian or non-Christian for that matter. Then come next time when we partake of the Lord's Supper. God has reconciled with us.

[46:09] God has shown his glory through the death of Jesus. Let's thank him for it and let's ask him to help us to focus at this time. And that's what we pray for, Father. Help us in this time to focus.

[46:22] We examine our hearts. We know that we're sinners and yet we thank you that you give us life. We thank you through the cross that you've forgiven us. It's this gospel, the truth of the gospel to which we cling.

[46:39] It's you, oh Jesus, to whom we cling. We thank you that in your death there's glory. In your death we have life.

[46:52] In your suffering there's salvation. in this justice that was put upon you, Jesus, we are justified.

[47:09] May we relish in this, that we fill our minds with the truth that we've seen from the word this morning. Thank you, Jesus, for showing your glory.

[47:22] Show your glory in us as a church, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So take this time if you would examine your hearts, reflect upon gospel truth, speak it to yourself, remind yourself you deserve nothing but God was gracious to you to save you, only through the cross.

[47:47] Take a few moments to do that. We'll sing, we'll prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper, but take this time to do you and the Lord to do that this next minute. Please do that now.

[48:13] Thank you for understanding. I perceive you for another few words of ministry, slide down to you. Thank you for