In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of miracles and the power of faith. He mentions the story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still as one of the greatest miracles ever performed. The speaker also talks about the importance of trust and belief in God, using the example of Peter walking on water. He then transitions to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, highlighting the emotional and cultural aspects of Jewish funerals. The speaker emphasizes the need for faith and understanding in difficult times, drawing lessons from the Gospel of John.

All right, can you turn to John chapter 11, Gospel of John? This is a study that I prepared for our own ministry last night, and I got sick yesterday and didn't feel up to presenting this. As God works together for good in everything, I know that possibly there are some here that needed to hear the principles that Jesus lives out and presents in his life through this chapter. And this morning I felt the Spirit united me to call Dale and see. I knew that Leonard was out of town, and that possibly I was to teach this here tonight. He said, no, there wasn't any plans for anybody to be here to take Leonard's place. And I always feel kind of strange sitting in Leonard Ragnall's chair. I don't feel that I have his years or anything that he has, except the same God and the same Bible, which is a lot. And so tonight we're going to look at, I think, one of the most exciting, dramatic, it's more dramatic than anything that ever happened on a soap opera or on a Hollywood screen, it's the death and resurrection of Lazarus. And this chapter is peppered with, included. There's several verses in here that you could teach on for a week, if you have one of those teaching mentalities. I never could get into people that took a verse and went a week on it. I've never been able to do that. The Bible is sort of like a love letter, you know, and there's stories. There is a couple of books in the Bible that you can spend weeks on verses. The only two I can think of really is Romans and Hebrews. They always kind of stump the stars in the theologian field. But the Gospels, I think they're meant to be read, you know, read them, go through them and pick out the good parts and expound on them. I don't know how you would feel if you'd written a couple of letters to somebody and they took a week, you know, to go on each sentence, you know. Imagine that. Dear Fred, OK, dear Fred, you know. Wow, look at the way he said dear. Oh, look at that semicolon there at the end of Fred. You know, he spelled the date out. He didn't use slashes. I have trouble with spending a lot of time on one little part of Scripture because you tend to forget the whole story. So we're going to go through this. And there is a couple of places where we need to stop and say a few things and to point out some things that aren't necessarily obvious on the surface. But I think you'll agree, taking a look at it, that Jesus's emotions are not what the people in this chapter thought they were. OK, let's go from the beginning. Chapter 11, I'm reading from the New American Standard. OK. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. You can remember Mary and Martha. Remember, Martha was the busy one. She wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner for Jesus. You know, the turkey and the stuffing, and she was running around. She had her hands in the microwave and everything. And Mary was kind of sitting in a gaze, indeed. But that's another whole story with another whole principle. But that's the same Mary and Martha of the, Hey Mary, how come you're not working? Fain. OK. Verse 2, And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. Now, let's stop there. I think that Jesus had a special relationship with his family. Now it's true that Jesus had a love for all mankind. But let's face it, as Leonard says, he had some favorites. Nobody likes to think of things like that, but he had favorites. Not according to, like it says that God is not a respecter of persons. That means that he's not impressed when you have big gold rings. He's not impressed that you have a big house or that you've got a pretty face or a wonderful personality. He's only impressed with one thing, the state and attitude of your heart. Remember, here is Nathanael, a man, an Israelite in whom there is no guile. That impressed Jesus. It impressed David, a man after God's heart, a man after my heart. Have you considered my servant Job, a man righteous, upright, and blameless? Those are the things that always impressed God in the Bible. There must have been something about this family that impressed Jesus. But we already have an example that he was impressed with Mary, his devotion. Lazarus also, now there's a lot of things in the Bible. In fact, it says at the end of this book of John that if everything Jesus did were written, the world couldn't even contain the books. Now I used to look at that and go, that's not a literal statement. But it really is. You know why? What has Jesus done? Well, he walked the earth. What if they wrote down every single thing he did while he was on the earth? That wouldn't fill the earth, would it? No, probably not. I mean, if they wrote down everything that John Paul Gideon did, he took a breath, he digested his carrots, he blinked his eyes. I mean, that wouldn't even fill the earth. What else did Jesus do? He created the earth. Imagine all the books it would take to talk about how he created the eye of a fly. What else does he do? He runs the universe. Get the picture? How long has he done it? Forever in both directions. Now you can find out why the earth could not contain all the books of everything Jesus has done. That's a literal statement. But back to Lazarus. Lazarus must have done some incredible, had an incredible heart. He must have really impressed Jesus with his spiritual depth and character. For him to be called by his own sisters, the one whom you love. And another place in this chapter, it says, look, see how much he loved them, he's weeping. The people, he has, Lazarus was one of his best friends. He wasn't like one of the twelve. But he was one of his favorite missionaries, if you will. One of his favorite people that were supporting the ministry on the outside. Somebody he liked to hang out with when he was in town. Now there's another thing in this verse. Lord behold, he whom you love is sick. It's almost like they're saying to him, they don't say, Lord Lazarus is sick. They say, Lord, this guy is sick. Remember how much you love him? Like they're trying to say, they're trying to talk Jesus into coming. They're trying to add a little bit of human ingenuity and human pull to get him to come. But when Jesus heard it in verse 4, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. How does Jesus know that? Jesus knows that Lazarus, through the spiritual realm, he knows that Lazarus is not going to stay dead by the sickness. This is not unto death. This is not... Now, you have to understand what his disciples... You guys can come on in. There's plenty, there's room here on the couch, and there's some more chairs around where you can sit on the floor. You have to understand what this sounds like to his disciples. Now remember, Jesus had the kind of disciples that would open their mouths to change feet. Especially Peter. He had disciples with six-inch skulls. Imagine the night before you die, you know you're going to be hung on a cross, you know you're going to be beaten to a pulp. Here's your twelve disciples. Three years of intense discipleship training. Three years of Bible study. Three years of Old Testament, in-depth teaching. Three years of miracles. I'm the greatest. Oh, I'm the greatest. Oh, yeah? Well, wait till we get into the kingdom. I'll sit at the right hand. Oh, no, I'll sit at the left hand. I would have gone out and gotten twelve new disciples. Not Jesus. He got down and washed their feet. Shows you the heart of God. So he's got these numb skulls for disciples. Now you have to understand how this sentence sounds to the disciples. How does it sound? This sickness is not on the death. That means, very literally, liars ain't going to die. How do you think it looked to the disciples when he went there and they found him dead? It looked like Jesus gave up all prophecy, didn't it? On the surface. You have to understand that when Peter said, is that you, Lord, out there? Jesus said, uh-huh. If it's really you, bid that I come. The disciples said, I've got to see this. Jesus said, all right, I've got to see this too. Come on. Peter starts walking on the water. All the disciples said, I wish I would have done that. He starts to sink and I go, boy, I'm glad I didn't do that. Peter was eager to jump to conclusions. All the disciples were too. He says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Maybe it's because we didn't take bread. I'm not talking about bread. I'm talking about their teaching. They're always taking everything literally. So how does this sound to the disciples? This sickness is not on the death, but the glory of God, the Son of God may be glorified by it. Well, maybe he's going to heal them from afar. He did that before. Maybe Jesus will just go around the bush and wave his hands and Lazarus will get healed and it's for the glory of God. Also, you have to understand, you'll find later in the chapter, they had just come out of Jerusalem where Jesus had almost been killed and been taken, according to the disciples' view of it. So they don't want to go down to Bethany, which is right a stone's throw from Jerusalem. Five. Now here's one of those verses that gets the Christian socialists very mad. I'll explain that in a minute. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And therefore he heard that he was sick. He stayed then two days longer in the place where he was. Verse five. The people that say that Jesus loves everybody equally, they say, well, of course he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus and Fred and Mary and Ethel and so on. But that is one of those verses of special. Jesus had a special love for them. You better believe it. Jesus had a special love. It doesn't mean that he didn't have, that means that because he loves more doesn't mean he loves others less. You have to understand God's love. God can love you with his whole heart and then the guy next to you, you can have a special love for him. And it doesn't mean he loves you any less than he can love you. You won't notice it. Remember Joseph? His father gave him a coat of many colors. Remember how jealous it made his brothers? His father gave them good, their father gave them good things too. Their father was a rich man and shared among his brothers, but he desired to give a special blessing to Joseph. Remember the parable of the guys that worked in the vineyard? He says, can I do what I want with what is my own without you getting jealous and covetous? I want you to realize that because it's going to be important to store it. Jesus loved Martha and his sister and wife and had a special love for them. How many of the disciples were in the inner circle? Three. He had three disciples that only got to do certain things. Nobody else got to do. They were there on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus took those three to the special place at Stone's Throat where he took those three to pray and disseminate. There was another place he just took them to which was, I can't think of the guy's name, Rahiel, the daughter of Jairus. He just took those three too. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Six. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he got on the next plane and went to Bethany. No. He stayed premeditatedly. Didn't go. That's what that says. He premeditated. He said, Hey, he's sick. Let's stay here. Now that doesn't sound like a very loving thing to do if you have the power to heal somebody. God works in in a mysterious way. God will withhold from us a blessing so that we can get a greater blessing later. God will withhold a small miracle so that he can do a greater miracle and get more glory. God always does the thing that gives him the most glory because it's the best thing for his universe and his kingdom for him to get the most glory. It's the healthiest thing for you, for God to get the most glory. Therefore God will withhold from you pennies so that you can get quarters, spiritually speaking. God will withhold from you those little things sometimes. He will premeditatedly not give you what you ask for immediately so that he can give you more than you bargained for later. Things that we have not heard or seen or even imagined in our hearts as God prepared for them in life. His sisters weren't thinking that Lazarus was going to die. They weren't even considering. Now we all know the end of the story, right? Lazarus is going to get raised from the dead. Every Christian in here knows that so I'm not going to act like you don't know the end. We're going to go through it as if we know the end already. From God's point of view, God knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He says it right there in verse 4. Jesus is planning, God is planning to do something big. They just want him to get healed of the flu or the cold or acute acne or whatever he had. They wanted an easy, quick, God gives a little glory, way out. God had other plans which caused them to doubt, which caused them to fret and you'll find out later, caused them to be even a little bitter questioning of God's wisdom. At the end, nobody questioned God's wisdom. At the end, no one had a thing bad to say about Jesus and how much he loved or didn't love Lazarus. Verse 7, that after this he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, here, his board of directors came by. We really don't think this is a wise idea. Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you and are you going there again? Rabbi, have you flipped your noodle? I mean, can you imagine? Here's these guys, you're the teacher, they're the students, you're the master, they're the followers and they're questioning your every move. Are you sure this is the right thing to do to you? Last week he told this wind to shut up and it did and they're questioning him. Week before that, it made food stamps look crazy. He's just passing food out and five loaves of bread. They're questioning Jesus. They're giving him a political and social statement. They're giving him the ABC World News Tonight report. This is not good, Lord. It's not safe for you to go. He just saved them from drowning with a word out of his mouth and they're questioning him. Can you believe that? What God allows people, what God puts up, what God allows people to go into in his presence and still very quietly says, nine, Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day? Speaking of parables here. If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. What does all that mean? It has a whole bunch of different meanings. One of the meanings is, of course, the mystical or spiritual meaning is there is a time when I can walk and not be taken. Remember, he says, my hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. He talked about a time when he will be allowed to be taken. He says, no one takes my life from me, but I give it willingly. They can't take me. Guys, don't worry about it. I'm going to walk in the day. This is the daytime of my ministry. There will come a night, the night of Gethsemane, when they'll come and take us like thieves and robbers. That's the other meaning. You don't have to worry. We're going to travel by day. When I get taken, it will be at night. Then there's even other meanings to that. Okay, verse 11. Then he said, and after that, then he said, and after that, this he said, and after that, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go that I might awaken him out of sleep. Isn't that a nice way of putting it? Jesus, you know why Jesus said that? Why did he say, Lazarus, take the bucket. Let's go raise him from the dead. He cast it in his chest. The reason he said, Lazarus has fallen asleep, because there's something of a finality in the word death, right? He died. Uh-oh. You don't have any hope that somebody's going to come back in your lifetime when they use the word die. Jesus was trying to explain spiritually to them, this is a temporary situation, kids. He's falling asleep. I'm going to wake him. That's as easy. He says, it's going to be as easy as going and shaking your brother when he was, he had to wake him up for his school. That's the way Jesus looked at it. He was giving them a glimpse at the way he sees things. He was giving them a glimpse at what true faith is. He was giving them a glimpse of the vision of what resurrection really is to God. It's no great feat. It isn't even a miracle. It's natural to God. Wake up! The disciples therefore said to him, now here's their medical advice to the Lord Jesus. First they gave him a political report, now they're giving him the American Medical Association opinion about Lazarus here. Lord, if he's falling asleep, he'll recover. He's just a little tired. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. Thank you, John. Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, Jesus therefore said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Thank you, Lord. Sometimes God will just say, shut up. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. I can see the Lord smiling through that. And I'm glad I wasn't there. So that you may believe. Come on, let's go. But let us go to him. Thomas therefore, a man of faith, who is called Davidimus, which means the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us go also that we may die with him. Come on, he's going to get killed. Let's go die too. There's a faithful man to have around. For your treasurer, you've got a thief. For your encourager, you've got a cynic. For your leader, you've got a guy with two feet in his mouth. Verse 17. So when Jesus came, he found that he'd already been in the tomb four days. Which probably means, now I don't know really where he was there, but they say that two day journey from there to Bethany. He waited two days, which means he probably died the same day they sent the message. Which means he probably couldn't even have gotten there before he died anyway. Right? So Jesus probably knew when he says, this sickness is not of the death, that he possibly had already died. Because you remember, if it took him two days to get there, how long would it take the message to get to him? They didn't have air mail. It took somebody just as long to get to you as it took you to get to them. So most likely, the message had been given to him two days before Lazarus died. When he got it, it was the day Lazarus died. So he couldn't have gotten there anyway. He waited two days, and then it took a two day journey to get there. He's been in the grave four days. Right? Now the thing, it's probably obvious to everybody that he couldn't have gotten there before he died. But everybody here is going to be all bummed out that he didn't at least make an effort to get there. Because he didn't know that he died. But Jesus did know. And they don't trust him. They worship him. They hosanna him. They say, oh lord. They call him master. They listen to his teachings. They're impressed. But they don't trust him. It's obvious by everybody's attitude, including his own disciples, that they didn't trust him. You can sing praise songs. You can raise people from the dead. You can do all kinds of miracles. You can go to church until your face is blue. Until the church is gorgeous. You can give all your money. But if you don't trust God, your religion is like all these people. Funny. It's really, it's either sad. It depends on which way you look at it. I mean, you can look at this and weep. And you can look at it and laugh. It really is funny when Jesus falls in the water. I mean, when Peter falls in the water, when he tries to walk. And so it's kind of sad. Jesus didn't laugh. Jesus said, be a little patient. Why didn't you laugh? Everybody's attitude here is judgmental, critical, untrusting, unbelieving. And they're all sounding so religious. It's a picture of you and me. It's a picture of Christians who trust God a little bit. Who believe because something that God did for them a long time ago, even last week. That's a long time in God's kingdom. Because remember, the manna only lasts one day. And I think it's real important to understand this. This is a picture of us. Every person in this chapter. This is an incredible story. 17. So when Jesus came, he found that he'd already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to consult them concerning their brother. Has any of you ever been to a Jewish funeral? It is the loudest. Voices. They had professional mourners in Israel. They still do. At a synagogue and Orthodox funerals. You can hire people to weep and wail and cry at your funeral. Or at your wife's funeral, your kid's funeral. Really get the tears flowing. You know how when people are crying, everybody else cries too? If you see somebody crying, it makes you, you know. It's a chain reaction. They had professionals. They hired people that were so authentic in their tears. Because it was just this. Remember when Jesus went to heal Jairus' daughter? And they were wailing and he says, Why don't you guys leave? She's only asleep. Oh! Melted in her lap. She's asleep. Sure. Where'd you get this clown? Okay. Many of the Jews, verse 19, came to Martha and Mary to console and concern their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him. But Mary still sat in the house. Martha, therefore, said to Jesus, First word. First word. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Hi, Lord. How have you been? No. Gee, it's good to see you. No. Hey. Come over and raise my brother from the dead. How's the miracles been going? Leave more people to yourself? No. How's the kingdom of God doing? Her sister didn't even come out! The one that was gazing at his feet, that was so enraptured in Jesus, she's sitting in the house. I hope this has a colony. Gee. She's so bitter, she won't even leave the house! Martha's so bitter, the first thing's on her, if you, if, if, if, what's this if business with God? If you would do this. If you had done this, then my life wouldn't be the way it was. If you had killed Hitler in 1936, six million Jews wouldn't have died. That's what the whole world does with God. If God, if God is so good, why does he allow this to happen? Jesus, if you had been here, then my brother wouldn't have died. 22. And here's her, I told you, even sounding religious, here's her even sounding religion. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Now, do you think she means, do you really think she means? Even now, if you say the word, he'll live. You'll find that in the next few verses. Jesus is a little hopeful that's what she means. Now, this is a little complicated here. Check it out. She says to him, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. That is just a bunch of religious hogwash that she's saying. You'll find out two verses later. So Jesus replies to that statement with, your brother, shall rise again. You're right. She says, even now, whatever you ask, I'll give you. So Jesus is saying, okay, I'll raise him from the dead. That's what she's saying. That's what he's saying. So she says to him, I know I'm going to rise again in the resurrection on the last day. I've got my doctrine right. I sat under the best teacher, you. I know all the theological points of doctrine. I know there's going to be a resurrection. Martha, Martha, listen, I'm the resurrection in the life. The resurrection day isn't a part for me. Hey, here I am. I'm resurrection day. Who do you want me to raise from the dead? Your brother? Here I am. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Here's her catechism question. That's the way she's taking it. She says to him, yes, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, even he who comes into the world. I believe in the Trinity. I believe in the rapture. I believe in this and that and everything. I've got my doctrine down. And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying secretly. Why secretly? The Lord is here and he's calling for you. Because Mary was stewing. Mary's in the house and she's stewing. So she takes her aside to talk to her. Listen, man, Jesus is here and he's calling for you. She can't say it out in the open because she may turn around and say, so what? He should have been in here. You know how if somebody's kind of in one of those moods, you've got to take them aside and talk to them privately. Jesus, the Lord is here and he's calling for you. The teacher is here and he's calling for you. When she heard it, she rose quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha met him. The Jews then who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Part of the Jewish custom. Go to the tomb and you weep. Therefore Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, hallelujah, saying to him the exact same words as her sister. Now, have you ever heard a story about yourself and two different people? Same words, guess who's been talking? The two people that told you the same story about yourself. Gossip, backbiting, bad mouth, bad attitude. Well, I heard that you said this. And the next person came to me and said, I heard that you said this. Well, guess where they heard it? From each other. How do people come out with the same exact words? They get together and grumble together. Guess who was grumbling together? Mary and Martha. She says the same exact words Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. Does anybody have a footnote on what deeply moved in spirit is? Nope. What? Troubled himself? Troubled himself. Oh. It's okay. What do you think deeply moved in spirit means? It was trouble. You think he was touched? If you know you're about to raise somebody from the dead, you're not going to get all caught up in the fact the guy is dead. Right? I mean, say you know. Say, somebody's blind. He's just been struck blind. A battery blew up in his face and battery acid has made him blind. And everybody's going, oh, this was such a great father and he's such a great husband and he's not going to be able to do his job. And you know without a shadow of a doubt that you're going to touch his eye and he's going to see. Does it make any sense that you're going to walk in and start wailing and crying that he's blind? That deeply moved and troubled. Jesus is disappointed. He is extremely hurt that though he's come with good news and he's telling them your brother's going to rise again. I'm the resurrection. All you've got to do is ask me and I'm going to heal this guy. I'm going to raise him from the dead. They're still weak. They're still crying. They don't see five inches in front of their nose that the Lord of life, the creator of human bodies is right in front of them. And he's come on the earth in a human body to come and touch them from God, from heaven with resurrection, with healing, with new life. And he is very, very bummed out. Okay. And he said, first thing he says, he's not trying to talk some sense into Mary like he did Martha. Hey, look, brother's going to rise again. He just says, percolate him. He realizes words ain't going to do any good. They failed last time. I'm just going to go raise him from the dead and stop all this stuff. They said to him, Lord, come and see. Verse 35. Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the whole Bible. That's it. John 11, verse 35. The shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. I believe it's the shortest verse in the Bible because it's like a bullet. And Jesus is really, he's weeping. He is, his heart's broken. They look at him and say, oh, behold how he loved. He's weeping for Lazarus. I wouldn't weep for somebody I'm going to raise from the dead in five seconds. Who's he weeping for? The people around him. His father's heart. He's come to bring good news. He's come to bring resurrection. They're still holding funeral services. Don't you realize, folks, I'm going to raise this guy from the dead. He said it plainly in verse 23. Your brother's going to rise again. Rejoice. Verse 36. And so the Jews were saying, behold how I love him. Verse 37. But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind and kept this man also from dying put salt in the wound? They keep blaming him for something beautiful that God's allowed to happen and he's going. He sees the end. They're just blaming him, rubbing it in. He saved others. Could he not have saved himself? They're doing the same thing they did to him on the cross, right there. He's carrying his cross all the way through to the grave of Lazarus. They're making fun of him as he does a good deed. They put the knife in and turning it. They're blaming him. They're making him sound like a bad friend, a poor steward, an uncaring person when he is the most caring, compassionate, loving, planning to do a wonderful deed to glorify his father. And meanwhile, they're putting blame and putting a false impression on his deeds and motives. 38. Jesus therefore, again, being deeply moved within, that's what they said, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Jesus says, remove the stone. I think Martha and Mary ought to get the picture by now what he's going to do. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he's been dead four days. Does that leave any doubt that Martha doesn't have any idea what he's planning to do? Either that or maybe she wants to have a sanitary resurrection. One without smell of mustard fire. Why don't you raise him first through the stone and then we'll spray some blade air freshener and he can come out. She has no concept. He says, your brother's going to rise again. Show me where you laid him. Remove the stone. What does she want? A drum roll? I mean, what does she need? Everything's been set up for a most incredible miracle and she's still talking about stink. They think he just wants to see him one last time. Poor guy loves leather so much. Did I not say to you if you believe you will see the glory of God? Didn't I tell you? And so they removed the stone and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. And I knew that thou heardest me always but because of the people standing around I said it. That they may believe that thou didst send me. Now what Jesus is saying is one of the most odd prayers. It's a very interesting and odd and unusual prayer. God, I thank you to hear me. Look, I know you can hear me but because of them I said it so they'll know it's believable. I mean, that's what he's saying. I'm not praying to you for my sake. I'm praying to you for their sake so they realize that you sent me and that you're doing this and that you're getting the glory. Before he did something that's one of the greatest feats on earth he brings his father into it in the people's eyes and he says why he's doing it. He doesn't have to be reminded it's his father doing it. He doesn't have to be reminded who's getting the glory. He says, I'm not doing this for me and he said that in front of them to make a point. I don't need to give my father glory. I live to give my father glory. I don't need to say I'm giving him glory or point to him but I'm doing it for your sake. I don't need to be reminded Jesus is saying I don't need to be humble I'm humble. And when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come forth. Now, Leonard Raymond Hill always says that the reason he said Lazarus come forth because if he would have just said come forth everybody in the cemetery would have come out. Imagine having to take responsibility for that. Lazarus this great great great grandmother comes out. Oh boy. And he who had died came forth. Bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. He looked like he was in a cocoon. Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go. Leonard also points out that people that don't believe that there's any such thing as a second blessing that this is proof that there needs to be a second blessing because new life is not enough. New life isn't enough. You have to be unbound and let go too. He was alive but he was still all wrapped up in his grave clothes his stinky grave clothes. All they could need he couldn't move he would have died again. They would have said hallelujah let's go to a party and left him. He would have died again. That's how come so many new believers who when Jesus touches them and they get saved everybody goes hallelujah and they just rejoice and they forget to unbind him from the world and unbind him from his sins and unbind him from the effects of a life lived to serve self. People come out of the grave of the old life all bound up like that. And this is a type of death. They need to be let go and unbound and unwrapped and washed off. Don't think they sat down to eat with this guy until he took a bath. What a great commercial they did for Dial Soap. Many therefore of the Jews who had come to Mary and beheld what he had done believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them na na na the statement that Jesus had done. Can you imagine having such a hard satanic heart you see this and you go and tell on Jesus. That to me I've never met well maybe I have. I've met very few people that have that much evil that they can see a resurrection of a guy that's been dead four days and the first thing they think of is oh I've got to go tell Caiaphas. Who will be the first thing you think of? Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council and were saying what are we doing for this man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. In other words if he keeps doing stuff like this they're going to crown him king and the Romans are going to get all upset because people are going to make him king which they do in another chapter they go riding in Hosanna and the whole thing. And the Romans are going to take away our place and our nation. But a certain one of them Caiaphas who was high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish. Now this he did not say on his own initiative but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation. It's a very interesting narrative by John isn't it? John finds good in everything. I think it's a very interesting narrative because the guy is saying hey look let's rub him out and save our nation. John is saying but even though he was high priest the Holy Spirit still is going to give some meaning to that. Some spiritual meaning that he was going to die for the sins of the whole nation. And not for the nation only but that he might also gather together into one this is John still speaking might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad so from that day on they plan together to kill him. So one resurrection produced one death plot. Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews but went away from there to the country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim and there he stayed with his disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. Therefore they were seeking for Jesus and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple what do you think? That he won't come to the feast at all? Everybody always came to the feast. Is he going to be that chicken? Because you know he comes to the priest on donkey back with crowds cheering as he walks through the town. Now the chief doesn't even think about that. Is he going to sneak in? The king of the Jews here he comes who do you think he's going to come in like that? Here he comes in with clothes. Now the chief priest and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was he should report it and that they might seize him. Then he had his big week before his horrible couple nights. Okay so this chapter is so incredibly simple. It's a very simple chapter. It's hard to read it and not understand that Jesus is interested in one thing giving his father glory. Everybody else is interested in blaming him for the death of his friend. Grieving his holy heart. And this created of course the beginning and the end for him. The Jews began their horrible plots because of this. In fact in another couple of verses it says that people were starting to believe in Jesus. They'd come to see Lazarus and the Jews were planning on putting Lazarus to death because he was living proof. They were plotting to put Lazarus to death. So imagine that being one of Jesus' resurrectees and people were trying to kill you so they can prove he never did it. Get rid of the evidence. Alright any questions? Questions or comments? Yes? Is there anything more in the scriptures about what happened to Lazarus after that? Did he die again? I think he did. I guess the scripture on the second death didn't apply to him though. Yeah I think he did. He might not he might still be around hanging out with Bethany I don't know. Only one resurrected right? He's waiting around. He runs a Bible bookstore in Jerusalem. He's so thick it's time for a crash concert. Any other questions? There is one other place where it says that Jesus went and had dinner there and Lazarus was at the table and people were coming to John I think. Next chapter people are coming to believe in Jesus by seeing Lazarus. Are you going to believe in I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. don't know. I don't know. don't know. I don't know. If everybody knows that the earth suddenly sits still, we'd be in Milwaukee, in a precinct. Sitting in your chair.