Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead | John 11:1-57

Transcript is automatically produced. Errors may be present.

Good Mornings Fellowship. How are you doing? Good morning. This is such a privilege for me. I’m really excited to be here and I’m also really nervous, so I just want to make this quick disclaimer that English is not my first language and probably will not be the second or third. So I’ve been praying through the week that hopefully the whole spirit will translate.

Some of the words that I miss speak this morning, so he will translate into your mind, but more important into your house hearts. Is that okay? So this is such an incredible chapter in John, which is not fair that Alex choose to choose me to share this. It’s a beautiful picture, just like week and a half.

Jesus will be experience, crucifixion and death and also resurrection. So it’s an important thing just to figure it out. What is all the things that is happening in this chapter? And also understand the. What has been Jesus experience since John 7, 8, 9, 9 and 11? And 10 because Jesus has been teaching and performing miracles and making disciples, but he’s still being resisted for most of Jewish and especially religious.

At the time. So Jesus has been revealing himself, saying, I am, especially in this gospel of John, where people keep like resisting and actually that resistant and actually that hidden or building some momentum where they wanted to just. Kill Jesus. And this is what is happening. It’s building that tension that we behind seeing since John 7, 8, 9.

And then, so this is a, I will say a high point where Jesus is performing this miracle Lazarus. So it’s very important. Obviously the subject of debt is sensitive, right? So I want to start with a quick story of mine. When I was 21, I was in my way to college and I was driving in the public service in Costa Rica and a boss, I remember maybe four or five in the afternoon in Costa Rica, and I get this call from my mother.

So I answered and she told me, Diego, your father just had a heart attack. But she wasn’t. Totally sure what happened because someone else from my father’s office, some other worker there, just make a call to my mom and just say he just have a heart attack. No. Any other details, so we don’t even know nothing.

And this guy just. Don’t say anything. So when I told my mom, but where is he? What is happening? She said I don’t have any other detail than just his, he has a heart attack while he was working in the office. And he’s probably into the emergency room at the hospital. So I just stand up in the balls and go straight to the driver belt and say, can you please stop?

I need just to get outta the ball and go into the other direction. Just to figure it out, what happened with my father. So I went out of the bus, I take a taxi and I run into the, this hospital near my town. And what it was a crazy is when you receive that type of news, your mind start a running with questions and confusion.

And if is still he alive, he’s still resting, is something else happening? Who is who was with him? It was a lot of questioning and a lot of emotion coming. From fear, also confusion. It was a lot of things happening in my mind, in my heart. So I get into the hospital and I ask for my father, but he was not there.

So I told the people in the emergency room, so this is his name and age and all that he’s not here. So actually a. Getting into the place of you let, excuse me, just let me go check out, bed by bed because probably you don’t know, but I will figure it out his, so I would go into that thing and I figured it out.

He was not there. It was confusing. So when I go out to the hospital, my sister and my grandmother, so the mother of my father already was also there. They just came in into the hospital and I explained to them he’s not here. It was so confusing. So when I was there, I hear a guy from the emergency room.

The one ambulance was in their way to pick up at dead body, exactly in the same address where my father has his office. So I knew that actually he was laying down on the floor for a couple probably hours. Waiting for the ambulance to pick up him. So I told my sister you should go and just make sure that you show up there and all the things that you have to recognize the body.

What do you say? Recognize? And I told my sister and I will have the, to tell my grandma what is happening, which it was very difficult. Probably the hardest thing I had. To do in my life. So I’m sharing this just to be sensitive about this subject because that is a serious thing and it’s a real thing that we experience and actually we all gonna be that I’m not a prophet, but

unless Christ will come in any moment, which will be awesome. We all gonna face death or at least experience the death of someone else who is near us that we love. So probably you’re thinking about your father or mother or grandmother or grandfather in this moment. So with that in mind, I want to walk together through the verses just to figure it out what is happening and just to see a lot of contrast that I been studying in this passage so we can gain some understanding what it means to live beyond death. Is that okay? So we already have a little bit of the context. Let me turn those, turn off this thing. Okay.

Okay, here we go. So I will, you have your notes there so you can follow this verses also there. And I wanna make quick observations from what I think is the. The highlights in every verse. They just, Sean, just read for us. So this is how it started. So the sisters send word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick.

When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus love Martin, her sister, and Lazarus. See when, so when he heard the las was sick, his stay where he was two more days. One interesting things that I notice here is there’s some expectations that Martha.

And Maria has, so that’s why they are sending this message to Jesus. And one of the other things that is really interesting that Jesus received this message, but he decided to stay two more days, even when the passage said that he was a loved one near to him, he decide to stay there. So one of the interesting things that I notice here is that.

Martin and Maria have this expectation that probably when Jesus hear about this news, he will run right away back to Bethany where they live and he will perform a healing. I think that’s a clear in the passage that Maria and Martin knew that Jesus could perform that miracle, the healing one.

And not the resurrection. The resurrection one. So that’s one of the biggest countries that I noticed in the passage is there are some expectations. We all have expectations, but also we have to understand that God’s sovereignty is greater than any expectation. And actually God’s sovereignty is beyond our understanding all the time.

It’s like we want to do our way, our time. We ask God to do this when we say when we won, but we have to also understand God’s sovereignty, which is a big mystery for all of us. So one of the first things that I noticed is this contrast where Martin Maria as asking Jesus, come now, come and heal your friend, the one that you love.

And that’s the first thing that we noticed. So that we can continue in verse 11. So after he had said this, he went and to tell them or friend Lazarus, how’s fall asleep? But I’m going there to wake him up in a really metaphoric way to express it. His disciple replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.

So we, what is funny in this verses is like they have a natural understanding that well, he’s gonna get better so you don’t have to run, or 14. So then he told them plainly, like being clear like Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, which is interesting expression for your sake, I am glad I was not there.

It’s weird because. In the case that I was telling about my father, I wish I was there. I wish I can help him. Just stay with him in the last minutes. Just, I wish I was there, but at the same time, Jesus with his friend the same. I’m glad I was not there. So you may, this is a key word in the entire gospel of yarn you may believe.

And probably she’s been following the whole series in John belief is the biggest center idea of the gospel. But let us go to him. So we now notice that Jesus knew that Lazarus is gonna pass away, he will die. But also he has a different way to understand that. So disciples had a natural understanding of life.

But Jesus has an eternal understanding of life. That’s another kind of a big contract in contrast in the past that we can notice. So the natural understanding of light is all of our limitations. We got sick, we could, we get better. We can just pass away and experience that. So from a natural perspective, that is a big problem because it’s the end of something.

Then no one of us wanted to experience we all decided to lead forever so we don’t have to experience sickness or death. So it’s a big problem and especially because death is such a unknown thing for us. So if you research all the philosophers and thinkers for years and thousands of years. People have been struggling to figure it out.

What is death? What is happening, what is next? Is something beyond that or it’s not. So one of the biggest philosophy, philosophical question is what is next from death? And there’s a lot of thoughts about it. So what I love from the word of God is the word of God. Bring us a clear response to that question.

And that comes from, have a more eternal and a spiritual understanding of life. So that’s what Jesus has. Jesus has this eternal spiritual understanding of life. So for him, it’s like he’s just sleeping. He and he will perform a miracle just to prove that he’s the one who has sin. And also to prove that this is a very important point is this is not just a miracle for them to see Lazarus raised from death, but also to announce what is about to happen with Jesus in a couple of days, couple of weeks maybe.

So in a natural understanding or problem is death. But from a spiritual understanding, our biggest problem is our eternity. Destiny. So when we, where we gonna spend the rest of our eternity, God design human with eternity in mind. So actually that is not the end of everything, but it’s like a door where we can go to our final eternal destiny.

And there’s just a. Two ways where we can just experience that eternity with God. The creator with him in his presence was just in a place where we are just far called an experience nothing but nothing but this separation from God, which is so terrible that will be, that is actually our biggest problem to figure it out.

So continue. In verse 21 Jesus has arrived to Bethany. So Martha is there and says, Lord, Martha says to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother will not have dire expectations. She have another plan. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask, which is a really expression of Martha believing and had a conviction that Jesus was the Messiah.

Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Who he’s already tell the disciples. Now she’s going back to Bethany and is present this to Martha. So Martha answered it. I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last days. So what I wanna point it out in this verse is like Martha seems to have like a.

Far sea understand of the resurrection. I dunno if you remember, the sades didn’t believe about resurrection, but far Faris does. So it seems like Martha is responding yes, I know my brother will rise again in the final days in the resurrect. She was not understanding that actually Jesus is talking about I, I’m going to Lazarus’s grave and I will call him out.

You know what I’m saying? So she have a faith, she understood part of what Jesus was trying to tell her, which represents kind, areligious understanding, which is a kind of a good application, is we sometimes has have these likes understanding of the Bible. And sometimes could be quite good or quite wrong.

What is interesting here is if we are able to believe Jesus’s words and what is happening, so what I notice here that is really interesting. So Marta sounds like complaining. Marta complains to Jesus. If you had been here. Did you ever thought about this in some of your experiences in life or raising kids or in your work and you’re making your career?

Many times in my life I’ve been saying, if you have been here, which is a kind of funny thing because God is always here. Whatever here that is, in this context, Marty is referring to Jesus physically be out of there. But actually we know God was. And there with them. So obviously it’s like a representation that Martha having a lot of questions and a lot of struggles the same that I was experienced when it just came out with that bus, trying to figure that out, how to run into the hospital and find my father and just understand what is happening.

And actually, but then Marty complains that Jesus response by announcing a miracle. As I said in two ways, and I was in Lazarus’s Miracle, but at the same time performing Lazarus’s Miracle in order to announce his resurrection, which a really key point that we need to take from this chapter. So we see this contrast between complaining and how God’s always responds.

Probably will not always respond the way that I want it. Or in the time that I wanted or make my plans, that I just pray can you do this? Like we are trying to convince him that our plans are better than his. So what is interesting is Jesus responding announcing the miracle, but also leaving the true and being with them.

And having the sensitive sensitivity to understand what is Martha happening and experiencing in Samaria. So next in the verse 25, I will say, this is the climax from the chapter. Probably some will say no, actually Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, which is awesome, and you can imagine how.

How powerful was that image for them? But I would argue 25 to 27 is the climax. And from there, the resurrection is just the final proof of this statement. Jesus said to her, I am, which is thismy expression. They appear seven times in the Gospel of John. Which is so powerful because what I mean is I am whatever you want me to be and whatever you need to be in your life, I am.

I can be whatever. I’m the most powerful being manifested in flesh. I’m God in self incarnated. It’s Jesus there. But he connected with this idea. I am the resurrection and life. The one who believes the key word in me will live even they die. And whoever live by believing again in me will never die, is that quick question for all of us today.

It is do you believe this? This is what is important because even that the miracle happened or not, the key aspect is if you believe this. And if you are now talking to us today is if you believe in Christ’s resurrection, are you believing? So verse 27 says, yes, Lord. She replied, I believe that you are the Messiah, the sum of God who is to come in the world.

And when I. Love of this expression here is it’s so similar to the confession of Peter some months ago when Jesus asked his disciple, what are the people there? Who I am and what do you think, who I am? And the response of Peter is pretty much copy paste from this. So it’s interesting that the key from heaven, which is what the, that.

Particular portion of the Bible tell us is if you believe that he’s the Messiah, the son of God, that’s the key to heaven. That’s the key to experience the spiritual life and have this eternal hope. This there is something beyond the natural death. So it’s pretty interesting to me to notice that.

So I can see a couple things here that are really the. Climax from this passage is Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and life. And Martha replied, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. So that kinda make us thing like Jesus is proclaiming victory over death. Even when he’s still, or is about to perform it in a couple of weeks.

But Marta also responded in a really faithful expression. And it’s quite the right response for eternal questions. If the question is, you have to believe, if the question is who you think Christ is, I will argue this is the key response to say, I believe you are. And that will make, and that expression will make us experience eternal and a spiritual life.

And that will open a door for us to experience beyond natural understanding of life. And I think that response actually resolve everything. It’s not that just death is a problem for us because we don’t know how to face it or figure it out because it’s unknown. But respondent Jesus is the Messiah will resolve not just natural death, but actually this eternal condemnation out of God’s present.

Psalm verse 32. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, which is a what disciples used to do at front of his rabbi, his master, and said, Lord if you had been here, which is exactly the same expression of Martha. My brother will not have died. So we saw those expressions of expectations, a claiming or arguing about he was not there.

So something like that happened. 33 when Jesus saw her whipping and the youth who had come along with her along weeping. He was deeply moved in a spirit in trouble. And I hear, here’s something in particular that we already know that he have a relationship with Marta and Maria and Lazarus. He was someone love near to Jesus, but he uses this friction to say he was deeply moved in his spirit.

So Jesus was experience suffering and the pain. So he he’s at the same level with them suffering. And having this emotional experience. So 34 says, where have you lay him? He ask, come and see. Lord, they reply. So Jesus web. And what I love from this chapter is like we see the humanity of Christ.

He already knew everything that he’s gonna pass away. He will go back there to Bethany and he will out perform the miracle, but it is still his suffering, facing death, the death of one of his loved one. And he’s whipping, he’s crying, he’s there. He’s not disconnected from the moment, or he’s not avoiding.

What is happening? If you ever been close to someone who’s experienced loss, you know how difficult it is. You actually don’t have the right words to speak. You don’t even know what to say. Do you ever experience that come into the house, the some of your friends or relatives and say, I’m sorry.

You don’t know exactly how to express it and you feel like, so Jesus isn’t that He’s experienced, that He’s so near to their hearts, so He understand that He relate to that. The other interesting thing in this passage is this expression, come and see because if you study the gospels, you will know that, come and see.

It was the common expression that Jesus used to invite this disciple. He told many times to their disciples, come and see. That’s something interesting. I want to share with you the come and see that Jesus told our disciples, come and see the truth. Come and see me. Understand who I am. Come and see and know the Father through who I am because I’m revealing the Father to you come and see, but the come and see of Maria is come and see the natural reality.

We are suffering. We are in debt, we are in fear. We are in confusion. In confusion. We have doubts. Come and see. What is interesting is Jesus is with her, is coming there to see. So I’m just making this point because we called God and His come and see and meet us and hear in our humanity. So that’s why Jesus have to came from heaven.

And come and see what our needs. But at the same time, he’s calling mouse back and say, come and see, and I will show you. My father and I will show you hope, and I will give my life to you in order just to come and see the kingdom and the hope and the resurrection. So in this particular shop verse, what I notice is the human nature of Jesus is revealing his in his suffering and weeping when facing face.

With the death of his friends. So be so it’s like a human like us, experience this happening. So he will experience that two weeks apart from this event facing his own death, in his own suffering, in his body, in the cross. So verse 38, Jesus wants more.

Once more deeply move again, came to the top. It was a cave with a stone lay laid across the entrance, which is so similar of the description, almost his tomb. So he might have been another kind of rich person in Bethany at least for what we know from the context. So in 39 he says, take away the stone.

He set. The Lord said, Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad order for he has been there four days. Then Jesus said, did I not tell you? You tell you that if you believe again, you will see the glory of God. So that’s the other two point that is really key, is believing in the glory of God.

What we have to do is believe in order to be witness of the glory of God. It’s exactly what it says at the re, at the very beginning is like he will rise again in order to glorify God in order to testify. With Jesus is, and the other is that, that expression take away the stone is something that Jesus set for Azar stone, but actually something that the Father will set with Jesus too.

Just take away the stone. My son will rise, which is really powerful just to see how close we are from that moment. So the divine nature of Jesus to call his friend back from dead. Is this contract from the human who cries and suffer and is deeply moved. But at the same time, we see this divine nature of Jesus all powerful and performing a huge miracle at this moment.

He already did something similar, so you probably remind Lazaro’s daughter, he won a similar resurrection and also the son of a widow. They also, he performs the miracle. This one, Johns actually gave us the details that Lazar was four days in there, which make even more profound and more powerful a statement of Jesus authority over death.

So 42 is the final thing that will happen at the end. I knew that you always hear me. This is Jesus. But I say this for the benefit of the people standing here that you may believe that you send me when he said that Jesus calling loud boys, Lazarus, come out the dead man, come out his hands and feet rapid with strips of linen.

And a CLA around his face. So Jesus said to them, take off the grave close and let him go. Which that expression let him go is what someone still who had been captive. He’s calling for freedom, which is a really profound expression. He like, let this guy experience freedom. That’s what God is offering all the time.

Like we can be free for our natural, sinful nature. So what I notice in this last momentum, which is like the final statement, final proof that Jesus. Is the resurrection. His life is this same idea of believing is the same idea of believing that he’s provided us with a solution not just into natural understanding of death, be beyond that into a spiritual and eternal understanding of death and how Jesus provide a solution.

The solution is believing in him. So since this is a really incredible, story that prove who God is and how he manifests into Jesus, and also how he’s announcing what he’s about to experience in his own body and life, and how the father will call his son come out because it’s time to freedom creation from the penalty of death that we are having.

So that’s my observation from the passage. So now I want to jump into the final applications. So I just take that expression of Jesus calling out Lazarus by name. I got introduced three kind of quick points about this so you can take calm and probably you can just meditate a little bit more this week.

So Ephesians two, but because of his great love for us, God who is reaching mercy, made us alive in Christ. So our life depends of that resurrection that Jesus performs even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace that you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and see us with him in the heavily round realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages.

Is that the, or hope he may show the incomp comparable richness, riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For this, by grace you that you have been safe through faith, and this is not from yourself, is this gift from God. Nobody works so that no one can. Bus. So the first he called us from an US today is he already called us from death.

So if you are a believer, if you have this conviction, he already called your name and I don’t know where you were when he did it, but he actually called your name. So I remember when he called and sometimes it may be a whisper, but he called your name, you were already dead. Knowing a natural understanding, but from eternal perspective, he already call you and invite you to experience a spiritual life.

So we were all, that is one of our, this statement that we need to accept in order to hear him, his calling, our name, and the second theme. So obviously spirit of life, it will give us eternal perspective. So now the way that we face death is differently. And I will say that’s the thing that save us for what difficult is to experience the sickness and also death around us and from the people that we love.

So this particular thing is if you are sitting there saying I don’t know if he called my name. Maybe this is a good morning to figure it out, that probably he’s calling him your name, whispering, saying, come out, you could be free. Come out, it’s cold and dark out there in there. Come out, join us so you can experience life beyond life.

Experience life beyond death. So the other point that I want to make is. First Corinthians five 15. If there is no resurrection of death, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised it, our preaching is useless. So it is your faith. So Paul here is giving like a really amazing argument that if you don’t believe that he was the one he was Ray.

Ray from the dead. It’s like nothing makes any sense because you still. Attached to a death penalty, not just in the natural experience, but also in the spiritual and eternal destiny. So one of the most profound thing is that we must believe in, have this conviction in order to experience in our lives. So the second thing that I want to tell you is he call us to believe, trust and hope.

So we must believe in his resurrection, which is an historical fact. It’s not a fantasy. It’s not a bunch of guys who put himself together as stories. No, it’s a real thing that happened. It’s historical fact. You must true have this trust in his promises. And let me tell you, he’s all worthy of trust.

He’s the most trusted person you can ever met and understand. And finally, the hope in the future redemption. He’s offering something better. So profound, something eternal that is coming. So we are waiting for that. So it’s believing is struts, but as also hope. The hope that even what you suffered and the hope that you even struggle and you had seen your father or mother or grandmother, someone close to you, some friend at work or high school or whatever, you have the hope they will sustain you and give you strength to wait for the best, which is coming.

In Romans five. Not only but we are all glory in our sufferings, which is weird thing, right to glory because we know that the suffering produce perseverance and perseverance. Character and character hope and hope does not put us to chain because cat’s love has been poor. Out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So my final call for this morning is he called us to live without fear, so we don’t have to fear death anymore, which is easy to say. It’s a challenge to live in our life as a Christians. So fear, living without fear to counsel others in suffering. So you are, so you’re living in fear. It will be a trouble for you to experience those things, but you also will never be able to counsel others because you’re living in fear.

So you are not able to serve. You’re unable to connect with people. The second thing is to share the gospel in a society that resists the divine. If you feel you live in fear, you never will be able. To share the gospel with brave and with conviction because your fear that someone rejects you. But I already tell you in the context that Jesus was spiriting rejection and resistant, and oppression.

So let me tell you, if you are living in fear, you will never be able to articulate the gospel with your friends, with your family. So it’s like just seeing them experience that, but you’re not providing any solution for them. The solution for the natural death, but also for the final destination in our spiritual understanding, is believing in Jesus, having this believing in him, trust in him, and have our hope in him.

So the challenge for us today is question ourself. How much I believe this, how much I live in through this? So take some time to reflect. You wanna have some.