Resurrection

Resurrection

John 11

Death. The mere mention of the word causes many people, including Christians, to shiver. It’s been said that people will talk about nearly anything these days, but the one taboo left in America is the topic of death. Preacher John Lares said in his message, "Good News for a Weeping World”:

Do you know what the modern taboo is? I read an article recently that said that we now wear on our T-shirts what we used to keep secret from our closest friends. Isn’t that the truth? Look at the messages on some T-shirts. How open our society is about so many things! When I was young, you didn’t talk about a lot of those things, especially in mixed company. Now, it seems that anything goes--except for one subject. You know what the modern taboo is? Death, don’t talk to people about death. They don’t want to talk about it.

Well, Preacher John, you’re right. Generally speaking, people don’t want to talk about death. Oh, it’s true enough that we are aware of its inevitability. Most of us are honest enough to admit its going to happen to us one day. But the fact remains that we still don’t want to have an honest discussion about it. It’s morbid. It’s depressing, It’s too morose.  And yet, as we are gathered here on this Good Friday, this is our topic: Death.  This is the night we remember Jesus’ death.  We’ve been working our way through the miracles of Jesus in John’s gospel, he calls them “signs.”  These give us an idea of why certain people came to want to kill Jesus.

John 2:11 — and His disciples believed in Him.

John 5:16 — For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, [d]and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

John 6:15 — Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king.

John 9:22 — the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

John 11:53 — from that day forward they began to plot to put him to death.

.  As we look again to John’s Gospel for this, his final sign, we see Jesus thoughts and actions as He makes his way to the cross.  We see that…

1. A.  Jesus waits
2. B.  Jesus weeps
3. C.  Jesus works
1. Body
1. Jesus waits
1. The word comes to Jesus that their friend - “he whom you loved,” is sick, 
1. Think about how often we send word to Jesus (pray) and the prayers look like this:
1. Lord give me ________,
2. make my life more comfortable,
3. make my life better,
4. take away this bad situation.
2. And don’t we get a bit anxious when Jesus does something like he does in verse 6. ’When he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed there 2 more days’,
3. ie. he waited two days before going to see Lazarus…(If a doctor did this today you would probably want to sue them!!!)
4. How about you??
5. Do you get a bit anxious with God when he doesn’t seem to answer your prayers right away in the way you want them answered?
6. Could it be that we are trying to force God to operate according to our timelines, rather than us operating to God’s.
2. Recently I heard it said, “The problem we have in dealing with God is that we have two standards….
1. We expect God to be instant, fast and super quick in responding to us
2. Yet we like to go about our week at our own pace, fitting God and others into our schedule when it suits us.”
   
   
   
   
3. We don’t like waiting… for a surgery to remove a cancer… for a package that we’ve ordered online…. For news that we know we won’t like…
1. A man went in for his annual checkup and received a phone call from his physician a couple of days later.
2. The doctor said, "I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
3. "What’s the news?" the man asked. 
4. "Well, you have only 48 hours to live.”
5. "That is bad news!" said the shocked patient."
6. I’m afraid I have even worse news," the doctor continued.
7. "What could be worse than what you’ve already told me?" the patient stammered.
8. "I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday."
4. Jesus waits and FOUR DAYS AFTER LAZARUS DIES - Jesus shows up
1. Here is an Important fact, significant to this story
1. the jewish people believed that the soul resided in the vicinity of the body of a deceased for three days, hoping to rejoin the body - life was still possible but after four days passed the soul gave up and departed - and there was no more hope. It was over - the person was dead.
2. the fact that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days meant that there was no possibility of his would rejoining his body.
2. it meant it was hopeless
5. Have you ever trusted Jesus with a difficult situation only to see it go from bad to worse?  From hopeful to hopeless?
6. This is the gist of the story, here.  What do you do in times like these?  Do you keep praying?  Trusting?  Hoping?
7. What did these sisters do?  More importantly, what did Jesus do?

1. Jesus weeps
1. So finally Jesus and the disciples arrive.
2. He is met by questions from the sisters. (Of course you’d have questions.)
1. As Christians, when a crisis comes, we often look for the “easy way out.” We want out of the trial or crisis just as soon as possible, and with the least amount of pain. Romans 5 tells us “We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.”
2. Sometimes the only way out of a storm is to go through it… to ride it out. Sometimes the only way out of a crisis is perseverance. One day Lazarus was alive, the next day he was dead, just four days later he was alive again. A lot can happen in a week. A lot can happen in three days, just ask Jesus.
3. He is met by questions from the crowd 
1. Couldn’t this man who opened blind eyes have kept him from dying?
2. Prefiguring the type of conversation around Jesus’ cross.
1. Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
4. I read about a young boy. Who was sent by his mom to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he finally returned, his mother asked, "Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you.”
1. "Well," he answered, "there was a little boy with a broken tricycle who was crying. So I stopped to help him.”
2. The mom said, "I didn’t know you could fix tricycles!”
3. The boy said, "I can’t. I just stood there and cried with him!"
5. Jesus weeps.
1. Why did Jesus weep? I mean He knew that Lazarus’ death was intended to bring glory to God. So why the sadness? Jesus wept because death was never intended as part of God’s original equation. Our Lord and Savior’s heart broke not merely because His friend had suffered death, but more significantly, because his friend should have never had to suffer death in the first place. In a word, Jesus wept because of the consequences man’s sin brought forth.
2. “He groaned in His spirit.  Indicates a very deep move of emotions.
3. As a result, from the very moment we are born, we live in the shadow of death. Its ominous figure stalks us at every turn. Our mortality is something we must learn to live with in this life.
4. Jesus is a man of sorrow...acquainted with grief...The sorrowing — suffering Savior…
2. Jesus works
1. Jesus didn’t stop with grieving the pain of death.  Next, Jesus got busy doing something about it.
1. Jesus has already told his disciples (.v 11) that “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”  And…
2. (v. 15) “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.”
3. He had already spoken with Martha, saying “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Vv. 25-26)
4. Next, Jesus speaks and says, “Take away the stone.” (v. 39)
5. And then, Jesus speaks with God.  “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (v. 42)
6. Finally, He speaks to Lazarus.   “Lazarus, come forth!” (v. 43)
7. And, having freed Lazarus from the bonds of death, Jesus looks at him, still wrapped in grave cloths and says, “Loose him, and let him go.” (v. 44)
2. The leaders plot 
3. v. 46 — some of [the eyewitnesses] went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.
4. [v. 50]  It’s better that one man should die for the people…
5. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” — Matthew 27:54
1. Conclusion
1. As we reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice on this Good Friday, where do you find yourself?
2. Are you prayerfully, patiently (or not so patiently) waiting on Jesus?
1. Does it seem like maybe you’ve been waiting for too long?
2. Are you beginning to doubt that Jesus will ever answer?
3. Maybe you are even questioning your faith?
4. Psalm 34:15 — The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
   And His ears are open to their cry.
5. 1 John 5:14 — Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
3. Again, reflecting on Jesus’ cross, what do you hear?  Can you hear Jesus as he weeps?
1. Maybe Jesus, in John 11, wasn’t weeping because Lazarus died.
2. Some have speculated that Jesus wept because, for his present purposes, it was necessary to call Lazarus back from the joys of Heaven! Jesus knew what Lazarus was leaving and the sacrifice it would be to come back to this sinful world. Jesus had made that very journey Himself and He understood.
3. When we mourn for our loved ones who have passed, it is peace to our breaking hearts to remember that they are with Christ. We will see them again in Glory because Christians never say goodbye for the last time because of Jesus. 
4. They will never be sick again. They will never hurt again. They will never have another surgery again. There will be no more cancer, death, disease or sin! They will experience the glory of God, the streets of gold, the angels around the throne of God and the family of God gathered together from ages past. What a joy that will be!
4. Again, reflecting on Jesus’ cross, what else do you hear? Do you hear Jesus speaking with Martha, saying “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Vv. 25-26)
5. Well… DO YOU?  Do you believe this?  Do you take Jesus at his word?
1. One night as a family was preparing for bedtime, the four year old daughter Claire began singing the BIBLE. As she came to the end, she combined another song. Here is what she sang. "I stand alone on the word of God, that’s what it’s all about." By mixing up the BIBLE and the Hokey Pokey, Claire nailed the way that each of us should view God’s word.
2. Do you trust him?  That’s what it’s all about.