The Death of Lazarus - Lazarus is Raised part 2

Take your Bible this morning. Turn to John chapter 11. You know by now that we'll be in John chapter 11, a well-worn place in your Bible. Really, the Gospel of John up to this point should be well-worn. Those of you who study ahead, maybe the rest of the book is well-worn because of your study ahead. But we're continuing through chapter 11. And like I said earlier at the scripture reading at the welcome, we will finish up chapter 11 next week.

Now in chapter 11, we have been studying in depth this wonderful experience for the disciples, for the sisters, Martha and Mary, and then for these Jews who have come in on the backside of this experience. Now, I use the word "experience" purposefully. I use this word "experience" purposefully. This was a grand experience for the disciples. You should know by now what happened with the disciples. Jesus led them into this experience. They really didn't want to go. They were experiencing all types of emotions. They had lots of different reservations for many different reasons, but He drugged them along into this experience.

This was an experience for the sisters, Martha and Mary. This was their brother that had died. This took place in their home. This took place really in the middle of their lives. This was an experience. Now, just a couple of words of application here. When we find ourselves in trial, it is always an experience. You might say, "Well, Pastor, I already know that. You don't have to tell me that. I already know it." Now, what I mean by "experience" is, it's an experience with Christ. You might say, "Well, I wasn't thinking about it like that." Yes, trial difficulty is an experience with Christ.

No matter if you are like the disciples and you've been led into a difficult time, you've been led into an experience, or if you're like the sisters, your experience has been dumped on you. It is meant to be an experience with Christ personally. Now, in my own life, as I look back through my years of walking with the Lord, in all of my trials, some large, some small, I can look back through my emotions, through those circumstances, through all of the people involved in those circumstances, and I can go all the way to the heart of each situation, and I can find Jesus.

I can find the Lord, because Jesus was personally working in everything in my life, and most importantly, He was working in me. Now, last week we had the death of Lazarus, which was part one. We look at verses 34 through 39. Real quickly, we saw that Jesus moved to the tomb, verses 34 through 35. Remember how He arrived? Jesus arrived broken. Three times we saw that He was broken in spirit. He was emotional. He was gripped with brokenness, and He expressed that emotion so much so that the people recognized it. We saw the different reactions. There was a wide variety of reactions from the Jews, from the people.

Some were skeptical, maybe some were even negative, and some were somewhat supportive, because they did say, "Look how He loved Lazarus." And then we saw Jesus at the tomb in verses 38 through 39. Jesus commanded them to roll away the stone, and Martha was mortified. Horrified at the sight, the thought of seeing her brother in such a decomposed state. Now, in last week's introduction, I used a word purposefully, and that word was revealing. I emphasize that the Lord is revealing truth in these messages. The Lord is revealing how He works.

The Lord is revealing the reality of difficulties in trials, and how He works, and the fact that all of us are different, and all of us react in different ways. Now, earlier I used the word experience. In any trial, many things are revealed, and we experience these trials. Now, I want to grab those two words, and I want to put them together. When we're walking with the Lord, and difficulties come. The Lord leads us into them, or He dumps them on us. Listen, He is revealing Himself.

He is revealing truths from these scriptures pertaining to trials, how we should react, how we might react, and we are learning about the experience with the Lord Himself. Because at the heart of this whole journey with the disciples, Mary, Martha, even the Jews, was Jesus. Now, the title of the message this morning is "The Death of Lazarus." Lazarus is raised, like I said last week, and earlier this is a part two. You will see the truths that we're going to explore. The reason I went over our truths last week was really this is one message, but we had to divide it up. We see the truths there on the screens for us.

The promise revisited in verse 40. Jesus' prayer to the Father, verses 41 through 42, and the Lord's power demonstrated. Jesus' power demonstrated, verses 43 through 44. This will take us to the end of this wonderful miracle. Let's read the text together, starting in verse 40. Jesus said to her, talking to Martha, "Did I not say to you, 'If you believe, you will see the glory of God?' And so they removed the stone, as Jesus raised His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest, or hurtest, me.

And I knew that Thou hearest me always, but because of the people standing around, I said it, that they may believe, and that Thou didst sin me.' And when He had said these things, He cried out in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.' He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and His face was wrapped around with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, 'Unbind Him, and let Him go.'" So what do we see? This is Lazarus being raised from the dead. So you know the truth. I trust that you're taking these truths down. I trust that you take notes. You have difficulty taking notes.

We can assist you with that, because we want you to learn what the Lord wants to reveal to us this morning, these truths. So let's look at truth number one in our outline. Main truth number one, Jesus promised, revisited. Look back at verse 40. Jesus said to Martha, said to her, 'Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God.' Here Jesus is responding to Martha's response to His commanding that the stone be rolled away. Look back into our verses from last week, verse 38. Jesus therefore again being deeply moved. That's how He came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, a stone, and it was lying against it, verse 39.

And Jesus said, 'Remove the stone.' Martha, the sister of Lazarus, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for He has been dead four days.'" I wanted to read that because verse 40 is a response from what she said, how she reacted in the previous verses. She had reacted in protest and with great emotion. No doubt she was horrified. MacArthur said, and I quote, "She was horrified at the thought of seeing and smelling her beloved brother's body in a state of decomposition." That has to be very accurate.

She seemed to be totally faithless in this situation, but here in verse 40, it seems that Jesus is patiently taking her where she is and again moving her along. Matthew Henry the Old Puritan says that this was a gentle reproof. Lots of the other commentators and writers that I like to read, I don't know where I picked this up, they call this a gentle rebuke. I think that's accurate because she protested. She stood up against this command to roll away the stone and Jesus is gently rebuking her in this verse. But let's examine this promise revisited. There are three things I want us to examine. First, the origin of this reminder.

Go back to verse 40. "Did I not say to you?" You see He's repeating Himself. Now, I want to ask you a question. Where was this recorded? What He is stating here in verse 40? The text does not record Jesus making this statement in the previous verses. We see Jesus talking about this type of activity in verses 20 through 28. Some say, some Bible commentators say this previous statement, which Jesus is reminding her about, was not recorded in John. In other words, Jesus is talking about something that John doesn't give. Or some say this may be referring to what Jesus said in verse 4. Go back to verse 4. What does He say?

He said, "But this sickness is unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Some Bible commentators say that Jesus is referring to verse 4. But we really do not know. We don't know if Jesus is reminding her of something that's not recorded. We don't know if He's speaking of what He said in verses 20 through 28, or if He's speaking of what He said way back in verse 4. I like how MacArthur deals with this. He says, "In either case, Jesus' reminder challenged Martha to stop being concerned about her brother's body and to start focusing on him." I like that.

I like that because Jesus is at the center of this event. Remember what I said previously? He is the main character within these main characters. So there is a reminder here. Jesus is saying, "It's all about me. Remember what I have told you." Second, notice Martha's responsibility. Martha's responsibility. Did I not say to you, "If you believe?" She had a responsibility to believe. But this belief has substance. I want you to catch this. This belief has substance. First, she had to believe in what Jesus had told her. And that what He said earlier, He says, "Did I not say to you?" He is reminding her of things previously said.

So He is repeating Himself, and she had to have faith. She had to believe in what Christ had told her. Second, she had to believe in Him. Her faith was not some vague wish. A lot of people confuse faith and belief with some vague wish or some vague hope. She did not have some vague wish that was disconnected from something concrete. Her faith was in Him and in what He had told her. So she had a responsibility to believe. Now with that said, let me go back and read the verse. "Did I not say to you, 'If you believe?'" In other words, He is saying, "Believe in me and believe in what I have told you." So she had a responsibility.

Third, I want us to see Martha's possibility. "Did I not say to you, 'If you believe, you will see the glory of God.'" Now, question here. Would everyone there at this event see this miracle? Of course. Another question. Were all of those Jews that were there true believers like Martha and Mary and the disciples? No, that's not the case. So what am I showing you? All of those that were there, the disciples, Mary, Martha, the Jews, they would have all seen this miracle. The crowds would see the miracle and we know that some would exercise faith and belief in Him.

But what I want you to see is those who would exercise belief in Him would see the true significance of this miracle that was performed. The others would see it, but those that would believe in what He said and that would believe in Him would see the true significance of the miracle. So with this verse, we see a lot. We see Jesus being patient with Martha. It's really been a blessing to me to see the great patience that Christ has had with all these involved. He is reminding her of what He has said and who He is.

He is urging her to believe and He is in our language saying, "I want you to believe because I want you to get all that I have for you." Now, an application. Some of you need to remember who your faith is in. Do you realize who has saved you? Do you realize who you serve? Do you realize who your Lord is? Jesus is God. All power, all authority has been given to Him. And do you remember who your faith is in? This same Jesus that raised Lazarus from the dead is leading you and walking you through whatever circumstance you are facing in your life. And some of you need to pray. Some of you need to seek Him desperately.

Some of you need to seek Him according to your situation so that you can hear His voice on a very personal level. Now, that might make some of you nervous, but you must understand that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and He is our counselor. He is the one that comes along beside us and He leads us and He guides us and He reminds us of the things that Christ has given us.

And when we are in a situation, a trial, a difficulty, and when we trust in Christ and when we pray and when we seek Him and we want to be led by Him, He will come to us and He will make these truths known to us and personal to us and He will and can speak to us. Maybe you're in the deepest part of your fear, the deepest part of your emotions and your despair, and maybe you're a lot like Martha was in verse 39. What did she say? She said, "Lord, you cannot say, 'Roll away the stone.'" And if that's the case, you need to remember who your faith is in and you need to deny yourself. Deny your time.

You need to commit time to the Lord and pray and pray, pray and fast until He comes and He ministers to you and He speaks to you according to this situation that you're in. So the promise is revisited. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number two. Jesus' prayer to the Father. Jesus' prayer to the Father. Verse 41 through 42.

And so they removed the stone and Jesus raised His eyes and He said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hurtest Me and I knew that Thou hearest Me always but because of the people standing around I said it that they may believe that Thou didst send Me." Now notice that verse 41 shows us that Martha's greatest protest was over and she agreed to allow the stone to be rolled away. So she's been moved along. No protest. Earlier she stood in the way and now she has enough faith to allow them to open the stone or maybe, maybe she just took Jesus at His word. Maybe she said, "Okay, Lord, You're Lord of my life and I'll just take You at Your word.

I don't understand but I'll take You at Your word." But in that there is a prayer and I want us to break down this prayer in three portions. First, notice Jesus gave thanks. The first thing He says is, "Father, I thank You." All of the translations have the prayer starting with Father. King James, English Standard, New American, start off with the word Father. Now this is reflective of Jesus' perfect and intimate relationship with His Father. Notice that Jesus immediately gives thanks. This is Jesus' habit. Earlier in John chapter 6 verse 11 when He is feeding the 5,000 before He performs this miracle, what did He do? He gave thanks.

This is a picture of His relationship to the Father and His submission to the Father and the will of the Father. So what does He say? He says, "Father, I thank You." That is perfectly reflective of His relationship with the Father. He gave thanks. Second, notice He expressed a confidence. He expressed a confidence. "Father, I thank You." Now notice that Thou hurtest me confidently. Verse 42, "And I knew that Thou hearest me always." Hear the confidence? "And because of the people standing around, I said it." So there is confidence right here in these verses.

Immediately after He gives thanks, He expresses this confidence to the Father that the Father had heard His prayer previously. Commentators say that this indicates that there were other times that Jesus had been in prayer with the Father concerning this situation. It is clear that Jesus knows the Father's heart concerning the matter and that He knows that power to raise Lazarus has been given to Him. Isn't that what He is saying? Go back and listen. Go back and read. "Father, I thank You that Thou hurtest me." Confidence. "And I knew that Thou hearest me always." Confidence.

And then He goes on down to just talk about how He's going to raise Him. So there is confidence expressed by Jesus in the Father. Third, I want you to notice that He prays for the people. What does He say? "I knew that Thou hearest me always, but because of the people standing around, I said it." In other words, He's saying, "I prayed like this for their benefit." Now in the middle of verse 42, we have a key word. I try to always give you key words, and in all of the translations that we study, that key word is "that." Go back to the text.

"And I knew that Thou hearest me, but because of the people standing around, I said it, 'that.'" That word "that" is a key word, and you might be surprised at the fact that that is a key word. The great Bible commentator A.T. Robertson calls this a "purpose clause." Why is that the case? This transitions to the purpose of the prayer and the purpose of the miracle, and that was belief in Him. What does He say? He says, "I knew that Thou hearest me always, but because of the people standing around, I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send me." So the purpose in the prayer was that they would believe.

So this transition, He transitions into the purpose of the prayer, the purpose of the miracle, the purpose of this whole event, and this echoes the theme verse of the book. John chapter 20 verse 31 is the theme verse of the book. This is John's heart for writing the gospel account. Chapter 20 verse 31, "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." You see the purpose here? Jesus is praying for the people. He's doing these things that they may believe. So in these verses we see how Jesus prays.

I think that it is clear that He has been praying all along about this situation. I think that the construction of the language indicates that, although we do not know where or how. Could it have been that He spent much prayer about this situation during those two days in which He delayed in coming? I think that is a reasonable question. We can't be certain, but in this prayer He clearly knows the Father's will. He clearly knows what the Father wanted, and He works, and He acts accordingly, according to the will of the Father.

So an application for you, for me, I want us to see that when we know the will of God in this situation, when we're going through trial, when we're going through difficulty, when we know the will of God, when He has revealed the will of God from His Word and through great prayer, then we can have confidence as we walk in Thy trial. Not overwhelmed by emotion, not overwhelmed by doubt and fear. When that doubt and fear comes up, we beat it down in repentance.

But when we are walking through difficulty and we know the will of God from the teaching of the Word and through prayer and the personal work of the Spirit in our life, we can have a great confidence in Thy trial. And listen, we can experience victory even in the midst of that trial. We don't have to wait till we get through the trial and out of the trial to have victory. No, we can have victory in the trial because of the work that He's done in us, and we can express a great confidence in that trial. See what Jesus was doing? He was in control the whole time. They were in panic, gripped by emotions. But listen, He had a confidence.

And I think that some of you desperately need to hear that this morning. And I think that some of you, you might not be on victory ground in your trial. It might be that you need to pray and fast and seek the Lord and have a personal work of God in you and a personal revelation of these truths in your heart and coupled with the Word of God, with the Word of God being made real and alive to you. You can come out with confidence. And that's the only way you'll have victory. Listen, in your trial. Let's continue. Let's notice Jesus' power is demonstrated. His power is demonstrated.

Now we see the miracle starting in verse 43, "And when He had said these things," that's the prayer, "He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.' Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came forth, bound hand and foot, with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him. Let him go.'" Now, we finally get to the purpose of this entire event. Everything that had been taking place was going, was leading up to this time. This raising of Lazarus from the dead. From the beginning, we have been anticipating this great miracle, the greatest miracle so far of all the miracles that John gives.

Now, let's examine this power demonstrated. First, let's notice Jesus' command. Verse 43, "When He had prayed, He cried out in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.'" Now, all of the English translations read loud voice. Now, in the original, this loud voice, this loud voice means to shout or to use a great voice. I like how the New American commentary says it. When the prayer ended, Jesus yelled for the dead man to come from the tomb. You might say, "That's a little bit common." No, that's very accurate to the original language. In other words, when Jesus finished, He yelled for Lazarus to come out.

Now, this is an indication, this is an indication of His power over death that we will see. This full command, it is very short, it's very loud, it's very abrupt. Now, in the original construction of language, it literally reads, "Lazarus, here, outside." Now, in my notes, I put exclamation points. Why? Because He said it loudly. He said it loud. He yelled it. It was a great voice. And what did He say? "Lazarus, right here, outside." Now, I want you to notice something. This is the second of the three commandments in this situation.

The first command was when Jesus commanded that the stone be rolled away, and now He commands Lazarus to come out of the grave. Now, I want to ask you two probing questions with this. First question, why did Jesus yell or shout? Why? Why would Jesus yell or shout? Did His power need more force to do the job? Was there power in the fact that He yelled? No. He could have whispered, and the same thing would have taken place. But this was for the benefit of the people who were there. Remember what He prayed? "Lord, do this for them that they may believe." And He's even praying for the people. So He is yelling. He is screaming.

He is shouting so that all would hear. It has nothing to do with adding force to His power in His command. It is for the people. Second question, what must have been the reaction of the people? No doubt, some must have come forward to see. Think about it. Some probably waited through the crowd to see what was taking place. Others must have stepped back in fear, because these were humans. These were people, these Jews within this crowd. So I want us to see this command.

With a loud voice, He yelled, and He said abruptly and quickly and very simply, "Lazarus, right here, come outside, and everyone there would have heard." Second, notice that Lazarus came out. What does it say? What does it say right there? Verse 44, "And he who had died came forth, was bound hand and foot with wrappings, the grave closed, and his face was wrapped with a cloth." Now notice that Lazarus came from the grave immediately, but he came from the grave hindered. He still had the grave closed on.

Now, in studying the customs of the day, you would see that Lazarus would have been bound and wrapped up, and he would have been definitely hindered. Now, I could go deeply into the customs of the day. The Jews took care of the body a lot different than the Egyptians and the other pagan peoples, but they would have taken the body. They did not embalm, but they would have wrapped the body, and they would have used spices and oils and fragrances to try to cover the stench of the body.

But this body would have been wrapped, and this body would have been hindered, and he would have not been able to walk, but he would have been able to come out, and some of the writers that I studied said he would have come out maybe with a shuffle, because he would have been bound up by the grave closed. Now question, what would have been the reaction from the people now? No doubt some of them would have run away in fear. No doubt others who might have been at a distance most likely crowded in to see if that was really Lazarus that was coming out of the grave. Why do I ask these questions?

Because there had to be a whole host of reactions from the people. He gives this a command. It was very loud. It was very abrupt. There was no questioning the command, and here comes Lazarus still bound by the grave closed, but shuffling out of the tomb. And then third, Jesus' other command. What did he say? Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, let him go." Here we have the third command within this story, and that was for the bystanders to help loosen Lazarus from his grave closed. And in so doing, Jesus is pulling these bystanders into this miracle that he is performing.

They are actually touching the once dead and decaying body that is now back to life. And in so doing, he is drawing them more and more and more into this situation. Why? So that they may believe. So here we see the full demonstration of Christ's power over death. Lazarus, who had been dead four days in the grave, is now called, and he's called in such a way that none there could deny it. But not only do we see Christ's full power, we see him drawing people into the work. He shouts so loud that all could hear that he commands the bystanders to actually participate in this work. He is drawing.

He is pulling the crowd in so there would be more witnesses to this great work. Now how does this apply to us? Could it be that in your situation, in your difficulty, Christ wants more people to know so that more could participate in your trial? Let me restate that. Could it be that in your trial, in your difficulty, that the Lord wants more people to know so that more people could participate in the difficulty in the trial that you are facing? Now I'm really speaking to you Nola folks who are faithful to our prayer meeting, and I believe everyone should be at prayer meeting.

But listen, those of us who are faithful to prayer and we are beginning to shoulder the burdens of our brothers and our sisters, could it be that the Lord wants us all to participate in each other's trials, in each other's difficulties, and in each other's burdens? And could it be that the Lord is waiting and the Lord is working in such a way where he is drawing us, all of us, into these burdens so that we could participate? And it is not just you shouldering the burden, it is all of us and we will literally participate in the great work of redemption no matter what you are facing.

And some of you who are struggling, you're trying to live by faith, you're trying to trust Christ, could it be that the Lord is wanting you to partner with brothers and sisters within this fellowship that they might help you? Now, what do we see this morning? We see Jesus, His promise is revisited, great patience with Martha. We see the prayer to the Father, perfect unity with the Father, knowing the will of the Father perfectly, but yet He says these things for the benefit of the people. And we see great power demonstrated, but yet even the crowds He is drawing in.

Now, as we close, we are praying for difficult situations in each other's lives. Some of you have lost siblings, some of you are dealing with troubles in your home, some of you have lost parents, some of you are facing things that you have a hard time admitting. Now, I'm not going to say that I know the heart of God in these matters, but could it be that when God works in your situation, maybe He wants to work so that all around here and see and know exactly what God is doing? Could it be that the great enemy of your situation is that you are trying to carry the burden alone? The Lord was drawing everyone here into this situation.

Could it be that in your situation He really wants the brothers, the sisters, the church to come and be a part? And second, when God works in your situation, maybe He wants to involve others, maybe He wants to involve us to be a part of this full work because notice the work Lazarus came forth and they took the grave clothes off this living man. So you see, this great journey, this great experience, this great work, the disciples, the sisters, the Jews, and at the heart of it all, Christ is wanting those to believe and those to participate in the great work before them. Let's pray.