_______, Come Out (John 11)

Good morning. Peter, one of the pastors here. Welcome. Guest – Whether you accepted an invitation to come or you just found us online. Glad you’re here. Today, we’re celebrating the most important day of the Christian faith. Jesus walked out of the grave 2k yrs ago. If it didn’t happen, Bible – our hope is in this life only and we are all pitiful. Nothing else matters.

Today – Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important and what effect, if any, it has on our lives today. Video – The Chosen – Depicting the story of Lazarus from John 11. Bibles. Turn. Screen.

Text: John 11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (Lazarus’ sisters)  … 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (Sounds like good news – Jesus is going to heal Lazarus. Up to this point Jesus had performed many miracles, like healing the sick.)

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (Not exactly the response you’d expect. Doesn’t seem to make sense. If he loved Lazarus – expect he’d drop everything to hurry.)

11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (First of all, I thought Lazarus wasn’t going to die? Second, why would Jesus go now? To do what? It’s too late. And lastly, Jesus – glad he wasn’t there. Doesn’t Jesus love this family? How can this be a good, loving thing? How does God get glory in death? And what could Jesus possibly want them to believe?)

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. (Took Jesus some additional travel time.) 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (Martha believed Jesus had the power to raise Lazarus on the last day, in the future.) 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. … 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. (“Burst into tears.” Profound, deep emotion. Love.) 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (The crowd/doubters are chiming in.)

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. (Deeply moved in Gk. Jesus is angry, snorting. Says something no one is expecting…) 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (Take off his grave clothes. Death has no hold anymore. PJD – Everyone thought they would be faced with the stench of death but instead they encountered the glory of God. )

Thinking: “That’s great for Lazarus and his family. But what’s it have to do with me?” Show you by taking a closer look at the characters in this story. First, we have…

Martha – Comes to Jesus and says, “Lord, if you were here, Lazarus would not have died.” IOW – “Where were you? Why didn’t you do something?” And she was right. Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying. So why didn’t he? 

Have you ever felt this way? Like God’s never on time? “Why did you let this happen to me?” “Why aren’t you fixing this?” You don’t understand why God doesn’t show up how when/how he should. Know – Jesus can handle your questions and doubts. He doesn’t ignore you or cast you off. He meets you where you are…

Martha’s approach/interaction with Jesus is intellectual and theological – resurrection and Jesus’ identity. So Jesus engages Martha with an intellectual/theological answer: I am the resurrection and the life. But Jesus wants the correct theological answer to be not just in her head, but in her heart…

You can know a lot of theology. You can know a lot about Jesus and the bible. But it doesn’t mean that you have truly experienced the resurrection power of Jesus. Not a question of just what you know – head knowledge – but what you believe.

Martha – Glimpse of hope – “But even now…” – Maybe Jesus could still do something? Jesus’ Question: “Do you believe?” – Invites Martha to believe in the midst of doubting, not after he’s put them to rest. (Lucas) Jesus desires “But Even Now Faith” – Not just in the future. But right now. We can know that one day Jesus is going to make all the wrong things right, and there will be no more pain and suffering, but do you believe that he is able to work his power, no matter the circumstances, right now in your life?

Mary – Notice: Says the exact same thing to Jesus as her sister Martha – “Lord, if you were here, Lazarus would not have died.” But doesn’t say much else, if anything. Her response is more emotional than her sister Martha’s. (Doesn’t initially go to Jesus. Stayed in the house.) Neither response to the brokenness is wrong – to try and make sense of things or to just be broken. Mary is also met where she is in her grief. She’s invited by Jesus to come to him, not to engage in theological discussion, but to his compassion.

Jesus doesn’t dismiss our suffering and our pains. He doesn’t just tell you to get over it and get your act together. Doesn’t just hit you over the head with the right theological answer. Jesus sees your pain and he gives you what you need in the moment.

(Heard) God’s work – Tapestry – Hand-made Persian rugs. Beautiful. (Enjoy – Old. Tea) On one side, it looks like chaos and it makes no sense. But once it’s flipped over, you see its beauty. That’s like what God is doing in your life. It may not make sense right now, you may not be able to see and understand what God is doing, but he’s working. And he invites you to trust and believe him because he loves you…

Jesus – The first thing I want you to see, already mentioned quickly, is how he meets each person where they are. The two sisters say the same exact thing to Jesus but he has two completely different responses.  In the same way, Jesus knows you intimately. He created you. So no matter what your questions, your doubts, your hurts, where you are…Jesus invites you to himself, to be for you and provide exactly what you need.

Second, why did Jesus take his sweet time in the first place? He’s unhurried…like Malaysians. Not that he didn’t care but precisely because he did care. He was going to do something greater for a greater purpose. He’s late from the perspective of man but right on time from the perspective of God. The story is never over with Jesus. You should wait on him, knowing his love for you and how your story ends.

Third, why does Jesus weep? He knows that in just a few moments he’s going to do a miracle. He has the power to undo it all, to undo death. Would you cry? Me to my kids – You don’t need to cry. It’s all good. Jesus feels our pain deeply because he loves us. He hates sin and the effects of sin on us. And he’s deeply moved by our brokenness, suffering, pain, and death.

So when you’re in pain and suffering – you can take comfort that Jesus enters in and is broken with you right now in the present, even if one day everything’s going to be alright. That’s the kind of God he is. 

Makes him completely different from the gods of all other religions. – Love and compassion. Not weakness. He does what no other god can do. – Authority over death. Even death is not a problem for Jesus. Our problems are not problems for Jesus. Our problems are opportunities for Jesus to display his love and power. That’s a God worth worshipping.

Lastly, look at Jesus’ words and prayer to the Father – “Heard” Past tense. “Knew” – You always hear me. Relationship with Father. Already asked and knew. He knows all things. And get this – it wasn’t for comfort and peace. It was for them to see the glory of God and believe. Usually, we want from God first, for him to prove it, and then we’ll believe. But if you will believe/trust in God and know his love for you, comfort and peace will follow. 

“Come out” – The same voice/words that created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. Jesus’ words/prayers to the Father are powerful and effective. Theologian (DA Carson) – The resurrection power of Jesus – The only reason all the dead in all of history didn’t come out from their tombs is because Jesus specified Lazarus by name…

Lazarus – Imagine the hope Lazarus had. Jesus is my friend, he loves me, and he’s coming. I’ll be ok. I can hold on until he comes. Except he didn’t. Lazarus died, maybe feeling disappointed and abandoned by the only one who could save him. Name – “God is my help.”

But then after 4 days, he’s alive again! (IDK what those 4 days were like. Maybe he was fully enjoying heaven. And then all of a sudden, he hears Jesus’ voice and he’s back in the dark/smelly tomb. That doesn’t seem like a good deal.) Ask – Do you think Lazarus’ faith in Jesus would ever waiver? Never. Sometimes – God doesn’t show up or work the way we expect or think he should. But make no mistake – He’s up to something greater.

And Lazarus would have the ultimate story to tell for the rest of his life. No one could one up him. All the people Jesus did miracles for – I was hungry, and Jesus multiplied bread and fish for me. I was blind, and Jesus gave me sight. I was paralyzed, and Jesus made me walk. I was demon possessed and Jesus cast it out. Lazarus – Well, I was dead. And I was resurrected back to life. Beat that.

But one day, Lazurus would die, again. That kind of stinks. But this time, he would die not worrying or wondering what would happen to him, whether his friend loved him enough to come in time to rescue him. Because he’s already experienced the resurrection power of Jesus once before. Imagine the peace he had on his second death bed because the first resurrection was a foreshadow and a promise that he would be raised to life never to die again but to live forever.

You think the story is over here, with celebration, but it’s not…45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him…” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, … 51 … being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. (Jesus who has the power to raise the dead to life is condemned to die.) 

See, to end Lazarus’ funeral, Jesus would have to start his own. (PJD) Jesus restores Lazarus back to life and in doing so, it leads to his own death. This was the plan all along…

If, today, you’re waiting for God to show up and do something in your life, I’ve got good news for you because 2000yrs ago, in the most unexpected way, Jesus came for you…God doesn’t love us with empty words or from a distance…He doesn’t abandon us…

Gospel – Simple/powerful message. Jesus, though God, came close and entered into our brokenness by taking on flesh and becoming man. He became acquainted with our sorrows. Jesus would weep again before being betrayed and laying down his life, just as he did with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, but no one would be there to comfort him. He would be all alone.

And then Jesus would enter into death for us, in our place. He was crucified to pay the penalty of our sins. And God the Father would forsake him and turn his face away from his son, Jesus on the cross. He was abandoned so we never have to know that pain.

And his lifeless body was laid in a tomb and sealed with a stone, like Lazarus. He traded places with us so we don’t have to face death but could live – so our death is no longer death. 

And death thought it had won. But Jesus also wouldn’t remain in the tomb. He rose to life, defeating death once and for all. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus walked out of the tomb so he could call us out of ours, like Lazarus, to experience and join his victory over sin and death. He won it for us. Have you  personally experienced Jesus’ resurrection power? 

For those who trust in Christ, resurrection is not just coming in the future, its power is working in you right now. So even if, like Lazarus, you suffer and die in this life, it will be like waking up from a terrible dream into the most wonderful reality for eternity. The sting of death has been taken away. And you’ll be raised to eternal life, never to be forsaken. Billy Graham: “One fine day you will hear that Billy Graham has died. Don’t you believe it. I’ll be more alive than ever. I’ll just have changed addresses.”

This gospel is truly the only message of hope for the world. You’ve experienced it for yourself. Share with everyone. 

Two other groups of people in the story…

-Religious Leaders: They were set in their ways and more concerned about their own lives, their status and the status quo than who Jesus truly was.

-Spectators: Many believed, but for others, they witnessed something awesome. But it didn’t change them. They didn’t experience it personally. They remained somewhat skeptical and unbelieving. 

Question: Have you experienced Jesus’ resurrection power? – What will you do now that you’ve heard the gospel message? Will you believe in Jesus or reject him?

Jesus is calling you, like he called Lazarus, to come out. Come out of sin and death. Come out of your darkness and despair and your brokenness into new life. For you to experience his resurrection power. 

Hard truth: It was your sin (define?) that put Jesus on the cross. Your sin and rejection of Jesus will take you into eternal suffering away from the presence of God. You have two choices, only two. You can, like the religious leaders, choose to reject Jesus. To not believe and not receive what Jesus has done for you. And like the spectators – that was nice – and go about your life. 

OR Believe. Jesus in my place and I in his. Jesus has finished the work of salvation completely, for you. There’s nothing you’ve done to deserve it and nothing you can do to earn it. And no one is ever too far gone, too hopeless for Jesus to save you. Doesn’t matter what your life has looked like in the past. His love, his power, are greater.

What confidence do you have that at the end of your life, you will be saved? To eternity and to heaven? Maybe you’re thinking, this is a nice story, it’d be awesome if it were real… But what if it is real? You’d be changed forever. Death rate today is 100%. (Death is coming. WYR: Truck vs. Shadow. Jesus’ death for you or your own death.) Jesus – Though you die, you will never, and never truly die.

Becoming a Christian is not something weird that happens to you – it’s experiencing first hand the life giving power of Jesus, experiencing the resurrection power undoing the curse of sin in your life, restoring all that has been broken. (Last Easter – Couple. Marriage and family falling apart. Despair – The end. Surrendered to Jesus. Marriage and family healed. Family serving and living for Jesus.)

If you will believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life you will experience…forgiveness, freedom, peace, joy, hope, God’s presence.

V15 – so that “you” will believe and V44 – interesting – “the man” – It’s a placeholder for you. It’s Jesus’ invitation for you to put your name there, he’s calling you to come out, to come out of sin and death, to take off your grave clothes, into eternal resurrection life through faith in him.