Let's turn again for a little to the chapter we read in John chapter 11.
And we can read that from verse 38 where it says,
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, Take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.
This is probably one of the best-known chapters in the New Testament,
and I'm sure everybody has heard many a sermon on this
because it is so full of instruction, so full of meaning.
It is really quite a remarkable chapter,
and it highlights very much the care and the compassion of Christ,
the authority, the power of Christ.
It highlights his humanness, highlights his godness.
And the chapter is full of instructions for us.
And we see the delay of Christ responding to the news that Lazarus was very ill,
and this was a family that he loves.
And it teaches us that the delays of Christ in answering doesn't mean that he's not hearing us.
You know, sometimes when we pray and it appears that the Lord isn't hearing,
there's no answer to our prayer.
We're liable to think, God's not listening.
God's not hearing.
Well, this chapter shows us very clearly that the Lord was fully aware.
The Lord was responding.
But what we've got to learn is that at the end of the day,
God will always work things for his own glory.
And that's a problem for us because we expect things to,
when we bring a matter before the Lord,
we have worked out in our own mind how we want it to work out.
And the Lord might have a completely different purpose and a different plan
because his plan and his way is for his glory.
And while we very glibly say that we want to live to the glory of God,
doing that actually can be really challenging and really difficult.
And that's where faith has to come into exercise.
Because if we're suitably exercised by faith,
and our faith is fixed constantly upon Christ,
then we will be seeking the glory of God,
and we will understand something of the delays
and something of the cross providences that appear to come our way.
Also, it shows us here that we're not always ready
for the way that the Lord will work
because we find Martha in verse 22 saying,
I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
So that's Martha saying to Jesus, whatever.
I know, Jesus, whatever you ask.
But the thing is, Martha wasn't ready for the whatever.
Because when Jesus asks them to take away the stone,
Martha's horrified.
And Martha's basically saying, you can't do that.
No, Lord, not that.
And I'm sure we've been there as well.
Because there have been times we've said,
maybe not audibly, but in our hearts,
we're saying, Lord, what are you doing?
Lord, not this.
And that shows us that we're not alone.
Here's this good woman.
And she's saying, I know, whatever.
But when Jesus begins to tell whatever means,
she's saying, no, not that.
And again, we see that the sisters make the same mistake.
Both Mary and Martha believe that if Jesus had been present,
that Lazarus would not have died.
They both think that.
And again, sometimes we make the mistake
when losses and pains and difficulties come into our life,
that it's a sign that the Lord isn't with us.
That is not the case.
The Lord had a purpose in allowing Lazarus to die,
as is very obvious here.
But sometimes we make the mistake of thinking
that the Lord isn't there.
Well, we've always got to remember
that the way that God works is
that he has to try us.
You know what the Lord says of the trial of our faith?
That it's more precious than gold.
Now, we know how precious gold is.
But in the Lord's sight,
the trial of our faith
is of far more importance and more value than gold.
And so it's inevitable,
but the Lord is going to test his people.
It makes it very clear it's a mark, indeed,
of the Christian that they will be tested along the way.
But the thing is, often our eyes of faith are dimmed
and we're not seeing in the way that we should.
And Jesus says in verse 40,
Jesus said,
Did I not tell you if you believe
that you will see the glory of God?
You know, unbelief
is an incredible blight on our Christian life.
Unbelief robs us of seeing so much.
Unbelief is a hindrance to the work of Jesus.
It's not a sense of unworthiness
that holds back the work of Jesus.
It's not a sense of our sin
that holds back the work of Jesus.
It's unbelief.
It tells us in Mark's gospel,
He could do no mighty works there
except lay hands on a few.
And he marveled at their unbelief.
So you see how unbelief hinders
the work of Christ like little else.
And it's a challenging question to ourselves as well.
Is unbelief hindering
and holding back in our life
the work of Jesus?
Because you see,
unbelief clouds our sense
of how the Lord is working.
You could have two Christians
looking at exactly the same situation.
And one Christian could be saying,
Oh, do you know, it's wonderful.
It's wonderful the way the Lord is working.
I'm amazed at what the Lord is doing.
And another Christian beside is saying,
Oh, do you know,
Lord's not with us at all.
Nothing happening today.
Everything is dead.
And the problem is
of what's going on within the person's heart.
One person has a vision to see.
One person has a sensitive heart,
a tender heart,
a spiritual heart,
a heart that is fixed
by faith and the glory of God
and is seeing God at work,
sees God in everything.
And the other person
is hindered and hampered
because of unbelief.
And remember,
unbelief is still there
in the heart of the Christian.
Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.
And you will find unbelief
very much in the prejudiced heart
and in the hard heart.
And so we need to seek
to have our hearts softened
and our hearts molded by Christ
so that there will be a seeing
all that Jesus is doing.
And again, this chapter brings before us
one of the most remarkable statements
that Jesus ever made,
where he says,
I am the resurrection and the life.
where Jesus is stating
that he is a personal guarantee
that he will win victory
over death and over the grave.
And that because he will win victory
over the death and the grave,
so will all his people.
And you know,
that's a glorious hope.
If you're a believer tonight,
you know something,
you have a wonderful hope in your heart.
Paul likens death to sleep.
So does Jesus.
And when you and I go to bed at night,
two things happen.
One is we have rest.
And another thing is we have renewal.
You get up the next day
and that's you ready for another day.
And in a sense,
that's what happens in the grave as well.
Our bodies are laid in the grave to rest.
Till when?
Till the resurrection.
And at the resurrection,
we find that everything is going to change.
Because the return of Jesus
is going to change things
in a way that we cannot even begin to imagine.
You know, when Jesus returns,
it's going to be so different
to how he came.
At this time of year,
so many are thinking about the birth of Jesus.
When Jesus came into this world,
very, very few recognized him.
as the Messiah,
as the Son of God,
as who he is,
the second person of the Godhead,
come in our nature.
But you know,
the day he returns,
there won't be one solitary soul alive
that will have the slightest doubt,
but that this is the Son of God.
because we're told that when Jesus returns,
it will be the most amazing spectacle.
There'll be dazzling brilliance as he returns.
He'll descend from heaven,
and there'll be three great,
as it were,
phenomenon occurring at the same time.
the Lord will shout.
It also tells us
that there will be the voice of the archangel,
and there will be the sound of the trumpet of God.
Now, we know that
the trumpet was often used
to signal the dawn of the day.
the trumpet is often used
to signal the arrival of royalty.
But here, the trumpet,
yes, it's going to announce
the arrival of royalty,
but it's going to do more than that.
It's announcing the resurrection.
It's announcing the opening of the graves.
The trumpet of God,
with a moment that blows,
the graves will open.
Imagine if we're still alive at that time.
What a thought that would be.
Paul tells us about that in Corinthians.
He says,
In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trumpet,
for the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we shall all be changed.
At that moment,
the graves will open,
and the graves of corruption
will give way to incorruption,
and we will be changed.
Our bodies will be changed
to become beautiful, glorious, spiritual.
We will resemble our saviour,
our mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're told that.
It's all a great mystery.
Now, Paul likens it to
planting a seed in the ground.
And he says,
Our body is like that seed.
And when you put that seed into the ground,
whether it's going to be a flower or a plant,
that seed will die.
But from the seed
will grow the plant or the flower.
So in a sense,
the flower or the plant is a seed.
Although the seed has died,
this is what has come from it.
And Paul says,
that's what it's going to be like
for us as well.
The continuation there,
so our body laid into the grave,
the same body will rise
just in the same way
as you have to plant the seed in the ground,
and from it this beautiful flower.
So it will be for the believer.
And it's no wonder
that there's this wonderful hope
within our heart.
Now, this is what,
although Jesus isn't saying all that to Martha
at this particular moment,
that is what it means
when Jesus says
that he is the resurrection and the life.
And I hope tonight
that you have this hope in your heart,
that you have this hope.
If you're a Christian tonight,
you have this hope.
If you're believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's part of what you believe in.
You believe in the resurrection.
Now, as I read on Wednesday night,
there's going to be a resurrection for everybody,
not just for the Christian.
Remember, I read in Daniel,
and it tells us,
they are very, very solemn words.
And many of those who sleep
in the dust of the earth
shall awake.
Some to everlasting life,
and some to shame
and everlasting contempt.
That's how it's going to be.
There's going to be a division
in the resurrection.
Some to everlasting life,
some to everlasting shame
and contempt.
And that's a serious thing
to reject Jesus
because Jesus is the only...
This world has nothing for death.
This world,
there's nobody that can give you
any hope
for what happens in death
apart from Jesus.
And that's why it is so important
that we lay hold upon the truth.
Jesus said,
I am the way,
I'm the truth,
I'm the life.
And it's the most wonderful privilege
that you have tonight
to be sitting
where Jesus is present,
who is the way,
the truth,
and the life.
And he's saying,
ask me.
Ask me to come into your heart.
Receive me.
Because without me,
you do not have this hope
in any shape or form.
So the Christian is able
to look at death and say,
Oh death,
where is your sting?
To look at the grave and say,
Oh grave,
where is your victory?
You'll often see in a tomb
on a gravestone
till the day breaks.
I'm sure if you walk
around a cemetery,
you'll often see that
till the day breaks.
What day?
It's the day,
the resurrection dawn.
That moment when the trumpet
will sound
and the graves will open.
And then we see
in this chapter
Jesus' reaction to death.
And we see,
of course,
that he weeps.
It's a tiny version.
It's a verse that's full
of meaning and significance.
We see that,
that Jesus,
people will say
it's the smallest version
of the Bible
and so it is.
Jesus wept.
And it shows us something
of just who Jesus is.
It shows us his care,
his love,
his concern.
He enters into our,
where we are.
Maybe tonight you have pain
in your heart.
Maybe,
maybe nobody's listening to you.
Well,
Jesus will.
That's the beauty of it.
You might not be able
to tell anybody
how you feel.
There might be things
going on in your life
nobody else knows about.
You might be able
to hide it from others.
Your face doesn't display it,
but my word,
it's going on deep in there.
Jesus is able.
Jesus is the one.
He is the shoulder
to cry on.
He is the one
who is there
and we're to go to him
and to bring
all our cares,
our anxieties,
our burdens,
our pains,
our sorrows
because he understands.
He's been there.
But he is also able
to help us
in a way that
no human
is able to help.
But there's more
to the fact
that Jesus wept
because it tells us
in verse 33
when Jesus saw
our weeping
and the Jews also
had come with our weeping,
it tells us
he was deeply moved
in his spirit.
And then again
in verse 38
it tells us
that he was deeply
moved.
And that word
actually translated
means
really there's
an outburst
of indignation
or anger.
Now we often
don't associate
that with Jesus.
But that's
at that moment
that's what
Jesus gives us
and within him
there's this
outburst of anger
within him.
Not just weeping
but there's
this anger
at what death
has done,
what sin
has brought
into this world.
The havoc,
the pain,
the destruction,
the tears,
the sorrows,
all because of sin.
And Jesus is angry.
In fact,
it's,
it has been said
that
that as he
went to the
B.B. Warfield
who says
Jesus approached
the grave
of Lazarus
in a state
not of
uncontrollable
grief
but
inexpressible
anger.
That's who he was.
He was so angry
with what
sin
has caused
and the
havoc
and the pain
and the destruction
and the death.
And so Jesus
is angry
with death.
But the wonderful
thing is
Jesus has come
to confront
death
and to confront
the devil
who's behind it
and he's come
to confront
what nobody
else could.
And as Jesus
came to the grave
weeping and angry
he commands
take away
the stone.
And of course
this is where
the protest
comes from
Martha.
Why?
Because behind
the stone
there's corruption
and nobody
wants to see
corruption.
And you know
spiritually
that's who we
are in our
natural state
corrupt.
And
there's
stones
layers of
stones
over us
that hide
from ourselves
what we're
really like.
And we don't
want to see
what we're
really like.
why do you
think people
want the
Bible
removed?
Why do
people say
whatever book
you look at
don't look at
the Bible?
Because the
Bible is the
only book
that will
shift the
stones.
The Bible
is the
only book
that reveals
to us
how we
really are.
And so
people don't
want to know.
When Jesus
came into
this world
he declared
I am the
light of
the world.
And people
didn't want
the light.
Jesus said
that.
Men love
darkness
rather than
light.
They prefer
it.
Leave me
alone.
You know
there's so
many people
don't want
to hear
the gospel.
They don't
want to
come to
church
because
they'll be
disturbed.
That's the
bottom line.
They don't
want to
hear about
sin.
They don't
want to
hear about
their
accountability
before God.
They don't
want to
hear that
inside here
there's all
kind of
corruption
and sin.
And so
people don't
want to
hear these
things.
But Jesus
says take
away the
stone.
And you
know that's
the greatest
thing that
could happen
to you
tonight.
If tonight
you're still
not a
Christian.
That the
stones that
is covering
your own
eyes from
your own
heart would
be shifted
in order
that you
would see.
And if
you're a
Christian you
look back
in your
life and
you thank
the Lord
that came
a day
when he
removed that
stone.
That was
hiding what
was in there
from yourself.
Oh it
wasn't a nice
thing to begin
with.
It was a
terrible
discovery.
But it
was the most
wonderful
discovery because
that discovery
brought you to
seek the
Lord.
To seek
his forgiveness.
To seek
his mercy.
to seek
his pardon.
To seek
his renewal.
And so
this is what
Jesus has
done.
And you
know the
wonderful
thing is
that Jesus
is the
one who
has power
over death
and over
the grave.
He
demonstrated
in his
own death.
Because
remember the
ladies they
came to
anoint the
body of
Jesus.
And as
they were
coming to
the grave
there was a
problem and
they were
saying who
is going to
shift the
stone?
Because they
knew that they
hadn't the
strength to
shift the
stone.
Who's going
to shift
the stone?
But when they
got there they
saw the
stone was
gone.
Because you
see Jesus
he no stone
no grave
could hold
him.
He had
power over
it.
And so
Jesus is the
one who
has conquered
death.
And so
Jesus approaches
the grave
miracles.
And he
comes distressed
and angry
and weeping
and he
commands
take away
the stone.
Now some
people will
say why
did Jesus
ask them
to take
away the
stone?
If Jesus
has power
over death
if Jesus
is able
to perform
so many
miracles
why didn't
he just
take the
stone away
himself
through
his own
power?
Well I
don't believe
that Jesus
is going
to use
miraculous
power to
do something
that is
quite simple
for other
people to
do.
Nobody
could bring
a person
to life
but Jesus
but plenty
of people
around could
shift the
stone.
I think
it's as
simple as
that.
And so
Jesus very
simply says
take away
the stone.
And I'm
sure that
there are
many stones
tonight
that are
covering
your heart.
If you're
still not
a Christian
it is
because of
the stone
that is
over you
so that
you're not
seeing.
If you're
a Christian
you will
look back
over your
life and
you will
remember so
many different
people.
You will
remember people
who said
things to
you.
You will
remember
people and
it was their
life that
spoke to
you.
They were
Christians
and they
loved the
Lord and
their life
spoke the
way that
they lived
their life
the way
they reacted
in situations.
There was
something about
them that
spoke to
you.
It was
one of the
stones.
Maybe by
their
lifestyle.
Maybe it
was what
they said
to you.
But these
were what
they were
beginning to
move the
stones in
your life
so that
you were
beginning to
get a
glimpse of
who you
were and
who you
needed.
And if
you're here
tonight without
Jesus Christ
you need the
stone moved
so that you
too will
discover your
need and
discover that
there's only
one who can
meet that
need and
that's
Jesus.
There are
so many
stones.
There's the
stone of
unbelief.
You know
it's possible
to come to
church week
in, week
out, month
in, month
out and
still not
believe.
There's a
stone of
carelessness,
of apathy.
Again you
can come to
church week
in, week
out, month
in, month
out and
it doesn't
really bother
you.
You hear
the gospel,
you read
it.
In fact you
could tell
people if
somebody said
to you,
you know
what do
you do to
become a
Christian?
Oh you
could quote
oh you
just believe
in the
Lord Jesus
Christ and
you'll be
saved.
But it
doesn't really
mean anything
to you.
Well let
me assure
you there's
a huge
stone over
your heart
that sure
needs to
be moved.
For some
people it's
stones of
doubt.
Other people
it might be
stones of
fear.
You know
there might
be people
here tonight
and they're
saying I
would like to
be a
Christian but
I'm afraid
of how it
will affect
my life.
What will
people say?
What will
people say in
school if
I become
a Christian?
You know
when you get
older maybe
it doesn't
matter but
when we're
young I
remember it
myself the
whole thing
of peer
pressure.
What will
other people
think?
That sometimes
holds us
back.
Well we need
that stone
removed.
It doesn't
matter what
people think.
It doesn't
matter what
people say.
It matters
what the
Lord says.
And so you
ask tonight
Lord whatever
stones are
there that are
blocking me
from accepting
you.
Take them
away in
order that I
may discover
my need and
discover the
saviour who
can meet that
need.
Because nobody
else can
except the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
Remember
Jesus says
I am the
resurrection
and the
life.
Let's pray.
Oh Lord
our God we
give thanks for
the tremendous
statement that
you made by
a grave.
When it all
seemed so
bleak so
empty there
was so much
distress and
sorrow and
sadness and
yet you made
the most
wonderful statement
that that has
been made in
the face of
death saying
I am life and
I am the
life that rises
again.
We give thanks
for the hope
that is in our
heart tonight
and that we
are able to
look at death
when it will
approach us
and to say
oh death
where is your
sting?
Oh grave
where is your
victory?
We pray for
that faith
oh Lord.
We pray if there
are any here
tonight who are
still outside
Christ that
they won't
linger any
longer because
our days are
running away.
The return of
Jesus Christ is
coming ever
closer.
and we
read there of
what will
happen on
that day
and that
some to
everlasting
shame and
contempt
some to
outer
darkness.
It tells us
that men love
darkness rather
than light
and if we
choose that
darkness
then it ends
in outer
darkness which
is a fearful
thought.
And so we
pray that the
light of Jesus
may enter into
our hearts and
into our lives
tonight and
that we may
discover what
it is to have
Jesus as our
Lord and our
Saviour as the
resurrection and
life in our
life.
Bless us all we
pray grant us
your grace and
take us all home
safely we ask in
Jesus name.
Amen.
We're going to
conclude our
service singing
to God's praise
in Psalm 16
from Sing
Psalms.
Psalm 16
from Sing
Psalms.
And the tune
is Golden
Hill.
Verse 8
Before me
constantly I
set the
Lord alone
because he
is in my
right hand
I'll not
be overthrown
therefore my
heart is glad
my tongue
with joy
will sing
my body
too will
rest secure
in hope
unwavering
for you
will not
allow my
soul and
death to
stay
nor will
you leave
your Holy
One to
see the
tombs decay
you have
made known
to me
the path
of life
divine
bliss
shall I
know
at your
right hand
joy
from your
face
will shine
these verses
verses 8
to the end
of Psalm 16
before me
constantly
before me
constantly
I said
the Lord
because
he is
at my
right hand
I'll not
be
over
up
my
!
my
For you will not allow my soul and death to stay.
Nor will you leave your only heart to see the tomb decay.
You have been known to me.
The path of life divine.
Where shall I know?
So at your right hand,
For if all your face will shine.
I'll go to the door on my right.
Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen.
Hello.
Thank you.